New One-A-Day: Pressing Exercises

Hey everyone,

As one of our new One-A-Day workouts, we focused on pressing exercises.  On a 'pressing' day, we target our chest, shoulders and triceps (i.e. both horizontal and vertical planes of movement).  As the chest is the largest muscle group, we will normally start our workouts targeting it, followed by an exercise targeting shoulders.  Triceps assist in both chest and shoulder exercises, so we will rarely do a triceps-only exercise.

Time to switch it up

Hey everyone,

In the midst of painting our house and other commitments, it looks like we have managed to workout 3 to 4 times a week thus far in February (whereas our goal was 4 to 5 times/week).  Fortunately, the lack of frequency, was at least partially offset by the great One-A-Day workouts that we've been trying.

As the month draws to a close, we have decided to switch up our fitness routine a bit, to keep things fresh.

No one here is giving up - we just scaled it back a bit to accommodate life!

Is it safe to consume herbal remedies in pregnancy?

As “natural” products become more widespread and well-known, many women are taking these products to improve their health.  Although most herbal remedies are considered to be “natural”, they can have medication-like effects. As a result, some of these products can be dangerous for you and your baby.

Can I use artificial sweeteners if I’m pregnant or trying to conceive?

It is hard to eliminate artificial sweeteners from your diet, since they are now
incorporated into so many food products. Luckily, it appears that most artificial
sweeteners are safe to consume in pregnancy, although research is still limited.

Round Two: Farmer's Walks

Hey everyone,

We are on round two of our One-A-Day program.  It has been great so far and we hope to continue using it for the time being, although we may switch some of the exercises in upcoming cycles (e.g. we thought of switching out farmer's walks in future weeks to kettlebell swings - both are 'full-body' exercises that will help us with strength and metabolic conditioning).

We hope that we are inspiring people through CoupleFit; sharing new ideas and helping build motivation to embrace a healthy lifestyle as a couple, including fitness...

One-A-Day: Pullups

Hey everyone,

For our sixth One-A-Day exercise, we selected pullups.  These are a great exercise for improving your back, arm and core strength.  They are also a very versatile movement - you can often find a way to do pullups, even when travelling or without gym access.  Although pullups are often done as a 'bodyweight' exercise, they are not simple or easy.  The pullup, in our opinion, is a true test of upper body strength - try them and see!

One-A-Day: Squats

Hey everyone,

For our fifth One-A-Day workout, we focused on squats.  As with deadlifts, squats are a classic, foundational exercise.  Squats recruit a significant number of muscle groups and are therefore very beneficial for building strength, muscle, and boosting metabolism.  For our squat workout, we did four variations, for three sets each, followed by a 4-minute Tabata finisher.

One-A-Day: Pushups

Hey everyone,

For our fourth One-A-Day workout, we focused on pushups.  We initially struggled in choosing an exercise that would target our chest, shoulders and triceps.  In the end, we selected pushups, as they are a foundational exercise, very effective, and versatile.

One-A-Day: Deadlifts

Hey everyone,

For our third 'One-A-Day' workout, we focused on deadlifts.  We completed this workout Sunday evening, after a full day of painting our house, so we were tired at the outset.  Still, we wanted to complete a workout and decided to keep it simple and short.  Thus, we picked three variations of the deadlift and decided to do four sets of each (i.e. 12 sets total).

One-A-Day: Rows

Hey everyone,

For our second of the 'One-A-Day' workouts, we focused on rows (i.e. horizontal pulling movement).  Rows are great for building your back muscles (e.g. lats and rhomboids).  Several muscle groups assist this movement, including your biceps, shoulders, and core muscles.

One-A-Day: Farmer's Walk

Hey everyone,

On February 1st, we started our 'One-A-Day' exercise routine with one of our recent favourites, the farmer's walk.  This is a very simple, functional, yet challenging exercise.  In essence, it boils down to walking while carrying weight.

A basic farmer's walk

One exercise a day

Hey everyone,

As we entered February, we paused to reflect on our one month program from January, before we embarked on our new fitness challenge.