Love Your Body

With Valentine's day this weekend, and conveniently, the month of February is National Heart month, this week's workout is dedicated to keeping your body healthy and energized to protect on of the most important organs: your heart!

Make sure you spend enough time with some cardio (elliptical, treadmill, hiking, biking) before you do the weights portion of this workout. Increasing your heart rate while weight-lifting helps raise your resting metabolic rate: so your muscles continue burning fuel even while you're sitting at your office desk or watching TV on the couch at home. In order to achieve the maximum cardiovascular benefits from a workout (to prevent diseases like hypertension), you'll want to calculate the ideal HR (in bpm) range:

First, find your maximum HR (MHR) = 220 - Age
Your optimal cardiovascular range is [85%*MHR] on the low end, and MHR (minus about 5, you want a little buffer). When you're on the treadmill or elliptical, you can check your heart rate by holding on to the metal handles. Alternatively, there are some great fitness watches that not only track your mileage / time on a run but also, in real-time, track your heart rate.

Fitbit Surge $250

Workout:
21-18-15-12-9 (*must do every exercise listed below 21 times before starting the 18 reps, etc)

KB Clean and Press
Crossfit sit-ups
Box Jumps