Spring is here! Hop on your bike and take advantage of it!

Get your daily exercise on your way to work and put the pedal to the metal!

The sun is shining. The weather is sweet. Make you wanna move your dancingfeet. Well, Bob Marley had it mostly right. The sun is shining and it is sweet, but right now it makes me want to move my bike pedals!

One of my best friends used to bike to work all the time, rain or shine. Now that's impressive! But it is equally impressive to make the effort on the sunny days! If there is ever a perfect time to consider commuting by bicycle, spring and summer is the time to do it! It's National Bike Month in the USA and June is Canada's National Bike to Work month. To all our Canadian friends, let's get a pedal up on the trend and to all our American friends, May has just arrived and it's time to put the pedal to the metal!

Biking is fun and easy way to exercise and get all your muscles working and your heart pumping. It can also be a way to save money on parking, help the environment, and skip the the traffic and hectic roads! If you've never biked to work and find the very thought of it daunting, then ease it into your routine. Start going for bike rides and get your muscles used to the movement. Try doing other exercises like lunges, squats and the plank to make your leg and core muscle groups strong.

Increasing your fitness activities can never hurt! Learn about more useful exercises to help you get ready for this beautiful biking weather from Alive Magazine's Dust Off Your Wheels.

Image source: Edmonton Sun

Discover the Top 10 Workouts for Fall!

Get out of the gym and into shape!

Autumn is here and with this season, comes colder weather; and with the colder weather often comes heartier appetites and occasions for comfort food. I know that I have to make even more of a conscious effort to eat well, exercise and not to become a winter couch critter! But does the chilly weather mean I have to go the gym?

Just because summer is over, doesn't mean you have to workout indoors! It's true that when the rain and cold weather comes, it's not as appealing to go outside but I think these fun outdoor fitness activities might change your mind!

Fox News shares their Top 10 Fall Workouts that will help keep you in shape and having so much fun not matter how many layers you may need to put on! 

My personal favourite on that list is Ultimate Frisbee. Although...I wouldn't mind raking a huge pile of leaves and jumping in! Get outside and enjoy the fall colours and crisp air. Just remember to bundle up!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Image source: egotvonline.com

Another post from Richard Martinez on how he's making time for Movement with the help of a Plan, Music & PGX!

From the man that brought you Movement, Music & PGX, comes some easy tips on how to motivate yourself to maintain your weight loss goals!

Now that school is back in session we all have a lot less time on our hands. We have to think about things like packing lunches and backpacks, ensuring that homework is done and getting the kids to school on time. Throw on top of that guitar lessons, soccer, baseball training and, before you know it, you're left with little time for yourself and your workouts.

As a result, it's easy to forget about your workout routine and rely on takeout for nutrition. But I'm here to tell you: don’t do this. Stop yourself right now! It will only result in you losing ground in your weight loss journey.  

Fortunately for me, PGX continues to be a part of my diet. I take it right before every meal and I have not felt the need to have seconds of anything. However, over the past few weeks, I've been overwhelmed with work and have been finding it incredibly difficult to get back into my workout routine. But I promised myself that I would not falter. I kept reminding myself about all that progress that I've made and I remembered how great it felt to lose 50 pounds. (And, by the way, I haven’t gained any of it back!)

Time is precious and I’d rather spend any extra time I have with my sons. So, as is required of parents sometimes, I quickly devised a plan. I scheduled a 30 minute bike ride into my calendar on my iPhone and, by increasing the tension on my stationary bike, I worked out my muscles and still burned fat as the same rate as when I was doing about an hour on the bike before. And guess what? Keeping a shedule, is working.

With that said, you can’t forget about the music! I never do. So, in this series I’ll tell you that I’ve been really into what label owner, Veronika Vasika, is doing with her archive label, Minimal Wave. My interest was sparked when I recently had a chance to see her at New Forms Festival 12. Since then, I’ve been listening to her compilations Minimal Wave Tapes 1 and Minimal Wave Tapes 2 and each compilation is filled with great beats and pulsing rhythms to get your heart moving and give some extra push during your workout!

Image source: Amazon

Last weekend of summer!

Time to celebrate the last days of soaking up some rays with friends and family. Here are some quick tips to help you make the most of your weekend without feeling that unhealthy sluggishness on Tuesday morning.

Stay Active!

Spend some time getting active if you plan to indulge a little. Bring a friend so you can get caught up while burning some calories.

• Get outdoors.
• Go swimming.
• Walk the dog.
• Ride your bike.

Add Some Veggies:

Forget the high calorie chips and dip, instead load up on healthy veggies. Going to a barbeque this weekend? Take some PGX before you go and bring along a bag of healthy snacks!

Stay Hydrated:

Don’t forget to drink plenty of water especially if you’re outdoors and in the sun. When you’re not drinking enough water, you can mistake thirst for hunger. A good check before reaching for a snack is to gauge how much water you’ve had that day. On a hot day, drink a bit more than usual.

What are your Labor Day weekend plans? Tell us in the comments!

Image source: Modern Mom

From the man who brought you Movement, Music and PGX, comes Phase Two of his experience with weight loss and PGX: Maintenance.

At the start of this week I was struggling a bit to get motivated to workout. Over the weekend I did, what I thought, was my fair share of manual labor. Things like power washing - and even some (borderline) quality BBQing (heavy lifting via tongs, platters and what have you).

However, I know that most of you can relate, or even just imagine, that around BBQs, there's a larger consumption of calories - calories that are more often than not, the kind that aren’t that good for you. That’s right, I had some of those calories, with, might I add, some form of guilt.

So as Monday rolled around, I was in need of some motivation. Unfortunately, I have to say, that after you throw in a working day, my energy is certainly not in high form when I get home. However, that day, I quickly realized that I had managed to make it home about 30-45 minutes before the rest of my family - meaning, that I could get a good workout in before everyone arrived home, getting my workout out of the way so that I could spend dinner focused on my family. 

As I entered the house, I also remembered that I have MLB.tv on my iPad which meant that I could watch a baseball game while I worked out. Aka: Motivation found! That said, I need music in my workout. So I decided to make my own playlist as I went along. You know, like some old school DJ having to spin records on the fly!? Sometimes you have to pretend!

The next 10 songs are what I came up with:

1. Time - 4:50...Tick Of The Clock by Chromatics (from the Drive Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
2. Time - 3:19...I Feel Better by Gotye (Making Mirrors LP) 
3. Time - 3:19...Vagabond by Beirut (The Rip Tide LP) 
4. Time - 4:56...Deconstruction by Fanfarlo (Rooms Filled With Light LP) 
5. Time - 5:45...Situation (Extended Version) by Yaz (Upstairs at Erics LP) 
6. Time - 4:25...Paris/Orly by Deux (Decadence LP) 
7. Time - 3:46...Synchronize (ft. Jarvis Cocker) by Discodeine (Discodeine LP) 
8. Time - 5:50...If I Know You by The Presets (Vince Clarke Remix) 
9. Time - 5:21...Memorabilia by Soft Cell (Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing LP) 
10. Time - 5:43...Spock by VCMG (Ssss LP)
    

Believe it or not, the task of looking for songs to play while working out, allowed me to increase the speed of my cycling as I was so focused on finding the next track; I was in the zone!  When all was said and done, I had gotten through 45 minutes of my workout. For the remaining 20 minutes I had the rest of the Baseball game to focus on and it felt rewarding to have gotten through it without much personal resistance.

What I learned from all of this is that you can find inspiration in different songs, different books or even in watching a sporting event while you workout. It helped me get over the Monday doldrums and focus on a new week.  

Also, if you’re going to be around a large amount of food, make sure to take PGX at least 30 minutes before. This should help your stomach feel full and will perhaps make you less likely to indulge in too many fatty foods, food that is high in sodium, and overall calories.

What do you do to change your workout habits when you need a little extra motivation?

Image source: http://whattobring.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/5-ways-to-host-a-backyard-barbecue-on-a-budget/