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

Hey PGX'ers! Let's share some tunes for Tuesday!

Building up to a high intensity workout? Build up the BPM in your playlist! 

We all have those days when just the thought of working out can be daunting. If your workout feels like your own personal Mount Everest, I think I've got a surprisingly easy fix that will give you that jumpstart: music! When I'm feeling lazy, I just put on an awesome tune and it's like workout magic! Suddenly, I find myself bouncing and bounding around my kitchen like an iPod silhouette, ready for anything! So if you need a burst of energy, pick and play those tunes that get you pumped!

Remember, the higher the beats per minute, the better to help you pick up the pace and get moving! Here are my current favourites:

Semisonic - Closing Time -92 BPM

Maroon 5 & Wiz Khalifa - Payphone -110 BPM

Kaskade ft. Miny Gledhill - Eyes -128 BPM

The Temper Trap - Fader (Adam Freeland Remix) -128 BPM

Don Omar ft. Lucenzo - Danza Kuduro -130 BPM

What songs get you pumped? Sound off in the comments and on Facebook! I'm always looking for new tunes! Keep moving your awesome selves!

Image Source: Marketing in the Making

PGX Investigates Tabata Training...

Is it possible for a four minute workout to be effective?

The other day, my friend and I were talking about how difficult it can be to avoid "couch potato-hood" and make fitness a priority rather than something we forfeit to a busy schedules. That's when she mentioned the intense, amazingly short workout called Tabata Training.

Tabata is a high intensity interval training program that was first developed by Japanese scientist, Izumi Tabata and his fellow colleagues at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo. Lasting for only four minutes (I know it seems too good to be true right?), this type of interval training has been shown to produce much better results than the average hour-long cardio session.

Studies have shown that high intensity interval training like Tabata produced as much muscular endurance as 45 minutes of normal cardio training in the subjects as well as substantial increases in anaerobic capacity and aerobic fitness. What is even more surprising about these results is that the test subjects were all athletes and already in excellent shape and still experienced these improvements in their fitness levels!

So what does a four minute workout look like? The typical tabata workout follows the formula of eight rounds of intense training for 20 second intervals of intense training followed by 10 seconds of rest. It may sound easy but some people swear it feels like the longest four minutes of their lives!

You can learn more about Tabata Training at tabatatraining.org and intervaltraining.net.

Want to see Tabata in action or try it out? Check out this video! If you've got four minutes today, skip the couch potato club and do a session of this super-powered cardio! Ready, set, go!

Image source: Georgia Magazine

PGX and Eva Redpath want you to keep moving!

Leave the machines behind and take your workout home!

Happy Friday PGX'ers! Do you want that same muscle burn you get from pumping iron at the gym without actually going to the gym? Fitness expert Eva Redpath shared her expertise on how you can bring your workout home and see the results you want to see.

Remember: a healthy, happy you is the result of good nutrition and exercise and it can be fun! Have a fabulous Friday and an awesome, healthy weekend! 

Video clip courtesy of Eva Redpath YouTube, originally aired on Oh So Cosmo.

Dance your way to better fitness with PGX and Zumba!

PGX checks out the world wide fitness trend of Zumba...

Along with a balanced diet and your daily fiber, exercise is the key to any weight loss goal. Not a fan of going to the gym? Dance, jump, swing in your kitchen, or try a Zumba class! 

So what is Zumba? Zumba is a Latin-inspired dance fitness program that gets you working all your muscles to international rhythms such as cumbia, merengue and salsa. Since the day fouder Alberto "Beto" Perez forgot his regular aerobics music and had to improvise a class for an hour (the first Zumba class), it has grown into a world wide fitness party! After all the chatter I heard about it, I finally decided to try it.

Zumba sessions are typically an hour long. I decided to go all in and participated in a two hour Zumbathon! It was non-stop movement: jumping, fist-pumping, cumbia dancing, forwards, backwards, sideways salsa stepping, turning, hip popping, ab clenching!

My verdict: it's worth jumping on the Zumba train. It's a workout that really makes you sweat and gets your heart pumping! The best part about it? It's fun and you don't need to be born with those Latino dancing genes to enjoy it!

Check out Zumba Fitness to learn more.

Have fun and remember to get your daily fibre!

Image source: myzumbafitness.com