Spring break wake-up call: It’s time to get in shape for summer

Three 10 to 20 minute exercises that will have you looking toned and trim.

For most of us, spring break is just around the corner or already here, and all the top destinations for you and your friends involve salty oceans, long stretches of sand… and you in a bathing suit.
Is your beach body ready for that trip, or do you need to work off the winter flab?

Here are a few 10-20 minute workouts to sprinkle throughout the day that will get you started on your way to spring break shape and have you ready for the summer sun.

Workout One
Type: Strength and Cardio
Time: 10min
Equipment: yourself and a clock/stopwatch

Get up from your desk, loosen up, and prepare for ten different basic exercises to perform each for one minute each. Just clear enough space for you to do jumping jacks and push-ups.

One minute run in place
One minute jumping jacks
One minute pushups
One minute ab twists
One minute (mock) jump rope
One minute plank
One minute sit ups
One minute high knees
One minute burpees
One minute toe touches

You can mix up the exercises, but be sure to include cardio and strength and to space them out through the ten minutes.

tony-horton-lunge-289x351 — photo credit: http://www.shape.com/blogs/fit-famous/we-tried-it-tony-horton%E2%80%99s-warrior-workout

Workout Two
Type: strength and cardioTime: 10minEquipment: yourself and web-enabled deviceTony Horton, the creator of P90X, developed a ten minute workout for the Dr. Oz show. The exercise is only five moves, repeated until you reach the ten minute mark.
Follow along with the video found here. All you need is “the human body, mother earth, and Sir Isaac Newton’s law of gravity,” Horton says in the video.

Workout Three
Type: strength, cardio, and abs
Time: 20 minutes
Equipment: yourself, Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD and 3-5lb weights

Jillian Michaels is a physical fitness trainer who has made a name for herself training participants of the TV show “The Biggest Loser.” Not called the “toughest TV trainer” for nothing, Jillian brings her game in the 30 Day Shred workout , which you through three intense circuits of three minutes strength, two minutes cardio, and one minute strength each 20 minute session. The DVD has three levels to move up through on your way to a toned body. It’s only $7.99 on Amazon.

The best parts of these exercises are their brevity and intensity. It’s easy to slip in one or two ten minute workouts a day in any location that has a tiny bit of open space. Keep at it and you’ll be looking trim in no time.

Feature photo credit: photo taken from http://themiraclemedicine.com/the-miracle-medicine/cardiovascular-exericse/

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.