Working out

On Tuesday I picked up the new Weight Watchers (WW) magazine at the store.  In it they had a great workout suggestion-shadow boxing. The article suggested doing 20 minutes of shadow boxing for a full body workout.  It also listed all of the various punches and footwork that you could use while shadow boxing. 

This suggestion was exciting to me for a few reasons.  First of all, I am always looking for new and interesting low impact workouts I can do at home.  Walking is a great workout but I can't always get out to the park to do it.    If I try walking around my neighborhood I always feel guilty if I don't take our two minature dachunds but taking them for a walk is less about me and more about them, making it hard to get enough steps in.

Secondly, the other day I was doing a Jillian Michaels workout (it was an On Demand workout on Xfinity) and she suggested that if you have any knee problems (which I do) simply punching will provide a great workout without putting stress on the knee.   I thought that was great to know for those days when the knee is feeling a little sore.

Lastly, I know a lady in England named Amy Sewell who went from obese to skinny by learning boxing.  Her story is amazing and if you want to read about it please click here.  She went from 308lbs. to about 140lbs by taking up boxing which completely changed her life (please note: in the story a "stone" is equal to 14lbs.).  I am "friends" with her on facebook and she has been able to keep the weight off and now she teaches boxing as well.  Her story is so inspirational to me!  So, the idea of shadow boxing reminded me of all of the good that Amy was able to do for herself.

So I will be adding shadow boxing to my daily workout routine.  As well as starting my first day of counting points.  I was able to read all of my WW materials last night.  The program is dramatically different from the old program but in a really good way.  The new point system really forces you into eating whole foods as frequently as possible.  So, wish me luck on my first day of WW.