I know, “squat thrust” can sound intimidating. But, they aren’t terribly hard, and they are a great exercise that tones the abs, legs and arms, and can give you a great cardio burst.

This yogic version incorporates awareness and the breath to give the move double impact. Enjoy!

Summer is coming to a close, are you ready for a new routine?

I know I am. I enjoy a lot of things about summer… longer days, spending time with my daughter, the warmth (minus the brutal heat and humidity), bare feet, camping trips, hiking, swimming… I could go on and on.

But one thing that always makes me crazy is the seeming lack of routine in the summertime. School is out, and my daughter gets involved in a variety of summer camps, and activities – our schedule changes week to week, sometimes day to day – it makes this slightly Type-A gal a tad nuts.

Around mid-July, I start craving the solid routine that the school year brings, and I start feeling like a huge space cadet – I forget things, I can’t focus… lack of routine just starts to throw me completely off kilter.

And that off-centeredness oozes into my workout routine. Before summer, I had my routine all laid out – a nice plan for each day of the week – and it was workin’ for me! I loved it.

Mid-July, that went to heck.

My schedule was off – so was my exercise – ESPECIALLY my yoga.

But now, September is upon us, and I’m ready to get back to a solid routine. I know many people who have the same willy-nilly schedule in the summer… and even (say it ain’t so!!) don’t exercise at all during the summer gasp!

Getting back into a routine can be easy – really.

Here are 3 tips to help you get back into the swing:

1. Schedule it. Get something in your calendar right now and commit to it. Don’t just put it in the calendar and “hope” that you’ll get to it. Schedule it with the intention of doing it.

2. Make it a priority again. For a few weeks, fitness fell way down on my priority list – yep – it even happens to a fitness guru ;) I had to make it a priority again. And no, that wasn’t particularly easy. But, going back to tip 1, I scheduled it and committed to it.

3. Remember how great you felt when fitness was a regular thing. You felt strong, focused, balanced… any number of wonderful feelings. Remembering this will help with 1 and 2.

This week, I was inspired by Triangle Pose. Triangle Pose is one of my favorites. All of my favorite yoga poses were at one time the poses that were most challenging to me. When I finally feel comfortable in a challenging pose, I feel like I’ve really achieved something.

When I first started yoga, triangle felt awkward, and really tough to do. But now, I find it to be one of the best stretches, and one of the best strengtheners for the thighs, the lats and the obliques.

Add this series of three poses to the end or the middle of your workout, or, even use it as a mid-morning or mid-day pick-me-up.

Warrior poses are fantastic for building strength through the hips, shoulders and legs. But they are also great to help us stay calm under pressure. Anyone who has held a warrior pose for a few breaths knows that it can start to challenge the muscles. When you start to feel challenged in the pose, try lengthening your breath – long inhalation, long exhalation. That same breathing pattern can help off the mat when faced with a challenging situation.

Try adding this short sequence to your workout this week!

We’ve heard it time and time again – sugar is bad for us.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a very intelligent client ask me WHY sugar is bad… I mean, after all, it DOES come from a plant.

The two big problems with sugar are, we eat way too much of it, and it’s refined down so much, there are no nutrients left in it. We end up pushing a ton of sucrose through our body, that technically, our body can’t handle. The excess gets stored as fat. If we put too much sugar in our systems continuously, we end up fatiguing our pancreas because it has to make too much insulin, and our insulin response goes haywire and we end up with diabetes.

It stands to reason that a good alternative would be artificial sweeteners. No calories, and it’s not sugar… so why not use them?

There is a TON of information on this topic. And rather than get into all of it, I’m just going to share my opinion. This is based on what I’ve read, and experienced over the years. Take it for what it’s worth – feel free to ask questions in the comments…

Artificial sweeteners aren’t good for you – not even the ones that claim to be made from sugar or stevia.

They aren’t good for you for a multitude of reasons – the main one being, they’re pure chemicals. They are made up of all kinds of stuff your body does not recognize – even the ones that claim to be made from natural things.

Among other things, artificial sweeteners have been proven to slow down your metabolism, they are stored as fat in your system – just like when you eat too much sugar. And, they are suspected to be addicting, and to cause migraines.

My advice – stay away from them.

Whenever possible, use natural sweeteners. Things like Stevia, honey, agave, natural maple syrup (not Mrs. Butterworths… I’m talkin the good stuff…), etc.

You may need to experiment a bit to find what works for you. And a lot of times, you’ll need different sweeteners for different purposes. For example, maple syrup is great for things like pancakes and oatmeal, but not so great in coffee. And, agave is wonderful for cooking and baking – but it’s not calorie free so use it moderately.

Remember, read labels and eat as close to whole and unprocessed as you can.