The New Beginnings Challenge 2023 playlist is available on Youtube. Check out easy to follow along exercise videos from your home with no equipment required, you just need to show up! Use this challenge to build the habit of daily movement into your life.

Core bracing is my #1 favorite exercise for building a strong core. It is the foundation to so many exercises and helps to protect the lower back. Adding bracing to your warm up and/or stretch routines initiates muscle recruitment from the abdominals, the lower back, glutes, and hips. Bracing also prepares the core for optimal engagement prior to movement. Click the link to view how to properly brace the core.

The plank, when done correctly, is the top exercise for training your entire core. This exercise utilizes the whole body, strengthening the muscles and joints from head to toe.

Since many people have been working from home, or sitting in the office, or so tired when they get home at the end of the day they plop down on the couch, I wanted to share a few of my favorite stretches to combat stiff legs and hips.

Stability Ball Bird Dog. This exercise is fantastic for anyone starting to build their core strength, and work on coordination and balance. You'll need a yoga or stability ball appropriate to your size. Start on all fours with the ball under your torso/belly button. Then, lift one leg and its opposite arm and balance. Hold for 20-30 seconds, then repeat on the other side.

The stability ball Glute bridge is excellent for core strength, balance, coordination, hip/glute/hamstring strength, and body awareness. If you have better balance try this exercise with the stability ball; if you have poor balance try this exercise on the couch or soft furniture that won’t move when you press into it.

Strength Training improves:

Balance

Muscle & Joint Strength

Calorie Burn

Confidence, Power & Control

How to build your plate to fit your nutrition needs.

1. Determine your Macronutrient needs

2. Food staples

3. How you will measure/portion your food

4. Have a support network around you

No eggs for breakfast? Have a bunch of random leftovers? Use the meal planning guide to pick out your ingredients, and then throw them all into a pan and sauté!

Pair this tomato based chili with a crusty bread on a cold afternoon. It is guaranteed to warm you with bold flavors and a bit of jalapeño heat.

Protein is a health and fitness word thrown around a lot. "You need X amount of protein," "You'll shrivel up if you don't get enough," "You need protein to grow." Not that there isn't truth to these phrases, protein is important to a health body.

If you're diabetic or pre-diabetic, or diabetes runs in your family, you know (or have at least heard of blood sugar and the constant struggle to keep it under control). Food, being one but not the only factor affecting blood sugar, directly affects blood sugar levels.

Eating healthy doesn't have to be boring, plain, or monotonous. Using spices and seasonings are a great way to bring delicious flavor to your meals. Try this recipe using curry to add dimension to a staple meal.