Happy Wednesday,
How are you holding up in the smoke and the heat? We’ve had a bit of a reprieve the last couple of days here in Helena, but I am afraid we may be in for a long season of adjusting expectations because of smoke.
I wanted to write this newsletter about how to know when it’s best to move exercise inside due to smoke, but this website has already done a good job of making clear recommendations based on the current conditions. And I like to cross check this one as well. I’m often surprised at how different the two website’s numbers are.
So rather than tell you when not to exercise outside I thought I would write you a quick workout that you can do to get some exercise in the safety of your own home whatever the AQI is outside!
This is meant to get your heart rate up since it is probably replacing a bike ride, a jog, or a hike so keep going! Move at a steady pace that you can maintain for the whole time with only brief rests to take a sip of water as needed.
Set a timer for 15 minutes and perform as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) of the following –
10 bird dogs each side
10 squats
8 reverse lunges each side
6 hands elevated push ups - (higher surface is easier, lower surface is more challenging)
Add weight by holding a dumbbell, or putting some weight in a backpack if you feel up for it with the squats and lunges. If you can do floor pushups with good form, do that instead and do sets of 10 instead of 6.
Feel free to adjust the time or add rests as needed to make this feel like a good workout for where your fitness is right now!
Your lungs aren’t worth sacrificing so that you can gasp uphill in the heat a few more times this summer. Think long term when you make decisions about your lung health this summer.
Let me know if you try this AMRAP workout and how it goes!
Katy
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