IPS WL- Weight Loss!

INTRODUCTION
FIT IN 5
WARM-UP
WL ROUTINE
COOL DOWN
NEXT STEPS

There are literally millions of products, exercise routines, tips, doctors, and gurus available these days to guide you on your weight loss journey. Many of these are simply money-making fads, and even amongst the legitimate programs and products offered, how on earth do you decide which one to follow? Words like “Magic Formula”, and “Holy Grail” are used to describe weight loss programs all over the internet. Which one will work for you?

Start with this guide!
TIP: Bookmark this page for easy access.

Introduction

Start with ANY exercise routine really, but this booklet gives you a well-researched, simple entry point into exercise for weight loss.

IPS and Somalution Body Revolution both agree that fundamental keys to good overall health are:

    • Eating Better
    • Sleeping Better
    • Moving More
    • Managing Stress Better

This workout program is an example of how you can “Move More”.

Moving More means three things to the weight conscious:

    • Cardio- basically getting your heart rate up to burn more fat.
    • Muscle Building- more muscle means more fat burn in your body.
    • Consistency- exercise needs to become part of your daily routine, not just for weight loss, but for overall health. You cannot expect results in the first week, so stick to your goals!
GOAL SETTING

Monitoring your progress over time is critical to keep you motivated! You can monitor in traditional ways like weighing yourself, or measuring cm’s, but you can also measure yourself in fun, practical ways like:

    • Fitting into that pair of jeans you can’t wear anymore.
    • Looking good in a golf shirt again.
    • Climbing the stairs at work without pausing to rest.
    • Seeing how many reps of an exercise you can do.
    • Completing your first 5k run.
OVERVIEW OF THE IPS WL WORKOUT PROGRAM

This workout is designed specifically as a “time-efficient fat burn workout” and has two components to it:

    • Morning “Fit in 5” activation routine (daily).
    • Weight Loss Wheel workout (3 or more times per week).
TRAINING SPACE & SETUP

You need a 2x2M space in your home to use as your workout area. Keep a sweat towel and water handy. Working out in sport shoes, or “tekkies” is recommended, although many people work out barefoot indoors. Do NOT work out in socks, as they tend to be a little slippery and may get you hurt.

SELF CARE

If you are worried about doing exercise for medical or health reasons, you should consult with your doctor before doing any exercises!

As part of caring for yourself, it is also critical to listen to your body- and to not push yourself beyond the limits of your current state of fitness. You are rebuilding your relationship with your own body, and this may take some time, so be gentle on yourself.

Making exercise part of your life is less like adding an activity to your already full schedule, and more like making a lifestyle change to improve your quality of life.

Most importantly- ENJOY THE PROCESS. It is a gift to be able to move our bodies and to be active. Enjoy it while you can!

Morning Fit in 5

This is a simple, 5-minute activation for your body, and you don’t’ need to do much warming up. You just roll out of bed and do this routine before you hit the shower. It is a compressed version of the full Weight Loss Wheel routine.

The Fit in 5 routine does the following for you:

    • Stimulates your metabolism to help you start burning more fat right out of bed.
    • Activates your body- gets the joints and muscles moving better for the day.
    • Ignites your mind and creativity for the day.

Jog on the spot: 1 minute.

Keep posture & joints loose. Check in with your body- how are you feeling this morning? How is your body feeling? How can you help your body?

Step Jacks: 15 Sec per leg.

Keep your supporting leg slightly bent. Keep your back upright and straight and keep your arms as straight as possible. You can upgrade to full Jumping Jacks as time goes on.

Dip & Reach: 30sec

Dip, then turn your hips sideways. Reach up and out as far as you can. Return to your dipped position & do next reach to the opposite side.

Marches: 30 Sec.

Keep your arms straight, lift them high, and lift your knees as high as you can. Lift your knees higher to work our your abs. Graduate to High Knees when ready.

Floor Touches: 30 Sec.

Make sure your knees do most of the work. This is not bending down to touch the floor, rather a dropping down using your legs to get as close to the floor before you bend over to touch it. Get your butt in line, or lower than your knees.

Punches: 30 Sec.

Lock the shoulders and punch hard to your own nose height. Pull your resting arm back completely and to your side. We’re doing proper combat punches here, not lame fake ones! You can graduate to Knee pushups, and even full pushups when you are ready!

Modified Burpee: 1 Min.

This is a great prelude to doing the most comprehensive and effective exercise known to man:

    • Place your hands out in front of your body- you need to “fall” forward slightly.
    • Step back with one leg at a time until you are in a plank position. Your shoulders, hips and ankles should make one line. Watch out for lifting your butt too much!
    • Step back up, one leg at a time, reversing what you’ve just done.
    • Push yourself up using your arms to get back to upright. This is important: Do NOT just stand up using your legs: You’ve stepped too far forward then. You MUST use your upper body to push yourself up a little to get the right work in.

      Upgrade to a Regular Burpee.

Side Shuffle with Toe Touches: 30 Sec.

Skip or shuffle from side to side, touching your toes on each side as you go. You need to do a little bit of a hop to change your feet position each time. Start with your feet shoulder width apart, step out to the left, touch your toes, skip your left leg back in while skipping your right leg out, and touch your toes on the right.

Morning Fit in 5 Upgrades

Jumping Jacks

Keep a nice symmetry by touching your fingertips as you swing your arms above your head. Do not bend the arms too much- you want to get good shoulder movement in this exercise.

High Knees

High Knees is a jogging/running motion, and not just stepping! Hold your palms out to help you remember to lift those knees high!

Knee Pushups

Lock the hips so that you don’t bend them while dropping down for the pushup. Try to get your chest to touch the floor before your belly does.

 

The Burpee

    • Drop directly down- you do not “fall forward” as with the Modified Burpee.
    • Jump back with both feet to plank.
    • Jump back up to original position.
    • Jump up in the air as high as you can. If this is too much for you, just stand up from your crouched position until you can incorporate the jump.

The Warm-Up

    • The importance of your warmup cannot be overstated! You MUST always do a light warm-up, and in cold weather take a minute or 2 extra.
    • This warm-up sequence should take about 4 minutes.
    • Your warm-up movements are LIGHT- designed to warm you up, so listen to your body and resist moving too vigorously while warming up.

Jog on the spot: 1 minute.

Keep posture & joints loose. Unwind from the day’s stress, or just get your body moving after getting out of bed.

Dip & Back Kick: 30sec

Make sure you get a decent dip, keep your back upright, and hands on your hips.

Dip & Reach: 30sec

Dip, then turn your hips sideways. Reach as far as you can. Reach with both arms if it is more comfortable for you.

Toe Taps: 6 each side.

Reach ONLY as far down as you comfortably can..  you don’t have to touch your toes. Remember this is a warmup exercise.

Shoulder Rolls:

Nice big circles with your elbows, leaning forward a bit. Make 12 forward, and 12 backward circles.

Toe Touches: 6

Go ONLY as far down as you comfortably can.. This is a WARM UP! You may bend your legs and back slightly.

Front Kick: 6 each side

Swing your straight leg up as high as comfortable. Keep back as upright as possible. Flex foot back if you’re comfortable doing so.

Hip Openers: 6 each side.

Lift, swing, drop, repeat on both sides.

The IPS WL Wheel Routine

    • With each session, choose one of the 6 exercises to use as the hub of your exercise wheel. This is the exercise you will do in-between each other exercise.
    • This “wheel & hub” approach allows you to focus on a different body area each time you train- to build more muscle in that area, while getting your cardio in for the day.
    • Alternate your Hub exercise every day.
    • You will do 20 Seconds of each exercise, followed by 10 Seconds of rest (or walking/ jogging on the spot) before going to the next exercise in the set.
    • Example of one round:
      • Choose Punches as your hub for the session:
      • This means you will start with 20 Sec of Punches, rest for 10 Sec, then do Step Jacks, rest, then Punches again, rest, then Marches, rest then Punches, rest, Floor Touches, rest, Punches, rest, AB Tucks, rest, Punches, rest, and finally Burpees.
      • For each workout, you will thus do ONE exercise FIVE times, alternating with the others.
    • REST for 1-2min between each round.
    • REPEAT workout as many times as possible. Beginners should do 1-3 rounds, while, as you advance, you can go up to 7 rounds.
    • A round takes 5min. Three rounds, with Warmup and Cool Down will take about 25 Min.
    • Change up to the advanced exercise as you are ready to do so.
    • LISTEN to your body, and take it easy on yourself, especially in your first few sessions!

Step Jacks

Keep your supporting leg slightly bent. Keep your back upright and straight and keep your arms as straight as possible. Do 10 Sec with your left leg then 10 Sec with the right. You can upgrade to full Jumping Jacks as time goes on.

Punches

Lock the shoulders and punch hard to your own nose height. Pull your resting arm back completely and to your side. We’re doing proper combat punches here, not lame fake ones! You can graduate to Knee pushups, and even full pushups when you are ready!

Marches

Keep your arms straight, lift them high, and lift your knees as high as you can. This is an ab exercise too, so the higher you lift your knees, the better work you get in your abs. Graduate to High Knees when ready.

Floor Touches

Make sure your knees do most of the work. This is not bending down to touch the floor, rather a dropping down using your legs to get as close to the floor before you bend over to touch it. Get your butt in line, or lower than your knees.

AB Tucks

Extend your legs fully and use your body as a counterweight when extending your legs out by leaning back. Smile.

Modified Burpee

This is a great prelude to doing one of the most comprehensive and effective exercise known to man:

    • Place your hands out in front of your body- you need to “fall” forward slightly.
    • Step back with one leg at a time until you are in a plank position. Your shoulders, hips and ankles should make one line. Watch out for lifting your butt too much!
    • Step back up, one leg at a time, reversing what you’ve just done.
    • Bend your arms slightly and use them to spring your body upright. This is important: Do NOT just stand up using your legs: You’ve stepped too far forward then. You MUST use your arms to start the momentum of getting yourself upright a little to get the right work in.

The IPS WL Wheel Routine Upgrades

Jumping Jacks

Keep a nice symmetry by touching your fingertips as you swing your arms above your head. Do not bend the arms too much- you want to get good shoulder movement in this exercise.

High Knees

High Knees is a jogging/running motion, and not just stepping! Hold your palms out to help you remember to lift those knees high!

Knee Pushups

Lock the hips so that you don’t bend them while dropping down for the pushup. Try to get your chest to touch the floor before your belly does.

The Burpee

    • Drop directly down- you do not “fall forward” as with the Modified Burpee.
    • Jump back with both feet to plank.
    • Jump back up to original position.
    • Jump up in the air as high as you can. If this is too much for you, just stand up from your crouched position until you can incorporate the jump.

Cool Down

    • The importance of your cool down cannot be overstated!
    • Take your time and listen to your body.
    • Don’t sit down directly after your training- keep moving for 5-10min after any kind of training.
    • In cold weather a warm shower or bath directly after training will be great! Put half a handful of Epsom Salts in your bathwater if your muscles are sore.

Stretch Up.

Interlock fingers and really reach for the roof! Stand on tiptoes if you can.. Really working that stretch through the body.

Stretch Back.

Interlace fingers, lock elbows, and focus on stretching out the shoulders and chest.

Shoulder Stretch.

Grab the elbow and pull to create good stretch in shoulders. Incorporate a slight twist to stretch your back too.

Good Morning hold 10sec.

Hinge from hip only and hold. Back kept straight. Work on straightening your legs as time goes on- but never LOCK those knees.

Stretch & Back Bend 10sec.

Palms facing each other- incorporate a slight back bend- listen to your body!

Calf Stretch 10sec each side.

Try to work the back heel down to the floor as you stretch that calf.

Quad Stretch 10sec each side.

Grab your foot closer to the toes for a bonus shin stretch.

Mountain Pose*

Stand upright with your feet facing forward parallel to each other. Hold your pose for a minute or more, until you feel ready to move into your day

*Mountain Pose: After your workout & cool down, it is important to reflect on what you had just completed. This allows your body to integrate your workout into your muscle memory. One way of doing this is to assume the Mountain Pose, common in Yoga Practice.

Some tips:

  • The goal is symmetry and balance, left & right, front & back of body. To get your entire body symmetrical and balanced.
  • Balance weight equally on left & right feet, and on ball & heel of each foot. Point chin down so the crown of your head is pointed at the sky. Your palms face forward.
  • Keep checking entire body for tension- your body should be “alert but relaxed”- you’ll get it with practice ☺
  • Tune in to your body- what’s feeling good, what is tired, what is sore.. Just take the info in without responding.
  • Before ending off, thank yourself for spending time with your body, and thank your Creator for your ability to move!

Next Steps

    • Focus on “finding the work” in each exercise- perfect your form to find the maximum work for your body in each exercise. It helps to have a mirror or partner to help you correct any form mistakes.
    • Find a fitness trainer to help you build a program specifically for your needs and goals.
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