DAY 9

“Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes” ― Author Unknown

It must have felt good to give your body some rest yesterday, didn’t it? Hope you are aching less and adjusting well to an exercise regimen.

Alright, grab your lemon/lime water and let’s get started!

Day 9 Wellness Action: Plan a Garden

There are many ways you can relieve stress and it turns out that a return to nature is one of them. According to a study published in the Journal of Health Psychology, gardening helped the study participants restore themselves to a positive mood and reduce their cortisol levels. If getting a flat tummy is on your goal list, this should be music to your ears because cortisol is one of the hormones that encourages fat to deposit around your tummy.

So now that you’ve decided to see the light and step outside to garden, what does planning a garden require? Your task for today is to make simple decisions about the where, how, what.

1. Where 

If you have a backyard, this is a no brainer. But if you live in a densely populated area, you might want to consider a small herb garden on your windowsill.

2. How

If you have the space in your yard, decide if you want to make use of potted plants or if you want to dig directly into the ground. If you only have a small spot on your kitchen window, then a few small herb pots might be the best way to go.

3. What

If you are ambitious you can look into starting a full blown vegetable garden. If on the other hand, you want something that is hard to kill off, a low maintenance herb garden packed with hardy perennials like thyme and rosemary is a great way to start.

As you can see your choice of a garden can be as unique as you are and your task today is to plan out just how unique you want it to be.

Day 9 Workout: Core and Cardio Intervals

We’ve discussed how cardio training is important for health and fat burning and how core exercises keep your midsection strong and healthy so in this workout we are going to work both at the same time!

Simply alternate 30-seconds of jumping rope (or jumping jacks) with 30-seconds of the following five core exercises. Repeat twice to total 10-minutes.

1. W-sits
2. Russian Twists
3. Up/down planks
4. Reverse crunches
5. Crunches

Click here for full written exercise instructions. Once you have warmed up (click here for warm up video), follow the exercise demonstration in the video below to get started on today’s fitness challenge. 

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