Don’t feel Unmotivated about exercising…Go for a Beauty Walk, instead.

I don’t know about you…but I personally LOVE when there is ONE simple & sexy action that you can take that solves a multitude of problems.

Today, I want to invite you to investigate the power of Walking…and not just any type of Walking….

I want to challenge you to go for a “Beauty Walk” with me!

Beauty Walks:
Your Solution to 3 Common Fitness & Dance Problems

 

Ok, but first let me tell you a bit more about WHY walking is such a powerful elixir for a bunch of health, and specifically fitness, problems.

I’m going to break it down and show you how Beauty Walks are your key to:

–feeling inspired (and not motivated) to exercise, move & play in your body

–properly WARMING Up before you exercise…because truly if you don’t warm up your muscles, you are putting yourself at a lot of risk for injury and strain, and feeling way more worn-out the next day than you need to

–dynamically stretching the “right way” AFTER you exercise/move…and if you’re feeling sore and achy, my little trick here is the fastest way I have found with myself and my fitness & dance students in person and online, to relieve muscle aches and soreness

Plus, it’s free…it’s fun…it’s drops you right out of stress & into a sensual connection with your booty & your hips…and it doesn’t take a lot of time to do! Yes!

So without further ado, let’s get right to it…

 

So how exactly do you go on a “Beauty Walk”?

As you walk, notice little snapshots of beauty around you, every where you go.

Notice flowers, the shape of shadows and sunlight, cute babies and dogs, beautiful furniture or clothes in store windows.

I love bringing along my phone or camera and taking pictures of some of the beautiful things I see while I walk.

This is a pretty magical photo from one of my Beauty Walks in sunny California—a snapshot of my dog Bear with this lovely heart of sunshine pouring through the leaves of some gorgeous trees in CA!

Plus, extra bonus…with Beauty Walks: the more Beauty you notice around you, the more Beautiful you feel!

Now, that is an awesome benefit!

I first got inspired about this idea of Beauty Walks…by Louise Hay and her love of admiring roses and noticing beauty around her…thank you Louise Hay for all of your self & body-love inspiration! 🙂

 

Why should YOU go on a Beauty Walk every day?

Ok, now that you know exactly what this whole Beauty Walk business is about…going for a walk and looking for beauty around you as you do…

Let me tell you WHY a daily Beauty Walk can solve 3 problems, all in one go:

 

1. Feel Inspired to Move & Play In Your Body

Now the key thing to know about getting your Body involved in making “exercise” a part of your daily lifestyle…is that your body WANTS to Move…it wants to Play…every single day.

Now I’m not just talking about working out, or dancing even…your body just want to straight-up move around every day.

It’s part of our animal nature.

And we’ve created jobs and cultures around doing just the opposite of this…indeed, sitting on our booties for way too long at work, on the sofa at night, in our car for a commute…and not enough shaking of them!

In fact, I believe that when you can step into allowing your body to move and play everyday…you can get out of your Mind, which can get mired down with repetitive thoughts, worries, hurries, and to-do’s…and into the silent meditative connection of being IN your body…

And have fun giving your Body what it loves and craves:

Lungs expanding, heart beating, joy feeling, pleasure and sweat loving…Movement and Play.

Start Where You’re At (pleasurable fitness principle #1)

Now you can get un-inspired to exercise when you do something that’s outside of your current fitness range, and let me know if this sounds familiar…Have you ever flipped through a magazine or the internet and you see the picture of a fitness model and she has rocking hot abs and these beautiful legs and sculpted arms…

And you think, oooh, yes I want to have that too. But you don’t want to necessarily jump off the deep end and try to do a really intense fitness program she’s doing to start…because that’s when injuries may happen and sore, stiff muscles comes from…

You want to acknowledge where you are with your fitness and movement level…and I recommend starting with something like walking every day…Walking can be a great form of gentle “interval cardio”…and it’s a great way to notice all of the beauty around you, clear your mind, and also release the muscles in your back and hips…

 

2. Avoid being Sore…Properly Warm-Up before you Strength Train or Dance

 

Now the thing is…you need to properly “warm up” your muscles before you start asking them to learn new things and  get strong and shimmy, shake and undulate…If you go to a dance class, or get busy with strength training…in either case…you always need to take 10 minutes to properly WARM UP your major muscle groups.

Now sometimes if you go to a live dance class…the dance teacher will actually have you do what’s called “static stretching”…like bending over and touching your toes. This is actually a huge recipe for causing a lot of muscle strain and injury…because it’s actually been shown in multiple research studies to make your muscles less responsive when your workout…so A. you won’t get as hot of results from your efforts and B. you end up putting yourself at-risk for injury and strains…

Instead, you want to save any “static stretching” for AFTER you dance/workout…

And what you want to do instead is called “Dynamic Stretching”…

 

How to use Beauty Walks as a way to Warm-Up (before):

Either:

A. Drive to the dance class or gym 10 minutes early, park your car…and get out and walk briskly around the block for 10 minutes to get properly warmed up. This has been key for me with attending and teaching Zumba dance classes specifically…because there’s often not much of a Warm Up built into this class style.

B. Or walk or bike to Dance Class or the Gym.

I happen to live in New York City right now…so I end up getting a nice long, brisk walk by just getting to class or the gym…It’s hysterical here in NYC actually…people try to speed race you on the sidewalk, and I find myself “competing” to walk faster than other people here all the time. Ha!

Anyways, you want to get your WALK on for a solid 10 minutes BEFORE you workout/dance. It’s important to not carry anything heavy with you at this time…you want to let your arms naturally swing from your shoulders and you want to put your attention into your Hips & Booty as you walk…while taking nice deep breaths.

It should feel really good…but you also want to walk at a pace that’s a little challenging. A slow walk is just not going to heat your muscles up enough.

C. Alternatively, if you’re goi9ng to workout at home…or you live in Alaska in the winter or some place where it’s difficult to walk…you can do what I love to call the “Funky Dance Walk” across your living room.

You don’t get the added visual input of the Beauty Walk….but listening to music you love is beautifying still too! 🙂 So to get your Funky Dance Walk on, and properly warm-up your muscles before you workout inside…Just put on a medium tempo’d song and strut back and forth across your living room, and try out different “Dance Walks.”

You can dance walk like James Brown, super funky…or dance walk like a Rio Samba dancer, balancing on your toes…or be way to sexy for your walk like LMFAO…play around with your mood and expression…and the key is to make sure that you get your whole body gently involved.

All right! Now you’re ready to werk it! Remember…a huge key to preventing muscle aches and soreness when you dance & strength train is to warm up…and the easiest way to do this is with a brisk 10 minute walk around the block…or a gentle “funky dance walk” to one song, baby! 🙂

 

3. Free Your Hips…Dynamically stretch the “right way” AFTER you strength train or dance…

And if you’re feeling sore and achy, my little trick here is the fastest way I have found with myself and my dance students in person and online…

To relieve muscle aches and soreness…

Ok, now many people have asked me a common question…this question seems to be a major block for people to actually get started with exercising and doing something as fun as Dancing or booty-focused strength training…AND it’s a block to many people just trying something once…and coming back for more…

And that’s that people, myself totally included…don’t like having sore, achy and/or tight muscles AFTER you exercise.

 

Well, you may be surprised to learn that a lot of muscle aches and soreness can be prevented with 2 things:

–breathing deeply as you dance or lift weights (or any exercise…people tend to hold their breath!!)

–and being aware of your FORM…so that you have the best alignment possible for the exercise you’re doing! (more about this soon).

However, if you do feel achy & tight from working out…the absolute BEST remedy I have found for this…is to:

A. REST….

B. And go on a Beauty Walk up and down some Hills…preferably DIRT Pathways and Hills…

So that you can roll through your entire foot, and stretch out your leg, hip and butt muscles…

And again, you want to make sure you aren’t carrying anything heavy…so that your arms can freely swing at your side and your neck is free to release and relax too.

Muscle aches and muscle PAIN are two different things though, my love…so if you feel sore, the best and most important first step is to rest and check in with your body…and if you have PAIN, I highly recommend a trip to the chiropractor, sports massage therapist, or doctor to get yourself checked out! Pain is a message from your body, telling you to STOP.

But if you’re just feeling sore…a brisk walk up and down some dirt hills can be your saving grace!

 

Take the Beauty Walk Challenge!

OK, yay…I hope you enjoyed my exploration of WHY going on a Beauty Walk can be so good for you!

–it gets you out of a “rut of sitting on your butt” if you find yourself stuck there

–it’s a bomb way to warm up BEFORE you dance or werk it

–and it’s a fast and easy way to STRETCH your muscles AFTER you dance & strength train, too

Going for a Beauty Walk:

So….

Move with Mother Nature…go for a Beauty Walk!

Share a “#BeautyWalk” or “#sybf” photo on Facebook or Instagram…if you feel inspired…

Please share the Beauty you saw…and how going on a Beauty Walk made you feel!!

Can’t wait to see what you share!

 

With lots of love & joy in the beauty of the firmly shaking booty,

Theresa Marie

 

P.S. I have a free series of Booty Movement Breaks here on my site too…all about activating your glutes, your booty muscles, which is indeed VERY helpful for having strong confident posture when you walk too…check out these free 5 Booty Movement Breaks… and let’s move.