I put on all the stretchy clothes,The ones that cost a lot.I mix up fancy powder drinks,The kind as thick as snot.I drive across the town to gym,The place that has a pool,Machines I don't know how to use,And weights for looking cool.It has a bar for smoothies too,A sauna and a hot tub,And fancy towels,And yoga goats,A meditation club.I visualized a thinner me,And lofty goals were set.I thought…

10 Exercises You Can Do Without Getting Out of Bed

Cosmopolitan – Can I talk about myself for a minute? Cool. I. Love. Bed. It’s the best place to procrastinate being a real human while I scroll endlessly on my phone, allowing the blue light to gently eliminates any remaining melatonin from my brain. The only problem is that I often spend most of my lying in bed time stressing about how I should be getting up to squeeze in a workout before the…

LAZY WORKOUT TO BURN FAT AT NIGHT – MAT WORKOUT AT HOME

I’m sure each one of us had one of those days when we just don’t feel like working out. Like we’re just too tired and lazy to get up and get moving?

Which is why today's workout is just so perfect because this lazy exercise is a no jumping, no standing, do-it-all-on-the-mat exercise! It's highly efficient and thus the perfect go-to workout when we’re not in the mood to be active. 

The Homestretch™

Have you ever wanted to “exercise” but didn’t really want to? Then you’ve probably tried yoga, the lazy man’s workout. Have you ever wanted to do that yoga but also didn’t want to have to leave your hermitage or your significant other (laptop)?! Then perhaps you’ve discovered the joys of Homestretching™, aka just doing yoga, at home, but branded my myself!

Homestretching™ is one of the few physical activities I will actually do because: A) you don’t have to pay to do it (I’m horrifically cheap); B) it requires little-to-no equipment (again, cheap); and C) it literally involves laying down and resting! 

Homestretching™ is also particularly wonderful for the avid homeworker because you can do it on your own schedule, and possibly even in your underwear if you don’t feel like getting dressed. Also, you can just sit down on the mat after and boom: you have an entirely new work environment. You can even blow your nose mid-Sukhasana and just litter your floor with toilet paper shame-free since apparently you and everyone else has seasonal allergies now; try doing that at Bikrams!

I hadn’t done yoga since 2010, when I was between jobs and used to go to lunchtime by-donation drop-in at the DTES women’s clinic with 60yr old ladies who were all stronger than me (I once had an anxiety attack mid-session because I couldn’t hold a pose). But back in February I woke up with a hangover headache, and when the next day the hangover was gone but the headache was still there (a headache that now seemed to stem from neck pain), I realised I had a larger problem on my hands... something that was maybe due to 12 years of continuous computer slouching. 

Since your 30s is the time when your body starts falling apart unless you proactively put the decay on pause, I decided it was finally time to deal with my horrid posture, so I found a chiropractor to align my shit up, ordered the least-ugly-yet-affordable mat I could find on Amazon, and embarked on a 30 Day Yoga Challenge with Adriene. (I later discovered she’s the YouTube yogi-of-choice for a bunch of my friends; 3.5 million subscribers can’t be wrong!)

I must admit I still haven’t finished the 30 day challenge (ended up going on a semi-spontaneous trip to Asia for 3 weeks and starting over) but after doing ~30 minutes of yoga almost every day, my posture is better, my problematic shoulder has not been problematic, and I can actually touch the ground with straight-ish legs, something that used to be entirely out of the question!!

Homestretching™ is also a great winter activity, where you have an excuse to go hang out by your window in the sun and feel like you’re outside without actually having to go outside! But who am I kidding, I’m doing that now when it’s 20 out. As you can see, there are literally no limits to the benefits of Homestretching™... namaste!

Tag your posts with #homestretching and show everyone* how you Homestretch™ at home!

*no one; possibly me

Fitness Friday: what is your quest?

Games are fun. Or at least they are supposed to be. The best games start out easy and then increase in difficulty as one builds one’s skills. That is the premise behind SuperBetter. When I rediscovered the website last fall and then picked up the book, I realized how I could incorporate my #Powerof41 challenges/tasks into the SuperBetter format. In SuperBetter, the tasks are called quests. In…

14 Exercises You Can Do While Lying Down

It’s rest-ercize. Halfway between yoga and a nap. 1. This Butt-Sculpting Lift View this image › womenshealthmag.com The movement is incredibly small but effective. Directions here. 2. These Leg Spinners View this image › nanoworkout.com Work those abs. More here. 3. The Locust View this image › elizabethstreet.com Liiiift! Then rest forever. See how here. 4. The Peddler View this image › faqs.org…