Prologue - Week 1

Welcome to the first week!

The goal of this week is to keep things abundantly simple. We will introduce 3 concepts that we will dig further into in the subsequent weeks.

The first 6 weeks will be designed to explore, discovery, and unearth the nuances of your body you may not have known about, and ultimately learn more about what you enjoy and what you don’t as we look to make decisions towards addressing that you find.

This weeks topics will be the equipment I’d like you to purchase, an introduction to the primal movements we will explore over the coming weeks, and some simple breathing exercises you can begin practicing today.

Equipment: Phase 1 ($100~)

  • Bands

    • MALES: #1 Red Pair + #3 Green (single)

    • FEMALES: #1 Red Pair

  • Kettlebell

    • MALES: 35lb

    • FEMALES: 18lb

Intro to Primal Movements (see hyperlink for example)

These are just for your information, there are no expectations other than to familiarize yourself this week.

  • Squat - Sit down, stand up - Hips, knees, and ankles all bending together

  • Hinge - Bending over - Legs stay relatively straight, bending at the waist

  • Push - Pretty self explanatory

  • Pull - Pretty self explanatory

  • Lunge - Single leg loading for both the front and back of the leg

  • Twist - Rotating your spine, and also resisting rotation (called anti-rotation)

  • Run - Just as good as walking, but a little more “athletic”

  • Bonus* Carry - Travel a distance with weight

Breathing Exercises

  • Nasal Breathing

    • Throughout the week notice whether you tend to breathe through your mouth or your nose.

    • Breathing through your mouth allows you to get more air in, but breathing through your nose stimulates what’s called your parasympathetic nervous system. This relaxes you.

    • The more you breathe through your nose the more relaxed your body tends to be. This is even more important when exercising.

    • If you’re really tired, breathe through your mouth, but do your best to get back to nasal breathing as soon as you can, and your body will thank you

  • Forceful exhale + inhale

    • Your body naturally does what’s called “passive” inspiration (breathe in) and expiration (breathe out). You naturally do this without thinking.

    • There is SIGNIFICANTLY more room in your lungs. Try setting an alarm once or twice a day to do a couple of breaths as deep as you can both in and out. Make your muscles work.

    • This is a great way to reset, and bring “intention” back to your body. This will be important as we progress

    • I like to do this in the car while driving, while waking up and before going to bed.

  • Box Breathing

    • The best introduction to breathing exercises.

    • It is simply breathe in, hold, breathe out, and hold. You will do the same cadence for all 4.

      • Breathe in for 3 seconds

      • Hold for 3 seconds

      • Breathe out for 3 seconds

      • Hold for 3 seconds

      • Rinse and repeat

    • The goal would be to do this first for a minute, and work your way up to 5 minutes

    • This is another great exercise to do in the car, during a warm-up, or also a cool-down after working out.

Goal for Week 1

  • Purchase Equipment Above

  • Practice nasal breathing, forceful inhales and exhales, and box breathing

    • Each day perform at LEAST one forceful inhale and exhale

    • Complete at least 1 minute of box breathing 3 times this week

    • Notice when you breathe through your nose, and when you don’t

  • Challenge yourself at least 3 times this week to do something physical

    • This can be a walk around the block for 20 minutes

    • This can be playing a sport with friends, paddle boarding, pickle ball, or just an ordinary workout you’ve done before. Have fun

    • Every other day is a good guesstimate. Give yourself grace when it doesn’t work out, but challenge yourself every other day.

Nutrition

  • Capture a food log for Monday through Friday for the week.

You can guesstimate portions, this should NOT be a difficult task but it is important.

Email your list to hactain@gmail.com at the end of the week. We will work together to discuss small changes we can make over time that will make an impact as time goes on.

  • NOTE: As this program matures your feedback for nutrition will populate advice for each week. The more honest and feedback I get from YOU, the better the program will be for the next.

As always, feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.