Key Terms and Definitions

Easy, Moderate, Difficult

These designations are inspired by hiking and ski trail labels. The idea is that Easy sessions might be appealing to anyone, and as the difficulty increases you'll want to be more cautious.

Easy sessions include modifications for people with limited mobility. These are are great for anyone recovering from injury or illness, or wanting a low-intensity workout.

Moderate sessions should be challenging but doable for most healthy people.

Difficult sessions are intended for people who exercise regularly at moderate to high intensity and want to push themselves further in fitness and performance.

Strength, Cardio, Stretch

Strength sessions focus on increasing strength in a particular muscle group. These exercises emphasize precision, and at the Moderate and Difficult levels, muscle endurance. Strength sessions can serve as a warm-up for Cardio and Stretch sessions.

Cardio sessions focus on elevating the heart rate. The emphasis is on cardiovascular endurance over precision, so it is important to warm up before doing weight-bearing cardio exercises. Because cardio exercises are full body movements with an emphasis on intensity, these are a great warm-up for Stretch sessions.

Stretch sessions focus on increasing mobility in a particular muscle group. It is important to always warm up before stretching. For Easy Stretch sessions, simply doing them at the end of a day of regular activities can be sufficient warm-up. For Difficult Stretch sessions, a thorough warm-up of strengthening, cardio, and/or low-intensity stretching is essential to avoid injury.

Full Strength/Cardio/Stretch sessions begin with strengthening to warm up, proceeding with cardio-focused full body movement, and finishing with cool-down stretches. If you want a thorough all-in-one package, this is the place to go!

Metabolic Resistance Training

Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) increases metabolism through intervals of full body movement and rest. Unlike typical cardio exercises, resistance exercises work muscle strength and mobility in a variety of directions.

To get the most out of an MRT workout, it's important to adapt the speed and intensity of movement to a level at which your breath and heart rate are elevated, but you are still able to continue the movement for the full interval. It's also important to warm up before beginning an MRT workout, so that you can reach an elevated heart rate quickly without hurting yourself.

Many of my Cardio sessions include 7-minute MRT workouts.

Upper Body, Lower Body, Core

Upper Body includes hands, wrists, arms, neck, shoulders, chest, and upper back.

Lower Body includes feet, ankles, legs, and hips.

Core includes abdominals, obliques, back, and hips.