10Day Kickstart with Ellen

10DAY KICKSTART: DAY 7 MINDFULNESS

November 10, 2021 ellen
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“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn Mindfulness in movement is self-education. You learn yourself. At first it’s physical things, like you learn how your ankle tracks when you step forward, and that lunging warms up your quads. Then it’s more than physical – just the other day, I learned that my breath tightens with thoughts of the approaching holidays!  Our workout today is the most mindful one on the ellenbarrett.com platform. It’s Moving Meditation, 20minutes of meditative...

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10Day Kickstart with Ellen

10DAY KICKSTART: DAY 6 BALANCE

November 9, 2021 ellen
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“Root yourself in this earthand it will root itself in you.”― Sheniz Janmohamed Having good balance gets more and more precious as the days go by. From navigating slippery steps to tripping over the cat and catching yourself from falling, balance is just so handy to have in real life. It’s one of the most underrated byproducts of regular exercise. I really do notice that the people who move their bodies on a regular basis have better balance than the ones...

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10Day Kickstart with Ellen

10DAY KICKSTART: DAY 5 STRENGTH

November 8, 2021 ellen
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“No tricks, gimmicks, special pills, special potions, special equipment. All it takes is desire and will.” – Richard Simmons  It feels good to be strong. It’s handy to be strong. And it looks good too! But strong doesn’t necessary mean bulging biceps – it can be subtler, especially for women. “Strong” is using core muscles with every movement. It’s stabilizing shoulders when using dumbbells. It’s breathing out on exertion, and breathing in to refuel. It’s being able to support one’s own body weight in...

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10Day Kickstart with Ellen

10DAY KICKSTART: DAY 4 ENDURANCE

November 8, 2021 ellen
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“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” ―Confucius In the fitness world, endurance has a cardio connotation – it’s actually a byproduct of cardio, in that regular cardio leads to greater endurance. Endurance begs the question, “Can the breath keep up with the oxygen demand?”  You definitely want the answer to be yes. It’s a yes to capability, to having a huge comfort zone, and to being able to go after all your dreams.  There is another aspect to endurance...

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Ellen Barrett What's in my bag?

What’s in My Bag?

October 18, 2021 ellen
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There’s a brand new video fit tip on Ellen Barrett Mindful Movement and this one may be the most outside-the-box yet. It’s literally what’s in my daily go-to bag. I’m a working woman on the run and you’ll see I am very practical and my bag is very functional.  A few initial comments I received upon posting this were: 1. you don’t carry food or snacks? Nope. I’m not a snacker. 2. What about a change of clothing? I usually do go home...

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Making It to the Mat

September 27, 2021 ellen
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How about this…how about we all stop, take a minute, and think,”Hey, do my off-the-mat habits negatively influence my exercise routine?” As a trainer, I’ve learned it’s not on-the-mat that’s the problem – it’s simply getting to the mat in the first place! Here are what I deem as the top five biggest habits that set us up for exercise success:1. Organization (a.k.a., get your sh!t together!)Know where everything is – your keys, your water bottle, your life. Do you know...

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Get Psyched 🤩

September 20, 2021 ellen
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I’ve known many people over the years who just didn’t have any inspiration, for workouts or otherwise, and I see a lack of inspiration as a root cause of a lot of suffering, a lot of dreams deferred. The mistake is that people wait around for inspiration to strike. They think it comes from the outside.  And sure, inspiration can come from the outside. For example, I watched US Open Tennis and was so inspired,...

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Ellen Barrett Blog

Like Attracts Like

September 9, 2021 ellen
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Wherever I’ve lived, I have always, always found workout buddies. I’ve found people to hike with, to take group exercise classes with, and even to run 5k or 10k road races with. It goes way back – as a grade school kid, I found kids that wanted to ride bikes and play tag with me too.  I’ve come to see the act of connecting with workout buddies as a crucial first step. It’s foundational. Having people that encourage exercise,...

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The Barrett Blog

The Biggest Game Changer of All

September 6, 2021 ellen
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Can movement create confidence? Can movement remedy anxiety? Can movement eradicate stress? To tell you the truth, I don’t know. What I do know is that everyone has ups and downs. Life is not always sunny. Things shake us up. Movement doesn’t change those outside “things” but it does one very significant thing to our inside state – it brings us back to the body. Anxiety, stress and low confidence happen in our heads. They are thinking....

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Ellen Barrett

A Few Thoughts On Aging

July 28, 2021 ellen
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Yes, I am getting older. Yes, I feel the societal “pressure” regarding women and aging. And yes, I have a few things to say about it!  For one, I like myself. Why is that so radical? I like how I look and I like how I feel and I like what I’ve grown to be. I don’t want to go back in time and I am excited for what’s to come. I do not have media to...

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