Archive for the ‘Health & Wellness’ Category

Rolling without the Foam..My Latest Joy

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

LOVE THIS STRETCH!

I really just wanted to share this bit of info with you guys because as it has helped me, I think it will benefit you as well. Aside from stealing hugs and kisses from my beautiful niece and hanging out with the fam, this has been one of my most exciting and most lucrative things to do lately.  My body has thanked me big time.

I have been getting in anywhere between two and four extra stretching/recovery/regeneration sessions in per week at home with a heavy band, a lacrosse ball, a pvc pipe and a sweet wooden floor that allows for above average gliding skills during the SMR (self-myofascial release).

I cannot believe how healthy my joints, muscles and body feels after the last 3 weeks of these extra rejuvenation session.

I am thinking of filming some of these home office/training lab feel good sessions so be on the look out for some training footage of some serious damage control and heavy duty foam rolling without the foam.

The fun part about these sessions at home lately is I have been able to spend some quality time without interruption on a specific muscles and get the lax ball in there and than follow that up with a static stretch for that particular muscle group.  Many times I get sidetracked at when doing certain exercises at the gym.  Usually when I am squatting, benching or deadlifting people tend to let me be however when I am lounging on a foam roller or lacrosse ball I can get sidetracked by messages, questions, etc. So doing this type of workout at home for me is ideal because it has allowed the peace and quiet I am looking for in this type of recovery workout.  Some may actually benefit by coming to the gym to do this type of workout because that will give them the most peace and quiet and if that’s so than get you butt in and STRETCH!

The other thing I think that has been really effective and helpful during these at home stretch sessions is the choice of music I have been listening to.  This is not to say that it has not been a mixture however I have been stretching and foam rolling to music that feels relaxing and soulful at the time I start my home workout.  Sometimes it’s heavy music, some days its reggae, but most always it is something in my collection of tunes that has given me some really good experiences over the years and I can feel in my soul on that day.  This type of music selection has helped tremendously in relaxing and healing some muscle issues that I have been having.  Music is key and I think if you try this home workout you will feel exactly like I do which is refreshed and this feeling is priceless for many of us with such busy, hectic lives.

Lastly I think by adding in these home recovery sessions I have been able to spend more quality time playing and rolling around with my baby boys Harley & Titan. It is pretty neat being able to roll around and stretch while the boys are licking my face, wrestling each other, bullying me around.  They have really enjoyed having me down on the floor where they are like one of them.

Here is just a quick of the top of my head list of the exercises I do during these at home recovery sessions:

  • Lax Ball SMR on calves, glutes, ITBand, hip flexors, hamstrings at certain spots, bottom of feet and anywhere that hurts
  • Leg Swings both forward/backward and side to side
  • Green Band 2 Way Hamstring Stretch
  • 90/90 Hip Stretch on Floor
  • 3 position Hip Flexor Stretch with Quad Stretch
  • Side Lying Rib Pulls
  • REPEAT Lax Ball SMR on rhomboids, lower/upper traps, rotators, delts, triceps, anywhere that hurts
  • Green Band Shoulder Dislocators
  • Standing No Money w/ Band
  • YTWL’s
  • Green Band Traction Stretches on each chest, shoulder and lat.

    THIS REALLY HURTS!

I have also included the following exercises if I felt good and need a good sweat and workout:

  • Band Pull Aparts
  • Single Leg Bridges
  • Passive & Active Leg Lowering
  • Scapular Pushups
  • Close grip Pushups
  • TRX Y-Raises
  • TRX Rows
  • One Arm KB Row (with various elbow positions)
  • KB Swings
  • KB Windmills
  • Turkish Get Ups
  • 1/2 Turkish Get Ups
  • All Types of Planks

So if you are feeling beat up and run down than back off some heavy sessions and add in some regeneration sessions and you will feel WAY BETTER!

If you are not sure what some or any of these exercises above are than just post a comment or shoot us an email letting us know and I will be sure to put some fresh educational videos up for you guys.

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Posted in Exercise Instruction, Health & Wellness, Kettlebells, Strength, Training Log | No Comments »

2 Awesome Ab Exercises

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Deep down inside everyone that works out would love to see their abs or what is known as a “6 pack”.  Yea some say they workout to stay healthy or to prevent injury or for various other reason but you can’t tell me that if given a choice they wouldn’t want a chiseled mid-section under that t-shirt just waiting to show it off.

Now if you don’t know this yet you are about to know that achieving that ripped midsection has more to do with what you stuff in your mouth than what exercises you select.  Getting lean enough to see your abs is nutrition based and you simply cannot out exercised poor eating.  Performing core work everyday for hours on end will not give you the abs your looking for if your stuffing calzones down your throat.

With that being said, today’s blog will be about choosing the best exercises for your core so that when you do shed those layers of body-fat your abs will look even that much better.  It is also about keeping your body healthy and a good core training routine should teach you how to use your abdominal while performing other tasks.

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5 Components to a Workout

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

Do Your Workouts Include These 5 Components?

To make sure you are covering all your bases with your training, you need to be including all 5 of the following components into your workout. If you include all of these you are going to enhance your  performance the right way…

1. Foam Rolling

I recommend everyone start their workout with a few minutes of Self Myofascial Release (SMR) otherwise known as foam rolling. In my facility even if you are late for a workout this is never skipped.  I would rather someone skip a set or two at the end of their workout than skip the foam rolling portion of their workout.

This is a great way to massage your muscles and improve the tissue quality so that your muscles will move more efficiently during the workout. It can also help promote mobility and flexibility in your muscles.  I suggest performing 5-10 rolls per muscle.

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Posted in Exercise Instruction, Health & Wellness, Strength | 1 Comment »

10 Minutes to a Strong Core and Explosive Hips Using Only a Kettlebell

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Every athlete whether you are an NFL running back or a weekend warrior runner could use a stronger body. The most important area of the body that an athlete needs is the core and posterior chain. The posterior chain is responsible for any and every explosive movement known in the sports world whether it be running, jumping, hitting, grappling, swinging a bat, pitching a ball. They all have to do with how explosive one can be by using the calves, hamstrings, glutes, and spinal erectors which are known as the posterior chain.

The workout below is something I have been doing 2-3 times per week and it takes all of 10 minutes to do. It will improve your hip drive and protect your back all at the same time with very little time invested in it.

Men should use a 24kg or 32kg bell for both exercises and woman should use a 20kg or 24kg bell.

The two exercises are the kettlebell swing and the single arm farmers walk. It is a great coupling of exercises. What you want to do is pick a number of swings to complete whether that is 50 or 150 and do them in the least amount of sets possible until you can do all reps consecutively. So beginners pick 50 reps and perform as many reps as you can resting when needed until you reach 50 reps. If you can reach 50 reps no problem than go to 75 reps. Once you can get 75 reps in a row than go to 100 reps and so on and so forth. Make sure each kettlebell swing is clean, sharp and your hips snap making it an explosive hip thrust. Many people I see doing swings are using too much arm, too much back and not snapping their hips to perform the movement.

Once you have done all reps to complete the swings pick up your bell used in the swing and perform a farmers walk which is basically a walk holding the kettlebell at your side. Normal farmers walks are done with a weight in each hand. To unevenly load the core we are going to hold only one kettlebell and walk. Walk 25-50 yards and switch hands and repeat 2-4 times.

This simple workout is a quick and effective way to improve you hip drive which as mentioned earlier is a key component to every athlete as well as to a everday person looking to keep their hips healthy. It is also a great way to learn how to stabilize your core while moving.

Give this workout a try for a couple weeks and see how strong your back, core and hips feel!

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Posted in Exercise Instruction, Health & Wellness, Kettlebells, Strength | No Comments »

Ski Training Part 1 – Foam Rolling

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

Even though I am on vacation doing a little skiing for the holiday does not mean that I forget to take care of my body.  I may eat some foods not normally on my menu while at home however my body requires the same type of attention when it comes to mobility, stretching and recovery.

Post Ski Nutrition

I have been noticing something as I am performing my daily foam rolling sessions out here.  What I have noticed is skiing requires certain muscles that are not normally used during my regular activities at home.  There are certain areas that have been particularly sore and knotty that usually are not when I foam roll at home.

In this article I will go over some of the areas that I think are important areas to work on if your getting ready for the ski season.  The areas I will cover will keep you body healthy to have fun on the slopes but more importantly keep your knees injury free.  By working on some of these areas it will keep the stress of your knee joint and allow to move efficiently on the slopes.

The primary areas people need to hit when hitting the slopes include the ankle, tensor fascia latae (TFL), iliotibial band (ITB), the quadriceps (vastus medialis (VMO) and vastus lateralis), and the calves.

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Posted in Exercise Instruction, Health & Wellness, Life | 7 Comments »

10 Things I Am Grateful For On Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

I have talked to many friends who are close and dear to me in the last few months and this one particular day I was really struggling to get through the day.  So my friend suggested I make a list of all the things I was grateful for which was the exact same suggestion I gave to her a year or so ago.  Well I did and it made me feel better for the day and anytime I am having a tough day I hear her voice inside my head telling me to make a list so I can usually run through some things I am grateful for while I am driving or sitting at home relaxing.  It really helps me and I think if you give it a try it will help you too!

Since Thanksgiving is the holiday for giving thanks for all the things we are grateful for I thought I would share some of the things I am thankful and grateful for in my life today.

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Posted in Health & Wellness, Life | 8 Comments »

How to Use a Foam Roller

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Here is a video of how to use a foam roller for mobility and flexibility reasons.  The foam roller is a great tool to use before your workout, after your workout or even on off days.  If lifting big weight and being able to tie your shoes at the same time is a priority to you for the span of your life than I highly suggest investing in a foam roller and using it between lifts.

YouTube Preview Image

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What the Experts are Saying……..

Friday, February 26th, 2010

If you train at my gym see if this sounds familiar:

Interval training can cut exercise hours sharply

Intense, brief workouts twice as effective as other regimens, experts say The Associated Press updated 12:25 p.m. ET, Thurs., Feb. 25, 2010

LONDON – People who complain they have no time to exercise may soon need another excuse.

Some experts say intense exercise sessions could help people squeeze an entire week’s workout into less than an hour. Intense exercise regimens, or interval training, was originally developed for Olympic athletes and thought to be too strenuous for normal people.

But in recent years, studies in older people and those with health problems suggest many more people might be able to handle it. If true, that could revolutionize how officials advise people to exercise — and save millions of people hours in the gym every week. It is also a smarter way to exercise, experts say.

“High-intensity interval training is twice as effective as normal exercise,” said Jan Helgerud, an exercise expert at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. “This is like finding a new pill that works twice as well … we should immediately throw out the old way of exercising.”

Intense interval training means working very hard for a few minutes, with rest periods in between sets. Experts have mostly tested people running or biking, but other sports like rowing or swimming should also work.

Helgerud recommends people try four sessions lasting four minutes each, with three minutes of recovery time in between. Unless you’re an elite athlete, it shouldn’t be an all-out effort.

“You should be a little out of breath, but you shouldn’t have the obvious feeling of exhaustion,” Helgerud said.

In Britain and the U.S., officials recommend that people get about two and a half hours each week of moderate exercise.

When compared to people on a normal exercise routine, like jogging, research has shown those doing interval training can double their endurance, improve their oxygen use and strength by more than 10 percent, and their speed by at least 5 percent. Even studies in the elderly and in heart patients found they had better oxygen use and fitness after doing interval training.

Still, most studies have been done in young, healthy adults, and experts advise people to consult a doctor before starting any fitness program.

For Adamson Nicholls, a 36-year-old Londoner and martial arts enthusiast, interval training is a way to boost his endurance so he can outlast sparring opponents. “It’s a shortcut to explosive fitness,” he said, adding the training results in snappier and heavier punches.

Using interval training, Nicholls got into top shape last year in about six weeks, using weekly 45-minute sessions. He estimates the same level would have taken about three months via regular training.

Experts say that’s because intense bursts of activity are precisely what the body needs to build stronger muscles. Traditional workouts lasting an hour or more simply don’t push the body enough.

“A lot of the (benefits) from exercise are due to a stress response,” said Stephen Bailey, a sports sciences expert at the University of Exeter. “If you disturb your muscles, there’s an imbalance created and your body will start signaling pathways that result in adjustments.”

Bailey said intense bursts of exercise help the body to convert one type of muscle fiber into another type that uses oxygen more efficiently and is capable of exercising a lot longer. Even though interval training only takes a few minutes, its effects last for hours.

“You’ve exercised at such a high intensity that you’re going to create a massive disturbance in your muscles,” Bailey said. That creates a higher metabolism for several hours afterward, which the body will bring down by burning fat and carbohydrates.

Helgerud and others predicted that as further studies confirm interval training is safe for wider populations, authorities will include it in their exercise guidelines.

“This is definitely the way forward to save time on your exercise,” Nicholls said. “The results are worth it.”

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35581793/ns/health-fitness/

Want a quick solution to losing bodyfat with minimal time?

Grab yourself a copy of Juliet’s Tabata for Fat Loss Book HERE

Post your Favorite Interval Style Workout Below

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Posted in Health & Wellness, Strength | 2 Comments »

Pass the Butter…..Please

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

This is very interesting . .. .

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back.

It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings.

DO YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?

Read on to the end…gets very interesting!

Both have the same number of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years .

And now, for Margarine..

Very High in Trans fatty acids.

Triples risk of coronary heart disease.

Increases total cholesterol and LDL (the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)

Increases the risk of cancers up to five times.

Lowers quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And here’s the most disturbing fact…. HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC….. and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT!

These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance) .

You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:

* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)
* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weensy microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic . Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Share This With Your Friends…..(If you want to butter them up’)!

Chinese Proverb:

When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.

Pass the BUTTER PLEASE

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Setting Your Caloric Intake

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Okay so this past week many of you know I started my “Summer Shred” in which I plan on taking the next 20 weeks to get myself nice and lean for my wedding.  What I did last week was basically what I call a clean up week in which I cleaned up my foods that I was eating. This wasn’t too different from what I was doing however the main things was to start cooking my own foods and limit what I ate at the deli up front and from other places around the gym.  The deli actually can make us egg whites and I usually get chicken breast on rye bread so it really isn’t bad.  I just know that when I make my own food at home it is real clean and I also save a boatload of money.

So what I get out of the clean up week is a average daily intake of calories that I am eating.  I started using fitday again which I haven’t done in years.  So after logging my food into fitday last week I came up with my daily caloric intake.  My average caloric intake was 2600 calories on average for 5 days of logging. With that number my first step is to maintain that amount of food for 1-2 weeks.  I do not want to drop my calories from the start because I want to give my metabolism a chance to get adjusted to maintaining a set number of calories for a small period of time before I create a deficit.  This caloric average can actually be maintain for 6-10 weeks before creating deficits from it.

At this point my goal for the next 2 weeks is to log 2600 calories EVERYDAY and keep my workouts exactly as is which I will get to later or in another blog.  I will follow this for 2 weeks in which point I will make a small adjustment to either my caloric intake or my exercise volume.  Notice I said I will make a change to one OR the other and not both.  This is key to determining what method actually works best at that time for you.  If I decrease my calories and add more exercise all at the same time I will never truly know what is causing the change in my physique.  So in two weeks I will make an adjustment to my plan.  For now the goal at hand is to get my workouts in 4 times per week with intensity,  and break my daily caloric intake down into how much is needed in each meal in regards to protein, carbs and fats and stay on a steady path for 2 weeks.

Tip of the Day: Remember to make yourself small attainable goals in order to not overwhelm yourself with the bigger picture.  I will prepare each days meals and have my workouts written out for the week in order to stay focused.

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Posted in Health & Wellness, Nutrition, Training Log | 4 Comments »

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