Burning calories

Trainers are often incorrect when "prescribing" 30-45 minutes of cardio a day.  Yes this is beneficial for weight loss and general health but the common misconception is that it must be all performed in one shot (ie: 30 minutes straight).  In reality, long durations of aerobic exercise do induce more fat burning but calories are calories.  If you can only dedicate 3 separate 10 minute jogs throughout the day then you are still burning the same amount of calories had you jogged for 30 minutes one time.

This is a good instance to initiate "commercial workouts" with youself, your family, and your kids.  If you have tv time at night then it would be beneficial to exercise when the commercials come on.  Push-ups, squats, crunches, running around the room, or even jumping rope.

When doing this you will still accumulate the same amount of calories burned in a standard workout but it was just broken up over a longer timeframe.

Calories are calories!

Simplifying workouts

If you get easily overwhelmed when entering the gym and don't even know where to start your workout because of all of the different equipment then just focus on one type of thing to use for the entire workout.

Example:

Do a BOSU only workout.  Everything is centered around the BOSU.  You stand on it to do your bicep curls and shoulder raises, you jump on and off of it for cardio, you squat on it, you do your pushups on it, and you do your crunches and planks on it.   You have used the BOSU ball to simplify a complex workout by maintaining focus on one type of equipment the entire time and not straying from it.

Juicing oranges

Using a potato peeler to lightly skin the colored peel off of an orange will remove the outermost layer and leave the white pulpy flesh of the rind still intact and on the orange.  This part of the rind contains a lot of nutrition that we can utilize when juicing without the bitterness contributed by the outermost peel.  If you have juiced an orange whole then you will know the bitter taste I am talking about.  This takes less time than actually peeling an orange and the shavings can be sent down the garbage disposal to cleanse your sink.

Firefighter Fitness

Check out this firefighter-inspired workout created by Houston, Texas firefighter, Rip Esselstyn.  I am following his diet known as the Engine 2 diet which is plant-based foods only.  More information can be found on his website at www.engine2diet.com

Round 1:

50 bodyweight squats
40 push-ups
100 flutter kicks (laying on back, scissoring extended legs to work lower ab region)
20 burpees

Round 2:

30 alternating front lunges
50 tricep dips
2 minute held plank
75 jumping jacks

Round 3:

20 step-ups on each leg (stepping up to something 1.5-2 feet high)
25 butt-up push-ups (do 5 push-ups and hold the last one in the up position with your butt high in the air and squeeze your abdominals for 5 seconds, repeat 5 times)
30 v-sits (crunch with simultaneous knee tuck)
35 mountain climbers

Juice of the day

Whip this up and serve over ice to create a refreshing treat on these lazy end of summer days.

This will make 3-4 servings:

4 standard size carrots
3 granny smith apples
3 valencia oranges (skin enough of the peel away to still leave white flesh)
1 cucumber
1 lemon (with peel on)
1 piece ginger
1/2 stalk celery

Add some variety to your push-up routine

As I have mentioned time and time again, one of the most beneficial body weight based exercises is the push-up.  They can be done virtually anywhere and by virtually anyone.  You can make them as easy or as hard as you would like and you can do them with emphasis on strength or emphasis on endurance.

Push-ups train the anterior chain of the body, otherwise known as the front.  Not only are the chest and triceps your primarily used muscles but the abdominal section must remain tight as well as the quadriceps to keep the body from succumbing to gravity.  It is always wise to add variations to your push-ups in order to constantly challenge the body to different degrees.

Try these variations:

-Core-powered push-ups:  10 push-ups with left leg on ground, 10 push-ups with right leg on ground, followed directly by 20 push-ups with both feet on ground.  Non-stop!

-Lateral power push-ups:  Perform your push-ups with enough power to propel your upper body and hands off of the ground each time while your toes remain in contact with the ground.  Each time your hands leave the floor your should laterally move left or right a few inches.  Perform until exhaustion.

-All-four power push-ups:  Along the same lines as the variation above.  In this variation, there is no lateral movement and your feet will lift off the ground at the same time.  Power out of your push-up and at the same time your hands will leave the ground, your feet will too.  This takes massive core control.  Perform until exhaustion.

-Alternating push-up reaches:  Pick an object roughly 3-4 feet off the ground (chair, sofa, etc) or mark a point on a wall.  Perform push-ups by reaching one arm at a time up to the specified point each time you approach the top of the push-up.  Alternate the arm that is reaching.  This variation should be performed as fast, yet controlled, as possible.  Continue until exhaustion.

Tapping into "kid energy"

If you have children, chances are they can run circles around you with their seemingly endless amounts of energy.  From wake-time to sleep-time they are on the go; whether they are playing video games, at baseball practice, playing with friends, or on the trampoline.

Energy can indeed be contagious.  Take advantage of this energy and turn it into ways of bringing your family closer. Challenge your kids to a race around the local high school track, set up a badminton tournament on a weekend involving family members, your child's friends and neighbors, go for a bike ride through the trails of a local park, create a scavenger hunt, or even set up a fitness circuit at a nearby playground utilizing some of the equipment.

Other great ideas to involve fitness into family time:

-Frisbee

-Tag

-Sit-up contests

-Tennis

-Karate

-Jogging

-Wii-Fit

Bursitis

Arthritis, tendonitis, bursitis, the list goes on...  Each of these conditions can be equally as painful.  Basically anything ending with an "itis" is an inflammation.  In this case, bursitis is an inflammation of the bursae, or bursa sacs.

The bursae are generally located around all joints as a protective measure, factory installed by the body.  They are filled with fluid, acting as a protective cushion to lessen trauma to the bones and muscles in a joint caused by repetitive motions or a sudden impact.  Bursae are like the "airbags" to the body.  If you have tendonitis-like symptoms but know for a fact that you have not applied repetitive stress to that particular area then chances are that you are experiencing bursitis.  Some type of hit or trauma has irritated the bursa sac.

Treatment is much like tendonitis with anti-inflammatories and ice but can also be more involved with steroid injections or even draining fluid from the bursae so be sure to consult your doctor if you suspect an issue.

Don't focus on the taste!

Often times I tell people my juice and smoothie recipes or even offer them a sample.  True, these juices and smoothies taste much different than what you would get at a non health-concious establishment, but this is due to the fact that they are lacking preservatives and other additives that offer a sweet, common sense of taste that we have all grown accustomed to.  To me, that is the best part of my own concoctions; knowing they are all natural, knowing EXACTLY what is in them, and knowing that they truly are good for you.

Search back in my blog for various recipes I have posted.  When ingredients in these juices include celery, tomato, beets, and carrots, of course they won't seem palatable, but when you put the taste aside and focus on the true quality of the drink it shouldn't matter.  In fact, for me, it makes me enjoy it even more.

If you make healthy dieting a lifestyle and not just a "once in a while occurence," you will enjoy these recipes and even crave them.

Don't focus on the taste!

Daily Challenge

It's time to switch up your daily or weekly fitness routine with something that will surely leave you sore.

This challenge will center around bodyweight squats, pushups, and crunches.  You will do them everyday, adding more reps to your daily count each day.

Example:

Sunday: 100 squats, 25 pushups, 100 crunches.
Monday: 125 squats, 35 pushups, 125 crunches.
Tuesday:  150 squats, 45 pushups, 150 crunches.
Wednesday:  175 squats, 55 pushups, 175 crunches.
Thursday:  200 squats, 65 pushups, 200 crunches.
Friday:  225 squats, 75 pushups, 225 crunches.
Saturday:  250 squats, 85 pushups, 250 crunches.

Pick 3 exercises and try daily progression of repetitions, your body will hate (yet love) the shock.

Go green!

Adding greens to your diet will probably be the most beneficial health change you can make.  Eating broccoli and peas with dinner is great but they are often steamed or boiled which diminishes a lot of their powerful properties.  Eating them in their natural, raw state is the best option to make most benefit of their nutrients and antioxidants but can you imagine sitting down with a plate of celery, kale, and spinach?

Once again, I preach the art of juicing.

Each day I make close to a gallon of a self made "green machine" consisting of kale, spinach, dandelion, cucumber, broccoli rabe, celery, and green squash.  I also add in carrot, tomato, lime, apple, and pear.  I drink this throughout the day and it keeps me full, happy, and energetic.

Keep as much green in your diet as possible!

Juice of the day

Whip this juice up to power up your digestive system...

2 medium size stalks of kale
2 large handfuls of spinach leaves
10-12 spears asparagus
1 lime (I leave peel on)
1 large carrot
1 beet

Optional: 2-5 oz of aloe vera juice (found at most produce stands)

Serve over ice and enjoy!

Listen to your body...

A participant new to the group exercise scene mentioned to me that she loved the fact that I stated "listen to your body" at the beginning of class.  The meaning behind such a simple phrase is true:  no single exercise can accommodate all fitness abilities.  What works for one typically will feel different for the next.  Just because someone does not get hurt doing one thing does not mean that the next person will not.

This situation is often found in group settings;  small group training, group exercise, aerobics classes, even partner training.  Take an aerobics class for example, a newcomer will typically peer through the door for the first week, scoping out what they would like to try and getting a feel for the class.  The next week they take the class but hang in the back for fear of embarrassing themselves in front of others.  They perform the exercises purely mimicking what they see the other classtakers doing.

This is all well and good but only if the person that they are copying is indeed performing the exercises correctly.  That person could be incorrect, using different equipment or weights, or even modifiying the exercise due to an injury.  A good instructor will pick up on these things and correct any potentially harmful situations but that is also when it is most important for you to listen to your body!  If something hurts you, a muscle feels overstretched, or you feel your form is off, then you need to stop before you get hurt.  If you are doing an exercise and something just doesn't feel quite right, it probably is wrong!  Find the correct way to do the exercise using YOUR body.  Ask the instructor or meet with a trainer to go over exercises that you are having difficulty with because if you aren't doing them right, then you are doing your body no good.

The number one rule in training, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!

Pre-workout nutrition

It's best to not go heavy with the meals prior to your workout.  Eating too much or eating the wrong thing prior to exercise can be possibly detrimental to your workout.  Imagine putting diesel fuel in your vehicle when it takes regular gasoline; there is misfiring, sputtering, and stalling.  Of course your body will not "misfire" but it could feel heavy, sluggish, you may have a stomachache, and your joints could even hurt.  Light snacks are great for workouts that are less than one hour.  Fruit and watered-down sports drinks offer quick digesting carbohydrates that break down and become available in the bloodstream immediately after consumption.  This creates a seamless production in energy and little distress on the gastrointestinal system.  Bagels, Clif Bars, and peanut butter will sit in the stomach and not break down or convert into energy as quickly due to their complex nature.  Trying to exercise with these things not properly digested will more than likely upset the stomach and make for an uncomfortable workout!

Take note to what you are currently eating before exercising and see if it is a wise choice or if there is a better alternative out there.  Chances are that you may be able to improve your workout experience.

EARN your rewards!

We've all done it, sat down in front of the television at night with a big bowl of ice cream, wings, pizza, or any other large calorie item and said to ourselves "hey I earned this with that awesome workout today."  In reality, that "awesome workout" may have only burned off 300-400 calories, and we could be ready to take in thousands.  In fact, we just earned ourselves 10 more workouts in order to burn off our reward!

This practice is very common in the wonderful world of exercise;  amplifying a hard day's work to justify a large caloric reward in the end.  Rewards are great and they do wonders for extrinsic motivation, but they should be healthier, more tangible alternatives such as a movie, a download on iTunes, or an extra hour of sleep, etc.  These types of rewards will actually help continue to fuel your ongoing progress, instead of stunting it with stomachaches or extra pounds!

Next time you are finished your workout and are busy raiding the fridge or concocting a "super high calorie, high protein, recovery shake," be sure that you actually EARNED those calories.  Do a quick equation of calories in vs. calories out, if your goal is weight loss, you better be breaking even if not less.  If you believe in "cheat days," you are only cheating your progress.  A full day of eating off of the radar throws a wrench into your accountability.  You have no basis to compare when it comes to your caloric ratio and your set calories to burn for that week.  A cheat day often sounds like a good idea but it will most likely set you back in terms of reaching your goals.

EARN your rewards!

Portion distortion

The serving size of peanut butter is 2 ounces, that is about the size of a ping-pong ball.  Do you honestly use that amount on your sandwich?  How about this;  the correct serving size of meat is equivalent to a deck of cards.  Cheese? The size of a domino.  Butter?  The tip of your thumb.

Although these are the recommended serving sizes of a few of the popular foods we eat, it is obvious that we do not abide by the recommendations, and often overindulge.  Yes, we choose to eat our larger, less healthy portion sizes in this day and age, but these larger portion sizes may be all we know, they are marketed this way, our friends and family eat these portion sizes, and that is what we are served when we go out.  We go to buffets, "all you can eat's", order in bulk from value menus, drink big gulps, super size it, and buy big to satisfy an even bigger appetite.

Can you say portion distortion?  Portion recommendations are now laughed at with individuals eating 3-4 times more than they should.  These recommendations are there for a reason!  They are there to provide a framework for the individual with no general knowledge when it comes to nutrition.  Food allergies are becoming more and more abundant in 2013 and we wonder why.  A good contributor is overeating continuously and creating intolerances to these particular items.  Think in terms of alcohol; if you have too much, you feel differently, you become impaired, and even sick.  Relate this to eating sweets or salty foods, the body will have a reaction, you can become impaired or sick, and too many reactions over time can not be good for the body.

My recommendation is of course eat in moderation.  Everyone should reward themselves with a little ice cream, but not the entire carton.  It is common to grab a bag of chips and sit to watch tv, but without even realizing it, you've just eaten the entire bag!  A simple change can be made to prevent this, portion out a serving into a bowl and leave the bag where it belongs, in the cabinet.  This will keep you accountable for knowing exactly how much you ate AND not overeating.

Don't become a victim of portion distortion!

Stress

Had a very good conversation with a client of mine this morning on the subject of stress.  It is the topic of a very good nutrition book I just started reading called "Thrive" which is about vegan dieting and athletes.

Stress in the current ages is most likely looked at as a feeling of frustration brought on by financial, emotional, and work-related issues.  We must not stop there, incorrect dieting, incorrect exercising, and incorrect resting are other forms of stress.  Each one as detrimental as the previous.  Possessing personal stresses in each of these categories will compound into one very large problem!

This leads me back to the conversation this morning.  First off, if you are stressed, you NEED to dial it back a bit.  Worrying about things will definitely not change the present day other than make you miserable, give you a headache, overeat, or worse.  Focus your energy on the positive things that are currently happening in your life, the simple feeling of a smile on the human face will in fact provoke a feeling of wellness within the body.

Secondly, find something that you can turn to in times of stress.  In my case it is running.  On some occasions I have ran 4-5 separate times of the day to get away and let my mind wander onto better things.  I always reach that feeling of euphoria when my mind is reorganized.  Running may not work for everyone but SOMETHING will.

Lastly, take strides to remove the causes of stress.  Gluten and dairy in the diet seem to do it to me.  A stomachache during the morning can ruin a lot more than you think.  Maybe your morning commute does it....change your route!  Lack of sleep, overspending, and tight muscles are other common culprits.  Find the small, tangible things that annoy you every day and change them, all together, you may be removing one very large stressor.

Boxing for fitness

When the term "boxing" comes to mind, some might only associate it with a sport where two opponents are beating the daylights out of each other in an effort to obtain a heavyweight championship.  Sure, this is one aspect of boxing, but it can also be looked at in a fitness sense.  Boxing, non-contact kickboxing, and even bodyweight cardio kickboxing/bootcamp are all excellent ways to challenge and improve cardiovascular efficiency, tone the core and muscles of the upperbody, and increase agility and hand-eye coordination.  If you think that your hand-eye coordination is already exceptional then try hitting a speedbag!

Incorporate shadowboxing into your general warm-up, go a couple one-minute rounds on a heavy bag, or try out a kickboxing class at a local studio or gym.  These will all be challenging even to the most physically fit.  If you are a runner or biker, incorporate kicks into your workout regime, learn how the core and center of gravity play a dynamic role in your ability to keep a sense of balance while on one foot.  Mastering the skill of a speedbag will surely raise your shoulder endurance levels and contribute to more strength gains when hitting the weights, and most likely less shoulder injuries due to adequately lubricated muscles and tendons.

The benefits of boxing can pay you back exponentially and there is little, if any, equipment needed to try it.  Talk with a trainer or professional to learn proper form if you start to get serious and really hit hard!

Perseverance

Too many times do people give up on something just shy of actually achieving it.  To me, it doesn't matter if you are a minute or a mile away, you need to push through any obstacles that are getting in between you and your goals.

My clients often question me why we must continue to stress the exercises that they are having the most trouble with, or the ones that they can't stand the most.  My response always is: "if you hate it, you need it." This seemingly daunting, and sometimes neverending, task of chipping away at something is necessary to achieve it.  Focus, set your mind on your goal, push forward, and learn from what does not work.  Success does not always come easy.  You MUST, you CAN, and you WILL.  Use that or any other mantra that gets you through the tough times because in the end, it pays off.

Persevere!

Results don't grow on trees!

I witness too many people come into the gym, walk around aimlessly from machine to machine, stare intensely at their iPod, text friends on their phone, or stand around and chit chat instead of exercising.  Most people will have to admit that they are guilty of at least one of the above.  Going to the gym or strapping on some running shoes does not guarantee a good and productive workout, the goals and intrinsic motivation do.

Chances are, your gym probably offers wayyy more than you are aware of, and it is all there for you to explore.  Schedule a session with a personal trainer, try a group exercise class, look and see if there are running or swimming clubs available, or become friendly with someone you regularly see and agree to meet up for workouts during the week.  If you already are doing these things, make it a personal goal to outperform yourself each week in some way.  Add an additional exercise to your routine, increase the amount of repetitions you can typically accomplish, work to failure, run to the gym, etc, etc, etc.

If you aren't a member of a gym, get up from the couch during commercials and plank till exhaustion, do 10 pushups everytime you walk into the kitchen, throw away your unhealthy foods, visit myplate.org, add an extra serving of fruit to your diet per day, so on and so forth.

Keep all of these suggestions in mind when looking at your typical day.  Remember that there must be a fire within you to push you to your goals, endless repetition, monotony, and just going through the motions will not cut it after a while.  Push yourself, challenge yourself, make strong goals, and do not be afraid to fail.

Results don't grow on trees!

Milk: soy vs cow

More and more brands of soymilk are popping up on the shelves of grocery stores these days, right alongside the ever popular cow's milk that we all know and love.  Some may prefer soymilk to cow's milk due to dairy or lactose allergies, some may be vegan, or some may look to it for the health benefits.

If you don't know too much about soymilk then here are a couple facts.  It is derived from soybeans, rather than animals, yielding less saturated fat and not contributing to high cholesterol levels.   Soymilk contains about 7-10 grams of protein per cup and also contains fiber since it is plant-based, providing a more satiating effect (the feeling of being full).   Soymilk contains calcium and also typically has a longer shelf life than cow's milk.

There are mixed opinions on soy vs cow when it comes to milk.  A lot of researchers will promote soy largely due to the fact that cows are being treated with hormones which could ultimately be transferred to the consumer.  Others will state that cow's milk is best for it's nutrients (keep in mind that soymilk is usually fortified with all of these nutrients).

If you are looking to try something new in your diet than pick up some soymilk and try it out, you may just like it.

Check out the documentary "Forks over Knives" where the debate of milk sources is greatly detailed.

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!  For those of you off to parties and barbecues, remember a few quick (healthier) alternatives:  turkey burgers, whole wheat buns, water, frozen yogurt, and no cheese!

Industry and exercise

There are two main industries out there that come to mind when I think of jobs that can be potentially detrimental to the body if not appropriately supplemented with exercise; construction and corporation.  One industry involves heavy lifting, extreme repetition, continuous kneeling, bending, climbing, etc. while the other involves high amounts of stress, excessive sitting, computer use, and many other sedentary aspects.

While some of these views may be incorrect assumptions, two things most likely hold true about these two industries, they are tough on the body and they are tough on the mind.  Individuals in these fields require functional exercises, mind/body training, proper nutrition, and focus on flexibility to combat the variety of stress that their body endures in a day's work.  Tilers, roofers, and electricians should focus on core strengthening, knee, shoulder, and lower back health.  This includes being sure to train symmetrically to prevent the body from constantly utilizing a stronger side.  Attorneys, secretaries, and corporate America should keep their muscles stetched and limber if they sit for lengths of time at a desk, strengthen and stretch their wrists, arms, and necks if they spend excessive amounts of time at computers, and rid stress of the workday with cardio, boxing, and yoga.

Regarding workwear, workboots and dresswear definitely can take toll on the feet.  Be sure to take notice of aches or pains in the lower legs and consider multiples pairs of footwear to alternate through during the course of a workday.  Make sure you have an appropriately fitted shoe, your feet can be your weakest link, take care of them.  

Take a look at what you do for a living.  No matter what it is, train your body so that it functions collaboratively WITH the job provided, not FOR the job provided.

Stress Fractures

A stress fracture is pretty much what it is named; a fracture produced by too much stress.  More common in the lower body, mainly shins or feet due to the location bearing most weight, stress fractures are tiny cracks in the bone brought in by repetitive pounding or force.

Runners are most susceptible to stress fractures but anyone can become a victim.  Doing too much weight bearing activity before your body has properly adapted to it is another common cause (hiking, marching, dance).  Body mechanics also can be a contributor; those with high arches or flat feet are often more prone to stress fractures.  Individuals that suffer from osteoporosis have less than ideal bone strength to prevent the tiny cracks that can start to develop over time.

If you believe you may be suffering from a stress fracture take notice to any tender spots, increased pain with physical activity and decreased pain with rest, and pain coming on sooner each time as you progress through workouts.  Don't make matters worse and try to push through the pain, see a doctor, they will most likely order an x-ray or bone scan.  Treatment may consist of only rest and medication, or it could involve a boot to immobilize the area, reducing the stress.

Be preventive, check out your diet, make sure you are including calcium.  Don't think it's just in milk, calcium is also readily available in leafy greens.  When exercising, make sure you cross-train, don't stress your body too much with the same exercises.  Remember, there can be too much of a good thing!

Don't buy for looks, buy for function

Athletic wear has gained quite some popularity in the recent years.  It is more fashionable then the sweatshorts and white undershirts of the past.  In fact, it is very common to see workout attire being worn as everyday dress with the bright colors, the neat logos, the unique written phrases, and the variety of styles and cuts.

This is great for the clothing industries and manufacturers but we must not let this cloud our decisions when looking for a good fitting cross-training shoe or a pair of shorts that offer a breathable material for extended workouts.  It is easy to gravitate to the most visually appealing shoe but does it offer the correct arch support for you?  You may want the hottest brand and label shirts but do they fit you comfortably for exactly how you will be working out?

Keep these suggestions in mind the next time you pick up some workout gear.  Remember, it's not about how you look in it, it's about how you feel in it.

Don't buy for looks, buy for function.

Juice of the day

This juice of the day has a little kick, make sure you can take some spice before you try!

3 tight handfuls of spinach leaves
2 large carrots
1 handful asparagus (about 8-10 individual stalks)
1 tomato
1 longhot green pepper
1 red pepper
1 cucumber

Add some technology

Workouts can be great, but they can sometimes get boring and even non-productive.  Long distance runs and bike rides need some motivational factors to help you maintain and increase pace.  Gym workouts need some challenge and short term goals to keep it fun and make you come back for more.

Technology is what I turn to for added excitement during a workout (whether for myself or when I am teaching a group).  There are so many apps that I use while I run in addition to the music already pumping into my ears.  Runkeeper tracks my mileage, pace, distance, and calories burned, offers breakdowns of my mile splits, and even shows a map of what I ran (with mile markers) via GPS.  It can also be switched for bikeriding.  Zombies, Run! makes me feel like I am in a movie, running for  my life away from zombies (yes they chase you) trying to complete a mission to keep advancing on to more missions, all while collecting materials to help rebuild the base.

For gym and boxing workouts I use Songza, a version of internet radio that allows you to select genres of music to suit your workout.  iWOD Fitness offers Crossfit workouts uploaded by other users and the timers for them are also included within the app.  Boxing Timer counts down 12 one minute rounds for you to box to with 30 second recovery periods between each round.

Not into apps?  GymBoss makes a handheld timer that you can also strap to your arm.  You set the time limits for active and recovery periods and whether you want an audible alarm or a vibration.  This is perfect for tabata-style workouts, skipping rope, or circuit training.

Get creative with your workouts, don't let them be a bore or you will most likely stop benefiting from them.  Add some technology and see just how different your workout experience becomes.

Beating the heat

Summer is rapidly approaching, bringing along the heat, the humidity, and the warm, dry air.

Just typical activities such as mowing the lawn, working in the yard, and walking the dog can become a little more strenous, possibly leading to more energy expenditure, especially in the dog days of summer.  Exercising (both indoors and out) can be affected by the higher temperatures; more sweating, more cramping, and possibly more fatigue.  If you are an avid outdoor fitness guru (biking, swimming, running) then you must also add in the increased exposure to the suns rays.

Be preventive this summer, take action early and don't even be affected by the heat.

- Drink plenty of water.  A runner's favorite saying is "drink early and drink often."  If you are thirsty, then you are most likely already dehydrated.  The recommended water intake for men is roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups a day), for women it is 2.2 liters (about 9 cups a day).

- Eat a full and balanced breakfast consisting of carbs, proteins, AND fats in order to supply yourself with the energy needed to start and fuel your day.

- Know the signs of heat exhaustion (often brought on from fatigue, water depletion, and loss of salt and electrolytes).  Common symptoms are lightheadedness, confusion, cramping, profuse sweating, and a rapid heartbeat.  Stop immediately!  If you stop sweating during exercise, you might have entered the danger zone of a heat stroke.

- Protect your skin during long runs and outdoor activities with hats, sweat-wicking clothing, sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 (look for sweatproof).

- Most importantly, know your own limits.  No one knows your body best but yourself.  Once you feel you've had too much heat, listen to yourself and hydrate!


These are only guidelines, but they are there for a reason, to keep you safe during the hotter months of the year, read them and use them!

Juice of the day

3 carrots
2 handfuls spinach leaves
1 lime
1 plum tomato

Serve over ice and enjoy with dinner!

Muscles feeling tight?

I know mine are after running the Broad Street Run today and then sitting for a long period in the car on the way home.  It's amazing, run 10 miles, only to be barely able to hobble in about an hour.

These are the effects of distance racing.  You may not feel sore or stiff after a long training run, but you inevitably will after a long race.  The body gets pushed to it's limits, the speed is greater, the intensity is stronger, and the endorphins are not telling you to slow down one bit.  Lactic acid gets generated as a waste product from this turbocharged effort and then sits in the muscles, saying hello with its debilitating presence.

My recommendations:

After a hard road race, ride an exercise bike loosely with low to moderate resistance, this lactic acid can indeed be burned away as energy, so the longer you stay immobile, the longer you will be sore, get on that bike!  No bike?  A nice 10 minute walk should have the same effect.  Instead of stretching those leg muscles right away, massage them lightly, focusing on the largest ones, the hamstrings and quads, go after the calfs next because they will most likely hurt the most tomorrow.  This will help flush out any acids.  Finally go into light stretching on all leg muscles, holding at least 25 seconds per stretch.

Don't forget your nutritional needs.  Drink plenty of water, rehydrate, and have a complete meal to replenish the body with the carbohydrates you depleted, and protein to help repair those sore muscles.

Start planning your next event!

Keeping our youth fit

With the digital age well upon us we may start to see a steadier decline of the amount of children and adolescents playing out in the fresh air, playing pick up games of soccer, shooting hoops in the street, riding bikes, and getting good old fresh air and Vitamin D.

Instead, our youth have been exposed to computers, television, and video games, all fine in moderation, but often overindulged.  The rate of physical activity has declined, and most likely will continue to do so.  The percentage of childhood obesity has risen, along with childhood diabetes.

We must all work together to keep our children, nieces, nephews, younger siblings, cousins, and students educated in proper health and wellness, nutrition, fitness, and physical education.  Be sure that your whole family is educated at the same time.  Children are a product of their environment and will mimic what they see day in and day out such as overeating, excessive television use, laziness, and other bad habits so provide a good image and model positive behavior.  Contact your child's physical education teacher and find out the scope and sequence of their school year.  Question what they will be learning in health or if there is any influence on healthy lifestyles and fitness.  Introduce them to MyPyramid and healthy eating, pack nutritious alternatives in their lunch, make sure there are "family dinner" nights at home with wisely cooked food instead of takeout.  Mount a basketball net to a tree in the backyard, explain to them what a pedometer is and go on walks or runs together at night and compare steps, buy some used exercise equipment at a yard sale and set it up in the garage.

Evaluate your family's and your own personal health and wellness habits and lifestyles.  That is the first step in keeping our youth fit.

The Chicken Run!

Ever run at night?  How about LATE at night?  How about a RACE late at night?

This Saturday night, May 4th, will be the 4th annual Chicken Run in Haddonfield, NJ.  Created by the Canuso Foundation and Babe's Kids, the charity run/walk/race raises money to support pediatric cancer research and also benefit a local family in need.

This fun-filled night runs from 5:30-11pm at the Haddonfield Memorial High School track and features a carnival-like atmosphere, music, games, track relays, and of course the 3k run starting at 10pm down Kings Highway.  All ages and abilities are welcome, and you may want to bring a flashlight to help you along the dark running path!

Yes the Broad Street Run is the next morning but I will be running the Chicken Run for the 4th consecutive year.  It looks like we won't get rained out this year!

Get more information on the run, including how it got it's name, and also register:
The Chicken Run 2013

For more information on the Canuso Foundation visit:
The Canuso Foundation

Shake of the day

1 cup frozen strawberries

1/4 cup frozen pineapple

1 teaspoon chia seeds

1 scoop vanilla whey protein

1 cup fat free milk

Blend until there is a slight texture.  No ice needed because the frozen fruit did the work for you.

Bicep curls

A common exercise, bicep curls are performed by most people that step foot inside a gym.  This exercise strengthens grip, wrist, forearm, bicep, and shoulder muscles.  It is an excellent supplement to any shoulder routine, pullup, and back exercise, as the biceps are prime movers in all of those.

If you are used to using dumbbells, ditch them for a theratube, which offers the added variable of elasticity, forcing you into the negative aspect of the exercise a little more intensely than the dumbbells offer.

While using the theratube, try variations of speed, including as fast as you can for a minute, slow on the way up and fast on the way down, and vice versa.

If you are still using dumbbells, try variations of form and technique.  Test out the spider curl, where you alternate curls, curling your right hand up and across your body to your left shoulder and vice versa.  There is also the wide arm curl, where the elbows stay tight to your body and you perform the curls as widely as you can.

Don't continue with the standard routine that you do day in and day out.  Your muscles are used to this, and likely aren't responding well anymore.  Switch up the routine a bit and throw a couple extra variations in, your muscles will thank you for it.

Don't make it a chore, make it a lifestyle!

Healthy eating and exercise don't last too long if just thrown into a typical day.   Going to the gym can actually become a dreaded thing lurking at the end of your already long workday, making it easy to blow off on the way home from work.  It's easy to continually hit the snooze button instead of getting up for that morning jog.  It's just more convenient to skip the hearty breakfast that you were going to prepare and hit up a convenience store on the way for a quicker, less healthy alternative.

These scenarios are common, and portray a lot of people I know.  With workdays getting longer, multiple jobs, school, and hectic lifestyles, most people tend to feel that exercise and diet don't fit in and get in the way.  Simply put in a phrase I commonly hear:  "I just don't have the time to be healthy."

The time isn't there because these things are often placed last on the things "to do."  They really should be first priority.  Lifestyle is based off of health and wellness.  Your health (physical, emotional, and mental) determines your work ethic, your mood, your productivity, your drive, and so on.  The healthier you are, the better everything else is.  You must brainstorm how you will incorporate health and wellness into your life.  This could be sleeping more, giving up a bad habit, buying a bicycle, seeing a dietician, or hiring a personal trainer.

Look at health and wellness as a lifestyle, it is the foundation that everything you do requires.  It needs to be strong and complete.  Do not look at health and wellness as a chore.  If you do so, everything you perform will be done without a strong foundation, with less efficiency and less success.  Incorporate healthy practices into your life more and more.  Introduce them slowly, don't overwhelm yourself or your family, let yourself adapt to them, don't make them adapt to you.

Aim for success

Too many times have I seen clients make goals that are too far out of reach for the timeframe given.  This is in relation to performance gains, personal bests, weight loss, dietary changes, body fat percentages, and inches lost.

Small, attainable goals are more realistic.  I like to call them benchmarks because you can compare them to the past and make your future benchmark based on your present ones.  A few examples would be losing one pound per week, shaving 10 seconds off of your mile run time per week, and eliminating one serving of an unhealthy food out of your diet per day.

Larger goals in unrealistic time frames often are unattainable and often can be recipes for failure.  Creating a large goal of "losing 20 pounds by the summer" is not a smart goal because it offers no definitive guidelines, methods of attainment, or smaller benchmark goals en route to the large goal.  Make sure those items are always present and break your ultimate goal into many smaller goals to help get you there.

See my previous posts titled "Consistency and Progression" and "Tweak it before you Delete it" where I go in depth on methods to successfully reach your goals.

You are what you eat!

A saying that has been around forever, yet no one seems to take it seriously.  You indeed are what you eat.

Countless times have people complained to me about how they are working out but have not lost any weight.  These are usually the same people that took no action to change their diet, most likely assuming that working out is ALL that they needed to do in order to drop some pounds.

The truth is, exercise comes second to nutrition.  I always say that "junk in equals junk results," meaning that any performance gains, weight loss, or general toning will always be sub par if you are not putting the correct calories and fuel in your body to begin with.  I am not saying that exercise alone won't help you, but merely stating that proper diet coupled with exercise will pay you back in dividends.  If you want to make the most of a health and fitness regimen or really are just looking to drop a few pounds then work efficiently keep diet AND exercise working hand in hand; the correct calories and micronutrients supplied by fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lowly processed foods will give you the extra jump start needed to achieve your goals.

Juice, juice, juice.  I cannot stress it enough.  Drink your fruits and vegetables if you cannot stand eating them.  Don't waste money on commercial and processed vegetable and fruit juices, make them from scratch with raw produce to be sure you are getting the nutrients, antioxidants, and other benefits.  Make smoothies with low fat milk.  Add nuts and beans to your snacks and lunches.  Ditch the chips and take up a healthier alternative like hummus and edamame.  Drink water! Often times, thirst is mistaken as hunger, therefore we eat excess calories to satiate ourselves when all we needed was a glass of water.

Take a good hard look at your daily eating habits and weigh it against your physical activities and health goals.  Just remember, you are what you eat!

Juice of the day

Juice of the day:

3 red delicious apples
2 carrots
1 cucumber
1 lime
1 orange

Serve over ice and enjoy!

(Think you could eat this all in one sitting?  Probably not, that's why I juice it!)

Think of all the natural vitamins and nutrients, turbocharge your body.

No excuses!

The weather is perfect out there today; sunny and warm.  There is no reason to not get outside today and go for a jog, a walk, a bike ride, even an outdoor workout.  Even make yardwork interesting by turning it into a workout; perfect your squat form by doing one each time you pick up a stick, do 10 pushups for evey flower you plant, load the wheelbarrow up and walk it around focusing on a tight core, find a low tree branch and work on pullups.  The list goes on.

Nature is calling you today, there should be no reason why you can't get outside today and get active!

Accountability

Answer the following questions:

How often do you work out?
Do you follow a routine?
Who do you workout with?
Why do you workout?
What are your goals?
What keeps you from exercising?

If you had positive responses to each of the questions then it probably means you do a good job at keeping yourself motivated with health and fitness.

If you didn't feel so positive answering these questions, then you can join the other 95% of us.  That's right, the ones that need to be held accountable for their health!

Many people ask my clients at the gym why exactly they pay me to train them, usually also sliding in the common question; "can't you just do it yourself?"  My clients always state the bitter truth; "if I don't show, he'll charge me anyway!"  The fact is, they know that if they have scheduled their time to be somewhere, and also committed the money, then they will have much better chances of sticking with it.

Health starts with accountability.  Decide now which day of the week will be your grocery shopping day, which days will be workout days, what your exact goals are.  Write them all on a planner or calendar.  Look at those plans everyday to keep them fresh in your mindset.  Workout early in the morning to avoid skipping it or becoming tangled up with work or other plans later in the day.  The gym is easy to blow off, but not as easy if you do it first thing in the am.  Post-it note your goals and hang them in highly trafficed areas in your house, work, even in your car.

If you still can't get it, look into hiring a trainer, train with a friend, take classes at the gym, sign up for a race so you have a longterm goal to work towards.  Start watching documentaries and reading fitness articles, continue reading my blog, all of this will slowly creep into your head.

Hold yourself accountable!

Tendonitis

Everyone has experienced it; the pain around a muscle from overuse.  Tender to the touch, maybe just flaring up in certain activities or motions, the annoyance and pain that hinders your body in some way.

This is usually known as a tendonitis, or sometimes now referred to as tendonosis.  Either way it is an injury sustained from overuse of a certain muscle group creating microtrauma in the tendons associated.

Common affected areas are the knees, elbows, forearms, and shoulders, usually from running, racquet sports, repetitive lifting and even improper footwear.

The best thing I can recommend for these sore, troublesome areas is ice and rest.  Simply put, if a movement bothers you, then you need to not do that movement, let that tendon rest, that is why it is inflamed.  Find an alternate activity or movement that accomplishes the same thing.  Aggressive icing definitely can provide relief and speed up the recovery process.  A hint is to take some dixie cups full to the brim with water and freeze them.  When it is time to ice, take a frozen cup and peel away the top inch, exposing the ice, and use this part to rub circles on the affected area.  Continue this for five minutes (peeling back more and more cup as the ice melts) for at least 5 minutes.  The area will probably numb quickly but the relief will last way longer.  This more aggressive way of icing is more effective than laying a frozen bag of peas over your knee at night.

Remember, tendonitis will only go away if you take the proper steps.  Rest and ice are your friends.

Stretch yourself

One of the most important aspects of health and fitness is flexibility.  It is important to keep flexibility in the muscles and tendons so that pliability is there when we need it.  This could be in a fall, aging, job specific, or to advance in a particular exercise.

Evaluate your day.  If you sit at a desk for a good part of your workday then chances are that you will have tight hip flexors and tight hamstrings based on the seated position.  How do you prevent these muscles from getting too tight?  Make an honest effort to get up once every hour and reach for your toes, feel the stretch in the hamstrings and how good it feels on your back.  Pull a foot up behind you and hold it there while keeping your knees tight together, feel your thigh stretch, but more importantly, your hip flexor.

Do you stand all day?  Then make an effort to focus on stretching your back.  Get down on your knees, sit your butt back on your heels, then reach your arms out in front of you and lower your entire upper body towards the ground.  Feel the stretch in your entire back and hold.

A good rule of thumb for a flexibility routine during your workday is to do 5 minutes of stretching per hour.  It really is simple, and the benefits are exponential.

Don't see anything in your workday that poses issues?  Look harder, look at yourself in the mirror, note your posture, look at what arm and leg are more dominant, stretch them!

Fish oils

Packed with Omega-3 fatty acids, fish oils are abundantly present in nature.  Whether you are getting them naturally through fresh fish and seafoods such as salmon and mackeral or through a capsule form (usually supplied by anchovies and sardines), fish oils bring many benefits to every individual.

These fatty acids can possibly lower your bad cholesterol, raise your good cholesterol, help lubricate your joints, give shine to your hair, and also help with dry skin.  An added benefit is knowing that they are real, and not a man made supplement that is chemically altered.

As always, when it comes to diet, check with your physician first!

Juicing

The best diet comes from the things that are most commonly passed by: fruits and vegetables.

Fruits and vegetables contain all of the calories, vitamins, and nutrients that the body needs to survive.  The key is how you take them in.  When cooking or steaming vegetables, most, if not all, of the nutrients are lost in the process.  Fruit and vegetable juices available at the store contain added sugars, flavoring, and refined ingredients to cause more harm than benefit.

The answer is juicing.  Why juice and not just eat them?  Chances are, you WON'T eat them!  And if you do, you will probably get real full real fast or real tired of it immediately.  Juicing adds convenience and variety to your day, not to mention color.  The nutrients will detoxify your body, the calories will create energy, and the cost will make you smile.  There are no set recipes, you add what you see fit, mix and match, and expose yourself to things you haven't before.  Example, add chia seeds, they will liquify and cleanse your GI tract during digestion.

Check out some documentaries I recently watched that detail the benefits:

Hungry for Change
Food Matters
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

Proprioception: The importance of balance

It is important to incorporate balance into your general workout routine.  If you are like most people, you sit on machines or on weight benches to accomplish most moves.  This does not really apply in real life where you will more than likely be standing up, kneeling down, or even standing on one leg to reach for or lift something.

When doing something as simple as dumbbell arm curls, try standing on one foot, on a BOSU ball, or some other type of surface that you are not used to.  This will generate the proprioceptors in your legs to communicate your brain.  The point of proprioception is to clue your head in with where the rest of your body is and what it is doing.  Better proprioceptive communication creates greater and quicker neuromuscular response to moving conditions.  Your reflexes will be better, your balance will improve, and so will your general awareness.

This can apply to all exercises so check out some quick examples:

-Dumbbell chest press on stability/swiss ball
-Squats on one leg
-Reverse lunges off of BOSU ball
-Squat jumps from floor to BOSU ball
-Crunches on stability/swiss ball with feet elevated on wall rather than floor
-Dumbbell overhead press while kneeling on bench

The key is; you have to remove yourself a little from your comfort zone while doing movement exercises.  Try to incorporate strategies into your workout that include challenges or obstacles that you may face in everyday life.

The posterior chain

People often poke fun at my broad shouldered "tough man" walk.  The fact is, that walk is the example of a good posterior chain.

The posterior chain encompasses the entire back of your body; from where your trapezius attaches to the base of your school, down through your lats and rhomboids, your erector spinae, glutes, hamstrings and to the calves.

The body's natural tendency is to get stronger and tighter on the front but weak in the back. Most of this can be attributed to the anatomical fact that the hips hinge more this way, we tend to reach forward more, we sit more, and gravity is more influential this way.

It is important to create symmetry of the body, meaning equal strength and flexibility on the front as well as the back.  This needs to be addressed with proper resistance training (lower back extensions, planks, reverse flys, lat pull downs), proper stretching of tight opposing muscles (hip flexors and chest), and also walking with correct posture (broad shouldered).

Look in the mirror, check your posture!

A client's response to my workout...

Often people are a little shocked about how they feel after I introduce them to a functional workout, especially if they are used to walking around machines aimlessly or "picking things up and putting them down."  Some won't admit the difference they feel but I received an e-mail from a new client this morning stating his feelings about a workout I introduced him to yesterday and I had to share:

Subject: and i thought you were my friend

all you trainers are masochists. did your daddy yell at you when you were young? what triggered this? hahahahahahahaha

i hurt ALL over. one place i have never hurt before, directly under my armpits, upper rib cage. WTF? 

your science was spot on. i hurt in my weak spots. inner thighs and lower abs.

i think you underestimated my lack of physical fitness mike. im a mess. but i will do your routine at a snails pace until my body tells me to step it up. 

i think this will be the first step of a love affair with functional movement. cant wait to see all the other fun things once i master (i hope) the movements you gave me. 

i cant say i wont miss the feeling up pumping out 80 lbs dumbbells on a bench and the pump you get from that BUT no one will ever ask me how much i lift while on the golf course or while mountain biking or playing tennis ..... so.

thanks mike!!!

Sounds like another believer in functional workouts!

2nd Annual Walk for TM

If you know me well, then you know my advocacy for personal health and well being.  I owe a lot of this to a rare neurological disorder that blindsided my mother in 2004.  She was left paralyzed from waist down on her left side that day; bedridden at first, reliant on a wheelchair for quite some time, and now more mobile with assistive devices.  She has come a long way from that day but the phenomenon known as Transverse Myelitis still lingers.

TM is described as a a neurological disorder caused by an inflammatory process of the spinal cord. It comes on suddenly, affecting people of all ages and walks of life. While many are able to walk after being affected by this disorder, there are many who cannot.  My mother became involved with a small group of people in New Jersey last year that all share the same questions and concerns surrounding this mystery.  On April 13th, 2013, there will be a walk at Cooper River to promote fundraising for more research and hopefully a cure for TM.  Please join us and support a great cause for those that are near and dear to our hearts.

More information on the walk and donations can be found at:
www.sjtmwalk.com

Information on Transverse Myelitis:
www.myelitis.org

Range of motion: Don't cheat your muscles!

When performing exercises, make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck and not cheating yourself out of the benefits that the exercises offer.

This often happens when people sacrifice range of motion to complete the exercises.  Either the person simply does not have the strength or endurance to complete full movement, or they do not realize.  Remember one thing, the body WILL cheat.  It will do it's best to accomplish a task with the least work in an effort to work efficiently.  In the fitness field, we must be consciously aware that this can always happen and do our best to focus on all exercises and complete them properly to gain benefits and minimize risks.

Keep yourself local to a mirror for exercises you suspect incorrect form.  For bicep curls, make sure you get a full extension of the elbow joint, no half reps.  For squats, get those thighs parallel with the ground at the bottom of the movement.  For pushups, get that chest 3-4 inches from the ground.

The list goes on, be more aware when you workout, chances are you will correct quite a few things and benefit from it.  Don't cheat your muscles!

Elasticity

If your gym has theratubes or you can pick one up at the store, do so for a drastic difference in your workout routine.

Theratubes derive from their use in rehabilitation.  Therapy was performed with elastic tubing to create a closed chain effect on the exercises that used them.  They have since hit the gym scene, first in group exercise settings and now in group coaching.

Performing exercises like bicep curls, upright rows, and tricep extensions now have two main factors: gravity and elasticity.  The elasticity enhances the eccentric aspect of the exercise.  This eccentric stress or "forcing the negative" is what needs to be done to muscles in order to make them stronger.  Theratubes are excellent for helping you break through a plateau, challenging your workout, and without the weight of a dumbbell, they are portable.

Get creative with use: use them to make your squats and pushups harder by keeping them tight around your upper back, use them to assist you when you do pullups, anchor one end and utilize the other to do rotary twists, resisted punches, etc, the list goes on....

Train the weakness - not the strength!

I see it far too much, gymgoers that frequently work on the body areas that they enjoy the most, where they excel the most, and feel that they are strongest.  The problem is that this enhances an assymetry of the body, creating an uneven balace between planes, and more likely contributing to injury.

The phrase I've coined is: "If you hate it, you need it."  Meaning if you enjoy going on that elliptical everyday at the gym then you are probably NOT benefiting from it anymore.  Try the rowing machine, I guarantee you'll hate it, in a good way.  If you constantly do tricep extensions because you like how defined you look in the mirror then realize that there are other muscles in the arm that you are neglecting.  Muscles that are not defined, muscles that are weak and desperately in need of training.

A workout experience should always focus on consistency and progression.  See my previous post on this.  If you do not progress, and only stay in a comfort zone, you are cheating the areas of your body that need attention.  Train all of the planes:  sagittal, frontal, transverse.  A leg workout is not just squats and lunges, include hip abductions, single leg side squats , BOSU squat jumps, and hamstring curls.  Same for upper body workouts.  Don't just focus on the "beach muscles," work your forearms, lat pulls, closegrip chest press, reverse fly.....the list is endless.

If you conclude your workout and feel you hit the total body you definitely did not.  Try suspension/TRX training, you'll feel the difference.  Train the weakness - not the strength!

Gravity

When it comes to functional training and bodyweight training gravity is your friend...or foe, however you would like to look at it.  Basically gravity provides real time feedback of how your body responds to exercises and movements.  The faster you go, the more power you will create, the slower you go, the more gravity you will combat, creating more strength.  Once you understand this concept it is pretty easy to use gravity to your (dis)advantage for a significant workout.

Do a minute of squat jumps followed immediately by one minute of holding a squat in the downward position, with your fingertips just grazing the floor between your legs.  Notice how you prefatigue the quadriceps with the powerful jumps and then force your body to recruit slow twitch muscle fibers to keep you from collapsing as you hold that squat down for the second minute.  You get bang for the buck here, accomplishing power, strength, and endurance in just 2 minutes.

The same can apply with pushups.  Do one minute hard of explosive pushups, followed immediately by hovering above the floor in the lowest part of a pushup for another minute.  Note how gravity wants to suck you to the floor and how you recruit MUCH more out of your body to just hold yourself two inches from the floor.

Gravity is such an awesome factor in a bodyweight workout, use it to help you, you will never accomplish this real time feeling utilizing just machines.

Broad Street Run 2013

If you were lucky enough to be selected in the lottery for this year's Broad Street Run, then you should have already started training by now.  Be sure to progress and regress your long run to stay clear of injury.  I hover around 6 miles on Sundays right now.  Train your quadriceps to be able to maintain the slight 10 mile downgrade.

The race is 10 miles downhill (the first mile is actually a positive grade), with water stops and time clocks every mile.  This year, participation is pushing 40,000 runners and beware - this race is very competitive with runners coming in from all parts of the world.  It is not walk-friendly and do prepare to be shoved so run with wide elbows and watch your footwork as it is easy to get tangled up.

The intensity of the race is amplified by the fans that line Broad Street from start to finish.  Watch for Ed Rendell around City Hall and give him a high five.  While around City Hall, be careful with sharp 90 degree turns to navigate the building's large footprint and the bottleneck that it creates for the runners.  Don't be fooled when you enter the Navy Yard, this is not the finish line!  You will burn your legs up if you sprint to the gate, the finish line is close to a half mile after entering and you can't see it because it sits on a curve.

First time? No sweat, adrenaline alone will surely get you through this race.  Most importantly, have fun, see you at Broad Street!

Check your shoes!

Spring is coming, so is the nicer weather, so is the chance of many to start running more, or even begin running.  All more reason to check your running shoes for their condition.

Look at the tread.  Uneven treadwear will be the most commonly found problem.  Much like car tires, excessive pronation (inward rolling of the feet caused by low arches) will wear out the inner sides of your shoes.  Vice versa for supination (caused by high arches).  It is extremely rare for your shoes to wear evenly so if you have suspiscions take them to the closest running store or personal trainer.  I like to use the "wobble test" to check mine. Put them on a flat surface and give them a quick tap from each side.  If they wobble, you have uneven wear.

Try to have at least two pairs of athletic shoes to rotate on exercise days.  Remember that they need to rest too.  A day off after a workout will give the rubber and foam time to decompress to offer you the same amount of support the next time you wear them.

Perfecting squat form

A squat is one of the most incorrectly performed exercises in the gym yet it is the most common functional movement used by everyone.

You do it everyday; picking up something from the floor, tying a shoe, getting something from the lower cabinet, lifting something heavy, or just plain exercising.  The question is, are you doing it correctly?  Every human is born with the natural and correct ability to squat with perfect form, yet over time we condition ourselves to sway from that form, whether it is from a muscular imbalance, ignorance, or incorrect education, this incorrect form will ultimately sacrifice your spinal column and hit you with some problems in the lower back and upper neck regions.

If you notice a toddler squatting to pick their toys up from the floor then you are witnessing correct form.  It almost looks like they are going to sit on the carpet as they reach for their book or game.  Their back does not bend or twist, they just lower their torso "as is" with the only movement in the hip, knee, and ankle joints.

Observe an older individual and compare.  They will more than likely bend over at the waist and roll their spinal column as they reach for the item on the floor.  Instead of their hips dropping down with their body, their hips stay at almost the same height and bend to accomplish a squat.

Correct squat form will preserve the spinal column and it's soft, natural "S" curvature.  Incorrect squat form will increase the "S" curvature which promotes stress on the vertabrae and the ligaments inbetween.  Add years of incorrect squatting and even worse, restistance training with incorrect form and back issues are imminent.

It really is as simple as imagining you are sitting on a chair.  When squatting, push your butt back slowly, hinge forward at the hips slightly, allow your knees and ankles to bend accordingly to lower you.  Observe yourself in a mirror.  Keep your feet flat to the floor; if your heels start to lift, only perform squats to the level JUST before those heels lift and note that you need to stretch your calves.  Look forward or up, never look downward in a squat, you know that the floor is there.  The second you increase the curvature of your cervical spine by looking down, you increase chances of your "S" curve becoming incorrectly proportional.  The goal is to lower your body while maintaining the same curve.  When coming back up, think of leading with the back of your head, that way your hips won't raise faster than your shoulders.

Focus on correct form, you squat EVERYDAY.  Make it a habit to be consciously aware of the issues that affect your squat and address them now, save your back!

Consistency and Progression

Two of the most important parts of a training regimen, consistency and progression.

Consistency is key for short and long term goals; weight loss, flexibility, strength gains, etc.  The list goes on....nothing can be accomplished if it is only done sporadically.  You will constantly end in a plateau and even worse, regress, falling off of the bandwagon and having to start over, sometimes in a worse setting.  I see it far too much with new gym members that join, keep at it for a month and then fade off and complain that it just didn't work.  Fitness is a commitment that must be made.  It requires willpower, motivation, and a change of life.  Don't expect to get far without those....If you want to become more flexible, you must constantly stretch.  Practice DOES make perfect.  Consistency will drive you toward your goal.

Don't go out too hard too fast.  This often breaks consistency.  This is where progression comes into play.  If you feel good because you ran one mile tonight, you shouldn't go run 5 tomorrow night, or even 3.  You risk setting yourself up for failure, hurting yourself physically, and sometimes worse mentally, deflating your ego which can be psychologically detrimental.  Keep running that one mile a night for a week.  Let your body adapt to it, see how your breathing reacts, notice how you feel 2 nights later, study your body.

Training is best in progressive stages.  This is why there are beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes.  Each one is to build off of the previous level.  Your own workouts should be based with this same concept.  Lifting heavy weights is overloading and straining the muscles as well as every other part of your body.  Increasing this overload and strain without letting the body adapt to the current strain will surely injure you, breaking your CONSISTENCY.

A good rule of thumb in training progression is the 10% rule.  Whatever you do this week should only be increased by 10% next week.  This gives proper time for the body to adapt.  This applies to resistance, mileage, intensity, repetitions and so on.

Remember, consistency and progression work hand in hand.  They are the building blocks of a workout routine.  If you plan to succeed with your goals then don't go from 0 right to 60, remember there are other numbers in between!

Pushups

My clients and class participants hate me for the emphasis I put on pushups.  The fact is they are the best tool to combine your upper and lower body endurance and strength crossing through, and including, your core.

Compare the guy who can bench press 500 lbs to the guy that can do 75 continuous pushups.  Who do you want to help push your car when it runs out of gas on the way to work?  The common pick would be the guy that can bench press a lot because he is stronger.  This is such a misconception because the guy that can perform 75 pushups has found the ability to connect his upper and lower body, work with the core, work efficiently, and coordinate the body as a unit rather than isolating out muscle groups.   This is just more relative to everyday life and the physical situations that present themselves.

Here are a couple varieties you can throw into a pushup routine:

Alter the placement of your hands (standard is at the location of your collarbone, make it harder by starting with them more up by your chin, then your nose, the your hairline, notice how much more core engagement you get).

Keep your feet on a stability ball while doing the pushups to let the lack of a foundational balance make your body work harder.  Still not hard?  Only put one foot on the ball, let the other one float in the air.

Do pushups with both hands grabbing a medicine ball or basketball.  Notice how much harder it is when your hands are closer, let alone fighting for balance.

The tremor of truth

Ever do an exercise and notice that that particular muscle group seems to be quivering or trembling?  Don't attribute it to the muscle itself, it is actually your nervous system recruiting thousands of neurons to engage during the exercise; this can also be referred to as neural adaptations.

Neural adaptations are most common in new and unfamiliar exercises in which the nervous system has not yet learned to handle and as you get more comfortable, and stronger, with the exercise the trembling will subside.

The tremor of truth is most seen in exercises involving a lot of muscles at once, such as planks, pushups, isometrics (exercises where you hold a particular form for a certain duration), and is also present in most suspension exercises such as a TRX tricep extension.

The goal here is to decrease the amount of quivering your body makes during exercise.  The quivering wastes energy and also is distracting.  Less quivering equals more efficiency.

Muscles NOT Momentum

When it comes to exercising, there are two ways to do it.  Correctly and incorrectly.

In some cases, momentum is required in locomotor movements:  jumping, running, shuffling, etc.  When it comes to resistance training, momentum can give you false readings of your capabilities.  Think of the typical person that is trying to bench press as much as they can by BOUNCING the barbell off of their chest and making all types of back arches and leg kicks to get the weight back up. They will obviously not be able to perform the same exercise with the same weight while utilizing proper form, slow and controlled movements, utilizing the muscles and not the momentum.

If you are looking to increase the efficiency and amount of pushups you can do try working in the negative.  Take 3 seconds to lower your body down and 1 second to power back to the top.  Chances are you won't meet your pushup "quota" but in time this practice will surpass what you did before and with more strength.

If you are used to doing quick squat jumps apply the same concept.  3 seconds to squat down and 1 second to power up and jump.  This will take the spring out of your muscles and force them to work with less contracting forces built up for them, instead YOU are providing the force.  This in turn fatigues your body quicker, making you work in that fatigue, and therefore get stronger.

Once you grasp the concept start applying it to more and more exercises.

Shin Splints

They can happen to anyone.  The dreaded shin splints, the horrible pain on the front of your lower leg, the pain that can bring a grown man to his knees.

There are two main contributors to shin splints:
1: Running too much too soon.
2: Running on inclines when the muscles are not properly conditioned.

The muscle affected is the anterior tibialis, a thin sheath of a muscle located on the front of the shin bone (tibia).  It's function is to dorsiflex the ankle joint, to pull the toes up away from the ground, the most repetitive movement in walking and running.  Overusing this muscle will immediately cause little tears up and down this muscle where it attaches to the shin bone, inflaming the area which causes the debilitating pain that will keep you from running.  The same goes when you start running on positive grades and inclined treadmills, requiring you to pull your toes higher and dorsiflex the ankle more to clear the ground.  The increased contractions on the anterior tibialis will most likely bring on the shin splints.

What's the best treatment?  REST!  Inflammation will never go away if it is constantly stressed.  You can also try icing the most tender areas.  Most importantly, avoid hills which will continue to make it worse.

The best way to deal with shin splints is to prevent them.  Abide by the 5 percent rule, never increase amount of mileage you run more than 5 percent a week.

Plank much?

The abdominal plank is one of the greatest exercises in the core workout arsenal.  The problem is: it's not just a core workout, it's a workout for the entire anterior chain.  Everything on the front of the body is fighting gravity, therefore the front side of the body is statically activated.

Your shoulders will burn, your chest will remain tight, your midsection should be a brick wall, and your thighs should remain tight as well to prevent your knees from bending and breaking form.

Planks can be performed a variety of ways, but the standard plank will place you on just your forearms and toes, hovering above the ground as straight as can be.  Your forearms should be placed directly below your collar bone or neck, don't rest on them!  Have shoulder issues?  Perform the plank in the upright pushup position.   Want a challenge?  Place your hands or forearms up further  from you to increase tension on the midsection.  Want more challenge?  In the standard position, jump your feet together as a unit left and right a few inches.

The plank is a great test of endurance that is measurable.  Start by trying to hold it for 20 seconds and then try to increase by 5 seconds a day.  Don't forget to breathe!

Don't just think of the plank as a stomach exercise, it can be a great asset to a full body routine.

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Cover a 5k course on foot and watch out for the zombies chasing after you, forcing you off path
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This is a family friendly race that is fun yet scary and very realistic with props.

Like zombie movies?  Run in one!  See you there, April 7th at FDR Park.

Stretching

If you go to hold a stretch, but only hold it for 10-15 seconds, then you are cutting yourself short.   Every muscle in the body has little built in safety mechanisms called muscle spindles.  Their function is to immediately activate at first sense of a stretch to minimize risk of over stretching and injury.  So holding a stretch for 10-15 seconds is only scratching the surface.  At that point muscle spindles are still activated, and even though you might feel the stretch it could be much more beneficial for you to hold it longer (30-40) seconds, to actually work on lengthening the muscle for more long term effects.

Try to hold stretching for the end of your workout.  Studies are now showing a correlation between preworkout stretching and injury during exercise.  This is most likely contributed to the fact that stretched muscles create too much laxity, especially around joints, which hinder their ability to contract safely and correctly, hence possibly causing injury.

My advice, save the holding type stretches for after the workout, these are also referred to as static stretches.  Instead, start your warmup with dynamic stretches to increase blood flow to all areas of the body.  Examples would be shoulder circles, high knee walking, and monster kicks (carefully alternating kicks out front with your legs).

Did you know?

Did you know that you would have to run 6 miles to burn off ONE quarter pounder with cheese?

At 600-700 calories, a quarter pounder with cheese may taste good, but the average person burns about 100 calories per mile when running.  Does it appeal to you now?

5 minutes of eating could mean 1-2 hours of running....

Try cutting the calorie content down instead; try a turkey burger, veggie burger, use a Foreman grill.

Tweak it before you delete it...

When it comes to diets and eating more healthily, I have coined the term "tweak it before you delete it."

Many, I would assume, would have the same tendency as me in this situation.  You give up eating sweets, everything seems fine for a couple days, you miss the sweets but you've been good enough to stay away.  A week goes by, you are still running strong and sweet free and feeling pretty good about your accomplishment and then here you are at a family get together, right in front of the dessert table.  Then it happens....you binge on the sweets like you've never binged before, not even taking notice to exactly how much you just ate.  Now you are full....of empty calories and regret.  You just ate more sweets in 10 minutes than you probably would've eaten in the past week had you not even given them up.

This is what can happen when you deliberately deprive yourself of something, you come across it and cannot control yourself due to removing it from your diet so suddenly.  That's why you should start changing your portion sizes, amount of servings, habits, and eating times gradually.  This will slowly condition you to not want or rely on something so much that you can't control yourself when it is readily available like in my example

I realized this worked for me when I changed my coffee habits.  At a couple cups a day (with cream and sugar each time), I realized the excessive amount of extra calories I was putting in my body each time.   So I started making slow changes: milk and sugar, milk and less sugar, reduced fat milk and splenda, skim milk and splenda, now just skim milk.  I have slowly deconditioned myself from thicker creams, flavored creamers, and sugar to the point that I prefer the taste of black coffee, and have been drinking that ever since (about 4-5 years).

Do I see myself going back and binging on cream and sugar?  No, but I'm sure I would have if I had just tried to go to black coffee right away.

Making small changes before big ones is always a safer approach if you want to seriously accomplish something.  That's why diet "fads" are just that, a fad, a short term solution that does not last in the long run.  True dietary changes will most certainly require some lifestyle changes to go along with it. This is why you should tweak it before you delete it.

Train insane or remain the same!

It's my new favorite, and probably my clients' least favorite, phrase as I lead them through high intensity, interval, and TRX training at Royal Fitness.  It's true though, if you make crazy fitness goals for yourself, you need to be a little crazy with your fitness routine.  Hence the training styles I use.

TRX training is bodyweight based; putting your own body in suspension and using leverage to work against you.   This is commonly referred to as vector training, since the angle you create with your body dictates how much resistance you will work against.  It is also a great way to work out if you are injury prone, since most exercises are closed-chain (arms and legs are in contact with a base, limiting external variables such as gravity and momentum).

Interval training is a surefire way to give the cardiovascular system a run for its money.  Certain exercises are combined to create a constant surge and drop in heart rate, good for burning fat and not letting the body get used to what it is going through.

High intensity training can offer an athlete increased endurance and stamina, create gains on repetitions, and also break down the barrier that psychology often creates causing someone to give up.  Intense workouts create a competitive drive for the individual to use to their benefit and to bypass their own doubts of their abilities.

Anyone can do these types of fitness routines, just remember, it's a lot different than 3 sets of 15 reps...

TRAIN INSANE OR REMAIN THE SAME!

Tabata: Your new friend for 2013...

One of the best things to start sneaking into your exercise regimen is Tabata.  This was founded in Japan in the late 90's and is an excellent way to boost your aerobic and anaerobic capabilities.

Take an exercise that involves the full body, like a squat jump.  If you do it for one minute straight, chances are that you will start to fade by the halfway mark, if not sooner.  You will most likely not work too efficiently either.

The Tabata technique will have you take that exercise and work at a 20:10 ratio.  Do the squat jumps for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds.  You will then repeat this for 8 cycles which totals 4 minutes.  The point of this technique is to push you close to the top end of your ability level and then let you recover just enough, but not FULLY.  Your body, mainly the cardiovascular system, will adjust to these mini "power surges" and start to run more efficiently during difficult bouts of exercise.  It is a great way to get amateur and moderate level participants to increase their aerobic endurance (utilizing oxygen) and to also get advanced athletes to raise their anaerobic capabilities (work under stress).


It can pretty much be used with any exercise, try it, it works best with a timer.  The one I use for myself and my classes is TABATA PRO from the app store.

The DaileyFit blog

Need to stay motivated?  Me too.  Want to start working out?  Start now.  Want some fitness tips?  Look here.  Looking to run a race?  I'm your man.  Procastinate much?  Stop!

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