Fitness, Training, Health & Conditioning

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK #45

PARTNER FROG

The second move in our partner stretching series is one of either a love or hate relationship. For many athletes it is a great stretch to help them elongate their adductors but for others it is pure torture. Give it a shot and see what you think. Like with the other partner stretches the key is to ease into it. As you hold the stretch the muscle fibers will relax against the tension allowing you to get further into the range of motion.

Hey everybody and Happy New Year! Hard to believe it’s 2010! The tip for this week is one I am basing off of some personal experience from this past week. I hope you find this simple tip as practical as I did.

This past week for me was all about relaxing and watching mostly football. On Sunday, I watched 2 straight games, which means about 5 hours of TV. Another thing I did this week was register to run at my first indoor track meet of the season 2 weeks from now, so now is not a particularly good time for me to sit on a couch 5 straight hours. In order to fill my football cravings and get in some good training, I just combined the two. Instead of sitting on the couch while watching the games, I sat on the floor and did various hip activation exercises and stretches to get my body loose and warmed up, then during each commercial break, I ran outside and did 2 sprints, up and down my driveway (which is a solid 40 yard dash). Do that every commercial break for 2 whole football games and you can get in over 50 sprints. Not a bad way to train for a Sunday afternoon. My legs were pretty sore the next day too.

You don’t necessarily have to go sprint, but I would challenge you to take commercial breaks to get up and do some physical activity, depending on what your goals are. If you are a runner, go do some quick strides. If you want to build strength, do some pushups, then stretch back out while watching you show. Get in some sit-ups or crunches if you want to work your abs. The toughest part is to be disciplined enough to do it, rather than go grab the chips or ice cream during the break. Plus, why just sit there anyways? How many times do we really need to hear how we can save money on our car insurance by switching to Geico?

Our latest Poll was asking how often you exercise with the overwhelming response (60% compared to 10% for the next most popular) being 1-2 Hours a day 3-5 days a week. SO this means the majority worked out somewhere between 3 and 10 hours a week. For many years we have heard various “experts” tell us how much exercise our bodies “need”. I have heard the common responses of 3 days a week for 60 minutes. More aggressive estimates are along the lines of 6 days a week for 45-75 minutes. So what is the actual amount of exercise we need to get during the course of a week?

The answer from our perspective may surprise you. I sat down to calculate this out and came up with an amount that has nothing to do with cardiovascular requirements or calorie burning but rather what would it take for us to be able to maintain true physical health. True physical health meaning that our bodies are maintaining a high level of efficiency that allows us to be flexible, strong, have good posture, have high levels of endurance, and high energy levels throughout the day. We all had this at one point, it was called childhood.

Childhood was a time in our lives where physical activity was of premium importance. I am now 35 years old but I can remember how highly it was stressed in my Elementary Schools. Thank you Bear Creek in Lakewood Colorado! We had P.E. everyday along with multiple recesses all the way through 5th grade. Now my son who is in 3rd grade gets one recess if he is lucky and P.E. for 45 minutes 1x per week. So think back to being 6 years old and we begin to get closer to how much time we need to exercise during the week.

The answer is hours, many hours not per week but per day. Our Bodies were designed to be used, not occasionally sitting on a silly little bike reading a book but used, a lot. Playgrounds, fences, trees, and any other obstacle we could find used to be our training equipment. When we used them we were strong, had more energy than our parents could stand, and were as healthy as we will most likely ever be in our lives.

So how do we replicate this as adults now with kids of our own and full time jobs and the many other stresses we deal with on a daily basis? The answer is in smaller amounts. We no longer have the luxury of a 3 hour marathon game of Cops and Robbers. We now are luck to have 30 minutes. One of the many reasons I wanted to create this blog was to give you tools to become as healthy as possible regardless of your current situation. If you have not looked in the Store, go check it out. For the cost of going to a movie you can get some of our programs.

If you work at a desk all day, Purchase our AM/PM routines, the Complete Cubicle Workout Series, and the Abdominal program. You now have the tools you need to get an hour worth of exercise a day without making much of a difference in your current schedule.

Give us some feedback and let us know what other types of products will help you out in your goals to stay fit and healthy. In the meantime make sure you are doing exercise everyday. The ramifications of not doing so go way beyond not burning enough calories or needed to work your cardiovascular system more.

How many millions of people woke up this morning and said this is the year that I am going to…..Lose that weight. There is no doubt that this is the most common resolution people make in my opinion. Considering the staggering number of overweight people in our society.

Train2move would like to offer you an alternative this year. The style of muscular efficiency training we utilize at Train2move allows you to restore the performance of your muscular system. We have talked about this in hundreds of our posts but we want to take this New Years opportunity to actually show you how effective it can be and provide you with access to the training.

To provide this opportunity to you we needed to find people willing to go through the program and share their experience with you. Lucky for us we found Holly and Dan Migas. They are parents of Luke, one of our Hood to Coast team Members on our Runwithpower team. We selected them based on the fact that we thought they represented what this program is all about. They were both healthy individuals who cared about their bodies but noticed that they were starting to slow down physically. They both want to stay active for many more years but are concerned that they are not going to be able to .

Dan and Holly are perfect examples of what many people say is just the by product of aging. We are going to prove to them and to you that it is not their age but rather their current level of muscular efficiency that is making them, “feel there age”.

Over the next month we will take you through their progress with updates from us about their training, postural photographs so you can visually see their progress, and most importantly feedback from them. We have told them to be completely honest about how they feel about the program and of course how they are feeling physically.

If you are looking to try something a little more successful than the annual weight loss goal this year we invite you to join Dan and Holly on their quest to restore their muscular systems to a level that enables them to feel great physically and maintain a level of efficiency for many years to come. As we get near the end of the month of January we will be giving you access to the exact program that Dan and Holly went through.

Check back here soon for the initial interview and postural photographs so you can get the complete look at where Dan and Holly started.

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK #44

PARTNER HAMSTRING STRETCH

This is the first in a series of exercises we will show you to increase the flexibility of various muscles of the upper and lower body. This is the Partner Hamstring Stretch that is designed to elongate the muscles that comprise the hamstrings. Done correctly this can also be an excellent stretch of the lower back and with proper positioning of the leg on the ground you can even get some elongation of the hip flexors.

Watch the video to see how to perform this correctly and utilize it in your current workout regimen as a great tool to increase flexibility.

Many people tend to use the cold weather as an excuse to not workout. It is so much more appealing to sit on the couch by that nice warm fire instead of going out in freezing temperatures. I have done this many times myself but for many I think they have a legitimate excuse of just not knowing if it is ok to go outside to workout when the temperatures drop into the 20′s or below.

Here are some things that we want you to be aware of when exercising in the cold. If you take the proper precautions it is completely safe for you to exercise when the temperature get real cold.

Stay hydrated - This is a mistake that a lot of people make. We tend to not drink as much when it is colder outside so make sure you are hydrated before you go to workout. You will still sweat if you follow the next piece of advice about your clothing.

Make sure to wear layers – Wearing multiple layers is a great way to combat the cold weather. Start with the lowest layer (closest to your skin) as a dri-fit type material that is designed to get the moisture off your skin. Try to not do cotton as this will absorb the moisture which can cause some problems for you as you begin to sweat because it can freeze and cause you to become chilled. Also make sure your layers are easy to remove or add back on based on how warm or cold you are. When you exercise your body can make it seem like it is 30 degrees warmer than the actual temperature.

Protect your extremities – I grew up in Denver and I remember my mom always telling me that I lose the most heat from my head so I always had these awesome winter hats to wear. This is key if you are going to be exercising in the cold. Wear some type of protection for your head. Also make sure to wear some gloves on your hands so you do not develop any frostbite. Double up on socks can also be a good idea to help keep the feet warm.

Talk to your Doctor – If you have asthma or any other type of respiratory issues make sure to ask your Doctor if it is safe for you to be exercising in the cold. The cold can make certain types of respiratory issues more pronounced which can have a dramatic impact on your ability to exercise.

Understand when it is too cold – These tips will help you to be able to exercise in the cold but do remember that it can get to be too cold. One thing many people forget about is the windchill factor. make sure to take into account the windchill when you are outside. If this drops the temperature down below 10 degrees it might be time to think about staying on the couch by that nice fire!

Welcome back everyone to fitness tip of the week. This is the last fitness tip for the entire year, and hopefully up to this point, you have been able to apply some of these weekly tips into your fitness plans and goals.
The tip for this week is one that is not necessarily the easiest to put into practice. Lots of trainers will give the advice, “Do what works for you.” To just about everyone, this means to do the fitness activities that you enjoy. While this is important, many times we, as humans, enjoy the things that are easy, or are our strengths. It is important to remember that while fitness should be fun and enjoyable, it also can and should be hard. Getting in great shape and taking good care of your body is not easy. It takes work, and sometimes that work can be frustrating.

The tip for this week is more of a challenge than just a tip. This week, going into this next year, sit down and write out all the different fitness strengths and weaknesses you have. What comes easy for you, and what is difficult? Too often, people focus only on their strengths, while overlooking their weaknesses. The obvious reason for this is that it is much more difficult to train you weak areas than your strong ones.

Challenge yourself to schedule times where you will specifically train in one area where you know you are weaker. For some, it may be running. Maybe it is lifting. Some people never stretch because they know they are not very flexible to begin with. This can even apply to any sport you play. Think of basketball for example. If you are right handed, I would be willing to bet that you dribble with your right hand 98% of the time, because it’s easy. But, if you really want to improve you game, you can probably start by dribbling twice as much with your left hand as your right, because it is your weaker hand, and you can make the biggest improvements there. It may not be as comfortable, familiar, easy, or fun, but it will only help you to get better. Whatever it may be, figure out what it is that you struggle with, and work on that area. That is going to be the area where you can most improve.

Loren Sheets

We are currently doing some Conditioning Camps this Winter through our Training business, Trinity Sports Camps. We have a water cooler in the gym but each day there is a wide assortment of plastic bottles on the ground. The most common is Gatorade but I wonder how much of this is from the mass marketing they do? I decided to ask around as to what the favorite drink of everyone was and the results were pretty varied.

The most common was still water and gatorade but there were also votes for Powerade, Vitamin Water, Propel, Arizona Tea, and more. There is a tremendous amount of research about what best hydrates the body while you are exercising. The one that has always worked without fail is of course water. I have often found it interesting as I walk down the beverage isle at the local grocery store that there is well over 30 different types of water to choose from.

Is this really necessary or are they more or less all the same? Each of them have their own reason for why you would want to purchase their water as opposed to one of the other many choices. Someday I would like to visit some of these amazing springs that all these bottled waters come from. Did they really make a plant right there at the spring to capture the water? I personally think it is just as likely it is coming out of some persons faucet in their backyard. It is also interesting to see how many different types of shapes to the bottle and designs on the label their are. I’ll be honest I have bought a water before because it had the best looking bottle. With my luck that water came from a toilet somewhere but at least I had a sweet bottle.

So what do you typically drink while you work out? For me it is usually water. Most other drinks leave that sugary film in my mouth that makes me more thirsty than I was before.

I worked in the Gym industry for about 7 years. During that time I was amazed at how many people would flood into the gyms each year about this time to go purchase their gym memberships. The assumption was that if they had their membership to the gym they would of course go use it and therefore be in better health. The members who have had a membership for years and were constantly using the gym would go crazy. The “New Years Rush” meant long lines at equipment, trouble finding a parking spot, and an aerobics class packed with people.

These issues typically disappear after the middle of February when most of the New Years Resolution crowd realizes they are not going to stick with it and they begin to fall off their over eager workout schedule. This was always a little disappointing to witness each year. People would go in to the new year and workout out at a level that was not appropriate for their current ability levels and completely burn themselves out after a month or so.

Sadly the gym world relies on this to make their money. I remember seeing statistic sheets when I was an assistant manager at one of the gyms that less than 20% of the people who were paying their monthly dues actually used the facility more than once a month. We also noticed that many of the percentage who came in were doing so for the amenities like tanning and massage but not to actually workout.

Sign people up for a three year financial commitment, then watch as they slowly lose interest. They stop coming in but you still get their money. It is the sad truth about gyms. Don’t get me wrong. Many gym offer some incredible training and classes designed to keep people motivated and going to the facility. It is not the gyms fault necessarily, it is just the reality of the gym world.

So if you are considering going out to purchase a gym membership this year to help achieve your resolutions, here are a few things I would recommend you consider before you do so.

1. What is your motivation? Are you trying to lose weight, run a marathon, play some pick up basketball help your aching knees and back? Make sure you have your goals firmly in place before you go to the gym. Then consider what all you will need to make this happen. Make sure the gym you are considering has the things to offer that you will need to meet your goals.

2. What do you enjoy? If you have always loved swimming, make sure your gym has a pool. If you enjoy playing games to get in shape, does it have a basketball court or a racquetball court? Are their leagues you can get into?

3. What time are you going to use the gym? Most gyms will give you a free pass to try the facility out. Take it and make sure to spend some time at the gym when you will normally be there. Many people go to purchase a membership during their lunch break only to find out that in the evening when they are going to workout the gym is so busy they can barely move around.

4. Try to get a month to month deal. If you can go in and purchase just one month, do so. Even if they want to charge you quite a bit for it, go in and prove to yourself you are going to use the facility. If after the month you are consistent and enjoying it, now make a longer commitment.

5. Try exercising at home to see if you are actually willing to do it. We have some very inexpensive programs that you can try in our Store that will not only help to get you in better health but will also be a great supplement to your gym membership if you decide to get one.