Calm the mind, Strengthen the core!

If you are like most people, you do not think of your breathing.  I am finding that more and more people are breathing inefficiently.  This means you are probably taking shallow chest breaths rather than belly or diaphragmatic breaths.  During proper breathing our bellies should expand (the diaphragm drops down to create space for the lower lungs to fill with air) and fill the imaginary cylinder around your core.

We need to remember the diaphragm is a muscle and if does not do its job, the muscles in the upper chest and neck will take over.  This can lead to headaches, hand numbness and back pain.

Try these techniques and pay attention to how you feel.

Box Breathing: this is a very simple exercise that I picked up from Mark Devine from sealfit.com.

                Inhale through nose for a 4 count, hold breath for a 4 count, exhale through mouth for a 4 count, and hold the empty for a 4 count. Repeat for 2 to 10 minutes.

Wim Hof breathing: this one is a little more difficult but very effective.  Wim Hof is a multiple world record holder for sitting in ice baths (close to two hours in a tub with 700kg of ice).

1.       30 “power breaths”; breathe in fully through nose, breath out without force and hold until gasp reflex.  

2.       Breath in fully through nose, hold 10 seconds

3.       Repeat 1-2 cycles.

Try each technique, see which one you like and add that to your beginning/end of day routine or your relaxation/meditation time. 

Sick of same old core movements?

The next time you want a "new" core exercise give a loaded carries a try. You might be asking, what is a carry? Carries might be one of the most simple core movements to perform, pick up something heavy and walk. All the muscles of the core must fire to protect our spine from moving while carrying heavy things. Your body will always get it right, no thinking are my hips in the right place like while planking.
Types of carries;
Farmers walks:  holding two objects (dumbbell, kettle bell), one on each side.
Suitcase walk: hold on object by the side.
Rack (position): hold object (1 or 2) up by shoulders.
Overhead: hold object (1 or 2) overhead with strait arms.
Odd objects can also be used for carrying, bear hug a sand or heavy bag.

Give carries a try during you next workout. Pick up something heavy, walk a certain distance, time or steps, and do that two or three times.
Have fun and try a variety of carries.

Try this for calf help!

As anyone who has talked with me knows, I am a huge proponent of tissue work and foam rolling. We all need to have a daily tissue mobilization practice. With the weather improving (finally in the Northeast), people are getting more active. Especially runners! And with that comes tight calves/Achilles and feet. I have had a few comments lately about the difficulty of holding the body off the ground in order to create enough pressure for effective rolling. I happen to agree. For this problem I have a little trick that will allow everyone to create enough pressure on the calves for great results.
You will need two yoga blocks or two 2" think books and a tiger tail/the stick like device (I use a 1" round dowel).
 To perform, place the blocks on the floor and put the tiger tail or dowel on top. Start by placing one leg onto roller just above the heel; place the second leg on the first. Take your time and work up the calf, pointing the foot in and out until just below the knee.

                        Block Set-up                            

                                                                                                    

                                        Beginning Calf Rolling

Using the yoga block set up will allow you to spend more time working this tissue, giving you better results.

Give it a try. 

Power Lifting, Strength and Sport?

Last weekend marked the return of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. It was his first fight (in the octagon, not with the law) in over a year. Jones won, regaining his title in a five round unanimous decision. After the fight the social media world blew up with chatter of how Jones did not look dominant or like himself. People said he must be washed up or that his extra-curricular activities must be catching up with him.
I looked at it a little differently; maybe he felt he needed the work. As good as practice and sparring are (and are needed) nothing is quite like the actual event. It was a lunch-pail kind of fight, work on some things and retrain what five rounds of fighting feels like.
What does fighting have to do with this fitness/motivation blog? A friend sent me an article posted on Mmajunkie.com posing an interesting question whether power lifting played a role in Jones' "lack of dominance".  During the fight, Jones’ head coach Greg Jackson was overheard saying “power lifting’s a problem.” And that he’s gassed referring to Jones.  This may have been referring to Jones’ overall conditioning or just simple ring rust.

I've never worked with an elite mixed martial arts fighter, so my opinion is coming from my almost twenty years of training athletes of various levels.  I feel MMA fighters might be the most difficult type of athlete to work with.  I’m not talking personality, but training capacity.  Fighters today must be experts in a number of fighting styles, from boxing, to BJJ to wrestling.  This would be the equivalent of an NFL player going both ways and also performing the kicking for their team.  Fighters also have a different coach for each fighting style.  And these coaches need to communicate with one another.  Each coach needs to be aware of what the others are doing; the athlete will need some restorative/mobility/technique work to aid recovery.  Being crushed by three coaches in one day may lead to overtraining or injury. 

Let me get back to the issue of the power lifting being Jones’ problem.  I do not think (nor do I feel Jackson really thinks) power lifting is the problem.  Jackson probably does not feel the strength gained from lifting was actually the problem, but maybe power lifting was prioritized over his fight training.  Increasing strength will make any athlete (or human) better at their activity.  A stronger Jon Jones will be a better Jon Jones.  But, did the time he spent acquiring that new strength take away from his primary training as a fighter.  I feel many athletes should follow the 80/10/10 rule (I learned this from Dan John) for training time. 80% of training time should be devoted to your sport, 10% on strength, 10% on correctives and movement.  I bet Tom Brady spends most of his dedicated training time to throwing mechanics and the nuances of foot work that allow him to move so well around the pocket.   

On a final thought, I do feel strength is king.  Strength makes athletes better, and non-athletes better humans.  Everyone should work on increasing strength, but not at the sacrifice of your sport.  Keep working on strength acquisition, strength is a skill.  Keep working on getting stronger.

Till next time.

Power of a Group!!!!!!

During March we hold a month long challenge that encompasses duration cardio and intervals, upper/lower body splits and a couple benchmark workouts.  One of the benchmark workouts is a “Spartan” workout and I put a small group of the participants through the workout.  Steve was a late entry to this group, and he was so excited after that he wanted to write a piece about his experience.   

Last week was an interesting day at the gym to say the least. I was just getting off the treadmill having completed a 10 minute warmup when I saw a group of people gearing up for a "Spartan Style" workout with Big Joe. I was intrigued by the eclectic group that was about to embark on an undoubtedly intense workout. As I was just walking away to the bench press to begin another uninspired workout, I was encourage by Joe to join the group and give it a try. Immediately my mind began to delve into its typical thought pattern of excuses. "Nahhh, the hip kinda hurts today." Or "Uh, thanks but I haven't been working out much so I wouldn't be able to keep up, blah blah blah."

But today was different. Something was pulling me right into the group and I wasn't quite sure what it was. I could feel a vibrant energy brewing within the group as a few members encouraged me to join them. This energy trumped the laziness of my mind and I joined up. After a quick rundown of the exercises by Joe it was go time. 3 minutes in I was breathing heavy and was looking longingly at the bench press and of the comfort of an easy workout. That self -defeating thought only lasted a moment as another member encouraged me to get back up on the pull up bar like Dan Henderson training for a Rampage Jackson fight . Bam! The endless chatter of my mind started to fall away as I entered a deeper state of flow. It seemed as if the other members were right there with me as I observed them doing the tough reps with more ease. Joe kept the pace high with encouragement and adjustments to technique. That, I feel, was the biggest benefit of the workout. Its one thing to be in a group and have some good energy to get you through a tough workout. Its of WAY more benefit to be accompanied by a personal trainer such as Joe who is there to to make sure no one gets injured. A case in point, when I was doing some difficult plyometric jumps Joe observed my knees collapsing in which I wasn't aware of. As some of us know, middle age can be a ripe time for injuries from bad technique that our younger bodies could get away with. Bad habits have a way of perpetuating without to oversight of a good trainer and I'm thankful Joe was there to catch my bad form. 

After about 40 minutes the workout was finished and it was now time for some high fives as the endorphins started kicking in. This is why we go to the gym, is it not? For that endorphin rush which is the body's way of giving thanks for a strong effort towards a healthier existence. I'm now friendly with two of the members of that group who I had previously never met. They ask me to ask Joe (they are a bit intimidated by him) if he can continue this Spartan Friday for months to come. I believe they intuitively understood something special happens when you have the right energy with the right trainer. Who knows? Maybe this will catch on sometime soon at our club. But until next time, Happy Trails in the name of Health!!

Are you consistent?

How is everyone doing with their workout goals (I wrote about goals in January)?  Do you find yourself still struggling to find a goal? If so, how about attempting to be more consistent with any exercise/activity.   I’m still talking about performance based activity.  Become consistent performing basic human movements; squats, push, pull, hinge and push/pull sled.  Are you able to squat? If you struggle, you need to do them more often.  It is said that ten thousand hours is required to become an expert at something.  We don’t need to be an expert.  But, we do need to be good.  Becoming “good” will take hundreds of hours (does not have to be done in a week).  This is where consistency comes in.  Doing small increments daily will add to the hours needed to become good at a movement.  When we were in school we didn’t just read and write once in awhile, we did it daily to become good.

And on a goals note, one of mine for this year is to write more on this blog.  A friend of mine recently “checked out” my blog and pointed out to me that I have made an average of one post per year.  Here is my second post, which is more than last year. 

Until next time, keep getting strong.          

New Year, New look at GOALS!
 Happy 2016 everyone!  As I write this we are two weeks into the New Year, and I have listened to many people say they have “fallen off the resolution bandwagon”.  Are you one of these people?  Do you already feel you are behind the eight ball trying to looses that extra 10, 20 pounds (or whatever your resolution)?   I feel goal setting is a large part of training and progressing.  So many people struggle to keep their weight loss goals.  If you feel this is you, maybe a different look at goals might help.  Performance goals may be right for you.  Performance based goals would be increasing push up reps (or doing one), squatting or dead lifting your body weight, doing a pull up for the first time or setting a 5K personal record.  Working towards your performance based goals may help you reach weight loss goals.    Do the work and results will come!    

One of my goals for this year is to write more on this blog!  This is the first step.