Stayfitanywhere’s Blog

As per usual I started off the week by teaching our 6am WinterFit class at our studio and then I met up with a client for a workout at her home gym.  During the two workouts I instructed and my commute around the city I got to thinking about a few things and I would like to share them with you.

·         My group class this morning did a warmup of standing on one foot and throwing a ball back and forth.  As they woke up and got warm I began to introduce some new challenges, catching with one hand, catching and passing left handed, and finally adding more balls.  The group of 4 was able to progress to left handed throwing on one foot with 2 balls with few drops so I decided to introduce a 3^rd ball and see how they did… and the balls began to bounce all over the place.  At first there was laughter but as the balls started to drop more frequently frustration set into place and it was at that time that I had to regress the drill.  So we finished with standing on two feet one handed passing and catching with 3 balls, and SUCCESS!!  There are times when it is great to introduce a new challenge to the body and mind, however as an instructor you have to be prepared to modify the exercise/drill in order to give your participants a developmentally appropriate challenge.  We have all been asked to do something that was either physically or mentally beyond our abilities and those tasks can cause even those with the strongest will to be discouraged but if we break down a task to simple pieces we can eventually achieve what seemed to be impossible.  Oh yeah the laughter came back when the 3 balls started whipping around the circle!

·         A second thought arose when throwing balls around this morning, and it came from the statement “why am I not better at this?”  I replied to this with “when was the last time you threw a ball around like this, I bet it was the last time we did this exercise,” I saw 4 heads nod “yes.”  Quite simply put the only way to get better at something is by doing it!  Want to throw and catch a ball better?  Spend more time throwing and catching a ball.  Want to be a better lacrosse player?  Practice playing lacrosse more.  Want to be a better runner?  Run more.  Want to be better at Deadlifting?  Perform more Deadlifts.  Those are the simple answers, however to be better at something you need to do more than just doing it, you need to do it PERFECT!  Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfection.  If you were to practice Deadlifting with improper technique you are going to get really good at doing Deadlifts with improper technique, same thing with running, throwing, catching and playing sports.  That is the amazing thing about your nervous system it is incredible at remembering patterns (good and bad ones).  This is precisely why it is so important when exercising that you focus on proper technique and nothing else, once technique is in place you can begin to play with other variables!

·         Breathing during exercise is a very important skill, and I call it a skill because it needs to be practiced along with technique in order to exercise perfect.  As I have seen many times with my clients is that they forget to breathe when performing exercises, especially when they are focusing on engaging their “core.”  I like to teach my clients who do this that it is very much possible to contract a muscle and breathe at the same time; I do this by having them put their hand out and resist the pressure I put on it while they tell me a story.  At the end of the story I ask if their arm is tired and if they felt like they had to work hard during story time and the answer is always “yes.”  We then work on learning how to consciously engage the “core” while breathing (usually counting aloud from 5 to 1).  This is a great way to prepare the body for other “core” bracing techniques that are necessary for lifting.

·         Finally as I was driving around the city this morning I saw two signs that read: Thank You for Supporting the Games, Please Keep Walking.  Sadly I saw these signs while I was driving in my car.  I had spoken with many people in the past week about how the Olympics games proved how easy it is to walk around the city and that I hoped people would continue to do it.  I walked around the city before the Olympics came, I walked around the city a ton during the games, and I have increased my amount of walking  in the past week (walked to and from the movie theatres, and for a few errands I would normally drive, etc.) and plan to keep walking more.  It is great to see that the city of Vancouver is taking the initiative to promote active green forms of transportation (Dunsmuir viaduct is now a bike lane like Burrard St bridge), and it is now up the citizens of the city to participate.

Throw balls, breathe when you exercise, walk/bike around the city, and make sure you do it perfect!

Josh Neumann, BHK, PTS, TSCC-1

jneumann@stayfitanywhere.com

Monday and Thursday #FitTip at www.twitter.com/stayfitanywhere

Following is an article from today’s Vancouver Province.

Better to work core muscles standing up; Sit-up puts the spine at risk, doing more harm than good The Province Mon Nov 9 2009

Page: B9

Section: Live It!

Byline: Jill Barker

If you haven’t already, it’s time to remove sit-ups from your exercise routine. A stalwart of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, sit-ups were originally touted as the exercise of choice for whittling excess inches off the waistline. Yet even after spot-reducing was revealed as a myth, sit-ups maintained their popularity as a core strengthener.  Now even that claim has come under scrutiny. The sit-up targets one muscle (the rectus abdominus), which is responsible for bending the spine forward. Yet the body’s midsection, often referred to as the core, is made up of several muscles that not only generate movement in numerous directions but also stabilize the spinal column.  The final myth — the one that claims sit-ups improve back health — has now also been exposed. In fact, some spine experts suggest that sit-ups actually put the spine at risk, making it not only an exercise that has little benefit, but one that may actually do more harm than good.  Leading the pack of experts who think sit-ups don’t live up to their billing is Stuart McGill, a professor of spine mechanics at the University of Waterloo. According to McGill, all that bending of the spine isn’t good for back health.  “Given that the sit-up imposes such a large compression load on the spine, the issue is not which type of sit-up should be recommended,” McGill says in his book Low Back Disorders (Human Kinetics, $59). “Rather, sit-ups should not be performed at all by most people.”  McGill says the goal of a core exercise is to challenge the muscles in a way that spares the spine. He also maintains that when it comes to the back, the idea is to improve muscular endurance before trying to improve strength. 

David Campbell is an athletic therapist and osteopath. The co-owner of Concordia Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy and osteopath for the Montreal Canadiens, Campbell has seen his share of back problems. And while he admits that the old school approach to better back health included prescribing sit-ups, that’s no longer the case.  “Sit-ups won’t make your back any better,” he said.  Campbell agrees with McGill that when it comes to the back, endurance is more important, at least initially, than strength. He also suggests that most back-pain sufferers lack good back mobility, which isn’t helped by a steady diet of sit-ups.

David Snively is one of Montreal’s top personal trainers. He prefers working the abs in a standing position, because it is more reflective of how we use our core muscles in everyday life.  Mimicking such movement patterns is referred to as functional training, which gets a big thumbs up from McGill, Snively and Campbell.  What about those who want to target the rectus abdominus? Is there an exercise that can take the place of a sit-up?  McGill suggests modifying the traditional sit-up so that it reduces the stress on the spine. His version of the sit-up starts by lying on your back, one leg straight and the other bent (the straight leg helps maintain the curve in the lower back and the bent leg reduces stress on the sciatica or piriformis). Place both hands under the small of the back. Lift the shoulder blades off the floor, hold for a couple of seconds and return to the starting position.  “Pretend the head and shoulders are propped on a scale,” said McGill describing the action when the shoulders are lifted off the floor.  “Just make sure that the weight on the scale weighs zero.”

Quality core workouts consist of a variety of exercises, including those that build muscular endurance (stability exercises), teach proper movement patterns and, for the active individual, build strength.

Another goal to keep in mind is the importance of equalizing the muscular endurance and strength of all your supporting muscles so that no one muscle group overpowers another. Imbalance in the core muscles tends to pull the spine out of alignment, thereby increasing the risk of back pain and injury.  McGill also suggests that whatever exercise you are doing, the natural curve of the lower back should be maintained.  That means avoid flattening the back or performing a pelvic tilt (tucking the hips under the belly button), which increases the stress on the spine.

Try SFA’s Favourite Standing Core Partner Exercise:  If you have ever attended one of SFA’s group training classes (Evolution Bootcamp or WinterFit) you have likely had the opportunity to work your core using one of our favourite exercises: the battle!  If you haven’t been to one of our classes and are wondering what the battle is all about find a friend and try it out.  Partner 1 sets up in half squat position (back flat and bum out) and brings their hands together at chest height (shoulders down).  Partner 2 set up in the same ready position but has their hands up in ready position.  Partner 2’s job is to push the hands of Partner 1.  Partner 2 can push the hands from the left, right, bottom or top but must only push as hard as Partner 1 is pushing back.  It is the goal of Partner 1 to keep their hands in the dead centre of their body.  In order to do this Partner 1 has to really focus on bracing their core as if they are accepting a punch as well as trying their best to keep their weight equally balanced between their left and right foot.  Do 3 sets of 30seconds with your partner and I bet it will feel like a better abs workout than sit-ups and you will probably have more fun while you are doing it!

Josh Neumann, BHK, PTS, TSCC-1

jneumann@stayfitanywhere.com

Monday and Thursday #FitTips at www.twitter.com/stayfitanywhere

On Wednesday October 28th, the ‘Stayfitanywhere Biggest Loser Challenge’ had its final weigh in.  After 10 weeks of hard consistent exercise, 7 participants weighed themselves in to find out who was the ‘biggest loser.’  When all was said and done, Mary Ann Anderson was the winner, dropping 10lbs in 10 weeks!  Her win earned her $140 in cash and the 2009 Stayfitanywhere Biggest Loser Challenge champion.  The next 10 week ‘Stayfitanywhere Biggest Loser Challenge’ will begin Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 and end Wednesday, March 24th, 2010.  Stay tuned for this challenge after the Christmas break and also stay tuned for the release of the ‘12 Keys to Fat Loss’ Ebook.  This Ebook is a ’simple guide to weight reduction’ and will make a great read and resource for motivating you towards your New Years resolution fitness & weight loss goals. Congratulations again to Mary Ann.  Way to go!

Back in August, at the tail end of our Pedometer Challenge, a group of our motivated participants wanted a new challenge to keep up their ‘pace’.  Subsequently, the 10-week ‘Stayfitanywhere Biggest Loser Challenge’ was created.  A group of 8 individuals paid $20 each into a pot and weighed themselves in on August 19th.  Now, 9 weeks later, we are less than one week away from determining the overall winner- the individual who loses the most weight since August 19th.  The winner will also claim the pot- a cool $160!  

Losing weight, and specifically body fat,  is a fairly simple process, but it is by no means an easy one.  The process not only requires consistent daily movement over an extended period of time, but other variables like proper nutrition, sufficient hydration, adequate rest, planning, goal setting, and maintaining the right attitude.  These variables are but a few of the variables required for success and are discussed in my upcoming EBook, ‘The 12 Keys to Fat Loss’.  This Ebook will be available as a download in December, 2009, and will feature research, stats, facts, as well as the all important ‘Keys’ to shedding body fat for good.  Stay tuned for the release date to ‘The 12 Keys to Fat Loss’ as well as for next weeks’ blog post, where I will discuss the results of the ‘Stayfitanywhere Biggest Loser Challenge.’  Good Luck to all BL contestants!

StayFitAnywhere’s WinterFit class aims to train more than just the health related components of fitness, we also focus on training the skill related components of fitness.  The 6 skill related components of fitness are: Agility, Balance, Coordination, Power, Reaction Time, and Speed.  Playing catch can train all of these components, we use a variety of drills and games that require catching an object.  The simplest form of catch is throwing an object back and forth between two people and from this simple game all of our skill components can be trained.  Following are examples of situations that occur all of the time when two people play catch and the specific skill component that is being trained.  Coordination - when an object is caught your brain must coordinate all of your body parts to work together to corral the object and then grasp it.  Agility - when an object is thrown to your left you have to be able to load your right leg and push off in order to move left and make a catch.  Balance – when an object is thrown just outside of your reach and you have to extend all of your limbs and stand on one foot to catch it.  Reaction Time – when an object is thrown at you when you aren’t looking and you catch sight of the object just before it strikes you and you make the catch (or you don’t – reaction time is still being trained).  Speed – when you make a catch and try and throw it back to your partner as fast as possible.  Power – when you catch a ball that is thrown at you with tremendous force. 

I love watching our participants play catch during WinterFit, it is often accompanied by laughter!  Laughter and a workout?  Sounds like a great combination to me, if your workouts are fun you are probably going to want to do more of them, and well the more workouts you do the better.  Find an object like a baseball, tennis ball, lacrosse ball, basketball, football or even a rubber chicken (this was a professor of mines favourite object to use when teaching kids to catch) and ask a loved one to go PLAY catch!

Josh Neumann, BHK, PTS, TSCC-1

jneumann@stayfitanywhere.com

Monday and Thursday #FitTips at www.twitter.com/stayfitanywhere