Another recovery challenge

Well we've wrapped up another 4-week Hi-5 FitCamp session. This one was certainly different. We really got into some heavy lifting basics: bench press, squats, pullups, lunges. In addition, the core work and glute activation really helped stifle some common overuse injuries, such as anterior knee pain, low back pain and rotator cuff strains.

Speaking of overuse injuries one thing you'll need to add to your home stretching protocol is calf stretches and heel walks. Both of these will be added to the warm-up but because we are going to be adding a lot of hill work and running to our programs we want to try our best to avoid shin splints.

Gastrocnemius and soleus of the calf muscle group.

How can you do this??

Well as I mentioned in past posts, stretching the calves involves stretching those that cross above the knee as well as those that anchor below the knee on the tibia.

To stretch the gastrocnemius, we do a straight knee calf stretch. Basically this is what most people do when stretching. In this the knee is fully extended and the gastrocnemius as well as the soleus is stretched. However, depending on how tight the soleus is, the gastroc received most of the stretch.

The straight knee calf stretch involves pushing up against a wall or something sturdy with the back knee full extended and the heel pushed to the ground. You'll feel this stretch higher in the calf.

To stretch the soleus we can take the same position, but we need to put the knee into slight flexion (bend the knee). What this does is allows the gastroc to relax so that the soleus receives all of the stretch.

The muscles on the front of the shin are easily overworked.

So the question usually comes up as to which is more of a problem for shin splints? And the answer is the Soleus. Why? Well considering that the gastroc does not even anchor to the tibia that pretty much rules it out. But research also shows that the excessive eccentric contractions (stretching contractions) induced by the plyometric effect of jogging places incredible strain on the soleus and other lower calf muscles. This will cause pulling on the tibia and cause inflammation around the lower leg.

In addition to that, each time a step is taken, the foot must be pulled upward as the leg moves through the swing phase. As a result, the muscles of the front of the tibia also have to do a considerable amount of work. If these muscles are not prepared for it, they will get very sore and overworked just like any other muscle.

To prevent this soreness you can spend about 30-seconds each day walking on your heels. This will help to strengthen the muscles as well as actively stretch the calf muscles. You'll feel like Frankenstein, but you're body will thank you come next week!

This weeks recovery circuit!!

Go around as many times as you can in 15 minutes. Attempt to do it without stopping.

1. Floor Y, T, W x 8each (lie face down on the floor and make these letters by lifting your arms off the ground for each repetition)
2. Heel Walks x 20 steps
3. Lunges x 10 each leg
4. Squats x 20
5. Pushups x 20
6. Split Jacks x 20 (perform jumping jacks but have your legs move front to back instead of inside/outside)
7. Bearcrawl x 20
8. Mt. Climbers x 20
9. Squat jumps x 20

See you for our next Hi-5 FitCamp on Monday, April 18th!!

Recovery Workout For March 7th

Alright guys and gals...

We've wrapped up the 2nd round of the Hi-5 FitCamp for 2011. This past round was quite brutal as was the first. I have to give credit to everybody who has been busting their butt this year because these workouts have been pushing harder than we've EVER pushed.

So during this recovery week I wanted to give you something that would help recover as well as ease some of the strain from your aching shoulders (we did A LOT of pushups this past month!)

So here is this month's Recovery Workout

Do each exercise for :20 seconds, then rest for :20. Rest for 1:00 and repeat.

SL Squats are great for the glutes!!

1. Lunges
2. Stickups
3. Smurf jacks
4. Scarecrows (hold your elbows out to the side and bent 90 degrees, then rotate your arms all the way up, then all the way down)
5. Single leg squats(right leg)
6. Stickups
7. Single leg squats (left leg)
8. Scarecrows
9. Split Jumps
10. Stickups

Enjoy it and be prepared for a new workout that's got some classic flavor as well as some new exercises that you'll love!

What cures being sick and tired...

For the past 3 days i've had the flu. I don't know where I got it from, all I know is I've got it and it leaves me feeling pretty much exhausted!

This morning, my wonderful wife was perusing the internet and happen to come upon an article about cold symptom remedies. Now I am well aware that the flu is not the same as the common cold.

One thing the article did discuss however, was the effect of exercise on duration of a cold or the flu. The article stated that the inclusion of mild to moderate exercise during a cold would help to increase circulation of white blood cells to help fight off invaders.

I thought it was pretty interesting. So I came up with this little circuit for you guys to keep the flu from getting to you!

 Do each exercise for :45 seconds and then rest for the other :15. Perform all 10 exercises and its a 10 minute workout!!

Hip Crossover

1. Plank
2. Single Leg Squat Right Leg
3. Single Leg Squat Left Leg
4. Hip Cross Over (Lie on back, lift knees and feet in the air, put arms out to side and drop legs from side to side)
5. Close Grip Pushups
6. Wide Grip Pushups
7. Forward Lunges
8. Smurf Jacks (jumping jacks, but stay squatted as if ducking under a rail)
9. Stick ups
10. Mountain Climbers

If you're really in the mood to do some work, go through it twice!!

Have a Merry Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year!

On your 6...

Hundred that is. 

That's right. This next round I am aiming to put together a 600 calorie burning workout for each day or our class. That comes to 2400 calories burned over the week DURING exercise alone. This doesn't include how many calories you chew up (pardon the pun) during your post-exercise calorie "afterburn," or your calorie deficit from "excess post-exercise oxygen consumption." This basically means your body is still using energy to bring it back to normal after you stop working out.

Now I know some of you are saying to yourselves, "WHAT??!! You mean we don't burn 600 calories right now??"

The answer is : No, we do not burn 600 calories per workout now. Currently we are burning up about 300 calories per workout. The truth is, many people are going to really struggle with the 600 calorie workout. Some are going to flat out hate it!!

Here is a short list of activities that burn 600 calories in 1 hour, or 100 calories every 10 minutes for a 160 pound person

• downhill skiing - 610 cal
• Flag football - 610
• Running (12 min mile pace) - 610
• Firefighter (hauling 3" hose) - 610
• Circuit training (minimal rest) - 610
• Swimming, moderate effort - 610

Keep in mind that these are all going for 60 minutes start to finish. Considering that we start with a warm-up and then I explain the exercises, we really get about 45 minutes to burn 600 calories.

So here is a list of activities that burn 600 calories in 45 minutes for a 160 pound person:

• Spin bike vigorous effort - 600
• Carrying logs - 619
• Running 9 min mile - 629
• Swimming fast - 629
• Running 8.5 min mile - 657
• Firefighter, general - 686
• Handball - 686

So as you can see its not easy to burn a lot of calories. You really have to bust your tail, keep pushing through pain and discomfort, and have a TON of determination. Basically you have to "tell" the challenge, "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BEAT ME TODAY!!"


So here is what this weeks off challenge is going to be. For 15 minutes, you are going to do a 600 calorie/hour type workout. Here are the rules:

1. Do not stop.

Got it?? Pretty simple, right?

Now, here's the workout with each exercise is to be done for 45 seconds, go through the circuit twice:

1. Squats
2. Jumping jacks
3. Pushups
4. Jumping jacks
5. Alternating Lunges
6. Jumping Jacks
7. Bear Crawl forward/backwards 10 steps each
8. Squat Jumps
9. 8-count body builders
10. Jumping jacks

***This 15 minute circuit burns 150 calories for a 160-lb person. 

Enjoy it, because it's a preview of what is to come. I'll post a video of me going through the workout later today!

Mile High Mayhem!!

This week could not have come at a better time: I only had two trip planned this summer and both of them came during the 9 days we have off from the Hi-5 FitCamp! However, we will be staying active, which is what EVERYBODY should be doing during the week off from the Hi-5 Fitcamp.

I just got back from an extended weekend in Monterey for the MotoGP races which were awesome! Imagine a motorcycle that puts out over 200 horsepower being ridden 3 inches from the ground by a man weighing 140 lbs! It makes for an amazing spectacle.

Denver at Sunset

The next adventure is a trip to Denver in which we will leave on Thursday morning at 2am to get to our 6am flight out of LAX. Coffee? Please. Sugary donuts and other "breakfast" foods? No. I'll stick with my oatmeal, agave nectar and blueberries.

During our trip, we have a couple of hiking trips planned as well as lots of dancing as my sister in law is getting married! Will I eat cake? Yes. Will I eat deep fried hors dœuvre's? Probably not.

But this week is a time when I get to relax, spend time with my family and enjoy Denver and the surrounding communities. Also, on Saturday, the high temp is supposed to be 68!! Nice!

So for you lucky guys that get to stay here for the rest of the week and weekend, I would highly suggest spending some time in a swimming pool. Just get outside, enjoy the weather, play some water tag or perhaps a fun little game called "Sharks and Minnow's." Basically 1 person is a "shark" and has to try to tag the "minnow's" to get them to become sharks. It's a fun game and great exercise!!

If you're not up for that, perhaps a good old fashioned circuit might be more your type??

Try this on for size in honor of my trip to the Mile High City, it's Mile High Mayhem!!

Bear Crawls

• 20 Mountain Climbers
• 20 Squats
• 20 bear crawls forward
• 20 slalom skier jumps (side to side jumps like a skier; squat low on the landings)
• 30 Mountain climbers
• :30 high knee running
• 30 bear crawls backwards
• 30 Split Jumps
• 40 Cross body mountain climbers
• 40 snow angels (lie on your stomach and make snow angels with arms and legs off the ground)
• 50 Smurf jacks (in honor of my friend Noah the Navy SEAL, who introduced these to me and is a Colorado native)  
• 50 4-count body builders
  

How do you do a smurf jack? Squat as if in the seated position, put your hands behind your head, now do jumping jacks from this position squatting the entire time!!

Have fun with this circuit, I know I had fun creating it! I'll do it with you (but I will be a Mile High!!)

Off-Week Training for Women of the Hi-5 FitCamp

As we come to the end of another 4-week session of the Hi-5 FitCamp, I have realized that this round has probably been one of the toughest we have ever gone through. We have altered how we set up our exercises so that we now work for up to 8 minutes straight with no rest!
At that point your body is using up all those calories as well as building muscle that will help to increase your resting caloric use. Remember, fat burns in the flame of muscle!!

But with the off week coming up, I want you to use this week to use what you have learned and reinforce the habits you have created. You are used to getting up and exercising 4 days a week. Now I want you to get up twice a week and do the following:

Women: Get up, not at 5 am, but perhaps at 5:45, or 6 and do this quick 20 minute workout that I stole from Rachel Cosgrove, author of the Female Body Breakthrough. that you see to your left. I met her and her husband at a recent conference and actually went through one of their workouts. One word: Fun...and exhausting...but Fun.

              Circuit A x 2 - no rest; @ = each side

Single Leg Hip Bridges x 10@

Side plank + top leg lift x 10 @

Single Leg Deadlift x 12 @

Rest :30

              Circuit B x 2 - no rest
Pushup + Mtn. Climber x 12 (do a full pushup, and between each pushup do a set of MC's)

Squat + Single Leg Balance at top x 12

Step Back Lunge + Rotate towards forward knee x 10 @

Rest 1:00

              Circuit C x 2 - no rest

Squat Jacks x 15 (squat with wide feet, then hop feet together and quickly back out for another squat)

Tuck Jumps x 15 (from the pushup position, hop feet forward and then kick back)

Side to Side Jumps x 16

PRINT THIS OUT!!

I'm going to ask you how the circuit went the following Monday. So have an answer! You guys can do this!

12 minute challenge and 3 things to improve your eating habits!!

To all who made it through 4-weeks of Hi-5 FitCamp, congratulations. It certainly isn't easy and next week we are starting a new 4-week session. And I have some great programs lined up!

This week though is your time to recover both physically and psychologically. I've talked about it dozens of times in past blogs so I won't go into it too much. But your body needs a slight break. But not a complete "stop moving for a week" break. Rather some "active rest" is what is called for.

One thing we are going back to is rock climbing at Action Sports. We will meet Tuesday night from 6-8pm. If you've never been, it's a hoot! So give it a try, it's very safe and very well organized. You won't be disappointed!

On to the weeks nutrition and strength challenge!!

Circuit (aim for the fastest time possible) @=each side

1. Close grip pushups x 12/20
   
2. Single Leg Squat x 8/12 @
3. Alternating leg drops (lie on your back, feet up, drop one leg and bring it back up) x 20/40
4. Split Squats/Split jump x 20 each
5. Stickups (back against wall, slide arms up and down against wall) x 15/20
6. Smurf Jacks (jumping jacks but stay in a squat position) x 25/40
7. Cross body mountain climbers x 12/20 @
8. Jump Squats x 20/30 @

If you can crank this thing out in less than 12 minutes, then try to get 2 rounds done in 20 minutes. This is one of the tougher off-week challenges i've posted.

Nutrition - Refining eating habits are really not that difficult. Discipline and dedication are the two things required. With that said, here are 3 things you can do this week to really get things in order. None of them should come as a surprise, if you are already doing them, then keep doing them.

1. Have protein (meat/dairy/tree nuts) with each meal. Protein helps to conserve muscle as well as improve satiety, meaning you will eat less to feel full.
2. Have 1 homemade smoothie a day. Mix the following: 4 strawberries, half a banana, 1 vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup of blueberries and then hit "liquify." Smoothies can be made with just about any combination of fruits. Banana's go with just about anything.
3. EAT BREAKFAST! I don't know how many people say they "just can't lose weight!" yet don't eat breakfast!! Eat something as simple as toast, peanut butter, and an apple. Throw in a glass of milk and you're off to tackle the day with a full gas tank!!

We will be starting a new round of Hi-5 FitCamp on Monday February 8th!! Bring your friends!

4 Things you MUST do this weekend!!

It has been said that nobody ever drowned in a pool of sweat. It's probably true. Yet there is a trend in exercise that seems to indicate the opposite.

When muscles burn; when oxygen is running low; when lungs are on fire; when 5 seconds feels like 5 days - these are the times when people want to run away.

I was talking this morning with a class member and it occurred to me that so many people watch shows like "the Biggest Loser" and say I want to do that. And that is a good thing. We need motivation, both internal and external.

But consider the situation those people are in, and you begin to see that whole "RESULTS NOT TYPICAL" fine print come into play:

• These people are morbidly obese (over 500 lbs!!) so pretty much any activity will cause them to lose weight...
• They exercise 4 hours per day, everyday...
• They have meals made for them...
• They are only around others who are trying to lose weight
• They are PRISONERS on a campus where they cannot leave if they wanted to.

So here is another quote for you:

"EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS REQUIRE EXTRAORDINARY EFFORT"

If you want to lose 5 pounds in a week, You better be ready to put in the effort, You better be ready to be sore and exhausted after each workout, and You better be ready to have NO EXCUSES!

There is nothing I want more than for the people in our class than to get stronger, lose weight and feel good about their body, both inside and outside. But it often seems that many people get sore, get sweaty and then get upset because it shouldn't be this hard. But lets look at it from the other end...

...getting SO out of shape shouldn't be this EASY.

So here is the task for the weekend, and it may seem EXTRAORDINARY, but remember what EXTRAORDINARY results are made of.

1. Set up an account with www.calorie-count.com and plug in your information to get an estimate of your daily resting expenditure (RMR). If you already have one START USING IT.
2. Do as much of the the Hi-5 FitCamp daily warm-up as you can on Saturday. Do it early because you will only get busier as the day goes on.
3. Do the following circuit 3 times on Sunday: Push-ups (12/20) - Squats or Lateral/Side-to-side Squat Jumps (12/20) - Side Plank (:20/:45) - Hip Bridges (20/30) - Jumping Jacks (30/50) - Rest 1:00. The numbers in the parentheses are (beginner/advanced).
4. Eat at least 4 pieces of fruit on each day, 2 each to have as a snack between breakfast/lunch and lunch/dinner.

You have to get into the habit of eating clean and moving. That is the only way to effectively lose weight. It's really that simple.

2009 EoY Challenge

Well, it's the last week of 2009. It's the time when you can take a passive approach of waiting until the next year to get started on ATTACKING your fitness and weight loss goals. You can simply pass from this year into the next without much thought or reflection on how you did this past year with your goals of eating better, being more active and changing the way you view life...

Or....

You can take this last week and kick 2009 OUT WITH A BANG! You could have done miserable for all but this last week of the decade. But end it on a good note and watch your efforts snowball into 2010!

So take this last Off-Week Challenge of 2009 and OWN IT.

Here is how this will work. You only have to do twice this week, but you MUST beat your last time or effort.

First, the Novice Workout:

1. 1:00 plank
2. 30 modified push-ups
3. 30 Hip Bridges
   
4. :40 side plank each side
5. 30 stick ups
6. 30 squats
7. 30 jumping jacks
8. 30 snow angels (lie on your stomach and make snow angels with your arms and legs off the ground)
9. 30 split squats (15 each)

Advanced Workout

1. 2:00 plank
2. 20 plyo-pushups
3. 20 Squat jumps
4. 1:00 side plank on each side
5. 20 Lateral jumps (think skiing a slolam course)
6. 30 snow angels
7. 30 smurf jacks
8. 15 close grip pushups/ 15 wide grip pushups
9. 30 split jumps

After each circuit, record your time. The goal is to simply better your time. However, if you have other EFFORT goals, such as holding better posture in your plank or jumping higher during the squat jumps, or simply not being as tired following the circuit then work towards those.

After all, you WILL reach a point to where you simply cannot go faster. Although it may not be for a few years. And that is the beauty of body weight training: You can ALWAYS push harder.

One more thing, a quick reminder that we are starting our first Hi-5 FitCamp of 2010 on Monday January 4th. So be ready for that. Also, if you have FALLEN OFF THE WAGON and stopped coming, it's okay. Hop back on!! The Hi-5 FitCamp has a such a high success rate because we are a social group that is there to support each other!!

Thanksgiving Day Massacre

No doubt many people ate way too much yesterday. I did. Let me give you the rundown on my eatings so that you don't feel too bad.

Breakfast (7:00 am) - Half short stack of pancakes and 1 egg over medium, 2 cups of black coffee
Mid-Morning snack (10:30 am) - 1 cup of homemade granola (oats, raisins, almonds, honey) with 1/2 cup of milk
Lunch - No lunch
Afternoon Snack (2:30 pm) - 2 pumpkin-cranberry chocolate chip muffins, 2 glasses of 1/2 water-1/2 cranberry juice
Afternoon Snack 2 (3:15 pm) - i slice of pumpkin pie
Dinner (6:00pm) - 1 twice baked potato (1/2 the potato with mashed potatoes in the skin), 1 dinner roll, 1/2 cup of whole wheat stuffing (my step dad stuck some bacon in there), 6 asparagus stalks, medium goat cheese/cranberry salad w/ balsamic vinaigrette dressing and enough turkey to fill both of my hands, all washed down with water.
Dessert (7:30 pm) - 2 slices of pumpkin cheesecake

Now obviously you can see that I consumed way more calories in the evening than I did earlier in the day. This goes against what I have always preached to the group. We want our calories evenly spread throughout the day to minimize caloric overload at any point throughout the day.

So although my day was probably a C on the healthy scale, it does not mean that the next day has to be as bad. I will start today right up with a bowl of oatmeal, some blueberries and get ready to get some movement in. Not so that I can try to work off all of those calories I ate yesterday, but simply because I had one off-day and now its back on the wagon.

Thanksgiving does not have to be the diet and body changing massacre it is made out to be. Get back on the horse!! And to give you a quick boost, here's a quick 15 minute circuit.

1. Plank 1:00
2. Single Leg Squat x :45 each leg
3. Push-ups :45
4. Stick ups (back and arms against the wall, arms slide up and down) :45.
   

Rest for :45 then do it again, x 3.

See you all on Monday with a special surprise!

Finally...the challenge is ready!!

Short and sweet guys.

Watch the video.