NEVER do this!

Here I am, chasing Lucy all over the playground.

So yesterday morning I took my daughter Lucy to the park to go play. She's an adventurous little girl, loves climbing, slides, being chased by her dad acting as an angry pirate, all that fun stuff.

However, while I was there I noticed what appeared to be a personal trainer working with a client at the park. Being in the same field of course I paid attention to what he was doing and what his client was doing. And it made me think of the things I SEVERELY dislike about old school fitness techniques. I'm going to give you a quick run down of this awful event.

1. Super slow exercises using a very light resistance band. Want to burn fat? Build muscle. Not a ton of it. But you need to add some muscle. Why? It burns more calories at rest. And 80% of calories burned at rest come from fat. Want to build muscle? Use some heavy weights.
2. 2:00 rest periods between sets of crunches. Honestly when you're training for fat-loss, you need to chew through (pardon the pun) as many calories as possible in your workout. Why? To burn more calories you need to work harder, move faster and with shorter rest periods. And who's to say you need a dedicated "do-nothing" rest period? Use super-sets to get more from your rest periods. You only need to rest the muscle group you just worked. You don't need to rest your lungs! So do push-ups, then do squats THEN rest for :30. At that point its probably been a minute or so since you finished your push-ups.
3. Skip curls (and other isolation exercises). Doing slow curls while standing on a
   band is another waste of valuable time. Perhaps this lady I was watching has all the time in the world (it was about 9:30am, so maybe she does?) but most people I know don't. So they've got to make their workout count. Instead of isolating muscle groups choose exercises that use multiple muscle groups together. Pull-ups, for example, use biceps, upper back, glutes and abs - talk about bang for your buck!



Betcha she's not talking!


4. If you can converse during the workout (aside from rest) your not working hard enough. Plus, how difficult can the exercise be if you don't even have to focus on your form or mentally focus to push through those last few repetitions? Seriously, if you can chit-chat during an exercise, it's time to up the weight or choose another exercise.

On a side note, I read the other day that you have to be state licensed to be a barber. However, anybody can be a "personal trainer." I'm so embarrassed. 

Have a great Wednesday make sure you're doing everything you can to add some extra movement into your day!

Recovery Week - Active Rest

We are back another recovery week. To really get the most out of the class we need to understand the purpose of active recovery.

Active recovery is just what it says: take a proactive approach to recovery. Recovery is allowing your body to regenerate to building stronger muscles capable of taking more punishment...I mean exercise.

Another HUGE part of active recovery is the psychological recovery. Allowing your mind to relax and not worry about getting up before dawn. Let the mental stress, that comes along with really pushing your body harder than you have before, dissipate. This helps to avoid burnout.

Now to the active part. Although we are recovering I want you to do something fun, that you enjoy doing, but is active and involves motion and movement. It could be as simple as walking 9 holes of golf, hiking in the hills, going for a bike ride, or playing with your kids. But do something you enjoy.

In case you're struggling to come up with some activity, I have a challenge for you this week that I will take less than 10 minutes. Find an empty gallon jug and fill it with water, be sure duct tape the cap to make sure the water doesn't leak from it. This is your medicine ball (but don't try bouncing it).

1. Squat curl and press x 30 (Try single arm if you DARE!!)
   
2. 1/2 Pushups x 20 - lower your chest to the water jug and push back up
3. Split Jumps x 10 each leg (20 for adv.) - take a lunge position and jump as high as you can absorbing the drop on the landing
   
4. Single arm row and push x 20 each - from a bent over rowing position pull the jug up and then turn and push the jug to the sky.

On the first day you try this circuit, go around once and see how quick you can do it. The second day you try it I want you to go around as many times as possible without resting longer than :10 between exercises.

When you are done, come back and leave a comment with how many times you made it around!!

See you next week!!