Balancing on one foot
So if you’ve ever injured your ankle, you’ve probably had to do some balancing on one foot for rehab.
But balancing on one foot has a lot more benefits that just rehabbing your ankle.
Actually, I would say it is an essential part of any exercise program!
A one leg balancing exercise should be a part of any and EVERY warm up.
You can balance on a flat foot on an AeroMat Balance pad. You can balance on your toes on the flat ground. You can balance on an incline on your toes…
Whatever the your level….there is a balancing exercise that will help you become stronger.
These exercises prepare your body from the ground up for exercise. They work to strengthen your foot and the tendons in your ankle. They also help you create more stability at your knee joint AND they make you activate your core.
As I said…They work you from the ground up!
Stronger feet, stronger ankles, more stable leg joints and a core that is engaged….Sounds like a body that is ready to handle some loads.
So why aren’t you doing some sort of balancing exercise in your warm up?
What if you just don’t like water?
So I’ve never been very good at drinking water.
For one, I got used to never having a chance to drink during workouts so I usually have to force myself to drink around my workouts.
Two, I just don’t love water. I would much rather drink something with flavor.
I’ve tried numerous different ways of forcing myself to drink more water.
A few years ago, I would put Crystal light into my water to get myself to drink more liquid. Yes this did get me to consume more water, but the water was loaded now with a whole bunch of crap.
I realized that this wasn’t all that good for me. I was still consuming a ton of the chemicals I was trying to avoid in soda.
So I started trying to just drink water. Forcing myself to just drink water.
This lasted oh about….one week.
So then I moved to carbonated water. For some reason….I LOVE CARBONATION.
No artificial sweeteners. Just carbonated water. Heck even carbonated mineral water.
Although nothing replaces pure water at least I wasn’t loading up my body with a ton of crap.
Things were getting better.
Of course I still know that the most important thing is to stay hydrated and consume enough water, which is why ever day I force myself to make the effort to DRINK MORE WATER!
I mean shoot it is essential if you want to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight AND keep from feeling unnecessarily fatigued!
And I don’t mean that water will help you lose weight just because it makes you feel full (I know this is every magazines’ favorite weight loss tip for that reason).
If you are dehydrated sometimes your body can actually “feel” hungry. It can trick you into thinking you are hungry when, in reality, you just need water.
So you eat unnecessary calories!
Plus, water and proper hydration helps keep your metabolism working at peak performance so that you can efficiently use the calories you consume!
And when you aren’t properly hydrated, you can also feel fatigued. This fatigue can prevent you from getting in a great workout, which may prevent you from progressing toward your fitness and weight loss goals.
So water is super important. I know that and I battle every day to make myself drink it even though I must admit that I would rather drink something with a little more flavor!
But it is worth the battle! I feel so much better when I’m properly hydrated!
So are you drinking enough water!?!
ONE Exercise
So I love circuit training. Maybe I’m ADD but I hate doing one thing for a super long time.
I find it easiest to push myself when I know I have only a circuit amount of reps before I can move on to the next thing.
But recently I’ve been experimenting more with doing ONE THING the entire workout.
Not just like running or VersaClimber or CARDIO…But one exercise.
Like crawling, kettlebell swings, kettlebell long cycle or battling ropes.
I just do the one activity for the whole workout.
It is torture.
And I don’t do this every day nor would I want to.
BUT mixing in one exercise workouts does have its benefits.
For one, it adds variety to your workout routine.
Two, it truly pushes your body to ultimate failure.
Three it works on your mental toughness.
I usually set a timer. You can set it for anywhere between 5 minutes to an hour depending on what you’re doing or hope to accomplish.
I then force myself to do the single activity for the entire time WITHOUT taking any breaks. (Of course sometimes my body truly fails and I have to rest for a second, but my ultimate goal is not too.)
It is difficult to keep pushing until the timer goes off because after a while everything is truly so fatigued that you don’t think you can mentally keep pushing yourself.
But you have to!
That is the one thing I like about these workouts. Unlike circuits where the harder I push the quicker I’m done, I can’t change how quickly I’m done. And for me, that is mentally tougher to handle.
It has also show me how sometimes I give in and rest too quickly on exercises during circuits.
It’s not that I’m taking a ton of rest, but where as I used to think I was tired at 20 kb swings, I now realize even though my body is really burning at that point, I can actually hang on for at least 100.
Granted during the circuits I am doing other exercises that are making my body more tired, but mentally now I also have realized that I wasn’t pushing myself near as far as I could actually go.
So aside from the one exercise workouts being physically challenging they do really have a mental benefit that for me has been amazing.
So if you really want to try something new (and variety is very important to your workouts!!!) and you want to challenge yourself mentally, try a one exercise workout!
Try to choose something that is challenging…you can do the exercise for any length of time that is just a little longer than you think you can handle. You don’t want to set your timer for an hour and just cruise!
And once you set the timer…DON’T GIVE UP!
Taking a risk
On Saturday, another trainer from Innovative Results and I went to Santa Ana to train some of the OC Roller Derby Girls.
It was a ton of fun aside from the whole getting really really lost on the way there thing.
But it gave me and the other trainer a bit of time to talk when I wasn’t freaking out about being lost.
He would love to make the Olympics in rugby. He is a great player….the problem is he would have to make huge life changes in order to get there.
The question is…should he make those changes. Should he make a huge change and dedicated tons of hours to a dream that he isn’t guaranteed will happen?
There really was no answer I could give him. All I could say was, “Do you really want it?”
He said yes.
So I said, “If you really want something, than isn’t it worth the risk?”
The best things in life don’t come easily unfortunately. Sometimes you have to take a risk.
I mean any time you want to make a big change, any time you want to reach a goal, you will have to take a risk.
We risk “failing.” We risk falling short of whatever it is we hoped to attain.
But is trying but not attaining really worse than not trying at all?
I don’t think so.
Other than maybe some embarrassment at our failure, at least we tried!
I personally would rather take the risk and fail than never try at all.
I would rather throw myself into something whole-heartedly than always look back and wonder “what if.”
But hey…I don’t see “falling short” as true failure – it is just a learning experience.
True failure, to me, is never trying at all…
What do you think?
PLAY
It’s funny. I don’t feel that old.
But when I look at kids today, I can’t help but think about how different my childhood was from theirs.
I was always playing. I was always active even if that meant climbing trees…actually climbing jump ropes that I hung from trees (that occasionally snapped…I didn’t say I was bright…Sorry Man Bicep Mom if you didn’t know that….)
But kids today don’t just go out and play. They don’t ride their bikes around the neighborhood or roller blade or run around like mad people.
They are playing video games or watching TV or SITTING DOWN.
Not that studying isn’t great and not that watching TV doesn’t have its place, but kids need to MOVE!
I mean you hear about the increase in childhood obesity all of the time, but what are we really doing about it!?! Sending out more literature about it? Telling parents NOT to let their kids watch TV!?!
Well how about we tell parents what can actually CHANGE the situation!
And what is one of the best ways to encourage young kids to move!?! MUSIC!
Ryan actually was the one to show me how important music actually was to getting kids to move.
Ryan was a preschool teacher and music teacher. Now he pretty much solely focuses on the music education end of things.His Rhymin’ Ryan music gets preschoolers and younger children off their butts and wiggling to the music.
And of course I am musically challenged…in every way. So I was excited when he started doing something musical that I actually understood…music and MOVEMENT.
And why does music work so well to encourage kids to move?
Because music makes movement or exercise into PLAY!
Kids will move if they think it is fun. When you make movement into exercise or a chore, they won’t do it. They will want to instead sit in front of the TV.
So stop forcing them to do certain sports or tell them they need to exercise because they play too many video games.
Instead of just saying, “You can’t watch TV” find FUN ACTIVITIES you can do. Be it dancing around to music or playing on the playground together, make exercise something fun not a chore!
Starbucks Diet…
So some woman lost weight doing a “Starbucks diet.”
Whoopie.
Someone also lost weight eating Subway while another person lost weight eating only fast food.
Basically you can “lose weight” eating just about any old crap. I mean heck I could even go eat only M&Ms and frozen yogurt and even lose weight.
Losing weight on the scale is all about calories in vs. calories out. If you take in fewer calories than you consume no matter where those calories are from, you will lose weight.
BUT that doesn’t mean that you have good body composition OR are healthy.
Weight lost on the scale doesn’t mean instant good health and the body composition of your dreams!
Losing weight is easy.
Losing fat and being healthy is the difficult part.
I hate all of these articles about these fad diets because they make people associate losing weight to be “skinny” on the scale with health. When in reality, the two don’t necessarily go hand in hand.
I know many people hate the term “skinny-fat” but that is really what you become if you eat crap but maintain a weight that says you are skinny by BMI standards.
YOU AREN’T HEALTHY JUST BECAUSE YOU FIT INTO THAT SIZE 4 JEANS LADIES!
Health means eating the right stuff day in and day out regardless of what the stupid dang scale (that you should have thrown out the window by now) says.
AND if you eat the RIGHT FOODS day in and day out you will also be able to achieve optimum body composition if that is what your goal is.
Anyway, if you just want to “lose weight” go eat whatever you want.
If you actually want to be HEALTHY and change your BODY COMPOSITION, let’s talk about eating whole, natural foods and cutting out the processed, sugary crap.
So think twice before you start that fad diet…Think about whether or not “losing weight” is TRULY your goal…
Being one of the guys
So I got this great comment from Steph the other day:
hi, i love this blog and find such great feelings of accomplishment from lifting heavy and seeing myself grow stronger, and enjoy reading your insight.
In the next few weeks can you post something about the BENEFITS of being a woman? I feel like in the last few posts you have (understandably) been ranting about the struggle to be taken seriously as a strong and knowledgeable woman. but I think it has taken on a slant of “trying to be one of the boys” and trying to prove yourself as not just some girl. while i understand your frustration at the Ikea Girl and the frustration of seeing some women taking on the role of helpless weakling, I feel like in some areas you are thinking as yourself as having to catch up to your male counterparts- as if maleness were the norm, and being a girl is “other”
i am very interested on your thoughts on this, as i have had similar struggles as a bike mechanic- customers looking over my head to have “one of the guys” look at their bike, or asking one of my co-workers the exact same question to double check my answer… this left me feeling inferior and caused me to be frustrated with my femaleness, constantly falling short of my attempt to be a guy. It took some work to see that I had so many strengths that my co-workers did not that I think customers appreciated – such as taking the time to explain the problems with their bike, etc. I am still struggling with this- especially as i have become more interested in body building. I get so mad at myself that my boyfriend- (who does not work out) can still lift heavier things and beats me everyday on out bike ride to workwould love to hear what you think!!
And her comment got me to thinking because my intention was never to sound like I wanted to be “one of the guys.”
The intention of my last couple of posts is to show that I’m proud to be a female and that a female can be STRONG and still be FEMININE. Strength IS feminine.
I’m frustrated because people still define things like strength, competitiveness and command as MASCULINE qualities.
Which they aren’t.
I’m a woman of strength, power, competitiveness. I’m not afraid to command a room. I’m not timid. But I consider myself to be feminine. I’m not frustrated by my femaleness.
I’m frustrated by others’ view of femaleness.
But the only way to change that is to continue to be strong and spread the word.
To embrace all of the qualities that society deems to be “masculine” as feminine qualities. To be a powerlifting, dress wearing, bad at putting on makeup female. To help other women find strength in the weight room and empowerment through working out.
To embrace who I am and help others do the same.
I try to see the situations I’ve encountered over the last week as opportunities for change – not as blows to myself as a woman. I share the stories to make others aware and to hopefully lead to some change!
So Steph, be proud of your strength. Be proud of your knowledge. They define YOUR femaleness! 🙂
P.S. I also get mad when guys who workout less and are “less fit” than me can lift more than me. I also get frustrated when girls who are taller can naturally lift more than me. AKA I just hate in general when anyone can lift more than me!
IKEA
So over the last week, Ryan and I have made a few trips to IKEA to buy furniture since we sold everything when we moved from Boston.
I love Ikea….the only problem is you have to pick up all the furniture and put it together.
And the picking it up isn’t the problem!
Anyway, yesterday we made pretty much our final trip there to buy the last couple of large things. We walked around their “marketplace” or whatever they call it and went down the aisle to pick up the boxes that we needed.
I of course don’t ever wait for Ryan’s help. I just start lifting the massive awkward boxes onto our cart the best that I can. And if it looks like I won’t be able to get the box or am about to smash myself in the face/foot/you name a body part, Ryan will step in to help me. Otherwise, he just lets me do my thing.
But so yesterday we were getting the parts for a dresser. I had managed the first box, but the second was super heavy so Ryan came around to help me.
All the while this shorter couple is standing behind us waiting to grab their boxes for the dresser. I hurried to grab our boxes so we could move down the aisle to grab the next piece.
As we moved down, I watched the short couple move to grab the boxes…or should I say I watched the husband/boyfriend/male grab the long awkward boxes by himself.
And while that didn’t make me think at first because I would have gone right at it just like him, what got me was the fact that when he struggled so badly that I even wanted to go over and help him, all she did was stand there.
SHE JUST STOOD THERE!?!?!!?!?
He was struggling hard and kept dropping the box as he moved it two feet to the cart and she just stood there!
AH!
Maybe she just stood there because he would reject the help. Maybe she stood there because she didn’t feel like helping. Maybe she stood there because she wasn’t strong enough to help.
I don’t know why she just stood there. But I can’t get over the fact that she didn’t help.
Am I the only weirdo slightly perturbed by this? You can admit it if I am….
Anyway, I turned to Ryan and said, “Aren’t you glad I’m strong and help you move everything?”
He just smiled and said, “Yup” because he has heard this statement every time we move.
I think it is just that every time Ryan and I move, I realize just how glad I am that when I workout I lift heavy stuff!
P.S. This will lead into a post tomorrow, if I haven’t died of frustration before then from trying to put everything together, inspired by my boss at Innovative Results who has created an “awkward weights” workout progression which may be just what some of us need to help make us strong so we can move boxes, furniture or any awkward, heavy piece of whatever.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!
Today is Ryan’s birthday and the sixth one we are celebrating together! YAY!
They are usually plan for binge days. We eat really clean before and really clean after, but don’t hold back on his birthday.
BUT while this is all great, it isn’t what makes Ryan’s birthday so special. It is the fact that on this day, so many years ago, he was born! (I tease him all the time about how old he is…soon I won’t be able to because he will actually be old…just kidding!…but seriously…)
Ryan has spoiled me. He works out with me and has full confidence in my knowledge even though I’m female. He also doesn’t worry when I lift heavy weights that I will become bulky.
He is not threatened by the fact that I may every so often kick his butt in a workout or sport (hey it’s his birthday so I was nice and said, “every so often” :-))
But unfortunately the last two days I’ve realized that not all men are like this.
I know there are still men out there that don’t believe a woman should lift heavy or that a woman could know more about working out then they do, but I just hadn’t encountered any recently so I sort of forgot that they still existed.
But they really honestly do.
It’s sad.
I was subbing a class the other night for another trainer, a male trainer. During the class a male participant decided to argue with me about his plank form. I of course stayed firm because I knew I was right and in the end basically just had to say, “Just do it.”
He did and by the second round of our circuit he couldn’t hold the plank for the full amount of time.
Because guess what!?! By sagging his hips he had made it easier on himself and when he did the correct form, what I told him to do, it was too hard for him to fully maintain.
Hmmm…Looks like I, a female, did know something….
I also got told after that class by a man that my “yelling” was belittling him. I almost laughed because literally I had been yelling at him because I thought he couldn’t hear me since he never responded to my directions! So here I was raising my voice louder because he didn’t respond so I just figured he couldn’t hear me and he was saying I was “belittling” him.
I said exactly that to him and said that next time if he could just let me know he heard, I would be able to keep my voice down.
His response was, “Well my ears close down when a small little female is yelling at me.”
WHAT!?!
AHHHHH! That small little female was your trainer you dope! She was in a loud gym and trying to push and encourage the entire class to work hard! LISTEN NEXT TIME! Maybe you will learn something!!!!!
And to round out this crazy sequence of events, I encountered a potential client yesterday who wanted to “get bigger and stronger.”
I started discussing workouts and rep ranges and made a comment about my powerlifting training.
He then says to me, “So were you way bigger when you did it?”
HUH!?! (This is the look I gave him back)
And he then says, “Like were you super bulky?”
AHHHHHHH!
I stared at him and said, “NO.”
I almost couldn’t speak. When will this belief that women will get bulky if they lift heavy disappear!?!
When will women, especially highly CERTIFIED women, finally be respected in the gym!?!
Anyway, I will be spending today with one of the best men out there…RYAN! And I will be trying to forget again that there are men out there that are_______________. (Trust me you can fill in the blank.)
Man Bicep 