Food for thought: How do you know what job or activities you should focus your time and energy on?  Start to pay attention to the jobs roles and responsibilities that you complete each day and note how you feel when doing them.  “Strength in activities are things you are really great at doing and feel great doing.  When you are finished doing something that is in alignment with what you are supposed to do you usually feel more confident, powerful, and it gives you strength.”

Take this strong life test and check out Marcus Buckingham books for all my ladies out there!

One conversation inspired this video, please take a look.

1st up: Gastrocnemius & Soleus- The Calf Complex Flexibility Program

There are two muscles in the back of the lower leg that tend to get short and tight.  When these muscles are tight our foot tends to turn out when we squat, lunge, run, and walk.  The calf complex being tight can also cause an excessive forward lean when we squat which can put stress and strain on our lower back.  It is important to restore normal length to these tissues so that we have optimal range of motion through our ankle joint.  So what can you do?

1. Self-Myofascial Release: Roller over the tender spots and hold 20-30 seconds and spend about 1-2 minutes on each side pre & post workout

2. Standing Calf Stretch: Hold for 20-30 secs and repeat 2-3 times on each side.  The key to this stretch which most people fail to execute properly is to make sure the back foot is slightly turned in and the knee is fully extended contracting the Quadriceps and Glutes.

Try to incorporate some total body movement patterns into your workouts to burn a ton of calories and improve functional movement patterns.  Check out this great video.

Get your body going with this great core warm-up! Check it out and let me know if you have any questions. ROCK IT OUT!

Simple Dietary Changes that make a BIG Difference!  

1.     Never skip a meal, ESPECIALLY Breakfast

a.     This slows down your metabolism and causes your body to ‘starve’ for calories thus making weight loss even more difficult due to your body thinking that you are starving it so it stores all those extra calories as fat instead of using them for energy (thus low levels of energy throughout the day)

2.     Make sure to eat all your grains and oats as close to the natural form as possible, avoid using ‘instant’ anything.

3.     Try to limit your dairy consumption.

4.     FATS ARE GOOD FOR YOU. Especially the types found in nuts, certain oils, avocado

5.     When purchasing meats, eggs, etc try to buy free range, grain fed, and hormone free source

a.     When you do not choose this option the nutrients of the food that you are eating are considerably lower!             Protein decreases by 30-40%

6.     When eating salad make your own dressing. Use olive oil and balsamic vinegar with some herbs.

7.     When eating nuts be sure to get your ‘raw unsalted’ versions

8.     For sweetener try using stevia (the natural form of low-calorie options), agave nectar, or sugar in the raw.

a.     Artificial sweeteners like splenda, sweet’-n-low are full of chemicals and bad for your belt line!

9.     The less processed something is the better!  Try eating 80% of your foods from the natural form!  Fresh vegetables, fruits, organic meats, and organic grains.  Avoid anything that is packaged in a box.

10.  Try to sit down while eating away from a TV, computer, or while driving.  All of these release the stress hormone ‘cortisol’ into your blood stream which can cause weight gain and unbalanced hormone levels which leads to adrenal stress.

11.  Be sure to chew your food at least 20 times before swallowing.  Liquefy your solids and swish your liquids in your mouth.  This will allow your body time to release all the appropriate digestive enzymes as well as take some of the unnecessary stress off the digestive system.

12.  Be sure to drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day!

13.  Be sure to try and get your sleep habits consistent 10pm-6am most days of the week. This aligns with our natural circadian rhythms.

14.  Incorporate stress reduction techniques into your daily life. Sit and meditate for 5-10 minutes per day or just do simple diaphragmatic breathing before going to sleep at night.

15.  Be sure to get in cardiovascular training and resistance training each week.

1. Fexibility Tools!

New Product Review! THE GRID! (trigger point tptherapy.com)  The various zones of this grid technology are supposed to represent feeling like the forearm or palm, and finger tips.  The manufacturer claims it will not lose shape or density…so I am putting it to the time test! Stay tuned for any findings.

But by far at this point my favorite Self-Myofascial Release tools is hands down the ROLLAXER by Scott Mitchell in California.  This multi-dimensional tools allows for you to grab a smaller roller to pop in your book bag for travel, the softball for hard to reach places, and the density of this thing allows me to take this outdoors for its high level of durability.  Professional athlete’s this is exactly what you need! I don’t leave home without this one!

2. Cardiovascular Training Tool! Don’t workout without your heart rate monitor!  Seriously.

I don’t care what anyone says you will have no idea what intensity you are training at unless you monitor your heart rate response.  Now you can train as you want and reach your fitness targets with the FT60′s personalized training program. It sets new targets by adapting to your personal training habits, helping you stay motivated and carry on improving your fitness. The adaptive training program features weekly targets, feedback and guidance so you’ll achieve your training targets more efficiently and effectively.

• New Polar STAR training program gives you weekly training targets, adapts to your training habits to guide you without being too strict and allows you flexibility during the week
• Fitness test measures your aerobic fitness at rest in just five minutes
• FT60 also shows you the calories burned

The coolest part about this product is you can download the time you spend training into an online website/profile and track your progress on www.polarpersonaltrainer.com. All of my trainers have one and I encourage all of my clients to make this investment!

3. Mind/Body

I would enroll you into a meditation class, buy you a pass for yoga classes, and send you a ‘green’ yoga mat or meditation cushion. Check out some of the best yoga instructors in Washington DC at YOGACHAi! You will catch me there in the evenings and weekends!  The owners have such great energy! The best part, the host AMAZING workshops on the weekend for specialty topics and classes.

4. Hire a LIFE Coach or SET SOME PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL GOALS!

I just got done teaching a two-day workshop to fitness professionals.  At the end of day two we always talk about professional development. I am always amazed when I ask a group of 100 students “How many of you set personal and professional goals?”  TEN PEOPLE raised their hands.  Success in your professional career as well as your personal life depends on setting goals.  My partner and I even set relationship goals!  I don’t know about you but life changes day-to-day.  I love that aspect of living!  I invest at least 2 hours a week on personal reflection and goal setting.  This helps me to put a perspective to my life and reminds me daily what is important.  Recently I met an amazing Life Coach Lisa Geddings.  She takes an untraditional and empowering approach to helping me and my clients achieve all their personal and professional goals.

5. HIRE A PERSONAL Trainer or Wellness Practitioner to finally tackle those fitness and wellness goals.

Hey, I am not just saying this because I am a personal trainer.  I even have a personal trainer!  All of my fellow trainer’s at MINT actually train me once a week. Believe it or not trainers need trainers to keep them motivated, hold them accountable, change their exercise routine daily, and push them physically!  Make sure though before you pay for any service that you find the ‘best of the best’.  Your trainer should be certified with the following credible organizations: NASM, NSCA, or ACSM.  Believe me there are trainers out there that are training clients without a certification.  Make sure you ask!  Also, they should have a 4-year degree in the field as well.  Get an EXPERT!

6.  Take a cooking class, hire a chef, and eat all organic foods!

Take care of your body and put healthy organic foods inside of it. Remember to eat foods as close to their natural form as possible.  If you are super busy hire a personal chef to come to your home to cook all your meals. Believe me it isn’t as expensive as it sounds.  Check out a good friend of mine Pam Oldes at POTS and PAMS! She is amazing and funny! She will cook you meals for the week in the pleasure of your own home.

7. Ask for the gift of comfortable, long lasting exercise clothes!

I highly recommend Lululemon Athletica clothing. Not only does it fit and form to your body and make you look fabulous but the material is made of great fabrics!

I also love this company because they are all about GOAL SETTING!

8. The TRX for your home!

Suspension training at it’s finest! Take this piece of equipment everywhere with you to get in a total body workout, high metabolic density training, speed, agility, core training, pilates, stretching, and you name it!

Now if you do want to buy me a Christmas Present, this is what I want!

9. Exerspy for Weight Loss Clients

Get the Glutes Working!

A current research study out of the University of North Carolina found that some of the best gluteus medius exercises can be done from the comfort of home.  Researchers tested 12 gluteus medius exercises (side-lying hip abduction, single-leg squat, lateral tube walk, lateral hop with stabilization, single-leg deadlift, transverse lunge, transverse hop with stabilization, sideways lunge, forward hop with stabilization, forward lunge, clams (30 degree flexion), and clams (60 degree flexion)) and found that when training the gluteus medius, side lying hip abduction produced the greatest gluteus medius activation (about 80 percent maximum voluntary isolated contraction) of all open chain exercises with the clam exercise (used mostly in physical therapy) producing the lowest activation of the gluteus medius.  Other exercises that qualified as chart toppers were closed-chain exercises such as the single-leg squat, lateral tube walk, and side hop with stabilization.  However, researchers noted that side-lying hip abduction produced similar results to the closed-chain exercises listed above.  All in all, whether you are lying in front of the TV, or working out in the gym, if you want to train the gluteus medius – you have a few options of exercises that will produce great results.

Key Point:

• The gluteus medius is a commonly worked muscle that can help stabilize the lower body and potentially save some knee problems in the future.  The glute medius helps control the path of the knee by working in concert with the adductors (they are antagonists).  If the adductors become tight or overactive, the adductors can move the knee in during activity, putting people at risk of serious knee problems – and potentially weakening the gluteus medius.  Balancing out the body by training the gluteus medius effectively can help keep the knees in line and keep you off the sidelines.  Start with an assessment and check to see where your knees are heading during an overhead squat.  If the knees are moving in – begin with some flexibility techniques to relax the adductors and start with a side-lying abduction exercise to get the gluteus medius activated.  Move from the side-lying isolated activation activity to the lateral tube walk exercise.  Once you have “woken up” the glute medius, progress to a single-leg squat (you may need to start with some assistance) and add in a side hop with stabilization once you can successfully perform the single-leg squat without assistance or compensations.

What is the risk verse benefit of squatting with the toes turned out or straight ahead?

Clients should be properly aligned and progressed to optimal squatting by alignment through the five kinetic checkpoints.  Clients should only go to the depth in a squat in which they can maintain the five kinetic checkpoints. (Check this picture with optimal squat mechanics) When performing the squat with ideal alignment of the five kinetic checkpoints, one of the prime movers of the squat (gluteus maximus) is in its ideal length-tension relationship to generate the most amount of force.  Also, ideal alignment allows for optimum joint motion.

• feet hip width apart with toes straight ahead
• knee in line with 2nd toe
• pevlic & low back in neutral, do not arch your back or round your low back
• from the side view your torso and shin bone should be parallel
• ROCK IT OUT!

When the foot turns out in a squat, the knee/femur has to abduct/externally rotate, which shortens the gluteus maximus and the piriformis, both of which attach directly to the pelvis/sacrum.  The adductor magnus also becomes more biomechanically efficient which also directly attaches to the sacrum via the sacrotuberous ligament.  Since the gluteus maximus is in a shortened position, this alters the length-tension relationships of the muscle thus making it mechanically weaker.  The adductor magnus and hamstrings now become synergistically dominant, doing more work than they should.  Since the attachments of all these muscles is the sacrotuberous ligament (which attaches to the sacrum), the over-activity of these muscles can lead to tightness and undue stress can be placed on the sacrum leading to SI joint/low back pain.

Why should we perform core exercises before activity?

Most people have poor neuromuscular control in their deep core stabilization system which provides lumbo-pelvic-hip complex (LPHC) stabilization.  This system has to work efficiently for our body to develop prime mover strength, power, neuromuscular control, and muscular endurance.  The core is the beginning point of movement and where the center of gravity is located.  A stable and efficient core is needed to provide balance throughout the entire kinetic chain.  Thus, core training can be completed prior to any type of resistance training.  The core training acts as a “pre-warmup” prior to any movement.  We first have to improve the neuromuscular control of the core (activate core muscles by having the brain fire the right muscles at the right time) to provide inter-vertebral and LPHC stability throughout the remainder of the workout. By activating the core first, the kinetic chain will be more stable and have a higher level of neuromuscular control throughout the remainder of the workout.