Real winning
Don't stop!!
The best advice I can give to anyone who wants to be fit and healthy is to never stop. You don't always have to work intensely but you should never completely stop training. Our bodies are very good at adapting to what is demanded of them. If you demand that it work hard and efficiently then it will do it. It may take time, but it will happen. Your body will improve. It's physiology, you can't stop it, it's what our bodies do, and what our bodies have done for millions of years.
However if you sit around all day your body will also easily adapt to inactivity. It doesn't take strength to watch TV, so you will lose muscle. It doesn't require flexibility to lie on the couch, you will lose suppleness. It does not take a strong heart to drive a car, you will lose cardiovascular capacity. If your body doesn't need it, it won't have it.
It's also very comforting as you get older to know you can do the things you did when you were much younger. At 48 I can still easily hold a handstand. That's because I never STOPPED doing handstands. I've done them since I was 6 years old and plan on doing them for many years to come. Find skills that you can do now. Skills that give you joy and challenge you. It could be hiking a hill by your house, or swimming a certain number of laps, or doing 30 push-ups. Then perform these special activities on a regular basis so you will be able to do them at 45, 55, 65, 75 or older. And have fun!!!
Self Care to prevent injury
Self Care to prevent injury
The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief, Second Edition
At just over $13 from Amazon this book is a steal and one you will be able to refer to day after day for the rest of your life. With clear diagrams and concise explanations it will help you address issues you may have. It will definitely help you keep small pains from becoming big problems and slowing down your progress.
It's $13...GET IT!!! Trust me on this one!!!
The knobble is less than $8 and will save your fingers when you do find that tender trigger point.
Relax Body (TM) Wooden Foot Roller and Porcupine Massage Ball, Foot Massager Combo for reflexology, Foot Pain/Sore Feet Relief, plantar fasciitis, (Massage Ball for Neck/Back Pain Relief)
These two items are just $11.95 and will help prevent plantar fasciitis. If you've ever had plantar fasciitis you know how painful it is and how much it limits your activity level. It's better to stop it before it happens than suffer with trying to rehab it after.
RumbleRoller, Deep Tissue Massage Rollers, Four Models
Original Density 12 x 5 is only $44.95
I LOVE my Rumbleroller. If you're totally new to rolling you can get a basic foam roller. But if you have some experience you'll want the Rumbleroller. Its ability to knead the muscle is what makes it work so well.
NOTE: Get the BLUE (Original Density) to start!! The black EXTRA FIRM one should only be used by very experienced rollers who need serious kneading or if you're a masochist.
Lacrosse Ball (Orange)
Yes, a lacrosse ball ($3.55). It's firm but made of rubber so has a little give to it. I use one for forearm, chest and calve work. Then I put 4 in a sock and use with my back against a wall. It allows for using a variety of pressure. If you're totally new to self massage you can start with tennis balls. I just find tennis balls are a bit too soft for me.
Above are the 5 items I use daily to remain injury free at 45 years old. The total cost is way under $100. How much is 1-hour of physical therapy or deep tissue massage? These items will last you a lifetime and can be shared with friends and family!!
Seriously just buy them. You won't regret it!!
**I have no problem at all with physical therapy and deep tissue massage. In fact I think they're great. Often they are a necessity even for people who use the above items regularly. I don't mean to imply the above items will make you bulletproof but they can help limit the number of times you need to seek professional care.
A couple additional self treatment items:
The Stick Marathon Stick
Thera Cane Massager
Top 12 Gym mistakes
Here are the Top 12 mistakes I consistently see in the gyms I work at. It was supposed to be a list of 10, but I just got back from the gym and was reminded of a couple more errors. If you have any questions, comments or arguments, let me know.
This is CRAZY!!
--- Arm curls are good and squats are good…but doing arm curls while squatting on a Bosu ball makes little sense unless you’re planning on joining Cirque Du Soleil. I am not against some balance work. But it should be a small part of your workout unless you have a specific balance deficiency (you’re elderly or are returning from injury). Time in the gym should be spent building muscle and it’s hard to build muscle if you’re on an unstable surface all the time.
11. Improper exercise order
--- Unless you’re a professional bodybuilder, do compound movements before isolation movements. That means, do not do arm curls for your biceps before or during a set of pull-ups or pulldowns. Likewise don’t do tricep extensions before or during bench press sets. You don’t want to fatigue the small muscles before you work the larger muscle groups that rely on those smaller muscles (you can’t do pull-ups if your bicep is tired). Do your compound (big) movements first and then finish your workout with isolation movements. More advanced trainers can rearrange this order sometimes.
10. Alternating repetitions
--- Doing an arm curl with your left arm, then your right arm, alternating back and forth. You’re wasting time and giving the muscle too much rest between repetitions.
9. Too much time in the gym
--- If you can’t get a great workout in in 45-minutes to an hour you’re talking too much or not working hard enough. It's better to workout a little less than optimal instead of more than optimal. Workout hard and then be done. Get out of the gym.
8. Comparing yourself to someone else
--- A little competitive fire is good. Trying to lift more weight than you should in order to keep up with Mr. or Ms. Jones is ridiculous. Worry about 1 person at the gym…yourself
7. Excessive Talking
--- A little “how’s it going?” is ok, but keep it to a minimum. You want to talk? That’s why God created Starbuck’s
6. Not getting advice
Don't get advice from these guys
--- If your gym has a personal trainer ask him/her questions. If there are some very fit people who workout when you workout introduce yourself (before or after workout) and pick their brains for input. You don’t have to necessarily do everything they tell you to do, but you may get some useful information that may help you reach your goals.
5. Endless cardio for fat loss
--- There are much more productive ways to spend your time if fat loss is your goal. If you’re jogging an hour or so a day but don’t have time to prepare healthy meals, eat a balanced breakfast, eat every 3 hours, etc. then you’re really wasting your time. For fat loss, food is the most important piece…exercise merely helps. (NOTE: I’m not ripping on joggers. If you love jogging, great. Just realize the reasons you’re doing it).
--- I think P90x is great for people who don’t belong to a gym and have an hour to workout everyday. But if you belong to a gym use the equipment at the gym. If I see one more guy doing squats with 25lb dumbbells instead of 200lb barbell squats in the squat rack my head is going to explode.
2. Being wimpy
--- If you’re not going to work hard, then go home. Seriously. There’s no benefit to coming to the gym and just going through the motions. Put on Metallica or Beyonce or Barry Manilow and get motivated!! Get out of the Smith Machine and use the squat rack. Do some sprints instead of just jogging. Try pull-ups instead of pulldowns, etc. Women should workout just as hard as men do. I make no distinction between males and females. All of my strongest clients are women (and no they don't have huge muscles).
1. Stretching before warm-up
12. Circus Exercises
This is CRAZY!!11. Improper exercise order
--- Unless you’re a professional bodybuilder, do compound movements before isolation movements. That means, do not do arm curls for your biceps before or during a set of pull-ups or pulldowns. Likewise don’t do tricep extensions before or during bench press sets. You don’t want to fatigue the small muscles before you work the larger muscle groups that rely on those smaller muscles (you can’t do pull-ups if your bicep is tired). Do your compound (big) movements first and then finish your workout with isolation movements. More advanced trainers can rearrange this order sometimes.
10. Alternating repetitions
--- Doing an arm curl with your left arm, then your right arm, alternating back and forth. You’re wasting time and giving the muscle too much rest between repetitions.
9. Too much time in the gym
--- If you can’t get a great workout in in 45-minutes to an hour you’re talking too much or not working hard enough. It's better to workout a little less than optimal instead of more than optimal. Workout hard and then be done. Get out of the gym.
8. Comparing yourself to someone else
--- A little competitive fire is good. Trying to lift more weight than you should in order to keep up with Mr. or Ms. Jones is ridiculous. Worry about 1 person at the gym…yourself
7. Excessive Talking
--- A little “how’s it going?” is ok, but keep it to a minimum. You want to talk? That’s why God created Starbuck’s
6. Not getting advice
Don't get advice from these guys
--- If your gym has a personal trainer ask him/her questions. If there are some very fit people who workout when you workout introduce yourself (before or after workout) and pick their brains for input. You don’t have to necessarily do everything they tell you to do, but you may get some useful information that may help you reach your goals.
5. Endless cardio for fat loss
--- There are much more productive ways to spend your time if fat loss is your goal. If you’re jogging an hour or so a day but don’t have time to prepare healthy meals, eat a balanced breakfast, eat every 3 hours, etc. then you’re really wasting your time. For fat loss, food is the most important piece…exercise merely helps. (NOTE: I’m not ripping on joggers. If you love jogging, great. Just realize the reasons you’re doing it).
4. P90x exercises at the gym
3. Neglecting muscles that we can’t see in a mirror
--- Guys are very guilty of this. They tend to spend a lot of time on chest, biceps and abs. But their backs are nonexistent and their butts are so flat I have no idea how their pants stay up. A fit back, round glutes and shapely hamstrings are signs that the person knows how to workout. If you want people to say “I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave” then work the muscles on the back of your body.
2. Being wimpy
--- If you’re not going to work hard, then go home. Seriously. There’s no benefit to coming to the gym and just going through the motions. Put on Metallica or Beyonce or Barry Manilow and get motivated!! Get out of the Smith Machine and use the squat rack. Do some sprints instead of just jogging. Try pull-ups instead of pulldowns, etc. Women should workout just as hard as men do. I make no distinction between males and females. All of my strongest clients are women (and no they don't have huge muscles).
1. Stretching before warm-up
--- Without question this is the biggest mistake I see. Everyday a few people walk in, grab a post then pull their lower leg up behind them to stretch their quad. No warm-up, just grab the leg and pull. That makes no sense and could easily lead to injury. If you’re going to stretch, always warm-up beforehand. Get on an elliptical machine for 5-10 minutes or jog a few laps first.
Vegetables
You need more vegetables, period, end of story. No single habit will improve your health and well being more than significantly upping your vegetable consumption. So here are some of my tips:
1. Eat the highly nutritious vegetables
***like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, red peppers, asparagus, tomatoes and spinach. Leave the iceberg lettuce for the rabbits.
2. KEEP THINGS SIMPLE.
***buy bags of precut vegetables whenever possible. Both Metro Market and Whole Foods have great precut bags of broccoli and cauliflower. Get the BIG bags!!
***Buy baby carrots and cherry tomatoes. No need to cut anything, just toss them in with the rest of your veggies.
3. Try steaming
***More than one floret of raw broccoli and I honestly gag. But, steam broccoli and I can eat it all day long. An added benefit from steaming is there's no crunch. So you can eat it at your desk without everyone hearing you chomp away.
4. make it tolerable
***If you can eat raw veggies all day long more power to you. I can't, I need help. My saviors are organic butter, sea salt, olive oil and some fruit. Just a little goes a long way to making vegetables more palatable. Don't be afraid of adding whatever you want to make the veggies taste better. The goal is to get the veggies into your body. A little "bad" stuff going along with them is no big deal. My only advice would be to not add any sugar.
5. EAT IT!!
***Your goal every single day should be to eat all of the vegetables you made that day, no matter how long it takes. You may be done by noon or 9pm, it doesn't matter, just finish all of it. (Although if you're done by noon you likely should've made more veggies! NEVER go to bed without eating all of your veggies).
6. Organic?***Sure, if organic is available by all means try to eat organic. But don't freak out if organic is not available. Certainly don't pass up a veggie because it's not organic. Wash it and eat it!!
How I do it.
1. In the morning I get my steamer ready and toss in the entire BIG bag of broccoli and cauliflower.
2. I cut a bunch of asparagus in half (a bunch is now only $1 at the fruit stand on the first floor of the Grand Ave.). I take the top halves and toss them in the steamer also.
3. I quickly slice up half a red bell pepper into strips and toss them into the steamer.
4. While those veggies steam, I get out my bag of spinach and take a good sized handful and toss it in my large Tupperware container.
5. To the container I toss in baby carrots and cherry tomatoes.
6. I lightly cover those with some flavored olive oil and sea salt.
7. After the veggies are steamed I toss all of them into my large container with the spinach, carrots and tomatoes.
8. I add more sea salt and some melted organic butter.
9. Finally I'll add some chopped up apple, some type of berry if I have some and a variety of nuts (walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, etc.)
10. That's it. Total time is about 10 minutes (that's only 0.7 % of your day to make the other 99.3% feel a lot better)
Some advice:
1. The container is large. I have no problem lugging it around. If you have a problem, split it into smaller containers. BUT still eat all of the veggies you prepared whether they're in 1 container or spread out in four containers.
2. Don't worry about fruit. Fruit will take care of itself. Use fruit as a garnish to help the veggies go down easier (like I do with berries and apple). This should NOT become a fruit salad. No more than 20% should be fruit.
3. Eat the veggies whenever you want (and even when you don't want). Eating them throughout the day you'll be amazed at how much you can consume. The more the better.
4. I've checked. There is no law against eating vegetables at breakfast time. The earlier you start eating them the quicker you'll reap the benefits.
5. Paired with some quality protein (meat), it's tough to beat.
6. Try it for just 1 week and you'll be sold.
1. Eat the highly nutritious vegetables
***like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, red peppers, asparagus, tomatoes and spinach. Leave the iceberg lettuce for the rabbits.
2. KEEP THINGS SIMPLE.
***buy bags of precut vegetables whenever possible. Both Metro Market and Whole Foods have great precut bags of broccoli and cauliflower. Get the BIG bags!!
3. Try steaming
***More than one floret of raw broccoli and I honestly gag. But, steam broccoli and I can eat it all day long. An added benefit from steaming is there's no crunch. So you can eat it at your desk without everyone hearing you chomp away.
4. make it tolerable
***If you can eat raw veggies all day long more power to you. I can't, I need help. My saviors are organic butter, sea salt, olive oil and some fruit. Just a little goes a long way to making vegetables more palatable. Don't be afraid of adding whatever you want to make the veggies taste better. The goal is to get the veggies into your body. A little "bad" stuff going along with them is no big deal. My only advice would be to not add any sugar.
5. EAT IT!!
***Your goal every single day should be to eat all of the vegetables you made that day, no matter how long it takes. You may be done by noon or 9pm, it doesn't matter, just finish all of it. (Although if you're done by noon you likely should've made more veggies! NEVER go to bed without eating all of your veggies).
6. Organic?***Sure, if organic is available by all means try to eat organic. But don't freak out if organic is not available. Certainly don't pass up a veggie because it's not organic. Wash it and eat it!!
How I do it.
1. In the morning I get my steamer ready and toss in the entire BIG bag of broccoli and cauliflower.
2. I cut a bunch of asparagus in half (a bunch is now only $1 at the fruit stand on the first floor of the Grand Ave.). I take the top halves and toss them in the steamer also.
3. I quickly slice up half a red bell pepper into strips and toss them into the steamer.
4. While those veggies steam, I get out my bag of spinach and take a good sized handful and toss it in my large Tupperware container.
5. To the container I toss in baby carrots and cherry tomatoes.
6. I lightly cover those with some flavored olive oil and sea salt.
7. After the veggies are steamed I toss all of them into my large container with the spinach, carrots and tomatoes.
8. I add more sea salt and some melted organic butter.
9. Finally I'll add some chopped up apple, some type of berry if I have some and a variety of nuts (walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, etc.)
10. That's it. Total time is about 10 minutes (that's only 0.7 % of your day to make the other 99.3% feel a lot better)
Some advice:
1. The container is large. I have no problem lugging it around. If you have a problem, split it into smaller containers. BUT still eat all of the veggies you prepared whether they're in 1 container or spread out in four containers.
2. Don't worry about fruit. Fruit will take care of itself. Use fruit as a garnish to help the veggies go down easier (like I do with berries and apple). This should NOT become a fruit salad. No more than 20% should be fruit.
3. Eat the veggies whenever you want (and even when you don't want). Eating them throughout the day you'll be amazed at how much you can consume. The more the better.
4. I've checked. There is no law against eating vegetables at breakfast time. The earlier you start eating them the quicker you'll reap the benefits.
6. Try it for just 1 week and you'll be sold.
TOP 10 Holiday Fitness Gift Ideas
Following are my Top 10 Holiday Fitness Gift Ideas
All my clients know about this piece of equipment. We use it nearly every day for ab exercises (tucks), hamstring and glutes (curls) and zeroing in on glutes (hip lifts). For the price to benefit ratio nothing really competes with the VersaRoll.
A simple but very effective pad that allows a full ab stretch before contraction. It's like a Bosu but better since you can't cheat by rocking your hips. If you want great abs this should be at the top of your list!
The TRX System $189.95
I have honestly never used the TRX System but have seen it in use. If you need an all in one exercise unit that you can take almost anywhere then the TRX System would be a great choice.
"When they told me it was invented by a Navy SEAL, I knew it would be cool— It’s just your body weight working against gravity, so you won’t get injured. Now my wife uses one at home, and I’m addicted." Drew Brees - Superbowl Champion
OK, exercising your muscles is important but it's even more important to exercise your brain. In my list I have 2 books. Of all of the 10 items it's the information that's in these two books that could easily be more beneficial to you than all the equipment put together. The 150 Healthiest Foods by John Bowden Ph.D uses science and research to cut out the clutter and zero in on the foods you should be eating to be healthy. It's that simple and that powerful.
If you've moved beyond regular push-ups, a great way to increase the intensity and benfit is with the Perfect Push-Ups. The elevated handle position along with swiveling action makes a push-up noticably more challenging. It was designed by a former Navy Seal...'nuff said!
A foam roller is your cheapest insurance against aches and pains. Consistent and proper use of a foam roller helps to minimize tissue issues by breaking up adhesions that form. It can also be used for stretching exercises. For its price to benefit ratio it's hard to beat.
I use my gymnastic rings in my workout program every week. Having been a gymnast I know how beneficial gymnastic exercises are for overall fitness, coordination and strength. If you are already pretty strong and the Perfect Push-Up is not challenging enough for you, get a set of Gymnastic Rings. You will take your upper body workout to a whole new level.
Here is book number two. Cracking the Metabolic Code is like a manual on how your body works. But it zeroes in on your metabolism, and we all knows that it's metabolism that controls how much fat or muscle we have...basically how we look naked. This book is very in depth without being overly technical. I do recommend reading it in small bites to really grasp what is being explained. Your whole understanding of how you work will change...for the better.
This one is pretty simple yet effective. You can squat on to it or step on to it. Get some dumbbells in your hands and you've got a great leg workout. The ability to vary the height makes it a wonderful choice for anyone looking to get more fit, no matter their age or fitness level.
Finally, The Bosu. No, I don't think that all the crazy exercises that people do on the Bosu are beneficial or even safe. However, the Bosu is pretty versatile and I use it nearly every day with my clients. It's plenty durable and unique. My advice is to keep your exercises simple. No need to juggle while standing on it with one leg while singing The Star Spangled Banner...you're training to be fit and healthy...NOT to join Cirque Du Soleil!!
If you have any questions about any of my choices or any that you think I may have missed don't hesitate to leave a comment or send me an email.
Have a Healthy Holiday Season,
Matt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)