Monday, May 31st, 2010
Functional training is a term that’s been flung around for a decade (or two?) now. The irony wasn’t lost on most that the back to basics use of minimal equipment, during workouts intended to train the body in a multi-planar manner, was now “new fangled”. Within that theme, however, training has been pared down to functional training using primarily bodyweight. That’s right—nothing but you-glorious-you. I, for one, am grateful for the “trendiness” of this. Professionally, I applaud that more and more folks are gaining stability and mobility via use of their own physical structures versus isolating body parts, the latter virtually perpetuating the imbalances that need correcting in their posture and movements. Personally, I love 2 things beyond what I just mentioned…
Confidence-building and convenience not enough for you? Well, as Alwyn Cosgrove pointed out in his iconic “Your Body is a Barbell” article from 2000 or so, it doesn’t make much sense to go load yourself up in the gym with extra resistance if you can’t properly move your own bodyweight. The great example given is those “…who can bench press whatever pounds of weight, but are unable to perform 10 correct push ups, typically due to a lack of core strength and synergistic muscle stability”. He adds to that: “As far as I’m concerned – unless you can do an easy twenty push ups, you have no business getting under a bar for bench pressing. In my training facility everyone begins with bodyweight exercises. You have to earn the right to lift weights in my facility.” (Well!) Likewise, it’s worth pointing out that muscles know 2 things: tension and stretch. They don’t know the difference between added resistance from a barbell and added resistance from you positioning and/or moving your body in such a way as to create it. Resistance is resistance is resistance. Cosgrove points that out, as well as the fact that gymnasts train for per4mance and function, yet they have the most fabulous physiques going. And how many completely untoned advanced yoga practitioners have you seen lately? Mmm-hmm…
In any case, I don’t want to start talking about how “this is bad/this is good”, I’ll let the intellect of our readers put the logical pieces together. I just thought it was worth mentioning that training gurus everywhere can back up the science and reasoning behind the benefits and effectiveness of bodyweight training in case my reasons aren’t enough. Continue to be suspiciously investigative when it comes to training trends. But, whether popular and mainstream or not, bodyweight training clearly has, and will, stand the test of time for many reasons.
Friday, May 28th, 2010
Can someone please pass me some mental floss??? It is time to give my mind some Spring cleaning!
I think the long weekend ahead is the perfect time to rethink goals, question actions, and get ready for a start fresh.
If you’d like to join me on a 3 day mental detox start by asking yourself these questions:
If you’re doing everything on this list well already, BRAVO! If not, I challenge you to take action. You’re worth the effort!
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
Practice self love daily, please.
Lately I have been realizing just how blessed my life has been. I don’t mean with money or fame—because I have neither.Haha! I mean with opportunity, family, work, education and even athleticism. And when I refer to athleticism, I don’t even mean being a great athlete. I only mean knowing I am an athlete.
I so love what I do. Every day I either meet new clients or learn new things about the clients we already have. Recently I learned from a seasoned athlete who has participated in many sports that she does not consider herself to be an athlete. She works out 4 to 5 times per week and competes in a few different sports, yet, she does not think that qualifies her as an athlete. This prompted me to ask: “Well then, what makes a person an athlete?” Her response: “All the stuff I do. I just don’t think that I am one.” Oh boy.
As women, we wake up every day poking, prodding, picking, frowning and disliking ourselves, our bodies, our lives…our everything. ‘There has to be more than this’ is our first thought. Our second thought ranges from ‘I hate my thighs’ to ‘I have dimples on my dimples, UGH’ to finally ‘If I could only lose this blah blah blah.’ At no time do any of us really think about waking up and saying, “this body is about to go make a personal record at the gym today”. Or, “yesterday I ran a 5k, 10k, ½ marathon (insert event here), what am I going to do today?” No…we don’t celebrate ourselves. Just denigrate our selves. And how much we can’t do or aren’t worthy of or lack because we don’t look good. At what point does it get old?
Please know that when you come here, you will be recognized as an athlete—because guess what? That’s what you are.
If you:
Lift more than casually (caught yourself either spitting spittle while doing cardio or grunting while lifting)
Participate in *any* sport even recreationally
Own more than one type of sneaker
Wear a hat while working out
Worship sports creams like Icy Hot
Know what pwo stands for
Have a callus of any kind
Run more than just out of toothpaste
Can do a real push up
Shave your chin (sorry, that’s for me)
Chase children throughout the house
Play tennis (sorry, I know it’s a sport, that’s for Mara)
Scale walls with Indian-type costumes on (ah…that’d be Heather)
Own a spin bike anywhere in your house
Tell somebody about some piece of your workout that day
and
Hang out with us…
Well then…you, my dear, are an athlete.
Of course you know by now that we feel, if you have to perform, you might as well look good while doing it. We feel this way mainly because you cannot be the best at your sport if you are not the best at you. This does not mean that you are less of an athlete if you do not look good. It also does not mean that you are more of an athlete if you actually do look good. In fact, the only reason we speak of looking good in the first place is we know that 1) you can relate and 2) the closer you are to ideal weight the better chance you will have to perform at the top of your game. But it in no way should define who you are *outside* of your sport performance nor should it become another way for you to practice self loathing and punishment as we so readily know how to do.
I say this because I think many woman use how they look as a way to define whether they are an athlete or not. Because they do not walk around looking the part all the time, or they have a muffin top, or they have 20 pounds to lose, they are not an athlete. They also feel because they have children, don’t compete, don’t eat, breathe and die sports that they are not an athlete either. It is so time for us to drop all these misconceptions of what makes an athlete and begin to love ourselves for who we are: Women who enjoy pushing our bodies to *any* limit—not just THE limit—and live to brag about it.
As I work more and more with women in all walks of life (I do not work with only “athletes”), I realize that how we see ourselves is more than just a reflection of society. I used to believe that the media sent us messages and that’s where we learned all this self negativity but that’s no longer my only belief. I used to have the sort of comfort about myself because I have a very healthy self image but even that is not always true anymore as I age. I used to also think that if women just got more involved in sports that they would feel better about themselves but now I know that’s not entirely true. My thoughts about this stuff are evolving and as they do, I promise I will share. But know this:
You are an athlete. You are more than what your outside shows. You can be as amazing at your sport as you want to be, it’s up to you. You are no less of a person if you choose not to be more and you are no less of an athlete if your body decides otherwise. Rock on sistahs.
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Since we all heart our veggies, let me introduce a yummy, not weird veggie, that I’ve been loving for years, Swiss chard. I don’t know if it’s pronounced shard or chard, so this will be one of those purchase we don’t actually speak the name, but rather just select and pay for.
Chard is a close relative of the beet, but it is grown for the greens rather than the root. The large vivid green leaves have a texture similar to spinach, and may be smooth or curly, depending on the variety. The stalk, whether red, yellow, orange, or white, can measure almost two feet in length! At the market, if you can find it, use the larger bag for fresh corn on the cob. If the regular produce bags are all that’s available, bag them leaf side in and tie off the bag around the stalk. Seriously, chard is really sometimes this unwieldy that you may appreciate this bagging tip. Just saying …
Like most veggies, Swiss chard is a vitamin and mineral powerhouse (love that!) with high amounts (relatively speaking) of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, manganese, potassium, iron, vitamin E, and fiber. That’s a lot of nutrition in one little veggie, holy cow.
For a clean and easy preparation, rinse well in a few changes of cold water to remove any sand or soil that is usually hidden in the leaves, then rinse again under running water. Trim bottom end of the stalk, and then remove the stalk from the leaves and slice into bite size pieces. Throw the stems into a pan with chopped garlic, a touch of olive oil or cooking spray and salt to taste. Get these cooking first as they take longer than the leaves. After the stems have begun to soften, add chopped leaves to pan along with enough water or chicken broth to steam and season again to taste. Cover and cook for a few minutes until the leaves are the desired consistency that you prefer. The added liquid for the light boiling releases the oxalates in Swiss chard and helps it taste less bitter. Like spinach and most other greens, Swiss chard cooks way down. Don’t be surprised that what looks like a LOT of chard to begin with ends up being only a modest bowl full.
I haven’t tried these, but the following are some tasty sounding serving suggestions:
* Toss pasta with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and cooked Swiss chard.
* Add some leftover cooked Swiss chard to omelets and frittatas.
* Use chard in place of or along with spinach when preparing veggie lasagna.
Give chard a try and let me know what ya think. Thanks!
Sources:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=16
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
Every now and again we all need to some unplanned fun in our training; which is exactly what I’m doing right now. After a few months of very goal oriented training, I’m letting loose.
For many of us, not having a plan means the world is coming to an end – and I know it because that is how I feel without a program. However, having a lose plan and having your training/nutrition programmed down to the minute of the day and gram of food are two different things. I am a program gal, I like them! But I’m rocking a loose plan right now and have really taken to it.
So what do I mean by a “loose” plan? I highlight the main types of training I want to hit in any given week and then play within those parameters. For example, my week consists of the following:
So there you have it, my week in a nutshell.
But that looks pretty planned out, you might say. Yes and no. If I were training for a specific goal, my 2 CNS workouts would always be written and performed around improving a specific skill. For example, when I was training for the Women’s Tri Fitness I had specific skills I had to improve; shuttle run, box jump, bench press and skills required in the obstacle course. All of agility days worked the shuttle run. All of my plyo days had something to improve my box jump. All of my track workouts focused improving the time in my 400. Everything had a specific purpose and place.
However, I am not a professional athlete, training does not pay my mortgage, and there comes a time when I just want to get out there, get dirty, sweat and train hard. Right now I am enjoying trolling the web and reading books, playing around with different track workouts, incorporating new things into my plyo days. I am putting together fun plyo/agility drills and mixing them up to see what I like and what I don’t. If it rains one day, I’ll train in the studio, if it is nice out, I’ll hit the track. But the moral is that I go with the flow.
Now that we’ve covered two training days, let’s move onto lifting. With all the fun complexes, timed sets, density-ish styles floating around right now, I am dedicating one day to one or a mix of those. However, even with all that fun, I LOVE throwing around big weights. So there is no way I can totally pass over heavy lifts. Ergo, I compromise and do one day of each.
This brings me to cardio, which I typically loathe. BUT, recently, with the warm weather; I am LOVING it! I always enjoy my super high intensity days, but there is no way I can do more than 1 in a week, especially with sprinting and plyo work. One day must be outside. In reality, I’m outside as much as possible, but one day is a LONG outdoor cardio bout. The other 2-3 days always seems to fall into place with whatever fits in my schedule.
Of course I add in at least one yoga class and there is my week! Now let’s be real, at the end of the day, I might say I don’t have a goal, but I do. Other than to just have fun, I am keeping my general level of athleticism where it is and actually pushing it up a notch. Even with all this fun, I make sure to advance something each week. Whether I push out a few more reps in my timed sets, add on a level of complexity to my plyo work, push to increase my 100 meter time, or hike the same trail in shorter time; I am improving. And in the end of the day, I look forward to each and every workout!
So let me ask you, when is the last time you just had fun with your training? Why not give it a try for a few weeks. Obviously if you have a specific goal in mind, now is not the time to do it. But, if you are in between goals, phases, programs, have at it. It is a wonderful freeing feeling. And I know, as much as I’m loving it now, in a few weeks I will be ready to get back to a more specific program. So think about it, let me know if there is anything you are dying to try!
