When things come off the rails....

There will come a day when things come off the rails.  This topic is close to my heart or, I should say my back, after dealing with a chronic back injury for the past few weeks.  You never know when things will come off the rails in your exercise life, but one thing you can count on is that there's always something you can do about it.  Coming "off the rails" can kick your butt, but it can also bring out a strength you never knew you had - that way you can kick it right back (once you're allowed to kick, of course!)

Coming off the rails usually stems from a non-threatening event, but most commonly involves:

• an injury
• an illness
• an unexpected, unforeseen change in schedule ("Surprise!  Companys coming to visit for an entire month!")
• a known quantity that always railroads you no matter how much you prepare (the holidays, a vacation, a visit from a friend who still acts like he's in highschool...)

The biggest problem, however; often isn't the "off the rails" event itself, but our response to it.  The most common and debilitating reaction is frustration.  As in "I was finally getting back to my workouts / seeing results / not hating my workout routine, when I caught a cold / injured myself / agreed to host the office Christmas party and ended up quitting / skipping too many workouts ....and am now completely off track."

Most advice is useless in this situation, but there are two things you can do to get through almost any "off the rails" event:

1.  DON'T GIVE UP - promise yourself that you won't stop exercising, even if all you can manage is five minutes of focused exercise.  This will help you keep your workouts somewhere in your life.  Maybe they aren't your first priority, but they're still a priority.
2. FIND A WAY TO MOVE FORWARD - "off the rails" can be like a brick wall, making it difficult to get back on the rails.  The important thing to remember is that there is always a way to move forward.  Maybe moving forward means working the parts of your body that aren't injured or lightening up on exercise until your cold is gone.  Maybe moving forward is walking the stairs at work on your lunch break if you can't make it to the gym.  Even if you can only move a millimeter at a time, you're keeping that forward motion.

What do you think?  Have you been derailed from your workouts?  Remember to just moving forward ...carefully!

Batwings - Buffalo wings - Ham hocks - Jelloceps ??

Whatever you call your triceps, there's a good chance you've tried exercise to get rid of excess fat there.  Unfortunately, target exercises can't burn fat off of specific parts of the body, but they can build muscle, which contributes to overall fat loss.

There are a variety of exercises we can do for the triceps and, while they're all good, some are better than others.  Experts figured out just which exercises exert the most muscle activation in a recent study, and you'll find that the most effectives moves are also the most challenging ....hmmmmm, interesting it works that way!

Here are the top three ....the most effective triceps exercise starts with the toughest one of all, the triangle pushup, which elicited the most muscle activity of all the triceps exercises studied.

TRIANGLE PUSHUP

1.  Begin the move by positioning the hands on the mat directly under the chest with the fingers spread and the thumbs and forefingers touching, making a triangle shape.

2.  Straighten the legs into a plank position (harder) or keep the knees on the floor for an easier version.

3.  Make sure the back is flat and the abs are engaged as you bend the elbows, lowering until your chin or chest touches the mat.  If you can't go that low, go as low as you can and work to build enough strength to lower all the way down over time.

4.  At the bottom of the movement, your elbows will naturally flare out to the side.

5.  Press back to start, keeping the torso rigid, and repeat for 1 - 3 sets of 8 - 16 reps (or until fatigue).

KICKBACK

The kickback is the second most effective tricepts exercise and not far behind triangle pushups, coming in at about 88% of muscle activation.  By bending forward, you really have to work against gravity to move the weight up and down.  The key to this move is to use your shoulder to stabilize the upper arm, allowing the forearm to extend behind you.  If you feel your elbow drifting down, use a lighter weight to keep good form.

1.  Prop the right foot on a step or platform, resting the right forearm on the thigh to support the back.

2.  Hold a weight in the left hand and pull the elbow up to torso level.

3.  Keeping the elbow in that position, extend the arm behind you, focusing on contracting the triceps.

4.  Lower the forearm down to about 90 degrees and repeat for 1 - 3 sets of 8 - 16 reps (or until fatigue).

5.  Focus on keeping the upper arm stationary against the body throughout the exercise.

DIPS

Dips are the third most effective exercise and a tough one depending on how you position your feet.  In this version, the knees are bent, making the exercise easier.  Extending your feet will increase the intensity of the exercise.  The key to keeping this move safe is to keep your hips close to the chair or bench to avoid straining the shoulders.  Make sure you keep the shoulders down and away from the ears and, if you feel any discomfort in the shoulders, skip this exsercise.

1.  Sit on a chair or bench with hands just outside of the hips and the knees bent or the legs extended straight out (harder).

2.  Lift up onto the hands and keeping the hips very close to the chair or bench, bend the elbows, lowering down until they're at about 90 degrees.

3.  Keep the elbows pointing behind you, the shoulders down and the abs engaged.

4.  Push back to start and repeat for 1 - 3 sets of 8 - 16 reps (or until fatigue).

5.  AVOID this exercise if you feel any pain in the shoulders.

How to stick to your fitness goals

When was the last time you set an exercise or weight loss goal?  An even more important question is ....when was the last time you reached an exercise or weight loss goal?

If you are like alot of us, you set those kinds of goals all the time.  Just the idea of accomplishing something gets us motivated, but I think what we're imagining is what we'll look like or feel like at the end of all this hard work - not how the hard work is going to feel.

That's the not-so-fun part.  Even more not fun is setting the same goals over and over and never reaching them.

The key to sticking with your exercise goals and actually reaching them involves the most complex, often crazient, part of your being ...your mind.  The mind is hard to wrangle at times, but you can put some mental strategies in place to help you stay on track.

1. MOMENTUM:  Momentum is a key part of consistent exercise.  It's normal to have those weeks when everything goes right ...you do all your workouts, eat properly and start to think, "I can totally do this!"  Then "it" happens.  "It" might be a holiday, a vacation, an illness ....something that throws you off your game.  Getting back is always tough, partly because you've lost that momentum.  So getting moving again is the only way to get your momentum going.  Think of yourself like a stalled car - once you start pushing it, it'll pick up speed and you won't have to work hard to keep it moving.

2.  STAY IN THE MOMENT:  Picture this - you're at a party and you've promised yourself you won't attack the buffet like a starving lunatic.  Then you see a giant platter of the prettiest, most perfect cubes of cheese you've ever encountered.  Several hours later, feeling your cheese hangover begin, you vow to make up for it tomorrow with a two-hour workout.

There are a couple problems with this approach ....first, you can't "un-eat" what you ate the night before and second, killing yourself with a workout is not a great solution since it could lead to you hating exercise.

If you're busy living in yesterday's mistakes, many of your decisions will be based on guilt and shame rather than what you genuinely want (and need) to do to reach your goals.  True change comes from daily choices and being mindful and basing your choices on what you need now (instead of what you did or didn't do yesterday).  This will make your exercise life much more tolerable.

3.  GET INSPIRED:  A couple times a week my 82-year old mother goes to the pool and does water aerobics.  She also just finished digging all her yard waste into her vegetable garden to compost over winter.  She's a great inspiration to me ....if she can exercise, there's definitely no good reason I can't do my workout either.  So, what or who inspires you?  Is it the older man you see walking every day, rain or shine?  Or maybe a friend training for her first marathon.  The next time you're thinking of skipping your workout, think of the person who inspires you ....or think of my Mom.  If she can exercise, so can you.

4.  GET BACK TO THE BASICS:  Sometimes we do very well on our exercise programs for months.  Then the holidays hit and, before we know it, our intense workouts are out the window.  We even admit to actually scrubbing our bathroom floors with a toothbrush to avoid working out.  Happened to you?  To get back into some kind of routine, simply your workouts - making them short, accessible and much less complicated than before.  Before you know it, you'll be going strong and ready to add more complexity to your workouts.   Remember ....simplify!

5.  GET TO KNOW YOURSELF:  If you've never been much of an exerciser or athlete, now is the time to discover a few new things about yourself.  Think of this as a learning period.  If you've fallen off track because you're completely bored with your routine, you've just learning something important about yourself.  Spend some time asking and answering these questions:

• What do you like about your workouts?
• What do you hate about your workouts?
• What's your least favourite exercise or activity?
• When do you most enjoy exercise?
• If you could choose any physical activity to do, what would it be?
• Do you enjoy working out with others or alone?

Now take the answers to those questions and look at your workout routine.  Does it include activities you enjoy?  Is your schedule in line with your body clock (or as close as you can get)?  What could you do to make your workouts fit you better?  Make a list of ideas and choose one to implement today.  There's no right way to exercise.

Staying on track with your exercise program probably requires more mental work than physical work.  It means checking in with yourself to see how you're doing, how the routine is working and making whatever changes necessary to keep you moving.  It means finding inspiration wherever you can and being willing to try new ideas if the old ones aren't working.  Most of all, it means not giving up.

If you've got a minute (actually 3 minutes), you might want to watch this very inspirational video clip.  Certainly an inspiration to many of us who still keep going to the rink....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REynXnZAITk&noredirect=1

Butt really....

As older adults, most of us are not looking at achieving a bikini butt ....but rather at fighting gravity and preventing the descent south of our gluteals - AKA butt muscles.

You've all heard the saying "use it or lose it" and this certainly holds true for our gluteal muscles.  I am talking about gluteus maximus, minimus and medias.  These are some of the largest muscles in our body and require a substantial amount of work to keep them in shape.  Fortunately, we use these muscles all the time - walking, climbing stairs, running, sitting down and getting up ....so exercising our glutes is not hard. 

Squats and lunges (and variations thereof) continue to be considered two of the best exercises for our butts.  In addition to your daily activities, try to fit in a couple sessions a week - just for your butt.  The results will be amazing!  Not only will your butt look better ....but you will soon be able to run up the stairs two at a time.

SQUATS are one of the best exercises you can do for your hips, butt and thighs and they're also a functional exercise, helping us build strength for a variety of daily activities.

 

How to:

1. Stand with feet hip-width apart and, for added intensity, hold weights at shoulder level or at your sides.
2. Bend the knees, and lower into a squat, keeping the knees behind the toes. Imagine that you're sticking your butt out behind you, but keep the torso upright and contracted.
3. Press into the heels to stand up.
4. Repeat for 2-3 sets of 8-16 reps

LUNGES are a challenging exercise because they work so many muscles at the same time. On the front leg, you'll work the glutes and hamstrings and, on the back leg, you'll work the quads and calves.

Core Exercises 101

Core exercises have, if you will pardon the pun, moved to the center of the fitness world.  If your core is strong and flexible, stresses will be distributed throughout your body better, your spine will be supported, and you will be able to move with greater efficiency.  But here is what you need to know about core exercises ....you need to know what the core is!

Too many people point vaguely to their bellies, announce they are going to do core work, then slam out some crunches and think they've done core.  Not really.

In the broadest definitions of the core, fitness experts include the whole central section of the body all the way from the pelvis and hips up through the midsection.  A big list of core muscles might look like this:

• deep back muscles like the erector spinae and multifidus
• hip flexors and spine stabilizers like the Psoas, iliacus, and rectus femoris
• hip adductors and abductors
• gluteus muscles (butt muscles)
• abdominal muscles from the surface rectus abdominis to the deep transversus abdominis

My guy below (who has fabulous muscle development....) will show you the muscles identified above.


The Core of the Core
The core muscles that are truly core are those that lie close to the center of the body.  The psaos, a long muscle that runs down the front of the spine and attaches at the top of the femur; the multifidus and erector spinae, both deep spine muscles; and transversus abdominus, the deepest abdominal muscle are examples.  Their actions have more to do with stabilizing than with the heavy work some of the more surface muscles do.

Refer to the Workouts and Resources page for a few examples of core exercises.