Add a challenge to your plank by lifting your opposite arm and leg

I don’t know about you….but my typical client doesn’t have that kind of time on their hands!
You kidding!….As soon as their kids, spouse, or boss get the first hint that they are awake…exercise time is officially over!

That’s why I say “exercise when nobody’s looking!”

I know…we should be proud of our exercising…we should get the whole family to exercise together…our friends and family should support us in our fitness goals.

But let’s be realistic…if you can organize one family fitness activity a week, you’ve hit the jackpot!
As for Monday through Friday, you have to take what you can get!

If you have the time to get to the gym, or participate in a group exercise group 2 or 3 times a week, great!…Do it!

For those other days, try my “exercise when nobody’s looking” plan.
First thing in the morning, before you jump in the shower, squeeze in a 15-20 minute workout…warm up and stretching included. Here’s the plan:

1) Start with 6 minutes of core exercises or low-impact cardio
2) Move to 9 minutes of higher-impact exercises
3) Finish with 3 minutes of static stretching

I like to vary these “secret workouts.” If I focus on arms, legs, and core one day, I’ll focus on legs, shoulders, and cardio the next day. Or…I’ll just do a little of everything. Here’s an example of a “secret workout” I’ll do if I’m pressed for time:

1) Planks, cobra, high knees, and body weight squat presses. 30 seconds each set (I’ll set my stopwatch). I’ll repeat this 3 times for a total of 6 minutes.
2) T-Pushups, V (or “Jackknife”) Sit-ups, and Burpees. 1 minute for each set, repeat 3 times.
3) Stretch hamstrings/calves, hip flexors, and chest…holding each stretch for 30 seconds.

I’ll be done with this routine in 18 minutes…before anybody even realizes that I started exercising in the first place! Give it a try!

That’s right…I said lose weight! Many people who want to lose weight are afraid of building muscle. They think that strength training will make them look big and bulky. This couldn’t be further from the truth! By strength training you build muscle, which increases your metabolism. That means that your body will be burning more calories even when you’re resting. By strength training you are actually transforming your body into a lean, mean, fat-burning machine!

So if you really want to “lose weight” don’t focus on losing weight, focus on losing body fat and building muscle. Muscle is active; it never stops burning calories for you! Fat, on the other hand, is inactive. It just sits on your body and does nothing for you, so get rid of it. And the best way to get rid of that fat is to surround it with fat-burning, metabolism-boosting muscle!

Strength training is also important for anyone who wants to be an athlete or anyone who wants to reduce the risk of injury in their everyday lives. So, now that I’ve convinced you of the importance of strength training, where should you start?

1) Figure out what your goals are and what your current fitness level is. Any personal trainer can help you with this.

2) Start by balancing out your body. People usually want to jump right in to lifting heavy weights…BAD IDEA! You should spend you first few weeks doing “stabilization” exercises to strengthen your core and develop your balance, so you don’t hurt yourself.

3) Work on “muscular endurance.” For the second month of any program, I usually recommend that clients do a combination of “strength exercises” followed by “stability exercises” to help them build up their endurance.

4) After about 8 weeks you can really start focusing on building strength and even explosive power if you’re a competitive athlete. This is when you can really start having some fun with some real high-intensity workouts!

Now that you know the basics of strength training, get started!

Buddy Planks

After I published an article titled “5 most important exercises” clients started asking me why we spend so much time doing exercises that aren’t as “important.” That’s because there are some exercises that are even more important than the “5 most important exercises”…believe it or not!

It’s true…there are 3 specific exercises that help correct many of our muscle imbalances and lay the foundation for almost every exercise we will ever do. These exercises might not be exciting, they might not be flashy, but they are the 3 exercises that will be the most fundamental to your long-term success. These exercises help us develop core strength and help us to “wake up” the muscles that need to be doing more work.

These 3 exercises are the plank, the bridge, and the cobra.

1) Plank

Lie on your stomach with your feet together and forearms placed on the ground. Clench your fists under your shoulders, draw-in your navel and contract your glutes. Lift your body off of the floor and raise up until your body forms a straight line from head to toe. Hold the top position for a few seconds.

2) Cobra

Lie on your stomach with your arms extended alongside your body, palms facing the floor. Draw-in your navel, contract your glutes and pinch your shoulder blades together. Next, lift your chest and hands off the floor at the same time, keeping your arms straight. Hold the top position for two seconds. Slowly lower yourself down to the starting position.

3) Bridge

Lie on back with knees bent, feet flat and shoulder-width apart. Draw-in belly button and squeeze butt muscles. Lift pelvis off floor until knees, hips and shoulders are in line, pushing through heels. Lower your pelvis to floor.

The plank is simple, but one of the best core exercises out there. The cobra gets those lower traps going and helps to improve your posture. The bridge activates the glutes, helping to significantly reduce the chances of knee or lower back pain. I recommend doing all 3 near the beginning of every workout!

Shoulder Press

Bent Row

For each of these exercises, proper technique is absolutely vital! If you do them right, you’ll build an extraordinary amount of functional strength. If you do them wrong, your chances of injuring yourself go through the roof! I’ll even go so far to say that if you’re not 100% committed to proper technique, don’t even do these exercises….just stick to the machines, with everyone else who doesn’t know what they’re doing!

So here they are:

1) Squat (body weight)
Stand with your feet facing forward, shoulder with apart, and your knees slightly bent. Slowly squat, bending your knees and keeping your feet straight. Keep chest up, squeeze your butt muscles, press through your heels and fully extend your legs.

Key point – You want to feel like your glutes are doing 90% of the work.

2) Dead lift (body weight)
With your feet shoulder width apart and a slight bend in your knees, bend over so your back is flat and parallel to the ground. Stick your butt out so that you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. If you’re doing this right you should feel almost all of the tension in your hamstrings and almost no tension in your back. Stand up, using your hamstrings and glutes.

3) Push up
Start in push up position with your hands slightly more than shoulder width apart. Make sure that your head, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles are all in a straight line. Slowly lower your chest to the ground, pinching your shoulder blades together, maintaining perfect alignment. Press your body back up into push up position.

4) Bent over row
Stand on top of your resistance band with your feet pointed straight ahead and draw in your navel. Bend at your waist until your chest is at a 45 degree angle to the ground. Extend your arms and let them hang in front of your body, grabbing an end of the exercise band with each hand. In a rowing motion, bring your thumbs up toward your armpits. Contract your shoulder blades together and be careful not to arch your back. Return your arms to the starting position and repeat.

5) Shoulder press
Stand on top of your resistance band with your feet pointed straight ahead and your hands holding the resistance band at shoulder level. Make sure that your shoulders are not hunched forward and that your head, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles are all in a straight line. Press your hands over your head, lower, and repeat.

Each of these exercises can be modified to meet your training goals. If your goal is to develop stability, you could do 1-arm or 1-leg variations of these exercises. To build strength, you could increase the resistance. That being said, don’t make any progressions until you’ve developed flawless technique.

Exercise form is always more important than exercise glory. I respect your competitive drive that inspires you to do that difficult exercise with too much weight. I just think you should use that competitive drive to dedicate yourself to using perfect form on all of your exercises.

So what do I mean by “perfect form?” The word “form” is thrown around the gym all the time, but most people don’t even know what it means. In my opinion form means that 2 things are going one, no matter what exercise you are doing. Number one, you have perfect posture. And number two; you are activating the right muscle groups.

Perfect posture means that your body is lined up the way it should be. You’re not bending your back and you’re not rounding your shoulders. If you want to do a quick “posture check” ask yourself if your head, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles are all in line. Obviously, if you’re doing an exercise that requires you to bend your knees you won’t have your ankles lined up, but in most cases the other four “kinetic chain checkpoints” should be.

Muscle activation is the element of perfect form that most people don’t know about….because you often can’t see it! With every exercise you need to train your body to activate the muscle groups that will allow you to do the exercise most effectively. I’ll use the squat as an example. If you’re performing a squat, your glutes should be “activated.” In other words, your glutes should be doing more work than any other muscle group. If your glutes are “underactive” you will likely be putting a lot of stress on your knees or lower back and your chances of getting injured will go through the roof!

If you’re doing an exercise and you’re not sure what the “perfect form” is, ask a trainer. That’s what they’re there for!

A week late you run into Gina at the grocery store. She starts talking a mile a minute about God knows what and then she says, “You don’t talk much, do you?”
You’re thinking, “When was I supposed to speak? This woman hasn’t stopped talking for one moment in the past 20 minutes! And now I’m late for work because I couldn’t shut her up!”

So….what’s this have to do with exercise?

All of us have muscles that are “overactive” and muscles that are “underactive.” Our overactive muscles are like Gina. They have to be the center of attention all the time, and because of them other muscles can’t do what they’re supposed to be doing and they become “underactive.” As your overactive muscles continue to overcompensate for your underactive muscles, your muscle imbalances become worse. As these muscle imbalances get worse, your risk of injury gets higher.

How can you fix muscle imbalances?

You can fix your muscle imbalances by doing corrective exercises. Corrective exercise involves telling your overactive muscles to “chill out” and telling your underactive muscles to “get in the game!” You can do this by foam rolling and stretching your overactive muscles and “activating” or exercising your underactive muscles.

How do you figure out which muscles are over or underactive?

The “Overhead Squat Test” is probably the simplest and most effective method. Lift your arms straight up over your head, and start doing squats. After observing you for a minute, a qualified personal trainer will have a good idea of what your imbalances are and what you should do about it. In my experience these are the most common imbalances:

Overactive lats and under active rhomboids (rounded shoulders) – This can be improved by stretching your lats and doing a “YTA” exercises to activate the muscles between your shoulder blades.

Overactive hip flexors and underactive glutes (can lead to knee and lower back pain) – This can be improved by stretching your hip flexors and doing a “bridge” exercise to activate your glutes.

Overactive calves and underactive shin muscles – This can be improved by stretching your calves and activating your shin muscles.

If of this sounds confusing, don’t worry! Many personal trainers are certified in corrective exercise. Ask around your gym and you’ll find one that’s right for you!

First, you may be asking, “What type of cardio training should I be doing?”
The basic answer…Whatever you like to do! You can jog outside, ride your bike, use a machine at the gym or even go for a swim.

Now for the 3 “heart rate zones”….If you have a personal trainer and a heart rate monitor, you can get more specific, but for the average exerciser these 3 zones are all you need to know:

Zone 1 (recovery zone) – If you can have a conversation while your exercising, you’re most likely in the “recovery zone.” This zone is also known by many as the “Fat-burning zone,” but contrary to popular belief, you won’t burn more fat in this zone.

Zone 2 (anaerobic threshold, or AT zone) – This is a pace you can maintain, but it isn’t easy. At this pace you wouldn’t want to have a conversation with anybody!

Zone 3 (peak) – At this pace you’re moving just about as fast as you possibly can.

Now for the 3 “stages” of cardio training. I’m assuming that you’ll be exercising for 30 minutes non-stop, and that you’re cardio training 3 days a week. If this is too long or too much for you, or you want to do more, you can. Just make sure you consult your personal trainer and that you progress at a safe pace.

Stage 1 (Beginner) – All of your workouts should be in the “recovery zone.” Your goal is to build stamina.

Stage 2 (Intermediate) – Alternate “recovery zone” workouts with “interval” workouts. Here is an example of an interval workout:
10 minutes in the recovery zone to warm up
1 minute in the AT zone followed by 1 minute in the recovery zone. Repeat this cycle 5 or 6 times.
5-10 minutes in the recovery zone to cool down

Stage 3 (Advanced) – Do a “recovery zone” workout on Monday, an “interval” workout on Wednesday, and a “high intensity interval” on Friday. Here is an example of a high intensity interval workout:
10 minutes in the recovery zone to warm up
30 seconds in the AT zone, followed by 30 seconds in the “peak zone”, followed by 30 seconds in the AT zone, followed by 60 seconds in the recovery zone. Repeat this cycle 4 or 5 times.
5-10 minutes in the recovery zone to cool down

And always remember to stretch after every workout! Good luck!

Planks are great to do with a buddy!

This time of year everybody seems to be moving.  Anyone who’s ever moved knows that it’s a heck of a project.  You’ve got to put all of your stuff in boxes, get a truck, load everything you own into that truck, drive the truck to your new house or apartment, move all your stuff in, and finally arrange everything the way you want it.  It’s a daunting task, but what makes it more daunting is the fact that you’ll inevitably throw out your back or wind up with some other moving related injury. 

It’s true…anytime you lift or move anything there’s some risk of injury.  That being said, if you do these 6 exercises you’ll significantly reduce that risk.

1) Bridge – This basic exercise gets your glutes going.  More action from the glutes means less stress on the knees and back.

2) Squats – Getting the glutes going again, but with a more functional movement.  When you’re carrying things up and down the stairs, you need to be in the habit of using your glutes, or your knees and back will pay the price!

3) Dead lifts – We all know we’re supposed to squat down to lift things, but when you’re moving things out of the basement you tend to find yourself in all sorts of funky positions.  If you haven’t trained your body to use your glutes and hamstrings from the dead lift position you’re inevitably going to beat up your back.

4) Plank – Core strength also does a ton to reduce the risk of back injuries.  The simple plank is one of the best core exercises you can do.

5) Cobra – If you have your shoulders in alignment you’ll not only be better able to carry things, you’ll significantly reduce the risk of shoulder injuries.  The cobra gets those lower traps going, which is what you’ll need to do if you expect your shoulders to do their job.

6) Up and outs – Not only is the “up and out” one of the best shoulder exercises around, it also requires you to use your core to stabilize the rest of your body.  It’s an outstanding functional exercise.   

No need to call the moving company.  If you do these 6 exercises on a regular basis you’ll transform your body into a moving machine!

Stability training is the most important phase of your exercise program. Without it, you’ll literally be out of balance and your risk of future injuries go through the roof! So why is that?

First of all, let’s talk about your long-term goals. Whether you want to build strength, lose weight, or just feel better on a daily basis, you’ll eventually need to be doing some higher intensity workouts. These workouts will include full-body exercises and circuits. For your body to perform these workouts safely and get the maximum benefits, you need to have a strong core and eliminate your muscle imbalances. This is exactly what stability training does!

You see, almost everybody who’s new to exercising has muscle imbalances. Their bodies are used to being in the same position and doing the same movements over and over again. Just think of anybody who spends over an hour a day driving or hunched over a computer. But muscle imbalances aren’t just for people who are inactive. Think of a professional baseball pitcher who does the same throwing motion, again and again, for hours! Yes, the professional athlete can have just as many muscle imbalances as the computer programmer!

When your muscles are out of balance it will only get worse unless you do something about it! Certain muscles get stronger and less flexible. They call these muscles “overactive.” Other muscles get weaker and more flexible. These muscles are called “underactive.” Your body becomes over reliant on your overactive muscle, making them even stronger and less flexible. Meanwhile you’re underactive muscles are underutilized, making them even weaker and more flexible. As these muscle imbalances get worse, your risk of injury increases, especially if you’re doing high-intensity workouts!

So what can you do about it?

Listen to your trainer, but most likely they will tell you to stretch certain muscle groups and strengthen others. I usually recommend clients to do exercises that require them to develop their balance and core strength. One of my personal favorites is the single-leg squat. Here’s how I train clients to do it:

First, I make sure my client can perform a body weight squat on two legs first. The single leg squat is identical to the body weight squat except for the fact that it is on 1 leg instead of 2. When performing a body-weight squat you want to have your toes pointed forward while you act like you’re sitting down in an invisible chair. You don’t want to lean too far forward and you want to try to sit down as low as you can safely. As you stand up, you want to concentrate on using your glutes as much as possible. If the body-weight squat is difficult, you can start of squatting with a stability ball between your back and the wall.

As you get better with the squat, you can progress to a lunge, and then the single-leg squat. Give it a shot!

If you need an extra challenge, try the single leg squat on a stability disk.

Every workout should begin with a couple minutes of foam rolling

At this point, everyone knows their supposed to warm up before they exercise.   But much time can you really spend warming up?  And what, exactly, should you do?  There are only so many hours in the day after all!

I suggest a 15 minute warm up, but that doesn’t mean you wait 15 minutes before you get your heart pumping and muscles moving.  In fact, many people consider are warm ups to be a workout themselves!

Here’s the warm up I suggest:

First foam roll your “overactive” muscles.  Just roll on those muscles until you find a tender spot.  Then lean on that tender spot until the tension goes away.  It’ll usually take about 20 to 30 seconds.  If you don’t know what they are, ask a NASM certified personal trainer to give you an assessment.  If you don’t know a NASM personal trainer, you can’t go wrong foam rolling your hip flexors, calves, and lats.

Second, you’ll want to stretch those same muscles.  Hold each stretch for 30 seconds.  If you don’t know how to stretch a particular muscle group, ask a trainer.

Next, you’ll want to exercise your “underactive” muscles.   Your trainer could tell you what your underactive muscles are and how to exercise them.  If your underactive muscles were your glutes and lower traps, which are very common, a bridge and a cobra combo would be great exercises to do.

After that you should do some exercises that “put it all together.”  Two of my favorites are YTAs and body weight squat presses.

Finally, it’s time for a full body cardio warm up that has you moving in all three planes of motion.  If “all three planes of motion” doesn’t mean anything to you, do this exercise sequence and you’ll have it covered:

1) A minute of Jumping jacks followed by a minute of side shuffles.

2) A minute of cross country ski jumps followed by a minute of grapevine shuffles.

3) A minute of body weight snatches followed by a minute of high knees.

4) A minutes of body weight squat presses followed by a minute of butt kicks.

This entire warm up should take about 15 minutes.  When you’re done, you’ll be ready for anything!