Anatomy of a Chin Up

Here’s another great body weight exercise – the chin up!

This video shows 3D animation of the muscles and joints involved in doing chin ups:

Grandmothers of Endurance

Think you’re too old to start running?

Think again!

Meet Barb (age 76) and her friend and training partner Vicki (age 67) who still run and train for 50 and 100 mile trail runs:

 

Balance Training Exercises

Balance training isn’t just for older adults or elite athletes – it’s important for anyone who wants to enhance performance and/or prevent injury. I typically include some form of balance training into the workouts that I do with my clients, whether they are 20 year old runners, 50 year olds who want to improve health and fitness,  or 80 year old retirees who are trying to maintain mobility and independence.

This video shows simple ways to incorporate basic balance training into your routine without any special equipment. Have fun with it!

Anatomy of a Push Up

Here’s a great link that demonstrates the muscles and joints involved in performing a push up, one of my favorite exercises! The variations to make the exercise more or less challenging are limited only by your imagination.

Keeping a Daily Food Log Could be Your Secret Weapon To Weight Loss Success

Keeping a Daily Food Log Could be Your Secret Weapon To Weight Loss Success.

I recommend using FitDay to track daily food intake, which offers a FREE online option or a low cost software download.

2011 Kick Start Workout Guide

Looking for a workout that you can do anywhere with no equipment? Give this one a try: phase 1 of the 2011 Kick Start Workout Guide, courtesy of ACE.

Ben’s 120 Pound Journey

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”   Lao-Tzu

Exercise After Gastric Bypass Surgery

After gastric bypass surgery, are there specific exercise precautions I should take?.

ACE Workout Kick Start Part 1

Here are a few great core exercises that can be done anywhere without the need for special equipment:

Goal Setting Success

After spending a great deal of time the last couple of weeks helping my clients with their goals for the upcoming year, I realized: Many folks have a general idea of what they want to accomplish when it comes to setting goals, but they don’t go far enough with the planning to actually improve their chances of achieving them.

Most of my clients are familiar with the SMART acronym:

S = Specific. Make your long and short term goals as specific as possible.
M = Measureable. Each goal must have a measureable way of tracking success.
A = Action oriented. What action will you take to achieve your goal?
R = Realistic.
T = Time. Give each goal an appropriate time frame.

This is a great start and they do pretty well up to this point, but it doesn’t map out the specific details of how to actually accomplish the task. For example, one plans to run Boston Marathon this year in a sub 3 hour time, and they qualified for Boston by running Twin Cities in 3:02. It’s specific, measureable, realistic, and they know the time frame that they have to get ready for the Boston Marathon. The action they plan to take to achieve this goal is to do lots of running. Unfortunately, this is where most people stop when it comes to planning their goals.

Here are a few tips to improve your success rate:

*Know exactly what it is that you are trying to accomplish, and why you want to accomplish it. Are you doing this for yourself or just trying to impress somebody else?

*Know exactly where you are starting from. This comes in the form of some type of assessment that allows you to measure your current strengths and weaknesses. Your personal trainer can help you measure a variety of physical fitness parameters such as body composition, estimated VO2 max, strength, flexibility, etc. For nutrition, using a software program to track caloric and nutrient intake is critically important if you truly want to improve your eating habits. Fitday is easy to use and free if you stick with the online option!

*Once you know where you are starting from and where you want to go, your trainer can help you plan specific steps to get from “point A” to “point B”.

*Break larger goals down into smaller and smaller goals, until it becomes a daily “to do” list. Have a specific reason for doing each and every thing on your daily list. For my Boston marathon client, why are you running this distance at this intensity on this day of your training? Understanding the reason for how this action will help you achieve your goal will help keep you motivated over time. This is a biggie!

*Take baby steps to make new habits stick. Rather than completely changing your diet on January 1, try adding 1 serving of fruit or veggies per day to your meals for a month. By the end of the month, this will now be a habit and you can go on to something else.

*Focus on the positive (what you should do rather than shouldn’t do). “I will eat one additional serving of fruits or vegetables every day” rather than “I can’t eat dessert.”

*Be precise and plan in advance: put in dates, times, distances, goal pace, meal plans, etc.

*Set priorities: some goals will be more important than others. It’s better to achieve one or two of your most important goals rather than failing at all of them because you got overwhelmed by taking on too much and gave up.

*Set performance rather than outcome goals. Focus on things that you can control (what you choose to eat or whether you choose to exercise), and don’t worry about things you cannot control (what the scale says). If you set your performance goals appropriately, you should achieve the desired outcome.

*Do not set your goals too low, which is just as important as not setting your goals too high. Make your goals challenging, but achievable.

*Be flexible. Many people fail to stick with their resolutions because they gave themselves rules that were too strict to live with. For example, allow yourself one or two “off” days each week where you can eat or do anything you want. Recognize that there will be times when you may need to adjust your plans because of weather, illness, injury, job/family time demands, etc.

*If you expect to achieve long term success (with weight loss for example), you need to make permanent behavior changes by choosing a strategy that you can live with. This is why diets fail: they are temporary.

*Enlist support by either finding a workout buddy, joining a group (run club, exercise class, etc.),  or meeting regularly with a Personal Trainer. Sharing your goals with family, friends, and co-workers may also increase your accountability and adherence.

*Learn from your experiences, including when you fail to meet a goal. What do you need to improve upon so that you can move closer to meeting this goal next time? Was the goal realistic to begin with? Was the goal irrelevant and you weren’t really motivated to pursue it?

*Keep in mind that goals will change over time. If a goal no longer holds an attraction to you, let it go and focus your energy on something that is important to you.

Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy, Successful 2010!