Are you sure that you are getting everything you can out of your core routine? With all of the new developments in core training, it’s difficult to keep up with the latest and most effective tools and techniques. Though the core has become a mainstream concept, most exercisers have a clouded view of what exactly the core consists of, its importance and what the best ways are to activate it.
The core includes the following muscles: Transverse Abdominis, Rectus Abdominis, Multifidus, External Obliques, Internal Obliques, Quadratus Lumborum and Erector Spinae. It provides a stable platform which launches all of our movement by stabilizing the spine. The core generates the rotational forces needed for many athletic movements including throwing, swinging, striking and twisting. It acts to resist or neutralize external forces such as gravity, contact or momentum. We are only as strong as our core. A weak core limits our strength capacity.
Four Tools to add to your Core Training Routine
TRX Suspension Trainer
The TRX® is one of the most innovative additions to core training in recent years. It’s a non-elastic, adjustable harness constructed of industrial-strength, nylon webbing which uses bodyweight as the sole source of variable resistance. The TRX allows for hundreds of exercises that can accommodate all fitness levels. It integrates the core’s postural, stabilizer and neutralizer components in all of its exercises and the addition of the suspended planks, crunches and oblique capabilities make it one of the most effective tools on the market.
Ex Navy Seal, Randy Hetrick of Fitness Anywhere, in San Francisco’s Russian Hill developed his prototype for his TRX Suspension Trainer out of necessity. As a special ops squadron commander, he needed a way to keep his team in world-class shape without having access to world-class gyms. So he bought a $49 sewing machine & using some parachute webbing and began stitching away. The rest is history. Since hitting the market in 2005, the portable straps have recorded more than $20 million in sales. TRX training kit Fitness Anywhere has been ranked by Outside Magazine as one of the top 30 places to work in the United States this year.
Stability Ball
The stability ball creates an unstable environment that requires more work from the core. Simple yet demanding, the stability ball can be used to add challenge to many exercises and modify others.
Heavy Ball
Most modern heavy balls are constructed of a textured rubber that is mad to bounce. Heavy balls are the perfect exercise tool when training the core to control external forces, to stabilize the body while applying internal forces, and when working at higher speeds.
Balance Devices
Balance devices come in all shapes and sizes: wobble boards, balance discs, Bosu balls, Bongo boards and foam balance surfaces. They all destabilize the surface using a base of support in one way or another, making the core more responsive. A word of caution: Always evaluate possible danger versus potential benefit before attempting any exercise that destabilizes your base of support.
Danielle’s fabulous story of courage and transformation….
“I gained weight after being in an abusive marriage. .I turned to food 4 comfort…I went to the doctor& they said I was morbidly obese & knew I had to take my life back for my kids..I had 2 little ones..got divorced & lost the weight..went from size 18 to a zero & have kept it off for 16 yrs..I am a fitness instructor/ personal trainer & nutritionist so I can help change people lives..I love what I do..I am a grandma & everyone thinks I am her mom instead..
Handstands, hand walking, and pressing to a handstand are excellent exercises to developing your athletic potential. Even my Mom remembers doing handstands & cartwheels as a kid, yet today hand balancing seems to have fallen out of favor.
Of course, we think we grow out of doing such movements as we get older. I have a yoga friend who comes to my house, kicks off her shoes and does a handstand against my wall just to get the kinks out after a long day. She is so effortless. I decided I needed to be able to do that. Something about being upside down appeals to me. They say that the handstand is the first step to developing a catlike capacity for landing on your feet. Oh boy, I can’t wait!
Being upside down gives you a whole new perspective to a brand new world. Being upside down is a whole other world for your mind and body to comprehend. We spend roughly two thirds of our life upright and one third in lying down. When upside down most of us lose our breath, orientation, and composure. Having the ability to land effectively on your feet after tripping versus knocking your teeth out can be a result of mastering these movements. I had a near catastrophic fall happen just the other day. I slipped on the top of some wet stairs and I went flying down 4 steps to land gracefully and without injury. I attribute that excellent landing to a bit of luck but mostly to the balance and coordination I have gained by developing my core strength and agility training.
Increased coordination, accuracy, agility, and balance are all developed through the hand walking and hand pressing movements. Full body movements such as hand balancing & presses improve balance and increase shoulder strength, but they also improve proprioception and core strength in ways that other exercises cannot. Proprioception (pronounced/ PRO-pree-o-SEP-shin), from Latin proprius, meaning “one’s own” and perception, is the sense of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body. In other words, when you are up side down you get a whole new view of the world and so does your brain, which thrives on new stimulus.
If you just starting out & you are afraid of falling over, start by practicing up against a wall and slowly move up the wall backwards. This is always a good a idea to start with a spotter but in time you’ll get more confident on your own.
Once you are out in the open on a grassy field, practice falling over using a tuck and roll. Most of this skill is about visualizing and having confidence. If you are afraid and think you will fall, then it is more likely that you will. I have found that like any new skill, practicing a little bit every day is what will make the difference.
The number one reason for failure in losing body fat is the lack of clearly defined, written goals.
Here are the steps to achieving your fitness goals:
STEP 1. Set Inspiring, Detailed & Specific Goals
Don’t say things like I want to lose weight and have more energy, that is not clear, detailed or specific. A better way to talk to your sub conscious brain is to say something like: By March 1st, I want to weigh 130lbs, with 18% Body Fat, and be wearing size 8 clothes. My Current waist size is 36 inches, and My GOAL is 28 inches. See the difference? Those are very specific detailed and attainable goals that you can now write down and measure by tracking your progress as you’ll see in Step 2.
Step 2. Set BIG Measurable Goals
Really look at some BIG goal that seems very far from where you are at the present moment. For instance, I said to myself, I haven’t weighed 130 lbs since I was 30, so it’d be a Big Deal for me to have that as my goal today. So, Yes its scarey, BUT I will look and feel totally different and people will SEE me differently, WHEN I have achieved my big scarey goal. This is Way outside my comfort zone of what I’ve thought I could do, but now I’m gonna do it & succeed, cause its time! I can See the Picture of my New Body in My Mind, and I will Visualize it Everyday…!
Then make sure you measure it everyday. Write down your goals somewhere that you can track your progress. So I might say, on my scale I want to weigh 130 lbs, but by measuring with the Body Fat calipers I want to get down to 17% Body Fat.
Step 3. Set Realistic Deadlines
30 lbs lost by May 1st. So 4 months (16 weeks) from now, that’s 8 lbs per month, or 1.9 lbs/week. In terms of body fat, that translates to about a half a percent per week.
Step 4. Daily goals & habits to do every day repeatedly
You develop good habits by setting daily action goals and working on them repeatedly until they become as routine as brushing your teeth or taking a shower. Ninety-nine percent of the actions you take every day are habits. Write out a list of daily goals, to-do’s and habits you want to develop habits like eating small, frequent meals, cutting down on sugar, getting up early, making your meals in advance for each day and so on.
The next time you feel a craving, you’re tempted, discouraged, unmotivated or you feel like skipping a workout, focus on your daily goals, not on the huge amount of work that is ahead of you. Tell yourself, “All I have is today. All I have is this moment, this workout, this meal, the next 30 minutes, the next hour. If I just do what I know I must do now, then I know I’ll reach my ultimate goal eventually.” Concentrate on the task at hand in this moment. As the Zen masters of Japan remind us: “Be here now.” The point of power is always in the present moment.
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Step 5. Write out an extensive goal list in the form of affirmations
Always use I AM or I HAVE. Write them in the present tense. I AM 30 lbs leaner. I AM 130 lbs of solid muscle. Always use positive affirmations, never negative. Never say “I’ll never see my abs again”, instead say “I HAVE a flat toned stomach. I AM getting leaner every day. I like the way I look. Whatever it takes, I’ll do it. I like eating healthy foods. I love working out. Training early in the morning is exhilarating.
Step 6. Read your affirmations (your goal list) at least twice a day and always keep your goals “in front of you” and “on your mind.”
Psychologists have proven that repetition is an effective way to penetrate and program the subconscious mind. Fortune 500 companies spend millions of advertising dollars every year based on this fact. Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich and The Law of Success, said, “All thoughts which have been emotionalized and mixed with faith begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent.”
As you read your affirmations, mentally visualize them as already achieved. Visualization means making mental pictures or images – it’s thinking without words. The brain thinks in pictures. I’ve also put photos up of myself to help me through this visualization, the photos make it very real and I can see them everyday.
Step 7. Share your Goals with Everyone.
Your Friends & Family, your Workout Partners share your goals with everyone so you can feel good about what you’ve achieved and you can stay motivated by calling someone up to help you get to the gym or give you a high five for doing another exhausting workout. You’ll be amazed at how great a little bit of praise can help you through day.
Just to give you some motivation, Here are My GOALS:
1. I AM dramatically Changing my Outer Packaging, by being 17% body fat and 130 lbs, by May 1st.
2. My motivational positive affirmations are: “I HAVE a flat toned stomach. I AM getting leaner every day. I LOVE the way I look & how I FEEL. I’ll DO whatever it takes. I LOVE eating healthy foods. I love working out & training early in the morning is exhilarating and really starts my day off right. I feel healthy & have lots of energy.
3. I AM sharing my written goals, my workouts and my daily experiences with My Team.
4. I AM thinking constantly about My Goals & Being Constantly Mindful of what I AM accomplishing. I AM visualizing and seeing my goals photos everyday.
So, Before you eat your next meal or start your next workout,
THE MOST POWERFUL ACTION you NEED to do right now to achieve your ultimate fitness goals is to WRITE DOWN YOUR FITNESS GOALS, – TO DO IT NOW!
Last week, my 78 year old Mother had Open Heart Surgery unexpectedly after a heart attack that came seemingly without warning. Her heart attack only showed up as a burning sensation in her chest so she actually wasn’t sure what was happening to her because she had no idea she even had heart disease. Other than having high blood pressure and being on blood pressure medication, she was living a healthy lifestyle.
So what happened? And why aren’t women more aware of heart disease? From what I have learned it’s all about a lack of awareness and sometimes even denial.
“A recent national study conducted by the American Heart Association showed that fewer than 50% of American women know that heart disease is their leading killer.” – AMA website
“Heart Disease remains the number one killer of women in the U.S., and younger women are twice as likely to die after suffering a heart attack as men of the same age. – Vogue magazine (Nov 2011 issue)
Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States and it claims the lives of almost 500 000 women each year. There is more awareness and media exposure for about Breast Cancer which claims the lives of about 30,000 women each year.
I have seen denial about health issues first hand with my own family. My mother admitted she ignored the warning signs and how her body was feeling. She thought being tired all of the time, having a hard time sleeping and shortness of breath were just “signs of aging”. Having lived a healthy holistic life she is “shocked” she has heart disease. Like a lot of women she thought she was doing everything right.
Nieca Goldberg, M.D. a cardiologist at NYU’s Langone Medical Center, says, “Women don’t have what I call the Hollywood heart attack that men have – severe chest pain, for instance. They might be tired. They might just feel uncomfortable.”
Denial is common in women with heart disease.
Surveys suggest such denial is common in women with heart disease.
Now after an emergency 5 Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery which saved her life, my mother is asking the big questions. Why did I get this and why didn’t I know I had heart disease? And as her daughter, I am asking those same questions too. Both of my parents now have had heart disease, a genetic predisposition could be one of the risk factors of heart disease.
But noted genetic researcher Dr. Robert Hegele, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada Lecturer at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009, says “When it comes to heart disease, lifestyle usually trumps genetics.”
Dr. Hegele’s work is unraveling the nature vs. nurture debate that has intrigued scientists for years. He says that for about five per cent of patients, the effect of genetics is so strong there is little they can do, but that 95 per cent of us can override our genes by following a healthy lifestyle.
“To be sure diabetes, a result of the obesity epidemic, factors heavily in the recent increase in the heart disease, but there has also been a devastating lapse in awareness, particularly among women. Studies show, for instance, that women today are much less likely to call 911 and more likely to delay going to the hospital than they were just 5 years ago.”
Plus there has been a spike in deaths among younger women in their 30’s and 40’s.
When a heart attack strikes a young woman, she is likely to suffer debilitating damage or die. In a study that looked at gender differences among heart attack victims, researchers found that heart attacks were far more likely to be deadly if the victim was female. In fact, when Dr. Viola Vaccarino and her colleagues looked only at patients under age 50, they found that twice as many women as men died in the days following a heart attack.
Part of the explanation for this frightening statistic is that young women with heart attacks often get either no treatment or they receive delayed care. Sometimes women, and sometimes their doctors, miss the attack because they don’t realize that the symptoms of a heart attack may vary with the patient’s gender, says Vaccarino, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine.
EKG Electrocardiogram
Compared to men, during a heart attack women are much more likely to experience back pain, indigestion and nausea and/or vomiting, rather than chest pain, as their symptoms.
But, while doctors are at a loss to explain why heart attacks occur in otherwise healthy young women, they have pinpointed a group who are at an elevated risk. Women who smoke, are obese, have diabetes and/or high blood pressure are more likely than others to have a heart attack.
My mother had high blood pressure as an elevated risk, but she didn’t smoke, wasn’t obese or have diabetes. Having never taken medications in her life, she is now on a smorgasbord of medicines including a blood thinner called Coumadin,.
The following symptoms could signal heart ills:
1. Angina (chest pain). Can also include back pain or deep aching and throbbing in the left or right bicep or forearm.
2. Breathlessness. Also may include waking up having difficulty catching one’s breath.
3. Clammy perspiration.
4. Dizziness. Unexplained lightheadedness, even blackouts.
5. Edema. Swelling, particularly of the ankles or lower legs.
6. Fluttering. Rapid heartbeats.
7. Gastric upset (or nausea).
8. Heavy fullness. Also may include pressure-like chest pain between breasts and radiating to left arm or shoulder.
If you are experiencing these symptoms please do not wait, contact a doctor immediately for your own safety.
Being aware of personal risk and treatment options can empower a woman to live a long and healthy life.
Heart Healthy Cooking
These top 6 Lifestyle Changes are your first line of defense against heart disease:
1. Stop smoking cigarettes and avoid secondhand tobacco smoke.
2. Get at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day. See CrossFit >>
3. Blood pressure is optimal at less than 120/80 mm Hg. If there’s a slight rise in pressure, the first line of self-defense is to improve your lifestyle habits.
4. Cholesterol levels are important for women to know. Total cholesterol optimally should be less than 200 mg/dL; LDL (bad cholesterol), less than 100 mg/dL; HDL (good cholesterol), more than 50 mg/dL; and triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood), less than 150 mg/dL.
5. Eat a heart-healthy diet that includes fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat or nonfat dairy products, fish, legumes, and sources of protein low in saturated fat (such as, poultry, lean meats, and plant sources). Limit intake of trans fatty acids such as those found in hydrogenated oils.
6. Maintain a healthy weight, balance the calories you eat with the amount you use up each day. Diabetes (high blood sugar) is becoming more common in the United States. Unhealthy eating habits and gaining too much weight are leading causes of type II (acquired) diabetes.
Overwhelming evidence suggests that heart disease can be prevented in women. Every woman should know what her risk level is and her prevention goals and the best way to reach them.
Need more ideas for Cooking Healthy Meals, then check out: The Healthy Urban Kitchen Cookbook The Healthy Urban Kitchen is a simple, step by step system for shopping, cooking and eating the world’s healthiest foods. It was created for busy people who want to improve health, have more energy, and prevent disease.
Robb Wolf’s 30 Day Total Transformation
Do you want to…
Lose weight?
Feel better?
Have more energy?
Reduce inflammation and pain?
Reverse diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, lupus, autism, diabetes, and obesity?
Look, feel, and perform at your best ever?
Our friend and fellow water person extraordinaire, Roz Savage, who is the First Woman To Row Solo Across the Pacific Ocean and has logged 11,000 miles, 3.5 million oar strokes, 352 days alone at sea,
has just been officially selected as an “Adventurer of the Year” by National Geographic.
Roz Savage arriving in Hawaii
Here is a message from Roz that she wanted me to pass along:
“I’d like to thank you for your support, which has undoubtedly contributed to my receiving this wonderful accolade. My boat and I may be the most visible part of the picture, but I couldn’t do what I do without the ocean of support from you and others like you, and so this title belongs as much to you as to me.”
“I see this as a vindication of the course that I plotted 6 years ago, when I chose to abandon my creature comforts to row across oceans, using my adventures to spread the message that we have to look after this Earth if we want it to look after us. When I look back over the years since I first set out across the Atlantic in 2005 as a nervous novice ocean rower, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the people and places and incredible life experiences that have enriched my life while I have worked incessantly to make my vision a reality.”
“I have a favour to ask you – would you please vote for me? Out of the ten of us who have been chosen as “Adventurers of the Year”, one will be voted the “People’s Choice Adventurer”. Between now and January 15, people will be voting for their favourite adventurer.”
Roz Savage, Ocean Rower
“It would really be the icing on the cake if I won this additional title as well. Besides the prestige, it would give a real boost to my efforts to raise profile and funds as I prepare for the last two years of my ocean-rowing career: the Indian Ocean in 2011 and the North Atlantic in 2012.”
“The Indian Ocean – dubbed “EAT, PRAY, ROW” – starts around 31st March next year. I’ll need $50,000 to complete the row and am asking people to sponsor $10 per mile of the 5,000 mile trip. There’s more about this campaign at http://www.rozsavage.com/eat-pray-row/”
“My final “Homecoming Row” is in 2012, launching from New York, heading out past the Statue of Liberty and heading for London, ideally arriving just before the 2012 Olympics. More info at http://www.rozsavage.com/homecoming-row/.”
“I want to leverage these expeditions to the max, reaching as many people as possible with my environmental message. The more resources I have at my disposal, in terms of (wo)manpower, budget, and media exposure, the more effective I will be in my mission.”
“I would be really grateful for your vote, AND for you to forward this message to your network of friends, family, colleagues, newsletters – whatever connections you have at your disposal. Please take a moment to think of as many people that you know who are interested in adventure, athletic endeavour, environmental issues, personal growth, rowing, or simply enjoy an inspiring success story – and ask them to vote for me.”
Are you sure that you are getting everything you can out of your core routine? With all of the new developments in core training, it’s difficult to keep up with the latest and most effective tools and techniques. Though the core has become a mainstream concept, most exercisers have a clouded view of what exactly the core consists of, its importance and what the best ways are to activate it.
Heavy Ball
Balance Devices
Last week, my 78 year old Mother had 
