Group Fitness classes are designed for the general fitness enthusiast/cross training athlete. These classes thrive through the community that supports everyone and is created by you. Bring your positive attitude ...
Latest News
Posture II
Last post we talked about general posture and alignment. Today I want to talk about how to fix some of the issues we discussed.
The first situation:
• The over emphasis on things in front of you. This position is common in the people that tend to work at desks or on computers all day. It is characterized by a forward head tilt (ears in front of where shoulders should be (Over ankles)), Shoulders pointing forward, Upper back rounded, Lower back rounded.
is generally an issue with tightness and weakness of supporting and antagonistic muscles. For example, one muscle will be tight and the antagonist (the one that counteracts the tight muscle) will be weak. As a result the best plan of attack is stretching and strengthening.
The second Situation
• The disengaged midsection. These people tend to have a belly that sticks out, not because its big but because there is no control. They also have a butt that sticks out the other way (Backwards) and a lumbar curve bigger than your vertebrae should be able to move.
Is usually is more of an issue with core strength and general body control. The midsection or core is considered the area between your knees and nipples and if its weak you are only supported by bone which if left alone can cause some pretty bad alignment issues.
Stretching is a funny thing since it takes long periods of putting muscles on stretch to actually change the muscle tissue length. As a result, in order to make a huge difference in your posture you need to stretch the right muscles and you need to stretch them frequently. Many bouts of 1-2 minutes a day is much better than one 30 min stretching session. So, don’t be afraid to get up from your desk and move around and stretch on a regular basis maybe even once an hour. I’m relatively sure your boss won’t whip you. If he does, then beat him down since that is why you train right?
When we look at strength in this context we want to address it a bit differently. Since we are looking at supporting musculature here it is usually better and easier to strengthen it using a higher rep, lower weight routine. The support muscles in this case don’t always to the heavy lifting and its hard to activate them if the weight is too heavy. Bands are valuable here as well as light dumbbells and body weight movements.
Workout:
Box Jumps/Broad Jumps
L-hang/sit 1:30-2:30 accumulated
Followed by:
3 rounds
15 wall balls
400m run
Posture
I am not in the camp as some trainers that believe that perfect posture is necessary in order to do any exercise. I do, however; think that your posture can contribute to overuse injuries, and acute injuries based on poor positions when you are doing exercises under load.
As a result those of you that have some postural issues would benefit long term by addressing these imbalances. Some common postural issues are as follows:
• The over emphasis on things in front of you. This position is common in the people that tend to work at desks or on computers all day. It is characterized by a forward head tilt (ears in front of where shoulders should be (Over ankles)), Shoulders pointing forward, Upper back rounded, Lower back rounded.
• The disengaged midsection. These people tend to have a belly that sticks out, not because its big but because there is no control. They also have a butt that sticks out the other way (Backwards) and a lumbar curve bigger than your vertebrae should be able to move.
For the most part this list can encompass everyone to some degree. In general you will be in one category but not usually both. You don’t necessarily have to have all the issues listed but a couple are more common than others.
As a general rule your body should be aligned in this order:
Knees over ankles, Hips over knees, Shoulders over hips, and Ears over shoulders. If you have a more or less straight line between each the each point and as a whole then you are likely doing pretty well. If you find that you are more of a zig zag line then you should be taking a look at improving your posture.
Workout:
Pwr Clean
Clean Pull x 5
Followed by:
4-5 sets
6 Wt pullups
6 Wt step ups
2 min rest
Really Dash?
Meggie and I were talking this weekend on our driving trip to College Station. We were brainstorming for blog posts and came up with this jewel. I am not sure how frequently it will appear but you will see it regularly and its called Really Dash?
As you would probably imagine this will be about the escapades of our female dog Dash. She is very athletic and very driven and we find her in these situations where all we can say is “Really Dash?” Sometimes its funny, sometimes its scary and sometimes its funny but either way, we wanted to share it with you here.
Those of you that know our dogs will wonder why we don’t include Kilo in these posts. Kilo is an excellent dog and as obedient as i could hope for. We have had him since he was 4 months old and were able to lay down a really solid base of obedience. We love Kilo and you may see him pop up occasionally but the main focus of these posts will be Dash.
This picture was taken one day after i had noticed that the chicken coop was caving in from the top. This is strange because there is nothing on top of the cage that would press the chicken wire in like that. As you can see we determined that it was Dash. It turns out that she was trying to get in from the top and Kilo from the bottom, Poor Kilo.
I happened to catch them in the act and as you can see, they know it. All I was able to say at the time was, Really Dash?
The rest of this story ends with me letting them out to go potty one night and as i am calling them to come back so i can go to bed, Dash doesn’t come. So i call some more then go out to see what she has gotten into and find her INSIDE the chicken coop. It was like she was so close to the goal but couldn’t pull the trigger and as a result was frozen in place. I’m sure she heard me calling and couldn’t get out of the hole she had created in the coop and just froze. Really Dash?
Workout:
Pwr sn +OHS 1+3
BS x 5
Followed by:
Max burpees in 1 min
Then
Med ball throws with partner
Welcome Nathan! And 630 classes.
Today is an exciting day for me. While we lost an amazing piece to the puzzle here at BlackBox last week when Michael left, we have found a new piece. Nathan (You all already know him) is now working at BlackBox. He is currently teaching a 630pm class that we want to open up to everyone. It is a strength and conditioning class and will be offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6:30PM. This is open to all strength and conditioning members. Weightlifting will remain at 630 on Monday and Wednesday nights as well.
I am very excited to have Nathan as a part of our team here and I hope you welcome him by trying out his classes. From what i have already seen, he is not only a great coach but a great person. Enjoy the post below as it gives you some insight into his Fitness Philosophy.
Nathan Bagby:
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
-Roosevelt
Fitness should be a constant challenge of your current state. “Fitness to maintain” is an oxymoron. Fitness is to strive for great things. This is why we come into the gym looking for a PR every time! Why else come in, right? But the trick is, coming in on days when we aren’t inspired as well, because the magic happens often when our “face is marred by dust and sweat and blood” (well hopefully not the blood). Since I’ve made the move to Blackbox, my strength gains and my quality of movement have gone through the roof. My numbers, right now, are nothing stellar to look at, but I feel like it has been a fairly consistent upward trend. And many of those PR’s happened when I would rather have hit the snooze button on the alarm clock. Many of my friends don’t get it, the critics never do, the PR’s belong to those out there who are “daring greatly”.
Workout:
Heavy KB swings
Single Leg Squat x 8
Followed by:
400m sprint
Rest
500m row
Rest
15 cal airdyne
Wednesday 5/9/12
Clean
FS x 3
Followed by:
500m row
3 rounds
4-8 pullups
12 box jumps
12 situps
500m row
Tuesday 5/8/12
Handstand Practice
L-sits x 1-2min accumulated
Followed by:
3-5 rounds
5 KB Clean and Jerk/press
5 Windmill
5 OVH Lunge
5 Single arm swings
Rest 2 minutes
Recent Comments