Stretch of the day

The Hip Flexor stretch.

This is the best.

First, let's talk about what the hip flexors are and their function.

They're located at the top of the thigh.

Their function is to flex your hip.

So you use it ALL THE TIME....when you're walking, when you're running....and then when your sitting it gets shorter and shorter and shorter and tighter and tighter and tighter....until one day its so tight it's affecting your posture and rotating those hips in and giving you back pain.

So let's stretch them!

Here's a picture to help you.

So one knee is on the floor the other leg steps forward and you lean (if you can) into the stretch. Another way to really activate the stretching is to squeeze the buns of your back leg. In the case of the woman in the photo, so she could get a deeper stretch, she would squeeze her right buns.

Try it!

You'll like it!

Here's an idea

So the idea behind proper strength training is to start with large muscle groups and then work your way to smaller muscle groups. This is encouraged so that your smaller muscle groups can help your big muscle groups lift as much as they can.

Like a regular workout could look like this:

chest

quads

back

hamstrings

calves

triceps

biceps

abs

Because your biceps help your lats to perform a lat pull down, for example...and your abs help you do everything...they should be worked last.

However, I suggest, that once in awhile you mix up the sequence. Start with smaller muscle groups and work to larger muscle groups.

This is just one more way to confuse your body and help bring about change.

Good luck!

ooof

Well. I am coming off a weekend of good eats.

And it was lovely.

First let me say that Saturday night was the 3rd meeting of Dinner Club. We have 7 members and this Saturday was my turn to host so I got to pick the theme and prepared the main course.

The theme: Localvore....

Which was in honor of Earth Day and it was a lovely theme I'll say. One of my favorite parts was that everyone visited the farmer's market that morning to buy supplies...not together, but that they went was the point. Zeb and I visited the Brookside Farmer's market for our supplies.

So I baked two whole chickens. This was the first time I have done anything so extravagant and it wasn't so scary after all. I bought two Campo Lindo farms chickens from Room 39 (where I moonlight on the weekends) and my boss Ted gave me a quick lesson in separating the skin from the body of the chicken so that when I got home I could rub it down with herbs and not be afraid.

I got the recipe from 'Cooking Light, Way to Cook' and proceeded to make a mixture of Shatto Butter (local), thyme (local) and other non local herbs and rubbed that chicken down.

I baked them both for about 40 minutes on a bed of carrots, celery, and local spring onions.

Delicious.

When 8 pm hit, the kitchen was a mad house, as everyone had arrived to prepare their dishes on the stove. We started with a lovely spring green salad with bacon, cheese and nuts and topped with a fried egg (all local), moved on to a leek and mushroom puffed pastry (local!), and finally the chicken was served with 2 side dishes. One was a mix of spring onions, asparagus and carrots. The other was a mix of potatoes, asparagus and pumpkin seeds....LOCAL!

Oh! We washed everything down with some delicious Boulevard Beer and enjoyed some local custard, and strawberries with Christopher Elbow chocolate for dessert.

What's better than that, you ask! NOTHING!

What's worse than that, you ask! The pile of dishes left behind after the feast.

I wish two things happened Saturday night.

1. That I took pictures of the cooking frenzy in the kitchen pre dinner.

2. That I took pictures of the MOUNTAIN of dishes left behind.

image from weheartit.com

And like I hadn't had enough to eat the night before, I went to lunch at Happy Gillis on Sunday afternoon. I ate the breakfast BLT which was a BLT with an egg. omg!

Now, what does this have to do with exercise you ask.....almost nothing. Except now you know I indulged myself like crazy this weekend and will now have the fat stores to workout extra hard this week.

;)

Double Doozie....can you handle it?

Can you?

The past 3-4 weeks I have challenged myself with the ultimate of workouts.

Hold on to your hats...here comes the big reveal:

Saturday morning

Pilates from 9-10 at Scott Fitness 3.0 and then

Project Poolside from 10-11 at Scott Fitness 2.0

It is a challenging workout. I'll tell you that.

A complete total body challenge:

At Pilates the core is challenged for sure. In Poolside, the instructor loves (I mean loves) lunges, squats, and all things legs. She is also hard on the shoulders and makes your buns burn towards the end of class. wowie!

Please come with me.

I have talked only one friend into the challenge and she pushes through like a champ. Leaving the 2 hours of her workout with a smile on her face and sweat on her brow...and feeling tough the rest of the day.

I know I do. I feel strong and healthy.

If you want results you have to change your routine and you have to challenge yourself.

So come with me!

What are you waiting for?

(image from weheartit.com)

Happy Earth Day!

Be kind to your mother.

image from weheartit.com

I think I can I think I can...

Well. Unfortunately, I missed my workout yesterday.

I was all set to start a new boot camp in the park at noon. Well, I drove to the plaza (annoying), found a place to park (annoying) and walked to the meeting site only to find out that it was cancelled for the day (ANNOYING!).

So I lost all motivation for the day, went to Sutherlands and bought supplies for the yard and did some yard work for a couple hours. I am not saying the whole day was a waste. It wasn't at all. I was active and even took a 30 minute walk with a client in the morning.

However, I wanted to get a good ass kicking and I was sad that it was cancelled.

I am not much of a fan of unreliability.

Translation: I might not go back to the boot camp a second time.

So today I feel unmotivated to workout, but I will attempt a challenge.

My first challenge: a 3 mile run, which I hope will turn into a 5 mile run.

:)

Then, a weight lifting class at the YMCA tonight.

I am in class tonight for 4 hours. ugh.

Which means the rest of my day will be spent nose in book.

Exercise for the day

Alright. I'll begin by saying that I didn't make this up. I stole it from a boot camp class I attended at the YMCA this morning.

Add this move to any workout you do tomorrow. It could be an interval during your strength workout or cardio routine. Try to do it at least 2 times.

We ran the length of a gym, but you can run up and down your street or across the workout class floor at SF 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0 (provided there is no class happening).

So start on one end, run to the other end, drop down for 1 push up, run back, and drop for 2 push ups, run back and drop for 3 push ups. Continue in this way until you reach 8 push ups and then start back at 1 again. Do this for 3 minutes.

Whew!