100 Push-ups!

Push-ups are one of the most common and basic exercises for the human body.  They increase strength in the forearms, wrists, triceps, shoulders, chest and core.

The push-up challenge begins January 1 and the goal is to do push-ups for 100 days straight, increasing the amount by 1 each day. So, January 1^st you will do 1 push-up.  January 15^th you will do 15.  You will end April 10^th when you will have completed 100 push-ups.

Proper Technique

Your elbows must be fully extended at the beginning and end. Your toes should be on the ground and your hips, legs and back should be straight. The chest must be close to the ground to count. Try putting a tennis ball under your chest and trying to make contact with it each time.

Tips for Beginners

           -Break them up throughout the day. Don’t feel like you have to them all at once, but try to    
             work up to doing as many as possible in a row.

            -Do them on your knees, up against the bed or against the wall if needed. If you can’t do a  
            “real push-up”, don’t let that stop you. Even modified push-ups will increase your strength.

Advanced

           -Everyday, try to increase the amount you can do without resting.
           -Try to complete all of you push-ups in one time period.
           -If you need a bigger challenge, time yourself.

Who is up to the challenge??

Enjoy Life - Workout!

Mandy

 

Single-Leg Touchdown

Balance = communication between your mind and your muscles that allow your body to remain stable.

Balance exercises are important for people of all ages. Older adults should practice balancing to prevent falls and hopefully serious injuries. However, balance isn’t just important for the elderly.  For example, 80% of all ACL (knee) tears are “non-contact” injuries, usually occurring when landing or pivoting. Studies show the best prevention of ACL tears is balance and stability exercises.

My favorite balance exercise is the Single-Leg Touchdown (see pic). Beginners can start just reaching out an inch or two. If you are more advanced, you can touch the ground or use a dumbbell.

Click the link below to my video demonstration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GafJ9wVIMMA&feature=plcp

Start by doing 1-2 sets of 15 (each leg) every day!!

Tips – make sure the knee of the leg you are balancing on stays directly over your foot and doesn’t shift in or out.

Enjoy Life - Workout!
Mandy

Post-Workout Nutrition

When most people think of PW meals, they picture the body builders at their gym that slam the protein shakes. Well protein shakes aren’t just for body builders. If you work out, you need a PW nutrition plan! Period! If you don’t, you are only hurting your recovery and your future performances.

After a workout, your body is depleted of energy and the muscles get broke down. A good post-workout (PW) nutrition plan will help rebuild muscle and replenish lost energy. 

Time Frame – For optimal results, your PW meal should be consumed within 30 minutes after your workout.  During this time frame, your body has the best ability to restore glycogen stores lost during the workout.

What – You can eat real food for your PW meal, but it digests at a slower rate. Also, most people don’t want to sit down for a meal right after a hard workout. For most people a whey protein in the easiest. Chocolate milk is also a popular choice.

Carbohydrates – Carbs are needed to restore the glycogen levels in the muscles.

Proteins – They provide amino acids, which we all know from junior high health class, are the building blocks for muscles.

Fats – Normally fats are not used in PW meals because it slows the digestion of carbs and proteins.

How much – This is a hard question and I am sorry that I can’t offer an answer. If you contact a certified nutritionist, they could probably give you a more detailed answer based on the following:

-Gender
-Activity Level
-Goals

If you can’t afford a nutritionist, trial and error is your other option. Try a few different things until you find what works best for you.

 

Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

 

WATER!

I am not going to tell you the benefits of drinking water. Most of you have heard it before and for many of you, it hasn’t worked. Instead I plan you scare you into drinking water. So, here is what happens to your body when you are dehydrated.

-          Fatigue

-          Constipation

-          Migraines

-          Muscle Cramps

-          Bloating

-          Irregular Blood Pressure

-          Kidney Issues

-          Dry Skin

-          Workouts suffer

-          Cancer (some studies show water helps reduce the risk of bladder and colon cancer)

-          Irritability

-          Problems focusing

-          Cold hands and feet

Sounds fun huh? Nobody wants any of these things to happen, and by simply drinking more water, you can prevent a lot of it.  

You lose water every day through breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements.  You have to replenish the water that you lose.

Challenge!!! For 2 weeks, drink 10 cups of water per day, and see if you feel better.

Enjoy Life - Workout

Mandy

 

5 min workouts!

Everyone seemed to like the 10 min workouts, so here are a couple 5 min workouts!

 #1

Getting as many reps in as possible
1 min - jump squats
1 min – burpees
1 min – alternating lunges
1 min – jumping jacks
1 min – push-ups

#2

As many rounds as possible in 5 min
5 burpees
10 Lateral jumps (find something to jump over like a weight bench)

Remember, these should be done at a high intensity. So don’t stop working until the 5 min is up!!!

Get 25 body weight workouts for only $25. Check me out of Facebook – Schick Training!

Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

10 Minute Workouts

In my opinion, the number one reason to do short high intensity workouts is TIME! I don’t believe time should be an excuse when it comes to exercise, so I have put together a few 10 min workouts that you should be able to work into your schedule anywhere.

#1

1 min of Jump rope (double unders if possible)
1 min of burpees

Repeat for 10 min

#2

As many rounds as possible in 10 min
10 Push-ups
15 Sit-ups
20 Squats

#3

1 min – run far as possible
1 min – sit-ups

Repeat for 10 min

Try these and see how they go.

I also offer 25 bodyweight workouts for $25. Contact me for more info!

Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

100% Primal - 80% of the Time

For the last 6 months or so, I have been trying to make the switch to a Primal diet. I actually started doing Paleo, but switched to Primal (some dairy).

This is what a Primal Diet looks like.
-          Meat
-          Seafood
-          Vegetables
-          Fruit
-          Nuts and Seeds
-          Some dairy. For me this is usually yogurt and cottage cheese.

Eating this strict of a diet is hard. Most people couldn’t imagine going one day without grains, legumes or sugar. Try doing it every meal , every day.

Actually don’t try it! The point of this is to help you understand that being 100% strict with your diet is not the best thing for you. Here are the top 5 reasons you SHOULD cheat on your diet!!

1)      It reduces the probability that you will completely “fall off the wagon”. The longer you go without cheating, the higher the risk of binging.

2)      Having a comfort food every once in a while will help your mood.  A cheat meal will help keep you from going crazy.

3)      Having a cheat meal to look forward to is good motivation. If there is never an end in sight, you are more likely to quit.

4)      A cheat meal will keep your body and your mind from getting bored.  This couldn’t prevent you from seeing results.

5)      Who wants to live in a world without chocolate.

 Be smart about your cheat meals. I try to stick with the 80% rule. If I eat Primal 80% of the time, I feel good, by body feels good and my workouts feel good.

Stay hungry my friends!!

Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

Cardio Mix-up

A friend told me recently that he and his girlfriend went to one of those gyms that had huge trampolines you could jump on. He couldn’t believe how great of a workout it was, and they had a blast. Cardio can be fun. You just have to learn to mix it up a bit.

Here are 15 different things you can do to mix up your cardio.

1)      Jump rope

 

      2)      Go for a swim

3)      Bike

4)      Use the rowing machine*

5)      Plyometric training (jump squats, jump split squats, box jumps, etc.)

6)      Jump on the trampoline. Just try it. 10-15 min of continued jumping is an awesome workout.

7)      Take a kickboxing class

8)      Jumping Jacks

Sample for 10 min do 30 on 30 off of jumping jacks.

9)      Run stairs

10)   Interval (mix walking and running)

Example = Walk 1 min, run 2 min. Repeat for 30 min.

11)   Play a sport!*

12)   Timed weight workout*

For example, take any 2 exercises and make up a rep amount.  Then do as many rounds as you can in 10 min.

10 Push-ups

25 Squats

Keep moving and get as many rounds in as possible.

13)   Dance!! Take an organized class, or buy a hip hop DVD. Just dance!

14)   Run. For some of you this is standard, but for others, it may be something new.

15)   Play with your kids/dog. Chase them around the yard or play tag. It will help the family get healthy too.

* Mandy's favorites

Enjoy Life - Workout!

Mandy

Cooling Down!!

How many of you hit a workout hard, take a lap around the gym while you catch your breath, and then jump in the car to head home?  I will admit there are times I am guilty of that. Most of us don’t want to stay at the gym any longer than we have to. But not cooling down can end up causing you more issues in the end.

Avoid Dizziness

When you exercise, the heart works at a higher rate to pump blood throughout the body. Since most exercise includes the lower body, the blood will be pumped more to the lower area. If you stop suddenly, the blood pools in the extremities causing an insufficient amount of blood to get back to the brain. This causes dizziness.

Avoid Soreness and Recover Faster

After a shorter more intense workout, your body gets full of waste products (lactic acid) and toxins. Cooling down helps circulate oxygenated blood through your muscles, helping remove the waste. This will reduce the potential for DOMS (delayed onset muscles soreness) and help you recover faster.

How to Cool Down

-          Row! The rower is a great cool down tool because it is total body. Do 10 min at a slower pace

-          Jog/Walk/Bike/Jump rope. Again, 10 min at a slower pace.

-          Stretch – hit all major muscle groups

 

Enjoy Life - Workout!

Mandy

 

Tips to Get and Stay Fit

Mandy’s Top 5 Tips For Getting and Staying Fit

1)      Set a realistic goal. Realistic is the key word here. If you are 100 lbs over weight, then your goal should be to lose 25 lbs, not 100. If you shoot too high right away you will never feel like you are succeeding.  When goal setting think about the following subject and where you could improve.

-          Strength

-          Percent of body fat

-          Eating habits

-          Cardio health

-          General health (go get a physical)

2)      Surround yourself with friends and family that are supportive! If people around you don’t think you can succeed, that will rub off on you. If your friends are always trying to talk you in to cheating on your diet or skipping a workout to hang out, they are not good friends and need to work on their own issues.

3)      Focus equal attention to nutrition and diet. Some people say diet is more important, but I feel they complement each other. When you are eating healthy foods, you energy is higher and you feel better about working out. When you are working out, you want to keep your diet clean.

4)      Keep it exciting! Keep a list of all the things you enjoy doing. When you find yourself in a rut, look at the list and mix it up. If you get bored, it will be easier to skip a workout or start heading back down the road of excuses.

5)       Speaking of excuses, STOP!!! All excuses are bullshit and will only hold you back. Yes you can make time to be healthy. Yes you can afford to go walk in your neighborhood. And no you don’t have to sacrifice time with your family. Why? Everyone in your house should be active. Find things you can do together.

Enjoy Life - Workout!
Mandy

Home Workouts

Some people like working out at home. They have control over their schedule and they don’t have to make a special trip to get to the gym. I am going to give you a few works you can do easily from your home or office.

Step 1 – purchase a jump rope and a set of dumbbells from 5-20 lbs. depending on your ability. Make sure you get a good jump rope, not one that is an actual rope that you can barely swing around.

Step 2 – Purchase my 50 workouts you can do from home. Come on you can afford it. I just saved you $350 in a gym membership J. For $25 you can get 50 workouts. For $30 I will throw in a Brick Schick House t-shirt! I also tell you which days to workout, which days to rest and how to incorporate cardio.

Step 3 – Do the workouts at a high intensity. These are meant to be exercises that build muscle and burn fat. You won’t do that if you are taking your sweet time with them.

Step 4 – Get great results and feel good about yourself. I promise if you follow my program you WILL see results.

Here are a couple sample workouts.

1) Jump rope for 5 min as a warm-up

    As many rounds as possible in 10 min.
    5 push-ups
   10 DB push press
   15 sit-ups
   20 air squats

2) 3 rounds for time

    Run 400 meters (.25)

    15 DB Squat-Curl-Press

    15 Bench Dips                                                 

    15 Lunges (15 each leg)                                                                

Enjoy Life - Workout!
Mandy

 

Sprinting

Weight Loss

Studies show that sprinting burns fat 9 times faster than slower cardio. This can and should be done in intervals (a sprint followed by a walk or jog).  Sprinting also raises your metabolism, which allows you to also burn fat when your body is at rest.

Aerobic Endurance

Although sprinting is an anaerobic activity, it can also be effective at improving aerobic activity. As you improve, you will be able to work at a higher intensity for a longer amount of time. This means more calories burned!

Athletic Performance

Athletes who sprint will see an increase in speed, endurance, agility and overall strength!

Sprints don’t require any equipment and can be done anywhere. So there shouldn’t be any excuses J.

Here are a few sprint workouts:

1)      100 meter sprints

10 x with 30 rest between

2)      200 meter sprints

5 x with 45 sec rest between

3)      400 meter sprints

3 x with 1:30 min rest between

4)      30 sec sprint followed by 30 sec walk repeat for 20 min

 Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

Are flip flops bad for your feet?

No more flip flops? L

I have to admit that I love my flippie floppies. Especially when I am on a boat.  But they are not always the best for you.

Reasons Flip Flops are bad for your feet.

1)      They don’t give you much arch support, which causes your foot to over-pronate (turn in) or to over-supinate (turn out). This can cause pain in the heel, arch, balls of the feet and even the toes.

2)      You end up gripping your toes to keep the darn things on.  Making your feet work that hard can cause soreness.

3)      No ankle support, which means you are more likely to sprain your ankle.

4)      It can cause hip and low back pain. Normally people with flip flops shorten their step. This isn’t good for full hip extension.  

Why you should wear flip flops.

1)      It’s hard to be in a bad mood when you are wearing flip flops J

You will have to make this very difficult decision for yourself.

Enjoy Life - Workout!

Mandy

Hamstring Basics

The Hamstring is made up of 3 muscles, the semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and the biceps femoris.

There lots of reasons we want strong hamstrings.  For athletes it helps with acceleration, deceleration, speed, and strength. For the rest of use, it helps prevent injuries, especially in the knees.  The hamstrings help absorb stress that is placed on the knee when walking, running, or doing everyday activities.

I have talked about this before, but don’t forget to stretch those hamstrings too.   Tight hamstrings cause the hip and pelvis to rotate back, which flattens the back and causes pain. This will also have an obvious impact on your posture.

The easiest fix is to focus on stretching out your hamstrings on a regular basis. Both dynamic stretching (Yoga, walking lunges, leg swings) and static stretching (sit and reach) with improve flexibility.

Here are a few exercises to strengthen your hamstrings!!!

SIngle Leg Touchdown = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GafJ9wVIMMA&feature=plcp

Ball Hamstring Culrs (more advanced) = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN7elkWOziw&feature=plcp

Lunges = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8fDeCpeJ3Y&feature=plcp

Bridge (beginner) = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBgH7OzAuII&feature=plcp

Jump Jump!!!

Want to get some definition in your legs? Or maybe you want to add strength and power. Well, take advice from Kris Kross and Jump Jump!

Jumping works all of the major muscle groups in the legs. Because it works so many different muscles, you will also be less likely to get injured during activity. It will help you add strength, power, speed and agility. It will also get that heart pumping to burn more calories.  

Another great thing is that you don’t need any equipment. You can do them in the comfort of your own home or yard. Here are a few of my favorites.

Jump Squat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbVigSc5KY0&feature=plcp

Jump Slit Squats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQk3J5iijTk&feature=plcp

Lateral Bench Jumps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU7g78IHY2Y&feature=plcp

Do each of these for 30 sec then rest 1 min and repeat. Do them at least twice a week.

Enjoy Life - Workout!

Mandy

Don't skip out!

What is the one piece of exercise equipment that you can buy for under $20, take with you anywhere and get a great workout? THE JUMP ROPE!

Jump roping is considered a full body workout and helps improve balance, agility, coordination, speed, aerobic and anaerobic conditioning and strength. You can also burn an average of 13 calories per minute, which will help the waist line.

Finding the right length = If you are standing with your feet together on the center of the rope, the handles should come to your armpits.

Benefits of Jumping Rope:

• Cheap
• Portable
• Easy (for most)
• Great workout. 10 mins of jumping rope burns the same amount of calories as jogging for 30 min.
• Fun! You can even do it with your kids.

 So don’t skip out on your jump rope workout J

Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

Interval Training

Interval training is a method of training where you increase and decrease the intensity of your workout. Essentially your goal is to push your body past your aerobic threshold for and return to your normal conditioning level.  For example, if you are comfortable walking on the treadmill at 3.5 mph, you would switch to a slow job (maybe 5 or 6 mph) for 30 sec to 1 min and then walk about at 3.5 for 2-3 min.

If you need to know how much to increase your intensity, here is a tips. Your heart rate during the intense portion of the workout should be around 85% of your max heart rate. During your normal conditioning level your heart rate should be around 70% of your MHR. To calculate your MHR, take 220 and subtract your age.

Who should be doing interval training?

Everyone! Interval training helps improve speed, strength and endurance.

How often should I do it?

When starting off you only want to do 1-2 interval training sessions a week.  This will give your body time to recover. I=

Will it help me lose weight?

By now I think everyone knows that you have to burn more calories than you consume to lose weight. Interval training does increase your aerobic capabilities, but it also allows you to work harder longer, which helps you burn more fat and more calories. So YES, it will help you lose weight.

Sample Workout

Low intensity for 2 min
High intensity for 1 min
Repeat for 30 min.

Make sure you warm-up and cool down.

This can be done, running, walk/jogging, swimming, jump roping, biking or doing the elliptical.

Enjoy Life - Workout!
Mandy

Lacrosse Ball for Recovery

Over the last year or so, I started really getting into how SMR (self myofascial release) can help performance. The more I learned about it, the more I realized that this is not just important for performance, but for life in general. I thought I would be working mostly with athletes on how to improve mobility, but on a daily basis I am dealing with people who sit for long periods of time (office work), do manual labor or who just have busy lives and are constantly on the move.

Benefits!

Before your workouts, or just before you start your day, SMR can help release tightness in your upper and lower body muscles and help relieve hip pain.  And unlike static stretching, SMR works the soft tissue.  This will cause you to have a better range of motion, which will prevent you from altering your normal movement patterns which causes imbalances.

After your workouts or long days, use SMR to help increase circulation, which increases oxygen flow to the muscles. This will help speed up your recovery.

How?

I have talked about foam rolling in the past and you can find those links on my blog. Or just Google foam rolling and there are hundreds of videos that can walk you through it. Today I want to talk about using a lacrosse ball for SMR.  Using something smaller will really help you into those trouble areas. Lacrosse balls work better than tennis balls because they are harder.

So instead of my showing you how this is done, I am going to post a video By Kelly Starrett. He is the one who taught me everything I know and who got me started working with mobility. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3KnC6RBhwU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp4QTYljWE4&feature=relmfu

Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

New Challenges

I don’t know why I always try to challenge myself with endurance races, since it is what I am the worst at. I also have never liked running, but some reason every 6 months or so, I forget that and convince myself I will start running again. And here we are at month 6 J. So in 4 weeks I have a 200 mile bike ride that I am not prepared for at all. I have already apologized to my ass for putting it though this. Then I have the tryouts for the Bobsled team in August. This is still on my schedule, but my ankle may have other ideas. My next challenge will then be a half marathon in September. For those of you who don’t know, I have NEVER ran more than a 5k. So, this will be interesting.

My Goal!

I am not going to approach this like a normal endurance race where I run and run or bike and bike until I bore myself to death. My plan is to incorporate high intensity weight training, short and long sprint intervals and long distance paced runs/bikes.

I want to see if I can get stronger, faster and build endurance at the same time. From now until July 14^th my schedule will look like this.

Sunday = Long bike ride

Monday = HIT (high intensity training) + short bike intervals

Tuesday = HIT

Wednesday = HIT + Long bike intervals

Thursday = OFF/Mobility

Friday = Long bike

Saturday = HIT + short recovery bike ride

After July I will replace the biking with running. My goal time for the half is 1:30. Lets see what happens. If there is anyone in the COMO area interested in training with me, just hollar.

Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

What supplements should I use?

I hate when my clients ask me this question. Usually because they are really asking for a quick fix. There is NOT a quick fix. Workout and diet are the two main things that can help. For the average person I would say supper before supplements. Supplements help patch holes, but food should be your primary fuel source. So, start eating clean and then see where you need the extra help.

What if I am already eating clean?

Fish Oil – There are a lot benefits to Fish Oil, but we will focus more on the fitness aspect. Fish Oil has been proven morning stiffness, joint tenderness and arthritis. This will obviously improve your mobility and ability to perform at a higher intensity.

Multi Vitamin – Come on people. Everyone should be taking this.

Beta Alanine- A non-essential amino acid found naturally in the body. Most people don't take it because they are deficient, but because of the fitness benefits. As a precursor of carnosine, beta alanine is essential for muscle production and repair. It helps with muscular anaerobic endurance as well as aerobic endurance. Which means you can go longer and harder. Some people feel a tingling in the skin, but that is the only negative side effect.

Not all supplements are for everyone, so make sure you check with your doctor before using anything.

Be safe!!!

Enjoy Life - Workout!

Mandy

Is squatting bad for the knees?

Maybe. If you are doing it wrong. The truth is that if can’t do a basic squat, then you do not have full hip function.  Consider squatting as building block to your fitness goals. If you have a good squat, other movement will be easier because you have increased joint flexibility.

Is a good squat bad for your knees?

No! If you have full range of motion (hips below knees) then you should have full joint support and muscle balance. This means your quads, hamstrings, and hips are all being activated. In fact, once you are below 90 degrees, the hips take the majority of the force.

What makes a good squat?

1)      Good lumbar curve

2)      Push through your heals (my clients get tired of me saying that)

3)      Hips go below knees

4)      Stay tall

5)      Keep the head looking forward

Enjoy Life - SQUAT!
Mandy