By request: Why do I need a trainer?

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

What do I need a trainer for, anyway?

 

None of us really need a trainer.  Any of us can exercise all on our own.  There are tons of resources out there for what to do and how to do it.  Heck, I post a free workout every week right here on this blog.

 

What my clients pay me for depends on the client, but their reasons fall into some basic categories.

 

1.     I do the thinking and planning, so they don’t have to.  It’s my job to choose and modify the exercises, keep track of what weights they use for which exercises, and count the reps.

2.     I provide accountability.  They pay me, so they tend to show up to do the work.

3.     I “make” people do things for their own good.  The truth is that I can’t make anybody do anything.  But I have a really good Mom look and a clipboard and everything, so I look like an authority.  It goes a long way toward convincing people that they might as well get those burpees over with.

4.     I make it fun, or at least tolerable.  I keep the workouts varied, provide encouragement, chat about whatever to distract from whatever horrible thing we’re getting through.  Worst case, I find substitutions for exercises that people really can’t or won’t do.

5.     I keep it safe.  I monitor my clients’ form, adjust for injuries or other conditions, and keep tabs on energy levels.  If I need to, I will stop the workout to keep my clients safe.

6.     I have a bunch of education and can explain why we are doing things.  Some clients don’t care, but some find the underlying reasons for various exercises fascinating and motivating.  I am a trove of miscellaneous fitness facts.

 

Yes, having a trainer is a luxury.  It’s also efficient and, I hope, fun.

By Request: Back Traction?

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

How do I give myself a little traction in my lower back?

 

Lower back pain and tightness is endemic.  The good news is that most of us can get a little relief using just a yoga block.

 

To do it, we lie on our backs on the floor.  We probably feel better already!  But we’re just getting started.  We want to bend our knees and put our feet flat on the floor with our heels in line with our sit bones.  Those of us who have osteopenia or osteoporosis will take a big inhale, exhale, and lift our hips straight up toward the ceiling, keeping the spine in a straight line.  Those of us who do not have those conditions will take a big inhale, tilt the pelvis toward the belly button as we exhale, and peel our hips up toward the ceiling one vertebra at a time.  All of us will take a big inhale at the top and then return to the starting position by reversing the way we lifted.  This bridge exercise creates a bit more space in the lumbar spine and loosens up all those joints.

 

But it gets better.  After we’ve done a couple of bridges, we get to the top position and then we slide a yoga block under our hips.  The direction of the block will depend on our flexibility—we don’t want to force our hips higher than they want to go.  Allowing our hips to rest on the block creates a gentle traction for the lower back.  We can hang out here as long as it feels good.

 

Those of us who have tight hip flexors (spoiler alert:  that’s most of us) can give them a stretch by extending the legs on the floor.  The front of the hips and thighs will enjoy an opportunity to lengthen.  Bend the knees again before lifting off the block, removing it, and coming down to the starting position.

 

Aaaahhhhh.

Monday Workout: Shake!

End of the month is time to shake things up!  We’re working in multiple planes this week.  Three or four rounds, depending on time and energy

 

1 min cardio
kb alt arm swing	30
side lunges	20
diamond pushups	10
tap backs	30
skullcrushers	20
pretty princesses	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Wall Walk

The Amazing Stickie loves all things plank.  On days when she wants to plank more extremely, she chooses wall walks.

To begin, she gets into plank position with her feet near a wall that she is allowed to put her feet on.  Then she walks her feet up the wall.  The higher up the wall she walks her feet, the more she needs to rely on her upper body strength.

 

Just like all planks, Stickie holds it until she is tired and then carefully walks her feet back down the wall. 

By Request: Scoliosis

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

I have scoliosis.  What kind of exercise can I do?

 

This is one of those questions that requires my usual disclaimer.  I am a personal trainer and Pilates instructor, not a doctor or physical therapist.  My scope of practice does not include diagnosis or treatment of any condition.  I do know how to modify exercises to keep my clients safe.

 

Scoliosis, as many of us know, is a curvature of the spine.  There are varying degrees of severity, so a lot depends on the individual.  That said, nearly everyone in our society has some functional scoliosis. 

 

Functional scoliosis means that we have muscle imbalances that result in faulty posture.  Think about the way right-handed people tend to reach for things with their right hands.  Think about the way we hold our children on a hip, or stabilize a bag of groceries.  We move in lopsided ways and our bodies learn lopsided patterns.

 

Structural scoliosis means that our actual bones exhibit some lateral curvature.  It also leads to muscle imbalances as our bodies compensate for the structural shift.

 

Whatever kind of scoliosis we happen to have, we want to address it with similar kinds of movement.  The side we are curved toward needs to be lengthened and the side we curve away from needs to be tightened up a bit.  If the scoliosis is not severe, bringing some mindfulness to our posture can go a long way toward evening things up.

 

My very favorite technique to help balance out scoliotic tendencies is also very simple and pleasant.  It uses two yoga tune-up balls or roughly tennis ball sized balls of whatever hardness works for us.  One is placed under the fleshy part of the glute on the side we curve toward as we lie on our backs on the floor.  The other one goes under the PSIS on the other side.  (The PSIS is our posterior superior iliac spine and the spot we want to hit is the place where we have the little dimple near our spine.)  Then we just lie there and breathe for a while, allowing the muscles to relax and balance themselves.

 

Try it and let me know how it feels!

By Request: My Piriformis Hurts

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

My piriformis is tight.  What should I do?

 

I feel this.  Right in my behind, just like you do!  A tight piriformis is a natural consequence of our sedentary society.  Even when we’re not stuck sitting at our desks or hanging out on the couch, we’re jammed into the car commuting.

 

Our plan to deal with this pain in the butt starts with loosening things up and then putting some good alignment and movement habits in place to keep things functional and happy.

 

If budget allows, start with a massage.  Not only can a professional get the tension out, they can also alert us to contributing factors (looking at you, IT band!).

 

To maintain this lower degree of tension, we want to dive into some self-myofascial release techniques.  Using a roller or tiger tail on the behind and the outer side of the thigh is a good (if painful!) way to start.  (Don’t worry:  we are not doing damage.  As we get used to the sensation, it begins to feel better.  Making a habit of it helps.)  I also recommend getting yoga tune-up balls (or lacrosse balls or Pinkie balls or a tennis ball, depending on the hardness you desire; the harder the ball, the deeper the release and the more intense the sensation.)  Putting the ball of our choice under the fleshy part of our behind while sitting on the floor and wiggling around until we find the tender spot does the trick.  Breathing deeply while we wait for the tension to release is useful.

 

Now that our piriformis feels less like a rubber band about to snap, we can do some stretching.  The figure four stretch is a good choice.  To do it, we lie on our backs with one ankle crossed over the other knee.  Then we pull both knees in toward our chests to feel the stretch in our behinds.  It is important that this stretch not cause any pain.  If it hurts, we are pushing too far and we are not helping our flexibility.  When it comes to stretching, pain gets in the way of gain.

 

Next, we need to build a little mobility into our hip joints.  A very simple exercise to help with this is to lie on our backs with one leg in a tabletop position.  Using our hands, we circle our knee around, stirring our femur in the hip socket.  Five circles in each direction is a good idea.

 

We want good strong hips and glutes, so incorporating some squats into our workouts is a good idea.

 

Finally, we just need to make sure we get up and move more often.  A Wristy Overlord (a.k.a. Apple Watch or other fitness tracker) can help remind us to stand and move on an hourly basis.  Or, we can drink lots of water and let our need to use the bathroom take care of the problem for us.

 

It is always a good idea to check in with medical professionals for any pain that persists or worsens.  I am not a doctor.

 

Move it, baby!

Monday Workout: Core

Lots of core challenge today!  Three rounds.

 

 

1 arm clean and press	30
1 leg deadlift	20
squat heel lift	10
plank jacks	30
flies	20
kickbacks	10
leg kicks	30
rows	20
Russian twist	10

The Amazing Stickie and Crouch Jacks

Some days, the Amazing Stickie really wants a whole body challenge.  Those days, she chooses crouch jacks.  Some people call them star jumps.  Choose the name you like best.

She begins by crouching down on the floor, arms close to her body.  Then she jumps up, raising her arms in a Y position above her head and spreading her legs.  Her whole body looks like an X.  She lands back in the crouched position.

 

Coordinating the movement can be a little tricky at first.  This is also a compound exercise, so Stickie knows she is going to get out of breath doing it.  She worked her way up to sets of 30.

By Request: How do I get back into workout safely (part 2)?

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

I haven’t been exercising lately.  How do I get back into workouts safely?

 

Yesterday we talked about cardio.  Today we’re discussing weight training.

 

Once we’ve established a cardio base and a daily practice of exercising, we can add in some weight training.

 

Just like with the cardio exercise, we want to start small and work up gradually, continually checking in with our bodies to see how we feel.

 

Hiring a trainer (like me!) takes a lot of the brain work out of the process.  It’s certainly not necessary, but it does make things easy.  If that’s not the path we want to pursue, we have some choices.

 

One choice is to do body weight exercises.  The advantages here are pretty obvious:  we all have a body, so we have what we need!  A good basic body weight routine would include a cardio warm-up (something like jumping jacks or running in place), followed by exercises like squats, pushups, pullups, crunches, and planks.  It’s also a good idea to throw in a few balance moves, like single leg squats or deadlifts.  Three rounds of ten reps each is a good place to start.

 

Another choice is to join a gym.  Every gym has some combination of weight machines and free weights.  People who have never worked out before or who have specific restrictions might do best on the machines, but I prefer the free weights because they compel us to stabilize our own bodies, they allow our muscles to cooperate rather than work in isolation from each other, and they’re less boring.  Choose a balance of upper and lower body exercises and aim to bend everything you extend and vice versa (for example, we want to pair exercises like bench press, which involves pushing, with rows, which involve pulling).

 

Our first goal is to gain some endurance.  That means working with weights light enough that we can complete 12 to 20 repetitions.  When doing 20 reps is easy, we increase the weight.  Some people want to stay in the endurance phase (totally acceptable!), while others want to work on building big muscles or maximizing strength.  The big muscle group wants to choose weights that allow for 8 to 10 reps, and the max strength group wants to work up to the heaviest weight possible for one beautiful rep.

 

Go play.

By Request: How do I get back to working out safely? (Part 1)

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

I haven’t been exercising lately.  How do I get back into workouts safely?

 

I’m going to answer this one over two days, one covering cardio and the other weight training.

 

Good news:  bodies are made to move, so we don’t need to freak out about safety as long as we don’t abandon common sense.

 

(One way to answer this question is:  hire me.  My job is to help people reach their fitness goals safely and with as little yucky stuff as possible.)

 

Those of us who don’t want to rush out and join my client list can still get fit safely.  Here’s what I recommend:

 

Start small.  Maybe we’ve wasted six months watching cooking shows and eating DoorDash, but we’re not going to get back from that in one six-hour marathon session.  That is just not a thing.

 

I suggest starting with cardio in the form of a daily brisk walk.  It’s free, requires only decent shoes, and we all already know how to do it.  At first, I prefer seeing people be consistent rather than doing it for a long time:  every day for fifteen minutes is better than an hour twice a week.  We want to build a habit.  As far as intensity is concerned, we’ll know if we’re working hard enough if we can manage to carry on a conversation but singing would be out of the question.  If we feel like we didn’t do anything at all the next day, we probably need to go a little harder.  If we feel like we’d like to dive headfirst into the Advil, we might want to take it a little easier.

 

Each week, we can push a little harder.  The walk might get longer, or it might get faster, or it might incorporate a few hills.  Again, we want to monitor how we feel the next day and adjust as needed.  We also need to remember that some days just go better than others.  A poor night of sleep, some stress at work, an unfortunate breakfast can all affect our performance on any given day.  We need to have compassion for ourselves without totally letting ourselves off the hook.

 

Once we’ve got a cardio base, we can branch out into other forms of cardio if we like:  swimming, running, biking, ellipticalling (is that a word?  It is now.), dancing, roller-blading, whatever.  And we can turn our attention to the weight training side of the equation, which I will discuss tomorrow.

Monday Workout: Extension!

We’ve got some balance work and some work on spinal extension today.  Three rounds.

 

 

step ups	30
upright row	20
YTA	10
overhead curtsy	30
good morning/deadlift	20
1 leg squat	10
skier jumps	30
bench press	20
scissors	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Toe Reaches

The Amazing Stickie loves variety in her abdominal exercises.  Her friends with osteopenia or osteoporosis probably want to give this one a miss because it takes the spine into flexion, but everyone else can go for it.

To begin, Stickie lies on her back (aaaaaah!).  She lifts her legs up so that they point straight at the ceiling (it is all right if there is a little bend at the knee if we don’t have the hamstring flexibility that Stickie does) and her arms up toward the ceiling as well.  She looks like a slightly square U.  From there, she reaches her hands toward her toes, allowing her head and chest to lift off the floor.  Then she returns to the starting position.  A set of ten is a good idea.

By Request: Why are you making me do this exercise that hurts?

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

Why are you making me do this exercise that hurts?

 

OK, so first of all, we have to discuss the difference between discomfort, soreness, and pain.  Discomfort happens when we do things we’re not used to doing, when we ask our bodies to move in ways that we haven’t before or haven’t in a long time.  Soreness is one of the results of working hard, and as we work out more, we learn to tell when we are sore enough but not too sore; this helps us figure out how hard to work out.  Pain is a way our body alerts us to possible danger.  We know to pull our hands away from a hot stove, to stop running when there is sharp pain in our knee or hip or ankle, to avoid our mean friend the day after a bad haircut.

 

I will never ask anyone to do something in a workout that intentionally causes pain.  (Accidents happen, and so do injuries.  I do my best to keep clients safe, but I am not God.)  When I do ask folks to do things that are uncomfortable, I will say that it’s probably not going to be fun.  We are adults.  We theoretically understand that we sometimes have to do unpleasant things to get the things we want.  (This is the whole basis of our employment system.)

 

An example:  there is an exercise that I have clients do (and that I do myself, every day) in which we lie with yoga tune up balls positioned on our backs just above the place where those of us who wear bras find our bra straps.  We put our straight arms above our chests and move them from side to side with several variations.  It is… spicy, particularly when we don’t do it very often.  I do it and I ask clients to do it because of the payoff.

 

In the case of this exercise, the payoff is greater mobility in the thoracic spine, improved breathing mechanics, better posture, and generally better alignment in daily life.  That seems worth the two minutes of discomfort.

 

We are all lovely unique humans with varying responses to stimuli.  My pain is not anyone else’s pain.  All my clients have both the right and the responsibility to push back against what I ask them to do.  In my math, the benefits outweigh the discomfort, but their math may vary.

 

I’m not into gratuitous pain, for myself or anyone else!

By Request: Easy Ways to Strengthen the Core

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

What are some easy ways to strengthen my core?

 

It depends on what we mean by easy.

 

If we mean easy, in the sense of not having to do separate exercises for the core in addition to whatever else we’re doing in our workouts, the answer is that we need to incorporate compound exercises and relatively heavy weights into our workouts.  When we’re doing heavy squats, we get tons of core benefits without a crunch in sight.

 

If we mean easy, in the sense that we target our core efficiently and effectively without having to spend forever, let me suggest two things:  planks and pretty princesses.  The plank and its variations target the whole core in an isometric fashion (translation:  we just have to hold the position.).  For those readers who do not regularly work out with me, pretty princesses are not called that in any other gym or studio.  To do them, we lie on our backs with our arms and legs raised toward the ceiling, holding a stability ball (or yoga block or imaginary item).  We lower the ball toward the floor while simultaneously lowering our legs toward the floor.  Then we bring arms and legs back to the starting position, hold our ball between our legs and repeat the lowering and lifting.  That is one rep.  Pretty princesses work the entire front of our core while keeping our spines supported, so they are suitable even for people with osteopenia.

 

If we mean easy, in the sense that we don’t have to make any changes to how we move in the world, we’re just out of luck.  I do not lie to clients:  we have to work to get what we want.

 

Go do stuff.

Monday Workout: Arm Challenge

We’ve got a few arm challenges today.  Sorry/not sorry.  Three rounds.

 

 

(lunge) punches	30
Arnold press	20
lateral raise	10
kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s	10
jacks	30
renegade row	20
scissors	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Scissors

Today the Amazing Stickie is working her abdominals by doing scissors.  She begins lying on her back with her legs slightly off the floor.  The closer her legs are to the floor, the more she feels challenged.  She crosses and uncrosses her legs, making sure to alternate which leg goes on top.  Sets of ten or so are good.

By Request: Benefits of Wall Sits

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

What are the benefits of wall sits?

 

1.     Isometric exercises are good for reducing blood pressure.  The wall sit is an example of an isometric exercise (an exercise in which a muscle or muscle group is held in tension without moving for a period of time).  Recent studies have suggested that isometrics done regularly can drop blood pressure by 5 to 10 points.  And it doesn’t take long:  eight minutes, three times a week works.

2.     They strengthen the lower body.  All the leg, hip, and pelvis muscles have to work to maintain the wall sit position.  Hang out and feel that burning sensation!

3.     They’re a great way for folks who struggle with balance to get the benefits of squats.  The wall helps with stability so it can be safer for those who are at risk of falling.

4.     They don’t require a lot of stuff.  Or really any.  Even those of us who have stuff on every available wall surface still can find a door to use for a wall sit.  (Close the door first!)  Wall sits are great for travel workouts, people with limited space, and people who don’t want to spend money on equipment.

By Request: Benefits of Plank

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

First up:  what are the benefits of doing planks?

 

1.     Upper body strength.  Hanging out in a plank position means a lot of weight bearing on the arms.  As we get stronger, we’re able to hold our planks for longer periods of time.

2.     Alignment.  Getting the wrists in position directly under the shoulders allows the body to rely on the bones for support.  Maintaining the straight line from the back of the head through the heels requires lots of little muscle adjustments that pay off in our daily posture.

3.     Core control.  (Brief digression:  the core muscles are not just our abdominals in the front.  The muscles of the lower back, the diaphragm, and the pelvic floor are also part of our core.)  All of our core muscles are challenged when we hang out in a plank position.  We need to balance the contributions from all four sides of our core to maintain the proper form.

4.     Breath control.  New plankers often struggle to keep breathing while planking.  Learning to breathe into the chest while the lower abdomen is contracted is a useful skill.  When we develop multiple breath techniques, we are more able to tap into the energizing and relaxing possibilities of breath.

5.     Adaptability.  The plank has multiple variations and there is a version that works for almost everyone.  I love the elbow plank to target the abdominals, the classic plank to challenge upper body strength, the side plank to work obliques, and the side plank with the upper arm and leg lifted for max work.

 

Go try it!