The other day, a friend of mine shared the following article from the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/style/do-you-need-to-join-a-gym-to-get-fit.html

I firmly believe one of the reasons that races like the Tough Mudder are so popular is community, team, and play aspect of it. Also in searching for a portapotty in the middle of rural New Hampshire. That's fun too...

The article, which is certainly worth the read, highlights the efforts of a New York Times reporter to join a gym and try to “get fit.”

I don’t want to spoil the ending, but she ultimately decides that she doesn’t need a gym to get fit. She gets plenty of exercise from playing pick up basketball.

What is this article basically saying? 

Playing like a kid is good for you.

Absolutely! Get out that whoopie cushion and that fake dog poop and...oh you don't have that in your desk drawer? Oh yeah...uh me neither. Nope, not me. 

Playing like a kid IS good for you. (Whoopie cushion too...) There are many benefits of playing sports as an adult to stay in shape. 

1. You move in different planes of motion

The sagittal plane is where most of us spend our time. We’re walking forward, and in the gym we’re squatting, deadlifting (I hope) and curling in the squat rack. Don’t curl in the squat rack. The frontal plane is moving side to side, a lateral lunge for example, and the transverse plane is rotational movement, such as a golf or a softball swing. 

Very few of us move in different planes of motion as an adult, even that biologically, that’s what we are designed to do. Playing defense in basketball and swinging a racquet or golf club keeps us moving in ways that we are designed to move. 

2. You’ll forget that you’re exercising

Hahahaha...I know what you're thinking. Kim, I forget my name half the time but I could NEVER forget that I'm exercising. But you know what I mean. When the focus is on scoring a bucket instead of watching the minutes drag by on the treadmill the time goes faster. 

Playing volleyball, basketball, racquetball or squash is a great way to think about something else while still getting in a good cardiovascular workout. 

3. It’s fun

Remember fun? I hope you don't just remember fun, but that you've had some today. And yesterday. And every day. 

I make videos on a weekly basis promoting the fun of exercise, but let’s be honest, it’s not fun for everyone. Some people just flat out hate to exercise so turning the workout into a game can make the time go by much faster while also providing a good outlet for stress.  

Dodgeball anyone? 

One caveat

I just wanted to use that word.

I completely agree with the author that there are some fun and creative ways to get a good workout in without dropping 50 bucks a pop on a barre or spin class.** But I believe strength training is essential to any workout routine, especially if you’re a recreational athlete playing tennis or pickleball. 

Strength training is going to help you build more muscle and better bone density and those benefits alone will help you not only perform better in that noon-time pick-up game, but also stay healthy in the process. 

The worst feeling as an adult is when you sprint down the first base line in a beer league softball game only to pull a hamstring. It makes you feel old. Our muscles get more like beef jerky and less like a prime cut of steak as we age (analogy courtesy of Mike Boyle). Our muscles also get short as we age - for example if you sit all of the time, your quad (front of your upper leg) muscles are going to be short while your hamstrings (back of your upper leg) are going to get longer. Those shortened and tight muscles that you didn't have as a 16-year old are going to make it harder to move your joints through a full range of motion.

In other words, blah, blah, blah, beer league softball just broke me. Which brings me to my last point.  

For the love of all things holy, warm up 

Regardless of what you decide to do for a workout, warm up. Please? Please?

At a minimum, do your foam rolling or throw a tiger stick in your gym bag. Doing a couple of arm circles and side bends aren’t sufficient to get your muscles warmed up to go from 0-60 out on the basketball court. 

Just to help you out, here's an introduction to foam rolling.

Thoughts? Questions? Ready to get your own workout program? Comment below or shoot me an email at kim@kimlloydfitness.com

Even if it's just to say hi. Or tell me a joke, I love jokes. 

Happy Wednesday. 

Just another Wacky Wednesday here at the gym, and I'm dressed as Dolly Parton.

Nothing like working out to "Jolene."

I have noticed that push ups got a little bit trickier today for some reason...

In my Bail on the Scale challenge* we’ve talked a lot about focusing on performance goals as a way to shift the focus from the number on the scale towards something performance related. This might be deadlifting a certain amount, just flat out performing a deadlift, working on a full chin up, or for most females, working up to a push up from the floor.

Full confession here, I thought I was doing just fine with push ups until I worked with a coach. Once he cleaned up my technique, I realized that push ups were actually much more difficult than I thought they were, and it took me close to a year to work my way up to (or I should say down) to a push up from the floor. 

Push ups from the knees make you better at doing push ups from the knees. And bigger boobs make it...well...different....

When I was in high school and college we were taught to perform “girl push ups” - with knees on the floor. (See below). That technique takes your core entirely out of the equation and makes you better at doing push ups from your knees.

Check out the video below for more details:

Every Sunday I FaceTime with my parents, and as they fill me in on their week of working out and the weather in Western PA, I ask if they’ve tried the new exercises I sent them using links to You Tube videos.

Dad: What's youtube?

Me: You can also find the link on my blog.

Dad: What's a blog?

Aside from encouraging my parents to do more core training, I also get this request from many clients looking to lose belly fat. And it's a fair assumption that doing more exercises that target that area, or feel like they target that area, is the solution. 

Core exercises aren't going to slim down the waistline though. That comes down to nutrition and reducing your stress. But core training is important for many other reasons, not the least of which is helping to protect your spine as well as improving your overall balance and stability. Yesterday a client mentioned to me that her goal for the summer is to get out of her kayak without help. 

The solution? More core training. 

But training the core isn't the same as training the abs. 

When many of us think of core training, we think of training the ab muscles (the transverse abdominus, the rectus abdominus, the internal obliques and external obliques) which are the muscles that make up that traditional six pack. While it's important and feels good to strengthen those muscles, it's also important to train your obliques (the muscles on your side) and your erector spinae, which is a group of muscles in your back. When you strengthen all of these muscles in a 360 approach, it contributes to better balance (catching yourself when you slip on the ice), better squats, and most importantly, when these muscles are stronger your body doesn't have to rely solely on your bones for support. 

Thanks to the research of Dr. Stuart McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, we now understand that too many crunches and sit ups, or too much flexion of the spine, can cause damage to the spine. Rather than doing the traditional sit ups, crunches and side bends ("you can do side bends and sit ups, but please don't lose that butt..") - training the muscles that protect the spine for endurance is what could really make a difference in overall back and spine health.

Do this test right now. Get down on the floor, and using your forearms instead of your hands, press yourself into a front plank position. Like so:

Can you hold that position above for at least 30 seconds? If so, that's great. Continue working on it. If not, then that's a good sign to include more front planks into your workout routine. For more information on how to perform the front plank, check out the video below which I recorded when my arm was supposed to still be in a sling, so don't mind the fact that it's just sort of hanging there. 

Equally important to the front plank, is the side plank or side bridge.

The back muscles used in the side plank, the erector spinae, multifidus and longissiums thoracic are used to stabilize your spine, which in turn prevent it from bending to the side. To perform a side plank, make sure your elbow is properly stacked directly underneath your shoulder (not up by your head) and using your knees, press your hips up from the floor. Squeeze your butt cheeks and work on maintaining a straight spine. 

It helps to wear your Captain America Shirt. 

If this position above doesn't feel challenging enough perform the same movement, but raise both your knees and your hips off of the floor as well.

It also helps to wear your Captain America socks. 

An additional modification if the short side plank (from your knees) is too easy, but the full side plank is a little too challenging, is to use your top arm for support:

Do your planks and side planks. 

Do them!

In the case of both exercises, perform them for breaths as opposed to time, which I explain more in the plank video above.

And enjoy your St. Patty's Day weekend.