Category Archives: Fit Bits

Inversions and Deadlifts

 

Inversions are a great way to help move your blood flow . Hexbar or dumbell deadlifts build strength in your core, back and legs. If you do not have a Hexbar or barbell. Hold 2dbls on the inside or outside of your legs. To add more core bring dumbels up right to chest level. Make sure weight is in your heels and your sitting your bum back.

On back lifting days I like to add in inversions to work the small muscle groups more.

Full Body in home work out Video

Hi Fit friends,
Here is a quick workout Video for you. You will need 2 dumbbells and a bench if you have it. Perform these exercises in a circuit style 3X keeping your heart rate up. 10 reps on all exercises.
Listen to your body a little muscle pain is good. Please do not do any of these exercises if you have joint, tendon, or ligament pain. 
Let’s have fun and move your amazing body with me.
Shout out to my friends that lent me their gym space. Thank you!

If you have any questions please email me at shari.balance2bfit@gmail.com.

If you like this video please share it with friends & family. Please subscribe to this website & youtube. 
Have a wonderful Holiday! 
Shari

A quick back work out at the gym for building lean Muscle!

This is a fun but challenging quick back work out that I like to do weekly! I will switch up the order I do these exercises as well. I also like to super set for a few reasons.  First minimal rest between sets.   This helps keep my heart rate up and increases the intensity in muscles. Second, I work on core and balance during my rest time of about 30 seconds to 1 minute before my next pull set. Perform 3-4 sets of each exercise.

One Arm Eccentric Pull Up 
Pull up with both hands let one hand go and lower down slow, then quickly catch handle pull up with both hands again, alternating each arm.

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Release hand lower down slowly catching the eccentric movement in Lat.

1 handed pull up
Wide Lat Pull Downs! shoulders stay open down and back, chest stays open to your best ability.

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Single arm bent over row
I finish with barbel bent over row and inversions.  Like hand stand push-ups  – handstand dolphin on the wall.  Hope this helps!  Have fun and please Keep lifting!

Healthy, happy blissful day!
Shari

Quick yoga moves to discharge and breathe

A few yoga asana for you. Directions below.   Breath deep, move and sweat!

Stress happens at the holidays. Sometimes we need to sneak away for a minute and discharge that stress with a quick-release mini practice. You can do this one just about anywhere, even in the bathroom if you have to! Big thanks to Denelle Numis and Kirsten Cooper for guest starring!

  1. 3 rounds of half Surya Namaskar with strong emphasis on ujjayi breathing
  2. Step out to Prasarita Padottanasana, relax your head and neck
  3. Flow side to side in Skandasana
  4. Pivot to a Lunge then root your back heel down
  5. Come up to Virabhadrasana 1 and clasp your hands or just reach back
  6. Bow forward into Humble Warrior and breathe
  7. Rise back up into Virabhadrasana 1 and straighten your front leg
  8. Slowly pivot to the side and rotate your legs and feet inward
  9. Bow forward into Prasarita Padottanasana C and breathe
  10. Release your hands, pivot to lunge, step to the top of your mat and add 1-3 more rounds of half Surya Namaskar
  11. Come out, good as new! PHEW!
 

Thank you for taking your time to visit this site. I hope your holidays are off to a relaxing start!

Shari

Resource from Gina Caputo  school for yoga 

TWISTING MOVEMENTS & TORNADO TRAINING BY PAUL CHEK

Below is a great article and new style training from Paul.  Please be advised to start with the basic rotation movements first.  Any  questions please send me a quick message. Listen to body and have fun!

Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air capable of destroying towns, uprooting trees and causing havoc anywhere they go. They are nature’s most violent storm, but what makes them so devastating? It’s their ability to rotate!

Think about it… If a tornado didn’t rotate, it would only be a strong wind.

If we can learn anything from a tornado, it’s this: The stronger our rotational ability, the more powerful and stable we will be and improving rotational strength directly applies to everyone. In fact, everyone makes use of the twist Primal Pattern® during their daily lives, whether they’re a baseball player swinging a bat, a mother turning to pick up her child or a farm worker pitching a pumpkin into the back of a truck.

While there are numerous muscles recruited during trunk rotation, but the two primary muscles are the internal and external obliques.

Synergistically, they work together to rotate the trunk, stabilize the pelvis and side-bend the trunk (the external obliques also stabilize your rib cage). Because of the insertion into the thoracolumbar fascia, the internal and external obliques also provide stability to the lumbar spine.

Exercises for rotation

There are hundreds of exercises that will improve rotational strength, ranging from the beginner to highly advanced practitioner. I’ve included a few exercises here to give you an idea of what’s possible in the world of rotation.

Swiss ball Russian twist

Begin the exercise by lying supine on a Swiss ball with your shoulders in the middle of the ball. Put your hands together with your arms and hands outstretched toward the ceiling and place your tongue on the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. (If you’re uncertain where to place your tongue, swallow and pay attention to where your tongue goes. That’s the position.)

Gently draw your belly button in and begin rotating your torso left to right, making sure you don’t drop your hips.

Secrets of Tornado TrainingSecrets of Tornado Training

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wood chop

Secrets of Tornado TrainingThe wood chop is one of the most effective exercises for oblique conditioning. Begin by standing next to a cable column apparatus with a single-handle attachment placed high up the column.

Reaching across your body, grab the handle with the hand furthest from the cable and then place your other hand over the first one. While keeping your arms straight with a slight bend in your elbows and knees, draw your belly button in and pull the cable diagonally across the body finishing when the handle is just outside your opposite foot.

Slowly return to the starting position and continue performing the movement for the desired number of repetitions.

Introducing the Tornado Ball

In the world of rotation, few things can compare with the Tornado Ball! Made of polyurethane rubber, this medicine-ball-on-a-rope will take anyone’s rotational training to a new level of intensity and effectiveness.

There are numerous exercise variations that are possible with a Tornado Ball that will aid in improving dynamic stability, agility, flexibility, coordination, strength, power and speed. I’ve included one such exercise below.

Tornado Ball wall chop

Secrets of Tornado TrainingIn addition to being an incredible exercise for anyone wanting to improve rotational power, this exercise will help any athlete who swings a club, bat or stick.

Begin by standing a couple of feet from a sturdy wall. Bend your knees while drawing your belly button inward and make sure you have a good grip on the rope. Once you’re in your position, start swinging!

As you pick up speed and bounce the ball off the wall harder and harder, you will likely have to bend your knees even further to lower your center of gravity. If you don’t, the centripetal force of the ball will be enough to pull you forward away from the wall.

Because this is a ballistic exercise, you should only perform it for approximately 10 seconds. The goal is to target the explosive fast twitch fibers that fatigue quickly. The faster you swing the more challenging this exercise becomes.

You can also swing the Tornado Ball diagonally or perform a multi-directional chop, but these are highly advanced tweaks to this basic exercise and should only be used by people with lots of experience.

Tornadoes get their force, power and strength from their tremendous ability to rotate. By improving your rotational ability and strength, you’ll improve your athletic ability and most importantly your health as a more functional and fit person.

Love and chi

Secrets of Tornado Training

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Paul Chek

Founder at C.H.E.K Institute

Paul Chek is an internationally-renowned expert in the fields of holistic health, life coaching, corrective and high-performance exercise kinesiology.

For over thirty-two years, Paul’s unique, holistic approach to treatment and education has changed the lives of countless people worldwide, many of his clients, his students and their clients. By treating the body-mind as a whole system and finding the root cause of a problem, Paul has been successful where traditional approaches have consistently failed.

Paul is the founder of the C.H.E.K (Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology) Institute, based in California, USA and the Chek 4-Quadrant Coaching Mastery and P~P~S Success Mastery Coaching Programs.

Thank you for reading. If you like this article please be so kind to share my website directly. Any questions regarding these twisting movements please ask.
Stay true to your body & mind & keep moving!
Shari

How Strength Training Balances Your Hormones

Kristen doing barbell push press

How Strength Training Balances Your Hormones
BY ANDREW HEFFERNAN | JULY 24, 2017

Looking to regulate your sex hormones and increase insulin sensitivity? Try weight training.

Several factors influence the delicate balance of our hormones: aging, stress, nutrition, body composition, and insulin resistance, to name just a few. One of the most common expressions of this is “out of whack” sex hormones, specifically low testosterone or high estrogen in men and high testosterone or low estrogen in women. These imbalances can cause low energy, low moods, and low sex drives in both sexes, among other symptoms.

As a result, there’s a growing market for medical treatments such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT), a controversial approach that uses pills or injections to “rebalance” hormones. Taken over a long period of time, some commonly prescribed HRT hormones have been linked to heart problems and other chronic diseases.

When these hormones occur naturally, however, they can work wonders. For that, there’s no better medicine than strength training.

“Weight training is the only activity that creates hormonal changes that help both men and women burn fat while maintaining or gaining muscle,” says Jade Teta, ND, an integrative physician in North Carolina and longtime fitness coach.

In both sexes, he explains, strength training stimulates the release of human growth hormone, which aids in building muscle and burning fat. It also increases insulin sensitivity, which helps control blood sugar and reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Strength training has also been shown to help regulate sex hormones — testosterone and estrogen — especially as men and women get older. As men age, their testosterone level often drops relative to their estrogen level, which can affect muscle growth, energy levels, and sexual function.

Women commonly produce less estrogen as they grow older, which can increase the risk of osteoporosis, heart disease, and general hormone dysregulation.

Strength training has been shown to stimulate production of these sex hormones and help rebalance them for both men and women.

If you want a healthy hormonal profile without using drugs, strength training — independent of other lifestyle and nutritional changes — may be your best bet, says Teta. The hormonal effects can “produce the changes and the look of a healthy, fit physique.”

This originally appeared in “The Case for Strength” in the July/August 2017 issue of Experience Life.

Andrew Heffernan , CSCS is an Experience Life contributing editor.

Thank you for subscribing and reading this article. I appreciate your business. Now let’s lift!
XOXO
Shari