Fitness, Personal Training, Health and Weight Loss Blog

Archive for the ‘Strength Training’ Category

Lynn’s Fitness Progress Report

At 49 years old, Lynn began training with me with a history of little to no exercise
and she was quick to tell me that she didn’t enjoy working out.  Her goals
were to tighten her body, increase her strength and lose inches. 

After 4 months of workouts with me three days a week and a nutrition makeover,
Lynn’s results were amazing.

Lynn lost 5 inches, her body fat went down 4.2%, and her pushup strength increased
600%. It is interesting to note that with all these results her weight actually
increased .8 pound. This illustrates that with the correct nutrition plan and exercise
program that lean mass is maintained or even increased and body fat decreases. 

Lynn now loves to exercise! She works out on a regular basis and continues to
see new and exciting changes in her body.

Lynn says: Best personal trainer ever!

I have never been able to stick to an exercise program but Maria changed that for
me in a big way. When I started with her in May I was extremely unfit. I had tried
other trainers, classes, gyms etc. but I’d always end up hurting myself or
being so sore I couldn’t get out of bed the next morning! She has shown me that
getting and staying fit is absolutely attainable and amazingly fun! I feel better
than I have since my 20′s. Thank you Maria, you have literally changed my life

From Jennifer:

Before I started working with Maria, I was a stay at home mother of two boys (both under 3 years old!) who felt like I had no time to exercise and no desire to eat healthy. As a stress eater, I felt like it was totally impossible to leave behind my junk food! How would I cope with my stress?! And exercise? No way, I had a toddler and a baby, and I could barely keep up as it is.

As a young mom who is a former athlete and dancer, I hated the way I looked as a 5’9″ 167 pound woman, but felt powerless to do anything about it. My husband was always sweet and said he loved my post-baby body, but I hated every last jiggle and pound! I wanted it gone, but felt helpless about where to start.

When I met Maria, she said the one incredibly motivating phrase I would repeat to myself for the entirety of my weight loss journey, “Jennifer, in 12 weeks, you could have a brand new body!” Maria was completely correct. With her help, I went from not being able to run or lift anything heavier than my kids, to now! I now run a 9 minute mile, can bench press 50lbs, squat press 145, and I’m slimmer and healthier than before I had my kids! I’m a slender, healthy and energetic 145 pounds, and back in my size 6 jeans!

I’m not saying it was always easy. I over-ate things that were bad for me when I got stressed, until Maria gave me alternate suggestions on how to cope. The best part of having Maria as my trainer was when I needed help, she was there. I never had to wait to get to see her, she was always quick with the responses and it was such a relief to know she had a solid education and a ton of research backing up her suggestions. I wanted my weight loss to last, and fad diets never work. Likewise, I wanted a trainer who knew what she was doing, because as a mom I couldn’t risk sloppy training that would leave me injured. Maria was my peace of mind that what I was doing would be safe, AND effective.

I realized on my weight loss journey that with the right help, motivation and training, you can achieve any goal you set for yourself. Maria was a constant source of encouragement and assistance, and you know the interesting part? I never set foot in a gym with her! Can you believe it? She helped me over the phone and through email because I live in Missouri! Now, if I can get all this done with Maria’s help just over my computer, imagine what you can get accomplished! I know I sound over the moon about her, but I mean every word. My body is proof that she knows what she’s doing! From a size 14 to a size 6? In just over 3 months? Amazing, right?!

Only you can make the decision to change your life, but if you’re really lucky, you’ll have Maria by your side cheering you on and helping you strategize your nutrition and training. After all, 12 weeks to a brand new body? That’s no time at all!

~ Jennifer James

Before, Week 1:Weight: 167 pounds Bust: 39″ Waist: 33″ Hips: 42″ Thighs: 24″ Dress Size: 12 Pant size: 14	Jennifer 167 pounds
After, Week 17:Weight: 145 pounds Bust: 31″ Waist: 26″ Hips: 34″ Thighs: 21″ Dress size: 6 Pants size: 6
Total Loss:- 21.8 pounds - 8″ off bust - 7″ off waist - 8″ off hips - Down 4 pants sizes - Down 3 dress sizes

From Maria: Jennifer started my program in January 2011, weighing 167 pounds. She came to me frustrated about her previous lack of success in losing weight.

Jennifer has followed my recommendations and when things got tough communicated with me so that I could help her. She has had many challenges as a busy stay at home mom of a 2 year old and an infant: an strong desire to “reward” herself at night with food after the kids went to bed, little time to exercise as often as she would like, fatigue, weight loss plateaus, minor injuries, and a transition from stay at home mom to full time working mom. Then to make it worse, her new work environment was full of tempting junk food. Despite challenges and temporary setbacks, she has been successful and has learned an “easy to live with” strategies that will help her keep the weight off and live a healthy lifestyle…forever!

My hope is that everyone reading this will be encouraged by Jennifer’s success story.

Jennifer wrote regularly in a blog that chronicled her journey, posted pictures of herself and detailed her progress. www.justeastofwest.wordpress.com For even more inspiration and entertaining reading, visit her blog and select weight loss under “categories”.

One cause of back pain is “gluteal amnesia”. The gluteus maximus doesn’t remember how to work correctly so the body ends up not using the glutes correctly in coordination with the rest of the muscles of the body. This can happen to people who have a job in which they sit for prolonged periods.

Glutes are part of the chain of muscles in the back of your body that help with posture, strength, daily activities and injury prevention of the back. On a daily basis the glutes help push you up and out of a chair.

As a person sits for extended periods of time, the hip flexors (think front of hip) become tight and the gluteus maximus becomes weak. When that happens other muscles must compensate. Typically it’s the low back lumbar extensor muscles and/or the hamstrings. As a result there is a compensation pattern that occurs during every day activities or in exercise training as the glutes aren’t working and then the low back and/or hamstrings try to do the glutes’ job. Normally, the glutes should be activating BEFORE the hamstrings and low back lumbar extensor muscles. The inability to activate the gluteus maximus in a normal pattern can lead to numerous injuries.

The treatment for ‘gluteal amnesia’ is re-education of the neuromuscular system to “teach” your body to fire the glutes. To begin, you need to learn how to activate the glutes, then how to stimulate and integrate them, and finally you can train them with weight lifting exercises.

One of the main problems exercisers find, is not being able to tell the difference between lumbar extension and hip extension, meaning are they using their back or glutes? So, when they try to target the glutes and hamstrings, say with a regular glute bridge, they are not able to fire the glute or stabilize the hips and core. This then uses a lot of lumbar extension (back) rather than hip extension (glutes).

Trainers and physical therapists typically recommend clients perform the Glute Bridge or Supine Hip Extension for glute training.But there is a better choice. One of the best exercises to isolate the glutes is the Cook Hip Lift. The Cook Hip Lift solves this problem by maintaining the lumbar spine in a neutral position so that the glutes are isolated more effectively than a Bridge oe Hip Extension for the person who hasn’t learned to recruit the glutes.

So it is best to begin to re-educate your neuromuscular system to recruit the glutes by first performing the Cook Hip Lift, an excellent gluteal activator, for several weeks. Once you have mastered the Cook Hip Lift you can then move on to the Regular Glute Bridge, Supine Hip Extension and then the One Leg Glute Bridge.

Perform glute activation at the beginning of every workout to develop better awareness of the glutes and to “wake them up” so that they can contribute better to our workouts.  

If you are doing the Cook Hip Lift as part of your mobility and dynamic warm up then perform one set of 8 to 12 on each leg. If you have back pain you can do more sets as part of a low back rehabilitation program.

How to Perform a Cook Hip Lift
1. Lie on your back with knees bent upward and feet planted on the floor.

2. Pull one knee tightly to the chest. So that the knee stays tightly against the chest place a tennis ball just under the bottom rib so that the thigh must pin the tennis ball in place. The tennis ball limits lumbar extension so that the back isn’t being used to do this motion.

3. The opposite knee stays bent at 90 degrees and the foot stays planted on the floor.

4. Push that foot into the floor at the heel and lift the hips upward and hold for 5-8 seconds. At the top position you should feel all the tension on the glute. If you feel it in your hamstring, then chances are you’re having problems activating your glutes. If you feel a cramp in your hamstring, push your foot a bit farther away from you. If you have been doing Glute Bridge or Supine Hip Extension you might notice you can’t get the hip as high as you normally would. This should improve with practice.

 Cook Hip Lift

Fitting Fitness In

As a new mom it can be difficult to find the time to exercise. The rewards are worth it however. Finding the time to exercise can help you get your pre-baby body back, give you some well-deserved time for yourself, and improve your mood. Here are some ideas on how you can fit fitness in.

It may not require as much time as you think. Ideally you should aim for 150 minutes a week (21 minutes a day) of aerobic exercise. This can be accomplished in 10 minute episodes. In addition to the aerobic exercise, it would be beneficial to also do muscle-strengthening activities that involve all major muscle groups on two or more days a week. For more information, see my blog on Exercise Guidelines: http://http://tinyurl.com/4hynjc4

• Set up an area of the house to be your gym. You will need a Swiss Ball, 3, 5, 10, 15 pound dumbbells. If you can, purchase a treadmill, elliptical trainer or bike. A TV and DVD player are helpful.
• Exercise with your baby. See “Workout with Your Baby”
• Get a mother’s helper to come play with the baby while you are exercising at home
• Trade babysitting with friends. They might appreciate the time off so they can exercise.
• Exercise during your child’s nap time
• Collect some exercise videos to give you variety in your workouts or tune into exercise TV shows.
• As you do your cardio, watch TV or movies to help pass the time
• Join a group Stroller strides or Baby boot camp class
• Do an exercise program as you are walking the baby. Stroller Exercise Program: http://tinyurl.com/y874dp3
• Take your baby for a walk in a stroller or run with them in a baby jogger stroller. “Researchers found that exercise intensity and calorie burn were approximately 18 percent higher when walking with a stroller at 3 mph than when walking without a stroller. In fact, on average, test subjects burned 6.2 calories per minute while pushing a stroller at 3 mph”, according to a study done by the American Council on Exercise. Read the study and get an exercise program that you can do with a stroller:  http://tinyurl.com/y874dp3
• Go biking with baby. Use a baby seat or trailer. Bicycle-towed trailers are preferred by the American Academy of Pediatrics for bike riding with children.  See the American Academy of Pediatricians guidelines for bike safety: http://tinyurl.com/4q34zz7  
• Getting together with a friend? Take a walk or an exercise class together
• Join a gym with a good child care program
• Take turns going to the gym with dad
• Involve the whole family in recreation. Its fun to hike, bike, canoe, ski, cross country ski, snow shoe together

 Strength Workout with Your Baby

You can do these exercises while you spend quality playtime with your baby. If your doctor approves to start doing these exercises as early as six weeks after you’ve given birth. Make sure your baby is able to hold his head up on his own. This usually occurs starting at about age 6 weeks.

Tighten your abs while you exercise. Doing this protects your spine by adding stability from your abdominal muscles.  

Warm-Up With the baby in the front pack either take a walk outside or go up and down stairs for five minutes.

Squats with Baby Wear a baby backpack across your front and with baby in place, put a chair behind you. Aiming for the chair behind you, slowly squat down and come back up.

Baby Chest Press Lie on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold baby under him arms, your palms on him chest and your fingers wrapped around him torso. With baby lying on your chest, your elbows bent, gently raise him up in the air, straightening your arms without locking your elbows. Pause and then lower him to starting position.

Baby Overhead Press Sit holding your baby vertically in front of your chest, your arms bent. Lift him up overhead, straightening your arms. Pause; then lower and repeat. Do 10 reps. Alternate 1 set of baby bench presses with 1 set of baby overhead presses; rest, and then repeat 2 more times.

Dancing with Baby Put on your favorite dance music, hold your baby in your arms or use a secure front carrier, and dance for ten minutes.

Side Stepping Squat Hold your baby in your arms. Stand with feet hip width apart, shoulders back. Take a big step to the right, push your butt back, and keep your upper body upright as you bend your knees until your thighs are almost parallel with the floor. Look down at your knees and make sure they are aligned over your toes. As you stand up bring your left foot to your right.  Step the feet together and continue stepping to the right for 12 reps. Repeat on the left side.

Push-Ups Place your baby on the floor and get down on all fours so your face. Bend your elbows, lowering your torso toward baby in 2 counts. Straighten arms in 3 counts to starting position.

Bird Dog Lie baby on the floor. Kneel on all fours over your baby. Pull your belly button. Holding this, extend your right leg until it forms a straight line with your torso. Do this without rotating your hips. Hold this position for 10 seconds, return to the start position, and then extend the left leg. Repeat on both sides. Progress by holding longer and by adding repetitions. To make this exercise even more challenging, extend your left arm forward as you extend your right leg backward, and then extend your right arm and left leg together.

Plank Lie face down over the baby resting on your forearms and toes. Keep your back straight, your body in a straight line from ears to toes with no sagging or bending, contract your abdominals, and hold for as long as you can.

Plank with Leg Lift Lie face down over the baby resting on your forearms and toes. Keep your back straight, your body in a straight line from ears to toes with no sagging or bending, contract your abdominals, and hold for as long as you can. Slowly raise one leg 6 inches off the floor. Slowly lower your leg to the floor. Switch legs and repeat.

Baby Airplane Lay on the floor on your back, with legs raised and knees bent up toward your chest, place your baby across your ankles–straddling them. While holding baby’s forearms, gently bob your legs up and down. When you’re done bobbing baby, gently straighten out your legs and let baby slide down.

Baby Sumo Squats With the baby in the front pack, Place your feet wider than hip distance and turn your feet out slightly. Bend your legs, lowering your hips and pressing your body weight into the heels. Straighten your legs and squeeze your glutes to return to standing.

Calves With the baby in the front pack, find a wall you can hold on to or lean on. Keep your legs straight but don’t lock your knees. Then slowly rise up on your toes and come back down.

Baby Classic Bridge Lie on your back with knees bent, feet flat on floor with baby sitting on your torso. Hold onto him tightly and lift your hips as high as you can. Hold this for 8 seconds then slowly return to starting position. Progress this exercise by keeping your hips raised and level, slowly lift one foot approximately 6 inches, and then return foot to floor. Then lift opposite foot slowly as you begin “marching”. Make sure your hips remain level.

Do 8-15 reps of each set. This is the number that stimulates the greatest increase in fat-burning hormones.

How do you know if you have selected the correct amount of weight to lift?  You should struggle start to struggle by the last repetition.

Do 2-4 sets. Do more and you are wasting your time. If you are just beginning to exercise do 2 sets and increase to 4 as you get more fit.