Shape up - other tips

Everyone wants to lose fat and shape up! But seriously, the amount of your bodyfat you have gives no indication of athletic ability. For example, someone with a chubby body (no six pack abs), could be aerobically fit and be able to run say, six rounds of a field without getting out of breath.

What's the point?
1) Focus on various aspects of fitness - strength, cardiovascular, endurance, mobility, etc. Instead of always doing strength training, try to add some variety such as brisk walking, stationary bike, riding a bicycle. Or try something for mobility of your joints - taichi, stretching, etc.

2) Try something to improve your agility and coordination. This will be challenging if you haven't played any real sport (gym doesn't count!) - soccer, futsal, martial arts, etc. It may be frustrating as you learn the skills, but it is also fun and you can burn some calories too.

For martial arts, try shadow boxing as a first step to learn simple coordination. For example, take a look here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnK-xRCFqbU

For overall sports agility, there are numerous videos on Youtube. Try this, all you need is an empty space. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcaU01yXMGM

As always, keep your goals realistic! You're not a professional athlete, so don't attempt to go full speed. :0

Body beautiful and injuries?

Many people who go to the gym eventually end up with shoulder pain due to overtraining (endless bench press, or pushups) and sloppy technique. Hence, it is reasonable to say that a balanced training program is important. Here are a few tips:

1) Train the whole body using movements that involve the 'entire' body instead of muscles in isolation. For example, a dumbell curl is pretty much an isolation exercise that works the biceps. You can save time and work your arms, shoulders, etc by doing other exercises such as squats with dumbell at shoulder level, etc.

2) Work on the smaller, stabilising muscles. In this post, I found three great videos where the physio to the Navy SEAL team gives some advice. Enjoy!

Knee pain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNgtVAIdIH8

Shoulder pain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk86iHgbdwQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn3W9i7r8zk

Feet exercise

This is a great post about exercises for the feet by Dr Andreo Spina, a chiropractor. Give them a try. I would not recommend towel scrunching if you already have bunions. Be prepared for sore feet!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OOJ9AQ1AEg

Core training - new thoughts

Core training is the buzzword these days... As you know, the core refers to many muscles which wrap around the torso (abdomen, lower back and sideways). Six pack abs show the *superficial* muscles but research suggests that the deeper muscles sre what contributes to stability in the body. It is difficult to coach how to activate these muscles without personal instruction.

the plank and side plank are two popular exercises for static core stability - that is the body should not move. They can be made more challenging by adding movement as shown in the video link. Always start with the easy version!

Key points
*Don't hold your breath.
*If you find your body shivering or shaking, stop (it is too difficult for you)
*Hold each position for 5 to 10 seconds. Rest. Then try to do it again for one or two more repetitions.
*There should be no twisting of the body. To stabilise, you may find it helpful to cough or SLIGHTLY suck in your belly button (like trying to fit into a smaller pair of jeans).

Front plank easy version

Side plank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLPoJpXmTyQ
For easy version, try the movement shown from 1.05 to 1.08 minutes

For dynamic core stability - ie, stability while moving - this is not easy. Think about stability (no excessive side to side motion) when performing activities such as running , squatting with a dumbell and then standing up with one leg, and swimming.

By the way, you may like to add breast stroke kick (frog kick) and reverse breast stroke kick to your daily exercises. Watch a video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdquRdeKvQI

You may also note the popularity of farmers walk as a core exercise. Basically carry a dumbell in one hand and walk around for 30 seconds (maintain horizontal and vertical lines like in my earlier post). If the weight is heavy, chances are you will be using more of your *superficial* abdominal muscles.

Have fun!
If you have questions, please email tofulah@gmail.com

time to shapeup

Christmas time is here! As you make your new year's resolution, do take time to reflect upon life, besides thinking about how to lose weight, get fit, etc. Here are a few tips about exercising and staying fit.

Key points

*Never stand still as you’re trying to catch your breath or end your last repetition. Always end by walking or marching around so that your blood circulation can be normalized rather than being drawn to the legs during a leg exercise (or arms when exercising the arms). 

*Have realistic and achievable goals. For example, if you have not been exercising for a long time don’t aim for a 45 minute workout. Instead, opt for say five repetitions of two or three exercises.

*Do not lock (fully straighten) or fully bend the joints, especially elbow and knee.

*Do not hold your breath. Generally, breathe out as your lifting the weight or exerting. For example, during a squat - breathe in when you lower yourself to the ground, then when you come up breathe out.

*To save time and burn more energy, try performing exercises consecutively with no (or minimal) rest in between.

Here's a quick workout. Perform all exercises without stopping.

It is deliberately done using one dumbell as this forces you to counter-balance the weight so that there is no leaning or rotating to any side... think of horizontal and vertical lines like a cross.

1) Squat with dumbell at shoulder level

This works shoulders, arms and legs

Keep dumbell at shoulder level and perform a squat. After doing a few repetitions with the dumbell on your left shoulder, do a few with the dumbell on your right shoulder.

For an easier version, sit on a bench and get up, then sit down again. If you do it properly, you should feel the thigh and buttock muscles working.

To make it more difficult, you can squat more (but knees should not go beyond your toes).

2) Squat with vertical dumbell

Class dumbell vertically between your fingers (or palms) and perform a squat. Note: In the picture my fingers were not fully clasping the dumbell

3) Kneeling dumbell row

This works the upper back muscles. Lower the dumbell without twisting any part of your body, then bring the dumbell up to around the level shown in the picture. Breathe in as you lower the dumbell and breathe out as you lift it up.

Use proper technique. If it's your first time exercising after a long break, aim for something realistic like 4 repetitions (instead of 10 repetitions) of each exercise... or just choose one exercise. By now your thighs will probably be sore and your heart is beating fast!

Walk around or march in place (small steps) until your breathing is back to normal.

That's it a quick workout that takes less than 2 minutes (excluding warmup and stretching which is not shown).

On a different day, you can do something different such as pushups and lunges.

If you have questions, please email tofulah@gmail.com