Spring Your Best Self Forward for Summer 2016

Being healthy and fit has always been a major part of who I am. I excelled at various sports growing up, including track, wrestling, and dance, through which I developed a passion for exploring different types of dynamic movement. I have spent the last six years helping clients achieve their utmost physical and performance based goals as a Tier 4 Fitness and Wellness Coach, a ViPR Master Instructor, and a Level 2 Animal Flow Instructor at Equinox; the luxury health and wellness leader in the fitness industry. I attribute much of my success transforming my clients’ physiques, and improving their overall performance both inside and outside of the gym, to building sustainable habits around the three main pillars of Movement, Nutrition, and Recovery. Each component of this M-N-R platform is essential when building a well-rounded, holistic approach toward achieving one’s health and fitness related goals.The following M-N-R strategies are just a few of the many tools I employ to build greater overall strength and endurance for my clients, while preparing them for success in the kitchen and boardroom, and on the sands of their favorite beaches. These strategies are not only for those passionate about optimizing their overall human performance. They can be seamlessly applied to those building a regimen towards their desired body for the upcoming summer.MOVEMENT:Burn fat, build muscle and get your body in shape just in time for summer with this full-body resistance band strength and conditioning circuit.Equipment needed: 2 mini-bands (one light and one harder resistance), 1 treadmill if available.EXERCISE 1A - ELBOW PLANK WITH SINGLE ARM MINI-BAND PULLDOWNSSetup: Assume a plank position, driving your elbows, hands and toes into the ground. Ensure your elbows are directly below your shoulders and that your feet are hip-width apart. Attach a resistance band to a pole directly above your shoulder. Keeping that line of pull with the shoulder, take one hand and pull down on the resistance band, pulling your elbow into your back pocket. Be sure to keep your entire body parallel to the ground, avoid any hip rotation or shifting, and keep the stabilizing shoulder down and away from your ears as you drive the elbow into the ground throughout. Tempo: 1s pull, 1s hold, 3s release. This delayed release focuses on eccentric control, which is great for building strength. Do 3x10 for each arm.Benefits: This exercise will challenge your core stability, forcing you to avoid rotation and engage your anterior chain. It is great for activating your lats, pecs, and core prior to major upper or lower body lifting days. It can also be used as a great way to engage your back stabilizers and core, providing further support and posture for your upcoming outdoor runs this spring/summer.EXERCISE 1B - T MATRIX MINI-BAND SQUATTING MONSTER WALKSSetup: Place the mini-band around your legs a few inches below your knees. Cross your arms, in a genie pose with your hands on your shoulders and sit into a squatted position with your hips back and a tall spine. Travel left to right, forward and backward, in a squatted stance to form a lower-case t matrix. Take 4 steps in each respective direction. Stand tall, screw-drive your feet into the ground, and squeeze your glutes together as you complete 2 squats each time you come back to the center starting point of the matrix. Keep your knees tracking about your mid-foot when traveling, and avoid all tilting/rotating of the upper body. 3x (1x4 steps each direction)Benefits: This matrix is great for firing up the glutes and inner and outer thighs while hitting your core. By hitting your lower body in this dynamic fashion, you have to coordinate the lower and upper body to remain totally squared-off throughout the sequence, which burns a significant amount of calories.Additionally, this exercise sequence will prime your body for the explosive, high-intensity conditioning work that comes later in this circuit, or any other full-body workout for that matter.EXERCISE 1C - MINI-BAND LATERAL TRAVELING PUSH-UPSSetup: Place the mini-band around your wrist and assume a tall plank push-up position with extended arms at chest height, shoulder-width apart, and with your feet together, and your eyes gazing at the ground. Complete a push-up by lowering your body toward the ground such that your elbows are at a 90-degree angle, then push your entire body back to tall plank as one unit. Be sure to maintain a long, firm body by squeezing your ankles, knees, and glutes together throughout the push. Travel laterally to your left by simultaneously bringing your hands together and expanding your legs hip-width apart. Complete an additional lateral transition in the same direction, supplanting the hands and feet such that you are ready to repeat an additional shoulder-width push-up. Be sure to screw-drive your hands into the ground, keeping your shoulders down and away from your ears, maintaining a neutral spine parallel to the ground throughout this entire sequence. Do 3x5-6 in each direction. Double up the reps if you want to take your fitness to the next level.Benefits: This is a full-body exercise that will force you to coordinate your upper and lower body segments via the support of your back and core stabilizers. It will strengthen your back, chest, shoulders, and arms, all the while sculpting a toned midsection. It is a demanding, high-calorie burning exercise, but for those who want to take their summer training to the next level, I challenge you to progress with this exercise by adding an additional mini-band around the lower legs. Enjoy!EXERCISE 1D- TREADMILL SLED PUSH OR OUTDOOR SPRINTSSetup: Step on a treadmill and ensure the machine is turned completely off and on zero incline. Place your hands on the handles and begin sprinting full speed, as fast as you can, for at least 30 seconds. If you do not have access to a treadmill, you can perform 2 intervals by sprinting an estimated 100m and jogging back the same distance between bouts. You can also use various markers, such as the distance of two light posts on the street, but you must ensure that you are consistent. Do 3x30sec on treadmill push or 3x (2x100m repeats)Benefits: This explosive, power-driven exercise is intended to get you into your higher heart rate zones, and burn a significant amount of calories. It will work your entire lower body as you drive the belt of the treadmill, and your upper body as you actively push into the dashboard. Your body will be in such an oxygen deficit that it will continue burning calories after the workout is completed, which is great for burning fat and getting lean, toned muscles.Programming: You can complete this workout in the format presented, or simply do the movements individually. They are all challenging on their own, but can be used interchangeably in any full-body focused workout circuit. I recommend completing 3-4 sets of the circuit twice a week for at least two weeks, prior to progressing to 5-6 rounds the following weeks.NUTRITION:Stay hydrated:Jump start your metabolism by drinking 16 ounces of cold water when you wake up. Your body may burn a few calories heating the cold water to your body’s core temperature. Although the extra calories burned from a single glass may not be significant, making it a daily habit can help you lose pounds over time.On average, you should attempt to drink ½ to 1 ounce of your body weight per pound per day. Proper hydration can help regulate your appetite. People often think they are hungry when they are actually thirsty. In this respect, staying hydrated can help you achieve your desired body composition.EAT THE RAINBOW:Your plate should be covered with a variety of colors from a number of different sources including fruits, vegetables, and high-fiber grains. These food groups provide our bodies with the necessary enzymes, minerals, nutrients, and antioxidants to perform at our best. The darker and greener the vegetable, the better.Fruits packed with Vitamin E and C possess key benefits for summer play such as keeping your skin hydrated, healing, and protected from the sun’s UV rays. These fruits include: oranges, grapefruits, kiwis, strawberries, raspberries, and avocados.EAT HEALTHY FATS THAT GIVE BACK:Be sure to include healthy fats with each feeding opportunity, putting a greater emphasis on omega-3 fatty acids that come from sources such as salmon, fish oil, chia seeds, hemp, and flax seeds. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential because our bodies cannot produce them; we must obtain them through our food. Omega-3 fatty acids enhance heart health, improve cognition, and decrease overall inflammation.POWER UP WITH LEAN PROTEINS:Proteins are essential to maintaining and building our muscle mass, supplying nutrients to our body for recovery and repair, protecting our immune system, and stabilizing our energy levels. Regardless of whether your goal is weight loss or weight gain, protein is a great way to rev-up your metabolism because it requires more energy expenditure from our body to digest protein versus other macronutrients.Incorporating a fist full of protein for women, and two fists full of protein for men, with each meal over the course of the day, along with a post-workout recovery drink, should cover your daily protein needs.Remember, when it comes to choosing an ideal protein source, the less legs, the better. Always select grilled over fried, white meat over dark meat, and skinless over skin.(Source of Nutritional Advice: The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition by John Berardi & Ryan Andrews)RECOVERY:Apply the 4-7-8 “Relaxing Breath” for stress mitigation, sleep recovery, and greater mental clarity.Setup: Get into a seated position with your back straight against a flat surface as you initially learn the exercise. As you become more experienced, you can complete the exercise anywhere, in any position. Place the tip of your tongue against the tissue just behind your upper front teeth and keep it there for the remainder of the exercise. You are ready to begin. Now:Exhale completely through your mouth, making a ‘whoosh’ sound.Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of FOUR.Hold your breath for SEVEN seconds.Exhale completely through your mouth, making a ‘whoosh’ sound, to a count of EIGHT.This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.Setup Continued: It is important that you keep the same 4-7-8 ratio for the breaths regardless of whether you cannot hold the required time or would like to slow down the breaths. Do not complete more than four breaths for the first month of practice. Some of my clients have felt a bit light-headed when first implementing this breathing strategy, but do not get alarmed; that will pass as you continue the exercise.(Source: Dr. Andrew Weil’s. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/VDR00160/Dr-Weils-Breathing-Exercises-4-7-8-Breath.htm)Benefits: This exercise is a wonderful and effective way to reset your nervous system and directly impact your mental and emotional state of being. You will find this strategy to be very useful before confrontational situations escalate, when you are emotionally compromised, or when trying to relax and fall asleep. Incorporating this highly effective strategy into your daily routine will not only give you a competitive advantage when dealing with stressful situations, but it will also help you to achieve that lean, toned summer physique because lower stress and lower cortisol levels have been linked to decreased fat production.