Workout Wednesday: Keep Pushing!

The perfect finisher for an upper body day!

'Keep Pushing'

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of:

• Push Ups with feet elevated on a medicine/exercise ball
• Medicine/Exercise Ball Plank Pikes 

Keep your abs tight, and remember to stack your shoulders over your wrists. Push ups can be modified having your feet on ground, or by dropping the knees. Remember the focus here is to move your whole body as a unit. For the Med Ball Plank Pikes, be sure to keep your abs tight and your back straight; don't let your lower back round as you tuck the ball underneath you. 

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Push Up with feet elevated on Exercise Ball

Medicine Ball Plank Pikes 

To Enter the 'Keep Pushing' Contest for a chance to win a personal training session for yourself and 4 friends:

1. Follow @small_but_mighty_fitness on instagram
2. Tag your 4 friends on today's (April 22nd) 'Keep Pushing' instagram post
3. Complete the Keep Pushing #workoutwednesday burner
   1.  NOTE YOUR TIME/MODIFCATIONS
4. Complete the form below before Sunday April 26th, 2015 at 11:59 pm! 
5. HAVE FUN! 

5 Reasons to Make Your Vacation a #Traincation

Foreward: I wrote this blog post while I was away on vacation about a month ago, and at that time, my colleagues and I had not yet "officially released" our most recent venture: the Adaptation Fitness Urban Retreat running in Toronto June 1st - 5th 2015.  This urban retreat is a great way to dedicate some of your 'own time' to reframing your wellness goals and programming. I think after you read this post you'll come to realize that training while your on a vacation or staycation is really beneficial; its an investment in your fitness and health. The Adaptation Fitness Retreat has the added benefit of introducing you to some amazing resources you can access on your wellness journey in Toronto! There are bios for both of my colleagues Paluna Sanataria and Nathalie Niddam on my 'Guest Contributor's' page, and scheduling/registration details on the 'Shop Small but Mighty' page. Just something to consider! Check it out, its going to be an amazing week that will get or keep you on track to reaching all your wellness goals. 

I recently had two precious weeks off from my crazy schedule – as a Chiropractic student, personal trainer, CrossFit coach, NTC trainer and an individual that enjoys being strong and well-conditioned, I keep myself pretty busy. I was super stoked to have two weeks to myself to train and relax; in fact, I branded by time off as a #traincation – 2 weeks where I could be selfish and focus on my programming, goals, training and recovery.  I spent my second week off in Las Vegas with my hubby, and as we were preparing for our trip, we were both surprised by the number of people who asked us if we were going to take time off from training and splurge on junk food while we were away.  Now, I recognize I’m a little bit biased, as training is a way of life for me, but here are a few good reasons why I think it makes sense to turn your vacation into a #traincation:

Gainzz!

I’ve said in some of my previous posts, and I firmly believe that you’re only as strong as what you can recover from. In our everyday lives, training, especially a hard session, can sometimes feel like one more thing we have to get through in a day. It can be greatly influenced by, and in some cases can contribute to the stress we all experience on a daily basis. Furthermore, stress, time constraints and busy schedules may even influence our ability to recover from these sessions and negatively impact our progress.  However, when you go on vacation, many of these constraints disappear. With a lighter (or non-existent) workload, lower stress, time to nap, and no strict limitations on the timing and length of your training or meal prep, imagine how great your sessions and recovery will be. Does this mean you have to be training maximal effort while you’re away at the cost of some R&R? Certainly not! Even working a strategic deload program will help you to keep the wheel greased and prevent losses so your motor patterns are still grooved when you get home!

Training will help you maintain a routine

Have you ever found it really hard to ‘reintegrate into society’ upon returning from a vacation. I mean, when did getting up before noon, skipping a morning cocktail and staying awake for afternoon meetings become so difficult? These are all nice things to do while on vacation, and there certainly is a time and place for them, but indulging EVERY day while you’re away can make returning home seem like a daunting task. Getting up to exercise each morning at a reasonable hour, can help you maintain a routine, and can even provide you with an acceptable reason to skip out on a night of messy drinking and eating and the hangover that comes with it!

Getting up or making time to train while you’re on vacation can also help reinforce a new routine you might have established in preparation for your vacation. I know a lot of people who become really motivated to train and eat clean so they can look good on their beach vacation. Unfortunately, for a lot of these people, this training routine falls by the wayside as soon as they hit the beach, not to be seen again until the next annual trip. Sticking to your exercise routine while you’re away can help you reinforce those newly established patterns and return home feeling healthy, fit, recharged, and ready to take your training to the next level.

Training at a local gym allows you to meet the ‘locals’

Its always nice to meet new people, and it can be great to surround yourself with and learn from people who may train differently from yourself. Another great benefit of meeting new people involves finding new places! Getting to know the local ‘gym rats’ can lead to great suggestions for restaurants, activities, spas and even stores that are off the beaten path. While in Las Vegas, my husband and I trained at Iron House Gym, and got ‘inside info’ about all kinds of great places where we could eat, shop, and sightsee while avoiding ‘tourist traps’. You can also start a pretty sweet T-shirt collection…. See mine below:

Foreign places often present different training opportunities

Now I’ve used the phrase ‘training’ throughout this post, and I think that it’s important to highlight that when you’re on vacation, training doesn’t have to occur strictly within a gym.  Trying new activities to simply keep active while you’re away, like hiking, surfing, snowshoeing, treetop trekking, even jogging can lead you to explore and discover areas of your destination you may not have otherwise seen. It may also lead you to try an activity that you really enjoy and can work into your routine back home. I’m pretty infamous among my friends for not liking nature – I’m afraid of snakes, scorpions, sharks, spiders, and jellyfish, not particularly in that order. When my husband and I decided to hike through Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire while in Las Vegas, I thought I might have a mild panic attack. Especially upon sight of the first lizard. But in the end, I really enjoyed it, and I worked up a great sweat. On top of this, we got to see some absolutely astounding scenery, and to enjoy some quality time together, minus our i-devices. We’re now thinking of planning hiking trips back home in Ontario over the summer, which I think is an added bonus!

Valley of Fire, Las Vegas Nevada

You won’t feel like you need a vacation to recover from vacation

We’ve known for a long time that health behaviors tend to correlate, or occur in a cluster. For example, when you buy yourself some personal training sessions and start training hard, it often becomes easier to moderate your intake of unhealthy food, to decrease alcohol consumption, or even quit smoking. Experts say it takes a period of CONSISTENT effort to form a habit, and even a short departure from that effort can break it. Thus, completely ditching your diet and training regime while you’re vacay-ing can lead you to return home feeling unhealthy, bloated, exhausted, and unmotivated.  Additionally, exercise physiology studies tell us that detraining/deconditioning can begin to creep up as early as three days without exercise, especially if you’re new to training. You can imagine how these effects can snowball into a lack of motivation to train upon your return home, making it harder and harder to get to the gym, studio or track. If you do get into the gym, movement patterns that you had mastered before you left can feel awkward or rusty, leading to a setback in your training program. Training while you’re away will keep those movement patterns so fresh and so clean, and may even lead you to make better food choices. Training and moderating your eating while you're away will enable you to return home ready to get back to reality!

Training while on vacation doesn't mean you don't get to relax! Keep that routine running so its easier to get back in the swing of things when you get home #GTL

So next time you decide to book a trip, check out gyms, studios, or even local activities and commit yourself to keeping active! Your mind and body will thank you! And don't forget to check out the Adaptation Fitness Urban Fitness Retreat

The Push-Up

Your push up should be like a moving plank; you want to be connected from your fingertips, all the way to your toes! Pictured here, myself and my business partner Paluna Santamaria. For a week of great training and movement tips, join us a we co-lead the Adaptation Fitness Urban Retreat at Academy of Lions, June 1st-5th 2015. Info available here https://smallbutmighty.squarespace.com/shop/adaptation-fitness-urban-retreat

The Push up is a great exercise for building upper body strength. Despite its simplicity, there are many ways to do this exercise incorrectly. Here are few tips to help make your push-up as efficient as possible:

• Start your set up by getting into a tabletop position. Roll your shoulder blades down and back, like you're trying to put them in your back pocket. From here, move into a high plank so your abs are tight and your shoulders are stacked over your wrists.

• Press into the floor, like you're trying to push it away from you as you lower yourself towards the ground. Remember to keep your shoulders away from your ears. Keep your spine long by reaching the crown of your head towards a far wall. 
• Move though a full range of motion by touching your chest to the floor. 

• Keep your elbows tucked tightly into your sides as you push up from the floor; avoid letting them flare our to the side. 

Here are some modifications you can try to make the push up a little easier. If you're not getting your chest all the way to the ground, its time to try one of these regressions so you can build strength through the full range of motion, and work up to the full push up:

• Drop your knees to the ground: Remember, you want to maintain a connected, plank position. Don't let your bum come up into a plank position.

-OR

• Elevate your hands on a box: The higher the box is, the easier the push up will be. Remember to keep your shoulders stacked over your wrist. If you don't have a box, use a bench, or a squat rack with the bar set up in a stable position.
• You can also alternate the muscles you recruit by changing up your hand position between sets. If you keep your hands tight to your torso, you'll have greater recruitment of your triceps (arms). If you move your hands further apart, you'll have greater recruitment of your pec muscles (Chest). 

If you're able to move through the full range of motion for at least 15-20 reps, and want to try something a little more challenging:

• Lift one foot off of the ground

• Elevate your feet on a medicine ball or box
• Try a 1&1/2 push up

I hope this helps friends! Get out there and get pushing! Don't forget to check out the Adaptation Fitness Urban Retreat!

Quick Tip: Recover!

Want to avoid injury? Put some extra work into your recovery! Dedicate an extra few minutes at the end of your training session to stretch, mobilize, or meditate (or all of the above). Your body and mind will thank you! #betterforit #recovery #trainsmart #habitus #mightybodymightymind #nike #powerfulmindfulgrateful Interested in learning more about recovery? Check out the @adaptation_fitness urban retreat I'll be co-leading this coming June in Toronto (it's on the 'Shop Small But Mighty' page on my website)

Powerful. Mindful. Grateful.  

Workout Wednesday: Plankation!

Workout Wednesdays are dedicated to providing you (my lovely readers) with a 'burner' or 'finisher' that I find "FUn". What is a burner/finisher you ask? Its a short workout that soaks up your very last bit of energy and effort, AFTER you have completed your main lifts and accessory work. Why do them? The theory is that after utilizing all of your stored glycogen, a burner will push you into fat burning. I don't like them simply for this reason though! I like them because:

• They keep me honest -- I know that if I don't put my full effort into my main lifts and accessory work, when I get to the burner, its going to be a reckoning ground!
• They're fast, fun, and short, and allow me to incorporate movements I wouldn't necessarily put in my 'main program' like sushi rolls or bootstrapper squats with a tuck jump (thanks Agatsu Fitness for those little gems!)
• On top of being physically difficult, they can help build mental strength -- if you can get through a tough burner, you can do whatever you put your mind to! 
• You can do these workouts with a partner or a group of friends, and push each other! Nothing brings a group of people together like communal suffering! 

"Nothings brings a group of people together like communal suffering..." @stylist_jo, @taminoa, @sarebellum @itsmaryyoung

When I program burners for myself and my clients, I like to pair movements that are traditionally considered "core" or "stability" movements, with high intensity, metabolically demanding exercises  (read: exercises that jack your heart rate up and make you breathe heavy real quick) like burpees, sprints, prowler pushes, kettle swings/snatches/cleans or even rowing. Why? Because being able to stabilize using your 'core' muscles while being short of breath is both very difficult, and vital to protecting our spine and other joints when engaging in Activities of Daily Living, like shovelling snow or moving a couch up a flight of stairs, as well as while participating in sports such as hockey, soccer or lacrosse (just to name a view). Building this skill takes time, and the burner, for me, represents a great place to sneak this work in because you would have 'practiced' activating your core during your main lifts. Additionally, the burner is short so you can avoid going past the point of safe and efficient practice into poor movement. This is a really important point! A lot of fitness systems tell you to just go 'all out' when you're conditioning - turn your brain off, your muscles on and go. This is NOT what I am promoting! While I believe you should work really hard during your burner, it should NOT be at the cost of safe movement. Keep your brain on!

Please also note that these workouts are very taxing on our metabolic and nervous systems so you don't have to do a burner EVERY day! I work burners into my training program 2-3 times per week depending on what phase of training program I'm in. 

So here we go: Workout Wednesday #1

"Plankation"

Every Minute on the Minute, for 8-10 minutes (depending on your fitness level & form):

• Complete 2 x 50 foot out and back sprint (think shuttle run)
• Spend the rest of the minute in the plank modification of your choice. 

• see the Plank post from this week's #movementmonday post for tips on performing the plank properly

Let me know how you like it! I'm interested to hear your comments!  Have fun friends! Its going to be great :)