Please join me at my new site. Just drop the “wordpress” in the middle of the old address!

You can easily catch up by reading the last few posts I’ve written. They’ve been good ones, so I hope you’ll follow me there!

www.fabfit50s.com

Poor exercise technique can have truly undesirable consequences.

Especially when you are doing the movement repeatedly. And especially when you’re using weight to perform the movement.

Not to say you shouldn’t exercise–just take care!

Let’s talk about cervical hyperextension.

This occurs when you’re pushing your head rearward while performing an exercise.

You see it in the gym fairly frequently–when people are “looking up” or tilting their heads backwards  while performing:

• pushups
• deadlifts
• pulldowns
• “bird dogs” and “supermans” – stretches used to strengthen the lower back

Maintain a neutral spine

Next time you’re in the gym, ask yourself if your neck is neutral. It should not be excessively tilted backwards (or forwards, either, for that matter–which might happen when you do pulldowns behind the neck).

Tip: Relax your neck.

If you are doing a pushup or a pulldown, before you start the movement, make sure your spine is aligned.

Relax, don’t hunch, your shoulders.

Let your head simply sit on your neck where it should!

If you feel strain in your neck, that’s a good indicator you’re hyperextending (or hyperflexing)  it.

Align that spine from the base of your skull down through your lower back!

Flickr photo,  robhengxr

For about a week now, I’ve been posting simultaneously on this and my new site, www.FabFit50s.com.

Yikes.

I am so looking forward to consolidating everything on one site!

Frankly, the new site will undergo a slight redesign. And I was hoping to wait until everything was in place. But that is taking longer than anticipated, so…

I’ve decided to invite you all to join me on the new site.

You can go there today, tomorrow (Friday, June 4) or Monday (June 7).

But GO THERE!

More and more people are joining me. It’s incredibly exciting!

I love sharing what I know and helping you to…

• get healthier
• get stronger
• get in great shape
• feel so much better!

Flickr photo, miss aquamarine

Why bother?

From behind, an uplifted butt that fills out your jeans can make you look years younger!

Next time you’re at the  mall, or grocery store, become an observer (discreetly, of course). You’ll agree.

Young women tend to have uplifted rears. Women who are older…well, not so much.

This can be rectified!

By the way, this goes for men, too!

Everything starts to droop on everyone as the years pass–unless you keep it all in use!

The “how to”

• First, find a comfortable stance. Place your feet just outside shoulder width on the floor, toes angled out. There should be a slight bend in your knees.
• Either place your hands on your hips or clasp your hands in front of your chest. NOTE: This is for an unweighted squat. I always do a couple sets of unweighted squats before adding any weight–like DBs or a BB.
• If you need to, lightly grasp a sturdy support to keep your balance–something like a countertop, sofa or heavy chair.
• Maintain an upright posture as you sink your glutes down to knee level. Don’t just drop down. Perform the movement under control.
• Once you “hit bottom,” push through yourheels to reverse direction and return to the start (standing) position. (Pushing up through your heels helps activate your glutes more.) Retain that slight bend in your knees. Don’t “lock out” the knees at the top of the movement.

Repeat for 12-15 repetitions.

This is a great warmup for all your other leg work to follow.

OR, do it on a separate day, just to remind your glutes what they’re there for.

Now, now! That’s flexing and extending!

Flickr photo, bibingklaove

Are you one of those people who goes into the gym and spends more time looking around than working out hard?

If so, you’ll want to step it up a bit! Especially if you are dealing with chronic psychological stress.

Not sure that you are? Are you unemployed, financially stressed, caring for a parent or spouse with dementia or other health concerns, or constantly worrying about a child or sibling?

If so, this news is for YOU.

Unfortunately, many women who are dealing with chronic stress are also less likely to be exercising vigorously.

Hopefully that changes.  Here’s why.

Researchers from the University of California San Francisco found that vigorous exercise seems to mitigate psychological stress and, consequently, prevents telomeres from shortening. 

And that’s great news, since shortened telomeres are associated with accelerated aging.

And I’m not talking about wrinkles! 

Accelerated aging can lead to a range of health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes, and result in an early death. 

Telomeres…remind me again?

Telomeres are cap-like strands at the ends of your chromosomes. They are composed of DNA and proteins.

The longer the telomere, the more protected the chromosomes are and the slower you age.  

In the study, investigators looked at 62 post-menopausal women, many of whom were caregivers for parents or spouses with dementia.

They found that those women who performed 42 minutes of vigorous activity–defined as activity which either elevated their heart rates or induced sweating, or both–over a 3-day period were protected from the psychological stress that led to telomere shortening. 

So nice to know one more thing you can DO to help yourself stay sound in mind and body as the years pass!

So next time you’re dealing with issues and think you’ll excuse yourself from the gym or your jog…don’t!

You need the exercise more than ever!

Please read the school’s news release here. It provides an easily understood “take home” of the study results.

To read the research yourself, go here.

Flickr photo, richard.heeks.

That doesn’t deter me from eating foods that are good for me.

Here’s a meal I fixed twice this past Memorial Day weekend. It took only minutes!

My “quick fix” how-to:

• Use pre-sliced veggies  from your grocery store’s salad bar. (I scored red, yellow, orange and green bell peppers, plus asparagus tips and raw broccoli!)
• Slice up some antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken breast.
• Pour a bit of unrefined, organic coconut oil in a pan.
• Toss in the sliced chicken breast and some sliced red onion.
• When chicken becomes opaque (turn the pieces), add in the sliced veggies.
• When nearly cooked, sprinkle in fajita seasoning mix. I love Simply Organic fajita seasoning, available in packets at Whole Foods.
• Stirfry another couple minutes, till spices “cook.”

I ate mine “as is,” with a sprinkle of organic shredded Mexican blend cheese–plus an ear of corn on the side on Memorial Day.

My daughter, however, had her stirfry with cheese on top of frozen, bagged Jasmine rice (Whole Foods) on Sunday and in whole wheat tortillas on Monday.

Yum! So easy and so fast, we had lots of time for other fun adventures!

I’m talking about half reps. AKA, partial reps. That’s what you call it when you don’t do a full rep, which takes a full range of motion from the top of a movement all the way to the bottom and back.

Let’s take a DB shoulder press.

In a full range press, of course, you push the DBs up from the shoulders to a point overhead where your elbows are slightly bent. Then you lower the DBs back under control down to your shoulders.

To get your half reps, you push the DBs all the way up to the overhead position (as in the full rep version), then come roughly half-way down before reversing direction to push the DBs back up to the overhead position again. And THEN you bring the DBs back down to your shoulders.

Oh, the burn…

Half reps are a great way to intensify so many exercises.

But, I’ll warn you…half reps make each repetition much more demanding to perform.

You’ll need to use somewhat lighter DBs than you’d normally use!

Today I am doing shoulders (and triceps) and will apply half reps to most (if not all) of my shoulder exercises:

• DB shoulder press
• DB side laterals
• DB upright rows
• Rear delt machine flyes

You can easily figure out the other 2 DB exercises I’m including. It’s the same principle as the shoulder press I detailed above.

For the rear delt machines flyes, you would typically grab the machine handles in front of you and bring them back and out to the side of your torso, before returning them to the start position.

In a half-rep version of this machine exercise, you bring the handles back and out to your sides, then reverse direction as if returning to the start position. BUT you stop roughly half-way there and again reverse direction to bring the handles back out to your sides. And THEN you return the handles under control to the start position.

To do a DB version of the rear delt flye, you can sit down and lean your torso forward to nearly rest your chest on your thighs. Next, extend the DBs from outside your ankles to the sides of your torso (your arms come straight out, like a T), keeping a slight bend in your elbows.

To get half reps on this movement, don’t return the DBs back down to your ankles. Stop half-way down, then reverse direction and come back up to the top of the movement.  THEN, you can return the DBs under control to your ankles. 

Try a half rep next time you work out. Pick just one exercise and get half reps on it. (You don’t need to do all your exercises in this way!)

Use this technique whenever you’re a bit bored with your workouts.

Flickr photo, az360fitness

• the equipment you choose–eg, BBs, DBs, cables or machines
• your bench– eg, flat bench, incline bench
• your position–eg, seated vs. standing
• your grips–eg, using an underhand grip instead of an overhand grip when doing pulldowns or BB rows for back

All these things will keep your workouts FRESH, which is critical in keeping you interested in coming to the gym.

Let’s continue with a few of my tricks for keeping workouts fun and interesting!

BICEPS: I usually go for at least one exercise with DBs and one with a BB.

I often, but not always, do a 3rd exercise–which is usually whatever I spot when I look around the gym that (a) I haven’t done in a while, (b) doesn’t require elaborate setup and (c) doesn’t put me in the middle of a gaggle of other people.

DB exercises:  Choose from standing or seated alternating DB curls. OR, standing or seated hammer curls.

If I do more than one DB exercise in a workout (entirely possible), I’ll switch it up. Say, seated alternating DB curls (palms face up), plus standing simultaneous DB hammer curls (palms face your torso).

TIP: For an intense burn on the biceps, occasionally perform seated DB curls on an incline bench. You’ll have to go lighter, though! The stretch you feel in your biceps will be similar to what you feel when you perform BB curls with your elbows behind your torso (see below).

BB versions: Use a fixed bar, an EZ-curl bar, or, if you’re strong, a regular Olympic bar, which weighs 45 lbs.

You can assume 2 different positions on BB curls.

1. Most people perform them with their elbows tucked at the sides of the  torso.
2. BUT, you can also shift your elbows slightly behind your torso. This puts you into position for what bodybuilders call a “drag curl.” The bar comes up in line with your body and close to the front of your torso. It’s a different angle, and, so, attacks the muscle differently. 

When using a bar, vary your grip. You can select an EZ curl bar one day, a straight bar another day. And on that straight bar, you can move your hands from considerably outside shoulder width, to just outside shoulder width, to just inside shoulder width. 

Other options: Try cable curls using a bar to work both arms simultaneously OR metal D-handles or soft handles to work one arm at a time. Or, use the rope attachment to get some hammer curls (palms facing) in.

You can even do “superman curls,” where you stand in the middle of a cable crossover machine with attachments at the top of both sides and curl your arms inwards as though doing a “front double biceps” pose. On this, bring your pinkies towards your ears, which give you a nice little supination action to intensify the contraction on the biceps.

Still more: Preacher bench curls, using either a fixed bar or DBs or, if you don’t mind setting up for it, cables. Concentration curls (seated, on a bench OR standing, with one arm resting on the back of an incline bench set at upright). Machine curls. Functional machine cable curls, either facing towards or away from the machine.

You can really go wild here. So don’t get stuck in a rut when training biceps!

TRICEPS: I usually go for 2 overhead movements, plus 1 “pressdown” movement. This way, both the long and short heads of the muscle get worked!

Overhead movements: Skullcrushers (the EZ curl bar is gentler on your wrists); overhead DB extensions (AKA French presses); overhead rope triceps extensions.

Pressdown movements: Bench dips, dip machines, straight or V-bar pressdowns at a cable station

Other options: close-grip pushups, close-grip bench presses, DB or cable kickbacks

This is a lot for you to think about, right?

So I’ve decided to break this down and add a Part 3, which will address what you can do for legs, calves and abs.

Please–think of this as a hobby! Keep it interesting and fun!

After all, you wouldn’t stop at one simple stitch if you were learning needlework or knitting, would you?

You wouldn’t plant only one type of flower in your garden! 

Or stop at trying only one recipe!

 Mmmm…

Think of these exercise variations as recipes for your muscles.

Change them up and you vary the ways you stimulate your muscles–which is good for growth and good for keeping your workouts fun and fresh!

Flickr photos, top to bottom, edikeskin, Odannysgirl, <christine>, Coconut Recipes

It doesn’t need to be that way.

Variety is what keeps your workouts fresh. Since working out is a “lifestyle” thing–that is, you’re in it for the long haul–it pays to find ways to work out that keep things fresh!

How the “big guys” do it

Advanced bodybuilders change things all the time. They HAVE to, otherwise they’d soon take up tennis, or volleyball.

One way they avoid staleness is by changing their workout split–that is, training different body parts on different days. For example, back with biceps (a smaller body part), back with chest (another large body part), or back with abs (where the mindset is almost that you’re training only one body part that day–back).

During other periods, they may ease up and train their upper body, or even their entire body, on one day, using lighter weight and moving more briskly from exercise to exercise.

Of course, they may have heavy weeks or lighter weeks. In which case, the number of reps they get change. OR, they may intersperse light, higher-rep exercises with heavier exercises within the same workout.

Additionally, when training any body part, they can break down their workout by:

• Training apparatus – eg, barbells, dumbbells, cables, machines
• Area worked – eg, for back, upper lats, lower lats, inner lats (rhomboids), outer lats
• Their goal – eg, developing thickness vs. width in the back, OR striations/cuts vs. pure muscle growth
• Grip – eg, for back, a close grip, medium grip, wide grip, underhand grip

But what can YOU do?

I mean, you just want to keep things fun, right?

Well, as with anything–say gardening–the more you know, the more interesting it gets. The more you know, the more resources you have. So it pays to keep learning.

Here are some methods I use when I hit the gym:

 CHEST: I usually pick two presses and a flye movement.

Presses: I make sure to get one flat and one incline movement.

So…you could do one flat DB press and one incline DB press. NOTE: Bench presses (using a BB) tend to be rough on your rotator cuff muscles (roughly at the front of your shoulders). For longevity, I do them infrequently. When I do perform them, I don’t go heavy, and I don’t come all the way down to my chest with the BB, which keeps excess stress off of that area.

Now, you could also add in machines. Hammerstrength or Cybex flat and incline press machines work well.

Flyes: Incline DB flyes are a “standard.” (Flat DB flyes are also tougher on your rotator cuff. If you do them, go lighter.) You could try the chest flye machines OR do cable flyes, where you stand in between the two ends of a cable crossover machine. 

The “functional” training machines you find in some gyms these days also offer great ways to do chest presses and flyes using cables. 

 BACK: I tend to go for 2 rows and 2 pulldown movements. Usually, not always.

I might have a day where I do 3 rows and one pulldown, but 2 and 2 is a good mix. I also like to throw in a back extension exercise at the end of my workout to stretch and strengthen my lower back.

Rows: Cable rows, BB rows, DB rows, Smith machine rows, machine rows. (On BB rows, I might do a wider, overhand-grip row OR an underhand grip, placing my hands a little closer in on the bar. On DB rows, I might take a palms facing the body stance, OR a palms facing rear stance.)

Pulldowns: Pulldowns to the front are safest. When you do a pulldown to the rear (behind your head), you are hyperextending at the shoulder and, again, causing a little extra stress to that vulnerable joint. You are safest avoiding these altogether, BUT, if you choose to do rear pulldowns, do them infrequently and go lighter!

In general with pulldowns, vary your grips: close grip, wide grip (outside of your shoulders), underhand grip (hands further in on the bar). Or try stiff-arm pulldowns at the cable crossover machine.

 SHOULDERS: (Yes, that is Marilyn Monroe doing BB shoulder presses, photographed by Philippe Halsman, I believe, in 1952. And you thought weight training would make you look like a guy!)

Your deltoid muscles have 3 areas to keep in mind while training: anterior (front) portion, medial (middle) portion, and posterior (rear) portion. A thorough shoulder workout targets all 3 parts of the muscle.

If you are doing a shorter shoulder workout, try to get in

1. a basic shoulder press–you can use DBs (my fave), a fixed bar or BB (like Marilyn here), a machine press, even cable presses–and then,
2. a side lateral, which you can perform using one arm at a time or both arms simultaneously. For example, try a one-arm cable side lateral or use both arms when doing seated or standing DB side laterals. 

 If you want to be super thorough and also target front and rear delts during your shoulder workout, add in:

• Front raises to work the anterior portion of your shoulders (using BB, DBs or holding a plate with both hands). OR, use the crossover cable machine. Face away from the cable stack, with the rope coming up between your legs. Use a long, straight bar. 
• Rear delt flyes, using DBs or cables or even your gym’s chest flye machine. Many of these gym machines are engineered so you can comfortably perform BOTH chest flyes and rear delt flyes.

I don’t want to overwhelm you with possibilities…so stay tuned. I’ll be back tomorrow with options for biceps, triceps, abs, legs and calves.

This is just to show you–there’s no reason to EVER get bored in the gym.

And there’s also no reason to stand around waiting while someone else hogs the equipment or bench that you want to use!

Flickr photos, top to bottom, babykailan,  paulmhooper, PocketSandNinja, and alizinha/CrossFitNYC

- Al Pacino as John Milton, “The Devil’s Advocate”

“I often think that a slightly exposed shoulder emerging from a long satin nightgown packed more sex than two naked bodies in bed.”

- Bette Davis

Hehe, I love Bette Davis. And she had it right!

You just can’t beat pretty shoulders! Especially this time of year, when sleeveless tops and tanks are meant to showcase them!

It’s ironic, then, isn’t it, that a little work with the weights will give you such a lovely feminine attribute? 

And so nice that you can have them–no matter what’s going on anywhere below your shoulders!

Here’s a great and simple shoulder workout:

1. Seated DB shoulder presses
2. DB side laterals  - Superset these with:
3. DB front laterals
4. Bentover DB laterals

This shouldn’t take you long. Perform 4 sets for the first exercise, and 3 sets on all the others.

Shoulder Press: Your first exercise is a basic compound movement which will help put a little muscle on your shoulders. You can do presses seated or standing. If you do them seated, find a straight-back bench and keep your back pressed against the seat back for stability.

If you do standing shoulder presses, you’ll probably have to lighten the weight a tad. Be sure to hold your abs tight (tighten your core!) so you have optimum stability to perform the movement safely and effectively.

Front and side laterals: These can be performed efficiently as a superset. (Lateral means “away from the body.” You might also hear these called front raises or side raises.) The front laterals can also be performed using a bar. Don’t go too heavy!

To superset these two exercises, you’ll raise the DBs out to the sides of your body (getting your 8-12 reps), and then in front of your body (for another 8-12 reps). Ow! Your shoulders should be burning a bit. That’s to be expected. But if you feel pain, STOP.  

• Side laterals (AKA lateral raises): Lift your arms straight out to the sides, to about shoulder height. Keep a slight bend in your elbows. To focus on the medial delts (the part that will give you that nice, rounded shoulder), tilt your hands as if you’re pouring tea. That is, your thumbs will be somewhat down, your pinkies will be up (closest to the celing).

• Front laterals (AKA front raises):  If the weight feels heavy, you can alternate your arms to make the exercise a bit less strenuous. Go right arm up, then down, left arm up, then down. Lift the DBs up in front of you, keeping a slight bend in the elbow, to about the height of your face. It feels most comfortable to me when I slightly arc the DBs in a bit at the top of the movement, so that they are roughly in front of my face (rather than further out, in front of my shoulders).

Bentover rows: Finally, don’t forget your rear delts. You can do the bentover rows seated or standing. Either way, they’ll finish off the posterior (rear) deltoid muscles nicely. You’ll most likely have to go lighter on this exercise.

As always, form is more important than weight!

When to train shoulders

I like to prioritize shoulders, so I put them at the beginning of the week when I have the most energy. Currently, I train them with triceps.

But you can schedule your shoulder workout in any number of ways:

• as part of a full body workout
• after a larger bodypart, such as chest or back
• or first before you do triceps and/or biceps

The key is to train larger body parts first in your workout. Why? Well,  if, for example, you train triceps before shoulders, you won’t have as much arm strength left to get enough quality reps when you work your shoulders.

Similarly, if you train shoulders before chest, you won’t have enough strength to give your chest a proper workout. Your front (anterior) shoulder muscles will be fatigued, so you’ll have trouble getting as many good chest presses as you otherwise might.

If any of these moves are new to you, and if you belong to a gym, don’t be shy about asking a personal trainer to check your form. (Of course, not when he or she is in the middle of training someone!)

Go light to start, until you get the form down. Then add a little weight as you can safely do so, while maintaining proper exercise form.

If you perform this workout with concentration and care, pushing yourself to get 8-12 reps, then once a week should do it!

Flickr photo, rim division