A friend of mine came across an internet interview with a trainer in the California area. I thought his fitness philosophies were in line with mine, which was good. My idea then was to take the questions from the interview and answer them myself. Here we go…
- What’s the first essential concept we should all know about exercise?
Exercise should closely mimic the movements that are inherent in all human beings. Those movements are rolling, crawling, reaching, pushing, twisting, bending, squatting, lunging, and the gait pattern. That way you end up training and conditioning all the muscles involved those movements. For the last 40 years or so a lot of people have focused on breaking up the body in parts, and training those parts in isolation. An abdominal crunch is a great example. While a crunch does condition the abdominal muscles, their main job is to keep your spine stable as you perform the movements I mentioned above. In essence, your “core” acts a reflex to keep your posture as you train.
- A quick and effective exercise for those of us sitting at a computer for hours?
Stand up from your desk, and rotate your torso from left to right, allowing your arms to swing freely. Turn your head slowly in the direction you turn as well and keep breathing. Go for 15 rotations each side every hour or two. This exercise is a warm up before a Tai Chi workout, and will provide a small amount of spinal rotation and relax your shoulders, chest, and neck muscles. Be careful you don’t move too fast or you could get lightheaded.
- Suggestions on getting motivated?
A huge majority of this country’s population is sedentary. The key is to appreciate the long term approach to fitness. Focusing on short term results, like quick weight loss or getting “toned” in a hurry will lead to failure, injuries, and disappointment. I feel a lot of people have given up on fitness because of unrealistic outcome goals. There are 3 basic sections of fitness and they are movement quality, performance, and skill. Scheduling a movement screen to identify weak links in your body provide a great deal of information towards putting together a fitness program. If all someone needs is the right stretch, or the right exercise to develop core balance, motivation to do more will develop. So it really does come down to learning to move better first, then improving on performance and skill to see long term results.
- Best way to do effective regular exercise: With or without a gym or trainer?
It is difficult to engage in effective exercise without a gym or trainer. You can use your bodyweight for great exercises and their progressions, but most people need to be taught by a trainer on which exercises would be best for them. Plus, at some point you will need to use free weights and other equipment to keep challenging yourself. So I say it’s best to invest in a trainer that will work to improve your weak links and get you in movement balance.
- Some equipment to work with at home?
I like simple pieces of equipment that require very little expense and upkeep. A foam roller, heart rate monitor, Valslides, are great to start out with. Building from there you can add a stretch strap, a stability ball, a bench, weights, and a TRX suspension system. For conditioning work I like slideboards best, but a stationary bike will do well.
- Light equipment to take on travels to continue with effective exercise?
A foam roller, stretch strap, and Valslides. If you are planning to exercise outdoors, the TRX suspension trainer works great too.
- Turning a walk into a dynamic exercise?
Find a walking route with hills to add some resistance to the walk. Adding a heart rate monitor is key too since you can see how your body is responding, so you get feedback on whether or not you are working too much or not enough. Buy the most basic monitor. The more expensive ones have GPS programs installed to give you information on your walk, but only buy that one if it’s truly necessary to you.
- Tips on eating after a vigorous workout?
I’m not a fan of eating a meal after exercise only because your muscles need to replenish fuel as quickly as possible. So I highly recommend a protein shake instead simply because it’s liquid and it will digest and be assimilated into your body faster. Keep the shake simple. Precision Nutrition has some great recipes. If fat loss is your goal, limit the sugars and carbohydrates in the shake. If you are fairly lean and want to maintain (or gain) weight add a carbohydrate drink. I go for 16 ounces of coconut water after my workout, along with protein powder.
- An effective 20 minute daily circuit of exercise to do at home?
Set a timer for 5 minutes and work with your foam roller to reduce tension on certain muscles that can be overworked. Calves, hips, upper back, lats and quads are the usual culprits. Stretch those areas after rolling.
Next, set a timer for 10 minutes and perform a strength circuit. A core exercise, 2 upper body exercises, and a lower body exercise will work. For example,
- Stability ball rollouts- 10 repetitions
- Reverse lunges- 10 each leg
- Pushups- 10 times
- 2 arm dumbbell rows- 10 times
See how many times you can do each exercise in 10 minutes.
Finally set 5 minutes on the timer and use your heart rate monitor for your conditioning. So if you have a bike, go at an intensity where you get slightly out of breath, check your heart rate, and pedal again after a 20 heart beat recovery. See how many rounds you can go in 5 minutes.
- Life-long fitness. What is the best mindset?
Move well before moving often
That was a quote taken from Gray Cook in his book, Movement. It is simple and to the point. Work on your movement quality, then add quantity. Only then will you tap into your full fitness potential and keep it going for life.
Blog 2 of 50.
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nickpahountis posted this
