Inch Worms

Inch Worms serve as a great dynamic warmup for the entire body.  They really do work chest, shoulders, back, arms, core, and legs.   Instructions for fun are below!

1. Begin in a standing position with knees straight but not locked.
2. Inhale arms overhead, draw belly toward spine and as you exhale, hinge at the hips reaching fingers towards the floor.  Keep knees straight unless hamstrings/calfs are too tight, then give them a slight bend.  
3. Place hands on floor.  While keeping core engaged walk hand forward into a high plank/pushup position.  Shoulders over wrists with a straight spine.  
4. If your back is healthy, keeping arms straight, drop hips into an updog position.  Otherwise skip this.
5. Keeping knees as straight as posible walk toes toward hands.  Repeat steps 3, 4 & 5 for desired distance.

Enzyme Spray for everything!

This is the single best product I have found in the last year.  Nature's Sunshine Enzyme Spray has 7 ingredients: water, oxidoreductases, transferases, lyases, hydrolases, isomerases, and ligases.  These enzymes are plant derived, biodegradable and are safe for you, your family and our planet.  It is very cool to have an alternative to the other very toxic household cleaners/deodorizers.  The best part about this product is that is actually breaks down stains and eats up odors versus smearing stains and covering up odors.  It can be used to eliminate organic stains and odors from foods, smoke, urine, feces, blood, mildew, pets, vomit and other organic substances.   Use it just alone or add some essential oil mixes for different purposes.  I have a deodorant spray, mouthwash spray and healing spray with helichrysum.   I buy mine from a local health shop but you can find it online as well.

Squat Jump to Stabilization

With many people becoming more active not only for health reasons, but also for recreational activities, the incidence of ACL/MCL knee injuries is increasing rapidly.  A majority of these injuries are non-contact in nature and occur while planting and cutting or landing from a jump.  With proper stabilization of the knee joint, the likelihood of a non-contact injury can be greatly decreased.  The squat jump to stabilization exercise serves as a mandatory precursor to all high impact plyometrics.  If you follow this rule, not only will you minimize the chance of injury, you will reach higher levels of peak performance for your individual body.   Check out this video and start practicing!  Comment with any questions or requests for future videos.

Ham on Bone in Crock Pot

Crock pots are simply amazing.  Nobody can complain about having dinner ready when you walk in the door.    Try to get a ham that is uncured and nitrate free as these have been linked to causing cancer.   Also, ham on the bone allows nutrients from the bone/tendon/ligaments to cook into the meat provides great flavor and healthy trace mineral (calcium, magnesium, phosphorus) rich meat.  This would go well with sweet potatoes, red potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, peas, quinoa, brown rice, or any other veggie/grain (if you eat grains) that sounds good to you.

Ingredients

• 1 Whole Uncured Nitrate Free Ham on bone
• 2 cups pineapple juice
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup maple syrup

-Cook in crock pot for 6-8 hours on low and enjoy!

Single Leg Balance

Balance is a very underestimated part of fitness that has a large impact on muscle balance and ultimately how efficient our movements are.  This exercise, while looking quite simple, is aimed to set the stage for future progressions.  Without a solid base on one leg, you will be limiting the overall potential for your progressions of other exercises in the future and also limiting strength & power output.   It’s amazing how much time we spend on one leg and that when we get better with balance we expend less energy in day to day tasks and get stronger!  Watch the video and start practicing!!

The Equation for Peak Physical Performance

The four main components to a healthy physical training regiment are flexibility/mobility, stabilization, strength and power.  All of the components are needed for true peak performance of an individual on a physical level.  As others have investigated, the physical realm is part of 4 larger sections being physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. 

Without proper flexibility or mobility, we are unable to move our bodies where they should be able to go.  I always laugh when someone says they shouldn’t be able to touch their toes like they were built unable to ever achieve this feat.  It might take lots of hard work, but is possible.  And most of the work is between our ears! 

Stabilization is defined as the ability of the body to maintain postural equilibrium and support joints during movement.   Without having a stabilization system that functions correctly, the likelihood for injury is greatly increased and our ability to output strength and power is decreased. 

Strength is defined as the ability of the neuromuscular system to provide internal tension and exert force against external resistance.  In simple terms, decreased internal tension (stabilization) = decreased force against external resistance (strength). 

Power is defined as the ability to exert maximal force in the shortest amount of time.  This is where most sports movements lie and also where most injuries occur.  Power is the tope of the pyramid and with proper preparation of the previous phases, can bring a client to levels of performance never thought possible.  Without a solid foundation, will very likely get undesired results.