Girl-Woman-Beauty-Brains-Blog

Jamie Temple, ACE, ACSM, Personal Trainer/Fitness Specialist

Perky Breasts seem to be the topic du jour for Girl-Woman-Beauty-Brains-Blog.

Here is an exercise that strengthens your chest, front shoulders and triceps -- and of course, your breasts. No equipment needed. Learn how to perk 'em up now.

When the weather is nice, I know how difficult it is for me to stay in the gym. You can get a great aerobics and strength-building workout right in your own backyard. If you have kids, enlist their help, too. This plan will get you and your yard in shape, just in time for your 4th of July cookout.

Aerobics Stage:

Raking: 340 calories an hour.
Pushing a gas mower: 300 calories an hour.

Strength-Building Stage:

Scrubbing the outside of the windows or cleaning the gutters: 300 calories an hour.
Till the garden: 300 calories.
Stack firewood: 300 calories
Power-wash the decks: 300 calories.

Cooldown Stage:

To cooldown, trim weeds and bushes and tidy up the garage.

Finish with a few light stretches to keep your muscles from stiffening. Don't forget to drink water.

Stay moving,

Jamie

Jamie Temple, ACE, ACSM, Personal Trainer/Fitness Specialist

Fitness Friday's How to Get Sexy Summer Legs is brought to you by Girl-Woman-Beauty-Brains' ACE, ACSM, Personal Trainer/Fitness Specialist.

Ok, Ladies. These are some of my faves for the summer. We all have been working hard since the onset of bikini season, but these leg and butt exercises can help revamp dull and boring routines.

You will notice that I chose a lot of one leg exercises. Besides focusing on muscle balance, which protects you against injury, it is also aesthetically pleasing to have lower body symmetry.

So let's get started.

Lateral Step with tubing

Setup:

• 
  
• Velcro circle tubing around each ankle.
• 
  
• Chest is lifted. Shoulders back.
• 
  
• Bend the knees and press the hips back.

Movement:

• 
  
• With both toes remaining forward and knees bent take a large step out.
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• Pick up the trail leg as feet come together.
• 
  
• Repeat.

Pliĕ Squat

Setup:

• Begin in a wide stance with toes out at a comfortable angle. Your knees will need to stay aligned with your toes, so don't go out too far.
• 
  
• To add weight you can hold dumbbells on the upper thighs, a single dumbbell in front or a barbell on the shoulders or behind the head.

• 
  
• Bend the knees and lower down into a squat, keeping knees in line with toes, abs contracted and back straight.
• 
  
• Only go down as low as you can without compromising your flexibility or your balance.
• 
  
• Press up and in through the heels to help target the adductor (inner thigh) muscles.

One Leg Calf Raises

Setup:

• Can be performed with or without weight.
• 
  
• Find a flat surface that allows the heels to go below it.

• In a linear motion press through the ball of the foot.
• 
  
• Slowly lower the heel for a stretch before performing the next extension.

One Leg Squat

Setup:

• Can be performed with or without weight.
• 
  
• Can use Smith Machine (in picture) or table/bench for balance.
• 
  
• On one leg while the other is in front of the body with the knee bent.
• 
  
• Never lock out the knee at the top of the movement.
• 
  
• Pull your belly button in towards your spine.
• 
  
• Chest lifted. Shoulders back.

• Sit the hips back while pressing the glutes back.
• 
  
• Bent the knee to 90 degrees. Knee should be behind the toes from a side view.
• 
  
• Press up through your heel as your squeeze your glute on the way up.

Stability Ball Hamstring Curls

Setup:

• Place heels in the center of the ball.
• 
  
• Feet about 6 inches apart.
• 
  
• Hands by your side for balance.

Movement:

• Lift hips up to form a straight line with knees and ankles.
• 
  
• Dig heels into the ball as you roll ball towards your body.
• 
  
• Finish movement on your toes with hips lifted.

One Leg Extension

Setup up:

• Ankle pad should hit between the top of your foot and shin.
• 
  
• Knee should be in line with pivot point on machine.
• 
  
• Pull the back support up until your tall through your torso.

• Press the foot towards the ceiling.
• 
  
• At the top of the movement your foot is perpendicular to the floor.
• 
  
• Slowly lower the weight.

One Leg Deadlift

Setup:

• Stand on one foot with slight bend in the knee.
• 
  
• Grip the straight bar slightly wider than hips.
• 
  
• Retract and depress the shoulder blades.

Movement:

• Slow hinge foward at the hips. Maintain a head forward position and flat back. Knee bend does NOT increase has the motion at the hip does.
• 
  
• Go down until you feel a slight stretch through the hamstrings.
• 
  
• Press your heel into the floor and squeeze through the booty (technical term) on the way up.

Alternating Forward/Reverse Lunge

Setup:

• Place the feet hip width apart with the toes pointing straight ahead.
• 
  
• Hold a dumbbell in each hand and allow the arms to hang naturally at the sides.

Movement:

• Step forward with one leg. Slowly flex the knees to a maximum depth of 90 degrees of flexion.
• 
  
• Allow the heel of the rear foot to lift, so that the ball of the foot is in contact with the floor.
• 
  
• Pause at the end of the movement. Then press the front leg and step backward into a reverse lunge on the floor.
• 
  
• Press off the floor with the back leg and return to the starting position.

Jamie Temple, ACE, ACSM
Personal Trainer/Fitness Specialist



Have a great weekend!

What's on our plate for Fitness Friday? An order of back fat with a side of exercise.

How to say goodbye to back fat:

1. Exercise
   
2. Correct fitting bra

Have a great weekend,

Jamie

Did you find what Sex and the City character you most resembled and enter to win the giveaway? With the movie a day away, here are 3 Flex and the City moves to reduce neck pain after waiting to find out if Carrie works out her relationship with Mr. Big.

According to Denmark's National Research Centre for the Working Environment, strength training may help generate new muscle in place of injured tissue and reduce neck pain by 80 percent.

For each move, keep knees slightly bent. Using two- to five-pound dumbbells, do three sets of 8 to 12 reps, three times a week on nonconsecutive days.

Shoulder Shrugs: Hold your arms at your sides, palms facing in, pull shoulders up to your ears. Pause for a second and lower.

Reverse Flies: Bend forward so that your chest faces floor, arms hanging down, palms in . With elbows slightly bent, squeeze shoulder blades and raise arms to your sides, parallel to the floor. Pause, then lower.


Upright Row: Start with palms in front of thighs and facing legs. Bend elbows out to sides, and pull weights up to about your collarbone level. Pause, then lower.

You are three moves away from working out your kinks. Will Carrie work out her kinks with Mr. Big? What do you think?

Source: Prevention

Standing in the infield at the 92nd Indianapolis 500 on Saturday, I thought about how race car drivers and other athletes unitize visualization to enhance their performance.

You've heard that old adage, "mind over matter." According to researchers, visualizing your workout can help you not only finish strong but perfect your workout.

After being put in a full body cast in middle school for four months to heal a bilateral stress fracture in my L5, I came across an article in Chicken Soup for the Soul. The story was about a solider who had been kept in captivity for many years. Every day while sitting in his small cell he visualized playing 18 holes of golf on his favorite golf course near his home.

Upon release from his captors, he returned home and played the same golf course that he had played in his head every day for the years he had been held as a prisoner. After playing his first 18 holes, his score was the lowest he had ever scored in his life.

Having a lot of spare time on my hands while I was in captivity in my brace, I visualized my soccer moves over and over again. From the soccer bench, I would watch my teammates play the game, but in my brain, I was on the field kicking the ball or scoring the goal.

After my L5 was fully healed, I returned to playing soccer. That year I played soccer with a new sense of how my body connected with the ball. I felt like the ball and I were one and the same. I made the Olympic Developmental Team for soccer and was planned on continuing to play in college.

So if your workout routine or golf game or even race car driving is needing a bit of tweaking, use your brain and visualize your successes before you even step into the gym, on the golf course, or on the field. Believe me, it is an effective fitness trick to enhance your workout.

Scott Dixon earned a record $2,988,065 from a record overall purse of $14,406,580 for his victory on Saturday at the Indy 500. That's a lot of visualization.

Stay moving and keep visualizing,

Jamie

Working in two different fitness facilities and doing in-home personal training, I have observed what works for women and what doesn't work. Most women who hate exercising are multi-taskers that have very little time to fit exercise into their daily routine. One of the reasons that women will hire a personal trainer is because they hate exercise. Here are a 7 tips that I offer to women who hate exercise:

1. 
   
2. Get your body moving every day. It doesn't have to be an hour at a spinning class. It could be walking your dog or walking in the mall on cold days. Take baby steps -- walk for a half a mile -- and build up to a more challenging workout -- walking or running 3 miles.
   
3. Make sure you enjoy whatever exercise program you choose. Some people like classes. Some people don't. Some like a personal trainer. Choose what fits your exercise personality type so that you will enjoy it.
   
4. Schedule your workout for your most energetic time of day.
   
5. Injury is often the reason women quit exercising. I rehab a lot of people who have injured themselves from using equipment improperly. Be sure you check with your doctor before you start an exercise program so you know you're safe in the workout you choose. Check with trainers, too, if you are using a new piece of equipment at the gym or trying a new sport.
   
6. Take photos of yourself every month in your workout gear so you have a visual record of your physical results. Remember, muscle weighs more than fat, so the scale may not show your real progress.
   
7. If you are not comfortable in a coed gym, try a women-oriented fitness center, such as Push or Curves. This is a fast-growing fitness business, and many women feel like their workout becomes a 30-minute girls' night out at the gym. I am currently teaching classes and training women at Push, training women at a coed fitness center, and training women in their homes. Each group of women have chosen the location in which they are most comfortable, which keeps them exercising.
   
8. Be kind to yourself. Take a day off at least once a week. I always take off Sundays and treat my body to a well-needed rest...and a few edible treats, too.

If lack of motivation is hindering your workout, try peppermint aromatherapy. Athletes have been known to use peppermint inhalers to increase energy, speed, motivation, and confidence. According to my brother, a college rugby player, in order to increase their speed on the field, the ruggers are known to take a big whiff of Vapor Rub, which contains menthol, a/k/a peppermint.

Your Brain on Peppermint

How does peppermint nourish and motivate you?

Upon sniffing the peppermint vapors, oxygen hitches a ride with peppermint and they both cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain itself, where the brain is then activated.

To boost your workout, Reebok ($44.99) has created a peppermint-scented bra!

The Reebok® Scented Seamless Short Bra Top offers a fresh peppermint scent as heat begins to generate during exercise. Wear it alone or as a layering piece for close-to-the-skin comfort. Play Dry® technology manages moisture to keep you cool and dry, and engineered mesh provides additional ventilation. Other features include knitted seamless bra cups, a secure racer back, and knit-in design details.

Or take a whiff of peppermint from the Peak Performance Sports Inhaler ($4.99).

During a time when pharmacological substances are being banned from major sports. The new Peak Performance™ Sports Inhaler™ provides a 100% all natural alternative. The Sports Inhaler™ is not only for professional and college athletes, but also for the weekend warrior wanting to improve his or her performance. Any age athlete can benefit from the Sports Inhaler™ and it can be used during exercise, training and competition.

Having taught too many classes this week, I think I need a whole vat of peppermint! TGIF.

Have a great weekend,

Jamie

Sources: "Enhance athletic performance through the administration of peppermint odor."* Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, Vol. 23 (2), June 2001. pp. 156-160; April Issue of Prevention magaine; Wheeling Jesuit University study.

Jamie Temple, ACE, ACSM, Personal Trainer/Fitness Specialist

Whether you are training for a marathon or a 5K, it is important that you are prepared before you even step foot on the pavement. Fitness 911 will prepare the runner so that she is not sidelined a month into training because of an over-use injury. Nothing is more frustrating for an avid runner than not making it to the starting line.

A common syndrome many runners experience due to the biomechanics of gait and form is called Iliotibial Band Syndrome or IT Band Syndrome.

The IT Band is a group of fibers that run along the outside of the leg starting at the top of the hip and continuing down to the lateral aspect of the knee joint. I won’t get into too much detail, but due to overcompensation of the IT Band and the Tensor Fascia Latae (TLF) during hip flexion, this area becomes tight. This is because our booty’s aren’t doing the work they are supposed to.

Because of the tightness of the IT Band, you may have pain in the lateral portion of the knee, hip flexor/pelvis area, and the entire lateral aspect of the leg. Not only can this be painful but frustrating since the rest of your body feels fab. To combat this syndrome before you hit the road, do these simple exercises to strengthen the lateral gluteals.

Bridge

Begin by lying flat on the floor in the supine position with knees bent, feet flat, toes pointing ahead and arms out by your sides. Dig your heels into the mat and activate your core by drawing your navel towards the spine. Slowly lift hips off the ground to form a straight line between the knees and shoulders.

Lateral Lunge
Start with a slight bend in both knees. Slowly step out and sit the hips back. Your knee should be behind your toes and in line with them. Press through the heel of the bent leg using lateral (outside) of your glutes.
Glute Press in Quadruped position
Start with hands and knees on mat and a neutral spine. Slowly press the bottom of your foot towards the ceiling, keeping your foot flexed. Keep a bent knee throughout the range of motion. Press up and squeeze and lower ½ way down and repeat.
Standing Hip Abduction
Stand up tall with a tight core and slight bend through the knees. With a flexed foot press away from your body. As you reach your maximal range of motion turn foot outward and squeeze.
Running shoes are an important accessory for the running fashionista. Check back later this morning for a review of a few good running shoes.

Gotta run,

Jamie