How to walk the dog and warm up the human at the same time

This blog is for the dog lovers of the world. I get asked lots of questions, but several come up repeatedly.  “What do YOU do for a warmup?” is one, and another is, “How can I warm up/exercise and still give my dog some exercise?” There seems to be a persistent complaint that there is only so much time in the day (what???), and you need exercise…but so does the dog. 

When Nova was a puppy, I didn’t want to take her running because it yanks on the growth plates on her bones and can create premature skeletal issues. 

So, I would go running, and then come back and take her for a walk. She’d always give me those sad big brown eyes because she wasn’t going out the whole time, which made me slightly sad, and furthermore the combination of running and then walking her was taking up a significantly longer chunk of time.  

 

The net effect was I felt pressed for time!

Now instead of fabulous morning exercise by myself and then a little doggie bonding time after, I was under self imposed time pressure and that created stress, yet my day had just barely started. 

What?? Talk about nutty! 

There must be a solution. Hmm. What did I come up with? 

Well, take a look at the video below, and see if there isn’t a trick you can stick in your back pocket for accomplishing doggie and human exercise simultaneously. 

I’m telling you, it’s possible! Let me know in the comments below how you like it!

How to get rid of muscle soreness

Oh, my aching muscles. They are just sore, sore, sore all over. I just had a crazy hike/bike/run/jump/swim/surf/ski/skate/bing/bang/boom event and now I am so sore I can hardly move!

My legs and arms and core feel like cement and what in the world should I do?

I don’t want to take Ibuprofen as it wrecks my stomach, and I’ve even dusted off my roller but that didn’t help with the deep ache either.

Don’t talk to me about the ice bath. That is simply not happening. Who has that many trays of ice cubes anyway and even if I had an ice maker the quantity of cubes required would exceed the capacity.”


Well, dear readers, have no fear! There is a tried and true method of flushing your system that only involves 6 1/2 minutes of your time and no special equipment needed.


It is really quite simple, and I have used it after many a long run or bike or marathon.

Magic Elixir

What is this magic elixir? Is it a magic elixir?


Well, remember that your muscles while exercising open up all the capillaries near the surface of the muscles to get as much oxygen and food delivered to the hard working muscle fibers. The hard working muscle fibers have metabolic waste products that accumulate in the muscle themselves, and that is one of the theories of muscle soreness.

Quoting from a fantastic article in Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-lactic-acid-buil/

“Though the precise cause of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is still unknown, most research points to actual muscle cell damage and an elevated release of various metabolites into the tissue surrounding the muscle cells. These responses to extreme exercise result in an inflammatory-repair response, leading to swelling and soreness that peaks a day or two after the event and resolves a few days later, depending on the severity of the damage.” 

Now you know why the muscles have soreness, and now what do you do about it?

There is the ice bath.

At our house we run out of ice cubes and it really is impractical. Honestly and truly, I cannot bring myself to immerse my already cold-from-running-in-the-PNW-winter-rainstorm into an ice bath anyway. I doubt I could talk many North Dakotans into it either.



However, I don’t like walking around like the TinMan and dragging certain limbs along, so here is my compromise:

A cold shower.

I take my normal warm shower, get clean, and then brace myself for the flush. I take the shower nozzle down from the holster, turn off the warm water so it is nothing but cold, and spray one quad for a count of 100.

(Oddly enough, the water starts to feel lukewarm after a bit!)

Then I hold the nozzle over the other quad, and again count to 100, continuing to one calf muscle, and then the other. What if your shower head isn’t on a metal snake? Then just stick that quad under the spray and point the shower head straight down.



You will have a sharp intake of breath at the very beginning.


It gets better! Don’t worry! 

Why does this work?

What happens is that the capillaries that were once open and perfused with blood shut down with the cold water. The cold water also serves to dull the pain receptors in the muscle and decrease the inflammatory response. As the muscle begins to warm back up, the capillaries are flushed with fresh blood, oxygen, and food, and the yucky stuff is essentially expelled. 

In the spirit of the Chinese New Year, this is a classic Asian technique for improvement in circulation. Ever been to a spa? There are hot tubs right next to cold plunge pools to stimulate the blood vessels. It is ancient in origin. 

Have you ever tried this technique to flush your system? It really is miraculous how much better you feel after you’ve warmed back up!

Let me know in the comments below how you like it!

How to mobilize your shoulders in 6 quick moves

My eye is attracted to bright, shiny objects. This week I noticed a new bright shiny orange thing in the stretching room, and I assumed it was a new weighted bar of some sort. Imagine my surprise when I went to pick up the stick and it practically floated to the ceiling! About that time, my coworker Vince walked by, snatched up the orange thing, and started moving it in all sorts of positions, claiming it reminded him of his javelin days. 

As he was moving the stick around, I thought, “what a fantastic series of assisted stretches for shoulders!” 

It looks fancy, but it is really just a lightweight hollow stick with nice soft grippy handles. 
Don’t have a fancy orange stick? Use a dowel or even a broom! There is always something lying around the house that has multiple uses. 

Here are 6 of the poses Vince masterfully demonstrated:

1. Mighty Bow

Grab the top of the stick and drop your head down through your arms, feeling your chest and shoulders open up. Hold it for 90 seconds if you are at the end of your workout, and bursts of 2 seconds at the beginning for a warmup. Ease into it. Bowing deeply is very difficult 🙂 

2. Shoulder Popper

Reach back hanging onto the stick, and then if that isn’t enough excitement, push back on the end of the stick to create more stretch. It might be enough to just hang onto the stick and bring your arm up behind your head! 

3. Twisty Golfer

All of my golfing clients loooove to work on their rotation this way. The nice thing about the stick is that it allows both shoulders to stay in the same plane, and you actually can then focus more on your back and core opening up. 

4. Hand Stuck in a Doorway and You Kept Walking

Vince’s right hand holds the stick behind him, and his left hand is on his pec or chest muscle. That is where your should feel the majority of the stretch, as well as in the front of the shoulder. 

5. Cobra Hang Gliding

Wowza, how about that shoulder mobility! If lifting your head is too much, then let your chin rest on the floor. If lifting the bar that high is too much, then let it rest on your back. Ease into it! Maybe this is a situation where you get to be happy with being able to grab the bar at all, and work up from there. 

6. Windup for a Big Karate Chop

Enough said. 🙂 

Let me know in the comments below what you think of these 6 quick shoulder mobility stick/broom/dowel exercises! How did they work for you? 

How to get a great workout on a staircase

I love being able to create a great sweat with whatever is around me. That way, I can’t use the excuse that I didn’t have the right equipment or I couldn’t get to the gym and….that was why I didn’t workout. Do you ever find yourself in that boat? Well, look no further than the closest set of stairs to help you out! I am not just talking about running or walking the stairs… there are many more fun things to try. 

I have blogged about How to make stairs your friend before, but this is the next level. 

In this case, I used a set of stairs at a local park and my client Andee to demo a few of my favorite moves. There is magic in threes, so try each grouping of up/down exercises  three times before moving onto the next grouping. 

Give this a whirl: 

BEAR CRAWL (down)

This is easily the hardest exercise, so let’s get it out of the way first. If you aren’t familiar with bear crawling, it is simply crawling on your hands and feet. Try it on flat ground first, and then be sure to leave three-ish stairs between your hands and feet as you head down the stairs. Everyone who has tried this decreases the space between their hands and feet, and that’s when you feel like you are going to tumble. No one ever has! Don’t forget to breathe! 

STAIR CRAB (up)

Place hooked thumbs and palms on 2 or 3 stairs up, and bring your right foot next to your hands, and then your left foot. Don’t lift your hands off the stair until both feet are next to your hands, and you can also try straightening the legs first before you move your hands for a nice quick hammy stretch. 

TWO FOOT HOPS (down)

Break down into a nice squat, and take off with both feet to land one step down at a time. Use your hips rather than your knees to be the shock absorber as you descend and land in a squat. That’s why you start and finish a hop in a squat. That protects your knees.

FROG HOP (up)

Place both hands 1 or (preferably) 2 stairs up, lean forward, and take off like a little frog with both feet landing the hop next to your hands in a deep squat. Repeat to the top of the staircase!

KARAOKE (up and down)

This is your favorite grapevine exercise that allows for some lateral movement in a dynamic environment.

STORK WALKS (down)

In the previous blog about making stairs your friend, I utilize this exercise going both up and down. You simply pick one knee up and almost bring it almost to 90 degrees in line with your hip, feeling your hip flexor in the front of the crease of the hip. Step down, and lift the opposite leg. Continue alternating!

CRAB WALKS (up)

Now let your stomach face the sky, and you are crab walking up the stairs with your fingers pointing down the stairs. You should feel your triceps a lot!

There are plenty of other exercises to play with on the stairs, so let me know in the comments below your favorite! Thanks and have fun! 🙂

So, you’ve fallen on your shoulder. Ouch! Sorry to hear that. 

You happen to be snowboarding…or skiing…or out hiking, biking, or gardening. It doesn’t seem to be getting better on it’s own. 

What to do? 

Well, this is a gentle reminder to help the shoulder roll back into a more comfortable position by doing simple things: looking for things to assist you in your environment, and use gravity! 

In other words: Channel your inner desert dweller…and be a cactus ! 

What do I mean by that? 

In this case, I find the foot rest of the ski lift to assist me, and then I hop on the roller to let gravity help out. However, neither is necessary to channel your inner cactus- you can try it after you first climb into bed, by just lying on the floor, or sitting in a chair. 

The beauty is in the simplicity…and just a few minutes of your time. If you feel some stretch or tightness, I encourage you to breathe into it, and wait for it to significantly release. That might take a bit….but well worth your time. 

Here’s a somewhat noisy video I made on the ski lift to explain what I mean. The wind was blowing pretty steadily and makes the audio a bit distorted, so I apologize in advance. 

Please let me know in the comments below how you like (or dislike?) utilizing the “cactus” position! 

Question: Is it better to workout outdoor or indoors

Answer: Hands down, outdoors! 

Even in the wintertime? It’s so cold out! 

Even better…

One of the best ways to reduce cortisol (the hormone that can pack on belly fat) is simply go outside. If then you haven’t prepared well for the outdoors, and you start to shiver, then rejoice! 

Whaaaat?? 

Shivering burns a reported 60 calories a minute. That is a total bonus workout! Nice job! 🙂
Don’t live in a cold part of the world? Never fear! You can test out the latest in…

Cryotherapy!

According to polartherapeutics.com people need only step into their chamber to flush their system completely. According to their website:

“This is a new and cutting edge treatment that only takes 2-3 minutes and uses liquid nitrogen gas. In that time period your body temperature will drop from around 90 degrees Fahrenheit to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Vasoconstriction occurs and all of the toxins are flushed out of your body.” 

That sounds great! 

Below is what you look like when you get out of the chamber. 
(Never fear, you’ll defrost eventually!) 

The cryotherapy people further state: “As you step out of the chamber, these enriched blood cells pump back into your recently flushed skin tissues, muscle tissues, and joint spaces! You will feel energized, rejuvenated, and refueled!”

I haven’t tried it yet. I’ve been waiting for a time when I know I’ll be really super duper sore to try the liquid nitrogen flush. They claim that ice baths can be history if you tap into this technology.  Additionally, there were rumors of gigantic calorie burns as a result of this treatment (in the realm of 800 calories at a time), but those claims appear to be unsubstantiated. 

Sorry to break that bad news. One of these days maybe one of these crazy techniques really will burn an extraordinary amount of calories.  🙂 However, in the meantime I will try it and report back on the levels of energy, rejuvenation, and refueling- I promise! 

Need more motivation to derive benefits from the cold?

Join the Wim Hof Method. 

Wim Hof’s nickname is Iceman.  His method’s emphasis is exposure to the cold and a special breathing technique, and he has shown remarkable reproducible benefits from both. Below is a link to his book ‘Becoming Iceman” or you can visit his website to find out more. 

In one interview I listened to, Wim Hof used the combination of the cold training and his special breathing technique to eliminate toxins introduced to his body by injection. He wanted to prove to doctors that you can pump up your immune system and eradicate illnesses. He did it, and is trying to teach his technique to others. My brother and his friends are testing it out. I promise to interview them in a future blog also to see what results they derive from their experiments. 

So, keep moving, be thankful for shivers, and get that body outside – just bundle up and it will be more than worth it! 

How to work out with weights and a rock

Do you think you need lots of fancy equipment to get a solid weight lifting workout in? 

Think again!

The other day my client Andee wanted to throw some weights around. She’s got some metal in her back and wrist, and wasn’t sure how weight lifting would go.  I asked her what she had at home, and she said she has a Swiss ball and some weights. 

Perfect…..except I left my Swiss ball at home.

What shall we use instead? 

Weeellllll….. I looked around the park, and noticed this rock shaped thing. It created just enough height to replicate the lift the ball would provide, and we tossed a yoga mat on it for a little cushion.

Voila! The perfect platform for throwing some weights around.

What do you have at home to do the same? Perhaps a chair seat, or ottoman, or couch edge, or edge of the bed? There are endless possibilities! 

The awesome advantage to this workout is that for the most part your body is doing all the stabilizing, and thus it is an amazing upper and lower slamma-jamma combination.

Translation: Biggest bang for your workout buck, and very functional! 

What did we do? Check this out:

Know that the quantity of all exercises was in the realm of 2-3 sets of 10-12 repetitions and we used 10# weights. 

 

Exercise #1: Chest press in shoulder bridge

Start with elbows bent and weights about mid chest area, then press straight up while doing a shoulder bridge (drive through the heels and lift hips with glutes equally)

 

Exercise #2: Row in plank

Start in Plank position, and simply let the weight hang down in space, and pull elbow back (don’t pull into your neck!) through the middle of the back in a rowing motion. 

Exercise #3: Pullover in shoulder bridge

The shoulder bridge is the same as the chest press, however this time hold the weight with both hands and let it drop over your head (careful not to hurt shoulders or neck) and then puuuuuullllll it back over the stomach. This is actually for your back muscles, like a pull-up or a pulldown would target. 

Exercise #4: Russian Twist for 1:30

Gotta love that shoulder bridge! Those glutes should be starting to burst into flames!
Hold the weight with two hands over the stomach, and rotate all the way over to the shoulder, and then all the way over to the other shoulder 

Exercise #5: Bicep Curl on one foot 

Balancing on one foot is an easy way to give one glute at a time some attention, so shift your weigh onto your balancing foot heel and let that glute hold you up. In the meantime grab your weights and bring your fists towards your elbows contracting the bicep muscle in the arms. Other foot hovers over the ball, or rock, or occasionally touches down if you need a quick second of two foot stability. 

Exercise #6: Shoulder Press overhead on one foot 

Same idea as the bicep curl, except take the weights in a “stick ‘em up” start position, and then press overhead. Decelerate the move into the shoulder blades. 

Exercise #7: Walking lunges with twists for 1:30

Lunges are fantastic- with the leg out in front, put the weight on the heel and feel the glute; feel the stretch in the hip flexor area on the back leg. Now twist to one side and the other, and drive through that front heel and feel the glute power you up as you step forward. 

Exercise #8: Full squats for 1:30

Grab onto your kitchen sink, or something substantial to counterbalance you. Drop all the way down into a deep squat, and drive through those heels to get our friend the glutes to kick in to help you up!  

Exercise #9: Tricep xxtension in shoulder bridge 

Poor glutes. They’ve been very taxed this workout, and here is another shoulder bridge…aaah! Grab the weight, bring your palm to your ear, and extend the arm up feeling the back of the arm work. You can add a half twist at the top of the movement to get that third section of the Tricep. 

Exercise #10: Reverse Crunch for 1:30

Start on your back, and then tuck knees to the chest, and continue to bring knees up and back towards your head, feeling in your core. Exhale thru nose to make the movement even stronger and focused in the core! 

Yippee!!! You did it!

Let me know in the comments below how you liked working out with weights and a ROCK! 

How to loosen your back muscles while driving

Holiday travel season is upon us, and with that comes spending time in seated positions…driving to grandma’s, flying to see your cousins, or making multiple cross-town trips. Sometimes, those trips leave you with a tight back, neck, or shoulder. 

What can you do to mitigate those symptoms?

Well, there are lots of things that might help, but putting two tennis balls in a sock is one of the easiest and fastest things to bring along. 

Why in a sock?

Well, for instance, if you keep that combo in your drivers seat in the car, when you open the door the two separate balls won’t go bouncing down the street. While you’re at it, put them in a brightly colored sock so if you take them on the train or airplane you won’t leave them behind in the seat. 

I have gotten to the point that I feel weirder driving without them than with them in my back. Here’s another idea: Flip them vertically and slide behind your shoulder blade to open up one shoulder at a time. The uses are many and varied! Once your back gets tired of them in one spot, let them slide down an inch or so and break loose more tightness in the back muscles segmentally. 

One of my clients calls them the “tennis balls of life”. He doesn’t go anywhere without a set along! 

Let me know in the comments below how you like this little trick…

 

How to avoid “text neck”

Many more sore necks have cropped up, thanks to the ever-increasing use of cell phones and tablets. Does this position look familiar?
(I borrowed the following three images from forwardheadposturefix.com)

The red area gets mad, and quick. The problem with all of this looking down at devices is that the whole shoulder/head/mid back collapse forward, meaning the head goes forward, the shoulders round forward, and the middle of the back pops out into the letter “c” (for camel!) 

Look how much weight your head coming forward puts on your spine:

You add 10 lbs of stress on neck, shoulders, back, and spine every inch your head pops forward!

An inch isn’t much! 

I know you have seen people that look like the blue guy below on the right hand side. It makes my stomach turn, because there is a litany of symptoms that person might be experiencing beyond the “headaches, brain fog, and looking old” referenced below. 

However, I think you can use 1 simple exercise to help out your head and neck instead of the 10 exercises advertised above. 

Wanna know which one it is? 

Hint: I have blogged about it before, but with a different symptom fix in mind: sinuses.

Remember this blog about sinuses? 

Well, that same exercise works like a charm for “text neck” too!

Give this a try:

What you need is a wall, or a door, or a even a tree. Simply use this vertical frame of reference to put your head, hips, and heels against. Walls are very straight up and down, and that is what we want you to be! Stay there for 1 and 1/2 minutes (longer is ideal…) and make sure to keep all three contact points on the wall/tree/door for the entire time. 

Now walk forward off of your vertical reference point. 

Does it feel weird? 

Sometimes it does! 

I always say to clients, “Welcome to straight up and down!” 🙂 

We know you are going to use your devices like my sweet coworkers below.

 

But its easy to ….Prevent that text neck! Let me know in the comments below how this exercise worked for you….

How to activate your glutes with one simple tweak

You know walking sideways is a great way to activate your glutes, but have you tried walking sideways up against a wall for a lateral frame of reference? 

Below you’ll find a Quick Fitness Tip Video that I made in a sundress, which proves you can do anything anywhere!