What a great way to spend your Labor Day holiday… at the Park!  This week I asked Nicole to mix things up with some options to help keep your workout fresh.   Follow Nicole through her full body Total Gym workout that includes great cardio options.   What’s at your neighborhood park that you incorporate into your workouts?

GRAVITYPick_Fun At the Park

I have loved lifting weights to get stronger, look and feel better and enhance my athletic performance since the age of 12. But it wasn’t until I delved deep into my Pilates training that I truly got the most from my resistance training routines – and helped my clients get the most from theirs. You don’t have to be formally trained in Pilates to understand the rewarding principles of focus and concentration.

Here’s an example I use to get my clients into the mind-body realm on Total Gym GTS. Let’s call my client Nathan, and today we’re working on his pushing muscles, starting with the chest. I’ll have him first experience an internal contraction of his chest muscles by simply pressing his hands together vigorously.

• Nathan’s goal is to hit his level of fatigue between 8 and 12 reps.
• He is doing a seated forward chest press on the GTS at level 6 to achieve his goal. He has done one set properly and is stretching his chest while recovering between sets.
• For the next set, I’ll take the GTS down to level 5 and Nathan’s goal is to get the same results with intense focus on the mind-body connection.
• I’ll have Nathan close his eyes and as his arms go back on the eccentric phase, I’ll have him visualize the pectoral muscle lengthening with control. I’ll ask him to feel his core stabilizing his torso like an anchor, allowing his strong chest muscles to do their work.
• Before he starts the concentric phase, Nathan will engage his core a little more and start his exhalation – breathing is very important in Pilates.
• As he continues this phase, he will activate his core throughout his exhalation and then at the peak contraction of his pecs he will internally squeeze the chest muscles and hold about a second, then release.

This kind of mind-body discipline is at the heart of Joseph Pilate’s philosophy of training the body. As a guy, I surely don’t mind the ratio, but it is disappointing that 95% or more of my Pilates class students and clients are women. Joseph Pilates was a body builder himself and he developed his wonderful Pilates discipline working with men. Studies have shown that when male body builders dropped their weight to about 80% of what they could actually lift and focused intently on the mind-body connection, they achieved better muscle development. Unfortunately for us guys, the gals seem to be the smart ones  when it comes to mind-body discipline.

Resistance training is like anything else in life:  If you stay present and focused during each set, you will get a better return on your workout. Use the versatility and ease of changing the level of your Total Gym to challenge you and your clients’ mental focus to achieve a new level of results. Practice the simple, yet hard to live-by, principle of “living in the present” to make your workout a moving meditation with proper focus.

Namaste’

JayDee Cutting is a GRAVITY Master Trainer, certified personal trainer and Pilates instructor. Feel free to contact JayDee at CuttingEdgeWellness@san.rr.com or check out www.NiceDogYoga.com. JayDee’s CoreGolf Fitness DVD is due out this fall.

Today Tom describes a Torso Combo developed by our talented GRAVITY MasterTrainers.  Build upper body strength with with this Torso Combination that includes a trunk rotation for core strength, move into a chest fly and finally a bicep curl.  Change position on the glide board to build a workout that meets your needs.

These and more great workouts ideas can be found at GravityClubhouse.com.  Membership is free and it’s a great way to keep your Total Gym workout fresh. See you there!

Have suggestions for a workout you’d like Tom to perform? Let us know in the comments box on this blog post.

Every week I have at least one client who walks into my office and says “I really wanted to eat healthy this week, but I just couldn’t get to the grocery store.” I then picture my local Von’s (Safeway for my east coast friends) surrounded by a crocodile filled moat and at least one fire breathing dragon. Clearly this is not the case but sometimes the simple act of grocery shopping can seem like an epic adventure.  Follow these easy steps and I promise you will be in and out of the store before you know it!

Image courtesy of edibleportland.com

1. Create a Plan – Take a few minutes and plan out your week. What do you have going on with work? Will you be chauffeuring your kids around? Do you have dinner planned with friends? Then decide what you are going to eat this week and make a realistic grocery list. Notice I said realistic…more on that later.

2. Stick to the Perimeter of the Store – Pretty much everything you need can be found on the perimeter of the store—mainly the healthy options like fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy and meats. It’s the interior aisles where we tend to get in diet trouble! Next time you are at the store just look at the cereal isle. It’s HUGE and full of neon boxes covered in cartoon animals that are “Grrreat!” It’s terrifying for me to just think about. So stick to the perimeter and then just dart into the interior for something here and there. You’ll know exactly what you need because you have your list from tip #1.

3. Buy in Season – Produce that is in season is going to be much less expensive and better for you. It is less expensive because there is more of it and it is better for you because it hasn’t traveled as far. Grocery stores will stock the produce that is in season right at the front of the produce section so it’s easier to grab on the go!

4. Organic? – In a perfect world I would want everyone to eat all organic; however, I understand that this isn’t in everyone’s budget. When it comes to choosing where to spend your money, my advice is to start at the top of the food chain. Always choose good quality meat, fish and poultry. Next, opt for organic produce where you will eat the skin (i.e., strawberries) and after that produce where you won’t eat the skin (i.e., oranges). Grains should be at the bottom of your list as there is little difference when it comes to these products.

5. Be Realistic – Sometimes the grocery store on Sunday can feel like the gym on January 2^nd. Everyone is bright-eyed and full of hope that this will be the week where they will have oatmeal for breakfast, bring their lunch every day and cook extravagant dinners. Then they get home, realize they hate oatmeal and haven’t turned on their oven since the Clinton administration. I encourage you to be realistic.  Start by bringing your lunch 3 days this week. Achieve that and then next week we can talk about turning on that oven.

I wish you happy, healthy grocery shopping!

Did you follow Tara’s advice? Let us know how your shopping trip went by leaving a comment below.

Tara Coleman www.taracoleman.com

Tara Coleman is a Clinical Nutritionist living in San Diego, CA, and the newest spokesperson for Salada Tea. She will guest blog on Total Gym Inside twice a month with “Tara’s Friday Bite.” Leave us your comments with ideas for future topics or email Tara directly at tara@taracoleman.com.

Firefighters from across the nation gathered in downtown San Diego for the annual IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters) convention. The IAFF is headquartered in Washington, DC, and represents more than 297,000 full-time professional fire fighters and paramedics who protect 85 percent of the nation’s population.

There are a few fire stations in the U.S. that have Total Gyms to keep their men and women fit and ready for the call of duty! At the IAFF convention, we introduced attendees to our GRAVITY Ride ‘n Glide workout on Total Gym (see photos below). The participants went back and forth between spinning and GRAVITY strength exercises – pretty exhausting!

Any fire fighters reading this? We’d love to hear from you! Leave us a note so we can thank you for your service.

UPDATE: We’ve created a new CATEGORIES section under “Connect With Us” on the home page so you can conveniently find categorized posts – from Fitness Wisdom Wednesdays to Tara’s Friday Bites! Check it out and let us know your thoughts.

What’s your favorite Total Gym exercise?  We like them all!  And we love to hear from you about what keeps you motivated to reach your goals, or maintain your fitness.

This week we are focused on a Hip, Thigh and Glute Workout in a great Lunge Sequence.  With just a few position changes you can reach these large muscle groups for a lower body workout.  If you feel good, add in some upper body rotation to incorporate your core.  Thanks for stopping by and check back next Monday for more great exercise videos!

I saw a preview for Julia Robert’s new movie “Eat, Pray, Love” the other night and in one scene, her character is shown indulging in pizza in Italy; throwing all no-carb diet restrictions to the wind. The movie, by the way, is based on the book by Elizabeth Gilbert about a newly-divorced woman on a quest for self-discovery around the world. I won’t give too much away for those who want to see it. Nevertheless, this preview made me think about indulgence…

It’s no secret that we are an indulgent society. We are constantly in need of more … more food, more money, more time off work. I mean, who doesn’t want just a little more dough to pad the bank account? However, I think if we lived life in moderation, we’d all feel a bit more fulfilled.

Moderation also translates to living a healthy lifestyle. Fitness experts agree that moderation in diet and exercise can lead to desired results. We don’t need to starve ourselves or log hours on end at the gym to get into shape. In fact, eating too little or over training can actually have adverse effects on your quest for a fitter body, including slower metabolism, which could lead to weight gain; insomnia; moodiness or irritability; prolonged muscle or joint pain and even muscle loss. Balance your diet and exercise regimens to reap the true rewards of weight loss.

Follow the 80/20 rule when it comes to your diet. Eat a balanced diet – preferably a clean diet (read more about clean eating here) – 80% of the time, but take that 20% to enjoy the occasional (note I say “occasional”) treat, whether it’s a slice of pie for dessert or an alcoholic beverage. If we don’t indulge just a little we’ll be prone to binging later!

As for exercise, shoot for 5 to a maximum 6 days of moderate to vigorous activity a week. Your muscles need rest to repair, rebuild and strengthen. It may be hard for fitness enthusiasts to imagine taking time off exercise, but fitness experts say you will see welcome gains.

So let’s move forward with “moderation” in mind and see if we can’t all live a happier, healthy life! Until next time …

Cassie is the Communications Manager for efi Sports Medicine/Total Gym and a published fitness writer.

Happy Monday! Tom is out today at the Can-Fit-Pro convention and tradeshow in Toronto, Canada. He’ll be showcasing our GRAVITY workout on Total Gym – along with our Canadian distribution team – to over 10,000 attendees at the commercial fitness show.

Great arms requires hard work – sorry there’s no easy answer here! These biceps exercises on Total Gym are dynamic and challenging enough to see results … but they are also fun! Keep your elbows high and stabilize through the core to stay upright throughout every exercise. Look for progressions like static equilibrium exercises and supine bicep curls.

How many times have you sat on your couch in the evening trying to ignore your craving for the carton of ice cream that seems to be SCREAMING at you from the freezer? Are you starving because you haven’t eaten enough that day? Is it because of a killer workout you did earlier? Or is it just your emotions talking? Well, there’s only one way to identify the reason for your cravings and that’s by keeping a food journal.

Having said that…food journals are often perceived as a hassle. Oftentimes, it is a miracle that we find enough time to eat let alone write it all down! When we do record what we eat, it’s usually from memory and that is rarely accurate.

So instead of keeping a written journal, why not try keeping a visual journal? Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that people who took pictures of what they ate for one week actually made better food choices than those who simply wrote it down. Use your camera phone or digital camera to record everything that you eat for a day. At the end of the day you can either just review the pictures or use them to enter information about what you ate that day into a free online calorie tracker like the one found at LIVESTRONG.COM. This is my personal favorite…and yes, there’s also an app for that! It’s called the LIVESTRONG.COM Calorie Tracker. This calorie-tracking software allows you to see exactly what you are putting into your body on a daily basis. You may actually find that you are doing a better job than you are giving yourself credit for!

Tara is offering a FREE private nutrition analysis for Total Gym Inside subscribers. Just mention “Total Gym Inside” when scheduling an appointment for an in-person or phone consultation. Visit www.taracoleman.com.

Tara Coleman www.taracoleman.com

Tara Coleman is a Clinical Nutritionist living in San Diego, CA, and the newest spokesperson for Salada Tea. She will guest blog on Total Gym Inside twice a month with “Tara’s Friday Bite.” Leave us your comments with ideas for future topics or email Tara directly at tara@taracoleman.com.

Today’s weekly workout video speaks to the new moms who might need a little motivation to get back into a regular and safe exercise routine post-baby. Please consult your doctor and/or a certified fitness professional before getting back into exercise. There are safety concerns for new moms, especially those who had a cesarean section.

GRAVITY Master Trainer and certified fitness professional Tricia Alker is a new mom herself and she takes you through a series of beginning to advanced postnatal exercises. In this video, Tricia focuses on building strength in the upper body first considering that’s where you are constantly carrying heavy loads including baby, diaper bags and more.

For the men out there, you can do these upper body exercises as well. Just increase the resistance by going up a few levels!

Be sure to check out more GRAVITY on Total Gym exercises at www.gravityclubhouse.com. It’s free to register and access this video and more programming and online extras.
GRAVITYPick_My Postnatal Workout