Metabolic rope training with Belle Tire 97s.  Good work boys!!!

There is no exercise that works your abs more effectively and efficiently than the plank. All of your abdominal muscles (transverse, obliques and upper) have to work together to stabilize and support your entire body weight.

It also engages your glutes, shoulders, lats, arms and legs. Almost every muscle in your body is being toned and tightened when you perform this power move.

Get ready to flatten and tone your midsection in as little as 60 seconds with all the variations of this super pose.

Master the Plank

Before you try some of the more creative poses it’s essential the you master the basic pose.
Remember:

1. Draw your navel towards your spine. Think about really pulling your belly up, no sagging!
2. Don’t overarch your back. You want your whole body from the top of your head to your ankles to be in a straight line.
3. Engage your glutes. This will help you keep that straight line.
4. Keep those angles at a 90 degree angle. This helps your entire body stack correctly.
5. Don’t collapse into your shoulders or let them rise towards your ears. Pulling your abs tighter will help you direct the hold to your core instead of your neck and upper shoulders.
6. Keep your gaze about 6 inches in front of your face. This will keep your neck from straining.

Work up to a 60 second hold, focus on perfect form. If you need to rest during your plank drop your knees down to the ground and then rise back up again into the pose.

Plank Variations

Once you’ve mastered the basic plank, check out these fun and challenging takes on the basic movement:

Oblique Plank: Moving your legs while holding the plank increases the work your lower abs and obliques have to do, plus it gets your heart rate up burning a ton of calories.

Side Plank: Shifting the plank from one arm to two forces your obliques and lats to engage- say goodbye to love handles.

Mountain Climbers: Want to tone and tighten your abs while ramping up your heart rate? Try this fast paced ab move as a cardio interval between strength moves.

Exercise Ball Planks: Doing this balancing exercise on an unstable surface dramatically increases the challenge to your core by forcing it to tighten and lift to stabilize your body.

We all know our bodies need calcium for bones, vitamin C to fend off colds, and chocolate to save relationships. But when it comes to losing weight, the nutritional information is a little more confusing. The mighty trilogy of nutrients – protein, carbohydrates, and fat – garners most of the diet industry’s attention, but it’s becoming much more clear that fiber needs to be the fourth leg of the dietary table. Study after study shows that not only does fiber help lower your risk of cancer, heart attack, and high blood pressure, but it also keeps you full and helps you decrease the total amount of calories you consume every day. Trouble is, most of us think that getting the recommended 30 grams of fiber a day means eating cereal that tastes like the box it comes in. But that’s not the case; you can sneak fiber into your diet anywhere.

At Breakfast

Spice up your eggs. One-third of a cup of chopped onion and one clove of garlic will add 1 g of fiber to scrambled eggs. Or fold the eggs omelette-style over 1/2 cup of cooked broccoli for an additional 2 g.

Drop a whole orange into the blender to flavor your morning smoothie. One peeled orange has nearly 3 g more fiber than even the pulpiest orange juice.

Fill your juice glass with nectar instead of a watery juice from concentrate. Nectar is apricot, peach, pear, or papaya juice, mixed with fiber-rich pulp. It packs more than 1 g of fiber per 8-ounce glass.

Heat up a bowl of oat bran instead of oatmeal; it has nearly 2 g more fiber. Add even more flavor and fiber by stirring in 1/4 cup of raisins or chopped dates before nuking it.

Sprinkle ground flaxseed over your favorite cold cereal, or stir a few spoonfuls into a cup of yogurt. Two tablespoons equals close to an extra 2 g fiber.

Grab an Asian pear. Similar in taste to other pears, the red-colored Asian variety has an apple-like crispness and shape, and it delivers significantly more fiber – 4 g per pear.

Buy spreadable fiber, like almond butter, for your whole-wheat toast. Two tablespoons adds 2 g of fiber, along with a healthy dose of heart-protecting fats and vitamins like E.

Whip up a pack of hot-chocolate mix instead of that second cup of coffee. Most instant-cocoa mixes have as much as 3 g of fiber per cup.

At Lunch

Don’t like whole wheat? Make your sandwiches with rye bread. One slice has almost 2 g fiber – twice the amount found in white bread.

Opt for burritos instead of tacos. Flour tortillas have more fiber than taco shells. Even better, make the burrito whole wheat for still more fiber per serving. Now, order that burrito with meat and beans instead of meat alone. Half a cup of beans adds 6 g of fiber to your meal.

Stow some microwavable soup in your desk for when you need to work through lunch. Lentil, chili with beans, ham and bean, and black bean each have between 6 and 10 g of fiber per cup.

Shower your pizza with oregano or basil. A teaspoon of either spice adds 1 g of fiber. Order it with mushrooms and you’ll get 1 g more.

Build your burger with a sesame-seed bun instead of the plain variety. Sesame seeds add 1/2 g of fiber per burger.

Order your dog with sauerkraut. Every 1/4 cup you pile on adds close to 1 g of fiber to your frank.

In the Afternoon

Drink bottled chocolate milk, not white. The combination of the chocolate and the compounds needed to keep it suspended in the milk provides 1.5 g of fiber in every 8 ounces.

Pop a pack of light popcorn instead of popping open a bag of potato chips. There’s 8 g of fiber in every bag of popcorn.

Have a low-sodium V8 and its 2 g of fiber. The V8 that comes spiked with salt has half that amount.

Graze on trail mix instead of a granola bar. Most granola bars have only 1 g of fiber, while trail mix with dried fruit has nearly 3 g.

At Dinner
Toss 1/2 cup of chickpeas into a pot of your favorite soup. They’ll absorb the flavor of the soup and tack 6 g of fiber onto your bottom line.

Swap a sweet potato for your standard spud. Sweet potatoes have 2 g more fiber per tuber than the typical Idaho variety. Not a fan? At least eat the skin of the regular potato – it alone has 1 g of fiber.

Go wild when you make rice. Cup for cup, wild rice has three times the fiber of white.

Add some green to your red sauce. Doctor your favorite jarred pasta sauce with 1/2 cup of frozen chopped spinach. The spinach will take on the flavor of the sauce and pad your fiber count by more than 2 g.

Prepare whole-wheat or spinach pasta instead of the regular semolina kind. A cup of either has 5 g of fiber.

Cook broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, and you’ll take in 3 to 5 g of fiber per serving, as much as twice what you’ll get if you eat them raw. (Heat makes fiber more available.)

Use uncooked oatmeal instead of breadcrumbs in your next meat loaf. Add 3/4 cup of oats per pound of ground meat, and you’ll boost the total fiber count to more than 8 g.

At Dessert

Say nuts to candy bars. Bars with almonds, like Almond Joy and Alpine white chocolate with almonds, have about 2 g of fiber – almost twice the fiber content of bars without.

Top a bowl of ice cream with sliced fresh berries in lieu of syrup. One-half cup of raspberries provides 4 g of fiber; strawberries and blueberries pack half that amount.

Introduce your pie hole to a slice of apple, cherry, or berry pie, and you’ll add an extra 3 to 5 g of fiber. Cake doesn’t have nearly as much fiber.

Starting Jan 12, there will be open hitting for adult softball players. Here are the dates and times:

Jan 12   9-10:30pm

Jan 19   9-10:30pm

Jan 26   9-10:30pm

Feb 2   9-10:30pm

Cost is $10 a person. We will add later dates depending on the first 4 showings.

Looking for a great recovery drink after a hard workout?
Drinking chocolate milk between exercise sessions may improve recovery. The purpose of a recent study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research was to examine the effects of low fat chocolate milk vs. a carbohydrate–electrolyte beverage (CE) on recovery between preseason practice sessions among 5 male and 8 female Division III soccer players. The study used a randomized crossover design: between morning and afternoon practices, athletes received either an amount of chocolate milk that provided 1 g carbohydrate per kilogram body weight or an equal volume of CE (mean volume of 615 ± 101 ml). After their afternoon practice, they completed a shuttle run to fatigue.

Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon paired rank-sign test (for shuttle run time) and the paired samples t-test (for dietary intake). No significant differences in run time were reported for the group. For the men only, there was a trend of increased time to fatigue with chocolate milk compared with the CE (exact p = 0.03). Low fat chocolate milk may therefore be as good as a CE at promoting recovery between training sessions during preseason.
Spaccarotella, KJ and Andzel, WD. The effects of low fat chocolate milk on postexercise recovery in collegiate athletes. J Strength Cond Res 25(12): 3456–3460, 2011.

NSCA NEWS

By Karen Toews • For Active.com

Have you made your nutrition resolutions? If so, they might look like these:

Try a month-long cleanse
Launch into a vegan diet
Test out gluten-free eating
Lose weight
Or maybe the only resolution on your list is to learn to fuel while training for your first marathon.

If you’re still undecided and don’t want to be left out of the resolution loop, check out the following list. These resolutions all carry worthwhile nutritional benefits.

1. Avoid Aspartame and other synthetic sugars.

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener used as a sugar substitute in some foods and drinks. It is also sold under the brand name NutraSweet.

Aspartame’s negative side effects include Methanol (wood alcohol) which is a dangerous neurotoxin and a known carcinogen. Synthetic sugars contribute to acidity, a condition which leads to inflammation and the creation of fat cells to store that extra acid. So ironically, consistent consumption of Aspartame could add to your weight.

2. Avoid refined sugar.

White, refined sugar weakens the immune system by stealing your white blood cell’s ability to destroy bacteria. It can also encourage addiction to eating foods devoid of vitamins, minerals and fibre.

3. Eat more greens and veggies.

This boosts your intake of antioxidants, B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, zinc and omega-3s.

Include: a daily serving of greens, a daily serving of coloured veggies (can include bright-colored berries), and a daily serving of sulphur-producing vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, turnips, onions, and garlic.

4. Eat more fermented foods.

The healthy bacteria in fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi can speed up your digestion and assimilation of nutrients. These foods also help reduce sweet cravings (and when you do indulge, fermented foods help digest the sugars).

5. Log your food intake.

Write down what you eat every day and when you eat it. The timing of your food intake affects how you feel and tracking what you eat is a helpful sports performance tool.

6. Make your own power bars and gels.

The nutritional value of processed energy bars is often the equivalent of candy bars. Homemade bars and gels with nutrient-dense calories are less expensive and easy to make.

Here is an energy gel recipe you can use.

Blend the following in a blender or food processor:

8 medjool dates or 10 to 12 pitted dates (soaking them overnight makes these easier to blend)
4 tablespoons agave or maple syrup or honey
4 tablespoons chia seeds (high in protein, fiber, omega-3s, calcium)
4 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons lime zest
2 teaspoon dulce (seaweed) flakes, snipped in tiny pieces
couple of pinches of sea salt
The mixture can be stiff so you’ll have to stop the blender and scrape several times. Shape your gel into tablespoon-sized balls and store in the refrigerator or freezer to have ready to take with you as you head out the door for your next workout.

Challenge yourself with at least one of these nutritional resolutions. You never know what rewards await you in the new year.

By Coach Jenny Hadfield • For Active.com

I learned a great deal about resolutions during the early part of my professional career. I spent 10 Januarys implementing “New Year—New You” motivational programs geared to get employees moving and grooving after a long holiday season.

The programs were successful—for some, but not for nearly 80 percent of the participants. That’s right, only 20 percent of the people achieved the six-week goal of moving regularly. You may be witness to this effect at your own gym. It’s the season where you can’t run on your favorite treadmill because there is a long line of people waiting. And five weeks later, it’s all yours again because they fade into the distance.

Rather than focus on lighting a fire under the majority of people, I spent my time observing the habits of the people that were making healthy change and came up with this list of things that made them all highly successful resolution achievers.

1.   Make it personal. A resolution is the act of making change, and that only happens when you lean into something that really matters to you.

2.   Simplify. You don’t need flashy clothes, expensive equipment or a complicated plan—you just need to take action, get moving and make it fit your lifestyle.

3.   Be realistic. It’s okay to think big, as long as you start small. The number one reason for resolution drop out is launching into doing too much, too soon and making too drastic a transition from where you were when you started.  Start with getting in one workout, and then focus on the next and the next. Focus on what you can do today, and go from there.

4.   Go deeper. Avoid pinning your target on a number. Losing 25 pounds, finishing the race 10 minutes faster—these are all external outcomes. Wrap your goal around something intimate and achievable like sleeping more hours, weaving clean foods slowly into your diet, improving your pacing skill to finish stronger. It’s not about a number—it’s about a deeper quality of life. When you focus inward, the outcomes happen naturally.

5.   Think evolution not revolution. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a fitness goal.  You can build a stick house in a day, but it will only protect you until the very first storm hits. Don’t get caught up in all the short-term hype—invest in the long term.

6.   Start when you’re ready. There is no clause stating you must start when everyone else does on January 2.  Make your plan, put it on your calendar and start when you’re ready.

7.   Be open. Listen to what speaks to you along the way. You may find that new Zumba class you’re taking keeps your body from aching and adds a fresh spin on the old plan. Create your own recipe along the way and move outside the lines. You’ll avoid burnout and have more fun (and want to do it again and again).

8.   Find your flow. As much as we like to believe our bodies are linear-progressing super heroes, the truth is we’re like the seasons. We ebb and flow through peaks and valleys of energy. Move with the rhythm of your personal flow and you’ll make the most of every workout. That means running by feel rather than a pace. Some days you’ll be faster, some days you’ll be slower. It’s not about a pace—it’s about moving at the right effort on that day.

9.   Connect. People that move together evolve together.  They go longer, run stronger and have a lot of fun along the way. Join a buddy or group—you’ll learn a lot, have a built accountability resource and a set of healthy role modeling friends.

10.   Celebrate. Be mindful along the way. The true gifts of making serious change in your life are the quiet moments when you realize you feel better, move more easily and you’re running in tune with the rhythm of your life.

By Alana Brager • For Active.com
It’s no mystery that the night before a big marathon, triathlon, race or long morning run, consists of heading to your local Italian restaurant and loading up on bread and pasta.

From crazy fad diets to carbo-loading, it’s easy to see why there are many misconceptions about the best fuel for your body before a day of incredible exertion. There are certain foods that should be on your weekly grocery list, as well as fueling foods for your body on a daily basis.

The long grueling workouts that many endurance athletes partake in, can take a toll on your body and mind, but being aware of which foods to consume in order to help your body recover faster, is crucial. Vegetables and fruits that are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are what we all expect athletes to consume. However, lean proteins, healthy fats and carbohydrates provide your body with fuel.

Here are the top 10 super foods for endurance athletes that should be staples in your diet.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal has a high soluble fiber content, is high in complex carbohydrates, is a good source of protein and has a low glycemic index, which provides a sustained release of energy into the bloodstream—imperative for runners. Oatmeal offers your body a regular dose of Vitamin B and is rich in minerals and antioxidants. It’s credited for maintaining the good level of cholesterol in the body and is known as one of the most nourishing foods for the body, especially for athletes.

Cherries

Cherries are one of the most antioxidant-rich fruit and provide a wide range of health benefits, as well as performance and recovery benefits for athletes. Research has shown that runners who consumed tart cherry juice, twice a day for seven days a week, had strikingly less muscle pain following a long distance run. The post-exercise benefits are astonishing because of the fruit’s natural anti-inflammatory components. A recent study from the University of Michigan revealed that a cherry enriched diet lowered total weight, body fat and inflammation, all associated with heart disease.

Kale

Kale is a member of the cabbage family and contains high levels of vitamins: A, K, B6, calcium and iron. It’s an antioxidant-rich vegetable that helps regulate the body’s inflammatory process. Kale also contains carotenoids and flavonoids, two powerful antioxidants that protect cells from free radicals that cause oxidative stress, as well as a high fiber content that helps lower cholesterol.

Milk

With all the different types of milk out there today, soy, almond, rice and even hemp, it seems that good old fashioned milk is still number one when it comes to athletes. Milk is loaded with carbohydrates and protein, which makes it an ideal post exercise muscle recovery beverage for endurance athletes. When carbohydrates and proteins are consumed together, muscle tissues are repaired at a faster rate than if consumed separately.
Bananas

Bananas are one of the best pre- and post- workout snacks. It’s no surprise that they seem to be included in every post-race goodie bag. Loaded with potassium and vitamin B6, bananas help maintain low blood sugar, regulate digestion and re-stock your body with lost electrolytes after any sort of physical exertion. Vitamin B6 in bananas acts as an anti-inflammatory agent that helps ward of cardiovascular disease.

Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are a nutrient dense super food that contains a high amount of fiber, three times the amount of antioxidants than blueberries, and are loaded with calcium, iron and protein. They also contain a high amount of omega-3 fatty acids and hydrophilic properties, which means that the seeds have the ability to absorb more than twelve times their weight in water, thus allowing prolonged hydration. The seeds help in retaining moisture and regulate the body’s absorption of nutrients.

Walnuts

Walnuts are a plant-based protein, rich in fiber, B-vitamins and antioxidants, such as vitamin E. They contain the most Omega-3 fatty acids than any other nut and the anti-inflammatory nutrients are great for bone health. Walnuts have also been shown to lower LDL cholesterol, are beneficial for a healthy heart and make a great healthy and energizing snack on-the-go.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are a starchy vegetable, rich in vitamins A and C, which are both powerful antioxidants that work in removing free radicals from your body. They help lower blood pressure and are a powerful food for athletes because of its high vitamin and mineral content. The potassium, iron, manganese and copper are all minerals that many athletes lack; manganese and copper being crucial in healthy muscle function.

Wild Salmon

Salmon is one of the most nutrient dense proteins, full of essential Omega-3 fatty acids, as well as vitamins B12 and B6. Salmon can help reduce inflammation in our bodies through it’s high content of Omega-3′s, which is valuable for athletes. Salmon is known to be the king of fish because of it’s high quality protein. A weekly consumption of this power food has been shown to decrease the risk of numerous cardiovascular problems, such as heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure. The antioxidant in salmon, selenium, has been shown to be beneficial in cardiovascular protection.

Whey

Whey protein isolate is the purest form of whey protein and is a complete protein that contains all of the essential amino acids. It’s absorbed quickly and efficiently into the body, making it an athletes dream. It doesn’t contain any fat or cholesterol. The protein and array of amino acids are essential in muscle re-building, especially after a strenuous workout or race. For athletes, it’s a great fast recovery method because it helps prevent muscle breakdown and is the fastest digesting protein.

Every pitcher wants to throw harder. Professional scouts and/or college recruiters will tell you that 90mph is a magical number when they’re looking for fastball talent.

Here at the National Pitching Association we performed a scientific study to better understand what contributes to the velocity of a fastball. These findings may just challenge the way you think of fastball velocity, and help young hurlers master their fastball potential.

What is Velocity?

There are three ways to look at the velocity of a pitch.

1. Real velocity or the actual MPH read on a radar gun.
2. Perceived velocity or the way a pitched baseball is read by a hitter because of real velocity and deception.
3. Effective velocity or how a previous pitchs speed and location affects a hitter’s read on the next pitchs speed and location.

Obviously, since we wanted to determine what generates velocity in a delivery, we had to come up with valid and defendable testing protocols. We chose to isolate and measure the contribution of hip/shoulder rotation to real velocity by quantifying pitch speed from our NPA two-knee drill position, which has the pitcher down on both knees facing the target at approximately a 45-degree angle. Putting a pitcher on two knees allows us to:

1. Minimize and/or eliminate any directional weight shift.
2. Isolate and measure the impact of hip/shoulder separation and rotation for correlation with maximum ball velocity on each throw.

Where Pitchers Get Their Momentum

Once we quantified a pitcher’s maximum velocity on his knees we moved him to a mound. Pitchers move farther and faster directionally, when they stride down a hill. By charting his maximum velocity pitching on the mound and comparing the maximum velocities generated in each test we could calculate the percentage that rotation and the percentage that direction contributed to his maximum real velocity.

Our biggest surprise came with the revelation that the larger percentage of total velocity comes from a pitcher’s rotational momentum (hips and shoulders) and not his directional momentum (legs)!

Lets take a look at how the different body parts work in the pitching delivery and what the study showed about their contribution to the velocity of the ball.

Importance of Legs

Legs are the foundation through which kinetic energy is initiated–the mechanism by which the total body mass is delivered down the mound. This is achieved through what we call weight transfer. This weight transfer turns potential energy into kinetic energy and helps determine the efficiency of both the timing and force thus affecting the amount of energy getting through the body to the baseball. Proper weight transfer sets up the efficient interaction and timing of rotational and directional momentum.

Ball velocity is optimized when:

1. Posture is maintained.
2. The back leg stabilizes while the back knee flexes, firms up and loads (isometrically) during front leg lift.
3. There is an aggressive first forward movement with butt and center of gravity leading head/spine into front foot contact.
4. During this one second of weight transfer, a pitchers lift leg should stay off the ground as long as possible to create a longer stride.
5. Head/spine stay on a natural line into a natural landing (foot strike) position.
6. Landing leg stabilizes, landing knee flexes, firms up and loads (isometrically) to translate kinetic energy up through body and out onto baseball at release point.

The Role of the Hips and Shoulders

Our research has indicated 80 percent of ball velocity is generated by rotational momentum when:

1. Hips and shoulders separate between 40- 60-degrees around an upright spine.
2. Hips and shoulders maintain their angle of separation as long as strength and flexibility will allow while total body tracks forward into landing foot.
3. Throwing shoulder/glove shoulder delay rotation until hips have slowed/stopped their rotation.
4. Scapular loading is allowed to be an unconscious accommodation that helps the throwing shoulder to stabilize and compensate for the weight of the throwing arm/ baseball as they change direction and snap from external rotation into release point.

What the Spine/Torso Do

Our research has indicated 20 percent of ball velocity is generated by directional momentum when:

1. Total body tracks head and spine on line in the exact direction created by shifting weight from posting foot to landing foot.
2. Low back/spine hyperextend to keep torso upright and stacked as shoulders square up and track into a flexed and firm front leg.
3. Glove swivels and stabilizes over front foot as throwing arm lays back in external rotation.
4. Low back/spine goes into flexion just before throwing forearm snaps straight into release point.

Again, the spine/torso (squat thrusts) of a golfer swinging a club does the same thing as the spine/torso (stack and track) of a pitcher throwing a baseball.

With the availability of the velocity study data comes the obvious question: Can we become more mechanically efficient so we can make the most of our genetic potential to throw the ball faster? The answer is, clearly, yes!