After 14 years in the fitness industry, I’ve seen my fair amount of products come and go; tested out great ones and tried out some ridiculous ones. A few remain my favourites: the stability ball, gliding disks, the TRX and the Equalizer bars. The theme among my faves are sturdy equipment that facilitates stability, agility and core strength. Today, I’m going to talk about the benefits of the Equalizer bars. From athlete to beginner exerciser, the Equalizer bars are a fantastic way to develop strength through the back of the body. We live in a world of mostly forward movement: the actions of walking, reaching, carrying and climbing stairs are primarily dominated by the muscles that cover the front of our bodies. The back of our bodies are often neglected and misused leading to back and other joint problems. In my opinion, One of the best ways to work the back muscles is by doing bar pull-ups. Unfortunately, most of us can barely pull ourselves up to the bar once. Enter the Equlaizer: lying on your back with the bars parallel and shoulder width apart, hold onto the bars and pull your torso up. Too hard? No problem. Just bend your knees with heels close to the behind to make it easier. Similiar to a hanging bar pull up, you can vary the width and angle of the Equalizer bars to target different muscles of the back. Alternate these back strengthening exercises with a forward and a side plank and you are on your way to a solid core.

We can’t forget the glutes (butt in layperson’s terms). Many of us have a tight lower back often related to weak glutes and core. Strong glutes help to take unnecessary strain out of the lower back and reduce back injury. One of my favourite exercises is the hip lift. The Equalizer allows us to vary this classic exercise in a couple ways. Lying on your back with the heels on the equalizer you can perform a hip lift with a flexed ankle to train dorsiflexion, release the calf muscle and target glutes and hamstrings. Dorsiflexion (the movement of pulling the toes towards the shins) can be limited in individuals who wear high heels or have tight ankles. Immobility of the ankle joint can cause knee problems and effect your squat. When your ankle lacks mobility, the knee joint will suffer by taking on extra movement that it is not designed to do. When the heels are pressing into the top of the equalizer it facilitates dorsiflexion. Also, the action of dorsiflexion creates a stretch in the calf muscle (another overworked muscle) so that it can relax allowing the glutes and hamstrings to dominate the movement. A final note on the hip lift: be cautious that you don’t lift up so high with the hips that you fire the back muscles. If you’re feeling too much work in the small of the back, do not lift up as high and focus on squeezing your behind. Start incorporating the pulls ups and hip lifts now into your workout and see how great your back side will feel! Here is a tip: if you’re doing a full body workout, use the 75:25 rule. Split the workout into 75 % back of the body muscles and 25% for the front of the body to create a more balanced physique.

Check out my Equalizer workout videos here

To purchase your own shiny pair of Equalizers, click here.  enter code LF120 for $20 bucks off.

BELOW ARE A FEW OF THE MANY BENEFITS OF QUADRUPED TRAINING:

1. IT’S A BETTER CORE WORKOUT THAN TRADITIONAL CRUNCHES.  Quadruped movement patterns effectively build the core muscles with less chance of injury compared with traditional crunches.  Regular crunches require a lot of flexion which over time can lead to disc injury in the back. Also, when you continually flex the spine in the crunch position you are reinforcing the c-shape often associated with poor posture.  In the quadruped position, the pelvis can be held in neutral where the lower back is neither flat or overly curved.  Maintaining the neutral alignment through the pelvis while performing quadruped exercises supports stability through the back and abdominals while allowing for mobility through the limbs.

2.  QUADRUPED TRAINING MAKES YOU SMARTER!  Coordination of all four limbs in a new way has a beneficial impact on cognitive ability.  Studies have shown that the coordination and route planning involved in quadruped training improves cognitive function in the frontal lobe.  Other frontal lobe functions include problem solving, working memory, cognitive flexibility, planning, movement initiation, and spatial orientation.  (78 M.J. Matthews et al. / Human Movement Science 47 (2016) 70–80). 

3.  EXCELLENT WEIGHT BEARING FOR JOINT HEALTH!  Quadruped movement creates joint stability and mobility through the major joints which prevents injury.  Good quadruped movement trains the wrists, elbows, shoulders, ankles, hips and knees to effectively distribute loads across the whole body while ensuring good blood flow to those same joints.

4.  BETTER OVERALL WORKOUT!  Moving on all fours, recruits many more muscles than exercies that isolates a smaller group of muscles; such as, bicep curls and leg presses.  The more muscles recruited, the harder you have to work and the better the cardiovascular and muscular workout.

CHECK OUT THESE VIDEOS ON QUADRUPED TRAINING FOR MORE DETAILS

As a personal trainer, I’ve trained many women pre and post pregnancy and in my opinion your best chance of having a healthy pregnancy, delivery and recovery is to ensure you’re already on a good fitness program before getting pregnant. Most moms are unhappy with their tummies post pregnancy. Clients will tell me how their stomach was flat until after they had their children and now they are having trouble reducing it. Unfortunately, a flat stomach does not always indicate a strong core (abdominals and pelvic floor). If you have never done anything to strengthen you’re pelvic floor, abdominals, back and hips then you are setting yourself up for a difficult post natal recovering.

On the other hand, if a woman enters into pregnancy with an awareness of proper posture and strong core muscles then she will be able to adapt appropriately as her body starts to change. As her belly grows, she will know to keep her glutes strong to counterbalance the pressure on her back. She will naturally engage her pelvic floor muscles and use her lungs to their full capacity when performing daily tasks. Finally, she will be aware of keeping her neck and shoulders relaxed and open even when her body is tired or sore. There are so many benefits to having been active prior to pregnancy: you have increased endurance and energy for managing labour and birth and research shows women who exercise pre-pregnancy gain less weight than non-exerciser while staying within a healthy weight gain range. In addition, pre-pregnancy exercise is linked to improved body image and mood and is an essential intervention for women’s psychological health during pregnancy.
So what level of fitness is needed to aid in a healthy pregnancy? Firstly you want to be at a healthy weight prior to getting pregnant. The key is a ‘healthy’ weight, thinner is not necessarily better. Being in top shape for a marathon with too low body fat can have a negative effect on your chances of conceiving. If body weight and body fat are either too high or too low, estrogen and progesterone concentrations in the body go down,” explains Nancy Williams, Sc.D., an associate professor of kinesiology at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park. “An adequate estrogen level is needed to stimulate ovulation.” Underweight women can have regular menstrual bleeding, but the cycles are likely to be anovulatory, which means ovulation doesn’t occur. http://www.fitpregnancy.com/pregnancy/getting-pregnant/fat-and-fertility. Other studies show, that if you enter into pregnancy with an already high BMI, a measure of body fat percentage, you are likely to have a higher gestational weight gain. In addition, excess weight adds additional strain on the joints, ligaments and muscle that will already be attempting to accommodate your growing belly.
Equally important to being at a healthy weight is that you engage in activities that strengthen your pelvic floor (the muscles involved in pushing during labour and bladder control). A stable and strong abdominal wall and back muscles are essential to prevent injury and pain. Finally, maintaining your flexibility through your hip joint and rib cage are also important in preventing postural strain.

So what exercises are appropriate during pregnancy?  Check out Part 2.

Looking for a way to reduce anxiety? This could help

I have arrived. I’m sitting with 18 others in a circle at a mindfulness meditation course. We all have our own reason for being here: insomnia, anxiety, pain relief, anxiety, and…anxiety. 10 years ago I would never have seen myself taking a course like this. Being a personal trainer, my meditation came through high intensity exercise, sweating it out and feeling the burn. But, here I am: scrambling to find a work life balance and feeling like life is passing me by.
Mindfulness meditation is simplistic in its practice: you focus inward and try to develop a state of non-judgement and calm. While meditating, you only notice your breath. You notice sensations in your body. You allow whatever uncomfortable feelings to come up and then you let them go. The informal practice consists of letting yourself slow down and focus inward during everyday tasks. When you are eating you are only thinking about eating, noticing the flavours, textures and smells of the food. When you are walking you focus on how your feet hit the pavement and how your hips feel as you step, not what you’re going to make for dinner or the assignment to finish. When you feel the rise of anxious feelings, anger or pain, you take three breaths. When in conversation, you listen without interrupting or nodding your approval or disapproval to the other. When you speak, you do so without analyzing how the other person is reacting to you.
So there I was, weekly log in hand, charting the minutes I sat in meditation or laydown doing my body scan, unable for even 10 seconds to clear my mind or stay awake long enough to make it through the body scan. I think “I kind of suck at this.”
My back hurts often, I feel antsy. Yet I persist. I remember this is a practice. On the days I skip meditating, I miss it. As the weeks pass I start to feel lighter. I naturally take a deep breath before I react to a potentially unpleasant situation. I notice I’m not rushing around as much. I’m worrying less about planning my days but I’m still getting things done. I start to wonder where some of my usual anxiety has gone. Does this actually help? Something is changing within me and there’s science to support it.
The Buddhist monks have been practicing meditation for a long time, but the science behind its positive effects is relatively new. In the late 70’s, Jon Kabat-Zinn pioneered research into using simple mindfulness meditation techniques to help alleviate chronic pain and debilitating medical conditions and found it effective. His research served as a breeding ground for more studies into mindfulness. According to Dr. Daniel J. Siegel, “studies show that the ways we intentionally shape our internal focus of attention in mindfulness practice induces a state of brain activation during the practice. With repetition, an intentionally created state can become an enduring trait of the individual as reflected in long-term changes in brain function and structure. This is a fundamental property of neuroplasticity—how the brain changes in response to experience. Here, the experience is the focus of attention in a particular manner.” (Siegel, Daniel J. “The Science of Mindfulness” www.mindful.org. Sept. 7, 2010)
The alarm jolts me awake at 6:30am. My mind starts racing: I’m tired, why’d I watch another episode of Orphan Black? I’ll meditate later, I’ll just hit snooze, I forgot to get milk…then I pause, take three breaths and settle into a seated position. I’ve arrived. Ok, let’s do this.
For more information about local mindfulness courses, visit http://www.mindfulnessmeditationtoronto.com

Yoga and Strength Training are two great ways to prepare your body for pregnancy and birth.

Benefits of Prenatal Yoga:

1. Learn proper breathing techniques to ease stress and labour pains
2. Increase you flexibility in the joints that need to be open for labour while decreasing lower back and neck pain.
3. Sleep better. Yoga can have a relaxation effect on the body, easing you into a better night’s sleep
4. Educate yourself. Join a prenatal yoga class run by a doula and get advice on the realities of pregancy and labour while sharing your experiences with other expectant moms.

FOR A GREAT PRENATAL YOGA CLASS RUN BY A EXPERIENCED DOULA TRY SasmitaYoga.com

Benefits of strength training during pregnancy:

1. Develop more core strength and strengthen your pelvic girdle to help make labour easier
2. Raise you metabolism so that you gain weight at a healthy pace. While performing cardio exercises raises your metabolism in the short term, strength training raises your overall metabolism so that your body works more efficiently 24 hours a day.
3. Decrease your chance of injury and discomfort during pregnancy. As the hormone relax in kicks in your joints become looser. Strength training helps to keep a balance between strength and flexibility in the body and makes it less likely that you will injure yourself.
4. Increase your self image. As you belly expands, you can feel stronger and more confident knowing that you are do an activity that is making your body healthier.
5. Get back in shape quicker post baby. Women who exercise pre and during pregnancy reach their pre-pregnancy weight quicker because their bodies are healthier.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON PRIVATE PRENATAL STRENGTH TRAINING call Lauren at 647-294-5155 or email me

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms include; pain through the wrist and hand, and numbness through the fingers.

How to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome:

Try to keep the wrist in a neutral position. What this means is keeping a straight arm from the fingertips to the elbow maintaining relaxed fingers and shoulders. You can place a small rolled up towel under your wrist so that the wrist can relax and does not bend. There are also ergonomically designed keyboards and wrist rests that reduce the computer users’ risk of injury

Stretches for preventing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:

Whenever you stop typing, stretch the finger tips towards the under side of the wrist and then release to neutral. Another good stretch is to spread the fingers as far apart as they go and then relax the fingers together. Repeat each stretch ten times.

Try your brain at this fun fitness quiz. Answers are below.

1) BMI (Body Mass Index) is

a. an estimate of body composition that compares weight and height

b. a calculation of the percentage of body fat within an individual

c. an individual’s percentage of muscle tissue

2) Which is not a primary benefit of Resistance (weight) training?

a. an increase in bone density

b. an increase in muscle fibre size

c. increased blood delivery

3) Our primary source of fuel when we exercise is…

a. carbohydrates

b. fat

c. vitamins

4) A healthy resting heart rate is…

a. 70-75 bpm

b. 90-100 bpm

c. 110-120 bpm

5) Flexibility training is important because…

a. it helps reduce stress in the exercising muscles and release tension developed in the workout

b. it decreases your chance of developing osteoporosis

c. it develops cardiovascular strength

6) Which statement is false

a. Women in their third trimester should avoid exercises where they are on their backs for a prolonged period of time.

b. Women who exercise while pregnant have higher rates of miscarriages.

c. Exercising while pregnant can help prevent gestational diabetes

7) Which statement is false: Individuals with osteoporosis should …

a. perform strength training 2-3 times a week and balance training once a week

b. do 30 minutes of physical activity each day

c. avoid all resistance training

8) Which statement is true?

a. genetics accounts for 80% of how fat you are.

b. Women should avoid weights because they may bulk up

c. Cardiovascular training lowers blood pressure

9) To determine maximum heart rate, calculate

a. Resting heart rate plus 50

b. 220-age

c. Resting heart rate times 2

10) When exercising for a cardiovascular benefit, your heart rate should be…

a. 60-85% of your maximum

b. 45% of maximum

c. 20% of maximum

answers: 1.a, 2.c, 3.a, 4.a, 5.a, 6.b, 7.c, 8.c, 9.b, 10.a

Got a question? Email me

A 135-degree body-to-thigh sitting posture was demonstrated to be the best biomechanical sitting position, as opposed to a 90-degree posture most people consider normal (Dr. Waseem Amir Bashir, researcher from University of Alberta Hospital)

85% of us will experience back pain during our lifetime. Office workers are especially prone to back pain and work related injury considering they work seated in front of a computer for the majority of the work day. Traditional thought says individuals should sit upright at their desk to prevent joint and back pain.

However, recent studies show that the erect sitting posture is NOT a relaxed or sustainable way of sitting while reclined sitting is. Sitting completely upright creates vertical strain on the spine and forces the spinal material to shift out of line over time.

In contrast, when a worker reclines at approximately 135 degrees maintaining lumbar curvature, there is the least strain on the spinal discs and surrounding muscles and joints. Erect posture is only sustainable for two minutes without discomfort.

When you consider most office workers are seated for eight hours a day, the less stressful, reclined posture seem an optimal alternative.

So lean back and relax while at your desk and you are on your way to creating a healthy spine and preventing injury.