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>3 Reasons and Ways to INTEGRATE Core OR Ab Exercises throughout your workout program

September 7, 2010 — Leave a comment

I’ve noticed that too often, perhaps due to tradition or habit, most classes incorporate ab routines or core exercises separately from the rest of the class design.

While there’s nothing wrong with devoting a full 15 minutes before or after a workout to nothing but core exercises, I’d like to suggest incorporating these core/trunk/torso exercises throughout your workout.

BENEFITS

  1.  Including core exercises in a mini-circuit of 3 to 4 exercises helps give your other muscle groups active rest, and allows you to be more time-efficient. An example would be doing lunges, pull-ups, and low planks, as a 3-exercise circuit.
  2. Assuming you perform these exercises with great technique, it’s a great way to re-align or re-set your core for proper activation and muscle recruitment throughout the mini-circuit.
  3. More often than not, people run out of time toward the end of their workouts, sacrificing the performance of these necessary functional exercises (they help hold your upper body properly, mitigating back issues due to poor core strength/endurance).

These ab exercises need not be the usual crunch/sit-up requiring you to go on the floor. There are plenty of standing versions of core exercises that can keep you from needing to get down and get back up throughout your circuit.

EXAMPLES OF STANDING CORE EXERCISES

 

Weighted side bends: Hold a light to medium-weight DB or MedBall overhead, and with knees slightly bent and hips even, lean toward one side without leaning forward and back. Feel a stretch on the side of your torso that is toward the ceiling, then proceed to lean toward the other side. 

 



Standing trunk rotation: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, and hold a light to medium-weight DB or Medball in both hands. Lower this weight toward one side of your body as you squat, and explosively come up from the squat while using the power from your legs to accelerate the weight diagonally upward to the other side of your body. Allow your core to decelerate the speed of the weight that’s being “thrown”.

 

Resisted cable walk-outs. Using a cable or resistance band that’s securely attached to a wall or piece of equipment, hold the cable or band in front of your chest, ensuring that the band/cable is at a 90-degree angle from the point of attachment. From here, step sideways away from the point of attachment, keeping your core stabilized from the pull of the band/cable. The further you step away from the point of attachment, the greater the pull of the band/cable, and the harder your core will need to work in remaining stable/strong from the rotational pull. (Visualize the guy below, stepping AWAY from the machine, and maintaining core stability)

These are simple and extremely effective ways to spice up your workout programs by sprinkling core exercises in your mini-circuits. Questions on execution? Email me, friends!
In Fitness Information and Tips, How To (Get Fit, Stay Fit, Perform an Exercise ...) , , , , , ,
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>Goals in IndoorCycling Class: Increasing Cardio Efficiency and Workout Capacity

August 12, 2010 — Leave a comment

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Truth is, our Indoor Cycling classes are designed with a purpose.
 

More often than not, people come to class because of good music, a convenient time slot, or because friends/”accountabili-buddies” are there. This is all well and good, if your only objective is to get a good sweat. “Attend it, and forget it” is the philosophy with such students.

Meanwhile, I am all for providing you with a fun class and a good sweat. It also happens that I believe in giving you more bang for your buck when you attend my classes or train with me 1-on-1. What does this mean?

For cycling in particular, I actually create programs/rides that are designed to:

  1.  improve your fat-burning efficiency, along with 
  2. increase your cardiovascular capacity

These 2 goals are met by specific program design and proper coaching, which, combined with the right music choices, make for an enjoyable, and purposeful class.

* * * * *

How does one improve their fat-burning efficiency in cycling? 

In my years of working with the NewLeaf metabolic cart, and in working with the authors of “Exercise Testing and Interpretation” (Drs. Cooper and Storer — renowned experts in the field of cardiovascular training); the concept of “spending time in your aerobic training zone” in order to increase your fat-burning capability in that zone explains this concept best.

Think of it in this manner: if you want to get good at a skill, you practice it, so that your body becomes more and more efficient at performing it and doing it well.

The same can be said for fat-burning efficiency. If you want to train your body to use fat more as a fuel, you will need to teach it to utilize fat well, by spending time in the training zones where you use fat less.

In many cases, this will be your Zone-3, where the work borders between aerobic and anaerobic, and the breathing starts to become more difficult. It’s for this reason that you find a lot of our classes sometimes devoted to at least 1/2 of the total workout time in Zone-3. There’s a great deal of benefit in training yourself in this zone.

How do you know your Zone-3 heart rate, wattage, or effort? This is a zone best described when you begin to feel shorter of breath.

  • It’s an intensity where it’s hard to talk. You could not hold a conversation.
  • It feels challenging, and uncomfortable, but not quite breathless or “maxing out” in effort. 
  • It’s not “medium” — feels “hard” to “very hard”,  not “extremely hard”
  • Sometimes, I describe it as “the annoying” zone, because you either want to slow down and make your breathing easier, or just go all out and give it your maximum effort.

Once you feel your effort or intensity fits this description, check the average heart rate, or wattage, or MPH on your console, and use that as your guide for future attempts at Zone 3. Over time, you’ll find that these numbers will feel less like a zone 3 and more like a Zone-2 (aerobic, using more fat for fuel). Quite simply, this reflects an improvement in your fat-burning efficiency.

* * *

How does one improve their workout/cardio capacity in cycling?

The same authors/experts mentioned above have also described this question as “How do you increase your cardiovascular engine?”

For this goal, the idea is to train yourself to push past your usual comfort zone, in order to explore higher and higher levels of intensity. Think of it in this manner: if you want to learn to run faster, you need to practice running at those faster paces. A running speed that may have previously been “unknown” to you and your body can only be achieved by gradually trying those speeds, sometimes in an all-out effort, even if it’s only for a few seconds up to a few minutes, interspersed with walking or recovery.

The analogy makes complete sense, doesn’t it?

In cycling class, this is when we do interval training, where we hit your Zone 4 or Breathless/Maximum Effort levels for up to 2 minutes tops, before giving you at least 30 seconds of recovery.

* this is the same chart used earlier 

Zone 4 work is where the effort is completely anaerobic, and at the high-end range of your capability.

  •  It’s an effort where you are short of breath
  • You are at your maximum aerobic effort for the day
  • your intensity is so high, you could only hold it for 1-2 minutes at the most.
  •  You definitely cannot and do not even want to think about holding a conversation; you are only thinking about how long you can hold this effort or intensity up.

Once you feel your effort his this description, check your heart rate, wattage, or MPH on your console. This should reflect an “all-time high” number, particularly if you are hitting Zone-4 before you feel fatigue set-in. Over time, you will see yourself hitting higher numbers, and exploring a greater workout capacity, when you hit Zone-4.

And this is why we have segments of interval training in our classes. More than just workout variety, these segments do in fact, benefit you, in terms of increasing your overall capacity, so that your cardio engine becomes stronger, allowing you to do more.

 

* * *

So there you have it — the “quick-and-dirty” explanation behind our Indoor Cycling classes. Question is, what do you think? Do you use these concepts to benefit you?

In Cycling, Fitness Information and Tips, How To (Get Fit, Stay Fit, Perform an Exercise ...) , , , , , ,
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Lumbar Microdiscectomy (L4-5): Why I Had To Have Surgery

July 21, 2010 — 5 Comments

Last Sunday (July 18), I was practically SUPERMAN, teaching my classes as usual, and delivering the energy and inspiration that Source/Spirit courses through me, when I teach and coach.

I’ve lived this way all my life, really, regardless of the here-and-there episodes of back pain every couple of years. Ever since 1997, when I joined a National Powerlifting event in Manila, I have had some sort of issue with my lower back.

I remember some details of that competition — the deadlift was my favorite event, and it was the exercise I was strongest at. The 3 events I had to win at were the squat, deadlift, and bench press.  At 19 years old, and about 150 lbs, I was one of the strongest contenders in the bantam-weight division. I don’t recall the amount of weight I lifted in all 3 events but I do recall that I deadlifted the heaviest weight I had ever attempted.

That day, I won a silver medal, and earned one of the typical badges of powerlifting wars: I sustained my first ever back injury.

Since then, my low back has never been the same. In 1999 I joined a bodybuilding event, and still remember always feeling “a little off” in the lower left part of my back, when training my legs.

L4-5 microdiscectomy scar.

In 2001, I moved to the US and pursued my passion for fitness. My two years in New York had a few episodes of back strain. I always felt my low back in some sort of “pinched” way when I’d hang from a pull-up bar. I also always had to stretch my back muscles in a way where I wanted a specific area of my lower left back to “pop” or “release” from being so tight. No amount of massage or stretch could ever seem to relieve it of that feeling.

I’ve lived in LA since 2003. Past episodes here on back strain:

  1. During my years of taking intense “step” classes, I’d always feel my lower left back as the area that needed the most stretch.
  2. I have had my back “go out” from stepping out of my car on an early morning.
  3. I’ve taken a yoga class during a back episode that made me feverishly worse — I thought I was doing my back muscles some good — I literally walked out of the class feeling as though I merely irritated whatever was going wrong.

This and many other isolated incidents kept occurring every couple of years.

And about 2 months ago, the weirdest thing happened. One Tuesday night, about 48 hours after I had taught a couple of classes, I started feeling electric, shooting pain deep in my left hip, all the way down my left leg. My low back felt fine, in fact, I was 100% certain this was a different incident. However, the pain was RIDICULOUSLY BAD. I could not lie flat, stand, or walk, and the only comfortable position was sitting forward in a bent-over position.

I had practically zero sleep for about 3 weeks (not days, mind you. Weeks!). No amount of NSAIDs, not even strong doses of Vicodin were helping to ease the pain. Then, by the 4th week or so, the pain started going away, and I thought, okay, life can go back to being “normal”.

To rule out the possibility of major issues, I decided to once and for all get an MRI and see an orthopedic specialist. By then, the pain was a 2 out of 10, and I merely thought I’d get the news that I somewhat knew all along — that there’s a herniation of some sort, as in 85% of the American population, and that I simply overdid things somehow and need to take better care of protecting an old injury.

Well, I was somewhat right, but mostly wrong. My specialists told me that my herniation was “large” — more than the typical small or moderate size that they’d see in most other herniations. The MRI also showed that the disc nucleus had oozed out of the disc walls and was definitely hitting nerves, hence the tingling and electric pain surges I had a few weeks ago. Actually, these specialists had me walk all sorts of various ways, and by this time I was in zero pain. They were shocked that I was walking at all, and I found it almost impossible for that MRI to have been as bad as they were saying it was.

Then, the tell-tale signs of a serious issue were uncovered. Since my leg pain episode, my left leg felt so much weaker. It would get more tight/sore, and didn’t move with as much ease/coordination as it used to. I chalked this up to the obvious: I had an injury and it was taking time to heal and get stronger. However, the doctors also found a couple of things:

  1. Visually, the doctors easily saw how much smaller my left upper leg had gotten, compared to my right leg. There was obvious muscle atrophy.
  2. They gave me manual resistance tests on each leg. My right leg basically acted as though no mountain could move it in any direction (I was “superman” after all), but my left leg failed all the manual resistance tests – as though one part of me remained Clark Kent, and it was my left leg, quivering to fight the push/pull similarly applied to my solid right leg.
The MRI also showed “stenosis” — a narrowing of my spinal canal, both central and foraminal, due to the size of the herniation. I was in zero pain, but my left leg was starting to manifest weakness, due to the herniation impinging and affecting some of the nerves whose space was being invaded by the herniated discs between L4 and 5.
I walked away from the diagnosis in shock and a bit of disbelief. The lack of pain made me think they were just trying to scare me, which is their job to do, so I can decide what’s truly best.

The admission of some form of weakness and symptoms in the L leg made me fear that I may have to face the music. They recommended L4-5 microdiscectomy (removing the herniated portion of the disc between L4 and L5) to prevent further weakening of my L leg, restore normal nerve function, and prevent the possibility of worse-case scenarios (i.e. further nerve damage causing loss of sensation in the legs, or even loss of bladder/bowel function — an incident that happens less than 1-2% of the time, but one that is a true medical emergency).

Over the next couple of weeks, I saw 2 more neurosurgeons or spine/back specialists, and did copious amounts of research on the necessity of having this back surgery. True enough, the specialists and the written research said the same thing: If there is obvious weakness or atrophy in either of the legs, surgery is highly recommended, regardless of pain, because the above symptoms do reflect nerve damage that can only get worse.
I personally got down to measuring the circumference of my upper legs and at one point, the shocking truth stared me in the face: my L upper leg was now TWO INCHES smaller in circumference than my R leg. And it dawned on me that even if I took extra steps to try and restore symmetry in strength and function b/w both legs, my L leg kept feeling just tighter and weaker all the same.
So last Monday (July 19), my 33rd birthday, I gave myself the best gift ever…

Yes, a car :) …
… And I went for the procedure that today has me feeling as though a knife stabbed my low back. I’ve never felt less like the Superman that I was 3 days ago, and I am constantly reminded of how quickly things can change in a snap of the fingers.
I know that over the next 8 weeks, the kryptonite that is the incision on my low back will affect me less and less. Then, I’ll be back to flying around with the weights, kettlebells, and medicine balls, and “saving the fitness world” one class/blogpost/session at a time. 

So there you have it — the lowdown on why I had “preventative” back surgery on my birthday/backday.

I think of it is a re-birthing of sorts. 

I now refuse to make excuses for why I would not take the bull by the horns and enjoy the day to day experiences that life brings. I’m also the first one to admit that these life experiences and material things mean nothing, if you don’t first learn what it’s like to have love/joy/peace, from within (and you can do all that while still keeping your sense of humor, per below).

I share this story so that those of you who may have been experiencing similar problems would consider learning more about your options. Trust me, a great majority of our American population suffers from low back pain, most likely due to such herniations, albeit caused by other incidents.

  • You don’t have to suffer, and you don’t have to live your life with recurring episodes.
  • In many cases, you also don’t need to resort to surgery; it just so happens mine was necessary.
  • Most important of all, you shouldn’t try to put off learning as much as you can about something as important as your health/well-being. Without it, the quality of your life and your experience on this earth is unquestionably affected.

My thoughts and well-wishes go out to all of you! Thank you for your birthday greetings, healing thoughts, and caring messages. I’ll see and be with each one of you very very soon!

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