Push-ups are a common callisthenic or body weight exercise designed to strengthen the chest, arms, shoulders and core. They are an important part of most fitness programs because they are a great upper-body exercise and can be done anywhere, anytime. For these reasons, they are worthy of being our Focus Point of the Week.

Performing a push-up combines core stability with a symmetric upper body pushing movement.   This combination is evident in many functional and sport activities during which the trunk stabilizers are required to transfer force symmetrically from the upper extremities to the lower extremities and vice versa.

Movements such as getting up from the floor, pushing a door open, rebounding in basketball and pass blocking in football are examples of this type of energy transfer. If the trunk does not have adequate stability during these activities, kinetic energy will be dispersed, leading to poor performance as well as increased potential for injury.

Although there are numerous variations to push-ups, the following are important points to remember for every modification.

• Maintain “I.” Make sure you keep a straight line from your heel to your ear. Your hips should not pike up or dip down.
• Stay high on your toes, keeping your heels away from the floor. This will help engage your thigh and hip muscles for better stability.
• Your shoulders should remain packed down (towards your hips) away from your ears.
• Your arms should be wide enough to allow your elbows to bend to 90 degrees at the bottom.
• Your body should remain rigid throughout the exercise, moving as one solid unit.
• Avoid rounding your upper back.

For beginners, doing push-ups while standing at a wall or having your knees (rather than your toes) on the ground is an intelligent way to start. However you do them, your form, as described above, must be maintained from the first repetition to the last. Once you start to lose the ability to do so, it is time to terminate the set. If you are doing typical push-ups on your toes, you can go to your knees once you begin to lose good form and do a few more if you want to push a little harder.

When performed properly, push-ups are an amazing tool for increasing upper body strength and joint integrity as well as core stability. Since push-ups are such a fundamental movement pattern, they will be found in everyone’s program in one form or another. For this week and moving forward, focus on having the best possible technique while performing push-ups.

Have you started thinking about what nutritional behaviors you would like to commit to for the Nutrition Habit Challenge?

During this time of year when advice for change is flying at you from every media source imaginable, it can be challenging to separate fact from fiction.  Suffice it to say that sticking to basics and keeping it simple results in better long-term outcomes. Whether you are trying to lose weight, get stronger or simply improve the quality of your diet, being realistic about your goals, as well as your path to meet them is KEY!

• Say “Yes” to lifestyle changes and “No” to fads.  Seeing fast results is appealing, even motivating.  But if fast results mean risking injury, a compromised immune system and unsustainable change, is it worth it?  Take weight loss as an example.  A 1 -2 lb loss per week may seem slow and arduous, but translated into a 25-50 lb loss in 6 months is probably something you can get behind!

• Reducing portion sizes is a common behavior change individuals list as important.  In turn, it may be tempting to skip meals altogether.   Doing so actually has more negative effects than positive, including a slower metabolism, decreased energy and the risk of binging on unhealthy foods.  Instead, focus on smaller, more frequent meals to keep you strong, healthy and satisfied.

• Focus on the positive instead of constantly nagging yourself.  Avoiding the “all or nothing” mentality is a concept we discussed in our “Overeating” Focus Point of the Week. Rather than berating yourself and giving into temptation over a single slip-up, plan to reward yourself for each step you take forward.  Treat yourself to a nap, a bubble bath or even a day off as you see your successes unfold.  And yes, baby steps count as success!

Hopefully, this week’s Focus Point will inspire you as we get ready for our annual Nutrition Habit Challenge. This year’s event will commence Friday, January 27^th with a motivational lecture “Realistic Strategies for Realistic Change” given by Jody Whipple, RD.  We hope you can make it.

Check out our new “Talk to the Dietician” app on Facebook!

Over the Holiday season we discussed the importance of “Goal Setting” and “Connecting the Short-Term with the Long-Term”. This week’s Focus Point, “Inventory Taking”, provides us with a tool to stay on track and succeed.

Inventory taking is a regular and honest examination of our efforts and habits in both our personal (relationships, health, etc.) and professional life roles.

It is a proactive process that helps us identify if we are on track to attaining our goals or coming up a little short…and doing so in a timely manner. It allows us to either feel good about our direction or make necessary changes to our behavior without experiencing the consequences of wrong assumptions, bad habits, procrastination or lack of initiative.

So how do we inventory? Start by creating inventory questions that relate to the strategies you have developed to achieve your goals. For example, if the goal is to get a raise at work, ask yourself:

• Do I know what management expects of me?
• Do I have the tools to succeed?
• Is the criterion for success clear?
• On a weekly basis, am I meeting that criterion?

If the goal is to make your health a top priority, go through the same process:

• Is my strategy for success well defined; is it reasonable?
• Do I have the tools to succeed?
• Am I implementing my strategy successfully, or letting the same old roadblocks sabotage my efforts?

If the answer is “no” to an inventory question, you must dig deeper, determine why, and create new strategies. When the answer is “yes”, you must ask yourself a final, very important question…”how do I know?” . This often means getting someone else involved.

Making assumptions, setting the bar too low or simply “not knowing what you don’t know” makes asking this question the most important part of the process. For example, you might think you are meeting the criteria for a raise, but how do you know? The answer is pretty simple…ask your boss! That will allow you to either know you are on track and proceed with confidence or make the changes necessary to succeed. Don’t assume anything and don’t leave being successful to chance.

Inventory as often as you decide is necessary to be successful. If you are succeeding with goals or issues you are inventorying weekly, you can probably begin to inventory those items monthly or quarterly.

Don’t start the year fast out of the gates only to slip back into bad habits. Inventory your behavior and ensure success in achieving your goals!

By Bruce and Kym Burke

Cardio training (a generic term that refers to any aerobic type exercise) is an important part of anyone’s exercise plan…and for good reason. The benefits of this style of training are numerous. It…

• strengthens the respiratory muscles
• improves the heart’s pumping efficiency
• reduces resting heart rate
• improves circulation efficiency
• reduces blood pressure
• burns body fat (an all-time favorite!)

Any physical activity that gets your heart rate up and keeps it up for an extended period of time qualifies as cardio training and can elicit the above mentioned benefits. However, if not done progressively, our bodies will begin to adapt and we will experience a diminished return on our cardio training.  This is due to the fact that, over time, our cardio-vascular, cardio-respiratory and muscular systems become very efficient with the task they’ve been given, resulting in improved fuel-efficiency. That’s right. Unlike our cars which tend to lose performance efficiency the more we run them, our bodies actually improve.

Here is how to get the most out of your training:

Be purposeful with your cardio training time…

One big advantage to cardio training is that it is simple…it involves very little thinking or training expertise.  Because of its simplicity, it is easy to lose focus and just go through the motions. To get the most out of your training, have a specific plan going into it.

Monitor your intensity…

As mentioned above, it is easy to “fuzz out” during cardio training. For some, heart rate monitor wristwatches are helpful, but for most of us, a simple assessment of perceived exertion will suffice. Ask yourself, “on a scale of 1-10, how hard am I working?” If you’re supposed to be working at a “7-8” on a scale of 1-10 or 75% max effort, you should feel like you can maintain that intensity for no more than 30 minutes. If you’re cruising along and feel like you can go for an hour, you know you’ve got to pick it up! Keep in mind that you’re monitoring your intensity, not the setting on the machine. With a properly designed cardio program, you may need to bump up the settings (mph and grade on a treadmill, rpms and resistance on a bike, for instance) to elicit the desired response by the body.

Work hard…

Although it is true that we “burn” relatively more fat with lower intensity cardio training (55% – 65% of max functional capacity), the absolute amount of fat we use is actually less than if we were to work at a slightly higher intensity (75%-85% of max functional capacity). If burning calories is the goal of the cardio training session, we shouldn’t be as concerned about the fuel utilization during the session as compared to the fuel utilization after the session (EPOC).

Keep your body guessing…

Let’s say you get 2-3 cardio workouts per week. If you always give your body the same stimulus on the same days, you will quickly adapt and probably not get the desired result.

At One on One, we’ve created endurance training protocols that will help keep your body guessing:

The 2-Minute Buildup

Earlier, we mentioned fuel efficiency. We know that cars are much more efficient running at a consistent speed on the highway. Fuel efficiency goes way down with the starts and stops of driving in traffic. Unless you are training for an endurance event, we don’t want our bodies to become efficient with our cardio training. The 2-Minute Buildup allows you to train for a long-duration, but with a progressive system of increasing intensity. Every two minutes, increase the intensity from approximately 60% of perceived max effort, to 70% to 80%, then back to 60% and start over.

Interval Training

Interval Training involves bursts of high-intensity work interspersed with periods of low-intensity work. The high-intensity periods are typically at or close to near-maximum exertion, while the recovery periods may involve either complete rest or activity of much lower intensity. The duration of Interval Training workouts, as well as the time ratio of work/rest depends on the individual’s fitness level and training objectives. This format is especially helpful when training for specific events, such as a 5-K.

The Sprint Workout

This format gives you 2  1/2 minutes to work at 55%-65% of max effort, followed by an all-out 90%-95% effort for 30 seconds. You will definitely need the two and a half minutes to recover prior to sprinting again. We love this workout at One on One. In thirty-minutes, you get 10 cycles of sprint/recover. Talk about affecting EPOC, burning post-workout calories and maximizing your time exercising!!!

Save your Joints

One final tip on optimizing your cardio training; research shows that although the health and fitness benefits of cardio training are numerous, too much of the same type of training can quickly lead to overuse injuries. Using different formats, modifying your weekly schedule and monitoring your intensity is the ultimate in cross training.

Be purposeful with your training and you can expect a lifetime of good cardiovascular health and a healthy body composition. Be sure to talk with your trainer this week to make sure your cardio training program is on track!

Martha Michael, NASM CPT

12/31/11

State College, Pa.

One on One is pleased to announce that Martha Michael recently completed the Certified Personal Trainer Certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).

Martha has been with One on One since January 2011. She received her B.S. and M.S. from Texas A&M University.

Carol Shirk, NASM CPT, ACE LWMC

12/29/11

State College, Pa.

One on One is pleased to announce that Carol Shirk  recently completed the Lifestyle and Weight Management Certification through the American Council on Exercise.

Carol has been with One on One since 2007.  She received her B.S from the University of Minnesota and completed the Personal Training Certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine in 2008.

By Jody Whipple R.D.

Our Focus Point this week is “Overeating”.   We all occasionally overeat, and at this time of year, anxiety about food and weight can make eating seem especially chaotic and out of control.  This week we will discuss ways to eat in a joyful, mindful and satisfying manner.

What kind of an overeater are you?

• Do you find yourself getting so busy you forget to eat and then really overdo it when you finally make the time?
• Do life’s stresses cause you to turn to food for comfort?
• Is the availability of food so abundant that saying “no” seems unnatural or even rude?
• Do you tell yourself, “Come January 1^st, this behavior is going to stop, so until then, it’s full steam ahead!”

The reasons we overeat are as prevalent and as varied as the individuals who give them.  Exploring what they are and where they come from can be an important first step in identifying how to change.  Regardless of the reasons, moving forward with new thought processes and behaviors can start today!

In order to navigate the rest of the holiday season, the New Year and beyond, consider some of the following suggestions:

• Resist “all or nothing” thinking when it comes to food.  The reality is, any food available today will be available tomorrow.  By reminding yourself you can have some later, overeating becomes unnecessary.  In practical terms, this may mean preparing a favorite food yourself at a later date or asking your server/ hostess for a “to go” container.

• Your body needs food approximately every 3-4 hours.  Try not to trick yourself into thinking the longer you go without food, the better off you are.  It is virtually impossible to eat in a mindful manner when you are ravenous.

• Eat in a deliberate fashion and slow the pace of your eating.  Pick foods you really want, eat them slowly and enjoy every bite.  This will prevent you from rummaging around to get desirable foods after you’ve already eaten the food you thought you “should”.  Use smaller plates and tell yourself you can always go back for more if you are truly hungry.

• Finally, if you do eat for emotional reasons, or to comfort yourself, do so in a compassionate way.  The problem most of us have with emotional eating is we do it poorly.  We don’t let ourselves be comforted, and instead feel anxious and guilty.   This guilt and anxiety leads to an inability to naturally regulate our intake internally…a cue we all have and should listen to.

Here’s to a fantastic 2012!

By Bruce Burke

Last week, we talked about the importance of developing a vision of who you aspire to be, then creating goals consistent with that vision. This week, we address an important strategy for achieving those objectives…connecting the short term with the long term.

When we reference the “short-term,” we are referencing the daily decisions and behaviors that essentially define who we are. These decisions and behaviors are the vehicle through which we achieve our much larger objectives. It is getting our short-term behaviors to consistently line up with this vision that is the challenge.

Here are some examples…

If a long term objective includes being remembered as a person of high integrity, short term behaviors such as “fudging the truth” or “permanently borrowing” something that isn’t yours must be avoided. If being a healthy example for loved ones is important, you can’t eat everything in sight and skip exercising whenever “life” gets in the way. If financial success is important, you can’t procrastinate and avoid taking risks.

This probably makes plenty of sense to you, but how do you do it consistently? The challenge is doing the right thing…making the right decision, in the moment. Here are some suggestions:

• Make sure your long term objectives are well defined and written down (mission statement).
• Slow down…be mindful.
• Wear a bracelet or carry something in your pocket that will remind you of what is important when it matters the most…decision time!
• Keep the big picture front-of-mind; review your mission statement daily.
• Look for accountability through loved ones or mentorship.
• Review your behavior regularly through journaling.

Finally, accept the fact that you aren’t going to do things perfectly. Just because you have made a few mistakes and behaved in ways inconsistent with who you aspire to be doesn’t mean the game is over. It simply means you are human and need to refocus.

Use this strategy and make 2012 your best year ever!

Race to the North Pole 2011: Bonus Question of the Week

According to this week’s Focus Point, connecting the short-term to the long-term is a strategy that allows you to:

A. Slow down and be mindful

B.  Be a person who doesn’t “fudge” the truth

C.  Realize your long-term goals

D.  Do group training 8 days a week to get max points

Click here to answer

or

Drop your answer in the RTNP Bonus Question of the Week drop box located at One on One’s front desk

or by the Minitab Fitness Center bulletin board.

Although it is not expected or required, our clients occasionally treat their trainers with special gifts during the holiday. We are grateful to you for recognizing their special efforts, as are they. We have developed a unique gift idea that benefits you, your trainer, One on One and our charities.

Make a donation to either CVIM or CCYSB for anywhere between $10.00 and $200.00 and One on One will contribute the same amount, in your name, to your trainer in the form of a special year-end bonus. Instead of giving to the trainer directly, give to one of our charities and let us give to the trainer. Everybody wins!
Here’s how it works:

• Bring a check made out to either CCYSB or CVIM for any amount up to $200.00.
• Put your trainers name in the memo. Your trainer will be made aware of your holiday gift.
• One on One will total the checks given in each trainer’s name and give them a bonus of up to $1000.00 apiece!

You win by treating your trainer to a very generous, tax deductible gift while supporting two exceptional local charities. Your trainer wins with a wonderful, year-end cash bonus. One on One wins because we are facilitating an opportunity to support two of our favorite causes…our team members and “Give Back”!