Summer Fitness in the Park

Steven Rice Fitness begins an exciting new Palo Alto outdoor exercise class in June.                 Get out of the gym and get fit while enjoying the summer weather.

The class will meet at Mitchell Park on Tuesday afternoons from 5:00 to 6:00, starting June 4th and ending August 6th.
 

Slosh Pipe, half filled with water

You will use your whole body and combine mobility, strength training, and cardio work to become leaner, stronger, and moving more freely. Similar to a boot camp, but with less running, more strength building, and better exercise form. This once per week class is a great way to supplement your regular gym workouts, or add variety to training for your sport.

Suspension training

The workouts are fun and challenging with exercises including lifting, swinging, carrying, pushing, pulling, throwing, running, and jumping. Use your own body, kettlebells, dumbbells, suspension straps, elastic bands, slosh pipes, and sandbags.

Outdoor training equipment

Class size is limited to 6 people. The first meeting on the 4th is free, the remaining 9 session series costs $180 in advance. There is a 3 person minimum signed up to hold the class, then drop-ins will be available at $25 for the hour if there is space. If there is enough interest other times will be added. Private or semi-private personal training in the park is also available. Contact steven@stevericefitness.com for more information and to reserve your spot.

Selecting Strength Exercises with Five Examples

Picking the best exercises for yourself is one of the most obvious and fundamental choices to make in creating a resistance training program, or just a workout. There is an enormous variety of possibilities, most of which are good in some circumstances but not others. There is no ideal set to give you, but I will offer five which combined offer a fairly complete program. My real point though is not this particular group of exercises, but describing the reasons why I would select them.

The exercises are chosen to improve the fundamental movements of strength, develop a foundation for sports, aid in activities of daily life(ADL), and counteract typical movement and posture problems. Exercises that work the left and right sides of the body separately(unilateral) are preferred in order to include more muscles and coordination demands, and for some exercises to prevent forcing the joints into possibly injurious positions. In an actual program with more than 5 exercises though I will often use both the unilateral and bilateral versions to gain the advantages of both.

Strength can most basically be exerted as pushing, pulling, lifting, and rotating. All of these can involve either movement or resisting movement, and any movement can be with the body fixed and an external object moving(eg. standing still while lifting a weight) or with the body moving relative to a fixed object(eg. pull-ups on a bar.) A generalization is that a weight is held in the hands, moved, the core transmits the force to the lower body without twisting or bending, and the legs support and possibly also move the body. (This is a huge simplification.)

From Integrate Performance Fitness in Mountain View, here is my example five exercise workout, with very brief descriptions of how each should be done.

Goblet Squat

Not much more fundamental than rising from a crouch holding something heavy. Works the legs and hips primarily, and holding the weight in the 'goblet' variation loads the arms, shoulders, torso, and to a degree that will surprise you, the core. More weight can be lifted in a back squat, but at the loss of including arms and shoulders.

A bilateral stance is used here to enable lifting more weight and develop more strength in the larger muscles.
Exercise Tips: Keep the knees wide, and your weight on the heels.

Single Leg Deadlift
The deadlift works many similar lower body muscles as the squat, but puts the emphasis more into the glutes and the back of the legs. It continues the load up the back in what's known as the posterior chain, a major area of weakness for most people. The back of the shoulder is included, and again holding the weight in the hand means the arms are part of the lift. Standing on one leg while moving a heavy weight is excellent for developing the muscles in the lower leg and hips needed for stability. Because the hand opposite the working leg holds the weight, there's a large rotational force(transverse plane) to work against in lower range of the lift, and a lateral bending(frontal plane) to resist at the top of the lift. Correct form is essential for the Single Leg Deadlift.
Exercise Tips: Don't let the spine round at all. Push the hips backwards. Keep the weight close to the body, and have something beneath to tap the weight against.

With these first two exercises, lifting is well covered, resisting pushing and pulling are included, and good anti-rotation accomplished. But the hands do need to move things, and the next three exercises cover that.

Overhead Press
Picking up things and holding them overhead is an important ADL, and strengthening the shoulders is helpful any time holding something is heavy is needed. The overhead press can help maintain shoulder mobility that is often lost with aging, however this also means that adequate shoulder and upper spine mobility is required to press at all. Injuries in the front of the shoulder are common, and the press can help prevent them if done correctly. Pressing with one hand at a time means more muscles are engaged to keep the weight in proper alignment, and since the hand can be rotated a healthy angle relative to the shoulder is possible. Doing the lift while standing will develop stability in the body down to the floor.














Exercise Tips: The weight should travel straight up and end above the shoulder blade. At the top the palm should rotate partially or completely facing inward. Don't lean back or arch the spine. NB: It may be necessary to improve shoulder and upper spine mobility to correctly perform this exercise.

Dumbbell Row
Pulling the shoulders back(scapular retraction) and straightening the upper spine(thoracic extension) are a major shortcomings for most people, so an exercise that improves these is important to include. In the deadlift the upper back muscles work to hold a static position, here they actively create movement. I like doing rows in a lunge so that the body is somewhat supported but not entirely. Make certain the upper spine is held straight and not rounding forward.
Exercise Tips: Let the shoulder drop forward but not hang, then pull the shoulder up toward the ceiling and in toward the spine, without hunching toward the ear. Keep the elbow close to the torso. On each rep try to straighten the upper spine even more.

Push-up
The push-up is last on the list because it is the least important. Still, it is a great exercise. While it fulfills the need to include pushing in the program(along with the overhead press), the best part of the push-up is the strong core it promotes when done correctly. The first priority is to hold the body straight with a neutral spine, as in a plank, then bend and straighten the arms to lower and raise a straight body. Pushups progress mainly by changing the angle of the body. They can be done at first with the hands elevated(a barbell rack works great for this), to hands and feet on the floor, to feet elevated. There are many variations, including doing each rep with one leg off the ground or picking up one hand for a moment at the top of each repetition. These will both add a anti-rotation element to the exercise.
Exercise Tips: Start with your body in a straight plank, but with one knee on the floor to hold your weight. Now really straighten your plank by contracting the abs as if you're doing a crunch, and pull your shoulders and head back. Elbows point out about 45 degrees from the torso. At the bottom touch with your chest(because you're keeping your head and shoulders pulled back so well.) At the top push the torso up through the shoulders toward the ceiling(scapular protraction.)

Honorable Mentions

• Lunges and Step Ups: Moving between one leg forward and one leg behind is the foundation of running and carrying. Some variation of this really should be part of a strength training program.
• Turkish Get-Up plus Kettlebell Swing: Between the two you get up, down, back, front, slow and fast.
• Dumbbell Snatch: One thing the five exercises above don't include is developing power, which is exerting force with speed. A dumbbell(or kettlebell) snatch covers lifting a weight from the ground to overhead and adds power development.
• Suspended Row: Hanging with the feet on the ground under gymnastic rings, TRX, or even a racked barbell while rowing requires the body to work to maintain alignment as you pull. Like an inverted push-up.

General Tips

• Think in terms of general movements and directions first, then pick a set of exercises that includes all of them.
• It's good to involve as much of the body in an exercise as possible, but make sure you're not limited anywhere but the target movement or area. For example, you can squat far more than you can curl, so a "squat curl" is useless.
• Always use proper form. This reduces chances of injury, makes the exercise more effective, and improves the ability to have good form.
• Kettlebells work just as well as dumbbells for these exercises.
• Use enough weight or resistance to challenge yourself. If you can do around 8-10 clean reps, make the exercise harder. If you're not getting winded and sweaty,  make the exercise harder. If you can talk to someone or watch TV while doing the exercise, make the exercise harder.
• Don't be afraid of exercising on your own, but consider professional instruction.

In closing, remember that a real program has more than 5 exercises. Some variety is good to insure nothing is missed or overdone, and just to keep your workouts interesting. Keep in mind the principles I have described, and whatever exercises you pick will likely help you get stronger and improve how you move.

For more about picking exercises, see my earlier article Gravity, and the Ups and Downs of Weight Training

Strength Rituals: The new show about the modern physical culture.

My friend Chip Conrad is working hard to expand the understanding of physical fitness and culture. He is launching this:
Strength Rituals: The new show about the modern physical culture.

"Strength Rituals is the bridge between real fitness and the accepted standards of commercial exercise. With 20 year's in the fitness industry, I’ve found that people are not scared or lazy, they just haven’t been exposed to something better. Strength Rituals intends to produce video to document the history of fitness and educate on bringing intensity and play to everyone."

Check the video, and consider helping out. Everyone knows the health benefits of exercise, but there is so much more.

Sitting: Worse All the Time

A few new studies have been released to add to my anti-sitting campaign.  Really- Try to minimize sitting, and at least get up briefly as often as possible.

Get Up. Get Out. Don’t Sit.

"The researchers then cross-referenced sitting time with health outcomes, and found that those people with the “highest sedentary behavior,” meaning those who sat the most, had a 112 percent increase in their relative risk of developing diabetes; a 147 percent increase in their risk for cardiovascular disease; and a 49 percent greater risk of dying prematurely — even if they regularly exercised."

Reducing Occupational Sitting Time and Improving Worker Health: The Take-a-Stand Project, 2011 
"Prolonged sitting time (as a specific instance of sedentary behavior), independent of physical activity, has emerged as a risk factor for various negative health outcomes. Study results have demonstrated associations of prolonged sitting time with premature mortality; chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer; metabolic syndrome; and obesity. In contrast, breaks in prolonged sitting time have been correlated with beneficial metabolic profiles among adults, suggesting that frequent breaks in sedentary activity may explain lower health risk related to waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), triglyceride levels, and 2-hour plasma glucose levels.
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Reductions in sitting time correlated significantly with improved outcomes for upper back and neck pain as well as various mood states."

Mobility and Warming Up

At the beginning of a workout it is common to do some preparation before the more challenging exercises. Typically this involves two things- slow stretching and some cardio. A more effective method is to perform mobility drills with slowly increasing intensity.

Mobility is the ability to control the movement of the body through its full ranges of motion. Flexibility, balance, coordination, and some strength are all required, and dynamic stretching is included. Mobility drills do not attempt to increase range of motion at a joint, but do prepare a joint to safely move within the range already possible. Mobility is fundamentally a dynamic process- it is being able to deliberately move your body.

Improving mobility means improving the interplay of muscle contractions and elongations to allow strong, graceful, and safe movement. The complex, multi-joint exercises that are the focus of modern exercise require this. As with other warm-ups, as the tempo of the drills increases, the body is warmed and blood flow increased.

The videos show three phases of a mobility warm-up. The entire sequence is intended as a continuous flow taking about ten minutes. If a stage is easy, go through it quickly. If a movement is challenging spend time trying to improve instead of struggling. Work to do each movement well, do not practice doing anything poorly. Movements where balancing is difficult can be practiced while lightly touching a wall or sturdy object. There are many other possible mobility exercises, these are some I have found that work well together.

Done for higher reps, some of these drills will make excellent cardio intervals. For some people they will also be good for building strength and can be performed more deliberately for that purpose. Many can be done holding a moderate weight such as a medicine ball, or something heavier such as a dumbbell, kettlebell, or sandbag.

Three areas where most people have postural tightness are emphasized: hip opening, chest opening, and upper spine extension(bending backward). The advantage of mobilization over passive stretching for posture improvement is the neurological integration of releasing the tight area with the contraction of the opposite area while the body is moving.

After the mobility warm-up is finished, foam rolling on problem areas can be done. As you transition to the rest of your workout, some specific preparations may be needed before each exercise, including light weight practice sets.

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I have to ask for some tolerance for my video recording and performance skills. The material is good even if the production isn't. There are three stages, shown in two videos shot in two locations.

Stage I & II

Start on hands and knees, aka quadruped. This is the closest to traditional stretching, but keep things moving.

Next, work on improving mobility while standing and walking. Do ten to fifteen big steps of each drill. Here I take only a few steps in one direction just to stay in the camera frame.

Stage III

Here are some more advanced movements done while lunging, squatting, and crawling.

The video shows differing numbers of reps in each direction or of each movement. In practice each part of the drill would be done for anywhere from four to eight times, unless accelerating from an easy variation to a hard one.

I'm not doing these perfectly. There is one point where I unintentionally switch which arm I raise(0:46). I also don't do a smooth progression of the final drill, and do one of the moves only once.



A good plan for the kick throughs would be:
-Step forward with the left leg, kick through with the right.
-Step back, then repeat on the other side. Repeat.
-Next instead of stepping one foot back and then other forward, simultaneously switch feet.(the video does this from the beginning). Repeat.
-Increase the stability challenge by kicking the moving foot back and forward again without touching the ground(1:45). Repeat twice.
-Add a frontal stretch and posterior push by planting the foot and going into a bridge(2:06). Repeat the entire sequence four times.

The kick throughs work really well combined with a bear crawl. I like to have clients bear crawl sideways a few steps, kick through on one side, then crawl the other direction and kick through with the other foot.

Do these drills at the start of your workout, and you'll be ready to be awesome for the really hard exercises.

Exercises for Low Back Pain

This article is the follow-up to Managing Low Back Pain with Exercise  Here specific exercises to get you started with your recovery and prevention efforts are discussed. The list is far from complete, and the descriptions are not a replacement for working with a professional.

Initially the intent is create some movement and gentle activation of the low back and surrounding area. Walking with a gentle arm swing is the precursor and accompaniment for these exercises, and prolonged sitting, as always, should be avoided. The first two may be done while still experiencing some pain, as long as they do not provoke more. It is very likely that they will actually reduce the pain and help with healing.

As movement becomes more comfortable, the purpose of the exercises is developing strength and stability in the low back, so it can resist movement, and strength and mobility above and below the low back(hips and middle(thoracic) spine) so that those areas move instead of the lower(lumbar) spine.

Hip Circles

Hip Circles
Stand with the feet close together, legs nearly straight and equally supporting your weight, and move your hips in a circle a few times in one direction, then the other. The spine can gently curve as the hips move.

Next shift your weight to one leg and do a few circles around that side of the hips in each direction, then do the other side.





Cat/Cow
This exercise gently flexes(forward bends) and extends(backward bends) your spine. Note that Cat/Cow and the Hip Circles are the only instances where the spine is deliberately bent, in all other cases the spine is held straight, known as "neutral spine." (Not literally straight, but as if you are standing tall and have perfect posture.)

Cow

Neutral Spine

Cat

In the Cat position, emphasize stretching the low back, and rotating the hips under you to increase the low back stretch. Don't try too hard to stretch the upper back. In Cow, the emphasis is the opposite, minimizing the lower spine bending but trying to extend the upper spine and open the chest. Move slowly between the two positions about ten times, holding each for two to three seconds.

Plank and Side Plank

Plank

This is where the exercises include building strength. It will be helpful to understand that back injuries are often associated with too much motion in the low spine, and that the primary role of the core muscles can be considered as maintaining spinal alignment. Therefore, exercises that train the core to resist movement in the low spine are needed.

Plank is simply holding the body straight in the familiar "top of a push up" position. No movement is involved.

Start in the hands and knees position with a neutral spine, as shown above. Do a slight cat tuck at the waist, and step one foot back, then the other. Keep the hips up, the tendency is for them to be too low.

Work up to holding for ten to fifteen seconds, resting a moment, and repeating several times. If Plank is too difficult to do at all, start by leaning against a table, then try the edge of a chair, until it can be done on the floor.

Side Plank

Side Plank is very similar except for the arm position and the direction you face. The body is held in a straight line, resisting the pull of gravity trying to bend you sideways. Two easier versions are shown.

Beginning Side Plank

Intermediate Side Plank

Bird Dog
The spine is held steady in the neutral position shown above, and the low back muscles are engaged to maintain alignment. The glutes are worked, plus the shoulders.

Beginning Bird Dog

Full Bird Dog

The first level is to extend one leg. When that is not difficult, also extend the opposite arm. Try to hold the leg straight behind you, and keep the hips level. The weight of the leg will try to turn your hips and spine, and you are strengthening the muscles that hold them steady. Although not strictly needed for low back training, it is good to pull the shoulder toward the spine and not to let it hang down. Hold the position for one to two seconds, lower the arm and leg, and repeat. Do three sets of ten to fifteen repetitions when able.

Bridge
Bridge works the low back, glutes, and hamstrings, and the single leg version works those same muscles on one leg even more while simultaneously developing hip stabilization. Try to fully extend the hip of the supporting leg or legs, so the thigh is in line with the torso. In the single leg version, the elevated leg can be kept straight and slowly lowered to the ground for extra challenge. Follow the same lift, pause, repeat protocol as above.

Bridge

Single Leg Bridge

Weighted Bridge

The Bridge can be progressed by elevating the shoulders, and by adding weight. Here's the exercise with a 135 pound barbell. Note the full extension of the hips and neutral spine. (Image courtesy of Bret Contreras, an expert on glute training.)


Stand and Reach
The Stand and Reach is an easier version of the final exercise, and an important step to learning good alignment. The full posterior chain is engaged, primarily the glutes and hamstrings, but also the back and shoulders. Not allowing the spine to round forward is critical, and a slight arch(backward extension) is fine to be certain to avoid any rounding. Start with the body straight and tall, then bend at the top of one leg with just a slight bend in the knee. This is known as a "hip hinge." The opposite arm from the standing foot goes forward. Having something to reach for and touch encourages the idea of maintaining a long spine, gives you a way to be consistent, track your progress, and offers a support if needed. Keep the hips level- the tendency is for the hip on the side of the lifted leg to rotate up. Reach, stand, repeat.

Beginning Stand and Reach

Advanced Stand and Reach

Single Leg Deadlift

Single Leg Deadlift
The Single Leg Deadlift is included to show a transition to strength training that can be progressed quite far, but this exercise really needs to be taught by a knowledgeable professional before advancing. Correct form becomes very important.

Single Leg Deadlift

Instead of reaching forward as in the Stand and Reach exercise, the arm now holds a weight which moves straight down. Pivot at the top of the standing leg, slightly bend your knee, and allow no bending of the spine whatsoever. Something solid should be at your foot to tap the weight against. I discourage just stopping in the air, and the weight should not go any lower than is possible without rounding the back. Note that the hips move backward, and the weight should touch a point above and just a few inches in front and to the inside of the end of the big toe. Don't reach downward with the arm, keep the shoulder pulled back and let the weight just hang. Each repetition should distinctly start and stop from a tall, fully standing position.



Programming
The easier exercises can be started soon after an onset of pain, after clearance from a physician. Gradually add the more challenging exercises and variations as rehabilitation for injury and for future injury prevention. Initially the exercises are done daily or even more frequently, then as you progress to more difficult variations they should be done every other day.

At the beginning of injury rehabilitation or starting a new exercise program move slowly and work on learning good form. After any injury symptoms are gone and the exercises have become easy, they can be done more briskly as a warm-up to more difficult strength training.

Some other strength building exercises to explore are farmers walks, the Pallof press, other types of deadlifts, and squats. Any whole body, functional exercise is helpful because the low back will automatically be included. Remember that the low back is at the center of the body and should be trained to efficiently and safely transmit forces from the the top(arms) to the bottom(legs).

Always put good form and control first. Quality of movement is key to preventing injury and enabling safe progression to more rigorous training. Developing serious strength should be your goal- don't stop progressing when you think you've healed. Strength training has many more benefits to health and quality of life than managing low back pain.

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Thanks Mimm!




The exercises are demonstrated by Palo Alto's most fabulous yoga teacher, Mimm Patterson. Mimm's wonderful blog on yoga and life is Practically Twisted.

Exercises for Low Back Pain

---> This article was originally published under the wrong address. The correct address is  http://www.stevenricefitness.com/2012/05/exercises-for-low-back-pain.html found here:

Exercises for Low Back Pain

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