health and wellness

This is a must see video for anyone looking for a great full biceps workout.

Abdominal Workout

As I have stated in the past, we discussed some of the facts and myths regarding our abdomens. Today we are going to look at an ab routine to get you started in the right direction, and one that I myself rely on quite heavily. These are very effective, and I urge you to master these core exercises. I recommend choosing a few of the exercises at a time, and mix them up and switch them around to keep your ab routine fresh and ever changing. But before we begin, I want to say, that you may perform these on a mat on the floor, with a medicine ball, on a stability ball, or on a decline bench. Whatever tools you have readily available will work just fine, although, I really love my medicine and stability balls. These are fabulous and can be purchased almost anywhere. Likewise, they are found in every gym should you have a gym membership. I like to keep a set at home, because a lot of times, I like to get my ab workout done and out of the way first thing in the morning. However, when I am at the gym, I will be sure to use them there along with an incline bench. So let’s get going!

Ball Crunches

Start- Take a seat on the stability ball. Slide your knees over your ankles, and separate your knees so that they are hip width apart. Lower your back onto the ball so that your back is properly supported by the ball. Place your hands behind your head, and pull in and flex your abs. 

Exercise- Pushing heels through the floor, rock back and forth with your hips whilst crunching your abs slightly toward your naval. Repeat the movement until you have completed all the repetitions for your set. I personally like to perform this exercise by taking it to failure.

Caution- There is little caution here since the stability ball serves well to support and cushion the back. Just keep your balance throughout the movement and remember to breathe. Exhale during the crunch and inhale returning from the crunch.

Tips- These will work both upper and lower abdomens since constant tension will remain on the muscles throughout this exercise. These may at first seem awkward, but with practice, you will soon connect the ab muscles with the movement as you get the hang of it. Just remember, that these are performed using a very small movement. These are one of my favorite ab exercises because they are so comfortable to perform and yet extremely effective in the process. I promise, that once you make the connection, you will feel these working!

180 Degree Ball Crunches

Start- Take a seat on the stability ball. Lower your back and entire body completely over the ball, with hands placed behind your head whilst keeping your neck relaxed.

Exercise- Begin to lift your body up toward your naval until almost sitting upright on the ball exhaling at the top of the movement, then lowering back down to start position and inhaling. Repeat the movement until you have completed all the repetitions for your set.

Caution- Pay attention in keeping your balance, using your feet to keep you steady.

Tips- With all ab exercises, it is imperative that during the exhale movement, to release and blow out all air from your lungs whilst flexing the ab muscles in tightly and then pausing to squeeze. You will get a much more effective ab workout when you do. This is key, and must always be remembered as this is what will give you your best results. The farther apart you place your feet the easier this exercise will become.

Straight Leg Lowering

Start- Lay down on a mat on your back with arms close to your sides or placed under your butt. Raise your legs straight out up in the air keeping your feet close together.

Exercise- To start, completely exhale releasing all air out from your lungs and begin to lower your legs taking care not to touch the floor. Pause at the bottom and raise back up to start position, inhaling on the way back up. Repeat the movement until you have completed all the repetitions for your set. 

Caution- If you feel any pressure on your lower back, place your hands under your lower back/upper butt area to release the pressure. This always works well for me. Be sure to never allow your feet to reach the floor.

Tips- Remember to pull in your belly towards your spine throughout the movement. These are wonderful for your lower ab muscles. To get better results, move quicker through the decline and slower through the incline raise; this puts more stress on the lower abs. 

Bicycles

Start- Lay down on a mat on your back with arms close to your sides or placed under your butt. Raise your legs bending at a 90 degrees. 

Exercise- Starting with one leg at a time, begin to emulate bicycling only you’ll tend to extend each leg out and back in alternately. This movement should be performed semi-slowly, but not so slow that you lose the momentum of cycling. Repeat the movement until you have completed all the repetitions for your set. I like to work these to failure.

Caution- Be mindful not to lock out your knees when extending your legs out. Always be kind to your joints! If you feel any pressure on your lower back, you can relieve this by placing your hands under your lower back for support.

Tips- Remember to breathe throughout the movement taking care never to hold your breath. Keep your belly button pulled toward your spine. Focus on the lower abs because this one will do the trick!

Ball Oblique Crunches

Start- Take a seat on the stability ball. Lower your back onto the ball so that it supports your body perfectly. Keep your feet hip wide apart placing your hands behind your head as illustrated.

Exercise- Begin by releasing and blowing out all air from your lungs and begin to lift your body up towards your naval, but this time, lifting up and to the right. Pause on the crunch at the top, and slowly lower yourself back to start position. Repeat the movement until you have completed all the repetitions for your right side. You will then proceed to do the same lifting up and to your left until you have completed all the repetitions for your set.

Caution- Take care to keep your balance and stay controlled throughout the movement.

Tips- Remember to exhale on the way  into the crunch, and exhale on the way back out from the crunch. Really feel the side oblique muscles working hard. This is a very important movement to master.

Reverse Crunch

Start- Lay down on a mat on your back with arms kept close to your sides. Raise your legs and bend to a 90 degree angle keeping legs and feet together throughout the movement. Keep your lower back pushed into the ground.

Exercise- Lift your bottom off the floor and up, curling your knees into your chest and exhale making sure all your air has been blown out from your lungs. Slowly returning to start position. Repeat the movement until you have completed all the repetitions for your set.

Caution- If you feel tension on your lower back, you may place your hands at the small of your back. Stay aligned with your body as a curl up towards your chest.

Tips- This is a lower ab movement and you must take care not to use your arms to make this lower crunch. Make sure you allow your abs to perform the exercise. Exhale on the way up, inhale on the way down.

         -written by Angela Doss

Understanding Our Sticking Points 

We all know how hard it is once we’ve hit a sticking point. It can crush us emotionally and cause us to quit striving toward our fitness goals if we don’t know how to ward it off or move through and around it. This is a crucial point to be aware of, well in advanced, and to understand what to do when it happens. There are many that fall prey to its discouragement, but it is a part of any growth no matter what the arena. Trust me, I have been there, in the dumps, enough times until I finally learned what to do about it, and therefore, I will share with you some important tips to apply in order to have continued success in all your fitness goals.

Why The Sticking Points?

First of all, you must understand the body and how it works, and once you do, you will learn to appreciate the body’s operative mechanism even more. You must first realize that the body always wants to heal itself; it doesn’t want to be sickly, and believe it or not, it is not acting out against you - it merely does what it is told to do. The body is designed, and most happy, to be a fast mean running machine. It’s instincts are for the well being and to its survival based on the principles of our cave man era. Therefore, the body knows by instinct how to protect itself, to preserve itself, and how to heal itself. But the body also knows how to adjust itself to whatever demands, or lack thereof, it is placed under. The body gets use to these shifts very quickly, and thank God! If we were ill, and lay to rest, our body would immediately take over by instinct and begin to repair itself. Likewise, if we exercise or attempt to lose weight, the body will automatically adjust to its new demand and this is GREAT! But here is where the sticking points occur once the body has adjusted itself to this shift, and this is where you come in and use the mind to trick the body into doing whatever you want it to do. So next time you are upset with your body, or discouraged with its performance or outcome, look inside your mind for the answers on how to make the body respond to your demands once again. The body is the most fascinating machine to have ever walked the planet, but it’s the mind that houses its control. Simply put, the body hasn’t a mind and it only works on survival instinct or auto-pilot, if you will.

Don’t Let Sticking Points Rain On Your Parade

Have you ever noticed that when you start working out and making healthful shifts to your diet that your body responds amazingly quick, but then after about a month or so, all of a sudden, everything seems to come to a screeching halt? The scale may change a little or may even go up a pound (water retention) and you may just feel completely out of sync. Whatever you do, DO NOT STOP!! It’s like a child that doesn’t seem to be growing and then over night, literally, he springs up from nowhere. At that very moment, you can just hear their grandparents with such exclamation in their voices, “Oh my Goodness! Charlie’s grown like a weed since the last time I saw him a mere month ago!” What is happening is your body may not appear to be changing on the outside, but it is definitely making the changes inside, and this too is part of the necessary process in order to continue to make outward shifts appear. But what can we do to minimize and speed up these sticking points? A whole lot! So let’s get to it.

Tips On How To Work Through Our Sticking Points

As I have emphasized in the past, it is crucial to log everything in your daily journal. Write down the weights you chose, the reps, sets, rests, and the routine you are following. What you ate and drank etc.

After a month, completely change your entire routine. I could write a hundred ways in how to change a routine while still exercising the exact same body parts. It is endless, but crucial. But one must also understand the importance of what to do during that month on a particular routine: You must change each week using some form of ”progression” technique. This would include, as stated before, a heavier weight load, another set, perhaps more reps, or less rest periods. This is vital to your success, and including one or two of these techniques per week is optimal. Once the month is over and after having used progressive techniques each week during that month’s routine, it is time to change the program entirely, while always remembering, that with any routine, to apply one or all of the progressive techniques each week.

As far as weight loss goes, you also must do the same by shifting calories around often enough for your body to continue to respond. Give yourself a cheat day, or even two; every 10 or 11 days, and watch the weight keep coming off. Keep your body guessing, and it has no other choice but to respond. I hope this helps and good luck!

        -written by Angela Doss