Video Blog: Printed Rescources I Use!

Click here for a link to my video blog where I talk about the printed rescources I use to help me in my fitness journey!

Lunging Without Damaging Your Knees

My belief is that, after Squats, lunges are the best exercise out there for the lower body- Especially the butt! If yours is flat, lunges will help round it out. If it's too round, lunges will help it look more compact. The folks I've seen who do lunges religiously have nice firm backsides and hamstrings, and flared hips with reduced saddlebags.

But a lot of people are afraid to lunge and never realize the benefits of this compound move. And with good reason- Lunging wrong can cause some serious damage to knees. I avoided them for a long time, then started to do some experimenting and discovered a few very simple things that finally made lunging possible for me again:

1. Do walking lunges ONLY! Forget stationery lunges or back lunges- both types seem to aggravate the knee of my forward foot when going into the backwards part of either motion. (This would be pushing back into start in the case of front lunges, and lowering down in the case of back lunges). The tendency when going backwards is to stabilize with the toes, and my experience is that when I am stabilizing with the toes my knee will instinctively go in front of my toes to balance my body, which stresses it. Walking lunges enable me to leave my toes out of the equation entirely, if I really concentrate on pressing through my heels.

Also, in my opinion, walking lunges simply do a better job of shaping the lower body, since they use all the muscles together through the entire range of motion.

2. Push through the heel of the front foot! Just as with squats, I make a mindful effort to think "heels, heels, heels" when I am lunging. When I push through the toes of the front foot, there goes my knee too far forward again and I feel that old familiar twinge for the next few(or more) days.

3. Take a big, "This-feels-way-too-long" step forward. The farther out you step, the safer the position is for your front knee because it's as far away as possible from being over the toes.

4. When following through with your back foot (bringing it forward), pause slightly, touching your toes to the ground next to the stationary foot.  This allows you to regain your balance and center yourself.  THEN bring what was the back foot to the forward position. This will help keep you from landing on your toes to balance you when that rear foot moves to the front position.

One added note- I hate those short lunges people do to better hit quads. They just look to me to be a knee disaster waiting to happen. If you want to do a multiple-joint exercise that focuses mostly on quads, do front squats or close-stance leg presses.

And that's it! In a nutshell, do walking lunges with big, wide steps, pause before you bring the back foot forward, and stay in your heel on the front foot. You'll feel these the next day, and your backside will thank you!

A Product Recommendation: PACE Weights

For Christmas I recieved something I feel is a valuable tool in my strength and muscle gaining arsenal: PACE Weights ( paceweights.com )

These were first mentioned to me by Ross, a trainer I worked with a year ago.  He told me about little 1/2 pound magnetic weights that attach to other types of metal weights (to include plates on cable machines) and make it possible to go up in poundage.   I Googled them, bookmarked the site, then asked for them for Christmas this year.

I'm sure you have experienced times when you can't go up to the next 5 or 10 pound weight, but the current weight is just a little too light for the number of reps you had in mind.  It's frustrating!  BUT, if you can go up 1/2 pound at a time, you can inch closer to that next weight mark.  Ross said "Can you imagine how fast you can gain strength if you can go up just a pound at a time?"  He was right- since starting to work out with my PACE Weights my strength has increased MUCH faster than it did without them.

IMHO they're kinda expensive- the full set is $89 and with shipping it comes out to $103.  This is for 18 PACE Weights (9lbs).  You can also get a smaller set of 9 PACE Weights (4 1/2 pounds), for $57.  But unless you strictly work out with one Dumbbell at a time, I'd recommend  the larger set.  I've had occasion to use more than 9 of them at once already.   And get the ones that include the case!  It makes them portable and more accessible with a place to store them.   I take mine to the gym and use them 5 days a week.

My friend Tammie saw mine, got PACE Weight envy, and purchased a set for herself.  I got a text this morning telling me how much she likes them.  This is one really great product! 

And no, I'm not on commission! :-D  I just believe in recommending a great product when I find it.

Abs Are NOT Made in the Kitchen!

I've heard the phrase "Abs are made in the kitchen" quoted lately by a lot of people I greatly respect.  I've given it a lot of thought and have finally decided that, while I think I understand the intention behind this statement, I don't agree with it.  At least, not entirely.

You can eat right all you want to and reduce the fat on your body, but the muscle that makes abs is not made in the kitchen.  Mine were made mostly flat on my back on the floor doing ab exercises.  And since my kitchen has a hard tile floor, I can say with utmost certainty that my abs were NEVER made in the kitchen.  Uncovered in the kitchen?  Yes!  Made there?  NO!

I guess I don't like the phrase "Abs were made in the kitchen", because it gives the false impression that if folks just eat well enough, they'll have abs of steel.  Tight, muscular abs come from the hard work of exercise.  Getting them hard, however, requires dedication to reducing fat through diet.  Becuase let's face it:  Fat isn't hard, it's soft.  So if you have hard ab muscles but they are covered up by soft fat, you're still gonna have soft abs.

I've said before and will say again that you can build all the lean, strong, beautiful muscle you want to, but if it's covered up by fat no one is gonna see it.  It doesn't mean the muscle you are building isn't doing you any good, because it certainly is!  It's benefiting your health in a myriad of ways I won't take the time to go into here.  But the fact is that you won't be able to actually visibly SEE the muscular fruits of your labor if you are over-fat. 

It's always a two-part equation to building ANY muscle, not just abs:  Fat reduction and weight bearing exercises.  You can't leave one out and expect to see big results.

Abs are built in the gym and unveiled in the kitchen.

Calf 21's (or 30's)

I've had a couple of different people who look at my workouts on Spark as me what "Calf 21's" are. I also call these "Calf 30's". I think calves are the most boring body part to work, so maybe this will give someone else a new spin on a way to work their calves.

You know how you can do a calf lift and put a variation on the move by turning your heels in or out? This has always stressed my knees. My first trainer, Ross, taught me to do this move to still work all areas of the calf but eliminate the potential knee pain. Here is how it's executed:

Start in the machine with a slightly light load selected. There are so many reps in this that you will burn out very quickly and be screaming in pain if you start out too heavy. First, put your feet about three inches apart and lift and lower your heels for 7 reps, leaning on the inside edges of the balls of your feet. Then separate them to about 12 inches apart and lift for 7 more reps with the weight evenly distributed across the ball of your foot. Then, maintaining the 12-inch spread between your feet, lean on the outside edges of the balls of your feet and lift for another 7 reps.

Next, jump off the machine and hop around the gym saying "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!", like I do, until the pain in your calves goes away.

Repeat until you've had enough torture for one day. I usually do three sets.

I change the order I do the inside/flat/outside pressure on my feet, too. Muscles adapt very quickly and I like to keep 'em guessing.

For 30's, you do the same exercise, but 10 times for each position. This is usually done with lighter weight yet.

You can do this on any type calf press (standing, seated, on a leg press machine, or on a step holding a dumbbell).

Let me know what you think!

Weights vs. Aerobics

As time has gone on, I've come to understand that weight bearing exercise is more important than aerobic exercise.

Let me say it another way: If I have to make a choice between lifting weights and doing aerobic activity, I'll choose the weight lifting. Every time.


I didn't always feel this way. I used to think the opposite was true. I believed the heart was the most important muscle in the body (still do), and that the best way to condition it was through aerobic activity.This is the part that has.

Here are some reasons why:

- Weight lifting shapes your body like aerobics can't. Ever seen a body that is aerobically fit but not muscularly fit? It's missing shape and, in the case of women, usually curve. You can actually CHANGE the overall line of your body by adding muscle. All aerobics does to your body shape, at best, is make is a smaller, less-fat version of itself. I've never been able to add pleasing lines to my body with aerobic activity the way I have been able to with weight lifting. Through weight lifting I've been able to build my naturally-very-slight-shoulders up and tighten my abs, which has helped to give me a more hour-glassed shape and therefore make my hips look more balanced.

Because of this, muscle tone makes men look more masculine and women look more feminine.

- Muscle burns more calories at rest, so when you have more muscle on your body your resting metabolism (how many calories you burn just to keep your body alive) rises. Additionally, the calorie burn from the actual weight-lifting exercises themselves can continue for up to 24 hours. On the other hand, aerobic activity burns calories while you are doing it, but that calorie-burning effect stops very quickly after the activity stops. So it's a better calorie-burning-investment over all to build muscle.

In a nutshell, weight bearing activities are more effective at helping you shed fat than aerobic activity.

-Weight bearing activities are more practical because they make you stronger for doing daily activities. You can't gain strength to lift heavy grocery bags or help someone build a fence with aerobic activity. I'm willing to bet that no one is going to ask you to run away from something any time soon. But help them lift a TV? That just might happen!

- Weight lifting makes bones stronger, therefore enabling you to be less prone to injury as you age. This is especially important for women, who tend to lose bone density much more rapidly than men, but is still a significant benefit for both sexes. In case you are wondering how this happens, the muscles are attached to ligaments that are attached to the bones. When the ligaments tug on the bone, the body reacts by making the bone stronger to be able to withstand the pulling. The more and heavier you lift, the more dense the bone becomes, therefore the less prone you are to bone breakage.

Pretty cool, huh?

- If you are really working out hard doing weight-bearing activity, it can very well become aerobic. Ever seen someone who is weight lifting huffing and puffing? That's because they are using oxygen! And the word "aerobic" means "With oxygen". 'Nuff said.

I could go on, but the thing I want people to take home here is that if given a choice, lifting weights is more important to your healthy functioning over the long-haul than aerobic activity. Do I want you to stop aerobic activity? NO! It's still important, but weight lifting needs to be at the top of your priority list.

If you're not sure if you have time to do both weight lifting and aerobic activity on the same day, do your lifting first. Then with whatever time you have left, do aerobic activity.

Likewise, if you don't enjoy weight lifting as much, do it first, so that it's over and done with and you don't have time to talk yourself out of it.

Next blog I'll talk about why women shouldn't be afraid to lift heavy. But in the meantime just trust me: The more muscle, the better!