Why You Should Include Unilateral Exercises In Your Training

by Cori Lefkowith | Dec 9, 2017 | Blog, Exercises

“I don’t want to do that. I feel unbalanced and awkward and I can’t lift as heavy.”

I had a new client tell me this when I explained that he’d be doing Single Leg Deadlifts.

My response?

“That’s exactly why you SHOULD be doing them.”

His statement though shed some light though on why so many peopled DON’T use unilateral exercises in their training.

Yea…Many of them are awkward to start. They challenge our balance. They challenge our mind-body connection and coordination. And we CAN’T often lift as heavy with them to start.

But these moves we try and avoid, are some of the best ones if we want to truly get functionally stronger and prevent injury.

And I think part of what helps us start including moves we aren’t comfortable with is the understanding of WHY they are important.

So…here’s why unilateral moves are important to do! (And at the bottom of the post I share some of my favorite unilateral moves!)

Why You Should Include Unilateral Exercises In Your Training

To quickly summarize and list the benefits before I explain them in more detail…

Correct/reduce imbalances that could lead to injury.
Build core stability.
Improve your balance.
Build functional strength.
Improve your proprioception and mind-body connection.

Ever only feel one side really get sore from your workouts?

Maybe you always feel your dominant side taking over during bilateral moves (aka moves like the squat and such where both sides are working together)?

Or maybe you’ve had injuries on one side that just keep flaring up? And you can’t seem to get that side to feel like it is working the right way.

Whether you’ve experienced one, or even all of these, you need to use Unilateral Moves in your training.

Unilateral moves force each side to work independently, which is why it can help correct imbalances. When you work each side independently, your stronger, dominant side can’t compensate and take over.

With bilateral moves, we can compensate. We can rely on our dominant side. We can recruit muscles that really aren’t meant to handle the load. This creates imbalances and compensations which can lead to injury.

Injuries can cause muscles on one side of your body to shut off, which can lead to further compensations, imbalances and injuries. And not properly strengthening your weaker side, or underactive muscles, can lead to aches and pains on both the same side of your body or even the OPPOSITE side.

With unilateral moves, you prevent your dominant side from taking over and you can correct those imbalances that can lead to overuse and injury.

You force each side to work equally and you can really focus on even doing EXTRA on that weaker side to help correct the deficit! You can “close the gap” between both sides by focusing on your weak areas and forcing that weaker side to do what your stronger side can.

I often tell clients to do the reps on their weaker side first so they know what they can do and they do the same on that stronger side. You may fear this will “hold your stronger side back,” but instead it makes sure you don’t perpetuate the imbalance. Heck, in this case, if you’re going to do more reps on one side, you should do more on your weaker side.

You can also correct the imbalance by using the same weight and reps you can on that dominant side on that weaker side even if you have to “pause” at a point in the reps. (Keep that pause short and your body won’t necessarily process it as rest!)

So you can use these unilateral moves to strengthen that weak side and stop perpetuating the imbalances.

But on top of that you can improve your balance, core stability and mind-body connection throughout your body by using these moves.

Standing on one foot, or loading down one side or rowing with one arm adds in an element of instability, which challenges your core. And when you stand on one foot, you definitely work all of those stabilizers muscles that will improve your balance.

Unilateral moves can build functional strength for those times we are off balance or reaching and not necessarily centered or lifting with both sides. You can work on your rotational strength, so your ability to rotate and control the rotation (aka not hurt your back) as well as your ANTI-rotational strength aka your ability to RESIST forces acting on you that could otherwise cause you to turn or twist in a weird way!

So whether you want to prevent injury, look better or get stronger so you can lift more or run faster, you need to include unilateral moves.

Yes, RUNNERS unilateral strength training is key for you especially if you want to strengthen your gait to run faster and more efficiently AND prevent injuries!

If you’re now sold on unilateral training, try these moves!

10 Of My Favorite Unilateral Moves

Single Leg Deadlift – A must-do move whether you want to correct imbalances, strengthen your core, improve your balance or just simple get a strong backside is the Single Leg Deadlift.

To do the Bodyweight Single Leg Deadlift, stand up nice and tall, balancing on your right leg with your knee slightly bent and your left toe lightly touching the ground. Your arms should be hanging down by your sides.

Then lift your left leg back toward the wall behind you as you hinge over, keeping your back flat. As you hinge over, extend your arms down toward the ground. Make sure to sit your butt back as you hinge over and not simply lean forward.

Do not reach your arms toward the ground and let your back round. It doesn’t matter if you touch the ground, just extend your arms down toward it as far as you can without rounding or “squatting.” Your standing knee should be soft but isn’t going to bend extra as you hinge over.

Hinge over as far as you can with good form and then drive through that standing heel to come back up to standing. Feel your glutes work to bring you up nice and tall. Squeeze your glutes at the top and repeat, hinging back over on the same leg.

Single Arm Anti-Rotational Row – Improve your posture, pull ups and anti-rotational core strength as you strengthen your back without your stronger side taking over!

To do the Anti-Rotational Single-Arm Inverted Row, grab one handle of a suspension trainer in one hand and place the other hand across your chest. You can also reach the free arm up as if holding a strap if that will help remind you to keep your shoulders square. Set up with your body in a nice straight line, squeezing your quads, glutes and core and pressing your chest out. Make sure to relax your shoulder down and back and not shrug up.

Walk your feet forward to an appropriate incline. The closer to parallel you are to the ground, the harder the move will be. Make sure that you choose an incline that allows you to row with proper form and feel your back working. You do not want your shoulder to shrug.

Square up your body and then row up. Do not let the side not holding the strap rotate toward the strap as you row up or the shoulder of the arm not holding a strap to drop open. You want to row up as if you are pulling with both arms. That means your body shouldn’t close toward the strap or your shoulder shouldn’t open toward the ground.

Drive your elbow down and back as you row up and row your chest all the way up to the handle. Do not shrug your shoulder as you row. Then lower back down. Do not let your back round or your body open up toward the ground as you lower. Repeat rowing back up, making sure that you don’t bounce off the bottom or rotate as you repeat.

Single Arm Plank Rotation With Knee – Talk about a move to build functional core strength and shoulder stability! This unilateral move will challenge your core stability for sure!

To do the Single Arm Plank Rotation With Knee, set up in a side plank position from your hand with your bottom leg in back of your top leg.

Then lift that back leg as if kicking it back and up toward the ceiling slightly. Reach your top hand out in front of you and overhead. Your chest will rotate toward the ground as you lift up into this side plank position with your opposite arm and leg raised.

Rotate your chest back open as you tuck your raised leg under and forward, driving your knee forward as you tuck your raised arm down to meet it. Try to touch your knee to your elbow as you rotate your chest back open and away from the ground.

After slowly tucking the knee to the elbow and feeling yourself pivot around that shoulder then kick the leg back out and reach back out and overhead with your hand. The muscles around your rib cage should really be working.

Move slowly to stay balanced and try to keep your hand on the ground under your shoulder. Beginners can tap the toe down behind them or even just do the knee tuck without the kick out.

Cossacks Squat – Not all unilateral moves have to mean you are COMPLETELY balanced on one side. Lunges and moves like the Cossacks Squat reduce the balance and instability while still getting each side to work on it’s own. And while they may “reduce” the balance element, they are still more unstable than equal bilateral moves. AKA they are a great way to work up even to full unilateral moves!

And the Cossacks specifically will really help you improve your mobility!

To do the Cossack Squat, stand with your feet nice and wide apart as if you are going to do a Side Lunge (feet will be wider than shoulder-width). Shift your weight to one side, bending that knee and sinking down into a side lunge as you rotate the toe of your straight leg up toward the ceiling.

Sink as low to the side as you can, dropping your butt down to the ground while keeping your heel on the ground. You will feel like you are sinking into a deep squat on one side as your other legs stays out straight with the toe up.

Then push back up out of the squat and come to standing tall with your legs straight and feet still wide apart. Then shift to a squat on the other side, sitting down as low as you can while keeping your heels down.

Beginners may not be able to sink as low in the squat. Do not try to sink lower by squatting down and letting your heel come up. Sink only as low as you can while keeping your heels down.

Advanced exercisers can hold a weight goblet style.

Step Down – The Step Down is a great way to strengthen each glute and leg individually and improve your balance. And unlike the Step Up, you can’t cheat and allow your other leg to assist in the movement. Plus, you can improve your mobility as you strengthen through a full range of motion.

To do the Step Down, start standing on a bench or box. Stand close to the edge so that you can step off of it to the side with one foot. The higher the box you use, the bigger the range of motion you can do. You can also decrease the range of motion if you aren’t yet strong enough by using a lower box or by not sinking all the way down. You do not want to go too low and end up setting your foot down on the ground so that you can push off.

Standing near the edge of the bench with your other foot right on the side or hanging off, slowly hinge forward sitting your butt back as you drop the foot on the side down toward the ground. Keeping your back flat, push your butt back as you bend your standing knee to drop your foot toward the ground.

If you can, lightly touch the toe of the foot to the ground, but make sure you do not drop it all the way down so that you can push off of it. Sink as low as you can then drive right back up to standing. Make sure you are only driving through your standing heel and not using your left foot on the ground.

Do not rock forward as you come back up to standing. Really use your glute and drive through your heel. Stand back up nice and tall and squeeze your glute at the top.

Then repeat, sinking back down.

Go as low as you can and complete all reps on one side before switching.

Split Squat – When we think lunges, we think about stepping forward or backward…or maybe even sideways. And these are all great unilateral variations. But if you want to train the most basic lunge movement, you need to start with the Split Squat.

This is a great move to strengthen your legs and core to help you run faster and squat more. It is also a great way to build toward the Balance Lunge without as much instability. Plus, you can improve your strength through a full range of motion as you get up from a half kneeling position on the ground!

To do the Split Squat, step one foot forward into a wide lunge stance. Keeping your chest up nice and tall, stand with your front foot flat on the ground and the heel of your back foot up so that you are on the ball of your back foot.

Then drop your back knee down toward the ground. Do not go forward as you drop your back knee down. Really sit back in your front heel, while keeping your foot flat on the ground, as you bend your front knee and drop your back knee down. You can touch your knee to the ground if you have the strength and mobility. Your weight should be centered as you lower down to the bottom of the Split Squat. To make the move more challenging, touch your knee down and pause so that you have to drive up from a dead stop.

Then drive back up to standing, keeping your weight centered. Drive through your front foot and the ball of your back foot. Feel your quads and your front glute really working to bring you back up to standing. Do not lean or round forward as you lift back up. Come back up and then repeat the move on the same side. Really focus on keeping your weight centered as you lift and lower.

Plank Shoulder Taps – This is one of my favorite plank variations because it is a great anti-rotational core move that also builds shoulder stability. Having to fight your body wanting to rotate as you slowly move from hand to hand will make your core work!

To do the Plank Shoulder Taps, set up in a high plank position from your hands and toes (advanced) or hands and knees (beginner). Place your hands under your shoulders and closer together while your feet or knees should be wider apart to provide a more stable base. Bring your feet or knees together as the move becomes easier to make it harder on your core to stabilize. By having your hands closer together and more centered under your chest, you will also provide yourself with a more stable base. It is very important that you remain stable with this move or you can stress your shoulder.

Then, bracing your abs and engaging your glutes so that your body is in a nice straight line, lift one hand up off the ground, moving it slowly to touch the opposite shoulder. Keep your hips square to the ground and do not rotate as you lift your hand to touch your shoulder.

Do not let your butt go up in the air or your hips sag toward the ground. Touch your opposite shoulder then slowly place your hand back down on the ground. You want to move at a very controlled pace. Lift the other hand and tap your other shoulder. Do not rotate as you lift. Try to keep your body still and simply lift the hand to touch the opposite shoulder.

Fire Hydrant – Especially if you’ve had any injuries, you need to include unilateral isolation/activation moves to help correct those imbalances and get the underactive muscles working. That is why Fire Hydrants are key. They will help activate the glutes to build hip stability so you can run faster and lift more. This move is key to get the glute medius working so that you can also prevent hip, low back and even knee pain.

To do Fire Hydrants, start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet. Keeping your arms straight and your feet flexed, raise your right leg out to the side with the knee bent to 90 degrees.

As you raise your leg out to the side, you want to keep your ankle in line with your knee and not let your foot get above your knee or your knee go up above your foot. You want to try to raise your lower leg parallel to the ground when you lift your leg out to the side.

You should feel the outside of your hip and glute working to lift the leg to the side. Don’t simply lean away to get your leg up higher. Keep your core tight and lift from the hip using your glute. Hold at the top then lower back down.

Make sure to hold for 1-2 seconds. Do not rush through the lift or simply swing the leg up. Make sure you do not bend your arms to get your leg up higher. Squeeze your butt and make sure you feel it activate.

Range of motion isn’t important as long as you feel your glute working. You may even feel this in the leg you are kneeling on because your glute is working to stabilize. Complete all reps on one side before switching.

Glute Bridge with Rocks – Unilateral moves are a great way to correct imbalances, but they can also be a great way to progress exercises instead of adding weight. HOWEVER, sometimes those unilateral moves are TOO challenging so we can’t do them correctly and end up compensating still.

That is why having moves that isolate each side WITHOUT putting the full strain on one side at a time can be key…just like with lunges and such. The Glute Bridge with Rocks is another great move that, while still bilateral, allows you to get in some unilateral activation. It is the perfect way to regress the Single Leg Glute Bridge, but also just a great variation on its own!

To do the Glute Bridge With Rock, set up like you are going to do the Basic Glute Bridge. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Your feet should be about hip-width apart and your knees should be in line with your feet and hips.

Bend your arms to 90 degrees and then drive through your arms, upper back and heels to bridge up. Squeeze your glutes and brace your abs to bridge up.

Then slightly release the contraction in one glute and rock to bridge one hip up slightly higher. Really focus on contracting that glute.

Release that side and rock your other hip slightly up to contract that glute harder. Keep your abs braced as you rock slightly and alternate contracting each glute a little bit extra at the top of the bridge.

Do not let your low back take over as you hold at the top and work to contract each glute a little bit extra. Also, do not let your hips sag down toward the ground.

Stability Press – The Stability Press is a great anti-rotational core move that really works your obliques and glutes. It is a great move to help prevent low back and hip pain, especially if you find you have pain only on one side!

To do the Stability Press, you can use a resistance band or cable. Hold a handle in both hands and turn to the side so you are sideways to the anchor point and step away from the anchor point so that there is tension in the band. You want to make sure there is tension or the move won’t be challenging. Stand with your feet no more than shoulder-width apart. The closer your feet are together, the harder the move will be. Choose a stance though that challenges you while allowing you to maintain good form and not lean away.

Bring your hands into the center of your chest and squeeze your glutes while you brace your abs. Standing up nice and tall with your chest pressed out, slowly push the band straight out from the center of your chest until your arms are straight out.

It should be a struggle to press the arms straight out because the band is trying to rotate you back toward the anchor point. Your core should have to work to stabilize and press straight out from your chest. Do not let your arms rotate open and go back toward the anchor. Maintain a nice tall posture with your shoulder blades drawn down and back and your core engaged. Make sure you also don’t lean away.

Then slowly bring your arms back in and repeat. Move slowly to really have to fight the band. If you move too quickly, you won’t get as much out of the move and you’ll probably get sloppy and let yourself rotate toward the anchor point or even shift open and push away. If you allow your stance to rotate open or if you lean away, it will make the movement easier and won’t force that inside side (the side closest to the anchor point) to really work to stabilize.

Start training unilaterally with the moves above or even some more fun variations in the video below!

The Five-Minute Full-Body Burner

by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 25, 2017 | Blog, Bodyweight, Travel Workouts, Workouts

It isn’t about how long you spend working out…It’s about the QUALITY of the time you spend.

Sometimes we get so focused on needing to spend a certain amount of time working out that, when we then don’t have “enough time,” we end up doing NOTHING.

Or we just put ourselves into a “run out the clock” situation and don’t actually maximize the time we do spend at the gym.

Stop focusing though on the length of your workout and instead pick moves and workout designs to maximize the time you do have. And give yourself options for those busy days when 5 minutes may be all you have!

Something is better than nothing ESPECIALLY if it is quality.

That is why I do a Friday Five Workout each and every week. And now I even have a Library of all my Friday Fives in my App Redefining Strength On Demand!

Check out this awesome 5-Minute Full-Body Burner from my Friday Five series below. And get even more of my follow alongs with RS On Demand!

Join Redefining Strength On Demand for access to all of my Friday Fives, Bodyweight Burners, Travel Series and MORE wonderful follow along video workouts!

The 7s Strength-Cardio Blast

by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 20, 2017 | Blog, Exercises, Workouts

Often I get asked, “Is it better to do strength or cardio training? How many days of each should I do?”

But workouts aren’t necessarily only one or the other. Strength workouts can have cardio elements and cardio workouts can have strength elements.

Yes, you can focus purely on one or the other, but there is a huge gray area in the middle where your workouts can be a little of both.

Where you can build strength as you improve your conditioning!

That is why I love workouts that use weights BUT also get your blood pumping with full-body movements and very limited, if any, rest intervals.

That is why I love the 7s workout below!

The lower reps in this workout allow you to use heavier weights, which, combined with limited rest and full-body exercises, really gets you breathing hard and your blood pumping!

So if you’re ready for a workout that is both strength and cardio, try the 7s Blast below!

The 7s Strength-Cardio Blast

You will complete 7 rounds of 7 reps of each of the 7 move below. Choose weights that challenge you and barely allow you to complete the 7 reps. Better to have to rest or put down the weight briefly toward the end than to be able to easily complete the 7 reps in a row just to get done faster. Time how long the workout takes you and try to beat that time next time. It is a combination of trying to rest as little as possible while also choosing weights that really challenge you!

CIRCUIT:
7 reps Goblet Squats
7 reps Pull Ups
7 reps Kettlebell Swings
7 reps Burpees (with push up)
7 reps Knees to Elbows
7 reps Wall Ball
7 reps Sit Ups

Record your weights and times to try to beat next time! It is great to include this workout in your routine for 3 weeks straight so you can see improvement before switching things up!

For more about each move and modifications, check out the exercise descriptions below!

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EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS:

Goblet Squats – To do the Goblet Squat with a kettlebell, take one kettlebell and turn it upside down, holding it on the bell. Set your feet between hip-width and shoulder-width apart. Keeping the kettlebell in at your chest, draw your belly button in toward your spine and sit your butt back. Squat down and keep your chest up and don’t let your back round forward. Sink your butt down as low as you can, keeping your heels on the ground. Try to touch your elbows to your knees, but not at the expense of really leaning forward or rounding over. Then, driving through your heels, come back to standing. Do not lean or rock forward as you stand up. Come all the way up and squeeze your glutes at the top then sink back down. If you don’t have a kettlebell, you can sub in a dumbbell. You can also do a Barbell Front Squat if preferred.

Pull Ups – To do a Basic Pull Up, stand with a pull up bar overhead and in front of you. Grab the bar with your palms facing away and about shoulder-width apart. Hang from the bar with your body hanging straight down. Press your chest out and even lean back ever so slightly. Then pull your chin up above the bar, leading with your chest. Drive your elbows down as you lead with your chest. Once you get your chin above the bar, lower back down, fully extending your arms. Try not to swing a ton or kick. Repeat, pulling yourself back up to the bar, leading with your chest. Beginners can do foot-assisted pull ups, jumping pull ups or, if needed, Inverted Rows. Do not sub in lat pull down because it won’t get your core working the same as the others will.

Kettlebell Swings – To do the Kettlebell Swing, set the kettlebell (or bell) down on the ground and slightly in front of you in between your feet. Hinge over, bending your knees slightly and pushing your butt back as you lean forward. Keep your back flat and then reach your arms out and place both hands on the handle, tilting the bell back toward you. Hike the kettlebell back between your legs like you would a football. Pull it back and up between your legs toward your butt. To power the bell out, forward and up, squeeze your glutes and drive your hips forward as you stand up nice and tall. Pop your hips forward and propel the kettlebell up off your hips. Do not worry about how high the bell goes. Squeeze your glutes as you stand tall. Then wait to hinge back over as the bell comes back down. Your forearms need to connect with your hips before you hinge back over and bring the bell back down and through your legs. Do not lean forward and hinge over before the kettlebell comes back down. You want to hinge in response to the kettlebell not before. And you do not want to turn it into a squat. You want to hinge at the hips and push your butt back and soften your knees. Then squeeze your glutes again and thrust the kettlebell back up as you come back up to standing. You can also use a dumbbell or even sub in a band hinge instead.

Burpees – To do the Basic Burpee, start standing with your feet together. Then bend over and place your hands on the ground as you jump your feet back into a high plank or top of a push up position. From that high plank position, perform a push up, dropping your chest down to the ground. Then push back up to the plank position and jump your feet into your hands. Come back to standing and jump up off the ground before repeating the movement. If you can’t perform a full push up, you may drop to your knees for the push up or stick with the Beginner variation. If you want to get more of a cardio workout, you will want to keep the movement quick so skip the push up if you can’t do a full one. If you want more of an upper body workout while still getting your blood pumping, put in the push up even if you have to do it from your knees and it slows you down. Beginners can put their hands to a bench instead of going all the way down to the ground. They can also take out the push up or do the push up from their knees.

Knees to Elbows – To do the Hanging Knees To Elbows, hang from the bar with your palms facing away. Then pull down on the bar and draw your shoulder blades down and back as you tuck your knees up toward your elbows. You should really feel your lats engage as you bring your knees up toward your elbows. Then slowly lower your legs back down. Beginners may not be able to raise their knees all the way up to their elbows and that is ok to start. Just focus on engaging the lats!

Wall Ball – To do Wall Ball, hold a med ball in both hands at your chest and stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. You can stand facing a way to throw up at or you can simply throw up toward the ceiling.
Then squat down with the ball at your chest. As you explode up out of the squat, press the ball from your chest throwing it as high up as you can. It is ok to explode out of the squat and jump as you throw the ball from your chest up as high as possible. Make sure that as you throw you extend your body and your arms up toward the ball. Then catch the ball either straight off the throw or after a bounce on the ground and sink right back into the squat and repeat. Do not round forward as you sink into the squat while holding the ball at your chest. This also doesn’t have to be a squat where you sink your butt all the way to the ground, but you do want to make sure to sit your butt back and down. Throw the ball as high as you can. Add weight if you can easily throw it super high or as high as your space allows!

Sit Ups –To do the Full Sit Up, you can do a variation where you reach up overhead as you sit up or you can reach toward your toes. Reaching toward your toes can help if you struggle to roll up and keep your abs engaged and working. To do the Full Sit Up (with a reach toward the toes), lie back on the ground with your legs out straight and your arms overhead. You can also reach your arms up toward the ceiling if you want to limit the assistance you get from “swinging” your arms. Then roll to sit up, first lifting your shoulder blades then the rest of your spine and finally your low back. As you “roll” up, reach your hands forward and toward your feet. Then lie back down, reaching your arms back overhead. Repeat, sitting back up. If you struggle to sit up, you can hold light weights in your hands. The weights actually can make it easier.

It’s Not Your Lower Back’s Fault

by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 12, 2017 | Blog, Butt, Core, Functional Fitness, Pain Relief

“My low back hurts…How do I strengthen it?”

But what if strengthening it isn’t really the issue?

What if working it more won’t fix your problem and may actually make it WORSE!?

Low back aches and pains are one of the most common issues out there. About 80% of the population will at some time or another complain that their low back is “bugging” them.

I mean who hasn’t gotten low back soreness from sitting too long? Or we’ve known someone who’s “thrown their back out” picking up something as freaking light as a pencil. Heck, it’s may have even happened to us!

So what do we often do when this happens?

We go “rest up” on the couch or sit and don’t workout. We avoid moves we think may have caused it.

But rest and avoidance don’t really solve the problem.

Because we then go back to repeating the same poor movement patterns and compensations that caused it in the first place.

So maybe in an attempt to prevent yourself from getting injured again you think, “I’ll add in more moves to strengthen my low back.”

I mean it got injured cause it was weak, right?

WRONG!

Yes, sometimes weakness does lead to injury.

But guess what!?!

It may not be low back weakness that is the issue…

Actually working your low back more may only PERPETUATE the pain!

Often with low back injuries, we are ticking time bombs.

We spend way too much time seated with our hips in flexion hunched over a computer, driving in a car, watching TV…

This hip tightnes s and constant flexion can make our glutes, and even abs, under active and cause our low back to want to work during exercises and movements when other muscles should actually be doing the work.

It leads to compensations, imbalances and overuse injuries.

It causes our low back to become OVERWORKED!

Which is why simply working your low back more, thinking it is weak, isn’t the answer.

Too often when we get injured, we only focus on the point of pain. When the actual problem causing the imbalances and compensations that lead to our pain, aren’t exactly where we hurt.

That’s why you may want to give your low back a break and start addressing these other issues:

Hip Flexor Tightness
Glute Activation
Core Strength
Imbalances

If you can get your glutes and abs working as they should, they will help prevent your low back from becoming overworked. They will PROTECT YOUR LOW BACK.

But often to get your glutes and abs working correctly, you also need to address hip flexor tightness and any imbalances you have between, not only your right and left sides, but even between different muscle groups.

Ever feel one side more than the other during exercises?

Or maybe you only feel your hamstrings or low back during glute bridges?

Or maybe you only ever feel your quads (the fronts of your legs) during leg exercises and never your butt?

These are all imbalances that need to be corrected! And often we ignore these things when we workout and continue to push through because these things seem like they have nothing to do with our low back pain.

I know I know…It’s not where it hurts.

BUT THEY ARE THE REAL PROBLEM!

And they all relate back to getting the RIGHT MUSCLES working. AKA your abs and glutes!

Using isolation exercises that require little to no resistance for higher repetitions, you can activate your abs and glutes and improve your hip mobility to prevent further low back aches and pains.

The key is to use these moves to rebuild that mind-body connection and get the right muscles working BEFORE you do other compound moves.

That way when you run and lift, your abs and glutes will work as they should!

If you’re ready to stop suffering from low back aches and pains and wasting time overworking your low back, it’s time to start my 28-Day Booty Burner Challenge.

These quick workouts will help unlock your hips, correct imbalances and get your abs and glutes working correctly!

Join my 28-Day Booty Burner Challenge to activate those glutes —> https://goo.gl/FWYnzd

The Dangers Of Yo-Yo Dieting

by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 5, 2017 | Blog, Diet

Ever heard the phrase “Yo-Yo Dieting?” Every wonder what it was or why Yo-Yo Dieting is so bad for you?

Yo-yo dieting is that horrible cycle all too many of us have gone through when it comes to weight loss and dieting…

We want to lose weight so we go on a diet.

We find a diet that promises the fastest weight loss possible…makes losing weight sound easy. And we start losing weight, sometimes rather quickly in fact.

We start was is commonly called a CRASH DIET!

But in the process of losing weight, we start “habits” that are really unmaintainable. We maybe even feel low energy and crappy.

We cut out the foods we love. We start eating these bland, boring tupperware meals of chicken and broccoli. We slash our calories and maybe even start two-a-day workouts.

And guess what happens?

It may happen a week into the diet, or a month…But we fall off.

We end up binge unable to maintain the unrealistic habits we were trying to instill.

And then we can’t seem to get back on track.

So we gain the weight back…and then some.

We lost weight only to gain it right back – we “yo-yo-ed.”

And the thing is…we aren’t alone. When we use a “short-term diet” aka a crash diet to lose weight, up to 65% of us will regain the weight we lost within 3 years.

Not only that, but only 5% of people manage to lose weight on a crash diet and actually KEEP IT OFF.

5%!?!

All that deprivation only to regain the weight and then some? No wonder we get frustrated with trying to eat well!

And the worst part is that the scale doesn’t even tell us the full story. It isn’t just “a few pounds” we are gaining back each time we repeat this yo-yo dieting cycle…this cycle many of us have fallen victim too more times than we’d like to admit…

Each time we cycle we are actually making it harder on ourselves to reach our goals!

Each time we crash diet to lose weight quickly, we may see that number on the scale drop . And it may seem super satisfying to see it go down quickly.

The problem is…well…that AMAZING weight loss?…It isn’t necessarily only fat being loss.

Actually, crash diets can cause you to lose a surprising amount of muscle mass. And when you lose muscle during your diet, your metabolism can also slow to conserve energy.

That can make you hit a plateau in your crash diet weight loss.

And when that happens?

Well that is often when we binge. And then we feel guilty. Which often leads to another binge. Until we end up back where we started, again putting ourself through another restrictive diet.

The other problem is, when we gain the weight back…well we don’t gain back muscle near as easily as fat. That means every time we yo-yo, we are not only gaining more weight, but actually increasing our body fat percentage.

AKA our body composition is getting worse and we could be adding more belly fat!

That is the yo-yo dieting cycle has to end.

If you want to not only lose weight but actually lose fat AND KEEP IT OFF, you’ve got to start a sustainable diet.

A diet that allows you to truly make lifestyle changes!

But what the heck would a diet like that even look like?

Well…

A sustainable diet:

Would have to let you enjoy the foods you love
Help you feel good and ENERGIZED
Let you make slow, steady change and build true HABITS
Not make any foods off limits
Let you enjoy time with friends and family
KEEP THINGS SIMPLE!

You need to find something that allows you consistent progress, but WHILE you are developing something you can maintain long term.

You need something that teaches you balance. Because there will be events. Vacations. Stressful times.

Times you are more motivated and less motivated.

And eating according to your goals can be balanced around them all.

Plus it should make you FEEL AND LOOK GOOD. Note…The FEEL GOOD part. Too often we just accept that we will feel crappy and low energy on a diet when that really shouldn’t be the case!

If you’re ready to get started with a sustainable diet and leave the yo-yoing behind, and you need some help knowing how to eat according to your goals, it’s time you checked out my Macro Cycling program!

Say GOODBYE to the restriction of crash diets and the rebound of the yo-yo dieting cycle!