by Cori Lefkowith | Dec 15, 2014 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises
Working out should be about more than lifting weights and doing some cardio to lose weight and stay in shape. Working out should also improve your mind-body connection to help you move and feel better in every day life.
By improving your mind-body connection, you will be able to more quickly recruit the correct muscles to do work aka lift weights or run. This will help you prevent and alleviate pain and injury as well as react more quickly and be more coordinated.
How then do you improve your mind-body connection when working out?
For one, you make sure you have good form with movements and concentrate on the correct muscles working. (Yes, actually think about whether or not the muscles are working, especially when first doing a movement to make sure they are actually engaging. Don’t just go through the motions.)
Two, you should also include movements that cause you have to work in new and different ways at a quick pace.
And one of the best ways to make you move in every direction quickly to improve your coordination and mind-body connection is with Agility Ladder Drills.
The Agility Ladder is often used with athletes to improve their footwork and agility. But athletes aren’t the only ones that should be using it.
The people that may actually benefit most from Agility Ladder Drills are actually non-athletes looking to improve their mind-body connection and coordination.
However, in order to get the most out of the drills, you can’t simply go through as fast as possible and do the drills haphazardly. You must focus on getting the movements down perfectly and then do them as fast as possible.
By learning the new drills and doing them correctly as fast as possible, you will improve your mind-body connection and therefore also improve your coordination.
Check out the Agility Ladder Drills in the video below for some great variations. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced exerciser, you can benefit from these drills!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Dec 1, 2014 | Blog, Bodyweight, Core, Exercises
Remember when you used to swing and hang upside from the Monkey Bars? It used to be so easy right!?!
But now it may be more of a workout than you realize…Although possible still as much fun!
If you are looking to make your workouts more fun, you may want to add in some Monkey Bar Exercises. Monkey Bar moves are a great way to strengthen your upper body and core.
And the best part is you can do these moves at any playground even if you don’t have Monkey Bars at your gym!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 24, 2014 | Blog, Bodyweight, Core, Exercises
Whether you want to lift more, look better or simply lessen your aches and pains, you need to work your core. And one of the best moves to build core stability so that you can look, feel and move better is the Basic Plank.
The Basic Plank is one of the best ways to improve your mind-body connection while building core stability so that you can workout harder without injury to reach your health and fitness goals.
However, while the Basic Plank seems like an easy move to do, it is actually very complicated and, when done right, works everything from your shoulders to your knees – not just your abs.
Often when people do Planks, they end up feeling them in their low backs. And rarely do they focus on feeling muscles up and down their core activate and work together to help them hold a nice straight line.
Because if you do a Plank correctly, you shouldn’t feel your low back working, but instead you should feel your shoulders, abs, glutes, quads and adductors all working to hold your body in a nice tight line.
Below are some tips to help you achieve perfect Plank form as well as some fun Plank Variations to use in your warm ups or workouts!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 3, 2014 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises
Burpees are a great full-body cardio workout you can do anywhere. With one movement you can work your entire body and get your blood pumping.
And with these 10 Burpee Variations, you can mix things up and work your body from different angles. Some of these 10 burpee variations are more core intensive while others focus more on your chest, back or legs.
Try these 10 Burpee Variations and our Burpee Challenge below!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Oct 1, 2014 | Blog, Bodyweight, Pull Ups
Pull ups are one of the best bodyweight exercises to build back and core strength because they are a compound movement.
However, they are also one of the most challenging bodyweight exercises for most people to do.
If you are struggling to achieve that first full pull up or would simply like to be able to do more, check out our How To Do A Pull Up Guide below.
In this guide we will help you get the big muscles of your back working properly and show you pull up variations and supplemental exercises to improve your strength and get your chin up over that bar!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Aug 25, 2014 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Handstands
There is just something so cool and fun about handstands.
However, they are far from easy and many of us can’t even hold one against a wall let alone hold a freestanding one for a second.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t include handstand work in our exercise routines.
Handstands are a great way to build upper body and core stability and strength. Beginner variations even improve your upper body mobility so that as your strength increases, you can do more and more challenging variations.
No matter your level, there is a handstand variation right for you that can help you work toward that freestanding handstand and give you a great upper body and core workout.
Check out our How to do a Handstand Progression (and our How to do a One-Handed Handstand Progression) to help you achieve that handstand or at least get in some great upper body and core work!
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