by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 26, 2014 | Blog, Exercises
Carry heavy things – We do it often enough in real life yet we seem to avoid doing it in the gym.
We like to say we are doing functional exercises in the gym yet we avoid the most functional of all exercises – HEAVY CARRIES.
All carry variations work your entire body. They can work your grip. They can increase your back strength, your core strength, your glute strength.
They work large major muscle groups to help you get stronger and burn more calories.
Plus doing heavy carries can make your body strong in a way that helps you prevent and avoid injury.
So stop avoiding a great full body FUNCTIONAL exercise and start doing Carries.
Below are some great Carry Variations:
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by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 21, 2014 | Blog, Butt, Exercises
Many of the AMAZING glute activation exercises that we should all be doing are those funny looking moves that Jane Fonda used to do in her leotard with ankle weights.
They are the moves that most people, especially guys, avoid.
However, everyone from the professional athlete to the guy or gal sitting behind the desk for 9 hours a day (especially actually that guy or gal with a desk job) should do those funny looking glute activation moves!
Glute activation can help you reduce your risk of injury and even alleviate your lower back pain by relaxing overactive hip flexors AND by getting your glutes to fire efficiently and effectively so that your lower back and hamstrings don’t compensate and become overworked.
Because so many of us spend so much time seated, our hips can become tight and our glutes can become underactive.
So getting them firing efficiently is key!
When your glutes are strong you’ll also find your running speed and endurance improves AND you can lift more!
Plus, strong glutes look pretty darn nice too!
And you can accomplish all of this by using those SILLY LOOKING ISOLATION MOVES!
Glute activation exercises should be included in your warm up to establish that mind-body connection so you can effectively recruit the muscles during your compound lifts or runs.
This will help you use proper recruitment patterns so your lower back doesn’t become overworked!
You can also include these more isolated moves in your supplemental circuits OR even as a nice quick finisher to your workout routine!
10 Must-Do Glute Activation Exercises:
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by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 19, 2014 | Blog, Recipes
Salad for breakfast?
YUP!
Sounds a bit strange, but it is super good (and this is coming from someone who isn’t necessarily a fan of salads!).
Some power greens, poached eggs and bacon make this one DELICIOUS breakfast.
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by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 18, 2014 | Blog, Exercises
Our bodies should be able to move in every direction, yet our workouts rarely, if ever, include movements in every direction.
When we lunge, we tend to lunge forward and backward only. With maybe a side lunge or two thrown in there.
But we should be lunging in every direction so we can MOVE in every direction in daily life without getting injured.
The whole point of working out is to make our bodies more mobile and stronger so we can live pain free.
That is why you need to include the lunge matrix in your workout routine!
The lunge matrix moves your body in every direction. It strengthens your legs and your glutes in every plane since you are lunging in every direction.
It makes you functional strong to prevent injury!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 13, 2014 | Blog, Pain Relief, Warm Up
Many of us spend far too much time hunched over our technology.
And as a result…
Well…
Our posture sucks!
And this “desk job,” “too much texting” posture can lead to aches and pains!
It can also create mobility restrictions, compensations and imbalances that result in INJURIES when we workout!
For example, ever feel your lower back or neck get achy after you say….do an overhead shoulder press?
Well because you sit rounded forward all day, chances are your thoracic extension and shoulder mobility are limited. You probably also have that forward head posture all too many of us get.
So, as a result, when you try to press overhead during your workout, you compensate to replicate the movement. Basically, your body takes the path of least resistance.
When an area isn’t as mobile as it should be, like our thoracic spine (mid and upper back) and shoulders, we seek out mobility from other areas, like our lower backs.
What does that mean?
Your lower back ends up feeling achy because you’re arching it to press the weight overhead because you’re lacking proper thoracic extension!
That is why we need to take steps to relax those tight muscles, which means starting our mobility sessions with FOAM ROLLING!
We want to foam roll tight and overactive muscles, stretch tight and shortened muscles then activate underactive ones!
Click here to learn more about this full 3-part RStoration process I’ve outlined above!
Below are 10 Foam Rolling Moves Everyone With A Desk Job Should Do.
While foam rolling alone won’t complete reverse our bad posture, it is the best place to start. It can provide some temporary relief AND allow us to get better results from our stretching and especially our ACTIVATION!
So before I dive into the 10 moves you want to do to reverse your desk job posture, I want to explain a bit more about when to foam roll, how foam rolling works and why it’s that first step in the prehab process!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 10, 2014 | Blog, Exercises, Push Ups
If you want to be able to do push ups from your toes, the knee push up isn’t the best way to get there.
Yes, push ups from your knees will strengthen your upper body, BUT if you want to be able to do push ups from your toes, YOU NEED TO DO PUSH UPS FROM YOUR TOES.
So how do you do push ups from your toes if you can’t actually do push ups from your toes?
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