Archive for April, 2009

It’s not uncommon for middle-aged persons to experience chronic back pain. Unfortunately, the careless actions that we take early in life can come back to haunt us later on, but if we know how to combat them, we can save ourselves half a lifetime of physical strain. At UltimateBodyPress.com, we understand the importance of a healthy back, and we’d like to share a few tips for keeping it in the best possible condition.

1. When sitting down, don’t slouch. This will put unwanted strain on your back. Instead, keep it straight, and stay relaxed.

2. Adjust your car seat and office chair so that your back receives adequate support.

3. Get plenty of exercise. You’ll build the muscles around your back, making it much stronger and less prone to injury. One great way to do this is by using The Ultimate Body Press to strengthen, tone, and boost your back muscles.

4. If you’re doing heavy lifting, bend at the knees, not the waist. Allow your legs to do the lifting instead of your back.

5. Don’t let your muscles tire. Keep them active, and don’t become so engrossed in a task that you forget to get up and stretch once in awhile.

We have all done it before.  Someone is about to take a picture of you so you suck in your gut to look thinner.  You probably do the same thing when you look at yourself in the mirror.  Well guess what.  There is more to that reaction than vanity alone.  It is your mind telling your body to straighten up and it is a key change in your posture that you can practice ALL THE TIME.  The benefits are overwhelming and it won’t take a single extra minute out of your day. 

A strong core forms the base of all movement. You can strength train 5 times a week and do sit ups for hours, but you will still lack the strength and conditioning required in your deep core muscles.  That is because a stronger core does not necessarily mean going to the gym.  It involves an awareness of the muscles that surround your pelvis and support your spine.  Imagine you are balancing a yard stick in the palm of your hand.  If you tilt your hand forward, you lose control and the yard stick falls over.  Now image that your spine is the yard stick and your pelvis is the palm of your hand.  Most of us walk around with our pelvis tipped forward requiring our back and shoulder muscles to fight to keep us from falling over.  This is a bad thing, but the solution is simple.

Fixing your posture problem is so easy and doing so means you will look sexier, run faster and feel better for the rest of your life!  Here is the answer to your problem. Whether you are driving in your car, walking through the grocery store or running a 100m dash, suck in your gut.

Try this right now.  Stand up. Suck in your gut. Tighten your glutes a bit and make yourself as tall as possible. Now make sure your shoulders are back and relaxed.  What you have just done is properly aligned your upper body and spine, rotated you pelvis into a more upright position and relieved stress on the muscles of your back and shoulders.  Can you believe something so good for you could be so easy? 

Start by practicing while you are in the car.  Suck in your gut, keeping your shoulders back a relaxed.  If you are driving, you may need to move the seat up so you can still reach the steering wheel.  Sorry, you can’t get your “gansta lean” on anymore.  You will look more like “Driving Miss Daisy”, but so what? It’s good for you. Do this for as long as you can.  Oh yeah, don’t forget to breath and to use your turn signals.  Next try it while you are walking to class or standing around at a party.  Suck in your gut and tighten your glutes.  This is an isometric workout you can do anytime and anywhere.  It sounds simple, but if make a conscious effort to do this as much as you can, you will notice the difference in just a couple days!

So, here’s to a better you.  SUCK IN THAT GUT

It may surprise you to find that many top athletes also enjoy playing music and vice versa. This is true because top athletes, musicians and artists all have something very important in common.  They all enjoy exploring their personal potential.  Whether you want to be a world class musician or an international sports star you will follow the same path to success.  This quest is called practice.  Practice is all about bringing yourself closer to perfection one small but specific and very targeted step at a time.  Once you have accumulated a broad palate of these fundamental competencies you are rewarded with the indescribable joy of performing almost effortlessly and with great skill. 

The first thing to understand about practice is that at some point it will involve a certain degree of either mental or physical discomfort.  It either causes physical pain like calluses and muscle strains or mental stress like when an exercise feels so awkward at first it’s like someone is dragging their finger nails across the chalk board of your mind.  If this were not true then everyone would be a combination of Roger Federer and Jimmy Hendrix. What gives the best performers the motivation to continue in spite of the long and meticulous path is the value they place on achieving their own perfect individual expression.  Once you have experienced, it something goes off inside you and  you are driven to continue.

Artists and athletes achieve greatness through practice. Either they instinctively recognize the fundamental skills required and practice them on their own or they find a coach.  With guitar that might involve playing progressions or practicing rhythm and counting out strumming patterns over and over again. In Track and Field it is doing drills like the “B-skip” or “falling starts” to single out and perfect one specific movement from all the coordinated mechanics involved in perfect running form.  First, practice drills use biomechanical feedback to help you identify in your mind what the right way is supposed to feel like.  Second, drills are a quick and convinient way to repeat that specific activity or movement until you have mastered it. 

In a nut shell, here’s how practice really works.  Create in your mind a clear picture of what you want to achieve. Be proud of this vision knowing that your ambition for personal discovery will be infinitely rewarding. Finally, learn everything you can about the fundamentals of that activity (This is where a coach comes in handy) and remember that you will reach your goals one practice at a time. 

According to a recent report from the Mayo Clinic, researchers are finding that strength training is more important than ever for a stronger, leaner, and healthier body.

“If you don’t do anything to replace the lean muscle you lose, you’ll increase the percentage of fat in your body,” says Edward Laskowski, M.D., a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center. “But strength training can help you preserve and enhance your muscle mass — at any age.”

Besides being a great way to regenerate muscle, strength training also encourages strong bones, weight control, reduced risk of injury, stamina, well-being, and even a better night’s sleep. Strength Training is just the push your body needs to become healthier, no matter what your age or gender. Both men and women of all ages can benefit from adding strength training workouts to their fitness plans.

You don’t need to spend hours a day working out to benefit from strength training either. Two to three strength training sessions each week lasting just 20 to 30 minutes are sufficient for most people. For example, using the Dip Machine at home for just 20 minutes each week to start can deliver the results you need to increase your stamina and consequently, improve the quality of your workouts. After a few weeks, bump up your training on the Ultimate Body Press to 30 minutes twice or three times per week and you’ve got a fitness plan that’s sure to be effective.

Improvements in strength and stamina can become noticeable in just a few weeks, while major benefits may take a few months. Either way, with regular strength training, you’ll notice that you’ll be feeling better, looking leaner, and living healthier than ever.

After a workout or while you’re on the go, it’s important to keep your body nourished and hydrated. While water may be easily accessible while you’re at the gym, food may not be. To ensure that your body is getting the protein and carbs it needs to keep going, use this recipe for homemade protein bars to boost your body no matter where you are. Simply toss a few squares into your bag and you’re good to go.

Ingredients

1 ¾ cup rolled oats

¾ cup dry milk powder

1 tbsp cinnamon

3 tbsp orange juice

2 egg whites

½ cup raisins

¼ cup chopped nuts

2 tbsp honey

2 scoops protein powder (flavor of your choice)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix all ingredients well in a large bowl.

Pour mixture into a lined oven tray with wax paper.

Spread evenly. Before baking, cut into squares.

Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Store in an airtight container.

We all have our favorite high protein foods like eggs, tuna, and chicken, but while these are great sources of protein, that are not meals in themselves and will not keep you full for long.  What if there was a secret ingredient that could take any ordinary serving of protein and turn it into a delicious meal packed with nutritional value?

Well, there is such an ingredient and your secret weapon is beans.  If you are feeling a little like Jack and the Beanstalk right now, keep reading because beans are the perfect partner for your high protein plate.  They are cheap, like cheaper than BK’s Value Menu cheap, convenient because they come in a can and add rich flavor and texture to any meal.  Beans also have the perfect metabolic combination of protein which helps build muscle and slow digesting fiber that brings a good feeling of fullness and will not send your blood sugar through the roof.  A 2/3 cup serving of beans has about 10 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber.  To prepare, simply open the can and rinse the beans in a colander.

Secret Weapons for Breakfast

Scramble a couple eggs and serve them with black beans.  Microwave the beans for 1 minute in a bowl with a little salt, pepper, a little olive oil and garlic (powdered or fresh). I use a garlic press for convenience.  Add some hot sauce and you’ve got Huevos Rancheros.  Arriba! You’ve taken a boring breakfast and made it into something rich and delicious in minutes. 

Secret Weapons for Lunch

Tuna salad is a staple of my high protein diet, but it can get a little too fishy if I make it the same way day in and day out.  Try a can of solid white albacore tuna mixed with half a can of cannellini beans (also known as white kidney beans) salt, pepper, diced red onion, juice of half a lemon, olive oil and some dried dill.  If it isn’t tangy enough for you, add some red wine vinegar.  This tuna salad has a fresh, crisp flavor that is way healthier than the mayonnaise alternative.

Secret Weapons for Dinner

Jamaican style grilled chicken and black beans is best served with sand between your toes, a Caribbean cocktail in one hand and a some Bob Marley playing in the background.  Season the chicken with jerk sauce and grill. You can get jerk seasoning as a liquid marinade, paste or dry rub.  I prefer the paste or the dry rub.  Prepare the beans just like the breakfast meal except, this time also add paprika and a little lime juice.   All kidding aside, you will need a cool beverage with this one because it’s a little spicy!

For both recreational and competitive athletes, an Ultimate Body Press workout can provide all the upper body and core strength you need, but at some point you will need an exercise like running to develop cardiovascular endurance and leg strength for sports.  Running can do ALL that for you.  Unfortunately, when many people start running longer distances they experience a loss of sprinting speed.  This is a problem because most sports require a combination of speed and endurance.  Luckily, there is a way to get a great endurance workout without sacrificing speed. 

The reason distance running often comes at the sacrifice of top speed is because the athlete has falsely chosen an entirely different running pattern for longer distances. They have moved from a sprinting pattern into a heel-toe jogging pattern that more closely resembles walking.  This is a common misconception and has much to do with current shoe technology.  If you want proof, just look at the shoes worn by top distance runners.  They are nothing like the running shoes you will find in most stores. 

The shoes are known as “racing flats” and they are remarkably similar to the shoes worn by sprinters.  Just like with track shoes, marathoners’ shoes have no bulky heel pad because good distance runners do not actually land on their heels.  This is a more biomechanically efficient way to run.  Learning this proper running technique that eliminates the heel strike will increase your foot strength and means you will always be reinforcing good sprinting technique no matter what distance you run.

**Racing flats are extremely useful for learning how to run properly because they are more flexible and give you really good feedback.  However, they do not offer much support.  Use them for training then once you’ve learned the new technique you can go back to a shoes with more support.

The Ultimate Body Press dipping bar allows many different exercises, but perhaps the most pivotal ones are chest dips and knee raises. Since these exercises are so integral to your dipping experience, we at UltimateBodyPress.com are here to offer step-by-step instructions to make sure that you know how to do them. So, grab your bar and read on.

First, stand between the bar so that its peaks are at your sides. Next, place one hand on each peak and lift your legs so that they’re parallel to the floor. At this point, you should be hanging in mid-air. Now, lower yourself by bending at the elbows, and once you’ve gone low enough, simply bring yourself back up by pushing down on the bar. Finally, with your knees still bent, swing your legs ninety degrees forward, then draw them back. Repeat this whole process for a truly invigorating workout.

That’s all there is to it. If you need a clearer explanation, you can always watch our video demonstrations for more information and tips on how to make the most of your dips.