Total Gym

Total Gym Weekly Workout – The Plank

Did you over do it during the holiday weekend? Never fear – the Plank is here!

While you begin to de-Christmas your diet, check out ALL the ways you can work your core with Total Gym Plank exercises. GRAVITY Master Trainer Michael Steel demos how to add an extra upper body challenge while you’re at it!

Plank

In PT with Jessie Carter – Holiday Shop But Don’t Drop!

By:  Physical Therapy Contributor Jessie Carter, PT

Low back pain has been a common theme around the clinic lately. Every year around this time, there seems to be an increase in patients complaining of back pain – aches and pains from shoveling snow, back strain from carrying shopping bags and packing gifts, and chronic pain patients want to address before the holidays.

I was out with the best of them on Black Friday braving the crowds. What started as a quick trip to snag some deals, however, turned into an all-night, exhausting event.

Consider these tips to keep your body from wearing down before you do:

• Wear comfortable shoes such as walking or running shoes when shopping. When it comes to walking the mall, comfort should win out over your cutest pair of heels to prevent stress to your ankles and feet.
• Lighten your load when you can. If you are shopping for a lot of items or for a long period of time, consider making frequent trips to your car to drop off packages. This provides extra exercise while reducing the stress on your back muscles.
• Distribute the weight of packages and shopping bags evenly on both sides of your body.  This means that you have to avoid holding all your bags in one hand to sip your favorite drink or fumble for your keys. This also means avoiding what I call “attitude standing” – propping all your weight through one hip (often times to hold a child propped on that same hip). Standing in this position can create undesirable forces through the hip joints, pelvis and spine.
• Women, keep your suitcase (I mean purse) weight to a minimum to avoid undue stress and fatigue. Only carry necessary items such as your wallet and keys. When carrying your purse, consider strapping that makes your body work the least or requires large joints over smaller joints to carry. For example, use a bag that has a shoulder strap or can be worn as a backpack instead of a purse with smaller handles.
• Plan ahead if possible. Whether you are going to campout to get the best deals or do a marathon shopping spree, you can ease physical and mental stress by making a list and avoiding prime shopping times. Remember that long lines and busy parking lots increase your time standing and walking.

While most back pain is mild and resolves on its own, some pain persists or comes back repeatedly over time. A lot of my patients, who have experienced low back pain for years, tell me they have tried multiple treatment options without success. They also report that each time the pain returns, it seems to get worse.

When you experience low back pain, one of the best things to do is to stay active and continue with your normal routine as much as possible, without the risk of further injury. This seems to contradict the old approach of “putting someone to bed” when they are down on their back. Bed rest for more than a day has been shown to actually slow recovery.

If your pain worsens or lasts more than a few days, then it is time to see a medical professional.  Immediate medical attention should be sought if you experience loss of bowel or bladder control, numbness in the groin or inner thigh and/or pain that does not change with rest.

Continue your Total Gym routine over the holidays to maintain optimal strength and tone. Try these “Cable Core Work” exercises to target your snow shoveling and shopping muscles: the shoulders, back, arms and chest in conjunction with the core.

Arm Cable Exercises; Recruiting the Core

The mad rush of the holidays is here…following these simple tips and taking care of your body will allow you to enjoy the season and shop without the drop.

Happy rehabbing!

Jessie Carter is the owner of High Pointe Rehab in Clarksville, TN, where she utilizes Total Gym for physical therapy and fitness training to offer the full continuum of patient care. Jessie is a 2001 graduate of the University of Evansville (UE) in Evansville, IN, where she earned both her BS and Master’s degrees in physical therapy. Contact Jessie at jessie@highpointetn.com with your questions or ideas for future topics.

Total Gym “Fit Before Feasting” Workout

You know you’re going to do it. The turkey, stuffing, candy-coated yams and butter drenched rolls – it’s all too decadent to avoid! You’re going to indulge on Thanksgiving; it’s tradition!

To help counteract the calorie-laden Thanksgiving meal, we’ve put together a full-body Total Gym “Fit Before Feasting” workout! Warning:  Feeling this good may cause you to make healthier food choices come turkey time!

Try to complete 10-15 reps of each exercise demonstrated below in 2-3 sets.

Cardio Pull - A great compound exercise to warm up the upper and lower body.
Cardio Pull

[Unhook cable pulleys from glideboard]

Squat Progressions - From single to double leg, to plyometric squats. You’ll feel the burn! Squat Progressions

[Attach cable pulleys to glideboard]

Flys and Curls - Sit laterally to perform single art chest flys and bicep curls.
Seated Lateral_Single Arm Chest Fly-Lateral Biceps CurlsAdvanced Cable Work – High-level progressions for shoulders, arms, chest and back, with recruitment of core stabilizers. Advanced Upper Body Cable Sequence

[Detach cable pulleys from glideboard and add/engage foot holder]

Hamstrings and Abdominals - Get an optimal stretch and flexion for hamstrings, while maximizing abdominal involvement
Upper Extremity Progressions

[Remove/disengage foot holder]

Sprinter Start – Explosive leg exercises that mimic a sprinter’s start to torch calories!
Sprinter Start

Total Gym Weekly Workout: Pilates Infused Training

The slow and intentional movement of Pilates  can look deceptively easy.  Give this Pilates infused GRAVITY sequence a go and feel the strength required to complete this workout!   This is great for quads, hamstrings and your core.

GRAVITYPick_Pilates Infused Training

Thanks to Linda Freeman this week for our Weekly Exercise video.  For more videos like this visit us at www.GravityClubhouse.com.

Total Gym Weekly Workout: Shoulders

Shoulder work with core control!

Rob and Nicole are back with us this week demonstrating a shoulder exercise from the Flash DVD (requires GRAVITY Clubhouse login or create a free user account to see the GRAVITY Flash DVD).  Work your shoulders and core with this front raise, chest press and shoulder press combination.

Q310_Flash – (GC) Shoulders

Fitness Wisdom Wednesday: Core Golf Fitness

Hello Total Gym golfers and Total Gym trainers with golfing clients!

The 2011 Master’s Golf Tournament, which many consider the kick-off to the golfing season, is coming up in April. So my next couple of blog posts will focus on utilizing the Total Gym to improve your – or your clients’ – golf mechanics to get into pro form!

Today’s exercise is an overhead shoulder press on Total Gym. In the video below, I demonstrate a great alternative to the shoulder press that I learned in my Total Gym GRAVITY training course, which is taught inverted and prone (or lying face down) on the glideboard. By utilizing the principle of “line of pull” that my fearless GRAVITY Personal Training educator Jeff Groh strongly emphasized, we are able to do this seated forward as demonstrated in the video

This exercise will help your golf game in the following 3 ways:

1. Hit the Ball Farther: A strong, functional core allows you to transfer the power from your legs to the upper body to generate more club head speed.
2. Improve Your Consistency: During this exercise, focus on emulating the spine angle of your golf swing. This will train your core to stabilize this angle so you can hold it constant throughout your golf swing until the end of your follow through. Without a stable, constant spine angle, it is very difficult to get back squarely to the ball at impact.
3. Protect Your Back from Aches, Pains or Injury: Having functional core strength AND core endurance is crucial to protect your spine from the vigor of the golf swing. As Keith Kleven, Tiger Wood’s physical therapist, points out, “Every time you swing the club, seven to eight times the weight of your body is directed into your spine.” That is a lot of torque happening during a round of 18 holes!

Click the video image to play:

Until next month golfers! Hit ‘em straight!

JayDee Cutting is a GRAVITY Master Trainer, certified personal trainer, Pilates instructor and creator of the “Core Golf Fitness” program. JayDee’s Core Golf Fitness DVD offers on-course and warm-up exercises proven to help advance your golf game and is available for purchase at http://coregolffitness.com/.

Total Gym Weekly Workout: Rocky Abs

You can’t beat renowned trainer Todd Durkin’s  high energy, his fitness knowledge or his Core Blast – Rocky Abs workout on Total Gym!

To see more from Todd check out GRAVITYClubhouse and the 2011 GRAVITY Personal Training DVD Unleashed. This DVD is a Metabolic Circuit Blast with Todd Durkin featuring six innovative circuits designed for all fitness levels. Functional training equipment includes Total Gym, Kettlebells, TRX and heavy ropes.