You now have all components for a toned and strong core!

Dear clients, friends and family,

Here is your final Day Six of your 6-Day Core Conditioning program. You now have all all critical components of a solid core conditioning program with movements and exercises in a variety of planes and angles. As a reminder, your core is not just your abdominal region. It includes all layers of the abdominal musculature (deep and superficial including the external/internal obliques, rectus abdominus and transverse abdominus), the muscles surrounding the spine on the posterior side of the body, the hips and glutes, and the pelvic area. This program will hit everything!

A strong core provides strength that radiates out to the rest of your body so you can move with more grace, power, efficiency and be less likely to get injured.

Day Six Exercises include:

• Full sit –up (ascending reps)
• Holding V-sit
• Holding V-sit with Rotation
• Extension up and forward fold

Note: Today's program is hard-core so take as many breaks as needed and be sure to modify any movements that don't feel great on your body.

Here's the video clip so you can follow along.



Here's a direct link if you can't see the video above...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJvGS6SYbz4

My suggestion is to complete Day One program on Monday, Day Two on Tuesday and so on. Then take one day rest and repeat the sequence the following week. All you need is about 5 minutes or so every day to really challenge your core from all angles. Follow the program for about 6 weeks and email me your results. A strong and toned core is the ultimate goal!

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan

Core Conditioning Combo #5 - Follow the whole program to a 6-pack!

Dear clients, friends and family,

Here is Day Five of your Core Conditioning program. By the end of this week, you will have all 6 days of your Core Conditioning program! Hopefully, you have mastered Days One-Four and are ready for some new exercises. Practice these and Day Six will come on Friday.

This 6-day program will address all critical core components and include movements and exercises in a variety of planes and angles. As a reminder, your core is not just your abdominal region. It includes all layers of the abdominal musculature (deep and superficial including the external/internal obliques, rectus abdominus and transverse abdominus), the muscles surrounding the spine on the posterior side of the body, the hips and glutes, and the pelvic area. This program will hit everything!

A strong core provides strength that radiates out to the rest of your body and you will move with more grace, power, efficiency and be less likely to get injured.

Day Five Exercises include:

• Bicycle Crunch
• Alternating Leg Lowers
• Straight Leg Extension Crunches
• Dead bug (Arm and Leg extensions)


Here's the video clip so you can follow along.



Here's a direct link if you can't see the video above...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkE4pbY6D_g

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan

ps. Practice these moves as well as Day 1-4 over the next few days and stay tuned for Day 6 coming on Friday.

Important exercises if you sit at a computer or desk all day!

Dear clients, friends and family,

Here is Day Four of your Core Conditioning program. This circuit is especially important for those of you who work at a computer or desk all day. It will help to improve your posture, elongate your spine and work those weaker posterior muscle groups. Hopefully, you have mastered Day One, Two and Three and are ready for some new exercises. Practice these and Day Five will come on Monday.

By the end of next week you will have your complete Six Day Core Conditioning workout. This program will address all critical core components and include movements and exercises in a variety of planes and angles. As a reminder, your core is not just your abdominal region. It includes all layers of the abdominal musculature (deep and superficial including the external/internal obliques, rectus abdominus and transverse abdominus), the muscles surrounding the spine on the posterior side of the body, the hips and glutes, and the pelvic area.

Remember, when you have a strong core, that strength radiates out to the rest of your body and you will move with more grace, power, efficiency and be less likely to get injured.

Day Three Exercises include:

• Back extension breaststroke
• Reverse back extension Leg Lifts
• Plank on elbows for 15-30 seconds
• Child’s Pose for 15-30 seconds

Here's the video clip so you can follow along.



Here's a direct link if you can't see the video above...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D78oDg1uPAo

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan

ps. Practice these moves as well as Day One, Two and Three over the next few days and stay tuned for Day 5 coming on Friday.

More Core Conditioning Exercises!

Dear clients, friends and family,

Here is Day Three of your Core Conditioning program. Hopefully, you have mastered Day One and Two and are ready for some new exercises. Practice these and Day Four will come on Friday.

This 6 day core conditioning program will address all critical core components and include movements and exercises in a variety of planes and angles. As a reminder, your core is not just your abdominal region. It includes all layers of the abdominal musculature (deep and superficial including the external/internal obliques, rectus abdominus and transverse abdominus), the muscles surrounding the spine on the posterior side of the body, the hips and glutes, and the pelvic area.

Remember, when you have a strong core, that strength radiates out to the rest of your body and you will move with more grace, power, efficiency and be less likely to get injured.

Day Three Exercises include:

• Side Leg Lifts
• 4 part Leg Lifts
• Double Leg Lifts
• Hold Top Leg, Lift bottom leg
• Side Plank – hold for 30-60 seconds

Here's the video clip so you can follow along.



Here's a direct link if you can't see the video above...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbOyb5mMQE4

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan

ps. Practice these moves as well as Day One and Two over the next few days and stay tuned for Day 4 coming on Friday.

When is the best time to do abdominal exercises?

Is it better to do abdominal exercises before or after a workout? A.M., Vancouver, WA

Actually, there are pros and cons to both. Performing abdominal exercises before a workout will help to warm-up and prepare the core/abdominal muscles for the actual workout which will involve these muscles in some manner. However, you must be careful not to overly fatigue these important muscles prior to exercise as they are the spine and pelvis support network. If totally fatigued for example, prior to a loaded back squat and/or deadlift, poor form and injury may result. So if you do your abdominal exercises before your workout, you would want to take it easy and train at a sub-maximal level for the rest of your workout.

If you wait to perform your abdominal exercises at the end of the workout, you can train them more aggressively because you won't have to worry about the over-fatigued state as we mentioned above.

You can even perform abdominal exercises during a workout in between exercise sets so long as the intensity does not exhaust the abdominal muscles and compromise the quality and/or safety of any of the other exercises in the workout. For example, sometimes a workout circuit I will follow will be a lower body exercise, upper body exercise and then a core exercise and repeat this template with different exercises each time through.

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan

ps. Join us for March Muddy Madness on Sunday March 21st.


http://www.nwpersonaltraining.com/subs/events/event_details.php?event_id=67

Use your head to get results...

Did you know that Neuromuscular Facilitation can really make your workouts a lot more effective? Neuromuscular what? Neuromuscular facilitation is just a fancy term for Muscle Smart or teaching your muscles to contract more effectively. You see, your muscles are under direct control from your nervous system. In order for your muscles to work, a nerve stimulus must arrive at the muscle which will cause it to contract. So the coordination between your muscles and your neurological system is critical to maximize any movement or exercise.

Studies demonstrate that most strength gains that occur in the first month of someone starting a new weight lifting program are a result of this phenomena. It has been coined the “Learning Effect” and occurs as the nervous and muscular system learn to work together as a team.

This muscle-nerve relationship can be used to your advantage to maximize the effectiveness of your workouts. A number of studies have been done to measure this effect. One study had it subjects perform a number of standard weight lifting exercises. The subjects were hooked up to EMG’s to measure muscle activity as the exercises were performed. Stage two of the study had the subjects perform the exact same exercises with the same speed and same resistance so that they mimicked the first stage exactly. The only difference was that the second time around they had the subjects really focus on what they were doing. They had them concentrate on contracting the muscles that were supposed to be working in each exercise. Basically, they had them put their mind into it. In this second stage, the amount of measured muscle activity significantly increased. So the message is clear - the mind-body connection is critical to maximize the work a muscle will do.

On a practical level, what does this mean for your workouts? There are definitely some exercises you can dissociate from. For example, you can get up on a treadmill, plug in an 8 minute mile and then allow yourself to think about your day or read a magazine or watch TV. You will burn the same amount of calories whether you focus or not. But, with weight lifting, focus is critical. We sometimes see exercisers sitting on a leg press machine reading a magazine and just going through the motions. We feel obliged to tell them that if they put down the magazine and focused, every rep and set would be so much more effective and they’d see results much more quickly. A lot of exercisers would find that if they just concentrated while they were performing the movements, they wouldn’t have to do 2-3 sets of each exercise. If it’s a really good set, one set is often enough. Wouldn’t you rather get the same results in a shorter period of time? Would you rather spend 40 minutes or 2 hours in the weight room? Think of all the extra time you’d have if your workouts were more efficient!

An understanding of this entire mind-body scope has taken on a whole new level of interest. A lot of coaches are realizing that on any given day, there are a number of athletes who could possibly win an event. The one who stands on top of the podium, generally is not the one who is the most fit or talented but the one who tapped into the enormous amount of strength stored inside of our bodies. This untapped strength is only accessible if the mind can overcome any limitations or barriers. For example, did you know that it was once thought that a 4-minute mile was humanly impossible? It wasn’t until that barrier was broken that others were able to tap into the strength that was always there. Within one year, another 5-6 people broke the 4 minute barrier and within another year, another 50!

We would literally astound ourselves if we actually learned to really effectively coordinate the brain and the body. Our physical capabilities would be phenomenal. So although you may not be gearing up for a 4-minute mile, learning to use your brain during your workouts will definitely take them to the next level.

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan

2 Tips for Looking Hot for the Holidays

Dear clients, friends and family.

Looking and feeling your best is a potent combination of exercise and healthy eating. It always has to include both! So here is your next exercise and nutrition tip to get you Looking Hot for the Holidays.

Nutrition Tip: Part of the problem leading to our epidemic rates of obesity and overweightness is people eating past the point of fullness. This will always lead to energy storage and increased body fat levels! So learning to stop eating when you're full is a big step in the right direction. Use the following hunger scale to help guide you.

The Hunger Scale – Learn to use this scale to rate your hunger and fullness

0 – Ravenous, Primal Hunger. I’m so hungry I could die!
1 – Extremely Hungry, dizzy, shaky, faint
2 – Very hungry, irritable, finding it hard to concentrate
3 – Stomach growling
4 – Hungry but not ravenous
5 - Totally comfortable
6 – Feeling like I ate too much
7 - Stomach is stretched/uncomfortable
8 – Very Full/Stuffed
9 – Very Full and Bloated/Overstuffed
10 – So Full it Hurts, Feels like I’m going to explode, Feel sick to my stomach

LEVELS 0-2: Signifies ravenous hunger. This is when you are most likely to overeat. Avoid this stage!

LEVELS 3-4: These are the best times to eat. Your body is saying that it needs food.

LEVELS 5-10: Starting to eat at these levels indicates emotional, not physical hunger.

Eating until you reach level 6 and higher may indicate that you've lost touch with your physical hunger.

Exercise Tip: Incorporate Interval Training into your Workouts. Here's why.

The benefits of higher intensity exercise are as follows:

*Expends more calories per minute

*More efficient – burns more calories in less time

*Most effective method for improving fitness conditioning

*Most effective method for raising anaerobic threshold. Your anaerobic threshold is the stage of exercise where you feel very tired and feel the need to either stop or slow down. You may feel dizzy or nauseous if you stay at this level too long. By incorporating higher intensity activity into your exercise workouts, you raise your anaerobic threshold. This means that you can exercise at a higher intensity before you start to experience those uncomfortable sensations.

*Most effective method for inducing training adaptations. Incorporating this type of training into your program will enable your body to handle the higher intensities more easily. You will find that intensities that used to leave you breathless and fatigued, no longer challenge you anymore. Soon, you will be able to expend more calories per minute compared to when you first started exercise. When people first initiate an exercise program, a comfortable calorie burning level is approximately 5cal/min. Elite athletes can expend more than 20cal/min and sustain it for over 2 hours! As a result, it takes them a lot less time to burn one pound of fat.

*Most effective method for increasing fat mobilization. This means that as you get fitter, you actually get better at burning fat. Inside of your fat cells, you have enzymes called hormone sensitive lipase and lipoprotein lipase. Hormone sensitive lipase, the "good guys", are responsible for releasing fat from a fall cell to be used for energy. Lipoprotein lipase, the "bad guys", are responsible for the uptake of fat from the blood stream into fat cells to be stored. Lipoprotein lipase functions to develop our unwanted bulges. If you have lived a sedentary lifestyle and have eaten a poor diet all your life, you will have a lot of the "bad guys" and they will be very good at their job. You will have fewer "good guys" and they will not be so competent with their responsibilities. The goal is to get more good guys doing their job. But changing the internal chemistry inside of your fat cells may take years. So in the beginning you may not be experiencing results as quickly as you want because you body is actually working against you. But with consistency in your training program, your body will soon start to work for you. Soon you will have increased your ability to mobilize and use fat as a fuel. Training in a high intensity zone will make you fit quick and enable you to enjoy this wonderful training benefit. Soon you will be burning more fat during and after exercise. You will become a fat burning machine!

*Experience a higher EPOC (excess post oxygen consumption). Have you ever wondered why you continue to breathe heavy and sweat after your workout is done? Why doesn't your breathing and body temperature go back to normal immediately? After exercise you consume a greater amount of oxygen to assist your body in recovering from the stress of the workout and the demands it placed on your body. It is important to know that EPOC uses fat as its fuel. At higher intensities, your EPOC is greater translating into a greater caloric and fat expenditure post activity. Although the effects of EPOC are small, if you expended an additional 100 calories post exercise as a result of a high intensity exercise session, within 100 workouts (5 months), you would have burned an extra 10,000 calories or 3 pounds of fat!

*Intervals are the best way to add intensity to a workout by adding brief, high-energy outputs followed by active recovery phases which will avoid fatigue and injury.

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan

Last 3 Exercises for your Pumping Nothing Workout

Today is Day 7 – the last day - of your Pumping Nothing workout. You now have 21 different exercises you can do absolutely anywhere with no equipment whatsoever. So the next time you can’t get to the gym, are on holidays or on a business trip...NO EXCUSES!

Here are your last three exercises to complete your Pumping Nothing Muscle-conditioning workout.

Try about 60-90 seconds for each exercise for a 4.5 minute mini-circuit. You might be motivated to just follow along with this clip and get a few minutes of movement. Or you might combine all clips for a 40 minute blast.



If you can’t view this clip, here is the direct link to YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7FlFZGfqDA

Today’s exercises are:

Hamstring Curl
*Stay strong in your core
*Resist on the way in and on the way out
*Do for about 60-90 seconds total each side

Plank, Cobra & Downward Dog
*Keep your core strong throughout the entire set
*Continue for 60-90 seconds total

Bridging
*Keep you abdominals contracted throughout the entire set
*Contract your glute muscles on the way up and on the way down
*Try for 60-90 seconds total each side

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan

3 more Muscle Toning Exercises you do with no equipment

Today is Day 6 of your Pumping Nothing workout - 18 different exercises you can do when you can’t get to the gym, are on holidays or on a business trip. I took my nephew, niece and sis through this workout when I was hanging out at their place in Canada and it kicked their butt. So whether you’re just getting started or you’re hardcore, there’s something for you!

Here are the next three exercises to add to your Pumping Nothing Muscle-conditioning workout.

Try about 60-90 seconds for each exercise for a 4.5 minute mini-circuit. You might be motivated to just follow along with this clip and get a few minutes of movement. Or you might combine all clips so far for a 30 minute blast.



If you can’t view this clip, here is the direct link to YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP_Ph8vXi90

Today’s exercises are:

Standing Side Leg Lift:
*Try not to lean while you lift your leg to the side
*Do for about 60-90 seconds total each side

Tricep Pressups
*Keep your core strong
*Continue for 60-90 seconds total

Opposite Arm and Leg Extension with Rotation
*Keep you abdominals contracted throughout the entire set
*Focus on reaching and lengthening versus lifting upwards
*Try for 45-90 seconds total each side

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan

Day 5 of your Pumping Nothing workout brings you 3 more exercises you can do anywhere!

Today is Day 5 of your Pumping Nothing workout. You now have 15 different exercises that you can do absolutely anywhere using no equipment whatsoever. Keep these emails on file for the next time you can’t get to the gym, are on holidays or on a business trip.

Here are the next three exercises to add to your Pumping Nothing Muscle-conditioning workout.

Try about 60-90 seconds for each exercise for a 4.5 minute mini-circuit. You might be motivated to just follow along with this clip and get a few minutes of movement. Or you might combine all clips so far for a 25 minute blast.



If you can't view the clip above, click below for the direct YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIwUbOOIunY

Today’s exercises are:

Airplane/Knee Lift/Walking Lunge & Touch Down
*Try a mini-lunge, intermediate or deep depending on how strong your knees are
*Keep your core strong into airplane and as your reach towards the ground
*Do for about 60-90 seconds total

Side Pushups
*Continue for 45 seconds each side

Full Sit-ups + V-sit Rotations
*Keep you abdominals contracted throughout the entire set
*Focus on a long spine during the rotations
*Try not to use any momentum or strain during the full sit-ups
*Feel free to adjust your range of motion during the full sit-ups
*Try for 60-90 seconds total

Yours in Health and Fitness,

Sherri McMillan

3 more Muscle Toning exercises you can do anywhere!

Today is Day 4 of your Pumping Nothing workout. Keep these emails on file for the next time you can’t get to the gym, are on holidays or on a business trip. There are never any excuses for why you can’t get your workout in because everything you will ever need, you will always have with you!

Here are the next three exercises to add to your Pumping Nothing Muscle-conditioning workout.

Try about 60-90 seconds for each exercise for a 4.5 minute mini-circuit. You might be motivated to just follow along with this clip and get a few minutes of movement. Or you might combine the last few clips for a 20 minute blast.



If you can't view this video clip, click on the following direct YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1BeDJDW4LU

Today’s exercises are:

Lunge & Kick
*Try a mini-lunge, intermediate or deep depending on how strong your knees are
*Keep your core strong as you kick
*Do about 45 seconds each leg

Supine Arm Presses
*Continue for 60-90 seconds total using various angles

Prone Back Extensions – Upper/Lower/SkyDive
*Keep you abdominals contracted throughout the entire set
*Focus on reaching and lengthening versus lifting upwards
*Try for 60-90 seconds total

Three more Pumping Nothing Exercises

Today is Day 3 of your Pumping Nothing workout. Remember, you don’t need any equipment whatsoever to give yourself an incredible muscle conditioning workout. Review the last two posts for more tips.

Here are the next three exercises to add to your Pumping Nothing Muscle-conditioning workout.

Try about 60-90 seconds for each exercise for a 4.5 minute mini-circuit. You might be motivated to just follow along with this clip and get a few minutes of movement. Or you might combine the last few clips for a 15 minute blast.



If you can't view the clip above, click here for the YouTube file:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCPPej8D-wM

Today’s exercises are:

Circle Squat & Jump squat
*Only reach as low as you feel comfortable
*Continue for 30-45 seconds in each direction and then finish with a Power Squat

Push-ups with Leg Lift
*Try this from either your knees or toes depending on how strong your upper body is
*Alternate Legs
*Keep your core strong throughout the entire exercise
*Try for 60-90 seconds total

Side lying Lateral Leg Lifts
*Lift one or both legs
*Keep your core strong throughout the entire exercise
*Try for 30-45 seconds each side

Yours in Health and Fitness,

Sherri McMillan

Here are your next 3 Muscle Conditioning Exercises you can do anywhere!

Today is Day 2 of your Pumping Nothing workout. Remember, your body is the BEST piece of equipment ever and you can keep it strong, fit and conditioned with absolutely no equipment whatsoever! Review yesterday’s posts for more tips.

Here are the next three exercises to add to your Pumping Nothing Muscle-conditioning workout.

Try about 60-90 seconds for each exercise for a 4.5 minute mini-circuit. You might be motivated to just follow along with this clip and get a few minutes of movement. Or you might combine today and yesterday’s clips for a 9 minute blast.

Today’s exercises are:

Alternate Leap Lunge
*Only reach as low as you feel comfortable
*Choose low or high impact
*Continue for 60-90 seconds total alternating legs

Prone Arm Lifts
*Press thumbs towards the ceiling
*Continue for 60-90 seconds

Single and Double Leg Extensions
*For stabilization - Only extend and lower as low to the ground as you can keep your abdominals engaged and your low back stable
*Continue for 60-90 seconds

Here's the clip:



If you can't view the video clip, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPcc4iig0dA


Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan