Master the Plank

From Active​.com

There is no exer­cise that works your abs more effec­tively and effi­ciently than the plank. All of your abdom­i­nal mus­cles (trans­verse, obliques and upper) have to work together to sta­bi­lize and sup­port your entire body weight.

It also engages your glutes, shoul­ders, lats, arms and legs. Almost every mus­cle in your body is being toned and tight­ened when you per­form this power move.

Get ready to flat­ten and tone your mid­sec­tion in as lit­tle as 60 sec­onds with all the vari­a­tions of this super pose.

Mas­ter the Plank

Before you try some of the more cre­ative poses it’s essen­tial the you mas­ter the basic pose.

Remem­ber:

1. Draw your navel towards your spine. Think about really pulling your belly up, no sagging!
2. Don’t over­arch your back. You want your whole body from the top of your head to your ankles to be in a straight line.
3. Engage your glutes. This will help you keep that straight line.
4. Keep those angles at a 90 degree angle. This helps your entire body stack correctly.
5. Don’t col­lapse into your shoul­ders or let them rise towards your ears. Pulling your abs tighter will help you direct the hold to your core instead of your neck and upper shoulders.
6. Keep your gaze about 6 inches in front of your face. This will keep your neck from straining.
7. Work up to a 60 sec­ond hold, focus on per­fect form. If you need to rest dur­ing your plank drop your knees down to the ground and then rise back up again into the pose.

Plank Vari­a­tions

Once you’ve mas­tered the basic plank, check out these fun and chal­leng­ing takes on the basic movement:

Oblique Plank: Mov­ing your legs while hold­ing the plank increases the work your lower abs and obliques have to do, plus it gets your heart rate up burn­ing a ton of calories.

Side Plank: Shift­ing the plank from one arm to two forces your obliques and lats to engage– say good­bye to love handles.

Moun­tain Climbers: Want to tone and tighten your abs while ramp­ing up your heart rate? Try this fast paced ab move as a car­dio inter­val between strength moves.

Exer­cise Ball Planks: Doing this bal­anc­ing exer­cise on an unsta­ble sur­face dra­mat­i­cally increases the chal­lenge to your core by forc­ing it to tighten and lift to sta­bi­lize your body.

Layer it Up!

This is a re-post from Decem­ber 2010. The arti­cle con­tains good info and the com­ments are fun to read. It’s like a time capsule!

BY MARY ELLEN

With the fore­cast tak­ing a turn for the chilly, here are a cou­ple tips on ways to keep warm and work out safely when it’s cooool­l­l­l­l­l­lld­ddd out­side. These tips are cour­tesy of the Mayo Clinic.

Dress in Lay­ers
One of the biggest mis­takes you can make while exer­cis­ing in cold weather is to dress too warmly. Exer­cise gen­er­ates a con­sid­er­able amount of heat — enough to make you feel like it’s much warmer than it really is. Yet, once your sweat starts to dry, you can get chilled. The solution?

Dress in lay­ers that you can remove as soon as you start to sweat and then put back on as needed. First, put on a thin layer of syn­thetic mate­r­ial, such as polypropy­lene, which draws sweat away from your body. Avoid cot­ton, which stays wet next to your skin. Next, add a layer of fleece or wool for insu­la­tion. Top this with a water­proof, breath­able outer layer. A heavy down jacket or vest may cause you to over­heat if you’re exer­cis­ing hard. If you’re lean, you may need more insu­la­tion than some­one who is heav­ier. If it’s very cold, con­sider wear­ing a face mask or scarf to warm the air before it enters your lungs.

Pro­tect Your Hands, Feet and Ears
When it’s cold, blood flow is con­cen­trated on your body’s core, leav­ing your hands and feet vul­ner­a­ble to frost­bite. Try wear­ing a thin pair of gloves under a pair of heav­ier gloves or mit­tens lined with wool or fleece. Don the mit­tens or gloves before your hands become cold and then remove them if your hands begin to sweat. (For boot camp, con­sider invest­ing in a pair of water­proof gloves!)

Do you have any other tips or tricks for stay­ing warm in the cold? Share your ideas by click­ing “Com­ments” above.

IMAGE CREDIT “A Christ­mas Story”

Proper Squat Form

We hope the Chal­lengers are enjoy­ing this month’s Tabata Squat chal­lenge. Here’s a video to inspire you…

Do You Eat Before Your Workout?

EXCERPTED FROM COOKING LIGHT

“Think of a pre-workout snack as fuel­ing, not fill­ing,” says fit­ness expert Myatt Mur­phy, CSCS. “Aim for 100 to 200 calo­ries, just enough to give you enough energy for exer­cise. Too much food, and your stom­ach will be work­ing out at the same time to digest it all.”

Thirty min­utes before exer­cise is the way to pace this. If you’re an early bird, a pre­-workout snack is essential—there’s no fuel in the tank. If you exer­cise mid-afternoon, you might need less.

What to eat: The best pre-­workout snacks pro­vide a mix of carbs and protein—a banana and a hand­ful of nuts or a slice of whole-grain bread with peanut butter.

There’s been much debate about this around BC4C… do you eat before your work­out? If so, what do you eat?

Drink Up!

BY KATHLEEN

Hydra­tion is cru­cial to your health, but in the sum­mer, it is cru­cial to the pre­ven­tion of heat ill­ness. If your activ­ity lasts an hour or less, water is the best source of hydra­tion. Longer activ­i­ties will impli­cate elec­trolytes, and then sports drinks is the bet­ter choice (alter­na­tively, water enhanced with ½ tsp of salt per 16 o.z.). Stay away from caf­feinated or car­bon­ated beverages.

Pre-hydration is as impor­tant as post-workout hydra­tion. Thirst is not a good indi­ca­tor. By the time you feel thirsty, you are dehy­drated. Dur­ing the work­out, you should be con­sum­ing 8 o.z. of water for every twenty min­utes of activ­ity. After your work­out, remem­ber to rehy­drate. If you are feel­ing dehy­drated, in addi­tion to flu­ids, try a banana, some pickle juice, or a lit­tle mustard.

Don’t waste your drink­ing water by pour­ing it on your head. Pour­ing water on the skin does lit­tle to decrease core body temperature.

Finally, one more rea­son to wear your sun block: Sun­burned skin is less effi­cient at sweating.