With the onset of winter (it's almost here), the importance of a good warm-up before a workout increases. It's also more important for the over-40 crowd who tend to have less joint fluid and muscle elasticity.
Let's start with a one-question quiz: What is the primary purpose of a warm-up?
Push-ups are usually considered an upper body exercise that develops the chest, shoulders, triceps, and upper back. But when done correctly, they are a very much a core exercise, too.
The top of a push-up is a "pedestal" plank which is a variation of the more popular plank done on the forearms. This makes a well-done push-up an excellent way to work the core.
There's a popular formula for calculating your maximum heart rate (MHR). The formula is simply 220 - Your age and today's Quick Question: Is it accurate?
The quick answer: probably not. I actually wrote a longer piece about this in the old StrongFast Planet newsletter.
But let's take a step back. Why would anyone want to know their maximum heart rate anyway?
Way back in 2008, I set a goal for myself to run a 6-minute treadmill mile before the end of the year. (I've never been a big runner, so this was a good challenge.) Tweaking my knee in the summer set me back, but I kept on working the program, spending more time running at 10 mph (a 6-minute mile pace).
Then along came Thanksgiving Day, November 27th, 2008.
There are lots of cues for improving posture: keep your chest up, pull your stomach in, sit up straight, etc. But my favorite has long been to imagine a string attached to the top of your head pulling you up. (Just keep those abs tight!) Well, imagine no longer!
Continue readingPretty much every day I'm home, I make my Super Giant Salad for lunch. It generally weighs in at about two pounds. The picture doesn't show its unsuspected depth. Rest assured: it's big.
Looks delicious, right? And it is, which is why I have it most every day. (On the road, I buy one, lately from Cafe Basil.)
Recently, I was giving myfitnesspal.com a spin to check it out. (It's not bad.) And the numbers on my salad were interesting, so thought I'd share:
Slams are fun for power and energy system development. Common slam tools are medicine balls and heavy "battle" ropes (but not cats). Unfortunately, people often shortchange themselves by slamming using primarily their arms. This limits the muscle involvement and so the power (and calorie burn) of the exercise.
Instead, get your body weight into your slams, as shown in the video below.
