Performance Shoulders Workout

Whether our injuries are actually located somewhere inside our shoulder or hip girdles, many injuries are caused by a lack of stability and mobility in those two areas. They’re two extremely complex joints that are surrounded by many different muscles, as opposed to our biceps or triceps that are far less challenging to isolate and deal with as a regular person working out at the gym. Fortunately, we don’t have to change anything in terms of “how to train” other than be aware of the various muscles that should be targeted.

This workout combines basic movements that activate all the major muscles in the shoulder girdle and eventually leads up to some lifts that are closer to what you’d see in competition. It’s not necessarily a workout for a beginner and that’s why we aren’t offering full explanations and pictures of the exercises. If you’re unsure what these (basic) exercises and muscles are, you should probably take a step back and start with the machines in the gym, rather than free weights.

Nov042016

The Answer to the Question of Life

The moment that you’ve all been waiting for, or at least it would make sense for us to think that, since we are asked all the time… “what product do you recommend for (fill in the blank)?” and proceed. In person, via text/email, on social media, through the blog… we are constantly being asked for our recommendation on products from video games and books, to dog food and people food, to jump ropes and weightlifting shoes. The list goes on and on and on so we thought that instead of answering the same questions over and over again, let’s create a page that we can send you to with all the information clearly laid out, which brings us to right now!

If you check out the blog, you’ll notice that there is a new tab on the top menu titled “Products” and, while it’s a work in progress, we want to work with you to build it because our memories aren’t always the sharpest. If you click on the tab, you’ll see a long list of hyperlinked product descriptions loosely organized in categories such as Protein, Pets, Food, and Vitamins & Minerals. We made the list that you can look at now based on products that we remembered you have all asked about in the past, so if you can think of anything else please let us know.

Nov022016

The Top 10 Workout Songs for November 2016

Please enjoy a guest post from our friends at Run Hundred!

This month’s top 10 workout songs span a wider tempo range than normal—with the fastest song clocking at more than double the speed of the slowest. Moreover, that’s just the beginning of this playlist’s variety. So, with no further ado, let’s get into the mix.

On the lower end of the spectrum, you’ll find new tunes from The Weeknd and Lady Gaga that are perfect for warming up, cooling down, and stretching. At the other end, you’ll find lightning fast tracks from Green Day and Dagny that will give you an extra boost mid-routine. Those tracks alone incorporate country touches, Scandinavian melodies, pop punk,and Daft Punk. Elsewhere, you can find remixes from Ellie Goulding and The Chainsmokers alongside soundtrack hits by Years & Years (from Bridget Jones’ Baby) and Christina Aguilera (from The Get Down).

Whatever your tastes, new faves await. When you’re ready to make tracks, here’s the full top 10 list—according to the votes logged on workout music site Run Hundred.

Oct242016

You DO Have Time to Meditate

When it comes to anything health-wise, people (including myself) find many excuses to avoid doing said activity. It could be a physical workout or, what I’m focusing on today, a mental workout. Yes, I’m talking about meditation: slowing down your life for a couple of minutes to find center and balance (though I’m sure that’s not the exact definition). Meditation has astounding effects on one’s day-to-day life; it can cheer you up, help you find perspective, give you new revelations, fine-tune your focus and so forth. Wow, sounds like great benefits, why isn’t everyone doing it? Well, one big reason is that people don’t think they have time to meditate.

Not enough time to meditate?! Claiming that for a full-hour workout, but for a meditation that can be as short as two minutes long… try searching for another excuse. But, hey, I do it too. It’s funny, the thing that can help us most in life (exercising, meditating), we try to avoid with any excuse possible: it’s too cold out, it’s too hot out, that cloud looks ominous, I’m too tired, I don’t have time, yadda yadda yadda. Nobody is innocent to this. We all do it, though perhaps on different levels of severity.

Oct202016

Optimum Nutrition Opti-Bar Review

When you do it, do it right. I think that’s the first and last… and only impression that Optimum Nutrition (who I’ll refer to as ON for the rest of the article) wants to make. Even though they only have a few products with the name “Gold Standard,” it’s obvious that they want their name associated with being the best. For the past few years, you might have found your cabinet filled with their Whey Protein, Multi-Vitamin, and Creatine. More recently you might have added their BCAAs, AMINO Energy, Preworkout, Protein Water, and newer flavors of whey to your collection. Now, you can really take ON with you anywhere you go; meet the OPTI-BAR.

A protein bar is a protein bar, right? To a certain degree. While we shouldn’t need to explain to you that a protein bar is a few bites of nutrient-rich food that generally has a single texture, we do want to highlight some of the things that make the Opti-Bar stand out, or at least make you feel more comfortable consuming it. The reality is that when you go to a convenience store like 7-11, you don’t want to be inconvenienced trying to figure out which option to choose. You consider a few things so let’s address those directly.

Oct192016

New PowerBar Protein Bar

Who hasn’t heard of PowerBar before? Decades ago, when you were a young athlete or a parent raising a child who played soccer every Saturday morning, when you went into 7-11 last minute to get them something with nutritional value there were two things you could rely on… Gatorade and PowerBar. PowerBar (who we’ll refer to as PB moving forward) was one of the first companies, along with Tiger’s Milk to create a candy-bar sized and shape product that had some nutritional value to it. Which leads us to the next question, who hasn’t had a PB before?

Oct122016

The Top 10 Workout Songs for October 2016

Please enjoy a guest post from our friends at RunHundred.com.

This month’s top workout songs include a perfect blend of comebacks and collaborations. In the mix below, rockers Kings of Leon return to the charts with a new single and Lady Gaga returns to her pop roots—following her jazz duets album with Tony Bennett. Elsewhere on the comeback front, you’ll find Sting leading an uptempo tune that hearkens back to the sound of his work with The Police.

On the collaborative front, you’ll find recent hits—like the pop/rap track featuring Sia and Kendrick Lamar or a song that topped Billboard‘s Latin chart from Enrique Iglesias and Wisin. Additionally, there are after-the-fact collaborations–in the form of dance remixes of rock songs from Fitz & The Tantrums and Blink-182. Throughout playlist below, you’ll find plenty of variety as new and veteran acts from different genres duke it out—occasionally in the course of a single song. Here’s the full top 10 list—according to the votes logged on workout music site Run Hundred.

Sep222016

I Didn’t Hit Snooze for a Week and Here’s What Happened

I found myself hitting the snooze button more and more often. Maybe it was a hard workout the night before, stress, or just not hitting the hay early enough. Usually, I wake up pretty early and get stuff done in the morning whether that’s a workout or whatever. But for a time, I just kept snoozing and snoozing until it was last alarm time, gotta-get-up-or-you’ll-be-late type of deal.

So, I made a vow to myself for a week that I would NOT press the snooze button for a week and see how it felt. See what more I could or couldn’t get done and so on and so forth. So, each morning even if I really really wanted to hit that snooze button and get a few more minutes of sleep, I got my butt up outta bed. Even if Hungry stayed in bed and Noke was slow to wake up, we got up (yep, if I’m up, Noke’s up–she’s my precious little shadow).

About what you would expect happened….

Sep072016

Boxing Home Workout For Everyone

Boxing is an incredible way to stay in shape. You can develop your muscles through repetitive movement of punches. You will certainly work on your cardio through boxing, there’s hardly any way to escape that. Your coordination will improve as well by getting footwork and the timing of your punches down. It is also great for getting out any aggression, trust me! With all these benefits, people should be lining up to do boxing. However, maybe you don’t have a boxing gym nearby. Maybe you can’t afford one. Maybe you just want to be able to do it at home. Well, here we go, I’ve created a small boxing-like workout for you to do at home. This requires no gloves and only one piece of equipment which you can sub out. Boxing isn’t easy, but it’s a worth-it workout. (Please excuse the sleepy morning photos)

1. Jump rope (1 min). If you don’t have a jump rope, do air rope like I’m doing in the pictures. Challenge yourself. Do different paces. Try on just one leg. Try high knees. Work hard! This part should get your heart PUMPIN’.

Aug192016

Keep It Moving: A Must-Read Book

Just the other day, we were reflecting on how often the solution to a major problem is so painfully simple. Sometimes, it could just be the flip of a switch to give power to a whole building when a surge turns off everyone’s lights all of a sudden. Someone knows where that switch is, but if that someone isn’t around or hasn’t shared that knowledge, how does that help us as a community?

Carl Bresk has over thirty years of experience in the field of health and wellness. For those three decades, Carl has taken a formal education (and degree) in kinesiology (anatomy, exercise science, etc.), the experiences of an elite athlete (as a competitive rower), and specialized training from working at a fitness facility where he teaches classes and clients, in order to find some part of the fountain of youth. Carl shares his secrets in his book “Keep It Moving” because he sincerely wants everyone to achieve a greater level of health and wellness.