Saturday's Stretch/Flexibility -- Full-Body Rolling Out Routine

I received a foam roller for Christmas.  It is such a great piece of equipment.  It allows you to do myofascial release to your own muscles.  It's like giving your muscles a deep tissue massage.

So, what is myofascial release?

From Wikipedia:

"Myofascial release is a soft tissue therapy for the treatment of skeletal muscle immobility and pain. First described by Andrew Taylor Still and his early students,^[1] the therapy relaxes contracted muscles, improves blood and lymphatic circulation, and stimulates the stretch reflex in muscles.

Fascia is the soft tissue component of the connective tissue that provides support and protection for most structures within the human body, including muscle. Osteopathic theory proposes that this soft tissue can become restricted due to psychogenic disease, overuse, trauma, infectious agents, or inactivity, often resulting in pain, muscle tension, and corresponding diminished blood flow. Although fascia and its corresponding muscle are the main targets of myofascial release, other tissue may be addressed as well, including other connective tissue.^[2]

The term myofascial was first used in medical literature by Janet G. Travell in the 1940s in reference to musculoskeletal pain syndromes and trigger points.^{[citation needed]} In 1976, Travell began using the term "myofascial trigger point" and in 1983 published the reference Myofascial pain & dysfunction: the trigger point manual.^[3] There is no evidence she actually used what is now termed "myofascial release".^{[citation needed]} Some practitioners use the term "myofascial therapy" or "myofascial trigger point therapy" referring to the treatment of trigger points, usually in medical-clinical sense. The phrase has also been loosely used for different manual therapy techniques, including soft tissue manipulation work such as connective tissue massage, soft tissue mobilization, foam rolling, Rolfing, and strain-counterstrain techniques".

Myofascial techniques generally fall under the two main categories of passive (patient stays completely relaxed) or active (patient provides resistance as necessary), with direct and indirect techniques used in each.

Today's routine comes from LiveStrongWoman's Ashley Borden.  She takes you through how to roll through the following muscles:  quads, IT band, TFL, inner thigh, piriformis, hamstrings, calves, shins, upper back, lats and triceps.

From the YouTube description:

"Loosen tense muscles, increase flexibility, and improve your workouts! Ashley Borden's amazing Full-Body Rolling Out Routine is the perfect complement to any workout. Use this rolling out routine before or after your regular workout or on days off from the gym. Learn how to release uncomfortable sticking points and open up the entire body. For more advanced users, go with a denser foam roller or even a PVC pipe to target trouble spots."

Friday's Funny

Especially in this COLD weather!!!

Thursday's Total Body/Cardio -- Cardio Barre Introductory Workout

Today's workout comes from Lionsgate BeFit.  It is a beginner cardio barre total body routine.  You don't have to have a bar to do this routine--you can use a high back chair, a counter top, or even a wall.

From the description on YouTube:

"Cardio Barre: Introductory Workout is a unique, 20 minute high energy/no impact exercise routine that combines dance-inspired barre work and light weights with continual fat burning motion to tone the entire body, strengthen the core, and kick start your weight loss potential. Cardio Barre, Hollywood's Hottest Workout guides you through several basic moves that will activate the abdominals to build a strong core, promote beautiful posture, and improve balance. You will sculpt lean muscle and slim the waistline while toning the hips, thighs, abs, legs, chest, arms, calves, obliques,"

Just a couple of form tips:  Pulses and bounces are two different things. You want all moves, even the small ones to be controlled.

Some of the moves are kind of fast, which will make it more cardio, however, do it at your own pace, remember-- form is more important than speed always.

Feel free to wear shoes if you'd like, but they are not necessary.  When doing balance work it's actually easier to go barefoot because you can grip with your toes.

On the abdominal crunches, keep your elbows back in line your ears.

When you are on your side, make sure to stay lifted out of that bottom shoulder--no slouching!

You need one lighter weight.  A warm up and stretch are both provided.

Wednesday's Wild/Warrior Workout -- Fat Burning HIIT Cardio

Today's workout comes from FitnessBlender.  It is a 20 minute fat burning HIIT workout.  It consists of 5 exercises performed tabata style (20 seconds work with a 10 second rest) done 4 times.  Please modify to lower impact if you don't jump.  A warm up and cool down are both included.

Tuesday's Trunk and Core -- Crunchless Core work + Atomic Crunch & Mountain Climber Challenge

Challenges are like mini fitness tests.  They are a great way to see where you are in your fitness and they also make a great starting point for you to make improvements from.

Today I'm going to start you off with a couple of challenges from POPSUGAR Fitness.  The first one is a 1 minute mountain climber challenge.  This will burn some calories and get your body warm.  I'd suggest you do a short warm up first--some high knees or jumping jacks and some arm swings.

The second one is a 1 minute core challenge. Make sure that you don't yank your body up or let your body drop down.  If you need to keep your feet on the floor to come up and then lift them, go ahead and do that.

Keep track of how you did in these challenges and then repeat them again in a couple of weeks to see if you can beat that original number.

The second video also comes from Popsugar.  It is a 10 minute crunch free core routine.

Make sure to give the abs and back a good stretch after this routine.

Monday's Muscle Work -- Standing Pilates for Legs, Butt and Obliques + bonus recipe

Sorry I missed posting yesterday, my husband and I were taking our son back to school for his final semester!  Yay only one more to go--thankfully he's a junior, so we get a year off!

Today's muscle workout comes from blogilates.  It is a standing pilates routine that focuses on the legs, butt and obliques.

There is no warm up, please do a short one first--march in place, do some squats, swing your arms around, just to warm the muscles up a bit.

Here's your bonus recipe:  Pecan Crusted Mahi Mahi

I made this for dinner the other night--SO good!!!

It comes from Good Clean Fun which I guess is now A Whisk and a Hammer.

I omitted the cinnamon and nutmeg and just did straight salt and pepper for seasoning.

Pecan Crusted Mahi Mahi