Let’s be honest, the holidays are tough to stay on track. Parties, good food, late nights, and busy schedules make for an uphill climb over the month of December. We are here to help keep you focused and maybe a little motivated during this challenging time of year. Take part in our 12 Days of Fitness! From December 1st – December 31st we challenge you to get to the gym for your workout at least 12 times. Everyone that visits the club 12 times within this period will be entered into a drawing to win a free month of dues, personal training, and massage. The drawing will take place on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2017.
Not sure what to do while you are here? Keep an eye out for fitness tips, mini workouts and healthy recipes from our fitness staff and nutritionist!
For more information please contact Fitness Director, Jacob Luckey, at jluckey@sacdt.com.
Jason does an outstanding job balancing being a husband and a father of two with working early and sometimes working late. He always comes into the club looking for ways to help change one person’s life and make someone’s day better.
Jason Anderson has been a pillar of the fitness department for over 10 years. In those short 10 years he has been able to reach out and affect hundreds of lives within the club. His attention to detail, attentive demeanor and superior knowledge has allowed him to create amazing workouts for so many of our members.
Jason Anderson is a quiet leader within the club who gives so much of his energy to such a wide range of members and departments. He is never too busy to help out a member in need or to mentor a younger fitness staff member to grow into the professional they want to be. We feel very fortunate to have Jason on our team; we know that it is people like him that make our club truly exceptional.
Many people think of jumping jacks as an activity people did for fun when they were younger, just like jump roping. This is true, but they are still known as great cardiovascular exercises. I will be going through nine different types of jumping jacks to add some variation to your workouts. Some are more difficult than others, but most can be used for all fitness levels.
Standard Jumping Jack
Modified Jumping Jack
Cross-Jack
High Knee Jack
Split Jack
Squat Jack
Hop Jack
Plank Jumping Jack
Push up Jack
Burpee Jack
If you are bored of the standard jumping jack, here are some other types you might like to try within your workout. If you have any questions please contact Amber Gruger.
What is holding you back from achieving your goals? What keeps you from making the life changes you want to make? Here are a few things that may come to mind:
I’m scared. I don’t want to be the new kid in class, I don’t want to try out a new workout, what if it’s too hard and I’m not able to finish it? Don’t be scared, how you will ever know what you are made of if you don’t try. You may not always be the best, you may look silly, it may make you feel like you are going to die, you may want to curl up in a ball and sleep for the next 10 days, but how in the world will you ever know if you can do it if you don’t at least give it a shot. Leave fear at the door and give that class/trainer/machine/piece of equipment a shot and embrace the fact that this is the first day, it will only get easier from here on out!
Complacency. You come in, you get the same locker, you put on your favorite socks, you warm up on the same machine while you read the same newspaper, and then you do the same workout you’ve been doing for the past 8 years. Why? Why not push yourself and see what you can teach your body. When was the last time you changed up your workout, maybe not even completely? Maybe all you did was change how many sets of something you did or you added in an extra sprint. When was the last time you tried something new or decided to lift heavier? Why do the same old thing? If it hasn’t shown you improvement in the last 2 years why do you think it might tomorrow?
I just don’t know how. You aren’t exactly supposed to so don’t feel bad about that. There are a few simple solutions, the first, hire a trainer. You don’t need to see a trainer every day for the next year to learn something. In one session, maybe even in just 40 minutes you can gain knowledge that will completely change how you exercise and show you more benefits than you’ve seen in years. Who knows, you might see such value that you sign up for more than just one session! You can always workout with some one else or join a program and really get yourself motivated and find the fun in working out!
I don’t have enough time. If you think you need an hour or two to get a good workout in boy do I have news for you! In a whopping 10 minutes you can get a full body full cardio workout in. It’s not going to be a fun 10 minutes but it will be the most effective 10 minutes you’ve ever worked out! My point is, don’t say to yourself “Well I only have 30 minutes today, I guess I’ll skip it because there’s just not enough time.” There are plenty of ways to get a good workout in even if you only have a short amount of time. Think, keep moving, sprints, high intensity, full body, and jump!
Don’t let any of these things hold you back. You should walk out of the gym feeling proud of yourself, feeling like you’ve really accomplished something. If you aren’t currently feeling that way you are missing out. You should be satisfied with what you’ve done and maybe even so excited that you can’t wait to tell your co-workers/spouse/kids/friends, etc about what a rock star you are! If you need help moving forward and learning new skills contact one of our amazing personal trainers!
“Get under the ball!” Racquet sports athletes have probably heard this ad naseum from their coaches and with good reason. Getting low to receive and re-direct an incoming ball in squash or tennis allows you more control of your shot as well as help to control your momentum and change direction. Broken down to its essence, this movement is a lunge pattern. Yet when I screen beginning, intermediate and even advanced squash players I frequently see difficulty in getting into a lunge position as well as maintaining stability in a lunge. Test your self: Align your feet in a straight line with your feet about as far apart as the length of your foreleg. Lower down until your rear knee contacts the ground and your knees are both at 90 degrees. Return to the starting position. If you can’t get into the bottom position or if your chest is strongly leaning forward in the bottom position, you are immobile in this pattern. If you can get down to the bottom position but you lose your balance, you are unstable in this pattern. If either applies, your ability to stop, change direction, change elevation and bend to the ground are impaired for racquet sports, field/court sports and daily life. If you are immobile, go back and do the Genuine Movement Mobility Routine.
If you are unstable, don’t worry. The following exercises can help stabilize you and, with frequent practice, you will see a difference in your performance in 2-4 weeks.
½ Kneeling Cable Chops
Get in the ½ kneeling position: one knee down, opposite foot directly in front of the down knee
Use wooden dowel on cable machine
Chop across your body from high to low
Return to start by reversing the pattern
Don’t move hips, trunk or shoulders
2 x 10
½ Kneeling 1 Arm Curl and Press
In ½ kneeling position, hold one DB in the hand on the opposite side of the front foot.
Curl and press DB while maintaining balance and position of hips and shoulders.
1 Arm Lunges
Stand with feet in a straight line
Hold DB in the opposite side of the front leg
Lower rear knee to floor to perform lunges with your feet in place
2 x 10
1 Arm Lunges Overhead
Identical set up as 1 Arm Lunges but the weight is held overhead.
2 x 10
Test yourself as you did previously to evaluate your improvement.
Practice these exercises about 2-3 times per week for 2-4 weeks and you should notice dramatic improvement in your lunge ability and your performance. If you don’t see an improvement, make sure to contact me to determine if another movement issue is preventing you from lunging. Please contact me at hspencer@sacdt.com for all your movement needs!
For years there has been a belief that resistance training was inappropriate or even dangerous for children. This belief stems from a study performed in the 1970’s by a group of Japanese researchers that observed juvenile workers that were subjected to many hours of lifting and moving heavy objects. On average these children were shorter than their non-working counterparts. Through this observation they concluded that it was the heavy lifting at such a young age that had a negative effect on their epiphyseal plate, and in turn, resulted in a stunted growth. However, recently there has been a growing amount of evidence that suggests that resistance training for children is not only safe, but can be highly beneficial.
Researchers from the Institute of Training Science and Sports Informatics published a study that analyzed 60 years worth of studies involving children and weightlifting. The researchers found that virtually all of the children and adolescents benefited from weight training. Interestingly enough, although the older kids did have greater strength gains, compared to the younger kids the difference wasn’t significant. This study also found that, contrary to popular belief, there was no sizable difference in strength increases once the children hit puberty. There was however a difference in hypertrophy (increase in muscle mass) that was likely due to the amount of testosterone in the adolescent population. Because of the lack of noticeable size gains in children, many researchers in the past had concluded that weightlifting wasn’t an effective training method for the youth.
So how young is too young to start resistance training? The jury is still out on this question, though most scientific literature seems to point to ages 6-8. Resistance training at this age should involve body weight exercises or very light loads with emphasis on control and form. Squats using a wooden dowel or push-ups are a common method of training children at this age. Heavy loads (without proper progression) or exercises that involve ballistic movements should be avoided when training children.
For more information on youth resistance training please contact Will Paton.
This workout is designed to work your shoulder/back area with emphasis on muscle endurance. It’s a tough workout to perform without breaks; you should be challenging yourself to keep going with little to no rest. You will test every aspect of shoulder strength as well as your ability to maintain core stability. If you are looking to increase prolonged upper body strength (for climbing, swimming, rowing, pull ups etc.) this is the workout for you!
With two 10-15lb dumbbells perform each of the following exercises one time each for a total of the specified rounds:
1 shoulder press right arm
1 shoulder press left arm
1 shoulder press both arms together
1 upright row right arm
1 upright row left arm
1 upright row both arms together
1 bent over rev. fly right arm
1 bent over rev. fly left arm
1 bent over rev. fly both arms
Repeat each round for a total of 6 times; then complete 10 ball slams, and Rest.
Repeat each round for a total of 5 times; then complete 10 ball slams, and Rest.
Repeat each round for a total of 4 times; then complete 10 ball slams, and Rest.
Repeat each round for a total of 3 times; then complete 10 ball slams, and Rest.
Repeat each round for a total of 2 times; then complete 10 ball slams, and Rest.
Repeat each round for a total of 1 time; then complete 10 ball slams, and DONE.
If you are interested in learning more about smart, efficient, and effective programming please contact Adriana Brown.
As fitness professionals, we are often approached with the question of what is the best, most efficient way of analyzing body fat. There are only a few methods that are applicable in a gym setting: circumference measurement, electrical impedance, and skinfold analysis. Both circumference and electrical impedance have a larger percentage of error, so the blog will compare the accuracies of the Durnin-Womersley four-site skinfold and the Jackson-Pollock seven-site skinfold. While other methods for skinfold measurement exist, these are the two most commonly used.
For our research, we will use six individuals of varying gender, body size, age, and shape to compare the different methods. According to our anthropometric findings, the variation between the four and seven-site, is greatest in females and the largest differential occurs with age. The four-site has a larger fluctuation with older females and this is supposed to account for lower body density resulting in more visceral fat accumulation. Fifty to Seventy five percent of fat is subcutaneous, thus the difference in estimate between methods can only be proportional to the remaining body weight.
According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, select skinfold equations can have a marked overestimation of body fatness. The Jackson-Pollock seven-site skinfold test is known to be more accurate because of the formulation, variation, and quantity of sites being used having a relatively low margin of error in comparison to hydrostatic weight of only 3.3% inaccuracy. A lot of individuals have differing shapes in the lower body region, and none are included in the Durnin-Womersley skinfold test, making it more reliant on estimation.
Regardless, periodic skinfold measurements will give a reflection of change despite the estimate of body fat percent. In other words, doing regular skinfold measurements will still show changes that are occurring.
If you would like to check body fat measurements or have further questions, please contact either Amber Gruger or Amber Walz.
If you have ever seen a Nutrisystem commercial, you are missing out. In fact, check this one out before you go any further, it’s worth watching.
Did you catch the bit on the “proven science of the Glycemic Advantage?” I love that line. The good folks over at Nutrisystem have found a way to scientifically determine which carbs are good and which carbs are bad, and created a weight loss program around that premise. At first glance it may seem that the judgment on some carbs is too harsh. Maybe the “bad” carbs had a rough up-bringing and they never had an appropriate role model to teach them any other life-path.
Jokes aside, Nutrisystem , and may other diets are based on the notion of the glycemic index. Glycemic index (GI) is a way of ranking carbohydrates in terms of how quickly your body can break them down into usable sugar in the blood. Pure glucose, the most usable form of sugar, has a GI value of 100. Low GI foods have a value of around 0-30 and are found in foods like legumes, lentils and bitter fruits. Medium GI foods, like sweet fruits and whole grains have a value of around 30-60. Processed bread, food with added sugar and dried fruit are high GI foods with a value over 60.
Glycemic Index is important because the rate that carbohydrates are converted into glucose impacts your blood sugar levels. High GI foods increase blood sugar rapidly which triggers a large release of insulin. Insulin reduces the level of blood sugar by storing some of the sugar as fat. This roller-coaster effect on blood sugar is problematic for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes, but it is also bad news for people concerned with their weight.
Making some substitutions to replace high GI foods in your diet with low GI foods can help you lose weight. A 2009 review of randomized, controlled trials found a consistent effect of weight loss for those who followed diets rich in LGI foods. One study from the review showed equal weight loss for those engaged in an energy restricted, low fat diet that included high GI foods compared to an unrestricted low glycemic index diet. The people on the low GI diet were allowed to eat until they were full for the duration of the diet whereas the conventional dieters where compelled to monitor and restrict their food intake. And there was no difference in weight loss between the two groups! If you do not like the hassle of dieting but need to lose weight, consider incorporating more low GI foods into your diet. It is by no means a magical solution or an excuse to overindulge in fatty foods but it just may be a kick start your weight loss. Look at the GI table below for some examples of common foods and think of some meals and snacks where you can swap a high GI food for a low GI food. This is far from a complete description of how to use glycemic index to your advantage.
Please contact Personal Fitness Trainer Hunter Spencer with your questions.
For more information please contact Fitness Director, Jacob Luckey, at jluckey@sacdt.com.
