Wednesday, 29 April 2009

test your posture

Good posture can be the difference between assisting your physical development and undermining it. Here are three tests for your posture.
Stand facing a full length mirror. Check that the following are true of you:
1. Your shoulders are level
2. Your head is straight
3. The spaces between your arms and sides seem equal
4. Your hips are level
5. Your kneecaps face straight ahead
6. Your ankles are straight
Now stand side-on or ask someone to help you make the following assessments of your posture:
1. Your head is erect, not slumping forward or backward
2. Your chin is parallel to the floor, not tilting up or down
3. Your shoulders are in line with your arms, not drooping forward or pulled back
4. Your stomach is flat (probably not as much as you’d like!)
5. Your knees are straight
6. Your lower back has a slightly forward curve, not too flat and not hollowed out
Now move over to the wall.
1. Stand with the back of your head touching the wall and your heels 15cm away from the wall.
2. With your buttocks touching the wall, check the distance between your lower back and the wall with your hand, and your neck and the wall.
If you can get your body between 2.5 - 5cm from the wall at the lower back and 5 cm from the wall at the neck, you're close to having excellent posture. If you can't achieve this , your posture my need professional attention from a chiropractor or osteopath to restore the normal curves of your spine.
Pilates is an excellent form of exercise to address postural issues.  
Posted by comotivate at 2:11 AM in Get Fit Goal
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Saturday, 3 January 2009

5 motivation tips - get fit


Specifically for runners, here's a list of five tips to help you focus on success in 2009.

1. Focus on attainable goals, if you are a 45min. 10k runner and looking to run 35 minutes, then your "short-term" goal should be to lower your time to 42, then 38, then 35 minutes. Being unrealistic with your goals will only lead to frustration and burnout. Use the checklist tool to help you set intermediate goals.


2. Commit to a goal event that is 3 to 4 months away. After the race take a much needed 3-week break to recharge the mind and body, then find another goal event.


3. To keep the focus and motivation for the 3 to 4 months leading up to the "big race", run a couple of "smaller" races. These races will help test your training and should act as stepping stones to your goal event.


4. If you are unsure of what training you should be doing, then seek out guidance by an established coach in order to maintain faith in your training, help prevent injuries and hold you accountable to your schedule.


5. Meeting up with friends or a running group will get you motivated to get out the door (sometimes this can be the hardest part of training). A setting time and day can help to plan your day and make sure it happens.

Posted by comotivate at 1:04 AM in Get Fit Goal
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Wednesday, 17 December 2008

Overcoming 'the voice'

So off I went to my first boxing class EVER tonight...me, three guys my age but who look like they were born with a six pack, and about 25 'yoofs' who were fitter than a butcher's dog. First humiliation: skipping. Now, clearly it helps to be light-footed when you enter the ring, but could there be any worse introduction to the class for someone who's never skipped before than being handed a rope and told to go outside to join the others...so there I was, jumping about 12 inches in the air to clear the rope as I swung it round flicking the nose of anyone stood within 10 feet of me. But I'm a fast learner and within 8 minutes, I'd picked up the old double-bounce jumping style (you won't find it in the text books). Another 5 minutes and I'd perfected the single jump and was managing 4 skips in a row at times. Unfortunatley, all this had the unfortunate effect of buggering me at the 'warm up' phase.

That's when 'the voice' almost convinced me to slope off home. Then I realised, the humiliation is all part of it. Strip away the ego and focus on the job. It's only paranoia that makes us feel out of place. Embrace the situation. And so I did. I lapped it up.

The next 45 minutes was brutally humiliating: why did I have to pick the heavy punch-bag? why was I flanked by 15 year old girls punching twice my speed and why was I defeated by sweat dripping into my eays way before the last of the twelve year olds was done shadow-boxing me into the water cooler?

Unfortunately, the wife's intent on going alternate nights with me so I'm locked into a follow-up session. Now that the voice is defeated, I should be 'on the card' in Vegas by next Christmas!

Posted by comotivate at 9:48 AM in Get Fit Goal
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Thursday, 3 July 2008

YouTube posting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WKn-cncaJQ

One week in and 1700 views...not bad.

I think we can do better though. I'm wondering whether the skinny orange dweeb can do a follow up?

 

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Posted by comotivate at 6:28 AM in Get Fit Goal
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