After you gobble down your turkey and stuff some stuffing down your throat, take a break and do some exercise!  It'll make you feel a lot better and get you ready to....eat leftovers!!!

Enjoy this Quick Workout Of the Day and have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!!!

QWOD for November 25th, 2010

• 2 minutes of jumping jacks
• 1 minute of burpees without pushups
• 30 seconds of side planks per side
• 1 minute of mountain climbers
• 20 dips on edge of bed/couch/chair
• 10 burpees with pushups
• 30 seconds of angled plank (on edge of bed/couch/chair)
• 2 minutes of jump rope hops (stay on your toes!)
• Eat more turkey
  

Last night as I sat on my computer scouring the internet for barefoot running related information (because that's how I roll on Thursday nights), I came across a recent Dave Letterman interview with actor Jake Gyllenhaal.  John Durant's website, called Hunter-Gatherer, posted the video in which Gyllenhaal talks about running in minimalist shoes (I'm assuming Vibram Five Fingers) on the streets of New York.  He also mentions how his brother in-law run completely barefoot, and how it's better for your body.  While he didn't get into any biomechanical details nor mention Pose running, it seems as if he's onto something.  Check out the short clip, and have an awesome weekend!

If you're not ready for today's QWOD, then you're not ready to look hot!  Today's Quick Workout Of the Day is all about your bum and your back, so get ready for the burn!

QWOD for Thursday, November 18th

• Opposite arm/opposite leg with bent knee leg lifts - 15 per leg (squeeze your glute as you raise your bent rear leg)
• 20 super-slow bent over back flys (no need for weight, just use isometrics to squeeze the shoulderblades together)
• 50 air squats, with jumps every 5 reps (squeeze those glutes on the way up)
• 20 triceps dips with good form
• 5 SLOW single leg squats per side
• 20 good mornings (with straight legs, bend over until your back is parallel to the ground, but be sire to look up the whole time and not arch your back - very important!)
• Opposite arm/opposite leg, with right arm straight out and left leg out tot he left.  Hold for 20 seconds, then switcharm/leg.  Repeat 3 times.
  

From my Hulk Hogan-esque 'stache, of course!

My star client Melanie recently sent me over a general interest article written up by the New York Times about the popularity of barefoot running.  The article came out just in time for this past Sunday ING New York City Marathon.  Unfortunately, I was unable to watch the race this year, but I can imagine there was a solid number of either barefoot or minimalist runners in the throng.  I only have to complete one more New York Road Runner's race to get guaranteed entry into next year's marathon - woo hoo!!!

The short article is worth the quick read, and even provides a link to the Barefoot Runners Society, of which I am now a member.

I really love helping people lose weight, tone their muscles, and feel great about themselves.  As long a my clients show up and give it 100% (110% is a load of BS) then they'll be happy and I'll be happy.  It's a win-win.

Even my clients who bail on me once in a while and are sometimes not "all there" during class, well, I still love those people too.

But it's the people who complain of stomachaches after eating stuff like this that I am obligated to kick out of my boot camp.  Sorry people, I just have no patience for cupcake hamburgers or Baby Ruth stuffed jalapenos.  Get out of my class!!!


*Full disclosure: you've never lived until you've scarfed down a deep fried Snickers

I just finished reading an article about Alberto Salazar, a former competitive runner and now coach, who is a stickler for proper running form.  If you're a running enthusiast, exercise scientist, or just curious about why you're slow (kidding, kidding) , then check out the article which discusses the scientific aspects of training and form.

The latter two thirds of the article talk a lot about running form, basically all of it referring to Pose running.  Pose breaks running down into three simple parts: the running pose, the fall, and the pull. Pose --> Fall --> Pull. Even simpler, all you have to do to run is to change support from one leg to the other by pulling the support foot from the ground.

Here are a couple of excerpts that I found particularly interesting:

On the importance of form:
"In late 2005, Salazar began overhauling the Oregon Project. He recruited A-list racers, including Kara Goucher, while the members of the original team gradually left. He also abandoned the OmegaWave system and began to shift his emphasis from technology to form. The transformation was startling."

Salazar discovers Pose:
"Scrutinizing Bekele’s body on the screen, Salazar noticed that he didn’t arc his back leg up slowly between strides but instead retracted it sharply, like a piston. “While all these other runners had long, trailing legs, his foot was coming right up to his butt,” Salazar recalled. “I thought, Is that just coincidence? Or could that perhaps be part of why he’s so good?”

Heels striking causes a braking motion:
"Freezing the frame, Salazar targeted a wedge-shaped space between Ritzenhein’s thighs. That gap reflected both Ritzenhein’s tendency to heel-strike and the sluggish recovery of his trailing leg. “It’s only in slow motion that you can see it, but that’s braking him,” Salazar said."

More on braking:
"Salazar believes that a runner striking even slightly in front of his body will experience a momentary hesitation while the hamstring labors to pull his torso forward over the grounded foot. “It’s like having a square wheel on your car,” Salazar said. “Each time it comes around, there’s a moment where the car will lurch.”

Salazar gets the last part wrong here.  Efficient runners fall forward, they don't push off:
“His hips are directly under his body, which is directly above his foot. So all that force is going up through his legs and hips into his upper body, to propel him forward. There’s nothing being lost there.”

Dr. Romanov, discoverer of the Pose Method, will get his due some day.  Until then, coaches will just keep trying to recreate the wheel Romanov's already perfect