Justin G. Walls, Certified Personal Athletic Trainer

The Best Thing About Five Minute Workouts... ...Is That You Can Do As Many Rounds As You Want! Exercise #1 Body Saw You'll need a little bit of equipment for this, like  Glidders  or any furniture mover, or even just a towel if you are on hardwood. Start off in a solid plank position ( I discussed good form for planks in an earlier post ). Extend your forearms forward to slide backwards and tuck your hips under you so as not to squeeze your low back for balance. You abs and lats should start to become more active and you should bring your shoulder blades to the front of your body as you extend the arms to engage your lats even further. Pay particular attention to how his shoulder blades come forward to stabilize the body. Proceed through this exercise slowly for :30 seconds Exercise #2 Opposite Side Toe Touches From the plank position, raise up into a straight arm plank. Swing your left leg under your body as straight as possible until you can touch your l...

This week was the more official opening day of major league baseball, which used to not happen until April 1 for about a century. In honor of the historic opening day, I've put together a workout for those of you who play or would like to play baseball or softball. Power and Explosion instead of Endurance and Strength When thinking of baseball, the first thing that should come to mind is that everyone is just standing there and then need to jump into action! Here's a few exercises to put some spring in your step for baseball or softball Lateral Ladder Drills:  Working on lateral movements is really important because not everything in this game comes right at you. For this workout, if you have a ladder, then use it like you see in the video. If you don't have a ladder, you can still do this. Take ten lateral steps leading with your left (or until you finish the ladder) and then turn and straight sprint 15 yards. Repeat leading with your right, finishing wit...

ACSM's Most Popular Fitness Trends For 2014 Which one are you going to try? One of the biggest problems with fitness is workout boredom. Therefore, we shouldn't be surprised that in the "vine" generation, we are seeing a resurgence of interval training, specifically high intensity interval training ( HIIT ). You can read the ACSM press release  for their top ten trends, which seem to follow a specific pattern: Get the workout done fast Get the best possible results for your investment Use as little or as simplistic (perhaps inexpensive) equipment as possible Have a certified professional guide your workout Workout in groups Put the "fun" in functional It shouldn't be a surprise that two of the most popular fitness trends are CrossFit and P90X, with their emphasis on basic exercises with minimal equipment. It should be noted that the "basic" exercises in CrossFit are actually quite challenging, including many Olympic style l...

You have to ask yourself: "Am I getting enough protein in my diet?" Here's the issue: you should feel satisfied when you eat a meal, but too many carbs can equal extra fat I'm not going to talk about going on a no or low carb diet. I am just going to help enlighten you to what you should aim to eat in terms of protein. Within the past couple of years, the USDA recommended diet reduced and balanced their meal suggestions (check out ChooseMYPlate.gov for more info) with about 35-40% of the meal containing protein and much less grains or starches. Proteins help provide the body with necessary amino acids. Meats and fish are more protein dense compared to milk, legumes, or whole grains. The recommended amount of protein for women is around 46 grams per day, and men about 56. The best way to stay healthy is to eat leaner meats and fish, and fill in the rest of the servings with beans, rice, and the like to reduce the amount of fat and sugar taken into your diet...

Normally, people think of exercisers as those who work hard, train hard, and eat like there won't be food tomorrow. Take for example, the Michael Phelps breakfast of champions: So that's what gold medal swimmers eat The NY Times Health Blog referenced a recent study from some University of Wyoming professors that demonstrates the opposite. Apparently, running would cause both men and women to reduce the calorie intake of their next meal by almost 100 more than someone who had just exercised by walking, and way more than someone who was totally sedentary. You can read the full study here . The study looked at some of the hormone and peptide production resulting after the two types of workouts. The result of running left the volunteers consuming fewer overall calories and making their calorie consumption much better regulated. The article quotes Prof. Catia Martins as saying: Exercise “improves the body’s ability to judge the amount of calories consumed and to adjust fo...

I often throw in how important is mental acuity to the overall body functionality. Especially at this time of year when getting large groups of family together, I thought about giving everyone an excellent mental exercise that they can use while *ahem* sitting around and eating at a table (just watch those calories, ok?) Using this simple method can reduce stress, and especially the additional eating that is often associated with stress. You have probably heard of Dr. Martin Seligman's ACR positive psychology ? ACR is Active Constructive Responding, and the basic premise is to promote only positive responses to outside stimuli. There is a good test at the PBS blog to give yourself cues on when to use this technique. Stay positive, enjoy your families and your time off from work to reduce stress and change your routine. Then feel energized and ready to return to your normal grind and workout, possibly with better tools than before! Happy Thanksgiving!

Understanding the Zombie Teen's Body Clock - WSJ.com Hey everyone, since we talked about it a few weeks ago, I thought I would share another article on sleep. Sleep is so important for normal metabolic function. I can tell you that I am guilty of not getting enough sleep too. It's something all of us should work on. This article focuses on its affect for teens and how sleep rhythms affect performance during the day. The study is eye-opening.We'll be back next week with a new workout and some health tips. In the mean time, get some rest!

Act of Valor star Lt. Cmdr. Rorke explained some basic rules for Men's Health Magazine to create a mentality and lifestyle that sets you up to not only achieve fitness goals, but also some life goals. Strive for something - set a plan on reaching for an achievement, whether an amount of weight to lose, a distance to run, or a weight to lift. This can prepare you for getting up and completing your task, as long as you believe in completing it. Then strive for more- always challenge yourself to believe that you can accomplish more than what you are doing right now Don't set limits- just keep trying until you can't go any further. You could be surprised at how much you can do if you just let yourself Work with someone better than you- that's right, you know they are better than you. Now try to beat them. With the attitude that you can always be better than where you are right now, you can make great strides and changes in your life. It's about the attitude. ...

It requires some thought in to why we do and don't do things. Exercise was not really much expected of the average person when there was so much labor to do around the home and job. Our evolution from labor based to service based industries has created a need for us to generate time for activity. Hence- our need for motivation. Exercise in ancient Greece, for example, was an ingrained part of the religion and culture. The Gymnasium was dedicated to physical perfection, but also developed into a meeting place of philosophers and educators. In some ways, exercise is a motivator today for people to look attractive, impress their friends, potential friends, or just to make people notice them. Vanity can motivate. Sometimes, it's just about pride. The thought of having to buy new clothes to make room for more of you is just not pleasant (especially when you see the selection available). In fact, some studies have demonstrated that monetary incentives have helped people lose...

The NY Times  has an article from this week about training with kettlebells, and how successfully training with them can reduce back pain by training the posterior core muscles that are often weakened by long hours of leaning of desks and computers at work. The best exercise for relieving back pain is the Kettlebell Swing: When the Swing is executed correctly, it incorporates every posterior chain muscle, loosens tight hip muscles, and improves abdominal strength. The back is kept straight through the movement and the head is always 'looking down field'. Knowing the correct weight and proper form are important to correct execution of the Kettlebell Swing requires some flexibility and patience with getting the form. 

From the IRS website : You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay to lose weight if it is a treatment for a specific disease diagnosed by a physician (such as obesity, hypertension, or heart disease). This includes fees you pay for membership in a weight reduction group as well as fees for attendance at periodic meetings. You cannot include membership dues in a gym, health club, or spa as medical expenses, but you can include separate fees charged there for weight loss activities. Many employers offers an FSA (flexible spending account) or HSA (health savings account) as part of their health care package. This means that you may be able to use the money from those accounts towards personal training. You need to do two things before jumping in and purchasing sessions: You need a prescription from a medical doctor, or a note from your health care professional describing your need for a personal trainer. You should consult with your tax advisor about writing off the co...

In a recent UCLA study , a variant in the oxytocin receptor gene has demonstrated different expressions of empathy and social skills. In their study, those with one type of variant were predisposed towards depression. Oxytocin is generally related to certain types of outgoing behavior, generousity, and is also known as the "cuddling gene" (from orginal tests that oxytocin made rats cuddle). The study sheds light on an issue that certain people may not have the same fundemental psychological tools to cope with stress and other life challenges, leaving them predisposed and tending toward symptoms of depression. It's important to note that, according to this study: nobody is doomed to fail. It just means that you have to stimulate your own production of oxytocin. In a study at  SUNY Stoney Brook , scientists were able to link dopamine and oxytocin production to people who had a real goal (specifically: this study was about "falling in love"). The production of th...

Let's start with a few simple questions: Where is the pain... generally? Upper back, lower back, hips. What position are you in when you feel the pain? Leaning foward, arching backward, tilt sideways? How painful is it? Now the tough questions: Is the pain localized in one spot? Two spots? Does it happen only at certain times of the day? Is it getting worse or getting better? Corrective Exercise Techniques  can assess just how widespread your problem may be. It's important to understand that the most common source of back pain is actually muscle tightness, especially if the pain is not chronic. According to corrective exercise specialist Justin Price , MA: "A successful corrective-exercise program includes self-myofascial-release ( SMR ) exercises at the beginning and throughout the program as needed." Muscle tissue is all connected through fascia, a collegen-based connective tissue that holds all of the muscles together. Fascia has a tendancy to resist too m...