Fitness

Precision Nutrition free exercise library

2020-07-07 by laura

Recently I’ve been singing the praises of the DAREBEE fitness programs. There’s another amazing FREE resource available from Precision Nutrition (full disclosure, my nutrition coach certification is from Precision Nutrition and I am an unabashed fan of the organization*).

Precision Nutrition has made a free exercise video library available. The main web page contains links to shared docs on a Google Drive, which you may copy to your own Google Drive (as long as you have a Google account and are signed in).

The general instructions and a basic 14 day workout are in pdf format. The “library” is available in spreadsheet form (Google sheets). It starts with a table of contents and ends with an index (alphabetized list)of all the exercises. In between are tabs with links to tutorial and FAQ videos, modifications and regressions (*the* most important thing, IMHO), and exercises grouped by category for both genders.

Each exercise in the spreadsheet has brief instruction notes and a link to a Vimeo video demo. Their exercises can easily be done at home – many are body weight – with only a little amount of equipment (exercise bands, dumbbells).

I’ve done some of these exercises when I took part in their coaching program as a client. The instructions are easy to follow and the modifications help those of us with chronic injuries.

Unfortunately for me, my chronic injuries require professional attention from licensed physical therapists so I’m not at a point where I can use PN’s library myself. I am confident that I will be able to use it once I have become pain-free by practicing my corrective exercises consistently.

Once I do, you can be sure that I’ll provide a review with my biases stated up front.

*There are many reasons that I am such a fan of Precision Nutrition

They are purpose driven. Their mission is “to help clients all over the world discover the joys of living a fit, healthy life and help thousands of professionals deliver this purpose to their own clients.” It’s not about making money but helping people (the money, being necessary to make a living and provide jobs).
They are bona fide qualified to give instruction and advice on nutrition and exercise and habit change. The founder, John Beradi, PhD has his doctorate in nutritional biochemistry and exercise science. His executive team also have advanced degrees and decades of experience food science, dietetics, molecular biology, physiology, biochemistry, exercise science, health promotion, health & exercise psychology, epidemiology, biostatistics, and communications. In sum – they are experts you can absolutely trust who write clearly and know adult instructional methods and habit change.
They base all of their recommendations on SCIENCE. i.e. proven methods to for achieving your goals.
They believe in incremental progress. It’s not an all or nothing thing. They take you from the basics and build you up as you gain skill. They’re cognizant that people can be starting from the very beginning.
They are not proponents of any diet. Because science. Weight and body composition are very much tied to calories in and calories out. The diet that works is the diet you stick with. Health is predicated on eating all of the food groups but in appropriate portions for your size and gender.
They make many many resources available for free.

I made the choice to get my nutrition certification from Precision Nutrition because it was the most science based and comprehensive training program one can get without going back to school to become a registered nutritionist. In addition, it’s not a one and done type of deal. One must get re-certified every two years. It’s critical that coaches constantly continue to educate themselves and stay on top of the latest research.

1pose1day1year June 2020

2020-06-30 by laura

Another month of doing my daily tadasana. I haven’t built up beyond doing one minute. Instead, I have been focusing on how the pose feels.

I do a toes to shoulders meditation. Telling myself, “weight evenly distributed on my feet, soft knee, solid knee (lift quad) without hyper-extending, pelvic tilt, full belly breath, expand lungs, shoulders back and relaxed down, head tucked neck neutral.”

I have a lot of problem spots that need a talking to, obviously. Sometimes I look at myself in the mirror to check my form. Sometimes I close my eyes and catch how I sway slightly because my weight doesn’t stay evenly distributed on my feet. I bring myself back to the pose, always back to the pose, back to my breath.

If I’m in the mood I’ll add some tree pose and ankle strengthening exercises. I’m very weak in my ankles after breaking and spraining them multiple times in my life. Balance is critical as one ages to avoid falls and broken bones.

I’d say I’m doing well with the challenge. I need to think about how I’ll focus my yoga practice during July. I think it may be time to go longer or do additional pranayama.

1day1pose1year May 2020

2020-05-28 by laura

Holy crap it’s (pretty much) June. Not only is the calendar year half done, but I am officially six months through my year of doing tadasana/mountain pose. I started this in mid-December.

Time flies, especially when we’re in a pandemic and now experiencing much civil unrest due to racism and racist cops killing black people with impunity.

It’s been hard to be consistent. Our lives have changed suddenly and aren’t likely to return to the way things were in the “before times.”

I missed eight days, which is a big jump from missing only three last month. I have, however, been doing more than simply a minute of tadasana when I do yoga every day. Sometimes it’s a full sun salutation or two, occasionally it’s been a half-hour yoga DVD, and sometimes it’s been some poses that have also been prescribed to me as physical therapy.

There has been no change in my posture or pain levels. Healing chronic tendon pain is a slow process. Sadly.

I aim to do better in June.

1day1pose1year April 2020

2020-04-30 by laura

Another month under my belt with daily tadasana. I did 27/30 days this month. I continue to be somewhat half-assed about it. I do it to get it done and rarely spend a lot of time quieting my monkey mind or really focusing on the areas that need work.

I have had days where continued doing other poses after tadasana which is part of the point of this “challenge.” The main thing is developing a consistent practice where I do some form of yoga most days.

I’ve been able to look over the tick marks on my calendar now that I’ve been doing this for a few months. I can see that I’m skipping days more on weekends. Cool. Knowledge is power.

I need to ask myself what’s different about weekends so I can come up with strategies to work with the impediments. I don’t have a feel for “weekends” anymore. Each day feels similar when you work for yourself, from home. I’ll ponder this going into May.

1day1pose1year March 2020

2020-03-31 by laura

I have completed three months of my daily yoga challenge to spend time doing tadasana. That’s 1/4 of my year long commitment. March has been difficult due to the pandemic. Yet, I stayed on course.

I only missed two days this month and they were not consecutive. I can’t say that I always spent a full minute nor can I say my mind was focused or my pose textbook.

That’s ok. The point of my self-challenge is to have consistency. With time, I should improve.

I’m not so good, so how can I not?

Onward to April!

Review: Peloton app

2020-03-26 by laura

Staying at home during the COVID-19 social distancing isn’t stopping me from getting in my spin class. You’re probably familiar with the Peloton home exercise equipment which is web enabled so you can do classes. Those classes are also available for streaming via the Peloton Digital App for smart phones and tablets. The app uses AirPlay and Chromecast natively for casting to other devices.

There’s a 30-day trial which will get one through the current 15-day stay the fuck home period. I have an old Roku TV so no Airplay or Chromecast. There is a work around. I downloaded Mirror for Roku to my iPad and installed it there and on my Roku. From there I connected the iPod to the TV. Once that’s done, you open your Peloton App. Voila. Classes on the biggest screen in my house were a go.

There’s a caveat to the work-around. There’s latency (tech speak for lag) between the iPad and the TV. It’s not a problem if you mute the iPod.

I took two spin classes and a mini stretch class and they were good. Almost as good as in-person at the studio. You can see how many others are logged in to the class so you get a very slight sense of community. You can see which artists are on the playlist when you’re choosing a class. That’s cool. I haven’t found a class with a set list I’m excited about yet.

The volume of the music in the class is adequate. You can clearly hear the instructor, so it’s appropriate. It does not replace the louder surround sound of in-person. But, it couldn’t could it.

The 20 and 30 minute interval classes I took were tough enough. I worked harder than I typically would when using my road bike on the bike trainer in my living room.

I’m happy I’ve got this option – I give it 9/10. Alas, I threw my back out on 3/17 and haven’t been able to get on my bike. The positioning is too painful. I’m sad I won’t be making as good a use of the 30 day trial as I’d like. C’est la vie. At least I’m getting in some walks. I’m doing what I can and I’m grateful I can do it. Those (admittedly annoying) platitudes I throw around continue to apply. Something is better than nothing. Every little bit counts. Give yourself credit where credit is due. Etc.

Stay safe and healthy my friends. We will get through this pandemic and we’ll feel so much better if we keep up with our health as best we can.