Although supine ab exercises (sit-ups, bicycles, toe touches, crunches, etc.) come to mind most often when we think of “core training,” there are a wealth of others worth mentioning. In particular, here are three challenges that require you to keep your abs nice and tight and your back off the mat.
Suspended Jackknife Layout
The Front Lever
Overhead Squat
For fun, use a level/ruler to make sure you are balanced.
Bear Bear and Jen have been an integral part of the IC since 2005.
Jen’s B-Day this past week officially qualifies her for the 30 and Over Club. Happy birthday Jen!
When Nani signed up with us, we loved her positive attitude and easy laugh. But within the first week we could also tell that this was no weekend workout queen. She attacks every circuit and training session with steely determination, and while she credits us with teaching her to sweat, she gets all the glory for bringing it each and every day. In addition to fleet feet and a good squat, Nani shows a real aptitude for the bench press, successfully lifting 85 pounds on her very first attempt. Today, Nani benched 95 pounds (only 3 weeks later)! We also love it when she says, “Oh, mommy” after a particularly grueling series of movements. Glad you joined us Nani- you are a real treat to have at the Chamber!
The dynamic and talented Jessica Dibiase demonstrates the sequence of the Dive Bomber. In addition to pissing off some yogis who want their way or the highway, this exercise is excellent for building upper body strength and improving hamstring & core flexibility.
This just in: Fridays are Soul Train day at the Chamber. Oh yes, it has happened before, but be forewarned that this may now become a regular feature of the Friday routine. It’s the part of the workout when we turn into real animals, and bear-walk, frog-hop, and duck-waddle our way to new fitness and freakalicious levels. You may want to brush up on your funky chicken just in case…
Picture this scenario: you’re on your way either to the IC or home after a long day. It’s five o’clock and you have nothing planned for dinner and nothing ready to go in the fridge. You start to panic and contemplate grabbing fast food from one of several crack and heroin dealers along San Pablo Avenue. “But the trainers at the IC tell me to eat healthy or else I’ll die… or worse, they might check my body fat unexpectedly tomorrow,” you remind yourself. Well, what is a desperate athlete-in-training to do in our little neck of the woods at a moment like this?
Stop at Yaoya San Market on San Pablo and Moeser or the Tokyo Fish Market on San Pablo near Gilman instead. These Japanese wonder stores offer three valuable resources for “bad” food addicts trying to get clean. 1) No waiting in those dreadful shopping cart lines 2) Off-street parking near the front entrance 3) Delicious, easy to prepare fast food to make a healthy dinner rich in vitamins, nutrients, and lean protein. I made dinner (while lethargic and swollen at 9 months pregnant) in less than 20 minutes using the ingredients pictured above. At Yaoya San, the cabbage (already washed and shredded) cost me 50 cents. The seaweed salad and sashimi style salmon were also extremely affordable so get that “healthy food takes too long and costs too much” script out of your vocabulary of excuses.
What quick healthy meals have you made while in a jam? Please share those secret weapons with the rest of us food junkies at the IC. We need all the help we can get! As Whitney reminded us all, “Crack is whack.”
Many IC members come to us in preparation for an upcoming sporting event. Piera’s lofty dream when she signed up for Bootcamp in January 2007 was to travel to Morocco to participate in the Marathon Des Sables, a spectacular endurance run through the sand dunes of the Saharan desert. Not surprisingly, she did it and crossed the finish line as the 3rd US female finisher and ranked in the top third of all females. There were approximately 800 competitors. Congratulations Piera!
Two pieces of advice we gave her apparently really paid off: 1) Mentally befriend runners that have passed you along the way and imagine them “pulling you forward” 2) Eat Sardines (Steve’s golden gem, of course) as they are full of salt & protein and won’t spoil in hot climates. Here’s what Piera had to say about this:
“I ran my first ‘official’ marathon distance race during the Marathon Des Sables (Stage 5), and actually only walked a short dune section of that. I cried (joy!) at the end of that as I crossed over holding hands with 2 French women in neon green who I had been chasing down for the past 4 stages, finally catching them 1/2 mile before I was done… The sardines, brilliant, worth their weight in gold. The hardest part was fending off my tentmates… I am convinced that my participation in Bootcamp was the cornerstone to my success. To think that when I started training in October, the most I’d ever run in one shot was 13 miles; I am genuinely surprised and excited that I finished the MDS healthy and happy. I can only imagine what might be possible for myself and others after training with the IC for an extended period of time. I hope to find out!”
If you are interested in participating in a much shorter event in your own backyard, consider joining the IC’s Event Team Training for the “Tri For Fun” sprint triathlon series in Pleasanton, CA. We encourage you to put your hard-earned skills to the test! (All those burpees and squats have to be good for something.) August is around the corner…
You can always tell the next generation of IC trainers by the look in their eyes. These young Ice Cubes are happily lounging in the office, ignoring the screams of the martyrs in the next room.
Although they were mostly hypnotized by a video in this particular moment, Etta broke the trance just to make clear that SHE is OLDER.
Some of you may have noticed John casually making the mill-around look easy. Newcomers, please don’t be intimidated by this: you should know that John was the three-time state champion in mill-around in college, and he took the silver at the nationals his junior year. Sadly, his mill-around career was cut short just before he went pro by an old shoulder injury that rendered him unable to effectively complete the hands-on-the-hips, sigh-and-shrug part of his routine. Since he joined the Chamber he has worked diligently in personal training to rehab that shoulder, and with the support of his training partner (and life partner) Kim, and the encouragement of his kids, he’s made a real comeback. Now he’s joined the 9:30 a.m. class, where he coaches other members in mill-around. In particular, Peter shows great promise at this challenging technique. Congratulations John- you are a pro in our eyes.
Erin (a.k.a. R-X) rarely speaks of her athletic prowess (or gorgeous new arms), but she is definitely one athlete at the IC to keep your eye on. Today for instance, bear crawls just weren’t enough for Erin so she had her son Fritz jump on her back for added resistance.
What else do the robots have up their sleeves? We’re calling for an uprising of the masses!
