Home Workout by Jen

Hey there!

Here’s a little workout to try at home.  It’s very simple by design and should be pretty easy to perform at home or out at a park.  Below you’ll find a short set of mobility drills to prime your joints for the workout, a few sub-maximal plyometric exercises like jumping jacks to get your blood pumping, and 5 exercises you can do in a circuit fashion.

Remember to take your time.  Start by trying to get 2 sets in and work your way up to 5 full sets.

Give it a shot for a week or two, and let me know how it goes!  You can reach out to me anytime at Jennifer@fitlifefusion.com.  Go for it!

 

MOBLITIY WARM UP:

Ankle tilts (5 reps on each side)

Knee circles in a 45 degree lunge  (each side and 3 reps in each direction)

Thoracic glide 5 reps

WARM UP:  20 jumping jacks, 15 squats, 10 push-ups, 10 burpees

WORKOUT:

20-25 squats

15-20 alternating lunges

10-15 push-ups

10 burpees (with or without push-up)

20 sit ups

Rest for 60-90 sec and then repeat set 3 more times

 

What to eat, What to eat…

Hey Guys, First off I’d like to commend everyone on there hard work I’ve been seeing at the gym. You guys have been kicking butt! Also, I love all the questions everyone has been asking me, keep it up.

A question I get a lot is,”What Should I eat BEFORE and AFTER a workout?” What we decide to put in our bodies plays a huge part in our performance when we workout. If we have the right amount of nutrition we will have energy and feel good during the workout, compared to if we eat nothing or eat foods that bogs our bodies down and not allowing the cells to create energy efficiently, which is what we want. This is a lot easier than it sounds. One of the tools our cells use to create energy is glucose. So eating:

Fruit (preferably melon,cherries,grapes, Orange Juice)

milk with sugar

Coffee with plenty of milk and sugar

 

Protein:

Steak

Shrimp

Liver

Smoothie with protein (preferably Gelatin)

Cheese

Milk

Whatever you decide to eat just make sure that your ratio is More Sugar than Protein, more Protein than Fat.

After the workout I like to have at least 24 0z of OJ with a pinch of salt as well as some protein and fruit. Also I like to make time to take an Epsom Salt Bath, this gives our muscles and nerves the food they need…

I hope this has been helpful for you guys, If you have any questions feel free to Email me at jennifer@fitlifefusion.com

 

 

The Vestibular System

The Vestibular System

By Jennifer Davis

image from Science is beauty; tumblr

 

What is that?!

This is your vestibular system. Still confused? This very small but extremely important system supports us in everything that we do. It basically keeps us upright. Let me break it down for you.

Where is it located?

The vestibular organs are embedded in bone deep inside the skull.

Image from www .humanneurophysiology.com

Anatomy of the Vestibular System

  1. Semi-Circular canals (Horizontal, Superior, Posterior)
  2. The otolith organs (Utricle, Saccule)
  3. The vestibulocochlear nerve

Its Job

1. To let us know which way is up and

2. To let us know which way we are going

So we know the vestibular system exists to tell us where we are in space. It tells us which way we are going. It
helps us keep our balance and communicates with our postural muscles so they know what to do whether that means to relax or to tense up.

The vestibular system is so important that it is the first system to develop for a baby when it is still in the womb.

Semi-Circular Canals

You have three of these canals as a part of each inner ear. Each canal has a name based on its position in relationship to the other two canals:

1. Horizontal

2. Superior/Anterior

3. Posterior

These canals are oriented at 90° to one another. As a result, they can signal head movement in any plane or combinations of planes.

These Canals have an important job
1. They Sense Head Motion and how fast the head is moving

2. Enable the VOR (Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex)

(if you are a client at the fit life fusion gym you are familiar with us having you do drills that involve gaze stabilization. We are checking your VOR.)

Did you know that the function of your eyes is closely connected to the function of your inner ear and vice versa? So poor visual skills or function can be damaging to inner ear function while inner ear injury or poor skills can be damaging to your eyes.

3. Each canal is formed by bone and filled with a thick gel something like Jell-O called endolymph. At the bottom of each canal, because they form a loop, there is an bulb called the ampulla. Sitting inside the ampulla is a sail shaped structure called the cupula. Attached to the bottom of the cupula is a nerve. When the head moves, this causes the fluid in the ear to bend the sail in one direction or the other. Depending on which direction the sail bends, the nerve either fires with greater or lesser frequency.

No single canal is designed to work alone. They all have partners on the opposite side of the head, and they work in what is called a PUSH/PULL arrangement.

  • Horizontal Canals: when we turn our head from Left to Right.
  • Left Anterior and Right Posterior Canals: When we move our head down and to the left diagonally.
  • Right Anterior and Left Posterior Canals: When we move our head down and to the right diagonally.So this is what happens when we rotate our heads.
  1. If you turn your head to the right, the fluid in your RIGHT HORIZONTAL CANAL bends the sail (cupula) in a direction that INCREASES the firing rate in the RIGHT vestibulocochlear nerve.
  2. At the same time, the fluid in your LEFT HORIZONTAL CANAL bends its sail in a direction that DECREASES the firing rate in the LEFT vestibulocochlear nerve.
  1. Your brain INTERPRETS this change in signaling from each ear as, “I just turned my head right.”
  2. Your brain will ALSO COMPARE this vestibular input with input from the visual and proprioceptive systems to make sure that all three are saying the same thing.So why is this information important for you? Let’s say you have had small injury (even if was extremely small) to your right inner ear. The injury causes the firing rate to be CONSTANTLY DECREASED. What this would mean over time is that the brain would be getting mixed signals and your brain now is viewing a natural movement that should be easy to do as a threat. As a trainer I will see decreased range of motion, lack of strength, issue in watching your gate, and very common enough you might be feeling pain somewhere.What if you don’t notice some of the symptoms mentioned above… Have you ever dealt with Vertigo, Motion Sickness, or maybe you notice you like to walk on your tippy toes a lot. These are some of the signs of a vestibular issue. In my next blog I will be doing a video showing certain drills that we like to use at the #FitLife Fusion gym that will fix vestibular issues. I hope this Blog was educational and interesting for you, please feel free to e-mail me with any comments or questions you may have about this blog.

Jennifer’s E-mail: jennifer@fitlifefusion.com

Living Room Workout

 

image from Philadelphia Magazine

Hey Everyone! For those of you who went on the Red Rock hike Thank you so much for coming! Looking Forward to doing it again. While I was on the hike I asked some people if anyone had any questions about nutrition or fitness… And fitness won!

So I wanted to share a full-body workout plan that you can do 2x a week and in your own living room. It will burn Fat, increase muscle tone and help you with your endurance. Most of these exercises don’t require dumbbells but you can always add weight to increase the intensity. You want to use a weight that by the end of the last 2 reps its challenging to finish.
Start by doing 1-2 mobility,visual or vestibular drill

Warm-up
20 sec jumping jacks
20 sec High Knees
20 sec sit-throughs
10 push-ups

FIRST HALF
Military press with Dumbbells 8-10 REPS (when holding the dumbbells palms face forward)

REST for 45 sec

Biceps Curls with Dumbbells 8-10 REPS

REST for 45 sec

Push-ups (as many as you can do)

REST for 60 sec

REPEAT Set 2 more times
SECOND HALF

Jump Squats 8-12 reps

REST 45 sec-1 min

Suitcase deadlift with Kettlebell or Dumbbell 8-10 reps Tempo : squat down for 3 sec and come up for 1 sec

REST 45-60 sec

Wall Squat 60-120 sec * To increase intensity you can hold hands above head or hold a KettleBell or Dumbbell while in squat

REST 60-120 sec

REPEAT 1-2 more times

**BONUS ABS WORKOUT**

Sit-ups 20-30 reps

REST 20 sec

Hip Raises 15-20 reps

REST 20 sec

Plank 60 sec

REPEAT 3 times

Finish by drinking a nice cold 24 0z glass of OJ with a pinch of salt

Your Future-Self Will Thank You

Hey!
I just wanted to commend everyone on their hard work I’ve been seeing at the gym. I love seeing people who are consistently food journaling and really focusing on their nutrition. Keep up the hard work!

For those of you that have been following the Ray Peat Diet, good job! A lot of questions might pop up when you are first starting this diet so please feel free to pepper us with questions. The more you educate yourself about your metabolism and how your body functions the faster you will heal from an unhealthy metabolic place to a well functioning one. The results of having a healthy metabolism are:

  1. increased energy,
  2. balanced hormone levels,
  3. living pain-free,
  4. healthy digestion, and
  5. being able to lose weight and actually have it STAY off!

Please take a few minutes and meditate on these questions:

  • How do I want to feel emotionally and look physically years from now (imagine how you would feel accomplishing your goal)?
  • Am I eating in a way that supports a healthy lifestyle?
  • Am I open to learning new ways for getting out of pain and living a healthy life?
Fitness at any age. Taken from National Post Sports.

Fitness at any age. Taken from National Post Sports.

Here’s something that I would like you to try, as it has definitely been helping me. Think about 1 small unhealthy habit you may struggle with and replace it with a healthy one.
For example:

  • Instead of eating 5 Oreos eat 3
  • Instead of drinking that 2nd soda replace it with a glass of orange juice.
  • Instead of sitting and watching the commercials on TV do some jumping jacks or push-ups.

Whatever it is that you choose make it small, and don’t expect perfection. Changing habits can be frustrating but it doesn’t have to be. Start out small and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when you make good choices. Again, do something today that your future self will thank you for