Foundational Movement Exercises

It's the beginning of the year and you are setting your morning alarm, packing up gym clothes the night before, and getting yourself ready to jump into a "New You".  Before you decide to go from zero to hero, make sure your body is ready.  If you haven't seen the inside of the gym in a while or have to ask the person next to you how to operate the cardio equipment, please go over the moves below to keep yourself injury-free and set yourself up to accomplish your goals.

The exercises below build a foundation of movement.  They "prep" your body by activating important stabilizing muscles that help protect you against back pain, shoulder injury, knee pain, and more.  They also help improve rang of motion in your body so your are able to move through your squat, pull, or lunge with fluidity and grace.  Do this routine as a warm-up to get your body in a good space to work hard or as a full workout at home.

Remember, consistency beats intensity.  Exercise at a level you know you can maintain through the whole year, not a pace that makes you so sore you have a hard time sitting on the toilet the next day.

Cross Body Core Activation

Bridge with Overhead Reach

Alternate Arm and Leg Reach

Kneeling Thoracic Twist

Standing Hinge

Dipping Bird

Squat

Lunge

5 Butt Exercises for Injury Prevention

Recently, I was featured on the Athleta Chi Blog with my good friend, Colleen Cannon from Women's Quest.  Together we put together a routine for the all-important booty that you could do anywhere (literally anywhere, we were on a beach in Costa Rica).  Our butts do more for us than attract a potential mate.  They support our low backs, hips, knees and ankles.  They are key players in our balance and they help us prevent injury while we are out playing.

Our program focused primarily on the glute maximus and glute medius.  Being a past professional triathlete, Colleen was most in need of strengthening herself laterally (side-to-side).  Check out the whole program on the Athleta website, including instructions and photos of each exercise, by clicking here.

Balance

September was a month to think and work towards balance at my Boulder, CO studio.  This focus reached its testing point with the raining and flooding that happened in the middle of the month.  Many people have lost not only their homes, but also the land their homes sat upon.  Whole communities have been broken apart and destroyed.  Others have suffered the greatest loss of losing family members and friends to the violent floods.

I cannot pretend to know the grief that these families and communities must feel.  For most of us the flood has become an inconvenience, a hitch in our giddy-ups.  For the people of Jamestown, Lyons, Estes Park, Four Mile Canyon, Longmont, Coal Creek Canyon, Boulder Canyon and the other communities impacted heavily by these floods, this is their life for the next year or two.

With every tragedy, night comes and the morning wins.  Time presses on and with it brings healing and hope.  The belief in balance, and the circle of life helps humanity overcome tragedy. The sight of seeing thousands of volunteers helping strangers and neighbors get to safety and save their homes and belongings.  The efficiency in which our emergency teams responded to save lives and give people a warm place to sleep.  The belief that the rains will stop, people will reach safety, and we will rebuild. This is the balance of life at its most tested state.  From chaos comes beauty, from devastation comes hope.

Balance has always been a major theme throughout my life.  I believe there is no good without the bad, no success without the failure, no love without the heartbreak.  During times of suffering and pain, I always remind myself that the unbreakable ebb and flow of life will bring me back around to happiness and great fortune.  I have seen such a generous response of love, caring, and giving come from this community in an attempt to bring the area back to a stable, balanced place.  It validates my belief in balance and my belief in the human spirit.

Boulder Flood Relief Groups

Boulder Flood Relief

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