Stretch your hips and hamstrings with this great move. Method Fitness trainer, Adam, teaches us the right form for the “squat to stand” stretch.
Click below:
Method Fitness Exercise Tip of the Day
Do this stretch 2 – 3 times per week to get the maximum benefits.
Have a happy, healthy weekend!
Training for a marathon like this one takes patience, work and the right strategy. Read on to learn the most successful approach to your marathon training program.
Runners who are planning to compete in their first marathon often become members of private personal training gyms because they want the guidance and expertise of the best personal trainers.
This is a very good idea since many runners make a lot of mistakes when training for their first marathon. Some mistakes actually cost them the marathon because they injure themselves and are unable to train properly.
Assess Your Condition
Before you even sign up for a marathon, assess your physical condition, running abilities and overall desire and ability to complete 26.2 miles safely. This is where personal trainers come in handy because they can help you decide whether you should make the commitment or whether a half marathon might be a good goal to tackle first.
You also have to make sure you are mentally prepared for a marathon. Many personal trainers have already completed marathons and can give you great insight into preparing for the mental challenge. Running a marathon is as much in the head as it is in the legs!
Give it Time
Once you are sure that training for a marathon is the right goal for you, select a race that will give you plenty of time to properly train. You shouldn’t feel incredibly rushed or pressured to get prepared in a short period of time as that will lead to bad decisions that lead to injuries.
Don’t Push It
You have to reasonably assess where you are as a runner and with physical conditioning right now, and then, gradually take it up a notch. You shouldn’t go out tomorrow for a 15 mile run if you can only comfortably run 6 miles. Assess your starting point and don’t push too fast or too hard too soon.
Personal trainers are excellent resources for gradual programs that prevent injury while allowing you to progress toward your goals.
Get in Form
It is very important not to skip the warm up or cool down phases of a run. You should also check with your personal trainers if you aren’t certain you are using the most effective running form. The small details become extremely important when you are pushing your body to run that first marathon.
The right personal trainers will be able to make small tweaks or even big improvements to your form which can make you a more efficient runner. This makes training easier and will improve performance on the big day.
Have a Plan
Finally, you can’t train for your first marathon according to whatever you feel like doing from day to day. When you decide to push yourself to train for a marathon, you need a proven plan to get you from wherever you are now to where you need to be on race day.
You can find some programs online for free, but the best marathon training programs are those that are designed for you personally. Personal trainers can assess your starting point and help you come up with a complete training program that caters to your individual needs.
When you have a smart training plan and resist temptation to run ahead of schedule and push yourself too hard, you will actually enjoy marathon training. Many people actually find it addicting, so don’t be shocked if you find yourself visiting your personal trainers for your second, third and even fourth marathon in the future!
Method Fitness: The best "new" stretches and how to use them, even when you skip the gym.
Many people who sign up for fitness boot camps for women in NYC are shocked with the types of exercises that they encounter in the first few sessions. This is because most people think of very basic military-style exercises and stretches when they think about weight loss boot camps.
Push-ups and jumping jacks are the typical exercises that people think of doing when they sign up for fitness boot camps for women, but what they are actually hit with is usually something very different. Yes, those exercises are thrown into some weight loss boot camps, but the core workout presented in our boot camps is anything but traditional or old school.
Reinventing the Wheel
Personal trainers love exercises like jumping jacks and push-ups today just as much as they did in the past because they are highly effective. The difference in today’s fitness boot camps for women is that trainers are taking those old school exercises and putting a modern twist on them. They are making them even more effective by incorporating different groups of muscles throughout the body.
For instance, consider the squat. We all know what squats are and if you have ever attended weight loss boot camps you know that they are extremely effective at shaping your thighs and toning your rear end. They also happen to be the base movement or stance for a wide variety of newer exercises commonly used in weight loss boot camps.
For instance, kickboxing segments of a boot camp will have you bending down in a squat while punching in different directions. You may also perform different types of squats with different leg positions and even incorporating weights or workout bands.
Combined Movements
Another newer form of exercise that is often used in fitness boot camps for women involves combining two or three separate movements into one. For instance, a personal trainer may have you squat down then come up into a dumbbell press over the head, sinking right back down into the squat. Or, you could find yourself squatting down and then leaping straight up in the air, coming straight back down into a squat.
Combined movements are especially effective when you add lower body movements with strength training movements for the upper body. Just lifting weights for the upper body doesn’t keep your heart rate very high, but if you are lunging, squatting, crunching, and doing other movements along with the arm exercises you can get more cardio and fat burning benefit while strengthening and toning.
Trainer Innovations
The great thing about weight loss boot camps is they are usually led by some of the most talented, experienced personal trainers. These trainers come up with their own innovative moves and combinations of moves that aren’t found anywhere else. Sometimes they have a moment of inspiration and come up with a new challenge on the spot. Other times they have been planning the torture days or weeks in advance.
The only thing that is for certain with fitness boot camps for women is that you will not be doing the old school movements that you expect. You may start out with some jumping jacks but you can guarantee there will be something more challenging, more modern, incorporated at some point.
This surprise is what adds challenge and difficulty to the workout and that is what makes weight loss boot camps so successful and life-transforming!
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