Strickland Fitness

After some time of ramping up some other training stuff; The blog is back! Stay tuned!

I had the pleasure of working with Ultimate Fighting Championship star Lyoto Machida. His manager contacted me last Monday asking if I could help him do a last training session before heading off to Vegas to fight. I obviously accepted. We did a few exercises to warm up his muscles and keep the blood flowing and then some stretching. By the way, 880 pounds on the leg press is his way of keeping the blood flowing. He won his fight with a first round knockout.

I received a call from his manager the day after his fight asking me to train him again on Monday. That’s 2 days after his highly anticipated match. I was expecting him to rest for a longer time, but he was back to it. This time we got to work out hard. The dedication of professional athletes is mind blowing.  

Why am I writing about this? Besides the fact that it was a great experience and I can add a mixed martial artist to my resume, it confirms that dedication, persistence, and hard work are the keys to success….no matter your sport, goals, or fitness level.

It’s amazing how many people I see at the gym reading the paper, watching TV, or talking to others while working out and doing cardio. I ask myself what are their goals? What are they looking to accomplish during their time at the gym? The concept of “doing something is better than doing nothing” will not get you to where you want to be. What will? Intensity!

The concept of “you get out what you put in” does apply. If you are looking to lose weight, get fit, or be healthier, go to the gym and go for it. If you only have an hour a day to dedicate to cardio or resistance training, suck every minute from it. Start intensifying your workouts. If you are new to fitness, you should start slow and progress to higher intensity workouts. Once your body has adjusted to the demands you are placing on it, step it up.

When I work with a client, I make sure they get everything possible out of the time I spend with them. Ask yourself, do you give everything you got when you work out? At work, you work hard to move up the ranks and be successful. Do the same for your body. The next time you workout, keep your goals in mind and put the effort in that equals how bad you want to meet your goals!

When is the best time to weigh myself?

The best time is in the morning. More importantly, try weighing yourself at the same time of day.

I am trying to put on weight. How do I do that without adding more fat?

Putting on muscle weight can take time and commitment. You have to up your calorie intake with low-fat, high protein foods and raise the intensity of your resistance workouts. Adding more weight and fewer repetitions to your sets helps to build muscle. Don’t forget to rest a little longer between sets to help the muscles get ready for the next hard set.

My knees hurt when I run. Why is that?

Running creates a lot of impact on your joints. Pain can be caused from tissue or bone damage, instability of the joint, or muscle weakness and tightness. If you don’t have the muscle strength to support this impact, the joint takes the hit. If your leg muscles are tight, they can pull on the knee joint causing instability and pain. First, make sure you don’t have an injury to the knee. Next, focus on flexibility and strengthening of the muscles that support the knee. These muscles are the adductors, abductors, gluts, quads, hamstrings, calves, hip flexors, and peroneals. Also, try running on surfaces that offer the least amount of impact.

What is the biggest factor in weight loss?

Nutrition!!!!

80% of all people will suffer from lower back pain in their life. A lot of times this pain is not caused from injury, but from overcompensation from weak abdominals. Strong abdominals help to make a strong core which stabilizes the spine. When you are working for that ripped mid-section, you are also working to alleviate lower back pain.

The majority of back pain sufferers are in a career where they are in a seated position for most of the day. Sitting at a computer or desk is basically being in a crunch position the whole time. This isolated crunch position elongates the back muscles which weakens them over time. When Sean Renninger from Integrity Sport and Fitness (www.integritysportandfitness.com) trains his clients with lower back pain, he puts emphasis on lengthening the abdominal muscles besides shortening them. “Doing crunches”, Sean says, “is a fundamental movement that everybody knows, but does not serve the true function of the abs which is to protect and support the spine and lower back.”

If working the abdominals has become a major part of your workout routine, be sure to concentrate on the lengthening of the muscle as much as the shortening or contracting of the muscle. This will help to strengthen your abs, strengthen your back, strengthen your core, and stabilize your spine. A stabilized spine is a great prevention to lower back pain and injury.

Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to lose weight? The best way to conquer this goal is to slowly change your lifestyle. What most people do is immediately go on a diet. Let’s just say the diet works and you reach your ideal weight. What do you do then? Most will fall back to old habits and gain all the weight back. That is why they don’t work in the long run. Diets are just a short term solution. If your resolution is to lose weight, try changing it to lose weight and keep it off.

Losing weight and keeping it off comes from changing your lifestyle. Healthy eating habits, getting plenty of rest, having a consistent cardio and resistance program, and keeping stresses down are all the components of a healthy lifestyle. These are the things that will help you lose weight, keep it off, and live a healthy life for good. You will feel great and you will look great.

How do you successfully change your lifestyle? The answer is to set yourself up for success. Most people use the New Year to try and change everything all at once. This is a very difficult thing to do. The best way is to make small changes over time to give you and your body the time to adapt and implement them into daily life. Make a list of all the things you need to do or change in order to meet your goal. Then start with one. Once this change has become part of your new lifestyle, move to the next one. Move through each change as the previous one becomes normal to you. Over time, all the changes you have made will not feel like changes anymore because they will be part of your lifestyle. Have you ever noticed how gyms get really crowded at the beginning of the year and then taper off to normal crowds by March? This is a perfect example of people trying too much all at once. They give up because they say it’s too hard to do all the things needed to reach their goal. This may not be the fastest way to lose weight, but it will have the longest success.

How can you stay in shape if you are traveling during the holidays? The most important thing is to stay active and make sure your calorie intake doesn’t exceed your calorie output. If you are staying at a hotel, try and stay at one that has a gym. That way the weather will not get in the way of working out. If the weather isn’t a problem, get outside. Do some intervals around the block. Walk up some steep hills that might be around. You can also do some body weight stuff for your resistance training. Pushups, planks, dips, body squats, back raises, and crunches are great body weight exercises. Don’t wait for the New Year to come to start training again. Keep yourself going and then step it up once you get home.

I am going to Oregon on a snow shoe and snowboarding trip. Next post will be Mon. the 29^th. Happy Holidays!!!

What you see in the mirror is just a reflection of how you feel. So what does this mean? You have to change the inside in order to change the outside. Most people find this statement to be backwards. You are probably saying; if I look good then I will feel good. Think about it for a minute. Ask anyone (or yourself) who has an overeating problem when they binge on food. It’s usually when they are sad, mad, stressed, depressed, or have simply given up on their goal. Those are bad feelings which cause a bad behavior.

Go take a look in the mirror right now. What do you see? Does the outside match the inside? Very few people look in the mirror and say; I look fat but I feel great. Or on the other hand, say; I look great but I feel like crap. I am in great shape, but I know on days I don’t feel great, the image that I see usually reflects that.

No matter what your fitness goals, first start with the inside. Get plenty of rest so you start each day feeling refreshed. Eat well to have the energy to complete your day and stay healthy. Do all the things that make you feel fresh, energetic, and motivated. Those feelings will take you to the gym, help you make good eating decisions, and start to change what you see in the mirror.

The core is not a muscle. That is the major misunderstanding people have. Core is the relationship of a group of muscles and how they function together. The core or Lumbo-Pelvic-Hip-Complex (LPHC) is made up of two categorized muscle groups: Stabilizers and movers. The stabilizing muscles of the core are the transverse abs, internal obliques, lumbar, pelvic muscles, and diaphragm. The movers are the lats, hamstrings, rectus abdominus (abs), hip adductors and abductors, and external obliques. All of these muscles make up the core.

Having a strong core is vital to movement, posture, and prevention of injury. Just like most muscle groups, you have to stabilize the core before you train or move it. Strengthening the muscles as individuals and as a group will help to ensure optimal and efficient movement of the body.

Some basic core stabilizing exercises are bridges and hip abductions. Some basic core strengthening exercises are crunches, back extensions, and twists. Remember, doing a bunch of ab exercises is only part of core work. Just as much time needs to be spent on your back, sides and deeper muscles of each. Safe and efficient movement starts and ends with the core. If you have any questions on how to strengthen your core, feel free to email me.

When you go to the gym, make it count. The more intense your workouts, the more calories you burn and the more lean muscle you build. Keep in mind what your goals are while exercising. That should help motivate you in to giving it your all. If you are on the treadmill, don’t watch TV or read a book. Concentrate on hitting your heart rate and not the channel button. Dedicate your workout time to your body and not to catching up on your shows.

I love the feeling of heading to the showers tired and sweaty. I always feel accomplished and motivated to do it again. Doing something is better than doing nothing, but I always feel the difference between working hard and just working. You will always find time to relax. So when you find time to go the gym or workout at home, work hard!