Coulee Region Bootcamps

I spent the weekend at my parents house to attend the wedding of a good friend. It’s great to get back home be back on the farm (even though it’s just an acreage now, no animals besides cats and a dog). 

They also happen to live over 25 miles from the nearest commercial gym or “fitness center”. 

So what do you do when you want to get a good workout in?  Not just going for a run, but something that will elevate your metabolism, get you stronger and get that fat burning!

I was not going to make the 40 minute drive.  There was just too much stuff going on to justify the time commitment. My wife was in the wedding and doing “wedding stuff” all day.  I have to help watch our two kids and help my parents with anything they want help with around the place.

Have you been in a similar situation? Do you give up and plan to “make it up” next week? 

I decided nothing will stop me and if this happens to you; you have lots of choices.

1. Do a bodyweight only workout. Pick out a number, say 100, and perform that many reps of pushups, squats, lunges, and jumping jacks.  Break them up any way you like them and don’t stop until you are all done.  Simple and effective.

2. If you are planning ahead you can bring some bands along to incorporate into your bodyweight workout.  This allows you to incorporate some pulling exercises to get a balanced workout for your whole body.  Check out the best bands you can possibly get from the Band Man Dave Schmitz.

3. Odd object lifting.  Find something reasonably heavy (large stones, logs, small children, tires, etc) and lift it any way you can imagine.  You can even pick it up and carry it for distance.  This will get you a great workout and hit all those “inbetween” muscles you forgot you had!

Lucky for me my dad unknowingly came to the rescue.  The barn roof in the process of being reshingled to fix some holes.  There were 25 bundles of shingles (70lbs each) that needed to be carried up the ladder to the top of the roof. 

So I threw the bags on my shoulder (1 at a time) and carried them up the ladder and dropped them on the roof.  I did this as quickly as possible to really push myself and also to avoid the angry wasps that had a few nest under the hole in the roof and didn’t like me slamming the shingles onto the roof their home was attached to.  My dad found some wasps spray and stood on the roof “riding shotgun.”

So 15 minutes, 2 stings and 50+ dead wasps later I was done.  I felt great to get in such a demanding workout in the fresh air. 

For completeness sake I went into the garage and did a few sets pullups on the steel beam in the roof.  I also climbed from one end of the beam to the other with my knees tucked to my chest to avoid the cars.  After that I did some pushups.

That was it.  I got a great workout incorprating total body moves, some upper body pulling, core and grip all while helping my dad out. 

So there are no barriers to good workouts, just excuses.  Get creative and get fit!

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Yours in health,
Anthony,
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When I go into any gym I always lots of ellipticals.  They always seem to be the busiest piece of equipment in the gym. I’m sure the people using them have goals of losing weight and being healthy.   They rely of these machines to help burn fat while being easy on the joints. 

Now I think if someone has a knee injury, then the elliptical may be the only exercise they can do without pain.  That is great.  As long as they are doing something for their health, go ahead.

However, the elliptical machine can cause problems of it’s own.  Check out this article that explains more:

http://www.thespec.com/article/813467

Basically the elliptical machine put the user is a forward position.  The hip flexors are shortened and over time short hip flexors lead to back pain. 

So what are we to do?  Either have knee pain or back pain?  Is that our only choice?

Absolutely not!

Start strength training for goodness sake.  Proper strength training routines that use a full body workout are the best exercise for you.  Strength training helps build lean muscle.  This lean muscle burns fat like crazy. 

Strength training also can help keep your joints healthy.   By using the proper exercises and correct form you strengthen the muscles around your joint.  You can also improve your joint mobility and muscle flexibility.  Neither the elliptical or treadmill can do that.

It may be intimidating to start strength training.  You may not know where to start.

It’s really easy.  Pick a few exercises.  Let’s use bodyweight squats, pushups (put your hands on a higher surface like a table or chair to make them easier), and lunges.  Now do 10 reps of each.  Start with the squat, then pushups, then lunges.   Do them as quickly as possible then rest 30 seconds.  Repeat 3-5 times.  That is a great workout with no joint impact. 

At Coulee Region Boot Camps in La Crosse we always balance the exercises over your entire body.  Your form is always monitored to ensure safety for your joints and muscles.  And using our interval style strength training will help you melt off 9x more fat then running on a treadmill or elliptical.

I hope you can see how ellipticals should be a complement to a exercise program.  They should never be the whole program!

But if you have to use the elliptical please stretch your hip flexors before and after.  That’s all I ask.

Over the past several months I have seen lots of advertisement for the Sketcher Shape Ups.  In a nutshell these shoes (and others like it) have an unstable sole that makes you work to keep your balance.  This is supposed to help you tone up, lose weight, improve posture just by putting these shoes on!  Sounds fantastic right? 

It all seems ridiculous to me.  How is increasing the caloric burn of walking going to help someone. Walking isn’t a great way to lose fat and get in shape.  It’s walking for crying out loud. 

Luckily the people at ACE (American Council of Exercise) have published a study (performed right here in La Crosse at UW-L) that shows otherwise.