Ask Yourself the Following Questions About Your Exercise Habits:

• Are you consistent with your fitness workouts?
• Do you have the discipline, and stick-to-it-ness to set fitness goals and follow through to achieve them?
• Do you exercise because you love it, or because you feel like you have to?
• How seriously do you take taking care of your health & wellness?
• Do you have a consistent pattern of inconsistent action to reach goals?

Is What You Want Congruent with the ACTION You Are Taking To Reach Your Target Objectives?

Regardless of whether it’s a health & fitness goal, exercise, diet & nutrition, something related to work, family, chores, lifestyle, charity… every area of our life should have track-able, measurable goals in place to help with accountability for achieving health, wealth, and happiness.

Resolution Question:

We’re now a couple of weeks into a New Year.  What did you tell yourself you were going to commit to starting January first?  Are you still committed and taking action to follow through to stay consistent with the promises and resolutions you made to yourself?   Do it!  You’re worth it!

I recently posted  a Motivation Tip on my Facebook page – http://www.Facebook.com/centerworks that said, 

“In the long run, consistency is better than one quick moment of brilliance!
Overcome distractions, stop procrastinating, and commit to consistency to reap big rewards.
What one thing are you going to commit to being consistent with?”

Take a moment and think about what ONE thing you are committed to being consistent with that will benefit your improved health & wellness. 

• What is it?
• What benefits will you reap through the action of being consistent?
• How can you measure what you’re doing, so you know it’s working?

I’m all about improving the health of our mind, body, and spirit.  It’s all connected.  For us to Be Fit, Be Centered, and Be Well it’s important to BE AWARE of what we’re doing.  One of the best ways to increase awareness about your daily habits is to write things down.

My desire to keep track of my own efforts for improved wellness, as well as having an inspiring tool to share with my friends & clients, led me to create the Be Fit Journal book.  This handy book is designed to help keep you accountable for five years of fitness, with daily tracking for your wellness workouts.

Be Fit Journal – 5 Years of Fitness,

Daily Tracking for Your Wellness Workouts

A Daily Journal to Keep You Inspired, Active, and Fit to Achieve Wellness Success!

• Document daily workouts to stay on-track with healthy habits to reach your fitness goals.
• Have fun comparing your data from year-to-year.
• Stay motivated to maintain and improve your health for five fabulous years of fitness!

Discipline and consistency are key components in the achievement of any worthwhile goal.  Looking out for #1 (That’s YOU!) should always be a top priority.

One of the great benefits with the Be Fit Journal is you can see a quick snapshot of the consistency of your fitness workouts for a full five years!  A great way to compare what you’ve done in the past to what you’re doing today.  Use your fitness journal as the motivational fuel to keep at it, or make any changes needed to achieve better results for your future wellness success.

It’s like having your own personal accountability coach to help keep you consistent with your exercise habits to achieve your health & wellness goals.

If you’re ready to be consistent with your fitness program and track your Pilates, Yoga, Weights, Cardio, Swimming, Sports – Everything you do to stay active and healthy… Start documenting your action steps to achieve Wellness Success.

Get your Be Fit Journal TODAY!

Be Fit – Be Centered – Be Well!

Viewer Asks: 

“I just watched your “Knee cap dance”  While having my hands on the tops of my knee I felt a slight crunch on the outside of my right knee.   It didn’t hurt but each time I moved my knee cap it crunched.  The reason I watched your video was account of a slight pain in my knee cap.  It is continually getting better with other stretches that I have found on the web.  Here’s my question, do I keep doing the Knee cap dance to “break up any adhesions” or do I stop this particular stretch?   Thank you.”

Aliesa’s Reply:

Thanks for the question about the knee-cap exercise.  Easier for me to make a judgment call when I have a client in front of me, know their full health history, and can see them move.  When in doubt, or if any exercise you are doing is causing pain – I would immediately stop doing the exercise.

Perhaps there are modifications, or other adjustments that need to be made.  But without seeing you – it’s impossible for me to make recommendations on what else to do in this instance.  If you deem it is safe for you to continue this exercise, you might work in a smaller range of motion to move the kneecap to start and see if you can do the exercise and avoid the crunching that you are talking about.  Also, the knee cap should be gliding evenly, straight up the middle.  If the knee cap is gliding in it’s groove – bending and straightening your knees, or lifting your kneecaps should be a quiet experience!  If it’s pulling off to the outside of your leg as it lifts, you may have some muscle imbalance issues that are contributing to the problem and creating the crunching sounds.

Generally speaking,  a lot of people have muscle imbalances between the front of the thigh (quadriceps) and back of the thigh (hamstrings) in combination with the support of inner thighs, outer thighs, and Glutes can cause the kneecap to track incorrectly.

Test Your Knee Cap Tracking:

Sit in a chair and bend your knees,  put one hand on the top of your kneecap and straighten your leg – if you hear some crackling sounds, it’s because your kneecap is not tracking properly in its groove.  Now test the other leg.  Is there a difference in the sounds that your knees make?  Do they both crunch, or is one worse than the other?  Does your noisy knee correlate to any knee pain or problems you have experienced?

Tracking issues unfortunately are common.  Some folks can get away with this misalignment for a lifetime and have relatively few knee problems.  Other folks end up with multiple knee surgeries, and knee replacements because they never took care to improve their posture, strength, flexibility and change bad movement patterns.  Regardless of how old you are, getting the kneecap to track better is possible and the kneecap dance exercise is one of the exercises I teach that is easy for clients to learn & do at home.

Reasons Why You May Experience Knee Cap Pain:

• Sometimes if part of the quadriceps muscle (either inner or outer portion) pulls stronger it can pull the kneecap to either the inside or outside of the thigh, which can cause the grinding and miss-aligned tracking issue.
• If your hips are wider, or your “knock-kneed” the angle from your hip to knee (Q-angle) can make it more of a challenge to maintain good knee alignment.
• Weak inner thighs (adductors), weak outer thighs (abductors), and weak Glutes affect the stability of the knee when standing on one leg or bending and straightening the knees.
• If the knee locks when you are standing or doing any type of exercise, the hamstrings are weak, and locking jams the kneecap against the leg bones in not a good way!
• If you have had serious knee injuries or surgery, scar tissue & adhesions may limit the range of motion for your knee and knee cap.

Recommendations for Strong, Safe, & Healthy Knees

I would recommend that you consider seeing your primary care doctor, a sports medicine physician, or get a referral to a physical therapist to rule out any serious knee issues, and ask them about the exercises you are doing, if they are OK for you, or what other exercises you can be doing to safely improve things.

I’m also a fan of Pilates, since there are so many great exercises you can do in a lesser weight-bearing position on the Pilates Reformer, Cadillac, and Chairs that are excellent for improving functional alignment, strength, and flexibility.  Please keep in mind, if you are having pain or problems with your knees, chances are there’s also a problems at your feet or hips and pelvis that is contributing to the issue.  It’s great to focus on “knee” exercises, but there may be other parts of your body that need to be focused on to ensure your knee pain will completely go away.  If there is a Pilates studio, or well-qualified Pilates teacher in your area – even if you only take a couple of private sessions to have someone help you improve your exercise technique and body awareness for an at-home program it would be a good investment.

Hope this helps you make a wise decision on if the Knee Cap Dance exercise is appropriate for you to help keep your knees safe & healthy!

If you have any other questions about the knee-cap exercise , Pilates, or other health & wellness topics – please let me know.

Have you tried the Knee Cap Dance Exercise yet?   Check it out now!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Todd Kuslikis for compiling these amazing, crazy, and insanely challenging Push-Ups videos.  I’ve seen some cool pushups, and have made good attempts at clapping hands, clapping feet, and clapping hands & feet…

But… Check Out These Push Ups!!!

Walking Jumps, Muy Thai, Triple Clap, 2 Fingers, 2 Fingers in a Handstand, Superman, Aztec  Pushups (OMG- I’m gonna get strong enough to do these wild Aztec Pushups!)  Flying Superman…are you kidding?  Planche…“ look Mom….no legs!”  90 Degree Push-Ups – Planche to Handstand combo, and more.

Follow this link to Todd’s blog at Extreme-Exercises.com to enjoy and be inspired by these 10 Insane You Tube Pushups!

Then…come back and drop me a comment to let me know which ones you’re planning to add to your weekly workouts.

Enjoy!

Your life depends on learning to listen to your body and NOT overdoing it in the heat!

Did you know that between 1979 – 2003 excessive heat exposure caused more deaths in the US than hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes combined!  Heat related injuries and deaths are preventable…  Stay safe and be smart when exercising in extreme temperatures.

Heat Stroke is a medical emergency that is fatal if not treated properly AND immediately.

Heat stroke is a form of hyperthemia – elevated body temperature.  Normally the body dissipates heat through evaporation of sweat, but in extreme heat, high humidity, or physical exertion outdoors in the sun, the body may not be able to keep effectively regulate temperature.  Extreme dehydration also reduces the ability of the body to sweat  to dissipate heat and this can also cause body temperature to rise.  Heat stoke can mimic the signs and symptoms of a heart attack, and it’s possible to progress from heat exhaustion into heat stroke.

Become familiar with the warning signs for heat exhaustion and heat stroke so you can stay safe, healthy, and avoid illness or death while you’re enjoying your summer exercising in the great outdoors.

Here is some great information about Extreme Heat, Heat Exhaustion, and Heat Stroke from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

And here’s a great guide from the CDC for everything from heat stroke, to heat cramps, an sunburn.  “Extreme Heat: A Prevention Guide to Promote Your Personal Health and Safety.”

Enjoy whole-body health and participate in safe and  appropriate activities when exercising in extreme heat or other weather conditions.  Stay cool, stay healthy, and enjoy exercising indoors and out!  Just be careful when temperatures rise.  Listen to your body, exert less, or take your fitness program indoors (Pilates is always a great choice!)

Girls on the Run® was founded by Molly Barker in 1996.  This nationally recognized, non-profit prevention program encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.  The curricula addresses all aspects of a girls’ development: physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual well-being.

Download a copy of the event brochure and get registered today! Girls on the Run – Mother’s Day 5K

I’m marking my calendar!  Hope to see you there.

When we think about improving posture and avoiding that hunched over Quasimodo look.  It’s important to balance out the upper body by increasing upper back strength (to help hold us vertical,) and stretching the front of the body to open the chest so we can stand up tall.  In order to get the best benefits to balance this relationship between the upper back and front of the body, we’ve got to start by opening the chest.

Since 98% of what we do in life is in front of us, our chest muscles are naturally stronger.  Lifting and carrying groceries, boxes, children,  almost anything, and we’re using the front of our arms and chest.  This repetitive action to the front causes our muscles to get stronger and tighter, which over time may start restricting our chest and arm flexibility.  Then all of a sudden, you’re thinking about standing tall and to get there you might be just pinching your shoulder blades together, thinking that you’re standing taller, when in reality your chest didn’t really lift or open much at all.

If you sit in front of a computer all day, swim, lift weights, run with your arms held in tight to your body, or do any type of physical lifting heavy or light, this stretch is for you!

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Find a corner in your room where 2 walls come together.  Be sure it’s clear of furniture and pictures hanging on the walls.
• Stand facing the corner and put your arms up on the walls at a ninety degree angle, elbows just a little lower than your shoulders.  Palms of your hands and forearms on the wall.

There are a lot of different things I focus on and cue for my clients in this position for arm and shoulder strength and flexibility.  Today I want you to really think about maintaining tall (or taller) posture with good lower abdominal support the whole time.

• Inhale and gently pull your shoulders down while pressing your forearms firmly against the wall.  This should begin to reach the bottom of your shoulder blades towards your elbows, and elbows more firmly against the wall.
• Exhale and take a step forward with your right foot to lunge in towards the corner.
• Lift your chest and eye focus up a little higher as you bring your body forward through your arms.
• Stay here and breathe, Inhale shoulders down and wide, exhale lift your chest and reach it in towards the corner.  Take 3-5 breaths, then step back and release.
• Repeat again, this time stepping forward with the left foot.

What To Watch For:

As you start to step forward, if you notice your shoulders elevate, your chest will not open.  At this point the thing that’s probably leading to move you forward is your lower back and a relaxed belly.  Be sure to keep your abdominals lifted and shoulders down so as you move forward into the corner you feel your breastbone sliding up while the upper back moves forward between your shoulders and arms,  leading  the way to a bigger chest stretch.

How Many Repetitions?

Sometimes, I’ll just do this once stepping in on the right, and once on the left.  If you know you need it…  Repeat another 2 times on each side to help improve your flexibility and open the chest.

A Helpful Hint…

Never force yourself into any position.  Go along with your breath.  If your chest muscles relax, they will allow you to move forward into a deeper stretch. If your chest muscles are really tight and fighting against you, hold the position you’re in and just keep breathing until you feel things start to let go and relax.  Then if you want a little more stretch you can ride the exhale and release to move forward.  This Corner Wall Stretch will really help to improve the flexibility of your chest, arms, and shoulders.

When To Stretch

Use this Corner Wall Chest Opening Stretch during or after your workouts, at the end of your day, or anytime you’re feeling the need to sit and stand taller with less muscle stress. If you watch your animals, cats and dogs stretch every time they get up.  How often are you stretching?  Take just a moment every now and then throughout your day to stretch and it will go a long way to keeping your body flexible and fit!

******

Looking for more Pilates, Health, & Fitness Tips? Check out ALL the video’s I’ve got posted on my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/centerworks

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to read my previous blog post on Pilates Exercise Tips for Strong and Healthy Shoulders

I received a great question in my in-box this week about exercise for weight loss when you have foot pain.  I am sure that there are other people out there with similar issues, so I thought I’d share my reply!

Here’s the Question:

I’ve had foot pain since I was a teenager, so in my weight loss journey I’ve had to do everything so far without exercise.  While I’ve had great success, I’ve gained back a little of the weight.  Now trying to get back on track.  Are there any exercises, low key, that I can do to aid me in reaching my goals that won’t hold me back because of my foot pain?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Advice from Aliesa:

Thanks for your questions and congratulations on your weight loss success!  And it’s great to know that you’re actively looking for things you can do that will keep you healthy, active,  fit, and safe with a foot problem.  I’ve had several  clients over the years who have had major foot problems, and have still managed to stay consistent with a Pilates exercise program.

There are lots of things you can do, but since each of us is a unique individual, and we all respond differently to different things, it may take a bit of experimenting to find the best exercises and develop an great wellness program for you.

I strongly recommend finding someone in your local area who can help teach you safe and appropriate exercises and help you design and develop a fitness routine that fits your lifestyle, meets your goals, and takes any health challenges into consideration. Whether it’s a Physical Therapist, Personal Trainer, or Pilates Teacher…  having an expert to help guide you can make a huge difference in knowing what to do, how to do it, and helping to keep you motivated to stick with your program and get results.

If you don’t have the financial resources to do weekly training sessions with a trainer – it will still be worth the investment to find someone to get you started, develop and teach you a program to get going, then turn you loose to work out on your own.   Then, I’d encourage you,  once or twice a month,  to schedule a check-up to evaluate your progress and tweak your program.

With foot pain, there are actually lots of exercises you can do and stay off your feet!

Pilates is excellent for this, since it’s  a total body workout that combines strength and flexibility. Pilates Matwork keeps you moving and off your feet.  On the Pilates equipment – Reformer, Cadillac, Chairs, and Barrels, there are hundreds of exercises that you can do against spring resistance that keep you off your feet.  A bonus here is that by working the Pilates system and helping to strengthen some of the imbalances that have been created over time because your feet hurt – there’s a chance that in time you may actually reduce your foot pain because the rest of your body is moving better!

While swimming isn’t necessarily looked at as a “weight-loss” cardio activity, if your feet hurt and weight-bearing activities like walking or running are out, this can be a good alternative. Plus – it’s a whole-body activity – so you get bonus points for coordinating breathing, with upper and lower body movement!

Other good exercise choices include:  Weight training, dumbbells, resistance bands, sit-ups, push-ups… there are so many options.

A well-balanced workout should include at least one exercise for each direction that the joints of the body move:

• Chest
• Upper Back
• Lower Back
• Shoulders
• Biceps
• Triceps
• Abdominal (curling forward)
• Abdominals ( twisting)
• Outer Thighs
• Inner Thighs
• Back of Hips/Glutes
• Hamstrings
• Quadriceps
• Calves
• Feet/Ankles

The list above contains 15 muscle “movement” groups.  While some of these have multiple muscles and you could do dozens of different exercises…  If you just picked one exercise that you can do safely, for each group – 8-12 repetitions, 1-2 sets, you would have a great workout that might take you 30 minutes-1 hour.

All of these are general guidelines – without seeing you I can’t give you anything specific, but I hope this inspires you to find someone locally who can help you pick the best exercises to get you started.  And while I know you have foot pain – I’m a firm believer that there are probably some safe and appropriate foot/ankle exercises that you may be able to do also, perhaps not to start – but in time…  Most of the exercises in my book Fantastic Feet are non-weight bearing, and over time they progress to standing exercises.  Would need to know more about your foot issues and see your feet to be able to tell you if the Fantastic Feet exercises might be a good choice for you!

Best of luck!  Keep me posted on your progress.

*******

Can you relate to the challenge of exercising with foot pain?  Share a comment and let folks know what’s worked for you!

This question about the difference between toning shoes vs. a regular pair of running or walking shoes always comes up when I teach my Fantastic Feet Workshop!

Everybody’s looking for the best option to get the most bang for their buck for a workout. But lots of bucks it takes to buy these fancy “toning” shoes! Is the cost for the claims of burning more calories, solving joint pain, working your hamstrings, butt and calves harder really worth it?

According to the ACE study – there is no statistically significant increases or evidence to support the advertising claims. A regular pair of tennis shoes can provide the same benefits as your MBT’s or other Shape-Up shoes, based on the ACE research study which measured fitness and wellness benefits.

Do I own a pair of Toning Shoes – YES. Do I wear them often – NO.

Why did I buy them? Because I had so many clients asking if they should buy a pair that I wanted to experience what it felt like to wear them so I could give a more educated opinion on what these shoes felt like during a workout and how they affected my gait and stride.

What’s my opinion?
Since so many people are running around in flip-flops and other strapless or backless shoes – in general, for most of the population – stride length has been compromised. If you watch people walk, the legs swing more to the front of the body than behind the body. (We’ve made this adaptation to keep our flip-flops from falling off our feet!) Because of this the hips, hamstrings, and glutes don’t get a chance to work like they should because the legs are never in extension (behind the body) far enough for these muscles to fire.

Our strength to propel the body forward when we walk and run comes from the back of the legs – hamstrings, glutes, ankle and foot. Without a long enough stride, hip, knee, and ankle mechanics are compromised. And if you take a look at most of the cardio equipment on the market (with the exception of a treadmill) the stride/swing for the legs is primarily to the front of the body which continues to enhance the imbalance that has been created by our poor shoe choices and shortened stride!

So accepting by the research that you’re not going to burn more calories, or work harder by wearing toning shoes what might be the value of wearing toning shoes for a workout? For me, the rocker-bottom helps free up the swing of the leg and makes it a bit easier to increase stride length to feel what I should be doing all day long (in any pair of shoes) to get the legs behind the body for better stride length.

I wear my MBT’s every once in a blue moon! The rest of the time I prefer to focus my attention on making my body do things right (rather than rely on my shoes to do the work.)

What Do YOU Think About Toning Shoes?

• Do you own a pair of toning shoes?
• Why did you buy them?
• How much do you wear them?
• What’s your overall opinion of toning shoes?

If you want to read the research, click here for the ACE Fitness article.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.It seems evident to me that this author has probably never experienced a Pilates workout!  And in my study of Pilates, Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and meditation,  I believe that these great mind-body methods are more similar than one might think for improving whole-body health.

Here’s Why:

It’s not just, let’s move the body, but let’s be aware, in-tune, and conscious of what we’re doing, how, we’re doing it, the initiation point, end point, and in-between points for every movement.

I think it’s wonderful that we have options for focused fitness and enhanced wellness for improved mind-body health.   There is a method out there to help meet the needs of each of us as individuals.  And if you want to develop and fine-tune your skills, cross-training and exploring different mind-body methods may give you an increased appreciation for your body, health, and the ancient wisdom that is at the root of each of these techniques.

Look for my series of upcoming posts on the benefits of each of these great mind-body methods.

• Pilates
• Yoga
• Tai-Chi
• Qi Gong / Chi Gung
• Martial Arts
• Meditation

And I’m curious to know… What’s your  #1 favorite Mind-Body Wellness method?  Answer the  survey, and if you have a moment – tell me why it’s your choice in the comment section below.