Pretty Hard Work

26 Apr 2012

April 26, 2012

Burpees for Great Abs

FizzNiche Ab Exercises 1 Comment

Great Abs Without Doing Any Ab Exercise

Burpees, burpees, burpees! Burpees are one of the best all-body exercises that also work your abs without you even knowing it. Best of all, you can do them anywhere without any equipment. Start from standing. Squat down and then go to the ground and do a push up. After coming up from the push up, go back to squat position and jump up. That’s one rep.

Do 30 reps as fast as you can, or do as many as you can in 5 minutes. To add variety, after the push up, you can do knees to elbows, or fingers to toes. Instead of just jumping up, jump onto a step or a bench, or do a jumping jack, or even a pike jump or split jump. In our Victory Karate class, we add kicks onto a heavy bag after coming up out of the squat.

Erik Akutagawa, Head Instructor, Victory Karate

For further demonstration, check out this tutorial we found on Youtube.

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Swimsuit Ready Challenge

This exercise is part of our Swimsuit Ready Challenge (April 2-30, 2012). Do this exercise and comment below “I did this!” to be entered to win our $100 and $50 giveaways. You may enter up to one time per day through April 30th.

Also – be sure to share this on Facebook, Pinterest and other sites to let your friends cheer you on or – better yet – join in on the challenge so they can hang out on the beach with you this summer! read more →

15 Apr 2012

April 15, 2012

Breathe Out for Great Abs

FizzNiche Ab Exercises 1 Comment

Belly Contractions

What exercise really flattens your stomach? The answer is any exercise that flattens your stomach. If you can’t keep your stomach flat and drawn inward during your core work, then your core exercises are teaching your belly to stick OUT not pull IN.

So try this: Put your hands on your stomach and inhale, expanding your stomach gently. Then exhale, contracting your stomach inward, hollowing your belly-button under your rib cage. You just flexed your transverse abdominus (TA) which is like your “seatbelt” or “corset” muscle!

You might have hunched forward when you pulled your navel in, or you might have raised your shoulders or tightened your hips and thighs. Take another belly breath and try to flex inward on the exhale WITHOUT curving your spine and hunching. Once you’ve mastered that kind of bracing or vacuum motion, add some pulses.

Do the belly breath, but once you’ve exhaled, pull your belly inward deeper a few times. Work your way up to sets of 30-50, stopping when you feel fatigued in your lower back and deep core. The TA “transverses” your whole middle, originating in your lower back and connecting via the linea alba to your other ab muscles.The real beauty of this exercise is that it will prevent and reduce existing diastasis recti injuries, a common condition occurring in women post partum.

Bethany Learn, CEO and Founder, Fit2B Studio, LLC

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Swimsuit Ready Challenge

04 Apr 2012

April 4, 2012

2 Weeks to a Tight Booty

FizzNiche Booty Exercises 1 Comment

Okay – you’ve checked your butt out in jeans all winter long – what is it going to look like when you slip into your bikini this summer? Let’s work to get that booty tightened up for swimsuit season:

(more…) read more →

26 Mar 2012

March 26, 2012

How to Find the Balance Between Workout and Rest

FizzNiche Sleep 0 Comment

As you dive into your workout routine and make it a habit you start to hear more and more about the balance between workout and rest. For someone who is new to an intense training program it is important to find that balance. We want to make sure we don’t allow ourselves excuses to skip training days, however we don’t want to risk injury either.

Learn from our experts how to find the right workout and rest balance that’s right for you:

A Rest Day After Every Work Out Day? Maybe Not

Resting because you have had a work out can present a large dilemma wrought with excuses and rationalizations justifying “resting”. Split routine work outs were started way back with Arnold and “the guys” lifting 400 and 600 pounds. Most of us do not use such behemoth weights.

If you are not working out intensely and resting during your work out, you do not need a rest day(s). Puttering on the treadmill and showing up for yoga are not work outs requiring rest. Boot camp, Insanity, and lifting 50% or more of your body weight equates to an intense work out which should not be completed more than 3 days per week.

Resting from an intense work out such as a “CrossFit” type of work out, or a kickboxing class is essential to prevent injury. Active rest at least one day per week is best, focusing on a full range of motion stretching routine. Indeed a leisurely bike ride or chasing your kids around the park followed by stretching would be an excellent rest day.

Jodean Petersen, B.S. ACSM-CPT, Health Coach, Jodean Petersen

Rest is as Important as Work

Your body needs a right balance of hard work and real rest. I recommend taking at least one full day off per week from all exercise. I think of it as a “sabbath”. It is wise to take a day to quiet the mind AND the body with down time. Ideally, do about 4 cardio hours a week, 3 strong strength sessions, and daily stretching. Planning ahead will allow the balance!

Nancy Radding, Fitness Director, The Oaks at Ojai

How did you find the right balance between workout and rest during your intense training? read more →

12 Mar 2012

March 12, 2012

How Yoga Practice Supports Your Intense Training Routine

FizzNiche Yoga 5 Comments

Here at PrettyHardWork we do enjoy our yoga classes immensely. Unfortunately, we have found ourselves putting our yoga practice on the back burner when we enter into a more intense training of some sort. And we miss it. Dearly. So, we turned to the experts, seeking a permission of sorts, to find out, “are there benefits to practicing yoga during an intense training routine?”