Perfect Posture Perfects Perfomance

In high school, I had a friend who would always repeat the mantra "Perfect posture perfects performance".  We were both typical overachievers, honors classes (a year ahead, thank you very much), after school activities, good relationships with our parents, fairly typical geeks :)

But wheras I would slouch at my desk, she'd always be upright and aligned. 

Perfect posture perfects performance.Smart cookie that I am, I made sure to emulate my friend :)  Whether or not my "perfomance" has been "perfected" or not remains to be seen - but I'm sure that my body is thankful for the attention to my posture.  

Bad posture is, to this day, one of my biggest pet peeves.  Particularly in tall people - I mean, come on!  You've got glorious height!  Show it off!!!

Poor posture upsets me most when I see it on avid gym-goers.  I fail to understand how someone seemingly intent on achieving physical health can overlook such an obvious flaw in their physique. For instance, there is a woman at my gym who puts herself through fairly grueling interval workouts.  She drips with sweat, moving from a barbell to the stair master (I won't even go into her form or lack thereof on that maching) to the decline ab bench and back again....an absolute workhorse.  She is incredibly lean, but her shoulders roll forward to her chest in such a way as to make me uncomfortable  (I seriously roll my shoulders whenever I see her).  I don't know if she's just lazy with her posture, or if she's built up such an imbalance between her chest muscles and her back that she's basically PULLING her shoulders to the front.  Yes, I realize that she very well could have some sort of condition, but let's theorize that she doesn't (for the sake of the argument). 

What I want to know is how someone who puts so much work and effort into their training can miss something so simple to correct?

Don't piss me off.  Stand up tall.  Own the space your body occupies.  All of it.  All the time.  Your back will thank you for it.

WikiHow to Improve Your Posture

Out of the Kiddie Pool

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". - Chinese Proverb

Sigh.  Apparently my training partner has subscribed to this train of thought :)  I've spent the better part of the weekend (and this morning) attempting to write up my programming for the next cycle of my training (which begins today).  She asked me if I was excited for the new program, and I told her no ;) 

Partly, it's just that I'm afraid of doing a poor job at making my own program.  What if I do it wrong?  What if I ultimately end up spinning my wheels in the gym, wasting valuable time?  I don't feel as though I have a broad enough vocabulary of movement and form to construct it well, much less know if it's working.  But, I'll get over it (and myself).  I know what I'm doing, and it's about time I took off my water wings and went for a dip on my own.

Do you do your own programming?  Or do you follow someone else's - a trainer, CrossFit mainsite, the most recent issue of Shape/Fitness/Men's Health?  If you do follow someone else's, do you ever question WHY you're doing particular movements or volume?

If you don't (question) - start!  The best part of having someone to guide us is being able to learn the why along with the what/when/where and how!

Link Love

Not being lazy(really!!), but this is a great blog post that I thought I'd pass along to you kids.  FILLED with common sense (imagine that!) and no-nonsense truths:

The Key To Successful Fat Loss

I know - I've been awful this week at keeping up with you all.  For that, I apologize.  Between the real job, commercial work and busting my tuchus getting ready for my competitions, I've been a very neglectful blogosphere commentator.

I promise to be better :)

In the meantime, follow along on my daily competition prep.  Just click on the link to the right - from there you can check out my food journal and (as always) my training journal, as well as keeping up with the daily trials and tribulations (i.e. mood swings and food swings).  Feel free to comment, encourage, or smack me upside the head ;)  Just don't be a stranger!

Gluten Free Fitness - Erin Elberson

Just wanted to share a website with you kids that focuses on a Gluten Free Lifestyle for active/fitness folks.  I know a lot of you follow Paleo dietary guidelines, and many of you are Clean Eaters.  Definitely a wealth of information to be found here.  If you sign up for Erin's newsletter, you'll also receive a short eBook that introduces you to Gluten Free eating and how you can tailor it to your desired outcome (weight management, etc).

What you'll notice as you read through her posts is that she's a proponent of REAL foods - no faux-food substitutions.  Just natural, honest, naked food.  Paleo folks - just skim over the grains :)

Gluten Free Fitness

Do you do it with the lights on?

There were so many exciting things going on today at the gym that I actually had to sit and think about what to share with you.  It was a veritable smorgasbord of idiocy :)

My favorite?

Tai Chi man - he goes into a corner of the side room at the gym, turns OFF the lights (doesn't ask, mind you) and goes through his progressions.  Already, we can tell he's a keeper!

Today, I notice him sitting at the Hammer Strength Chest Press.  

READING A NEWSPAPER.

With a People magazine at his feet.

I watch.

He reads.

I watch.

He reads.

I watch.

He reads.

Then, he puts down his paper.  My excitement builds.  He grabs hold of the handles, arches his back off the seat so far that he's almost airborne, PUSHES the handles forward while slamming his body back into the seat, returns the handles to the start position, and LEAVES.

*insert quizzical face here*

Maybe he's got no force production with the lights on....

Tao of Tetris

Does your office have a refrigerator?  A kitchenette?  How do you handle the shared space?

As many of you may know, I currently work 12 hour days.  This means that I eat breakfast, lunch AND dinner here at my office.  It takes a little bit of planning and a lot of pre-cooking and measuring, but it's a very manageable situation.

Here's the rub:  I work with 5 other people.  These five people also eat a majority of their meals in the office.  So, at any given moment let's assume that there are the fixings for roughly 13 meals in our office fridge.  Which, I should point out, is an under-the-counter model.

Seeing as how we're awfully tight for space, I only bring one day's menu at a time (even though almost the entire week is already cooked and portioned out at home).  If something needs to be in a hard sided container, I choose the smallest available.  The only full sized items that I store here in the office are condiments.  Some people, however, aren't so considerate.  So most mornings I spend a good 10-20 minutes sitting on the floor in front of the fridge, rearranging everything so that my father's and my poor nutritional needs can be refrigerated.

Basically, I play Tetris with food.  

In my new, improved Zen state of mind, I try not to judge people for their selfish fridge hogging, as in the past I too have been guilty of such.  I strive to accept that they have no spacial conception. 

I slide, stack, shimmy and stuff everything into tight little cracks and corners.  I move them from my shelf, my corner (top right in case you're curious - don't mess with it, I'm very territorial), and into a more appropriate location.  

Someone stole my drawer, but I'll get over it.  

Someday.