Muscle Conditioning for Powerful Ski Legs

Before you hit the slopes this year, try some of these exercises to get you into tip-top shape.

Unless you’re out on the water surfing all summer or out on the streets skateboarding, your ski legs will feel a little shaky after the first day on le piste. So now would be a good time to hit the gym and dedicate some pre-season training to get those legs into shape.

If you already work out on a regular basis, try switching this routine out for your leg training day. It will hone your legs so that you’ll ski like a pro when everybody else is winded by the first run of the day.

The best type of training for strong ski legs is plyometrics. This explosive style of training will challenge even the most ardent athlete. But once you master the art of adding spring to balancing exercises, you’ll notice a difference in your reaction time on the slopes. If you’re an aggressive skier, this is important. This type of explosive training teaches the muscles to fire faster and with more strength, resulting in a more powerful and agile skier.

Plyometrics also help to improve balance, which is the key to being a good skier. It is a skill that can be developed with the use of a balance or wobble board. Having good balance for a skier means that your upper body is free to launch into those powerful push-offs coming out of turns and off moguls. Balance will add confidence to your game and give you better grip in the snow and a more intuitive approach to the terrain. It goes without saying that a strong core is a must-have for high-performance skiers.

Plyometric Training for Powerful Ski Legs

Balance

If you don’t have a wobble board or BOSU ball, then try using a pillow. Practice standing on the board on one leg without falling over. Make sure you maintain proper alignment, keeping your core muscles flexed, and focus on your breathing.

Round the Clock

These are like lunges that improve the balance of your standing leg and the strength of your lunging leg. Working your way in a clockwise direction, power out as far as you can into a lunge, landing delicately and with control on the foot. Hop back to center again. Work your way through all the numbers, starting with 12, moving in a clockwise direction. When you’ve completed the circle, start again with the other foot.

Balancing Balls

Exercise 1: You’ll need an exercise ball and a medicine ball for this exercise. While kneeling on the exercise ball, hold the medicine ball in both hands at the chest. As you try to secure your balance, focus on your breathing and keeping your core tight. Hold for 30 seconds.

Exercise 2: To add difficulty to this exercise, press the medicine ball out from the chest.

Exercise 3: Next, drop the medicine ball and try to stand on the exercise ball. Use extreme caution with this exercise.

Exercise 4: Practice jumping from the ground up onto a chair or stair, holding your crouching position for a count, then propeling back up and down to the floor.

Exercise 5: Repeat exercise 4 but use an exercise ball instead of a chair of stair.

Hold each exercise for 30 seconds.

Squat Jumps

These are squats with a spring jump. Squat down and touch the ground, then propel up as high as you can, landing delicately and back down to a squat to repeat. Perform these for a timed set of 30 to 60 seconds.

Lateral Jumps

Lay a ski pole on the floor and stand sideways to it. Next drop down into a squat and jump over the pole with feet together and back again, side to side for a timed set of 30 to 60 seconds. Use your hands to help with balance and speed. To add difficulty to this exercise, change the ski pole for a hockey bag or bench to add height to your jumps.

Power Hops

Standing on a step, chair or bench, drop down into a one-legged squat, then spring up as high as you can, landing on the same foot. Do this exercise for a timed set of 30 to 60 seconds, then switch to the other leg and repeat.

Moroccan Chicken

Dressing up your chicken dishes is a challenge even for the best cooks amongst us.

This recipe certainly does not lack in flavor. Spicy, spicy good, this recipe came about after reading about a Moroccan Chicken dish made with  black olives and apricots, and then opening up the pantry to see what I could throw together.

Apricots and black olives? Sounds scary? Interesting? I used green olives and raisins instead, which add great color to this recipe and surprisingly go really well together. I used a butter chicken dry spice blend instead of the recommended cinnamon, cumin, tumeric, ginger, coriander. Also, I had no couscous, so I served it up with rice instead. Is it authentic Moroccan chicken? Who knows. But it sure tastes good.

Ingredients

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 small onion, chopped
• Spice mix – butter chicken (ClubHouse or India House, not the stuff in the jar or can because it’s loaded with fat)
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• ½ cup yogurt
• ½ cup green beans, chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped almonds
• ¼ cup green olives, sliced
• ½ cup raisins

Serves 3.

Preparation

1. Brown the onion in a little olive oil. Then add the chicken and brown.
2. Add spice mix. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the tomato sauce and mix in thoroughly, then add the yogurt.
4. Add the green beans, chopped almonds, olives and raisins.
5. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve with brown rice.

Nutritional Facts per Serving

• Calories: 207
  
• Total Fats: 2 g
• Total Carbs: 12 g
• Protein: 30 g

Using Brown Fat as a Treatment for Obesity and Diabetes

Obesity and diabetes are often linked in what is becoming one of the deadliest combinations in the obesity epidemic hitting America and indeed the rest of the world.

To get to the bottom of the rise in this epidemic, researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center conducted a study on brown fat found in mice. Brown fat is unlike common white fat as it burns energy rather than storing it and discovering a pathway to stimulate it into action could be instrumental in fighting obesity and weight-related diseases.

This study identified two molecular pathways that cause brown fat cells to grow:

“We used different drugs to stimulate or block the signaling pathways that we thought were important. The result was that we defined the two pathways. We found what goes to what to cause something to happen to the cells.” ~  Dr Aaron Cypress, October issue of Endicronology.

Previous studies have also identified these two molecular pathways as an important piece of the puzzle.

“With a more detailed description of the pathways leading to (brown fat tissue), there can be more focused attempts to develop interventions using brown fat as a treatment for obesity and diabetes.”

One intervention could be to grow brown fat in a laboratory and transplant it into the bodies of people who need it. Another could be the development of drugs to stimulate brown fat growth.

Over the years, the two lead researchers involved in this study have shown that brown fat is more abundant in children and especially those who are thin and closer to puberty. They have also proven that brown fat in adults, while not as abundant, is active and could be stimulated into action.

Remember: brown fat burns energy, so the more you have, the more calories you burn.

“Brown fat burns energy. It is a special tissue. These studies have opened up a new avenue for the treatment of obesity and its related disorders. This study will help us deepen our understanding of brown fat formation and could in the future, combined with other information that we have learned, be used to develop drugs or other interventions for obesity.”

Source:

Joslin Diabetes Center. “Combating obesity and diabetes: Researchers identify pathways leading to activation of ‘good’ fat.” ScienceDaily, 23 Sep. 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.

Christmas Cake Cup Cakes

If you love fruit cake, this recipe should satisfy your taste buds.

Packed full of nuts and healthy fruits, this high fiber fruit cake is a great way to start Christmas Day.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup of molasses
• 1 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1 cup raisins
• ¼ dried mango, chopped
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• ¼ cup dried ginger
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup almonds, chopped
• 1 cup hazelnuts, chopped
• ¾ cup pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¾ tsp nutmeg
• 5 to 10 Drops rum flavor extract (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375⁰F
2. Grease a muffin tray with low-fat Pam spray.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
4. Add the chopped nuts and fruit and mix well until coated.
5. Mix together the pumpkin puree, water, vanilla and rum extract together before adding the dry mix.
6. Add the remaining wet ingredients.
7. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 of the way full and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Insert a toothpick to check doneness.
8. Let cool.

Explaining Post-Diet Weight Gain

The biggest complaint amongst dieters who follow a calorie-restricted diet is that as soon as they stop the diet, they gain back most of the weight lost.

Within the first year, as many as 80% of dieters gain back the weight lost while on a diet.

To understand better why this is such a common occurrence amongst dieters, scientists out of the University of Melbourne studied appetite hormones to see if they were altered during the dieting process.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the results of this study showed that these hormones indeed were affected for about a year after a calorie-restricted diet. After dieting, the hormones were supercharged and working over time to regain the weight lost. The effect of these altered hormones is increased hunger and a larger-than-normal appetite.

“Maintaining weight loss may be more difficult than losing weight,” says lead researcher Joseph Proietto, PhD, a professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne’s Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, in Victoria, Australia. “This may be due to biological changes rather than [a] voluntary return to old habits.”

To test this theory, the scientists placed 50 overweight and obese men and women on a 10-week, calorie-restricted diet and then tested their hormone levels over a one-year period.

These blood tests showed that appetite hormones leptin, ghrelin and insulin were altered as a result of weight loss. Subjects also noted an increase in hunger throughout the morning, even after eating breakfast.

Even though the average weight lost was 30 pounds over the 10 weeks, the dieters gained back about 12 pounds over the course of the year. This was in spite of eating a well-balanced diet and exercising on a regular basis. The dieters again noted an increase in hunger pangs and blood tests showed that hormone levels were still unstable.

While these results may shock a few people, the scientists explain that this is a typical response of the body and one that has been hard-wired into our genetics as a survival technique.

“Multiple mechanisms have been developed over eons of evolution to get you to regain weight once you lose it, to tell your brain you’re hungry and to ensure that you don’t stop eating. If you don’t have those drives, you wouldn’t be alive.

Now that we live in a world where calories are so easily consumed and physical exercise—the best way to burn off those calories—is largely unnecessary for day-to-day survival, these biological drives are backfiring and contributing to obesity.” – Dr Charles Burant, Director of the University of Michigan Nutrition Obesity Research Center.

It’s not all a total loss though. Despite these increases in hunger pangs and cravings, dieters can still be successful if they arm themselves with a strong willpower and persevere to resist these cravings.

“That’s not to say that weight regain is inevitable, or that these drives can’t be overcome through willpower. Although the hormone changes noted in the study are very real physical effects, personality and psychological factors may play a role in an individual’s ability to manage chronic hunger. This may explain why some people maintain weight loss for longer than others,” he says. “Maintenance of weight loss requires continued vigilance and conscious effort to resist hunger.” – Joseph Proietto, PhD, University of Melbourne.

Researchers are using this information to develop new ways to help restore hormonal levels after dieting.

Columbia University has used leptin with great success in helping dieters to keep the weight they lost off.

“When diabetics don’t have enough insulin in their bodies, we give them back insulin in order to maintain their blood glucose,” Dr. Burant says. Researchers should be finding a way to do the same for people who have lost weight, he adds, “whether it’s with a drug, a dietary supplement, or certain nutrients—something that will stimulate the release of these hormones.”

Lower Body Fat Burner

Circuit training has got to be one of the most efficient ways to work out and burn calories.

You can propel yourself through this circuit in about 20 to 30 minutes. The harder you push yourself and the fewer breaks you take, the more calories you’ll burn.

Every workout starts with a warm-up. Afford yourself an extra five to ten minutes for a dynamic warm-up and your body will respond more favorably to the challenging workout ahead.

The Warm-Up

• 10 Jackknives
• 10 Jumping Jacks
• 10 One Leg Glute Bridges – 5 each side (hip lifts with one leg extended)
• 10 Push-Ups
• 10 Prisoner Squats (with hands behind the head)

Lower Body Fat Burner

This is a timed circuit. Perform each segment for 45 seconds, only taking time in between each exercise to set up for the next move. At the end of each circuit, rest for 90 seconds and repeat for a total of 3 sets. This is a nifty little circuit that accelerates fat burning and tones your core and butt at the same time.

• Squat Jumps – bring your hands up to touch above your head when you’re in the stance.
• Plyo Runner’s Lunge – from the lunge position, propel yourself up from the back leg for a hop and return to the lunge position to switch legs.
• Donkey Kick Push-Up – in the push-up position, bring both your knees in to the chest at the same time, so you will go up on your two hands for a donkey kick with both legs.
• Plié Jumping Jacks – using your arms to work your core when you’re in the stance by bringing them up above your head.

Aim to do this workout early in the morning to increase your fat-burning potential. In other words, the fat burning that you put into motion early in the morning will last well after your workout. Working out early in the morning when cortisol levels are at their highest also helps to control stress levels and you’ll notice you’re calmer throughout the day.

Planking for Strong Abs

Working your abs can be as easy as performing four simple moves two to three times a week.

All you need is to set aside about 15 to 20 minutes every other day and you’ll be standing tall and looking trim in no time. Of course, training alone won’t give you the six-pack of your dreams.

It is in the kitchen where you need the most help. So ditch the starch for whole grains, limit your sugars and bad fats, increase your MUFAs and protein and you’re well on your way.

Planking for Smooth Abs

Side Plank with Feet Elevated

To set up the exercise, retrieve a platform that is approximately one foot off of the ground. Then position your body on its side and place your feet on the platform stacked one on top of the other. Raise your body up off of the ground and position your lower arm so your forearm is flat on the floor and your hand is facing the same direction as the rest of your body. Your upper hand should be resting on your hip with your arm slightly bent. Hold this position while making sure to keep your shoulder blades pulled back. Maintain this position and keep your body as still as possible until you reach exhaustion. Repeat 3 more sets. Advanced users can replace a platform with a Swiss Ball to increase the stability training and difficulty level.

Plank Pull-Ups

Rest your legs on a Swiss Ball and get into a push-up position. There are three positions for this exercise that will change the difficulty level. For advanced people, your feet should rest on the ball; for intermediate, your ankles should rest on the ball; and for beginners, your shins should rest on the ball. With your arms full extended and palms flat on the ground, pull up your knees into your chest and breathe out. Hold for one count. Push or roll the ball back to the starting position, straightening out your legs and repeat. Focus on keeping y our back strong and avoid sagging in the middle. Perform 12-15 repetitions and 4 total sets.

Plank with Feet Elevated

Place your feet pointing down onto a platform or Swiss Ball and position your body as if you’re going to perform a standard push-up with arms fully extended. Hold his position while maintaining steady form. Continue until you reach exhaustion and repeat for 3 total sets.

 

Plank with Arm and Opposite Leg Raised

Start in a standard plank position. Then raise one leg while keeping your other limbs in place. Then lower your leg and raise one arm. Finish by trying to raise a leg and the opposite arm while holding your position until you reach exhaustion. Repeat 3 more sets for a total of 4.

Lack of Sleep Could Mean Lights out for your Heart

What do you plan to do with that extra hour of sleep this weekend?

 

This time of year affects everybody differently, but studies show that gaining an extra hour of sleep can be good for the heart.

In a Swedish study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists found a decline in the reported number of heart attacks on the Monday after daylight savings than at any other time of year. In fact, when the clocks go forward in the spring and we lose an hour of sleep, there is a marked spike in the number of heart attacks that following week.

Why is sleep so important to heart health?

It has been found that the premium number of hours of sleep a person needs per night is 7 to 8 hours, yet most Americans are lucky if they get six hours of sleep a night. During sleep, many metabolic functions take place that can only take place during these darkened hours. The body’s circadian rhythms are hard-wired to respond to the earth’s light cycle. We respond to sunrise and sundown by releasing different hormones at different times of the day. For example, melatonin, which induces sleep and relaxation, cannot be produced in the body during daylight hours.

When we deprive ourselves of sleep, our body senses danger and it produces more stress hormones like cortisol. Our body is always on edge, always in alert mode and this places an enormous amount of stress on the body, including elevated levels of inflammation. Diseases such as heart attacks are a direct result of elevated levels of inflammation.

So it’s no exaggeration then, when we say that lack of sleep can shorten your life.

“Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take and this pattern is more common amongst full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift-work” – Professor Francesco Cappucio, Leader of the University of Warwick’s Sleep, Health and Society Program

 

Based on the findings of 1.5 million people in 16 studies, if the link between lack of sleep and death is truly causal, it would equate to over 6.3 million sleep-attributable deaths in the UK in people over 16 years of age.

The results showed that participants who cut their sleeping time from 7 hours (the optimum amount recommended for an adult) to 5 hours or less had a 1.7 times greater mortality risk from all causes, and double the risk of death from cardiovascular causes.

Use this time of year to assess your sleeping patterns and change bad habits like mindlessly watching late-night TV instead of going to bed early. Promise yourself you’ll get more sleep every night and your heart will thank you.

Weight Loss Starts with a Plan

So you want to lose weight, but don’t know where to start.

With so much information out there and so many diets to choose from, it’s enough to put you off the whole idea before you even begin.

Knowing where to begin is half the battle.

Rather than signing up for a whole new way of living, let’s take it one step at a time. What your main concern here is living a much healthier life. So, let’s begin by replacing old habits with new, healthier ones that are realistic and will help you reach your goals of weight loss.

The first thing you’re going to need is a journal – whether it’s the old-fashioned kind that requires a pencil or an electronic version that requires a computer – it’s your choice. But one thing is for certain, writing everything down will help you stick to your healthy goals.

One of the biggest mistakes everybody makes when trying to lose weight and live healthier is trying to do it all at once. Instead, set yourself mini-goals that are realistic and will gradually lead to improving your life for the better – forever!

Let’s start with a list of mini-goals for eating healthier:

Mini-Goals for Eating Healthy

• Plan to eat 5 to 6 smaller meals a day
• Plan my meals in advance
• Make a weekly shopping list to support my new healthy eating plan
• Shop for healthy food
• Eat a healthy breakfast
• Eat a healthy lunch
• Eat a healthy dinner
• Eat more vegetables
• Eat more fruit
• Eat at least two healthy snacks a day
• Only eat healthy carbs (whole-grain bread, brown rice, sweet potatoes, beans)
• Eat more fish
• Eat less packaged, processed foods
• Eat less sugar and HFCS
• Drink more water
• Drink less soda
• Eat less junk food (chips, candy, ice cream, cookies)
• Eat only at my scheduled meal times and stop eating out of habit, boredom or stress
• Eat more home-cooked meals

This list gives you an idea of the kinds of mini-goals you want to set for yourself. You will want to set up some sort of scale for each mini-goal, because you can’t tackle everything all at once. Even though you have 20 mini-goals, you’re not going to achieve them all in the first week. Start with the easier goals and rank them with a ‘T’ for ‘Today’ – these are the goals that you’re going to tackle immediately. Other markers on your scale can include ‘W’ for ‘Next Week’ or ‘M’ for ‘Next Month’ and for those more challenging goals that require a little bit more planning, you can assign them a ‘C’ for ‘Challenged but Committed.’

Mini-Goals for Improving Fitness

• Start each morning with at least 15 minutes of exercise
• Go for a brisk walk at lunchtime
• Go for a brisk walk after dinner
• Spend more time standing up – this includes getting up more often at work and during your kids’ sports practice
• Take up an active hobby
• Find a workout buddy
• Start hanging out with healthier friends
• Invest in some workout equipment like dumbbells, kettlebells, stability balls and resistance bands

Mini-Goals for Healthy Living

• Get more sleep every night
• Practice patience
• Practice being more positive
• Find more ways to laugh
• Get angry less often
• Give up bad habits like smoking
• Give up getting drunk with friends on the weekends
• Forgive yourself and others more often
• Practice deep breathing and other relaxation techniques

Now take five of your ‘T’ mini-goals – the ones that you want to start immediately and create a separate list – These are my five mini-goals for this week.

I’m going to choose:

This Week’s Five Mini-Goals

• Get more sleep every night
• Start each morning with at least 15 minutes of exercise
• Drink less soda
• Only eat healthy carbs (whole-grain bread, brown rice, sweet potatoes, beans)
• Make a weekly shopping list to support my new healthy eating plan

Then enter into your journal how you plan to achieve those goals:

This Week’s Plan of Action

• I am going to switch off the TV half an hour earlier and get ready for bed = an extra half hour of sleep every night.
• I am going to wake up 15 minutes earlier every morning and exercise.
• I am going to find a 15-minute workout plan that I know I will stick to.
• I’m going to invest in a yoga mat and some dumbbells to get started.
• I am going to start buying whole wheat bread instead of white bread.
• I am going to drink more water and green tea instead of pop.
• I am going to write out my regular shopping list and replace packaged goods with healthy, wholesome foods.
• I am going to reward myself at the end of the week with one can of my favorite soda.
• I promise not to get down if I miss one of my goals this week. Instead I will persevere and plan to succeed next week.

At the end of the day, tick off each entry you’ve added to your journal. You won’t believe the sense of accomplishment you will feel. It’s like ticking off things on that ever-growing To-Do List. And it’s a great way to stay motivated.

There are other markers you may want to add to your journal entries to help keep you on track and to monitor your success. Making a note of the little accomplishments you make every day is incredibly rewarding and will keep you motivated. For example, ask yourself these kinds of questions on a daily basis:

• What vegetables did I eat today?
• What fruit did I eat today?
• How much fiber did I eat today?
• How much protein did I eat today?
• How much exercise did I do today?
• How much junk food did I eat today?
• How much time did I dedicate to myself today?

This is just a basic guideline of how to get started and what questions you will want to write down and ask yourself. It will keep you honest, helps to track your success and identifies areas where you need to improve. Try it! You’ll be surprised by the results.

Devilled Black Bean Soup

This spicy, hearty dish is great substitute for animal-based proteins that have a high inflammatory response in the body.

Packed full of fiber, this soup will warm you up from the inside out and help to keep your blood sugar level during this most tempting time of year.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 3 to 4 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 tsp chipotle chilli paste
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp chilli powder
• Black pepper
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup low-salt chicken broth

Preparation

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse until a smooth.
2. Transfer to a saucepan and heat on medium heat for about 10 minutes.
3. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and salsa.

Serves 4.

Nutrition Facts per Serving

• Calories: 169
• Total Carbs: 31.9 g
• Total Fat: 1 g
• Protein: 15 g