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Your specialized exercise program is tailored to fit your personal needs, physically and nutritionally.

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You will be constantly monitored to ensure safe, effective conditioning, as well as attention to coordination, balance and correct posture which relates to freedom from muscle pain and promotes increased vitality.

I am accomplished in excercise physiology, kinesiology, nutrition and strength conditioning.

In addition to personal fitness and professional sports training, I also provide post trauma rehabilitation, body building direction, and nutritional guidance.

SHOULD WE TRAIN WOMEN THE SAME AS MEN?

A functional difference?

How the female differs from the male are main issues when training a person. A trainer must be able to recognize many functional differences. Most trainers do not allow for differences between men and women. They train and provide nutritional guidance that does not fit the female trainee. The following are areas of concern:
1. Postural consideration for the female
2. Orthopedic concerns in a female
3. Hormonal and nutritional considerations
4. Exercise selection and program design strategies for females

Females develop structural and psychomotor influences that have a greater incidence of orthopedic dysfunction.

The following are areas, which are addressed before any exercise program is recommended:

The Big Five Swiss Ball Exercises by David Grisaffi

Prone Ball Roll

Place your breast bone or sternum on the apex of the Swiss ball and wrap your arms around the ball.
Slowly roll side to side, holding your end position. As you gain more strength and stability you will be
able to roll farther out and hold the position longer.

Supine Lateral Ball Roll

This exercise improves many things in your body at one time.

Swiss Ball Side Flexion

The Side Sit requires simultaneous contraction of the internal and external Obliques, as well as the quadreatue lumborum. This exercise is used to improve core strength and your back.

Prone Jack knife

The prone jack knife is used to strengthen hip flexors, abdominal muscles and the shoulder girdle.

In a push up position, place your feet on the ball

Hold you spine straight and maintain head and neck alignment

Draw you legs under your body over the duration of two seconds

Return to the start position over the duration of two seconds

Repeat the exercise for the prescribed number of repetitions

Forward Ball Roll

The Forward Ball Roll strengthens the abdominal, hip flexors and shoulder Extenders. This exercise is very good for everyone to improve stability in the spine and shoulder girdle.

From a kneeling position, place your forearms on the ball with your palms facing each other.

Place a Dowel rod on your back. The goal is to maintain good spinal alignment as you roll forward. Good spinal alignment is indicated by not exaggerating any of your spinal curves, which often causes the stick to fall

Take a deep breath and draw the navel toward your spine just enough to slim you waistline slightly.

Begin rolling forward, moving from the hip and shoulder joints equally. The movement should terminate at the instant you feel you are going to lose spinal alignment. You will know you are losing spinal alignment if the curves in your spine increase and the stick falls off.

Just stop at the point at which you start to lose your ability to keep good form.

The Inner Unit Exercises by David Grisaffi

THE INNER UNIT

The Inner Unit became a term describing the functional synergy between the transversus abdominis and posterior fibers of the obliquus internus abdominis, pelvic floor muscles, multifidus and lumbar portions of the longisssimus and iliocostalis, as well as the diaphragm.. Research showed that the inner unit was under separate neurological control from the other muscles of the core. This explained why exercises targeting muscles such as the rectus abdominis, obliquus externus abdominis and psoas, the same muscles exercised with traditional abdominal conditioning programs used in gyms and athletic programs worldwide, were very ineffective at stabilizing the spine and reducing chronic back pain.

When the inner unit is functioning correctly, joint injury is infrequent, even under extreme loads such as pushing a car, tackling an opponent in football or lifting large weights in the gym. When it is not functioning correctly, activation of large prime movers will be no different than a large wind hitting the sail of the pirate ship in the presence of loose guy wires running from vertebra to vertebra in the mast. Any system is only as strong as its weakest link!

INNER UNIT CONDITIONING TIPS

The first, and most important step, toward reducing back pain and/or improving posture, which in turn generally improves aesthetics, is to stop all crunch and/or sit-up type exercises until you become proficient at activating your inner unit! Because inner unit dysfunction is extremely common in today’s working and exercising population, it is safe to assume that everyone needs to start with beginning exercises, even the most elite of athletes.

To begin conditioning the transversus abdominis, use the 4 Point Transversus Abdominis Trainer (4) (Figure 6). For conditioning of the multifidus and related stabilizer and postural muscles the Horse Stance exercises may be used (4,5,) (Figures 7-9). Although the exercises may seem simple from looking at the diagrams here, they are actually very technical and must be executed with exquisite precision. These exercises are only a small sample of the number of inner unit exercises available (4,5), but, when done correctly, they are sufficient to make a noticeable difference in the way your body functions.

To get the most from the inner unit exercises shown here it is suggested that the exercises be done 3-4 times per week as an individual workout. To get best results from these exercises while continuing with a traditional gym program, I suggest you stop all crunch and sit-up exercises and replace them with the exercises demonstrated here. Always perform an inner unit exercise as the last exercise of your training session, i.e. perform one exercise after each workout. Alternate through the exercises, selecting either the 4 Point Transversus Abdominis Trainer or a variation of the Horse Stance exercises after each training session. It is very important not to fatigue the stabilizer system before attempting traditional free weight exercises or injury is likely!

If you are implementing the stabilizer exercises into a machine-based program then you may intersperse the exercise among the machine exercises. Because of the inherent stability provided by machines, it is unlikely that you will become injured. As your stabilizer system improves, I suggest progressively replacing machine exercises with free weight exercises, as machine-based programs do nothing to enhance functional strength and stability. Should you begin adding free weight exercises to a machine-based program, you must always perform your stabilizer training after completion of all free weight exercises.

4 POINT TRANSVERSUS ABDOMINIS TRAINER

© Paul Chek Seminars 1999

Assume the start position as shown in Figure 6.
With the spine in neutral alignment, take a deep breath in and allow your belly to drop toward the floor.
Exhale and draw your navel in toward your spine as far as you can. Once the air is completely expelled, hold the navel toward your spine for ten seconds, or as long as you comfortably can without taking a breath (not longer than ten seconds). Throughout the breathing pattern, keep your spine motionless.
This process should be repeated ten times to complete a set.
Rest one minute after completing one set. As you are able, build up to completing three sets of the exercise.
HORSE STANCE VERTICAL

© Paul Chek Seminars 1999

Place your wrists directly below the shoulders and your knees directly below their respective hip joint.
The legs are parallel and the elbows should remain turned back toward the thighs with the fingers directed forward.
Place a dowel rod along your spine and hold perfect spinal alignment. The rod should be parallel to the floor. The space between your lower back and the rod should be about the thickness of your hand.
Draw the navel inward toward the spine just enough to create a space between your belt and your stomach.
It is advisable to find a spotter who can assist you with feedback about your body position. If you are not training with a spotter, it is highly recommended that you train in front of a mirror to make sure you stay in correct position throughout the exercise. When you are checking your body position in the mirror, do not move your head, just look up with your eyes.
The Horse Stance Vertical is initiated by lifting one hand off the floor just enough to slide a sheet of paper between the hand and the floor or mat. The opposite knee is then elevated off the floor to the same height. Keep the dowel rod level at all times. Hold this position for ten seconds. After ten seconds, alternate hands and knees, again lifting them only enough to slide a sheet of paper between the extremity and the mat.
The target number of repetitions is ten reps per side with a ten second hold in each position. When you are able to complete the exercise for three sets with a one minute rest between sets, you are ready to add the Horse Stance Horizontal to your program. Perform one set of the Horse Stance Vertical as a warm-up for the Horse Stance Horizontal.

HORSE STANCE HORIZONTAL

© Paul Chek Seminars 1999

© Paul Chek Seminars 1999

The start position is identical for all Horse Stance exercises.
Raise one arm to a point 45° off the midline of the body and hold it in the same horizontal plane as the back. (See Figures 8A and 8B). Always keep the thumbs pointed upward to increase lower trapezius activation.
Elevate the leg opposite the arm you have raised (left arm / right leg and vice versa) to the point at which your leg is in the same horizontal plane as your torso. As you elevate the leg, do not tilt your pelvis forward; you will know if this happens if the space between the stick and your lower back increases. Hold the leg out straight, activating the muscles of the buttocks.
At no point during the exercise should your shoulder girdle or pelvis lose their horizontal relationship with the floor. It is quite common for the shoulder to drop on the elevated arm side and for the hip to raise on the side of the extended leg. Either of these faults constitutes poor form!
The arm and opposite leg are now held in this position for ten seconds before switching sides. Repeat ten times per side, providing you can maintain perfect form. Again, watch yourself in the mirror intermittently or have a spotter check your form. It is critical that you only perform as many repetitions as possible with perfect form! Failure to follow these instructions will result in futile attempts at conditioning and no improvement. Lack of attention to detail is exactly why many exercise programs fail!

HORSE STANCE ALPHABET

© Paul Chek Seminars 1999

From the same start position described for the Horse Stance Horizontal (Figure 8A), place the dowel rod along the spine as seen in Figure 9.
With the arm 45° to the side and the thumb up, use the extended leg to draw letters of the alphabet. Start with small letters of 4-6 inches high and progress to larger letters as you are able to stabilize your core and keep the dowel rod in place.
When performing the exercise, it is important to make sure the following checkpoints are met:
The head and neck should stay in line with the spine. The head should not drop down nor look up at any time.
Elbow of support arm should point directly backward, not to the side.
The arm that is up should maintain an angle of 45° off the midline of the body at all times.
The shoulders and hips should remain parallel with the floor at all times.
There should be no significant movement of the low back. The movement of the leg needed to draw the letters of the alphabet should come from the hip.
The lower leg should move as a unit with the thigh. It is not good technique to just use the lower part of the leg .Draw the navel toward the spine throughout, but do not disrupt respiration by over-recruiting the transversus abdominis.
Perform as many repetitions as possible with perfect form before switching sides. This is indicated in your Reps column as Max. When you can perform the alphabet on either side with perfect form, add a 1 lb. weight to each wrist and a 3 lb. weight to each ankle.
In a future article, I will discuss such key concepts of Outer Unit training as:

Inner unit training provides essential joint stiffness and the stability needed to provide the large prime movers of the body with a working foundation. When outer unit or prime mover exercises are executed in absence of a functional inner unit, poor posture, unwanted aesthetic changes and musculoskeletal injury are inevitable. For optimal health and performance, the inner unit must not only be functional, but must be maintained with technically correct exercise protocol.

A special thanks to Paul Chek and The Chek Institute for information received.

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