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I met Tom from Joola a couple years ago at a party for Spin Ping Pong http://newyork.spingalactic.com/ Night club where we got talking about Table Tennis and had a great time. We kept in touch, and when he was in Los Angeles last week, we were able to connect and practice some drills, including the Falkenberg Drill (info below). I found it to be an amazing workout with my heart rate getting up to the 170’s bpm and the drill is great for agility, speed, quickness, reflexes, bloodflow, and movement. Ping pong is such a great workout for everyone! The constant calculations of spin, angles, strategy, along with the bloodflow make it the number one exercise for your brain as well! Even the MMA UFC Fighter Vitaly Klitschko and his brother Wladimir Klitschko Play to improve their reflexes and footwork.
Do you need new some motivation to get off the couch and get some exercise? It has become common knowledge that exercise is beneficial in weight maintenance, important for heart health, and vital in maintaining muscle strength and balance. But what about your brain? Brain health is also a critical component to the overall healthy lifestyle model and one of the best ways to keep your brain healthy is to exercise! Let’s take a closer look at two important ways that exercise helps promote brain health and overall wellness.
Your brain is an organ that needs continual blood flow and oxygenation in order to function at its highest level. Exercise helps make this happen. Exercise aids in the creation of new neurons. Neurons are basically brain/nerve cells that make up the building blocks of our nervous system. Their role is to transmit information throughout our body. As we age, we lose brain functioning as a result of a reduction in nerve tissue. Our neurons become less effective and over time this affects our ability of process and store information, as well as learn new information. Since exercise allows us to create new neurons, it also helps improve memory and our ability to acquire new skills and grasp new concepts. By creating a larger network of neural connections, we can slow the process of brain aging that often lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s. This sounds like a “no brainer” to me!
A key component to being in good physical health is having good mental health. It is important that we are able to cope with the stresses of everyday life. Most of us are juggling work demands, family needs, social commitments, and more! This can take quite a toll on our mental of psychological well being. Fortunately for us, exercise can help control the stress and anxiety brought on by the craziness of day to day life! Exercise causes the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin by stimulating your nervous system. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that transmit messages from one nerve cell to another. When neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine reach low levels, it often causes feelings of depression. Exercise will give a boost to the the level of these chemicals in your system and therefore a boost to your mood and mental well being. Exercise also causes the release of specific neurotransmitters call endorphins. Endorphins are chemicals that block pain messages to your brain. They act as almost a natural drug and create feelings of relaxation, happiness, and ability to better take on the world. These endorphins will help you mange stress in even the most difficult times and there is no denying the toll that chronic stress and anxiety take on the body. So, next time you are feeling like you need and emotional “pick me up,” ditch the bad for you comfort food and get some exercise! You will feel ready to take on your biggest challenges!
Here's a more advanced exercise using Gymnastics Rings for you more fit guys doing Crossfit or Monkey Bar gym workouts. I'm showing you here how to do a real Muscle Up. Not the Fake kind I see a lot of on the internet lately where some dude just swings up to a support.
We are going to start with what us gymnasts call a false grip. The false grip will allow you to rotate your shoulders over the rings and transition from pulling your body up to pushing down on the rings to a support position. So, we are going to do a pull up, focusing on pulling your body up to your chest with your legs out in front of you. Now we are going to transition from pulling to the chest to rotating your shoulders forward over your wrists and pushing your body up to a support position. This transition is difficult and it takes lots of practice to do it right. Along with practicing your muscle ups, you want to also practice your support position on the rings. Try to turn the rings out a bit and keep your forearms off the straps. Once your support position is solid, dips will certainly be helpful to practice regularly. if you are struggling with your muscle up, you can practice an eccentric muscle up, or a muscle down.
I hope that helps you get your muscle ups down. Stay Tuned, more Rings videos coming soon!Gymnast JG Ketchen Showing How to do an Iron Cross on the Rings
It’s a new year and there is no better time to readdress a topic that I feel very strongly about...Posture. Time and time again I am having the “posture conversation” with my clients. Constant complaints of lower back and neck pain are something I come across regularly. So, I think it is time to review why I am so passionate about understanding and training your body to have correct posture.
First of all, let me define what I mean by posture. Posture is how we hold our body and position ourselves. Correct posture means that the body is properly aligned and the muscles and joints and working correctly in all movements. Our spine is our center and therefor the main focus when having discussions on posture. Having good posture means then when your are in motion or at rest, your spine is straight, your heading is resting on top of your shoulders, your shoulders are in a retracted position (pulled down and back) and your belly button is drawn in toward your spine to neutralize your pelvis. They body was created to work as one harmonious unit, but when one things gets out of line, problems can develop.
Why is improper poster and alignment so dangerous? Over time, bad posture leads to pain, stiffness, and injury. Particularly vulnerable are our cervical (neck) and lumbar (lower back) areas of the spine. Hips and knees can also be affected as postural distortions persist over time. Altered bio-mechanics or movements patterns result from having certain muscles that are overused and others that are underused. Joints endure more stress and are therefore vulnerable to injury when they body is not aligned and moving correctly.
Why do most of my clients come to me with complaint of neck and back pain caused by bad posture...because they sit too much! We have become and increasingly sedentary society. We sit in the car on the way to work, spend 8 hours at a desk, get back in the care only to head home to the sofa. Our bodies are being molded into the wrong position.
My solution to the posture problem is relatively simple and involves a a few key concepts:
1. Be aware of how you sit and hold your body in position. The more you think about having good posture, the more time you will spend sitting up straight and with your head, shoulders, and pelvis properly aligned. The more time you spend in sitting, standing, moving with good alignment, the less pain and damage will result over time. Analyze your work set up and make it as comfortable and posture friendly as possible.
2. Move your body to promote blood flow! Walk, ride a bike, swim or get to the gym. Find something you like to do and get moving. Take frequent breaks while at the office to avoid long periods of sitting.
3. Start a strength training program that is designed to target your specific needs and posture issues. Generally, it will consist of upper back and posterior shoulder strengthening. It is also imperative to strengthen weak core muscles that support your spine. This will help correct muscle imbalances and provide a strong framework that is less vulnerable to problems over time.
4. Stretch! Try to make stretching part of your daily life! Just be certain that stretching comes post-exercise. Stretching when the body is cold and stiff has little benefit and can cause injury. Warm muscles, however, respond well to gentle stretching. Focus on stretching tight muscles that get overused and short will help the body return to proper alignment and move with improved ease and correct bio-mechanics. We lose flexibility as we age. An effort has to be made to keep muscles that get overused loose and functioning normally. When one muscle imbalance occurs, it can throw off the entire kinetic chain. The results can be quite painful!
Last week The YouTube Next Trainers and I had the great privilege of hanging out on google plus with Billy Blanks, a legend in the fitness industry. He sent us all his latest Fitness Program - the Billy Blanks PT 24/7 and gave us some homework. First he wanted us to do the Tae BO Program which i learned stands for Total Awareness Excellence Body Obedience. Then, Billy asked us to add to the program, and make it our own, using the tools he provides in the 24/7 kit.
So, after playing around with the program, here’s what I’m adding to the program- I found the program to be fun and a nice change of pace for me, but also i found it extremely dominant in using all the muscles in the front of the body. So, I’m going to add some balance to the program by providing you guys an add on called Jon’s Perfect posture Program using all the tools that come in the 24/7 kit. We are going to do 3 8 counts of each of these exercises -
Jon’s Perfect Posture Program (3P) - Rotator cuff strengthening - External Rotation Scaption I’s with the tube on both wrists Tube W’s Axe Chops Hi to Lo, Lo to Hi Resisted Cobras “Samurai Circles” Pushup with opposite arm / leg extension
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 12:34PM 
