No time to go at the gym? Or don’t like it? You have everything you need in your house to tone and strengthen your legs. Watch the video below.
This exercise trains your leg muscles, adductors and abductors to be more specific, but it does much more than that. It teaches you how use your core muscles in motion, it also works the core muscles.
And if you already have strong core it will improve the connection between the upper and lower body. This is important because your body is one whole unit, and the hips and core are what connects the upper and lower body, and when we dorn’t use the body as a whole…..well….that’s when injury happens.
Your body is a perfectly designed machine, we just stop using it as such and…..we lose it in the end.
If you have any questions or need any advice please book a free, no obligation consultation clicking here
Enough with the boring going up and the down the stairs, or even taking time out of your busy schedule to plan your workout.
To work your body throughout the day, every time you go up the stairs, at the top DO A PRESS-UP. Every time you go down the stairs, at the top DO A PRESS-UP.
Depending on your level of fitness and time, you can do more than 1 of course. But if you are at the beginning of your journey, it’s enough to start with one.
In our pursuit to lose weight and achieve the body we desire, we tend to forget what is actually more important: health.
In the video below I talk about nutrition and exercise mistakes which, although might help us lose weight, compromise our health.
Summary of video
In terms of nutrition, many people have the tendency of jumping from one diet to another simply because one didn’t work within the set time frame, or didn’t work as good as they expected.
As a result we create chaos in the body. It doesn’t have time ti adapt to any diet and, where there is no adaptation, there is no progress.
As a consequence of jumping from one weight loss diet to another, the body doesn’t have time to take in the nutrients that comes from a specific diet, it didn’t have time to adapt to it, provided it is a good diet.
We need nutrients, including fats, for healthy bones, skin, eyes, organs and everything else. We forget that food is fuel, and we focus on food as a weight gain-weight loss game.
Furthermore, losing weight for a few months is nonsense. We must maintain a balanced weight and a lifestyle diet throughout the year. Even if our weight oscillates by a 2-3 kg, that is still a balanced weight.
In terms of exercise, although all forms of exercise have their place at the right time, when we pursue weight loss we tend to forget that burning calories is not the most important. We must ensure we are educated by coaches who are qualified and study movement.
Why? Well, if you lose weight at the expense of a damaged body, you have achieved nothing. Absolutely nothing. If you lose weight but get back pain, knee pain or damage a shoulder, it’s all gone. A damaged body will never fully recover.
Thus, take your time with exercise, and shift your focus from calorie burning to performing movement correct.
Book one of the 5 weekly free, no obligation, consultations clicking here.
Default behaviours, or habits, are the ones you get back to in moments of stress, exhaustion, anger or any kind of situation where, for some reason, you don’t think about your actions as deeply as you usually do.
Default behaviours can sabotage any kind of results, whether we talk about diet, fitness, business or even personal development.
Examples of default behaviours
Running technique – even if you know the correct running technique, when your body gets tired you go back to your old technique, or habits, running habit in this case.
Weight loss – upon your return from work, you are very hungry, tired and had a difficult day, and you’ve used your will power throughout the day, instead of having a fresh vegetable salad, it’s easier and more satisfying to have chocolate cake, crisps or a doughnut.
Fitness – when “life gets in the way”, or you are very busy you might say “I don’t have time”, but actually you are going back to your default behaviour(s).
And so you make some progress, then you go back to the start line. Then you make some progress again, only to go back. And so on so forth. Default behaviours can sabotage your results.
How to override default behaviours
What you speak
Every time you speak you unconsciously give a command to your brain. And you brain listens and learns but it doesn’t like interdictions.
Instead of saying “I am not allowed to have….ice cream” or “I shouldn’t have….”, say “I can have it but i choose not to have it now”.
Practice
The more and the longer you practice a behaviour it becomes more permanent. Every time you repeat it, it’s like hammering a nail in a board, it goes deeper in your system every time, until it’s firmly rooted.
Forget the 21 days, 44 days 66 days which, according to some research, makes habits stick. None of these numbers, not even doing the same habit for 365 days, will guarantee it will still be there 24 months later.
Practice (count the days if you want to) every day, or every week, depending on how you have set up your schedule.
Acknowledge it
Awareness of your default behaviours is half the battle won. Identify your default behaviours and then start working around them.
If you struggle
Book one of the 5 weekly free, no obligation, consultations clicking here.
In this video I ask you a couple of questions. The answer to these 2 questions will answer the first one.
1. Since food is energy, if you eat late in the evening, are you using that energy or is it stored throughout the night? It will not wait until the morning to be used, it will be stored.
Unless you are awake throughout the night, using the energy to take it, you might want to consider eating 3-4 hours before going to bed
2. Do you want to rest or just sleep? The digestion process takes a lot of energy. If you eat late in the evening and shortly after, go to bed, digestion will take place while you sleep.
That means that instead of your body resting, it is busy doing something else.
3. So what if you are hungry late in the evening. Simply eat something light which will be digested fast. Instead of a meal, have a small fresh vegetable salad, a yogurt or a few pieces of fruit, low in sugars.
If you have any questions leave them in a comment below and I will answer them.
To Book a FREE consultation click here: https://alexandra-merisoiu.youcanbook.me/
We were programmed to believe that breakfast food is or should be in a certain way and from certain food groups. For example breakfast cereal, packages, orange juice, eggs and so on. All of these, besides eggs, should not even count as food or drinks. Why? Simply because they bring NOTHING of value to you.
Don’t conform to rules that say breakfast should be one way or another. If the food you eat is healthy and nourishes your body and mind, setting you up for a successful day, then that’s all you need to think about. Stop thinking that breakfast, of any other meal has to conform to any other rules than being healthy and nourishing.
This is a live facebook video I did a few days ago. If you want to see me broadcasting live, follow me on Facebook.
Do you experience tight or stiff shoulders? This simple Qigong exercise is perfect for releasing that tightness.
From a comfortable standing position:
Step 1: Hand facing up lift them about the level of the forehead – BREATHING IN
Step 2: Interlock fingers when hands reach the forehead, twisting the hands, so palms face up
Step 3: Drive or lift your hands and arms above your forehead, pushing up, as if lifting a heavy object
Step 4: Release the fingers and lower your arms slowly, from the shoulder – BREATHING OUT
Repeat
Notes:
– breathe in when lifting
– breathe out when lowering
– breathe in through your nose, and breathe out through your mouth or nose
– keep shoulders down, even when you lift the arms above your head
If you have any questions or would like individual guidance, contact me at alexandra@alexandramerisoiu.com
Also connect through Facebook for live streaming, such as this one https://www.facebook.com/TheMerisoiuTechnique
Strenghten your core muscles and whole body, while bringing mobility and flexibility in the same exercise
Benefits:
– strengthening core muscles
– joint mobilisation
– upper and lower body strength
We named this exercise Cross Frog Jump as it is a progression of the frog jumps or frog leaps. This exercise and more are part of the Merisoiu Technique Institute Academy. Contact us to learn more about the MTI Academy
This is probably one of the most common reasons we experience shoulder, neck or back muscle pain.
Your body always tries to bring itself back into alignment. When you look at your phone, walking down the street typing, hunching over your computer, or simply walking or running bending from the hips, you back muscles will activate, or engage to pull the body back into alignment.
If the body doesn’t come back into alignment, those muscles stay activated and, in time, this is what leads to muscle strain.
Your core, the core of your body, the trunk, is formed of the abdominal muscles, sides of the abdomen, back, pelvis and diaphragm.
Understanding how to activate, or rather control, the core of your body is one of the most important steps in your development. THIS is the foundation of your body.
Why? Because movement comes from your core, thus controlling the core means you will have better control over your body.
It will be easier to think about tensing the abdominal muscles when you think about activating your core, it’s easier to visualise, feel and control. After a while you will be able to control other muscles of your core.
Once you manage to connect with your core and focusing on building strength in that area you will experience:
1. Power.
Core strength is the foundation for powerful, explosive movements such as jumping, sprinting, or throwing.
2. Back health.
It is estimated that four out of every five adults (80%) will experience back pain at some stage in their life. Many of the back pain cases are mechanical, meaning they change with posture and level of activity. A strong core is essential to a healthy back that will carry your body throughout your life with little or no pain.
3. Balance
If you ever find yourself in a situation when your balance or stability is compromise a strong core will come to the rescue.
4. Reduce risk of injuries
Back pain, compromised stability, lifting, carrying, throwing, and catching, are all movements we do throughout our lives. A strong core will give you better chances of less injuries and living with less pain.
There is no doubt that having a strong core will enable you to build the lasting foundations required for a fit, healthy, strong and powerful body, but how do we work with it? How do we actively, or intentionally engage our core and jut wait for it to happen?
There are a few ways one can explain what “engaging your core” or “activate your core” means and how to achieve it.
Breathing
Learning how to breathe, pulling your stomach muscles in is the first step towards learning how to activate your core muscles. As you breathe out your abdominal muscles pull in and the whole core activates, or tenses.
Do you have the Breathing Mastery chapter I share for free? If you don’t, click here to download it. It will explain everything in detail.
Punching
Not really punching, but imagining someone is trying to punch you in the stomach. What would you do? How would you react if you had to “receive” the punch?
You’d brace for the punch, trying to withstand the blow. You’d also notice when you brace for the punch you breath our slightly.
Sucking the stomach in
Sucking the stomach in is another way to describe the core activation process. However I am personally not happy with this description.
When you suck your stomach in you don’t necessarily tense your abdominal muscles, maybe just a little, but not enough.
Thus this is one way to do it, but not a way I’d do it.
Lying on the ground
Lie on the ground – preferably a hard, straight surface – face up, with your knee bent and feet flat on the ground.
Notice the natural curve in your lower back.
Now try to flatten your low back, touching the ground with that portion of your spine. You will notice that to do that you need to tense your abdominal muscles.
Four ways to activate or engage your core muscles. Every time you workout, lift your kids, your bag, carry groceries, remember to activate your core muscles.
