Last year was such a success in Sydney that we have decided to run Level 1 and 2 in both Melbourne and Sydney this year. For those that completed Level 2 last year there is also the chance to complete Level 3 here in Sydney this time around. Australia will be one of the first counties outside the EU to hold such a high level within the structure of the IUKL (International Union Of Kettle bell Lifting).

Vasilijs Ginko will be running an internationally recognised instructor course on Kettlebell training . All other courses are not recognized by the IUKL/IKSA. Learning from the Russian Master himself is an investment in your personal training business and your own personal performance goals.

To find out more about the full structure and organisation of the course please visit: http://www.giri-iukl.com/Eng/sub_men/instructors_5.html

The Benefits:

* Increase your personal training fees
* Increase your training services
* Internationally recognized qualification
* You will be part of an official certified register
* Be one of the first to learn the correct technique and programming
* Have access to a fully structured training system
* Improve your performance through Power, Speed, Strength, Endurance and Flexibility
* Help with postural issues.

Please note Start time: 9am – 5pm on all courses!

LEVEL 1 - IKSA KB National Club Instructor – 1 DAY

Melbourne 23^rd & 24th Oct 2010
Location: Kettlebell Athletica
Studio Level 1, 178 High Street Prahan 3181
Cost: $426 including certification

Sydney 30^th Oct 2010
Location: TBC Gym
Shop 2205A, Fox Studios Entertainment Quarter
122 Land Road, Sydney NSW 2021, Australia
+61 2 9357 7416
Cost: $426 including certification

Consists of all the basic Kettlebell lifting techniques (swings, snatches ,cleans, presses etc) and fundamental methods, plus as an added bonus many complimentary methods are introduced to broaden your everyday training routines.

Techniques are broken down into levels of skill and ability to suit beginners right up to advanced users of Kettlebells. Learn the correct and most effective methods right from the start. Save time and money and get the most out of your Kettlebell training and most importantly stay injury free.

Level 2 – IKSA KB National GS Instructor – 2 DAY

Melbourne 23^rd & 24th Oct 2010
Location:Kettle Bell Athletica
Studio Level 2, 178 High Street Prahan 3181
Cost: $810 or $608 in the presence of Level 1 certificate (25% Discount)

Sydney 30^th & 31^st Oct 2010
Location: TBC Gym
Shop 2205A, Fox Studios Entertainment Quarter
122 Land Road, Sydney NSW 2021, Australia
Cost: $810 or ($608 in the presence of Level 1 certificate 25% Discount)

Builds on level 1 basics and offers more in-depth knowledge of how to maximize your Kettlebell training techniques and get greater endurance, strength and power. You will also receive training on specific Kettlebell qualities such as special endurance, flexibility, restoration and necessary nutritional strategies,joints activity and mobility. Also included is special access to the Kettlebell blog which contains information about competition training : polishing the previously learned techniques, advanced power juggling.

Level 3 - IKSA KB International GS Instructor

Level 3 Course contains the fundamental information about the principles of the organisation and planning of training processes and cycles. Methodology of trainings. 
Optimisation of standards of a body – weight updating, increase of mobility of joints, development of flexibility, mobility and  active restoration. 
Preventive maintenance of a traumatism and recovery after traumas. 
Systems of respiratory exercises. 
Food and food additives. 
Bases of sports massage. 
Multilevel functional training to sports application of kettlebells. 
Typical sports training programs used by the Europeans to achieve such high levels of conditioning.

Sydney 1^st & ^2nd Sep 2010
Location: TBC Gym
Shop 2205A, Fox Studios Entertainment Quarter
122 Land Road, Sydney NSW 2021, Australia

Cost: $1090 (As this will be the first time Level 3 will be held in Australia there is a Discount price from $1435 to $1090)

About Vasilijs Ginko

Vasilijs Ginko is a 7 time World Champion and 2 time World record holder. He is also the president of IKSA Girevoy Sport Training. Vasilijs is able to perform a number of reps and exercises with two 32kg Kettle Bells for a period of 10 min, no rest.

Payment Info

Payment:
LaVanda Elite Pty
Commonwealth Bank
Bsb: 062124
Acc: 10840103
Ref: KB and name

Or

Call Darius on 0424316019 to make a Credit Card Payment.

Read Testimonials from last year’s participants!

I congratulate and commend you on having the foresight and the balls to undertake to bring someone like Vasily to Australia. It is without a doubt the best fitness industry course i have been to. The variety and application of drills was absolutely astounding. I have returned with greater enthusiasm and an unbelievable knowledge base from which to develop my business and my own training regime in the GS arena
Jamie Douse
Western Kettle bells

Just want to say thanks for the course over the weekend, best iv done in a long time. Def worth the money although my body hates you all right now!!!
Tom Barette

Wanted to say thanks for the session over the weekend, was a good honest way to know where I need to polish up my techniques.
Derrick Wong

Thanks so much for bringing Vasily over. That was the best course any of us have ever done and was more than worthwhile.
Emily Friedel
Australian Kettle bells

EQ BOOTCAMP

Get access to the best available training methods and knowledge currently on the Sydney group training market; learn about KettleBells, PowerBags and Battling Ropes..

Be involved in a 26 week – Education ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ program: Designed to ensure healthy habits are not just ‘attempted’ as a fad, rather incorporated into genuine lifestyle change!

And get access to discounted training shoes/clothing + HEALTHY BREAKFAST at participating stores.

DETAILS

Location: The Entertainment Quarter

When: From Monday, 16th August. 6.15AM every weekday morning.
Price: As little as $10 per session

Email / text or call to register for your FREE 1 week trial
kris@lavandaelite.com
0418-386-295

Download the flyer here.

Fascia is connective tissue that surrounds all of the structures in your body, from head to toe. There are three primary types of fascia: superficial, visceral, and deep. Superficial fascia surrounds areas such as your face, neck, and sternum. Visceral fascia, as the name implies, suspends the organs in your abdominal cavity.

However deep fascia is where this topic gets interesting. Deep fascia is tough, fibrous connective tissue that surrounds your muscles. It contains many sensory receptors that communicate pain, proprioception, and various other feedback mechanisms to your brain. Just like your muscles, deep fascia can contract and relax.

There are five major fascial chains:

• Superficial back line — starts at the bottom of the feet and continues up and over the top of the head and ends at the brow ridge
• Superficial front line — starts on the top of the feet at the toes and ends behind the ear at the mastoid process (the area where the jaw connects to the skull)
• Lateral line — runs along the lateral portion of the lower body, hips, and obliques.
• Spiral line — wraps from side to side along the body
• Deep front line — runs deep along the spine and jaw

It’s imperative that you respect the deep fascia that surrounds your muscles, because if the deep fascia that surrounds your muscles is too tight, it can restrict your muscle growth and impair muscle function and performance.

Beyond Big Muscles

In pursuit of bigger muscles you’ve got to respect the structures that surround and support your muscles and joints. If you do, you’ll get faster results, and you’ll enjoy a lifetime of lifting. That’s because unhealthy fascia can impede your ability to perform well in the gym.

If you’ve ever had foot problems, you might’ve been diagnosed with something called plantar fasciitis. This is an inflammation of the fascia on the bottom of your feet, often caused by excessive foot pronation (tilting inwards), and almost certainly will lead to other problems within the body.

Fascia is an integrated and interconnected band of connective tissue that runs from the bottom of your feet to your head. Ultimately, when any area of this fascia in between your feet and head gets irritated and loses its functional capacity, your body must compensate. Generally, irritated fascia stiffens. This results in a “pull” across other areas of your body, causing irritation from areas all the way from foot to head!

A little tip for you to try

First, from a standing position, try to touch your toes with your back flat and legs straight. Make a note of how far down you can reach and how intense the stretch is on your hamstrings. Next, from a standing position, take a tennis ball and place it under the arch of your right foot. Place a good amount of weight on the tennis ball, but not so much that you lose your balance or feel intense pain. Now roll the tennis ball around under your right foot, making sure to hit all areas from inside to outside and front to back. You should feel pressure and a little discomfort on the bottom of your foot, but not intense pain. Do this for 30 seconds before switching to the left foot and following the same procedure. Repeat the standing toe touch, you’ll notice two things: first, you’ll be able to immediately reach closer to your toes (or beyond your toes, depending on your initial range of motion), and second, you’ll feel less of a “pull” in your hamstrings. By rolling the tennis ball underneath your feet you’ve sent a signal to your fascia to relax, thus freeing up all of your muscles from head to toe. This, in turn, allows you to achieve a greater range of motion.

Question: Have you ever had a sore neck/shoulder from RUNNING? How does that happen?

The human body is a series of joints stacked on top of each other. Anytime there’s dysfunction in one joint, there must be compensation in another. Let’s say for example that you have a pain in your right shoulder, would you ever have thought it could be a result of an interruption in the fascia chain starting from your foot?

When one joint can’t move freely, other joints have to pick up the slack. When a joint is forced to do extra work, you set that joint up for injury. Think about the ankle joint – when you have plantar fasciitis and excessive foot pronation, another joint must compensate, and it is the knee joint that’s directly above it. The knee joint is being pulled inward to compensate for the excessive foot pronation. Since the knee joint has altered its natural position, the hip must follow (you can’t move your leg without it affecting your hip) and shift its position. Importantly, the hip joint is linked with the shoulders because of your “spiral fascial line”. So now that your hip has shifted, the opposite shoulder must compensate by shifting, too. Depending on the position of the hip, your shoulder might compensate by rotating slightly — thus throwing your shoulder blade out of its ideal placement and shortening the muscles on the front of your shoulder.

So next time you feel tense in a shoulder, don’t waste your time getting an upper body massage because that might not be the problem. Start from the bottom up!

The difference between Mobility and Flexibility – Static and Active

It’s safe to say that you’ve heard the terms “flexibility” and “mobility”, but what are the main differences?

Imagine you’re lying on your back with your legs straight. If you just lie there and someone lift your leg up as high as possible then they’d be testing your passive range of motion. This is a test of flexibility — the ability for your muscles to passively lengthen. When you stand up and mimic the same test by pulling your leg up as high as possible, you’re testing mobility. Think of mobility as “active flexibility”. After all, the definition of mobility is “the ability to move freely.” So flexibility and mobility are not synonymous terms. Is one better than the other? No, but we just need to differentiate between when is best to use each one.

It is common knowledge that before you train you must stretch your muscles to avoid injury. Over the past decades, it has been passive stretching or “static” stretching that has been most commonly used. We have all heard that stretching prevents injuries by “preparing” your muscles for hard work, and it makes sense. However recent research is showing that “static” stretching before a workout may in fact impede upon performance. This is because when you stretch statically, you are relaxing your muscles. This is great for recovery, but it also relaxes your nervous system. Ultimately, this means that a static stretch in your hamstring will cause it to temporarily lose strength due to the weakening of the signal between the nerve endings and muscle itself. Obviously we want our nervous system to be working at its peak while you’re training in order to recruit as many motor units as possible, but by reducing the nervous system transmission between motor neurons and muscles, you will not produce as much force as if you skipped the static stretching.

However, this is not to say that static stretching is a bad thing, it’s just making sure we use it at the right time. After a workout, it is important that the nervous system and muscles are relaxed because while they are stimulated it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to get your muscles to the point of relaxation that is required for proper recovery.

“Mobility training” or “active stretching”, if performed correctly, will enhance your nervous system and prepare your joints for a workout. When you actively move your muscles through a full range of motion, you stimulate the motor nerves that innervate your muscles, thus allowing you to recruit more motor units.

This information doesn’t end with the nervous system and joint fluid, though. Remember that fascia that I was referring to last week? Well, flexibility and mobility training help keep that fascia supple. By doing so, you’ll receive three big benefits. Firstly, you’ll be able to perform exercises through a greater range of motion, secondly, you’ll potentially reduce your risk for joint injuries, and thirdly, you’ll give your muscles room to grow by “unbinding” them.

It is thoroughly important that when working with clients, a Personal trainer must have a great understanding of how stress level’s can have remarkable effect on their abilities to recover from exercise. As a result, it is equally important that a Personal trainer monitor the non-exercise variables when designing the volume, frequency and intensity of exercise plans.

There has been much debate over the last several decades as to what exactly stress is. There have been many arguments over good stress versus bad stress, and exercise stress versus non-exercise stress. However, Hans Selye, widely accepted as the pioneer of stress research, defined stress as “the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it to adapt, whether that demand produces pleasure or pain.” However, within the exercise domain, the interaction between exercise and stress gets more complicated due to ideas such as low intensity exercise reducing stress, compared with high intensity exercise that tends to increase the release of stress hormones.

Fitness professionals that work within the fitness industry are fast realising that the monitoring of client lifestyle is equally important as the training itself. Researchers as beginning to support this notion and believe that in today’s high stress world, people constantly have stress hormones over-stimulated in their bodies. As a result, this elevated stress response can lead to many of today’s health problems including CHD, hypertension, cancer, ulcers, lower back pain and headaches.

Clients who have chronically high-stress levels, inadequate sleep and poor nutrition will not be able to recover and adapt to exercise at the same rate that a person with optimal levels of stress, sleep and nutrition would. This is one possible explanation of why fat loss and fitness improvement may grind to a halt in some individuals, while other individuals continue adapting and progressing in their exercise programs. While we can counsel our clients of the importance of proper lifestyle choices, we may, at times, have to adjust our exercise recommendations based on our clients’ lifestyles

Stress Physiology:

When we delve into the physiology of the stress response, we find that there are three pathways of long-term stress response: the thyroxine axis, the vasopressin axis and the adrenocorticotropic axis (ACTH axis). The ACTH axis has been focused on most heavily. ACTH stimulates the adrenal glands to release corticoids including cortisol, costicosterone and cortisone.

Cortisol has been studied most extensively. Shawn Talbot, Ph.D., and author of The Cortisol Connection, states, “Over the long-term, elevated cortisol may be as detrimental to overall health as elevated cholesterol or elevated blood sugar.” Excessive cortisol release leads to a lowered testosterone: cortisol ratio, a prime marker of anabolic status and the ability to recover from exercise and build muscle. Further, as cortisol continues to increase, chances for muscle atrophy, impaired immunity, vitamin depletion and increased blood pressure occur.

Cortisol and Obesity:

As stress heightens, cortisol is released. While cortisol has beneficial effects on the body, the constantly high levels of it are problematic. According to the book Fat Wars, stress increases carbohydrate cravings due to the neurotransmitters NPY and serotonin. Thus, stress-related eating may increase caloric intake and increase body fat.

However, even when caloric increases are considered, cortisol still tends to promote the storage of fat, specifically to the abdominal area where it can quickly be utilized for the fight or flight response. Scientists have found an increased level of activity of the enzyme 11b hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11b HSD-1) in abdominal fat that they believe is the cause of the correlation between cortisol and abdominal fat. A recent study by Roland Rosmond and Per Bjourntorp found that stress-related cortisol secretion in men is strongly associated with abnormalities in glucose, insulin and lipid metabolism as well as abdominal obesity.

Exercise and Cortisol:

According to Andrew Fry, Ph.D., many people continue to increase both volume and intensity of exercise as they progress, although the body cannot adapt to this over a long period of time. Fry also states, as intensity of exercise goes up, exercise volume must go down, and vice versa. According to Fry, the testosterone:cortisol ratio, which is a marker of an individual’s anabolic status and recover ability, decreases as exercise volume increases.

During intensive strength training, the type of training used to transform bodies, the body enters a catabolic state where there is a net protein breakdown in the body. During this time, ACTH and cortisol are released to decrease muscle inflammation and to begin breaking down amino acids for the process of protein synthesis after exercise. While this is a natural and necessary response, excessive cortisol has been associated with overtraining syndrome.

Nutrition, Cortisol and Recovery Ability:

Nutrition has a powerful effect on recover ability. In a day where low-carbohydrate diets are popular, exercise professionals must consider how carbohydrate depletion impacts exercise response and recovery. When examining nutrition and stress response, we must look at a couple of different factors: total caloric balance and exercise nutrition. Cortisol is increased in a linear fashion as we drop below caloric balance. Thus, as people decrease their caloric intake to lose weight, cortisol tends to rise. Cortisol is also increased on low-carbohydrate diets when blood sugar levels drop too low.

During exercise, the body will breakdown an increased amount of muscle proteins as fuel if there is an inadequate supply of carbohydrates. However, it has been found that consuming a carbohydrate beverage during exercise accentuates the rise in cortisol levels and limits the amount of exercise-related immunosuppression.

Lack of Sleep and Cortisol:

Current research indicates that sleep deprivation can lead to an elevation in cortisol and is harmful to carbohydrate metabolism; changes which increase the chance of obesity. According to Michael Thorpy, Ph.D., and director of the Sleep Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, “Sleep loss is associated with striking alterations in hormone levels that regulate appetite and may be a contributing factor to obesity. Anyone making a commitment to losing weight should probably consider a parallel commitment to get more sleep.”

Putting It All Together:

Current research indicates that life-event stress, inadequate sleep and poor exercise nutrition can all lead to elevated levels of cortisol. Scientists believe that this excess cortisol may lead to a variety of health problems including impaired carbohydrate metabolism and increased abdominal fat. Within the exercise setting, excessive cortisol can lead to immunosuppression and overtraining syndrome. In addition, research indicates that lifestyle can influence exercise-related cortisol release. Thus, people with high lifestyle stress will release more cortisol during an intense bout of exercise as compared with someone who has a lower stress level.

If clients are experiencing high amounts of stress and cortisol release due to their lifestyles, it is in their best interests not to supplement that with excessive exercise-related cortisol release. Thus, it is recommended that personal trainers consider clients’ overall lifestyle when developing exercise volume and intensity guidelines for clients.

When striving to adjust client programs based on other stressors in their lives, assumptions have to be made, program designs may have to be adjusted and the personal trainer must be able to measure the results of these changes. In general, personal trainers can assume that clients who have a high degree of life stressors including high job stress, relationship stress, inadequate sleep and poor nutrition will not recover and adapt to exercise as quickly as someone who doesn’t face as many of these stressors. Thus, this high-stress environment should be taken into consideration when developing the exercise-related goals. Goals may have to be lowered or goal timelines extended to make sure the goal is achieved. Likewise, both volume, frequency and intensity of exercise may have to be lowered to a more appropriate level.

Once the program is implemented, the personal trainer should constantly be aware of the possible signs of overtraining syndrome within their clients. The easiest methods which are research supported are subjective measures of how the client is feeling. Is the client more sore than normal? Excessive soreness may indicate overtraining. How are they sleeping? Both restless sleep and chronic fatigue have been associated with overtraining. How is the client’s mood? Researchers have found that mood is an exceptional measure of overtraining within athletes.

In a research measure called the Profile of Mood States (POMS), researchers have found that most exercisers will have higher vigor as well as lower tension, depression, anger and fatigue than the general public. However, this can reverse during overtraining in which exercisers and athletes have shown lower vigor as well as higher tension, depression, anger and fatigue than the general public. A fitness professional would be wise to continuously assess these mood states in their clients and consider adjusting exercise program designs if clients begin showing the signs of overtraining.

In the future, fitness professionals will be more aware of how a client’s lifestyle choices outside of the exercise setting effect the results they obtain during the exercise session. In addition, fitness professionals will learn to educate their clients on how factors such as life stress, inadequate sleep and poor nutrition can affect the body’s physiology and exercise progress. Lastly, we will adjust exercise programs to meet the needs of each individual.

Source: The Effects of Stress on Exercise by Doug Jackson, M.Ed.,CSCS

Excessive sitting shortens your hip flexors. This stretches the opposite muscles: your glutes. They become dormant. You can’t fire your glutes properly anymore. The solution is glute activation exercises. Here’s how.

Benefits of Glute Activation Exercises. Dormant glutes force your lower back & hamstrings to compensate. This is less effective & increases risks of injury.

• More Strength. You can lift more weight, sprint faster and jump higher when using all the muscles of your posterior chain, including your glutes.
• Less Injuries. Lower back pain, hip flexor pain, knee pain, strained hamstrings, … Glute activation minimizes risks of injury.
• Better Posture. Tight hip flexors pull your pelvis forward: lordosis. Glute activation & hip mobility exercises are the solution to anterior pelvic tilt.

Do You Need Glute Activation? Do 20 reps supine bridges. You need glute activation if your hamstrings feel more tight than your glutes. I recommend doing glute activation exercises even if you pass this test.

Exercise Guidelines. 1 set of 10 reps per exercise. Add sets if necessary. Do glute activation pre-workout so you can fire your glutes better on weight lifting exercises. You can also do them on non-training days for faster improvements.

• Start with Hip Mobility. Dormant glutes are linked to tight hip flexors. Do hip mobility exercises before doing glute activation exercises.
• Squeeze Your Glutes. As hard as you can. You can squeeze your glutes best at lockout: when your hip joints approach neutral alignment.
• Focus on Quality. Avoid compensating with your hamstrings or lower back. Squeezing your glutes matters, not the amount of reps.

1. Supine Bridges. Back & heels on the floor. Knees bent at 90°. Curl your toes up. Lift your hips by squeezing your glutes until your body is straight from knees to shoulders. Hold for 5 seconds, come back down, repeat.

• Don’t Use Your Lower Back. Push your lower back against the floor by tilting your pelvis back. Get off the floor by squeezing your glutes hard.
• Don’t Use Your Hamstrings. Cramps in your hamstrings means you’re not using your glutes. Squeeze your glutes as hard as you can.
• Quality not Quantity. Put your legs on the floor if you can’t do supine bridges correctly. Squeeze your buttocks, hold for 5 seconds, repeat.

2. Standing Hip Flexor Stretch/Glute Activation. Pull your leg back & stretch. When your hip flexor releases, squeeze both glutes for 5 seconds. The stretch will increase. Relax your glutes while holding your leg. Repeat.

Stay tall at all time. Keep your spine neutral, don’t arch your lower back. Picture below is perfect technique. If you have a desk job, this is the best exercise you can do through the day to avoid tight hip flexors/dormant glutes from sitting.

3. Mule Kicks. Bend over on a bench. Face down & hands on the floor. Kick 1 leg back & up by extending your hip and squeezing your glute. Hold the contraction for 5 seconds and come back. Repeat for 10 reps, switch legs.

• Don’t Use Your Lower Back. Keep your spine neutral. Brace your abs hard as if someone would punch you in the stomach.
• Don’t Use Your Hamstrings. Squeeze your glutes hard while extending your hips. You can bend your knee.
• Quality not Quantity. The goal is not get as high as possible, the goal is to squeeze your glute as hard as you can. Lead with your glute.

4. Clams. Lie on your side. Knees bent & together. Feet aligned with your back. Lift your knee by squeezing your glute. Don’t rotate your hips & don’t try to go high. The movement comes from your glutes. 10 reps, switch leg.

5. Birddogs. Get on all 4s. Arms & thighs perpendicular to the floor. Brace your abs as if someone is going to punch you in the stomach. Extend your hip while extending your opposite arm.

• Keep Your Spine Neutral. Don’t hyper-extend or arch your lower back. Brace your abs. Put a water bottle on your lower back for feedback.
• Quality not Quantity. If you can’t do them correctly, keep both arms on the floor. If that’s still too hard, go back to mule kicks.

6. Fire Hydrants. Get on all 4s. Arms & thighs perpendicular to the floor. Lift 1 leg to the side by contracting your glute. Press your heel back by extending your leg. Come back. Repeat. This is a mix of birddogs & clams.

• Keep Your Spine Neutral. Don’t hyper-extend/arch/rotate your lower back. Keep your abs braced.
• Don’t Use Your Hamstrings. Cramps in your hamstrings means you’re not using your glutes. Squeeze your glutes as hard as you can.
• Quality not Quantity. The goal is not to go fast or doing a lot of reps. The goal is squeezing your glutes. Hold each position.

7. Kneeling Squats. Teach you to use your glutes on Squats & Deadlifts. Kneel with your hips resting on your heels. Use knee padding. Brace your abs and keep your spine neutral. Rise by extending your hips & squeezing your glutes.

More Glute Activation Exercises. Squeeze your glutes several times per day. Stand up, squeeze your glutes hard while pushing your hips forward. Squeeze your glute when walking stairs. The more you do this, the easier it becomes.

There are many more glute activation exercises you can do: band versions, band walks, cook hip lifts, etc. Master the basics before trying the glute activation exercises described here:

• Core Training and Glute Activation by Michael Boyle.
• Hamstring Dominance by Brijesh Patel.

The core region consists of far more than just the abdominal muscles. In fact core strength training aims to target all the muscles groups that stabilize the spine and pelvis.

It’s these muscle groups that are critical for the transfer of energy from large to small body parts during many sporting activities.

Core Strength Training For Athletic Performance

The muscles of the trunk and torso act to stabilize the spine, pelvis and shoulder girdle. From this solid, balanced base the limbs can be moved powerfully and under control. In fact before rapid movements of the extremities can take place, the central nervous system stabilizes the spine in anticipation (1). The rate at which the core muscles stabilize the spine may have a direct effect on the power of limb movement (2).

Core strength training differs from many traditional weight training routines by working both the lower back and abdominals in unison. The same is true for the upper and lower body. All athletic movements incorporate the core in some way. Very few muscle groups are isolated. Instead the whole body works as a unit and core strength training endeavours to replicate this.

What are the benefits of core strength training to the athlete?

• Greater efficiency of movement
• Improved body control and balance
• Increased power output from both the core musculature and peripheral muscles such as the shoulders, arms and legs
• Reduced risk of injury (the core muscles act as shock absorbers for jumps and rebounds etc.)
• Improved balance and stability
• Improved athletic performance!

Weak or poorly controlled core muscles have been associated with low back pain (3,4). The back muscles are responsible for movements such as extension and flexion of the spine and rotation of the trunk.

Excessive or uneven shock on the spine may lead to back problems. This may be exaggerated because weak core muscles lead to improper positioning or a forward tilt. In many exercises that use the back muscles, the abdominal muscles contract isometrically stabilizing the body.

The stronger and more correctly balanced the core muscles are, the less the uneven strain on the spine.

If you’ve visited the abdominal training section of the site, you’ll already appreciate that getting those wash board abs requires a different approach than simply crunching out lots of sit ups. Also remember that core strength training is NOT about focusing purely on your abs.

If you want a six pack, then yes, core strength exercises should predominate in your routine. Not because they blast your ab muscles, they don’t. But they will help you to reduce your body fat stores and increase the muscularity of your rectus abdominus and they will give you the most returns for your efforts.

You will still need to focus on your diet and it won’t do any harm adding a few ab-specific exercises like crunches and leg raises within your sessions.

While there are no doubt countless gimmicks on the market purporting to strengthen the core region most are useless to the athlete.

There are however, several pieces of exercise equipment that are genuinely useful for strengthening the core region. They include…

• Medicine Balls
• Stability Balls
• Balance Boards

These simple pieces of equipment allow the coach or athlete to devise resisted sport-specific movements. Medicine balls are particular helpful for mimicking rotation movements for example that would be unpractical with free weights.

Of course even these pieces of equipment are not essential. There are many exercises that use bodyweight or partner resistance that strengthen the core effectively. The use of free weights can adapted to cater for the majority of athletic movements.

Prone Bridge
In a face down position, balance on the tips of your toes and elbows while attempting to maintain a straight line from heels to head. This exercise focuses on both the anterior and posterior muscle groups of the trunk and pelvis.

Lateral Bridge
Start on your side and press up with your right arm. Form a bridge maintaining a straight line from your hand to your foot. Rest on your elbow to increase the difficulty. This exercise focuses on the abdominal obliques and transversus abdominus.

Supine Bridge
Lying on your back, raise your hips so that only your head, shoulders, and feet are touching the floor. The supine bridge focuses on the gluteal muscles. Stronger gluteals help maintain pelvic control.

Pelvic Thrusts
Lie on your back with your legs bent 90 degrees at the hip. Slowly lift your hips off the floor and towards the ceiling. Lower your hips to the floor and repeat for the prescribed number of repetitions.

Russian Twists
1. Start by sitting on the floor with hips and knees flexed to approximately 90 degree angles.
2. Grasp a medicine ball or small dumbbell and swing it to the right and left as you keep the hips from rotating with the shoulders.
3. The arms are not perpendicular to the torso, but instead, kept low, near the thighs, as the medicine ball is swung to each side.

Good Mornings
1) Stand with feet shoulder width apart with knees slightly bent (at 20).
2) Start position: Grasp bar with overhand grip shoulder width apart. Back should be straight in a neutral position.
3) Bending at the hips, lower bar to approximately knee height. Keep knees bent at 20 throughout movement.
4) Return to start position.
5) Remember to keep back straight – movement should occur at the hip. To facilitate this, shift glutes back as if ready to sit down. Knees should not move forward beyond the toes.

Dumbell Lunges with Crossover
1) Start position: Stand with feet hip width apart. Grasp DB’s and hold out in front of body.
2) Step forward 2-3 feet forming a 90 bend at the front hip and knee. DO NOT allow front knee to extend past the big toe – may cause injury. As you are lunging swing dumbbells across body towards the hip.
3) Pushing off front foot, return to start position with legs and dumbbells.
4) Remember to keep head and back upright in a neutral position. Shoulders and hips should remain squared at all times.
5) Watch for proper knee alignment – do not let front knee extend past big toe or deviate laterally or medially. Back knee should not come in contact with floor.

Other excellent core stability exercises include:

• Lat Pull Downs
• Leg Presses/Squats
• Crunches and crunch variations
• Regular lunges
• Back extensions
• Deadlifts
• Chin-ups

If you answered yes to either of these (most of you did)… dropping your body fat % is essential; you really need your metabolism to be doing its job.

And if you are like most gym users…. that metabolism needs an absolute shake up!!

There are 24 hours in the day; losing fat is not dependant on the amount of calories you burn in the 1 hour you spend in the gym.  It comes down to what is happening in the 23 OTHER hours in that day. You need your metabolism to be burning calories for as long as possible!

• A long steady jog/bike ride/walk will raise a person’s metabolism for around 30 minutes – 2 hours.
• Specific metabolic training can raise that metabolism for over

36 hours! And it only takes 30 minutes!

Try throwing a 30 minute BLAST into your weekly training schedule and get an idea how you SHOULD be training..

Session price: $50

** Enquiries + applications: Kris – 0418 386 295 or just poke your head into the trainers office @ TBC, The Entertainment Quarter..

This is where Finishers come in!!  Finishers are a total body workout performed at the end of a workout that should have you seeing your last meal on the gym floor, or at least taste it again in your throat.  It’s a quick way to really feel that sence of accomplishment, and sends your metabolism into orbit!!

If you are serious about training for results, throw one or two finishers into your weekly workouts (especially the ones which you KNOW were terrible).

Here is an example of a finisher, and the first of a series I’ll be posting up!  Enjoy…

The Screamer

3 push ups + 1 squat jumps
6 push ups + 2 squat jumps
9 push ups + 3 squat jumps
12 push ups + 4 squat jumps
15 push ups + 5 squat jumps

Keep going up by three push-ups and one tuck jump each set until you NEED to stop.  NEED meaning you collapse.  If you haven’t collapsed, keep going!

Here is something I absolutely recommend you add into your daily food intake.  Whether it be with muesli or yoghurt (thanks Gerorgie) in the morning, with your bottle of water, in a sandwich, salad dressing, your cooking (breads, cakes, biscuits), whatever! No I don’t work for any Chia retailing company; it seriously is worth a go.

All measurements of nutrients in Chia are measured by the 100g, which may seem a LOT however if you are adding it to things all day, the benefits will add up immensely!

Chia seed is the highest known plant source of anti-inflammatory Omega-3 (8 times higher than Salmon), and unlike other sources of this important fatty acid, eg, flaxseed, hemp or fish, it is highly stable due to its powerfully naturally occurring anti-oxidants.

Chia is packed full of the following nutrients:

• 8 x more Omega-3 EFA’s than salmon
• 7 x more Vitamin C than oranges
• 6 x more fibre than oat bran (soluble and insoluble fibre for bowel, cholesterol and blood sugar regulation.
• 5 x more calcium than milk
• 4 x higher ORAC value than blueberries
• 3 x more iron than spinach
• 2 x more potassium than bananas
• 15 x more magnesium than broccoli
• 18 amino acids
• Vitamin A and B12
• Protein (23%)

On top of this Chia is:

• Easily digestible. The shells are easily broken down, even when swallowed whole.  This is an improvement over flax seed, which have to be ground up to be digested properly.  If you eat flax seed whole, it will just pass through.
• Great for post workout: After eating, the nutrients travel to the cells very quickly due to the ease in digestion and assimilation.  Use them when you want to build or regenerate healthy body tissue.
• Mild tasting: Unlike some seeds, the flavor is very mild.  The mild taste makes it easy to put in sauces, smoothies, breads, puddings, and whatever you want.  They won’t really change the taste, but will add to your nutrition!
• Really versatile: The seeds can be used in so many recipies.  You can use them uncooked in salad dressings, spreads, fruit juices, ice cream,water, yoghurt, muesli.  Add them to biscuits, cakes, muffins, bread.
• Filling + hydrating: You will potentially  eat less toatal calories as they are so filling. When inside your body, the seeds help you stay hydrated longer, and retain electrolytes in your bodily fluids.

Thanks for listening!!  Now go get some.