The Eye of the Storm

The week after Christmas is like the eye of a storm... I love it and have decided it is my absolute favorite time of the year. The weeks leading up to Christmas are a frenzy, producing stress as we scatter around to finish shopping for everyone on our list and as we plan menus, bake cookies, attend parties and send off christmas cards to all our cherished friends. As the New Year rolls in, it too is a busy time as we pick up speed, go back to work and switch to high gear determining to succeed in new years resolutions made. But.... ahhhh ...the week between Christmas and New Years... there's nothing quite like it. The kids are home, we are off work a few more days and we relax and settle into our own quiet little world at home together.

Over the years our family has developed a pattern during this week... we spread a big puzzle out and sit down together at our leisure and work on it as we talk about idle topics. We choose novels to read... this year I'm reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. GREAT BOOK! Each morning before I drag myself out of bed I give myself the luxury of reading my novel for 2 hours or as long as I want. We also enjoy sitting down to eat together for as many meals as we can... I especially love when Rick makes pancakes in the morning for everyone. We also keep a variety of board games purchased as family Christmas gifts under the tree... from time to time one of us will pull one out and suggest we play it together. We watch movies or GO to the movies together... this year we went to see "Voyage of the Dawn Treader". Most of the week we also keep a fire burning in the fireplace to add to the warm, homey, safe and welcoming feeling that just seems to ooze all over the place this sacred, special week of the year.

This week, tucked between Christmas and New Year's, is a gift indeed as it gives us margin to re-group before we begin yet another year in this thing called life. I believe the sacred week was made for rest! In the context of rest healing can happen... relationships can deepen, decisions can be made, new directions can be pursued and life becomes richer as we begin another year.

As you rest take some time in the last few days of this sacred week to make a date with yourself. Write down thoughts about last year... jouney back and record the big events that happened each month. Include your hopes, regrets, joys and emotions and then dream a little about the future. No need to make guilt producing promises just be honest with yourself and free yourself to dream. I plan to use what I have written as a prayer to meditate on everyday for 2011. It includes lessons learned, dreams I long for and love I hope to share to help others grow.

I hope the next few days, before 2011 comes charging in, you give yourself the gift of stopping to fill up with new thoughts to move you forward into your best year yet!

TRX... Total Resistance Exercise

Getting bored with your 2010 fitness routine? Are you in a rut or have you hit a plateau in your fitness level? Thinking about how you can challenge yourself to new levels for 2011 but not sure how? I can feel these same things at times. Beginning January 2011 I plan to shake it up a bit for myself and my clients by introducing the TRX system...

TRX stands for TOTAL RESISTANCE EXERCISE

I don't just share this new exercise program with you because it's the latest certification I have under my belt or because it's one of the latest fitness fads... instead it's because after experiencing it myself, getting great training from an expert TRX trainer, and studying about it on my own I am convinced it just might be a better way to train. Although I still believe weight training most certainly has it's place the TRX system trains with a whole different dynamic!

With it's origins rooted in the Navy SEALs TRX offers a functional training component. Functional training emphasizes a transfer of the fitness that is gained from the program into everyday activity or specific sports performance. Although traditional weight training is useful for gaining strength by isolating muscles, what it can't offer that TRX does deliver is an integrated approach of gaining not only strength but also balance, movement, coordination, stability, power, flexibility and cardio endurance... life skills we use in everyday life or to improve our performance in the specific sports we enjoy.

HOW DOES IT WORK? A suspension training technique adopts the concept that the body knows movement not muscles and it engages the body as a single coordinated system. It takes movement patterns of everyday human activity and recreates them into movement patterns in suspension training. Loading and repeating these movement patterns enhances performance in life and on the playing field.

TRX understands that life demands free bodily movement through space... our bodies work to produce movement. We do not move in everyday life within one dimension or within the confines of a machine or restrictive pattern so our exercise should also reflect more than one dimension in movement. TRX trains your body to move in every direction possible, in every plane of motion. If we limit our training routines to only one dimension or to only one motor pattern, like so many strength training routines do, it can lead to strength imbalances and movement deficiencies in neglected planes of motion.

While teaching a zumba class not so long ago I noticed a beautiful, buff body builder come into my class. I kept watching her out of the corner of my eye and noticed she really struggled to catch on to the moves to the point she visibly became frustrated and left class early. I felt bad and wondered why it was so difficult for her. I realize there are some who just don't have a knack for rhythm but in her case I sensed it was something more. After taking the TRX training I have to wonder if her inability has anything to do with muscle imbalances she may have incurred due to her intense training in one plane and dimension of movement. It reminded me that I want to be sure to be training my body to do more that just yield a aesthetic looking physique. I want to improve my ability to move freely through space. The TRX is a training device that works with the nature of how our bodies have been created to move.

I was also reminded that it's important to shake things up a bit in our training routines. Don't get so stuck doing one type of training. Try new things that will challenge your body to move in new ways. That's why I believe dance classes, no matter how much you may lack a natural ability to dance, should be a part of everyone's routine. In dancing you move in every plane of motion and send your muscles messages of confusion which they need to help you improve your ability to move freely through space, seeing new gains in your balance, coordination, stability, flexibilty, power and cardio endurance.

So what will it be for you in 2011? I say shake it up and try the TRX system of training. I have 3 new small group classes starting up in January! As soon as the dates become public knowledge I will update my teaching schedule at the bottom of my blog page! JOIN ME and we can train our bodies together in new ways for 2011... or call me for your own personal training sessions and we can work one-on-one for a more "focused on YOU" workout plan!

Watch the TRX in action... go to http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/