Take control of your body – Take control of your life!

Phil and I do talks around the country on the general theme of “Take control of your body – Take control of your life.” The link between exercise and a better life is well proven.  From beating back depression, to living longer and to just plain living a happier more fulfilled life can all come from just 30 minutes of exercise a day. We’re not talking about hard-core, Navy SEAL training like Phil and I endured. The positive elements of exercise can be enjoyed just by putting one foot in front of the other.

If exercise is so good for you, and it’s not that hard to do or take that long to do, then why don’t more folks do it?! In a word: habit. Understanding your habits and knowing what habits are working in your favor and which ones are holding you back, can be your key, quite literally to a better life. But before you can set a course for a habit that can put you on a happier path, you need to understand what a habit it is, how habits work and how they control most of what you do in life. It’s a pretty simple concept actually: habits are nothing more than a collection of simple actions that form a more complicated routine of actions. In SEAL Team, a classic habit that they taught us was the “how-to-shoot-a-gun” habit. The instructors would constantly remind us that they could teach a monkey to shoot a gun if it understood English! Here’s their secret training recipe: they broke the habit into tiny bite size actions – site alignment, then trigger control, then breathing and finally surprise. We spent hours and hours dry firing a gun until they felt we had mastered the basics of this habit….and a few thousand rounds later we had it relatively mastered.

The habit of exercise is not nearly as tedious as learning how to shoot a gun Navy SEAL style, but it is the same principle. My habit for exercise goes like this:

·         Understand why I want to exercise -  Makes me feel good/gives me energy and I hate my fat pants

·         Decide when I want to exercise and determine what exercise I can do that day and execute.  I literally decide 24 hours before on what and when. I find that working out first thing in the morning leaves me with the smallest chance of procrastinating and if I exercise in the evening I’m too amped up to go to sleep. (I’m not alone, several studies have proven this same thing – those that work out first thing in the morning have the highest success rate.)

 Now, I’m not asking you to form a habit overnight on committing to 30 minutes of exercise a day, but I am asking to you to try it in bite size chunks. Literally the only thing you have to lose is weight. Besides, consider your options: Don’t exercise and suffer the consequences of a shorter, unhappy life or form an exercise habit you can live with so you can live better and longer!

I know the option I’m choosing!

Set that clock ten minutes earlier tomorrow and knock out 20 pushups – one at a time, standing between each one. Can’t do a pushup – no problem – drop to your knees and knock them out one at a time.

Make life great,

Alden

Make Your Life Count!

Teammates, over the past year the marketing team of Team Perfect has been on a quest to distill the essence of Team Perfect into a single phrase. They call it a “tag line”, I call it our mission statement reduction sauce – our mission statement reduced into 4 words or less. It’s not an easy thing to do – edit words down to the bare minimum yet still capture the key meaning of your purpose. There are lots of examples of tag lines, but few really stir the soul – a couple of effective ones that come to mind are Nike’s “Just do it” or Apple’s “Think Different” campaigns. Both capture the prospective company’s personalities – of course, at the end of the day, tag lines or mission statements or slogans or credos are just words. However, when they are backed by action such as Apple’s consistent design philosophy to “think differently” about what a piece of technology looks, feels and works like or Nike’s continual pursuit to associate their product with people that don’t talk about performing – they “Just do it” – then the words begin to take meaning…

To reduce our “mission statement” is to get to the core of why Team Perfect exists (and continues to persist!). We have seven core values at Team Perfect and our first one is:

#1. We CARE about the health of our customers” is our front sight focus. And the reason we care is that we link health with the ability to never give up, and when you’re armed with the capacity to persevere no matter what the odds are, then you have the ability to make a difference. Think about it for a second – what’s your purpose? What are you going to do with your life? Why?...What Fires you Up?...what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? (i.e…what would you do if you knew you wouldn’t give up?!). Doing anything new or different is hard enough – but it’s exponentially harder if you’re out of shape!

So what’s my favorite phrase?

“Make your life count.”

It’s up to you – you define your life and what it’ll be. After all, at the end of day, what’s really important in life? How many objects you own or the number of zeroes in your bank account? Doubt it... I bet, if you’re really honest with yourself, you’ll come to the conclusion that I have: figuring out ways to make a positive impact on something or someone – leaving the world a little bit better than you found it while having one helluva good time. In other words: Making YOUR LIFE Count. So be like Apple and think differently about your life, because your life is uniquely yours…and once you’ve decided what it’s going to be, be like Nike and Just do it!

Pushup Movements: Staggered Punch, Tricep Kickback

To wrap up our series of pushup movements, we have two more advanced movements. With these two exercises, maintaining proper form is extremely important, so be sure to take your time. The Staggered Punch exercise will work your shoulders, back and arms at two different angles, giving a better workout. The Tricep Kickback exercise will make you feel the burn in your triceps as you work your arms to stabilize yourself.

Staggered Punch (Video demo here)

·         Get into a Regular Pushup Stance

o   Keep left arm in this position, except have your palm facing forward

o   Stagger right arm further forward from regular position

·         As you perform the pushup, rotate both wrists 90 degrees in the same direction

·         Perform 5 and then switch sides

Tricep Kickback (Video demo here)

This exercise will make you maintain zero rotation, meaning you have to engage all the stabilizers in your arms to hold hammer grip.

·         Get into a Close Grip Pushup Stance with hands in the hammer position (palms facing each other)

·         Lower down, then press back up

·         Lift one of the handles and do 5 kickbacks, keeping your upper arm and elbow parallel to the ground at all times

·         Perform another pushup and perform the kickbacks on the other side

Pushup Movements: Arm Sweeper, Pilates Pushup

Use our Perfect Pushup handles to help increase your shoulder strength. A lot of injuries can occur from not properly strengthening the muscles in your shoulders and from poor range of motion. The two exercises below help rotate your shoulders completely, and even throw in a bit core work. These are tough exercises, so make sure you are ready to take them on.  As always, it is important to follow proper form and good technique.

 

Arm Sweeper (Video demo here)

It’s important to note for this exercise that your Perfect Pushup handles should be on an extremely level surface. When performing the arm swings, swing gently and exercise full control. Be sure that your wrists remain neutral/flat – never bent.

·         Start off in Regular Pushup Position

·         Lower down/rotate handles out 90 degrees

·         Push back up and lift the left handle, pointing it all the way back behind you

·         Circle your arm out to bring the handle all the way in front of you, then place back down

·         Perform another pushup and repeat with the opposite arm

Pilates Pushup (Video demo here)

This exercise will not only help your shoulders, but will work your core.

·         Start off in Regular Pushup Position, but keep feet shoulder-width apart

·         Lower down/rotate handles 90 degrees

·         Come back up, then lift your left arm (without the handle) over your head and twist your body so you’re facing to the left

·         Hold this position for 3 seconds before coming back to your regular pushup stance

·         Do another pushup and repeat on the opposite side

Pushup Movements: One-Arm Assist Pushup and Mountain Climbers

Increase your upper body strength and kick-start your cardio in just a few minutes a day with the Perfect Pushup. The One-Arm Assist Pushup exercise will help get you ready to complete one-armed pushups, while the Mountain Climbers will work your lower and upper abs, as well as your shoulders, while increasing your heart rate for a great addition to your cardio routine.

One-Arm Assist Pushup (Video demo here)

The key to this exercise is that one hand rotates and other doesn’t. This helps you focus your body weight on one side.

·         Get into a wide-grip pushup stance

·         Lower yourself down for one second, putting your weight on your left arm and rotating that handle

o   Be sure to keep your right arm still

·         Come back up for one second

·         Complete 5 reps

·         To switch, shift weight to right arm

·         Complete 5 reps

Mountain Climbers (Video demo here)

During this exercise, your arms stay in place (do not rotate the pushup handles).

·         Get into a regular pushup stance

·         Start with legs out, feet together

·         Bring your left knee into your chest and send it back to your staring position

·         Bring your right knee in quickly and then go back to the starting position

·         Alternate for 30 seconds

·         Rest, then repeat

Pushup Movements: Shoulder Press Pushup, Dive Bomber Pushup

Regular pushups can sometimes get a little boring. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to show you some different pushup options for you to switch it up and challenge your body to its limits. This week, we’ll start with the Shoulder Press Pushup and the Dive Bomber Pushup, both of which are great workouts for your shoulders, chest and back. Start with a few reps of each to get the hang of the exercises, then work them into your regular exercise routine.

 

Shoulder Press Pushup (video demo can be found here):

·         Assume a 4-point stance:

o   Feet Double-wide apart, standing on your toes

o   Hips up in the air

o   Starting to angle back towards ground

·         Hold Perfect Pushup like a barbell, or as you would when in regular pushup position

·         Lower your body down at an angle and rotate the handles out 90 degrees so your forehead touches the ground

·         Push back and rotate back to start position

 

 

Dive Bomber Pushup (video demo can be found here):

·         Assume the same 4-point stance as in the Shoulder Press Pushup

·         Hold the Perfect Pushup as you would when in regular pushup position

·         Imagine a bar about 18 inches off the ground right in front of you

·         Lower your body down and pretend to pass your head and torso under that bar while rotating the handles out

·         Continue to rotate out (total rotation of 180 degrees) as you continue to pull your chest up so you’re in a Cobra Position

·         Go back underneath the imaginary bar and rotate hands back to start position/move body back into 4-point stance

Pushup Movements: Perfect Pushup Dip & Decline Chair Pushup

You don’t need a lot of equipment to get in a good workout. When you’re busy and are trying to fit in some time to exercise, the less fuss the better. Below are two workouts for your arms and chest using only the Perfect Pushup and two stable chairs. Each exercise is accompanied by a video demonstration, so check those out to make sure you’re following the proper technique.

Perfect Pushup Dip (video demo can be found here):

·         Center the chairs with some space in between them, placing one Perfect Pushup handle on each chair.

·         Get into the dip position:

o   Heels on the ground

o   Toes pointing up

o   Pull your navel toward your spine

o   Hold the handles in bar position

·         Lower down, rotating the handles out at the same time

·         When you come back up, rotate the handles back in

·         Repeat at least 5 times

Decline Chair Pushup (video demo can be found here):

·         Center the chairs with some space in between them, placing one Perfect Pushup handle on each chair

·         Get into pushup position between the chairs, with handles in bar position

·         Lower down, rotating handles out, going as deep as possible

·         When you come back up, rotate the handles back in

·         Repeat at least 5 times