From Gretchen Reynolds’ always excellent Phys Ed column in the NYT about whether stretching is necessary :

[Runners] with the tightest hamstrings had the best running economy. They also typically had the fastest 10-kilometer race times. Probably, the researchers concluded, tighter muscles allow “for greater elastic energy storage and use” during each stride. Inflexibility, in other words, seems to make running easier.

For years, flexibility has been widely considered a cornerstone of health and fitness. “It’s been drummed into people that they should stretch, stretch, stretch — that they have to be flexible,” says Dr. Duane Knudson, professor of biomechanics at Texas State University in San Marcos, who has extensively studied flexibility and muscle response. “But there’s not much scientific support for that.”

What changes as you stretch a muscle is primarily the message, not the physical structure of the muscle.

Reminds me a bit of an article Gretchen wrote last year, “Stretching: The Truth“:

The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds — known as static stretching — primes muscles for a workout is dead wrong. It actually weakens them. In a recent study conducted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, athletes generated less force from their leg muscles after static stretching than they did after not stretching at all. Other studies have found that this stretching decreases muscle strength by as much as 30 percent. Also, stretching one leg’s muscles can reduce strength in the other leg as well, probably because the central nervous system rebels against the movements.

The best way to warm-up? Dynamic stretching! Gretchen says these are the best pre-workout exercises (see video at the beginning of this post):

The Best Dynamic Stretches

These exercises- as taught by the United States Tennis Association’s player-development program – are good for many athletes, even golfers. Do them immediately after your aerobic warm-up and as soon as possible before your workout.

STRAIGHT-LEG MARCH

(for the hamstrings and gluteus muscles)

Kick one leg straight out in front of you, with your toes flexed toward the sky. Reach your opposite arm to the upturned toes. Drop the leg and repeat with the opposite limbs. Continue the sequence for at least six or seven repetitions.

SCORPION

(for the lower back, hip flexors and gluteus muscles)

Lie on your stomach, with your arms outstretched and your feet flexed so that only your toes are touching the ground. Kick your right foot toward your left arm, then kick your leftfoot toward your right arm. Since this is an advanced exercise, begin slowly, and repeat up to 12 times.

HANDWALKS

(for the shoulders, core muscles, and hamstrings)

Stand straight, with your legs together. Bend over until both hands are flat on the ground. “Walk” with your hands forward until your back is almost extended. Keeping your legs straight, inch your feet toward your hands, then walk your hands forward again. Repeat five or six times.

UPDATE: Exuberant Animal Short Form is a fantastic series of dynamic movements to start and end every day.

Over the past few years of teaching, I have noticed that students want choice, choice in what they read and what they write. I completely agree with them. As adults, we don’t like being told what to read. If we start reading a book and don’t like it, we put it down. I encourage my students to do the same thing- if you don’t like a book, choose something else. There are too many good books out there to read one you don’t like. I also believe that there is a book for everyone, if people don’t like to read, they haven’t found a book genre they enjoy yet.

To get back to my original point of this post, I found that having students write to a prompt, doesn’t work. They create pieces that are manufactured to fit what we want to read, not necessarily what they care about. Instead of giving my student’s prompts, I ry to give them sparks- or ideas to get them started writing about what they know and care.

I also have found that students sometimes need a spark to ignite their fire when writing. When I do my warm it up at the beginning of class. I usually show the students an object, quote, or picture. Sometimes we listen to a song and write and I even show some video clips to spark ideas. I have found or thought of  too many ideas to actually use them all in one year. I thought I would share some of the places that I get my inspiration for writing “sparks”

When I show them these sparks, I tell them they can always write about what comes to mind, what the picture, song, object, video clip is about or anything else they want.

Writing Spark ideas:

Time Picture of the Week: http://www.time.com/time/potw/

MSNBC  Week in Pictures: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3842331/

You Tube Video La Chance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD19Os5oUTg – I had my students write about being lucky, or a time when they had luck etc.. Some of my students wrote about one of the events they saw on this video.

You Tube video :  it is a story of two Cleveland high schoolers featured one sunday on ESPN a few months ago- get the tissues.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O04L0XboS8c

The Beatles Song- We Can Work It Out- I told my students they could write about a time when they had a disagreement,or how they worked out differences.

Hi, this is our blue stingray. This is the coolest friend that you children could have.

In children the product can be use:

To decorate the room and serve as a friendly companion.
To heat up the bed or clothes.
To relieve cramps in babies and children.
To warm the child up on a cold day.

Do you want to know more about it? Log on to micro-sensations.com and check the “Hot Pets” line out.

A obrigação é ganhar. A dificuldade é grande. Pra garantir a Liberta e pra sonhar com o título. Se ganhar, o Mengão atinge um check point importante. E eu vou estar lá em Campinas pra conferir. 2 a 1 pra nós.

Flamengo até morrer!

New Operations Director!
Yup, We have one, his name is Mike. Crazy skills in the office and on the 1’s and 2’s!

Need to contact Mike? EMAIL HIM! He LOVES IT! mike@danceradio.ca

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But Its a secret…. you’ll find out soon enough!

Para assegurar de vez a vaga na Libertadores 2010, uma vitória sobre este freguês contumaz, pra calar a boca desses babacas goianos e paulistas que teimam em reconhecer o óbvio ululante: Flamengo é Flamengo e futebol se ganha em campo. 4 a 1, pra correr atrás de algo maior ainda na cadeia alimentar do futebol brasileiro.

Flamengo até morrer!

Two posts in a row about push ups – your students are gonna love me. This is actually a fun way to get students to do a little warm up before they begin a class of floor hockey or ringette. Your goal is to get students participating in fitness activities and fitness can take many different forms.

Two people in push up position face each other about 5 feet apart. Using a bean bad or ball (whiffle balls work well), try to slide or roll the object between the partners two hands. The object is not allowed to come off the floor. The partner may stop the object with only one hand. Games typically go until one player can not stay in the push up position any longer or when one player gets to 5 (which ever happens first).

If you use any short activities such as push up position hockey to satisfy the fitness component of your physical education program, be sure to keep track of the approximate time spend on each activity. For instance, according the grade 7-9 physical education curriculum guide  for Newfoundland and Labrador, doing 12 minutes of fitness related activities during each class would mean that a grade 9 physical education class would meet the 4 class minimum for fitness after 16 class.

If you have any ideas on how to incorporate fitness into other activities, I would love to hear about them.

Yours in Movement,

Coach

He was a typical 20 year old college student.
She was a serious runner, bedecked in Nike.
Although his age, she had already
run in the Boston and New York City Marathons.

Both home from college,
in Union Township NJ for Thanksgiving
they had a custom of running together
the Thanksgiving Day 5K Turkey Trot in Flemington,
4,000 runners from 30 States.
For him it was just an opportunity
to be with his girl,
for her, a serious affair.

This would be their third year.
The first two years she had insisted
on not spending the night before at his place
- they were athletes in training –

So last year, after they said goodbye
around 6:30 the night before
he went out drinking with the guys
and came home 5 o’clock in the morning
though she was supposed to pick him up
at 7:30 am.

When she arrived he was still snoring away.
She paced the living room floor of his apartment
while he tried to clean up
throw on some cloths
and a dirty pair of sneakers.

They rushed down Highway 31
and between the crowds near Flemington
she would later complain:

“We were so late
we had to run to the starting line
and just keep running from there.”

So this year, she told him
he could make his own way there.
She would drive with her girlfriend.

Wanting to redeem himself
he had trained for months
shopped at Efinger’s Sporting Goods
in Bound Brook
bought himself a completely new outfit,
and the best of running shoes.

He was ready in Flemington
an hour before she usually planned
for them to arrive,
sat in The Great Lodge Coffee Shop,
relaxed with an energy drink
taking in the scene on Main Street
through the large plate glass windows.

Then he actually warmed up,
did some stretching exercises
in which he never believed.
When he spied her at the scorer’s table
getting her entry number
he walked up, his number already snuggly affixed
to his cotton shirt, wondering whether she
would notice the new doo, which she did.

She speculated whether he had done this just for her,
now so curious her first words were:
“Have you been here long?”
although she dreaded the answer
since she noticed that he had
worked up a slight sweat,
had he been warming up?

At the starting line he stood next to her
as was their custom, surrounded
by runners dressed up as turkeys,
ax men, Pilgrims, and a few Indians
although being an Indian
was no longer politically correct.

The starting gun burst
in the brisk Thanksgiving day air
he pacing himself a few steps behind her
as was his practice.
In front of the County Courthouse
he usually fell way back
and last year had actually dropped
right out of the race.

They approached the intersection
just past the front portico
filled with cheering on lookers
and a few dignitaries.
She glanced back and saw that he
was still just a few paces behind.
She turned it up just a little
only to find that he came up abreast of her.

Stride for stride they met each other’s pace
except that he with longer legs
moved out at one point
as much as 15 yards.
He could have stayed there, but eased up,
let her in the last 3/4ths of a mile
cross the finish line with him
and for a moment in exhaustion
fell into each other’s arms.

When they married the June following graduation
they each wore their running shoes from that day -
he with his tuxedo
and her below her wedding gown.

Ray Brown

Here is a little game I used to use during classes which focused on upper body strength – Partner Patty Cakes.

Two people in the push up position face each other. Each person remains in the push up position but lift their right hands and slap each others right hands. Then the left hands. They continue this until they are too tired to continued. To make it harder, try increasing the distance between partners or give them directions to follow (i.e. right, right, left, right left).

This is a great alternative to regular pushups and students can keep track of how long they can last and try to beat that value as the semester goes on. I wouldn’t suggest that this activity becomes a competition as it will lose the fun aspect for those students who may only be able to get a couple patty cakes completed.

Yours in Movement,

Coach

I recently had my students write their own six word memoirs. If you haven’t seen any of the books, there are multiple Six Word Memoirs that Smith Magazine has compiled. The most recent is my favorite- I Can’t Keep My Own Secret:Six Word Memoirs by Teens Famous and Obscure.

These are memoirs that tell an entire story in only six words. I was nervous about having my student’s try this because I wasn’t sure if they would get it and be able to think of their own. I showed them examples from the book (see below) and then made some of my own examples. I showed them how I brainstormed my ideas, and then edited to get it to say just what I wanted. I then gave the students a planning sheet and let them loose- well they wowed me!

They created such amazing six word memoirs. Some were funny, sad, powerful, light, deep… they had them all!!!!  I had them write their six word memoir on large notecards and then illustrate or color them to fit the tone of the memoir. I put them up on a bulletin board and they loved looking at everyone’s memoirs! Some wrote more than one, and some have been doing them “for fun!”

Some of the examples I showed them from the book are below:

Met online; love before first sight.

I fulfilled my awkwardness quota today.

I’m seventeen, engaged, and not pregnant.

My mom had my boyfriend deported.

Late for school every single day.

According to Facebook, we broke up.

Here are pictures I took of six word memoirs from my kids:

Training Tip #6 Respect the nervous system!

The nervous system is the last frontier in strength training and athletic development. By changing our focus from training to muscles to training the nervous system we will see our results skyrocket! Here are some practical examples of how we can work with the nervous system.

Lifting weights: Ideally we should perform the concentric portion of all lifts as fast as possible. What this does is to take advantage of what is known in neurology as the size principle. This principle states that motor units (which control our muscle fibers) are recruited in an orderly fashion from our smallest to our largest. Our largest motor units control our fast twitch IIB muscle fibers, which have the most potential for growth and strength development.  These are the muscle fibers that are used by sprinters, gymnasts and all other strength athletes. When we lift a load at sub-maximal speed or one that is too light, we do not have a need to recruit the fast twitch muscle fibers. We need to find a balance between a fast enough speed and a heavy load. This principle is espoused in the writings of Chad Waterbury, Eric Cressey, Christian Thibadeau and many others.

Mobility – By mobilizing our joints we mobilize our nervous system. This improves recruitment of all muscles surrounding the joints. By doing this, we send messages back to the brain that tell the brain that the joint is more stable which will allow the muscles to relax. This is the principle behind Z Health, Scott Sonnon’s work and many others.

Stretching – By syncing our stretching with breathing, we can utilize the nervous system to increase flexibility. If we go deeper into the stretch on an exhale while nasal breathing we stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the rest and digest nervous system. This allows for better recovery and an increased stretch in the muscle. This is the approach used by Ann and Chris Frederick in their book Stretch to Win.

Soft tissue regeneration: Have you ever seen a trigger point is a piece of steak? I haven’t yet. This is because the nervous system controls our muscular system. Buy training our nervous system to effectively recruit our muscles in the right sequences, we can eliminate trigger points in a much less painful manner.

So there are 4 ways the nervous system can be used to improve performance. Over the next few weeks I will discuss some more methods to improve our nervous system, using nutrition and some other therapies.

Milhares são os motivos pro Mengão dar um sacode no Nauticuzinho: adversário pequeno, na degola e freguesaço, time muito melhor e embalado, torcida grande em Recife, precisamos da vitória e podemos assumir a segunda colocação, ou até a primeira, se os bambi trupicarem no genérico baiano. Se a rodada for Rubro-Negra, é nóis. 3 a 1 Mengão, pra brigar pelo título.

Flamengo até morrer!

(Sweet memory on 12 Oct 09)

Em không là một đứa hay văn chương, với anh, đôi khi là đứa con gái hời hợt.

Hôm nay, một ngày thật ý nghĩa với cả anh, cả em, đọng lại trong e nhiều ký ức đẹp. Em muốn viết ra, vài năm, vài chục năm sau, chúng ta sẽ lại ngồi cùng nhau, trên chiếc võng đong đưa, nhìn ngoài trời đầy sao, trăng, rồi mình lại nhìn nhau và cười…. Anh nhỉ…

Mình làm việc cùng nhau, gần 2 năm.

Anh có người yêu, và e cũng giữ trong lòng một hình bóng khác… Không phải anh !!

Anh luôn có ~ câu chuyện vui, ~ lời nói đùa vu vơ, ~ lần đi “sở thú”

Mình đã đến với nhau…

CUỘC SỐNG ONSITE…

Em tươi tỉnh với ~ hôm cùng anh tập thể dục.

Em tâm sự với anh nhiều hơn ~ lúc ngồi ngắm trăng…

Em thấy ấm cúng trong ~ bữa cơm gia đình (cùng cả nhà onsiters)

Em hạnh phúc với ~ ly nước ép anh pha…

Và … Em yêu anh…

Từ lúc nào em cũng chẳng biết…

Đã kiềm lòng…

Nhưng …không thể khác được, anh nhỉ !!

Rồi em đến với anh,

Chúng ta có ~ khoảnh khắc thật vọn vẹn bên nhau

Cuộc sống onsite nhiều ý nghĩa !!

~ lúc em làm tổn thương anh…

Em biết…

Nhiều lắm…

Nhưng anh ah…

Một điều, vượt trên mọi thứ..

EM YÊU ANH !! EM YÊU ANH !! EM YÊU ANH !!

CÙNG NHAU, MÌNH CÙNG NHAU, SẼ LÀ HAPPY ENDING

Anh nhỉ :* :* :* :* :* :* :*

P/s : 5 ngày nữa, chờ e nha anh, mình lại có dc ~ khoảnh khắc bên nhau…

Cà chua bi của anh J

(Đọc xg, đừng cười e nha, đừng chọc luôn, xí hổ lắm a’… )

———-

< Đọc lại, công nhận xí hổ thiệt (whew) >

De Hessejungs Warm up for 3 Years Ambulance Live Set

Mirror

Mirror

* I can’t figure  out how change the orientation of this picture I took of my Mining for gold poster- turn your head to check it out!! )*

I often have students Mining for Gold, or finding the Golden Lines in writing. I started the year off by exposing them to writing from all different genres and from professional writers to former students. I started by telling them that I was going to read a piece aloud, and they were to read along and then we were going to Mine foe Gold, or find the golden lines.

Mining For Gold

a passage, phrase or sentence that :

Makes you wonder

Makes you laugh

Makes you sad or upset

Connects with your life

Is your favorite

Sounds poetic

This is a simple warm up activity that I do a few days a week. At first the students didn’t really know what to say, and just commented if there was a grammatical error or word they didn’t understand. I  would always share the first few times, pointing out lines that stood out to me, words that resonated, etc…. As time went on, the student’s responses became much deeper. They were looking at the writing as a writer.

After a few weeks of just commenting on the work, we then moved to “next steps” for the writer. We would give suggestions that the writer could do to improve their piece. Now that we have written various pieces, I ask some students if I can put their writing piece on the Elmo*** to share with the class. Eventually I hope to have my students bring in their own passages to use golden lines.

***I always put the writing piece on my Elmo (if you don’t have one of these – do everything you can to get one- it’s my BEST Friend in the classroom! http://www.elmousa.com/).

Benefits Reported Using the CD

I get extraordinary energy after a long and hard day at work – Rajesh

My mind gets peaceful if I feel stressed out. It is thus a good de-stressor tool for me. When I feel lethargic in the morning, it gives me the required to energy for me to get up and do my day’s work without any problem – Tom.

Before any class, this CD simply rejuvenates and prepares the students to get ready for the class, especially for a Reiki class – Shobana

My sinus gets increased if I am emotionally upset. Thanks to the CD I could handle my cold without any medication. I guess it clears up any congestion in my Chakras – Harish

(To buy the CD contact  Shobana at 9884301634 (Chennai, India) or please send an email to REACHNARAN@GMAIL.COM)

Colours Effect on Chakras

Colour can offset negative stuff/situations. For example during Ragu Kalam (time) – the time when Ragu has a bad effect on us, if you wear a green dress then it can’t affect you.

Any problem in life indicates that one or more of our seven Chakras are imbalanced. Each of these Chakras emits certain colour and when there is a problem, the colour that is emitted from the Chakra will be less. This shows that the Chakra has less energy.

Let us see an example. A person weak who is weak willed and less assertive will have less energy in his Solar Plexus Chakra. If he prays to Sun God, to get the required colour Yellow and inhale it – visualizing the colour from Sun, then he can develop a strong will power.

Please refer to know on Colours effect on Chakras and Benefits Derived: http://colorhealing.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/colours-heals-chakras/

How do I know which Chakra is affected?

My life is in doldrums and how do I know which Chakra is imbalanced? You don’t have to know. Listen to the Solar Energy Meditation CD. It heals all the Chakras with least effort from your side.

How do Colour Meditation Heals the Chakras?

The relevant colour for each Chakra is generated by doing the solar energy meditation. The Chakras then gets stimulated, activated, expanded (then they can receive more energy) and balanced.

The CD is programmed to generate alpha waves to the listener. So you will go into a deep meditation automatically. Though, you need to concentrate on the words uttered in the guided meditation.

The affirmations in the CD prepare the Chakras to get ready to receive the healing energies from Sun God. You will get the colour you require for the need of the hour.

The Chakras are stimulated. Therefore, they are activated and will start performing to the optimum. Relevant colour prana is increased for each Chakra. The Chakras gets totally and fully energized. You will feel refreshed in the end.

How should I listen to the CD?

You don’t have to do anything. Sit and just listen to the CD. Your subconscious mind will follow the instructions provided in the CD.

When do I need the Colour Meditation CD?

If you are not a morning person

You get tired in the evenings

You stress out easily

You are emotional and have stress related diseases like cold, fatigue syndrome and heart disease.

You want to balance your Chakras.

You feel tired after so many night outs or night shifts and sleep during the day, but you feel lethargic.

CHIN UP Tone your upper body

Getting to be a top-class athlete involves perfecting techniques one at a time

Many a time I have had parents walk into my gym and demand a four-week programme to make their children faster athletes.

What about work ethic, consistency and years of nutritional habits and discipline? And does a child understand that working out entails healthy lifestyle habits and hard work? Once these two goals are understood then increasing performance, becoming a stronger athlete, or getting faster can all be achieved.

Here are some simple exercises for an athlete to implement into his/her programme to help increase speed and strength. Work on perfecting your technique in the gym, and progress to the next step only after you’ve mastered each specific movement first.

Warm-up

A warm-up will prevent injuries, increase mobility and flexibility, increase blood flow, prepare the body for the workout, and activate specific muscle structures. Examples: Knee raise pulls, leg swings, lunging, running high knees, running butt kicks, power skips, lateral shuffles, and some light strides.

Squatting variations

When your legs are stronger, you will run faster. Improve your lower body strength and you will see an increase in speed.

Examples: Split squats, front squats, lunging variations, single leg squats, and controlled step-ups.

Increase trunk strength

When you transfer power from your trunk to your legs and arms, you will be able to run faster.

Examples: Plank variations, side plank variations, chop/lift series

Increase upper body strength

When you strengthen the upper body, you can maintain a steady body position when you run. Also, with more powerful arms and shoulders, you will be able to drive your arms at a more powerful rate. Arm drive is crucial to running faster.

Examples: Chin-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, alternating dumbbell press, any rowing or pressing variations.

Increase your power

Start with a basic plyometric programme. Get your athletes to jump and land soft with perfect mechanics.

Also, implement medicine ball training into your programme. Medicine ball exercises are a great way to increase your power and explosiveness. Introduce weight-lifting exercises with proper guidance.

(The author is CSCS (NSCA), C.H.E.K. and an expert trainer)

Body weight warm up

Overhead Squats

Snatch Pulls from Floor/weighted Dips SS

Power Snatch

Dumbbell Snatch

Rope Climbs to Finish

Check out the photos on the side bar!

Se tiver um vencedor nesse jogo, será o Flamengo. Empate não interessa. O Patético é freguezão de carteirinha. Em jogos decisivos, então, nem se fala. Já tremeu no Maraca quando era líder e vai tremer mais uma vez, junto com o Mineirão. Mengão 3X2, dois do Impera, um, de falta, do Pet.

Flamengo até morrer.

Speaker ?  french men leaders

Occasion ? world war I , french losing troops 

Audience ? young men 

Purpose ? to get people in the war with love

Subject ? war , leaving ,lust 

Tone ?    flirty , shy , romantic

Gardening is like any exercise; you need to warm up first there are a few basic rules to avoid back pain when you garden.

Warm Up First
Don’t go straight into heavy garden work, start off with lighter jobs first or do some stretching before you begin, this will reduce the chance of a muscle strain Don’t do stretches first – they can weaken muscles. You are better off to do some gently exercises that use your muscles in a way that is similar to the activity you are about to do. For example shoulder strengthening exercises if you are going to cut a hedge – but don’t forget the importance of core stability when you are using your shoulders..
Avoid twisting
If you have to use a ladder for any of your gardening tasks make sure you are always facing it. Rather than lean or reach, take the time to move it regularly
When using the ladder, always keep your shoulders, hips and knees pointing in the same direction
Clever pruning
Get as close as possible to the things you are pruning; avoid overstretching to reach the area you are dealing with
Invest in some long handled secateurs to reach plants and bushes that are beyond normal reach
Take a break
Vary your activity; spend no more than 20-30 minutes on any thing and take regular breaks. It is repetitive tasks that cause the problems
Be clever with your lifting
If lifting or laying slabs, rocks or sleepers, keep the load close to your body and bend your knees!

Remember it is better to get help lifting at home than to get help out of the car when you are in too much pain because you have lifted badly

Plan ahead
If you are planning a trip to the local garden centre or DIY store and buying heavy items, such as cement or gravel, buy smaller bags rather than one big bag as they are easier and safer to carry

REMEMBER, PAIN IS A WARNING SIGN – DON’T IGNORE IT – TAKE A BREAK

However, if you do overdo it with the trowel – don’t panic! A Chiropractor specializes in high quality individual care which will involve a thorough examination to establish what tissues you have injured and what is the best treatment to ensure you recover as quickly as possible. They use tailored rehabilitation protocols to complement chiropractic care so you can avoid the problem recurring when you go back into the garden. Chiropractors are trained to assess the underlying causes of joint, muscle and nerve injuries and provide effective treatment using a wide range of drug-free techniques to relieve pain, restore movement and prevent further problems.