http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
It’s prime picnic and barbecue season and, for the Pioneer Woman, that means deviled eggs. In the “Pickup Picnic” episode of her Food Network show, Ree Drummond spread out a massive tailgate picnic that included spicy chicken, baked beans, mocha brownies, and what she called “the most delicious deviled eggs you’ll ever taste.”
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
The biggest misconception about eating a balanced diet — full of fruits and vegetables — is that it’s expensive. It really doesn’t have to be! You just have to know where to shop. I’ve managed to pinpoint a few inexpensive (yet quality!) stores, and that’s helped me save more than $500 in just the last year alone.
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Kitchn’s Delicious Links column highlights recipes we’re excited about from the bloggers we love. Follow along every weekday as we post our favorites.
If you’re looking for a way to spice up the dinner rotation this week, we’ve got you covered with these sweet-yet-spicy firecracker chicken meatballs from Little Spice Jar. And if you have no idea what firecracker sauce is, you’re in good company — I had no idea until Associate Food Editor Kelli developed a recipe for these mouthwatering firecracker chicken thighs. Now I see the light!
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Rich and creamy cheesecake bars kissed with lemon and studded with sweet, juicy berries are the answer to what to serve to your favorite people this 4th of July. With a quick press-in graham cracker crust, a simple cream cheese base, and a short trip to the oven, they couldn’t be easier to make. These hand-held bars are a treat fit for a celebration.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Whisks can be tough to clean. All those skinny tines are great for emulsifying a vinaigrette or beating eggs whites, but they create lots of hard-to-reach spots to clean later. And especially when you’re cooking with bacteria-prone foods (like eggs!) or clingy, oily ones (like olive oil!), you really want to make sure your whisk gets thoroughly cleaned.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time wedging soapy sponges between the tines, trying to clean each one off individually. But I’ve frequently worried that I was still missing something, especially in the narrowest spots where the tines connect to the handle. (And if it’s a wooden handle, you can’t exactly put it in the dishwasher! Or maybe you don’t have a dishwasher?)
So when I heard about this trick, a light bulb went off for me. It’s so simple, and yet so effective!
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Costco’s food court has quite the reputation. The $1.50 hot dog combo and robot-built pizza slices get all the press, so maybe you missed the true winner on the menu board: the chicken bake, of course!
Chunky chicken pieces tossed with bits of bacon and creamy Caesar dressing, wrapped stromboli-style in pizza dough — the sleeper hit of Costco’s food court was steeped in mystery, until recently, and now you can actually make them at home.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
There are certain things in life that simply aren’t worth messing with, and a classic strawberry smoothie is one of them. When juicy strawberries, a ripe banana, and tangy yogurt combine, it makes for a not-too-sweet, not-too-fussy smoothie — one that’s great for breakfast or a snack.
There’s not a chia, hemp, or flax seed in sight, and I love that you can count the ingredients on one hand. Yes, it’s the smoothie your kids want, but it’s also the smoothie you secretly want — one that’s pure and simple, and all about the fruit.
https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/
The basic goals of a warm-up are to prepare the body for exercise and to decrease the chance of injury during training. But on top of that, it’s also great time to start to shift your focus away from everything else in life, and to instead mentally prepare for your upcoming workout. A well-designed warm-up that includes diaphragmatic breathing, general mobility work and activation of main muscle groups also provides the additional benefits of reinforcing alignment, encouraging better breathing patterns and building efficient movement patterns.
A proper warm-up should prepare you for training not just physically, but mentally as well.
Components of an ideal warm-up include and should follow this order:
You may not always have time (or need) to do an ideal warm-up, so while all of these elements have their place, it’s up to you at each training session to determine what you need most that day. As some elements from the above list are marked optional, prioritize the ones that aren’t, namely diaphragmatic breathing and core-pelvic floor connection breathing, as well as dynamic warm-up and movement preparation.
Self-myofascial release (SMR) is performed using one of several tools — such as a foam roller — and allows you to use pressure to self-massage soft tissue, most often muscle tissue.
Soft tissue includes the tissues in the body that are softer than bone tissue: muscle, tendons, ligaments, fascia, skin, fat, vessels (blood and lymph), peripheral nerves, and the fluid and tissue in your joints (synovial tissue). Despite being called soft tissue, many of these tissues are not that soft at all. They are very strong structures that are difficult to mechanically alter in shape or structure, and contrary to popular belief, SMR does not lengthen things like fascial tissue.
Foam rolling can be a simple and effective way to begin to shift your focus from whatever activity you were doing before your workout (sitting at a desk, commuting, sleeping, etc.) to an “it’s time to work out” mindset.
Self-myofascial release has been shown to improve range of motion, decrease muscle soreness, and decrease fatigue. If you have chronic pain or feel stiff, tight, or tense in certain areas, you may find some relief and may feel more mobile after a short bout of foam rolling in a few targeted areas before your workout.
However, there is some evidence that doing a lot of foam rolling prior to training may dampen the central nervous system (the exact opposite of what should be happening before a workout). So, if you enjoy foam rolling before your workout, choose a few targeted areas and foam roll each of them for 20 to 60 seconds before your workout using light to moderate pressure.
While you may experience some discomfort when rolling, know that SMR work should not be painful.
If you enjoy longer foam rolling sessions, or want to apply deep pressure, you may want to spend more time after your resistance training session doing self-myofascial release work on the areas of the body you targeted with your most recent workout. You can also do more for recovery on your days when you’re not doing resistance training.
The Connection Breath helps you coordinate the functions of the core and pelvic floor muscles so that they work together to stabilize the core during resistance training exercises. Integrating the Connection Breath into your warm-up is a fantastic way to increase awareness of how your pelvic floor engages during your workout.
Follow our three-step “Ready, Set, Go” protocol to make sure you are performing Kegels and the Connection Breath effectively:
Mastering your alignment is the first step to getting your body ready for pelvic floor exercises.
Many people consider alignment to mean the same thing as posture, but alignment goes beyond your mom telling you to sit up straight or to pull your shoulders back when you were a kid. It is more accurate to say that alignment is how the joints and bones stack up to create posture.
The top of pelvis should not be tilted too far forward (anteriorly tilted) or too far backward (posteriorly tilted). Ideally, it should be stacked right in the middle with the rib cage sitting over the pelvis. Just right. In the same way, alignment should not require much muscular work — don’t “hold” yourself in position, rather allow your body to relax into better alignment.
Consider these tips when assessing and improving your alignment:
Your alignment from Step 1 allows your breath to flow easily and allows for better activation of your deeper muscle system.
With that, let’s review something that you thought you already knew how to do: breathe. Proper breathing patterns ensure that you’re recruiting the core muscles as a unit. The core starts from the diaphragm, goes all the way down to the pelvic floor muscles, and is surrounded by the abdominal and spinal muscles.
To practice proper breathing:
Building on Steps 1 and 2, use your breath to connect your core and pelvic floor with the Connection Breath. It’s extremely important for all of the pelvic floor musculature to release and contract effectively.
To perform the Connection Breath:
Remember, the relaxation occurs on the inhale, and the contraction occurs on the exhale. If the relaxation portion seems tricky at first, forgo the contraction and continue working on the relaxation.
Practice the Connection Breath in your day-to-day life as well as in the gym. It’s best to practice daily, especially when starting out. You will learn core and pelvic floor connection in your training program, but performing these breaths on your days away from the gym is important, too. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes. Eventually you won’t have to think about it so much, and it will happen automatically when you need to lift, sneeze, sprint, laugh, or exert yourself in any way.
As stated above, these muscles do not contract continuously, so it is just as important to be able to relax your pelvic floor muscles as it is to be able to contract them.
Cardio warm-ups are intended to shift the body from being in a resting state to being ready for more intense activity.
These shifts include, but are not limited to:
Unless you have a specific need or preference for this type of general activity before a workout, it may not be necessary. However, you may find that doing a short cardio warm-up helps you get into the right mindset. So, if you have the time to include one, it can be beneficial to include. If you’re preparing for a cardio-focused workout, it makes sense to prepare your body with a light, general cardio warm-up first.
This warm-up may include five to ten minutes of activities such as bodyweight movements, brisk walking, jogging, or any other type of low-exertion, full-body aerobic exercise.
Lastly, if you’re feeling more stressed than usual or are unable to focus mentally, doing a short cardio warm-up may be a good bridge between whatever you were doing before the training session and what you’re about to do.
The dynamic warm-up focuses more directly on preparing your joints, muscles, and movements prior to beginning a more intense training session. Research has found that dynamic warm-ups also have the potential to decrease muscle soreness after a workout (delayed onset muscle soreness; DOMS), improve flexibility, and improve strength [1].
The general goals of a well-designed dynamic warm-up are as follows:
How to Do a Dynamic Warm-UpIn general, we recommend six to ten exercises for a dynamic warm-up, depending on your needs, time constraints, and the workout you are about to do. You should choose a combination of movements that target mobility, connection, activation and stability. These exercises should allow you to move through the ranges of motion that you’ll be performing during your workout and prepare you for the more intense loads to come.
Once you have finished your dynamic warm-up, depending on the program you are following, you may perform a few warm-up sets of the exercises you will be doing in that workout using a lighter weight — or even just your bodyweight. The number of exercises and warm-up sets you do to prepare for the more intense training will depend on your schedule, as well as how heavy you are training that day and whether your workout is a full-body workout, upper-lower split workout, or body-part split workout.
A message from GGS…
Understanding how to get more results in less time so you actually enjoy exercise and can have a life outside of the gym isn’t hard, you just have to understand the Blueprint and be willing to trust the process.
The good news? It’s simpler than you think!
The post What Are the Components of a Great Warm-Up? appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.
http://www.thealternativedaily.com/
“Breath is the finest gift of nature. Be grateful for this wonderful gift,” says Amit Ray, the Indian author who has spent a lifetime advocating yoga, meditation and other spiritual practices. Breathing is so fundamental that we hardly need to think of it, but when it is impaired, it’s hard to think of anything else. […]
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