Things To Do Under The Shower

It’s not what you think ok? It’s about stretching.

Too many of us “complain” we have no time to stretch. Well, beginning today you can incorporate stretching in your other daily “must do” habits.

And for stretches, doing them under the shower is actually good as they release tension faster and they are also warm and ready for a stretch.

Some safety stuff: showers are slippery so you might want to sit to do some of the stretches or all of them so you don’t injure yourself.

So here are a few things you can do while you shower

Be mindful of your posture

Hahaha, thought you got away. Nope, the more aware we are of our posture and body weight distribution the better.

So stop slouching. Relax your shoulders. What makes the greatest changes in life are the habits you do when no one is watching.

It’s difficult sometimes to hold your posture, I know very well. But if we want to make any difference in the way we feel we must make an effort, just at the beginning until the habits become automatic. It will be worth it in the end.

Read my blog post on Posture: 3 Awesome Benefits Of A Great Posture

Stretch your toes and fingers…one by one

This the the best feeling ever. And it’s not only me saying this. My clients and my readers stretch their finger and toes and they feel amazing as well.

Imagine your fingers all day tensed after tipping, carrying, throwing, catching and, in my case punching. Toes are the same, curled up in shoes (particularly high heel shoes…ouch!), walking, running. They need to stretch and relax.

Stretch your wrists

Pretty straight forward:

– bend your wrist and push one at a time with the free hand, to feel the stretch on top of the wrist

– palm facing up, push the fingers and palm down and pull them towards you, to feel the stretch on the opposite side

– palm facing down, pull the hand towards you (slowly); elbow tucked in; drive your thumb towards your body

– palm facing down, pull the hand towards you (slowly); elbow tucked in; drive your palm and little finger towards towards your body

Breathing exercises

Here I actually have a chapter of my upcoming book, Breathing Mastery, available for free download.

Take the linear and triangle breathing techniques and practice them.

And if you want to know why correct deep breathing techniques are important, check out my blog: 16 benefits of deep breathing. Among them we have:

Relaxes the mind and brings clarity, focus, allows room for more creativity and productivity.
Helps detoxify your body.
Relieves emotional struggles, calms you down in moments of panic and anxiety.
Assists in weight control. More oxygen to your tissues burns up the excess fat more efficiently.
Improves cellular regeneration.
Encourages good posture. When you slouch notice how your body closes up and your breathing becomes shallow. Then you take a deep breath, your chest comes out and your body naturally straightens.

Stretch the sides of your body

I have a couple of pictures of you here:

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (10)

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (11)

Stretch your neck

Stretch your forearm, shoulder and triceps

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (2)

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (3)

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (1)

Stretch your shoulders and chest

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (4)

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (5)

The Merisoiu Stretch (of course)

I must remind you here about safety on slippery surfaces. You can do this after you come out of the shower, better.

May 28, 2015

What To Do When You Are Short On Time To Train

If you don’t feel amazing then you will not be able to make others around you feel amazing either.

And to feel amazing you must look after your health. And part of that is movement. Not workout, not exercise but movement.

What’s the difference

Well training, circuits and training systems all have their place. As a qualified Personal Trainer I know the importance of a properly designed training program. It’s a must if you work towards a goal and need to make proper progress.

However I also advocate for creativity, flow and the pleasure or pure, simple movement. Sometimes it’s good to break the pattern, to stop counting sets and reps and just allow your body and mind to be creative.

So that’s movement and what I coach.

The benefits

Whether it’s simple movement, a properly structured training routine, a sport or just walking through the forest, crawling under tree trunks and up steep hills the core benefits are the same:

• Energy. My mother says it’s like an energy drink. She hasn’t done any type of movement in over 30 years! and how she started running, 1 min at a time.
• Reduce stress, anger, frustration, depression name it. And if you also do stretching and Fluid Movement you also reduce physical stress.
• It leads to other healthy habits, such as nutrition and healthy, quality sleep. They will automatically begin to change for the better when you start training.
• Done regularly it lowers risk of many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke according to NHS
• Boost self-esteem, mood, sleep quality and energy

You got the picture. You will feel amazing and you will make others around you feel amazing.

“If exercise were a pill, it would be one of the most cost-effective drugs ever invented,” says Dr Nick Cavill, a health promotion consultant.

[tweetthis]“If exercise were a pill, it would be one of the most cost-effective drugs ever invented,” Dr Nick Cavill[/tweetthis]

When you are short on time

Ok you have your business or are very busy at work and cannot fit a 1h or 30min full training or movement routine.

That’s fine. Because remember the things which will create a massive difference in your lie are small habits done on a consistent basis.

So when you have 5 min or 10 min you could do the following:

• A quick, short and classic routine: 50 star jumps, 30 press-ups, 30 squats, 1 min plank, 1 min side planks left and right, and add other exercises as needed depending on the time you have. Need help to decide what to do? You just need to ask, click here.

• Incorporate movement in your daily routine. This is my favourite. Here are a few examples:
o crawl upstairs
o balance on one leg when brushing your teeth (careful this can lead to injury though)
o before you sit down to have your meal do 30 squats
o crawl/inverse crawl/jump/frog jump around the house between rooms, if possible

• Stretch throughout the day.
You may think “ah stretching is no worth, it’s not going to help me with anything”. I must disagree and say you are wrong here. Stretching, unwinding your body is imperative to reduce physical and psychological stress. And if you bring in Fluid Movement that’s even better as it will release more tension in the bosy. So stretch often throughout the day.

Here’s what you can begin with. The stretch I teach all my students.

• Deep breathing exercises.
Ok, now why would I want you to do this? Well there are about 16 reasons why breathing exercises are important for your physical and psychological health.For example:

o improves and maintains your cardiovascular capacity.
o helps you heal faster by directing the breathe into areas of the body where there are injuries and illnesses.
o relaxes the mind and brings clarity, focus, allows room for more creativity and productivity.
o encourages good posture. When you slouch notice how your body closes up and your breathing becomes shallow. Then you take a deep breath, your chest comes out and your body naturally straightens.

Read all the other awesome benefits of practicing deep breathing, here.

Breathing exercises

And here are two deep breathing exercises to begin with:

Step 1. Make sure you breathe correctly, that means when you breathe in you make your stomach big, when you breathe out you pull your stomach in.

Step 2. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth

Step 3. The exercise. Let’s take 4 seconds as count for breathing in, out and holds. You can adjust them to fit your level:

Linear breathing technique

I use this as a warm up for the others.

– BREATHE IN through your nose on a count of 4
– BREATHE OUT through your nose on a count of 4.
– Repeat

Triangle breathing technique

Imagine an equilateral triangle. It has 3 equal sides

– BREATHE IN through your nose on a count of 4.
– HOLD on a count of 4.
– BREATHE OUT through your nose on a count of 4.
– No hold after this one. Repeat

Adjust the in breathe, out breathe and holds according to your level.

More advances breathing techniques are square, rectangle, therapeutic breathing.

I can give you more ideas but just try one of these and see how they work out for you.

__________________________________________________________

Alexandra Merisoiu is the Founder and Coach at Urban Women Fitness and creator of The Merisoiu Technique.

She works with professional women in their 30’s and 40’d helping them to relieve stress and take them feeling overwhelmed and exhausted to feeling energized, enthusiastic and transformed.

Her HODs (Habits Of The Day) series helps you

★ Change the way you feel physically & emotionally, for the better
★ Reduce aches and pains (shoulders, back, neck etc) and feel excellent in your own body
★ Be more calm, patient, focused and productive
★ Build discipline and learn to be consistent
And it’s a step by step process

To sign up for Alexandra’s 28 Days HODs, click here

May 8, 2015

Why I Stand For 1h30m Training Sessions

Ever since I began practicing Karate, 20 years ago, I learnt that training is at least 1h30min long. Not 1h, not 45 min. And I kept it this way. Here I will explain WHY this is so important.

Today we have all sorts of sessions. And they are all good. They target different things, mostly weight loss or general fitness. And I agree with them all.

However, what they also do is turn us into little robots. Sorry…but the attitude of “get in and get out” is like programming a machine.

What is the general 1h training:

1. Rush inside the gym with the sole purpose of exercising and leave as quickly as you can. This is called “me time”

2. Warm up 10min

3. Stretching 5 min… most people don’t even remember that. That’s not even half of I do with my clients

4. Main session. This is usually a circuit of general exercises to target specific goals. The circuit, in many situations, is not actually broken into small pieces and each exercise explained thoroughly: how not to injure yourself, why that’s important, what muscles you are working and how to BREATH

5. Cool down and stretch….maybe….5min??? Noooo…..that’s not enough. And most importantly the exercises in the main session seldom improve mobility and flexibility. Read here why they are so important.

6. Rush out the door

So much rush and lack of attention and focus leads to all these injuries we see everyone suffer from. I’m not saying that not rushing will definitely lead to no injuries, ever. But the risk is far greater when we rush.

What a 1h30min session does:

1. Brings you THERE. Not just your body, that’s not enough, you are there with the mind. You are focused and prepared. That’s a true “me time”. This can be done through meditation or some deep breathing exercises (which by the way helps with warming up your body besides many other benefits).

2. Warm up, without rushing, ok…..that can be 10 min

3. Stretching 20 min!! Yes, 20 min if your training has a limited number of exercises which improve flexibility and mobility as well as working towards your final goal

4. Technique. Before the killer cardio session you go through ALL exercises which will be in the session. You break them down to its smallest elements. You adjust and make sure your body understands how to move and what to expect. This way you reduce the risk of injuries….a lot.

5. Cardio session. This is where you put into application what you practiced earlier.

6. Cool down and stretching, 20 min stretching again. If your session had elements of mobility and flexibility it can be shorter. But most routines don’t. Many of them tighten muscles and with 5 min stretching you are no actually doing too much.

And these are only the basics 😉

Benefits of such long sessions

I train myself and my clients like this all the time and here’s what happens

1. It takes you about 20 min to get out of the rushing world and work/family related thoughts. The world full of noise and clutter and into a moment of peace and focus dedicated to yourself. That’s the “me moment”. Twenty minutes.

2. Reduce the risk of injuries because you actually warm up properly, stretch and you go through technique. You understand how to move your body, how to adjust, why you are doing all those things you chose to do.

3. Your Coach is not rushed when explaining the elements of good posture, breathing and efficient body use which can make the greatest difference in reaching your goals and protecting your body. If they do explain these at all

4. You get the most out of your Coaches’ knowledge. Knowledge which you can take home and apply yourself whether in your individual training or daily life (like posture and breathing for example).

5. NO RUSH. I cannot stress this enough. We are always on the run. We NEVER ever have time. There is enough time. You can make time. You can stretch time. If you only take a moment… and breathe

6. You pay attention. Rushing around will only cause chaos, mistakes and injuries in your mind and body. Is a hardcore training worth all that? Causing your body extreme pain (the wrong kind of pain). Pay attention to yourself, your body, your movement and the world around you and you will be HAPPIER, FITTER and HEALTHIER

[tweetthis]Cultivate the art of attention and focus and your life will change[/tweetthis]

These are some benefits from the top of my head. But these 1h30min sessions are priceless for me as a Coach and my clients. They get the very best of me and my knowledge.

I have time to explain every little details, building strong foundations for 12 weeks before I let them go knowing they know what to do by themselves in the correct way.

April 15, 2015August 26, 2015

Why Your Flexibility Today Is Different From Yesterday

Sometimes we can stretch one day and feel very, very flexible and mobile. Then the next day we notice we cannot do the same things anymore.

Like touching your toes, it can be so difference from one day to another. And then you think that the first time was just a one time thing and you are disappointed.

You shouldn’t be. There are a few things that can influence your flexibility and mobility from one day to another. Yep, that fast.

But that doesn’t mean you lost your flexibility or mobility. It also doesn’t mean you should not work on them constantly.

Mobility vs Flexibility

Before I go any further I’d like to point out the difference between flexibility and mobility. We use these words a lot but how many of you know the difference?

• MOBILITY is the ability to move or be moved freely and easily. MOBILITY is an indication of how well and efficiently we move.
FLEXIBILITY is the quality of bending easily without breaking. FLEXIBILITY is a component of MOBILITY.

• MOBILITY deals with how loose you feel, or how stiff you feel.
FLEXIBILITY deals with muscles length

• MOBILITY is about the whole picture, how easily the body can move.
FLEXIBILITY is specific to a particular movement or joint and it can vary around the body.

What may affect your flexibility and mobility from one day to another.

These factors DO NOT apply to everyone. The reason I am listing some of them is for you to understand what’s happening whenever you feel like you’ve lost flexibility. In fact you probably haven’t lost it, it’s just temporary.

• Weather – warm weather will help your flexibility

• How you feel – emotions leave an imprint on our bodies in the form of muscle tensions.

• Type of workout – natural movement training such as the ones I do with my clients, although may be challenging) encourage flexibility and mobility. A high intensity interval training, or otherwise called HIIT, may cause your muscles to tighten up.

• How warm your muscles are

• If you’ve workout the day before – you may be in recovery mode and your body may feel stiffer. Again here it depends on the type of workout as well

• Sleeping patterns – sleeping is the only time your body recovers and heals in a natural way. the only time. a good rest, not necessarily long one, will help your body in terms of flexibility and mobility.

• How you use breathing in your stretches – breathing is again a very overlooked elements in training and many coaches do not teach breathing patterns and techniques. How you breath can determine how efficient your workout is. Proper breathing when stretching can increase your mobility and flexibility while incorrect breathing can lead to pain and injuries.

• Diet – to thrive your body needs quality food. you release toxicity from your joints, your muscles and your body, you become more flexible

• Hormones

• Age (or so they say) – I personally do not agree with this. I have many examples of people in their 50’s and 60’s who are more flexible than I am (that doesn’t make me feel good, but that’s the truth). You work on flexibility, you keep your bofy flexible

• Fashion – high heels for example can tighten and shorten muscles and tendons in your toes, foot, ankle, calves. Or jeans that are too tight can restrict blood circulation.

There are so many things we overlook when we work with our bodies. And many PT’s and Coaches fail to point them out thinking you don’t need to know these things.

I believe your should be aware of everything that causes your body to change in any way. It’s your body after all.

You don’t need to become a health coach but you should be aware of what’s happening so you can better understand your body and look after it better and with more patience.

Yesterday I held a live webinar on flexibility and mobility to take your body from shut down to fully functional and age gracefully. There are also practical stretches there which you can use while sitting at your desk….simple.

January 12, 2015January 15, 2015

How to stretch your fingers and toes and why

This is a question I received from a reader of my ebook “15 Healthy Habits For The Body”. One of the habits I mentioned in it is to stretch your fingers and toes.

There are many ways to stretch fingers and toes. By stretching your fingers, toes and consequently wrists and ankles you:

– improve the blood circulation to those areas

– you relax your tendons, ligaments, muscles which leads to relaxation further up the arm or leg and better connectivity to the hands/fingers, feet/toes

– reduce the risk of plantar fascia or carpal tunnel syndrome

– improve range of movement in your hands, wrists, feet, ankles and thus freedom of movement

Today I will talk about 3 ways to stretch your toes or fingers.

1. To stretch your fingers. Stretch your arm out in front of you, without bending it and with fingers facing down (as much as it goes alone without pressure).

Take each finger and slowly pull it down and towards you. When you reach the thumbs it gets a bit tangled. For a good thumb stretch follow these 3 steps:

Step 1: place the back of your hands together, so that one palm faces you, one palm faces away from you. The hand facing you will be the hand you will stretch. Both thumbs are now next to each other. Got that?

Step 2: now wrap the thumb and the index finger of the hand facing away from you around the thumb you will stretch (that is the hand facing you)

Step 3: slowly start pull the thumb down

Repeat on the other hand

2. To stretch your toes, one at a time, sit down with your knee close to your chest so you can reach your toes. Then simply take on toe at a time and slowly pull it towards you.

This is the stretch I use mostly because it is easier to control. There is no body weight on them and you stretch as far as you feel comfortable.

3. Another method to stretch your toes is to kneel, and sit on your heels with your toes tucked in. This is a great stretch for toes and sole of the foot. This can be a deep stretch and sometimes painful if the range of movement in the toes is limited.

4. For fingers, instead of stretching one at a time you can stretch them all in the same time by holding your palm facing up and slowly pulling your fingers down towards the floor. This one will stretch all fingers except the thumb. For thumbs use the technique at point 1.

However, because every finger has a different range of mobility some may stretch less or more than others.

Try these stretches, let me know how you get along and if you need any further guidance. Practice the finger stretches especially if you type a lot. Take 30 sec from time to time and stretch your fingers. It will make a big difference.

And remember Be Mindful

If you’d like to learn more please download my free eBook “15 Healthy Habits For The Body” or book a free consultation with me.