Tag Archives: handstands

Healthy Bones for Handstands, Marathons and More #BeActiv

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TheFitFork BeActive Handstsand

Can you believe we are already a month into  2015?! If you’ve already set some goals for the New Year, take a few minutes to check in and see if you’re on track. No goals yet? No worries, it’s never too late to state your intentions for living a healthier, happier, more productive and ACTIVE life. Don’t know where to start? I’ll take the first step down the path by sharing some of my non-negotiable goals for living well —- Eat Clean, Drink Water, Move More, Stress Less and Sleep Better.

Healthy Living Inspiration

When I rattle off this list it amazes me how interwoven these intentions are – each one affecting the outcome of other. For example, I know when I’m having a lot of stress and don’t sleep well, I also don’t eat well. Or, when I’m not drinking enough water, my head doesn’t feel clear and my body doesn’t want to perform. I know I won’t attain perfection every day. . . make that ANY day – but I having this list in my head will keep me from taking too many rabbit trails and falling off a cliff.

Viactiv Calcium Chews an Gummies - TheFitFork.com

One tool in helping me reach my goals to #BeActiv is to supplement my clean-eating diet in any areas were there may be a deficit. Even though I eat dairy products and do plenty of weight-bearing exercise, getting enough calcium is a biggie with me — especially since I’m getting older, have had a stress fracture in the past, and my own mother has been diagnosed with osteopenia. While it’s important to get vitamins and minerals from real food sources, sometimes an extra boost is required. That’s why I take Viactiv Calcium Chews and Gummies– to ensure that I’m getting the recommended amount of daily calcium for bone health based on my age. I was so surprised to find out that 70% of adult women aren’t getting enough calcium – and teen girls are even worse off with 85% in a deficit.

Viactiv knows that being active means different things for different people, and my journey isn’t yours. For example, I want to “Move More” and #BeActive – for me, that means learning some new yoga poses, stepping it up in CrossFit and having fun running. You may be interested in gardening, taking hikes or entering a triathlon.

Keep your bones strong for what YOU want to do! Viactiv has a several products to help you meet your daily calcium intake. Viactiv Calcium Soft Chews have been my favorite for a while, these individually-wrapped calcium supplements provide 100% of the daily calcium requirement for most women and also include vitamins V & D. Available in milk chocolate, caramel and sugar-free milk chocolate flavors, these chewy tabs are a tasty way supplement your healthy diet and bone strengthening exercises.

Viactiv Gummies are another great option for calcium supplementation – these gluten-free, dairy-free gummies come in assorted fruit flavors. Two gummies offer 100% of the daily value of calcium along with vitamin D, which helps the body better absorb calcium.

Enter the #BeActive with Viactiv sweepstakes at http://bit.ly/1E4Lytt through 2/26/2015 for achance to win retailer gift cards, wearable fitness technology and Viactiv products.

You can find Viactiv in stores like CVS, Rite Aid, Target, Walgreens and Walmart. For more information about Viactiv and to learn more about keeping bones strong, visit http://www.Viactiv.com  #BeActiv

This is a product-provided, sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Viactiv . The opinions and text are all mine.

How Did I Flippin’ Get Talked Into a CrossFit Gymnastics WOD!

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Yesterday I got schooled on sideshow tricks and such at a CrossFit Gymastics Seminar hosted at Fit and Fearless CrossFit in Austin.  Teaching us mere mortals these super-human skills was the intrepid and, might I add, impressively-strong-but-not-hulkishly-muscular, Matthew Willis from Texas Parkour.  Apparently he knows his stuff, even trained with the super agile Carl Paoli of Gymnastics WOD. I noticed that Matthew has this quote on his Facebook page, it’s a good one to keep in mind when you’re 45 like me and trying gymnastics again after 30 years —

“It’s not how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up that really matters.”

After warming up, our first challenge of the day was Diving Monkey Push Up (aka Parkour Pushup).  Seriously, when I heard the name, I wasn’t so sure this was for me and honestly, for my scrappy arms, it was one of the hardest moves of the day – my triceps were already killing me going into it.  The move is like a kipping push up and is supposed to be performed in a fluid manner, to the chopping start and stopping I found myself doing.  I’ll have to practice this all month until I have it down, but check out Valerie and Matthew working the progression:

Next, we took a little crash reminder course in the importance of keeping a Hollow Body position for many of the upcoming tricks. You have to master this “core” concept before you can move onto many of the more complex skills like kipping pull-ups and muscle-ups.  Watch how the demonstrator in the video below gets proper form by tucking head up slightly, rounding back so shoulder blades are off the ground, abs and glutes are engaged tightly, and legs are squeezed together all the way together down to the toes – now rock it!

 

We took this hollow body skill off the floor and practiced it on the bar in preparation for kipping pull-ups. Since I’ve already got this pull up skill down for the most part, I did appreciate the tips on releasing grip and re-catching grip on the upswing. Watch below I’m hanging on to my last few kipping pull-ups on quivering arms after a long morning of hard work. Video is sideways and I can’t figure out how to flip it, go figure.

On to handstands, my main takeaway was to remember to keep my hands pointed forward for better balance and to engage shoulders and core as much as possible.  Also, we practiced a front roll out as a graceful way to get out of the handstand pose if we kicked over too much.  Maybe not so graceful for me; I used to be able to flip around, walk on my hands, and all sorts of stuff – now I’m just freaked out about hurting my neck and back. But, I’m not saying I can’t do it; that would mean a 10 burpee punishment!

Finally, we showed off with our favorite tricks like one-armed handstands (holla), walking on hands, kipping handstand push-ups and more. The only thing we didn’t get to practice was a skill I’ve been trying to master for six months – the muscle up.

Jennifer and Linda rocking out the one-armed handstand!