Sunday table

We're having 7oz chicken breasts marinated in fresh Valencia orange juice, cilantro, leaves from a sprig of oregano and a minced chipotle pepper. Then grilled with a cocoa (unsweetened) and spice rub (cinnamon, grey salt, coriander, cloves, nutmeg & white pepper-smells good).

The chicken is served over a blend of ramps, shallot, garlic, fiddle head fern, a jalapeno, smoked bacon, morels, roasted corn and black beans.

For desert a Greek yogurt parfait with banana and fresh strawberries.

Move, move, move.

Recently I have found that many people are not happy with their personal trainer. I was surprised at the comments I was getting about trainers. It wasn't that they weren't getting results or paying too much it was that they walked away from a session believing they had accomplished nothing.

Well I can understand that because I don't look like a Hollywood trainer. I'm not skinny as a rail, have a buff bod and I don't have perfect teeth. You know, like the models you see in sportswear ads. The issue I found is that trainers try to inspire people but they deflate their accomplishments in hopes that their client will want more. Here's something I know, when you lose weight you want to lose more [if you can].

Success brings more success, it's that momentum swing you see in sport. All of a sudden a game just changes regardless of the score. As trainers we won't train that out of you, we'll build on it. The approach we have with people is keep moving and life will be more fun. Our philosophy with our adult clients is "the most fun you'll have all day" and the benefit you receive is a bonus. We want people to enjoy training, we encourage them to try new things and "that beats working" our other philosophy. Even if you like your job a new challenge always invigorates you.

So if you find that you want to loss some weight, get stronger or just have more fun than you'll have all day get up and move!

My ride on Saturday --The Tour of Long Beach

What's on your table tonight?

We're going to have baked salmon with a mango relish, roasted root vegetables with fresh herbs and green salad.

7oz Sockeye salmon fillet baked with olive oil, salt, pepper and a little fresh garlic.

Relish is 1 mango chopped, with 1 Serrano pepper finely chopped (only half the seeds), cilantro chopped, 1/4 of a small onion chopped, 1 lg tomatillo chopped, 1 Roma tomato shelled and chopped (mostly for color), Salt-pepper to taste and juice from 1 lime. mixed and refrigerated.

Roasted vegetables, 3 small white potatoes, 6 baby red potatoes, 1 cup cut yams, 1.5 cup butternut squash, 1 small onion cut into quarters, 1 clove garlic (just to make the house smell good), 1 lg carrot sliced, hand-full of cherry tomatoes (for sweetness), 6 small brown mushrooms add some fresh basil, Greek and Italian oregano, rosemary and thyme, salt/pepper and olive oil. roast it!

Green salad-Mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, avocado, English cucumber, red onion champagne vinegar, olive oil salt/pepper, herbs. we're good.

Functional Movement for Kids

The other day I was visiting a friend and her one year-old daughter. While we were talking her daughter walked over and was eying a textbook on the floor (NSCA Essentials of Personal Training). If you know that text, you know that it is not a light book.

We watched her as she approached the book opened it and turned a couple pages. Then she closed the book, squat (full), grabbed the book on both sides and did a perfect deadlift holding the book. I even pointed out the shin angle as she stood up perfectly. Now that little girl is strong!

So what's my point. Kids, little kids do a lot of movements correctly. It's only as we age, we cheat and set ourselves up for reduced range of motion [ROM], and injury. Proper ROM is important in developing strength. For example, it is always a struggle to get teenage boys to lift properly. Many of them want to "move weight" as apposed to get strong. That's exactly the way I explain it to them. Little kids are not ego driven. They want to do it and their body tells them how.

Teenagers [that's where it starts] cheat in order to move more weight, so they can say they [insert lift] more that the could if the do it correctly. For example ever see a teenage boy arch his back when he bench presses? What about watching a kid power clean with too much weight? You close your eyes and hope the disc from his back doesn't shoot out and hit you in the head.

Now if you want to watch proper movements roll a ball to a one or two year-old. Watch how they full squat, yes full squat to get in position to lift the ball. It's only after some adult tells you, not to full squat you stop going through that ROM and limiting your ROM. The real issue is the load you move through that any ROM. Think about this; can you lift more weight properly when you do a quarter or half squat? Duh, quarter squat. Now compare the half to a full squat. Now that's what I mean by load, take some weight off the bar so you can get stronger!

Now back to the one year-old. When toddlers lift look at the shin angle to the floor and where are the shoulders and back. Everything is in order. It is because our body works that way. No one had to say "back flat and push through the heels." Little kids just do it correctly.

So if you want to help develop your child's athletic or physical ability teach them to skip [moving or in-place], balance on one foot [add hand movement or toss a ball while they balance], skip rope or do jumping jacks [change the arm and leg movements for variety]. Those movement will put your child ahead of many and don't for get to let them go through full ROM when doing different movements. If you want to improve your own athletic or physical ability mimic the movements of a child, less is more.