One of our Ask The Trainer questions from last week was about how to resolve lower back issues and our resident trainer Sydney Sloan’s answer … strengthen the core!

When I came across Craig Ballantyne’s Medicine Ball Ab Workout this morning, I just had to post it even though Wednesday is usually my “day off”. This was simply too good not to share and I’m going to test drive it myself today with my 2.5 lb medicine ball.

Learn more about Craig Ballantyne and his Turbulence Training program HERE.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

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… is, Kim, who registered on the Vote La Cense Beef Website under the user name Mountain Queen.

Congratulations Kim!

Your sampler package consisting of a Petit Sirloin and two hamburger patties will be packaged and shipped to you from La Cense Beef. Keep an eye out for these tasty treats and enjoy!

In his book In Defense Of Food, Michael Pollan suggests that we shouldn’t eat anything that our grandmother’s wouldn’t recognize as food.

The same can be applied to what we drink, which has resulted in my taking a very close look at my post-exercise supplementation.

I came across several studies comparing cows’ milk (whole milk, low-fat, skimmed and chocolate) to soy-based and commercial sports drinks (e.g, Gatorade, Powerade) and each supports cows milk as a good post-workout drink for both endurance and strength training.

In looking at the chemical make-up of milk, it contains casein and whey protein, carbohydrates, calcium, and a host of vitamins including D and B12.

That sums up yesterday’s run. It had been a few days since I last ran, so I wanted to get some miles in by doing an LSD around the Back Bay. Knowing it was going to be a warm day, I started a little after 7:30 AM. As I would find out later on, that was not early enough!

Overall the run was a normal run around the bay. At mile 6, I felt pretty good. My heart rate was right in line. Speed was slow, but still not bad (10:15 or so). Everything was going fine until about mile 9.

Last night was four more miles on the Lower Back Bay. I had some company for a change - my youngest son and my niece joined me. We got a late afternoon start and finished a 2 mile out and back just as it got dark.

I kept the pace slow and steady for the first three miles, but did air things out for the last mile, dropping my pace to 8:04. Statistics for the run - 4.2 miles total, 144 bpm average heart rate (80% MHR).

A study from the University of North Carolina discovered the people consume 450 calories a day from beverages. This is two times as much as what was consumed 30 years ago. This will add an extra 23 pounds of weight per year that needs to be burned (most likely just carried around as extra weight)!

Beverages are the most difficult calories to gauge because there are no visual clues like other foods. However, these are the easiest to cut from your diet. Reviewing what you consume and making better choices will help you lose weight.

Got back from Buffalo yesterday. It was interesting stepping off the plane at John Wayne. When I left Buffalo at 8AM local time, it was 48 degrees and raining. I stepped off the plane to 90 degrees plus!

As far as my trip - despite my intentions, I just had to put in way too many hours each day to get up on a treadmill at the end of the day. I’ve flown through Buffalo before (on my way to St. Catherines), but this is the first time I’ve stayed in Buffalo itself. While there, I did learn some interesting facts.