Fitness Class with Nuria pt 2

I prepared & trained quite differently this year leading up to competing in the NABBA South Island Classic Fitness Model class compared to competing in Shape last year. To perform a fitness routine, which is 90 seconds in length, you need to have enough energy & strength to nail the skill moves in your routine. This resulted in me making changes to both my diet & training.

In this update I will cover some ideas for training to learn & improve skill moves! Moves can be divided into categories: Flexibility, Strength, Jumps. I will include an example program for one move from each category.

Even if you are not thinking of competing in fitness, but would still like to improve your flexibility, strength & speed, or just try something different for some variation then you should try chucking these ideas into your training! ...Enjoy!

Moves: Side splits, front splits, supine splits, supine straddle splits, needle point, hitch kick, fan kick, high leg kicks.

So how do you increase your flexibility & learn how to do these moves?
STRETCH. Simple answer for this one! Flexibility can be increased steadily through regular stretching. Static stretching at first, and for the more naturally flexible ballistic stretching can be good too, as long as you know what you are doing and train safely. If you have a Personal Trainer or training partner, PNF (Proprioceptive nueromuscular facilitation) stretching can be a good tool also.

EXAMPLE ONE: Stretching for the splits (front splits):

Beginner
After a gentle warm up, step one leg in front and slide down to the floor as far as you can comfortably in the "splits"position. Find the position in which you can feel a stretch (but without it causing you pain) and hold yourself in that position for 30 seconds. Swap legs and repeat on the other side. Repeat twice on each leg. Include stretching in your training as often as you like, but to see improvement in your flexibility I would recomend starting by adding a stretching session 3 times per week - you don't need much time, even 5 - 10 minutes several days a week will make a difference!

Once you feel used to stretching and are ready to start pushing yourself a little further, try the following:

Find your split position where you feel a stretch. Hold for 15 seconds, then push yourself to go a little lower, hold for 15 seconds. Push a little lower one more time and again hold for 15 seconds. Repeat on the other leg, and then repeat twice on each side.

PNF stretching can also be used (you will need a partner), eg a hamstring stretch either lying on the floor or standing against a wall.

STRENGTH: moves: Press ups, tricep/close grip press ups, tricep hinge press ups, one arm, one arm one leg, one arm lateral hing press up,
split press up, flying press up.

Static strength moves: (These are moves where you balance your bodyweight on your hands &/or arms) Straddle press, pike press/L-sit, side press, wenson, wenson press, 180degree turning straddle press, 180degree turning pike press, full turning straddle, full turning pike, V press, planch, one arm plance, one arm turning planch.

How can you increase your strength & learn these moves?
All strength moves obviously require a good level of upper body strength, but not quite so obviously they also all require extremely good core (abdominal) strength. Think of watching someone do a press up... most of you will have seen someone do a press up with a sway in their back, letting their tummy sag towards the floor as they push, or try to push themselves up.

For someone with very little core strength supporting their own body weight is quite a challenge. So that is the first thing to asses, if you have difficulty doing press ups while keeping your back strait then you would need to look at increasing your abdominal strength before seriously attemping some flash moves!

If you feel you have good core strength then you can move on to learning some of the flash press up moves, in my opinion the best way of nailing these is, practice, practice & practice. If you are unfamiliar with names of the moves and what they are this is where you would need to find someone to help you with some coaching. A gymnastic coach, sport aerobics athlete or coach would be able to teach you these moves.

EXAMPLE TWO: Pike Press

A pike press is: sitting on the floor with both legs together & straight out in front of you, you place you hands on the foor on each side, about 1/3 of the way towards your knees, you lift yourself up so you are balancing on your hands with both legs straight in front
and toes pointed.

So if you arent yet able to support your body weight on just your hands, here are some ways to progress!

Sit in the pike position with both legs straight out in front of you. place your hands on the ground 1/3 way towards your knees. Raise one leg off the floor, keeping your knee straight and foot pointed. Hold for 15-30 seconds (build up time as you get used to the exercise). Repeat with the other leg.

Then try lifting both legs off the floor remembering to keep them straight, so your bottom and hands are still on the ground, you should feel your abs working to support having your legs raised off the floor. Hold for 15-30 seconds.

Once that is all to easy: Try lifting you bottom & legs off the floor, so now just your feet are touching the ground. Then lift one lef off the floor so only one foot (and both hands) are supporting you. Work on making some progression every couple of sessions that you include these exercises in your training!

JUMPS/AERIALS:

Moves: Tuck jump, air jack, stag jump, wolf jump, jete, side jete, straddle jump, pike jump, 180degree turning straddle jump.

How can you learn to do these moves and what is required?
All aerial/jump moves require good leg strength, power & speed. You need all these elements to jump off the ground, gain enough height to get your legs into what ever high airborne position you are aiming for (depends on which jump you are attempting) and bring them back to land both feet at the same time on the ground with your feet together.

When I am training for sport aerobics (my first love!), or for a fitness routine I do not train weights for lower body at all. This is partially because I naturally hold a lot of muscle on my legs (calves especially) from years of dancing & good genetics (thanks to my parents!).
But also if you are training for a fitness/aerobics routine your legs will be getting a pretty good thrashing through practising your
routine and jumps.

Plyometric exercises are fantastic to increase power and speed, so while I don't do weights for my lower body I do still train my legs.
Body weight and plylo exercises work wonders!

EXAMPLE THREE: TUCK JUMPS

A tuck jump is: stand with both feet together, jump up bringing both legs into a bent position getting your knees as close as posible to your chest, land both feet together.

Now this jump is a very basic skill move but I chose this as the others are more complicated and would need to be demonstrate in person. Most people could do a tuck jump on first attempt, although may not be able to get good height into the jump, knees both up to touch the chest and land neatly with both feet together.

At first practice taking off and landing with both feet leaving and comming back to land on the ground at the same time, keeping them together (no gap between your feet when you land).

To get more height into your jumps try the following ideas:

Jump over a box: Use a flat weights bench, or an aerobics step, something that is at least knee height. Stand behind the bench or step, bend into a squat and jump over the bench bringing your knees as high up to your chest as possible, and on the other side with both feet together.

Continuous bench jumps: As above but line several benches/steps up and jump over the first, land and jump over the next with no rebound in between. Increase number of benches &/or the height of them when you are ready to push yourself harder!

Continuous jumps adding height: Again, as above but make each bench, step slightly higher. Aerobics steps are good for this especially if they are the ones you can just build up by adding extra levels. Line 3-5 steps in a row, each slightly higher and repeat as above.

Hope that gives some of you some new things to try out! Stretching and increasing flexibility in particular is beneficial to everyone, using stretching as a means to warm up & cooldown has great benefits but increased flexibility in general means less chance of injury, nothing worse that being tight.