Vacationing Resistance Band Workout

It's that time of the year or holidays and vacations are around the corner. You've worked very hard to progress to the level of fitness you are currently at and the last thing you want to do is sabotage it. We aren't machines, we deserve to have fun especially when we worked so hard. One trick I love to use are resistance bands.

Why Resistance Bands?

Resistance bands are extremely portable, light weight and relatively inexpensive. Best of all they are extremely functional, so you can mimic just about any exercise you would do with a machine or free weights.

When I travel I personally like to carry three purple bands (the heaviest resistance bands) with me. This allows me to have no excuses for not getting in some sort of workout while on vacation. It also allows me too not have to search for a hotel with a gym. Which saves me a lot of time, money and aggravation. Sadly it seems to be very hard hunting down a hotel with a proper gym.

My Vacation Resistance Band Routine

The following video is a guide on what I did during my vacation to ensure I still got a decent workout in. Resistance bands offer so many more exercises then what I did, so you'll never get bored.

I also, made this as guide to help my clients so I hope it helps you

Sciatica Nerve Pain Solutions

I have personally suffered sciatica nerve pain issues multiple times in my life. At least once a year sometimes twice a year it isn't fun. I don't have any herniated disc or injuries so you would think it shouldn't happen. After doing months of research on sciatica nerve pinches I understand it better. I don't plan on being a victim of sciatica nerve pain again. One article I read and wish I could site but sadly lost the link for stated that 84% of people will suffer from sciatica nerve pain in there life time. On a positive I felt like at least I'm not alone. Being in pain for weeks and sometimes months is not fun. The idea of rest is great, but work and bills don't allow you to sit on your butt for two months. Sadly working and not resting only aggravates the injury more, it's a real conundrum. 

Time to Fight Back

The last time I suffered sciatica nerve pain I started understanding what I can do to ensure I don't suffer it and how to rehabilitate it. In this blog I plan on showing you what I learned. The best thing, it doesn't cost a dime. It just takes some initiative on your end to keep yourself functioning optimally. This will ensure it doesn't occur again.If it does occur it won't be as bad, plus you can heal faster.

Understanding The Sciatica Nerve

Sciatica nerve pain to put it bluntly can be a pain in the ass and I mean that literally. A lot times when people complain about chronic lower back pain. They should really be complaining about the sciatica nerve which is causing the issue. Our backs just like our knuckles can crack and stretch out of the socket. Sometimes that pesky sciatica nerve will slip in between the joint that is being cracked or over extended. When this happens the nerve ends up getting clamped down. When that happens boy can it be a real pain, no pun intended.

It isn't just the back however the sciatica nerve is the largest nerve in the human body. It goes down our legs but generally gets pinched in the back and around our hip joint which this picture will illustrate to the left. When it gets pinched around the hip region the pain will radiate up to our back as well. Leaving us feeling like it is our back that is causing the issue.

To see a more detailed explanation on the sciatica nerve. I recommend checking  out http://www.medicinenet.com/sciatica/article.htm

Relief For Those Suffering

What can you do if you are currently suffering from a nerve pinch? The obvious answer is alternate a heat and ice pack while lying down with plenty of rest. This luxury however doesn't always exist; we have work and things to do. So in the following video I will show you exercises you can do to speed up the healing process and allow you to cope with your day to day better.

Why Is It That Women Who Workout Seem Less At Risk Of Sciatica Nerve Pinches

Now we are going to talk about what preventative measures we can take, but first. I've made a personal observation of a people that don't exercise with weights, as well as men who exercise with weights both seem suffer sciatica issues. Now the twist females that exercise with weights don't seem to have sciatica issues. So what makes it so different for a female that lifts weights? My theory is it has to do with how females train compared to males.

Generally females put a greater emphasis on the lower body, especially the booty and abs. Some men completely ignore legs all together which is horrible. For the men who aren't just curling warriors when they do legs, they pay little attention to the butt and abductor muscles. They generally don't do stability based lower body weight exercises either. You will often find female lifters mixing body weight stability legs exercises with your more traditional basic squats, deadlifts and lunges.

My personal experience, I've had my sciatica go out on me almost yearly for many years sometimes twice a year. The second to last time it went out I started taking advantage of the abductor machines in the gym (with the snickering and glances of the other men in the gym). I went to what has been stereotyped a female only machine, heck even some females looked at me weird for using them. I also started to implement back extensions more. I did this for two years straight at the end of every workout. Come year three I neglected it completely. Starting to close in on year four my sciatica went out again. So for almost four years I had no sciatica indecent. Once I started to implement the abductors machines.

I Believe It Is More Than Just Abductor Machines

I believe it goes way deeper than doing just some abductor machines. At that time I didn't do them with an real reasoning. It was more of me waiting for a friend and just messing around. What I realized is that I was horrible at the abductor machines. Once I maxed out the machine I stopped caring about the exercise. I didn't realize the benefits it had at the time nor understood why.

Now looking back at it and reading countless articles I understand how important stability, the abductors and ball socket joint in the hip are for keeping a sciatica nerve from being pinched. Just the benefits of feeling more stability in daily day to day activities alone is worth it.

I have two routines I do at the end of every workout one is for stability (my at home routine) The other is building strength for core, abductors and the glutes. Almost all physical therapy routines when it comes to a sciatica will focus on building stability plus working the abductors and glutes. Sometimes they might do a little core work as well.

The core sadly was something else I neglected. Since abs are made in the kitchen I never focus building up core strength, while the sciatic issue gravitates more so around the hip region. I've become a firm believer in building core strength to help with this as well, it just feels right I don't have any rhyme or reason behind it.

When I don't go to the gym my at home routine focuses on building stability. It will be in the video below.

Gym Prevention Routine

Links demonstrating the exercises will be below from www.bodybuilding.com. All exercises follow the same format as my stability video.

2 sets 10 reps, slowly building up each time.

Back extension

Abductor Machine

Adductor Machine

Some gyms have a glute kick back machine some don't. You'll typically find a machine in one of two kinds. Since they look a little weird I'll post up both of them. If your gym doesn't have it not to worry I have a solution for you that can be done using a leg extension machine which every gym has. I don't recommend doing a glute kick back with the cable attached to your ankle. The reason for this it you are off balanced and it involves twisting slightly.  If you are having sciatica issues it is not the wisest thing to do.


Standing Glute Kick Back

Laying Glute Kick Back

No glute kick back machine. No problem make your own with a leg extension.

As for abs I don't have a set of exercises for you. Gyms have so many various ab machines it isn't feasible to name a specific exercise. I recommend doing the leg raise I showed you in the video. Pick 2 exercise machines that you feel comfortable with one for upper and lower abs. If you have a machine that does both at the same time take advantage of that as well.

I hope that this article has been informative and you don't have to deal with sciatica issues in the future. If you have any questions for me feel free to email me I will try to get back to you and maybe even use you question in a future article. Make no excuses and stay healthy 

Me And Future Plans

How It Started 

First I was a little embryo then I was born. Ok we aren't around going that far back. I found fitness in a time of deep depression. I had no hope at that time I felt like I was just existing. In a way I was the walking dead (awesome show). I remember thinking what the heck am I doing with my life wallowing in misery. This was going on for years at this point I didn't know how to change it, I just knew I needed to move as sulking and moping around wasn't doing much for me. I didn't feel good not only mentally but physically. At this point I was 119lbs because I didn't eat I was to depressed to eat. My knees and joint hurt probably from malnutrition. I was in my mid 20's with what felt like the body of an 80 year old.

Me at 119lbs during my height of my depression
and  years after exercising.

I started working out, figured I would do this daily just to say I did something. I didn't think it would save my life. After about 2 months of forcing myself to exercise which I didn't like doing at the time. I started to notice I was feeling much better physically and mentally. Than fitness started to open up doors I couldn't have imagine for myself. Suddenly I found myself having goals and ambitions again. I started making goals and breaking goals. While I couldn't control the outside world which at the time, I swore was out to get me I could control my own personal being in this world.

Exercise carved in me discipline and it harden me to the outside world. I taught me that there is no such thing as a perpetual victim. We make ourselves victims or we can rise above.

This is why I am a personal trainer to pay this fitness world forward. It gave me a second life.  

More Details

While I could have wrote a long winded detailed bio filled with accomplishments. I just felt I should come from the heart where it started for me. You can go here to find out a little more details on me as a personal trainer Alphaflex About Me. It is dated as much has gone on since than but it will give you more of and overview. I will talk about my building up and various accomplishments in fitness in later post. 

For those wondering yes I do still struggle with depression. I don't think you can ever be fully cured but thanks to fitness I will never be in that depressed hole again. If you are depressed but looking for a way to fight or have questions feel free to send me an email. I'll try to answer it as soon as I get a chance. 

 For those that know me or are interested in my future plan check out whats it going on below.

Present Day Moving Forward

Most recent pic from my phone on Instagram

Currently I am private studio owner of Alphaflex Personal Training. My goal originally was to set up a small private one on one personal training studio in hopes of later on expanding to a bigger place. I'm blessed for all the clients I have trained at my private studio. I'm at a turning point now, business is good but the idea of expanding is overwhelming for so many reasons. 

The truth is I just don't like the idea of it. While in theory it sounds great I feel like the quality of service that I offer, which I feel no other trainer in the area can compare to will faultier as a result. I'll have to start hiring other personal trainers whom I don't know if they can deliver what I can. I'll also have to take a step back and step away from training people. I would now need to oversee a bunch of employees.

Call me crazy but I became a personal trainer because I actually enjoy training people. I didn't realize at the time that I went into business for myself, how much of a great impact my clients would make on me as a person. I don't want to give up my job of training people one on one, its where my passion is. Still I must expand my goal is to help as many people as I can, just like fitness helped me. I remember when I first became a trainer I did so because I felt like fitness saved my life and I wanted to pay it forward.

Using The Internet to Help People Around The World

As stated in the above paragraph. I don't want to give up my job of training people one on one its where my passion is.  I got this crazy idea of using the internet as a tool to help people, which will allow me to also keep my passion going in the real world. This idea for me is really exciting plus I can express myself in other ways outside of fitness as well. Hence why the blog is named after me and not Alphaflex Personal Training.

As of right now I don't really want to go into details about my plans it'll just sound boring. Just know that I'm working on a new web-site which I'll transfer my blog over to. I hope that everything I come up with will help people. I'm going to emphasize more on quality rather than quantity. So I'm not going to promise a post every week. However please feel free to comment, ask questions or let me know anything you would like me to do to make things better.

Garlic Paprika Chicken Breast

This recipe is going to be presented, a little different than the typical online recipes. The reason for that is I want you to be able to customize it for your own enjoyment. It's extremely high in protein and low in fat. For those of you that like to plan meals days in advance it is easy enough to make in bulk as well.

Ingredients: 

Chicken Breast
Paprika
Garlic Powder
Dried Parsley

You'll also need a frying pan/skillet. If you are planing on making this recipe in bulk you'll need a baking sheet that has some depth to it or some type of casserole dishes (I prefer the baking sheet personally for making it in bulk)

Making The Seasoning:

The ratio I use for the blend is

2 Tbsp Paprika
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Dried Parsley

Some people like to add diced garlic cloves to the blend instead of using garlic powder, it taste great if you like garlic. I enjoy it both ways. Realize garlic cloves will be a lot stronger, so use it sparingly as to not have them over shadow the Paprika.

Now blend it all together.

I don't add salt to food typically, I feel salt is a flavor enhancer rather than a spice. Everybody tends to be really different with how much salt they like on food.  Feel free to use whatever amount of salt you desire.

Coating the Chicken

Having the mixture all together you are going to lay each side of the chicken in the mixture to coat the whole chicken breast. This blend for me, normally can coat 2 lbs of chicken. If you have more than 2lbs of chicken no problem. What you'll need to do is just increase amount blended in the mixture but keep it at the same ratio. After it is coated it should look similar to the following picture.


Cooking the Chicken

You have two ways you can cook the chicken.

My personal go to way is using a frying pan with water. This is a healthier alternative than using oil. It amazes me how many people seemed shocked at the realization that you can cook food with water.

Skillet with Water Instructions 

- Add the chicken breast to the skillet first before adding the water.
- Next add some water, be sparring with the water, just enough to cause steam the chicken shouldn't be swimming (you can always add more later on while it is cooking)
- Cover and turn the flame on to medium
- Check the water levels every so often
- Cooking time is about 20 minutes

Baking Sheet with Water Instructions

Method two is great for cooking in bulk or if you aren't pressed for time as it takes an extra 20mins. Unlike the first step you will not have to keep an eye on the water levels. If you lose track of time it isn't that big of deal the food doesn't burn easily. The covering keeps the water vapor contained which allows the chicken to stay hydrated and no become dry.

- Line the baking sheet with all the chicken breast. The baking sheet should have some depth to it.
- Add some water for steam. Once again be sparring, the chicken shouldn't be swimming in water.
- Set up a long piece of tin foil to cover the top of the baking sheet
- Place the baking sheet in the oven set to 375 degrees
- Cooking time is 40-50mins

In the end

In the end it should look something like this.

A Little About Me

I kind of made this post before my about me post so I'll keep it short. I am a personal trainer and business owner at Alphaflex Personal Training. Having great success with my private personal training business.  I don't have time to take on many more clients, the natural thing to do is to expand. That means buying a bigger gym and hiring other personal trainers which I don't really want to do. I'm fortunate enough and blessed to have some great clients, my goal was always to keep it personal which unlike a franchise gym. Instead my idea is to continue to pay it forward over the internet now, I love helping people just like fitness helped me. The web-site will be updated and I have big plans for various things on the horizon. This blog site will also be temporary. I just kind of wanted to start doing something before everything is set up. So please follow me and always ask questions, you can't learn if you don't ask. I will not be posting constantly but when I do it will be quality rather then quantity.

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