BEE’S BLOG
Technique Tuesday: Russian Twists
Controversial technique tuesday coming in hot...
I have been the student and instructor in many different modalities. This is one of the exercises that most frustrates me.
❌Mechanically you are just using momentum to swing your arms, at the expense of your shoulder (top video). Worst case scenario you are taxing your Lumbar and SI region.
✅Keeping your hands or equipment at the heart and twisting as one unit is so much more effective and purposeful (bottom video). This reduces arms traveling without the trunk, arching of the back and an opposite hip/foot lifting from the floor. Even my back muscles look more engaged in the bottom video, bonus!
In The Kitchen: Cookie Dough Protein Bites
I fondly remember making cookie dough with my brother after school as kids. We would eat most of it raw and barely have any left to bake actual cookies. Apparently this is a no-no, the raw flower and eggs etc. Enter the vegan cookie dough craze that is making all of our inner kids jump with joy.
Omitting raw flower, eggs and butter creates a yummy treat you can eat by the spoonful, or create into bite size protein packed bites like above. If you are fancy, you can drizzle with dark dairy-free chocolate for that nice crack when you bite into them. These are so much more truffle than pre-workout fuel feeling when you eat them, and you deserve it!
As always, feel free to play around with the ingredients and make it your own:
1 cup Almond Flour (safe to eat raw and super fine texture)
1/2 cup nut butter of choice
1/4 cup Protein Powder (I use chocolate or vanilla garden of eden)
Honey/Agave to taste
Kosher salt to taste
Water to mix (amount needed varies on oil from nut butter)
Dark Chocolate Chips (option melt some to drizzle over)
Add water last until mixed, but not sticky. Depending on how much fat/oil your nut butter has you may need more or less water to combine everything. Roll into balls and place on parchment paper to chill. If melting chocolate to drizzle over, use a double boiler or slowly stir and microwave at 30 second intervals until runny. Chill in the fridge until set and then store in a container in the fridge for 7-10 days.
These are a great switch up from oatmeal bites, protein bars and smoothies. The crack of the dark chocolate with the smooth creamy feel of almond flour almost feels guilty. Trick your friends and ENJOY - Bee
Technique Tuesday: Cardio Knee Pulls
One of my favorite sprints is on breakdown this Technique Tuesday. Not only are you getting your heart rate up, you are also finding strong balance and calling on your powerhouse core to stabilize and support the limbs to move. As always, you want to start slow and find balance before you level up to bigger and quicker movements.
Avoid dumping weight into the back leg (top video), you are trying to keep your head and shoulders still for the whole movement. Train yourself by putting less and less weight on the back foot as you find your balance and strength. Eventually you will keep the foot floating and be able to speed it up (bottom video).
At any time you can pause and tap the foot down to regain your balance. You could also omit the arm pulls if you have shoulder issues or need them still for balance. Make it yours and stay strong! - BEE
Technique Tuesday: Toe Taps
Toe taps, aka Leg dips, is a trigger for incorrect form very often. This move trips up many people, so let’s use a visual cue to perform it more effectively. The entire leg should hold its bent shape and move as one unit. In this position our legs are the weights and our lower abs are the driving force. You want to avoid just bending the leg and keeping the knee close to you. Work to tap the toes away from the seat, with your leg frozen in a 90 degree bend (note the difference in the video of where my toes tap).
Another way to check your form is to place your hands on your thighs, as the legs move you should feel the thighs leave and return to your palms. Legs should only lower to a point where the low back stays pasted to your mat, which means the toes might not tap just yet. It’s far better to move smaller with no contact, than to just bend the legs or arch the back to make the toe tap happen.
Inhale/release as you lower to your point of control and then exhale/engage to return the legs back up.
Practice, Modify and Stay Strong - BEE
Technique Tuesday: Kneeling Push-Up
Whether you are nursing a back injury, currently pregnant or post natal you might find the need to do push-ups on your knees. Coming down to the knees for push-ups can still be very challenging as long as you keep the work in the right area by focusing on your form.
Over the years, one of the most common incorrect alignments I have seen is during this position. A client will place most of their weight onto the patella (kneecap) with their seat high, and therefore too much pressure on the shoulders and low back (see top of video).
Work to have the same flatback as you would in a plank, finding the quadricep (thigh) as opposed to the kneecap. Thinking of the neck to kneecap line you would have in a ski position, and maintain that as you lower and press away in the push up (see bottom of video).
This form will help you gain strength as you work to get back to a straight leg plank or push up. Muscle memory will take over and also help you excel in your yoga stretches, especially modified crescent lunge and king pigeon. Now go get it, because you know….. #yesyoucan
Bee
JANUARY NEWSLETTER:
HELLO 2021! This month’s theme is RENEWAL, a time to shed our doubts and turn dreams into goals. I do not ascribe to the ‘new year new you’ mantra, but I do believe that a New Year can help put things in perspective for you. And after 2020, you deserve anything on this horizon…go get it!
Technique Tuesday - Make Space
Do you have a designated area and set-up to move your body? Even if space is scarce you still want to create a visual reminder to make time for yourself. Creating routines are not only done by fitness watch alerts or calendar reminders to find movement, they are also achieved by making a home gym set up. Just think how easy it would be to skip that sculpt class if you had to find your mat, equipment, laptop and move furniture. Now reimagine that scenario if everything was ready in a comfortable spot created by you. Whether you have a spare room, basement area or even the corner of your bedroom you can make it work! I use a rolling craft cart to wrangle all of my equipment in one place:
Once you have created your zone, now you can focus on making the experience as enjoyable and high quality as possible. In order to see myself better filming, and also to interact with live clients better, I broadcast my phone to a television. This can be done wirelessly if you have a smart tv or apple to apple device. However, it could also be accomplished through HDMI cords from a laptop to television or with an adapter for phone to television. Creating a more immersed experience can lead to a better overall class and future effectiveness:
These ideas are not accessible to every person, of course, but hopefully it can inspire you to ‘create a space’ today. You deserve it and it will pay you back greatly… YES YOU CAN - Bee
DECEMBER NEWSLETTER:
This month’s theme is JOYFULNESS. Finding small moments of joy and peace no matter how different this season looks to you. The celebration of a new year is on the horizon, finish this year with positive remembrance and closure.
In The Kitchen: No Bake Oat Bites
Maybe you do not like eating before working out, but you know you need some fuel. Or, maybe you are always running late out the door in the morning and need a quick nibble. Perhaps I am projecting that onto you, because I am GUILTY on both accounts.
That is why I love making these easy, customizable and no bake oat bites. They store in the fridge for easy grab and go! The best part is you can almost always make them from what you have on hand, creating your own taste preference. Lets do this:
1/2 Cup Nut Butter
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
2 Tbl Melted Coconut Oil
1 Cup Quick Oats
1 tsp. salt & real vanilla
1/2 Cup raisins
(optional cacao nibs, cinnamon, flax seed)
Mix the wet ingredients together first, then fold in oats and your options to taste. It’s best to add the coconut oil in stages before and after the oats, depending on your nut butter choice you may need more or less oil to bind. Instead of rolling them in balls, I like to make a small flattened disc shape. They store better in the fridge this way and hold more shape and taste. Another great option is to use a nut butter that has chia and flax seeds already in it (hello trader joes). ENJOY! - Bee
NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER:
This months theme is THANKFULNESS. May it find you during the quiet stretch of class or during a challenging hold of 8, be thankful for those moments and the body that moves for you.
Technique Tuesday - Back Extension
A strong back not only looks good, but serves to protect your whole body. Practicing back extension strengthens your posterior chain - erector spinae, glutes, hamstrings and traps. This will help protect your joints as you move and pivot in real time - especially during your workouts.
Move with your breath as you exhale and lower with control. Keep a neutral spine and insure your feet and head touch last. Think of contracting your back muscles instead of using brute force/momentum.
Stay strong - YES YOU CAN - Bee
Technique Tuesday: Plank
Let’s talk plank this ‘technique tuesday’. We start many classes with it and it’s our transitional move in Cardio30. Something so integral that strengthens your posterior chain and carves the front of your body deserves some breakdown.
Shoulders should be stacked over the wrists, armpits rotated in toward each other and head to heel a nice flat line. Push yourself away from the earth, relax your neck and fight for higher heels instead of flexed feet.
If you need a break, try going to down dog and then come back to plank instead of dropping the knees and losing all the work and your form. The time spent coming out of it will get less and less as you get stronger and hold longer.
Technique Tuesday: Practicing Meditation
Around the same time the stay at home order started, I began taking a free online happiness course offered from YALE University. The course was broken down into lectures and readings with at home workshops designed to rewire your habits. I decided to create a facebook group for other people taking the course so we could discuss our progress together in real time. The group took off and currently has people from all over the globe! For many of us, a sense of community and emotional growth was just what the doctor ordered. If you are interested in joining sign up here:
https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being
Week five homework focused on meditating for ten minutes a day, in an effort to intentionally turn off distracting thoughts. If you are like me, you may have dabbled in meditating as part of your yoga practice. To insure I was really taking the task seriously, though, I wanted to find a purposeful meditative state. I began searching on Spotify to find guided meditation playlists, a way to learn how to lead my mind and create a new habit. Meditation is a personal practice and you may use it for entirely different reasons than me, from anxiety to energy or better sleep.
To get started I welcome you to check out my Spotify playlist of curated guided meditations:
I hope you find these tools as interesting as I did. If you enjoy them and progress forward, you might like the meditation flow playlist I created for your use during at home workouts or quiet meditations:
I would LOVE to hear how your meditation journey fares, so please get in touch and share. STAY SAFE AND STRONG! - Bee
#yesyoucan
In The Kitchen: Making Oat Milk
Necessity is the mother of invention, isn’t that what they say? I surely didn’t invent oat milk, but I definitely consider it a necessity. As this quarantine continues on and grocery shopping becomes an ever increasing feat of strength, I decided to make my own oat milk. I use this daily in my protein smoothies and overnight oats, so my supply kept dwindling. This recipe is super simple with just two ingredients and takes 45 seconds!
Oat Milk Recipe:
1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats (avoid steel cut as they will become slimy)
4 Cups Water (I used my absopure drinking water for a cleaner taste)
Blend on HIGH for up to a minute.
Once blended you need to strain the pulp out, a crucial step for silky texture. If you have a cheesecloth it would work great. I have a thin bread making cloth that I tried, but it proved too thick and liquid would not go through enough. I opted for a flour sifting strainer, passing the milk through it several times (cleaning the strainer each step). Finally, I let it sit for a couple minutes to settle and slowly poured it into a glass container, making sure to leave the settled material behind.
You could add madagascar vanilla, cinnamon or honey if you want to sweeten it. I taste tested it next to my store bought and was very pleased! After today’s success maybe I am ready to try making my favorite cooking and coffee companion; Cashew Milk. Wait and see…
Bee
Technique Tuesday: Side Kneeling
A deep dive into perfecting your technique in Side Kneeling seat work. Let’s explore finding our best form as we go from side kneeling position into tabletop. We will also discuss how to level up by adding in a weight or ball. Hope everyone is staying safe and strong! Reach out if you have any feedback and check out the last blog post to learn about the YALE happiness course and discussion group I am leading over on facebook!
#YESYOUCAN - Bee
VIRTUAL CHECK-IN
Hello friends, how are you? No, really, how are you holding up? Entering week two of quarantine and I will admit I love having my hubby home with me, and all the attention my dogs are getting. However, I cannot pretend to not feel stressed about keeping myself inside while still trying to have food stocked for us and my body moving. As an independent contractor with nowhere to go I have taken a huge pay cut. I am streaming some classes with my studios and really amping up my Virtual Sculpt Membership on this website, but it is scary to wonder how long this can and will go on.
With that being said, I am trying to create a new normal and find an at home routine. From coffee to filming workouts and walking the pups to making dinner it’s starting to fall into place. Another opportunity during this quarantine is to take a free online course from YALE University about living a happier life. WOW, if that wasn’t just perfect timing to see this offering yesterday. I immediately signed up and invited others to do so, which led to me creating a facebook group to discuss the course as we all do it (virtually) together.
I now invite you to also sign up and follow along with us as we make the most of our situation inside. Sign up at the link below and search the YALE happiness course discussion group on Facebook. Just remember you are stronger than you think, we will get through this. #YESYOUCAN
In The Kitchen: Protein Seed Bites
I am obsessed with a version of these that a local coffee shop sometimes carries. After I take spin class on Fridays, I walk next store just hoping above everything else that they will be sitting by the register waiting for me. More often than not they are unavailable and my heart sinks. I finally decided to try and make my own version and therefore recreate that ‘first bite happy dance’ whenever I wish!
The title of this post is not listed as a recipe because I rarely use them. Working in more of a personal taste and ratio logic produces better results, in my opinion. Do not be afraid to play around with your ingredients and make mistakes, that is how we all learn and get better.
Ingredients (in order of processing/mixing):
Mejdool Dates (pitted)
Unsweetened coconut flakes
Flax Seeds
Cacao Nibs
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Nut butter (I used Almond)
Sesame Seeds for rolling
Some rules to follow would include using a food processor with dry ingredients first (dates, coconut, flax and cacao) and adding liquids last. Mix the cocoa powder into the nut butter to taste before adding to the dry ingredients, until desired paste consistency is achieved. The addition of a french or finishing salt will bring out all the flavors. Finally, chill mixture before rolling them out and onto the seeds. They will look and honestly taste like truffles!
As always, let me know what you think…
Bee
Technique Tuesday: Round Back Abwork
Discussing Round Back Abdominal work this Technique Tuesday! This position is usually taught on a mat, followed by resting your head into flat back work. However, you may find this form taught under the barre from time to time. Today we will focus on the mat work form, which is crucial since you are not able to use the wall or barre for stability. Abdominal work can very easily slip into your lower back and hip flexors if you lose your core engagement.
As the name implies, round back is a soft c-curve in your back with your navel deep to engage the core and protect the lower back. The best way to envision this is to round your sits bones up as you make contact with your sacrum (tailbone) onto the mat. It should feel as if the meaty part of your seat is taking away as the boney triangle shape of the sacrum supports you. In this position, your arms and legs are weights for the core as you move through the choreography. It is imperative to never work too low that you cannot keep your feet pasted down. Think of your feet down as an anchor for your spine, honor that importance by working up higher when you feel it weakening.
As you gain strength you could level up by releasing a leg, as in the picture, or both arms. Remember that the legs are an extension of your lower core, and therefore should not move when the upper body is twisting in oblique work. Checking in on your alignment is so important in ab work, consider that time on the mat your time to practice and perfect. With practice you are rewarded with not only a flat belly, but a strong spine and resistance to falls.
See you on the mat… #yesyoucan
Bee