Sunday, October 23, 2011
Video Blog-Cue It Up!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Pick Up The Pace!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
510-754-7113
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
Discover Your Strength!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Video Blog - Bench Press 101
Part One
Part Two
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
www.MitchRFitness.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Part Two
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
www.MitchRFitness.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Don't Give Up!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
510-754-7113
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
www.MitchRFitness.com
Discover Your Strength!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Program Design 101 - Video Blog
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
510-754-7113
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
www.MitchRFitness.com
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Food Journaling
This week I want to write about a subject that my lovely wife, Kristi suggested. Food journaling. I know it’s not exactly the sexiest subject, unlike my wife, but it’s important. The bottom line is this: if your goal has a body composition aspect to it (meaning you want to lose or gain weight) every study and every bit of anecdotal evidence I’ve seen says you have a much better chance of hitting your goal if you keep a food journal.
Why? Because if you keep an accurate food journal (notice I said accurate) you allow yourself to really see what you’re eating. There have also been many studies which show that people who want to lose weight think they’re taking in many fewer calories than they are and the reverse is true for people who want to gain weight.
Many times I’ve had clients tell me that they eat healthy only to find out different once they keep a journal for a week. You see, with many things in life doing something right 80% of the time is pretty good. In baseball it’ll get you into the Hall of Fame. With eating it’ll get you right where you don’t want to be.
Here’s an example, let’s say it’s Tuesday. On Sunday and Monday you ate well, but on Tuesday afternoon you have a bit of a craving and you make some cookies. Before you know it you’ve had six or seven and now you’re not hungry for dinner. Wednesday and Thursday are pretty good and by the time Friday night rolls around you’re tired and you’ve forgotten about the cookies from three and a half days ago. You go out to the Cheesecake Factory and of course you can’t eat the entire burger and fries after all that delicious bread (and you’ve got to leave some room for desert, too) so you take some home and have it for lunch on Saturday.
Now, out of 21 meals this week you’ve done pretty well on about 15 of them. Sounds good until you look at your journal and realize that it’s not.
Another thing is that knowing that you’re going to write everything down can make you think twice about some of the things you might eat on a whim and then forget about. The afternoon chocolate bar, the extra piece of bread late at night. It adds up and makes a huge difference. For many people those small things might be the biggest thing holding them back but they just don’t realize what they’re doing.
If you need any help with your journal or any advice on what to do, just drop me a line. Also, check out my video blog to see some easy ways to use your phone, computer, or just a pen and paper to keep your journal, and don’t forget to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
http://www.mitchrfitness.com/
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Why? Because if you keep an accurate food journal (notice I said accurate) you allow yourself to really see what you’re eating. There have also been many studies which show that people who want to lose weight think they’re taking in many fewer calories than they are and the reverse is true for people who want to gain weight.
Many times I’ve had clients tell me that they eat healthy only to find out different once they keep a journal for a week. You see, with many things in life doing something right 80% of the time is pretty good. In baseball it’ll get you into the Hall of Fame. With eating it’ll get you right where you don’t want to be.
Here’s an example, let’s say it’s Tuesday. On Sunday and Monday you ate well, but on Tuesday afternoon you have a bit of a craving and you make some cookies. Before you know it you’ve had six or seven and now you’re not hungry for dinner. Wednesday and Thursday are pretty good and by the time Friday night rolls around you’re tired and you’ve forgotten about the cookies from three and a half days ago. You go out to the Cheesecake Factory and of course you can’t eat the entire burger and fries after all that delicious bread (and you’ve got to leave some room for desert, too) so you take some home and have it for lunch on Saturday.
Now, out of 21 meals this week you’ve done pretty well on about 15 of them. Sounds good until you look at your journal and realize that it’s not.
Another thing is that knowing that you’re going to write everything down can make you think twice about some of the things you might eat on a whim and then forget about. The afternoon chocolate bar, the extra piece of bread late at night. It adds up and makes a huge difference. For many people those small things might be the biggest thing holding them back but they just don’t realize what they’re doing.
If you need any help with your journal or any advice on what to do, just drop me a line. Also, check out my video blog to see some easy ways to use your phone, computer, or just a pen and paper to keep your journal, and don’t forget to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
http://www.mitchrfitness.com/
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Video Blog - Lose Weight With A Pencil
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Hips Don't Lie
I hear from and see a lot of people with a variety of issues and goals, but each day I am becoming more and more convinced that no matter what anyone’s goals may be, the key to feeling better overall lies in your hips. I know what you’re thinking, but this is a family publication so let me explain. Think of a door and its frame. What connects the two parts? The door hinge. Think about how nice it feels to open a door when the hinge is nicely set and oiled. Now think about how it feels to try and open a door with a creaky hinge. Not so smooth. You have to yank on the doorknob and put stress on the frame. Well, your hips are just like a door hinge. They lie right in the middle of our body, connecting the two parts and allowing them to move smoothly back and forth into flexion (hips in a sitting position) and extension (hips fully forward).
If your hips move well it takes stress off our shoulders, back and knees. Unfortunately, the fact that most of us sit all day tightens our hips and that forces our back to move more than it should. It also puts pressure on our knees and all of that tension moves up to our shoulders and messes them up, too.
Well, you might be asking, how can I get my hips moving better. Well, lets start with a simple exercise called the Waiter’s Bow. Stand with your back against a wall and take a step forward. From here, take a deep breath into your chest and hold your chest high in that position. Find a spot just above eye level and don’t take your eyes off that spot. Now, keep that upper body position and push your butt back and touch the wall. Go back to the starting position and be sure to squeeze your glutes to finish the movement.
This also brings up another crucial point. One of the biggest problems people have is that they can’t differentiate between hip movement and lower back movement. The problem there is that our hips are meant for movement and our lower backs are meant for stability. When our hips don’t move well our lower backs have to, and that creates problems This is also exacerbated by the fact that many people have weak glutes and they are a very important muscle when it comes to good hip movement. In my video blog this week I show you a few exercises that can help strengthen your glutes and improve your hip function.
Please drop me a line if you have any questions and don’t forget to contact your doctor before beginning any exercise program.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
510-754-7113
Text 77948 For Two Free Weeks of Bootcamp or Training!
Discover Your Strength!
If your hips move well it takes stress off our shoulders, back and knees. Unfortunately, the fact that most of us sit all day tightens our hips and that forces our back to move more than it should. It also puts pressure on our knees and all of that tension moves up to our shoulders and messes them up, too.
Well, you might be asking, how can I get my hips moving better. Well, lets start with a simple exercise called the Waiter’s Bow. Stand with your back against a wall and take a step forward. From here, take a deep breath into your chest and hold your chest high in that position. Find a spot just above eye level and don’t take your eyes off that spot. Now, keep that upper body position and push your butt back and touch the wall. Go back to the starting position and be sure to squeeze your glutes to finish the movement.
This also brings up another crucial point. One of the biggest problems people have is that they can’t differentiate between hip movement and lower back movement. The problem there is that our hips are meant for movement and our lower backs are meant for stability. When our hips don’t move well our lower backs have to, and that creates problems This is also exacerbated by the fact that many people have weak glutes and they are a very important muscle when it comes to good hip movement. In my video blog this week I show you a few exercises that can help strengthen your glutes and improve your hip function.
Please drop me a line if you have any questions and don’t forget to contact your doctor before beginning any exercise program.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
510-754-7113
Text 77948 For Two Free Weeks of Bootcamp or Training!
Discover Your Strength!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Video Blog 8 - Hips Don't Lie
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
510-754-7113
Text CVBootcamp to 77948 for a free two weeks membership
Discover Your Strength!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Deadlifting 101 - The Article
Hello, everyone! I hope you’re doing well. Today I want to talk about an exercise that I feel is one of the most important you can do. The Deadlift. Why is it so important? Well, how many times have you heard of someone who hurt their back picking a pencil off the floor? The deadlift teaches us proper form for doing something we all need to do: pick things up. Whether it’s a pencil, a bag of groceries or our kids, we need to use proper form when we pick something up. The deadlift also strengthens very important muscles in our upper and lower back, hips, core and arms. Another thing I love about it, is how easy it is to adjust the exercise for people of all fitness levels. To see me demonstrate a few variations, please see my video blog below.
Today I’ll describe the easiest version of this lift, which I call the Dumbell Deadlift. Take an appropriately weighted dumbbell and put it straight up and down on the ground so that one end is on the ground and the other end is up. Stand with the dumbbell right between your ankles and your feet about shoulder width apart. From here take a deep breath into your chest and, holding that upper body position, bring your hips back with your arms reaching for the dumbbell. Keep bringing your hips back until you can grab the dumbbell and stand up. At the top, squeeze your glutes hard to finish the lift. To put the weight back down just reverse the order of what you’ve just done. The keys here are maintaining the arch in your lower back, staying back on your heels and keeping the weight as close to your body as you can.
Many people don’t have the necessary mobility to be able to get down low enough in a good position to do this lift. If this is the case, simply put the weight on a step to raise it up. As you get more flexible and mobile try to lower the starting position so that you can eventually lift it from the ground.
There are different variations of the deadlift that can make it easier or harder. You can go to my video blog below to see me demonstrate a few of them as well as the version I wrote about here. Suffice to say that if you are not including some kind of deadlift in your exercise program you are probably making a mistake.
Please drop me a line if you have any questions about the deadlift or anything else and remember to consult a doctor before beginning any exercise program.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness.blogspot.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
Text CVBootcamp to 77948 for a Free Two Weeks!
Today I’ll describe the easiest version of this lift, which I call the Dumbell Deadlift. Take an appropriately weighted dumbbell and put it straight up and down on the ground so that one end is on the ground and the other end is up. Stand with the dumbbell right between your ankles and your feet about shoulder width apart. From here take a deep breath into your chest and, holding that upper body position, bring your hips back with your arms reaching for the dumbbell. Keep bringing your hips back until you can grab the dumbbell and stand up. At the top, squeeze your glutes hard to finish the lift. To put the weight back down just reverse the order of what you’ve just done. The keys here are maintaining the arch in your lower back, staying back on your heels and keeping the weight as close to your body as you can.
Many people don’t have the necessary mobility to be able to get down low enough in a good position to do this lift. If this is the case, simply put the weight on a step to raise it up. As you get more flexible and mobile try to lower the starting position so that you can eventually lift it from the ground.
There are different variations of the deadlift that can make it easier or harder. You can go to my video blog below to see me demonstrate a few of them as well as the version I wrote about here. Suffice to say that if you are not including some kind of deadlift in your exercise program you are probably making a mistake.
Please drop me a line if you have any questions about the deadlift or anything else and remember to consult a doctor before beginning any exercise program.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness.blogspot.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
Text CVBootcamp to 77948 for a Free Two Weeks!
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Deadlifting 101
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
http://www.mitchrfitness.com/
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
510-754-7113
Text CVBootcamp to 77948 for A Free Two Week Membership
Text MRFitness to 77948 For Two Weeks of Semi-Private Training
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Stand Up Straight!
Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a great Easter. This week I want to talk about what I feel is probably the biggest problem that I see, and it’s probably not something many people think about. When I first speak to people about their goals, most tell me that they’d like to lose weight or gain muscle. In other words they’d like to improve their appearance in some way. That’s a great goal, but for many people there is a very simple way to look better without even setting foot in a gym. Improve your posture.
 |
| Stand Up Straight! |
In today’s society, most people spend all day sitting in front of a computer. What this does to our posture is incredibly destructive. Bringing our arms up to the keyboard causes us to raise our shoulders, staring intently at the screen causes us to bring our head forward, sitting causes us to slouch and round our lower back and sitting also causes our hips to stiffen up which puts a tremendous amount of strain on our backs, knees and shoulders.
 |
| Don't Slouch! |
What I have found is that there are two keys to improving your posture. The first one is simply knowing what it feels like to be in good posture. To do that, what I want you to do is stand up, relax your shoulders down and back and take a deep breath into your chest. Relax right there. For most people, this will put them in a reasonably good position. The most important thing for you to note is the down-and-back position of your shoulders. After you’ve established what it feels like to be in good posture the most important thing you can do is just stay aware of your position and correct yourself. Remember this is going to take some work. You’ve most likely gotten yourself used to your posture over a period of years and it is going to take some time to break that habit.
One way to do this is to set a reminder on your phone or computer to stand up every 25 minutes or so and stretch for 30 seconds to a minute. For a few more thoughts and some good stretches and exercises to help your appearance and posture, go to my blog at MitchRFitness.blogspot.com.
So remember to stand up straight just like your second grade teacher told you! Also, be sure to consult a doctor before beginning any exercise program.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
510-754-7113
Text CVBootCamp to 77948 For A Free Two Week Membership to My Bootcamp!
Text MRFitness to 77948 For Two Weeks of Free Semi-Private Training!
Discover Your Strength!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Video Blog - Stand Up Straight
Better late then never. Sorry for the delay.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Technical Difficulties
Hello, everyone. I'm sorry to say that due to some technical difficulties this week's video blog is not up today. It will be up in the next day or two as I work to resolve my technical issues. If you'd like you can your email address to me at 510-754-7113 or email me at MitchRFitness@gmail.com and I will send you the link as soon as it goes live. I assure you, it will be a good one will good, helpful content.
Thanks!
Discover Your Strength!
Thanks!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
510-754-7113Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Row For Your Health and Enjoyment!
Hello, everybody and welcome to my newest installment of “Exercises You Should Be Doing”! This week I want to talk about one of my favorite exercises. The Inverted Row. This is an exercise that I use with nearly all of my clients no matter what their level. It is very simple to make it as easy or difficult as it needs to be to help all sorts of people, and form-wise it is a very simple exercise to do.
How Do I Do It? Put a bar in a squat rack at about chest level. Lie down on the floor underneath the bar and grab it. Simply pull your chest up to the bar, maintaining a tight core. Pretend your body is a surfboard so you keep everything rigid and in line.
What Does It Do? It works the muscles in your back, shoulders, biceps and core, but what I like about it the most is the way it incorporates your entire core into the exercise, glutes included. If you don’t keep your core tight, you simply won’t be able to get to the bar very effectively. Because of that, like the pushup, it can be a very effective full-body bodyweight exercise. Another great thing is how easy it is to vary the level of difficulty. Do you want it easier? Raise the bar or move your feet a little closer. Want it harder? Lower the bar or move your feet out a little.
It is also a great exercise for simply strengthening the upper back, which is an area that, for many people, is tight, painful and the cause of bad posture.
There are also lots of variations you can use, as well. I go over a few of them in my video blog which you can see at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com, but the general rule is that the higher the feet the tougher it is, and the higher the hands the easier it is.
As I said before, I go over the form for this exercise and a few variations in my video blog which you can find at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com. Please drop me a line if you have any questions about the inverted row or anything else and remember to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program. Have a great week and keep exercising!
How Do I Do It? Put a bar in a squat rack at about chest level. Lie down on the floor underneath the bar and grab it. Simply pull your chest up to the bar, maintaining a tight core. Pretend your body is a surfboard so you keep everything rigid and in line.
What Does It Do? It works the muscles in your back, shoulders, biceps and core, but what I like about it the most is the way it incorporates your entire core into the exercise, glutes included. If you don’t keep your core tight, you simply won’t be able to get to the bar very effectively. Because of that, like the pushup, it can be a very effective full-body bodyweight exercise. Another great thing is how easy it is to vary the level of difficulty. Do you want it easier? Raise the bar or move your feet a little closer. Want it harder? Lower the bar or move your feet out a little.
It is also a great exercise for simply strengthening the upper back, which is an area that, for many people, is tight, painful and the cause of bad posture.
There are also lots of variations you can use, as well. I go over a few of them in my video blog which you can see at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com, but the general rule is that the higher the feet the tougher it is, and the higher the hands the easier it is.
As I said before, I go over the form for this exercise and a few variations in my video blog which you can find at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com. Please drop me a line if you have any questions about the inverted row or anything else and remember to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program. Have a great week and keep exercising!
Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Video Blog - Row For Your Health
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
510-754-7113
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
www.MitchRothbardtFitness.com
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Feel Better With Exercise
Hello! Today, I’d like to discuss something that my beautiful wife Kristi suggested. Most of the time when someone thinks of exercise they think about losing weight or something like that. What I want to discuss is how exercise can help get over pain and injuries.
In today’s sedentary society the problems I usually see are tight shoulders and hips. These issues can lead directly to achy backs and knees. How? Well, you’ve got to understand that the body is an incredible thing, and one thing it does amazingly well is compensate. What that means is when a part of our body can’t move well, another part must take up the slack. Of course, we usually don’t realize this is happening and we all have compensations that can range from “not a big deal” to “if you don’t take care of that, you’ll soon be in a wheelchair”. As far as shoulders and backs go, our shoulders are one of the most mobile joints in our body, but sitting hunched at a computer all day can shorten the muscles around the joint. So, what happens when we move our arm to grab something? Instead of our arm being able to move freely it can’t, so our lower back has to move to let us do what we’re trying to do. Our lumbar spine is NOT meant to move very much so when it’s forced to, what happens? Pain.
Our body is so good at compensating that most of the time we have joint pain, the cause isn’t that joint at all, but rather the joint either above or below it. Many times, special exercises can be used to strengthen or loosen areas, or correct compensating movement patterns.
Here are a couple of moves that I use with my clients to loosen up some of those trouble spots. To see demonstrations of these and a few more helpful exercises go to my video blog at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com.
Hips - Overhead Lunge Stretch: Get into a lunge position with one knee on the floor behind you and the other leg out in front of you with your knee bent at about a 90 degree angle. Reach for the ceiling and bring your hips forward. Be careful that you don’t just lean back. Squeeze your glutes to enhance the stretch. You should NOT feel this in your back!
In today’s sedentary society the problems I usually see are tight shoulders and hips. These issues can lead directly to achy backs and knees. How? Well, you’ve got to understand that the body is an incredible thing, and one thing it does amazingly well is compensate. What that means is when a part of our body can’t move well, another part must take up the slack. Of course, we usually don’t realize this is happening and we all have compensations that can range from “not a big deal” to “if you don’t take care of that, you’ll soon be in a wheelchair”. As far as shoulders and backs go, our shoulders are one of the most mobile joints in our body, but sitting hunched at a computer all day can shorten the muscles around the joint. So, what happens when we move our arm to grab something? Instead of our arm being able to move freely it can’t, so our lower back has to move to let us do what we’re trying to do. Our lumbar spine is NOT meant to move very much so when it’s forced to, what happens? Pain.
Our body is so good at compensating that most of the time we have joint pain, the cause isn’t that joint at all, but rather the joint either above or below it. Many times, special exercises can be used to strengthen or loosen areas, or correct compensating movement patterns.
Here are a couple of moves that I use with my clients to loosen up some of those trouble spots. To see demonstrations of these and a few more helpful exercises go to my video blog at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com.
Hips - Overhead Lunge Stretch: Get into a lunge position with one knee on the floor behind you and the other leg out in front of you with your knee bent at about a 90 degree angle. Reach for the ceiling and bring your hips forward. Be careful that you don’t just lean back. Squeeze your glutes to enhance the stretch. You should NOT feel this in your back!
 |
| Overhead Lunge Stretch |
Shoulders - Wall Slide: Stand with your butt and head against a wall. Bring your arms back so that your elbows and hands touch the wall and simply move them up and down keeping contact with the wall.
These are only two of many different exercises to help you get over joint pain. Go to my video blog at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com to see more and feel free to call me with any questions. Lastly, don’t forget to see a doctor before beginning any exercise routine.
Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Video Blog - Feel Better Through Exercise
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
510-754-7113
http://www.MitchRothbardtFitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
Discover Your Strength!
Love Is Just A Foam Roller Away
Hello, everyone! My goal for today is to make everyone feel better. I like a challenge, though, so all I’m going to use is a foam tube. How am I going to do that? I’ll tell you about how wonderful you’ll feel after using one of these things! I didn’t say I wouldn’t need your help a little.
First, lets talk about what this thing is. It’s called a foam roller and it’s exactly how I described it: a tube made of foam. What do you do with it? Well, that’s where the fun begins! To put it simply, you lay on it and roll. (To see the full sequence I’ll be talking about, go to this week’s video blog at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com.)
If you’ve never used one of these things this may sound strange, but give me a moment and let me tell you what this does. First, though, a quick anatomy lesson. As I’m sure you know, our top layer of tissue is skin and under that, we have muscle. In between is something called fascia. Fascia is a layer of connective tissue that surrounds our muscles and literally runs from the top of our head to the soles of our feet. When everything is working well, our skin, fascia and muscles slide easily against each other, but during the course of life we develop restrictions and knots that prevent that from happening. These are the spots that are sensitive to the touch and feel so good when someone massages them out for us.
That’s essentially what foam rolling does: massages those spots out. As this happens we begin to feel better, move better, and gain flexibility! Sounds great, huh? Of course there is a slight catch. The first few times you do this it might feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe very uncomfortable. Trust me, though, it will get better. If you do this for even a week, you will notice a pretty big difference and in a few weeks the difference will be huge.
I show all my clients a basic sequence that covers the whole body and takes about 5-7 minutes. To see it, go to my video blog at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com. Rollers usually run about $25 and to buy one online, just go to my blog and click on the Perform Better banner on the right side of the page. They’re not too hard to find. They come in a few different styles. The white ones are the softest and the black ones are more solid. Initially, the white ones are probably fine, but they do tend to wear out quicker.
Remember to consult a doctor before starting any exercise program and if you have any questions about foam rolling or anything else, email me at MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com or call me at 510-754-7113.
Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
http://MitchRothbardtFitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
Discover Your Strength!
First, lets talk about what this thing is. It’s called a foam roller and it’s exactly how I described it: a tube made of foam. What do you do with it? Well, that’s where the fun begins! To put it simply, you lay on it and roll. (To see the full sequence I’ll be talking about, go to this week’s video blog at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com.)
If you’ve never used one of these things this may sound strange, but give me a moment and let me tell you what this does. First, though, a quick anatomy lesson. As I’m sure you know, our top layer of tissue is skin and under that, we have muscle. In between is something called fascia. Fascia is a layer of connective tissue that surrounds our muscles and literally runs from the top of our head to the soles of our feet. When everything is working well, our skin, fascia and muscles slide easily against each other, but during the course of life we develop restrictions and knots that prevent that from happening. These are the spots that are sensitive to the touch and feel so good when someone massages them out for us.
That’s essentially what foam rolling does: massages those spots out. As this happens we begin to feel better, move better, and gain flexibility! Sounds great, huh? Of course there is a slight catch. The first few times you do this it might feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe very uncomfortable. Trust me, though, it will get better. If you do this for even a week, you will notice a pretty big difference and in a few weeks the difference will be huge.
I show all my clients a basic sequence that covers the whole body and takes about 5-7 minutes. To see it, go to my video blog at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com. Rollers usually run about $25 and to buy one online, just go to my blog and click on the Perform Better banner on the right side of the page. They’re not too hard to find. They come in a few different styles. The white ones are the softest and the black ones are more solid. Initially, the white ones are probably fine, but they do tend to wear out quicker.
Remember to consult a doctor before starting any exercise program and if you have any questions about foam rolling or anything else, email me at MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com or call me at 510-754-7113.
Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
http://MitchRothbardtFitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
Discover Your Strength!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
My Sadie
This post isn't going to be about training. I don't know if this is even the place to write this, but I felt I had to put it somewhere. I lost my kitty, Sadie, last night. She was 17, which is very old for a cat. Over the last few weeks she hadn't been doing very well. She didn't really move at all and I had to pick her up and bring her to her food and back to her favorite chair. Yesterday, after I got home from work she lay in my arms for at least half an hour and didn't even open her eyes for more than a second. Any one of my friends and family can tell you how much she meant to me.
Sadie was with me since she was a kitten. She came into my life in a roundabout way when a rommate's friend got her for another friend. It turned out that the friend was allergic to cats and so my roomate took her. That particular roomate moved out and passed her responsibility to another roomate who then passed her on to me as it was pretty obvious by that point that she was my cat, really. I was 24.
I am 41 now and Sadie was with me for so many of my life's events. I moved out of that place and into a small studio apartment where I stayed with her for about 9 years. Every time I left, she would jump onto my dresser and I would say goodbye to her. Every time I came home she would be waiting for me in the same spot by the door. Every night when I went to bed she would snuggle next to me and on colder nights she'd snuggle under the covers. Every single time I was on my way home I would say to myself how happy I would be to see her when I got there. Every single time. I lost a job once and everyone asked me if I would be OK. I responded, "As long as I have my gym membership and my Sadie I'll be fine." I meant every word.
In April 2004 I met my future wife, Kristi. Sadie didn't mind her but didn't like my future step-son, Robert all that much. When they would come to my little one room apartment she would hide in the closet until they left.
About a year and a half after we met we decided to move in together. A few days after we moved in to our place we had the cable installed. I came downstairs where the cable guy was and he had the door to the outside wide open and I couldn't find Sadie anywhere. I looked in the house for hours and then walked up and down the street and every neighboring street looking for her. I was very upset and couldn't believe that as I was opening this great new chapter in my life she would be gone just like that. After hours of searching I went downstairs to find her just emerging from a new and very effective hiding spot. I think I cried for a good 15 minutes. She still slept by me every night.
We moved to a new place a few years after that. We got another cat and a puppy. Sadie didn't like them very much. They were both very young and at this point Sadie was not. They didn't understand that what they thought was playing was extremely irritating to her so she kept her distance as much as possible. As Puppy started making her way into our bed at night, Sadie starting sleeping downstairs. I don't think I'll ever stop feeling bad about this.
At one point after we moved she started "doing her business" in some inappropriate places around the house. The vet suggested that we keep her in a confined space with her litter box until she re-learned to use it. We kept her in a room with a window. As it was summer we kept the window slightly open and one night, she got out. She was never the sort of cat to leave the house, really. Every once in a while she'd poke her head outside and then run back in. Well, this night when I went in to see her she wasn't there. I ran outside and found her in our back yard.
Over the past few years as she became pretty old for a cat, she lost a lot of weight. She was never a big cat to begin with, but she was still pretty healthy. That changed a few weeks ago when she became noticably still. She didn't really move anywhere and she could no longer get to her food or up on her favorite chair. She even crawled behind our clothes drier which is something she never would have done.
Kristi took her to the vet on Thursday and found out that she had a heart murmur. I've known for a while that she was not a young cat and she lived several years longer then most cats do, and pretty healthy for almost all of that time. They wanted to run some tests but she became noticably worse over Friday and Saturday. I rubbed her belly and it felt hard, not right. When I got home on Saturday, Kristi was holding her wrapped in a blanket and she looked like she was sleeping. I took her and brought her upstairs with me for a little while and she didn't even open her eyes. Her breathing was labored and she seemed too weak to move. I made the decision to bring her to the vet. Before we left I tried to give her some food and she couldn't even stand up to eat it.
I've never been one to take a lot of pictures and I realized this morning that after 17 years I don't think I have one picture of me holding her. That makes me incredibly sad.
There are many people who know me that have lost someone very important to them in the last few months. I'm beyond sorry if writing this makes it seem to you that I'm trying to compare or makes you feel bad in any way, but it just hurts so much to lose such a big part of my life. I just loved her so much. I don't want to make anyone angry by writing this. I just wanted to say it.
Sadie was with me since she was a kitten. She came into my life in a roundabout way when a rommate's friend got her for another friend. It turned out that the friend was allergic to cats and so my roomate took her. That particular roomate moved out and passed her responsibility to another roomate who then passed her on to me as it was pretty obvious by that point that she was my cat, really. I was 24.
I am 41 now and Sadie was with me for so many of my life's events. I moved out of that place and into a small studio apartment where I stayed with her for about 9 years. Every time I left, she would jump onto my dresser and I would say goodbye to her. Every time I came home she would be waiting for me in the same spot by the door. Every night when I went to bed she would snuggle next to me and on colder nights she'd snuggle under the covers. Every single time I was on my way home I would say to myself how happy I would be to see her when I got there. Every single time. I lost a job once and everyone asked me if I would be OK. I responded, "As long as I have my gym membership and my Sadie I'll be fine." I meant every word.
In April 2004 I met my future wife, Kristi. Sadie didn't mind her but didn't like my future step-son, Robert all that much. When they would come to my little one room apartment she would hide in the closet until they left.
About a year and a half after we met we decided to move in together. A few days after we moved in to our place we had the cable installed. I came downstairs where the cable guy was and he had the door to the outside wide open and I couldn't find Sadie anywhere. I looked in the house for hours and then walked up and down the street and every neighboring street looking for her. I was very upset and couldn't believe that as I was opening this great new chapter in my life she would be gone just like that. After hours of searching I went downstairs to find her just emerging from a new and very effective hiding spot. I think I cried for a good 15 minutes. She still slept by me every night.
We moved to a new place a few years after that. We got another cat and a puppy. Sadie didn't like them very much. They were both very young and at this point Sadie was not. They didn't understand that what they thought was playing was extremely irritating to her so she kept her distance as much as possible. As Puppy started making her way into our bed at night, Sadie starting sleeping downstairs. I don't think I'll ever stop feeling bad about this.
At one point after we moved she started "doing her business" in some inappropriate places around the house. The vet suggested that we keep her in a confined space with her litter box until she re-learned to use it. We kept her in a room with a window. As it was summer we kept the window slightly open and one night, she got out. She was never the sort of cat to leave the house, really. Every once in a while she'd poke her head outside and then run back in. Well, this night when I went in to see her she wasn't there. I ran outside and found her in our back yard.
Over the past few years as she became pretty old for a cat, she lost a lot of weight. She was never a big cat to begin with, but she was still pretty healthy. That changed a few weeks ago when she became noticably still. She didn't really move anywhere and she could no longer get to her food or up on her favorite chair. She even crawled behind our clothes drier which is something she never would have done.
Kristi took her to the vet on Thursday and found out that she had a heart murmur. I've known for a while that she was not a young cat and she lived several years longer then most cats do, and pretty healthy for almost all of that time. They wanted to run some tests but she became noticably worse over Friday and Saturday. I rubbed her belly and it felt hard, not right. When I got home on Saturday, Kristi was holding her wrapped in a blanket and she looked like she was sleeping. I took her and brought her upstairs with me for a little while and she didn't even open her eyes. Her breathing was labored and she seemed too weak to move. I made the decision to bring her to the vet. Before we left I tried to give her some food and she couldn't even stand up to eat it.
I've never been one to take a lot of pictures and I realized this morning that after 17 years I don't think I have one picture of me holding her. That makes me incredibly sad.
There are many people who know me that have lost someone very important to them in the last few months. I'm beyond sorry if writing this makes it seem to you that I'm trying to compare or makes you feel bad in any way, but it just hurts so much to lose such a big part of my life. I just loved her so much. I don't want to make anyone angry by writing this. I just wanted to say it.
Quite a while ago, when it was just her and me I went on a vacation and left her at my friend Ross's house for a week. When he brought her back she was covered in soot. He told me that she jumped into his fireplace and covered herself in the ashes. He cleaned her off the best he could but he didn't know if he should bathe her or not. That night I gave a her a bath in the tub for, I think, the first time in her life. If you know how much cats like water I'm sure you realize that this wasn't a pleasant experience for her. What I'll never forget, though, is that she just sat in the tub looking at me with complete trust. It was like she was saying, "As much as I don't like this, if you think it's the right thing to do, then OK."
I hope I didn't betray the trust she put in me.
 |
| My Sadie. 1994-Feb. 26, 2011 |
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Video Blog 3-Love is Just A Foam Roller Away
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
www.MitchRothbardtFitness.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Squats 101
Hello! This week I want to talk about the squat. I know I already wrote an article about the squat in August 2009, but it’s time to expand and use new technologies! Like my video blog!
I want to talk about the squat because there may not be a more bastardized exercise. There are also some misconceptions, such as squatting being bad for your knees. (It’s not. In fact in can actually be good for them.)
Here’s the truth: There isn’t another exercise that uses the amount of muscle the squat uses while also involving such an important movement pattern.
A proper squat involves the calves, hamstrings, quadriceps, hips, glutes, core, spinal erectors, and upper back. In other words, nearly every muscle from the neck down in one way or another. A proper squat also involves something called a hip hinge. A hip hinge is a movement that involves moving the hips back and forth without changing the position of your upper body.This is important because the ability to move your hips like this takes pressure off our backs and knees. I’ve had clients experience immediate improvement with knee pain just by learning this movement.
OK, enough blathering. It’s time to tell you how to do it. First, stand up. Easy, huh? (You’ll find that the most effective exercises are usually done standing, for the simple reason that you use more muscles standing than sitting.) Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width, your toes pointed slightly outward and most of your weight on your heels. Take a deep breath of air into your chest and, keeping your chest up, tighten your core. Find a spot just above eye level and without taking your eyes off of it, push your hips back as if you are sitting down. From here, continue to push your hips back and descend between your heels until the top of your thighs are parallel to the ground. Come back up by pushing through your heels. Make sure you keep a tight core and chest.
That’s it. You’ll find that this movement tests things that you might not have thought about. You also might find that you can’t go too far down at first. That’s fine. Go down as far as you can while maintaining the upper body position I described. Keep working on it and you’ll improve sooner than you think.
In my video blog at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com I’ll show you how to perform a good squat. I’ll also demonstrate some variations you can use to exercise around injuries and help you get back to good health. If you have any questions please email me at MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com or give me a call at 510-754-7113.
-from the Castro Valley Forum, Feb 9 2011
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
I want to talk about the squat because there may not be a more bastardized exercise. There are also some misconceptions, such as squatting being bad for your knees. (It’s not. In fact in can actually be good for them.)
Here’s the truth: There isn’t another exercise that uses the amount of muscle the squat uses while also involving such an important movement pattern.
A proper squat involves the calves, hamstrings, quadriceps, hips, glutes, core, spinal erectors, and upper back. In other words, nearly every muscle from the neck down in one way or another. A proper squat also involves something called a hip hinge. A hip hinge is a movement that involves moving the hips back and forth without changing the position of your upper body.This is important because the ability to move your hips like this takes pressure off our backs and knees. I’ve had clients experience immediate improvement with knee pain just by learning this movement.
OK, enough blathering. It’s time to tell you how to do it. First, stand up. Easy, huh? (You’ll find that the most effective exercises are usually done standing, for the simple reason that you use more muscles standing than sitting.) Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width, your toes pointed slightly outward and most of your weight on your heels. Take a deep breath of air into your chest and, keeping your chest up, tighten your core. Find a spot just above eye level and without taking your eyes off of it, push your hips back as if you are sitting down. From here, continue to push your hips back and descend between your heels until the top of your thighs are parallel to the ground. Come back up by pushing through your heels. Make sure you keep a tight core and chest.
That’s it. You’ll find that this movement tests things that you might not have thought about. You also might find that you can’t go too far down at first. That’s fine. Go down as far as you can while maintaining the upper body position I described. Keep working on it and you’ll improve sooner than you think.
In my video blog at MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com I’ll show you how to perform a good squat. I’ll also demonstrate some variations you can use to exercise around injuries and help you get back to good health. If you have any questions please email me at MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com or give me a call at 510-754-7113.
-from the Castro Valley Forum, Feb 9 2011
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Video Blog 2 - Squats 101
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Strength of Strength
What would you say if I told you there was one thing that could help you lose fat, gain muscle, help your running time, lift more weight, and make you feel better both mentally and physically? You’d probably ask which aisle in the store carried this amazing pill. Well, as I’m sure you know, I’m not talking about a pill. I’m talking about one of the most overlooked aspects of many people’s training programs: strength.
Too many people judge their workouts purely by how tired they are afterward. Let me put it this way, it’s easy to do a workout that just gets you tired. Do walking lunges for five blocks. Did this workout actually help you in any way? Not really.
You should judge your workout by how much better it made you. How much closer to your goal it brought you.
You might be thinking, “I want to lose weight. How is getting stronger going to help me with that?” Well, we all know that to lose weight we need to expend more energy than we take in. In other words, burn more calories than we eat. The best way to do this through your workouts is to do something that raises your metabolism on a permanent basis. Doing one of those just-get-me-tired workouts actually LOWERS your metabolism over time due to your body’s adaptive response. Training more for strength will result in more lean body mass. As we know, lean body mass burns more calories and, presto, a higher metabolism! That’s not to say that there shouldn’t be some getting-tired aspect to your workouts. You should be getting tired just as a result of working hard, but that shouldn’t be your primary measuring stick as to how the workout was.
Let’s talk about another kind of exerciser that commonly misses the strength element in their workouts: the endurance athlete. There are many ways that strength can help them, but today we’ll talk about just one of them. Injuries.
Let’s say we are running two miles today. That’s roughly 4000 steps. Using exercise terminology, that means that we’re doing 4000 reps of a high impact exercise. Each time our foot hits the ground, we push off and propel ourselves forward. Doing that so many times can be very hard on our knees, ankles and back. Doesn’t it make sense that each step will be easier if we have the strength to put more force into each step? In other words, if I can put 200 pounds of force into the ground as opposed to 125 I don’t have to exert as much energy. That leads to more efficient running and that leads to fewer injuries.
These are only a few ways that strength can help you in your fitness goals. Take a look at my new video blog below plus some exclusive content, or just drop me a line.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Video Blog 1-The Strength of Strength
The first person to email or Facebook me with the correct names of the band and the songs on the video wins two free sessions! I hope you enjoy it!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Resolve To Improve Your Resolve
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you’re doing well. I hope you’re having a great season, but we all know what happens at the start of each year: the New Years Resolution to lose weight. It’s an annual rite of passage. The gym fills up with new members most of whom will be gone by March. That makes me sad. I love seeing new people in the gym, but I think that many times they have their goals a little skewed. What I’d like to talk about today are some New Years Resolutions that should help you in the gym a little more then the general and somewhat meaningless “I want to lose some weight.”
1. I will lose ____ pounds in the next six months. See what I did there? Instead of a general thought, I got specific. Let’s say my number is 15 pounds in six months. What I’ll do is break it down. 15 pounds in six months is 2.5 pounds a month. That’s 1.25 pounds every two weeks, etc. Now you have smaller goals that will propel you towards your ultimate goal, and you’ve clarified what you want to achieve.
2. I will eat fruits or vegetables with every meal. There isn’t a goal, fitness oriented or otherwise, that this wouldn’t help. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away for good reason.
3. I will center my workouts around the free weight area of my gym. If your goal is to develop an extremely slow metabolism, then you can do your 45 minutes on the elliptical each day. If it’s to develop poor movement patterns and repeated use injuries, then you can stay on the machines. If it’s doing anything actually worthwhile, I suggest you start lifting free weights.
4. I will look into what will get me results. Resolution number three is a little glib. There are some goals that would involve longer treadmill sessions or more machine work, they just don’t apply to 95% of exercisers. Do some research into what you want to achieve and you will have a better chance of achieving it.
5. I will enjoy the process. You must realize that whatever your goal may be, it’s going to take time to get there and when that initial burst of enthusiasm dwindles, and it will, you stand a much better chance of seeing your goal through if you learn to enjoy what you’re doing. Do what you must to make it fun and you’ll wind up hitting goals you never even imagined!
For most of you, there’s no reason that you can’t finish 2011 in better shape than you started it. It’s just a matter of figuring out what you want and going for it! Have a great day and I’ll talk to you in a couple of weeks.
Mitch Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
1. I will lose ____ pounds in the next six months. See what I did there? Instead of a general thought, I got specific. Let’s say my number is 15 pounds in six months. What I’ll do is break it down. 15 pounds in six months is 2.5 pounds a month. That’s 1.25 pounds every two weeks, etc. Now you have smaller goals that will propel you towards your ultimate goal, and you’ve clarified what you want to achieve.
2. I will eat fruits or vegetables with every meal. There isn’t a goal, fitness oriented or otherwise, that this wouldn’t help. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away for good reason.
3. I will center my workouts around the free weight area of my gym. If your goal is to develop an extremely slow metabolism, then you can do your 45 minutes on the elliptical each day. If it’s to develop poor movement patterns and repeated use injuries, then you can stay on the machines. If it’s doing anything actually worthwhile, I suggest you start lifting free weights.
4. I will look into what will get me results. Resolution number three is a little glib. There are some goals that would involve longer treadmill sessions or more machine work, they just don’t apply to 95% of exercisers. Do some research into what you want to achieve and you will have a better chance of achieving it.
5. I will enjoy the process. You must realize that whatever your goal may be, it’s going to take time to get there and when that initial burst of enthusiasm dwindles, and it will, you stand a much better chance of seeing your goal through if you learn to enjoy what you’re doing. Do what you must to make it fun and you’ll wind up hitting goals you never even imagined!
For most of you, there’s no reason that you can’t finish 2011 in better shape than you started it. It’s just a matter of figuring out what you want and going for it! Have a great day and I’ll talk to you in a couple of weeks.
Mitch Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Exciting Updates!
Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday season. We had a nice relaxing time and I'm really looking forward to the new year. I wanted to give everyone a quick update as what I've been doing and what I will be doing in the near future.
First things first, this Sunday I am doing my first powerlifting meet since last May. I'm very excited and I have big numbers in mind. I'm looking at something like a 425 Squat, a 265 Bench and a 525 Deadlift. My goal for 2011 is to do a meet at the end of the year and total 100 pounds more than I do at this one. This should set me up for a run at an elite total in 2012. I'll put a recap up early next week with some videos. If you'd like to come by and watch for a while, it's at Crossfit Pleasanton at 7075 Commerce Circle, Suite B in Pleasanton. It's around where the Club Sport and the Hilton is to give you an idea. Lifting starts at 10 and should go on for most of the day.
Next thing, I'm going to start doing some more video content. I'll put up some exercise advice and I'll be able to expand more on the "Exercises Everyone Should Do" series. I'll also be posting some things I just want to talk about concerning exercise and fitness. I'm going to try and connect this with my Forum articles to make things a little more in depth.
Lastly I am going to start my groups very soon. This is going to be a great way to get one-on-one level training for a lot less money and adding a great sense of fun and community. Stay tuned for when and where that's going to launch. Details to follow.
Well, that's about it for now. If you have any suggestions for content you'd like to see or read about, please send me an email or give me a call. I'll talk to you soon!
Mitch Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
First things first, this Sunday I am doing my first powerlifting meet since last May. I'm very excited and I have big numbers in mind. I'm looking at something like a 425 Squat, a 265 Bench and a 525 Deadlift. My goal for 2011 is to do a meet at the end of the year and total 100 pounds more than I do at this one. This should set me up for a run at an elite total in 2012. I'll put a recap up early next week with some videos. If you'd like to come by and watch for a while, it's at Crossfit Pleasanton at 7075 Commerce Circle, Suite B in Pleasanton. It's around where the Club Sport and the Hilton is to give you an idea. Lifting starts at 10 and should go on for most of the day.
Next thing, I'm going to start doing some more video content. I'll put up some exercise advice and I'll be able to expand more on the "Exercises Everyone Should Do" series. I'll also be posting some things I just want to talk about concerning exercise and fitness. I'm going to try and connect this with my Forum articles to make things a little more in depth.
Lastly I am going to start my groups very soon. This is going to be a great way to get one-on-one level training for a lot less money and adding a great sense of fun and community. Stay tuned for when and where that's going to launch. Details to follow.
Well, that's about it for now. If you have any suggestions for content you'd like to see or read about, please send me an email or give me a call. I'll talk to you soon!
Mitch Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!
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