Modern gymI travel about once per month for work – sometimes it is to work with an elite athlete who does not live in London, Ontario and sometimes it is to help us do a better job at Revolution Conditioning by learning new stuff or sharing ideas with some of the top trainers in the world.  Most of the time I love traveling and I look forward to it.

A change of scenery…

I look forward to the change of pace a new city brings and even the chance to workout at a hotel gym (sometimes it challenges my creativity) or create a fun workout using the natural terrain – like the stairs up the front of the San Diego Convention Center or as I like to call it – ‘nature’s Stairmaster’.

Well, the story that lead me to create the video below is from one of those trips.  The hotel where I was staying actually had a very nice gym and there were some people training in there who actually looked like they knew what they were doing.  One guy in particular was wearing a shirt with the name of an Ivy League US College on the front and “HOCKEY” on the back.

Oh no he didn’t…

I loved his workout for the most part – until he busted out THIS ab exercise… I can’t even say it, you will have to check out the video below and I will show you what he could have done instead and what you can do if you need a strong, stable torso (or core) for your sport whether it is hockey, soccer, baseball, basketball, football, pretty much any sport, these two exercises will help you.

If you cannot see the video in the player above, simply cut and paste this link –
http://youtu.be/njRA0azbkFY

So please stop doing the Russian Twist – it is not functional for most of you and it will take a toll on your lumbar spine.  You can get way more bang out of your core training buck with the Standing Hip Block or Rotary Med Ball Pass while sparing your back, now that sounds like a win:win scenario doesn’t it.

Start with 3 sets of 6-8 reps on each side for either of the exercises (just use one per workout) and remember to keep your hips and shoulders moving together by stabilizing your torso, the way you need to do it in your sport.  Make sense?

Cheers,
Maria

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