FITNESS MADE FUN AT BOOTCAMP

By Carolyn Cooke, Surrey NowDecember 22, 2011

Michelle Roots, fitness writer, trainer and owner of Core Condition, does a one-handed push-up. She’s offering a new boot camp class in Newton. Photograph by: ADAM KVETON, for Surrey NOW

If you’re contemplating a New Year’s resolution to get back in shape, new classes starting soon can help keep you on track. Michelle Roots, owner of Core Condition, is offering two boot camps, called The Gauntlet, at Wachal’s Martial Arts Academy in Newton. The first option, from noon to 1 p.m., will focus on the core and abdominals, with cardio intervals. The evening class, from 6: 15 to 7: 15 p.m., is a full-body circuit training program. The classes run for six weeks, beginning on Jan. 9, and run two days a week each.

What makes her classes a bit different, Roots said, is that she doesn’t have people do the same exercises over and over. “It’s all about keeping your body guessing,” she said, which also keeps it interesting. Her approach is high-intensity interval training, which is one of the best fitness approaches to burn fat and build strength. “It’s a social thing, too,” Roots noted. She had clients who met at a Burnaby version of her boot camp who struck up a friendship and now go to the gym together.

Roots, who grew up in Surrey, has always been athletic. Her time playing basketball at Kwantlen Polytechnic University paid off when she earned a scholarship to the University of Winnipeg, where she studied kinesiology, and active rehab in particular. Once she finished her studies, she came back to B.C. and started her own business. Aside from doing rehabilitation work with people who’ve been hurt in car accidents, Roots also works as a strength and conditioning coach for some local sports teams and trains people one-on-one. But, she said, she really enjoys the energy and dynamic of groups, particularly classes. “I thought, why don’t I just start my own boot camp?” she said.

While she will push clients to work harder than they will on their own, she stressed her classes are adaptable to all fitness levels. She will show people easier forms of each exercise to suit their fitness level. The value in working with a trainer, Roots said, is “people can’t push themselves.” And yet, she said she makes it fun by constantly changing up the exercises and keeps the music cranked to keep people energized.

For more details and registration info, see www.core-condition.com.

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ccooke@thenownewspaper.com

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Countless hours in the office staring at a computer screen can really be taxing on the body, causing headaches, neck pain, back pain, and undue discomfort throughout the day.  In this article I’m going to point out some great exercises you can do to help avoid or relieve neck and back discomfort without standing up from your chair.  Getting up and moving around for about 5 minutes for every 1 to 2 hours of sitting is recommended; however, if the madness of the job has you glued to your chair, these exercises will help to relieve any aches and pains that are brought on by the postural compensations related to long hours of sitting.  A great idea is to try and do an exercise while you are on the phone or waiting for the phone to be answered on the other end.  In order to remain as productive as you would like to be at work it’s important to be comfortable, but if you are cross eyed from staring at a bright computer screen, have a pounding headache, and are constantly suffering from neck and back discomfort you will not be able to focus all of your attention on the task at hand.  Take some time out for you, feeling better will result in increased productivity and job satisfaction overall.

Here are a few exercises to get you started:

1.) Neck Stretch-sit up straight, relax your shoulders, and tilt your head to the side bringing your ear towards your left shoulder.  You should feel a stretch in your right upper trapezius muscle, which sits right on the top of your shoulder.  Hold this stretch for 25 to 30 seconds and perform twice on each side. 

2.) “Squeeze the Pencil”-pull your shoulders down and back as if you were trying to squeeze a pencil between your shoulder blades.  You should feel your upper trapezius muscles (as mentioned above) relaxed and the muscles between your shoulder blades working.  Hold each “squeeze” for 5 seconds and repeat for 10 repetitions. 

3.) Upper Back Stretch-extend your arms in front of you and grab your right wrist with your left hand.  Pull your arms forward while rounding out your upper back, releasing tension between the shoulder blades.  Hold for the stretch for 25 to 30 seconds and repeat twice on each side.

4.) “Reach for the Sky”-interlock your fingers and reach your arms straight up over your head, locking out your elbows.  Try to pull your arms as far back over your head as you can without discomfort and hold for 25 to 30 seconds, repeating twice.

5.) Low Back Stretch-sit up straight and place your left arm behind your left hip.  Gently twist to the left using your right arm to pull you further into the stretch, hold for 25 to 30 seconds on each side.

For more information about how to create an ergonomically friendly work space email Michelle@CORE-Condition.com

Michelle Roots BA KIN, CSCS, PES

www.CORE-Condition.com

As the winter drags on and the days get colder, the sound of the alarm clock in the morning becomes more and more irritating and dreaded by everyone.  The instant reaction is to hit the snooze button, roll over, and try to enjoy the last few minutes under the warmth of the comforter.  A great way to get a jumpstart on your day, kick-start your metabolism, and boost your energy is to avoid the snooze button and do a quick little workout.  Before you eat breakfast or have your morning shower, take about 10 minutes to get your body moving and you will feel more energized all day!  Many complain they have no time in the morning to do anything but get dressed and leave the house, but you can do this workout in your pyjamas and your don’t even need to put on shoes.  Tomorrow morning try waking up 10 minutes earlier to help improve your health and fitness level, clear your head, and prepare for the busy day ahead.

Complete this routine by moving through the exercises without a break.  Depending on how much time you have, perform the routine 1 to 3 times up to 6 days per week.

Warm-Up

• High Stepping-Bring alternating knees up to waist level for 1 minute
• Torso Twist-Stand with feet shoulder width apart and gently twist your torso from side to side.

Routine

1.)  Jumping Jacks                               50

2.)  Body Weight Squats                    20       

Stand with feet shoulder width apart and sit into the squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor, ensure your knees do not extend beyond your toes.

3.)  Alternating Forward Lunges        20

Step forward with one leg and perform a lunge until your front thigh is parallel to the floor and both knees are at a 90 degree angle.  Push off your front leg, bringing your body back to an upright position and repeat with opposite leg.

(Alternate the next 2 exercises and perform each 3 times before moving to exercise 6)

4.)  Plank                                             10 Seconds

With chest facing floor and back held straight, prop yourself on forearms and toes, engaging your abs and glutes.  Hold your body stable with back straight for 10 seconds.

5.)  Mountain Climber                         10

Move into a push-up position on your hands and feet with elbows and legs straight.  Engage your abs and gluts to stabilize your body while raise 1 knee up to your chest at a time.

(Alternate the next 2 exercises and perform each 3 times before moving to exercise

6.)  Push-Ups                                      5

Either perform on your hands and toes, or for those just starting out perform off of your hands and knees.

7.)  Burpees                                         5                             

Begin in a squat position with your hands on the floor, kick your feet back into a push up position, jump back into the squat position with your hands on the floor, then bring your body to standing upright position and repeat as fast as possible.

8.)  Triceps Dips                                  10

Sit on a chair, the couch, or side of the bed and begin with hands next to hips.  Lift onto your hands and bring your hips forward, then lower your hips down (close to the chair) until your elbows are at 90 degrees, raise back up and repeat.

If you have any questions regarding proper form in each exercise email Michelle@CORE-Condition.com.

Michelle Roots BA Kin, CSCS

www.CORE-Condition.com

We asked Surrey certified strength and conditioning specialist Michelle Roots of Core Conditioning to review the Bar Method. Here’s what she said:

Pros: Efficient strength-training exercise that tones without adding bulk.

“It’s almost like a hard-core version of Pilates and yoga — a hard-core strengthening class,” Roots said.

Cons: Cost. At $195 for an unlimited one-month pass and $22 per drop-in class, this is in line with higher end yoga and Pilates classes in Vancouver.

How it works: Traditionally people wanting to tone and sculpt lean muscles would do high- repetition and low-weight exercises, Roots said. Those wanting to lengthen their muscles would take yoga or Pilates. The Bar Method combines both.

Holding a muscle contraction through high repetitions recruits deep muscle fibres not often stimulated in traditional cardiovascular exercise and weight- training programs, Roots said. “Muscles are still stimulated because they are forced to work, but you are not focused on creating tears in the muscle fibres, which is how muscles gain size and bulk in traditional strength-training exercises.”

The idea behind the “shaking” while holding each pose is to recruit deep muscle fibres, which increases strength further and makes these once “sleeping” muscle fibres available to burn fuel and boost metabolism throughout the day, Roots said. Following each exercise with a stretch promotes muscle lengthening because the muscle is very warm after being worked maximally.

Cautions: “Because it’s low impact, I think it’s fairly safe, and it’s a good idea for people who do have joint problems and can’t go for a run or have knee pain when they do squats,” Roots said.

jennylee@vancouversun.com

Bad enough that women typically lose five to seven pounds of muscle in their 30s. Throw in menopause a few years later, and the scenario gets even worse. The sad fact is, women have a harder time staying strong and fit than men.

“If you eat a steak and a guy eats a steak, the male body is going to absorb more of the protein to build muscle than the female body,” Surrey certified strength and conditioning specialist Michelle Roots of Core Conditioning, core-condition.com, said in an interview.

“That’s because males have more testosterone production and testosterone is needed to build muscle. At the same time, estrogen production is decreasing in women after menopause and it’s believed that estrogen also plays a role in building muscle mass in women.”

Alexandra Sanger compared menopausal women aged 45 to 55 doing regular weight training versus SuperSlow training, which was developed in 1982 as a safer training method for older women with osteoporosis. Instead of doing the standard two or three sets of eight to 10 repetitions of an exercise, in this method, you do just one set of four to six repetitions taking, say, 10 full seconds to curl your bicep in and four seconds to uncurl again.

You can’t use momentum to cheat, and you’ll work really, really hard. But there’s a problem. All that slowness is just plain boring.

“You might fall asleep while you’re doing it,” Roots joked.

On the bright side, though, you have all the time in the world to get your technique down pat.

Fighting muscle weakness isn’t just about vanity. Strong muscles are necessary for every day life.

Sanger’s research is a good wake-up call about what happens in menopause, Roots said. “Mid-life is the time when muscle deterioration becomes more apparent. It starts around age 30 and by 45 you start to really notice. The knee pain starts coming. The balance starts to go. The low back pain begins.”

The less muscle you have, the fewer calories you’ll burn at a resting state, and the greater your chances of gaining weight, losing strength, falling or getting hurt.

So should mid-life women try the slow method? Until more and larger studies confirm Sanger’s findings, Roots’ recommends adding just a little slow training to a more conventional workout.

There is not yet a lot of research on strength training for mid-life women and the slow method is tediously hard work, said Roots who also has a kinesiology degree.

Get into a regular strength training routine first, Roots said. Once you’re comfortable with that, change one exercise to the slow method. When you’re comfortable with that, maybe add another. Slow training will cause more muscle soreness. The bicep curl is probably the easiest exercise to try first. Raise to a count of 10 and lower to a count of four.

(Vancouver Sun)

jennyleevancouversun.com

- – -

More online at: TheStarPhoenix.com/health

Bad enough that women typically lose five to seven pounds of muscle in their 30s. Throw in menopause a few years later, and the scenario gets even worse. The sad fact is, women have a harder time staying strong and fit than men.

“If you eat a steak and a guy eats a steak, the male body is going to absorb more of the protein to build muscle than the female body,” said certified strength and conditioning specialist Michelle Roots of Core Conditioning in Surrey, B.C. (core-condition.com).

“That’s because males have more testosterone production and testosterone is needed to build muscle. At the same time, estrogen production is decreasing in women after menopause and it’s believed that estrogen also plays a role in building muscle mass in women.”

View Larger Image

Michelle Roots demonstrates a tricep extension, which can be done slowly.

Ian Smith, Canwest News Services

Now an Austrian researcher says that mid-life women who lift weights v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y can better delay age-related muscle deterioration. They will get stronger, faster.

Alexandra Sanger compared menopausal women aged 45 to 55 doing regular weight training versus SuperSlow training, which was developed in 1982 as a safer training method for older women with osteoporosis. Instead of doing the standard two or three sets of eight to 10 repetitions of an exercise, in this method, you do just one set of four to six repetitions taking, say, 10 full seconds to curl your bicep in and four seconds to uncurl again.

You can’t use momentum to cheat, and you’ll work really, really hard. But there’s a problem. All that slowness is just plain boring.

“You might fall asleep while you’re doing it,” Roots joked.

On the bright side, though, you have all the time in the world to get your technique down pat.

Fighting muscle weakness isn’t just about vanity. Strong muscles are necessary for every day life.

Sanger’s research is a good wake-up call about what happens in menopause, Roots said. “Mid-life is the time when muscle deterioration becomes more apparent. It starts around age 30 and by 45 you start to really notice. The knee pain starts coming. The balance starts to go. The low back pain begins.”

The less muscle you have, the fewer calories you’ll burn at a resting state, and the greater your chances of gaining weight, losing strength, falling or getting hurt.

So should mid-life women try the slow method? Until more and larger studies confirm Sanger’s findings, Roots recommends adding just a little slow training to a more conventional workout.

There is not yet a lot of research on strength training for mid-life women and the slow method is tediously hard work, said Roots who also has a kinesiology degree.

Get into a regular strength training routine first, Roots said. Once you’re comfortable with that, change one exercise to the slow method. When you’re comfortable with that, maybe add another. Slow training will cause more muscle soreness. The bicep curl is probably the easiest exercise to try first. Raise to a count of 10 and lower to a count of four.

© The Calgary Herald 2008

Here are a few exercises Surrey certified strength and conditioning specialist Michelle Roots of Core Conditioning put together specifically for women in mid-life:

BACKS AND BABIES

Does your lower back hurt? “If you haven’t restrengthened your core after having a baby, your core will be weaker which can cause an increased curve in your lower back due to muscle imbalance, and lead to strain,” Roots said. Years of wearing high heels adds to problem. Stretching the hamstrings and strengthening the core will often help relieve pain.

- To strengthen your core: Lay on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Notice the gap between your lower back and the floor. Imagine someone is pulling a string from your belly button into the floor.  Squeeze your abdominal

muscles until you feel your back flat against the floor and the gap has disappeared. Hold this position for five seconds, release and repeat nine more times.

Credit: Ian Smith/Vancouver Sun

- Stretch your hamstrings: Lie on your back with legs straight. Raise one leg straight up toward the ceiling or your head. Use your hands to apply gentle pressure to the leg and hold for 25 to 30 seconds. Do this every day for a few weeks and you’ll start to notice a difference.

BREASTS AND CARPAL TUNNEL

Women, particularly those with larger breasts, are predisposed to poor upper body posture with the shoulders rolled forward

Credit: Ian Smith/Vancouver Sun

- Doorway chest stretch: Standing in a doorway, raise an elbow to shoulder height and rest your forearm and palm of your hand against the door frame closest to you.  Your arm should be bent at a right angle.  Lean your shoulder forward until

you feel a pull in your chest. Hold for 25 to 30 seconds or until the muscle relaxes, and repeat two times. “This

helps to open up your chest and improve posture,” Roots said.

This exercise will build your tricep muscle which will help tone the “flubberjub” underyour arms. Do this exercise with general cardio training and the jigglies start to fade away. If you’d like to try “slow” training which early research indicates may help mid-life women delay age related muscle deterioration, this is a good exercise to try.

- Dumbell tricep kickback: Put your right palm and right knee on a bench. Keep shoulders horizontal with left foot flat on the ground. Hold dumbell in left hand and bring that elbow up to your hip. Now straighten your arm out behind you.

Credit: Ian Smith/Vancouver Sun

WEIGHT GAIN AND MENOPAUSE

“A lot of women gain weight around menopause and blame it on hormones, but the latest research indicates it’s actually due more to a decrease in activity as opposed to hormonal changes,” Roots said. Regular aerobic exercise prevents increases in body fat and also increases your resting metabolic weight, she said. Cardio exercise is key for decreasing blood pressure, decreasing resting heart rate and preventing heart disease. But while cardio activity is great for your heart, you can’t increase overall muscle strength just by doing cardio, Roots said. Even five to 10 minutes a day of strength training will make a big difference.

jennylee@vancouversun.com

Watch Michelle as the Fit Tips Girl on the Channel 11 Global Morning News weekday mornings at 6:50am!!

Click on the link to view the fit tips online:  http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/morning_news/fittip.html

Original Story: www.kwantlenchronicle.ca
 
By Jason Jung  
Sunday, 07 October 2007
The Kwantlen women’s basketball team is 10 minutes into practice and players are drenched in sweat, lying on the floor and gasping for air. These are the training results of Kwantlen Eagles’ new conditioning coach Michelle Roots.

In efforts  to building a lean, mean basketball-playing machine, coach Kevin Van Buskirk asked the former Kwantlen Eagles star to build the team’s strength, agility and endurance during the off-season.

 
Michelle Roots
Former star guard and current Eagles conditioning coach Michelle Roots.

“Even though they were in good shape last year, we are a stronger team this year and there will be fewer injuries because of Michelle,” said Buskirk. “She is a huge asset to this program and the amount of work she put in over the summer was exceptional.”

Roots accepted the position at the end of last season because of her love for Kwantlen University College, the coaching staff and the sports program.

“I thought it would be the perfect fit because I am an alumni member and I love the staff here,” said Roots. “I love working with these girls and getting to know them…I want to help them as much as I can.”

“Anything that will build their power” was Roots’ immediate  description of the exercises she leads during Eagles’ practices. Different from years past is the addition of biometric and cardiovascular training to the Eagles’ practice sessions.

“We found a lot of teams dying near the end of the game…we want to be able to run every team out of the gym until the end of the game and not lose our wind in the fourth quarter,” said Roots. “Their confidence will definitely show in their performance as they know that they are bigger and stronger than last year.”

Throughout the summer and during this season, Roots’ focus is on building team strength, power, speed and endurance. Eagles players were required to come in twice a week during the off-season  for cardiovascular exercises and weight training.

The biggest challenge for Roots was not being able to monitor the progress of some players since part of the student’s life is a summer job, studying and spending time on vacation.

Although her current position is different from shooting jump-shots and defending her team’s basket, her goal this year remains the same – to help the Eagles’ win a championship.

Players  rave about Roots’ exercises, saying they feel more confident, comfortable and agile on the count. Second-year Psychology student Sancheska Stranack is already a believer that her team is destined to success with the addition of Roots.

“”We feel [more] confident about making the playoffs this year than last year because of our improvement in strength and agility,” said Stranack. “Our training can get tiring at times but we are firm believers that it will be worth it in the long run.”

After graduating from Kwantlen University College, Roots,  a star guard, went to the University of Winnipeg where she earned a degree in kinesiology and applied health.

From there, she started her own business, called CORE Condition, that focuses on rehabilitation and physical conditioning for clients ranging from professional athletes to people injured in car accidents.

“So far, the business that I have started on my own is doing very well and, hopefully, it will continue to grow,” said Roots.

(For more information on CORE Conditioning, visit CORE-condition.com or email Roots. This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it )

Roots and other members of the Eagles coaching staff are confident this year’s team will do better than last year’s.

“Last year’s team had a lot of skillful players but some players didn’t have a lot of previous experience with formal coaching before,” Roots said. “I think the lack of training in conditioning, speed and strength was a factor, because a lot of other teams were stronger, so hopefully our practices will make an impact this season.”