In preparation of the Muay Thai Expo scheduled for March 20^th and 21st, I have decided to prepare my body to rely more on my core this week.  Here is part of my Muay Thai Expo preparation routine that I have added to my normal training routine:

1. Skip for 5 minutes
2. Weighted Overhead Squat
3. Standing Knee Flexion
4. Weighted Reach to the Heel
5. Weighted T-Bend Balance
6. Toe Touch Crunches
7. V-Up
8. Glute Bridge
9. Glute Bridge, Single Leg
10. Glute Bridge with 45 Degree Hip Rotation
11. Leg Over
12. Superman
13. Weighted Opposite Arm/Opposite Leg

Ensure that you adjust the weight for your abilities and perform the list of exercises in order – 3 times.  Good luck and see you at the Muay Thai Expo!!

The Exercises Explained:

Weighted Overhead Squat with 20lb Weight: Extend your arms over your head with a 20 lb weight in each hand. (Adjust the weight for your abilities). With your feet pointed straight in front of you, sit back into a squatting position pushing your buttocks backwards as if you were attempting to sit on a chair.  Maintain your arms over your head throughout the entire exercise

Standing Knee Flexion with 20lb Weight: Stand with your arms at your sides with a 20 lb weight in each hand.  (Adjust the weight for your abilities). Raise your straightened left arm over your head and lift your right knee until it is bent 90 degrees and perpendicular to your upper body.  Repeat to the other side raising your left knee and right arm.  The right and left side equal one repetition

Weighted Reach to the Heel: You can do this movement with a medicine ball, a weight plate a dumbbell or of course, with no weight.  I chose to keep one of the 20lb weights from my previous exercise. Raise your hands over your head holding the weight equally between the two hands. Reach down slowly and touch the weight to the heel of one leg and return to a standing position with your hands over your head.  Repeat to the other side.

Weighted T-Bend Balance: Balance on your right foot, extend your arms away from your side similar to a “crucifix” then bend at your waist making a T-shape with your body.  (Your left leg should be extended behind you as you balance on your left leg

Toe Touch Crunches:  Lay flat on your back.  Simultaneously lift your shoulders off of the floor and your knees to your chest.  Touch your toes and return to your start position.

V-Up: Lay flat on your back with your arms extended over your head. Use your core to simultaneously raise your torso and legs together like the closing of a hinge.  Touch your feet at the top of the movement minimizing the amount of bend in your arms and legs as possible.  Slowly return to the starting position.

Glute Bridge: Lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.  Using your glutes, move your hips towards the ceiling so that only your heels and shoulders remain on the floor.  Hold this position and then return to the starting position.

Glute Bridge, Single Leg:  Similar to the Glute Bridge, however, raise one leg until it is level with the knee of the bent leg. Keep your knees together and using your glutes, move your hips towards the ceiling so that only your heel and shoulders remain on the floor.  Hold this position and then return to the starting position. Alternate legs

Glute Bridge with 45 Degree Hip Rotation: Similar to the Single Leg Glute Bridge, however, extend your raised leg 45 degrees from your body.  Using your glutes, move your hips towards the ceiling so that only your heel and shoulders remain on the floor.  Hold this position and then return to the starting position. Alternate legs

Leg Over: Laying flat on your back, extend your arms away from your body at shoulder level in a “T” position. Extend your legs straight up towards the ceiling then lower both legs together to your left side until your feet lightly touch the floor then raise them back to the starting position. Repeat the movement to the opposite side. Keep your should on the floor throughout the movement

Superman: Lay on your stomach with your arms fully extended over your head. Simultaneously raise your arms, chest and thighs off of the ground.  Hold the contraction for 10 seconds at the top of the movement then return to the start position

Weighted Opposite Arm/Opposite Leg: Kneel on all fours ensuring to align your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. (Ensure to look straight down). Simultaneously raise and straighten your left arm in front of your head with a weight in it and right leg behind you until they are parallel with the ground. Repeat with the right arm and left leg

If you’re not, you could end up with excess body fat, poor muscle tone, digestive complications, and muscle soreness — even water-retention problems.

Next to air, water is the element most necessary for survival.  A normal adult is 60 to 70 percent water.  We can go without food for almost two months, but without water only a few days.  Yet most people have no idea how much water they should drink.  In fact, many live in a dehydrated state.

Without water, we’d be poisoned to death by our own waste products.  When the kidneys remove uric acid and urea, these must be dissolved in water.  If there isn’t enough water, wastes are not removed as effectively and may build up as kidney stones.  Water also is vital for chemical reactions in digestion and metabolism.  It carries nutrients and oxygen to the cells through the blood and helps to cool the body through perspiration.  Water also lubricates our joints.

We even need water to breathe:  our lungs must be moist to take in oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide.  It is possible to lose a pint of liquid each day just exhaling.

So if you don’t drink sufficient water, you can impair every aspect of your physiology.  Dr. Howard Flaks, a bariatric (obesity) specialist in Beverly Hills, Calif, says, “By not drinking enough water, many people incur excess body fat, poor muscle tone and size, decreased digestive efficiency and organ function, increased toxicity in the body, joint and muscle soreness and water retention.”

Water retention?  If you’re not drinking enough, your body may retain water to compensate.  Paradoxically, fluid retention can sometimes be eliminated by drinking more water, not less.

“Proper water intake is a key to weight loss,” says Dr. Donald Robertson, medical director of the Southwest Bariatric Nutrition Center in Scottsdale, Arizona.  “If people who are trying to lose weight don’t drink enough water, the body can’t metabolize the fat adequately.  Retaining fluid also keeps weight up.”

The minimum for a healthy person is eight to ten eight-ounce glasses a day,” says Dr. Flaks.  “You need more if you exercise a lot or live in a hot climate.  And overweight people should drink in an extra glass for every 25 pounds they exceed their ideal weight.  Consult your own physician for their recommendations.

A formula that we use for daily water intake is: 1/2 ounce per pound of body weight if you’re not active (that’s ten eight-ounce glasses if you weigh 160 pounds), and 2/3 ounce per pound if you’re athletic (13 to 14 glasses a day, at the same weight).

Your intake should be spread throughout the day and evening.  You may wonder:  If I drink this much, won’t I constantly be running to the bathroom?  Yes.  But after a few weeks, your bladder tends to adjust and you urinate less frequently but in larger amounts.

And by consuming those eight to ten glasses of water throughout the day, you could be on your way to a healthier, leaner body.

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