Suzie Trains Maui BLOG

Maximize Your Fitness Results by Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

It’s time to sweat, huff and puff and get uncomfortable!  Can you really get a 12 pack in 5 minutes? Want to lose those lingering last 10 pounds you can’t seem to shake?

I’m here to tell you, you must be a little uncomfortable in your training sessions and when you work out some of the time, otherwise wouldn’t everybody workout?

I have a saying that I whisper in the ears of my clients who are ready to give up on that one little last rep, or if they feel another bead of sweat rolling down their face:  I smile big and quietly say,  “ this is where your body changes”.

Here are a few tips to bust that plateau and push a little harder:

Music:  Rock out, find that song that makes you move and groove. Sure works for me. Now you can enjoy your tunes on the water! How fun is that. If you’re paddling a long distance paddle, just don’t turn it up too loud so you can hear a whale breaching or spouting behind you ( only on Maui )

Self Message: What’s your mantra? What can you say to yourself so you get through that tough set? Come on you wimp!   What would you say??

Setting goals EVERY workout to meet your long term goals:  Track your results so you can see progress. Without benchmarks you have nothing to weigh your performance against.  At your next work out, tell yourself you’ll do 50 hard ab crunches or add and extra10 minutes to my treadmill time.

Change It Up: You want a hard body, you must train hard in many different ways. If you’re bored I guarantee your body is more bored and content to stay the same if you do the same. Simply by adding 25 jumping jacks between each set, look out that can add up and be a great training variable!

Keep in mind, there is a difference between pain and a little stress on your body. Be prepared to be a little sore once in awhile. Muscle soreness is a part of the body recovering and even on the second day after a hard work out, you can feel it the most.

Intense training is good, but equally important is rest and recovery. Learning about how to eat for training and recovery will allow you prepare, get through and recover through a harder training session.

Suzie Cooney, CPT

Water is an unstable element and it’s always moving. When you add any unstable element as a training platform, such as an Indo Board or an inflatable disc or maybe the BOSU, you increase the intensity and nueromuscular challenge of any exercise.

The traditional core plank is often employed by the Navy Seals as a suitable challenge and is harder than it appears. I often use it to measure a clients level of performance and endurance of their core. As a reminder the core is simply everything excluding your extremities and is where all movement begins. Having a strong core is critical for the sport of stand up paddling SUP, for it is what engages first and foremost as you initiate a smooth paddle stroke, whether catching a wave or simply gliding on a leisurely cruise. 

A weak core may cause you to fatigue, muscle imbalances and reduce your overall performance.  There are so many variations in which you can improve your core strength, but since we’re on the topic of stand up paddling fitness, try this one for fun one day. Make sure you are in deep enough water so you don’t wreck your fins.

Assume the traditional core position:

Hey if you fall off it’s just water! Have some fun.

If you have any questions about the above exercise feel free to contact me:  Suzie@SuzieTrainsMaui.com

Also check out my training site for more tips: www.suzietrainsmaui.com/blog

Looking forward to meeting you at the event!  Don’t forget to register.  www.standuppaddlingfitness.com

Practice your planks!

Aloha Suzie