The third exercise that I have in my workout regime is the balance reach. Balance reaches are wonderful for mobilizing your joints and stabilizing your muscles. The balance reach is an example of how to pick up something properly while on one leg. When done correctly, the balance reach keeps you back in neutral and avoids back pain.

I have a client who is a professional golfer and we discuss in great length about the problems with back pain on the tour. Golfers have a difficult time with back pain due to rotation on their golf swing or to flexion when picking up the ball or tee. Just watch pro golfers on TV pick up the ball incorrectly each time they put the ball in the hole. This video on how to perform a balance reach while keeping your back in neutral has become an integral part of my pro client’s training. 

No matter what sport you play, the balance reach is a great addition to your exercise program. 
 

A great leg workout is a functional squat. In this video, Juan and I demonstrate how to do a proper squat. We will also show you some of the pitfalls of doing a proper squat and how to protect your lower back at all times.  I do my squat routine after my lunge matrix. This is part of my warm-up program and strength program. A special thank you to Kevin Freeland at Body Focus Fitness based in Tempe,AZ for providing me a place to train when I am in Arizona and supplying the equipment for these videos. In this video, I use the medicine ball in my power fast squats.

I hope you can add a squat routine to your workouts. This will help you gain speed and power.

How do I begin and end my workouts? I use the lunge matrix. It is a multi- directional exercise that I use for my warm-up, for strengthening, for power, and for my cool down. It is a multi-purpose exercise that strengthens your legs and core, opens up your hips, and protects your back. My trainer, Juan Ruiz-Tagle, and I take you through the lunge matrix in the video below. I look forward to your comments after you have tried this starting routine.  

We are 9 weeks away from the New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time beginning on July 1st! We are going to run a new blog every Monday evening until the start of the event. We will be sharing all the parts of my new training program.

My new trainer and www.OneMileRunner.com Consultant, Juan Ruiz-Tagle, explains what I needed to add to my training, how to properly work your core and abs, how to avoid serious back pain and how to workout your arms and legs in muti-directions. I hope you enjoy this eye opening interview and the subsequent videos that follow every week showing some of the foundational moves of the training. Next week I will be posting my new lunge matrix video. I look forward to receiving your comments and feedback.