New Year’s Resolutions Suck

Posted on by Robin Hersh

Why do New Year’s Resolutions seem alarmingly similar to “giving up something for Lent”? I cringe when I think about elementary school Robin sitting in CCD class (Catholic Church school) each Sunday approaching Lent. Our teacher required each of us to announce to the class something that we would give up for the next 40 days. I would, inevitably, each year say “chocolate”, thinking how that was my absolute favorite treat and I would be so good and pious if I gave it up. I’d spend the next, roundabout 17 days thinking about how delicious chocolate is, smelling it everywhere, dreaming about diving into the chocolate river in Willy Wonka’s factory, finally giving in and having an oreo or eight from Dad’s stash, following said binge by feeling completely guilty about letting God, Jesus, Moses and myself down. This predates any body image issues too!

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Workout: Protect your knees and back

Posted on by Robin Hersh

How do your knees feel? What about your lower back? Ouchy? You’re not alone. Knees and back are the most common areas for overuse injuries — stemming from both endurance sports training and simply aging. Let’s fix ’em! Try these two eight-minute workouts with me. The first one targets the supporting muscles of the knee and the second targets the supporting muscles of the back. (UPDATE: We just added a video for the knee-protection sequence. Stay tuned for the lower-back!)

Knee protection

Strengthen your hips, glutes, and the muscles you use to balance and support your knees. Do the following sequence twice, performing each move on your right side and then again on your left. For each exercise, do as many reps as you can in 30 seconds, while maintaining form and control.

I Beat Dad in the Wizards $30 Challenge

Posted on by Robin Hersh

Have I told you lately that I love Washington Wizards basketball? My family has sweet season tickets so I go to a lot of games — sometimes two in one week. Our amazing seats come with $30 in food and drink included in the ticket. This is so great! But oh-so-awful for eating clean. This season I will conquer my self-created and self-imposed $30 Food+Drink Challenge. Rules: (1) Must use the entire $30 (within $1) without going over, and (2) Do not completely sabotage nutrition in the process.

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Videos Showing Proper Form for the Advanced 7-Minute Workout

Posted on by Robin Hersh

In May 2013, the Human Performance Institute’s 7-Minute Workout was featured in The New York Times and Lifehacker, who posted a series of videos to show how to do each exercise properly.

The workout was popular. Very popular.So much so, that the New York Times decided to ask Mark Verstegen, the founder and president of EXOS, to create an advanced version. They also commissioned a new app to help you along.

To accompany the instructions and the app, I created a series of videos that outline each exercise, highlighting form and common faults. If you prefer videos to apps, scroll down to the bottom of this page and follow along with Tracy while I train her through the whole workout. She rocked it and so can you!

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