the in's and out's of sucking it in :)

I mentioned that have been reading Tim Ferriss's "Four Hour Work Week" and last week, I mentioned NOT managing your time.

This week, I enjoyed the rest of the book and his encouragement to free up time to do what you love. Stuff you love, stuff you want to do. Ever thought of doing a race? Phit Chick Trainer Mandy has her Equilibrium gals psyched up to do some races this fall. She was kind enough to share the details -- note them at the bottom.
Mark your calendar now for Saturday Oct 6th when the walking club will meet at Green Acres Market in Briarcliff. You MUST attend -- loads of fun plus a free t-shirt just for showing up! RSVP here, the first 20 Phit Chicks to rsvp (and yes, you must actually show up and walk) get a t-shirt!
I've started a new session of Yoga Basics, and the students are grappling with the "engaging the abs" and the "breathing." Pilates and yoga teach different breathing, but there's so much to learn before you get to the point of discussing the differences. With Pilates, there's an emphasis on a forced exhalation to draw in the transverse muscles, thereby allowing all abdominal muscles a deeper contraction.
Just remember, do NOT "suck it in" and hold your breath. Try very hard to practice (always, right now even!) to pull your lower abdominal muscles in, just wake them up.
If you've been in my classes you've heard a million times to "zip up your jeans." And that's what you're after, not buttoning a tight skirt, and consequently "sucking it in" but zipping up the lowest abdominal muscles.
And it's similar but different for cardio. If you enjoy indoor cycling (I certainly love it!), this article explains more about diagphramatic breathing in spinnning class.