Two Fit Moms

Tag: secret

  • The Secret to Overhand Grip Poses (That You Aren’t Considering)

    The Secret to Overhand Grip Poses (That You Aren’t Considering)

    It’s no secret that flexibility across the chest and shoulders is a requirement if you want to master the overhand grip that you see in the full expression of King Dancer Pose, Bow Pose or One-Legged King Pigeon Pose. Heart openers and shoulder openers will certainly open the door to the possibility of overhand grip poses, and we highly encourage you to incorporate these amazing stretches into your daily practice.OverhandGripSecret

    What you might not realize, however, is that the chest and shoulders are not the only body parts that need love and attention in order to progress and ultimately grab your foot with an overhand grip.

    I practiced chest and shoulder openers for quite a while without any noticeable change in my quest for the overhand grip. My foot felt miles away, and I couldn’t imagine how I would ever be able to reach it. It wasn’t until I saw a photo of myself in Pigeon Pose a couple of years ago that it all clicked.

    My shoulder/chest flexibility was just fine—I had been practicing heart openers diligently for months.  That wasn’t the problem at all. It was my tight psoas muscles (the primary connectors between the torso and the leg) that were preventing me from grabbing my foot. Once I had a reasonable amount of chest and shoulder flexibility, the secret to being able to grab my foot with an overhand grip was in the psoas muscles.

    Let me illustrate my point. Photo A represents what my form looked like a couple of years ago in pigeon pose. You’ll notice that my torso is angled forward, even though this is my best attempt at sitting upright. Photo B represents my form in pigeon pose today. Can you see the difference? In photo B, my torso is nearly perpendicular to the mat. I was unable to sit with my torso upright like this a couple of years ago because my psoas muscles were so tight.PigeonPrep

    Just by stretching my psoas muscles each day, my hand inched closer and closer to my foot over time. Take a look at the two photos below. In the top photo, I am illustrating a pigeon pose variation with tight psoas muscles. I am reaching back with an overhand grip, but my foot is quite a distance away because I am angled forward. In the bottom photo, my torso is upright because my psoas muscles are nice and loose. Not only am I sitting upright, but I am able to draw my foot in toward my body so that my shin is perpendicular to the mat. This was not possible with my very tight hip flexors.TightvsLoosePsoas

    The secret to my progress in this pose had everything to do with the muscle group that I was NOT considering. I was focused solely on creating space in my chest and shoulders and never thought about my hip flexors. If you have reached a standstill in your overhand grip journey, maybe it’s time to show your psoas muscles some love!

    In addition to sitting upright in pigeon pose, here are 4 other stretches that will help you loosen up these stubborn hip flexor muscles.

    IntenseStretch
    Anjaneyasana
    Camel

    HighLunge

  • The Secret to Developing & Maintaining a Healthy Morning Routine

    The Secret to Developing & Maintaining a Healthy Morning Routine

    A couple of days ago, I posted a photo on my Instagram account along with a caption about morning routines. My morning routine is so important to me— it sets the tone for my day. If I wake up late, my routine is destroyed, and I never seem to fully recover from it. Everything just feels off for the remainder of the day. BUT, if I wake up on time and get through my morning tasks, I feel accomplished and ready to take on the world.

    Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my morning habits. I’m not sure why I’m suddenly so intrigued by my own daily routines as well as the routines of others. Maybe I find it so interesting because we are all creatures of habit, and we do so many of the same tasks over and over. Mug of Tea and Newspapers with Sunglasses on Table

    Think about your own daily routine, and you’ll be shocked by how many of the same things you did yesterday. Given that there is so much repetition in our lives, doesn’t it make sense that the tasks that we repeat should bring us joy and health and a sense of accomplishment?

    As you assess your own routine, ask yourself if you are happy with your habits. Do they reflect the actions of the person you want to be? If not, don’t worry. You can create new habits, starting with a morning routine that makes you feel proud and healthy. It’s not as difficult as you may think. I’ll teach you the secret to create a long-lasting, healthy morning routine.

    Let’s start by taking a look at my own routine. Here is what I did this morning:

    1. I opened my eyes at 5:45 am.

    2. Brushed my teeth, washed my face, put my hair in a ponytail.

    3. Put on exercise clothing.

    4. Went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of room temperature water and squeezed a lemon wedge into it.

    5. Turned on a 30-minute exercise DVD at 6 am.

    6. Lifted weights at 6:30 am.

    7. At 7 am, I poured myself another glass of water and took my pre-breakfast supplements.

    8. Packed a lunchbox for my son.

    9. At 7:15 am, I went upstairs, woke the kids, and helped pick out my son’s clothes.

    10. Headed back down to the kitchen and made pancakes with fruit for the kids.

    11. Served the kids breakfast at 7:40 am.

    12. While the kids ate, I steamed my kale, heated my vegetable soup, and dissolved my miso paste in a cup of water.

    13. Sat down with the kids around 7:50 am to eat my own breakfast.

    14. At 8:10 am, I measured all of my daughter’s medications and used the opportunity to take the rest of my supplements.

    15. At 8:20 am, I sent my son off to school and told my daughter to bring her homeschooling books down to the dining room to work. As she did that, I went to my bedroom to get changed for the day.

    Assessing the list
    There are 15 items on today’s list. Guess how many items were on yesterday morning’s list? That’s right. 15. Sure, the kids’ breakfast might be a bit different from day to day, and the exercise DVD may change, but for the most part, I did the exact same things! Who knew I was such a creature of habit?

    I found myself wondering why I do all of these things, and how I managed to convince myself to do all of these things each morning. The answer to the “why” portion of the question is quite simple. These tasks keep me feeling healthy, motivated and accomplished. And the answer to the “how” part of the question? Preparation. I cannot stress this enough. Preparation is the secret to creating such habits.

    Preparation is the answer.
    I cannot wake up in the morning and make pancakes (from scratch) for my kids and then also manage to make my steamed kale and a pot of fresh miso soup, too. It’s just not happening. But with a bit of preparation the night before, it’s possible.

    Last night before going to bed, I mixed all of my dry pancake ingredients in one bowl and left it on my counter. I mixed all of my wet ingredients into another bowl and put that bowl into my fridge. This morning, I mixed the two bowls of ingredients together and had pancakes on the table in less than 10 minutes.

    Without preparation, brown rice-flaxseed pancakes on a weekday morning would be impossible. WITH preparation, the pancakes are guaranteed. If you prepare the batter ahead of time, you will not fail to produce the pancakes. Do you see the beauty in that statement?

    Preparation guarantees action, or at least increases the probability of success. This is why I take the time to make a big pot of vegetable soup on the weekends. I want to increase the probability that I will start my day with vegetables. It’s also why I wash and chop my greens as soon as I get home from the supermarket. I always have piles of kale or collards that are ready to be thrown into the steamer or into the blender for a smoothie.

    You may already have a morning routine in place that you love! If so, keep on grooving. If not, start making a list of habits that you’d like to adopt. Keep in mind, your list is your own — you may have 15 items on it like mine, or perhaps seven or eight.  Embrace your list and your routine, and start generating a plan for how you will make this wish list of habits a daily reality. By planning and preparing, you will greatly increase your probability of success. Good luck!