Getting Active With Sandra

If you're like me, you may have some challenges from postural imbalance or injuries. Unilateral Work can be the key to ensuring the weak side is pulling it's weight. Combined with targeted corrective exercise, you can get back to feeling hour full strength and preventing reinjury.

A guy playfully challenged me on shoulder presses. Here you go, buddy! My personal record! Nice when someone can tell you're working hard.

Crescent Falls, David Thompson Country, AB. Loving the new staircase and viewing decks. Allows more Canadians and visitors to enjoy this natural gem!

Coral Creek Canyon Trail, David Thompson Country, AB. One of my kids picked this trail. The orange and grey marble rock was pretty cool. There was also a dark black patch, coal? Well traveled by horse trail riders with all the road apples on the way up, lol. Loved the terrain on the return half of the loop along the canyon.

In for a few days in David Thompson Country, AB for a little R&R and beautiful day hikes, starting with Allstones Creek.

Fun doing a little parkour along the creek to a small waterfall.

Day hike a couple weeks ago to Allstones Lake and Ridge, Job / Cline PLUZ, Rocky Mountains. Amazing hike! Not much wildlife on the trail, just a dusky grouse. Saw a few deer on the drive and a couple herds of wild horses.

Looking forward to visiting the area again this summer!

One way to progress a movement: change to lever length. Try making the lever length longer for many exercises. Extend your arms or legs. This is great for bodyweight exercises and with weights, just make sure it's still manageable. Give it a try!

Want to add a little variety to your Russian Twist? Try with a Battle Rope. You have to add some oomf to get the rope over your legs.

Consistency and building on the basics are proven to produce gains, but the occasional variety adds fun and can keep you inspired and enjoying your workout, too.

Here's how to gradually increase your load safely at the gym.

Choose a weight that you can safely lift in your rep range with good form with some challenge on the last couple reps. Beginners should try 10-15 reps. If you're like me, doing size gains a.k.a. hypertrophy, 6-12 reps is great.

3 sets, taking a short rest between sets, is good for most exercises. I rest 1.5 minutes between sets, up to 3 minutes if I'm really pushing myself on the lift. I'll also usually circuit between a few exercises.

Rest for at least 48 hours for worked muscles. You can still do cardio, but let your body recover from heavy lifts.

Gradually build to the top of your rep range, then you're ready to add 5-10% in the load, starting again at the bottom of your rep range.