Lifetime Fitness Activities

Fitness Walking-- Learn to combine walking with breating exercises, the natural stress reliever.

Sites  www.thewalkingsite.com                   www.Gaiam.com

Swimming and paddling- we came out of the water and need to get regular doses to stay healthy.

Places to learn   www.goswim.tv          www.swimmingworldmagazine.com

Customsports Swimming Lesson : developing your natural stroke

Swim Tips on the Crawl or free style:

Check points: Am I level in the water, no leg or foot drag?

Am I swimming skinny, inside an 18 inch circle or do I create drag by being too wide with arms and legs?

Do I feel the water in the grab and keep my traction all through the pull?

Are my elbows high and arms extending out and forward on my reach and roll?

Am I reaching and rolling shoulders and hips on both sides?

Am I fully exhaling, blowing out through the stroke after a quick inhale?

Are my kicks driving my lower torso with no major leg separation?

Are my face, eyes, head and neck relaxed?

Customsports Swim Tip---Snap the Kinetic Chain       

Try initiating the arm motion of the crawl by lifting a hip instead of just your arm; it helps to get a pendulum-type body-swing going, plus, plus lifting the hip helps unlink a good leg/foot snap in the kick. You can get the feel with some dry-land training: lay on your belly, arms extended, and try lifting only your hip and elbow. As you get better on dry land it will help you gain speed in the water.

Kick Split      Many swimmer have good form--until they breathe. That is when they lift their head instead of roll the shoulders. Lifting the head makes the feet sink and you lose glide. It is usually when we separate our legs and lose our kick as well. Work on keeping your balance, your envelope, when you breathe, and you'll keep your momentum and glide.

 Arm extension on the glide; make sure you really extend your arm and reach, get your elbow way out there on each stroke. When your elbow extends it will naturally pull the hip on that side down, initiating the correct amount of body rotation.The hip pull down torques up the opposite shoulder that begins the next stroke, getting the upcoming arm in position to begin to unlink forward for the next stroke.

Cycling: great cardio on two wheels! Pedal your way into Lifetime Fitness shape

Cycling Tip of the Month- Pull UP!

Pull up on the pedals as well as pushing down. Don't just be a masher or grinder; learn to pedal a complete circle by flexing your ankles and pulling up at the bottom of the pedal stroke. This will even out your stroke and let you spin higher cadences, higher RPMs and keep your bigger drive muscles fresh for hills and sprints. Pull up, get another gear and go on cruise control. Happy spinning!

Relax the neck

Keep changing your arm and hand position; make sure your shoulders stay relaxed even when you push it hard.

Cycling Rating System

It is only here: Our original International Cycling Rating System, a method of rating recreational cyclists so that bike clubs, teams and community events can be set up all over the globe. The system is copy written but.... free to anyone who wants to use it. We have added the pages to the table of contents (see the last web pages). Contact us for an emailed version. customsports@bellsouth.net

Cycling- No better way to travel.  Look at  www.bicycling.com   www.roadcycling.com   www.AdventureCycling.com 

for gear      www.bikenashbar.com   

Tennis: the game for Lifetime Fitness, for the young and old.

Zen-Tennis Tip of The Month- Let it disappear

Learn to not watch the ball......going back that is. Watch it and focus as the ball comes into the racket, not out. Everything follows the eyes; if you watch your outgoing ball go back ,you pull your head up, your weight up, your racket off the contact zone. Get in the habit of keeping your vision on the contact point by looking at your racket edge, not the outgoing shot, after contact. You can have the best practice stroke in the world but you have to discipline yourself to be still in the split second of contact. Keep your eye off the ball. Make your head turn part of the stroke, all the way in. It is the last 3-4 feet where you have to let your eyes focus in the short range, not use periphial vision. Keep your eye on the blur. Let the ball disappear when you hit and not reappear until your opponnent hits it. See the seams rotating. Watch the ball off the court to measure the height of the bounce to get under it enough .................let it disappear as you exhale and extend out to a full range follow through.

Master TIP-Simplify Your Targets

Use the centerstrap as an axis, a compass for all your shots; you can hit 80% of your shots either at or within FOUR FEET of the center strap, no exaggeration. This includes serving and returning. Don't play the player- play the ball within the dimensions of the court and let the player be third in importance; Play the ball first (concentration), play within the court(shot selection). Only after you master this will you avoid beating yourself through unforced errors. Then you can begin to look at strategy and tactics, but it all still happens within 4 or 5 feet of the center strap.