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From amNY.com

By Kristy May
amNewYork staff writer
6:16 PM EDT, June 17, 2008

If football star Tom Brady loves Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, so will you. “It’s great for flexibility, and it’s therapeutic,” says Brady. In fact, creator Baron Baptiste spent four years as the peak-performance specialist for the Philadelphia Eagles, proving this yoga is perfect for tough guys too.

Instructor Andrew Gray of Big Apple Power Yoga says this combination of poses is geared toward abdominal sculpting and back strengthening. It will keep you toned, balanced and.

1. Eagle Crunches

Wrap your right arm under your left and your right leg over your left in Eagle position. Extend your wrapped up arms over your head and your wrapped up leg long, toes touching the floor. Inhale extend, exhale crunch in bringing elbows to knees. Repeat 10 times. Switch your arms and legs and repeat 10 times.

2. Scissors Twists

Hands behind the head, elbows out to side, supporting the head and neck. Scissor the legs up and down while twisting the torso, working the waist. Opposite elbow to knee. Do a set of 25.

3. Bridge

Lie on your back. Interlace your fingers, straighten your arms and reach your knuckles forward toward your heels. Lift you hip bones high. Walk shoulders in to prop up your heart center. Press into feet to get more lift.

4. Boat

Come to a seated position. Contract your abdominal wall as you lift your legs and torso up, bringing your arms forward until they are parallel to the floor.

Alternate Bridge and Boat poses. Repeat 5 times.

5. Wheel

Lie on your back. Bring your hands by your ears, fingers pointing toward your feet. Bend your knees, feet flat on the floor. Come onto the crown of your head, bring your elbows in toward each other and straighten your arms, coming up into a backbend. Hold for five breaths. Repeat five times. Then rest on your back with eyes closed.

From Body-for-LIFE.com

Eat more often

Scientists at Georgia State University advise active people to eat frequently (about every three hours) to accelerate metabolism and maintain steady energy levels throughout the day. We have provided you with a sample seven day meal plan for you to look at.

From Body-for-LIFE.com

Shoulders … the icing on the cake! In fact, shoulders are the sort of icing that can make the entire cake look much more appealing and proportional. Consider the prevalence of shoulder pads and inserts in clothing. OK, we may be going back to the 80s a little, but having a “little extra” up there can give the illusion of a slimmer waist and the coveted v-shaped upper body..

The anterior or front part of the deltoid (the “cap” muscle of your shoulder) is used as a secondary mover in pressing exercises such as those usually done for the chest. This portion of the muscle usually gets its share of work, even when you aren’t specifically targeting deltoids. For this reason, I have omitted some moves like front raises, which focus primarily on the anterior deltoid. Shoulder presses and lateral raises stimulate the entire shoulder muscle—particularly the middle deltoids—while rear-delt flyes specifically target the posterior portion of your deltoid.

The workout

If you are doing a complete shoulder workout, start with one set of each of these exercises, using weights that allow you to complete 10 to 15 repetitions, and gradually work your way up to two to four sets. Make sure you are fatigued—but still able to maintain proper form—at the end of each set.

For one-arm raises, complete repetitions on one side, immediately followed by the other side, to complete a full set.

Try one set of each exercise and repeat them all, or complete all sets of one exercise before moving on to the next—whichever you prefer!

If you are using these exercises as part of a full-body workout, choose a press and/or a raise, and rear-delt flyes to target the whole shoulder. Have fun!

1. Squats to presses

This is a dynamic shoulder exercise that involves the whole body. Unlike the other exercises, it is done quickly, but with control.

Starting position: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding one dumbbell by the plates with both hands in front of chest. Face forward and bend knees and hips into a half squat position by pushing your glutes back. Keep your torso tight, chest up and shoulders back.

The exercise: Exhaling, push up from the squat while simultaneously pressing the dumbbell up until arms are fully extended over the front of your head. Immediately return to starting position. Repeat.

Caution: Do not let your back sway and do not let the dumbbell travel back behind your head.

2. One-arm shoulder presses

Shoulder presses are functional exercises that deliver serious results. Doing them one arm at a time increases the intensity and challenges your core.

Starting position: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, holding a dumbbell in your right hand. Raise your arm straight out to the side, palm facing forward, and bend your elbow so your arm is in a 90-degree angle. Your wrists should be directly over your elbows.

The exercise: Tighten your abdomen and, exhaling, slowly press the dumbbell up and over your forehead, straightening your elbows. Keep your wrists straight and over your elbows during the entire exercise. Your torso should remain level and upright throughout the motion. Once you have reached full extension, return to the starting position without letting your elbow go lower than shoulder level. Repeat.

Caution: Do not let your upper body sway while pressing the dumbbell. The whole idea of doing these presses with only one arm is to challenge your core, so make it work!

3. Seated one-arm raises on stability ball

If you do not have a stability ball available, try this exercise sitting on a chair.

Starting position: Holding a dumbbell in one hand, sit on a stability ball with feet pointing forward, knees at 90 degrees. Activate your core by pulling your belly button in toward your spine and maintain through out entire exercise. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and let the arm holding your dumbbell hang straight down.

The exercise: Slowly lift the dumbbell out to your side, keeping your arm straight. Pause when your hand reaches shoulder level and return to start position. Repeat.

Caution: Do not raise the dumbbell higher than shoulder-level; doing so puts unwanted pressure on the shoulder.

4. Rear-delt flyes

When working shoulders, it’s important to include the rear deltoids. This exercise targets them specifically.

Starting position: Stand holding dumbbells by your side. Bend knees slightly and bend over from the hips until your upper body is parallel to the floor. Let the weights hang straight down, palms facing each other. Keep your back flat (it should be slightly arched), and your neck straight so you are looking down at the floor. Tighten your abs.

The exercise: Squeeze your shoulder blades together and, keeping your arms straight, lift the weights up until they are even with your shoulders. Slowly lower back to starting position and repeat.

Caution: Do not let your back round when doing this exercise. If you are unable to bend over keeping your back flat, try the flyes sitting on a bench and bending over your knees.

5. One-legged lateral raises

Once again, we are taking a standard shoulder exercise and turning it into one that forces you to stabilize, making it even harder—and more effective!

Starting position: Holding dumbbells by your side, balance on one leg. As you find your balancing point, watch yourself in the mirror and make sure your hips remain even—one should not be higher than the other. Draw in your abdomen and hold it tight while breathing shallowly. Lock your shoulder blades together, keeping them retracted throughout the entire exercise.

The exercise: As you exhale, slowly lift your arms straight out to your sides, palms facing the floor, until your hands reach shoulder level—do not go higher than your shoulders! Hold for a second at the top, arms straiht out, and slowly lower the dumbbells back down to your sides, maintaining your balance, even hips and tight abdomen. Repeat.

TIP: Although it sounds contradictory, as you raise your arms, concentrate on keeping your shoulders down. If your shoulders come up as you lift, your trapezius is providing too much assistance to your deltoids, turning this exercise into a shrug.

From MSNBC.com Fit List

By Gregory Joujon-Roche

Many of us are starting to feel the heat from the sun, giving us an early tease of summer coming around the corner. Yes, it’s time to put away those winter coats and start pulling out the beach gear. But wait, you’re thinking, I am not beach-body-ready yet!

Well then it’s time to get moving. Any form of exercise will help — just get the ball rolling and go, go, go!

Once you feel committed to general conditioning, and the soda pop and chips make way for grilled veggies and fish, it’s time to get beach-body specific. This means really working those trouble spots, which usually vary for women and men.

Here are some exercises that can help shape you up for your fun in the sun.

For the gals:

*Triceps. Tone up those triceps with some rear dips. Start by standing in front of a weight bench or sturdy chair and then grab the bench or seat behind you. Lower your body slowly, for 5 seconds, until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, then lift slowly back up. Do as many reps as you can. Aim for 4 sets.

*Buttocks. Tighten that tush with wall squats. Stand with your back to the wall and then lower yourself, using the wall for support, until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Again, down slowly for 5 seconds and then back up for a 5 count. Do as many reps as you can. Aim for 4 sets.

*Lower stomach. Firm up your bikini belly with these ab exercises. Starting by lying down on your back on the floor. Place your hands under your buttocks for support. Slowly lift and curl your legs toward you until your butt lifts slightly off the floor. Stop and squeeze! Remember to go slowly and do as many reps as you can. Aim for 4 sets.

For the guys:

*Shoulders. Buff up those shoulders with 4 triple sets consisting of the military press (10 reps), the lateral fly (15 reps) and controlled punching with dumbbells (use a weight you can hold for 100 reps).

*Obliques. Tighten the love-handle area with some side bridges. Start on the floor on your right side, leaning on your right elbow and forearm for support. Then lift your hips off the ground so your body is straight. Pull in your stomach and squeeze your buttocks. Hold for one minute and then switch sides.

*Calves. Bulk up your lower legs with calf raises. At the gym, you can add weights on the machine for extra resistance. Do 12 slow reps at a heavy weight, and then drop the weight in half and repeat.

And remember, when it comes to being beach-body-ready, attitude counts. So carry yourself with confidence and shine from within. It’s always the distinct extra something in a person’s spirit that makes the rest of us really take notice.

Followed diligently, this routine is a sure-fire way to pack some coveted muscle mass on to your deltoid and upper trapezius muscles. In addition, I’ve made sure to include some movements that will increase the strength and stability of the most mobile joint in the human body.

From Body-for-LIFE.com
By Clay Hyght, D.C., C.S.C.S.

Hanging clean and presses
Let’s begin our shoulder thrashing with a power movement. Personally, I could not care less how strong I am. My goal is to simply look my best. However, powerlifting movements and techniques are often a great way to hit the fast-twitch (type 2B) muscle fibers that are most responsible for hypertrophy (growth)..

The hanging clean and press is the perfect power movement to lead off our shoulder routine. The primary muscles used during this exercise are the medial (side) and anterior (front) deltoids as well as the traps. Secondarily, the posterior (rear) delts, infraspinatus (one of the rotator cuff muscles), and other upper back muscles will be stimulated. That’s a lot of bang for your exercise buck.

Starting position: Begin by grasping a barbell with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Stand up straight with the barbell resting in front of you on your thighs.

The exercise: Initiate the cleaning part of the movement by bringing the barbell up and away from your body, with your elbows leading the way, as if you were doing an upright row. As this is more of a power movement, don’t be afraid to use a little push from your legs to get the weight moving. As the bar approximates the level of your chin, bring your elbows down, wrists back and, in essence, catch the bar near your upper chest or collarbones. Feeling clumsy? Don’t worry; it takes everyone a few sessions to get it down pat.

The pressing part of the movement is a bit simpler. Press the bar straight up overhead until your arms are almost fully extended. Then, under control, lower the bar back to your upper chest.

To conclude the movement, reverse the cleaning portion of the movement. Begin the reversal by very slightly pushing the bar up and away from you while simultaneously bringing your elbows up. Then begin to lower the weight while using your shoulders and upper trapezius to control the descent. Resist the temptation to simply let the bar fall back to the starting position.

Perform four progressively heavier sets of between three and six repetitions each.

Caution: If you experience a rather sharp pain near the front and top of your shoulder during the cleaning portion of this movement, you may suffer from shoulder impingement syndrome. If so, look for a qualified doctor to help you overcome this condition. In the meantime, and this should go without saying, don’t do this exercise.

Caution: To avoid injury to your lumbar spine, do not overarch when pressing the barbell overhead. Keeping your abs tight will help alleviate this, as will wearing a weight belt, which you should do on your heavier sets.
Tip: Perform the cleaning portion of the movement as rapidly and explosively as possible. You will also press the weight very quickly. Reverse the movements fairly quickly but under control.

Scaptions
If lateral raises and front raises had a child, it would be called scaption. This is an exercise I stole from rehab circles to use in bodybuilding. While front raises target the anterior delts and lateral raises hit the medial delts, scaption disperses the stimulation equally to both the anterior and medial deltoids.

Scaption means abduction (raising the arm away from the body) in the scapular plane (which is 30 to 45 degrees forward from horizontal). Placing the humerus (upper arm) in the plane of the scapula puts the shoulder in its most optimal position with minimal stress on the joint. That makes scaption a very safe exercise for all but the worst shoulder ailments.

Although this exercise can be done seated on a bench or standing, we’re going to take it to another level by doing the exercise on a physio ball. This will not only serve to give a little extra work to our core stabilizing muscles of the trunk, it will also enhance stimulation of the rotator cuff and other stabilizing muscles of the shoulder complex.

Starting position: Begin the scaption movement seated on a physio ball with dumbbells in each hand just above the sides of the ball, palms facing down (pronated grip).

The exercise: Using the deltoid muscles, raise the dumbbells up until your arms are parallel to the ground. Make sure to perform the movement in a plane that’s between 30 and 45 degrees forward of the plane in which you would perform lateral raises straight out to the sides (called the frontal plane). In other words, your arms will travel halfway between straight out to the sides and straight out in front of you.

Once you reach the top position, pause for one full second before lowering the dumbbells back to the starting position under control. This lowering phase should take about three seconds.

Perform three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions each.

Variations
As your balance improves, you can make the scaption exercise more challenging by performing it while kneeling on the physio ball.

If you’re ready to take your balance and coordination to an even higher level, try doing the scaption exercise while standing on the physio ball.

Caution: Exercising on a physio ball can be potentially dangerous, especially if you try to advance too early. Make sure you can sit steadily on the ball before doing scaption or any other exercise on the ball. Likewise, you should be able to steadily kneel on the ball before doing exercises kneeling; and stand on the ball steadily before attempting to exercise while standing.

Caution: Make sure to have the area around the ball clear of any hard or pointed objects in the event you happen to lose your balance and fall. It’s also a good idea to have around the ball padded with exercise mats.

Caution: In case of a puncture, it’s best to exercise on an anti-burst ball that will deflate slowly if punctured. Sissel is a good brand (the type I’m using in the picture) and is available at www.sissel-online.com.

Unilateral dumbbell lateral raises
Since the medial deltoid is most responsible for giving the shoulders a wide appearance, let’s now hit them with an isolation movement: lateral raises. To further enhance the focus and isolation, let’s do them one arm at a time.

Starting position: Begin by holding a dumbbell in one hand beside your hip and bracing yourself with the other hand. With lighter weights it works fine to brace against your own body as Michelle is doing in the picture. I find that as I use heavier dumbbells, it helps my stability if I brace against a fixed object like a pole or a weight rack.

The exercise: Start the movement by raising the dumbbell straight out to the side. As with scaption, stop when your arm is parallel to the ground, pause for a second lower, and lower the dumbbell to the starting position for a count of three.

Perform three sets of eight to 12 repetitions each.

Tip: When raising the dumbbell out to the side, resist the temptation to let your elbow point down and the thumb side of your hand go up. To keep the tension on the medial deltoid and not the stronger anterior deltoid, make sure to keep your elbow pointing straight behind you. In the top position, your wrist and elbow should be level and your thumb should not be higher than your pinky.

Tip: Make sure to avoid shrugging your shoulder with your traps when performing lateral raises. Doing so will rob your medial delts of vital stimulation.

Tip: Do not let the dumbbell come all the way down to your side between each rep. Keeping the dumbbell slightly away from your side at the bottom of the movement will keep tension on the working muscle.

Reverse flyes with external rotation
This movement will finish off our deltoid annihilation by hitting the posterior (rear) deltoids. As a bonus, the exercise will also hit the often neglected infraspinatus and teres minor muscles (two of the rotator cuff muscles). This will help to improve the posture, alignment and function of the shoulder joint.

Starting position: To get into position, lie face down on an incline bench set at an angle of about 30 degrees. Have a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing your feet (pronated grip).

The exercise: Start the movement by raising the dumbbells toward the ceiling while maintaining a slight bend in your elbows. As you approach the top, finished position of the movement, begin externally (a.k.a. laterally) rotating your arms as if you were attempting to make your palms face forward. Upon reaching the top position, pause for a full second to enhance the contraction of the working muscles before slowly returning to the starting position.

Perform three sets of 15 reps.

Tip: Select a light weight for this exercise, as your forms should be immaculate.

Tip: Keep the reps relatively high on this movement as your goal is to enhance the contractility and coordination of the working muscles, more than the strength.

Dumbbell shrugs
To finish off the entire shoulder region, let’s hit the upper traps. It would be equally valid to train upper traps with back. Generally speaking, however, if you’re going to train shoulders by themselves as well back by itself, I would even things out a bit by training upper traps with shoulders as it is a slightly easier workout than back.

As you’ll notice, these are not your garden variety dumbbell shrugs. I have tweaked the movement a bit to really hit the meatiest part of the upper traps—just behind the area of the traps that you see if you are looking at someone from the front.

Starting position: To position yourself for dumbbell shrugs the Dr. Clay way, stand with a dumbbell in each hand and lean forward slightly about 10 or 15 degrees.

The exercise: Begin the movement by shrugging your shoulders straight up toward the ceiling. It helps to imagine you’re trying to bring your shoulders together at a point just behind your head, not in line with your ears as with regular shrugs. Once you reach the top position, pause for a full second before slowly lowering the weight back to the starting position.

Perform one warm-up set of 15 followed by three sets of 10 to 12 reps.

Tip: Avoid lowering the weight so low that it’s simply hanging from your arms with no tension on the working muscle. In other words, don’t go below a point lower than your normal standing posture.

Tip: To maintain your “cool” gym image, please don’t roll your shoulders backward or forward while doing this movement. Doing so is ineffective, slightly dangerous, and will let everyone within sight of you know that you have no idea what you’re doing.

Caution: Avoid jutting your chin forward or extending your neck while doing shrugs.

Caution: Lower the dumbbells slowly and under control. Do not let the weights fall rapidly from the top, contracted position. It not only reduces the effectiveness of the exercise, it could severely damage your cervical spine (neck) and/or the nerves that go to your arms and hands—both of which are not very cool.

Fallen off the fitness wagon? Here’s how to get back on track.

From Body-for-LIFE.com

You skipped your workout then power-lifted three servings of four-cheese lasagna into your mouth instead. It happens. It’s frustrating. But it does not mean that you’ll never stick to anything, that you should throw in the towel on your dreams and settle for a life of mediocrity and failed ambition instead. A temporary lapse is not a sign of failure, nor is it the first step to a full-scale relapse. Almost everyone experiences slip-ups when trying to break old habits or adopt new ones, whether quitting smoking, starting a diet, or committing to a workout routine. A lapse is a natural part of the process of change..

“In any new learning challenge, you expect to make mistakes,” says Alan Marlatt, PhD, a professor of psychology and the director of the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington. “When you’re learning to ride a bike, you have slips and falls. If you’re trying to learn a new language, you expect to make mistakes. The same principle applies to learning a new behavior.”

Falling down didn’t prevent you from learning to ride a bike, of course. But if you had browbeaten yourself as a no-good failure, it might have. “What people think about these lapses seems to make the biggest difference in how quickly they get back on track,” says Marlatt. “People who don’t recover from lapses are people who have a black-and-white attitude about it. They think eating one Oreo cookie means they’ve failed. People who recover quickly are people who don’t think one mistake is a total failure. They don’t turn it on themselves. They look at the situation that caused it instead.”

A lapse can actually be an asset, if you take the right approach. A fall can not only motivate you to try harder, but also provide clues about what you need to succeed.

Analyze, Don’t Criticize
So you had a lapse. Step one: Act like a detective—not a judge, jury and one-man sentencing band. People slip up for a variety of reasons. A negative emotional state, such as wave of discouragement after a bad review at work, may send one person running for the comfort of a cold Corona. Social pressure, like the weekly poker and pizza night with the guys, might temporarily overcome another person’s diet goals. Basic biology, such as the scent of a just-baked cinnamon bun, might temporarily derail someone else. Uninterrupted success can even lead to a lapse; a person might get too comfortable, forgo a critical step in his plan, and wind up falling short.

What were the factors that led to your lapse? Go back over the day or week and identify the chain of actions that led up to it. “Look at what happened, how the day started out, what was the build-up of stress, how you felt afterwards,” says Marlatt. “Just tell the story, without any self-criticism. Recreate the journey of the day.”
By identifying the events that triggered the lapse, you not only flesh out potential roadblocks to success, but also see a lapse for what it is – a reaction to specific stimuli, rather than a sign of a character flaw.

Strategize Alternate Routes
Once you’ve identified the event or events that led to your lapse, the second step is to plan a strategy for navigating around those situations in the future. Often the easiest path is one of avoidance. If you know Friday night poker means pizza and beer, stop playing poker, at least until you’ve reached your target weight.

If you can’t avoid the trigger event, brainstorm ways to work around it. You might decide to continue playing poker, but pack your own dinner, for example, or eat dinner before the game. Or start hosting poker nights at your house and provide dinner for everyone, offering only items on your diet regime. Say your trigger event is an overwhelming desire for a super size fries at the drive-through every day after work. Analysis? You’re famished after work. Strategy: Stock protein bars in your desk.
If you can’t avoid a trigger event and you can’t navigate around it, embrace it as part of your overall plan. If you must have poker night with the guys, and eat everything in sight, make that evening be your weekly “cheat meal,” and make-up for the extra calories during the week. Maybe you’ll add another cardio workout on pizza days, or skip another cheat meal. Relish your pepperoni-sausage-ham combo, and let your weekly indulgence prevent you from feeling deprived at other times.

Build in a Bounce-Back Plan
You’ve identified all your temptations and stresses, and devised ways to minimize their impact. Then, wham! You get sick. Or your dog dies. Or your workload doubles. Even with the best strategies in place, some unforeseen event will likely rise up and sabotage your goals. Accept that fact, and plan for it.

“We do not have 100-percent control over the environment or over our bodies’ fluctuating rhythms and hormonal levels. We’re biologically wired to react to things,” says Jack Henningfield, PhD, a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a vice-president for research and health policy at Pinney Associates. “There are things you can’t control. Recognize that as part of being a person.”

And take the time now to create a bounce-back plan for when it does. It may seem counter-intuitive to envision lapsing when you’re trying to focus on successfully reaching your goal, but it’s an important part of staying on track. “You need your plan developed ahead of time because often when the slip happens, it’s too late to develop a strategy,” says Henningfield.

Your bounce-back plan can be anything that works for you. You might decide to get someone else involved in pursuing your goal with you; you’re much less likely to slip if someone else is counting on you. You could arrange regular, weekly check-in meetings with a supportive friend or family member. Or have someone on-call to remind you why you decided to pursue this goal in the first place. You could create a special super-charged workout routine to do the day after an unscheduled binge. Make it challenging enough that after one session, you’ll once again see yourself as a mean, lean, workout machine. Be as creative about your bounce-back plan as you are about your lapse-avoidance strategies. As with any other slip, your goal is to avoid judgment and move forward again.

Some people may go from start to finish in a straight line, but most take detours and experience setbacks. Whatever route ultimately works is fine. There isn’t one morally superior road to victory. The plan you follow to reach your goal is the means, not the end. You can alter it, or falter on it, and still arrive at your destination. Remain flexible about your plan and do what works for you. The key to overcoming a lapse quickly is to accept it, and yourself, when you have one, and keep powering forward toward your dream.

What if it is a relapse?
If you’re back to your old habits 50-percent of the time, or are slipping so often that you’ve made no progress toward your goal over a period of months, you’re looking at a relapse. Take the same analyze-strategize approach you use to overcome a slip-up, but look at both your plan and the goal you’ve set for yourself. Does thisgoal still have meaning for you? If not, it’s time to move on to something else. If so, have factors in your life changed so significantly that your old path toward it no longer works? Take a realistic look at where you are and what has led to your relapse. Then create a new plan that works for you.
And make it easy on yourself. “Set up things so that they fit as naturally into your life as possible,” says Henningfield. “If you’re slipping so much that you’re gaining weight again, you have to say, `Okay, it’s calories in, calories out. Am I not exercising enough or am I eating too much? Or both? What can I change? Am I too busy now to walk 30 minutes each day?’ If so, park the car further away. Or walk 10 minutes at lunch. It makes no sense to say that you lack self-control. That has no meaning. It’s about setting up a behavioral pattern and weaving it into your life.”

Tips for staying on track
Carry a reminder card: It might be a photo of the beach you’re planning to visit in three months, a picture of your family, or a 3″ x 5″ card on which you’ve written, “High School Reunion!” A reminder card is anything that reminds you of the reason why you’re trying to adopt this new behavior.

Praise your personal progress: If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the challenge still ahead, look back at how well you’ve done so far. Acknowledging your past success helps you succeed in the future.
Use social support: Look at your friends and family to see who is likely to support you and who isn’t. Then plan how you’ll deal with each person individually.

From YogaJournal.com

Anantasana

Step by Step

Lie on the floor on your right. Press actively through your right heel, flex the ankle, and use the outside of the foot to stabilize the position (if you still feel unstable, brace your soles against the wall.)

Stretch your right arm straight out along the floor parallel to your torso, so that you create one long line from the heels to your finger tips. Bend your right elbow and

Step by Step

Lie on the floor on your right. Press actively through your right heel, flex the ankle, and use the outside of the foot to stabilize the position (if you still feel unstable, brace your soles against the wall.)

Stretch your right arm straight out along the floor parallel to your torso, so that you create one long line from the heels to your finger tips. Bend your right elbow and support your head in your palm. Slide the elbow away from your torso to stretch the armpit.

Externally rotate your left leg so the toes point toward the ceiling, then bend and draw the knee toward your torso. Reach across the inside of the leg and take hold of the left big toe with your index and middle fingers. Secure the grip by wrapping the thumb around the two fingers. (If you’re not able to comfortably hold the toe, loop a strap around the sole and hold the strap.) On an inhale, extend the leg up toward the ceiling.

The raised leg will likely angle slightly forward, while the top buttock will drop back. Firm the sacrum against the pelvis; this creates a kind of fulcrum that will help you move the leg slightly back toward a perpendicular position.

Press actively through both heels. Stay in the pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then release the leg, take a few breaths, and roll over onto your left side. Repeat for the same length of time.

Strengthen your core and improve your posture

From YogaJournal.com
By Richard Rosen

Though it sounds impressive in Sanskrit, Urdhva Prasarita Padasana rendered in English becomes the decidedly clunky “Raised Stretched-Out Foot Pose.” The name is much ado about a fairly simple exercise that has deep benefits, but most teachers just call it by its initials. UPP involves nothing more than lying on your back and swinging your extended legs through a slightly less than 90-degree arc, from perpendicular to the floor to nearly—but not quite—parallel, and back again. This simple movement strengthens a muscle that passes through the very core of your body, which aids your posture, your movement, and even (because this muscle is in close proximity to the back of the diaphragm) the way you breathe. In Light on Yoga B.K.S. Iyengar says UPP is “wonderful for reducing fat round the abdomen, strengthens the lumbar region of the back, and tones the abdominal organs.”

The pose has a well-deserved reputation as an abdominal strengthener, but we aren’t talking about the rectus abdominus, the long, flat muscle that shores up the belly between the pubis and ribs, which bodybuilder types, like California’s governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, transform into cosmetically flashy six-pack abs. But UPP’s real benefit is to a pair of deeper abdominal muscles, the psoas, which Ida Rolf, the originator of Structural Integration (popularly known as Rolfing), deemed “one of the most significant muscles of the body.”

Each psoas lies just behind the abdominal organs and is more difficult to access than the rectus abdominus. It runs a circuitous route: It attaches on the front of the lumbar spine (lower back), then runs along the inner surface of the pelvis and over the pubis to attach to the inner surface of the thigh bone (femur), at a bony knob called the lesser trochanter. Rolf says that the psoas, outwardly a powerful hip flexor, plays an important role in general body structure, in posture and movement, and even in digestion and elimination.
Puppet Practice

The root of UPP’s movement is deep inside the torso where the psoas attaches to the lumbar spine. I find it useful to imagine that the psoas is a puppet string, originating on my inner thigh (lesser trochanter). The puppeteer (what good are puppet strings without a puppeteer?) is sitting on my lumbar spine and holding the other end. She can pull on or release it, depending on whether she’s raising or lowering my leg.

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet on the floor with your heels about a foot away from your buttocks. Focus on your right lesser trochanter. From here, in your imagination, follow the course of your puppet-string psoas through the pelvis and up to the lumbar spine, where your puppeteer is holding its free end.

As she pulls on the string, exhale and watch your right foot lift effortlessly off the floor and your right thigh close in toward your belly. (For now, keep your knee bent.) Pause when the hip is fully flexed, and inhale. As the puppeteer releases the string, exhale and lightly float your foot back toward the floor. But wait! Just as your tippy-toes brush the floor, pause to inhale. On the exhalation, the puppeteer will pull again, and your foot will rise up. Continue this up-and-down swinging for at least a minute. Pause at the conclusion of each movement to inhale; lift or drop your foot only on an exhalation. When finished, return your right foot to the floor and repeat with your left leg.

When each leg has worked solo, try the exercise with your legs together. Be prepared for a bit more challenge, especially if your psoas pair is weak, as it likely is. You can expect two things to happen as you swing your legs: One, you’ll unconsciously assist the psoas by tightening your rectus abdominus; and two, your low back will arch away from the floor. Neither action is desirable. Tightening the abdominal muscle interferes with breathing, overworks your six pack, and also prevents the psoas from assuming its proper role in hip flexion; arching is an invitation to an oh-my-aching-back injury. What to do?

Still laying supine on the floor, rest your fingertips on your lower belly (below your navel) and have your puppeteer lift your feet off the floor. Set your knees over your hip joints (so your thighs are perpendicular to the floor and your heels hang down by your buttocks) and hold this position for a minute or so. Your belly should be firm (neither rock hard nor squishy) and relatively flat (not mounded up), your lumbar spine in its natural, gentle arch.

Slowly lower and raise your bent legs. Your puppeteer may pull with more effort than before. As she goes about her business, mind your lower belly and back. Keep the surface of your belly relatively soft and maintain the natural arch in your lower back. Try not to disturb them with your leg movements. If you feel strain in your low back, protect it by swinging your legs only a few inches through the arc. Continue for a minute or so, then, on an exhalation, release your feet to the floor and rest for a minute.
All Together Now

Now try the full pose, with both legs. You can practice UPP with or without support. If the previous exercise was difficult, use the support of a wall. Lie on your back with your buttocks about 12 to 18 inches from the wall. Exhale, lift your feet, and bring your knees over your hips. Inhale and straighten your knees so your legs are perpendicular to the floor. Separate your feet about 12 inches, inwardly rotate your thighs (so that your big toes are closer to each other than the heels are), press through the backs of your heels, then squeeze your legs together. Exhale and lower your legs until your heels touch the wall. Inhale, then exhale as you bring your legs back to perpendicular.

Take a moment to assess how close to the wall you need to be. Edge back until you find a spot that feels like a challenge but not a strain. Measure your preferred distance from the wall so you know where to plunk yourself down the next time you practice UPP. Four to six repetitions is a reasonable start, and 12 to 15 repetitions a worthwhile goal. Over time, gradually back away from the wall until that wonderful day when you can go into the pose without any support.

The second approach to UPP is to do it unsupported, which I suspect a lot of enthusiastic male readers will attempt even though they shouldn’t. Lower your legs until your abdominals and back start to howl, at which point you should immediately swing your legs back to vertical (bending your knees if needed); or until your heels are 3 or 4 inches away from the floor, at which point you should exhale smoothly and bring your legs back to vertical. Maintain the inner rotation of your thighs and the active push through the backs of your heels.

Gradually build toward a dozen or more repetitions. You’re ready to increase the number when your jaw, tongue, eyes, and back of your neck are relaxed in the pose. When you can swing your legs through a full arc smoothly without locking or gripping the psoas, or holding your breath, you can add more.

It’s easier to do this exercise if you press your palms and arms down against the floor alongside your torso. For a greater challenge, reach your arms overhead along the floor, with your palms facing up. You can also weigh your hands and wrists down with a sandbag.

UPP is great for strengthening the psoas, improving posture, and firming belly bulges. It also teaches you to “root” your legs energetically. When your movements are initiated from the spine, you’ll feel more stable. And you’ll find that UPP is great preparation as you take on more exciting yoga challenges.