Gina Jackson Personal Fitness

OK, so you have been working out regularly-–on your own or with your trainer–for a few months now. You like the results you are feeling in your body and really do not want to let the upcoming out-of-town trip [or vacation for that matter] stop your progress.

You have finally moved away from the stationary machines in the gym and begun to incorporate free weights into your routine. Your shoulders, arms, chest and even your legs are beginning to show the definition you have been seeking for so long. It is simply impossible to carry those 15, 20 or 25 lb dumbbells in your carry-on luggage! Your partner said to forget even thinking about lugging the 5, 8, or 10lb weights as well. Dilemma? Oh contraire!

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If you worked that body pushing or pulling weights, bands or plain old cardio exercise, you now need to stretch the muscles that you used.  Sure, I know you realize this in your mind.  But admit it.  You spend 45-60 minutes working the muscle but then may spend 2 second stretching it.  WRONG!!  Here are are few ways to change that habit.

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Yes, I can throw heavy weights around quite easily.  I have, on occasion, loaded the leg press with 2X my body weight  and comfortably worked my legs.  But now, in my new personal training space, Pilates4Fitness Movement Space, there will be no need for weights anymore.

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I have established a new relationship with a great new community resource; OpenSky.  More details about what you can get from it  in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, they sent me a Pilates/Yoga Mat to test out from Aurorae Yoga Mat.  Just pulled it out of the box and already I like what I see.

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I just received a most disturbing call from an adult.  A parent looking for private training assistance to help her teenage daughter develop a “more refined derriere.  If this call had come from an adult seeking to refine and reshape her own body, I would have jumped at the opportunity to show her “what, how and how often” we can and need to work the body – and the butt – to tone, shape and define it.  The fact that the work was for an athletic teenager under twenty years of age disturbed me. Read the rest of this entry →

Need a Private Coach to keep you pumped and focused on your weight loss training?  Need a little guidance on how to work effectively for 45 minutes in the gym or home?  Need support and guidance on how to stretch those tight hamstrings after your run?

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I guess you can tell from my blog entries of late, that I have been playing around with another tool for core training in the past few months, using the TRX Suspension Trainer with both my personal workouts, my private strength/resistance clients and now my Pilates Mat students.

Defying gravity with a new challenge is making all of us stronger, sleeker and determined to continue using the tool.   The tool permits a full and complete range of motion throughout a workout, which in turn creates a more functional, safer and more successful method of training.  Read the rest of this entry →

That is the magic number:  Women should work out 60 minutes a day, seven days a week, to maintain a normal weight over their lifetime.

Not from my mouth; although I have personally noted the fact and been blogging about for the past 3-5 years, as well as advising my friends/clients at the peri-/post-menopausal age  that it takes a “whole lot of moving and doing” to keep my body the way I like it to feel and look!

Anyway, back to the statistical study reference, which interestingly comes at the end of Women’s Month 2010! Read the rest of this entry →

I am not completely sure that these “interesting facts” are irrefutable, but my personal testimony is that it sure feels good in the process.  The ‘after-effect’ of the Hot Yoga class is complete mental and physical release and relaxation.  I am close to the point of renewal for my 10-series sessions at Surya  Yoga Academy in Hoboken. Here are a few of the reasons I will continue to regularly participate. Read the rest of this entry →

Just finished a long day and a glorious one.  Thanks to two fabulous classes of Pilates students (both new and old) an amazing yoga teacher, Anayra Calederon, the warmest temperatures January could offer, a luxurious hot bath and the soulful music of Eva Cassidy.

The renewed pursuit of Yoga as a healing, stretching and relaxing practice will be a new experience, for me in 2010.  I took my second class today, at Surya Yoga and haven’t stopped gushing about the studio and the two fabulous instructors I had the pleasure of working with (Kelly and Anayra.)  I signed up immediately for a 10-session pack and enjoyed Kelly and Anayra on Thurs and Sat, respectively.  My plan is to use the 10-pack, re-new regularly as another mind/body part of my regmine going forward. Surya Yoga, YES!

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