Introducing The BUILD & BURN Program with Small but Mighty!

Beginning this July, Small But Mighty Fitness is offering the new Build and Burn program that will change the way you train.

Running Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 6-7 am at The Underground Dance Centre in Toronto, this women's bodyweight class is designed to help you build bodyweight strength and movement literacy while also helping you to burn fat and increase your capacity. Most importantly, this program is designed not only to empower you physically, but also to help you understand how to organize your body and why to engage in certain movements to reach certain goals. 

 

Here’s the skinny:

 

Monday: Heavy on the build, easy on the burn

Monday’s session will include mobility, a dynamic warm up, and bodyweight strength work including core stability and balance drills (#absofsteel) followed by a short (8-12 minute) burner to provide your daily dose of endorphins and to rev up your metabolism. 

 

 

Wednesday: Burn Baby Burn

Wednesday’s session will include mobility and a dynamic warm-up, followed by a longer, interval style conditioning workout (30-45 min) designed to get your heart pumping and sweat building. Expect plenty of planks, squats, lunges, pushes, pulls and plyos (broad jumps, burpees, tuck jumps etc) and of course, AWESOME music! Don't worry, the Underground has Showers! #itsgonnabegreat!

 

 

Friday: Build, Burn, Restore

On Fridays we’ll start off with mobility, dynamic warm-up, and work on a challenging, strict bodyweight skill such as L-sits, headstands, pistols, or inversions. We’ll follow this up with a medium length burner (10-18 min) and finish off with restorative mobility to ease you into your weekend on a cloud of ‘aw’.

 

What can you expect? 

BUILD

  • body awareness
  • fundamental movement patterns
  • mobility
  • bodyweight strength
  • core stability
  • understanding of guiding principles for safe and efficient movement

BURN

  • Increase your aerobic and anaerobic capacity
  • Metabolic Conditioning and H.I.I.T workouts will get you sweating and burning in a manner that is designed to help you increase your capacity and improve your body composition WITHOUT over-taxing you system.

Skills We'll Practice

  • PERFECT push-ups 
  • Pistol Squats
  • L-Sits
  • Inversions 
  • …and this is just the beginning.

2 OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM:

  • 2 days per week — $100 + HST per month ($12.50 per class)
  • 3 days per week (Mon/Wed/Fri) — $120 per month ($10 per class)

BESTIE BONUS:

Refer a friend - if they sign up, you’ll receive 10% off of your registration fee! 

Ready to Change the Way You Train?

Click here to sign-up for the July Session beginning Monday July 4th.

Contact me here to get more information! 

NOTE: This program will be capped at 12 participants and requires at least 6 participants to run.

 

Pilates and Pregnancy: Michelle J

 

I would highly recommend Pilates to anyone, but it’s particularly important leading up to, during, and after pregnancy for the following reasons:

1) Less pain and discomfort because skeletal imbalances. Pilates emphasizes working your body in the correct align meant, or working towards bringing you into alignment. This definitely helps prevent common pregnancy aches and pains. I was constantly conscious of trying to work against the lordosis that usually occurs in the lower back during my pregnancy and engage my core to bring myself back to a more neutral alignment.

2) Less chance of diastasis recti because of the focus on strengthening transversus abdominis. This is a common side effect of pregnancy when the two halves of the rectus abdominis separate as a result of over stretching. When this deepest layer of your core (like an internal corset)  is strong and you are mentally connected to how it works, you are better protected from having diastasis recti because you know how to move and use these muscles properly.

3) Pelvic floor, pelvic floor, pelvic floor!  These muscles are SO important during pregnancy, labour, and recovery.  Pilates teaches you how to use these muscles, and they are important in two ways during this time. You need strong pelvic floor muscles to support the growing weight of your baby during pregnancy. Equally important is the ability to relax these muscles during delivery ….trust me! Pilates teaches you an awareness of the pelvic floor that is invaluable.

- Special considerations for the pregnant client:

Again, strengthening and awareness of the pelvic floor muscles and transversus is key. By the time the client reaches the 5th or 6th month, it’s important to avoid exercises that put too much emphasis on flexion or where the torso or specifically abdominals have to work against gravity to prevent diastasis recti. So - traditional ab crunches or roll ups, or rollbacks are out, as are planks and regular push-ups. Push ups can be modified to be done against a wall or slightly elevated. Another concern is the possibility of supine hypotensive syndrome in some pregnant women - where the weight of the baby can compress the inferior vena cava when the mother is lying on her back. This can potentially slow blood flow back to the mother’s heart, which in turn will reduce blood and oxygen flow to the fetus. Because this is potentially dangerous, it is best to avoid working in a supine position by the end of the second trimester. But in both cases, it does depend on the individual.

- Other resources (websites)/best studios in Toronto to train at:

I did my Pilates teacher training at Stott Pilates and also a specialized Prenatal Reformer workshop there - luckily just before I found out I was pregnant.  I find the Instructor Trainers at Stott to be very knowledgeable when it comes to a variety of specialized cases such as pregnancy or injuries. I teach at Misfit Studio on Queen St. West and the owner, Amber Joliat, is a Pilates and yoga instructor who has a great understanding of movement and anatomy, and she is a wonderful teacher.  We also offer Eccentrics at Misfit Studio and I found that to be a great workout during my pregnancy, as much of it is done standing and provides a great amount of stretch and release for muscles and joints that are a little overburdened during that time.

Workout Wednesday: Plankation!

Workout Wednesdays are dedicated to providing you (my lovely readers) with a 'burner' or 'finisher' that I find "FUn". What is a burner/finisher you ask? Its a short workout that soaks up your very last bit of energy and effort, AFTER you have completed your main lifts and accessory work. Why do them? The theory is that after utilizing all of your stored glycogen, a burner will push you into fat burning. I don't like them simply for this reason though! I like them because:

  • They keep me honest -- I know that if I don't put my full effort into my main lifts and accessory work, when I get to the burner, its going to be a reckoning ground!
  • They're fast, fun, and short, and allow me to incorporate movements I wouldn't necessarily put in my 'main program' like sushi rolls or bootstrapper squats with a tuck jump (thanks Agatsu Fitness for those little gems!)
  • On top of being physically difficult, they can help build mental strength -- if you can get through a tough burner, you can do whatever you put your mind to! 
  • You can do these workouts with a partner or a group of friends, and push each other! Nothing brings a group of people together like communal suffering! 
"Nothings brings a group of people together like communal suffering..." @stylist_jo, @taminoa, @sarebellum @itsmaryyoung

"Nothings brings a group of people together like communal suffering..." @stylist_jo, @taminoa, @sarebellum @itsmaryyoung

When I program burners for myself and my clients, I like to pair movements that are traditionally considered "core" or "stability" movements, with high intensity, metabolically demanding exercises  (read: exercises that jack your heart rate up and make you breathe heavy real quick) like burpees, sprints, prowler pushes, kettle swings/snatches/cleans or even rowing. Why? Because being able to stabilize using your 'core' muscles while being short of breath is both very difficult, and vital to protecting our spine and other joints when engaging in Activities of Daily Living, like shovelling snow or moving a couch up a flight of stairs, as well as while participating in sports such as hockey, soccer or lacrosse (just to name a view). Building this skill takes time, and the burner, for me, represents a great place to sneak this work in because you would have 'practiced' activating your core during your main lifts. Additionally, the burner is short so you can avoid going past the point of safe and efficient practice into poor movement. This is a really important point! A lot of fitness systems tell you to just go 'all out' when you're conditioning - turn your brain off, your muscles on and go. This is NOT what I am promoting! While I believe you should work really hard during your burner, it should NOT be at the cost of safe movement. Keep your brain on!

Please also note that these workouts are very taxing on our metabolic and nervous systems so you don't have to do a burner EVERY day! I work burners into my training program 2-3 times per week depending on what phase of training program I'm in. 

So here we go: Workout Wednesday #1

"Plankation"

Every Minute on the Minute, for 8-10 minutes (depending on your fitness level & form):

  • Complete 2 x 50 foot out and back sprint (think shuttle run)
  • Spend the rest of the minute in the plank modification of your choice. 
    • see the Plank post from this week's #movementmonday post for tips on performing the plank properly

    Let me know how you like it! I'm interested to hear your comments!  Have fun friends! Its going to be great :)