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The March Five – hip circles, swimming, hamstring curl, chest press and hamstring stretch

This month we’re using a Swiss ball (or sliders), medium heavy weights, and a band. Grab your gear and do with me today!

March Five exercises:

  • Hip Circles
  • Swimming
  • Hamstring Curl
  • Chest Press
  • Hamstring Stretch

Use this 7 minute strength and mobility routine to improve hip mobility, core stability, leg strength, chest strength, and stretch your hamstrings.

This series follows my trademarked R.O.S.S. protocol – Release, Organize, Strengthen, and Stretch for efficient movement and injury prevention.

We start with a slow, Somatics style Hip circle, the “Release” part of our R.O.S.S. protocol. Notice how smooth or sticky this feels. Your goal is to make this easy and listen to your body. No forcing, no pushing, just allowing.

Swimming is our “Organization” move. Think of getting longer as you do this move, reaching out through the top of your head, your tail, and your arms and legs. Please pay close attention to your neck, and low back. If anything starts to feel uncomfortable, or painful, stop, go slower or smaller and see if you can find YOUR pain free range for today.

Ball Hamstring Curl is your first “Strength” move. I’m showing this move on a Swiss ball. You could also rest your heels on sliders, paper plates, or towels on the floor. While we target hamstrings, this is truly a whole body exercise. Keep one long straight line from your shoulder, hip, and knee as you bend your knees and drag your feet towards you.

Chest Press strengthens your chest and shoulders. Listen carefully to my cues about your arm and shoulder position. You should feel wide and stable across your shoulders and upper back. Control your weights on the way down rather than just letting them drop.

Lastly we have Hamstring stretch. Stretching is the last “S” in our R.O.S.S. series. Almost everyone I work with suffers from tight hamstrings. Earlier we worked to strengthen these muscles, now we get to stretch them. Please stop at the point where you feel slight resistance, not pain.

So how do YOU use this program?

  1. Take yourself thorough this program with me right now following along with me on the video (7 minutes).
  2. Do this series as a warm up before your next walk, or fitness class.
  3. Do this video 2-3 days a week as a stand alone strength workout. Spend about a minute doing hip circles and swimming, then pause the video and do 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps of your hamstring curl and chest press. Then start the video back up and spend one minute stretching your hamstrings.

Want to do these moves live with our group of friendly, silly people (and dogs)? Join our Saturday 10 am Barre class on Zoom!

YOU are in charge of you. Please listen to your body and only do the things that make you feel really good. Please see your medical professional prior to starting a new exercise program.

Free Pilates Class Wednesday February 15th!

Love your body!

Join our Wednesday 6 pm Pilates class for free!

We start with a gentle warm up, rolling on the floor, mobilizing our spines, juicing up our shoulders and hips. Next we get organized engaging the small stabilizers. Our strength series includes traditional Pilates mat exercises – Hundreds, Roll up, Teaser, as well as Lunges and Rows to strengthen your whole body. We cool down and reconnect our minds and bodies with a gentle stretch at the end of class, following my trademarked R.O.S.S. protocol.

Join us Wednesday February 15th 6-7 pm P.T. on zoom.

You’re welcome to tune in with your video on or off.

Whether you are brand new to Pilates, or have years of experience this class is for YOU!

You’ll leave feeling like you’ve done just the right amount of work and stretching.

Come meet our fun, silly, welcoming group of ladies (and our mascot Cody the labradoodle).

Email me and I’ll send you the Zoom link Anne@FluidPortland.com

Pajama Yoga 6 pm January 2, 2023

Help us kick off our first class of the new year from the comfort of your own home in your jammies!

Join us Monday January 2nd at 6 pm on Zoom for an hour of stretching and mobility work. You are welcome to wear your p.j.’s (or other comfy clothes) and tune in with your video on or off.

Please email me for the zoom code.

Anne@FluidPortland.com

Body Butter To Soothe Dry Winter Skin

Tis the season for dry, cracked hands.

Here’s a simple recipe for home made body butter.

If you don’t have time to make it yourself, give me a call, as I do have a few jars available.

I’ve been using some variation of this butter in my massage practice for years.

In the winter I often add peppermint oil. I also like to blend scents like orange and clove, or clary sage and lavender. Feel free to omit the essential oils if you have sensitive skin, or prefer unscented products.

The main ingredients are shea butter, jojoba, and coconut oil.

Shea butter is a fat extracted from the nut of the shea tree. It can be used to heal minor cuts and abrasions. It is solid at room temperature. It’s often used in soaps and cosmetics.

Jojoba “oil” is actually a liquid plant ester, or wax extracted from the seeds of the jojoba plant. It typically is found in the deserts of Arizona, California and Mexico (the photo above is yours truly in Joshua Tree National Park where I stumbled up on a few jojoba plants growing wild).

Jojoba has the consistency of olive oil at room temperature, but unlike olive oil it has a long shelf life, and is able to withstand high heat without going rancid.

I was first introduced to this product when I was a wee massage therapist in Florida in the 90’s. I have oily and sensitive skin, and traditional massage oils caused me to break out if I did not immediately wash my skin. I once found myself having to go back to work after receiving a massage from a massage therapist who used jojoba. I thought, “oh man my neck and back are going to be so broken out tomorrow”. Instead, the jojoba absorbed into my skin, and I had no issues. I’ve been a fan ever since.

Here’s my favorite brand.

Coconut oil is a rich source of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), a type of saturated fat. It has microbial effects, boosts the moisture content in skin and hair, and contains antioxidants that have been shown to lower inflammation, and boost brain health. I put a spoonful in my coffee every morning. You can also use it as a substitute for butter in baked goods (I used some in a recent banana bread recipe). If you’re not a fan of the coconutty scent and taste, look for refined coconut oil.

While the ingredients in this body butter are “all natural” please do not eat it. Jojoba is not meant to be consumed.

Spread this on your hands, not on your toast :).

Having said that, your skin is highly absorptive. As with what I put in my body, I try to stick to skin care products that have a short list of easily pronounceable ingredients.

Ok on to the recipe…

Body Butter Recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup Shea butter
  • 1/2 cup Coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup Jojoba
  • 5-10 drops of essential oil (optional – I used peppermint for my latest batch)

Directions:

  1. Melt shea butter, coconut oil and jojoba oil in a double boiler. If you do not have one of these you can nest a glass bowl over a saucepan. Start with about an inch or two of water in the bottom pan, so that it comes close to the bottom of the bowl without spilling over the sides.
  2. Whisk the first three ingredients together over medium heat until they are combined. No need to boil them, just give enough to heat so that they melt.
  3. Turn off the heat, and whisk in 5-10 drops of your favorite essential oil.
  4. Refrigerate for an hour or until white and solid.
  5. With a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the oils until they are fluffy like whipped cream.
  6. Fill glass jars body butter, seal them, and refrigerate another hour.

A note on storage: Depending on the temperature in your house (and the time of year) you may want to keep these babies in the fridge. If you leave them in a warm room, they won’t go bad, they just might melt and lose the whipped texture.

Happy Holidays!

xoxo

Anne

Creamy Broccoli And Potato Soup with a Light Roux

One of my ladies shared this delicious broccoli soup recipe (thanks Kathleen). It’s nice and light, and since were heading into a season of heavy foods, I wanted to share this with you.

While you do make a light roux, it’s just enough flour to thicken the soup. Most of the body of the soup comes from the potatoes. As with most soups its fairly forgiving so feel free to experiment with the proportions of potatoes to broccoli, add cheese, or use a milk substitute.

Ingredients:

  • 1 ¾ lbs broccoli
  • 3 onions (1 ½ lbs)
  • salt to taste
  • 1 Tbs. olive oil
  • 2 ½ Tbs. butter
  • 3 russet potatoes (approx. 1 lb)
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 3 cups water
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 ½ Tbs. flour
  • 2 cups hot milk
  • 2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
  • generous pinch of cayenne

Directions:

  1. Trim the broccoli, peel the stems and chop them coarsely, and break the heads into small florets. You should have about 6 cups of broccoli pieces.
  2. Coarsely chop the onions.
  3. Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large non stick pan, and sauté the onions until golden.
  4. Peel and dice the potatoes and chop the celery. Place them in a soup pot with the water and vegetable broth, and about ½ teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the broccoli pieces and the sautéed onions and simmer another 8-10 minutes, until everything is tender. If you like, you can reserve a cup or two of the broccoli florets to steam separately and use as a garnish, or to stir into the soup at the end for greater texture.
  5. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the lemon juice, and then puree the soup in batches in a blender (I use an immersion blender). Don’t over process: the texture should be somewhat rough.
  6. Melt the remaining 1½ tablespoons of butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet and stir in the flour. Cook this roux for a few minutes, stirring, until it has a pale-gold color. Whisk in the hot milk, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring or whisking until it thickens. Whisk in the mustard and the cayenne, and mix the white sauce into the soup.
  7. Bring the soup back to a simmer, taste, and correct the seasoning with more salt, mustard, or cayenne if needed.