Olympic leg and buttock exercises

Charles Bentley September 23, 2019

Olympic swimmer Sebastiaan Verschuren describes in this blog a number of exercises that you can do at home. In combination with the previously published blog about abdominal muscle exercises, you have a nice workout.

Repeat and persevere

The summer holidays are coming up and have already started for some of them. With my leg and buttock exercises you will be able to walk on the beach even more confidently. Of course you can, but it’s even better to repeat and maintain the exercises regularly.

Six exercises

I’ll give you six leg and butt exercises below. We also do these exercises daily in and around the swimming pool. Also check my 10 abdominal muscle exercises. All in all it really helps you to improve your muscles. Good luck with your training!

Lunges

Get out of the car. Stand upright with dumbbells in your hands. Get out with one leg and sink down. The knee of your front leg shouldn’t touch the ground. Make sure your upper body stays straight above your hips during the whole exercise. Step out ten times with the right and ten times with the left. Repeat this twice.

(Deep) Squats

We all know them. Stand up straight with your feet at hip width, possibly with a barbell on your shoulders or dumbbells in your hands. Pocket down until the angle in your knees is ninety degrees. With a deep squat you can go as deep as possible. Always make sure that your knees never get past your toes and that your shoulders stay nicely above your feet. Repeat ten times and this set twice.

Bridge

Abdomen, buttock, leg, shoulder: with this exercise you train almost your entire body. Stand in lying support on your hands or elbows. Make sure your spine is stretched properly and check during your exercise that your neck is standing straight on your torso. Don’t let your head hang! Twice 30 seconds, but you can build this up quickly.

Hip raise

Lie on your back with your knees pulled up and your feet almost against your buttocks. Now push your hips up so that your body from shoulder to knee is in a straight line. Lower your hips back to just above the ground and repeat this exercise ten times in two sets.

Step ups knee raise

Stand in front of an elevation (step, bench, table) and possibly step with dumbbells in your hands with one foot on the bench and stand on the bench with two feet. Try not to drop off as much as possible with the ‘leftover’ leg and make sure your back stays as straight as possible during the whole exercise. Ten per leg, two sets.

Swiss ball leg curl

Lie on your back on the ground with a swissball under your feet and your hips off the ground. Pull your legs in until your knees have an angle of ninety degrees. Keep your body straight from shoulder to knee at all times. Ten times, two sets.

Original instinct: advisor for good nutrition

Charles Bentley September 23, 2019

A few weeks ago I was on a yoga holiday and had chosen for this organisation because during the holiday there was also attention paid to nutrition. One of the important pillars that makes sure that you feel comfortable in your skin.

I am a bit richer and closer to really healthy food. Good nutrition is very important and fortunately more and more people are becoming aware of this. But what exactly is good food?

Super foods not necessarily good nutrition

Convenient marketers make sure that we buy massive amounts of food that is expensive and not even as good for us as they claim. The now very popular super foods are sold everywhere and are widely stocked. Wheatgrass, linseed and chia seed for the smoothie, goji berries for the salad and quinoa as a replacement for potatoes and rice.
If you think about the fact that these products do not grow naturally in the Netherlands and therefore have to come from elsewhere, you can think of the fact that our system was not developed for this purpose. In addition, it is imported from other countries in such large numbers that its own population is left without food and also produces it under the influence of strangulation contracts. If you ask me, these products do not belong to a good diet. It is indeed nutritious, but I do not consider the way in which I am doing this to be good for the world and your body.

Primary food or paleo

I sometimes hear people say: ‘Actually, I also know what is and isn’t good for me’. When you know how to listen to your body, it also indicates what it needs. Your body reacts to substances it receives. This ‘primal instinct’ is a guideline for good nutrition. Especially what is good for you. Unfortunately, this instinct is no longer as well developed as it was hundreds of years ago. Then people lived by instinct and ate what was good for them. A good reason to take this as a guideline for good nutrition: ‘primal nutrition’. More and more people are becoming familiar with this primal nutrition, also known as the palaeo-food pattern. It is based on meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, eggs, nuts and seeds. Everything that was available from nature for agriculture in the Netherlands.

What to look out for

You don’t have to look for food anymore. You can go to a supermarket on every corner of the street to buy all the products you can think of. Products from all over the world are purchased to provide us with so-called ‘good food’. Much of it is in parcels and bags, is perfectly coloured and has an intact shape.
What are the visible properties of good food? Eat products that look like they came from the tree, plant or soil. Processed products are often packaged, pre-cut or mixed with other products. Choose to make your own dishes instead of buying ready-made dishes. You will then know for sure what is and isn’t in the dish. Unfortunately, packaging does not always show clearly what exactly is incorporated in the product. Many products contain E-numbers and do not belong to good nutrition.

Actually it is very simple, listen to your body and eat unprocessed products, then you are right!