Fit TV

Wathing t.v. last night and was watching an episode of Insider Fitness on FitTV on our local cable network (Gabrielle Reese is one hot chick and a formal volleyball player too. Mario Lopez is a loser). Anyway, the topic was on some professional Hockey Players who train and play for professional Hockey. I don't follow Hockey much but there were 2 guys and a Female Olympic Hockey Player featured on this week's segment.

It was very interesting to hear their sides of how they prepare for their sport and how much involvement training is to them to be playing their sport for a very long period of time. I think one has been playing professional Hockey for over 20 years! And get this: all of them were over the age of 40. I look at these guys and their training approaches and it's all about conditioning and focusing on developing core strength.

And they look younger than they are!

One of the players (again, I don't know their names)...was talking about how he used to just toss around weight in the gym for the hell of it earlier in his career. At the time (I'm presuming the early 80's at the time...and I don't think he knew any better). What's startling was he had 3 abdominal surgeries while playing a very young professional career when he realized that his training approaches were all wrong. He got introduced to circuit training and he swears by it - is the best approach to sport conditioning. He developed such a strong solid foundation through circuit training - he won Defensive Player of the Year the following season. He also pointed out it's not about getting muscle but getting stronger and working on power. Nice.

The female Olympic Hockey player on the other hand, was giving insights on core training and the effectiveness of the stability ball. For such a long time - I saw no use of the stab ball until I came across some effective programs that utilize it. She was sharing some personal insights on the stability ball and it's unique uses. She was saying how it's not all just about using it for stretching or crunches. She states it's one of the best fitness equipment to utilize to work the core. I saw what she was doing and was pretty amazed. She would take a hockey stick, keep it at chest level (at the clavicle) - and start moving side to side while maintaining balance. Then she was seen balancing on the ball with her abs all while suspended on it hands and feet off the floor - whoa. She's well off enough that her husband was a former Hockey great and has a trainer that visits her 4x/week and they would work in a gym in her garage (how ironic - garage workouts are the best!). Her trainer showed an interesting gadget that straps around her abs. If she isn't concentrating on her core muscles, the gadget would beep telling her she needs to brace her abs more...never knew there was such a thing. Sport training technology...any way to get that edge while training for your sport I guess which is cool (I guess that's why professional athletes use steroids I guess...it's all about that "edge" - a cheating edge for that matter).

She really empasized the importance core strengthening. You can only fake that your core is good for such a time, until you realize that your game only got a few seconds slower. I think that so true!

Anyway, it was a great episode and I think I need to get this on DVR if anything just to see Gabrielle Reese! Just kidding. Hahaha!

Great episode.

*** edit - FitTV is probably the only cable channel I know of that doesn't sell you crap via infomercials such as P90X or Tony Little gizmo's. =)