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article by Jennifer McGregor, Public Health Library Listen, we all get busy taking care of our families, our jobs, and the other obligations that go along with responsible adulthood. But, if life has you sidetracked and your health has started to suffer, it’s time to step back, evaluate your life, and take measures to keep yourself well every day. Keep reading for a few smart ways to make sure that happens. Prioritize your physical health. It may seem like a no-brainer, but exercising and eating well are two of the best things you can do for yourself no matter where you are in life. Invest in a few pieces of fitness equipment for your home that will give you access to exercise opportunities. These might include: • The Warhammer Monolift by Invictus Powerlifting • A weighted hula-hoop • Resistance bands • Adjustable dumbbells As far as your diet, whole foods tend to be best. When possible, cook at home and make sure your plate is balanced with: • Lean proteins, such as chicken or fish • Whole grains, including whole-wheat bread and brown rice • Colorful vegetables – different colors offer different vitamins, so get a mixture • Healthy fats from nuts, avocados, and eggs Focus on your mental health. How much attention do you pay to your mental well-being? Probably not enough. But, if you’re like one in five American adults, you are very likely to experience a mental health issue or crisis at some point in your life. This often starts with stress, which is triggered by a host of causes, including your work and financial strain. To sidestep these issues: • Consider changing jobs. Many people find themselves under-employed, or, worse, feeling stuck in a job they hate because they fear change. If this sounds like you, it might be time to make a switch. You can even go to school online now while you continue to work so that you’re not sacrificing your current income. • Learn to manage your money. Even if you are planning on an upward professional move, money, or, rather lack thereof, can cause significant stress on you and within your relationship. If you currently don’t have a handle on your finances, it’s time that you learn how to budget. By knowing how much you have and how much you can spend, you can avoid unnecessary expenditures that may drop your bank account to less than what you need to pay the mortgage. Image via Pexels Other Tips For Daily Wellness • Go for a jog. According to Runner's World, there are many health benefits associated with regular jogging. These include weight maintenance, strengthening the immune system, and having fun. • Quit smoking. Smoking is a nasty habit, but if you’re one of the millions of Americans that still light up each day, you should know that quitting now will improve your heart rate and lung function while helping to reduce your risk of many diseases, including heart disease and lung cancer. • Get enough sleep. Your mind and body have a reciprocal relationship, and both of them rely on sleep. The overnight hours are when your body naturally repairs from the physical trauma of the day and your mind purges its excess thoughts. Shoot for seven to eight hours of uninterrupted slumber for optimum wellness. Bonus: if you engage in physical activity, you’ll sleep better Taking care of yourself isn’t difficult. Small steps that you can take each day, like working out and eliminating bad habits, will help you make huge strides toward overall wellness. You don’t have to make dozens of changes all at once or overhaul your entire lifestyle, but every positive change you make now will help you be that much better moving forward. For more information about Invictus Powerlifting equipment or accessories, call 479.858.8331 today.

by Brian at Home Gym Strength site:  homegymstrength.com | email:  brian@homegymstrength.com This might sound familiar to you. It’s gym day again and you are going to do the same exercises for the upteenth time. It's easy to get bored when you are just doing the squats, deadlifts and press. We have your back though!  There is a lot more you can do with a Power Rack than just the big three lifts. Read on to to see our recommendations: #1. Banded bench press: https://gph.is/g/4Mkv30W What if you could lift heavy weights without a spotter 100% safe? With the power rack you can! By using bands you can add some resistance to your press which makes you produce more force in ranges where you wouldn’t otherwise. How to Perform: - Set up a bench inside the rack, make sure it’s centered and in an optimal position. - Adjust the safety bars slightly (around 2 inches) below your puffed up chest position to have a full range of motion. You can perform wide, regular and tight grip as well as decline and incline presses. - Set up the pins so that you can grab the bar comfortably. - Attach the band to one end of the bar, pull the band underneath the bench, put the band on the other end of the bar and adjust it to be around shoulder width. - As the first step, take a big breath and unrack the bar by straightening your arms. - Move the bar over your shoulders with your elbows locked and lower the bar until it reaches your chest. Remember to keep your forearms vertical. - Hold your breath at the bottom then press it back to the starting position while releasing the air. Repeat. Hold the bar in the base of your palm with a full grip and straight wrists. Keep your butt on the bench and make sure to lock your elbows at the top. #2. Romanian deadlifts: https://gph.is/g/EJY5GzA Romanian deadlifts are one of the lesser-known exercises despite the fact they are great for working the posterior chain: hamstrings, glutes and lower back. You have to set the pins to a position where you can grab and unrack the bar comfortably with your arms straight. How to perform: - Grab the bar, step back, make sure your stance is hip width and toes are pointing forward. - Push the hips back with your knees slightly bent, guide the bar along your legs until you feel the hamstrings stretch. - When you feel the burn down there, explosively return to the top position. Repeat. You always have to keep a straight back, arch your back, hold your chest up and chin neutral. #3. Rack pulls: https://gph.is/g/ZrdrGvP Rack pulls are like the top part of a deadlift, focusing on the back, a little bit on hamstrings and glutes while also providing grip strength. How to perform: - Set the pins around your knees. - Extend the hips then contract your lower back and lats. - Squeeze your shoulders back and flex the lats on the top of the exercise then return to the starting position. Repeat. #4. Inverted row https://gph.is/g/E0rOpqr The inverted row is one of my favourite bodyweight exercises and it’s almost impossible to perform without a power rack. Inverted rows build strength and muscle in your back, biceps, forearms, grip and even core. Plus, it is a must for people wanting to advance to doing pull ups. How to perform: - Set the bar a little bit above waist height. If you are a beginner you can set the bar higher to make performing the exercise easier. The lower the bar, the harder the movement becomes. - Lie on your back on the floor, underneath the bar. - Grab the bar with a wide, overhand grip. - Contract your muscles and keep your body straight. It is like doing a push-up just in reverse. - Pull yourself up until your chest reaches the bar. - Lower yourself down while maintaining the proper form. Repeat. #5. Front, wide and reverse grip pull up https://gph.is/g/4w8yDqO Always start from the bottom position with your arms straight. Focus on maintaining constant tension and don’t just hang. You can keep your legs crossed for more comfort. How to perform: - Leap up and grab the bar. - Try to use your whole upper body when pulling up. When your chin reaches the top of the bar squeeze your shoulder blades back and contract your muscles. Repeat. Your hips and feet may move in front of the bar. Make sure you avoid your shoulders moving forward of the bar as this can cause injury. #6. Banded exercises https://gph.is/g/aRWvVwg Bands are incredibly versatile and can be used for a ton of different exercises so the only limit here is your imagination. Chest flys, lateral pulldowns, bicep curls, rows and tricep pushdowns all can be performed using a power rack just to name a few. Not to mention that you can (and should!) use the bands for stretching as well. How to perform: The only things you need are the bands and a power rack to attach them to. Anchor the bands suitably for each exercise and you are good to go. With your newly acquired knowledge nothing can stop you from using the power rack to its fullest potential, so grab your gym bag and give a try to these fantastic exercises!

By Heather Porter, Invictus Sponsored Athlete PREFACE I learned while writing this that Google Docs needs to incorporate the ability to use emojis on a computer because I definitely needed them to express my self-proclaimed humor and sarcasm, so insert as you read all the hehe, haha, shoulder shrug, rolling eyes, arm flexing, medal, etc. emojis that you see fit. *Shoulder shrug* Southern Powerlifting Federation Worlds 2019, held in Atlanta, Georgia, September 20-22, was one for the books. I seriously couldn’t have fictionally plotted it out any better...except more weight on the bar. (Haha. Spoken like a truly never-satisfied, always-yearning-for-more powerlifter.) But in all seriousness, I absolutely had THE best experience: from weigh-ins, to being handled, to my coaches programmed plan (prior to and the day of), to my nine-for-nine lifts, to being able to share this memory with my youngest daughter, Ella. The day simply went down (or up) without a hitch...little deadlift pun for ya. Jesus was my “King Handler” at Worlds. IN THE BEGINNING My SPF Worlds’ combat started prior to weigh-ins with the usual “cut”: two weeks of fish and greens and minimal carbs, carb cut six days out, extra HARDIO (#cawful), sauna sweating, water load and then water deprivation, cup-spitting, etc. Conditions most would hate, but Ella and I have an odd love for the discipline it induces in us. Then at weigh-ins where I weighed in at about mid-weight (174.9) in my 181 Class and that was okay, but is it ever really “less” enough? Hmmm. Food (or lack thereof) for thought! (Ella weighed in at 97.6...right on perfect track with her goal.) But meeting and mingling with several new-to-me fabulous ladies compensated for not hitting the 172 weigh-in I was personally hoping for. Us lady lifters talked shop: what brought us to powerlifting, what keeps us powerlifting, and naturally had some good nerve-relieving laughs. Now, that right there - meeting and learning what brought other women into the powerlifting world - for me, is a highlight of living the powerlifting life. Absolutely my fav! After weigh-ins, my family and I met up with my social-media-met handler/turned friend, Zach, and we went to do what ALL powerlifters excel in: eat. (You ALL know we powerlifters live for our post-weigh-in carb loading.) After our meal, my handler and I met up with my coach, David Shirley, for a lil’ wrapping tutorial and practice. To end the eve of this much-anticipated meet, it was shower, prayer, and bed for the Porter clan. GETTING MY NAHUM ON After normal wake-up routine, what does one (okay this “one” anyway) do to prep the morning of meet day? I first pull a backwards Elizabeth Gilbert: Love. Pray. Eat. (*Nahum = Book in the Bible, means "Comfortable." I kinda have a theme going here if you haven't caught on.) LOVE: Nothing is more reassuring than mulling over why you started, how much you’re loving the process and person you’ve become, and thanking the good Lord for making it/allowing it to effectively align with His plan. PRAY: A dedicated ten minutes while “getting my game face on” (okay, seriously just doing my makeup) was spent praying and thinking about how far I’ve come - mentally as much as physically - this last fourteen months since my first powerlifting meet...I even babbled in the reflection of when I first started this whole fat-to-fit journey. Peeps, I can’t tell you enough how grateful I am for all the successes and failures I’ve had that’s brought me here. All I know is that God is great and powerlifting, in all aspects, has saved me. EAT: And then “ready” was followed up with food. For breakfast on meet day, I like to fuel my body with a little more carbs than normal, but I’m pretty “breakfast basic”: eggs, sausage, bacon, bagel with peanut butter, oats (doctored with some brown sugar, almonds, and raisins), and chocolate milk. Don’t judge. These are small-ish portions. GENESIS SQUAT: I was nervous for days prior to the meet, but when Ella and I walked into warm-ups, something calm and collected resided within/over me. I felt great and was excited to get started. Warm-ups went smoothly for both Ella and me. And then it was show time. I will tell you, as much as I love everything about powerlifting, I have to say that watching my mini-me (or even one of clients) is as exhilarating as my own platform performances. We both went three for three on squat. This was hands-down a huge PR in itself for me because hitting “immeasurable” depth is ALWAYS an issue. I mean I have been at two meets where I was sweating (profusely), needing that second or third squat to even stay in the game. (You want to talk about a buzz kill: miss your opener squat...and then miss the second one. That will both ruin the most well-thought-out plan and humble your prayer process real quick.) Nonetheless, with great Invictus wraps from Zach (first two squats) and David (third squat), I got low, or at least low enough. Meet PR’ed my third squat with 424.9. Ella meet PR’ed with 170. Hallelujah...forth we went! BENCH: On to bench. If you have kept up with anything Heather powerlifting related, you know that bench has always been a b*tch for and to me. Besides dealing with two surgeried shoulders, my mobility to get my legs tucked under (also affecting my arch off the bench as well) for effective leg drive has caused me to really research proper and specific muscle related stretching. (Which, by the way, has improved my bench (and other two lifts) threefold and strongly recommended.) Of the three lifts, I have really focused more diligently on this one the past two months. And like anything, perseverance paid off. I went three for three and meet PR’ed with an EASY 237. (Boy did I want that fourth lift opportunity, but David kept me focused within our plan.) Ella had the first-time sickening experience of THE have-to-get-third-lift moment on bench - small directional errors - but like a champion, she nailed the third one to keep in the meet. No PR...sometimes you have to be content with “just” getting the lift and accept the lessons learned. DEADS: Oh my “change up” lift. I tell you what, I have struggled with what’s the best practice for me: sumo or conventional? Form is equally, progressively mediocre, haha, but I think conventional is going to win out. Regardless the method, whether the bar is holding 350# or 440#, I pull every lift as if I’m making sure an audience doesn’t miss it. (AKA slow as hell.) Honestly, all three powerlifts need some speed behind them. I don’t know why, and it’s definitely not from a lack of awareness, I’m just slow. David constantly tells me to speed it up. I then tell my brain and body, and my body just seemingly says, “Why the rush?” So frustrating. Meet opener pull, 410, second 418, and third...well, let’s just say that I hadn’t pulled more than 365# in practice ‘til I rebelliously (out of stubborness for what I’m referring to as crap-call...hehe, just my newbie opinion) switched to conventional and pulled 418.9 on my third pull in a July USPA meet. My third pull at Worlds ended on a crowd pleasing (‘cause you know I took my time for the spectators) 440.9. But I will say that I loved how 440.9 felt exactly like 410. Just means that the 500 I long for is waiting around the corner. Miss Ella, like the majestic sumo puller that she is, easy and quickly (I can coach it...just can’t perform it) nailed all three sumo pulls. EXODUS...FOR NOW Four definite World records were set by both Ella and me. The SPF Worlds’ was one heck of an experience, but the wisdom gained from not just the meet, but the whole preparation leading up to it, trumps all the trophy (sword) wins. I still consider myself new to the powerlifting world...maybe growth equivalent to a toddler at this point. However, the knowledge from having a powerlifting coach, David, and proper programming from his veteran-ness of the sport, has made the last two months so much more effectively progressive as well as enjoyable. I have been able to take what I learn and share it with my daughter and the other ladies on my Iron Maidens’ team. I will say, when it comes to training, I’m a bit what some may call stubborn as nothing is ever enough. I like to push my limits to their extreme. I constantly yearn for bigger numbers, more reps, greater pumps, and even though I loathe cardio, I strive to add more steps or time or calories burned because in my eyes, the dedication and desire to want more is what separates a champion from the average. Thus why I also continue to train with Gina Davis a couple times a month: never know when this powerlifter will turn bodybuilder. Regardless, I do know that no matter how good one gets, we have to be willing to learn more so not to become stagnant. So as long as my body stays healthy, I will continue to work hard, achieve goals, and set new goals...then repeat.