I do call Arizona home now a days though I grew in South Dakota. It was neat to see Bear Grylls in Man vs Wild in the Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota. I took my wife then pregnant with my little girl to the Black Hills and my dog scared away a goat in the Badlands. My surviving that trip wasn't much as we just drove through the Badlands.
If you have never been than I highly recommend visiting the western edge of South Dakota. Interestingly, I can get from Phoenix to Vegas faster than I could get from my house in South Dakota to the Black Hills. Most people don't realize how big the states are in the midwest.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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Sunday, September 21, 2008
Christopher Creek Canyon Canyoneering
The latest canyon we went canyoneering is Christopher Creek Canyon outside Payson, AZ. This is a great canyon full of waterfalls and you are definitely in and out of the water.
The canyon is easy to get to with parking on the side of the road and an easy to follow trail that leads to an entrance to the canyon. Because of the ease of access you might find the beginning populated with people. Trust me though only the canyoneers are going farther into the canyon so you will lose people quickly.
The main concern about this canyon is the water is cold year around. For us it might have been 80 degrees outside the water temp was in the fifties. It was cold to say the least. I highly recommend a wetsuit to do this canyon or at least a wetsuit top. We didn't have either so it swim as hard as you can and then jump and run in place to warm back up once out. The good thing is you are in and out of the water so you do have the ability to warm up.
The canyon is full of tiny waterfalls to go down and around. A few a slid down which is always fun. Be prepared to go through tons of pools which are typically over your head. I rarely just waded through the water, mostly it was swimming.
There are 3-5 rappels you need to complete depending on your climbing skill level. There are obvious natural anchors and some have fairly new webbing already in place though I won't automatically count on that.
Three of the rappels are direct in waterfalls that are extremely slippery. Every person slipped at least once so make sure you go slow and keep your hand locked on the rope during the rappel.
Over all extremely fun canyon with tons of waterfalls and pools to swim.
The canyon is easy to get to with parking on the side of the road and an easy to follow trail that leads to an entrance to the canyon. Because of the ease of access you might find the beginning populated with people. Trust me though only the canyoneers are going farther into the canyon so you will lose people quickly.The main concern about this canyon is the water is cold year around. For us it might have been 80 degrees outside the water temp was in the fifties. It was cold to say the least. I highly recommend a wetsuit to do this canyon or at least a wetsuit top. We didn't have either so it swim as hard as you can and then jump and run in place to warm back up once out. The good thing is you are in and out of the water so you do have the ability to warm up.
The canyon is full of tiny waterfalls to go down and around. A few a slid down which is always fun. Be prepared to go through tons of pools which are typically over your head. I rarely just waded through the water, mostly it was swimming.
There are 3-5 rappels you need to complete depending on your climbing skill level. There are obvious natural anchors and some have fairly new webbing already in place though I won't automatically count on that.Three of the rappels are direct in waterfalls that are extremely slippery. Every person slipped at least once so make sure you go slow and keep your hand locked on the rope during the rappel.
Over all extremely fun canyon with tons of waterfalls and pools to swim.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Why Core Fitness is Important
If you've listened to the buzz around the fitness world lately or perused the latest workout books, you've probably heard the experts referencing core fitness in some shape or form. Traditionally, strength training has been dominated by exercises focused on isolating the muscles of the arms and legs. In fact, if you look at many of the weight machines that have become popular in modern gyms, you'll notice that they require you to sit or recline while you use them.
While these machines will effectively help you build the muscles that they target, the problem is that, in real life, we don't use our muscles that way. We lift a box from the floor to a shelf, swing a golf club, push our children on the swing set, or climb a rock wall. In fact, the vast majority of the things we do require all of the muscles in our bodies to function together and be coordinated through our mid-sections, or our "core."
While those activities may make the use of core muscles seem very obvious, this area, made up of the muscles of our midsection, are actually responsible for quite a few of the more subtle functions as well, including posture, balance and stability.
A weakened core will often result in poor posture and stability, yet we don't necessarily feel the results of it in areas that show us a direct cause and effect correlation. For example, poor posture, due to a weakened core, might allow our hips to slip out of alignment resulting in knee pain. In fact, quite a few of the chronic muscle and joint pain issues that Americans are suffering with today stem from a weakened core.
It is no wonder, then, that exercise science has taken a dramatic shift in recent years to include the core in strength training regimes. Now, rather than using a machine to first exercise your legs and then your arms, trainers are suggesting that their clients use free weights or bands to combine exercises such as a squat to overhead press. By linking the two, people are forced to transition the exercise movement through their core, and the core muscles in turn help to maintain good posture throughout the exercise. The end result is that we are exercising in a fashion that mimics the movements that we use in everyday life, while creating better posture and increasing our stability and balance.
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