The Core Performance Center Blog

Our wonderful neighbors at SMOG recently sent a group of doctors over to help with the reliefe efforts. An idea thrown around over dinner lead to an event that changed the lives of many people here, and saved the lives of many over there. With the help and support from a lot of people, our team was able to perform nearly 20 major surgeries; primarily fractures in the upper and lower extremities, many with complex soft tissue damage as well. And this all took place just over 3 days.

Great work guys, and thank you for helping.

Julianne Erickson

Performance Specialist

Sweet Potato Salad

• 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 scallions, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons spicy mustard
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 6 ounces arugula

Directions

Put the sweet potatoes in a saucepan. Cover the potatoes with water (by 2-inches), add 1/2 teaspoon salt, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat, and simmer the potatoes until they are just cooked through and tender. The sweet potatoes will cook in about 15 minutes.  Drain the potatoes, and allow them to cool.

Combine the potatoes, scallions and celery in a large bowl. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, tarragon, salt and pepper, to taste. Toss to combine. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt or pepper, if needed. Toss the potato salad with the arugula, and serve on a large platter.

Turkey Meatball Pita Sandwich

• 1 pound ground turkey meat
• 1 slice fresh whole-wheat bread, crusts removed, pulsed into crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cans tomato sauce
• Whole wheat pita pockets
• Provolone cheese

Directions

In a large mixing bowl add the ground turkey, bread crumbs, chopped onion, minced garlic, Italian seasoning and egg.  Mix together with clean hands until everything is incorporated.  In a large pot add tomato sauce, heat on medium heat.  Form the meat mixture into one inch balls. Gently place them in the sauce.  Simmer the meatballs for 45 min on low heat. 

Cut Pita in half and lightly toast just to get warm.  Add a half of a piece of cheese to each pita half.  Cut about 4 meatballs in half and stuff inside pita.  Add extra sauce to top it off if needed.  

ENJOY!

Jen Freemas and Denise Barry

Core Performance Center will be putting on a Pillar Strength lecture on Tuesday, February 9 at 7 pm. The presentation will be given by Performance Specialist Julianne Erickson, on the back half of the training floor. Come ready to learn and have some fun!

To the CPC Team -

As some of you know, I climbed Kilimanjaro a couple of weeks ago with www.summitonthesummit.com. I found out I was going a month before the climb, so my preparation consisted of 7 sessions at CPC, a few walks and one hike in the Palisades. I’m not a camper, my version of hiking is playing 36 holes of golf in one day and I’d never been above 12,000 feet. While I got knocked around a bit by the altitude, my legs held up surprisingly well thanks to all the movement prep, squats and ESD sessions. I wore my Polar heart rate strap and a Polar watch and even at higher altitudes, my heart rate stayed at the lower ranges of my green zone and I easily got it to drop down to my yellow zone by focusing on my breathing. Understanding those ranges and how my body recovers helped instill confidence as I trudged up the mountain. I made it to the summit thanks to the time I’ve spent training with all of you at CPC since June ‘09.

I took these two pics as a thank you to each of you for creating such a great place and providing me such inspiring guidance and encouragement every time I’ve been there.

Jay Lavender

Member since June 2009

Here is the current list of Century Club members; congrats to everyone who’s made it through 100 sessions or more!!

Alex Kimura

Amit Kapur

Caitlin Lovett

Candace Tomarken

Charles Paoletti

Christine Kwok

David Goldsobel

Del Peeples

Denise Ciarcia

George Billauer

Hilary Laffer

Ian Sephton

Jay Sures

Jeff Scott

Jim Nice

John Circenis

John Raiss

Jonathan Jacobs

Josh Hyman

Justin Bain

Kevin O’Brien

Kirsten Gross

Margaret Bradley

Michael Gerhardt

Monica Modabber

Paige Miller

Pauletta Washington

Peter Cornell

Robert Konishi

Rudy Grimaldo

Sam Jones

Steve Tsai

Sue Ross

Warren Gorowitz

Andrea McCoy

Performance Specialist

Here’s a quick movement prep exercise for anyone who needs to loosen their hips; and it’s especially good for tennis players.

Also, it’s a great video with our very own Anthony Slater

Julianne Erickson

Performance Specialist

Check out the article and video featuring AP athlete, and US Women’s Hockey player, Angela Ruggiero!

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/olympics/articles/2010/01/17/fit_for_duty/

Anthony Slater

General Manager

The TRX suspension trainer is easily one of the most effective, dynamic, innovative, and ‘insert adjective here’ pieces of equipment any training facility could have.  The TRX uses an individual’s bodyweight to create varying degrees of resistance based upon body positioning.  Aside from using the TRX for obvious strength training purposes the TRX’s versatility transforms it into an awesome portable metabolic gym.  Try this metabolic workout and send me hate mail afterwards:

• 30 seconds – atomic push ups
• 30 seconds – rest
• 30 seconds – body saw
• 30 seconds – rest
• 30 seconds – 1 leg squat
• 30 seconds – rest
• 30 seconds – 1 leg squat on opp. leg
• 30 seconds – rest
• 30 seconds – suspended row
• 30 seconds – rest

Perform this continuous circuit 10, 15, or 20 minutes.  Focus on form, technique, and more importantly a deliberate and continuous tempo from start to finish for each ‘set’.  By the way I saw they now make gummy bears supplemented with omega-3 fatty acid…best excuse I’ve ever heard to eat gummy bears to date. Couple this with the added health benefits of dark cacao and we just might be onto something both very decadent and healthy!

Charles Chattong

Performance Specialist

Check out Core Performance Center on http://thenest.com, where our team provides nutrition and workout content for a “Couples’ Shape-Up Challenge” and a giveaway from CPC.

Another excellent blog post by our very own Katharine Ng…. http://hungrykat.blogspot.com/2010/01/blue-mondays-and-roast-duck.html