Kiona's Korner - TWO Tips for HoeDowns to Really Bust Sugar!

[Kiona]

Tis the season to be OVER-indulgent�.tra la la la la�la la la laaaaaah! Okay seriously, it is that time of the year when we ALL are exposed to significantly more sugar, alcohol and goodies than we are any other time of the year. Enjoying the indulgence is part of the festivities but can also result in that standard 6-12 pound weight gain that is standard this time of year as well. Packing on extra inches after working so hard all year to get them off can definitely add to holiday stress so what can we do about it? Within the T-Tapp system one of the most powerful moves to help reduce blood sugar for both diabetics and those who just over do it, is HoeDowns. This powerful little move brings together so many of the amazing benefits of this workout into one sequence that it can really be a life saver!

So how do we get more bang for our buck when doing our HoeDowns? There are several different tips that you can try with your HoeDowns to make them even more powerful and I am going to give you the two primary ones that we have been working on in my weekly classes. I will start with the Monday Class which is doing the Long Lean Legs 4 week series. In the first class of this series, we emphasized the importance of pushing the knee of the supportive leg OUT as you do the move to the side. So to set the move up, you start in T-Tapp stance, toe forward on the supportive leg, knee bent, pulling your belly button to your spine and folding the lower abs in, then tying the shoulder blades to the spine to activate the upper body while pushing the elbows forward and the thumbs back. As you do your hoedowns lifting the leg to the front as normal keeping the supportive knee bent and pushed out to the little toe. However, when you lift the knee to the side with the hand karate chopped to the front, you push the supportive knee out further on each lift. What myself and a class full of students found was that that extra PUSH would further activate the lower abdominals and low back, not just knocking us more off balance by challenging weaker muscles that had been sleeping on the job, but also REALLY amped up the output of the move. We were all drenched with sweat telling us we were burning fat at a premium. Done alone with this technique, all that excess sugar would be GONE! What a great unexpected discover RIGHT in time for holiday indulgence!

My second tip is one that I have used as a teaching aide for a long time for those who are new to HoeDowns. I will teach the Hormonal HoeDowns (known in my classes as the T-Tapp Stomp) FIRST to brand new Fresh Faces to HoeDowns. I find that they are better able to grasp the movement with a smaller less challenging move for the balance and they also learn the importance of the TAP of the ball joint on the floor during the move. With the emphasis on the tap, at the end of one set of �The Stomp� students can usually feel the lymphatic tingle up that side of the body alerting them to the detoxing that is now taking place. They then are aware as they do the full HoeDown move that the ball joint hitting the floor is a part of the move, not just all of us trying not to fall over. When I REALLY need extra lymphatic help, like after this last weekend of dancing, drinking and not sleeping I will do one set of the T-Tapp Stomp BEFORE doing my regular 2 sets of HoeDowns. It is AMAZING what a difference I see in the lymphatic drainage throughout my whole system and help in detoxing and returning to balance quickly! I have been doing this in my Energy Camp classes to help really emphasize the drainage of the lymph.

So try these two tips over the weekend of family, food and fun and see how you feel Monday morning? Do you feel like you still have a whole turkey in you, or are you back to your same self. Couple sets of these throughout the day can make all the difference. I will even pause my workout to add that T-Tapp Stomp in before Teresa does the HoeDowns! Works like a charm!

[masikka]

Just put it in my TTapp tips folder. I'll be doing howdowns all weekend, now with extra intensity.

Thanks Kiona!

[thepurplepoodle]

Thank you for sharing this!

[signlady52]

You share some real gems Kiona! Thanks! Love what HD's do for us.

[just7]

Thank you for these tips, Kiona! And just in time tooooo!! Am making pies today. I'll focus on squeezing in some of those fitness tips rather then "snacking".

[goddess in training]

Thanks Kiona! I am not sure I understand the stomp part - do you mean literally stomping? Could you explain a little more?

[JoniGO]

Thanks Kiona! I am not sure I understand the stomp part - do you mean literally stomping? Could you explain a little more?

Same here. <I'm a newbie, what can I say>

[Tina71]

Thanks for sharing these great tips!

[Nelie]

I am looking forward to try this out! I wont have to feel so guilty about that pecan pie I made!
Nancy

[Kiona]

No, the STOMP part of the move is just a nickname because when you get a ROOM of people doing it, especially on a tile or hard wood floor, it SOUNDS like stomping. The emphasis IS on actually FEELING the ball joint of the foot hit the ground, it doens't have to be hard, but it does have to be deliberate. The ball joint hitting the floor is what actually helps release the lymph up the leg and moves it at a maximum. Also, when people are new to HoeDowns, frequently they seem to think that they are a BALANCE exercise and don't put importance on the actual tap of the foot as it comes down. I have seen people plenty of tiems do the move trying to either not touch or barely touch the toe at all, which is not correct. The T-Tapp Stomp as we call it, helps them learn that the foot hitting is just as important as the rest of the move and in many ways MORE important for releasing lymph through the body. When you do the lower lift and emphasize the tap, you often feel the tingle of lymph moving when you are done which connects the brain and body to HOW the move works rather than just kicking your butt like full HoeDowns do.

A good way to try the correct amount of impact is try doing the regular HoeDowns once you have lifted the leg to waist high, just release the belly and leg muscles to let the leg fall to the ground so the ball joint hits. This is a definite tap of the ball joint but not more than the body should be able to handle. Then, when you are not lifting the leg so high you have to use more muscle to press down, but not much. I had a gentleman in class last night with a bad ankle and he has to be very careful not to over do it.

Hope that helps clarify the terminology!
Kiona