Jan Griscom, Part II
Last month you met Jan Griscom - personal trainer at the Chelsea Piers; RU and NASM certified; single mother of three, and a frequent speaker at the New York City Ballet Workout Summits and their Dance for Wellness Days who has been quoted in Prevention Magazine, Allure, Shape and More.
Griscom was back by popular demand for the New York City Ballet's second annual Dance For Wellness Workshop for a longer workshop that was also requested by popular demand. Even then, no one wanted to let her go after her session on "Cross Training and Cardiovascular Conditioning" had ended. An hour later, she was still working, answering participants' questions, and was around later still giving this writer a hands-on, fingers-in, thumbs-ups introduction to muscular activation and adjustment - a therapy that identified the weak muscles contributing to a knee problem.
Griscom's approach to physical fitness works because she works with the body, never confusing imagery with anatomy. She avoids those fuzzy explanations on how the body functions that she calls "gym science." She also avoids useless and potentially harmful exercises that people still persist in doing. "What would we be capable of if we did things in a different way?" The myths and misconceptions that trainers and willing pupils perpetuate aren't often evaluated for efficacy - until Jan Griscom walks into a room.
A competitive snow skier as a kid, complete with aerial tricks that can alter onlookers heart rhythms, she walked back into a gym in 1972 with the goals of "firming up and getting graceful." The world of the wonders of the human body opened up to her. She began asking questions, studying, and continues to train and study in her quest to "understand the potential of the human body." She notes how we continue "to alter things we were not mechanically designed to do. " She works on how to minimize what we keep doing to ourselves in our particular quests for mastery of the body. Especially if the damage is occurring from ignorance.
Griscom admitted she used to do 250 lb squats until she realized there was a better way. "If you want to learn the truth about something, listen to your body." And it is that better way that she brings to willing students who are learning to listen to their bodies.
"Fitness doesn't just happen, " Griscom said. "It takes some work." She wants the work to happen efficiently and safely. "You have to get in shape to get in shape." Even dancers, with all the work they do, may not be ready to tackle new exercises or equipment with the full-out energy they are used to expending. "We need to encourage health and stop repeating old habits and mistakes. Sport medicine is many years ahead of what is being practiced in dance medicine."
She repeated previous explanations of abs, six-packs (really twelve-packs for those who meet the genetic requirements), crunches (not a good idea for those with osteoporosis and osteopenia), how to get properly flat abs, and more. She advocates "pushaways (from the table). Diet is a key ingredient for getting that lean ab look." She counseled one dancer during the session whose teachers wanted her to find something to improve her muscle tone. Griscom told her, with firm, clear warnings, that she would have to diet down to an unhealthy level for her musculature to show through on her particular frame.
One killer ab exercise is "The Slither." In a prone position, as if at the top of a full push-up with arms extended but not locked, and the balls of your feet on a towel, slowly "walk" across the floor using your arms to pull the rest of the body. Do not lock the elbows. Do not let the lower back sag. Do keep the body in a straight line with abs held firmly. The rhythm is to reach with the hand, then drag the towel. Exhale through the mouth as you reach and drag, and inhale in between your reaches.
Die-hards can use a paper plate instead of a towel, and use wider arm 'strides' with one leg on the floor and the other leg slightly bent, knee almost at a level with the hip. Do eight reps a set, let your knees gently rest on the floor, switch feet, and do another eight reps. You should feel a bit of a rotation at the waist as you do this. Her "Slither" will work the abs - especially the obliques - as well as the upper back and arms.
"You need to have respect for the architecture of the human body and what it can do. My goal is to help it handle the inevitable stresses and injuries."