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Save It For A Rainy Day
Building A Reserve Fund For Unexpected Expenses
By Tom Kelley
Many of the top financial advisers have made their own fortune by telling people to do one simple thing, “Pay yourself first.” Usually, this means taking a small, but consistent, amount off the top of your earnings and putting it into savings or a retirement plan. For those who own and operate a commercial truck, there’s a parallel bit of advice that says, “Pay your truck first.”
While your truck payment should be pretty high on the list, that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about taking some money right off the top of your gross receipts and putting it aside for maintenance and repairs. The necessary amount varies depending on the type of work you’re in and the age of the truck, but somewhere between 5% and 15% will usually do the trick.
If you accumulate this money starting on day one of your trucking operation, and resist the temptation to use it for anything other than the truck, you’ll have the money sitting in the bank to pay for that new axle or engine overhaul when the unexpected repair job inevitably comes up. Another benefit of operating with a cash reserve is the ability to not only take advantage of sale prices on parts, tires, or components, but also negotiate a discount for a cash sale (as opposed to credit card or open account purchases).
You may not need 8 new drive tires right now, but when the local tire dealer has an oversupply of your favorite brand and he’s running just a bit tight on his own cashflow, you’d be surprised at how big a discount you might be able to negotiate. The same goes for filters, oil, gear lube and other consumables related to operating a truck.
Having a well-funded maintenance reserve account will allow you to take advantage of quantity discounts or special sales that may not always correspond with the timing of the truck’s immediate maintenance needs.
The alternative to having a maintenance reserve account is having to borrow money to make a repair, and being at the mercy of market pricing when it comes time to buy the materials for that oil change that absolutely has to be done this weekend.
Which would you rather do, pay interest to the bank for a repair loan, or have the bank pay you interest on your reserve account? This is not to say that you need to keep your reserve in a totally separate bank account, just that you treat it as if it were. Another benefit of maintaining this sort of reserve is that the money may count toward minimum/average balance requirements for no-fee checking or other premium services at your bank.
Just about anything that involves a recurring lump-sum expenditure should be planned for by putting away money for it on a consistent basis. It’s better to put away $50 per month toward your Highway use Tax than to try and come up with it all at once. Does your truck insurer require more than the normal monthly payment amount up-front every year at renewal time?
Similarly, there are any number of things for which you should be building a personal reserve account. If you were hospitalized tomorrow, could you cover the deductible? Do you have enough money put away to cover three months worth of personal expenses such as house or car payments, utility bills or food?
The bottom line is that while you’re building up all of these reserves, you might not be able to afford very many non-essential or impulse purchases, BUT, when an unplanned repair or household emergency does come up, you’ll be able to handle the cost of it with little or no difficulty.
Choosing A Stream Outfit
By Don Kirk, The Interstate Sportsman
During the course of a year, I give fly-fishing seminars all over the country. My specialty, unimpressive as it sounds, is catching little fish from little streams. I never cease to be amazed how many other people want to know how to do this. The most asked question I receive is “What rod and line weight do I need to fish streams for trout and/or bass?” In Kingfish style, I always begin the answer with, “Wells, let me think a minute” as I roll my blood shot eyes skyward as if experiencing a rare moment of frontal lobe activity, then I ask about what size streams they were planning to fish.
Generally, the answer is, “I want to fish small streams in the mountains for trout and fish the streams around here for bass. Tell me one rod I can fish for everything with.” Well, that narrows it down, small streams and mid-size streams, and perhaps even large tailwater rivers. Of course, I have to ask them what types of fishing they planned to do the most and advise them to get the one rod and reel setup that would be best for that type of fishing.
The fact is that modern fly rods may be designed specifically for one type of fishing, but for the most part they are versatile enough to be pressed into service for many tasks. For example, years ago I had a very early Fenwick, 9-foot rod designed to cast a 4 weight line, making it perfect for small stream fishing and using small flies. However, over the years I used it to catch 40 pound Atlantic salmon in New Brunswick on streams, and often used to cast big deer hair bugs for smallmouth and largemouth bass. To my crude casting skills, this old rod cast an 8-weight line as well as a 2-weight, that is at least until I decapitated it when closing the back of my old Bronco.
Ninety percent of the time these days, I recommend an 8-foot rod designed to cast a 4 weight line for stream and bass fishing east of the Mississippi River, and an 8- to 9-foot rod made for 6- to 8-weight lines when fishing western waters. I have fly fished that area for over forty-five years and used rods from 6-feet to 9 1/2 –feet and line sizes from 2- to 12-weight. Each of the rods worked well for the particular situation for which I was using it. Yet, if I had to pick just one to buy, own, and fish with, I would choose an 8-foot, 4-weight, regardless if it were made of graphite, fiberglass or bamboo. This size fly rod has enough length to help me mend my line well but not so long to be a problem on smaller waters. Multi-piece rods are the norm now and make it easier to pack them in to the cab of a truck where they take up about the same amount of space as a thermos bottle.
Today’s angler will find numerous fly rods available – many at reasonable prices.
For drivers who plan to spend most of time on tailwaters, the best choice is a 9-foot, 5-weight rod fills. This is the best-selling rod and line size nationwide. It will drop the smallest midge on the water like a feather and still handle weighted nymphs and streamers. You may prefer a 6-weight if they fish in areas where the wind blows constantly or if their main interest is nymph and streamer fishing.
Those fly fishing drivers who focus mostly on casting to largemouth or smallmouth bass, I recommend fly rods in the 8.5 to 9.5-foot sizes that are designed to cast 6- to 8-weight lines. Bugs, streamers and flies tossed at bass are bigger than most flies used for catching trout. When you are casting large flies such as Clouser Minnows, Deerhair Frogs, cone head-style and lead eye flies, to get the job done you need a fly rod matched to 6- to 8-weight line.
Really good fly rods are available for $70 to $120, and some of the best buys are mid-ranged fly rods priced $130-$150. Of course, if money is no object, you can get better casting fly rods in $300 to $700, but breaking one of these can ruin your day in more ways than one. Fly lines are where to spend an extra dollar or two. Premium fly lines cost a little more, but they can make a $70 fly cast like one costing five times that amount.
For more articles and information designed for the professional driver who loves to hunt and fish, visit Don Kirk’s web site at www.southerntrout.com. He is also on the Interstate Sportsman show on Sirius/XM Open Road channel 106 each morning at 8:00am ET.
California Air Resources Board Verifies First Diesel Particulate Filter with Safety Device Manufactured by Boshart Engineering, Inc.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently announced that Boshart Engineering, Inc. had achieved verification of the BE Econix Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) active metal system with the industry’s first safety device for a DPF. This verification has allowed Boshart to immediately market and install systems with their safety device to support California fleet regulations and air quality improvement efforts.
“We were able to achieve the vision of including a safety device with a DPF through a diligent and dedicated effort of CARB,” said Ken Boshart, CEO. “We were thrilled to meet CARB requirements for our verification, which now allows us to provide the marketplace with BE Econix DPF that now ranks first in safety.”
Initially approved for truck fleets that do not pass temperature cycle requirements, the BE Econix DPF active metal system with a patented safety device provides an added measure of safety that can be retrofit onto a wide range of existing heavy-duty diesel trucks that need an active or passive filter solution. The BE Econix DPF active metal system has the shortest regeneration time in the industry, at less than 10 minutes and without a plug in. In addition, it meets the highest efficiency and retrofit requirements of the California Air Resources Board for vehicles that have the most demanding conditions and duty cycles in the truck fleets.
Since CARB’s approval of the BE Econix DPF active metal system with a safety device, several companies are now using this DPF for their truck fleets and investigating use in off-road vehicles, stationary applications, and even school buses. “Interest in the BE Econix DPF is not only for added safety and protection from the safety device, but also because, when combined with our DPF, the system offers a cost benefit of a significant magnitude over the life of the engine, not previously available,” said Boshart. “Our extensive experience in working with regulatory authorities to get this approval, combined with their heightened interest in assuring optimal safety solutions, makes us confident that we can extend these approvals across multiple industry segments.”
For more information about the BE Econix Diesel Particulate Filter active metal system or to locate an authorized distributor near you, please visit http://www.econixdpf.com.
For further detailed information regarding this CARB verification, please visit:
TCA/Randall-Reilly Name Top Contenders for Driver of the Year Competition
Alexandria, Virginia – Six professional truck drivers have made the cut as the top contenders in the 2012 Driver of the Year competition, sponsored by the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and Randall-Reilly Business Media & Information Company (Randall-Reilly).
Albert Carter of Melton Truck Lines, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Daniel Poorman of Gordon Trucking, Inc., Pacific, Washington; and Danny Smith of Big G Express, Inc., Shelbyville, Tennessee, will compete for the Company Driver of the Year title.
For the Owner Operator contest, the contenders are Bradley Chapdelaine, who is leased to Dart Transit Co., of Eagan, Minnesota; Jimmy McSwain, who is leased to Sunco Carriers, Inc., of Lakeland, Florida; and Robert Stewart, who is leased to Interstate Distributor Co., of Tacoma, Washington.
In a sad turn of events, TCA has learned that Mr. McSwain passed away unexpectedly last week. He is still being considered as a finalist for the grand prize. Whether he wins or not, plans are being made to recognize him appropriately during the contest-related activities, which will take place during TCA’s Annual Convention, March 3-6, 2013, at the Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“My condolences go out to Mr. McSwain’s family and friends,” said Chris Burruss, TCA’s president. “He was a 20-year veteran driver with more than 3.5 million miles of safe driving under his belt. Very few can claim such impressive credentials, and I sincerely wish we could honor him in person for his achievement.”
Brad Holthaus, Randall-Reilly’s vice president, sales, Truck Media Group, said that all of the driver finalists, including McSwain, have had outstanding careers. “When we talk about safe drivers who are role models for the trucking industry, these six contest finalists are at the top of the list. It is a privilege for Randall-Reilly to partner with TCA to recognize these individuals, who have certainly earned their day in the spotlight.”
The overall goal of the Driver of the Year competition is to recognize and pay tribute to the outstanding company and owner operator truck drivers who provide reliable and safe truck transportation in moving the nation’s goods. The top three in each category are selected based on their ability to operate in a safe manner on the public highways, efforts to enhance the public image of the trucking industry, and positive contributions to the communities in which they live.
Rediscovering the Minnow
by Don Kirk, The Interstate Sportsman
Except for a few salad eaters like mullet and grass carp, just about all fish make a living eating fish that are smaller than they are. Of course, this is a relative statement if your quarry is a 400 pound tuna where one needs five-pounds of bait to get its attention. However, for most of us who qualify as fishermen, bait the fish are after comes in a size we collectively refer to as “minnows.”
Webster’s Dictionary defines them as follows: minnow n.pl.minnow or min·nows; 1.Any of a large group of small freshwater fishes of the family Cyprinidae, widely used as live bait. 2. Any of various other small, often silver-colored fishes. Related to Old English myne minnow; compare Old High German muniwa fish. So, with that aside please allow me to add that when I catch wild shiners, darters, chubs and dace for baitfish, upon catch they become “minnow” as they thereafter confined to my minnow bucket and their destiny is to be spiked on a hook to attract the attention of a hungry fish, which not incidentally is a fish I am hungry to catch, fry and eat.
Minnows occupy a position on the lower end of the aquatic food chain and are relished meals for all freshwater game fish from bass and trout, to pike and catfish. The fact of the matter is, a bait shop is not a bait shop if does not boast bubbling tanks teeming with minnows such as tuffies, Baltimores, shiners, rosy reds, or fatheads. Sold by the dozen and toted away in todays modern plastic minnow buckets, about a million trillion of these baitfish are offered up annually by anglers from coast to coast. And if you don’t want to fool with live minnows, you can get minnow inspired lures made of everything from hard plastic and wood, to metal and jelly plastic.
Live minnows have a long standing popularity with fishermen not because they are cute or fun to catch with your hand in cold water prior to impaling them on a barbed hook. Many anglers know that nothing is more effective at catching most fish most of the time than is a live minnow. Surely you do not believe that a high dollar fishing tournament for bass and walleye prohibit the use of live minnows merely as the bequest of the lure maker mafia. They do it because if a group of competitive fishermen at a lake allowed to use live minnows, they might very well catch every fish living there in a single day–well, maybe.
Successful use of minnows follows a pretty strict formula. It is always better to have a minnow that most closely resembles the size and species of the baitfish your targeted quarry is eating. In a lake where crappie depend on shad for most of their meals, silvery minnows like the fathead or tuffie that measure about 2-inches long work best. If you are fishing for river dwelling smallmouth bass where chubs are dietary cornerstones, then brown minnows in the 3- to 4-inch size works best. If you are fishing for nest largemouth bass in Florida this time of year, a 9-inch shiner is your ticket.
The second rule is keeping your bait lively. I have caught fish when I used a dead or nearly dead minnow, but 95 percent of the time I do best when I have a fresh, lively minnow. Keep your minnows alive and lively in your minnow bucket until you are ready to use them. This usually means frequently changing out the water and keeping them from overheating in direct sunlight. You take care of your minnows, and your minnows will take care of you.
Many anglers make the mistake of needlessly killing minnows when they put them on a hook. Using hooks that are larger than necessary means you punch a bigger hole in your minnow than is needed for the task at hand. The easiest way to secure a minnow to a hook is to drive the hook squarely through the center of its skull. This really will hold the minnow–dead fast, sure, but do not do this. Either lightly lip-hook your minnow (this is where thin wire hooks are useful), or spike a minnow near its tail. Neither way enhances the chances of a minnow seeing the next sunrise, but they will stay lively and attractive to bass and trout, which is why you got them in the first place.
If your fishing luck is lacking, them minnow up next time you have a break from the road to go fishing. For more articles and information designed for the professional driver who loves to hunt and fish, visit Don Kirk’s web site at www.southerntrout.com. He is also on the Interstate Sportsman show on Sirius/XM Open Road channel 106 each morning at 8:00am ET.
Comdata Corporation, a leader in payment innovation, announces the continued expansion of its cardless fuel solution. These transactions can now process through its Smart Solutions point-of-sale (POS) platform.
The Davis Travel Center in Stony Creek, Va. is processing cardless transactions and was the first to do so using Comdata’s Smart Solutions. This location is one of two Davis Travel Center sites to implement the SmartQ cardless fueling technology with the Smart Solutions POS. Smart Solutions is a consolidated POS platform designed to manage all profit centers. With this new capability, it also provides a way for convenience store and truck stop locations to easily offer cardless fueling to support their fleet customers.
The Comdata cardless solution, which began processing live transactions in August, automates the fueling process and data entry requirements with the use of a cost-effective RFID tag. This benefits both the fleet and the merchant by reducing the risk of fraudulent transactions, automatically shutting off the pump when the truck pulls away. In addition to the network of independent merchants that are installing the SmartQ cardless fueling technology, Love’s Travel Stops is near completion of enabling more than 235 travel stops to accept cardless transactions. Travel Centers of America (TA) is also in the process of equipping their locations to accept cardless transactions.
“Comdata strives to continually bring innovation to the transportation industry,” said Steve Stevenson, president of Comdata. “This expansion in our cardless fueling capabilities is the next step in delivering solutions that can make the fuel transaction easier, faster and more secure for both merchants and fleets.”
About Comdata Corporation
Comdata Corporation is a leading business-to-business provider of innovative electronic payment solutions. As an issuer and a processor, the company provides fleet, corporate payment, virtual card, and prepaid solutions to over 25,000 customers, enabling more than $31 billion in transactions annually. Comdata captures and reports detailed transaction data, giving customers unprecedented control over their expenses. In 2012, Comdata joined forces with Stored Value Solutions (SVS) to offer an expanded suite of prepaid gift card and loyalty solutions. Annually, the combined company enables $42 billion in payments volume and produces 580 million cards. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee with more than 1,200 employees in the United States and Canada, Comdata and SVS are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Ceridian Corporation. www.comdata.com
Truck Driver Frees Children from Crunched Minivan
Jason Harte’s medical training came in handy at the scene of a bad accident
Professional truck driver Jason Harte of Rogers, Ark., has been named a Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) Highway Angel. Harte is a lease purchase operator for Sammons Trucking of Missoula, Mont.
On July 16, 2012, just after lunch time, Harte was traveling on I-80 just east of Wamsutter, Wyo., when he saw a cloud of dust in the distance. As he approached the area, he saw that a pickup truck (later estimated to be going 75-80 mph) had pushed a minivan off the road and then hit a car, pushing it into the median.
Since bystanders were already helping the car victims, Harte turned his attention to the minivan, which was massively crumpled. A man and a woman holding a 6-month old baby were frantically trying to get something out of the vehicle. Harte grabbed a first aid kit and medical gloves and went to help. It turned out that three children were still trapped inside. The third row seat had been pushed up to the second row seat, which was in turn pushed up to the front row seat where the parents had been.
Harte, who is a first responder and a former paramedic and EMT, heard a bystander using her cell phone to dial 911. He asked to speak to the operator and described the severity of the situation based on his medical expertise. He then extracted the most accessible child, a 5-year old boy who was in the second row. He directed some of the bystanders to lay him on the ground, following basic spinal injury precautions.
Next, as emergency personnel began to arrive and assist, he asked the four strongest bystanders to help him reach the two girls trapped in the third row seats. At Harte’s suggestion, the men opened the minivan’s back hatch for better accessibility, allowing Harte to perform first aid on one of the girls. After someone removed a second row seat, he was able to slide her out.
By then, an off-duty EMT showed up. While the EMT followed spinal injury precautions, Harte held the child’s body and car seat. Firefighters pulled apart seats and cut seatbelts until there was enough space to extract the child.
“I have been a firefighter/first responder since 1989, including four years as an EMT, and what I encountered that day was the worst motor vehicle accident I’ve ever seen,” said Harte, noting that the injuries ranged from a broken pelvis, to broken legs, hips, arms and jaws, to fractured skulls and internal bleeding. He noted that only two ambulances were available to transport the eight victims of both the car and the minivan, so he spent much time attending to the injuries while waiting for the ambulances to make return trips.
For his efforts that day, Harte has received a Highway Angel lapel pin, certificate, and patch. Sammons Trucking also received a certificate acknowledging that one of its drivers is a Highway Angel.
The Highway Angel program is sponsored for TCA by Internet Truckstop. Since the program’s inception in August 1997, hundreds of drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for the unusual kindness, courtesy, and courage they have shown others while on the job. TCA has received letters and e-mails from people across North America nominating truck drivers for the program.
Acts 9:33-35- There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. NIV Bible
In Serago’s Pump Up today, I want to talk about a man named Aeneas. He was not some ordinary man. He wasn’t even a man of stature. He was a crippled man. He had been knocked down by life for the last 8 years. He hadn’t always been in this condition. Only the Lord knows what this man did before these last 8 years of being a paralytic.
His name when translated means “Trojan hero”. Years before Aeneas ever lived there was a Trojan hero by this same name and the poet Virgil wrote about his life, travels and battles.
Now it is time for this Aeneas to be the hero. I don’t know if Aeneas ever felt like a hero during his life, but I would imagine he didn’t feel like one during these last eight years. He lay on his bed crippled and unable to get up.
How about you today? Have you become crippled by something in your life? Is there something that is holding you back from being all that you could be or would like to be? It might just be a bad, negative or a critical attitude. Do you always see the glass half empty instead of half full? Are you one that can’t rejoice today while the sun is shining because you are thinking it will probably rain tomorrow?
Peter comes to where Aeneas is and says, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” Aeneas got up immediately. There wasn’t any arguing with Peter. There wasn’t any, “Well Duh! I would like to but can’t you see I am crippled?” Aeneas had heard about Jesus and so when Peter tells him that Jesus is the One doing the healing, he puts his faith in gear and gets up from the bed.
Some of you may be thinking but Gary you don’t know what has knocked me down and you would be right. But I do know the ONE who can lift you up and He is the same one who healed Aeneas. So put an end to your stinking thinking and get it in gear for the Lord.
Look what the Lord does with Aeneas next. Those who live in the nearby towns see him and they become believers in Jesus Christ. Why did they become believers? Aeneas spent 8 years lying on a bed, not able to get up. People saw him crippled and then they saw him walking. To whom does he give the credit? You guessed it, Jesus Christ.
Maybe you had to have some down years in order for people to see you back up on your feet and giving credit to Jesus. If you are still down and reading this, pray to God for a healing and when it comes be sure you remember to give credit to your Lord.
If you were down and are back up, are you giving Jesus the credit for helping to heal your broken life? Aeneas did. What a Hero! Now is your time to be a Hero for the Lord.
Think on this: “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver 5 minutes longer.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Cab Fever Cure
By Don Kirk
My mother was a professional fly tyer who wholly believed that “idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.” She could tie dollflies at a rate of about one per minute. My sister and I were not expected to keep pace with her, but we were expected to die trying. Tying my own flies was all I knew for years. Today, tying flies is regarded as a “productive” hobby.
While it’s certainly possible to make a few bucks tying fishing flies, for most of us, taking a feather, hook, and thread to create something that will catch fish is great fun. Fly tying has become very popular in recent years, and it is a hobby drivers can take on the road with them. In fact, shifting from staring at endless white lines to projects that are rarely larger than your fingernail is a great change of pace for your brain and eyes.
Odds are if you are not a fisherman, even remote interest in tying flies is unlikely, although I know a good many fly tyers who would rather secure fur to the shank of a hook, than cast a hook for fish. I put home-tied flies in three basic categories: trout flies, bass bugs and streamer/jigs. Trout flies can be as big as your thumb, but they are usually smaller and are tied on hooks ranging from No. 10 to No. 24. Hooks are classified by size with lower numbers meaning a larger hook. A No. 24 size hook would barely cover the top of a pencil eraser.
Bass bugs usually have bodies that include a cork or trimmed deer hair thorax. Generally larger than trout flies, these are tied on No. 12 to No. 2 hooks. Streamer/jigs can be even larger, but are better characterized as looking like minnows. Jigs have lead heads applied to or incorporated into the hook. Examples of a jig fly would be a hair jig such as most anglers used for catching crappie.
The best way to get your feet wet at tying flies is to take a class on the subject. One-on-one tutelage can’t be topped, but who as the time for that, eh? The internet has thousands of sites where you can self learn step-by-step instruction on perhaps a million or so trout and other flies. You can peruse these web sites at your leisure anywhere you can get online with your laptop. Best of all, it is free.
An upfront investment is required since it takes a shoebox full of different feathers, furs, threads, and such to get started. You also will need a couple of specially designed tools. The most expensive of these is a “fly vise” which holds a fly secure when it is being tied. These cost $40 to $60. Another is a whip finish tool, which is essential for putting the finishing knots on the heads of flies, although my mother never used one as she was able to whip finish. I personally never got good enough to get by without a whip finish tool.
Part of the fun of tying flies is accumulating your cache of tying materials. For making trout flies you will probably have to buy rooster neck hackles, but feathers from other birds such as turkey, dove and waterfowl are free for the plucking. Patches of fur used for dubbing may be no harder for you to find than an old rabbit fur coat at a yard sale. Deer and elk fiber can be obtained from any hunter you know. Keeping supplied is a hobby in itself.
All of this stuff can be stowed away in your cab when you are on the road, ready to be retrieved when road regulations force you to a rest area. Tying up a half dozen or so flies is a great way to give your eyes a change of pace. In fact, while saving a few dollars on flies for fishing, you can also experience some very real therapeutic gains. Who knows, it might even coax you from the cab to test drive a fly pattern or two.
For more articles and information designed for the professional driver who loves to hunt and fish, visit Don Kirk’s web site at www.southerntrout.com. He is also on the Interstate Sportsman show on Sirius/XM Open Road channel 106 each morning at 8:00am ET.
Basic Resolution Thoughts
By Rebecca Green, PFT
With the New Year right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about resolutions. Sometimes we resolve to do things we can’t live up to! By that, I mean we have the best of intentions but we often try to run before we walk so starting with a basic program is the best choice.
For long term success, it’s best to resolve to hit the basics with consistency.
Consistency is everything when it comes to exercise and creating a habit will help you to take the time necessary. Believe it or not, once you create the habit of exercise you’ll actually miss it when you don’t or aren’t able to get that work out in!
So let’s get started on the basics with a good warm-up. All of us can sit and stand; therefore standing in front of your bunk in the sleeper cab and doing a simple Squat or Touch and Go’s as I like to call them is a simple exercise to get you warmed up and increase your heart rate. Also known as…
Isolation Squats these simple touch and go’s work the bigger muscles of your lower body, the glutes, hamstrings and quads. Starting out with 10 repetitions to get your blood flowing and elevate your heart rate. It is very important to know your limits, what you can and can’t do, if you become short of breath stop and let your heart rate return to normal.
Push-Ups are a common strength-training move that work the chest, shoulders, back and arms. For proper form, lie prone on the floor with hands placed shoulder width apart. Keeping your body in a straight line lower your body to the ground by bending your arms at the elbows. Raise your body off the ground by extending the arms. Repeat.
Don’t be tempted to use your butt, stomach or the lower half of your body to pull yourself up. Maintain correct alignment by imagining a straight line running from your head to your ankles. If you break form, consider an alternative such as the wall push-up or a knee push-up to help build your strength. The knee push-up is done the same except on your knees keeping the body in a straight line from your head to your torso. As you become stronger, bring the knees back until eventually your up on your toes!
Stiff Leg Dead Lifts one of my favorites, great for the lower back and for the ladies great for shaping the derriere! Stand with feet shoulder width apart and with a soft bend in your knees to take the pressure off the lower back. With a dumbbell in each hand and arms extended down on your front thighs with palms facing down, stand straight with shoulders back keeping yours knees locked in at this soft position. Keep your chin up bend at hips while you lowering the dumbbells down the front of your legs stretching as far as is comfortable. Return to the starting position and repeat. Be sure to keep your chin and head up as you lower the dumbbells and only go down as far as you can. As you begin to do these on a regular basis you will become more flexible you will soon be able to touch your toes!
Bi-Cep Curls start by standing with feet shoulder width apart and with a soft bend in your knees to take the pressure off the lower back. Using a resistance band or dumbbells with arms down by your side and palms facing forward.With shoulders back, abdominal muscles tight, keeping the upper arm above your elbow stationary and close to the upper body, use the bi-cep muscle to bend at the elbow and bring your wrists up toward your shoulder. You can perform these using both arms at once or alternating left then right. Repeat 12 – 15 reps.
The bi-cep curls can be done standing or sitting on the edge of your bunk, for those of you who don’t have the heavy handle gym or dumbbells you can use water jugs, soup cans, or anything you may have handy that fits into the hand comfortably, just do a few extra repetitions!
Close Hand Tri-Cep Push-Ups are done just as the push-ups except instead of placing your hands shoulder width apart your hands will be close enough so that you could form a triangle with your index (first) finger and your thumb. For proper form, lie prone on the floor with hands placed close together directly under your sternum or chest. Keeping the body straight, lower your body to the ground by bending your arms at the elbows. Raise your body off the ground by extending the arms. Repeat.
These will be tough so do what you can if you break form consider the alternative…
Close Hand Tri-Cep Push-Ups on Knee is an alternative method if you’re not strong enough to hold up your body weight that will reduce the lifting load by 50%. Do the same exercise except on your knees keeping the body in a straight line from your head to your torso. As you become stronger, bring the knees back until eventually your up on your toes.
Remember to always work within your limits. If you become short of breath, stop and let your heart rate return to normal.
If you have questions or are interested in a more personalized nutrition program, give us a call at 888-FIT-ROAD or e-mail us at info@fitnessroad.com. If you’re a Facebook user, “LIKE” us on our Life Bridges w/ Fitness Road page.
Next month, we will talk more about resolutions and nutrition. Until then, get up and get busy. Together let’s create the habit for a healthier tomorrow.
living eating fish that are smaller than they are. Of course, this is a relative statement if your quarry is a 400 pound tuna where one needs five-pounds of bait to get its attention. However, for most of us who qualify as fishermen, bait the fish are after comes in a size we collectively refer to as “minnows.”
