Latest news with #JasonBarber
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
The 10-Minute Desk Workout Soldiers Use to Stay Fit
For a lot of us, the better part of our waking hours is spent hunched over a desk, staring at a screen, with maybe a walk to the kitchen counting as our most significant movement for the day. Study after study has shown that sitting for hours on end is seriously detrimental to our health. Still, here we are, sitting our lives away. While active-duty military members aren't exactly sedentary on the job, they face the same challenge we do when they're back home: finding simple ways to stay moving. That's where the Army's Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) system comes in. As part of its 'All You' video series, Army Reserve Lt. Col. Jason Barber, PA-C, CSCS, TSAC-F, put together a quick, effective, 10-minute workout you can do right from your desk—no gym, no excuses."I'm actually doing this job as the health and wellness coordinator in the Army Reserve for their H2F system, and I am in a two-by-two cubicle working," Barber says. "So I'm noticing that I need to get up more. You notice that your tissue becomes stiffer the longer you sit. All these aches and pains come even though you're not doing anything because it's not motion, and so it's important for us to just be moving as much as we can." According to Barber, little movements throughout the day can make a big difference. For him, it's as simple as taking the stairs to a different floor to grab coffee or stopping by a colleague's desk to catch up—just to move his body and give his mind a break. It's a little trickier if you work from home, but the same principle applies. A walking pad under your desk or a quick walk outside during your lunch break can go a long way. "Quite frankly, if you've ever done any rehab for an injury before, you know that little bits more often during the day are actually better for you than a big chunk once during the day," Barber says. "So they've talked about one hour of sitting can almost debunk like 20 straight minutes of running, so that's just really an uphill battle and fight." To help you get movement more often when you're typically sitting all day, Barber created a quick 10-minute workout you can do right at your desk—no equipment needed. Repeat for 5 to 10 reps per exercise, trying to get 2 to 3 rounds in during a 10-minute work break. Stand with feet shoulder width apart and toes turned out slightly, to start. Sit back with your hips and lower your body as far as you can without rounding your lower back. Push your knees out as you descend and keep your chest up. Rise to standing and repeat. Start in a high plank position, stacking your shoulders directly over your wrists. Keeping your spine straight and elbows veering out slightly, drop down toward the floor. Touch your chest to the ground or a few inches away, making sure your elbows are bent at least 90 degrees. Rise to starting position and with a dumbbell in both hands and step back with your left foot, to start. Lower your body until your front thigh is parallel to the floor and your rear knee nearly touches the floor. Keep your torso upright. Step forward to return to the starting position. Complete all reps on one leg, then switch legs. Stand holding a medicine ball or another weighted object in front of your body with your arms bent. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. Rotate your torso, keep your feet planted, and your eyes straight ahead. Rotate to the opposite side and repeat. Jump your right foot to the right, bringing your left foot diagonally behind you, left arm across the front of your body, and right arm behind you as you land. Don't touch the other foot to the ground. Repeat on the other side; try not to stop once you 10-Minute Desk Workout Soldiers Use to Stay Fit first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 25, 2025
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Army-Backed Move Guaranteed to Build Your Core and Chest
If you want to build a rock-solid core and strengthen your chest, there's no better person to learn from than a U.S. Army strength coach. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Jason Barber, PA-C, CSCS, TSAC-F, has spent over a decade at the World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), where he's helped to consistently qualify more than 10 athletes for every Olympic and Paralympic Games across eight different sports. According to Barber, if there's one exercise he swears by for core stability and upper-body strength, it's the stability ball dumbbell chest press. It forces you to engage your core through the full range of motion while also working your chest, shoulders, and triceps. While it's a go-to for novice lifters working on core control and balance, this move delivers benefits for athletes at any level. "When I started as a young strength coach, one of the biggest things that I always glommed onto was building the foundation," Barber says. "And that core development is truly the foundation. Making our bodies more unstable means that we have to incorporate more accessory muscles and more core stability in order to move the weight that we're trying to move." Hold a dumbbell in one hand and lie back on a stability ball as if you were going to perform a bench press, using your core to keep your butt from sinking down, to start. Press the weight straight overhead while maintaining your balance. Do not allow your body to rotate to one side. Reverse the motion to return to the starting position. That's one rep. Complete all your reps on that side and then switch sides and repeat. "I like adding things like that into programs," Barber adds. "I think it's good for everyone to think about that and think holistically about how they train, not just biceps and triceps and chest. So, I'm a huge advocate for those types of modalities." The stability ball chest press and traditional dumbbell bench press have a similar setup and may look alike, but they activate the body in very different ways. The flat bench used in a standard dumbbell chest press provides a stable base, allowing you to focus purely on pressing power, which means you can typically move more weight. The stability ball version, on the other hand, forces your entire body to work. Your core, glutes, and even legs stay engaged throughout the movement to keep you balanced on the unstable surface, turning a simple chest press into a full-body challenge. 'All of the muscles that are in my back and my hips and my legs, my core, my abdomen, and then even using some more, like, accessory shoulder muscles to accommodate the dumbbell, are being used," Barber adds. "That's a whole-body lift, almost. Whereas before, if we're in the traditional bench, we're pretty locked in, and it's really just a chest exercise.' Although most people who've been lifting for a while assume their bench press weight will translate directly to the stability ball, they're wrong. Because the ball is free-moving, it requires a different movement pattern and a whole lot more control. Below, Barber breaks down the two most common mistakes he sees people make when performing this exercise. "Guys usually pick up too much weight," he says. "It's always good to be conservative first, so that's a big common mistake that I'll see, is too much weight, which puts you in danger." Lying down on a stability ball takes some getting used to. Add dumbbells, and it gets even trickier. One of the most common mistakes Barber sees is lifters arching their bodies over the ball instead of keeping a flat, supported back. This usually means you're either too far off the ball or not engaging the right muscles. To fix it, position your shoulders on the ball—not your glutes or mid-back—to create a stable base and maintain proper alignment throughout the movement. Squeeze your glutes and core to support yourself, and aim to keep the top of your core flat and even with your knees. The Army-Backed Move Guaranteed to Build Your Core and Chest first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 24, 2025
ITV News
18-06-2025
- ITV News
Father and son jailed after inventing story over crash which seriously injured woman
A father and son have both been jailed after inventing a story over a crash which left a woman seriously injured in Buckley-Barber, 19, was driving at high speeds and 'showing off' when he overturned his car into a watery ditch in Pevensey in April 2023. A female passenger in the car suffered serious injuries. Instead of calling the emergency services, the then 17-year-old called his father, Jason Barber. Barber, 46, drove his son home first before taking the woman to hospital. While in the car, the woman could hear the father and son inventing a story, claiming the car had been forced off the road to avoid hitting an animal. After the woman was brought into A&E at Eastbourne District General Hospital, staff reported the crash to police. Officers later went to Barber's address, but he told officers he didn't know where his son was. At the scene of the crash, beer cans were recovered from around the Ford Escort, and Buckley-Barber had been with friends at a party earlier in the night. The teenager was not found that night, and only called police 12 hours later where he repeated the made-up story. Phones were seized from the father and son, and revealed that Barber sent a text message to a friend, claiming he 'hid' his son from police on the night they were looking for him. Mobile phone footage also showed Buckley-Barber's "reckless" driving shortly before the crash. Inspector Vicki Rees, Sussex Police Luic Buckley-Barber, 19, of Maresfield Drive, Pevensey, pleaded guilty to causing serious injuries by dangerous driving and was sentenced to one year and four months in prison, and was disqualified from driving for three years. Jason Barber, 46, of the same address, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. Speaking after the case, PC Jessica Crump from the Roads Policing Unit said: 'The father and son showed no regard for the victim's welfare that night, and only looked out for their own interests. 'Dangerous driving is one of the fatal five offences that cause deaths and injuries on our roads. 'Luic decided to drive dangerously behind the wheel, with another person's life in his hands. He had not maintained his vehicle in a good state of repair, and was extremely lucky he did not cause a fatality that night."
