In common usage, “mobility training” has come to mean what “flexibility training” once meant for many of our clients. Whatever we are calling it, it’s a good idea to examine two joints essential for movement.
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Friday, September 22 2017
The average American is inactive nearly eleven hours per day, independent of sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Despite the human body being designed as a perpetual motion machine, modern life has allocated our daytime hours to sitting in cars, on couches and in front of computers, which has left many of us hunched over and in constant pain. You might be wondering, “How can doing NOTHING actually cause problems?” The human body is extremely efficient. The form and function of muscles adapt almost immediately to the demands placed on them. When you are perpetually active, your muscles improve their neuromuscular, biomechanical and metabolic machinery to accommodate your activity. Oxygen and glucose are transported to the cells more and more efficiently. Muscles contract and relax as they were designed to do. When you’re not active, however, your muscles adapt to inactivity. Metabolism of lipids slows down, oxygen and glucose transport to the cells becomes less robust and efficient. Sitting for hours at a time convinces your muscles to accommodate this “scrunched” position. Hip flexors shorten, the neck and upper spine protrude forward, and the glutes and hamstrings weaken. Over time, this creates tension, compression and other pain-inducing joint pathologies. Wednesday, September 13 2017
The hips and shoulders provide the most potential mobility in all three planes of movement and they form the point of connection between the extremities and the torso. As a result, successful movement is only possible with sufficient mobility in these two joints. An individual’s arm movement is only as good as the shoulders; likewise, leg movement is only as good as the hips. This article highlights two very common problems for each joint and presents a few exercises to work on a solution for each. The order of the exercises will follow a sequence of: SOFTEN >> LENGTHEN >> STRENGTHEN
Thursday, September 07 2017
There’s no question: Most people aren’t getting enough sleep. According to the American Sleep Association, 35.3% of Americans report sleeping less than seven hours a night (that’s more than one third of the population!). The sleeping sweet spot is closer to seven to nine hours per night all days of the week, and anything less can have a profoundly negative impact upon your health. In fact, chronic lack of sleep lowers immune-system functioning and increases one’s risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Lack of sleep also negatively impacts cognition, impairing memory, judgment and concentration. Monday, August 28 2017
It’s safe to crunch again. Not too long ago, a good number of well-meaning, but misguided people stirred up enough fear around crunches that many people were scared to do them and were encouraged to do planks instead—and now the new world record for a static plank that is more than eight hours. That’s not a typo. Thursday, August 17 2017
The functional training cable machine is an incredibly versatile piece of equipment because the adjustable cable pulley allows the user to move in a variety of directions with resistance. Unfortunately, it’s often used for only a few exercises: triceps press-downs, chest flyes and some variation of standing or kneeling crunches. That means most people aren’t even coming close to utilizing the cable machine to it’s fullest potential. Thursday, August 03 2017
Flexibility is an important component of health-related fitness, but flexibility training is often neglected, even among regular exercisers. Flexibility describes the ability of a joint and surrounding muscles to move through a specific range of motion with ease and without pain. Lifting weights promotes lean muscle mass, and aerobic exercise such as running improves the function of the heart and lungs, but what can flexibility training do for you? Here are a few of the benefits:
Friday, July 07 2017
Eat fiber and protein-filled meals. Check. Drink green tea; add ginger, capsaicin and other anti-inflammatory and metabolism-enhancing spices to meals. Check. Drink plenty of water. Check. Get at least 30 minutes of exercise daily. Check. Incorporate interval training into workouts. Check. Strength train. Check. Make an effort to move more (take stairs instead of the elevator, walk to the water cooler, etc.) throughout the day. Check. These lifestyle habits help keep the body’s metabolism at top speed, but it is also important to ensure that the foods you’re consuming aren’t having the opposite effect. Poor dietary choices can affect hormones, inflammation and gut bacteria, all of which can negatively impact your metabolism and cause fat gain. Saturday, May 27 2017
Losing weight can be so frustrating. Why is it that one diet works well for your friend, but not for you? There’s no one-size-fits-all diet, because all bodies are different. Hormonal imbalances, amidst other factors like genetics, correlate to how and where you gain weight. Creating nutrition and exercise programs to balance your hormones, in addition to getting adequate quality sleep and managing stress levels, is proving to be a much more effective way to lose weight. While most people can be classified into one of four body types—apple, pear, hourglass and box (or carrot)—the predominant two body types are apple and pear. The location and type of body fat in these two body types are driven by specific hormones and have numerous health implications. Wednesday, May 17 2017
Your jeans feel tighter, your doctor’s scoldings are becoming increasingly stern and your self-image has slowly retired to the basement. Your role as a mother, daughter, employee, boss and more has siphoned your time and energy away from your own health. As a result, your imbalances of stress/recovery, eating/exercise and yourself/others has manifested in an unwanted layer of body fat. An analysis of large population medical-assessment data comparing body mass index and percentage of body fat suggests the average American female now has about 40% body fat. Female body-fat percentages over about 30% start to carry with them increased risks for morbidity and mortality. Negative emotions tied to accumulating excess body weight and fat make women easy prey for gurus, gadgets and gimmicks promising “overnight” results with little-to-no effort. While some find short-term success with these diet and exercise fads, most are unable to sustain the novelty of the “hot” new trend in their life. Body fat and frustration repeatedly return with a vengeance. While the recommended interventions for fat loss for both men and women are fairly similar, it’s important to understand a few unique aspects of female physiology and how to overcome the commonly accepted mistruths and misunderstandings associated with fat loss and women. Wednesday, May 03 2017
No gym? No problem! A hectic travel schedule or no access to a gym are not sound reasons for neglecting your workout. After all, you can get in a strength-training workout just about anywhere at anytime. If you have 20 to 30 minutes and the physical ability to move, you can get in a workout. This is a great time of year to take your workouts outside. And sure, it’s pretty easy to target the lower-body with activities like running, biking, squats, lunges and plyometrics, but you’ll have to be a little creative to make sure you target the upper body and core as well. The following upper-body and core body-weight workouts can be done anywhere—the only equipment you need is a bench. But even if you don’t have a bench, don’t worry—there are alternatives provided below. |
