Core Series: Flexion vs. Extension exercises

Movement therapists have different, often times opposing, theories on whether flexion exercises or extension exercises are more therapeutic for those suffering from chronic back pain.

Those who believe that flexion exercises (bending forward) are more therapeutic base their thoughts on the fact that excess pressure on the posterior portion of the disc is the source of the pain. To reduce this pressure, the exercises presented through this theory balance the surrounding muscles so that the low back is stabilized and returns to its physiological curve, thus reducing the overall pressure at those particular segments.

Extension exercises are based on the idea that extension relieves back pain.

For a normal population, my personal belief is that we need both! and I'll tell you why...

We are constantly working in the front of our bodies (i.e. in flexion) and over time, these muscles (pectorals, abs, quads, hip flexors) begin to dominate our movement patterns. When this happens, the muscles pull on our skeletal system and distort the way our bones move, leading to pain.

This being said, we also need extension to allow us to utilize the back side of our body to help balance out our muscles to help us attain a more upright posture and help the mechanics of our spine run smoothly.

Tips for extension exercises:

• Lead the movement from the top of your head and not the back of your head.


• Grow long through your spine before moving into extension to prevent compression.


• Try these beginner exercises and remember to go slow: swimming, swan and goalpost.
  

Do you incorporate extension into your workouts? What does your own core series look? What other things have I missed out on this core series that you would like to see here?

Glut camp!

Busy worried about how your glut-eals are going to look in that teeny bikini this summer?

C'mon dudes, I know you worry about that kind of thing too :)

There is more to the posterior than just good looking buns folks. The tush you can bounce a quarter off of is just an added perk, a buy-one-get-one-free, if you will, of waking up the back side of your body.

On the back of our bodies, we have diagonal muscular 'slings' which activate in a sequential manner depending on the task. Too often, we fall into patterns where we neglect to use these muscles at all or we begin to fall into habits in which muscles are activated at erroneous times. This can lead to over-reliance on anterior muscles such as the pectorals, quads and hip flexors.

When these front muscles are dominating the back side, it alters the mechanics of our skeletal structure, thus leading to injury.

While extension exercises are great, it is important to be cautious that you are not training your body in a manner which is reinforcing your learned movement patterns. Meaning, your body can and will find ways to cheat by using anterior elements to accomplish extension moments!

Start slow so you can begin to understand the movement in the spine and how it interacts with more global movements occurring through the arms and legs.

Swimming:

1. Begin laying flat on your belly with your feet about hip width apart, arms stretched above your head. Towel roll under forehead.
2. Be mindful of the curve in your low back. Position your pelvis so that it is upright to your head, (hip bones are parallel to the floor). If you are having a hard time with this, position a cushion under your belly to give your low back some extra support.
   
3. Inhale to prepare. Begin the movement from the center of your back and Exhale as you reach your Right arm and Left Leg away from you until they feel like they want to float up off the floor.
   
4. Allow them to lift off the floor, about 6 inches. Inhale and return to the start position.
   
5. Repeat with Left arm and Right leg.
   
6. Following 5 repetitions of the steps above, enlist your head into the action by reaching your head out long in front of you with your arm, growing through the spine. Continue looking at the floor as you would in swimming. Repeat for 10 repetitions on each side.
   

How about you guys? Have you started to prepare for beach season or are you unconcerned? How about extension exercises, do you incorporate them into your routine?

New habits are born easily!

You may recall many a post where I ramble on about functional movement, postural adaptations, sequence activation of muscles and the real meaning of core stability.

Haven't been here that long?? Go on, take a lookie, I'll wait..*taps foot to the tune of jeopardy*

Ready to move on? Great!

My main focus for these posts, and well, in a broader sense, this blog, is movement training. How to teach folks like you healthy movement patterns which can be integrated into day to day activity :: Achievement of successful motion which translates to a reduction of risk of injury and improved overall efficiency throughout our body system.

But, how can we get so this is automatic?

Think back to the days when you spent an hour of your day accompanied by the sweetness of the sun's rays and your biggest concern was how fast you could run to beat the line to the four-square court. Play days, days where exercise was natural and FUN! Most all of us look back and reminisce on fond memories of these days where we weren't restricted by 'poor posture', a 'bad back' and 'dodgy knees'.

So why and how did our bodies evolve so quickly to our current stage?! And will it ever get better!?

SURE!

Habits become integrated into our system when our brain dampens the excitement of nerves and the activity becomes automatic. This means that we can coast through something without giving it deliberate conscious thought (think walking and talking).

Think back to when you were stepping onto a broken escalator. Your brain sees escalator and anticipates the motion to take place under your feet, however there is no motion, and your brain has to register a new sensation. The feeling you get when you step onto it and begin to climb the stairs is a miscommunication between what your brain expects and what your body realizes. This excites the nerves in your brain in order to allow your body to adjust to a situation which would otherwise have been habitual.

If in your future, every escalator you ascended were broken, your brain would register them as stairs and the nerves would process the climb as a habit.

This is the same idea which occurs when we alter our posture and assume poor patterns. Our brain has learned that slouched is a preferred position for your body so when you are in that position, your brain turns off and goes into cruise control. The minute you sit upright, your brain is sending you signals that something is different!

So why not use exercise as your daily practice to alter your movement patterns with a final goal of achieving balance and integration of body motion.

Practice is the key to creating habits. Old habits can be replaced easily with new, fabulously functional ones which can help you age gracefully and move with ease!

TAKE AWAY MESSAGE: Our body and brain responds to the stimuli we present it with. If we present it with a continual stimulus, this stimulus eventually becomes natural and is integrated as a habit. This means we can reverse this process to create new, healthier habits at any time.

Using exercise as practice to help you achieve functional movement patterns (ex: upright posturing) can help you to re-wire your brain so that these motions become natural and less cognitively demanding.

Does this make you want to learn how your body functions and how it reacts to altered movement sensations? Do you get this message from the exercises you currently do and those you learn? Does this change the way you think of exercise!?

Shoo Stress!

Managing stress in your life can help you to take hold of your long term health. The unfortunate truth is that in this day and age, it is almost impossible to eliminate stress from our lives completely. Instead, try these strategies to curb it starting with a 5 minute fix to changing your mind-set to achieve mental bliss.


IMMEDIATELY: tickle your fingers with a hand massage

Your hands hold a lot of tension whether you are punching away at the keyboard, manipulating people's body parts or chopping away at onions. Take a break from what you are doing when you are starting to feel frazzled and take a couple moments to indulge in a hand massage.



1. Rub some light moisturizer on your hands.
   
2. Begin at the base of your right thumb using your left thumb to produce circular motions along the muscles.
   
3. Stroke each finger down to the tip.
   
4. Next draw your attention to the palms, stroking along the length of each bone to the point where the fingers join.
   
5. Repeat with opposite hand.
   

FOR THE REST OF THE DAY: put yourself in a time-out


Interrupt your stressful moments with periods of calm. Breaking the cycle of stress can help to cut down on its long term effect on your health and help you manage the situation in a more productive way.



1. Commit to AT LEAST 10 minutes of solitude (More if you need it, depending on the specific situation).
   
2. Try square breathing to help you center yourself.
   
3. Focus your attention on clearing your mind of everything.
   
4. If you have a difficult time doing this, focus on a positive thought such as, "I have the power to achieve anything I wish."
   

LONG TERM: empower yourself


Sources of stress are often times the result of a feeling of loss of power over a situation. Empowering yourself over any situation can help you to jump many hurdles that come your way in the future.



1. Write down your thoughts about what stresses you out.
   
2. In it, include your solutions for how to handle these things most effectively.
   
3. Next, write down 5 positive statements about how you handled it.
   
4. Practice this exercise every time a stressful situation pops up and re-visit these positive statements if similar situations crop up!
   



How are your stress levels? Do you pay enough attention to yourself and how connected your mind is to your body?

Treat Yourself: alleviate back stress

Back Pain. We all know what it is like to have a twinge of muscle aches in our back, or suffer from neck pain secondary to poor posture, or even the occasional bout of persistent pain stemming from the low back!

But what do you do to alleviate it?

Basically, our spine moves in three ways: bends forward, bends backward, and rotates. Bending over sideways is a result of a combination of the three movements.

Movement in the spinal bones occurs as a result of the push and pull of the tiny muscles surrounding these bones. The larger muscles which wrap around the spine (i.e. lattissimus dorsi, trapezius erector spinae etc.) are there to aid in more grand movements such as jumping or dancing. Therefore, engaging these large muscles in response to simple bending forward can hinder the small spine muscles from activating (and thus stabilizing the spine).

Altered muscle firing patterns in the spine can occur from poor posturing, high stress and as a result of injury in another area of our body!

Over time, the larger muscles will be forced to compensate for the loss of stabilizing forces and they consequently become hyperactive. This can lead to muscle spasms and back pain!

Quick Solution:

Grab four tennis balls. Place two on the floor about 6 inches apart from one another and lay on them so your shoulder blades rest on top (on either side of your spine). Then lift your bottom and place the other two on either side of your spine at your low back. From here, roll gently back and forth on the balls to relieve tension and calm down your back muscles.

Relieving the spasms in your back muscles can ease the pain stemming from the altered mechanical relationships caused by the push and pull of these larger muscles.

Do you receive 'maintenance massages'? Have you ever considered why a massage is therapeutic for your body?

Bags: can we do without?

Are you at the mercy of all your STUFF?

You know, the computer you carry to work, the toothbrush/toothpaste you carry in your purse, the just-in-case trousers you throw in your suitcase at the last minute.

Material items, valuables or crap (as I like to call it) tend to take us over! We have learned that it is almost impossible to be without the materials that we use to accomplish tasks like, say, write this post for example :) So, we inevitably lug it around with us everywhere we go.

Home to office, office to bar, bar to dinner then back home again, that's a lot of travel, a lot of head ache and a lot of pressure on your back!

What is your mode of junk transport? And have you considered what it is doing to your body!?

• Backpack
  
  Ahh, the greatest invention since the wheel. The bookbag has come a long way from its origins as a method of transfer for books of school aged children. They now have those that house laptops, cameras and even beverages!
  
  Even though they tick the functionality box, backpacks can be extremely compressive on the spine. Furthermore, they can alter the mechanics of the shoulders by forcing the wearer to round them forward in order to bear the weight.
  
  Quick fix: Next time you're shopping for a backpack, make sure to get the ones that have the dorky chest and hip straps. Now for the kicker: USE THEM! They will help you to distribute the weight through your back so your shoulders aren't so sore at the end of your journey!



• Messenger Bags
  
  I remember when these things were all the rage. With these, the weight is distributed diagonally across your body, and if you're holding something heavy, this lends to extremely distorted postures!
  
  Quick Fix: It may seem obvious, but just be diligent about switching the sides the bag hangs on frequently and it can save you a lot of headache!



• Purses
  
  Ladies, I like bags with the rest of ya, but there is really no need for it to be the size of my closet. I mean seriously, what the heck do you put in those things!? I'm really curious. Seriously.
  
  Quick Fix: Simple. Get a smaller bag,

Dear friends--quick note to let you know that we are off to Beirut today for the long weekend, unsure I will be able to hit the internet tomorrow for a post, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! If not, I hope everyone has a fun and safe Memorial Day!!

What bags give you grief and what do you do about it!? Do you notice your postural changes due to your bags?

For da feets

Why is our female culture so obsessed with their accessories, namely footwear?
Especially when this footwear is known to cause physical grief including calluses, hammertoes, shortened Achilles tendons, shin splints, knee problems, hip problems and back problems, to name a few.

I don't get it!

One of my professional philosophies is that each person's feet tell a story. Not in a window-into-your-soul type of story, rather they can tell me how you treat your body.
How? Well, thanks for asking. Your feet are dead last in the chain of command, the lost link which ends up taking up the brunt of the abuse that you dish out on the rest of your body.

Your feets are required to have adequate mobility and stability in order to protect the integrity of all the joints above them. Without this flexibility in the feet, the rest of your body is forced to compensate leading to irregular stress on the connective tissues, ligaments and surrounding musculature.

The dynamics of our feet are constantly changing depending on our chosen footwear, sporting activities and normal wear and tear. So, how are they supposed to move!?

• You should be able to lift each toe off the floor one by one, starting from the big toe and moving to the little toe. The reverse order should be performed with equal ease.


• Experiment with your hands. Place your hands on the table. Lift one finger at a time. The toes are wired in the same way and should therefore have the same fine tuned mobility and strength.


• As you walk, you should roll over the ankle joint without the foot falling inwards or arching outwards. WIth too much mobility (fallen arches) your ankle will tend to roll inwards and with too much stability you will walk on the edges of the feet.


• Exercises where you practice lifting and fanning out the toes, along with marbles and towel exercises can help you achieve balanced feet.

Ever find yourself doing something (maybe exercise related) and look down to see your toes curled over, tensing to help you accomplish the task at hand? Have you found that after a night of wearing uncomfortable shoes, it affects the rest of your body? Have you considered or used apres sport sandals to treat your dogs?

Warding off negative energy

Stress is a natural part of life. Whether the source is your job, family or your internal dialogue, it can be a drain on your physical and mental resources.

Alternative therapies and complementary medicines have emerged more in Westernized societies with an aim to ease people into bridging a gap between their mental associations and their physical being. Although many of these therapies are glorified with commercialism and portrayed as the fab-new-flavor of the month, distracting the underlying message that they represent can make a positive impact on anyone's life.

Negative energy is simply the increase in vibration of molecules in our body caused by an external stressor. This can be from mental strain or physical stress.

This means that stress in the form of financial trouble, health of a loved one, strained relationships and work problems can lead to our bodies--on the molecular level-- to alter their function in an attempt to create higher levels of energy to help solve the issue (scientifically: increase in the production of the stress hormone cortisol). If this negative energy is not alleviated, the pent up stress patterns in our body can lead to physical ailments!

Drawing attention to these areas of stress can help you to achieve control over them and ultimately overcome and prevent their re-occurance!

• Recognition
  
  Take yourself out of the situation which is harming your system. Understand the source of your stressor.


• Acceptance
  
  You have pinpointed what it is, now understand that it has a negative affect on you. Making this association can help you prevent physical manifestation of negative energy in the future.


• Letting Go
  
  Take a couple minutes out of your day to scan your body. Lay down in a position of comfort and have someone read this to you in a soothing voice!
  
  
  
  1. Close your eyes and begin by inhaling and exhaling, allowing your rib cage to raise and fall naturally as you breath.
     
  2. Start at the top of your head and contract each muscle on your face and let it go into a position of ultimate comfort, parting your lips and allowing your tongue to float to the top of your mouth.
     
  3. Shrug your shoulders to your ears. Now allow your shoulder blades to melt down your back, arms fall out, hands turn up towards the sky.
     
  4. Draw your attention to your breastbone and allow it to melt down into the floor.
     
  5. Are you in tune with your internal organs? Thinking about your stomach, heart and lungs, allow them to sink deep into your thorax.
     
  6. Send your legs out and away from you. Now allow them to sink into the floor, feet falling outwards.
     
  7. Curl your toes, allow them to rest.
     
  8. Spend 5 minutes in this position of comfort and allow all tension to release from your body.
     
  
  

How did you feel following this exercise? Do you think all this mind-body stuff is a bunch of mumb-jumbo or are you able to achieve harmony from it? What do you do for stress relief?

Q & A: core series: fundamentals

Pelvic Clock

What it is for: This is a fundamental exercise for understanding how the pelvis interacts with the spine to allow for transfer of forces from the extremities to the spine and vice versa.

Performance of this exercise is about finesse. The idea is to allow movement to occur in the pelvis with the lease amount of effort and whilst keeping the rest of the body quiet.

Once you get the gist of this one on your back, challenge yourself:

• Maintain constant motion in the pelvis by rolling it clockwise for 5 repetitions followed by 5 repetitions counter-clockwise.


• Perform the pelvic clock while in a hands and knees position


• Progress to sitting up and finally pelvic clock-ing in a standing position.

Bridge

I love this exercise for spinal articulation. It helps your body understand what movement is available in the spine and how you can control it with local muscles (i.e. the muscles which act to stabilize and produce pure spinal movement). Meaning that if this one is done correctly, then the spinal bones are moving via the tiny muscles that span from one spine bone to the next and not as a result of the larger muscles pulling in incongruent patterns.

Start off with your feet flat on the ground.

When you do this one properly, you will feel as though your legs are barely doing any work, rather they are just holding your body up. The spine is where the work should be taking place, so concentrate on allowing each vertebrae slide on one another to lift your body up. Allow your breastbone to melt into the floor to ensure that you are getting optimal motion in the upper back and neck.

Partial Curl Up

After learning how our spine moves from bottom upwards, it is important to allow it to grasp the idea of moving from top downwards.

Tuck your chin slightly prior to lifting your head and really concentrate on pulling up through your breastbone and allowing your spine to open up in the back, and your ribs roll around to allow your chest and head to come up in a "C-like" motion.

More tips on the curl up here.

Swan

The swan is an extension exercise which helps us to waken up the back side of our body (the muscles which to act to hold us upright). Extension is necessary to pull us out of flexed postures and to improve mechanics through the shoulders.

Begin this exercise by keeping contact with the floor/mat with your lower ribs and just bringing up your head, shoulders and chest. Make sure to initiate the movement by lengthening out and away through the head before coming upwards.

How is your core shaping up?? Are you able to feel the spine moving?

Learn from links

Oi Friends! It's Friday and I am feeling especially British this morning! I have compiled a list of English words with links that I have found myself incorporating into my own vernacular! Enjoy!

Knackered

Brilliant

Lovely

Dongle

Dodgy

Mate

Daft

Holiday

Rubbish

Anti-clockwise

Any favorites of your own? Do you find that you pick up slang from your friends who are from other parts of the world? What you guys have going on this weekend!?

Sleep Better!

May is Better Sleep Month. What genius came up with that!? It should be celebrated worldwide with a week off of work to help us to return to more functional sleeping patterns, don't you agree!?

Sleeping is so fundamentally important to our health and well-being, yet, it is the first (well, second to exercise) thing to go when our lives get busy!

Allowing your body to rest helps to rejuvenate your body's nutrients, stimulates healing and growth and, most importantly, it helps us maintain normal levels of cognitive thinking!

This month, aim to improve your quality of sleep!

• Eliminate stimulants
  
  Powerbars, Redbull, coffee and even good ole' coca-cola may be to blame for you tossin' and turnin'! When we ingest artificial stimulants, it sends signals to our brain to be energized, when what we really need is some rest.
  
  Give yourself a week without ingesting these things and let your brain quiet down long enough to listen to what your body wants. If you feel tired during the day, it's likely that you need more sleep!!



• Follow the rotation of the Earth
  
  The routine is pretty simple. The sun comes out, we awake and go about our business. When the sun goes down, we rest. It's how they did it before clocks, it's also what our natural instinct calls for.
  
  The sun helps to stimulate a hormone in our body called Melatonin which helps regulate your sleep cycle. Getting adequate sunlight (at safe exposure levels) can help you drift into sleep with little problem and even wake up without the assistance of an alarm clock!



• Organize your day
  
  As part of your nightly routine, set out 15 minutes to make a list of things that you need to accomplish the following day. This can help to eliminate the stressors that keep you awake.
  
  Tack on 5 more minutes to the routine to mentally wind down the things you have done that day. Try some breathing techniques or meditation to help you calm your mind and ready it to rest.

For tips to get better sleep, check here.

How much sleep are you getting daily?? Do you feel tired during the day? What do you do to combat your yawns?

Learning from Travels

Photo: Speyside, Scotland taken 05.07.09

It's no secret that I love to travel. Learning about new worlds is a part of my life that I cherish and hope to continue long into my golden years. It has opened my eyes, broadened my horizons and helped me to gain a greater appreciation for people, animals and nature alike.

I feel blessed to have the means to be able to experience all the great landscapes and cultures that I have been exposed to and my thirst for travel grows with each adventure.

My absolute favorite part of continent hopping is meeting the locals. Our inner scoop usually comes from tour guides or convo's over a pint at the local pub. That's where the magic happens, where we learn how the other side lives, how we grow to appreciate how different, yet strikingly similar our lives are from our neighbors.

Find your creative side through travel:

• Adventure Tours
  
  Hiking, climbing, sky diving, free base jumping, scuba etc etc etc. Mingle with the people who understand movement in it's ultimate form with extreme adventure tours!


• Take a cooking class
  
  Food can make or break a vacation, according to my hubby. Learn how the other side eats and cooks by taking a cooking class in another country! Not only are you experiencing how they cook, you are also gaining insight into their cultural customs, traditions and learning styles!


• Photographic adventure
  
  Whether you are touring the amazon or the concrete jungle, there is no better way to view it than through the lens of a camera. Seriously. You would be pleasantly surprised at how you can view things in a whole new way when you are in a creative mind-set.

Folks, I invite you to share with me your own travel adventures. I am in the process of creating a list of things to accomplish in the next two years (prior to the start of my 3rd decade on this earth).

Will keep you updated as it develops! So far, I have: sky-dive, photograph a South African safari, learn to ballroom dance...

Please help me add to this list!!!

Two Tip Tuesday: Strengthen your feets

Whether you are working on strengthening your ankles, trying to rid yourself of heel pain or just trying to find some relief for your tootsies, foot work can be very therapeutic:

• Improves stability and flexibility in the foot to allow it to move with fluidity


• Allows the foot to adjust to various footpaths with ease


• Can improve mechanics in the foot, knee and hip


• Helps to re-align your entire posture, from the feet up


• Prevent shin splints, sprained ankles, and plantar fasciitis
  

Try this exercise

Place some marbles on the floor in front of you with an empty bucket or a rubbish bin nearby. Using your toes, pick up the marbles, one by one and place them into the container. Repeat with other foot.

What feet issues do you have? Do you give your feets regular attention?

Two Tip Tuesday continues below...

Two Tip Tuesday: Just Breathe

Tension builds up in our neck and chest areas and causes us to under-utilize our lungs. This can lead to poor posture, painful muscle spasms and neck and shoulder problems.

Learning to engage your diaphragm (breathing muscle) can induce relaxation and further introduce muscular release in the neck and shoulders.

Diaphragmatic Breathing:

Lay on your back with a pillow propping your head neck and shoulders up against a wall (comfort position). Place your dominant hand on your belly and your non-dominant hand on your chest. Practice breathing into your belly by visualizing it rising and falling with each breath. Try to keep your chest hand quiet. Take 15 deep breaths into your belly.

Do you do breathing to help calm your nerves? Have you tried square breathing?

Q & A: Core Series: Beginnings

First off this fine Monday morning, some administrative nonsense: I missed you guys this weekend! I had some posts lined up for Thursday and Friday of last week while I was off in Scotland, but Blogger decided to rebel against me and of course, without a computer in sight in scenic Scotland, I was unable to repair the fault! So, SORRY for those of you who stopped by and THANKS for the continual support!

Last weeks' posts' will debut later this week!

*ahem* where were we? Right, now back to our core series!

Today we are going to explore three major points of movement control: shoulder blades, spine and pelvis.

Let's just imagine for a second, for simplicity's sake, a skeleton with two floating shoulder blades, a spine which intersects them and a pelvis to form the tail end.

These are your major points of control for the core. Achieving balance and stability here is your key to intelligent movement through the entire body.

• Shoulder blades
  
  Three words: Grand.Central.Station.
  
  These guys need to be able to transmit the forces moving up, down, in and out of the upper extremity and trunk, much like a train station directing traffic. The shoulder blades are only able to effectively relay this information and muscular force if they are stable and able to glide with freedom in all directions.
  
  The shoulder blades need to sit flat on your ribs and be able to maintain this contact with the back with all arm movements.
  
  Balancing out the muscles around the shoulder blades can help you to assume a taller posture which will scream confidence!
  
  Beginning exercises: mobilize and strengthen your shoulder blades.



• Spine
  
  The spine is made up of 33 bones which slide and rotate on one another to allow us to create the beautiful motion that our bodies are capable of.
  
  The spine bones or vertebrae, are surrounded by a deep layer of muscles which create these motions in the spine. Without activation of these deep muscles, our vertebrae move as a result of the push and pull from the larger muscles in our trunk. This creates unnecessary force on the spine and can lead to back injury.
  
  Practice spine movement



• Pelvis
  
  The pelvis is an important tool to help understand the movement in the spine. Proper rotation in the pelvis can free up the spine from excessive forces during bending and rotation.
  
  Ideally, the pelvis should sit upright during most activities. Allowing it to sit in this neutral position promotes equal distribution of forces throughout the spine and balances out hip muscle relationships, thus allowing functional muscle activation to take place.
  
  Learn where your pelvis is and what the deep abdominal muscles can do.

These three exercises are great starter's for the future one's I will presenting here. Perform these exercises daily and especially prior to any work out in order to wake up the core and promote movement patterns which flow through the body.

Alrighty folks, that's it for me today! Happy Monday to y'all!

Have you guys been having blogger issues lately too!? What are the difficulty you find with core work?

sorry!!

I apologize for the absence of a post today! I am having serious internet issues and am forced to blog from the phone. Hopefully things will be back on track for tom and the posts that were scheduled for today will be on next week! Hope y'all are well.

rupal

You can do eeeet!

Some time ago in physical therapy school, it was mentioned, in passing, that there were studies out there that concluded that people could gain strength in their muscles by merely thinking about it.

Yes, couch dweller eating potato skins topped with bacon, I am talking to you.

This was revisited recently in a continuing education course I was in where I was asked to demonstrate to the class some exercise which, after careful review of photos in the manual, I concluded that I'd need hefty assistance to complete. So, I walk my happy healthy butt up there and (with said assistance) I do it, accept my standing ovation and return to my seat.

Now I am at home, thinking that there is just NO WAY I can repeat my performance without any help. Sure enough, I was right.

I sat on it for a couple days, re-working in my mind how I did it before, what my body was doing and where the strength was coming from.

Three days later, I can do it, without assistance, although not perfect, but hey, I'll take 60% over nada any day of the week!!

So I thought, hmm...pull-ups!...and I'm happy to announce that I OWN pull-ups now!

The mental process involved in visualization and planning mimics that which occurs prior to the activation of any muscle. Thus this mental practice helps us to increase the amount of input to the muscle and therefore, increases our strength.

My thoughts:

If it works for strengthening, then why can't it work for motor planning? Mental preparation for any exercise should and can make you more prepared to physically accept that exercise. Intelligent Movement I call it.

Try this with bridging or push-ups.

• Bridging (click on link for full description of exercise)
  
  As you are lowering yourself back down to the ground, visualize each vertebrae sliding past the one below it to reach the ground. This will allow you to better achieve spinal articulation.


• Push-ups
  
  While holding yourself in the plank position (prior to lowering your torso to the ground) visualize your shoulder blades sliding down your back to allow your arms to rotate in their socket and lower you to the ground.

This theory can of course be applied to many walks of life. When have you used it to achieve your goals?

Life's little lessons...

www.toothpastefordinner.com

There are those times in life where everything is going your way, deadlines are being met, clients are walking out satisfied and you're staying positive about most things. This energy is seemingly radiated out to most people and situations that surround you and life is as you would describe it, 'rockin'.

Then, *cue dark cloud cover*, you encounter someone or something that is determined to take your ego and crush it to the ground. Whether this comes in the form of a negative criticism from a colleague, family member or friend, it inevitably brings you back to a place that you felt you said bye-bye to a long time ago. How do you cope with these feelings of inadequacy?

Here are some strategies to help you learn from this experience, gain some insight about yourself and use it to allow you to move forward to better handle situations like this in the future!

• Write it out!
  
  In your journal, or on a pad of paper, write out why these statements may have been made about you. At all costs, avoid scrutiny of the source and focus on the situation and it's reflection on you and your inner dialogue. Is it because you are feeling inadequate about your knowledge in that area? Maybe you are insecure about your authority?
  
  Understanding why these statements made you feel the way you do can help you to better handle these situations in the future and give you insight into what sort of things you need to work on personally.


• You can't ALWAYS be right!

Accept the responsibility that life is about experience and learning, not about who's more right. This can help you to learn from it, own it and move forward.


• Others have the right to their own opinions.
  
  Yes, this means that people are allowed to go home and gossip about you, if they so choose. But, that doesn't mean you have too!
  
  Set an example for yourself and others around you by respecting the right of others to be who they are. Recognize that we can not always understand the motives of others, nor can we change them. This new-found respect for others and their personal space may just rub off!

I personally accept this adversity as another one of life's lessons. Just another attempt to make me a stronger person and re-affirm what I know about myself and on the flip-side, explore the things that I need to improve on. What's life without a little challenge!?

What about you? How do you handle criticisms?

Q & A: At your request, a core series!

Yes, a series on the core. To include sample exercises and movement planning strategies...

I think it'd be cool if you could go through a beginners guide to core exercises, through to advanced or something, just so people like me know where to start. I mean, how many core exercises should you do, which ones should you focus on, where do they come in a workout, etc.

We all know how I LOVE THIS STUFF! So this is a 4 part Monday series on your core.

Let us start with the basics.



Fundamentally, the 'core' of anything is the part of something that is central to its existence. Practice with this concept in mind is the key to understanding and achieving intelligence in movement.

Simply put, your core is anything that is not your arms or legs.

The core provides the base upon which your arms and legs move.

Your core transmits forces up, down and diagonally throughout your body in order to accomplish tasks.

Movements are initiated at the core.

The core provides the force and power behind all limb movements.

Strength in motion requires that there be a stable base for distal movement to take place.

Engaging the core during all exercise ensures that you are firing your muscles in a functional manner.

Body weight resisted Exercise (BWRE) helps us to understand this concept.

Why is it easier to do push-ups on your knees rather than your feet? By taking away need for your trunk to stabilize your legs, your body and mind is able to concentrate all its efforts on the shoulder girdle and upper extremities to allow you to push-up and lower down successfully!

Is this sinking in? Core is fundamental for all movement, not just exercises or beach season :)

Short post this week to emphasize how important I think all this is, in life. Because in life, we move.

...And we might as well move well!

Pigs & kids

photo credit: johnmuk
Dear Friends,

It is Friday, woo-hoo!

Another long weekend here in the UK for no other reason other than its May!

...and I'm ill...

I did some research to make sure I don't have the flu of the piggies here:

Do I Have Pig Flu

It was a confirmed NO.

Onwards, I said and went to my fav website: youtube, where I found this video for you guys' viewing pleasure:



I encourage you to watch, as it gets especially good around 1:12 where he shows us his break moves!

Laughter and cute kids is the best medicine! Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

What are your plans!?