Fitness View - Health and Fitness Blog. Posture, Training, Nutrition, and well-being advice

Back to Basics - back health for dummies

2014-08-06T19:25:00.000+01:00

A friend of mine complained to me about back trouble. This isn’t something I’ve ever suffered from but I don’t believe it is as a result of genetics or luck. I believe it’s the result of conscientious efforts to have good posture, active abdominal muscles and to be always physically fit.

I explained him that his back trouble was probably the result of weak abdominals so I recommended him to do a couple of easy ‘exercises’:

1. When sitting down keep the head upright, back straight and pull in the abdominal muscles.

2. When passing through a doorway (in the house or outside) pull in the abdominal muscles at the exact moment of passing through.

These are simple things to do that you can turn into a routine or even a game.

Apart from strengthening the abdominal muscles it will teach you to engage the transversus abdominis. These muscles are very important for stabilizing the spine during lifting exercises. People that have weak transversus abdominis muscles tend to have a stomach that sags and a lower back that curves much more than normal. This can result in acute back ache from lifting or moving without the correct spinal protection.

For anyone reading this that has back pain why not try these two simple exercises and after a few weeks see if it has made any difference. I'd love to get some feedback on this experiment.

Lemon Juice

2014-07-21T10:14:00.002+01:00

You've probably used it to bake with and maybe tasted it in a cocktail. You've probably never seen it in the usual lists of Superfoods but let's set the record straight here and declare the humble lemon a superfood.

As most people will already know Lemons can help fight common cold infections but an important reason for drinking lemon juice is that it helps balance the body's pH levels.
Although we think of lemon as being acidic (it is actually an acidic food), the effect on the body is one of alkalizing. The average person eats mostly foods that generate an acidic environment in the stomach and this can lead to health issues in the short and long term. Acid forming foods such as grains, dairy, meat can contribute to ill-heath if not balanced by alkaline forming foods such as fruits
and vegetables. As Lemons are alkaline-forming in the body they can help change the balance of pH in the body when consumed.
Too much acidity in the body can lead to health problems such as osteoporosis, mucus build-up, inflammation of the arteries, kidney stones,
ulcers, heartburn, bloating, etc.

Flushing toxins from the body as early as possible in the day by drinking lemon juice in warm water is also good ritual to maintain. Your skin will also benefit greatly from lemon juice's powerful antioxidant and vitamin content. Lemon juice goes to war on acne and wrinkles so try some juice before any fancy creams.
There is some evidence to suggest that properties of lemons help fight cancer. Citric acid from lemons is an antioxidant, and anything you can do to reduce 'free radicals' due to the oxidation process, can help prevent the causes of DNA damage, and as a result cancer.

Below is a list of some of the vitamins and minerals contained in the humble lemon:
Vitamin C
Vitamin A
Vitamin E
Folate
Choline
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B1
Thiamine
Niacin(vitamin b3)
Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5)Potassium
Vitamin B12
Zinc
Calcium
Magnesium
Folic acid
Phosphorus
Sodium
Copper
Iron
Manganese
Zinc
Selenium

So what are we waiting for? Drink lemon juice and change your health for the better!

Paleo Diet and positive side effects

2014-07-20T22:14:00.001+01:00

I’ve been loosely following the Paleo diet for 10 years now. Ever since I heard of the Paleo Diet for Athlete’s and the work of Joe Friel and Loren Cordain.

I think the diet, or way of life (however you wish to call it) has been very helpful to my overall health and to my training.

Although I don’t train for mountain-bike races, triathlon, and sea-swims like I used to I still follow the diet and I have never felt better (at almost 40 years old).

Back in 2004 my daily routine consisted of the following:

Wake up 5.30am/6am

Swim/run: 30-60 mins

Cycle to work: 20 mins

Cycle from work to gym: 30 mins

Workout: 45 mins (heavy weights focusing on strength)

Train clients at gym: 3 hours

Cycle home from gym: 25 mins

On the weekends I would hit the trails on my mountain bike for 2-4 hours and maybe get a swim in.

When I read about the benefits of the Paleo Diet I was immediately interested. The weight loss part wasn’t a motivating factor, as I have never had a weight problem. In fact I was worried about losing weight. I wanted to maintain my current weight, or at least current muscle mass and I definitely wanted to maintain current fitness and strength levels.

Within a few weeks noticed very little negative change in my fitness levels but I noticed positive change in my appearance, focus, and strength. I felt stronger and more in tune with my goals but a very happy side effect convinced me that the Paleo diet was working (at least in some immediately obvious way). My skin cleared up almost completely. I’ve always had problem skin that would flare up, become unsightly and sometimes sore to touch.

I didn’t grow out of it after my teens and now I am convinced that most of the problem was diet. Processed sugars, wheat, gluten, additives in food and other unnatural food components are keeping Clearasil sales high year after year. One only has to look at native tribes who have little contact with processed food to see that their skin is blemish free.

I managed to continue with the training regime above and probably trained more hours per year due to decreased number of colds and flus. As I was healthier in general I was sick less and therefore could train more.

Does anyone else have the same experience eating the Paleo Diet?

Walk your way to health

2014-04-30T08:35:00.002+01:00

Being on your feet beats sitting down again....
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/april/walking-vs-sitting-042414.html

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

Look at the big picture

2008-03-25T15:13:00.001+00:00

What’s the first thing you associate exercising with? What is the one benefit/result that springs to mind? For most people I’ll bet my next chocolate muffin that their answer would be weight loss. Lose the pounds, burn the fat, shed the kilos. Maintaining a healthy weight is very important but it’s not the sole purpose of exercising. People visit the gym for many reasons, some of which are to gain weight, to lift their mood, to relieve aches and pains, to train recovering injured muscles, to get stronger, to have more energy, and to relieve the stress of work and daily life.
The statement “I train all the time and I never lose weight” is commonly used by sufferers of what I would call tunnel-vision. This isn’t a physical condition, it’s a mind set. Focussing on the just one result of exercising, in this case weight loss, can have a detrimental effect on your training efficiency. For example, exercising with the sole intention of burning as many calories as possible means we have less focus on maintaining tone, flexibility, and strength. The fact is that losing weight is not the only reason to exercise and possibly, dare I say it, not even the most important reason.
I’ve listed some of the benefits below. This is not an exhaustive list and I think they are self-explanatory
1. increased alertness
2. appetite stability
3. mood lifter
4. flexibility
5. increased endurance
6. increased strength
Feel free to comment and add more benefits to this list. There are many more.
Weight loss, is a significant benefit of exercising if you are overweight. But it can swing the other way. Underweight and people at normal weight should focus on the other benefits of exercise and should look for balance in their routines.
There are individuals whose desire to look good overwrites their desire to be fit and well. The gym bunnies that trash their bodies for endless hours, are beautiful on the outside while their inner workings take a beating, proving the point that looking good does not always equate to being healthy. Stress fractures, muscle imbalances, joint degradation, hormone imbalances, immune system suppression, irritability, sleep loss, and many others are all results of over-training. On skin level these people may have achieved close to perfection but it’s like a rotten apple, the rot will eventually reach the surface.
Let’s try and view fitness and exercise holistically. When you look at all the benefits, why wouldn’t you exercise?

The top exercise to better your butt

2008-01-29T11:12:00.000+00:00

While working as a gym instructor and later as a personal trainer one of the most common questions I was asked by my female clients was “what exercises can I do to shape my glutes?” (note: glutes = Gluteus Maximus, or more commonly known as bum or butt)
I’d ask what shape they were looking for and what exercises they were currently doing. ‘Small and curvy’ was usually the response to desired shape and walking was the exercise I frequently heard mentioned. So an overhaul of their workouts was almost always called for.
My favourite exercise for training glutes is the dumbbell lunge. This exercise works the entire leg but really hits the glutes from all angles. Add this into your workout now, progressing from low weights to higher until you get used to it.
Here’s how to perform a dumbbell lunge:
1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand with both feel together, back straight and keep the head facing forwards.
2. Step forward with one foot about half your body length in distance.
3. Let the front knee bend to 90 degrees and the back knee almost touch the floor. This is the bottom of the movement.
4. While actively engaging your glutes, calf and quadriceps muscles press your body upwards until your front leg is almost straight. Your legs will form a triangle at the top of the movement.

Train like a competitor

2008-01-14T16:10:00.000+00:00

Most people would agree that the physiques of top sprinters, full-backs in rugby and many martial arts experts are desirable. Men like to have this strong body shape which is also functional and women like it because it’s not over muscular.

If this physique is the ideal then why is it that we train our bodies in a completely different manner to that of those athletes? Why not try to emulate some of their training and take a step closer to achieving a similar physique. That’s not to suggest that we attempt to match their workload, rather we try to copy their training techniques and strive to work at a relatively similar intensity (In the domain of our own limits, of course).

The most important factor is to perform compound exercises that use a lot of muscle. Dead-lifts, squats, bent-over rows, bench-press, barbell cleans, and weighted lunges are good examples of compound exercises targeting many muscle groups simultaneously. Exercises which don’t fit in this category are bicep curls and triceps extensions. Doing a compound exercise in itself increases the intensity over a single joint exercise but we can also raise the level of intensity by, among other things, lifting faster and reducing rest times.

Doing these multi-joint, large muscle-group exercises with intensity also benefits the body’s metabolism, posture and fitness in various ways, which I will discuss in later future posts. This may sound like a lot of hard work, and certainly I can’t argue with this but there are many advantages to training in this way which can help with more than just attaining a better physique. Lifting heavy weights with the entire body means less need to train muscles individually. Your training times can be cut in half and a reduction in the number of training days is also possible. Functional posture and fitness improve. Power and strength increase and there is also a case for reduced incidence of injury.

Sitting, cycling, and sore backs

2008-01-10T14:56:00.000+00:00

Blog Post Moved to WODTools.com Cycling, Sitting and Sore Backs

The Swiss Ball

2008-01-07T19:54:00.000+00:00

The humble Swiss Ball. I love it. What’s not to love? It’s big but light, round (a very satisfying shape), comes in nice colours, and bounces. Cool.
Seriously though, the Swiss ball is one of my favourite tools in the gym but sadly it’s ignored by most gym goers. The big guys who strut around the gyms don’t like Swiss balls much. It makes them look silly, so they say. They signed up for the gym to throw dumbbells around and flex their muscles for everyone to see. The few that do exercise with Swiss balls mostly use them for performing crunches (sit-ups) although this is probably a better approach than performing them while lying on the floor. The Swiss ball is a good tool to keep your training interesting, and introducing it into your current exercise regime can help strengthen, stretch and engage muscles that usually are underworked.
The Swiss ball got its name from the Swiss physiotherapists that used these large rubber inflated balls as tools for rehabilitation. I’ve seen it called fitball more and more in the last few years, and this is probably the name it will come to be known as.
Apart from targeting the abdominals directly, we can perform traditional resistance training routines with the ball. Squats with your back pressed on the ball against the wall, dumbbell presses with your shoulders and upper back resting on the ball, dumbbell rows with one arm supported on the ball, are all examples of how you can integrate this simple tool into most current workouts.
As well as simply substituting the Fitball for the exercise bench there are many hard-core exercises that most people would never conceive of. How about barbell squats while standing on the ball or both-arm dumbbell rows while kneeling on the ball? These exercises require excellent coordination, strength and agility. The possibilities for shaking up your workout routine are almost limitless if you incorporate the Fitball into your training. I will cover some of these exercises at a later date. In the meantime get a knowledgeable trainer to show you some free weight exercises using a Fitball and reap the rewards.

The art of squatting

2007-12-29T23:31:00.000+00:00

Blog Post moved to Squatting Position - Squat for Health on WodTools - CrossFit gear

The cynic's guide to the Health and Fitness industry

2007-12-13T12:26:00.001+00:00

Call me a cynic but I don't believe the health and fitness industries have our best interests at heart. Just like the food industry and the medicine industry, their main interest is profit. Our health is important to them, but it's more of a nice-to-have, than a priority. In the case of the medical industry, the sicker we are the better their profits. Am I beginning to sound like Michael Moore?
Having worked in the fitness industry I'm well aware of the trends and ideas circulating. This industry loves fads. Fads are a great way for people to spend money on something that will only last long enough until the next fad arrives. Perfect for businesses interested in high profits from quick turnover.
Paul Chek is a name that pops up quite often when working in the health and fitness industry. He’s one of those self-promoting individuals that probably has as many 'detractors' as he has fans/followers. I come from the second group as although admittedly his methods of communication sometimes invoke images of a TV evangelist or car salesman, he knows what he's talking about. There's no doubt that Chek has put a lot of time and effort into understanding how we can improve our lives through holistic health practises.
One very interesting point he makes is regarding the fitness equipment industry’s spreading of information, or misinformation. We've all seen the logos of these companies printed on the treadmills and rowing machines. Usually a gym endorses one brand exclusively. The idea that cardiovascular type exercise is somehow better for us is perpetuated by big companies, not individuals. Why is cardio supposedly better? Because treadmills, exercise bikes, and rowers are expensive and break down a lot, which means they need to be replaced regularly.
More profits for the big players. On the other hand dumbbells, barbells, and weight racks are very durable. Where's the future profit to be gained from promoting free-weight exercises? There’s no built-in redundancy there.
The debate over cardio training vs. resistance training is a long-standing one.
There are endless valid reasons from both sides of the wall on this one. As a (mostly former) tri-athlete, mountain bike racer and ocean swimmer, I have experience in the methods and results of training the heart and lungs for endurance. However, when not in training for an event I base most of my exercise routines on strength and conditioning exercises. I have several reasons for this type of regime but these motives are based on research and personal experience. If I was to take the advice of the big fitness companies I would be doing just the opposite.
My personal experience of CV training is that the repetitive nature of this form of exercising can lead to overuse injuries. Although I was rarely injured I believe it was because I only ever trained the bare minimum amount required and never approached overtraining. I also stretched the worked muscles very well after training. If I felt any muscle pains of any type, no matter how small, I would immediately rest and recuperate until I was sure I was safe to restart training. Almost every athlete I’ve ever trained with has been unable to train for periods of time through overuse injuries
So why train with weights? Because strength training is a very natural way to increase strength, improve posture, burn calories, prevent injury and increase lean muscle mass.
Who wouldn't want to be stronger? And I include females in this. (One good reason for women to train with weights is to help prevent osteoporosis.)
To be physically strong is a good thing, no one can deny this fact. Cardio training, on the other hand, which focuses more on muscle endurance than strength, often leads to a less than optimal posture. This is due to overused muscles pulling against underused muscles - effectively creating muscle imbalances, joint strain, etc. The impact of many forms of cardio training can lead to joint problems. Muscle breaks down during long periods of continuous exercise and the fat burning benefits of training stop once cardio exercise ceases, unlike weight training where the muscle growth and calorie burning continues after exercise.
Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) due to repeated prolonged use of muscles is not something that's commonly associated with strength training. Of course injuries happen but they are more a result of incorrect technique than repetitive strain.
I'm not trying to add to the cardio v resistance training debate. Rather I'd like to point out why the fitness industry is more interested in our using their expensive equipment, than our fitness goals. Our health may be important to them but it is a runner-up in the race for priorities.

Shake your money-maker

2007-12-07T22:53:00.000+00:00

I was a little amused to see Vibratrainers/Powerplates in some of the top gyms in the country over the last year or so. Is 'amused' the wrong word to use? Possibly, but I can’t help wondering at how silly we look sometimes when pursuing a state of fitness. What happened to plain old jogging? Not silly enough I guess - bring back 70s track suits and sweat bands. Regarding the influx of powerplates to our workout areas, is this a passing fad for gyms that don’t know better? Considering the cost of each unit it appears they are ending up in moneyed gyms that should know better.
So what’s the purpose of these toys?
A Vibratrainer or Powerplate consists of a plate that wobbles horizontally at high speed, and two vertical bars that the user (wobbler? Vibrator?) grips during the machines operation. Pulling shapes while using the machine is recommended to help increase the fat burning potential.
Have you noticed that the machines are usually located facing a wall in the gym? I can only guess that this is to save the exerciser from enduring other gym users quizzical and amused stares. However, increased self consciousness must arise as the exerciser's posterior vibrates at speed in view of the entire gym.
The manufacturers claim that using these machines will help you lose weight, improve circulation, create a feeling of well being, and so on. This is no doubt true. However, walking from one end of the room to the other will do the same thing, albeit in a very insignificant way. Then again the vibration training people aren’t giving us a lot of figures or details of the benefits you can attain. In this way we could say that running a marathon helps lose weight, and so does exercising using a powerplate. So one is as good as the other, right? Most people are concerned with numbers when it comes to losing weight, so lets have some stats.
As far as I can see these machines do what they claim to do. But the results would be the same as if you’d walked, swam, biked for an equivalent amount of time. Do they work? Yes, in the same way that eating one less sugar molecule every day will help you lose weight. In other words, the advantages over not exercising are so minimal that the only loss is money (oh, and pride).
Has anyone found any statistics on say, Vibration Training vs running?
Obviously either is better than sitting on the couch. But what theory is vibration training based on? "a fool and his money soon part" is one possible theory. Just to make clear: I am not anti-vibration training, I’m just concerned that we are losing our imagination and our dollars, whilst holding onto our pounds.

The Glycaemic Index vs. the Glycaemic Load

2007-12-04T23:21:00.000+00:00

Blog Post moved to WodTools.com - CrossFit Gear and Advice

100 push-ups a day - macho or mad ?

2007-12-03T22:24:00.000+00:00

Blog Post moved to WODTools.com

The definition

2007-12-03T15:36:00.000+00:00

fit·ness (fĭt'nĭs)

n.
1. The state or condition of being fit; suitability or appropriateness.
2. Good health or physical condition, especially as the result of exercise and proper nutrition

Privacy Policy

2001-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00

This blog does not share personal information with third parties nor do we store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies.

You can turn off the use of cookies at anytime by changing your specific browser settings.

We are not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without our permission.

This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on 30 May 2014.
FitnessView.Blogspot.Com