- article submitted by independent contributor

Sciatica exercises and other self-treatment techniques are often just as effective, and maybe more effective in some cases, than professional methods of treatment.   This is particularly true when it comes to getting lasting relief, because most doctor-administered treatments only mask symptoms and do not address the underlying causes of sciatica, namely spinal disc protrusion and/or muscle contraction. 

The symptoms of sciatica are pain, tingling, burning, and other sensations that extend from the buttock area down the back of the thigh, and sometimes all the way down the calf to the foot.  True sciatica is related to compression and irritation of the sciatic nerve, most often by a bulging or ruptured spinal disc in the lower back. 

Another condition that closely mimics the symptoms of true sciatica is piriformis syndrome, caused by the piriformis muscle in the lower buttock area.  Piriformis syndrome is also sometimes called “pseudo-sciatica”, meaning “false sciatica”.  Depending on the situation contraction of the piriformis muscle may actually compress the sciatic nerve, or the muscle produces what’s known as referred pain.  Referred pain is what happens when someone gets arm pain from a heart problem, or shoulder pain from a gallbladder attack. 

Both true sciatica and piriformis syndrome can usually be treated effectively with simple exercises and home-treatment methods.  One of the simplest sets of exercises for alleviating true sciatica is the McKenzie Method, named for New Zealand physical therapist Robin McKenzie.  Although the McKenzie Method is usually associated with spinal extension, in fact the technique uses a systematic approach to determine what spinal positioning is most effective at reducing nerve compression by a herniated disc for a given individual.  The majority of cases d respond best to some variation of spinal extension, but not all McKenzie exercises involve extension - it depends on what the evaluation techniques suggest will be most effective. 

For piriformis syndrome, home treatment can best be accomplished by means of stretching and massage of the piriformis muscle.  One simple stretch can be done by bending the leg and pulling the knee toward the chest, then carefully stretching the knee towards the opposite side shoulder.  Stretching should be done slowly and with steady pressure, rather than “bouncing” the stretch which may actually increase muscle contraction.  Massage of the piriformis can be done by finding the area of tightness in the lower buttock area and pressing one’s knuckles into the contracted area with firm pressure, gradually increasing pressure as the tenderness decreases and the muscle relaxes.

 In addition to exercises, one of the best sciatica self treatment methods is the application of ice packs.  Cold packs are often more effective in reducing inflammation than prescription anti-inflammatory drugs, and work without the side effects commonly encountered with the medications.  To use ice, be sure to separate the cold pack from the skin with a thin towel or cloth to prevent skin irritation.  Because sciatica typically arises from nerve irritation in the lower spine, apply the ice pack on the low back, being sure to cover the area at least an inch below the beltline.  Use cold for about 15 to 20 minutes at a time.  You can re-apply ice as often as every one to two hours, just as long as the skin has returned to normal temperature before re-applying the cold pack. 

For additional sciatica information, please visit my SciaticaSelfCare.com website.  When you visit, you’ll receive a free ebook on home treatment tips, and a free video course to help you etter understand your condition and treatment options.

Dr. George Best is a holistic healthcare provider in San Antonio, Texas, and webmaster of SciaticaSelfCare.com. 

Click Here =>> for Your First Free Optimum Flexibility Exercise

- article submitted by independent contributor

Prevent Back Pain

Low back pain affects hundreds of thousands of people each year and nearly 80% of the population suffers from it at some point in their lifetime.While we may not be able to totally prevent back pain from occurring, there are things we can do to prevent some of the back pain and then aid recovery after it has occurred.

One of the reasons that many people experience the pain and discomfort of a low back injury is because of the change in lifestyle that has happened in the past decades.It’s well known that the standard Western diet has changed in the last fifty years, resulting in a higher incidence of obesity.Plus, lack of exercise and sitting at a desk all day increases the risk of lower back pain.

Preventing low back pain means taking positive action to improve your overall health as well as your back health.  It may seem obvious but the first thing to do to prevent injury or pain is to protect the back in your activities.  This means learning the correct ways of lifting, sitting and standing.  Sitting and standing in a slouched position increases the stress placed on the lower back and increases the probability of an injury.

Another side benefit of learning to sit and stand correctly is the reduced risk of having upper back pain.Poor posture is one of the main causes of upper back pain. Slouching forward places more strain on your back.Sitting straighter and walking in a more upright position will help relieve that pain.  This protects the back from top to bottom.

Learning how to lift things properly is important either at work or at home or wherever you must pick something up that is heavyi.  Each of those activities can lead to an injury.You might think your injury came from bending down, but the actual cause might be from years of bad posture and sleeping positions over the years

Exercise is also an important aspect to prevention of low back pain.  Proper exercises will help to improve the core muscles, strengthen the back and improve flexibility.  All of these benefits will help to decrease the risk of developing low back pain.  Strong and flexible muscles will protect the spinal column, decrease the risk of a herniated disc and improve your overall appearance.

Try to change your sleeping positions.  If you think about it you are in some of the same positions every night for between 5 and 8 hours.  That’s more time than you spend doing almost anything else.Avoid sleeping on your stomach as it puts stress on your lower back.Sleep on your side instead or on your back with your feet in a raised position.  Some individuals also find that sleeping with a small towel rolled up under their lower back is comfortable.

Women should wear low heeled shoes as they are easier on their back muscles.  While the occasional evening out in spike heels won’t cause consistent damage, women who wear high heels often find that it puts stress on the lower back and hips.

As was alluded in the first part, obesity also plays a role in the development of low back pain.  As people gain weight this places more and more strain on the back muscles to keep the body in alignment.  People who suffer from chronic back pain may find that just by losing 20 or 30 pounds they are able to reduce their pain and manage it without medications.

Another risk factor is osteoporosis.This particularly important in women but also can affect men as well.Smoking actually increases the chance of developing osteoporosis and sensitivity to pain.  Smoking will also decrease blood flow and the supply of oxygen to the spinal discs, a major factor in low back pain.

While most people will suffer from lower back pain at some point in their lives there are specific treatment protocols and methods of prevention that can help to speed the recovery process and reduce the risk of the problem happening again.

Click Here =>> for Your First Free Lower Back Stretching Exercise

- article submitted by independent contributor

Chances are that at some point in your life, you’ll experience back pain. And probably the first thing you’ll do is reach for some pain killers. But medication, although frequently useful, can also have some drawbacks. Medication is certainly needed if you’re in a lot of pain. Muscle relaxants can be effective at calming muscle spasms in your back.

But the drawback to using these kinds of medication is that they don’t actually heal the condition. It just masks your discomfort sufficiently to help you get through the day. If you don’t truly fix the problem, your back pain could continue to cause you problems for some time to come.

The good news is that there’s another way to manage your back pain. It can be much more effective than pills. The key is that you must be dedicated to using it on an ongoing basis. Also, you have to give it some time before you start seeing results. So what exactly is this magic cure? It’s a simple thing known as stretching exercises.

There are lots of good reasons to use stretching exercises to manage your back pain. First of all, it’s an all natural way to deal with the problem. You won’t have the need for continuous medication or various treatments to ease your pain. Because it’s all natural, you won’t experience any harmful side effects. This can certainly happen with some medications. Just make sure you’re doing the stretches properly or you’ll end up with further injuries.

Another advantage of using stretching exercises to treat your back pain is it can help prevent future problems. It’s unlikely that any medication can make that claim. Your core muscles are strengthened through regular stretching. So you’re ensuring that your body can handle the demands you place on it every day.

Your muscle flexibility will be greatly improved. So they will be prepared to perform well whenever you need them. Limber muscles are particularly important when you trip or lose your balance, because they’ll help to stabilize you.

It’s not just your back that benefits from stretching. The benefits extend throughout your body. By incorporating a stretching routine into your day, you improve your fitness. This gives your cardiovascular system a health boost. It also strengthens your immune system, so you won’t catch every bug that goes around.

It’s to your benefit to regularly perform stretching exercises. They not only help your back, they can keep your entire body healthy and fit.

Click Here =>> for Your First Free Optimum Flexibility Stretching Exercise

- article submitted by independent contributor

LOWER BACK MUSCLE PAIN - AN INTRODUCTION

Many musculoskeletal problems are often easily diagnosed and successfully treated, unfortunately lower back pain is not one of them. Causes of lower back pain can be elusive, leading to incorrect diagnosis and then wrong treatment.

PAIN AND WHAT IT TELLS YOU

“Pain is a signal something is wrong.”

It the lower back muscle pain is short lasting and mild it may be nothing to worry about, on the other side if it severe and lasts for a few days up to a week or more, you body is most likely trying to tell you something is wrong. Not listening to your body’s signals can aggravate problems, extending the duration of lower back muscle pain, often for unnecessary durations.

General guides as to when to refer to a doctor are:

If the pain is severe

If there is swelling

If you hear a cracking or snapping at the time of the injury

If you cannot perform your normal day to day duties

If there is nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, paralysis, weakness or disturbed function following an accident or injury.

If the pain continues beyond 7-10 days.1

WHAT IS LOW BACK PAIN?

Lower back painaffects the muscles in the lower part of the back. It can be described as:

· Acute if it is less than 6 weeks

· Sub-acute if it 6-12 weeks

· Chronic if it is more than 12 weeks

Many people have suffered from low back pain, costing millions in lost work as well as medical and insurance resources. Lower back muscle pain is one of the most common back complaints and effects four out of five people at some point in their lives. Although most lower back pain will sort itself out within a few days to a few weeks.

LOW BACK PAIN – AMERICAN STATISTICS

·      80% of society will suffer back pain of some type

Lower back pain

·      88% will be asymptomatic in 6 weeks

·      98% in 24 weeks

·      99% in 52 weeks

·      97% of causes are unknown

·      2% attributed to disc problems

·      29% will require conservative treatment only

·      1% will require surgery

·      The rest will recover spontaneously2

RISK FACTORS – LOWER BACK PAIN

Postural deformities and leg length, in general, don’t seem to predispose to lower back pain. Studies of static work postures indicate an increased risk of lower back muscle pain sitting with a bent over working posture seems to carry significant risk, for example sitting in a car for more than half a work day can lead to three times the risk of disc herniation.3

·      Physically heavy, static work postures

·      Frequent bending and twisting, lifting and forceful movements

·      Repetitive work and vibrations

·      Tallness leads to increased risk

·      Sciatica is more frequent in obese people

·      Weak trunk muscles and decreased endurance

·      Coughing – leading to decreased blood supply to essential areas

·      Social factors i.e alcoholism, history of divorce, level of education, history of depression.4

SYMPTOMS OF LOWER BACK PAIN

Low back pain means a pain or ache somewhere between the bottom of the ribs at the back and the top of the legs. That may begin suddenly or follow obvious strain or injury or it can come ‘out of the blue’.

It is possible that pain may also travel for example down the buttocks to the foot. It can be worse bending and is often much worse when sitting. Agonizing pain can be experienced when rolling over in bed or sitting up. Coughing or sneezing may aggravate the pain. Back muscles can also go into painful spasms.

Lower back muscle pain may be combined with pain in the leg traveling down the knee. This is otherwise called sciatica, because the main nerve in the leg, the sciatica nerve, is being irritated by pressure on it..

If in doubt consult your doctor, chiropractor, physiotherapist an osteopath or myotherapist.

GUIDELINES

The first thing to rule out is other obvious conditions which may cause back pain. You really need to be on the watch out for ‘red flags’ or warning signs, which are factors that may require more rapid treatment. They may point to something more serious than a mechanical problem. If any number of these apply to you please see your doctor.

·      You are younger than 2o when you first get back pain

·      You are older than 55 when you first get back pain

·      The pain follows a violent injury

·      The pain is constant and getting worse

·      You have had or have cancer

·      You are on steroids

·      You are drug abuser

·      You have HIV

·      You are generally unwell

·      You have significant and unexplained weight loss

·      You have significant trouble bending forward over a period of time

·      You have developed nervous system problems – numbness, loss of power etc

·      You have developed an obvious structural deformities

·      If the pain continues over 4 weeks

CONCLUSION

If you are concerned about lower back muscle pain please consult your health care practitioner or doctor. To find out more information please visit  YourBackHealth.com

1 Listen to Your Pain. B, Benjamin. Penguin Books. P6

2 Ibid

3 Ibid P543

4 Ibid P544

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Back Pain ‘Cure’: Back Pain Reduction with Stretches for Back Muscles

A lot of my success in working with golfers, athletes - and “everyday, regular people” is directly related to the emphasis I place on proper stretching exercise programs - as part of an overall fitness regimen.

So often, whether through a one-on-one training experience with me - or by the use of my Optimum Flexibility DVDs - my clients make statements such as… “I’ve had these pains for years - and now they’re gone!” …or, “This is like a miracle, I’ve tried everything you can imagine - but nothing worked. A few weeks after doing your stretches, I’m like a new person.”

Well, truth be told - this is no miracle, although I won’t argue with the people who claim they’ve had a miraculous experience. I know what it’s like to live with back pain, as I have overcome my own back ailments which resulted from a highway car accident in 1995.

I stretch just about every day - usually at night when the house is quiet and everyone is asleep. I take out my mat, lay it on the ground and go through my full body stretching routine. Then I get up - sit on my 55cm ball, lay all the way back - and then go through a series of stretches on the exercise ball.

This simple routine is what I attribute my own back pain cure to.

But it does much more than that…

It can boost your energy if you do it in the morning.

It can relax you in the evening if you do it right before bed (and you sleep better).

And it makes the rest of your life more enjoyable and ‘livable’ - as you can ‘perform’ better - and be pain free.

The only thing I regret is that I didn’t start stretching until I reached my early 30’s. But - as I always say… “As long as you are still alive - it’s never too late to start.”

Your trainer for life - your trainer forever,

Joey Atlas

Dangerous Stretching: The Wrong Stretches Can Do You Harm

I’m always on the lookout for dangerous fitness advice, so I can
advise my clients and subscribers before they come across the
potentially harmful information…

Here’s a paragraph from an article I found that, for sure, will
cause some people some pain and possible injury. This is one of
the biggest problems on the web - Most people can’t tell what is
trash info or dangerous advice:
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“Let’s first discuss stretching the upper back. Stretching exercises for back pain depend on where the pain originates or is located because sometimes lower back exercises may exacerbate the upper back. For upper back pain, sometimes it is actually the neck where the pain originates from so neck stretches should help.”

“These types of stretching exercises for back pain start with you standing with both feet flat on the floor with your head forward and knees gently bent. Slowly, you move your head down so your chin touches the chest and then move your neck slowly from the left to the right before returning to the original position.”

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Additionally there were no photos - and no professional entity
attached to this bad advice…

So, always keep in mind when surfing the ‘net for
advice or ‘how to’ info - always verify/check the source…

And if you are still in need of a properly designed, safe,
efficient and effective - home stretching exercise program
then go here and get yours today at:

http://www.OptimumFlexibility.com/main-stretching/
- Read the whole page - because the 50% Off Pre-Holiday
Discount Offer ends in the next day or so and…
– You’ll never find a program like this for so cheap. I do
this because it’s my genuine passion to help people EXACTLY
like you…

See you on that page…

Your trainer for life - your trainer forever,

Joey Atlas
Author of Amazon Bestseller:
Fatness to Fitness - at www.YourFitnessBook.com
Order it on Amazon today for less than $15 & get almost
$300 worth of great home fitness materials for regular
people with busy careers and families…
- NOT gym rats or obsessed fitness bunnies…

Exercise and Back Pain: Are Your Workouts Causing a Bad Back?

____________________________________________________________________________________

Sometimes, even the best stretching and flexibility program can’t prevent the damage of a faulty and improper exercise program…

Do you remember the old adage, “People like to do what they are good at and comfortable with”? Are you living that old adage at the gym? Most people do. They have a set routine at the gym and it’s that routine coupled with the mechanics of the equipment that can lead to trouble–either very quickly or over time.

Here is the problem. Working out can lead to injury, no question. The challenge is in knowing how it can happen and how to prevent it. There are two basic categories of injuries: the sudden accident (a.k.a. trauma) and what can be described as the Process Injury (in other words, the long, slow development of a condition.) My goal is to protect you from both types of injury.

Painful Injury at the Health Club

Let’s start with the five basic concepts of exercise in order to show you how easy it is to injure yourself in a traumatic way.

• Intensity: How hard you work out.
• Frequency: How often you work out.
• Duration: How long you work out.
• Progressive Resistance: Using more resistance with each set you perform.
• Progressive Overload: Starting at a higher level of resistance at subsequent workouts.

Each one of these principles has the ability to cause injury. But when you couple them with having a trainer or workout partner egging you on to eek out one more rep as you get fatigued, you go into all kinds of contorted positions to get the job done.

All of a sudden, Wham-O! A hundred different injuries can happen. And they will take a long time to heal. You will have defeated the entire purpose of going to the gym in the first place.

Please understand that the body can tolerate a lot of abuse before you pay the penalty of an injury. Just know that injuries can happen in seconds and the effects can last a lifetime.

Injuries are a Process

Traumatic injuries do happen. But more often it is the slow progression injuries that are far more sinister and very well may be the root cause of some traumatic injuries. So I would like to focus on what happens over the long term so that you can make a change now to prevent injuries.

I have spent the last 10 years of my life dealing specifically with what are called muscle imbalances and their effects on the back and body. In describing the concept I will use some examples and try to make you aware of what possible injuries you could be facing.

Let me begin by describing what muscle imbalances are and then give you an example. Muscle imbalance can be defined as strength and flexibility of one muscle group compared to the opposite muscle group. So if you compare the strength and flexibility of the quadriceps to the opposite muscle group, the hamstrings, in nine out of 10 people the quads will be overly strong and overly tight compared to the hamstrings. That’s the definition of having a muscle imbalance.

The Reason Why Back and Body Injures Start

The quads are always going to be stronger then the hamstrings, so you may be wondering what is wrong with that. Let me give you some possible examples of what can happen if your quads are out of balance with your hamstrings. As I give this example, understand that there are other imbalances that often happen at the same time to develop this condition. For example, the hip flexors and the glutes can be out of balance too.

When the quads are out of balance with the hamstrings, there can be uneven and excessive wear and tear on the cartilage and ligaments of the knee. The knee will not function correctly and conditions will develop to the point were running or physical activity will be impossible.

Second, balance between the quads and the hamstrings keep the pelvis in a neutral and stable position. But when you have overly strong and overly tight quads, your pelvis will be pulled in several different directions. In some cases the whole pelvis is pulled excessively forward. In other cases one side of the pelvis comes even more forward and the hip goes too high, causing the pelvis to rotate. This is very common in physically active women over 40.

When the pelvis is not in the most neutral and most stable position possible, the spine may go into abnormal curvature. It is that abnormal curvature caused by the muscle imbalance that can set you up for hip problems, SI joint problems, back problems and sciatica.

Why Does This Happen?

The very equipment you are using at the gym is either directly or indirectly helping you develop your muscle imbalances and setting you up for future problems.

Some examples… You cannot help but develop raw quad strength when you use the leg extension machine. As I asked you before, do you stick to exercises that you like to do? Let’s face it, everyone hates to work the hamstrings because they are weak and it is hard to do. So most people overwork their quads and under-work their hamstrings.

Another example is the calf raise machine. Again, the calf muscle will always be stronger then the muscles in front of the shin, but when you blast your calves and do not work the muscles in the front of the shin you are setting yourself up for planter fasciitis, heel spurs, Achilles tendonitis and even knee problems.

Let’s recap. Working out with gym equipment puts enormous unnatural force through the joint, restricts movements to linear motions and can very easily overdevelop muscle groups. This combined with the development to muscle imbalances—is a hidden root cause of most if not all physical injuries at the gym.

Four Action Steps

As with any new desire to make a change in your life, you must first have a starting point. There is no easier way to get started then to take an inventory of where you are right now. It will not help you at all to make subjective assessments about yourself and not be honest, so I have a few suggestions:

• Take photos of yourself. I would not always recommend this. But in cases were your health and wellness are at stake, why not? Here is what you can do. Put on a bathing suit and have someone take photos, front, back and both sides, making sure that you see head to toe. Then take a look–not with a judging eye but a caring eye, looking for areas that are not in balance. For example, is your head straight? Is your head over your shoulders or is it forward of your shoulders? Are your shoulders level? What about your hips, are they level? (Look at your side view and suit line as a guide.)

Those are just some of the areas that you can gauge yourself on. You can also use the photos as a reference of how you are now so you can look back at how you were then.

• Feel the pain. The best way to assess pain is by asking yourself how you feel in the morning, during the day and at night. With this one you will need to be honest with yourself, and I suggest that you write this down. You can even mark up the photos you took by writing on them at the body part or parts where you feel pain.

• Listen to your body. If you are working out and you feel a little something and you’re not quite sure what it is, rest assured it’s your body telling you it does not like what you are doing to it.

• Build your awareness. If you live with fear, worry or doubt about your weight, health or medical condition, the best way to overcome that it is to build your knowledge on the subject. Study what others already know. And remember to always stay enthusiastic about the process. That is the secret to achieving your goals.

If you do not mind I would like to end with a short story of a one of my clients. She is a 43-year-old professional with a desk job. One day she decided that she was going to lose 20 pounds by summer. So she joined the gym, where she took a spinning class, used weights and at the same time trained for a 6K run on Memorial Day. She did this for about four months. Fast-forward to race day. She starts the race and within the first mile she knows she is in trouble. But she decides to finish the race because the pain is not that bad.

I get a call that night. She tells me that she cannot walk and asks if massage would help. I go over that same night. When I get there she is on crutches. She cannot walk. She has foot pain, knee pain and the effects of Piriformis irritation. I agree to work with her and only do what she can tolerate. I then urge her to see a doctor. On Monday morning, she does.

At the appointment she was diagnosed with a bone spur in her heel, a stress fracture on her tibia by the knee and wicked Piriformis Syndrome. As I write this, two months later, she still has not been able to return to any physical activity.

Tune In and Listen to your body. It could be telling you something…

Steve Hefferon is a Certified Massage Therapist, Certified Post-Rehab Specialist and Co-Founder of the Healthy Back Institute. His work has helped thousands of people diagnose and address the root cause of their back and body pain by identifying simple muscle imbalances that pull the back and body out of proper alignment and function. Click here => http://www.EasyBackPainFix.com to read your FREE ‘Back Pain Relief Guide’ and to learn more about Steve and The Healthy Back Institute.

Stretching for Flexibility, Fitness and Quality of Life

I came across this article recently and thought it would be good to share with you for 2 reasons.

1 - It makes some very points that are in line with my philosophy on stretching and fitness.

2 - There are some points that I would approach and advise people on in a different manner. I will address those in the next article…

Here it is - as printed from The Oregonian - ‘Fitness on a Budget’, June 18th:

The most neglected component of fitness is stretching. As you learned in today’s cover story, meditation offers huge benefits, and during stretching it’s really easy to get into a meditative state.

Unfortunately, most people either don’t stretch correctly and long enough, or they skip it altogether. For people who are tight, stretching can be painful — their muscles shake, and they usually can’t wait to release the stretch. It’s easy to see why they eliminate stretching from their workout.

After working in the fitness industry and training clients for more than 20 years, we’ve come up with a system that has even our most rigid, tight, “can’t touch their toes” clients enjoying their stretching segments. We’ve found that if we can make a stretch comfortable enough that clients don’t even realize they’re stretching, they will often hold it long enough to allow the muscles to lengthen.

For this reason, we’ve found wall stretches to be most successful. While clients stretch, their back is in its neutral position, which is comfortable, and they don’t have to use their muscles to support it. Instead, they can relax and focus into the stretch. Or read or watch TV, which can increase the length of time they hold any stretch.

Our clients find these stretching segments so enjoyable that they hold stretches longer than they ever have and now stretch every day. They would have never dreamed of stretching this much before!

Sample wall stretches

Hamstring: Lie on your back with your legs against the wall, heels toward the ceiling. Find a position where you feel a light stretch in the back of your thighs. To make the stretch more intense, move your buttocks closer to the wall; to make it less intense, move your buttocks farther from the wall. Hold for as long as you feel comfortable. Try to relax and breathe into the stretch. Feel free to read or watch TV.

Hips and back: Start with your legs in the hamstring stretch position. Slowly let both legs fall to one side until they are resting comfortably on the floor. (If you’re tight, it’s OK to have the legs suspended above the floor.) Bend the bottom leg and keep the top leg straight. Try to feel this stretch through your hips and lightly through your back.

Adductors: Start with your legs in the hamstring stretch position. Slowly separate your legs into a V-position until you feel a light stretch through your groin area.

Glutes: Move about a foot from the wall. Position one leg so the bottom of the foot is in contact with the wall and the knee is at 90 degrees. Cross the other leg over so the ankle is resting on the thigh. To make the stretch less intense, move your buttocks farther from the wall. To make the stretch more intense, move your buttocks closer to the wall, or lightly press the crossed leg away.

Remember to hold each stretch for at least 30 seconds. This is when the real stretching begins, so holding a stretch for anything less than 30 seconds will not increase flexibility. And remember that light stretching is much better than deep, painful stretching.
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Not a bad article - but again there are some points I will address a bit differently in the next article - stay tuned…

Your trainer,

Now - keep in mind, this site hasn’t been fully ‘adjusted’ yet - so you may see some weird things or ‘empty’ pages - but we are working hard on this site and all the others (plus a few new ones).

Lots of people emailing us about my book - due out very soon…

I appreciate the level of enthusiasm and interest from everyone and I want to share some of the behind the scenes stuff with you as we get closer to releasing the book - so here you’ll find a preview of the front cover:

book-cover-preview.pdf

The video clip on the Home page is the clip that we shot for the beginning of the Professional Remake of the Ultimate Leg, Butt, Hip and Thigh Makeover DVDs - and many people sent in feedback about how that would make a great piece for the public to have access to - so they can get to know ‘Joey’ a bit better than just seeing some photos or readings articles, etc…

Here is one cool feature (several more are being worked on as we speak) that will help you stay in touch and spread the word about new articles that I post not just this site but all of the new Joey Atlas sites. See the little ‘Share This’ below? Click on it and you’ll have options to bookmark and share this on the social networking sites - and you can also use the other tab - to simply send a link to this page via email to anyone you wish.

And in the name of ‘branding’ - here is sneak preview of the official Joey Atlas logo:

Ok - thats it for now - but stay tuned - some incredible happenings are just ahead.

Don’t Be Like Everybody Else…

Be Fit!

PS - before you go - please take a minute, click on the ‘comments’ button below and leave us a message, tell us what you think, etc… - we’ll be reading all of them.

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