Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
5 Exercises You're Doing Wrong
5 Exercises You're Doing Wrong
The most common fitness mistakes and how to fix them.
- Faye Brennan, BettyConfidential.com
We all know you can’t see results instantly from working out. But if you’ve been going to the gym consistently and are still not noticing results, odds are you may be doing something wrong.
California trainer Kristin Anderson says that many people do exercises incorrectly, either because they are rushing to get through them or they aren’t checking their form. This can lead to muscle strain, injury, and worst of all, a futile workout. If you want your time spent in the gym to be as effective as possible, make sure you’re doing the following five moves correctly:
Push-ups. A push-up is a basic yet highly effective exercise in which you hold your body up parallel to the floor, and then slowly lower towards the ground, then push yourself back up. It can be done with your legs straight or with your knees on the floor.
Incorrect form: If you tuck your chin under so that your forehead is the first thing to touch the ground, you are doing a push-up wrong. “This puts intense strain on your small neck muscles, which can lead to terrible headaches, upper back and shoulder injuries,” says Kristin.Also watch out if you flop to the ground instead of slowly lowering yourself, if your back starts to sag, or if you lift your chin to try and pull yourself back up from the floor. Kristin says these moves can lead to chronic lower back pain and neck pain.
How to fix: Think of your body as one long wooden board. A board doesn’t bend, and neither should you. “Your gaze should be 12 inches in front of your hands on the floor,” says Kristin. “This keeps your neck in a straight line with the rest of your body. You should feel like you are one solid piece coming up from the floor and not like one part of your body is coming up first.”
Forearm Plank. This is one of the most effective total body exercises; you hold yourself up in a plank position parallel to the floor, with everything from your head to your feet perfectly straight. There should be no sagging, and your whole body should be pulled in tight.
Incorrect form: You can tell that you are doing the forearm plank incorrectly if you feel your hips sagging or your chest sinking to the floor. “This will hurt your lower back and shoulder joints instead of strengthening them,” says Kristin. “You also won’t be getting the entire super slimming benefits.”
How to fix: Do your forearm planks next to a mirror. “Visually adjust your position, then look away from the mirror and start to ‘feel’ what good form feels like,” says Kristin. If you don’t have a mirror, Kristin suggests “scanning” your entire body from head to toe, asking yourself where each part of your body is and if it’s straight and tight.
Squats. To do a squat, stand with your feet slightly turned out and shoulder width apart. Push your hips back and lower yourself down so that your thighs are parallel to the floor, as if you’re sitting down on a chair. Your torso should stay tall and straight. With your weight in your heels, push against the floor to return to a standing position.
Incorrect form: Your shoulders and torso should not cave forward when doing squats. Also, you should not have all of your body weight in your toes and your knees should not buckle inwards. “Squats in this poor form are a wasted effort,” says Kristin. “Long-term damage includes knee injury, low back strain and reinforced poor posture. Who wants that?”
How to fix: “Keep your shoulders set in the middle of your back and your abs tight – you will have a beautiful and effective upper body squat position,” Kristin says. Next, make sure that most of your body weight is in your heels. “This will ensure that your knees and legs are in the correct position, and then you will be getting the full benefit of squats.”
Incorrect form: Kristin says most people speed through their lunges. Rushing can cause your torso to lose its straight posture and your knee to come too far over your front toes. Feeling off balance can also cause the same poor form. “Done incorrectly, lunges can cause serious damage to your knees. You’re also missing out on the super sexy legs that lunges done correctly can give you,” says Kristin.
How to fix: As when doing a forearm plank, check your lunge posture in a mirror and adjust it accordingly. Kristin suggests doing each lunge much more slowly to ensure you keep your balance and that you are pushing yourself back to a standing position with your front heel.
Ab exercises. Whether it’s crunches or some Pilates move, ab exercises work your core muscles by constantly keeping them engaged and contracted. The most common ab workout, a crunch, is when you lie with your back on the floor, knees bent, and use your ab muscles to pull your torso up to your knees and lower yourself down again.
Incorrect form: Many people tend to believe that they are doing an effective ab workout if they do as many reps as fast as they can, but this is not true. “You wind up using momentum from flinging your body up and down,” says Kristin, “totally disengaging from your stomach muscles.” She says poorly performed ab exercises are the number one reason for lower back pain caused by exercise.
How to fix: If you feel strain in other parts of your body besides your abs when doing core work, then slow down and focus on using only your ab muscles. “Pull your belly button in and up as if it were hiding behind your ribcage,” says Kristin. “Hold it there throughout the duration of your movements and rest when you can’t maintain this position anymore.”
Kristin demonstrates how to do all of these exercises and more correctly in her fitness iPhone/iPod Touch app called the M-Train ($1.99, m-train.com).
Always check with your doctor before starting an exercise program.
Faye Brennan is assistant editor at BettyConfidential.
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The number one way to improve your memory
The number one way to improve your memory www.behealthconscious.webs.com
(Image by Think Stock Photo)
In fact, there’s only one practice that’s been proven, without question, to preserve your memory: exercise. "Aerobic activities tend to show larger effects than non-aerobic activities," University of Pittsburgh psychologist Kirk Erickson tells Yahoo.
Working up a sweat helps your mind stay fit better than any crossword puzzle--unless you're doing that crossword on a treadmill.
[Related: 18 memory tricks you need to know]
[Photos: First photographs of 'ghosts']
The good news is that you don’t need to run a marathon. Just walking six miles a week can ward off memory disorders caused by aging, according to Erickson's research published this month in the medical journalNeurology. "It appears that if people start exercising their memory may improve and if you continue to exercise, that might delay, or offset, the age-related decline in memory," he explains.
And you don't need to lift any heavy barbells either. Erickson and his team monitored 300 senior adults over a period of 13 years, and found that those who walked between 6 and 9 miles a week—whether to work or with the dog--had half the brain deterioration of those who didn’t. "Exercise seems to enhance some of the more fundamental properties of our brain," Erickson explains. "It increases the growth of new cells and improves cellular processes associated with learning and memory." To put it simply, walking keeps your gray matter from shrinking. And the more matter, the more mind.
Another study published earlier this year suggests exercise can actually help your brain grow. A moderate workout may generate new brain cells. And not just any brain cells, but cells that specifically help to distinguish between memories, so each recollection stands out. It’s the kind of function you rely on every day, says Tim Bussey, one of the authors of the Cambridge University study. "[These cells help with] remembering which car parking space you have used on two different days in the previous week."
But exercise isn't the only way to keep tabs on your parking spot. There are some supplemental practices that doctors recommend in addition to a regular walk-a-thon. Diets rich in Omega fatty acids are instrumental in keeping your brain from aging. Two servings of salmon a week, provides ingredients that support brain tissue and enhance nerve cell function. Balancing fish with the other elements of a Mediterranean diet, like fruits and vegetables, has been found to lower the chances of cognitive decline. When it comes to memory retrieval, self-testing can be beneficial. In other words, pausing between paragraphs of an article and asking yourself to paraphrase the information, or repeat a fact. It can't hurt if that article is written in another language. Bilingualism, says one new study, helps ward off Alzheimer’s for up to four years. But it doesn't prevent the disease altogether. Your best bet: Walk it off.
Other popular stories on Yahoo!:• The most (and least) reliable cars
• Best small cities to raise a family
• America's most unfriendly airlines
• Best small cities to raise a family
• America's most unfriendly airlines
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
HHSGov: On Oct 28, HHS is hosting its second "Career Day" for people & veterans with targeted disabilities. Learn more: http://bit.ly/9nqX2q
Monday, October 25, 2010
Top 10 Stress Relievers: The Best Ways To Feel Better
www.behealthconscious.webs.com
From a trusted friend of behealthconscious, Elizabeth Scott
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board
There are many ways to reduce tension and relax. Here are the ten stress relievers I believe are most effective for the amount of work and time involved. Some can be learned in the time it takes to read this page, while others take a little more practice, but there's something here for everyone!
1. Breathing Exercises
Deep breathing is an easy stress reliever that has numerous benefits for the body, including oxygenating the blood, which ‘wakes up’ the brain, relaxing muscles and quieting the mind. Breathing exercises are especially helpful because you can do them anywhere, and they work quickly so you can de-stress in a flash. The Karate Breathing Meditation is a great exercise to start with, and this basic breathing exercise can be done anywhere!2. Meditation
Meditation builds on deep breathing, and takes it a step further. When you meditate, your brain enters an area of functioning that’s similar to sleep, but carries some added benefits you can’t achieve as well in any other state, including the release of certain hormones that promote health. Also, the mental focus on nothingness keeps your mind from working overtime and increasing your stress level. Here's an article on different types of meditationto help you get started.It takes slightly more time to practice guided imagery, but this is a great way to leave your stress behind for a while and relax your body. Some find it easier to practice than meditation, as lots of us find it more doable to focus on ‘something’ than on ‘nothing’. You can play natural sounds in the background as you practice, to promote a more immersive experience.
4. Visualizations
Building on guided imagery, you can also imagine yourself achieving goals like becoming healthier and more relaxed, doing well at tasks, and handling conflict in better ways. Also, visualizing yourself doing well on tasks you’re trying to master actually functions like physical practice, so you can improve your performance through visualizations as well!5. Self-hypnosis
Self-hypnosis incorporates some of the features of guided imagery and visualizations, with the added benefit of enabling you to communicate directly you’re your subconscious mind to enhance your abilities, more easily give up bad habits, feel less pain, more effectively develop healthier habits, and even find answers to questions that may not be clear to your waking mind! It takes some practice and training, but is well worth it. Learn more about using hypnosis to manage stress in your life.6. Exercise
Many people exercise to control weight and get in better physical condition to become more healthy or physically attractive, but exercise and stress management are also closely linked. Exercise provides a distraction from stressful situations, as well as an outlet for frustrations, and gives you a lift via endorphins as well. This article can tell you more about the stress management benefits of exercise, and help you get more active in your daily life.7. Progressive Muscle Relaxation
By tensing and relaxing all the muscle groups in your body, you can relieve tension and feel much more relaxed in minutes, with no special training or equipment. Start by tensing all the muscles in your face, holding a tight grimace ten seconds, then completely relaxing for ten seconds. Repeat this with your neck, followed by your shoulders, etc. You can do this anywhere, and as you practice, you will find you can relax more quickly and easily, reducing tension as quickly as it starts!8. Sex
You probably already know that sex is a great tension reliever, but have you officially thought of it as a stress-relieving practice? Perhaps you should. The physical benefits of sex are numerous, and most of them work very well toward relieving stress. Sadly, many people have less sex when their stress levels are high. Learn how to avoid this trap!10. Yoga is one of the oldest self-improvement practices around, dating back over 5 thousand years! It combines the practices of several other stress management techniques such as breathing, meditation, imagery and movement, giving you a lot of benefit for the amount of time and energy required. Learn more about how to manage stress with yoga.
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