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Category: General Info
The impact of stretching on the body is amazing. Who would think that moving your body into a position and holding it could have such a big impact. It requires virtually no effort which sounds appealing right?
It is an expectation that all my clients include stretching when doing their programs. In fact I write it in their program books as a must and go through all stretches to make sure it’s drummed into them. Why? Because when you exercise your muscles contract and shorten, if you do not stretch out and lengthen those muscles then you are going to stiffen up and reduce your flexibility.
Why does that matter? When you have limited flexibility it restricts movement patterns, think about squatting, getting up off the floor, sitting on the toilet, reaching your arms above your head, bending over to pick something up, walking properly… yep, all these things and many more are affected by your flexibility.
Want the good news? It is actually one of the easiest things to improve compared to fitness and strength! Consistency is key, by consistantly stretching you will notice a difference in your range of motion (ROM) your posture and freedom of movement. You can also improve it at any age, so no excuses for those in the upper range of the age scale.
Below I have included basic full body stretches. I recommend all of them but if you’re lacking time focus on the tigher areas. For a lot of people this usually includes the hamstrings/glutes/hip flexors and backs, especially for office workers. Ensure you stretch after every workout, always do your static stretches on warm muscles.
Stretches
To be done after every workout. Make sure you don’t stretch cold, do not bounce or drop into stretches, ease into them. Hold each stretch for 20-30seconds. Repeat 1-2 times.
Quadriceps
• In a standing position pick up your foot and bring it towards you bum
• Keep knees close together, pelvis forward standing up straight
• To target different sections change direction of foot to outside and towards the body
Calves
• Soleus – place half the length of one foot against a wall, then proceed to lean body forward with leg straight for desired intensity
• Gastroc – hands on wall or rail, take big step back with one foot, keep back heel on floor and leg straight, step far enough away to feel a stretch down the lower half of your leg
Hip flexor
• Kneeling down take big step forward with one foot, keep leg at 90degree angle
• Ease pelvis forward tucking the glute in, straight back, chest up
• For more intensity rotate body toward knee with arms outstretched
Hamstrings
• From hip floxor stretch position straighten front leg
• Bend over easing bodyweight over the leg
• You control intensity by how low you hover over the front leg
Glute Maximus
• Lying down on your back
• Bring one knee into your chest as far as you can
• One hand continues to hug the knee the other holds the ankle, angling it in towards the chest
• Play around with the angle until you feel a stretch right across the backside area
Piraformus
• One leg bent, foot on flat on floor
• Place opp ankle on knee
• One hand holds ankle the other pushes the knee towards the ground
Lower back
• Lying on your back legs bent, arms outstretched in line with shoulder
• Take your knees and drop them over to one side
• Turn your head and look the opposite way
• Lengthen top leg and angle it until you feel a nice twist in your back
QL (quadratus lumborum, lower side of back)
• Sitting on floor, one leg straight, other bent in foot resting against inner thigh
• With opposite hand pick up knee and angle it towards the body
• Other arm (knee side) forms a C shape reaching over the body
• Play around with angle until you can feel it in lower back region
Latissimus dorsi
• Holding onto a rail with both hands, feet hip width apart
• Lower yourself back until you are almost in a squatting position, sit your weight in your hips
• Play around with the angle until you feel it stretching and lengthening your back
Shoulders
• Straighten one arm and cross your it over your chest straight
• With opposite arm, fold up around arm pulling it away from the body
Chest (pec major + minor)
• Stand next to a pole or corner of a wall, place arm 90degrees flat
• Feet are slightly turned out
• Proceed to rotate your body away from the wall until you feel a stretch along your chest
Triceps
• take one arm up straight above head
• fold at elbow down to reach back
• With opposite hand pull elbow slightly to opposite side of body
Upper trapezeus
• Stand with one arm straight palm flexed straight, other hand placed lightly on side of head
• Gently pull head in opposite direction whilst lowering shoulder to towards the ground
To see photos for the above stretches, check out our static stretches section via the drop down exercise menu on our homepage
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This mother’s day was particularly special. I had a great group of people join me for the Mother’s day Classic which is a fun run/walk to raise money for breast cancer.
I felt so proud and happy for all my clients, friends and family who joined in for the event. It was a great morning, great atmosphere and we helped raise money for a great cause.
It’s a great feeling setting a goal and achieving it. Nothing beats the feeling as you cross the finish line – except that big drink of water you have right after it 🙂
Well done to everyone, you should be proud of yourself! 🙂
Check out some of the photos from the day here.
Number 2. Seated lower back twist
This is a nice easy and subtle stretch you can do at your desk. If done properly you should feel a nice stretch all the way up your spine, which feels amazing if you’ve been in a fixed position at your desk.
1. Sit up nice and tall in your chair, feet flat on the floor
2. Keeping your hips still, twist your torso to one side as far as your range of motion allows, place hand to steady yourself on either arm rests of the base of the base of chair.
3. Ensure you are keeping your good posture throughout stretch. Keep your neck in line with your spine.
4. Take a deep breath in and on your slow exhale try gently to twist deeper into your stretch. Do not force the stretch.
5. Hold for approx 3 slow breaths then release and repeat on other side.
Keep moving people and keep your body mobile and happy!! 🙂
When a new season of Biggest Loser comes to air I know i’m in for two things. 1. Lot’s of questions from clients 2. Some new clients
Now I’m not one for controversy, this post is not to slam the show at all. I think there are both positives and negatives to the show and hopefully viewers are affected by the positives. I just want to discuss a few things that usually get asked and hopefully clear up any confusions or misconceptions.
I used to watch the Biggest Loser when it first started, I oohed and ahhed at the weight loss each week and even though watching the show usually made me hungry I was still inspired. I think motivation is probably the best thing to come out of that show. Without fail during every season I would get asked lots of questions by clients and gym goers and the gym would always see an influx of new clientele inspired by the show.
But then reality set in. Clients who were disgruntled they werent achieving the same results as contestants got demotivated and those new clientele quickly dropped off as they realised the work involved.
Here are my issues… The show is built for entertainment. They only show the big dramatic and often dangerous workouts or challenges that impress and amaze audiences. I look at these people who are in heart attack territory pulling a plane and I wonder how on earth they are not exploding from the strain. The show would not draw in the same audiences if you saw the trainers giving them safe boring workouts and all the stablising and structural integrity work contestants would need and i’m sure the trainers give them. It just doesn’t make for good TV.
Viewers see the contestants in a half hour show and at the end of the week dropping significant and dare I say sometimes ridiculous amounts of weight. Well here’s the thing, these people are in a 24 hour facility, I don’t know about you but most people don’t have 8 hours a day to exercise. Another thing, the weigh ins aren’t weekly, contestants have a bit more than a week to drop that weight.
The weight loss being represented is dramatic and unrealistic. The weigh in I just watched showed a man (given he was 240 odd kilos) shed 12.4kgs in a ‘week’. It worries me that people see that and think it’s ok. This is not ok people and does not represent a realistic achievment for the average viewer.
When you lose weight too fast your body can’t handle it, in fact it releases toxins into the body. This can lead to problems. Anyone hear of the past contestants who have had kidney failure, needed gall bladders out? Not to mention the injuries sustained during training? Losing a great deal of weight too quickly, although desireable, is not safe for the body.
I have to say I actually miss the old version of the Biggest Loser, where we saw what contestants were eating and we learnt with them what foods were good and ideas of how to make lifestyle changes. Now sadly it seems that format has been replaced by pure ‘game’ playing and bigger than big fitness challenges.
Ok that seems like a bit of a rant, so here is something positive. I like the fact that The Biggest Loser is a motivator. It reaches people who look at themselves and think they could never change, it shows them it is possible (dramatic, but possible). Trainers on the show like Michelle Bridges have also been able to use the show as their platform and really expand. Along with books Michelle Bridges offers the 12 week Body Transformation 12wbt. Which has helped thousands achieve their goals, you only have to have a look at Twitter to see the kind of following and success stories she has created.
Not to jump the fence entirely, I recently watched the new weight loss show Excess Baggage. I am keeping my opinions close guarded as I have only watched the very first episode. But I would like to share the positives I found from that first episode. I am intrigued that there are no diets or calorie counting, and contestants CHOOSE to participate in workouts. The idea being that it is all up to them and they are the ones who have to choose to change their lives and act upon it. I was also impressed at the dinner when contestants chose their own dinner and their nutritionist/judge Dr Joanna explained what good quality food was. One of the very first things she said was when you lose a lot of weight too quickly you’re losing muscle as well as fat. Thank you Joanna! She insisted on no calorie counting or eating bland boring foods, she explained the benefits of protein, low gi foods and fibre. I was impressed at the educating approach. Finally I was impressed when they met their Physical trainer and Coach Christian and he explained that it’s not about how much weight you lose but the lfiestyle changes you make. I am interested to see how this show pans out.
For people out there who are watching these shows, please remember that these contestants are doing this full time and have expert help at hand. Don’t put pressure on yourself to lose the same amount of weight as them. This is your life and everyone is different. I hope, if you are watching these shows, that you use them as motivation to help yourself.
I was recently asked the question “does running a km burn the same amount of energy as walking a km?”
Well my very first answer was – it depends. Yes I know this phrase gets used a lot but its true, nothing in the world of health and fitness is ever set in concrete as it is always changing.
My next answer was a question – how fast were they going? Running or jogging a km is one thing, but walking with increased pace, intervals, hills is another and can be just as challenging.
Although a little bit frustrating as the answer isn’t black and white the article below takes you through an experiment and explains scientifically what is going on with energy expenditure.
My favourite way to look at getting the most out of your workout is ask yourself – how does this make me feel? If I could walk for hours at a constant pace then i’m not going very fast or challenging my fitness levels.
Whatever you are doing good on you for moving 🙂 the next step is to get the most out of your efforts!
(photo credit: iStockphoto/Josef Volavka)
“…if you want to get fatter, just go on a diet and wait for a bit”
I’m not a fan of diets. I will not lie to you I have tried a lot of diets. I have a very strong memory of sitting in a food court as a teenger opening up a big mac and just eating the meat and lettuce. A lady looked at me strangely which caused my friend sitting next to me to say “she’s on a diet”. What a stupid thing to do, a stupid concept, yep sausages for breakfast is fine just don’t think about eating any fruit or veggies. Why on earth did I believe all the hoo haa? Well I didn’t lose weight, I was miserable and stayed fat, just waiting for the next diet.
Some diets out there are reasonable, whilst others make me laugh & cry and feel full of pity for people believing them. Even the notion of a diet, a diet is something you go on and off, whilst healthy eating is permanent and will not cause a yo yo effect.
Enough of my little rant, the article below explains the detrimental affect dieting has on your health (and waistline!)
Shin splints is a common concern that is super annoying to the sufferer.
So what are shin splints?
Shin splints is a common term for medial tibial stress syndrome. It refers to tissue injury and inflammation to the connective tissue and muscles attached to your shin bone (which controls the rolling of the foot). Shin splints is very common in runners due to the repetitive pounding.
Pain usually develops down the length of the inside of the shin bone (tibia front of lower leg, running from knee to ankle) during exercise and then ceases when you stop. Because the pain is sometimes mild and always ceases afterwards, people continue training over and over. However as the injury progresses, the pain intensifies and can cause the person to stop the activity. If the problem is not addressed early or the pain gets worse or continues for hours after exercising or causing aching at night, the inflammation and damage can become so severe it causes stress fractures (which would require months of rest – no thank you!)
Why do they occur?
There are several reasons for why shin splints can occur. these range from landing heavily oin the heel, tight calf muscles, being overweight, poor lumbo-pelvic stability and also weak gluteal muscles.
The main reason however is foot biomechanics according to physiotherapist Tim Keely. “As the heel hits the ground during the foot strike you are supposed to land on the outside of your heel and then roll inwards. Then during mid-stance phase, you should roll back outwards and put the weight through the outside of the foot. After which you should push off through the toes.”
“However, people suffering from shin splints, the person most often rolls the heel inwards too much, then during mid stance phase, the front part of the foot drops down and the arch collapses. The body is then unable to hold the foot in a dynamicaly good position during landing or when pushing off onto next step.”
Another factor that can cause shin splints is over-training, where the person is doing too much running without enough rest. This is most common in runners who are increasing their distance and training, their body and muscles just aren’t conditioned for it.
It is very important to make sure you have the right shoes. This includes support, shape and structure suitable for the amount and type of exercise you are doing. Keep in mind also that shoes need to be replaced, they get worn out especially if you are training a lot and should be replaced mroe frequently.
How can you treat shin splints?
Firstly I would recommend seeing a physio* so they can diagnose the problem, find the cause and provide treatment for the injury. Treatment can include:
- deep tissue massage
- dry needling
- kinesio-taping
Stretching the calves will help as well as strengthening the gluteal muscles. If you think you have shin splints, do the check list
- give yourself apropriate rest from training
- stretch your calves multiple times every day
- run on soft surfaces whenever possible i.e grass or sand
- ensure you are doing strength work for your legs as well as running to keep them in condition.
- if pain is consistant don’t wait and make it worse get yourself checked out at a physio
*when choosing a physio check out their specialities (i.e sports physio) and insist on getting assessed. A good physio will always do an assessment on you. You don’t need a bandaid for your problem you need to find the source and get apropriate treatment.
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(image courtesy of fitnessinformation.net)
Swimming is a fantastic form of exercise that sometimes gets overlooked as a way to workout.
As a child I was known as the water baby, then as I got older I got ‘too cool’ for proper swimming. Over the past few years though every summer i’d get out the goggles and take myself down to the local pools and try get my groove back.
I’ve just recently started swimming again on a regular basis and I tell you it’s quite addictive. There’s something about it that just keeps bringing you back. Is it the cooling affect on the body? The way my body gets a workout without having to use heavy weights or impact? Or maybe it’s the almost meditative state I get in as I stare at the black line leading me to the end of the pool. “1,2,3, aaaahhhhppp” (that’s my breathing noise) when I follow this rhythm and just focus on what I am doing it is incredibly calming. I forget about the list of things I have to do that day or whatever random thoughts are swimming through my mind.
Here are just some of the many health benefits of swimming
- Swimming is a great workout because you need to move your whole body against the resistance of the water
- Keeps your heart rate up (depending on how fast you’re going)
- Builds endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness
- Helps maintain a healthy weight, healthy heart and lungs (It is believed to help asthma sufferers – I am one and I love swimming)
- Tones muscles and builds strength (ok it’s not quite a weights workout, but it definitely helps!)
- Provides an all-over body workout, as nearly all of your muscles are used during swimming.
- Being a relaxing and peaceful form of exercise
- Alleviating stress
- Improving coordination, balance and posture
- Improving flexibility
- Providing good low-impact therapy for some injuries and conditions
- Providing a pleasant way to cool down on a hot day
With a list like that don’t you just want to get your swimming costume on, grab your goggles and just dive right in to your closest pool?!
Things you must know
- If you’re not a confident swimmer I would definitely recommend you invest in a few swimming lessons. There is no shame is getting some help, it will improve your form and may save your life.
- I recommend purchasing a good quality swimming costume, one that is designed for lap training. This way it will keep its shape, colours and is chlorine resistant. It’s an investment. That goes for goggles too. Invest in a good pair and they will last you a long time!
Whenever clients ask me whether swimming is good for them or not I always give two very enthusiastic thumbs up. You just can’t go wrong. Keep in mind swimming is like any exercise, the harder you work the better the benefits. Floating around in a pool is lovely and relaxing but won’t do much for your fitness levels or physique.
I say the only downside of the whole thing is smelling like chlorine and having strawlike hair until you wash it. Well you’re going to shower anyway I say so no downsides!
To find out the closest swimming pool, go to your local councils website. For private pools and leisure centres do a search through google to find the closest one to you.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1hqHo6lyUU&feature=share
I have to say I find this news clip very interesting. I have always liked the fact that in Japan they force workers to stop what they’re doing and exercise. I just love it, it may be wrong, it may be taking away people’s rights, their freedom etc. But I have to say I love the idea.
I’ve come in contact with so many office workers through my corporate training groups and they all have one thing in common. That one thing is a complaint, or excuse rather, they don’t have enough time for their health or fitness. I understand how that happens, unless you have solid committment to training and your health it can slip down the priority list when things get busy. I find it so sad that we (Australia) have allowed our people to get this way (overworked and obese).
In the news report it showed a lunch room which only serves traditional Japanese cuisine which is low in calories. It has been the introduction of Western food that has seen their waistlines increase.
Whilst i’m not sure how I feel about the fines involved, I do like the idea of incorporating health awareness and exercise into the working day. With so many benefits to the company for having healthy staff (less sick days/injuries/stress) it makes sense for a company to invest in the health of it’s workers.
What do you think about this? Absurd or a good idea? Would something like this ever work in Australia?