Online Health Edge

Pic: Darren131

Have you been hanging off one leg, from a tree, holding a swiss ball, ranting some motivational mantra whilst doing a reverse ab curl. Or have you jumped single legged from an unstable bench, onto a swiss ball, commando roll into a Pump class whilst doing a single arm pull with a theraband. OK OK not funny and totally unnecessary…but you get my point?

Fads are a part of the industry, theres nothing we can do about that. Really, theres nothing we want to do about it either. I mean, some fads turn into some great useful products or ideas. Take a look at the Swiss ball for example. When that first came out, it was overused. The idea exploded into gyms and trainers programs everywhere. There wasn’t one person who was exercising that wasn’t doing so on a Swiss ball. There were some pretty strange things being done at that Swiss ball too I must say. But now, years later, the crap has been sorted through. Swiss balls are used in programs effectively. They are a great tool, and have evolved well.

The problem is, there is a LOT of crap out there. You need your trainer to sort through it for you, not throw it all in your face. They are the ones with the knowledge and resources. Its unfortunate, but the Health and Fitness industry is a marketing business. There are a lot of people out there to make money. Bit of bling in a program or class, people get excited. Fair enough too, we are always looking for new ways to exercise, variety is the key and you sure as hell don’t want to get bored doing something that a lot of us are forcing ourselves to do anyway.

Some advice for you. Your program should be tailored to meet your goals. You can do as much fancy stuff if you want, but ultimately you want to reach that goal. Variety is a key. A good trainer will keep you interested, mixing up your training a little, BUT always focusing on the end goal. Variety doesn’t mean jumping on the first thing that is out there. When you are looking for a trainer, don’t get dazzled, don’t let them throw everything they have at you. Let them assess your goals, check out your level, put a plan in place, and away you go. There are many great trainers out there, but you have to remember, its a business, people want to make money…some go about it the right way and some don’t. Just keep your eyes and ears open.

We have moved to laurensfitness.com this article and all previous ones can be found there. Online Health Edge will no longer be updated.

Pic: Mundoo

What’s long and hard and as stiff as a plank of wood? Get your mind out of the gutter…I’m talking about your hip flexors. Tight Hip Flexors can be a big problem, and so easy to get. Everyone gets hip flexor pain once in a while, but there is always a cure. In a previous post, Pain At The Desk, we saw how sitting down affects your hip flexors. I know when I sit at the computer too long, I tighten up very quickly, and after a long flight from Down Under to Europe I’m as tight as a drum. Hip flexor pain can result from tight hip flexors.

Where Are Your Hip Flexors?

The ‘Hip Flexors’ are a group of muscles that, well, flex the hip. There are quite a few muscles that actually flex the hip, but two that are specifically referred to as hip flexors. The Illiopsoas group consists of the Psoas and the Iliacus.

Pic: fitstep.com

Both attach to the femur. However the psoas attaches to the lower back, whereas the Iliacus attaches to your hipbone. Sitting down puts these muscles in a shortened position, and as a result leaves them pretty tight. The Psoas attaches to the lower back, if it’s tight, it can pull your back forward, and is a common cause of back pain. A tight hip flexor will also go a long way to inhibiting your bum, which means whatever work you are doing for it, you probably aren’t getting the desired results. No bum means you are susceptible to many more injuries, and have a lack of power in simple things such as walking.

What Can I Do To Loosen Them?

Well, there are a couple of ways to get these babies loose again, especially if you are feeling hip flexor pain. Massage, Acupuncture, Foam Rolling, Self Massage are all great ways to loosen up your hip flexors. These should always be accompanied with Exercises and Stretches.

Exercises

When you think of loosening a muscle, stretching automatically comes to mind. However, you can also loosen your hip flexors through exercises. It works by taking your muscles through their range of motion dynamically and helps get rid of hip flexor pain. I’ll outline some of my favourite exercises for loosening your hip flexors, there are a few more, and if you want to add your favourite, please leave a comment.

Overhead Lunges

This is possibly the best exercise you can do for opening up your hip flexors and reducing hip flexor pain. It is basically a normal lunge, but you hold a medicine ball, or a light plate above your head. Out stretch your arms, keep them straight, directly above your head, and complete the lunges. You have something that is called fascia; it’s basically a sheath that runs over your muscles. Your fascia is a big issue in hip flexor tightness, and often when that is loosened, the muscle is too. Holding something above your head whilst lunging stretches this fascia out, and you get the added hip flexor stretch and helps reduce hip flexor pain.

Reverse Lunges

Same as a forward lunge, but done in reverse! See this video of a Reverse Lunge.

When you step back into the reverse lunge, you are recruiting your bum. Recruiting your bum inhibits your hip flexors, meaning they will relax. Stepping back straight away puts the hip flexors on stretch, and as you do the exercise, you take them through a large range of motion, loosen your hips flexors and reduce hip flexor pain.

Overhead Squat

Performing a squat whilst holding a bar overhead, opens up your hip area, and promotes hip flexor range of motion. See this video of an Overhead Squat.
When most people attempt this to start, the lower they get, the more they will want to bend forward. If you picture the hip flexors, they attach from the upper thigh, onto the lower back, if these are tight, as you try to get lower, your hip flexors will pull you forward. By holding the bar above your head, you have to stay up straight, basically lengthening your hip flexors during a dynamic movement.

Stretches

Stretching is an obvious and essential way to loosen those babies and reduce hip flexor pain. I’ve just taken a picture of my favourite stretch. I’m not sure if I made it up or where I got it from, but for now until someone tells me otherwise, I’ll claim it. I often make up stretches just trying to pin point an area. Basically you get down on one knee, stretch your arms up, then try and touch your opposite hand to opposite foot behind you. Check these pictures to aid my terrible explanation.

There are many variants of this stretch. That one is just my favourite.
Check out these ones too…

Elevated Hip Stretch

Kneeling Hip Stretch

Partner Hip Flexor Stretch

If you have tight hip flexors, start adding these exercises and stretches into your workout, and you will see a difference and you will reduce your hip flexor pain. If you have some favourite exercises for loosening your hips, leave a comment and we’ll discuss them.

Just another reminder we have moved, all old articles and many more new ones are located at www.laurensfitness.com

Pic: oceanaris

Part of the reason I started this blog was so that I could write on things that I am passionate about. I love researching, talking and discussing everything to do with health and fitness. It impacts a lot on my life, and outside of my Volleyball it’s my main focus. There are certain things I write about because I see a trend in a gym, or in the industry that I want to discuss, clarify or completely discredit. Sometimes I just write about things because I love them. I love Tuna.

Tuna rocks. Really, it is a great food. I get that it is an acquired taste, and some of my friends gag when I get my tuna dishes out. I think it all started with my father. His famous and most eaten dish right through my childhood was Tuna based. Lettuce, Tomato, maybe some Carrot, a LOT of low fat Italian Dressing, two cans of Tuna, some sliced cheese…all topped with Tomato Sauce (Ketchup for you Americans). Disgusting eh. It really does stink the kitchen out. And no, I’m not going to add it to my list of recommended recipes. What I am trying to get at is, I was bought up with Tuna around my house, and I love it. I’m an athlete, and I live alone in a foreign country and I’ll be honest, my cooking skills are minimal. I love Tuna on Rice, with a bit of Sweet Chili sauce, I love it in Salads (minus the Tomato Sauce), I love Tuna bakes (even if I have safety issues with hot ovens) and I love Tuna on top of Veggies (with a bit of Pasta Sauce and Cheese).

What Is So Good About Tuna?

Mmm, for one, it’s very tasty. But that’s subjective.

• Tuna is a great source of lean protein. Protein is essential to building muscle.
• Tuna has high quality protein that is easily digestible.
• Low in Saturated Fat.
• It’s pretty cheap.
• It is a low cholesterol food.
• Tuna is a rich source of nutrients that are essential to healthy and balanced diets.
• It has a lot of Omega 3 fatty acids, which have been shown to
  • lower the risk of heart disease,
  • ease joint pain,
  • reduce asthma complications,
  • and are essential in the growth of young children.

Tuna…get on it.

Pic: GreenBeanPrime

I walk into gyms all over the world and see people ripping that bar down behind their neck during Lat pull downs. If it weren’t for my superior self-control, the fitness trainer at that club would have that exact bar knocking ever so gently against their head as a quiet little reminder.

You may have been told that you should do it in front of your head, but not been given an explanation as to why…and besides, it doesn’t hurt you, and you’ve also been told that it targets your Lats better if you do it behind your neck. So…

Why Is Doing A Lat pull Behind Your Head So Bad?

Lat pull downs behind the neck are unnecessary and dangerous. From a biomechanical point of view, they are putting your shoulder into a very bad position. The glenohumeral joint (your shoulder joint) is built for mobility, not stability. When the bar is down behind your head, your shoulder is externally rotating, quite severely. This in itself creates risk. You are also putting your shoulder into adduction, extension and abduction (don’t worry if this makes no sense to you, basically your shoulder is in a really abnormal, unnatural and totally crappy position). This places a lot of stress through the front and the back of a joint that really isn’t that stable to begin with.

There is also increased stress on your external rotators (small muscles in the shoulder that play a VERY big role in the control of the joint) to stabilize the your shoulder. Damage to these results in a long and painful rehabilitation in which most upper body exercises are restricted. The position you are putting your shoulder into is pretty bad without weight; add a few kg’s to that and you are really looking at trouble.

Another added risk is your neck safety. Straining forward during a Lat pull behind the neck is common. Necks are delicate, and there is simply no need to be in this position. A lot of people do this exercise ballistically (really really fast and bouncy), and if you get a little over excited, may cause some cervical damage…let’s not even begin to think about what will damage will occur to your neck if the cable breaks (yes, that does happen).

Am I Sacrificing Benefits For Safety?

No. Not one little bit. Really…nothing at all. And yes, it’s proven. Studies have shown that the front Lat pull down works the Lats and the muscles of your back just as effectively as its scary sister, the behind the neck monster. In fact, one study showed that Front Lat pull downs resulted in the greatest Lat activity.

If you are doing Lat pull downs behind your head, stop…it ain’t worth it.

Pic:Almighty Photography

Exercise is on your list of priorities…just maybe a little further down than it needs to be. You have so many things to do in a day how can you possibly fit exercise in? Once your schedule gets a little lighter you’ll be laughing you way to good health, right?

Lack of time is one of the biggest reasons people cite for not participating in exercise. Besides the fact that there are a million things you can do at home or at work, there are a few ways to cut your workout time down in the gym, but still get the benefits of your long workout.

Cut Down Cardio

What if you could do 45 minutes of work on the treadmill/ bike, or 15 minutes, and burn more calories? Sounds wonderful eh. It’s called Interval Training. Interval training can help you improve your cardiovascular fitness, increase your speed, improve your overall power, reach new exercise levels, and burn many more calories. There are so many examples of ways you can do Interval Training; I’m going to leave that for another post.

What is Interval Training?

Basically it means you do a period of hard work, and a period of easy work, and repeat. For example, you could do a 10 minute workout on the bike. Start with 2 minutes of spinning on an easy level, but reasonably fast, and then up the level, still spinning fast but also pushing hard for 1 minute. Alternate this a few times, and you will find you are left with a pretty hard workout and a lot more calories burnt. This is only one small example of interval training, you can change the level, incline, speed, time…everything. It allows you to work a lot harder in a smaller amount of time. Because you are pushing hard during the intense phase, you will burn more calories from that workout, get more fitness benefits, and have a raised metabolism for longer after the workout. Look out for a more detailed post on Interval Training in the near future for some more examples.

Slash Your Strength Training

A simple way to cut down strength training time is supersets. Supersetting allows you to do the same workout, work the same muscles and get exactly the same benefits as a normal workout. It also allows you to burn a few more calories, as you will be working more and resting less.

What is a Superset?

A superset is when one exercise is done directly after another, without a rest break. Wait, my trainer tells me I need to rest to get the benefits? Yes, you do. The trick is to superset different muscle groups. For example, you could superset an upper body exercise with a lower body exercise. Do a set of Bench, and then do a set of Leg Press. When you do your set of Leg Press, you are resting for the Bench, and vice versa. Another example, and probably an easier way to organize your program is alternating opposing muscle groups. For example, Bench, with Seated Row. Bench uses your Pecs, Triceps and Anterior Deltoids. Seated Row uses your upper back muscles (Rhomboids, Traps, Posterior Deltoids, etc). You will be resting the chest group when you do your Seated Row, and vice verca.

Supersetting your exercises is a way to basically cut your exercise time in half, but still get the same benefits from strength training. You need to take care that your are not exercising any muscles groups that are the same in your superset, this will lead to over training and over development of that muscles, and it will be way too fatigued to actually lift as much as it can. Check with your trainer to make sure you aren’t doubling up.

Now that you have no excuse for a lack of time at the gym, go and get to it, try some intervals training and supersetting.

Pic: luxarius.com

Taking a sauna is a popular practice around the world, especially here in Europe. Yesterday I had a sauna. I can’t say that it’s something I do very often, I dislike sitting in a hot room dripping sweat and struggling to breathe. I got a call from one of my teammates, didn’t have much else to do and thought, why not? Now I’m from Australia, and yes, we have saunas. They differ slightly from those in good old Deutschland. Here, saunas are taken quite liberally, no swimsuit. It’s a unisex theme, both in the sauna, in the shower area for the sauna, and in the relaxation area. Oh well, you have to embrace the culture right? Anyway, my sauna yesterday inspired my post today. After sweating it out, and boy am I an efficient sweater, then a cold shower, a little lie down…repeat this process three times, I have to say, I felt pretty refreshed and relaxed.

What Happens To Your Body During A Sauna?

It’s pretty hot in there. Your skin temperature rockets up within minutes. The Average Joe will sweat out about a pint during a short stint in a sauna. Your pulse races 30% faster than normal. This means you are pumping around nearly double the amount of blood in a minute. Because you are trying to cool down, the blood flows to your skin, pretty much away from all your internal organs. Basically, you heat up!

What Are The Benefits & Drawbacks Of Sauna?

Saunas have been deemed safe for the body. As I experienced yesterday, they are pretty relaxing and left me feeling pretty good. Alternating with the hot and cold probably did this, and a little lie down every now and then is nice! There is the thought that saunas are good for your skin and extremities. It opens up your pores and helps the body to rid of toxins through your sweat.

I get told a lot by my teammates that saunas can help relieve sore muscles. I believe this to be a factor of the hot/ cold combination, and not solely a result of taking a sauna. A big recovery method for athletes is taking a hot shower, and then plunging into cold water. It causes your arteries to constrict and dilate, helping flush ‘the crap’ out of your legs and muscles.

As a general rule, it is thought that sauna is great for relaxation, general well- being and just feeling good. Aside from that, it seems there is no scientific evidence that a sauna actually has any real health benefits (though many would argue general well-being is such an important part of health).

The bad news with sauna? Well the obvious one is dehydration. You are sweating like a pig in there. If you don’t hydrate adequately, you are going to get dehydrated. As mentioned above, your body goes through some pretty rapid and drastic changes, mainly in your cardiovascular system. People with poorly controlled blood pressure and general heart problems should probably stay in the cold!

Sauna For Weight Loss

This is a big misconception. The ONLY way sauna can aid your weight loss is a loss of fluid. This simply does not help you lose body fat. If you have lost weight through the sauna, then you actually need to drink more, it means you lost fluid that needs replacing.

So Is It Good For You?

Thought it’s not bad for you, there are no reported health benefits. I felt pretty darn good after my sauna, relaxed and refreshed. This is a wonderful thing, and warding off stress and generally feeling good does go a long way to good health. So if you enjoy a sauna, keep it up. If like me, you struggle to sit in there and breathe, or you have heart problems, consult your doctor or just take a spa…there are many other ways to relax. Either way just keep drinking and stay cool.

Pic: DeaPeaJay 

If you are struggling for motivation, and a way to dedicate yourself to your weight loss cause, why not start a blog? Fellow blogger John, started his so he could get the support and guidance of people out there experiencing the same thing. There are lots of weight loss blogs popping up now, you can track your weight loss, discuss problems and general receive some extra support from right around the globe. Check out his article on 4 Reasons You Should Be Writing a Weight Loss Blog.

Sitting at a desk all day at work is bad for you. But hey, what can we do about it, we need to work. I get that. What really bothers me is seeing people at the gym making their problems worse.

Its pretty common for people to go to the gym and jump on a bike for a bit of a warm up, do a few sets of bench, some curls, bit of leg press, maybe stretch your hammys at the end and get out of there. OK it’s not always like that but you get the picture.

What Happens To Our Body At A Desk?

-While you are sitting at the computer, your shoulders will automatically be rounded, no matter how straight you are sitting up, and you will always be inclined to ‘reach’ forward with your shoulder. Lets face it, very few of us have perfect posture all day at work. This position is basically putting your pecs into a shortened position. Which means they are going to get tight. Opposing this, your back muscles are on stretch most of the day, basically meaning they will get comfortable in that position and won’t work hard to pull your shoulders back when you are not at the desk.

-Likewise your head is inclined to be forward, putting the muscles at the back of the neck on stretch all day. See how this is going to start to cause you back and neck pain?

-Your arms are bent so they can sit on the desk and write and type. Therefore your biceps are also in a shortened, contracted position, and are likely to get tight as well.

-You are sitting down, probably not correctly so your lower back is getting quite a bit of strain on it. Simply sitting down means all the force from your upper body is going through your spine.

-By sitting down, it also means your hip flexors are bent. Your hip flexors attach from the top of your leg (also include one of the quadriceps muscles), up onto your hip and deep in your lower back. These can become very tight from being in a sitting position. They aren’t very ‘pliable’ muscles and as they attach to your lower back, during the day they can contribute to some pretty bad posture when doing other activities, and simply pain.

That Sounds Pretty Bad, What Should I Do At The Gym?

Glad you asked, it’s a very important question. No wonder so many people around the world get neck and back pain, and end up being hunched over when they age. Luckily for us there is a way to counteract it. There are many exercises and postural adjustments you can do to counteract this in the workplace, but here we are going to focus solely on your workout.

Basically we don’t want to have muscle imbalances, and the most common exercises at the gym are bench and bicep curls. Fair enough, these look great in the mirror. But do they look so great when you are hunched over?

Ditch the Bench and Curls

OK I know more than 70% of people reading just had a mini stroke…I’m joking though. Ideally I would love to tell you to ditch the bench and curls, you probably don’t need them and there are many other ways to exercise these muscles. That’s not going to happen so we’ll look at it another way. Your chest is tight, stretch it. Your upper back is lengthened, weak and on stretch all day. So tighten and strengthen it up. Seated Row, Latpulls, One armed Rows are just a few exercises. If you have a hunching problem at the desk, concentrate more on opening up the front of your body, and on tightening up the back. Strengthening your back muscles will work synergistically with the pec stretches, and help to bring your shoulders back. You can still do your bench, but try and focus on doing two upper back exercises for every pec exercise you do, and stretch the pecs more than your back. This is really important to avoid hunching as you age.

Open Up Your Hips

Nooo, I’m not being rude. What I mean is you want to have lots of mobility through the front of your hips. Many people with back problems don’t know they have super tight hip flexors and could be one of the main reasons for your pain. Sitting down exacerbates it, so when you go to the gym, if you have been at a desk all day, don’t go and sit down on the bike to warm up. Jump on a tready or elliptical trainer instead.

Do some butt exercises when you hit the gym. Strengthening your bum will automatically loosen your hip flexors. It’s an antagonistic relationship, your hip flexors will switch off during your butt exercises if you are doing them properly, and thus help to loosen them. Plus, something that I will cover in a later post, your bum is your key power centre, and a strong bum helps prevent many injuries, including low back pain.

Stretch your hip flexors at the end. If you have been sitting down, your hip flexors have been in a shortened position all day and that’s where they want to stay. Focus on quad stretches and hip flexors (see pic below)

pic Yahoo Health

The Bottom Line

That hunched posture many elderly people have didn’t develop by accident. There is no point is making it worse when we go to the gym. Unfortunately people have good intentions to exercise, but are doing it wrong. There’s no need to change anything in your workout really, just try and add a few things I have mentioned. It will help your pain and prevent your from looking like an old man/lady in the near future.

Don’t get me wrong, I see the logic, you want to lose fat, you gotta burn it. However it really does amaze me that this myth is still ripe in the fitness industry. It scares me is that there is a lot of trainers who are still peddling this line to their clients.

Scientifically, it’s correct. There is a zone where you burn more fat. Here’s why. At a lower intensity, your body requires less quick energy (which comes from carbohydrate), and it can utilize slower burning energy (which comes from fats). The problem lies in the fact that weight loss is simply one thing. Energy in is less than Energy out. You have to expend more energy than you put in your body to lose weight. It’s an equation, and quite a simple one. Sure you will burn a higher percentage of fat if you work at a lower intensity, but you will burn a lot less calories than you would if you were working out at a higher intensity. If weight loss is your goal, total amount of fat lost will be lower with a low intensity workout. You have to exercise for a long time in your ‘fat burning zone’ to reach the same amount of calorie expenditure as a short high intensity session.

But how does my fat get burnt?

It is a little hard to understand, it seems so simple, want to lose fat, then you want to burn more of it. Try and think of it this way…your fat stores will be broken down and transformed into carbohydrates when your body needs fuel anyway, so it is irrelevant which type of calorie you are burning. Your fat calories will still get used. The key is to expend more calories. Working at a higher intensity will only cause you to use a lower percentage of fat; percentage is the key word here, what we are after it total. Because you are burning more energy in total, you will still use more fat calories. The bottom line is, if you have a limited time frame, a short high intensity workout will give you more benefits. Save some time and get better results.

image: Roca Zhang

Are you hitting roadblocks in your weight loss and you don’t know why? Doing all the hard work and not getting the results?

A recent study in the American Journal of Endocrinology has determined that women who get less than 7 hours of sleep a night are more inclined to gain weight than other.

The Study

In 1986 (Yes this study was a long one) 68,183 women aged 39–65 years participating in the Nurses’ Health Study responded to a question about sleep duration. At the time of response they were free from disease. Originally they were asked to indicate the total hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. They were sent questionnaires every two years. The most recent questionnaire was in 2002, and the journal article was published late last year.

The Results

From the beginning of the study a clear relationship existed between sleep duration and weight gain. Those sleeping 5 hours or less weight 2.47kg more on average than those sleeping 7 hours. Those sleeping 6 hours were 1.24kg heavier. Remember, this is at the start of the study before any follow up had been done. Not only was there this difference at the start, but the study showed women sleeping less were more inclined to put on weight faster.

Over the 16 years of the study, 10.5% of women experienced a 15kg weight gain. Those sleeping 7-8 hours per night had the lowest risk. Women sleeping 6 hours were 12% more likely to have a 15kg weight gain, and those sleeping 5 hours or less were 32% more likely. It should be noted that calorie intake and activity levels were taken into account in this study and did not affect the percentages.

Why Does Sleep Deprivation Cause Weight Gain?

There are several reasons why a lack of sleep can lead to you gaining unnecessary pounds.

• Hypothalamic- pituitary functions (a place where your hormones originate from) are strongly linked to circadian rhythms and sleep regulatory processes. These include hormones that influence eating, energy balance and metabolism. So basically a lack of sleep can mess around with some pretty important hormones for maintaining weight.
• Short term sleep restriction lowers your level of the satiety producing hormone, leptin, which basically makes you feel full. A double whammy to that is that sleep restriction increases levels of the appetite producing hormone, ghrelin. Which makes you basically want to eat more.
• A side effect of lack of sleep is fatigue. If you are tired you are less inclined to exercise and may reduce physical activity and energy expenditure. Therefore predisposing you to weight gain.
• It has been suggested lack of sleep can affect your metabolic rate, but further research is needed to confirm this.

So… hit the sack and help your cause, and ask yourself, Are You Sleeping Enough?