Fast Fitness - Stronger Arms and Chest, and Core, Hip, and Leg Stability With A Friend

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - strengthen inner legs, thighs, arms, and core, while practicing neutral spine with a friend. Better than putting hands up on a bench or exercise ball My students Johanna (1) and Diana (2) demonstrate:

1. Partner 1 lies face up with bent knees
2. Partner 2 does pushups on Partner 1's knees while holding neutral spine, not letting the lower back sag and arch downward. Partner 1 holds legs stable and does not let knees wobble.
3. Switch and repeat.

• To see a short movie of how to change overarched hyperlordotic sagging spine to neutral spine for pushups, click Fast Fitness - Strengthen by Changing Your Plank.
• For photos to learn to spot hyperlordotic overarched spine and straight neutral spine, see Spotting Back Pain During Running and Walking - What Do Abs Have To Do With It?

To increase core and hip stabilization training for both partners, Partner 1 tilts knees slightly to each side while Partner 2 continues pushups. Try both moving continuously side to side, and holding legs stable at an angle. Do not twist your spine. Have fun moving and laughing with a partner.

Labels: abdominal muscles, balance, chest, elbow, exercise ball, fast fitness, hand, hip strength, leg strength, partner exercise, strength, wrist

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Are You Stronger Than A 67 Year Old Lady?

My student Leslie is 67 years old. She has been working with me for several years. Click the arrow of this 30 second movie to watch her knock off 30 pushups.


At around the 25 second mark of this short movie, enjoy the reaction of the student who will appear at right.

Leslie holds straight neutral spine position. She does not let her lower spine sag, or her head and neck sag downward. To see a movie to practice how to change overarched hyperlordotic sagging spine to neutral spine for pushups, click Fast Fitness - Strengthen by Changing Your Plank.

Leslie says hello to all the readers and that she is strong with such great positioning due to my classes and emphasis on being able to hold up your own body weight in healthful positioning for regular daily life. I hope to post more of Leslie's and other students' happiness and strength.

Bookmark this post. Open it every day and do your 30 pushups with Leslie.

Labels: abdominal muscles, aging, arm, hip strength, neutral spine, readers inspiring story, strength, video/movie

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Fast Fitness - Core Hip & Body, Posture Strength & Balance

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - training and challenging abdominal muscles to hold neutral spine.
Use this, not as an exercise to "do," but to use to retrain neutral spine. Reader Mike, who did a A Whole Big Fix sent this photo to illustrate:

1. Hold a plank.
2. Lift one arm straight in front.
3. Figure out which is the opposite leg and lift that one. Keep straight spine

Mike writes:

"Here's some more feedback on your exercises: it seems the more planks I do with opposite arm/leg extended, the less my hip pops, so I'm doing those every morning for about 4 sets of 10 sec. holds on each side, along with the side planks. Those seem to set my posture off right for the rest of the day. I'm using my hand and wrist muscles to take weight off the bones, as you've said, and my wrists, are getting stronger.

"BTW: my daughter's badminton coach has a PhD in exercise physiology and she's also a big fan of your site."

Labels: abdominal muscles, arm, fast fitness, hip, hip strength, leg strength, neutral spine, wrist, yoga

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Fast Fitness - Functional Agility, Flexibility, Strength

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - build balance, leg and hip strength, and flexibility as a lifestyle.

Lightly sit down on the floor and get up again without your hands.

Being able to rise from the floor is natural lifestyle movement, done in many places in the world by people up to the oldest years. My martial arts student Ms. Han demonstrates in the short mpeg movie. Click the arrow to run the video:

Labels: aging, balance, fast fitness, hip strength, leg press, leg strength, leg stretch, video/movie

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Fast Fitness - Strength, Abs, Balance, and Ankle and Leg Stabilization

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - quickly increase functional stabilization of the knee, leg, and ankle while increasing overall strength and balance.

Anyone can lift weights, but can you do it balancing on a basketball? Get started by standing on one foot:

1. Do your regular lifts, curls, presses while standing on one foot (and then the other). Breathe.


2. Notice the leg you stand on. Don't let the arch of your foot flatten toward the floor, or knee roll inward toward the other leg. Hold knee, ankle, arch inline, using your muscles. See Arch Support Is Not From Shoes.
   


3. Don't lean your upper body backward (increasing lower back arch) when lifting arms up - a hidden source of back pain. See Change Daily Reaching to Get Ab Exercise and Stop Back and Shoulder Pain.

It reduces exercise to sit, even on a fitness ball. It is more exercise, more functional, and better balance training to stand on one foot than to sit. You sit all day already.

Be safe, be excited about having fun doing functional movement, be happy.

Labels: abdominal muscles, ankle, arches, arm, balance, exercise ball, fast fitness, hip strength, knee, leg strength, neutral spine, pronation, sitting, strength

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Fast Fitness - Balance, Strength, Stretch, and Socks

Here is Friday Fast Fitness with a new debut - web movies!

Fitness Fixer reader David D of Belgium has been making us many helpful mpegs. This one shows how to get several important physical skills and daily built-in fitness as a lifestyle by simply standing while dressing:

1. Stand with one ankle crossed over opposite knee
2. Put on your sock while balanced, safely.

If you want more, stay balanced and retrieve your shoe from the floor and put that on too. Stand to put on trousers and other clothes instead of sitting. The more you use balance, the more balance will develop.


Don't strain or force or round your back or make anything go pop. The idea is to learn to move in healthier ways, not unhealthy ones. The post Ancient Shoe Exercise for Hip Stretch and Balance explains more. Breathe. Have fun.

Labels: balance, fast fitness, hip, hip strength, leg strength, leg stretch, lower back, video/movie

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Getting More From a Hip Stretch

This post tells the Hip Stretch story started with Inspirational Ivy in August. In that post, Ivy tells how she used healthful body mechanics to fix a serious and extended attack of sciatica and foot drop the year before. Several posts since, have given fun updates. Here is the fun that the Hip Stretch started:

Feb 2006, Ivy from New Zealand wrote to me,

"My hips are tight, particularly the right side that being the side I had the severe attack of sciatica. I have worked so hard on my hamstrings and my "dropped" foot, the bonus being that I am winning. Now it is time to put the same amount of work into my hips."

I figured Ivy would start with the Better Posterior Hip and Piriform Stretch and a few of the other hip stretches in my books, then apply them for daily life by crossing one ankle over the other knee for putting on shoes, shown at right, described in Ancient Shoe Exercise for Hip Stretch and Balance, and that would be that.

In August 2007, she wrote,

"I am jumping for joy. No, I haven't won a million dollars.

"After having been doing the posterior hip stretch lying down for the past 21 months twice a day, I can now do the same stretch sitting. My hips have always been so tight and there was no way that I could get my ankle across the knee - this has been my goal and I have done it. I have to be honest, I have not got it to perfection, that being my next goal. I wonder if that will take another 21 months. It just shows that a little persistence pays off in the end. I trust that all is well with you."

Twenty-one months - what a dedicated learner. It was a joy to work with enthusiastic Ivy. I wrote back saying it should not take so long, and asked if she did the stretch standing up to put on shoes and socks to make it real life, not an artificial stretch. Ivy wrote back,

"I have tried standing to put my sox on and cannot quite make it YET (note the yet), that will come. I do, however, ensure that I always stand to remove my sox, and the like. Also to put them on except for the sox. I also stand when I moisturize my legs and feet - I do this so as to improve my balance."

I wrote back encouraging putting socks and shoes on and off while standing. The point of stretching is healthy function, not to "do a stretch" just to have a greater range. The benefit is from applying the stretch to ability to stand steadily on one foot and have muscle stretch and length to put on shoes standing .

Four hours later Ivy wrote back:

"Wow, I did it. I have just returned from a 30 minute walk, did some lunges as a further warm up and thought I would give it a try. I cheated, instead of shoes, I used slippers - I thought it would be easier. Tomorrow I will try shoes.

"Dr Jolie, you are my inspiration, you asked if I could do it and that set me a challenge. I must NEVER SAY CAN'T. As you are probably aware, I am a very motivated woman, however, there is no one to spur me along - you have done that and again, I can only say a huge thank you."

The next day this arrived,

"I am very pleased with myself. I just needed that push. As I said yesterday, I must never say can't again.

"Again, all I can say is a huge thank you. A huge hug from me."

Readers, stand with safe balance to dress. Send me your fun photos, mpegs (short computer video) and stories of using healthful range of motion for daily life.

Original story and updates:

• Inspirational Ivy
• Inspirational Ivy II - Beating Foot Drop and Sciatica, and Getting Healthier
• Good Life Works Better Than Bad Ab Exercise
• Farm Work, Lifestyle Exercise, and Preventing Overuse Pain

Ivy is a great-grandmother! (and a pretty great person too). She says,

"I guess I am very much like my late father who was a quiet achiever who used to tell me to 'stand tall and be proud of who you are' - I pass this advice on to my kids all the time."

Labels: balance, hip strength, leg stretch, readers inspiring story, sciatica, shoes, spirit, stress, stretch

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Lunges and Beans

To get a better lunge stretch and stop pressure on the medial knee (the side facing the other leg), don't turn your back leg outward (left photo). Turn your back foot parallel, and face forward (right photo)

The previous post Hip Stretch While You Strengthen Legs shows a key move to position the hip to get a great stretch on the front of the hip and feel a better strengthener for the legs as you lower and rise in standing lunges.

One of my students, Lily, demonstrates good hip and leg position for the lunge (second photo at right). Instead of tilting the hip forward in front and out in back, you tuck the bottom of the hip to maintain it vertical from the top of the leg (hip joint) to the middle of the waist. Note the stripe of the side of the pants compared to the vertical line in the wall behind her.

On occasion, Lily makes me a wonderful bean dish and brings it to class in a glass container. The glass is a thoughtful healthy touch to avoid whatever may leach out of plastics into food. My students and I try to do this with food and drinks carried to work and class. Here is her recipe. Just throw it all in a bowl:

Lily's Wonderful Beans

Cup or two of cooked black beans
Cup or two of corn
1 jalapeño pepper, diced
1 red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons cumin powder
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkle of olive oil, just enough to blend ingredients
squeeze 1 fresh lime over the top

Some people with celiac omit the corn. Celiac causes various discomforts after eating wheat and related products.

Good bending gives free exercise and stops a major cause of several chronic pain syndromes (muscle strain, disc degeneration, disc herniation, and sciatica) at the same time. Click the labels under this post for related posts. If you use the lunge and squat around the house for all the things you need to bend for instead of bad bending, you will stop a major source of back pain back, and get hundreds of free leg exercises a day. Enjoy healthy eating and healthy lunging.

Labels: celiac, disc, hip, hip strength, leg strength, leg stretch, lunge, nutrition, sciatica, stretch

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Hip Stretch While You Strengthen Legs

When you lunge to get a stretch, to strengthen, and to bend to reach or retrieve things, keep your hip vertical instead of tilting forward. You will feel a better strengthener for your legs and a wonderful stretch for the front of your hip.

Neither photo, above left, shows straight hip position. The left and right photos both show the hip tilted forward. The stripe in the pants tips forward between the top of the leg and the middle of the waist-band.

The photo below right shows straightening the hip. The moment you tuck the bottom of the hip under to straighten the hip, you will feel the stretch move to the front of the hip. If you use the lunge for bending and leg exercise, keep the hip tucked and vertical as you lower and you will feel a far better stretch and strengthener.

One way to do the hip tuck:

1. Put your hands on each hip, thumbs in back, fingers in front.
2. Roll your hip down in back so that your thumbs roll down in back.

The front of the hip and upper leg will feel very good when you do this right. You will feel the large arch reduce and the front of the hip stretch. The front of the hip is an area often overly-maintained in bent and shortened position from hours of sitting, then exercising with the hip still bent, as in the top-left photos.

Don't push the hip forward, just tilt the bottom under until vertical. This is the same hip tilt in:
Throw a Stronger Punch (or Push a Car or Stroller) Using This Back Pain Reduction Technique
and
Using Abdominal Muscles is Not Tightening or Pressing Navel to Spine.

These two posts show the key to position your hip so that your lower spine returns to neutral position and the hip stops tilting. You get a nice stretch with the benefit of stopping one kind of lower back pain that comes from going around all day with your hip tilted forward.

Bending the legs with one foot in front of the other is one of two healthy ways to bend for all the daily bending around the house. Click here to see it. The half-squat with feet side by side is another. Click here to see it.

The lunge is not an exercise that you do ten times then bend wrong for the rest of the day. It is one of several ways to do healthy bending for all you do. Use the lunge, not as an exercise, but a retraining for healthy body function and easy fitness as a lifestyle.

Labels: hip, hip strength, leg strength, leg stretch, lower back, lunge, squat

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Better Exercise on the Stairs

Old woman: Come upstairs and we'll make love.

Old man: I can NOT do both.

If you would like to strengthen legs and reduce knee pain while going up stairs:

• Don't lean forward (photo 1 above)
• Stand upright (photo 2 below)
• Keep your heel down on the foot that steps up.
• Push off the whole foot, feeling the push-off through the heel. Do not push off the ball of the foot.
• When you raise one leg to step up, don't let the other leg pull and bend forward. Keep the standing leg straight (not locked straight).

Many patients who come to me, previously unable to step up a curb without pain, can climb flights without knee pain using this repositioning. Stairs become not only accessible, but a source of the exercise their legs need to strengthen and regain function.

Keep your weight back toward your heel to use leg muscles instead of putting your weight on the front of your knee. You will get knee pain relief and a built-in Achilles tendon stretch with each step. Done right, you will feel a more muscular and strong push off, making stairs easier to climb and better leg exercise. Even if you have big feet and your heel is off the step, keep your heel down instead of going up "tip-toe."

Notice if you bend forward. Instead, stand straight. The post Common Exercises Teach Hip Tightness When Kicking, Stretching, and on the Stairs explains how hip tightness increases bent forward posture when raising one leg for kicks and activities like stairs, and shows how to hold straight body position instead, to stop tightness, and get a built-in hip and body stretch.

When descending stairs or hills, bend your knees when landing for soft shock absorption. Don't step down on a straight, locked, knee. Future posts will cover more about stairs. Have fun improving leg strength and knee function by taking the stairs during daily life in a healthy way. Send photos of your successes.

Labels: achilles stretch, fix pain, hip strength, knee, leg strength, stairs

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Don't Confuse Exercise With Real Fitness

Reader Dr. Zoe Eppley e-mailed, "I have been trying to apply your "bending right" approach to my daily activities. I find my tight leg and hip muscles seriously limit my ability to squat. Could you please recommend some stretches that will help?"

I receive this inquiry often. People are realizing that they are too tight to move in healthy ways for normal everyday life. I hear it from instructors of aerobics, yoga, Plates, personal trainers, and many others. This is an important epiphany. If you are too tight to move in healthy ways, then it is likely that you spend every day of your life moving in tight ways that create pain and perpetuate tightness.

The good news is you do not need to "do" stretches and exercises. Keep bending right and you will get exactly the stretch and strengthening you need. My most important message that I stress in all my work about exercise is not to "do exercises" but get crucial, functional, effective exercise by moving in healthy ways during normal everyday life.

People spend fortunes on treatments for pain, gadgets, potions, pills, prescriptions, adjustments, and ongoing medical scans and tests. Tightness and body pain is often made to be a mystery because it persists even after surgery and exercise programs. The reason is that they don't stop the cause. My successful techniques for fixing pain, even the most resistant back, neck, knee, and other musculoskeletal pain, emphasizes that you don't "do exercises" but simply stop the source of the injury by stopping unhealthy injurious movement patterns, and using healthy ones. Many people do ten repetitions of an exercise and hold each stretch for 30 seconds, then go back to unhealthy moving, sitting, bending, walking, exercising, and everything else that caused their pain and tightness in the first place.

If you are too tight to use your legs to bend down and get back up without using your hands or getting help, you need the hard realization that you lack normal function. It may be common in Western society to not be able to lift your own body, but it is dangerously unhealthy weakness.

Dr. Zoe e-mailed me a second time and mentioned watching an Indi-pop movie. She noticed the healthy posture and flexibility of the actors and how easily they squatted. She wisely reflected that she had probably lost much flexibility by not using normal bending and from "spending my life in chairs."

Keep bending right with your heels down, knees back, and your body upright. You will stretch your Achilles tendon and hip, and strengthen your thighs and knees hundreds of times a day - every time you bend.

One fun way to greatly help your bending is not a specific stretch or exercise but another normal daily activity: apply the same healthy positioning to ascending any set of stairs. I will post more about stairs, as it is interesting and enlightening. Until then, any time you go up stairs, notice if you tilt forward and let your heels lift. Instead:

• keep your heel down as you step up,
• keep your knee back over your ankle as you step up, instead of sliding your knee forward,
• keep your body upright.

Use healthy positioning for both bending and stairs and you will quickly gain functional and healthy strength and flexibility.

Labels: achilles stretch, balance, fix pain, hip, hip strength, knee, leg strength, leg stretch, lower back, squat, yoga

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Conference on Aging Dec 2, 2006 in Midtown New York

The Greater New York Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) will hold a conference on aging on Saturday, December 2nd, 2006 at the Flatotel, 135 W. 52nd Street between 6th & 7th Avenue, in New York City.

In one fast moving day, there will be nine lectures by authorities on metabolic changes of aging, cardiovascular changes and the benefits of exercise, exercise in older patients with heart failure, neuromuscular training for the older population, psychosocial aspects, physical training for older clients with special conditions, and nutritional needs of older populations. I will be giving a lecture called "Three Quick Techniques for Three Musculoskeletal Problems Confused for Aging."

Many of the declines that come with doing less are often confused with aging. A stiff and rounded upper back, for example, is not necessarily aging, but practice. Are you sitting rounded forward reading this right now? Do you spend your day rounding over your desk and steering wheel, then go to the gym and bend forward for crunches, leg lifts, Pilates, and toe touches? Do you bend your neck down to do biceps curls? No wonder it's hard for you to straighten out. How long will you practice unhealthy bent forward position before you get stuck that way? There is no need to exercise in the very way that is not healthy when you do it sitting at your desk. There are better ways.

Much of the loss of strength and balance over the years is from disuse not aging. Many people do not use their legs for the hundreds of times each day they need to bend. They bend wrong, throwing their weight on their spine. Their back hurts and their legs and hips tighten and weaken. Eventually they find they are unable to sit comfortably on the floor, and more worryingly, cannot rise from the floor, or even from their chair without using their hands. This is debilitating weakness, and a dangerously unhealthy cycle of use or lose. It is not aging. In cultures where sitting and rising from the floor is a daily activity, people of 90 have the strength and balance to do it. They do not suffer the rates of falls, osteoporosis, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease of less active populations.

My lecture will cover three easy techniques to maintain and improve spine health and muscle strength. Come say hello. The meeting is designed for allied health practitioners, but is open to the public, with reduced registration fees for members of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) New York Chapter. Contact Felicia D. Stoler, MS, RD (732) 946-4436, or e-mail fstoler@att.net

Labels: aging, arthritis, balance, disc, education, fix pain, hip strength, knee, leg strength, leg stretch, lower back, osteoporosis, sitting, squat, strength, stress, stretch, upper back

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