Fitness Articles

Ab Definition Comes From the Back

One thing that most people who train for improved abs do not realize is that they need to train their backs at the same time. Without having a proper balance between abdominal and low back strength, there is a change in posture, ultimately resulting in a decreased physique, decreased oxygenation to muscles, and decreased endurance. This means that you will spend more time in the gym, take less away from your workout, and feel more tired the next day. Sounds terrible, right?

One of the greatest secrets that I teach my clients is to strengthen their low back musculature in order to increase the efficacy of their abdominal workouts. Through proper low back strengthening, they are able to normalize their pelvic positions, thereby increasing the stretch on their skin in the abdomen. This increase in stretch, or better posed decrease in slack, results in showing the muscles that lie underneath. With the 3 step plan you see below, you may just find that you have had more abdominal definition than you knew:

• Step 1:
  Learn how to perform stability exercises rather than crunches. Functionally, our abs work to stabilize our bodies while walking, standing from a chair, or sitting down. This is referred to as an 'isometric' contraction, meaning that the muscle is contracting, but no movement is taking place. Whenever your abs are working isometrically, it's a good bet that your low back is helping stabilize from the other side. Think about it, if my abs are firing and my low back extensors are not, would I not bend forward?
• Step 2:
  Spend double the time on your back than you do on your front. Take for granted the fact that most people work on the muscles they can see in the mirror when working out. If you simply try to counterbalance this for awhile, you will be blown away by the results. By working on muscles such as your lower trapezius, middle trapezius, rhomboids, posterior deltoids, gluteals, and multifidi, you will stand far ahead of your competition. Your body will assume a better posture, your circulation will improve, the oxygen delivery to your muscles will improve, and your metabolism will increase. All of these factors will drive your results through the roof when attempting to improve abdominal definition and strength.
• Step 3:
  Change it up. Most people perform the same exercises every other time that they work out. Instead, try to vary joint angles and positions, muscles targeted, surfaces used, or anything else you can think of in order to 'shock your system' into thinking it's never exercises before. Do you remember the first time you worked out? You were pretty sore, right? Me too. There is a reason for this: our bodies were producing a ton of lactic acid, which produced soreness, and resulted in a repair process that uses energy to get rid of the acid. This energy equals increased metabolism. If you increase metabolism, you'll hit your goals before you know it!

If you'd like to see amazing results with your ab strengthening program in the gym, all you have to do is follow this three step plan. By targeting your muscles the way they are intended to be used, improving posture, and mixing things up, you will be blown away by the results.

Six Pack Abs in Half the Time

Six pack ab strength training is not as hard as it looks. Most people spend way too much time working on areas that will never lead them towards the six pack that they've always wanted. Instead, if you were to focus on your metabolism, with a slight bias towards ab strengthening, you would be able to decrease your body fat, improve your stamina, eat more (not less), and get in and out of the gym faster.

Increasing metabolism requires proper nutritional habits, improved posture, and high intensity exercise. By choosing balanced meals, sufficient calories, and appropriate meal timing you have an ability to demand more energy from your body during any given workout, thereby taking more away from each workout in less time. Improving posture leads to improved oxygenation of muscles, improved circulation, increased self-confidence, and improved cosmetics. High intensity exercise leads to lactic acid production, minuscule tears of muscles that require repair following bouts of exercise, and momentary muscular failure. These characteristics force your body to undergo a repair process that lasts days after leaving the gym, instead of the hour or two you may spend in the gym. Naturally, as with any process in your body, processes consume energy, and energy equals metabolism.

Decreasing body fat is a product of increasing your muscle to fat ratio (muscle:fat.) The easiest way to do this is by adding lean muscle mass to your body, and then working on losing weight from there. Because muscle consumes more calories than body fat, you will be able to eat more, burn more off, and feel stronger throughout your day. Instead of restricting calories and feeling lethargic, you will be able to rise above and feel motivated to succeed the following day with your goals.

Eat more, not less. Most people try to diet when they want to improve physique. What's more? They stay in the gym longer, but they have less to burn. Instead, think of food as fuel and exercise as fire. In order to keep the fire burning, you have to continually feed it fuel. Exercise is the same way. If you would like your body to function optimally, consider eating at least a snack every 2-3 hours. Preferably, your snack will look just like the balanced meal you ate earlier in the day, but a smaller portion. Over time, your body will learn to accept and use more calories, provide more fuel to the fire, and dramatically improve your results in the gym.

Six pack ab training is achievable if you know what you're doing. Increasing metabolism, decreasing body fat, and improving dietary habits leads to faster and longer lasting results.

Flat Abs in 10 Minutes Flat

In order to flatten your abs in ten minutes a day, you'll need to exercise smart, not long. The importance of pre-planning your exercise routine for optimal results with a minimal time commitment goes beyond words. Instead of working hard to exercise, why not let exercise work hard for you? Follow these specific guidelines if you would like to flatten your abs in ten minutes flat.

• Guideline #1:
  Think whole body. By exercising your entire body in a routine, you are stimulating more muscles, increasing local metabolism at many joints, and thereby affecting your whole body metabolism, or global metabolism. Moving many joints at once with every exercise you do will promise you better results in half the time.
• Guideline #2:
  Alternate pushing and pulling exercises. Let's use common exercises to exemplify this concept: bench press and lat pull. Bench press is a pushing exercise, while lat pull is a pulling exercise. By alternating between these two exercises, you are asking your body for opposite demands, resting one muscle while you are working another, and 'shocking your system' into demanding circulation to all areas at once. Increased circulatory demand results in increased stroke volume from the heart (the amount of blood expelled per heart beat), and increased metabolic effort. Naturally, this results in improved results.
• Guideline #3:
  Think core first. By focusing your efforts on areas that are of increased importance to you, you are pre-activating these muscles and using them more effectively. For example, if you are doing sit ups on the ball, you can squeeze your glutes together to increase lower abdominal and gluteal tension. This will intentionally force a greater contraction these muscles and result in improved outcome. Another example of this would be a pull up. It's possible to do a pull up with the majority of emphasis in your arms, or it's also possible to perform a pull up with the majority of emphasis in your lats. In other words, you can decide which muscles you want to emphasize by intentionally recruiting them during exercise.

Flattening your abs is easier than it sounds if you exercise smart, not hard. It takes knowledge, a premeditated approach to your exercise routine, and effort from the right areas.

Health and Fitness Versus Fat Loss

Health and fitness workouts are vastly different from fat loss workouts. A fat loss workout requires alternating intensities, extremely high heart rates, and maximal exertion for best results. Health and fitness workouts, on the other hand, require increased endurance, decreased rest periods, and increased reliance on a steady cardiovascular demand throughout a workout. By understanding the difference between a health and fitness workout versus a fat loss workout, you will be able to improve your results in the gym ten fold.

Health and fitness workouts typically start off with steady-state cardio routines, meaning that you choose an appropriate heart rate and stay within five beats per minute of the desired heart rate throughout your cardio session. In doing so, you are asking of your heart a similar demand, despite alternating fatigue levels and intensities dictated by a machine. In this situation, you typically adjust your speed and intensity levels to allow your heart rate to remain steady, thereby teaching your body how to maintain intensity despite a changing environment. This same principle is used throughout your weight lifting routine by choosing lighter, more endurance-oriented exercises.

Fat loss workouts employ principles of alternating heart rates and/or intensities in order to ask your body to respond to extreme demands, repeatedly. By requiring alternating intensities, you are constantly shocking your body, and forcing it to adapt its energy requirements for any given movement. This adaptation results in a prolonged state of oxygen consumption following exercise. Oxygen consumption following exercise requires increased metabolic demand, leading to increased caloric need, and, as a result, fat loss.

Designing your workouts around specific goals, whether they are health and fitness or fat loss, is necessary to reap the results you seek. Exercising without a specific goal in mind is very much like choosing your clothes blind-folded: the chances are that you're not going to look the way you had hoped. It's important that you open your eyes.

Health Fitness - Exercises Meant to Improve Your Health

Health and fitness results are difficult to achieve if you don't have a targeted as specific plan from the start. A properly guided exercise program involves goal setting, correct methodology, and a large variety of exercises from which to choose. Below, you will find guidelines to help you in each one of the above categories

Goal setting and goal achievement are two completely different topics. Setting goals is important before beginning any exercise program, but achieving goals requires frequency of thought, objective measurements and analysis of progress, and diligence to carry out the desired activity necessitated to achieve your goal. For best results, I recommend you think through your goals at least five times a day, using the power of affirmations to help you accomplish them in your mind before you do physically.

Objective measurement of progress depends on your goal, whether it is body fat, weight loss, or strengthening. Keeping track of your progress is essential for reinforcement as well as modification. Finally, it's important to point out that no one will achieve a goal if they do not have the diligence they need to pursue it. Many times, if motivation is what's missing, I recommend finding a partner or teammate to help you through difficult times.

Correct exercise methodology is vital to health and fitness success with exercise. Methodology should be based upon your goals listed above. For example, if you desire to gain muscle, you may have a very different plan than if you desire to lose weight or train for competition. Be sure to research your exercise program ahead of time and follow a proven model before choosing which exercises you intend to do. For this reason, it's not wise to simply watch another person exercise and then imitate, especially if you have no idea what s/he is trying to accomplish.

Having a large variety of exercises from which to choose allows you to 'shock your body,' by constantly placing different demands upon it. Through this unique approach, which is sometimes referred to as 'muscle confusion,' you will reap much better results, for much longer. Normal exercise programs that consist of ten to twenty exercises yield great results for a temporary time frame until they reach a 'ceiling point.' Ceiling points refer to the time during an exercise program when results plateau and exercises become less effective.

By considering each one of the above factors while designing your health and fitness exercise program, you will dramatically improve your results in the gym. Increased results in the gym directly correlate to decreased body fat, increased strength, increased endurance, decreased risk of cardiac disease, and improved health for a lifetime.

Golfers With Tight Hamstrings

Tight hamstrings are very common among golfers, and they are very avoidable. Most golfers attempt to relieve hamstring tension by performing quick stretches (i.e. less than 10 seconds with only a brief pause at the area of greatest restriction.) In reality, it is not the amount of 'flexibility' a golfer has that determines his/her ability to swing smoothly, but it is the amount of 'mobility' instead. Let's take a closer look at these two words, where:

'Flexibility' refers to the amount of passive lengthening (i.e. bending over to touch your toes and holding the position


VERSUS

'Mobility,' which refers to the amount of active lengthening that a muscle can withstand (i.e. while laying on your back , actively extending your knee until you feel a light stretch, slowly returning, and repeating for a desired number of repetitions)

Flexibility is necessary for a gymnast that needs to hold a certain position for a prolonged period of time. Mobility is necessary for people that need to use their muscle flexibility with movement, such as golfers or runners. By working on mobility rather than flexibility, you will dramatically improve your hamstring length as it relates to the golf swing. Please follow the mobility example above to perform your hamstring mobility exercise. Repeat for 3 sets of 15 repetitions per leg, most days of the week.

A second point to emphasize is neural tension. Many times, increased tension arising from the low back and spinal structures can result in increased sciatic nerve activity. The sciatic nerve controls tissue tension throughout the entire backside of the lower extremity. In this case, you would perform the same mobility exercise, but while holding a towel that is wrapped around the ball of your foot to bring your toes towards your face. This ankle movement, otherwise known as 'dorsiflexion,' adds a light stretch to the sciatic nerve and will teach your nervous system to believe it can be more relaxed in a normal, standing position. Be careful not to stretch aggressively when stretching neural structures, as they will respond with increased activity (i.e. more tension) if you do.

By following these guidelines for improving hamstring mobility you will greatly reduce incidence of injury, as well as improve pelvic rotation associated with the golf swing. Pelvic rotation is one essential component to improving accuracy and distance in golf.

Balance and Exercise

If you don't have control over your center of mass, you'll never have control over movement. This means that every time you lift weights, you are lifting in a different pattern, or at least you might be. In order to improve balance with exercise, it's imperative that you work on balance through exercise.

Over time, lacking awareness of your center of mass leads to joint breakdown, decreased results, and increased bad habits. It's very difficult to set up a system of movement without gaining proper control of your center of mass.

Your center of mass is located just in front of your vertebrae in the low back, at the levels L1-L2. This means that in order to perform any standing exercise, it's important to be aware of the position of your low back. Having control over your center of mass is increasingly important when you raise your arms overhead with weights. Naturally, your body will shift its center of mass to balance out the new demand place on your body in this position. It's your choice:

Do you want to have a predictable system of movement, where you know you're safe every time, or would you rather 'chance' it every time you do a military press?

I'd rather have the system. Systems are formed through strategic implementation of previously determined plans. Lifting weights to increase balance involves planning your workouts to offer you a mutual benefit for balance, as well as fitness. Through a carefully designed fitness program, you will be able permanently affect your level of balance with dynamic and complex activities, thereby reducing risk of injury, increasing coordination, and decreasing demand on your body during daily activity.

Fat Loss For Golfers

Golf fitness is the most important thing that golfers can consider when wanting to "get the edge" in golf. In order to become truly fit, it is imperative to shed unnecessary body fat first. Following a specific fat loss program that considers range of motion, athletic movements, and muscle balancing techniques is the best way to reach your goals.

Fat loss for golfers is a unique approach to exercise that involves compound movements, meaning two or more joints moving at the same time, multiple speed variation, and a distinguishing combination of intensive body weight training mixed with various other gym exercises. Through this newly-found approach, golfers are able to improve range of motion necessary for a golf swing while also improving strength at the same time.

Range of motion in golfers is essential, with specific emphasis to be placed on the following muscles:
• Hamstrings
• Hip Flexors
• Pecs
• Rotator cuff

By choosing exercises that require incremental increases in range of motion needed for these muscles over time, a golfer is able to adapt to exercise and improve range. This is a fundamental concept supported by Wolf's Law, stating that the body will adapt or change according to the stresses or demands placed upon it.

In order to rapidly improve your golf game, or take yourself to the next level, it is essential that you consider the proper fat loss for golf program to suit your needs. Be sure to choose a fitness professional that meets your needs, or one that may have specific experience with golfers

My Personal Trainer Hurt Me

Unfortunately, I've heard this one all too often, and I always respond the same: "I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with exercise, but did you find someone you could trust? Was she or he qualified to do the job?"

In truth, all personal trainers are not created equally. Weekend certifications, inappropriate goal setting, and a lack of scientific foundation are often the root causes of injury that take place between a personal trainer and his or her client. Many personal trainers believe that their experiences with exercise will be the same for others, if they can just teach their clients how to do what they do. This saddens me.

It's time that qualified fitness professionals stand up for what is right, help personal trainers who are just starting out realize their weaknesses, and educate the public on choosing the right trainer. What other field related to health pretends to be more qualified than they are? It just does not happen.

I've created a quick list of questions that you should be sure to ask a personal trainer before hiring:
• Are you certified? If so, through whom?
  Look for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) or National Strength and Conditioning Association (NCSA).
• Have you ever worked with someone like me before? What were their results?
  Ask for pictures if at all possible. Otherwise, be sure to ask for specific answers. Any trainer that has been in the industry for awhile understands that tracking results is a necessity.
• Can you provide me with references of your previous clients?
  You may not even need to call this person. Having someone's phone number or email address, alone, signifies a mutual level of trust.
• Are there any doctors or other healthcare practitioners in the area that know you or that you've worked with in the past?
  It's a sure bet that some doctor, physical therapist, or chiropractor in the area knows your personal trainer if she or he is any good.
• If I were to get injured, how would we handle it?
  People do get injured from time to time. It's more important to find out why they were injured, how your personal trainer will respond, and whether or not they even feel comfortable around this subject.
• How long do you think that we will be training together? Do you think that I'll become independent with exercise?
  If you are having a great time and getting great results you may decide to extend your contract. Otherwise, it's important to have a realistic time frame for your exercise program from day one.
  Use this checklist of questions to determine whether or not this personal trainer is a good fit for you. As a general statement, any experienced fitness professional will be glad to answer all of these questions in order to show you his or her dedication to your success. On the other hand, these questions will be difficult to answer if s/he does not have any exercise experience.

Exercise Time Management

Finding time to exercise is about as difficult as cutting a penny with plastic scissors for most people. The truth is: it's easy after you get started. Exercise time management requires blocking off exercise as part of your daily routine. People that try to exercise when they can "fit it in" normally end up with the least results. Exercise time management involves scheduling, workout development, and program variety.

In order to be effective with your exercise program, you'll need to schedule appropriately. This means that you'll be more likely to succeed with your health and fitness goals if you schedule a specific time of the day to exercise for an entire month. The time of day does not have to be the same each day (although this is recommended), but it does have to be pre-scheduled, just as you would a doctor's appointment.

Exercise time management also involves pre-scheduling of your workout routine. Clients of mine who are most successful exercising independently develop their workouts ahead of time. In fact, the most successful plan their workouts for at least an entire week in advance. If you think about it, your choice of exercises for today should be based upon your choice of exercises yesterday and tomorrow.

Finally, in order to manage your time effectively with exercise, you'll need to consider having a variety of exercises in your routine. The typical exercise program repeats once or twice a week, indefinitely. This allows your body to acclimate to the exercise demands placed upon it, thereby decreasing your results over time and leading to plateau. By selecting a larger variety of exercise, as can be done with proper workout development skills, you will be constantly stimulating your body to react to new demands, and thereby increasing fat loss and fitness results. For this reason, marathon runners are able to look relaxed while running at insane speeds. After awhile, the human body accommodates this 'abnormal' demand, and learns to burn fewer calories and conserve more energy. The same thing is true with your exercise program. Be careful not to make this mistake.

The IPod Video is a Fat Loss Machine

The iPod video has incredible versatility now that it offers both video and audio capabilities. Portable video has never before been available in the gym setting, and hoards of people are beginning to enjoy carrying a personal trainer in their pockets.

People all over the world have begun creating their own podcasts, or radio shows, that allow others to listen and learn. In fact, this has become so popular that 'podcasting' has even turned into an industry unto itself. If you search under 'Health' in the 'Podcast' section of 'iTunes,' you can find fitness audio programs relating to your specific health and fitness goals.

The iPod workout is relatively new for the fitness and fat loss industries. Very few fitness professionals have created iPod workouts to date, in comparison to other online features of workout programs, but the trend is growing rapidly. Fitness enthusiasts aiming to lose fat are now realizing the power of repetition available through watching fat loss videos in the gym. Because each exercise is a separate video, clients are able to watch an exercise be performed properly until they fully understand, for only a fraction of the cost involved in hiring an offline personal trainer.

Obviously, hiring an offline personal trainer has its advantages, although I'm not sure that one of them is necessarily quality. In person, it is definitely possible to find a great personal trainer, but it is unlikely to find of the world's best. By hiring a fitness professional online, please realize that you have an opportunity to hire one of the best or worst in the world. The internet is a big place, and there are many levels of quality available in the fat loss industry. Always use caution when choosing a fitness or fat loss program.

iPod Video Revolutionizes Personal Training Industry

The iPod Video and the iPhone have revolutionized the way personal training is offered around the world. In truth, many people now see the iPod as a replacement for having someone demonstrate exercise in the gym. Through the technological boom, the use of digital video, and the increased awareness of health around the world, it's no wonder that the iPod workout is taking over.

In fact, some fitness professionals have even managed to create video courses, simulating public speaking environments with Powerpoint format and video voice over in order to offer people an even greater value through their subscription to iPod workouts. It is actually possible now to enjoy many forms of multimedia through an iPod video or an iPhone, not just music.

One example of the "portable personal trainer" that is taking place involves an email delivery service, where you receive a couple of workouts for the week. You can then download the corresponding videos to your iPod, from which you can carry the exercises to the gym. Previously, the large majority of online fitness training stemmed from home workouts and/or e-books. Through the use of video, that is accessible on an iPod, new horizons have been reached and new levels of long-distance fitness coaching are available.

As a fitness professional, it's important to remind readers that you should not hire a personal trainer because of convenience. Instead, it's more important to evaluate them for their skill set and educational background, regardless of price or environment. Remember, this is your body. Be sure to choose wisely when asking someone to help you take care of it.

Fat Loss and Ankle Pain

Have you ever wondered whether or not it was possible to do a fat loss exercise program on an injured ankle? Many people discount themselves from exercise the minute that injury takes place, especially if it's a weight bearing joint. The truth is that you'll need to take it upon yourself to exercise more the next time you're injured if you want heal faster and burn more fat.

Exercising around an injury is very much different than exercising on an injury. By choosing a fat loss program for the rest of your body, while decreasing the amount of stress placed on an injury, you will greatly improve the rate of healing, as well as greatly improve your results in the gym. Think about the number of exercises that you can do that do not require standing, such as:
• 3 Position Bicep Curls on the Ball
• Lower Ab Ball Twists
• Q.L. Sidebridges
• Crossed Extension
• Theraband Interval Training (for upper body cardio and fat loss)
...and the list goes on.

Injuring your ankle is not an excuse to forget about exercise until you're healed. If you choose the proper fat loss program while rehabilitating from your injury, you will drive more circulation to the injured area, allow more proximal (i.e. trunk) muscles to stabilize your body while walking and therefore decrease stress to the injury, and improve stamina.

This information should not be taken as a substitute for physical therapy or a doctor's opinion. However, by improving in all of the above areas, you will be jump starting your fat loss goals so that you will reap limitless benefit during and following any ankle injury. Remember, exercise should be a full time job when you're injured. A healthier body is a more coordinated boy. A more coordinated body is a less frequently injured body. You decide.

Fitness Trainer - Choosing the Right One

Choosing your personal fitness trainer can not only be a difficult decision, but an expensive one as well. Finding a fitness trainer who can provide a professional level of knowledge, as well as demonstrate safe exercise programming is essential. Unfortunately, it's possible to find a fitness trainer who may leave you broke, injured or, even worse, both.

Whenever counseling people on how to best select an appropriate fitness trainer for their needs, I recommend they follow this five step process:

By following this five step process, you will surely improve your chances of hiring an excellent fitness trainer. There is nothing wrong with asking these questions to the person you are interviewing for the position of 'body mechanic.' Successful fitness trainers would be happy to answer all of these questions just to show you how committed they are to your goal achievement.

Fitness Tips and Tricks

Most people do not realize that fitness is all about tips and tricks to decrease the amount of time spent in a gym, increase efficacy of each workout, and improve outcome in less time. In order to succeed with fitness goals, it is imperative that you have a plan

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people that I know do not have a targeted plan to in their fitness quest. Think about your health in a similar way as you think about a job and you will reap much better results from your program.

For example, consider a typical day for me at the office:
• 6:45am - arrive at the office, check email, make a cup of coffee
• 7:00am - 12pm - see patients and clients, take notes on each session
• 12-1pm - Lunch + respond to emails
• 1-6pm - see patients and clients, catch up on paperwork, prepare for following day

Now, let's take a look at how this same model could be used in a workout program:
• Minutes 0-3 - warm up, elevate heart rate by about 10-15 beats per minute
• Minutes 3-20 - Cardio or interval training
• Minutes 20-40 - begin first rotation through a circuit, focusing on form and functional, whole body movements
• Minutes 40-43 - rest after twenty minutes of nearly continuous movement, interrupted by short rest periods of 30-60 seconds as needed.
• Minutes 43-60 - repeat circuit, record results, prepare for next workout by mentally rehearsing before leaving the gym.

Basically, we are doing the same thing in both scenarios. By choosing to arrive a couple of minutes early, warming up (checking email), beginning our workout routine with a specific goal in mind for both cardio and weight training (see patients and clients, take notes), taking a break (lunch time), repeating the process (patients and clients), and preparing for the following day we are at a huge advantage.

First of all, we are making the most of every moment in the gym. Secondly, we are visualizing success during a proud moment by mentally rehearsing the following routine. This is a key to fitness success - belief system. Belief system affects everything we do. In order to become fit, at some point, you will have to believe in yourself. Most people choose to believe in small steps. While this is a great way to offer yourself positive reinforcement, I encourage all of my clients to visualize complete success with long-term goals, and then begin to rationalize smaller ones from there. This is a much easier way of determining your overall progress in achieving something that is actually meaningful.

Six Pack Abs Made Easy

Have you ever considered doing every exercise on an unstable surface, as to train your core at all times? My belief is that this is the fastest way to gain six pack abs with the least amount of effort. In fact, I've been able to help tons of people incorporate unstable surface training to their workout programs in order to guarantee faster results, less strain to their lower backs, and reduced waistlines

Training for functional abdominal strength while training for aesthetic purposes just makes sense. Functionally, your abs work to stabilize your lower spine, flex your trunk, rotate your trunk, and digest food. It is always important to consider the actions of the muscles you are training for two reasons:

If you consider all actions of muscles you are training, you will stand a much better chance of stimulating areas of your muscle you would not otherwise recruit. You will feel stronger in daily activities, thereby enhancing your motivation to return to the gym.

In order to truly reduce belly fat to the extent necessary to develop six pack abs, diet is an essential component. Personally, I'd rather see you stay away from extreme dieting and unrealistic food choices, but rather find mechanical foods that you enjoy eating. Mechanical foods are nutritional sources that require energy to be broken down and digested. Through increased energy use in the digestion process, you will increase metabolic demand and improve fat loss.

Remember, in order to guarantee your successful attainment of six pack abs, you will need to be disciplined and dedicated to your fitness program. Also, be sure to begin slowly and progress over time. If it truly is your goal to have six pack abs, it would be wise to make this a long-term goal that will be sustainable for years, rather than days.

Burning Ugly Belly Fat

Burning ugly belly fat is most easily accomplished through compound movements. Many people make the mistake, when lifting weights for weight loss, of choosing simple, single joint movements that deliver significantly less fat loss benefit. It is imperative that you understand what a compound movement is and what it can do for you if you would like to melt away your midsection.

Compound movements are exercises that use more than one joint. However, the most important compound movements for fat loss include many joints, not just two.

Examples of compound movements for the lower body are:
• Hang Clean
• Lunge
• Squat
• Sumo Walk
• Farmer's Walk

Examples of compound movements for the upper body are:
• Push Ups
• Pull Up
• Inverted Lat Row
• Curl and Press

Examples of whole body compound movements are:
• Hang Clean and Press
• Burpee
• Squat Thrust
• Moving Plank with Triple Push Up
• Lunge with a Chop/Reverse Chop Pattern

If it is your goal to lose weight, decrease stubborn body fat, and improve your metabolism, you will see better results with movements that require increased metabolic demand at multiple joints. When thinking about altering your metabolism, it's important to realize that you are affecting many local metabolisms, thereby changing your global metabolism over time.

It is through increased metabolic demand over a period of weeks or months that you can affect your metabolism on a more permanent basis. As Wolf's Law says, "your body will respond to the stresses or demands placed upon it." If your body is demanding higher energy production due to increased activity at many joints throughout your body, your body will adapt to this and begin producing more energy.

Lose Belly Fat Through Exercise

Losing belly fat through exercise is not as easy as people make it seem. The truth is, your body will lose fat from every place you do not want, first. It is very difficult to lose fat in the 'hard to reach areas,' such as love handles, hips, buttocks, and the belly.

Through the proper fat loss program, featuring high intensity exercise, it is possible to reduce your body fat to the point that you will see trouble areas melt away. A properly guided exercise program that asks your body to utilize compound movement schemes and the proper length:tension (length tension ratio) will dramatically increase your results in the gym.

Many people wonder whether or not body weight resistance exercise serves adequately to reduce belly fat through exercise. In truth, body weight resistance exercise is enough to help almost ninety-percent of all the clients I see reach their weight loss and fitness goals.

Heavy weight lifting, several times per week, is not necessary for most people's goals. Most people come to personal trainers with the intention of losing fat, decreasing body weight, and improving stamina. In order to this effectively, I cannot think of a better way than forcing the body to be able to resist its own weight through dynamic and challenging movements. Some of my favorite body weight exercises include the burpee, squat thrust, pull up, plank, push up superset, and reverse lunge.

For the most part, each one of these exercises targets the entire body, rather than isolated segments of the body, thereby dramatically increasing metabolic demand, and improving fat loss results.

Fat Loss Vs Weight Loss

Understanding the difference between fat loss and weight loss is a critical component in any fitness program. Many people confuse the number on the scale with their fitness level, although this can be quite misleading at times.

It is more important to monitor body fat percentage during the course of a fitness program, in order to best determine the ratio of muscle to fat in the body, or fat free mass to fat mass. By shifting the ratio of muscle:fat, it is possible to shift one's metabolism. Once a metabolic shift has occurred, weight loss just happens.

It is all too often that prospective clients come to me upset about the number they see on the scale. The truth is, there is a such thing as "skinny fat people," and "thin, heavy people." The American Heart Association continues to emphasize the importance of BMI (body mass index), and this is important for heart health, as well as stress attenuation for the human body. However, the body's ability to function optimally also lies in its ability to maneuver effortlessly.

When a body is imbalanced, or has too much fat mass, it is constantly in a state of hardship. Every time a muscle is recruited for a task that requires endurance, the heart is left overworking and undernourished. Through improved lower extremity strength, the venous system does not have to work as hard. This is called a 'muscle pump system,' meaning that the muscles in your lower and upper leg work together to help squeeze blood back to the heart, thereby decreasing stress on the cardiovascular system as a whole.

For this reason, many diets can be misleading. By depriving your body of essential nutrients it needs to build muscle, like protein, it is difficult to sustain any level of permanent weight loss. Naturally, as muscle wastes away and the amount of fat free mass in the body dissipates, a person's metabolism will decrease. Over time, this results in rebound weight gain, and a feeling of depression.

Through the proper nourishment and a guided exercise program, this is not necessary. It's important to speak with your doctor, physical therapist, or personal trainer to discuss the correct ratios of nutrients, as well as the appropriate exercise prescription before trying to lose weight. It may turn out that you have set yourself up for failure if you're not careful.

Shoulder Exercises - The Difference Between Rehabilitative And Strengthening Exercise

More is better, right? Actually, when it comes to rehabilitative strengthening, this could not be further from the truth. Rehabilitative exercise has a completely different goal than the typical gym workout, or strengthening program. You see, when you are lifting for pure strengthening, 'momentary muscle failure' is necessary, meaning reaching a point where you either cannot complete a repetition or you break form.

In the case of rehabilitative exercise, this is the last phase of therapy. For several weeks prior to strengthening an injury, it is much wiser to reduce impact on the injury site, and strengthen the surrounding muscles, thereby reducing impact on the injury even more.

The fact is, your body does need to rest, but not your whole body. Times have changed. It used to be that following injury you were told to spend time in bed resting. Nowadays, the sooner you get moving the better. Increased levels of exercise lead to increased levels of circulation. Your blood is your healing power.

Increased circulation, or blood supply to muscles, tissue, and organs, allows for better and faster delivery of oxygen and nutrients, which are vital to recovery of any tissue.

The next time that you are injured, think exercise first. Remember that you are entering into a rehabilitative strengthening program, meaning that you should rest your injury and work everything else out. With the proper exercise program and/or care from a physician or physical therapist, you can overcome your shoulder injury and improve your fitness level at the same time.

Neck Or Shoulder Pain? Find Pain Relief After You Find Your Diagnosis

Did you know that neck pain can radiate to the shoulder, elbow, or even hand? In some cases, it's possible that no signs whatsoever may be present in the neck, although it can be a neck related issue. I know that it sounds strange, but I'll say it again: your shoulder pain may not be coming from your shoulder. It could be your neck.

Differentiating between neck and shoulder pain is very important for several reasons. First and foremost is the risk of quadriplegia (being paralyzed from the neck down) or less extensive permanent nerve damage. Many people do not realize this, but there are specific areas of your upper body that correspond with segments of the cervical (upper) spine. Likewise, there are specific areas of your lower body that correspond with levels of your lumbar (lower) spine. This means that a change in sensation or strength in your hand, elbow, or shoulder may be indicative of an issue at your neck.

Whenever you have shoulder pain, it is important to differentiate between the origin as the shoulder or neck. Your orthopedic physician, physical therapist, or chiropractor can perform a simple evaluation to help you make this determination. Once neck injury is ruled out, it becomes safe to pursue rehabilitation and strengthening of the shoulder. Relief of shoulder pain is completely possible in most cases.

Hundreds of thousands of people world-wide are living their lives with shoulder pain unnecessarily. The difference between having pain and having no pain lies mostly in education. If you do not understand your shoulder, how to strengthen it, how to reduce chances for re-injury, or how to break the cycle of pain, shoulder pain can be overwhelming.

Back Pain and Sex

Did this get your attention? It should have... back pain can be debilitating for you in more ways than just time off of work. Increased levels of pain correspond with decreased libido, impotence, decreased patience/tolerance for others, and decreased strength. Life without these things can be depressing. Depression leads to inactivity. Inactivity leads to further breakdown.

It really is a vicious cycle. Did you know that 80% of Americans suffer from a serious enough episode of back pain in their lives that they go to the doctor for treatment?

The numbers are astounding. Unfortunately, the percentages are against you, unless of course you take precaution. Cardiovascular fitness is thought by some doctors to be the number one factor in herniated disc rehabilitation. Postural strengthening is an integral process of any rehabilitation plan. Improved posture invariably leads to decreased stress to painful areas in the back. Flexibility, when done properly, can be terrific as well. Unfortunately, without proper guidance, it is difficult to know whether your flexibility exercises may be helping or hurting your back condition. Improper flexibility exercises lead to muscle length imbalances, irritation of painful injuries, and increases in rehabilitative time. Improper strengthening programs can do the same.

Back pain can also be prevented altogether. If you have never suffered from back pain, but you want to tweak your exercise program to improve core strength, become flexible in advance, and improve fitness levels there is good news in store. All of this can be done easily and effectively through the guidance of a qualified fitness professional.

LA Lakers Injured List - Walton, Fisher, Gasol - Is This A Trend?

The L.A. Lakers have had a string of injured players. I guess the question that everyone is asking themselves is, "Could all of these injuries be a coincidence or does this have anything to do with their training method?"

Walton's strained right hamstring, Fisher's partially torn tendon in his right foot, and Gasol's sprained left ankle could all be happening by pure coincidence. However, it is more likely that the L.A. Lakers have yet to integrate "proprioceptive training" into their routines. You see, by training specifically for 'proprioception,' or 'position sense,' you can greatly reduce the risk of re-injury, thereby creating a much healthier team.

Proprioceptive training is a fancy way of saying that you are training your nervous system to learn how to respond to the position your body is in as rapidly as possible. How do you think that someone avoids an injury when they turn an ankle? Sometimes, it's possible to recover. If you specifically train with the intention of building proprioception, you can have greater control over this recovery opportunity immediately preceding an injury. If you learn to react more quickly, through enhanced proprioception, you will be able to stabilize your joint through equal and symmetrical muscular tension, thereby reducing the chance of an avulsed tendon, sprained ligament, and/or muscular strain.

Typically, following any injury, we immediately lose our proprioceptors. This is part of the overall 'protection phase' following injury, where the biggest and broadest muscles are recruited to assist the injured area. As a result of being out of position, so to speak, your body learns this new, altered pattern of movement. Without specifically training your body to respond to its natural position once again, you will be greatly increasing your risk the next time you turn your ankle, reach for an object overhead, or take a quick step. Through better knowledge of our bodies ("body scheme awareness") most injuries can be avoided.

Tyler Johnson's Shoulder Injection - Is This The Solution For Shoulder Pain?

It is not uncommon to hear about athletes that receive cortisone shots for tendinitis, inflammation, and other injuries most often related to the shoulder, knee, or spine. Cortisone shots are steroids that numb pain and greatly reduce inflammation. They are a great temporary solution for pain, and a means to help people return to enough activity to heal. In the case of the athlete, it's more complicated.

Many athletes suffer from injuries that may sideline them for weeks, months, or even full seasons. When push comes to shove, it's hard to 'sit out,' watch your team losing, and sometimes even suffer without pay during the entire process. Job security is based upon performance, even if your injury isn't held against you, you have less total performances to 'show your stuff' and make a splash. Making a decision to 'return to play' as fast as possible, rather than focusing on the long-term consequences of an action, is increasingly difficult as today's athletes get better and better at what they do.

Physical Therapy and Orthopedic literature suggest that cortisone shots are safe up to three times, although individual sources do differ a bit. Some sources say three times in a lifetime; others say three times in a year. Regardless, it is known that the removal of inflammation through steroid use also results in tissue breakdown, specifically ligaments, cartilage, and surrounding joint capsules. Scary stuff, right?

Matthew Leach, of MLB.com, quoted Mr. Johnson to have said:

"It wasn't going as planned, so the next step was to do this," Johnson said. "Hopefully this will knock out the inflammation and whatever is in there and I'll be throwing soon. I'm getting antsy."

Clearly, Tyler Johnson is feeling the social and possibly financial pressures discussed above. Whether this cortisone shot breaks down the ligaments surrounding his shoulder or not, it certainly is not healing his rotator cuff tendinitis. Only through proper rest and exercise will he be able to have long-term success with his shoulder.

Freddy Sanchez's Rotator Cuff Injury - A Second Time?

Last September Freddy Sanchez went through arthroscopic surgery of his shoulder. Yesterday, sportsnetwork.com wrote about Mr. Sanchez experiencing inflammation in his right shoulder. Naturally, the question is: Are these two situations linked? Following one shoulder injury, are you more likely to suffer a second (rotator cuff) shoulder injury?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes, always. However, there is something that you can do to greatly reduce your chances of experiencing a second injury to the same shoulder: you can strengthen your shoulder girdle, thereby reducing the amount of stress placed into injury-prone tissues such as ligaments, the shoulder capsule, labrum, and cartilage. By improving posture and strengthening the muscles in your shoulder in a specific order, you can greatly reduce the opportunity for re-injury in most shoulder conditions. In fact, depending on your pre-morbid (previous to injury) fitness level, you may be able to strengthen your shoulder beyond its previous strength. Typically, muscles surrounding your shoulder should be strengthened back to front, although this is dependent upon the injury. As a general statement, strengthening all symptom-free movements is a good idea.

The next time that you get injured, rather than thinking about 'getting back to the old me,' I'd like you to think about injury as a sign to improve your overall health and decrease the risk of future injury. Let's use pain and injury to our shoulders as sign to get more fit. Through increased strength and fitness levels, we are delivering more blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the injured tissue, thereby speeding up the rate of healing by leaps and bounds.

Tyler Johnson's Rotator Cuff Injury and What to Do Next

Tyler Johnson, of the Cardinals, will unfortunately be sitting out the beginning of this baseball season. According to recent articles, Johnson is suffering from rotator cuff tendonitis, preventing him from pitching without risk of a rotator cuff tear. Normally, rotator cuff tendonitis can be well addressed in about a 6-8 week period. However, this does not take into consideration the many aspects of rehabilitation that pertain to professional sports.

First and foremost, baseball pitchers are required to throw a baseball with such velocity and momentum that their shoulders undergo far more stress than what someone's shoulder is expected to undergo following traditional rehabilitation. Secondly, despite the added stress associated with being a baseball pitcher, millions of fans and millions of dollars are depending on the athlete to return to play sooner, rather than later. Fortunately, elite athletes are so well conditioned that healing does take place more quickly. However, sources suggest that Tyler Johnson will be pitching again in "at least 2 weeks." At least 2 weeks? Thank goodness it's not my shoulder...

Following rotator cuff injury or tendonitis, it is wise to begin a regular icing schedule, every evening and every morning, for about 5-10 minutes. Also, you should ice whenever you aggravate your shoulder throughout the day and the pain persists for longer than 5 minutes. By regular icing, you will prevent most new inflammation from entering into the joint space. Too much inflammation in your shoulder joint will cause what's called "impingement," meaning that structures are compressed against one another causing pain and further inflammation. It's a vicious cycle.

With most shoulder injuries, the next step is working on postural stabilizing muscles in the shoulder and upper back. Through improved strength and muscle firing patterns, meaning the order in which muscles are recruited to assist a movement, most of the stress placed into the injury can be avoided. With less stress to the injury, healing takes place much more quickly.

Ronaldo's Knee Injury - How Will It Affect the Rest of His Body?

Brazilian superstar Ronaldo suffered the tearing of a tendon in his left knee during a very competitive game against Milan. Unfortunately, media sources are claiming that this may be the end of his career. To Ronaldo's credit, he has managed to rehabilitate his right knee with similar injuries in the past, after undergoing surgery.

Many people do not realize the implication of one injury on the rest of the body. Many times, due to overcompensation, a left knee injury can cause undue stress to the right knee, hip, or even low back. Once injury occurs, our bodies are very smart systems, and so they engage in something called "muscle guarding," where all of the biggest and broadest muscles surrounding an injury are recruited to take stress away from the painful area. Unfortunately, this can result in abnormal stress placed on the opposite knee.

Abnormal stress placed on Ronaldo's right knee, especially following previous injury to that knee, may not be very well tolerated. Most likely, with every step that he takes, he will be putting asymmetrical pressure through his legs. This causes increased force translation into the low back and many times results in soreness.

It only takes a few minutes of exercise to bring the proper amount of blood and nutrients to your low back in order to allow your body to heal from the minor amount of damage caused through compensation throughout the day. The only problem is that most people do not even know where to begin, and most therapies simply cannot dedicate time to every possible issue, especially issues that have yet to arise.

Whenever you have an injury it is wise to consider the injury's implications on the rest of your body. In Ronaldo's case, as an elite athlete, he will most likely have the highest quality care and be able avoid the vast majority of complications related to a debilitating knee injury. However, if this were your knee, would you know what to do?

Curt Schilling's Shoulder Injury And Cortisone Shot - Was This The Right Decision?

Cortisone shots are dangerous! They are very effective in managing pain and decreasing inflammation, but it is through this very mechanism that they also break down other important tissues, such as ligaments and cartilage in the surrounding area. Curt Schilling just had a cortisone shot, and hopefully, there will be no long term disadvantage to this treatment. In reality, professional athletes are faced with this difficult decision all the time. On one hand, it is fairly safe to get up to three cortisone shots without huge amounts of risk. On the other hand, risking your shoulder, knee, back, or ankle for any amount of time, whatsoever, is less than appealing.

Typically, the treatment given to professional athletes is decided upon by two factors:
• What is the best thing for the athlete?
• How much money will be lost by the team and/or athlete as a result of this? Is there an immediate and ethical decision that can be made to prevent this?

The truth is, both questions are important and relevant. Football players, for example, many times only get paid if they play. They could be losing up to $1,000,000 every game that they miss. I know what you're thinking: "If that's the case, they'll be fine so long as they play most of the games they'll still have $10,000,000..."

While this is true, let's take it a bit further. This person has a mortgage and other 'normal, everyday expenses' to pay, based off of an estimated income that did not include this injury. This athlete is also causing successive damage to his body for what's to be a rather short career. If the career is too short, he'll know for sure that this injury was not worth the price. Getting back on the field is job security, and playing sport is what he loves to do.

Many times, the competitive spirit can even take over and lead someone back on to the field with an injury. I did this myself playing water polo. The game was tied and we were about to go into overtime. I had hurt my shoulder, but it was the championship match. By the end of the game, I had torn my labrum. Needless to say, without rehab, my shoulder would be a mess. I put myself through an intensive program that helped strengthen my shoulder, while avoiding surgery, cortisone shots, or other more aggressive methods. Fortunately for me, I did not have a ten million dollar contract to think about and I was able to heal my shoulder the right way.

Curt Schilling's Shoulder Injury and How You Can Avoid One

Curt Schilling's shoulder injury is a hot topic of debate in the sports arena right now. While doctors are keeping his diagnosis from public view, it is probable that he, at the very least, is suffering from biceps tendonitis. In fact, there is an extremely high likelihood that he also has a SLAP lesion, a superior labral tear anterior to posterior.

The labrum of the shoulder serves two primary functions:
• Deepens the fossa (cavity) where the humerus (upper arm bone) meets the scapula (shoulder blade) to increase contact space for better joint movement.
• Serves as a vacuum seal for the shoulder joint, meaning that it allows the rotator cuff to rest while helping to maintain upright posture.

The biceps tendon, contrary to the sound of it, has very little sensitivity with normal 'bicep-type' activities, such as bicep curls, hammer curls, reverse curls, etc. Conversely, the biceps tendon is most aggravated while lifting your arm straight out in front of you with your palm facing up, or during 'wind up' motions, as in baseball pitching.

Curt Schilling has demonstrated on many occasions that he has hyperflexibility in the shoulder girdle, allowing him to wind up and pitch the ball much faster. Unfortunately, with speed comes a tough price to pay. When too much pulling of the biceps tendon takes place through rapid movement from the 'cocking' phase of a baseball pitch to the 'follow through,' it is possible that the biceps tendon will pull forcefully upward on the labrum, to which it is adhered. Under maximal loads and/or repetitive trauma, this many times results in SLAP lesions, as is discussed above.

In order to improve the stability of your shoulder complex and decrease the risk of needing surgery, it is important to work on shoulder blade stability first. In order to do so effectively, I recommend two exercises in particular:
• Plank with theraband hold - push-up like position, on your forearms and elbows with a theraband wrapped around your wrists. Stretch the theraband until your arms are shoulder width apart, raise your knees off of the ground, squeeze your shoulder blades together, and hold for 30-60 seconds. Repeat 3x every day, especially if you are baseball pitcher.
• Crossed extension - on all 4's, raise opposite arm and leg into the air while maintaining a 'neutral spine' position, or straight back. Avoid any twisting and turning movements as much as possible for the best result. Alternate between right arm with left leg and left arm with right leg until you have done ten repetitions with each side. Repeat for three sets or until fatigue. Pay special attention to the arm that stabilizes you against the ground. Be sure to keep your shoulder blades back and squeezed together to prevent abnormal movement while you are bearing weight on your arm.

With these simple two additions listed above, you can markedly increase the stability of your shoulder complex with very little effort. Who knows? This may help you avoid surgery one day!

Shaquille O'Neal's Hip Injury and How You Can Avoid One

Shaquille O'Neal is currently suffering through an injury to his left hip and quadriceps, after causing further aggravation to it during the Miami Heat's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite the fact that Shaquille O'Neal had been diagnosed with inflammation to his left hip and quadriceps tendon previously, competition got the best of him as he attempted to withstand the pain and continue to play.

After only a few minutes of play, it was obvious that Shaquille O'Neal had hurt himself. MRI reports from the following day's examination confirmed his diagnosis of acute inflammation to the left hip. Doctors are suggesting that Shaq rest for the next 6 games, or 2 weeks, until the inflammation has had a chance to subside. Doctors, teammates, and head coach, Pat Riley all suggest that Shaq has tried many rehabilitative means of strengthening his hip to offer him the best chance for return to play. Unfortunately, only passive rest is being suggested at this point.

Hip flexor and quadriceps tendon inflammation are not uncommon diagnoses. Unfortunately, as a product of intense play and improper training techniques, we are all at risk for this type of injury. Many people simply decide to 'self-treat' through 'cutting back' while never giving their bodies a true chance to heal. Did you know that your body desires to heal in a particular order?

Before strengthening an injured joint, it is more important to displace all stressors to another area of the body through strengthening surrounding, uninvolved structures. There is a high probability that Shaquille O'Neal lacks flexibility in his hip internal and external rotators, the muscles that allow you to turn your toes in and out. As a result, extra stress will be placed into other areas, including the quadriceps, hip, and lower spine. With a lack of flexibility in the hip, the majority of stress placed on the body during normal activities, like walking, goes through the lower spine. Naturally, you can imagine the number of times your spine would be withstanding injury throughout the day, let alone during an intense bout of basketball. Mr. O'Neal may not know it, but forced rest may be the savior to his back, which could be a much larger problem.

In order to avoid this type of injury and restore your body's natural movement patterns, it is wise to engage in a full body exercise program, with particular emphasis on low back strengthening and lower body flexibility. Most people, especially men, have very tight internal and external rotators of the hips. It is imperative that we strengthen the muscles of the low back while improving hip flexibility to improve force attenuation through our spines. Through a proper strengthening and stretching program, most of these injuries can be avoided before they occur.

Weekend Warrior - "The Bum Elbow"

Golf and tennis are two sports that you can play for a lifetime. While many other sports are difficult to keep up with as we get older, these two are low-impact and manageable with busy schedules. In fact, some of the most important business decisions in the world have taken place on either a tennis court or golf course!

As a physical therapist and fitness professional, I often see complaints of pain on the outside or inside of the elbow. If you are suffering from this sort of pain, you may have "Tennis Elbow" or "Golfer's Elbow." These conditions are degenerative processes, so it's wise to act early before the damage is done.

'Tennis Elbow' refers to tendonitis of one of the muscles on the outside of your elbow, specifically the Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis muscle. 'Golfer's Elbow,' on the other hand, refers to tendonitis of the muscles on the inside of your elbow, specifically located at the common flexor tendon origin. The name tendonitis refers to swelling of the tendon, or the part of the muscle that connects to bone. Because tendons receive poor circulation, they do not heal as well as other muscle strains. Over time, this leads to a degeneration of tendon and a formation of scar in its place.

So, what can you do? Well, the solution is different in each category. Normally, people who suffer from 'tennis elbow' hit backhand leading with their elbows first. In other words, as they swing the tennis racket, their elbows are further forward then the racket. This puts a very large amount of stress on the outside of the elbow, at the muscle attachment to bone, and causes repeated microtrauma over time.

With 'Golfer's Elbow,' on the contrary, stress is placed on the medial (inside) aspect of the elbow. Usually, this is the result of hitting an "open-faced" shot. In other words, this sort of pain most commonly is a result of an extended elbow (straight arm) with the club turned out as you make contact with the ball. This position adds stress to the inside of the elbow, while also overstretching the muscles originating on that side. Again, 'golfer's elbow' is a result of repeated microtrauma, rather than one "bad shot."

In general terms, you're going to want to strengthen all surrounding muscles, while resting what's hurt. Common exercises would include:
• Wrist curls (up/down/diagonally to each side)
• Bicep curls
• Reverse bicep curls (palm down)
• Hammer curls (forearm curls)
• Sports-specific exercises to gradually progress to a full swing

The idea is to rest what's hurt, never increase pain through activity, and ice often. Of course, you should always see a physician before beginning an unfamiliar exercise program. If your symptoms worsen or do not improve, you should also see a physician or physical therapist.

If you are having trouble or you are unsure about what the best method might be, don't be too proud: Seek the help of a fitness professional or physical therapist. We'd be happy to help you create a foundation for healthy living and injury prevention. The human body is a complicated machine. It's wise to avoid learning through experience when dealing with any complicated machine, especially one that hurts through experience!

Weekend Warrior - "The Bum Shoulder"

Do you love playing sports? Do you participate in a master's league sport? Is it hard to make time to practice outside of games? Well, games are more fun anyway right?

Of course! That is, if you don't have tendinitis or if you don't get injured. Right now, as I'm writing this, there are 30 guys at my gym who are playing a weekend game of 'pick-up' basketball. And guess what? Without fail, every Saturday, one of them (at least) gets hurt, or leaves the game because "my shoulder (knee, ankle, elbow) is killing me!"

While this is good for business, it's not good for you. It's time that you learn how you can strengthen those painful joints in just a few minutes a day so that you don't have to worry about 'old age catching up.' The fact is that we spend our whole day in a chair at work, or in front of a computer, or reading, or doing something else that has us in a terrible posture, slouched or hunched forward. Normally, when we leave work we crack our necks once or twice, wish for a massage, and then assume all is better the next day. Well, it turns out that we are actually doing slow, but successive damage to our joints.

Did you know that your head position can cause tendinitis in your shoulders? It's true. 'Forward head,' meaning your ear is not lined up with the top of your shoulder when you look from the side, actually puts stress on your rotator cuff. 'Forward shoulders,' as the name implies, creates a similar or greater stress on your rotator cuff muscles. This stress eventually leads to tendinitis, or sometimes even a rotator cuff tear that requires surgery.

By performing a couple of back strengthening and head retraction exercises, which you can do while sitting at work in less than 10 minutes, you can avoid, if not eliminate these problems. The muscles that you're going to want to strengthen in your back are:
• Rhomboids
• Middle/Lower Trapezius ("Traps")
• Posterior Deltoid
• Lattisimus Dorsi ("Lats")

So go out there and find some exercises to strengthen these muscles and avoid injury! If you are having trouble or you are unsure about what the best method might be, don't be too proud: Seek the help of a fitness professional or physical therapist. We'd be happy to help you create a foundation for healthy living and injury prevention. The human body is a complicated machine. It's wise to avoid learning through experience when dealing with any complicated machine, especially one that hurts through experience!

Stairway to Heaven - Why Climbing Stairs Prolongs Quality of Life

Are you 40 years old or older? Do you have vague knee or hip pain that might be stopping you from wanting to go up and down stairs as often as you used to? Did you know that this might be the least of your problems?

In reality, if you are a woman, you may have already started to lose bone mass. If you are a man, you probably have not started to lose bone mass, but you will soon. Yes, men over the age of 65 are also at risk of osteoporosis.

"But it hurts. Why would climbing stairs hurt and be good for me?"

Well, you may be experiencing arthritis in one/both of your knees. There are several contributing reasons as to why stairs may aggravate this pain, but most importantly is form. The next time that you climb stairs, I want you to focus on putting your whole foot onto the higher step before climbing (i.e. toes flush against the beginning of the following step.) In doing so, you'll place your foot and knee in a much healthier position as you ascend. If this is still difficult and/or painful for you, you might want to try a smaller step and progress only if pain-free. And, guess what? Stairs will help strengthen the muscles around your knee to eliminate future pain.

Stairs are one of the most important 'maintenance' exercises that you can do. Not only do stairs require that you use at least 3 joints at once (hip, knee, ankle), requiring increased oxygen consumption and therefore increased metabolism, but they also help build bone. Through weight-bearing exercise, such as stair climbing, squatting, lunging, push-ups, etc., your body's "osteoblasts" are activated. 'Osteoblast' is just a fancy name for 'bone builder.' Your body feels stress through the long bones of your legs while climbing stairs and responds by layering more bone to protect the area.

Did you know that hip fractures are one of the most deadly injuries to occur in the older adult population? If you are 40 or older, and you'd like to live a fracture-free older adulthood, I highly recommend that you find a way to make stairs a regular part of your routine NOW! Even if you do not exercise regularly, this is one area that can help you without having to leave your home.

Fitness Professionals Need To Diversify

Pick a niche, YES! Successful fitness professionals do pick a niche in which to work, at least in the beginning. They learn to dominate this specialty, become recognized as an expert, and then leverage their expertise to re-initiate the process in another facet of fitness. However, you may be missing a very important concept. Follow these three guidelines below to learn how to dominate your niche while diversifying your business at the same time!

• Pick a specific aspect of fitness that you consider your strength
  If this is fat loss, for example, you're going to want to be a little bit more specific. Do you normally work with women or men? Children or adults? People with lots of experience exercising or little experience? Do you only work with people who are interested in nutrition and exercise?
  These are the types of questions that you're going to want to ask yourself before truly defining your niche practice. Once you have identified your specific criteria, proceed to step two.
• Find out where you are likely to find your prospects
  Using the case of fat loss once again, you may find out that your potential clients regularly visit Weight Watchers, have joined the YMCA, shop at an organic grocery store, or suffer from joint pain.
  If we use joint pain as an example, then you'll be likely to find those particular prospects at a physical therapy facility or doctor's office. Keep your list of all the potential places where you can find prospects, but pick one for now. Proceed to step three.
• Design a marketing plan specific to your population of interest
  Let's take another look at a physical therapy facility, in hopes of finding prospects with joint pain that are overweight. Don't you think that this physical therapy facility will be impressed if you show them that you work with clients like their patients all the time?
  You bet they'll be impressed! So all you're going to have to do is design a marketing medium specific to the needs of this facility. Most fitness professionals design individualized programs for their clients in order to best meet their needs. The same is true with marketing. If you can allow your referral source to see your vision through your brochure, business card, flyer, DVD/CD, or publication, they will be much more likely to refer to you.
  Repeat this process beginning with number 2. Find another location where you are likely to find your prospects and design a marketing medium specific to them. Diversify. The more referral sources you have in your niche, the more job security you'll have. Make sense?

Heat and Exercise - Adaptations for Success

How many people across the world right now are suffering from unbearable heat in their homes? Are you finding yourself to be much lazier than usual? Stricken from energy?

You're not alone. You're not safe. You must take steps to ensure your safety during trenching heat of hot summer months. Read below to see exactly what you'll need to do in order to ensure your safety while maintaining and/or improving fitness levels.

• Pace yourself
  Understand that your energy levels will not be the same in the middle of the day. Realize that as the heat increases, so will your fatigue levels. There is a ton of power in planning your day just a bit more carefully. If you're stuck inside without air conditioning, have the foresight to strategically take breaks throughout the day in order to let your core temperature fall. If you are an older adult, it may be a good idea to carry a portable phone with you, either in your pocket, walker, or fanny pack. Generally speaking, you'll want to take breaks about 4x more often than normal. If you normally exercise for a bout of 60 minutes, you'll want to take a 2-3 minute break every 15 minutes. Sit down, have something to drink, and take a breather. You'll be surprised how much more energy you have at the end of the day!
• Replenish electrolytes
  As you sweat, your body dissipates its electrolytes. Electrolytes help maintain heart rhythm, muscle contractions, and balance in your body. They are extremely important for reasons of hydration, and water alone will not do the job. It is imperative to replace electrolytes during hot summer months. One way of doing this is through a sports drink (i.e. Gatorade.) However, let it be known that many times sports drinks are filled with too much sugar. You may want to consider watering them down with a 3 parts 'water' to 1 part 'drink' ratio.
• Remember cumulative exercise
  Did you know that the American College of Sports Medicine currently states that cumulative exercise reaps 90% of the results of continuous exercise? That's right: if you exercise for 5 minutes at a time 12x/day, you'll reap 90% of the benefit of exercising for 1 hour straight. Seems really achievable, right?! Knowing this, why rush? One single bout of heat stress could set back your workout routine for a week, if not longer. It's not worth it. You may even want to divide your exercise into the beginning and end of the day so that you can avoid the heat of the day all together. Remember cumulative exercise.
  Follow these 3 simple steps to increase your safety when exercising during summer months. Do not give up on exercise because you're tired. Pace yourself, replenish electrolytes, and remember cumulative exercise to reap optimal results. It's that easy!

Improving Fitness Levels While Injured - Advice From Physical Therapist To Fitness Professional

Teaching clients how to improve fitness level while they are injured seems great if it were only so easy... well, guess what? It is EASY! By helping our clients improve fitness level while injured, we not only keep them healthier and happier, but we help speed recovery. With just a little bit of teamwork, we can help all of our clients recover from their injuries more quickly.

After reading the three guidelines below, you'll know exactly what to ask a physical therapist +/or doctor, how much exercise is a safe amount of exercise, and how this will lead to new client generation.

• Exactly what you need to ask a physical therapist or doctor in order to guarantee the safety of your client
  Depending on your certification guidelines and patient history, you may or may not have to contact your client's doctor. I've found that the more doctors' offices that I've needed to call for exercise approval, the more referrals I've gained. They tend to appreciate the courtesy. Leave a message with the receptionist that you were interested to see if there were any absolute contraindications or precautions to exercise this client. Call back the following day for approval.
  Many times, however, it is the physical therapist that can best help guide you with movement of an injured person. If you have an opportunity to speak to a physical therapist, request a consultation for your client, thereby allowing the physical therapist to give you specific guidelines for what to avoid with exercise. Most of your clients would be glad to learn that they can continue exercising if they go to a physical therapist once! Let the therapist figure out what to do with the injury, you work on exercising the rest.
• How much exercise is a safe amount of exercise for your injured client?
  It takes energy to heal. In general, you'll want to slightly scale down exercise intensity during time of injury. You know your client. If they have any heart conditions, or other major health problems, the demand on their hearts will be greater while healing, so back off a bit. Otherwise, decrease the intensity by 10-20%, and increase the number of repetitions to promote increased circulation of blood, nutrients, and oxygen to all tissues. This will speed healing while increasing fitness levels.
• How will this lead to new client generation?
  You will quickly develop a reputation for exercising people with injuries. Do you have any idea how many people have aches or pains that make them fearful of exercise? You will be opening yourself to an entirely untouched area of the personal training market. Doctors and physical therapists alike will respect you for knowing boundaries and seeking their expertise. Physical therapists will be delighted to gain consultation referrals from your business, and they will be inclined to refer back to you. They'll know they can offer you suggestions, so they'll trust you with their patients!
  If you are ready to help people heal faster, while doing very little work, and grow your business, follow these guidelines. You will be surprised by the results!

Physical Therapist Referrals - What All Fitness Professionals Should Know

Getting referrals from physical therapists is a great way to boost your professional fitness business. Not only will you be gaining a ton of referrals, but your prospects will trust you before they've ever met you. You will instantly be viewed as an expert in your area since the medical professionals are referring to you. But many fitness professionals just don't realize how easy it is to approach a physical therapist.

Follow these three easy steps to quickly and instantly start gaining physical therapy referrals:
• Don't just walk in and expect to be able to speak to a physical therapist. Set an appointment. People are busy during their normal office hours. The best thing to do is explain to the receptionist or office manager that you'd like to set an appointment with a physical therapist to discuss better patient outcomes. Leave your name and information and ask when a good time to call and reach a PT to set up an appointment would be. Ask the receptionist or office manager to please relay to the physical therapist that you would like 5 minutes of their time on the phone, at their convenience.
• When you speak to the physical therapist, be sure to ask them what they would want from a fitness professional in order to refer. We can't read minds. However, we can follow directions. It's that simple. If someone wants to sell me something, I may or may not buy it. However, if someone asks me exactly what I want and then attempts to sell it to me, his/her chances go through the roof! Examples here might include: a weekly progress call (1-2 minutes), a list of exercises, a list of guidelines provided by the physical therapist to the fitness professional, etc.
• Volunteer to come in for one of the treatment sessions if the patient says ok.

This way the physical therapist knows that you've seen exactly what is happening during physical therapy. This way you've had an opportunity to ask any question you'd like to. Also, return the favor. Invite the physical therapist to come in and see you in action. And, most importantly, guarantee your work or the patient doesn't pay. Many therapists are concerned for the financial well being of their patients, so a financial guarantee is just what they need to hear.

If you're ready to start gaining unlimited referrals that translate to guaranteed income in the fitness business, follow these directions. You'll be doubling your income in no time!

Fitness Professional and Physical Therapist - Defining Roles

Defining the role between fitness professional and physical therapist is extremely important in optimizing results with our clients. Not only will this decrease competition and bring you new business (and tons of referrals!), but your clients will see better results than ever before! As a team, physical therapist and fitness professional will be viewed as elitists in their communities, and therefore be recognized as the best in each respective field. Many fitness professionals, however, just do not realize how easy it is to draw this line and improve outcomes.

Follow these three easy steps to rapidly define your role and maximize the results you seek with your clients:
• Only work within your strengths. Refer the rest.
  People understand that you can't know everything. They will respect you for saying so. The best thing to do is simply explain that you don't know the answer, but you will find out who does. By providing resources for your clients, you will become their go-to person. Whenever they have a problem, they will learn to trust that you'll send them in the right direction. This, in turn, will entice them to continue training with you long after they may have otherwise finished with your program. Client longevity and well-being is the key to your successful business.
• Make a list of your weaknesses.
  This is a good idea no matter what your business is. By identifying and writing down your weaknesses, you are more likely to be aware of them. Also, you are better prepared to conquer them, making your list smaller over time. You are probably a competitive person, even with yourself. Well, if that's the case, and you've had to admit a weakness, you are likely to overcome that weakness over time. And in doing so, your confidence will rise, and your prospects will notice. Exuding confidence, without becoming overealous, is about the most convincing form of sales that exists.
• Self-reflect. Ask yourself who you would go to in the same situation.
  Those of us that are fitness professionals have a gift... the gift of understanding the human body. We know when we break down, no matter how stubborn we are about getting help. Think about it like this: even though we are capable of designing each and every workout we put ourselves through, many times we go in with a rough idea and just workout. Well, if we do not put more thought into our clients' workouts then we'll be in trouble, right? The same is true here. Just because our clients have an ache or pain, or history of pain that we may not fix on ourselves, we still have an obligation to help them fix it. We are hired by our clients to look out for their best interest, to plan and execute for them, and to teach them what we know. This includes our knowledge of when referral is appropriate. Hiding this from your client is just the same as being too lazy to plan an effective workout for them. Unacceptable, period.

If you're ready to start gaining all of the respect in your area, just follow these simple directions. By learning when to refer, and to whom you should refer, you'll be surprised how quickly things will come full circle. Physical therapists will learn to refer clients back to you, and you'll be the most sought-after trainer in town before you know it!