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At some pint or another, everyone has back pain. It isn't any fun, and it hurts. There are times, where some back pain can lead you in bed for several days. There are exercises that you can perform to help ease the pain.

If you have lower back pain, you will find that moving your back will help. Exercising will help strengthen you back, stomach, and leg muscles, which help support your spine, in turn relieving the pain. You'll want to consult your doctor before starting any exercises for your back, as the cause and intensity of the pain, may inhibit certain exercises.

Something that you may want to try, is partial crunches. Partial crunches can help strengthen your back and stomach muscles. You'll want to lie with yoru knees bent and your feet flat on the floor; cross your arms over your chest, or put your hands behind your back. Tighten you stomach muscles to raise your shoulders off the floor; make sure to breathe out as you raise up. You do not want to lead with your elbows or arms, as this will put more strain on your neck. Repeat this 8 to 12 times, holding for a second each time.

Hamstring stretches can be beneficial to help stretch your legs. You'll want to lie on your back and bend one knee. Loop a towel under the ball of your foot and straighten your knee, pulling back on the towel. Hold this for 15 to 20 seconds 2 to 4 times a leg.

Wall sits can help build your core muscles and leg muscles, to in turn support your back and back muscles. You'll want to stand 10 to 12 inches from the wall, lean back until your back is flat against the wall, slowly slide down until your knees are slightly bent, keeping your lower back pressed into the wall. Hold for 10 seconds and carefully slide back up the wall. Repeat 8 to 12 times.

Therea re many other exercises that you can try, but contact your doctor and a fitness trainer for assistance.

Exercises that you'll want to avoid include toe touches, sit ups, and leg lifts.

* Toe touches put a lot of stress on the disks and ligaments in the spine, and toe touches can overstretch your back.

* Sit ups can strengthen your core or abdominal muscles, but this can put a lot of pressure on the discs in your spine, especially if you use the muscles in your hips.

* Leg lifts can stregthen your abdominal muscles, but when lifting both legs at the same time, while lying on your back, can make the pain worse.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Fitness

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Healthy Foods to Eat to Stay Fit

July 27th 2009 22:46

It's true that there are some foods that you can eat for better fitness. Popeye did it, so why can't we? Just because he's a cartoon, that doesn't mean that there wasn't any truth to spinach helping muscle tissue repair itself faster after a workout. The only difference is that, you'd have to eat about 2 pounds of iron-packed vegetables every day to see Popeye results.

Just remember that when you are trying to get fit and stay fit, you really are what you eat. Check out these foods that will help you stay in shape.

Pineapple and Papaya are both good for muscle recovery. They are loaded with bromelain and papain, which are enzymes that help break down protein for digestoin as well as anti-inflammatory properties to help speed up your post-workout recovery.

Salmon is great for cardiovascular fitness. Fish oil has been proven to help lower heart rate. Plus, the fatty acids that are in fish oil can be incorporated into beneficial effects on your muscle and heart cells. If you can't eat fish, then you may want to consider taking a fish oil pill every day.

PB&J or Pasta with Meat Sauce are both good for building muscles and muscle repair. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a small bowl of pasta and meat sauce is perfect to fill your 20-30 grams of protein and 50-65 grams of carbohydrates, which has been proven as the perfect formula for bulding new muscles and repairing old muscles.

Port Tenderloin is a lean meat that can help trim your waist. It's a great low calorie course of proteins.

When working out, you'll not only want to stay fit with what you eat and your workout schedule, but you don't want to drink sodas and junk beverages. The following beverages have been proven to aid in fitness.

8 Ounces of Chocolate Milk is good for keeping hydrated. Believe it or not, milk does a better job than water or sports drinks at rehydrating the body after exercising, and by adding the chocolate, you get the pefect balance of carbs, proteins, and fat, for a quick muscle recovery.

Coffee is good for pain relief, as the caffeine helps to reduce muscle soreness by blocking the chemical that activates pain receptors.

Cold water is good for keeping your endurance up. You'll want to drink cold water before and during your exercise routine in order to improve your endurance levels.

Green tea is good for muscle recovery. It's been proven that 3 cups of green tea a day for one week will result in fewer damaged cells caused by resistance to exercise. So, at least one or two cups a day will help your muscles recover faster after an intense workout.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Diet, Fitness

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Exercises to Firm and Tone Your Butt

June 13th 2009 13:45

Because we all have different body types, our rear end area may be seen as a blessing or a curse. You want to work with what you have, and if you feel your derriere is a curse, then try to work it out so that it's toned and tightened to your liking. Just remember that we are all built differently, and as we gain fat and muscle, there is not guarantee that your butt will reap the full benefits.

Remember that consistency is the key to seeing and feeling the results. Doing lower body and upper body exercises and eating more calories than you burn may help you build muscle, but your genetics will decide how much your butt will actually change; you can look at your parents and other relatives, and you'll probably notice that you've more than likely inherited some of their genes, and this goes the same for your butt.

There isn't one magic butt toning exercise that will make your rear end change, but with consistency paired with good eating and a healthy diet, you'll have a better chance of altering your butt to your liking.

Exercises to Consider:

Squats are an excellent and proven training method to toning your butt. You can add resistance by performing squats while holding dumbbells in your hands or a bar across your shoulders. Vary the width of your feet, so to change the emphasis of the exercise; as you move your feet further apart, you'll feel more in your butt and hips.

Lunges also work to tone and exercise your glutes. You can try stationary lunges, walking lunges, alternating lunges, and side lunges. If you don't quite remember, lunges consist of bringing one leg forward and standing so that you have good balance, bending both legs and bringing your body down towards the ground. Your back knew will almost touch the floor, at this point slowly come back up.

Hip Extension is a movement that is pretty simple and is beneficial for your glutes and hamstrings. Basically, on a step or platform (or even a bed), lie face down with your hips on the edge, keeping your legs resting lightly on the floor. SQUEEZE your butt and hamstrings and straighten your legs until they're level with your hips. Lift one leg higher than the other and alternate, moving each leg as though you're kicking in the water. Try 3 sets of 20 reps for each leg.

Deadlifts are great for hamstrings, but you must keep your butt and lower back form precise. Start with your feet hip-width apart and your weights in from of your thighs. Keep your back flat and your abs in, bending forward from your helps, lowering your torso until your weights reach your shins. SQUEEZE your butt to raise back up, keeping your weights close to your legs throughout the entire motion, keeping just a slight bend at your knees. Try 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

Stairmasters and climbers are great when used at a slower frequency for about 30 minutes. You want to feel the your body weight as you step down on the heel of each foot. The benefit of completing a full step rather than short, mini steps is that your legs and glutes will enjoy a better, more thorough workout, as will your heart. You'll want to start at 20 minutes 3 days a week, and work up to 30-45 minutes 5-6 days a week.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Fitness

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Exercises to Tone Your Legs and Thighs

June 8th 2009 13:38

Most women want to have nice legs and thighs that they can show off during the summer with a nice tan, but most women don't have the legs that they really want. With a little work and even diet adjustments, you can tighten and tone your legs and thighs so that they look just like you'd like them to.

You'll find that higher rep activity well generally help tone and lean your legs, but if you have higher amounts of body fat that you want to lose, you won't see the same drastic results until you shed the extra fat, which you can do with basic cardio work 3-5 times a week for at least 30 minutes at a moderate pace and a diet adjustment.

Exercises for Home using an exercise fitness ball

Wall Slides- This exercise works nearly everything below the waist, depending on the position of your feet. You can shift your feet to emphasize your gluts, quads, hamstrings, or thighs.
* Basic Wall Slide: With your back facing a wall, place an exercise ball on the wall at the same height as your belt or just below your butt. Your spine, should be pressed against the ball, but you want to make sure that you're not leaning on it. Walk your feet in front of you about a foot so that your toes are visible, and with your feet at hip-width apart and your back straight, slowly sit down as if you were going to sit in a chair, bringing your thighs parallel to the floor but no lower. Pause a minute and slowly straighten your legs to stand back up. You may want to challenge yourself by holding 10, 12, or 15 pound weights by your side.
* Plié wall slides: Place your feet a little wider apart than your hips, and have your toes turned out 45 degrees. Perform the basic wall slide in this position.
* Glute wall slide: Have your feet and knees together while performing the basic wall slide.

Bridge and hamstring curl- This exercise will work your hamstrings, glutes, and calves. You'll want to lie on the floor with your heels on the top of the ball, keeping your legs straight. You want to place your arms out to the sides at shoulder height with your palms facing the ceiling. From this position, you will lift your hips off the floor so that your body forms one diagonal line- feet to shoulders. Bend your knees and bring your feet and the ball toward your butt, be sure not to let your hips drop. Straighten your legs, and when fully extended, let your hips drop back down to the floor in one smooth motion.

Exercises for the Gym

Barbell Lunges- By placing a barbell behind your neck, resting on your shoulder's you'll want to do 3-4 sets of 15 per leg, making one stride forward each time. Make sure that your back foot stays properly in line with your hips and that they don't flare outward. You also want to make sure that your lead leg knee doesn't wobble in. You want to take your time until you can do them fluidly.

One Leg Hack Squats- These can be pretty intense so you'll want to make sure that you watch your form carefully. Position yourself in a hack squat machine with your back firmly against the pad, setting one foot on the platform and the other out of the way. Begin the exercise by squatting on one leg as though you're going to sit down in a chair and squat to a point where your thigh is parallel to the floor. You should d this 8-10 times then repeat with the other leg. Make sure that the middle of your knee lines up with the outside of your foot; also try not to let your hips get into the momentum too much, if so, lighten the weight.

Cable Inner Thighs Pulls- This exercise is performed using a pulley machine, by attaching a small hand attachment to the lower part of the machine so that you can place one foot through the handle opening, wrapping it around your ankle at the nearest weight stack. You want to make sure that you keep your leg very straight and smoothly kick your heel across the front of your body, holding your leg at the top of this movement for a one count and then repeating with the other leg. You want to do 4 sets of 25 per leg at a moderate weight. Try to stay controlled with little momentum from your hips, as you're trying to tighten your inner thigh area with this exercise.

You should make sure that you try these exercises 1-2 times a week, but if you do them 3 times a week, the results will be more drastic.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Fitness

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