The Power of Isometric Exercise

Postural muscles are different, so we train them differently. Right? Well not always true.

The other day I asked one of my clients, that does regular heavy lifting, to hold a back extension for 30secs. At about the 20sec mark they were shaking and showing signs of noticeable muscle fatigue. Yet this person can lift a tremendous amount of weight in the gym. That same person is required to hold a short range isometric position for even longer while doing daily activities, and also complains of pain. I the complaint of their back pain during daily activities comes as no surprise. This person has good strength muscles and weak postural muscles.

If you are in an occupation or participate in an activity that requires endurance of postural muscles I recommend you learn the exercises that train those muscles. For example, Working in a Kitchen, Mechanic, Office Worker etc. Isometric exercises can help to prevent injury.

Isometric exercises or exercises that are held in a static position for a duration of time often use postural muscles. Core strengthening exercises that strengthen the back and abdominal muscles as well as shoulder and pelvis muscles, also help to maintain posture. Examples are the plank and back extensions.

Include isometric exercises in your weight training routine to balance and complete your strength and prevent aches and pains.

Are You Getting What You Want From Your Exercise?

What is the goal of your exercise program?

The answer is not the same for everyone and your answer shapes your exercise/lifestyle routine.

Examples of why people exercise:
1. To look or be more physically attractive to another person/to impress others based on social standards.
2. To feel better: increased energy, relieve aches and pains
3. To achieve something and challenge the bodies limits
4. Increase longevity and quality of life

If you are planning to partake in a marathon or take up a professional sport, it will likely not lead to your longevity or reduce aches/pains and in your body. However, it will give you a sense of purpose and achievement as well as relief from boredom.

If you want to feel energized and increase longevity, than a balanced movement program, that includes a variety of different activities, is what you want. This includes: moderate cardio activity, mind/body practices, strength training and outdoor activities like hiking and biking. Doing a little of all these activites would create a balanced exercise program.

For best results a weight loss program focuses on eating habits. The estimated ratio for weight loss results is 80% diet and 20% exercise. That means that you only eat what you need to stay strong and energized and use exercises like interval training to get your metabolism to increase. Don't suffer unnecessarily thinking more exercise is better. It is the regularity of exercise and healthy eating habits that will help you reach the goal of weight loss.

Your style of living is leading you somewhere. Where is yours leading you?

Strength training can benefit older adults

Peter Denny says he is stronger than he's ever been. And he's ready -- for whatever life might throw his way. The 72-year-old Boulder man has already made it through a complete hip replacement, recovering ahead of all of the doctor-set benchmarks. He mountain-bikes. He has been helping his wife recover from cancer for five years, and he says he has energy to spare. His secret: Muscle. Denny's got a lot of it. And he only started building it about seven years ago -- very slowly, at first. As people grow older, they hear a lot about staying "active." But building muscle is just as important, experts say. In fact, the YMCA says strength training is the only way to maintain muscle and metabolism as we age, and should be a part of every senior fitness program. Denny works out at Functional Fitness in Boulder twice a week for 90 minutes. His trainer, Wendy Woods, says she started by educating him about his body, getting him stabilized, stretching to improve his imbalances and correcting his biomechanics. Then she added light weights, and they worked their way up. This methodical process helped Denny build muscle while not creating more injury. She says she doesn't hold back on him now. She knows his history and his abilities, and they go for it. "You can teach an old dog new tricks," Woods says. "His gait has changed completely." Denny says by building up his smaller muscles, by learning how to move more efficiently and use the correct muscles, he has completely erased his knee pain. "My goal now is to keep building my strength, because it feels good," he says. "But also, I know that as I age, things are going to happen, and I want to be in a good position to be able to recover." Still, one of the main reasons seniors don't work out is they get used to their pain and don't realize it is something they can rehabilitate or rebuild, says Boulderite Denny. Other times, people simply don't think they can take on another commitment, especially a physical one, he says. Some are looking for a quick and temporary fix, like a pain pill. "It means you are going to go through a fair amount of new adjustment at an age where that might not seem so attractive," Denny says. "But a even a minor amount of strength training for older people is really worthwhile." Read more: Strength training can benefit older adults - Boulder Daily Camera http://www.dailycamera.com/lifestyles/ci_17774899#ixzz1IxB0vK5U DailyCamera.com

Are you Moving toward balance?-Longevity and Micro Trauma

The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Wallden explains that the average person takes around 10,000 steps a day. With each step a person received a compressive force of about 1 to 3 times their body weight. If we take an average person who sits at a desk for many hours with a flat- backed (hypolordotic) posture and look at how this, plus compressive forces effect his/her potential for micro trauma, we use this formula.

The equation is 10,000(steps a day) x 145 lbs. (average weight) x 3 (return ground force)= 4,350,000 lbs.(The maximum amount of weight that the spine receives daily!). This is 4,350,000 lbs. a day on a spine that does not have a balanced tension in the muscles that causes a misalignment of bones.

Not having a balance of pressure on the bones result in micro traumas. Walden, goes on to explain that the integrity of the spine is severely compromised with this combination of a flat- backed position coupled with activities like walking,exercise and all the varieties of other movements we do daily . The body looses it ability to reset to a neutral position, the longer it is in a non-neutral position. (p.354, vol. 13, 2009) 4 Ways to better understand balance in your body. - Get a postural analysis from a fitness professional. - Become aware of opposites. When something goes up something else has to ground down. - Work with speed, how fast can you go or how slow. - Practice balancing on a unstable surfaces, to understand dynamic tension. Not too tight, not too loose.

Exercise and Extreme Sports As A Form of Self Harm

Exercise is a great activity that can improve your sense of well being, but can exercise become a form of self abuse. The Edinburgh Psychology Centre in Scotland believes it is possible that your mind set when you workout could be contributing to form of self abuse.

Here are some tips to help you boost the positive effects of your workout:
1- Set an positive intention at the beginning of your workout that creates a loving feeling for yourself.

2- Keep that feeling during the whole workout and let negative thoughts sail by.

3- Check-in, are you working yourself to exhaustion because you are your own worst critic.

Extreme workouts/sports could be an indicator that you are pushing yourself too hard.

Remember that working out should help you feel better inside and out. Self harm can be subtle. The Edinburgh Psychology Centre states, "Self harm describes a wide range of things that people do to themselves in a deliberate and usually hidden way. In the vast majority of cases self harm remains a secretive behavior that can go on for a long time without being discovered."

Enjoy the full article.

The Feeling of Strength

Making weight training part of the standardized health care program after cancer treatment will help the millions that have been affected by cancer recover to live better than normal lives. They may even be stronger than they were prior to the cancer treatment. A fitness professional should be part of your health care team. So many of my clients use my personal training instruction as well as a massage therapist, acupuncturist or other health care professionals to help them manage and recover from diseases.


It is not only until recently that the value of weight training is climbing in popularity. I believe this to be because people are now recognizing weight lifting is different than cardio or other forms of exercise. It can be used to strengthen specific muscle groups and achieve the desired results for an individual. For example if cancer survivors increase blood flow in their muscular system they will inadvertently increase the flow of all fluids in the area effected by cancer as well as throughout the entire body. Moving fluids, deliver vital nutrients to the tissues for healing and carrying away unwanted waste. The stimulation of the muscular system by lifting weights is a way that we can help to facilitate the body’s natural fluid pump system.

For further information on a 3 year study on how weight lifting can help to recover from cancer reference the article from Science Daily Weightlifting Slashes Lymphedema Risk After Breast Cancer Treatment, Study Suggests.

Many Thanks and Enjoy Moving

Internal Sense

Developing a practice that cultivates self awareness is the most important step in your health insurance program. Being able to self regulate your responses to life allows you to make choices that reduce stress and increase your enjoyment of life.

Health is not only determined by how well you eat and how much you exercise but also by your ability to cultivate your internal awareness and sense your self. How we respond to our interactions with our world and each other, will either support a state of ease and harmony or not.

Embodied Exercise, an article in Psychology Today by Alan Fogel, describes the importance of reducing chronic stress for better health. Fogel describes how the more we are able to become aware and sense our state of being the more we are able to enhance our performance in any and every activity of our life, resulting in an overall higher state of health.

Many people suffer from chronic stress and don't even realize it. The question you should ask your self is "Do you know how to really relax? Not just zoning out in front of some sort of media in attempt to not think about your day anymore, but rather something you do that deepens a relationships with all parts of your body.

How can we care for ourselves if we don't know really know what we need? As Fogel Stated, "You may have to put aside your mp3 player and video monitor so you can focus more on yourself. The more you allow time for your body sense, the more that whole body activation gets established, and the easier it becomes to access all those good feelings and health benefits in the future."

Some of my favorite ways to relax are meditation, singing, Tai Chi, and Pranayama (breath work meditation). What are yours?