Exercise

It is estimated that about 80 percent of the population will suffer from low back pain at some point in their lives. The condition accounts for millions of dollars in medical expenses and lost work time and is often a perpetual misery for the sufferer. Recent evidence indicates that many cases of lower back pain can be permanently treated without medical intervention or drugs using exercise and flexibility. This article aims to provide some very basic information on LBP and offer helpful tips to individuals on dealing with the condition themselves.

What is Low Back Pain (LBP)?

LBP is a complex condition ? sometimes pain onset can be traced to a mechanical defect like a ruptured disc, while in other instances there may be no apparent cause or history of injury or trauma (for example, "tweaking your back" when bending over to pick a pencil off the floor). Growing evidence from Australia now indicates that the root cause of lower back pain may be linked to muscle imbalances and instability of the low back due to poor control of the core stabilizing muscles. Traditional methods of treating LBP often fail - being either ineffective or even worsening the condition, or providing only temporary relief. Why? The answer is simple: these treatments fail to identify and treat the muscle imbalances and low back instability leading to pain, leaving the person feeling desperate ? that the only resort is surgery.

Core training has become such a hot topic in the exercise field recently and rightly so. Ask just about anyone what they understand about the body’s core and you’re likely to get an answer as it being the abdominal muscles. While this is not an entirely false statement, the word "core" signifies a collection of muscles that act to stabilize the body and allow functional and powerful movements. This article aims to give a very brief explanation of the core and its significance in human movement.

The "core" is a complex of 29 muscles that act to stabilize the connection between the hip, pelvis and low back (also called the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex). While the core may include the "six pack" abdominals (rectus abdominis and obliques) to a degree, the most important muscles of the core are the transversus abdominis, deep spinal muscles and the glutes (butt muscles). The transversus is the deepest of all the abdominals, and when it contracts, acts like a natural corset, bracing and stabilizing the area of the low back.

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Using The Stairs
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Not everybody has stairs in their home, but chances are you know somewhere that you can find a set. Maybe it’s a set of bleachers at the high school or a set of steps at a park. Maybe it’s indoors at a hospital or another tall building. Even if you can only manage to find ONE step somewhere, many of these exercises will work for you!

If you are fortunate enough to have access to a place with many flights of stairs (the high building or bleachers), this is ideal! The reason is that you can walk or run up them for a long time without having to constantly turn around to go back down. This will really burn those quads and glutes!

· Go up as many flights as you can. Walk some. Go quickly on some. It’s up to you! Always walk back down the stairs! When you get to the bottom, turn around and go again. This is such a tough workout, you may only be able to go for 5 minutes. Try to add one more flight or set each time that you do your workout! This is a great calorie-burning workout and will really help tone those legs and butt!

Bad workouts. We have all had them at some time or other. When you need to train so intensely to break the muscle down it is hardly surprising that the odd bad session occurs. After all, we are only human and we cannot be 100% consistent all the time. (I would question that when it comes to Ronnie Coleman but I am sure even he has had his bad days).

But there are bad workouts and bad workouts. I am not talking here about the ones we know are going to be bad. You know the ones I mean… you arrive at the gym knowing you are going to perform badly. You have had a stressful day at work, failed to eat properly, you feel tired… all these things sap you physically and mentally. You walk into the gym knowing that day’s workout is not going to be one you want to remember.

Do you feel that you can barely do any activity at all?

That you cannot exercise, play sports, or become more fit?

If you are a very large person, you can still be physically active. Very large people face special challenges in trying to be active. You may not be able to bend or move in the same way that other people can. It may be hard to find clothes and equipment for exercising. You may feel self-conscious being physically active around other people.

Facing these challenges is hard-but it can be done! The information in this booklet may help you start being more active and healthier-no matter what your size!

Why should I be active?

Being physically active may help you live longer and protect you from:

* diabetes
* heart disease and stroke
* high blood pressure
* osteoporosis (a disease leading to weak bones that may break easily)

If you have any of these health problems, being physically active may help control or improve your symptoms.

Regular physical activity helps you feel better because it:

At any point, we can pick up the latest fitness magazine or see a television ad for the newest "abdominal reducer" exercise. These gimmicks are feeding on society’s obsession with a "six pack" and everyone is searching for the answer to lose those love handles.

How many times have you heard these statements? "I do a hundred abdominal crunches a night". "I have this one trouble area that I need to work." "I just want to do exercises to lose my hips." These are common requests of many fitness clients. But the truth is performing an exercise that moves a portion of the body does not necessarily mean you are burning the fat there. Hundreds of abdominal crunches or leg lifts a night will not rid the fat in those specific areas.

Here are the top five things about spot reduction that they do not mention in fitness and health magazines.

1. Muscle and fat are two distinct tissues. They have different properties and characteristics. It is not physiologically possible for one to be transformed into another. When performing these exercises, it is our skeletal muscle that is working, not the fat that may surround it.

Most of us need to follow an exercise program. This is due to the fact that just a minority of Americans exercise in a significant way. Below follows 7 good reasons to start exercising now.

1. Contributes to fat loss.

It is well documented from scientific research all over the world for many years that physical exercise contributes significantly to weight loss. I will not dwell on this issue fore it is so obvious, but just mention the simple fact that weight loss is a function of the net calorie intake.

If you burn more calories than you take in thorough nutrition, you lose weight and vice versa. When you exercise you burn more calories then when you don’t. So the buttom line is: All other factors equal, the more you exercise the more weight or fat you’ll lose. That’s really simple.

2. Preventing Disease

The probability of developing a large number of various diseases has been proven to decrease dramatically thanks to physical exercising. These include;

heart disease

cancer

diabetes

stroke

When you start out with a workout program - whether the purpose is weight loss exercise or another - you have started a training process that hopefully is going to last for a while. It is important that you are aware of some factors that can decrease your motivation for the exercising or even damage your health - while you are executing your training program. Even a few minor mistakes in your workout can easily accumulate to bad habits over time, kicking you off track, and that is not the purpose with good exercise. Below I’ll go through a few of these.

1. Impatience

Impatience is probably most people’s worst enemy when it comes to staying on track with your workout plan. It is so easy to get distracted, especially if you feel the recent progress with your exercise has been slow. You must be aware that physical training won’t do miracles over night. Only faitful and diligent exercising and workout, day after day, week after week, month after month will prove results.

Pilates is a system of over 500 controlled exercises that engage the mind and condition the total body by using a popular exercise regimen that uses special stretches and machines. Named after Joseph Pilates, Pilates exercise system has proven itself invaluable not only to the fitness user, but to the professional trainers as well. Pilates, a technique of exercise and physical movement intended to stretch, strengthen, and balance the body.

With regular practice of specific exercises joined with focused breathing patterns. Pilates works several muscle groups simultaneously through smooth, continuous motion, with a particular concentration on strengthening and stabilising the core.

Pilates focuses on the quality of movement rather than quantity, which makes one feel refreshed rather than tired after a session. Pilates takes a balanced approach so that no muscle group is overworked and the body works efficiently.

With the aging of our people and the increasing trend toward mindful, moderate health practices, Pilates is more likely to find itself with a wait list at the YMCA, and in your local public schools, shaping the fitness ideals of our next generation.

Practiced loyally, Pilates yields many benefits such as:

· Increased lung capacity and circulation through deep breathing.

Walking exercise is one of the easiest ways to get in shape and burn fat. In fact, mile for mile, you can burn as many calories walking as you would jogging. It’s also one of the best stress relieving exercises that anyone can do, regardless of fitness level.

Want to start a walking exercise program? Here are 5 tips to help you get the most walking bang for your buck:

1) Get your arms pumping.

Bring your upper body into your workout by pumping your arms. This is an easy way to burn more calories while walking. If you want to tone up and use more arm muscle during your workout, try carrying 2 - 5 pound handweights.

Bonus Benefit: pumping your arms propels you forward and helps you move faster - which means more distance covered and more calories burned!

2) Build in incline intervals.

Walking on an incline is one of the fastest ways to drastically skyrocket your calorie burn. But you don’t have to spend your whole workout on an incline. Try building in 30 - 60 second intervals of incline walking on your treadmill every 5 to 10 minutes.