Posted on

Thursday, 26th April

Back pain often comes from imbalances throughout the body as we have talked about a million times on here.

It can come from simple things you never even thought about in your day.

From driving and reaching over the radio all the time to one side, to lounging in the chair while watching television, the causes are more simple than you thought and can be sorted out purely through behavioural change.

I have seen nasty back situations develop from reading a book in bed on one side, doing things only on one side will eventually lead to imbalances that need to be sorted and the sooner the better.

Simply by choosing to live your life with better posture habits will count for a lot when it comes to long term back health full stop. Make sure you make this vital change today.

Other back weakness can develop through working one side of the body and ignoring the other.

For example, if you only work the thighs and never work your hamstrings, then your back will eventually suffer, as well as poor hamstring strength of course, leading to injury, pain, cramping possibly at times, and you guessed it back pain!!!

Always work both sides of the body.

If you work your chest and shoulders but fail to do a range of back exercises, then it doesn’t take a genius to work out that back weakness will likely comes your way.

If you only run or just cycle, and you don’t do any strength or core stability work, then back pain is quite common amongst most participants.

These examples should really ram home the point about doing your core stability/balance work, doing the exercises we always talk about on here that you know are so good for you, and ignorance/reluctance to change is the only thing that may be stopping you have a very strong and healthy back!

Make it happen today.

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 19th April

If you are a strong exerciser, or at least you consider yourself a regular exerciser, then the next question you need to ask yourself is what you are getting out of your exercise programme.

If you do the same thing, day in day out, workout to workout, chances are that you are stuck in a rut and haven’t really improved one bit for a substantial period of time.

This may be a mad statement for someone who trains regular but in my view, staying still in life is the exact wrong thing you should be doing and you should be looking at where your progress is going to come from next, instead of accepting the status quo and leaving ambition leave your life.

If you only do cardio the whole time, and by this I mean treadmill and bike maybe, with the occasional stepper session and maybe rowing machine thrown in from time to time, you are limiting your progress.

Of course you will be doing yourself a lot of good, but there’s much more in you if you think of other things to do.

For example, if you don’t do any resistance/weight training, then you are missing out on bone density improvements, a level of hardness in your body that you have never experienced before and a ton of other benefits that you never thought existed!

If you are not doing the kind of core stability work that I always advocate on here, then you are missing out on fundamental improvements on your balance, your strength at your body’s most important point, you are missing out on greater back strength, and in fact, your spine will be a whole lot healthier due to the muscles that are supporting it becoming much, much stronger and more stable.

If you have never boxed or hit a punch bag in your life, then you probably have the misconception that you “don’t want to be like a boxer”.

The truth is that the benefits again of boxing are tenfold, and if you are interested in a tighter waist, stronger back and hips, leaner arms and shoulders, and leaner stronger legs, then you need to get boxing and soon!!!

Don’t get stuck in a rut, the old saying is that the difference between a rut and a grave is only the depth!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 11th April

Causes of back pain are usually associated with familiar themes.

Lack of core stability, the muscles used in particular to support your spine are prime reasons for that often sickening pain you can get from back pain.

Being overweight though is a massive factor, and because the majority of the population are carrying too much weight, then back pain if a fact of life for the majority of people in this country.

Its not only the extra weight but in particular it’s the weight around the trunk area that makes the problem a lot worse.

Imagine carrying a chair around with you every day and you often will have the feeling that a lot of people have, it’s the uncomfortable and awkward feeling that really makes life a misery at times.

This is why exercise and eating properly really helps from day one.

The moment you start losing weight in the trunk area, your back will become stronger and more flexible, allowing you to do more in life and substantially ease that very unpleasant pain you have been having for a while.

Simply moving every day will create pain relief.

What’s the alternative of NOT moving?

Usually sitting down and this is the root of the problem. Also when you sit down you can tend to lounge and put even more pressure on your weak back.

 Poor posture when you sit even is responsible for long term back pain, the same as poor posture if you work at a computer all day, and most people have experienced a bad back on long car or bus journeys, which when you think about it is a totally unnatural position for your body to be in.

If you do just one thing every day, promise yourself that you will become just a LITTLE more active, this is the first step to ridding yourself of back problems that according to latest statistics, affect 87% of the working population at some point in their lives!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 10th April

Great to be back after the long weekend off, and already it seems as if the people i have dealt with today are firing on all cylinders.

Despite the indifferent weather, and plain dreadful weather yesterday in particular, it seems as if most people i train have been very active most of the weekend. When you are fitter and healthier, you WANT and sometimes NEED to be more active. Having all weekend off and doing absolutely nothing doesn’t wash very well for most if not all of my clients!

Good energy levels don’t somehow “just happen”, they develop and grow by the investment in exercise and good food you have made over the years. There is a direct relation!

When your energy levels are high, you want things to happen in your life. Your enthusiasm is likely to be very high to and this enables you to plan to be active in life, its all a knock on effect when you think about it!

So if you feel a bit low and lethargic today, it may have been because of the “lack” of activity you had the weekend?!

Moving from the lethargy you may experience now and fairly regular, to a life of high energy and drive you really want and need, is really down to the lifestyle you HAVE to lead. There’s no “beating the system” with being healthy, there is no magic pills or injections to make you suddenly fit and healthy, common sense tell you that this can’t happen and deep down you know it!!!

So the big question is how you workout this tuesday? Have you got the plan in place to hit everything hard today?

Have you got a good supermarket shop in? No leaving eating to chance or you will simply pick up fast food or snack on rubbish?

Are you hitting the sack early this week? Or are you going to rely on the madness and bad side effects of dodgy energy drinks?

Keep it simple and reach the lifestyle you want with ease!!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 30th March

Now that the extra hour has been more or less got used to, or certainly I have, it’s a great time to realise what gives you that great feeling you have in you right now hopefully, or at least at times this week anyway!

I was talking to a gentleman I train last night who used to lead a very unhealthy lifestyle when we first got training together, but now is perhaps one of my most studious clients, even after 15 years, when it comes to attention to detail he gives his lifestyle.

He realises now what makes him tick and what has allowed him to be so successful in exercise, health and his life in general.

He loves salads in this weather, compared to his other previous favourite steak and chips! He uses spring onions, beetroot, tomatoes and cucumber with either white meat or fish these days. This is a staple for him in this weather especially!

This array of vegetables will clean your blood, energise you and set you up for long term success with your health.

Breakfast now for him rolls in a different way too. Six different fruits cut up in a bowl, topped up with natural yoghurt first thing in the morning again makes him energised, and sends a direct message to his body that he means business and EXPECTS a big performance until the moment he gets him!!

Lunch is usually full of veg with a white meat or fish again.

All of this is washed down with regular sips of water and absolutely alcohol 6 days a week, with a little bit on a Saturday and that’s it.

The bottom line is now that he regularly has superior medicals, a far cry from what he USED to have and is now proud of his health and what he has achieved, all at the age of 62!!!

Keeping life simple works for him and this familiar message could easily work VERY well for you!

Twitt