The hip joint can be a troublesome area for a lot of people. There are times when hip pain can really impede the progress of a person’s day. Common symptoms of hip pain can be tight hip flexors, sciatica, or tight IT bands on the sides of the leg. A great way to alleviate that pain is by performing a self-massage technique on that area.
The theory behind performing self massage on a muscle group is that by pressing down on the muscles in and applying enough force, the blood vessels that supply blood flow to the muscles will dilate and the flow of oxygenated blood will travel to the massaged area more efficiently. More oxygenated blood is theorized to delivery more functionality to the muscle. With the muscle becoming more functional, it will likely be able to repair itself faster and move easier.
Sensations of tightness can be alleviated by performing self massage techniques such as foam rolling and/or La Crosse ball self massage. In this particular case we are talking about tight hips. By following the instructions on the video below, these techniques can help alleviate hip pain, sciatica and lack of mobility in the hip joint. These exercises can be performed before exercise to help warm up the muscles and “wake up” the hips a little. This routine can also be used in a mobility improving routine by performing this routine 2-3 times a week on a consistent basis.
Feel free to contact me and let me know if you have any further questions about the techniques or any suggestions on what you would like to know more about.
There is a 3 headed approach to why some people are not getting fit and trimmed and fed up with their work outs not having any results. Poor results lead to a decrease in motivation and physical activity. The three reasons are:
Not enough cardio,
Too much specialized training
And not enough heavy lifting.
One of the biggest misconceptions people have about burning fat is the amount of resistance training people ignore because of the thought that it does not burn calories to shed the same amount fat like cardio does. However, the more muscle you have on your body, the more fat you will be able to shed after a good cardio work out.
Another factor that is commonly misconceived about resistance training is the thought that the higher reps one performs with weight lifting, the better it is for burning fat and getting ripped. This is true to a point. However, when lifting with lower reps, testosterone levels are increased which helps to speed up the metabolism and blood flow to the working muscles. Increased metabolism leads to more calories being burnt before and after your workout. The increase in muscular density will help to burn more calories and fat while doing a cardiovascular workout, such as jogging or utilizing an elliptical trainer.
Too many specialized workouts are another activity people are doing in the gym that was written in this article. Sure, standing on a medicine ball with one leg up and doing a dead lift while holding a medicine ball over your head looks like it will work a lot of muscles and be an insanely intense workout. But in reality, unless you are an elite athlete, you probably will not do one rep of the previously listed exercise the correct way. If you are not a quarterback for the NFL, go back to the basic weightlifting and see the satisfying results you can get from doing some cardio and good old fashioned resistance training.
People think that cardio is the best way to stay lean and fit, so they focus only on cardio four to five times a week. In some cases, this where cardiovascular exercises can become bland and boring (no offense to all the marathon runners!) Cardio is not supposed to have a bad reputation. Just make sure to incorporate a hybrid of resistance training exercises and cardiovascular fitness to help shed fat and increase the body’s metabolism. They work harmoniously so well to give you the results in strength and fitness we all strive for! So in the long run, take out a day or two of cardio and fit some sort of weight lifting in your routine one or two days and you’ll definitely see a world of difference!
So why not throw a little variety into your training regime? Not only will it get you feeling and looking better, but it will also put some excitement into your life by bringing in some new activities into your exercise routine.
Sugar. Sugars are carbohydrates. When speaking in terms of exercise physiology and the function of a carbohydrate, they are used to create energy for various purposes inside the human body. Carbohydrates are used to provide energy to create muscular movement so the human body can move effectively in our everyday lives. Carbohydrates are also used to create chemical reactions in the human body that are involved in muscle resynthesis, the repairing of damaged muscle cells. In addition, when looking at how carbohydrates are utilized during physical activity, they play a large role in making the body perform during athletic activity and exercise.
There are a lot of different viewpoints on what carbohydrate would be the best to choose from to consume to benefit physical activity, exercise and athletic activity. So what’s the best? In order to get a better understanding of what a “good” carbohydrate is, we must first grasp how carbohydrates work to create energy for physical activity, how they help repair muscle tissue and how they can be converted to fat.
Carbohydrates are critical to creating movement in the body. When we want to create a movement, carbohydrates in the form of glucose in the blood stream break down through a chemical process and produces ATP. The ATP will disassociate and produce energy when we desire a certain movement. In exercise we need to produce a sufficient amount of ATP to be able to run efficiently, perform resistance training and have an overall effective workout session. In order to produce ATP, we need enough carbohydrate to be able to perform our desired form of physical activity. When looking at carbohydrates in this manner, eating carbohydrates around exercise is a good thing. Therefore, this would be a good time to consume your carbohydrates.
A beneficial time to consume your carbohydrates would be after a bout of moderate to intense physical activity. In instances of moderate to intense physical activity, we are usually talking about after a 30 minute or more exercise session of prolonged running or resistance training. The rationale behind consuming a carbohydrate source after exercise is that the body utilizes ATP once again for repairing the muscles that have been stressed throughout the exercise session. Muscles will bond onto sugars in the blood stream and break them down into ATP in order to fuel the muscle cells that have been stressed to latch onto proteins in the blood stream. The muscle grab onto proteins in the blood stream to fill in the micro tears that have been induced by the exercise session. Therefore, in the case of muscular resynthesis, the body will utilize carbohydrates after a bout of strenuous exercise to repair muscle. This will benefit recovery after the exercise session and the days following exercise. This is a very beneficial time to consume carbohydrates.
Now that we know when to consume a carbohydrate, let’s talk about what types of carbohydrates are the best to consume versus the one’s that will not benefit us before and after exercise or any other time. Any carbohydrate that comes from it’s raw and natural state will always trump a carbohydrate that has been denatured or refined. For example, fruit comes from a very natural state… “natural” meaning it came from nature. I can go outside and pick an orange from a tree in my back yard. Carbohydrates such as fruit and unrefined grains seem to be the safest bet because they sit well in your stomach and do not elicit a gastrointestinal distress syndrome as prevalently as refined carbohydrates. These natural, unrefined carbohydrates do not seem to bloat the human body as much as carbohydrate such as bread, breakfast bars and pastries. Most of the time, it appears that a carbohydrate that has not undergone a period of refinement or processing will digest in the stomach easier and not cause adverse reactions on the body. Therefore, carbohydrates those come from natural sources, such as trees or the bulk section of a natural food store that have no other ingredients in them, are a “good” carbohydrate.
On the other hand, carbohydrates such as table sugar, cereals, breakfast bars and bread more often than not seem to make the body move slower, give individuals symptoms of bloating and gastrointestinal distress, like burping, farting and nausea symptoms. Theories behind this rationale are that a denatured and processed food is more difficult for the digestive system to break down and utilize as ATP. The other additives that are added into processed carbohydrates are believed to cause an inflammatory response in the digestive tract and cause bloating and gas like symptoms. If there body cannot recognize a simple form of breaking a carbohydrate down to utilize for energy, it will delay the digestion process and also cause adverse reactions which will slow down efficiency during and after exercise. In addition to slowing down energy production during exercise, the refined and denatured carbohydrates will be present longer in the stomach and cannot be utilized as energy as efficiently, leaving excess carbohydrate just sitting there. When carbohydrates are not utilized in a timely manner, the body will recognize this as a means for storage, in which case fat cells will gladly convert left over carbohydrates to make themselves larger… and fatter. Therefore, “bad” carbohydrates are refined and denatured carbohydrates that come in a package, cereal box or in the form of bread on the shelf.
Carbohydrates are a good thing for the human body. We just need to discern when to consume them and make sure that we have a good reason to consume them. Adopting a solid exercise routine will help our bodies to utilize carbohydrates and give benefits to the function of our bodies throughout our everyday lives. We also need to know why certain carbohydrates make us feel the way we do after we eat them. Just make sure to eat the “good” carbohydrates and exercise regularly and you should feel amazing more often than not when eating carbohydrates!
One of the most important parts our bodies as humans are our arms. We use our arms for tons of stuff throughout the day. Our arms function to cook, brush our teeth, bring a coffee cup up to our lips and even to type on a key board (like I am doing right now). Now, I want you to visualize what your day would be like without the use of one or both of your arms. Use your imagination; it would not be a pleasant experience. For those of you who have had some sort of shoulder, elbow or wrist injury, you can relate how this is a drag. Personally, I suffered from an upper extremity injury that changed my outlook on the anatomy of the upper extremities and how important it is to maintain the well being of this region. As you will read in this article, a vast majority of the movements that make us function successfully as human beings stem from the shoulder joint, which connects the humerus (your upper arm) to the star of this article, the shoulder blade.
The shoulder blade is known as the scapula, a free floating bone that hovers over the posterior portion of the ribcage. This bone is unique in that it has very little “bone-to-bone” attachments. By very little, I mean not the strongest of attachments from the ligaments that attach bones to each other and the tendons that attach the muscles to the bones. However, the shoulder blade is also unique in that it has many attachments from muscles that connect the shoulder blade to other bones surrounding it. In particular, the clavicle, humerus, ribs and spine. With this being said, training the muscular attachment of the shoulder blade will benefit the structural integrity of the surrounding joints and bones.
Another noteworthy attachment of the shoulder blade is its significance to the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff region is a troublesome spot for a lot of people. It is a joint that is not necessarily designed to endure the wear and tear that humans put on it. For example, there are many cases of having rotator cuff complications from performing excessive amount of the bench press exercise. In addition, when looking at overhand throwing sports, it is very common to find rotator cuff issues in this activity as well. Rotator cuff injuries can occur in the everyday worker population as well, such as painters rolling a paint roller over head to paint a ceiling or a bartender shaking 100 cocktails a night in their cocktail shaker.
When looking at these activities and how they connect to the injuries the rotator cuff, 9 times out of 10 its from overuse of a certain activity. So what do these individuals do that perform these activities to relieve the rotator cuff symptoms? Well, the easy answer would be to say, “Stop doing that activity.” If you go to a doctor, you might just be instructed to stop playing sports, exercising, and at times they will even tell you to stop working your job. So that means stop performing an exercise you like, stop pitching and playing the sport you love… and of course, stop working.
Just don’t work.
Ya, sure.
That’s not the type of people we are. We enjoy exercising and the benefits it brings us. We enjoy playing ball. And… we need to work to put food on the table and make a living.
What can we do stop some of these shoulder issues from occurring? The correct answer is to train the muscles of… you guessed it… the SHOULDER BLADE! While there are many attachments of the shoulder blade to other muscles, some of the most important are the trapezius, supraspinatus, deltoids, subscapularis and pectoralis minor. While those words may seem like a foreign language to some, here is a brief description of where the muscles attach on the shoulder blade and where they cross to the humerus:
Trapezius: A large rhombus shaped muscle that attaches on the vertebrae of the thoracic spine, clavicle and different parts of the shoulder blade.
Supraspinatus: Your “shrugging muscle” that attached from top of your shoulder blade to the your humerus just outside the border of your clavicle.
Deltoid: Attaches from the back or your humerus to the posterior portion of the scapula. It’s function is to lift the arm laterally from the body.
Infraspinatus: The muscle that is literally smack dab in the middle of the shoulder blade and attaches to the top of humerus. It serves as a strong stabilizing muscle of the arm.
Subscapularis: A muscle that is not visible to the naked eye. It originates underneath the actual shoulder blade and attaches to the inside of the humerus. This muscle is responsible for rotating the humerus internally. A very easy muscle to neglect by the way…
Pectoralis minor: This muscle attaches from a bony protrusion of the shoulder blade that pokes through to the anterior portion of the body called the corticoid process. It attaches from the corocoid process to the anterior portion of ribs 3, 4 and 5. This muscle is significant because it serves as a great structural support for the shoulder blade.
Teres major and minor: Two muscles that originate at the outer edge of the shoulder blade and insert onto the anterior and posterior portions of the medial side of the humerus. These guys are responsible for bringing the arm closer to the body from a later position while your arm is flexed at the elbow.
These muscles are critically important toward bolstering the structural integrity of the various attachments of the humerus to the shoulder. Training these muscles for coordination, strength and muscular size will significantly benefit the function of everyday life and dramatically decrease the likelihood of injuries occurring to the shoulder region. You can imagine how important the muscles of the shoulder blade are when looking at how these muscles for a complex but organized matrix and intersect with each other and cross over the top of certain bones, ligaments, tendons, blood vessels and nerves.
Below, you can look at an incredibly easy exercise that will work the majority of the muscles listed above. Performing this exercise just ONCE a day will dramatically improve the well being and performance of your shoulder blade muscles. Now get after it!
The pigeon stretch is a great stretch for a number of reasons. This stretching movement can help increase mobility of the hip, improve the effectiveness of your exercise routines and decrease the likelihood of hip injuries while solving hip pain issues. The “pigeon” stretch is traditionally a stretch that assists with external rotation of the hip joint. There are a number of different muscles that live in the hip joint. These muscles are argued to be some of the strongest muscles in the body which are responsible for the most utilized movements of the human race, walking. We use our legs arguably more than any other part of the body throughout our everyday lives. Therefore, assisting the function of our legs is beneficially to our functionally movements in our daily activities.
Chores. Chores around the house. Chores in the back yard. Chores in the front yard. Chores in the side yard. Dishes, laundry, sweeping, raking, picking annoying little things up off the ground that you have procrastinated doing for the last 3 weeks. Maybe the refrigerator needs to be cleaned out too? That spilled beer/milk combination is turning an astounding color and has been for the past month. Oh chores, the word chores means doing stuff that you really don’t want to do. You work all week and since you are inside your house for once, all you want to do is sit down and NOT DO CHORES. Let’s face it, chores are an absolutely dreaded activity. But wait… life doesn’t have to be so terrible when it comes to getting your infinite list of chores completed. Luckily utilizing fitness into your chore routine will numb the pain! Fitness + chores could quite possibly make your chore doing… dare I say, fun. Continue reading
I work with a lot individuals who work at desks all day to make a living. While sitting at a desk, sometimes we forget about how sitting for prolonged periods of time can affect our bodies. It’s not like we don’t know that sitting down in the same position will cause pain to our back and hip joints, we just get so tied up and busy with working at our desks and forget about it. We also know that having good posture will solve a lot of the issues that cause back, hip and neck pain. Well, what’s the problem then? Why are so many people who work at desk jobs complaining about achy necks, pain up and down the middle back, tightness in the hips and symptoms of sciatica? The answer could be: Continue reading
Elastic Band Training Vs. Free Weight Training: What’s better?
Elastic resistance offers a variety of benefits to any training program. The use of elastic resistance can be beneficial for injury prevention, sports performance enhancement and general resistance training. Elastic resistance bands are also inexpensive and convenient. In some cases elastic resistance has been shown to elicit more muscular activation throughout resistance training. Any way you look at it, elastic resistance training is a great tool to improve the effectiveness of any exercise routine. The following article will give some general insight on how elastic band training will affect your resistance training routine. Continue reading
Kids are the future! Resistance Training is GOOD when they’re young
My days as an adolescent young boy were pretty rough. I had kind of an interesting hand of cards dealt to me where there was not a lot of social support available to me. So I ended up turning to something that I eventually turned into a career… and guess where that was. THE GYM! When I was a young buck around the awkward age of 12, I started to lift weights at a local gym. I may have not had any idea what I was doing Continue reading
The Value of Nutrition Over Exercise in Weight Loss
Exercise is critically important toward maintaining healthy function in the human body. Performing resistance training will help regulate certain hormones in the body and train the body to utilize fat as a fuel source more efficiently. Performing steady state cardio for 20-30 minutes has been shown to utilize fat as a fuel source when performing this particular mode of exercise. Continue reading
