Top 10 Reasons to Experience CORE I

10. Most of the exercises appear easy, but you learn quickly they are actually difficult.

9. You can witness firsthand my inability to count "1, 2, …8." (no joke)

8. If you’ve ever wondered what purpose the fitness accessories in the gym serve, you can bet the accessory is utilized in CORE I (bands, loops, balls, rollers…)

7. It teaches you proper form to help prevent a myriad of future injuries (i.e., rotator cuff injuries, running injuries, low back pain).

6. With my inability to be silent, you will probably be educated on some fitness-related topic regardless if you want to or not.

5. The face-down exercises allow you to smell the fabric softener of the clean New Self towels!

4. You will develop a life-long love/hate relationship with your loop.

3. Never will you hear the command "pelvic tilt" so much within one hour.

2. The music allows you to sample many different versions of the same song.

And the number one reason to take CORE I is....

You get to work muscles you’ve never heard of, but will definitely be aware of tomorrow! (and they'll thank you!)

Fit People Feel Good

I have the best job ever! I get to workout in classes with my friends and my job (eventually) makes people happy! Not only do I love to exercise, I NEED to exercise! In our home, my children know the familiar phrase, “a healthy mommy is a HAPPY mommy!” I use this phrase when I’m going for a run or a bike. My husband also shares this affinity for exercise. If one of us is cranky, it isn’t uncommon for the other to suggest going for a run. This isn’t offensive at all because we BOTH know we will feel better afterwards. And it’s not because we have some strange gene that makes us love exercise - exercise can have that effect on you too!!

Did you know it is a FACT that exercise has positive effects on the brain? Studies show that a consistent commitment to exercise decreases anxiety, reduces depression, increases self-esteem and improves restful sleep. While exercise cannot be treated as a solution for a serious mental health condition, it is a helpful addition to other mental health treatments. For milder mental health struggles, exercise can lead to relief from worry and stress. Researchers at Duke University demonstrated several years ago that exercise has antidepressant properties. But the big question is just HOW does exercise improve mental health?
One theory on the benefits of exercise includes the fact that exercise triggers the production of endorphins. Endorphins are natural opiates which are chemically similar to morphine. It is thought that in response to the shock that they body receives during exercise - endorphins are produced as natural pain relievers.

Though we don’t really know how or why, some studies have found that exercise boosts activity in the brain's frontal lobes and the hippocampus. Antidepressant medications are thought to boost the chemicals serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. These are neurotransmitters which are associated with elevated mood. Animal studies have found that the levels of these neurotransmitters increase with exercise.

There is another substance called “brain-derived neurotrophic factor” (BDNF) which is thought to improve mood. Studies have indicated that exercise has also been found to increase the levels of BDNF.

This doesn’t mean you will feel a dramatic mental reward with a walk around your block. Researchers have found that the mental health effects of exercise are greater when you choose strenuous, aerobic forms of exercise that elevate your heart rate and increase your blood circulation. This effect sometimes takes a few weeks to be observable. Also, greater mental rewards from exercise have been seen in people who were either not that fit to begin with or who suffer from a high degree of anxiety.

Consider including a regular exercise program into your life if you find that you are feeling anxious, constantly under stress or suffering from persistent low self-esteem. When someone feels low in energy it is easy to avoid exercise all together. Beginning slowly and choosing an activity that encourages you will likely make you want to get out and do it again.

Hiking or walking in a scenic spot or trail is examples of fun ways to begin. You can challenge yourself more as your stamina and endurance increase like walking faster or hiking up a steeper hill. The important thing is that you regularly challenge yourself on a cardiovascular level.

The bottom line is that most of us feel good after exercise. Physical exercise is good for our brains and our mental health. We may not fully understand it, but we can start feeling good today.

Sources:
John Briley. "Feel Good After a Workout? Well, Good for You." The Washington Post, Tuesday, April 25, 2006.
James A. Blumenthal, et al. "Effects of Exercise Training on Older Patients With Major Depression." Archives of Internal Medicine, October 25, 1999.

Spring Into Fitness

Spring is coming quickly! If you haven’t already, now is the time to get back into shape. Of course many people start working out with the thought of summer swimsuits in the forefront of their mind. But fitness can be fun! It doesn’t have to be this arduous thing you do with sole desire to see the scale move! There are so many forms of fitness to choose from – mixing it up can keep it fresh and fun.

The best way to get back into fitness is to begin slowly. Let me repeat: the best way to get back into fitness is to begin slowly. Being motivated is fabulous but you cannot make up for the last 10 years in one workout. Your muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints need to be eased into exercising.

As you may know I have a philosophy of starting at your core and then working out. That way you develop a foundation of strength to avoid injury. Please be mindful (as per previous entries) of what defines the muscles of core. You need to prepare your body to increase workloads from your arms and/or legs. A strong core does that for you and ignoring the progression of strength will ultimately have you sidelined with injury.

Don’t choose the dumbbells you can barely lift – choose lighter ones and work with light to moderate intensity. It is much safer to go with less weight and higher repetitions early on in the beginning stages of fitness. Choose a weight that you can perform 3 sets of 15 to 20 repetitions with proper form. 

Get Fit with Form

I know I’m not the only one that has seen poor exercise technique at a gym or in a class. You may have witnessed similar incidences yourself...someone doing a double leg lift lying face up on a bench, begins to lower both legs at the same time, and proceeds to arch their back, hold their breath, and maybe even grunts loudly. 

Paying attention to form and technique is crucial to properly training the muscles. The most obvious reason why is if you’re not performing the exercise correctly, you risk the chance of hurting yourself either right away or later. Another reason is that you are not receiving the full benefit from your workout. You are merely going through the motions. 

One common reason for improper technique is if the individual is new to weight training or exercise and hasn’t been taught properly. I think many individuals just assume they know what to do and will often walk right into a gym and start weight training even though they have had no prior experience and no knowledge. This makes no sense to me. Just because you’ve seen an exercise performed on television or in a magazine doesn’t necessarily mean it is good for YOU to be doing (refer to previous blog about core strengthening)!

Another more common reason people perform exercises with poor technique is they are lifting weight that is just too heavy. Who ever said lifting heavier weight is better when you cannot properly perform the exercise? Should you really be so concerned about looking strong, that you are willing to not only increase your risk of injury, but also sacrifice muscle gains at the same time?

Remembering to breathe is part of good technique! Your body and muscles need oxygen, so by holding your breath during even a single repetition of an exercise, you are depriving your body of valuable oxygen. Therefore, your body will experience muscle fatigue much sooner. 

Each exercise that you are doing may also have specific areas where bad form may result. There are many examples of this. Some standing exercises require that you keep your knees slightly bent, but often people want to lock their knees. Another example would be any sitting exercise. People have the tendency to slouch. However, sitting up straight and engaging your abs to keep your back straight is proper form.

Bad form isn’t just with exercise. In everyday life we should all be paying attention to how we sit or lift things. We need to prevent those nagging pains and unexpected injuries. These body pains are warning signs and they exist to tell you something is being done wrong to your body. If you pay attention, you will also improve your posture and mechanics!

Ultimately, proper exercise technique will increase your chances of building more muscle. So remember the next time you train to focus on breathing, maintaining control, and maintaining correct alignment and posture. You muscles and joints will thank you in the future! 

Didn’t Know That Was There…

This week I’m going to continue my discussion about a few more muscle groups that act as important stabilizers, but are often overlooked during training. Last week I discussed the rotator cuff group and the scapular stabilizers. This week we’ll look at the gluteus medius, transversus abdominis and the multifidi muscles.

Of all the hip muscles, the Gluteus Medius (GM) may have the biggest impact on stability of the hip as well as frontal and lateral mobility. It functions as a hip abductor, meaning that it raises the leg up to the side of the body. It also assists with the early portion of hip flexion (bringing legs toward trunk), as well as rotation of the femur about the hip.

The GM is commonly involved in strength and postural injuries. In everyday life, this muscle primarily functions to keep the pelvis level during walking. Specifically, as you raise a leg to step forward with it, the GM on the opposite side contracts to keep the weight of the free leg from tilting the pelvis downward on that side (note: to those that take CORE I regularly, this is one reason those loop exercises at the beginning of class hurt so much). The GM muscle is frequently overloaded by activities that require a person to be bent forward and also bent to one side, like shoveling dirt or snow.

Two important inner core stabilizing muscles of the lower back are the Transversus Abdominis (TVA) and the Multifidus muscle. These muscles do not produce great forces but work at all times during body movement, even when the movement is not close to the spine, such as the shoulder. 

The TVA is the deepest layer of abdominal muscles. It enfolds around the torso from front to back and from the ribs to the pelvis. The TVA is influential on the stability of the spine and therefore is important for back protection. If you train it properly, it will set your trunk up as a powerful unit able to endure the rigor of sports and weightlifting. And as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, strengthening the core is vital to performance and injury prevention.

The multifidus muscle is one of the smallest yet most powerful muscles that give support to the spine. Some people have the misunderstanding that small is insignificant, but that is not the case when it comes to this particular muscle.

The multifidus muscle is a series of muscles that are attached to the spinal column. These series of muscles are further divided into two groups, which include the superficial muscle group and the deep muscle group.

The multifidus muscles help to take pressure off the vertebral discs so that our body weight can be well distributed along the spine. In addition, the superficial muscle group keeps our spine straight, while the deep muscle group majorly contributes to the stability of our spine. These two groups of multifidus muscles are recruited during many actions in our daily living, including bending backwards, sideways and even turning our body to the sides. 

Studies have shown that the multifidus muscles get activated before any action is carried out so to protect our spine from injury. Take for example when you are about to shovel snow, before moving your arm, the mutifidus muscles will start contracting prior to the actual movement of the body and the arm so as to prepare the spine for the movement and prevent it from getting hurt. Therefore, you can see how this would be an important group to train for injury prevention!

What fitness classes at New Self target these commonly ‘ignored’ muscle groups? In order of emphasis: CORE I, BAGS and CORE II.