Develop a Strong Core

Your core provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body. The core muscles consist of the abdominals, hips, and lower back.

Benefits of a Strong Core

In addition to having a firm midsection, there are plenty of reasons why you should work on developing your core muscles.

Lower back pain affects nearly 80% of the adult population, which often times is a result from having weak core muscles. It makes logical sense to assume that if you strengthen your core muscles, you will decrease back pain. According to researchers at the California State University, people who followed a ten week core workout program experienced 30% less back pain compared to before they started the program.

A stronger core means you can lift heavier weights. Your core helps to support your spine, which allows for your entire body to be more structurally sound and more stable for lifting heavy loads.

Weak core muscles will cause you to have a forward lean, so strengthening your core will help with creating better posture.

A Canadian study (with more than 8,000 participants!) showed that in over 13 years, those with the weakest abdominal muscles (part of the core!) had a death rate of more than twice that of the people with the strongest abdominals. Interesting.

Exercises to Strengthen your Core

I don’t recommend crunches, especially if you are trying to obtain a flat midsection. Researchers at the University of Virgina found that you would have to do 250,000 crunches to burn just one pound of fat. I’ll let you do that math on that one. Bottom line, crunches aren’t going to give you a six pack. For the midsection and strong core of your dreams, stick to core exercises that work multiple muscle groups for maximum results.

I have listed some exercises that will strengthen your core. Pick a couple of them to add to your exercise routine, and enjoy the benefits of a stronger core!

• Plank – Start to go in a pushup position, but bend your elbows and rest your weight on your forearms. Allow your body to form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles (don’t elevate your glutes). Hold this position for 30 seconds, as you contract your abdominals. You can also try doing the side plank for variation and strengthening side muscles.

• Prone Cobra – Lie down with your stomach on the floor with your legs straight and your arms next to your side with palms down. Raise your head, chest, arms (thumbs pointing up towards the ceiling), and legs off of the floor by activating your glutes and lower back muscles. Hold this position for 30 to 60 seconds.

• Swimming – Try swimming free style to strengthen your core, in addition to your entire body.

• Leg Lowering Drill – Lie down on the floor, face up, with your arms straight out in a “T” shape. While keeping your feet together, raise your legs while slightly bending your knees. Slowly move your feet down as close to the floor as you can. Touch the floor and raise your feet back into the starting position and repeat for desired repetitions. Be sure to press your lower back into the floor as you perform the movement, to prevent arching your back.

• Russian Twist – Sit down on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold your arms straight out in front of your chest with your palms together. Lean back, so that your torso is at a 45 degree angle to the floor, or half way down to the ground. Rotate slowly as far as you can to the right, then slowly rotate as far as you can to the left. This is a great workout that emphasizes your obliques.

• Yoga- There are plenty of yoga positions to try, but most of the focus on strengthening your core.

• Overhead Dumbbell Side Bend – Stand up straight and hold a pair of dumbbells over your head, with your arms straight and in line with your shoulders. Slowly bend directly to your left side as far as you can, without twisting your upper body. Pause before returning to an upright position, then bend to your right side. Alternate back and forth for desired repetitions.

• Hip Crossover – Lay on the floor, face up with your arms straight out from your sides (palms facing up), making a “T” shape. Raise your legs off the floor so your hips and knee are bent 90 degrees. Slowly move your legs to the right as far as you can, without lifting your shoulders off of the floor. Slowly reverse the movement and move your legs to the left. Continue to alternate for desired repetitions.

Bonus Tip: To help promote a flat stomach, avoid processed sugars.

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Tags: Abdominals, Core, exercise, Fitness, Health, hip, lower back, muscle, strength

Look and Feel Better – Instantly!

Want to be more attractive? You can instantly look and feel better by one simple trick. It’s all about posture!

Stand, Walk,  and Sit up Straight

Walking with great posture shows confidence, while walking or standing with a slouch just looks frumpy and simply unflattering. You aren’t a caveman, so don’t walk like one!

You shouldn’t toss good posture out the door once you sit down. When you are sitting down, it’s important that you keep your feet flat on the ground and sit up straight instead of slouching. Not only will this not scrunch up your stomach to make you look like you have extra belly fat, but it will prevent you from feeling pain in your lower back.

Tips for better Posture

•Imagine there is a string on the top of your head, and someone is pulling on it and pulling you up. This is a visual that is commonly used to help with encouraging good posture. I remember taking a Dance class and this was a common technique used to prevent us from slouching.

• Strengthen your core, which helps support the spine for better posture. The muscles in your abdominals help support your back, so try doing the plank or other exercises that strengthen your abdominals.

• Avoid toting a heavy purse or bag. Heavy purses cause too much weight to be on one side of the body. It would be helpful to switch what side you hold your purse, so you don’t cause to much stress on one side of your body. If you use a backpack, make sure that you are wearing it properly, and it isn’t hurting your back, neck, or shoulders.

• If you are sitting for long periods of time, use a chair that is ergonomically designed for better support.

• Have someone remind you if you are slouching. This way, you can correct your posture immediately.

This means that not only will you look better, but you will feel better too!

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Image Source: iptmiami.com

Tags: Beauty, Health, lower back, pain, posture, sitting, standing, walking

DRX9000 Spinal Decompression

Here is my personal story and Review on the DRX9000. If you have any sort of back or neck pain, or know someone who does, I promise you that it will be worth your time to continue reading on.

How it all happened

At 23 years old, I was working 10-12 hour days trying to save up for my “dream home”. When my Husband and I crunched the numbers and looked at what we needed to have for our down payment the following month, stress built up faster than I realized. At this point in time, I wasn’t exercising like I should have, and I didn’t have a way to release the stress I was causing myself by overworking and buying a home that was a little out of reach for us at the time.

My body came to the point where I just snapped. All I did was reach for my Organic Rice Milk (half empty, by the way) and something felt weird in my lower back. No pain. Just a weird feeling. I went to pour my milk and went to sit down, and I felt sharp daggers of pain in my lower back. All I could think of is “What happened to my back!?”. I have never felt so much pain in my life. I called for my husband, who helped me lie down on my bed, since sitting obviously wasn’t working out, and standing was almost just as painful.

The following day was Sunday, and I was in bed all day. I couldn’t handle sitting or standing still. All I could think is, “this much pain just can’t be good”

Monday finally came. At that point, after being in so much pain for 2 days straight, I lost it. I just started bawling, which hurt my back even more. My husband made an appointment with my Chiropractor for as early as possible that morning. My husband helped me get up and then help me walk and get into our car.

After my Doctor adjusted my back, I still was experiencing extreme pain, but at least know I could get in and out of bed, which is something I wasn’t able to do on my own before. I ended up seeing my Doctor for several days in a row and not experiencing the kind of improvement I should have seen by then, and then my Doctor had me get an MRI done.

MRI Results

Turns out, I had several bulged and herniated discs in my lower back. Ouch.

Good news: I wasn’t making all this pain all up.

Bad news: Since I wasn’t able to hardly move, lift, sit, walk, or anything…I was 23 years old and my only option right now was going on Short Term Disability.

What are my options?

I could hardly move without being in extreme pain. I knew I couldn’t live like this. I could go under the knife and have back surgery. Not only do I have a horrible fear of surgery and knives, but with much research I realized that surgery wasn’t really going to fix my problem. Yes, maybe help alleviate some pain, but it would be an ongoing battle for the rest of my life. At 23 years old, I was hoping to have a long and healthy life, and Surgery wasn’t feeling like a very positive option for me.

I was introduced to Spinal Decompression by my Chiropractor.  I ultimately chose Spinal Decompression as the best solution to heal my back.

Spinal Decompression

The DRX9000 machine basically slowly and carefully pulls my spine, then releases it, then pulls it again. During my regular treatments,I am laying down being stretched for about 20 minutes. After I was done being stretched, I would go home and put ice on my back (wearing my wonderful back brace) and have ice on for 20 minutes on and off again- for the next 2 hours. I wasn’t allowed (or able) to lift anything at all, I had to do my homework (back stretches), take my daily walk to strengthen my back, and drink lots of water and eat extremely healthy.

After 3 months of regular treatment, I was able to lift light objects, go back to the gym,  go back to work and get on with my life.

Spinal Decompression works – you just need to give your body time, follow the guidelines (don’t lift heavy objects!), and it all will be worth it when your back pain is gone and a thing of the past. Of course, I will never forget the lessons I learned from my experience.

Lessons learned

Don’t allow yourself to get so stressed, since it does have a physical impact on your body. I learned that I keep my emotions to myself, and I need to release my stress somehow. I discovered exercise was a wonderful way to relieve stress.

There is hope, and there are options. Surgery is not the only option. If you go to a Surgeon, you will probably be told that Surgery is your only option. You should do some research for yourself and come up with an educated choice that is right for you. Do what is in the best interest of your health, not your surgeons wallet.

It’s not the end of the world. 2 years later, I rarely experience any sort of back pain at all. This is huge when you consider how I would have felt if I would have went for the back surgery. Health is the only thing you can’t buy. I’m glad I was able to get my body back on track. I believe you can too!

Where you can go

Interested to see if  Spinal Decompression can help you?

Check out the Doctor that helped me: Dr. Morgan

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Tags: bones, bulged, bulged discs, discs, DRX9000, herniated, herniated disc, lower back, neck, Spinal Decompression, stretch