Engage your Core Muscles for Optimum Stability

When your body is working at its best, you will be recruiting your core in all the movements you do. Sitting behind a desk the whole day means your core muscles are weak, and your other large muscle groups take up the slack, affecting your flexibility and body stability. Add these two exercises to your weekly workouts, concentrating on working your core muscles. Your weekly workouts should comprise compound exercises that keep your core engaged. Do these core exercises at least three times a week.

Front Bridge

Stretch out on the floor with your weight on your toes and forearms, elbows bent at 90 degrees. Your body should be in a straight line from ears to heels. Keep your chin tucked in and your navel pulling towards your spine. Hold for 10 to 20 seconds.

Side Bridge

Lie on your side with your upper body propped up on your forearm, the elbow directly below your shoulder. Now push your hips up so your body is in a straight line from ankle to shoulder. Hold for 10 to 20 seconds, then swop side.

Keep the Balance

How does proprioception and the strength stabilizer muscles help with injury prevention?

Any movements that your body makes in sport, at work or even at home require stabilization and proprioception. Proprioception is the ability of your brain to know where your body is in time and space. If your stabilizers are weak, or if your muscles are fatigued, you rely only on your primary muscle movers, and your risk of injury skyrockets

If any of the nerves in your body are damaged, then your brain is not going to be able to send the right instructions to your muscles. That means your attempt to do a devastating sidestep only results in a devastating injury. Even worse, nerve damage takes much longer than muscles or tendons to heal and it’s incredibly difficult to test for nerve damage. This is because most of the current screening tests are static ones, and don’t test your proprioception or the function of your muscles when you’re fatigued.

If you want to test your proprioception or the strength of your stabilizers in action, ask your biokineticist for some sport-specific dynamic tests. Or you can use our simple test below to check whether your lower-limb proprioception is working properly. If it’s not, get cracking with our stabilizer exercises.

Test Yourself

Is your lower-limb proprioception working?

Close your eyes, stand on one leg and raise your other knee to hip level, then try balancing for 10 seconds. Failing to do so means you’re two and a half times more likely to suffer a sprain than those who can do it, says a new study. Researchers at the University of Connecticut say the test reveals poor ankle proprioception (balancing strength). Proprioception is controlled by sight, the brain and nerve endings in joints. Closing your eyes eliminates visual cues for a truer indication of ankle performance.

The Solution

To improve your ankle proprioception, do any standing dumbbell exercise, such as biceps curls, standing on one leg instead of two. Not only will this improve your ankle proprioception, but it will exercise the stabilizing muscles in your legs.

Obesity has become a major health problem in the United States. It contributes to numerous health problems such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, coronary hearth disease, sleep apnea and respiratory problems, osteoarthritis, and stroke.

Maintaining a diet low in fat and getting regular exercise contributes to getting healthy, but sometimes it isn’t enough. There are surgical procedures such as Lap-Band and gastric bypass, which have shown to be effective in some individuals, but it is expensive and because it is a surgical procedure, comes with risks that all surgeries have. There are also prescription medications, but a visit to a doctor is needed and these medications are usually only given in severe cases.

There are many reasons people may turn to diet supplements; the stigma obesity carries, health benefits, it’s less demanding the lifestyle changes, frustration with failed attempts with diet and exercise, a prescription isn’t required, and because many supplements like to advertise that they are “natural.” Many dietary supplements are over the counter and may be effective and many of these are natural. But it shouldn’t be interpreted that if something is natural that it is completely safe.

Bitter orange is known for increasing the number of calories burned by the body. It contains several chemical compounds that are believed to stimulate the metabolic rate. This in turn, may increase calorie burning in the body. Although there is not enough evidence to substantiate the effectiveness of bitter orange as a weight loss supplement, it does appear to be effective in a combination with St. John’s Wort and caffeine.

Chitosan has been around for a long time. It is taken form chitin, which is found in the exoskeleton of crustaceans. It is ground into a powder and this powder clings to fats. As a weight loss supplement, it clings to fats so that is can’t be absorbed by the body. It also acts as a super fiber, so it cleansing process is created, which is said to be extremely vital to weight loss.

Chromium is a mineral that is required by humans in trace amounts. It can be found in broccoli, grape juice, whole wheat English muffins, mashed potatoes, dried garlic, and red wine. It is claimed that chromium may reduce body fat and increase lean muscle mass.

Green tea has been used for hundreds of years for its health properties. Studies have found that green tea extract may result in a significant increase in energy expenditure and has effects on fat oxidation. This may be particularly beneficial to thyroid patients because it has potential to accelerate metabolism while preventing over stimulation of the adrenal glands. It works without increasing the heart rate. In addition to being used as a weight loss supplement, it also may help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and recently has been shown to help prevent liver failure.

Hoodia gordonii is a cactus that has received a lot of publicity recently as a natural appetite suppressant. The origins of Hoodia are traced back over the past 1000 years to the Kalahari desert where the stems of the plant was used by the San Bushman to ward off hunger and thirst during long hunting trips. It has no known side effects and is not a stimulant, but should not be taken be people with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, or bleeding disorders.

Proper diet and exercise should be a part of everyone’s lifestyle, but in the instances that this does not work, there are numerous dietary supplements that can help control weight. Although a doctor is not needed to purchase these products, they should be consulted for proper use.

When is the last time you had a cool glass of water? Once you read the impressive facts in this article (and you will be glad you did), you will understand the importance of drinking plenty of water, especially when it comes to weight loss and a healthy diet. Our human bodies are made up of about 70% of water. Distinctive parts of the body carry different amounts of water in them. Men carry more water in their bodies than women, essentially it is because their bodies contain more muscle mass. Water is one of the single most importance nutrients to every single person on earth, as it performs various functions in our bodies.

Everyone interested in weight loss or dieting should realize that any diet you are on should include drinking plenty of water. A vital benefit to drinking water is that it works to carry nutrients through the system, lubricates joints, will help to void feces from the bowels, and works to keep our skin looking healthy. There can be life threatening effects if your body does not get enough water, because if the kidneys don’t get enough fluid, the liver stops metabolizing fat and will begin filtering any waste in your body.

When our intestines do not have the efficient amount of water, they will begin to draw out what they need from the cells in the bowel, resulting in constipation. Water and other fluids work to make bowel movements softer and easier to pass. By drinking plenty of water you will help your colon to function much better.

Don’t Get Dehydrated:

When your body starts to become dehydrated it affects parts of your body that need the most water first, some of the first signs of dehydration can be feelings of physical weakness and a decrease in mental alertness. If you have small children, dehydration symptoms can include: Decreased urine output - fewer than six wet diapers a day for infants, dry, sticky mouth and signs of being overly sleepy or tired. Children are likely to be less active than usual. When this happens give them a glass of pure drinking water over fruit juice or milk. Seek medical attention right away if any symptom worsens. For those of us trying to lose weight and are cutting back on calories, it is not uncommon for people to mistake feelings of weakness for hunger, when in fact it is often due to dehydration. Dehydration is not only associated with thirst, when you first feel hungry that can be a sign of dehydration as well. Don’t be fooled during your diet, when you feel like you need a snack, it is very likely you just need to drink some water. Try to always drink a full glass before every meal or better yet anytime you begin to feel hungry. Not only will this help to hydrate your body, it will help to fill up your stomach so you will not eat as much. Drinking a full glass of water before a meal is a great way to help your diet be more successful.

Interesting Body Fact: Did you know that your brain is approximately 85-90% water?

Purified Water:

Many dieters do not realize how valuable drinking plenty of pure water is to achieving a desired weight loss goal. A significant fraction of the human body is water. Having enough water for your overall health is one of the best things you can do for yourself. All diet programs should stress the important role that drinking plenty of water will play in the overall success of losing weight. Many times it is not a good idea to use thirst alone as an indicator for when to get a drink. If you begin to feel thirsty, it’s most likely that your body is already becoming dehydrated. As you begin to age, you will notice that your body is less able to sense dehydration and send your brain signals of thirst. Having an overly dry mouth combined with excessive thirst and decreased urination can be signs of a more serious medical condition. Call your family doctor as soon as possible if you experience either of these.

Exercising and Water:

The more you exercise, the more you will sweat. Anytime you sweat you need to replenish your body by drinking water and it’s a good idea to drink water consistently when exercising, even before you feel thirsty. If you are exercising when it’s hot and humid out, water should be replenished every 15 minutes in order to keep muscles strong and the temperature of your body down. This is particularly true for long endurance events, which is a good reason that many outdoor sport enthusiasts will usually carry water with them. Dehydration can lead to threatening health problems, even death. Drinking water is an extremely valuable important piece to winning the weight loss battle. You will find even most flavored waters contain no calories. It is a natural appetite suppressant, and helps your body to burn-off fat faster.

Interesting Body Fact: To help prevent dehydration, you should drink water before, during and immediately after exercising.

Metabolism:

The speed at which your body burns up calories is called your metabolic rate. Increased activity levels can increase the metabolic rate because you begin to breathe harder due to the increase of your heart rate. The livers main job is to metabolize the fat in our bodies, however, if you do not drink enough water the liver has to begin working with the kidneys, this causes less body fat to be metabolized and results in more fat being stored in our body. This is a leading contributor for weight gain. Also, having a slow metabolism can cause dieters to feel stuck at some frustrating plateau and unable to even lose just one more pound. To prevent this from happening and to help your body to metabolize fat and lose weight, you should drink plenty of clean water to help your kidney and liver function properly. Skipping meals will also negatively affect your metabolism and cause your body to go in to starvation survival mode.

Starvation Metabolism:

This is the effect of slowing of the metabolic rate that automatically begins when the body is not getting enough nourishment. When this happens, our bodies will instinctively go on alert that it is not getting the nutrition it needs and will begin to naturally burn calories at a slower rate so it can survive longer. The idea of skipping meals in order to speed-up your metabolism, and encourage weight loss is just another myth. The more you drink water, the better your metabolism rate is going to be. Drinking plenty of water will energize your metabolism rate, which will help you to burn more calories. I was amazed to find out that by just simply drinking enough water during the day, the rate I burn calories increases by 2%. Drinking 8-10 glasses of water each day gives your body a great advantage of ridding itself of unwanted waste and any metabolized fat from your body. Now that sounds like a win-win situation to me!

There are many diets that exist, make sure the one you choose will not harm your body and will help you with fat loss rather than water loss. Many diet programs or diet pills do not put enough emphasis on the important role water plays on a diet. The beauty of experiencing weight loss with water is that water has been around since the beginning of time, it is natures best for our best. Overall, the best diet is… eating healthy, drinking enough water for your body to be well hydrated and getting plenty of exercise.

After reading the information in this article you can now see how drinking plenty of pure water is one of the best kept diet secrets around, but let’s not keep it a secret for long. So, if you have not had a drink of water in the past hour, get up and drink one now; as you do think about the many ways you are helping your body and the important role it plays in reaching your weight loss goal.