what do you think of this? Ido refers to this as basics, however I have been training for 2 and a half years in this type of movement training. This is not what I would consider basics and believe that mislabelling is a sure way to dissuade or make people believe they can't achieve things that have taken him years to perfect.
Maybe his interpretation of the word basics is different? let me know what you think below.
Showing posts with label strength. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strength. Show all posts
Monday, 6 February 2017
Saturday, 28 January 2017
What makes muscles grow? - Jeffrey Siegel
Want bigger muscles here is the basic blue print for how!
interesting watch let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below.
interesting watch let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below.
Monday, 23 January 2017
4 Simple Gymnastics Drills For Strength And Mobility
Gymnastics strength training provides countless benefits to those willing to commit to the process. By focusing on bodyweight progressions, athletes have the opportunity to increase relative strength, strength endurance, mobility, proprioception, kinesthetics awareness, and more.
The Road to Gymnastic Success
The greatest benefit from gymnastics strength training is not directly related to either ability or physique, but rather to your mindset and approach. In the fitness industry, just as in life, it is all too common to encounter people who want instant gratification and immediate results.
“Stretching, high reps, and joint prehab. There’s no time for that,” they think. They just want to hold a handstand, climb a rope, or learn a back flip. The big problem, though, is that these people often end up injured, plateaued, or both.
Successful trainees are those who take gradual, consistent steps on the path towards long-term growth by prioritizing quality and mastery. Coach Sommer, the founder of Gymnastic Bodies, likes to compare this shift in mindset to the difference in maturity between a child and an adult.
"Successful trainees are those who take gradual, consistent steps on the path towards long-term growth by prioritizing quality and mastery."
A child wants things right away, and if a task takes hard work, discipline, or commitment, the child is likely to give up and shift attention to something new. As a person matures into an adult, they are more likely to realize the potential benefits of focusing on one task for longer periods of time, even if it does require significant amounts of energy.
Four Basic Gymnastic Strength Training Tests
Here are four basic gymnastics strength-training tests to get you started toward long-term growth.
For many of us, modern lifestyle and one-sided training have stolen our ability to complete these relatively simple bodyweight tasks, so do not be surprised if these end up being a bit more challenging than you first presume.
1* Hollow Body Hold
The hollow body hold is a foundational position in all of gymnastics, and as such it is one of the first positions you should master. Begin by lying down on your back, with your legs outstretched and together. Completely straighten your legs by flexing your knees, and ensure proper form by pointing your toes as far away from your body as possible. Also reach your arms overhead, completely straightening your elbows and looking up towards the ceiling.
From this outstretched position, engage your entire anterior core by lifting your arms and legs off the floor. You should focus on pressing your lower back into the ground while squeezing your entire abdominal wall. Be sure that your shoulders are slightly lifted and your ribs are tucked in rather than protruding from your chest. Ideally your body shape should be smooth and round, almost like a banana.
Hold this hollow body position for a full sixty seconds. To ensure there is no cheating, use a timer, metronome, or stopwatch to count your minute. If you cannot hold the position with integrity for the full time, then you might need to start with a scaled version such as tucking your legs in towards your chest or bringing your arms down by your side.
2* Arch Body Hold
This is the complete opposite position as the hollow body. Where the hollow body works the entire anterior core, the arch body position will expose any weakness along your posterior chain. Additionally, many people are chronically tight in the front of their bodies, and the arch body hold will open up tight areas such as your chest and hip flexors.
"This should serve as a wake-up call for you to strengthen your posterior chain and stretch your chest and hip flexors."
To start, lie facedown on your belly with your arms outstretched overhead and your legs straight and together. As you can imagine, the goal here is to completely arch your entire body as much as possible, so lift both your upper and lower body as high as you can towards the ceiling. Focus on engaging your glutes and mid-back so you are not exclusively arching from your lower back.
If you are like most people who try to hold an arch body position for sixty seconds, you will begin to tremble, shake, curse, and drop to the floor before the minute has expired. This should serve as a wake-up call for you to strengthen your posterior chain and stretch your chest and hip flexors.
If necessary, break down the arch body position in a similar fashion to the hollow body hold by bringing your arms down to your side, bending your knees, or both.
3* Bent-Arm Chin Hang
So now that we have thoroughly tested (and trashed) your core strength, we move on to the bent-arm chin hang. The key phrase here is time under tension, as you will attempt to hold your chin over a bar for, you guessed it, sixty full seconds. Grip the bar with a supinated, underhand grip, and pull yourself as high above the bar as you can. Keep your legs together, make sure your body is not swaying excessively, and hold on tight."The key here is that training your strength endurance at slightly lower intensities builds more than just muscle."
If you cannot yet do a chin up, then this bent-arm chin hang might help you get there due to the amount of time you will spend holding on above the bar. If you cannot hold this position for any significant period of time, then you might need to start on an incline by holding onto a set of rings set approximately to shoulder height.
If you can already do strict chin ups, then you may be wondering why bother just holding the top position for time? The key here is that training your strength endurance at slightly lower intensities builds more than just muscle. Your connective tissue needs longer to adapt, and as such you should spend time mastering the bent-arm chin hang before moving on to more advanced (and potentially injury-inducing) pulling movements such as muscle ups and rope climbs.
4* Standing Pike Stretch
Finally, you get to relax and stretch. The standing pike stretch will assess flexion through the hips and spine, and those of you with tight hamstrings might struggle a bit here. Stand up tall with your legs completely straight and knees locked out, and completely fold over forward, placing your hands on the ground as fully as possible. Your goal is to reach your hands behind your feet to the point where you can press your bodyweight up onto your toes.
"The standing pike stretch will assess flexion through the hips and spine, and those of you with tight hamstrings might struggle a bit here."
If this position is unattainable for you right now, then try doing a partner seated pike stretch. Sit up tall with your legs outstretched in front of you, knees totally straight, and have your partner gently push forward on the middle of your back. Inhale and exhale with your partner’s pushes, and reach your hands towards your feet, all while pressing the backs of your knees into the floor.
Conclusion
In any endeavor in life, you get out exactly what you put in. Impatient, shortsighted efforts will yield incomplete and poor-quality results, if not long-term injuries. On the other hand, a consistent work ethic, when paired with world-class programming and coaching knowledge, will allow trainees to continue to experience progress for months and years on end.
Chris Garay
Friday, 20 January 2017
3 Breathing Techniques for a More Effective Workout
You’ve been doing it about 20,000 times a day since the moment you were born. In fact, you’re doing it right now. More importantly, experts are saying you’re doing it all wrong.
We’re referring to breathing, which seems like such a natural act that we only think of it when we’re huffing and puffing at the end of a 10k — not while walking to work, eating breakfast, or any other normal activity.
What exactly does it mean to say we’re all breathing “wrong?” If you’ve made it this far, it seems like you’ve been doing an OK job. Oxygen is coming in; carbon dioxide is going out. But, according to Noam Tamir, CSCS, founder of TS Fitness in New York City, while we might be getting by, we could be breathing better. In fact, improving our breathing could help to lower blood pressure, decrease stress, improve athletic performance, and maybe even increase brain size.
Breathe In, Breathe Out: Common Breathing Mistakes
When Tamir works with a new client, the first thing he puts them through is the Functional Movement Screen to assess any major muscle imbalances. Closely following the FMS is a breathing assessment. During the evaluation, Tamir is looking for any one or a combination of breathing inefficiencies we’ve developed over time. The term “inefficient breathing” can mean various things depending on who you ask, but for Tamir, it breaks down to these three mishaps:
Chest Breathing
Rather than breathing deeply through the belly using the diaphragm, it’s common to see breathing through the top of the chest, Tamir says, which forces the body to rely on other muscles not built for the task at hand. When you breathe through the chest, “you’re using a lot of ancillary muscles, such as those in the neck, that you really don’t need to use.” This can also reinforce neck and shoulder tension common among office workers. Following the age-old principle “Use it or lose it,” this reliance on ancillary muscles also weakens the diaphragm. A weak diaphragm will fatigue easily during exercise, meaning your muscles won’t receive the optimum amount of blood flow during your next CrossFit WOD or 5K.
Shallow Breathing
Another bad habit when it comes to our breath? We’re working too hard to get in the oxygen that we need. Rather than taking deep, full breaths, we’re resorting to shallow, quick ones, forcing the body to work overtime to get the same amount of oxygen, Tamir says. This could partly be due to poor posture, most prevalent among those who slump over a screen all day (not to mention gym-goers who overemphasize mirror muscles instead of focusing on balance). With the shoulders hunched forward, we lose part of our ability to expand our diaphragm and take the big, full breaths that can boost workout perfomance, increase efficiency, and help manage stress.
Lack of Rhythm
No, we’re not talking about the kind you would see on the dance floor. If you’ve ever focused on your breathing while running to help pass the time, you’ve likely noticed a specific rhythm to your breath. Perhaps it matched the pace of your footsteps (cadence) or your arm swing. Whatever the pattern, breathing smoothly and rhythmically can play a calming role, particularly in athletes, says Tamir. If your breathing is erratic, it’s hard to get into the zone — whether that’s busting out your last track interval or burning through your last set of squats.
3 Breathing Techniques to Boost Performance
Breathing has a huge impact on our health and fitness, but we’re probably not taking advantage of it just yet. The good news is that anyone can improve their breathing with even a small time investment, Tamir says. And it all starts with basic awareness. Tamir recommends focusing on just your breathing one to two times a day, starting with just one minute at a time. Seem doable? Here’s your playbook for success.
1. When you’re at your desk…Take advantage of the stress-relief properties of proper breathing. Deep breathing has been shown to increase activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, the system opposite our fight-or-flight response responsible for a calmer, more tranquil demeanor. If possible, Tamir suggests working on your breathing lying on the ground with your feet up against a wall, which removes gravity from the equation. (You can also get similar benefits from doing the exercise in your chair or standing if you want to avoid the stare of your coworkers or classmates.)
Next, put one hand on your chest and the other on your abdominal area. For one to two minutes, take deep, focused breaths, making sure you spend as much time on the exhalation as the inhalation. In fact, Tamir notes that the exhalation will often be deeper than the inhalation. The key with this exercise is to make sure that your abdominals rise before your chest.
2. When you’re warming up…Since breathing has such an impact on athletic performance, the warm-up is the perfect time to refocus the priority on your breath. Spend a few minutes foam rolling your upper body, particularly the areas hampering your ability to breathe correctly (think: chest, shoulders and neck). Then, go through the deep breathing exercise described above before proceeding into your active warm-up. By focusing on your breath prior to exercising, you’re reinforcing proper breathing mechanics before any heavy lifting or HIIT takes place. The result: Less huffing and puffing once the exertion commences, leading to a more efficient workout.
3. When you’re working out…Was it inhale on the way down or on the way up? Was holding my breath good or bad? Trying to remember when and how to breathe while working out can be tough. Here are two tips to help you get it right in the gym:
For heavy loads and max efforts, use the Vasalva maneuver.Val-what? The Valsalva Manuever is a technique that involves taking a deep breath immediately prior to lifting and holding that breath while you lift. Using this method, “You’re creating a lot of intra-abdominal pressure,” Tamir explains. This increase in pressure creates a strong foundation for your body and allows it to handle more weight. Before approaching a max-effort deadlift, for instance, lifters would stand over the bar and prepare for the lift. Right before setting their grip, they would take a deep breath in and hold that air inside the lungs throughout the rep.
Wait — holding your breath during exercise? Wouldn’t that be dangerous? Some research has indeed claimed that the increase in pressure caused by the Valsalva maneuver could have negative health implications (increasing risk of stroke for example). However, a comprehensive recap done by Dr. Jonathon Sullivan, Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Wayne State University/Detroit Receiving Hospital, explains this risk mainly applies to those with preexisting conditions such as uncontrolled blood pressure or other cerebrovascular issues. As with any piece of health advice, it’s best to check with your doctor prior to getting under the bar just to be safe.
For sub-maximal loads, use bracing.The term “bracing” was first coined by Dr. Stuart McGill, a leading researcher in spine mechanics. Bracing involves activating all of your core musculature from all angles to create a “superstiffness” of the midsection. This bracing creates stability throughout the entire core and reduces injury risk. For example, while performing a lateral raise, lifters should tighten their midsection as if they were about to be punched in the stomach (actual punch not recommended!). This involves more than just pulling in your abs. Instead, imagine tightening your abominals, lower back, lats and obliques for 360 degrees of tension. Now, hold that throughout the exercise!
Between counting your macros, hydrating, stretching, foam rolling, and the myriad other habits you have set up to improve your health, breathing is easy to overlook. But, when you take into account how many times you breathe each day? Taking those 20,000 reps into consideration, even the smallest improvements can have a huge impact. Set aside one to two minutes a day to improve your breathing, and then carry those new habits into the office, the gym, or wherever else the day takes you. You’ll huff and puff your way to a fitter, faster and stronger you!
by
Saturday, 7 January 2017
10 Benefits of Using Resistance Bands During Exercise
Resistance bands are made of strong, thin rubber with handles at the end, and come in a variety of resistances depending on your fitness level. With resistance bands, you can do just about any type of strength training exercise -- chest presses, rows, shoulder presses, tricep extensions, bicep curls, and even squats -- without the need for heavy weights.
If you've never tried resistance bands, or you're new to them, you may be surprised at how much benefit you can get from what is essentially a reinforced rubber band, but as is often the case, the simplest tools are often the very best for your health.
10 Benefits of Adding Resistance Bands to Your Workouts
1. Incredibly Cost-Effective
Resistance bands are inexpensive and can be purchased for under $10. Even more extensive kits, which may include DVDs and other exercise equipment, can be found for under $40, including Kathy Smith's Stay Firm Upper Body and Core Kit, which comes with a "figure 8" resistance tube that is specifically designed to challenge your core muscles.
2. Adaptable for Multiple Fitness Levels
Whether you're a beginner or an expert, resistance bands are for you. They come in a variety of resistances, including light, medium and heavy, and you can further adjust the intensity of your resistance-band workouts by giving the band more or less slack. You can even use multiple bands at once to increase the challenge.
3. Used with Familiar Exercises
You can often use familiar strength training moves with resistance bands, which means you don't need to learn a complicated new routine. For instance, resistance bands can replace the weights you use for biceps curls, or can increase the intensity of your push-ups.
4. Whole-Body Exercises
Resistance bands can be used for a comprehensive, full-body workout that challenges virtually every major muscle group in your body.
5. Save on Storage Space
Resistance bands take up virtually no space to store them, which means you can use them at home even if you have very little extra space. When your workout is done, simply stash them in a drawer until your next session.
6. Excellent for Travelling
Resistance bands are lightweight and easily portable. You can stash them in your suitcase when travelling and use them to get a good workout right in your hotel room.
7. Add Variety
Your muscles quickly adapt to movements you do often, which is why adding variety to your workouts is key for challenging your muscles. Resistance bands can be alternated with free weights and exercise machines for ongoing variety.
8. Easy to Use Alone
It's not a good idea to lift heavy weights without an exercise buddy, but resistance bands can be safely used on your own. They're ideal for exercising any time, at home or on the road.
9. Can Be Combined with Other Equipment
Resistance bands are so versatile that you can even use them along with weights, allowing you to get the benefits of two types of exercises at once.
10. An Effective Workout
Resistance bands are incredibly simple, but they're also extremely effective at working your muscles. Additionally, resistance-band training can help you boost stamina, flexibility, range of motion and more.
Resistance-Band Exercises You Can Try Out Now
In the video above, Mercola.com's personal trainer Jill Rodriguez shows you a variety of resistance-band exercises that you can easily incorporate into your workouts. Below are more instructions for some of the more popular resistance-band exercises as well, as explained by ResistanceBandsX.com:
• Squats: While standing with your feet at shoulder width distance, hold the handles of the bands using both hands and stretch it up to shoulder level. Do a full squat but prevent your hands from moving. Do this gradually, then stand back up, and repeat the same routine.
• Bent Over Rows: Place your left or right foot on the band while the other foot is kept at the back. Slowly bend forward until you are at 45-degree angle position. Gradually pull the band up to the level of your waist while your elbows are kept in. Proceed with the rowing motion while you are squeezing your shoulders. Go back to your starting position and do the same using the other foot.
• Horizontal Chest Press: While lying with your back on the band, take both ends of it and hold it in. Slowly raise your left or right hand towards the ceiling and then bring it down slowly. Repeat the same motion using the other hand.
• Biceps Curl: While standing on the band, hold both ends using your hands. Slowly curl up your hands towards your shoulders. Ensure that both elbows are bent backwards. Keep the position for a couple of minutes before going back to your starting position and repeating the same routine.
• Vertical Chest Press: Get a chair, attach the band to it, and then stand on the band while your back is facing the chair. Take both ends of the band using your hands and then gradually extend both hands outwards. Bring your hands back to its starting position and repeat the same procedure.
• Overhead Press: Stand over the center of a tube band with feet shoulder-width apart. Grip each handle, positioning your hands at shoulder level with palms facing each other so your thumbs touch your shoulders. Press straight up, rotating your palms forward as you fully extend your arms. Lower back down slowly and repeat.
• Overhead Triceps Extension: Sit on a chair or bench, placing the center of a tube band beneath your glutes. Grab a handle in each hand, and stretch your arms up, bending your elbows so that your hands are positioned behind your neck. With palms toward the ceiling, press your arms straight up until they fully extend. Lower back down and repeat before switching sides.
Why Strength Training Is Important
I've explained why resistance bands make a smart addition to virtually any strength training program, but perhaps you're wondering why you should be strength training to begin with. Strength training will improve muscle and bone strength, which can help prevent falls and fractures, but it also increases your body's production of growth factors, which are responsible for cellular growth, proliferation and differentiation. Some of these growth factors also promote the growth, differentiation, and survival of neurons, which helps explain why working your muscles also benefits your brain.
So, while weight-bearing exercise, like resistance or strength training, can go a long way to prevent the loss of bone quality and density, and can help reverse the damage already done, interestingly enough, strength training also has brain-boosting side effects, which can help you avoid age-related dementia. You can use either gym equipment, resistance bands, free weights or a combination for your workouts. Gym equipment or resistance bands may be safer if you're a novice, as free weights will require better form and control. Whichever one you choose, I recommend having a trainer take you through each exercise to make sure you have the proper form performing the exercise, to avoid injury.
Try Super Slow Movements with Your Resistance-Band Workout
Finally, if you want to take your strength training up a notch, try super-slow weight training, which actually produces many of the same health and fitness benefits as high-intensity interval training, which is a key aspect of my Peak Fitness program.
These two forms of exercise may at first sound like complete opposites—super-slow versus high-intensity—but the combination of slowing down your lifts and lifting to failure turns it into a high-intensity exercise that generates a cascade of metabolic adaptations that improve your muscle strength and fitness level.
By Dr. Mercola
Sunday, 1 January 2017
The Grip Test: Can You Hold Your Own
Grip strength keeps popping up in fitness-related headlines. Why? Because it is so fundamental to daily function and it has been shown to be a clear indicator of cardiovascular health and mortality. Plus, it’s obviously cool—many classic strongman feats involved grip; an impressive grip is baked into our social norms as something extraordinary and impressive.
But the point is, its not just for stunts and tricks and strongman feats. Grip strength makes your daily life better and gives your a healthier future.
Let’s take a look at what the research shows and at how to train grip strength.
Grip Strength Points to Heart Health
Grip strength, as recent Harvard Medical School research confirms, means more than just being able to deliver a firm handshake. In fact, there's a growing body of research that points to grip being a predictor of one’s risk for having a heart attack or stroke, or dying from cardiovascular disease.
For example, as part of the ongoing, international Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, researchers used a dynamometer to measure grip strength in almost 140,000 adults in 17 countries, and they followed their health for an average of four years.
The results? Over the time span of the study, every 11 pounds of grip strength lost was linked to:
- 16% greater risk of dying from any cause
- 17% greater risk of dying from heart disease
- 9% greater risk of stroke
- 7% increased risk of heart attack
Another example can be found in results published in The Lancet, even accounting for other factors such as smoking, exercise, age, etc., researchers still found that grip strength’s relationship to cardiovascular disease and death remained strong. So much so that even blood pressure was found to be a weaker predictor of cardiovascular health and death than grip strength.
Researchers are also confirming what seems obvious: this is a cheap and easy way to add valuable data to health assessments. In a statement released to the press, lead author Dr. Darryl Leong, from the Population Health Research Institute at Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University in Canada, said, “Grip strength could be an easy and inexpensive test to assess an individual’s risk of death and cardiovascular disease.”
The PURE study’s findings are not unique and are not new. The connection that grip strength has with future disease/disability, death, and the likelihood of cardiovascular disease in adults has been documented in other research. But the PURE study is the largest one to have confirmed this connection. And if that weren’t enough, the study found that grip strength’s significance was consistent across high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries, lending further credence to the findings.
Is Grip Strength a Measure of Biological Age?
The idea of “biological age” is not precisely defined. It just points to how the body is functioning in comparison to its chronological age (which we can know precisely).
The key things that influence biological age are just what you’d expect: things like overall physical fitness, the presence or absence of certain medical conditions, and muscle strength. And grip strength seems to be another key factor in determining biologocial age.
Researchers Avan Aihie Sayer and Thomas Kirkwood of the University of Southampton and Newcastle University, both in the United Kingdom, published an editorial along with the PURE results. In it, they state plainly that “grip strength might act as a biomarker of ageing across the life course.”
How to Train Grip Strength
Grip training can be less programmatic that other types of strength training yet still be quite successful. Grip legend Odd Haugen (the "Visegrip Viking"), when asked what exercises to prioritize or how to structure one’s efforts when starting grip training, gave this advice: Just start using your grip, all the time. He then turned the question around, asking who were the people in the world with strong grips? Of course, it’s people who work with their hands, who use their brawn in their daily laboring—fishermen, construction workers, and such. His point was, that by simply picking up hard-to-grip objects, trying to hold on to things for long periods of time, or maintaining grip against a rotational or torque force, you can improve your grip strength. For everyday folks, it really does not need to be much more complicated than that.
You can think of grip more as a capacity than a specific “exercise.” As such, grip does not have a lot of technique or fine points that might need coaching or remediation. Can you pick up the Thomas Inch Dumbell? Then you have that amount of grip strength. If you can’t pick it up, then you don’t. There’s no measure of degree; it’s a pass-fail test and there’s no prize for “almost.” And to improve, all you need to do is keep on picking up something you can barely lift until it gets easier, then move to the next thing that’s challenging. Just keep trying to pick stuff up or hold onto stuff, and rest adequately between efforts.
Of course, at a competitive level, you can’t train so randomly. You’ll need a good coach and a solid program to assess your specific strengths and weaknesses as relates to the events you will compete in.
But for the rest of us, we can start grip training right now, and keep training pretty much all the time.
It should be noted that the studies mentioned above, like most such studies, used a dynamometer, which only measures one kind of grip strength. But to build real-world grip strength and enjoy the benefits of a well-rounded strong grip, you’ll want to train all three of the main grip-strength categories. According to nail-bending, phonebook-tearing strongwoman and hard-rocker Melody Schoenfeld, these are:
- The Crush Grip is the grip between your fingers and your palm—the one you use for shaking hands and crumpling beer cans.
- The Pinch Grip is the grip between your fingers and your thumb. This can be further subcategorized into individual fingers + thumb grip.
- The Support Grip is the ability to maintain a hold on something for a while—think pull ups or long and productive shopping trips.
Of course, this variety of types of grip ties into a whole range of daily activities and lifestyle choices you can make that will yield huge benefits. Building grip exercises in to your daily routine can be a very effective way to improve this important function. And there’s lots of ways to do that.
The point is, to improve grip strength, you don’t have to spend the money to go to a gym and you don’t even have to set aside the time for working out. Sure, training this way, you’ll probably never reach a competitive level. But you can make significant improvements in grip strength—and in many aspects of your fitness—through simple, daily activities that challenge you. For example:
- Park further from the entrance of the grocery store, and carry your bags to the car.
- When you’re on the phone or standing around – like in line or when pumping gas – find a way to work your grip. A simple way is to simply hold onto something and lean back (a fingertip grip on a doorjamb is great). Start slow, you don’t want to lose your grip and fall.
- For those especially deconditioned or elderly, it can be as simple as lifting the milk carton for several reps every time you take it out or put in back in the fridge.
- Get something squishy or pliable, or shop for something purpose-built at and keep it handy with you or on your desk. Use it throughout the day. Just type "grip strength tools" into the search field, and your browser will show you a wide world of options.
A Few Caveats
Change equipment and movements from day-to-day to avoid repetive-stress injuries and make sure you rest your grip between hard efforts. Varied practice also helps avoid boredom and plateaus.
In attending to grip strength, it’s like anything else. If you have a condition or injury that will limit you or that poses special considerations, check with a qualified professional for advice.
And you can’t ignore nutrition and sleep. If your diet is not optimal, you might want to research fish oil and other supplements to support your body’s healing fight inflammation, and support joint health. Adequate sleep is vital for recovery and healing of stressed tissues. Aim for seven to eight hours per night. That will give your body time to repair muscle tissue and replenish your muscle’s energy stores.
So let's go. Grab something and hold on... for your life.
By Dan Kallen
References:
1. LeWine, Howard, M.D., Grip strength may provide clues to heart health. Harvard Health Publications, Harvard medical School, Posted May 19, 2015, 12:11 PM , Updated September 08, 2016, 5:16 PM
2. Leong, Darryl P., Koon K. Teo, Sumathy Rangarajan, Patricio Lopez-Jaramillo, Alvaro Avezum, Andres Orlandini, Pamela Seron et al. "Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study." The Lancet 386, no. 9990 (2015): 266-273.
3. Leong, Darryl, “Your handshake tells the story of your health.” McMaster University news (http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/news/news_2015/handgrip_study.html), May 13, 2015
4. Sayer, Avan Aihie, and T. B. Kirkwood. "Grip strength and mortality: a biomarker of ageing?." Lancet (London, England) 386, no. 9990 (2015):
226.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)