Ok. So Last Week is over. And, since you are only as good as your last battle, your chance for redemption is at hand. Here is the second half of the fitness fact vs. fitness fiction quiz. Good luck!
Fact or Fiction:
1) Doing crunches or working on an "ab machine" will get rid of belly fat.
2) You need to sweat to burn calories; the more you sweat the more calories you burn.
3) An aerobic workout will boost your metabolism for hours after you stop working out.
4) As long as you feel OK when you're working out, you're probably not overdoing it.
5) Machines are a safe way to target and sculpt all areas of your body.
….
Doing crunches or working on an "ab machine" will get rid of belly fat.
FICTION
Ab machines sell. Period. Take a look at all of the infomercials out there right now capitalizing on your new year’s resolution to lose weight. “Perfect abs for three easy installments of $19.99”… why wouldn’t you want that?
The truth is that the best machine to use for your abs is the front door to any fitness facility. A good stomach comes with regular cardiovascular exercise, proper diet habits, and a gradual increase in muscle mass from weight bearing activities. This trio will lead to a decreased amount of overall body fat… over time.
You already have abs, they are just hiding under body fat. And yes, genetics do play a role.
You need to sweat to burn calories; the more you sweat the more calories you burn.
FICTION
Look, you can sweat so hard that you are re-defining the catch phrase “making it rain in the club” and still not be getting a great workout. Have you ever heard of the “executive workout?” You know; go to the gym, jump in the hot-tub, hit the sauna, and do some stairs on your way up to the sports bar. Sure, at the end of that hour you spend at the club you have certainly dropped some sweat, particularly in the sauna. But you have not necessarily burned that many calories.
Sweating is your body’s way of cooling itself; if you are hot you will probably sweat. But sweating does NOT guarantee a great workout.
An aerobic workout will boost your metabolism for hours after you stop working out.
FACT
A good workout will burn calories while you are exercising. A great workout sends you back to where you came from still burning calories. Within the industry, this phenomenon is referred to as “Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption” or EPOC.
Typical aerobic workouts will not burn significant calories after the fact. However, power based workouts intermingled with high intensity cardiovascular exercise has been shown to significantly boost EPOC. Certain training philosophies are founded on this concept, but they are not for everyone.
As long as you feel OK when you're working out, you're probably not overdoing it.
FICTION
There are none so righteous as the newly converted. Sometimes, particularly at the outset of a new exercise program, it’s easy to get so excited about being back into the game that you overdo it. You feel great the entire time you’re exercising, perhaps only a slight degree of burning. Watch out, you’re more likely to feel the pain later rather than sooner.
The real pain does not usually set in until up to two days later. When you get out of bed in the morning and feel as if someone has surgically removed all of the muscles in your body, filled them with rock salt, and re-inserted them in your sleep.
This is referred to as Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS). DOMS is misleading because it can lead you to believe that working out is always painful and it shouldn’t be. DOMS is a serious deterrent to beginning, and sticking to an exercise program.
The great news is that at the start of a program you don’t need to push hard to see results. The outset of a program is the time to build habits, not muscle mass.
Machines are a safe way to target and sculpt all areas of your body.
FICTION
Isn’t it true that you can sell a machine more than a technique? Who was it that originally began telling people that it was the “machine” that gave you the results? It was probably the same person selling the machine.
The main “machine” being used in any workout is your own body. How you use your “machine”, and how long you use it at a given time, will be the measure of your safety and your results, nothing else.
Don’t buy into the marketing; if the machine is not set correctly for you then you may still be at risk of injury. Furthermore, if you are not aware of your own bodies’ intrinsic compensation patterns then you may be doing more harm than good and setting yourself up for injury down the road.
Unless you have a coach or a trainer to give you a list of beneficial machines and can show you how to set them up for yourself, you may still be at risk of injury.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Separate Fitness Fact From Fitness Fiction (Part I)
There is so much information out there about health and wellness that it can be hard to distinguish fitness fact from fitness fiction.
Some myths are just half-truths, exercises or techniques that work well for some people but not for others. Other information is just plain bad information passed down from gym member to gym member over the years. This type of myth can certainly derail your results. The wrong information can even lead to injury.
To see how good you are at separating fitness fact from fitness fiction, answer the following true false questions, and read on to find your results.
1) Running on a treadmill instead of pavement will reduce stress on your knees.
2) You need to lift weight to keep weight off your body.
3) Swimming or water aerobics is a great weight loss activity.
4) Exercising at low intensity in the “fat burn” zone is the way to lose body fat.
5) You can lose weight simply by cutting back on calories.
…………………..
Running on a treadmill instead of pavement will reduce stress on your knees.
FALSE
Anyway that you look at it, running is a full contact sport.
Many treadmills are built with a specific design to absorb shock. In this respect the companies that build and sell the treadmills are able to claim that the treadmills are safer than running on pavement. However, there are other ways to give yourself a cardio workout which resembles running, without actually stepping on a treadmill.
Reduce stress on your knees by varying your workouts. If cardio machines are your passion then try using an elliptical or stairmaster occasionally. Or, better yet, use circuit weight training to simulate a cardiovascular workout while toning and shaping your arms and upper body as well.
You need to lift weight to keep weight off your body.
FACT
Let’s talk about what typically happens. You start an exercise program… which consists of the long and varied routine of: treadmill… treadmill… elliptical… treadmill. WHOAH… you’re setting yourself up for failure; first of all booooring.
Consider what cardio does to your body. Cardio reduces muscle mass in the body. Did you know that muscle weighs three times as much as fat? Your initial weight loss from cardio may be more muscle than fat.
Muscle mass burns calories, the more muscle you have the more calories you burn. The more caloris you burn the more weight you lose.
This is where women get cheated. Because they have less muscle mass; women are more likely to keep on weight. Even with dainty eating habits, women can find it harder to keep the weight off than their self-indulgent gorging male counterparts.
Furthermore, as you do more cardio your pulmonary system and your cardiovascular system progress. Inevitably your body will adjust to the demands your imposing on it and your program (or lack thereof) will no longer yield new results.
The combination of less muscle and more necessary cardio can leave you in a rough situation. Not only are you burning fewer calories every day, but it’s going to take you more time on that boooring treadmill to keep the weight off.
So there you are plodding away at the treadmill, losing weight and feeling happy. Not knowing the whole time that you are dropping the one thing your body needs to burn the calories, your muscle mass. And you will think you’ve done the right thing, right up until three months later when you find you’re stuck on that all too familiar treadmill, and you just can’t seem to keep off the weight.
If you’re serious; this time, about losing weight. Then adding weight training is not an option, it’s a necessity. Building muscle will maintain your metabolism, a requirement if you are to end up “the biggest loser.”
The good news is that there are ways to lift weights which will stimulate a response in your body which can surpass that of traditional cardio AND simultaneously sculpt a nicer figure.
Swimming or water aerobics is a great weight loss activity.
FICTION
Since Michael Phelps has hit mainstream media we all believe that swimming is the way to achieve the “swimmers body.” But we often underestimate just how much time it takes for swimming results to occur. Olympic swimmers swim for hours on end for weeks at a time. They seldom take more than a one day rest and what you may call a workout they don’t even call a “warm-up.”
That said; water based workouts are low impact, low intensity ways to produce total body exercise. Seldom do you find a safer way to exercise or a better way to “jump in” to exercise again. Swimming itself is great for toning muscles, increasing lung capacity, and ridding the body of stress or tension.
However, since your body is mostly water, there’s just not that much resistance down there. You will get more fat burning results on land using your own energy without the help of your body’s buoyancy. Furthermore, swimming often leaves you ravenous, and can cause you to eat more after you workout.
Exercising at low intensity in the “fat burn” zone is the way to lose bodyfat.
FICTION
The way to lose body fat is to burn more calories than you consume. The “fat burn zone” concept says that at low intensity intervals you will be burning more calories from fat than if you were operating at a higher intensity. This may be true, but that doesn’t necessarily ensure that you will be burning that many calories at all.
According to the National Association of Sports Medicine your body burns 100% calories from fat when it is completely at rest. That means if you really want a fat burn workout you should hang out at home on the sofa watching T.V. or better yet, just go to sleep. Sounds like the All-American workout. But… with more than 35% of the American population tipping the scales at obese or beyond obese that strategy may not “carry that much weight.”
Low intensity exercise should be used at the outset of an exercise program to bring your cardiovascular system up to speed. Individual results may vary, but after 6 weeks of consistently sustained periods of low intensity exercise your heart and lungs should be ready for a more intense workout. Which will be required if you are to continue losing body fat.
You can lose weight simply by cutting back on calories.
FACT
Don’t ignore the law of thermodynamics; which is to say that if you input (or eat) less calories than you expend you will operate at a deficit (lose fat). If you input more calories than you use during the day you will operate at a surplus (store fat).
It follows then that by simply reducing your caloric intake you will lose weight.
But combining exercise with diet will help you lose weight more quickly. More importantly, it will help you keep the pounds off long term.
“The majority of participants in the National Weight Control Registry (a survey of thousands of people who have lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off for years) report that a consistent exercise program is one of their key weight maintenance strategies.”
http://www.uchsc.edu/nutrition/WyattJortberg/nwcr.htm
It’s sort of like gaining wealth. You can increase your income to increase wealth, or simply reduce your spending. But the quickest way to wealth is to reduce spending, while increasing your ability to earn.
Sure you can secure your way to a comfortable retirement by living like you are a pauper all the time… but would you really want to? What kind of life would that be for you? The same applies to just eating less food or cutting back on calories. Denying yourself of personal liberties is not the only way to your goals. Also, don’t ignore the minimum amount of calories you must consume to live a balanced lifestyle. For more diet information go to: http://www.sparkpeople.com/.
……….
So… how did you do?
Are you upset, frustrated, re-affirmed, or bewildered? Look… what’s most important in any undertaking is a keen, pulsating desire to achieve. With enough will power you will reach your goals.
Have the courage to see through tough times and to view setbacks as only temporary.
The next quiz is next week… so brush up on your study skills by getting actively involved in your fitness education.
Some myths are just half-truths, exercises or techniques that work well for some people but not for others. Other information is just plain bad information passed down from gym member to gym member over the years. This type of myth can certainly derail your results. The wrong information can even lead to injury.
To see how good you are at separating fitness fact from fitness fiction, answer the following true false questions, and read on to find your results.
1) Running on a treadmill instead of pavement will reduce stress on your knees.
2) You need to lift weight to keep weight off your body.
3) Swimming or water aerobics is a great weight loss activity.
4) Exercising at low intensity in the “fat burn” zone is the way to lose body fat.
5) You can lose weight simply by cutting back on calories.
…………………..
Running on a treadmill instead of pavement will reduce stress on your knees.
FALSE
Anyway that you look at it, running is a full contact sport.
Many treadmills are built with a specific design to absorb shock. In this respect the companies that build and sell the treadmills are able to claim that the treadmills are safer than running on pavement. However, there are other ways to give yourself a cardio workout which resembles running, without actually stepping on a treadmill.
Reduce stress on your knees by varying your workouts. If cardio machines are your passion then try using an elliptical or stairmaster occasionally. Or, better yet, use circuit weight training to simulate a cardiovascular workout while toning and shaping your arms and upper body as well.
You need to lift weight to keep weight off your body.
FACT
Let’s talk about what typically happens. You start an exercise program… which consists of the long and varied routine of: treadmill… treadmill… elliptical… treadmill. WHOAH… you’re setting yourself up for failure; first of all booooring.
Consider what cardio does to your body. Cardio reduces muscle mass in the body. Did you know that muscle weighs three times as much as fat? Your initial weight loss from cardio may be more muscle than fat.
Muscle mass burns calories, the more muscle you have the more calories you burn. The more caloris you burn the more weight you lose.
This is where women get cheated. Because they have less muscle mass; women are more likely to keep on weight. Even with dainty eating habits, women can find it harder to keep the weight off than their self-indulgent gorging male counterparts.
Furthermore, as you do more cardio your pulmonary system and your cardiovascular system progress. Inevitably your body will adjust to the demands your imposing on it and your program (or lack thereof) will no longer yield new results.
The combination of less muscle and more necessary cardio can leave you in a rough situation. Not only are you burning fewer calories every day, but it’s going to take you more time on that boooring treadmill to keep the weight off.
So there you are plodding away at the treadmill, losing weight and feeling happy. Not knowing the whole time that you are dropping the one thing your body needs to burn the calories, your muscle mass. And you will think you’ve done the right thing, right up until three months later when you find you’re stuck on that all too familiar treadmill, and you just can’t seem to keep off the weight.
If you’re serious; this time, about losing weight. Then adding weight training is not an option, it’s a necessity. Building muscle will maintain your metabolism, a requirement if you are to end up “the biggest loser.”
The good news is that there are ways to lift weights which will stimulate a response in your body which can surpass that of traditional cardio AND simultaneously sculpt a nicer figure.
Swimming or water aerobics is a great weight loss activity.
FICTION
Since Michael Phelps has hit mainstream media we all believe that swimming is the way to achieve the “swimmers body.” But we often underestimate just how much time it takes for swimming results to occur. Olympic swimmers swim for hours on end for weeks at a time. They seldom take more than a one day rest and what you may call a workout they don’t even call a “warm-up.”
That said; water based workouts are low impact, low intensity ways to produce total body exercise. Seldom do you find a safer way to exercise or a better way to “jump in” to exercise again. Swimming itself is great for toning muscles, increasing lung capacity, and ridding the body of stress or tension.
However, since your body is mostly water, there’s just not that much resistance down there. You will get more fat burning results on land using your own energy without the help of your body’s buoyancy. Furthermore, swimming often leaves you ravenous, and can cause you to eat more after you workout.
Exercising at low intensity in the “fat burn” zone is the way to lose bodyfat.
FICTION
The way to lose body fat is to burn more calories than you consume. The “fat burn zone” concept says that at low intensity intervals you will be burning more calories from fat than if you were operating at a higher intensity. This may be true, but that doesn’t necessarily ensure that you will be burning that many calories at all.
According to the National Association of Sports Medicine your body burns 100% calories from fat when it is completely at rest. That means if you really want a fat burn workout you should hang out at home on the sofa watching T.V. or better yet, just go to sleep. Sounds like the All-American workout. But… with more than 35% of the American population tipping the scales at obese or beyond obese that strategy may not “carry that much weight.”
Low intensity exercise should be used at the outset of an exercise program to bring your cardiovascular system up to speed. Individual results may vary, but after 6 weeks of consistently sustained periods of low intensity exercise your heart and lungs should be ready for a more intense workout. Which will be required if you are to continue losing body fat.
You can lose weight simply by cutting back on calories.
FACT
Don’t ignore the law of thermodynamics; which is to say that if you input (or eat) less calories than you expend you will operate at a deficit (lose fat). If you input more calories than you use during the day you will operate at a surplus (store fat).
It follows then that by simply reducing your caloric intake you will lose weight.
But combining exercise with diet will help you lose weight more quickly. More importantly, it will help you keep the pounds off long term.
“The majority of participants in the National Weight Control Registry (a survey of thousands of people who have lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off for years) report that a consistent exercise program is one of their key weight maintenance strategies.”
http://www.uchsc.edu/nutrition/WyattJortberg/nwcr.htm
It’s sort of like gaining wealth. You can increase your income to increase wealth, or simply reduce your spending. But the quickest way to wealth is to reduce spending, while increasing your ability to earn.
Sure you can secure your way to a comfortable retirement by living like you are a pauper all the time… but would you really want to? What kind of life would that be for you? The same applies to just eating less food or cutting back on calories. Denying yourself of personal liberties is not the only way to your goals. Also, don’t ignore the minimum amount of calories you must consume to live a balanced lifestyle. For more diet information go to: http://www.sparkpeople.com/.
……….
So… how did you do?
Are you upset, frustrated, re-affirmed, or bewildered? Look… what’s most important in any undertaking is a keen, pulsating desire to achieve. With enough will power you will reach your goals.
Have the courage to see through tough times and to view setbacks as only temporary.
The next quiz is next week… so brush up on your study skills by getting actively involved in your fitness education.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth
Holiday snacks laced with trans-fat and simple sugars should be out of the picture by now. But is it necessary to give up all forms of indulgence?
Giving up tasty treats may sound good on paper, but do you really want to live so stringently? Such rigidness is more likely to create a binge down the road than to get you to your goal. Better to anticipate dessert cravings, and prepare accordingly.
Bring some healthy dessert options home with you from the grocery store so that you can be satisfied and stay healthy!
A choice favorite: “the bodybuilders’ dessert,” otherwise known as mixed frozen berries.
Frozen berries are cold like ice cream, tasty like frozen yogurt, and full of anti-oxidants. Enjoy them unthawed after dinner as an alternative to ice cream.
The “bodybuilders’ dessert” can be purchased in the freezer section of your favorite grocery store. At Costco you can pick up four pounds (nearly 15 servings of fruit) for less than eight dollars!
For more flavorful dessert options less than 100 calories check out: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/slideshow.asp?show=6.
Giving up tasty treats may sound good on paper, but do you really want to live so stringently? Such rigidness is more likely to create a binge down the road than to get you to your goal. Better to anticipate dessert cravings, and prepare accordingly.
Bring some healthy dessert options home with you from the grocery store so that you can be satisfied and stay healthy!
A choice favorite: “the bodybuilders’ dessert,” otherwise known as mixed frozen berries.
Frozen berries are cold like ice cream, tasty like frozen yogurt, and full of anti-oxidants. Enjoy them unthawed after dinner as an alternative to ice cream.
The “bodybuilders’ dessert” can be purchased in the freezer section of your favorite grocery store. At Costco you can pick up four pounds (nearly 15 servings of fruit) for less than eight dollars!
For more flavorful dessert options less than 100 calories check out: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/slideshow.asp?show=6.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Give Beyond Yourself
It’s better to give than to receive, no other season says it better than the holiday season.
It’s about being self-less.
After winning eight gold medals in Olympic Swimming Michael Phelps remarked “This was about something way bigger than any personal accomplishment… [it was] to elevate swimming’s place in the American sports landscape.
Phelps is a great swimmer, but his impact transcends his own self interest because he acts selfless.
Most fitness goals (particularly new-years resolutions) are established on selfishness.
Selfishness wants to build bigger muscles or a trimmer waistline, but also wants every other waning desire that comes about.
Selfish motives dissipate your energy and deter you from the road to your goals.
So; how can your personal health habits become a selfless gift to someone else?
Here are three hints:
*Childhood obesity portends more sickness and shorter lives for today's youth.
*98 percent of kids' meals in chain restaurants do not meet fundamental nutrition standards– they're way too high in salt, calories, or saturated fat! (How about at home?)
*Increased numbers of children have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes– all results of excessive weight.
This season, begin to give the gift of good health by encouraging sound nutrition for your kids, getting children involved different types of aerobic activities, and most importantly by making a resolution now to set a positive example for your children to follow.
In the coming new-year will your family be an excuse or a reason?
It’s about being self-less.
After winning eight gold medals in Olympic Swimming Michael Phelps remarked “This was about something way bigger than any personal accomplishment… [it was] to elevate swimming’s place in the American sports landscape.
Phelps is a great swimmer, but his impact transcends his own self interest because he acts selfless.
Most fitness goals (particularly new-years resolutions) are established on selfishness.
Selfishness wants to build bigger muscles or a trimmer waistline, but also wants every other waning desire that comes about.
Selfish motives dissipate your energy and deter you from the road to your goals.
So; how can your personal health habits become a selfless gift to someone else?
Here are three hints:
*Childhood obesity portends more sickness and shorter lives for today's youth.
*98 percent of kids' meals in chain restaurants do not meet fundamental nutrition standards– they're way too high in salt, calories, or saturated fat! (How about at home?)
*Increased numbers of children have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes– all results of excessive weight.
This season, begin to give the gift of good health by encouraging sound nutrition for your kids, getting children involved different types of aerobic activities, and most importantly by making a resolution now to set a positive example for your children to follow.
In the coming new-year will your family be an excuse or a reason?
Monday, December 1, 2008
That One Thing
If there were just one exercise you could do for the rest of your life what would it be?
Would you like to ski, swim, play tennis or just bang weights forever? Well, one physical exercise that can greatly benefit your health and wellbeing at any age; but particularly as you mature, is stretching. Stretching is one of the best things you can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
In school students are taught the popular stretches like the hurdlers stretch or a seated groin stretch. However, these may not be the most useful stretches for you. When it comes to optimal performance you need to stretch specifically where your tightest muscles are. The best way to know which muscles need stretching in your body is to consult a professional who understands how to asses muscle imbalances, and who can help you create a program.
A tough fitness fact is that short bouts of activity (3-8 weeks) will seldom produce meaningful results. If you are going to see change then you must commit to the long term… period. This goes for stretching as well as lifting, running, swimming, or any other activity for that matter. Nothing worth having comes easy.
Stretching is actually very easy to do; the problem is that it’s also easy not to do. All you need are 5-8 key stretches that you do after each workout for 20-30 seconds each. If you’re above 65 years old you should hold your stretches for about 60 seconds.
Does eight minutes maximum per session sound like too much time? Ok… how much time do you spend talking during your workout? How hard would it be to turn talk time into stretch/talk time? Find or make a friend as you stretch… you can open up the conversation by talking about how great it is to do!
Would you like to ski, swim, play tennis or just bang weights forever? Well, one physical exercise that can greatly benefit your health and wellbeing at any age; but particularly as you mature, is stretching. Stretching is one of the best things you can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
In school students are taught the popular stretches like the hurdlers stretch or a seated groin stretch. However, these may not be the most useful stretches for you. When it comes to optimal performance you need to stretch specifically where your tightest muscles are. The best way to know which muscles need stretching in your body is to consult a professional who understands how to asses muscle imbalances, and who can help you create a program.
A tough fitness fact is that short bouts of activity (3-8 weeks) will seldom produce meaningful results. If you are going to see change then you must commit to the long term… period. This goes for stretching as well as lifting, running, swimming, or any other activity for that matter. Nothing worth having comes easy.
Stretching is actually very easy to do; the problem is that it’s also easy not to do. All you need are 5-8 key stretches that you do after each workout for 20-30 seconds each. If you’re above 65 years old you should hold your stretches for about 60 seconds.
Does eight minutes maximum per session sound like too much time? Ok… how much time do you spend talking during your workout? How hard would it be to turn talk time into stretch/talk time? Find or make a friend as you stretch… you can open up the conversation by talking about how great it is to do!
Reap the Rewards of Rolling
Foam Rolling, the newest prescription anti-depressant
Imagine that rolling your body across a little blue tube, i.e. a “foam roller”, can reduce anxiety. Preposterous; isn’t it. If anything the sheer embarrassment of sprawling across the gym floor twisted up like a pretzel on some strange blue tube should INCREASE your anxiety! Added to which the indignant expressions on your face when you hit your trigger point (which you know your on when if feels like someone is squeezing your leg with a pair of needle nose pliers)!!! But; according to a recent article produced by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, foam rolling regularly can “decrease feelings of anxiety and fatigue.”
Foam rolling is a relatively mainstream method of inducing what experts call “ischemic compression” on the body. Some doctors, chiropractors, and massage therapists have been using this type of compression for years to reduce pain in the body (although through other tools than a foam roller). This type of compression works to alleviate pain by diminishing the effects of trigger points (active or latent) within the body.
The “pain receptors” in your body (interstitial receptors and ruffini endings) that indicate a trigger point have recently been proven to do much more than just indicate pain. The receptors themselves have autonomic functions within the body that include changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration.
The following are examples of how foam rolling can greatly decrease the overall effects of stress (emotional or physical) on the human movement system:
Foam rolling reduces internal pressure on the muscle and increases blood flow. Blood flow brings about more oxygen and nutrients, removes waste bi-products, and facilitates tissue repair.
Foam rolling makes for a more uniform density throughout each muscle group thereby increasing the way your muscles work with each other in the body. This in turn translates into fewer faulty muscle contractions, making you more physically coordinated and less prone to injury.
Foam rolling builds humility and character by making you flop around the floor like a fool.
AND
Foam rolling can actually lead to better oxygen content in the blood and better respiration which can decrease feelings of anxiety and fatigue.
Foam rolling really does give credence to the saying that “sometimes you have to go through hell to get to heaven!” Once you make rolling a habit, though, it’s really not that bad. Considering all the good that rolling can bring should encourage you to add rolling to your stretching routine. Find one trigger point in each muscle you stretch before you stretch that muscle, and reap the rewards of rolling!
Imagine that rolling your body across a little blue tube, i.e. a “foam roller”, can reduce anxiety. Preposterous; isn’t it. If anything the sheer embarrassment of sprawling across the gym floor twisted up like a pretzel on some strange blue tube should INCREASE your anxiety! Added to which the indignant expressions on your face when you hit your trigger point (which you know your on when if feels like someone is squeezing your leg with a pair of needle nose pliers)!!! But; according to a recent article produced by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, foam rolling regularly can “decrease feelings of anxiety and fatigue.”
Foam rolling is a relatively mainstream method of inducing what experts call “ischemic compression” on the body. Some doctors, chiropractors, and massage therapists have been using this type of compression for years to reduce pain in the body (although through other tools than a foam roller). This type of compression works to alleviate pain by diminishing the effects of trigger points (active or latent) within the body.
The “pain receptors” in your body (interstitial receptors and ruffini endings) that indicate a trigger point have recently been proven to do much more than just indicate pain. The receptors themselves have autonomic functions within the body that include changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration.
The following are examples of how foam rolling can greatly decrease the overall effects of stress (emotional or physical) on the human movement system:
Foam rolling reduces internal pressure on the muscle and increases blood flow. Blood flow brings about more oxygen and nutrients, removes waste bi-products, and facilitates tissue repair.
Foam rolling makes for a more uniform density throughout each muscle group thereby increasing the way your muscles work with each other in the body. This in turn translates into fewer faulty muscle contractions, making you more physically coordinated and less prone to injury.
Foam rolling builds humility and character by making you flop around the floor like a fool.
AND
Foam rolling can actually lead to better oxygen content in the blood and better respiration which can decrease feelings of anxiety and fatigue.
Foam rolling really does give credence to the saying that “sometimes you have to go through hell to get to heaven!” Once you make rolling a habit, though, it’s really not that bad. Considering all the good that rolling can bring should encourage you to add rolling to your stretching routine. Find one trigger point in each muscle you stretch before you stretch that muscle, and reap the rewards of rolling!
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