Yes, I am pretty sure everyone reading this article knows how to breath (of course we are entering Halloween season and I would hate to miss out on the whole Zombie Chic thing), so I am aware that you may think a wee word on breathing is a waste of your precious time, so rather than TELL you things let me ask you things.
1. How many muscles are involved in inhalation and exhalation.
2. Does use it or lose it apply to those muscles
3. Do the breathing muscles need to be stretched like other muscle in the body
4. Are breathing muscles attached to bones or anything else like other muscles in the body
If you are shocked (okay maybe shocked is to strong a word. Maybe we are just talking one of those zaps you get from dragging your feet on the carpet) by what you don't know or never even thought of we need to talk.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
The Long List Use it or lose it
"Use it or lose it"
It's a common enough refrain. We hear it in the gym often enough, and even in "The real world"
It's pretty obvious on first blush. Don't use your legs, they get weaker, weak enough and you can't walk. Same for any body part you care to name.
I would like all of you (especially you who are standing in the back) to take just a few minutes so ask yourself where else could you apply that phrase. In the gym and out.
If you have read my previous post you already have one answer, now I challenge you to take that axiom beyond it's normal bounds. Actually the ability to "think outside the box" is an example of this. The less we do it the less we are able to do it, conversely the more we challenge our mental status quo the more skilled we get at it.
Alright, the gauntlet is thrown, I want to know what YOU came up with.
It's a common enough refrain. We hear it in the gym often enough, and even in "The real world"
It's pretty obvious on first blush. Don't use your legs, they get weaker, weak enough and you can't walk. Same for any body part you care to name.
I would like all of you (especially you who are standing in the back) to take just a few minutes so ask yourself where else could you apply that phrase. In the gym and out.
If you have read my previous post you already have one answer, now I challenge you to take that axiom beyond it's normal bounds. Actually the ability to "think outside the box" is an example of this. The less we do it the less we are able to do it, conversely the more we challenge our mental status quo the more skilled we get at it.
Alright, the gauntlet is thrown, I want to know what YOU came up with.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Shake hands with your neurons
Show of hands, who has heard it's important to keep your brain active throughout your life by challenging it with activities like crossword puzzles, sudoku, and memory training (Anthony Hopkins memorizes a poem a day).
If you hand went up stay tuned, if it didn't go educate yourself and come back in a jiff. We all will still be here.
The concept of "use it or lose it" applies to a lot of things in life, and that includes cognitive function (ability to think and remember and make associations.) We have recently been bombarded with the idea to do mental exercises to keep our brains sharp as well as physical exercises to keep our minds sharp.
But let's pull back a moment. What is exercise but movement? And what is movement but your brain (a mass of interconnect neuron cells) telling your body what to do and your body reporting back that it did it?
Same movements all the time and there is nothing new under the sun. The brain says been there done that. End of story.
My question to you, what happens when you learn a new movement pattern?
Fire up those little grey cells and let's hear what YOU think.
If you hand went up stay tuned, if it didn't go educate yourself and come back in a jiff. We all will still be here.
The concept of "use it or lose it" applies to a lot of things in life, and that includes cognitive function (ability to think and remember and make associations.) We have recently been bombarded with the idea to do mental exercises to keep our brains sharp as well as physical exercises to keep our minds sharp.
But let's pull back a moment. What is exercise but movement? And what is movement but your brain (a mass of interconnect neuron cells) telling your body what to do and your body reporting back that it did it?
Same movements all the time and there is nothing new under the sun. The brain says been there done that. End of story.
My question to you, what happens when you learn a new movement pattern?
Fire up those little grey cells and let's hear what YOU think.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Physics and Chemistry
An object in motion stays in motion. An object at rest stays at rest.
It hardly seems fair but there you are. When you don't move it's easy to not move. When you do get moving it's easy to stay moving.
So, insofar as getting moving, working out, taking care of yourself (and by association your loved ones) The first step is an uphill battle.
That would be the bad news..Darn Physics !!
But here's the good news...
We aren't just objects, we are living, adaptable beings that nature has spent tens of thousands of years designing and redesigning to overcome physics. In particular..Endorphins.
Often referred to as the "feel good hormone" endorphins kick in during a workout, if we hit a certain intensity, and usher in pain relief and a sense of well being. This is nature's reward for us fighting the laws of physics.
Nature however is a multitasker. The endorphins do more than just make you feel better and elevate you mood and outlook. The cascade effect causes positive physiological changes throughout the body making muscles denser, skin more elastic, brain activity more acute.
The domino effect of the injection of endorphins into the system which in turn releases other hormones helps to regulate blood pressure, sugar, and LDL. In short it's like a mini tune up. We all know that cars need regular tune ups to run well and increase their life expectancy. Imagine how well a car would run if it got a tune up everyday, not just every three thousand miles.
Give yourself a daily tune up. Come to EXPECT your daily dose of endorphins and let chemistry trump physics
It hardly seems fair but there you are. When you don't move it's easy to not move. When you do get moving it's easy to stay moving.
So, insofar as getting moving, working out, taking care of yourself (and by association your loved ones) The first step is an uphill battle.
That would be the bad news..Darn Physics !!
But here's the good news...
We aren't just objects, we are living, adaptable beings that nature has spent tens of thousands of years designing and redesigning to overcome physics. In particular..Endorphins.
Often referred to as the "feel good hormone" endorphins kick in during a workout, if we hit a certain intensity, and usher in pain relief and a sense of well being. This is nature's reward for us fighting the laws of physics.
Nature however is a multitasker. The endorphins do more than just make you feel better and elevate you mood and outlook. The cascade effect causes positive physiological changes throughout the body making muscles denser, skin more elastic, brain activity more acute.
The domino effect of the injection of endorphins into the system which in turn releases other hormones helps to regulate blood pressure, sugar, and LDL. In short it's like a mini tune up. We all know that cars need regular tune ups to run well and increase their life expectancy. Imagine how well a car would run if it got a tune up everyday, not just every three thousand miles.
Give yourself a daily tune up. Come to EXPECT your daily dose of endorphins and let chemistry trump physics
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Not Black and White
"If I can't do it right no bother doing it"
"If I can't get at least 20 minutes of cardio in it won't do me any good"
"They didn't have spinach for my salad, just iceberg and everyone knows it's not as nutritious as spinach so I got a corn dog"
There are more I, and every trainer I know has heard. One had to do with not having THE right shoe for walking.
I hope you don't see yourself in the above quotes, or if you do you do some voodoo magic and exorcise that mindset.
Anything is better than nothing, you aren't doing the perfect lunge or push up, don't not do it. Feel it, learn from it, ask someone who knows more than you. Nail it next time.
Can't eat perfect, fine, eat better. Save perfect for when your parents or kids are visiting. Make them crazy.
Fitness, heck, even living is not an all or none proposition. Shave away at the habits you don't like, move towards the ones you do. It's enough to move in the right direction CONSISTENTLY. Moving at the speed of light can give you a heck of a case of whiplash.
"If I can't get at least 20 minutes of cardio in it won't do me any good"
"They didn't have spinach for my salad, just iceberg and everyone knows it's not as nutritious as spinach so I got a corn dog"
There are more I, and every trainer I know has heard. One had to do with not having THE right shoe for walking.
I hope you don't see yourself in the above quotes, or if you do you do some voodoo magic and exorcise that mindset.
Anything is better than nothing, you aren't doing the perfect lunge or push up, don't not do it. Feel it, learn from it, ask someone who knows more than you. Nail it next time.
Can't eat perfect, fine, eat better. Save perfect for when your parents or kids are visiting. Make them crazy.
Fitness, heck, even living is not an all or none proposition. Shave away at the habits you don't like, move towards the ones you do. It's enough to move in the right direction CONSISTENTLY. Moving at the speed of light can give you a heck of a case of whiplash.
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