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You’re sitting with friends, and you reach for something next to you, when you hear a pop in your shoulder. There’s no pain, yet that popping sound has you concerned that something is wrong. Should you worry?
Popping or cracking sensations and sounds can occur just about anywhere in the body and, if they aren’t expected or commonplace for an individual, can be alarming. Scientists can’t agree on what it is exactly that causes all those strange noises, but one theory is that as tendons and ligaments tighten around or move over a joint, the result is snapping, popping or cracking. As for popping knuckles, one popular idea is that air bubbles within joint fluid escape, causing a popping sound, while another belief is that a vacuum is formed when the joint is adjusted, causing synovial fluid to rush into the space. It’s a different scenario with arthritic joints, which may creak and grind as a result of bone moving across bone.
Just because your body might make those strange sounds when you move, such noises and movements don’t necessarily mean bad news. However, any time those noises or movements are accompanied by pain or restriction of movement in the body part moved, it’s time to have it evaluated by a physician.
If you have always wanted to do Smith Machine squats but weren’t sure exactly how to do them, read on. This description of squats on the Smith Machine will help you maximize recruitment of your glutes, hamstrings and quads.
Your torso should be in line with the Smith machine rack during the squat movement. A good way to check your form is by looking in the mirror from a side view to check your alignment. Tuck your tailbone in slightly but make sure to keep your back neutral. In order to keep everything in line with your upper body, you need to make sure that your feet are far enough forward. You can place your feet close together, shoulder width apart, or at a wide stance.
Keep in mind that if there is a slant to the Smith Machine apparatus that you will have a tougher time keeping your back in line with the slant, in which case you will favor keeping your upper body completely perpendicular to the floor instead. Make sure to keep your back NEUTRAL the entire time.
When you push the bar up, you will only go up halfway. Concentrate on squeezing your glutes and pushing through your HEELS. On the down phase, you will come down beyond 90 degrees (around 60 degrees at the knees). Move slowly and deliberately. If you are doing these correctly, you will feel a stretch in your hamstrings and glutes.
Originally published in March 2014 on RxMuscle.com:
http://www.rxmuscle.com/blogs/the-news-the-newest-in-mp/10329-sleep-deficit-and-muscle-loss.html?hitcount=0
Those of you who insist on burning the midnight oil and carving into time during which you should be sleeping are doing yourselves a disservice. When you build up a sleep deficit, not only do you adversely affect your attention and overall energy, you also diminish the potential muscle gains you would obtain if you consistently got a good night’s rest.
A good portion of the slump in muscle repair and growth which occurs from inadequate sleep is due to inadequate secretion of growth hormone (GH). GH is only secreted during deep sleep, so people who don’t sleep for more than a few hours will spend less time in deep sleep and cause GH secretion to drop. In addition, there is some evidence that testosterone secretion also drops, creating a double whammy which cripples the body’s ability to utilize fat and build muscle.
Cravings can also become a significant issue with sleep deficits as a result of hormonal effects. Leptin, a hormone which signals that you are full from a meal, is inhibited during sleep deprivation, resulting in increased food cravings (especially for carbohydrates). Conversely, ghrelin, a hormone which signals hunger, increases by as much as 30 percent after only a two night sleep deficit.
The body also produces more cortisol during the late afternoon, which is exactly when the body’s production should be tapering down to prepare the body for sleep. Higher cortisol levels promote deposition of more fat and utilization of muscle for energy during a sleep-deprived state.
When you cheat yourself out of a full night’s sleep, you also deplete neurotransmitters in the brain which are in charge of regulating mood. The result is irritability and, over the long term, depression, both of which can impact the intensity of your workouts and hinder your efforts to pack on muscle.
Sleep deficits also result in a decrease in alertness and concentration which often translates into submaximal workouts. And Sleep deficit affects strength. A study in Ergonomics examined the effects of sleep deprivation on weightlifting, with compelling results. As expected, there was a significant decrease in maximal lift for bench press, leg press, and dead lift after a three-day sleep deficit was established.
If you are in the habit of cutting into your sleep time, or you practice erratic sleeping patterns which are creating a sleep deficit, try to get into a rhythm in which you get enough sleep every night, especially if you are hitting a plateau with your training. Once you start getting adequate sleep, you will notice a big difference in your strength and muscle gains.
As I was speaking with one of my patients earlier today, I was struck by the fact that she said she had no time to do anything, and that her work schedule was so stacked that she felt like she was unraveling. I suggested that she take a moment at some point in her day to just sit still and BREATHE, without any task or agenda. Her reply? “Oh, I don’t even have time for that!”
It seemed unreasonable to me that this woman wouldn’t even take a few SECONDS for herself just to breathe, take momentary break from the maddening rush of her life, and just be in the moment. It’s not that people can’t stop and breathe, they WON’T, because they have been led to believe that remaining on the hamster wheel of life all the time is a necessary sacrifice for all the success they hope to achieve. The sad truth is that those brief moments of stillness enable the spirit to reset and restore balance to mind and body as well.
If you are like my patient, you are doing yourself a major disservice by constantly moving and not allowing yourself to rest, even for a few seconds. Even the most creative and driven people in the world find time to enjoy their surroundings, pause in the midst of chaos, and realign with themselves. All you will do if you insist on going full guns all the time, without a moment to rest, is burn out your adrenal glands, damage your immune system, and set the tone for depression and anxiety.
For only a few seconds a day, you can enjoy the gift of being in the moment. What’s even better is that you can indulge in such moments throughout the day, between projects, meetings and chores. You can even do it upon waking, right before you start the ignition in your car, while standing in line at the grocery store, or just about anywhere.
This is video footage from my second Lyra class, earlier this year. I was given an hour to learn this routine with other partners, and ended up performing the routine with the blonde in this video only once. I think we nailed it pretty well!
We can often be our own worst enemies, laying sabotage upon our own best efforts. The basis of such subterfuge is our own fear-based collection of thoughts, and can be more damaging than any efforts made by others to trip us up. What’s the solution? Banish your fears!
Before you allow that monstrous pull of trepidation pull you into the muck, get into the habit of replacing every single negative and self-defeating thought you have with a positive, hope-filled one.
Yes, every single one.
Perhaps you are doubting your ability to complete a massive work project, and you find yourself grappling with the feeling that you won’t be able to complete it in time, or that you will do a shoddy job because you feel rushed. Instead of feeding that insecurity, tell yourself:
“I CAN do this. I WILL do this.”
Do this repeatedly until it begins to sink in. Allow your positive thoughts to take up space in your mind, so much so that they push out the negativity.
The last thing you should ever do is to knock yourself down. Someone who is bound and determined to succeed quickly learns how to push away negativity from haters, and never allows a bad day to destroy the success plan which is in place. Successful people have a can-do, will-do attitude which has very little to do with overall intelligence, talent, or opportunity.
So stop beating yourself up, push away the haters, and go for your goals!
Please check out Heidi Jo Medina’s article on fab abs in the August 12, 2016 edition of the Pensacola News Journal which includes me as one of the featured experts in her engaging article. I absolutely love Heidi Jo’s fantastic tips for getting amazing abs!
For convenience, I have copied and pasted the article here, but please also click on the link below to read the article from the source.
Many thanks to Heidi Jo Medina and the Pensacola News Journal for this feature!
http://www.pnj.com/story/life/2016/08/11/medina-hit-peak-fitness-fab-abs/88493918/
Medina: Hit the peak of fitness with fab abs
Heidi Jo Medina, News Journal correspondent 4:51 p.m. CDT August 12, 2016
Getting that six pack is the highest mountain to climb on most people’s fitness journey. To help you make it to the peak, several bikini pros tell us how they maintain their hard bellies.
Christina Heine, a graduate student in health promotion and assistant for the exercise science and health department at the University of West Florida, loves to work her abdominal muscles with planks, hanging leg lifts and reverse crunches. Her cardio routine incorporates high intensity interval training on the stair stepper or stadiums. The 31-year-old National Physique Committee (NPC) competitor switches between two minutes of high intensity and one minute of low intensity until she has reached 30 minutes.
She recommends incorporating white fish, egg whites, plain non-fat Greek yogurt into your diet. (This is ab-friendly for some people because it has natural probiotics which supports healthy digestion, but for some dairy-sensitive people it can cause bloating.)
Jessica Vetter, 36, of South Dakota, works her abdominals with ball crunches, decline crunches and double crunches. Her resume includes International Federation of Body Building (IFBB) figure pro and American Muscle & Fitness personal trainer.
“Being consistent is very important in getting and maintaining abs. Hold yourself accountable to what is put into your mouth,” she says.
For cardio, Vetter uses the stair stepper or elliptical. She says stair steppers are her favorite, as they use every muscle in the lower body, and are perfect for building lean muscle while burning fat. It is a low-impact exercise that can burn more calories than high impact, as you have to lift your entire body weight with every step you take.
Vetter only trains abs twice a week.
“If you are eager to have abs, your best strategy is to pay closer attention to your diet,” she says. “There are multiple factors that can contribute to storing fat around your belly. Focusing on eating healthy will make it easier for your body to reveal abs.”
Vetter’s diet incorporates ab-friendly foods such as fish, chicken, almonds, extra virgin olive oil, greens, coconut oil and egg whites.
“Watching labels is key,” she cautions. “Look at the grams of sugar, saturated and trans fat, and carbohydrates. The list of ingredients is also very important, and understanding what you are reading.”
Stacey Naito, 50, of California, has eliminated processed foods and refined sugar from her diet in order to sustain a lean midsection.
The IFBB pro, board-certified physician and nutrition coach suggests you stick to whole foods like lean meats, eggs (including the yolk), vegetables, almonds, and grains like quinoa and brown rice.
Naito only trains abs once a week for five to 10 minutes. She likes to incorporate planks, flutter kicks on a bench, and decline bench crunches.
When asked what kind of cardio she integrates into her workout regimen, her reply was, “Cardio? What’s that?”
Naito says she hasn’t done cardio in months and her body is actually leaner as a result.
“The body can become very efficient with cardio, meaning that it becomes resistant to the supposed fat-burning effects of cardiovascular activity,” Naito says. “The solution? Dial it down! Too much cardio can destroy a body.”
She suggests that you don’t over do it and just keep it simple. In fact, Naito says the best way to get chiseled abs is to drink plenty of water, take nutritional supplements like magnesium if you think you may be deficient, and eat clean at least 90 percent of the time.
Genetics will always play a role in your body shape and fitness achievements, but if you are only eating healthy 60 percent of the time, just like in math, that is a failing grade. Abs are made in the kitchen. The best ab exercise out there is to stop eating so much junk.
Amazing ab tips
1.Utilize a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. Along with eating four to six small meals a day, try to consume your carbs first thing in the morning to give you sufficient energy through the day.
2.A consistent combination of cardio and weight training will enable you to burn fat and stay lean. Weight training burns calories after the workout and throughout the day while cardio burns calories during the workout.
3.Staying properly hydrated will help you burn the most amount of fat and will speed up your metabolism. Try to drink six to eight glasses a day.
4.Adjust your ab routine often. This will help to maximize results as diversity and confusion to the muscle show more development than a stagnant routine.
5.Breakfast kicks off your metabolism so don’t skip it. Include lean protein, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates in your first meal. Steer clear of unhealthy fats and foods high in unhealthy carbohydrates.
6.Don’t skip cardio. Losing fat will make your abs more prominent. Cardiovascular exercise is much more effective in the morning as well since the body is refreshed.
7.Getting eight to nine hours of sleep will help boost metabolism. Lack of sleep will cause the body to release the stress hormone cortisol which promotes fat storage and will derail your ab efforts.
8.Cardio in the morning is much more effective since the body is refreshed.
9.Engage your abdominals during compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, and rows which demand a lot of core stability. These big moves will rev your metabolism and burn calories.
10.Don’t forget to breathe. Muscles need oxygenated blood to work properly and holding your breathe will hinder you from generating strength. Inhale deeply before performing a movement and exhale as you perform the crunch or lifting movement. Exhaling will force your abs to contract and engage your inner oblique muscles.
11.Cheat! Once or twice a week throw in a cheat meal to keep you sane and to throw your body a curve ball. This will keep your body from adjusting to healthy eating and slowing down your metabolism.
dr. stacey naito's blog 