Wednesday 6 September 2017

Lower back pain

Does your lower back hurt? Is it stiff, achy, always tight? It might be near the sacroiliac joint (above the buttocks) or the quadratus lumborum (four 'guy lines' running between the bottom ribs and the top of the posterior pelvis).
You might think you have back problems, but you might be wrong. At least half of my clients over ten years of personal training have seen their back pain disappear as we went after the real culprit - the hips!
This is very often the case - a client works at a desk, sits in a car, then sits on the couch. Any time you sit in a regular chair, you are contracting the hip flexors - the muscle group that brings your thigh up closer to your stomach. This group becomes hypertonic - always ON. So when this tight hipped person tries to stand upright, the hips remain tight and so the lower back arches to allow the motion of standing. The psoas, a particularly strong flexor, actually wraps from the front of the hip to the lower back, so if it is tight, the pelvis becomes tilted forward and the lower back automatically stays in an excessive arch.
Good stretches for the psoas and hip flexor group are a runners lunge and a spinal twist.
And stay out of chairs!

Monday 4 September 2017

They call me Miss Abs

I know it's been a long time, but I'm back and ready to blab!
I think it may be time to share a few secrets on how I got my most coveted body part - ABS!
Now, I know you all know that diet is important but it's not. It's EVERYTHING. You cannot out-train a bad diet, so if you eat junk or simply eat too much, you will never be lean enough for abs to show no matter what you do in the gym.
Okay, diet isn't everything. There is an exercise component. Actually there are four.
1. Go heavy. If the muscle is bigger, it is more noticeable, and for muscles to grow you need heavy weights with cable crunches, loaded crunches, and some ab machines. 
2. Go light. Keeping the muscle pumped makes it show. Do lots of light crunches, ball pulls, and other fun things that work the muscle but lightly at high reps. 
3. Do planks. And when you can hold a plank for two minutes, put some weight on your back. Or lift one leg. Or lift one leg and one arm...make it HARDER is what I'm saying!
4. Obliques, or side abs, don't really need to be big. But toned is nice, and frames the centre six-to-eight pack nicely. Side planks, Paloff presses and light rotational movements like wood chops fit here. It's also a good idea not to ignore the lower back, because that is part of the core. Bird-dogs and back extensions will do the trick.
So, there you have it. Happy ab hunting!