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Fitness. Strength. Nutrition.
Thoracic Mobility: The How & Why
Aug 4th
If you suffer from back or neck pain, from constant shoulder pain, slump over when you walk and sit, and have trouble keeping your chest up and out while you are lifting, there is a fair chance that you have poor thoracic mobility. Although this is now a problem that many more people are aware of, it is, in relative terms, a pretty recent finding. Unfortunately, the nature of our lives currently almost forces us into a bad posture. You do something for long enough, it’s going to stick. Thoracic spine immobility is a common cause, or at least contribute to a lot of different pains above and below it. You need to be mobile through that area for your body to move the way it needs too.
Why Do You Need Thoracic Spine Mobility?
Firstly, it is necessary to understand where the thoracic spine actually is and what it should be doing. Check out the picture, and you will see that the thoracic spine is basically your upper back. To put it simply, you want to have stability in your lower back, and you want to have mobility in your upper back. The thoracic spine is made to rotate, to extend, and to flex. It is supposed to be mobile, and it is where you should be getting a lot of your movements from. Unfortunately, a lot of people get that mobility form their lower back, where stability is they key. This is why poor thoracic spine mobility can lead to lower back pain. You can get lower back pain relief from getting better thoracic mobility. Your biomechanics are bad, you get imbalances down the chain, one thing leads to another.
How To Do Step Ups
Aug 2nd
I am a huge advocate of the step up exercise and there is a good reason why. Not only does it help you build strength through your legs, it also places minimum stress on your knees and back, and for someone who jumps a lot, it is a great way to get some serious strength work in without suffering. Squats should be a part of everyone’s program, done correctly, they are fantastic and absolutely necessary. However, regardless of the perfect technique you obtain, they do place a bit more stress on the body, and I for one always pull up with a lot more soreness (let me reiterate, before I get bombed with comments… that I am not saying squats are bad for your knees or for anything, they are great and I do them all the time). I still do squats, but the step up gives me another opportunity to have a great way, to get strong and explosive and finish feeling fantastic every time.
Hip Flexor Stretches
Jul 23rd
Here are two of my favourite hip flexor stretches. As we know, these are very troublesome and important muscles in the body, and they get tight very easily. The nature of our lives means we are sitting down most of the time, and our hip flexors are in a shortened position. This can cause a lot of pain, and consequently a lot of issues in many other areas of the body, back pain being the main complaint. I won’t go into it anymore, but check out these posts to find out more about tight hip flexors and how fascia can affect your body. Enjoy!
Bulging Disc Treatment
Jul 22nd
Back pain is a condition that many people have had to deal with at some stage in their lives. There are many different causes of back pain, but a common culprit is a bulging disc. It is one of the most frustrating spine injuries to heal and causes a lot of pain and discomfort. There are things that you can do to ease the pain of your bulging disc, which can help you avoid surgery. A bulging disc in the lumbar region, the lower back is most common, and this is what we will be discussing today.
What Is A Bulging Disc?
Want To Contribute To Laurens Fitness?
Jul 19th
Hey Guys!
As you can see, I am posting again regularly… hope you are enjoying the reading!
I love getting great information out there, but there is only so much I can post 
So, I am inviting people to come and guest post on LaurensFitness. If you want it as a once off thing, no problems, if you would like to contribute on a more regular basis, fine with me! You can include links back to your site, specific posts, whatever you want! My site gets a lot of visitors and ranks pretty well for a lot of terms, so you will get great traffic and SEO benefits from guest posting here. Your post will stay on the front page for a while too, which is currently PR3.
Laurens Depth Jumps
Jul 16th
As a follow up to my post, leg workouts to make you jump higher, I wanted to show you an example of an exercise I do a lot. I do a lot of strength training and plyometrics, and this is definitely in the reactive exercises category. You need to make sure that you are well conditioned before you attempt these kinds of exercises, or you will get injured. Get strong and get explosive first. Once you are ready you build up slowly, increase the height of the box as you go. Remember, quality is definitely more important than quantity when you are talking plyometrics. Check out the post to find more exercises you need to do to build up to this, and some guidelines that you need to follow.
Healthy Fat Loss: 12 Hot Tips
Jul 15th
Weight loss is not an easy thing to achieve and many people struggle with it. The first thing that is important to understand, is the difference between weight loss, and fat loss. Healthy fat loss is what you are really aiming for, and when you have achieved this, it is more likely that you will keep the weight off for life. Just looking at the scales can be dangerous, and a lot of people mistake fat loss for muscle loss. Drastically dropping your calories will lead to weight loss, but a lot of it will be muscle. The result being a huge drop in your metabolism. This is undesirable on so many counts, but the worst part is that when you go off the diet, your body will be completely intolerant to the food you are eating, and you will most likely put all of the weight back on, and more. Here are 12 tips that may seem obvious to everyone, but if you apply them, you really will feel the fat slipping off you.
Leg Workouts To Jump Higher
Jul 12th
Want to jump higher? There is no real secret to increasing your jump, and requires the same thing that everything else in life does, hard work. However, the fact is that a lot of people go about it the wrong way. There are a lot of mistakes that you can make along the way, and some of them can cause a lot of injuries. It takes a step by step approach to increase your vertical jump, and with some smart training, you will succeed. Remember it depends on what your starting point is, some people are ore advanced than others, this is aimed at those that are basically starting from a low level base, read through and you can adapt it to your own level, starting at different stages.
How To Tone Legs And Thighs
Jul 9th
If I could have a dollar every time someone asked me this question, I would be a very rich girl. So many women are after the best way to tone their legs and thighs, and as a consequence, are receiving some pretty bad information in return. We’ll start by dispelling a common myth that annoys me, and consequently learn how you actually really can tone your legs and thighs effectively.
The Myth Surrounding The Word ‘Tone’
Upper Back Muscle Pain
Jul 9th
A lot of people complain about upper back muscle pain. The fact is that the nature of our lives contributes greatly to this type of pain. Generally it is not a serious complaint, as it is quite hard to do serious damage to the muscles of your upper back, they are pretty stable and strong.
The most common type of upper back muscle pain that you will experience is tightness in the area. Think about the number one cause of biomechanical dysfunction which almost everyone is guilty of…
- Bad posture
Running Parachute
Jul 9th
This post is aimed at a smaller section of you, those already developed in their conditioning, athletes needing to do a lot of sprinting work, whether they be short or long distance athletes, and need to get that extra edge. It is also targeted at people needed some variety in their training. Lets face it, running can get boring, chuck a parachute on the back and you have some serious resistance and a new training stimulus that will not only keep you motivated, but will work you very hard. The fact is that when you are an elite athlete, every second seriously does count. Training methods are adapted to ensure that you get the most out of your body. One method of overload whilst sprinting, which is actually quite hard to do, is the running parachute. This is not necessary for everyone out there, it can provide training benefits in a fun and different way, but mostly it is used as a great way to get an extra edge for those already highly conditioned.
Piriformis Test
Jul 8th
The piriformis test is used to detect piriformis syndrome. This is when the sciatic nerve is compressed or irritated by the piriformis muscle. It is a neuromuscular disorder and it causes pain, tingling and numbness of the thigh and leg.
How Does Piriformis Syndrome Occur?
The piriformis muscle lies deep to the gluteal muscles, and the sciatic nerve passes underneath it. In about 15% of the population it will pass through the muscle. The pain is usually in the bum, hamstring, or back of the leg. This is why it is frequently misdiagnosed glute med dysfunction, bulging disc, sciatica, stress fractures and other musckuloskeletal problems. When the piriformis gets tight or spasms it can irritate and even compress the sciatic nerve, causing pain and numbness in various places down the back of the leg.
Knee Ligament Damage
Jun 29th
Knee ligament damage is a common injury, and can occur from a wide range of mechanisms. A ligament is a short band of connective tissue that attaches from bone to bone. Ligaments are in the joint to stop and limit mobility, this is why they are injured often due to outside forces. This can happen during a collision, a change in direction or a bad landing. When the knee is forced into a movement range that the ligament restricts, there is trouble. Usually these injuries happen at a higher speed, as the forces generated are much greater.
Knee Ligament Classifications
Spinning Class Benefits
Jun 29th
A slightly different post where I wanted to address something I have been trying lately, spinning. I have always been pretty skeptical of classes and never have really involved myself in them. Taking a break from my volleyball training, I decided to get some general conditioning in, and someone suggested I head to a spinning class. An hour later, many liters of sweat lost, high heart rate maintained through the workout, and a huge amount of energy and motivation to continue, I had just found myself a new addiction. Spinning class benefits are abundant, and there aren’t a whole lot of negatives. For those trying to lose weight with a lower impact activity, then this is something you have to try. Don’t knock it until you give it a go, you may be surprised.
Pinched Nerve In Shoulder
Jun 18th
A pinched nerve is a term that is quite common to hear, but most of us don’t really know what it means. A pinched nerve in the shoulder is a complaint that you will hear often, a very painful one at that, however not totally correct. Nerve compressions can be caused by muscles, tendons, bones and cartilage that surround the nerve and branches of it. Often people can get a pinched nerve in the shoulder region when they have tight muscles, however, generally the nerve is not actually being pinched by a muscle in the shoulder. Typically it comes from the disc area in your neck. If you know a little anatomy then you will understand that this usually happens around C6 and C7. This is typically where problems can occur and result in symptoms like a pinched nerve in the shoulder. The nerves that run through C6 and C7 travel down through your shoulder blades, and can cause chronic pain and muscles spasms. A pinched nerve in the shoulder that originates in the neck is not always the actual diagnosis, but it is something you need to look out for, as it is quite typically disguised as a shoulder problem.
Don’t Sweat the Sun with Summer Exercise Tips
Jun 10th
This is a guest post by Mike Tennant…bit different theme for the site but great tips to stay safe in the sun, so enjoy!
As someone who’s spent a lot of time trying to control seemingly random weight fluctuations, it became apparent several years ago that regular exercise would be my best weapon. So I hit the gym, early and often. As a Midwestern boy, however, it was often tough to get myself to the gym on cold winter days. And on days when I did go, all I could think about was how awful the cold walk home was going to be. That’s definitely not a recipe for success.
What To Eat For Breakfast
May 2nd
Your mum was not wrong; breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day. Don’t eat it and you will subject yourself to cravings later in the day, a slow metabolism and generally feeling sluggish and without energy. Eating something is better than nothing, but getting good nutrition in the morning is very important. You have a wide range of choices when deciding what to eat for breakfast, and I am going to show you three great option, which just happen to be my favourite.
Great Breakfast Options
How To Treat Tennis Elbow
Apr 20th
Tennis elbow is a condition otherwise known as lateral epicondylitis, and affects the elbow. The pain is in the outer area of your elbow and it occurs if the tendons that are connecting the muscles to your elbow become damaged. If you let this condition go untreated it can get really painful and even doing simple things will cause you a mountain of pain. The good news is that it can be treated, and there are even some things that you can do at home and by yourself to reduce the pain significantly.
What Are The Causes Of Tennis Elbow?
