Avoiding Back Pain Caused by Defects in Body Posture

April 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Back pain is common among people who have to sit and wok for long hours. One of the primary reasons for this is because people don’ sit in the right posture when they work in their offices. While sitting for long hours, in order to avoid back pain, people must sit straight, especially if they are sitting in front of computers. However, most people forget this basic idea. Even people who know this fact, forget this, and start to hunch over after a matter of few hours. However, there are several additional reasons for back pain. But, your posture while sitting is definitely the most important aspect when it comes to back pains.

 

Dodging back pain is quite simple if you have the will to spend some time in organizing your life. You will have to bring some serious changes in order to make things work out your way. The first basic step will be to identify what type of back pain you have. If it is a mild pain, then, you will need only minute treatment, requiring only minimal or soft exercise patterns. However, if the pain is serious, then, you will require special attention. You can also look up on the internet or read some books to get some basic knowledge about the back pain and its treatment.

 

Consult a doctor to know what caused back pain. If it is your lifestyle that leads to this problem, then, there are few things which you can consider in order tackle the problem. You can make a few changes can reduce and in effect prevent the rate a back pain. One of the primary causes for back pain is sitting for too long. After sitting for too long, your back might feel tight or soar. In addition to this, your neck and shoulders too might feel the pain. Such people can take a few measures in order to get rid of the pain in a progressive manner.

 

There are more than one ways to reduce or prevent back pain that is caused due to sitting. You don’t have to avoid sitting completely. But you can take short breaks every thirty minutes or so. You can also stand and work at regular intervals to minimize the pain. Set an alarm and take time to stretch, walk or stand. You can also change your position occasionally. Advanced methods include sitting on a cushion ball, and taking swimming lessons.

 

If you have tight muscles or bad sitting postures, then that is another recipe for back pain. You might not know it. But such things could easily ruin your body construction and might even cause permanent damage to your body make up. Even people who know about the bad consequences of wrong postures do not try to mend it properly. They might start their day by sitting or standing up right. But, as the day progresses, they start slumping and starts to hunch. There are several simple ways to avoid back pain caused due to bad postures. You can consult a doctor or a physical trainer to help you in this.

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Understanding the Root Cause of Back Pains

April 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Are you a professional working for more than 6 hours in front of the computer? Are you constantly haunted by back pains? If yes, read on more to discover more about the reason, cause and preventive measures for back pain. First, of all, you need to understand that preventing back pain is not that easy as it sounds, however, it is not impossible too.

 

It can be made possible as long as you are willing to make some changes in your lifestyle.  The first step is to understand what the root cause of your problem is and see if you need special treatment for it.  Back pain is a normal problem and almost 80 percent of the people experience it at some point or the other in their life. There are two types of back pain- acute or chronic and non specific back pain. Acute back pains can be really painful and comes and goes very quick, usually around 6 weeks.

 

 Chronic pains have been referred to as persistent pains that can hurt you a lot. Let us now briefly look at some of the causes for back pain. Muscle strain is the most common cause for low back pain. The exact reason why you have a muscle spasm cannot be diagnosed. However these back pains caused duet to muscular strains can be resolved quite easily. A ruptured disc is another cause for back pain. This depends on individual situations. Discogenic back pain is another cause for low back pains. This might take a few years to be diagnosed.

 

The diagnosis may require the help of a disco gram. As you grow older, back pain can get even more troubling. Spinal stenosis is one such condition that can affect you at a later period of your life. Once you are affected by this disease, you realize that your spinal cord becomes constricted. This becomes aggravated if you have arthritis as well.  Sometimes, back pain can affect your joints, knees, fingers and legs. Arthritis of the spine, similarly can cause low back pains and pain in movements. Spondylolisthesis also causes back pains and results in your vertebra to become unstable causing it to slip. Osteoporosis is another problem that mostly women face today. This is mostly seen in women after menopause.

 

Osteoporosis is caused due to calcium deficiency and results in weak bones that can be fractured easily. Most back pains can be resolved by doing some exercises regularly. However, it is reassuring to consult your doctor if you suffer from chronic back pain that does not show signs of healing. If your back pain is aggravated and you spend restless nights, you might consider visiting your doctor.

 

Also, if you experience fever, chills, sweats or any other sign of infection. Basic treatment for back pain includes simple exercises or treating your spine with hot or cold packs. In extreme cases, where nothing seems to be working out, doctors can advise you to perform a detailed check up and even go for spine surgeries.

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Exercising above heart rate zone

March 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Then there is the myth that low intensity burns more fat than high intensity Then there’s the “myth” that it doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong. I happen to believe the latter “myth”. But my point is: no one has offered any numbers to support (or dispel) either “myth”. Perhaps someone can tell us: (1) the percentage fat burned as a function of percent MHR; and (2) the calories burned as a function of MHR for specified classes of exercise. During a hard ride I can burn close to 1000 kcal.

 

One hour at rest I burn approximately 2500/24 = 104 kcal – nearly ten times less. During a high intensity ride it is certain that I burn more fat than during a low intensity ride. I have even seen an exercise physiologist put the numbers out (Burke maybe ?) The amount of fat burned per hour does not change much as exercise intensity rises from 60% MHR to 85%, but it does rise. There are good reasons to work out at 60% MHR though.It’s more complicated than that. % fat used is a ramp function, but probably not a straight line.

 

And it’s probably better to consider oxygen consumption since the total % of the body’s energy that is consumed by the muscles changes in a slightly different manner that the changes in heart rate. A general approximation is that if your maximal sustainable intensity is 10X your resting metabolic rate, then 30% of the energy will come from fat.

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Peaking out on certain exercises

March 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

How do you prevent peaking out of a certain exercise. For example, when I get going really good on my push-ups doing them routinely for x amount of weeks I can only reach a certain number usually 30 reps but no further. I’ve always wanted to reach a min of 50 perfect pushes without loosing my form. Sometimes varying your exercise routine can help shake you loose from a plateau. One method would be to do multiple sets – i.e., do 30, rest a bit, and then do 20 or 30 more.

 

You could also try a “blast” variation – when you have fatigued your body in the standard push-up position, shift to the modified (knees position) and do as many more as you can. You could also do other exercises to strengthen the same muscles. Tricep dips, tricep kickbacks, flyes, front shoulder raises, and the bench press will all have varying amounts of carryover to the push-up activity. Another option is to try to get better overall muscle fiber recruitment by varying your exercising positions – one set with hands further apart, one set with hands closer together, one set with the feet elevated, one set with the hands on a stair or bench, etc.

 

Or simply make the pushups you are doing harder: feet raised, military style, weights on your back, rapid acceleration/deceleratoin techniques I have discuessed, or bench pressing for a while at more than 2/3 your BW, which is what pushups really do. I _once_ did 100 honest pushups in a row…. just so’s I could brag about it forever. The health benefits you gain from going from 30 to 50 are questionable.

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Optimizing weight loss

March 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I am curious to learn about ways to optimize the effects of exercise on the process of losing fat. My personal experience is that, when I exercise regularly, I lose about two pounds per week. This is, from what I understand, a fairly good and safe rate at which to lose weight. The question I have is this: Are there any supplements/products that can optimize the way in which the body either burns fat or processes food? For instance: I have read about fibre tablets that apparently absorb some of the fat in food so that it is not absorbed by the body.

 

Does this in fact work? If so, is the amount of fat that they absorb of enough significance to have any impact? Similarly, I’ve read about various herbal products or “adaptogens” that apparently optimize the way the body burns fuel and absorbs nutrients. Is there any truth in these claims? (preferably from someone who also isn’t trying to sell the products!) Again, I am *not* looking for magic pills or alternatives to exercising and eating conscientiously. But I am curious whether there are any ways to enhance the effects of both.

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Diet, Exercise & Weight Loss

March 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I need some advice on my diet and exercise and how they can be adjusted so that I can lose the last of the jello that hangs ’round my middle. I apologize in advance for this long post, but I’ve been stuck for a while and I want to be as complete as possible in the hope of getting some truely useful advice. Background: I’m 5’9″ 183lbs, currently. About 5 years ago I lost 60 pounds to get to this weight.

 

In that time I have changed my eating and exercising habits significantly and have been able to keep this weight off. I work out very regularly and have no problem maintaining my weight at this level. The Problem: I would very much like to get my weight down to around 170. I’ve been close to that weight before, and it is there that I lose most of the flabbies that belie the good shape I am in. Unfortunately, no matter what type of diet or exercise routine I have tried I can’t lose the weight. It comes down very grudgingly, and is difficult to maintain. My body keeps fighting back to the low 180s.

 

As I said earlier, I have maintained very regular workouts for the last few years. In the last six months I have dieted as well, but to no effect. I work out 6 days a week. I run on all six days on a treadmill at 7.5 MPH. On non lifting days I go an hour, on the three days a week I lift I go 35 minutes. I have been keeping my calories at or below 2000 per day with approximately a 70/20/10 carb/protein/fat mix.

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Exhaustion after working out

March 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I recently (4 weeks ago?) started back to exercising after over a year off. Besides stretching and warming up, I do about 50 minutes of “real” exercise–enough to keep me sweating and slightly winded–, which is a combination of working on a “power glider” machine and running with arm weights. Sometimes, these workouts ruin me for the rest of the day. Today, e.g., I am _exhausted_. (I worked out this morning.) Now, I do have a very busy schedule–work nights and have two kids, including a nursing baby, all day, so being tired is a way of life, but I only feel the sheer exhaustion on days when I’ve worked out.

 

In the past, I used to run (though I was never a serious runner) and I remember it _giving_ me energy. I ran in the evenings, and I remember that I would have problems getting to sleep on my running nights! What do you think is going on here? Am I overdoing it? I don’t feel horrible _while_ I’m working out, just afterwards, and I do want to push myself as much as I can to start seeing some results before I get bored and quit (which is my usual exercising m.o.). Could eating habits be to blame? I do not diet per se (I wish), but I do avoid eating much in the morning on my work-out days.If you are feeling exhausted after your workout, not having energy the rest of the day, but you don’t feel horrible…then my first reaction is that you are not eating enough or fueling your body properly throughout the day.

 

I understand that you want to lose weight, and I think that is great that you are tackling this with much aggression and enthusiasm; however, don’t make the common mistakes that will leave you without results and frustrated…especially when you’ve given so much effort. Nursing alone can burn up to 1,000 calories a day! Also, have you heard about waiting at least an hour after your workout before you nurse your baby? I’ll try to find some articles for you about that. Anyhow, why don’t you tell me what your day looks like? What you eat, what time, portions, etc.. What’s your current weight? How much weight did you gain from the baby? (Just curious, and it helps me to understand how you are feeing).The first thing to do is to find out what you are currently doing, and it’s important to fully understand what your daily eating riutals look like.

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Working out and gaining weight

March 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You don’t need to decrease your eating just because you’ve decided to do some exercise. If you can decrease your eating, that is a simpler and cheaper way of losing fat than exercising, but either way (or both) is fine. How do you know you haven’t been eating more since you started exercising? Apparently some people do it subconsciously. You’re going great. If you don’t like the absolute weight, or if you want to be sure, then stop doing weights! Stick to the treadmill, rowing machine, cycling etc and maybe decrease your food.

 

You should stop putting on weight immediately then, and it will be more obvious what your calorie deficiency is. About 5 years ago, I weighed about 220 and decided to lose weight. I was lifting weights and doing lots of cardio and eventually I got down to 150. I was very thin with not much muscle. I got lazy last year and gained A LOT of weight back. This tiime I’m lifting weights and doing cardio. I know that I’ll inevitably lose muscle as I lose the 60 lbs I have to lose, but I’d rather keep weight lifting the whole time. From what I understand, weight lifting helps one preserve muscle as one is trying to lose fat.

 

You’ll still lose muscle, but not as much as you would with no weight lifting.Sounds right to me but when I used to lift I didn’t do cardio so I don’t know for sure. On further thought I really don’t want to cut out the weights anyway because that’s the part that I really like about going to the gym – I do the cardio because I feel like it’s necessary to improve my stamina and endurance and whatever. I lift though because I like lifting.

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BC pills and fat-loss

March 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I know you are getting replies stating that estrogen can hinder fat loss and muscle gain, and since I don’t know the science I won’t comment on that, but even if it is true, that doesn’t mean that women who take BC pills will *automatically* have difficulty losing fat and gaining muscle. Take me as an example. I have been taking Trilevlen for approx. 7 years, and exercising vigorously 5-6x/week for about 3 years. [Note: Trilevlen is a relatively low-estrogen pill, if I'm not mistaken--my doctor switched me from a much higher estrogen pill to Trilevlen when I had problems with the higher dose pill].

 

I’ve gone from a size 12 to a size 4, and approx. 30% BF to about 18% BF in those 3 years, thanks to running, step aerobics, strength training and a sensible diet. Yes, I have worked hard to achieve this, but I never significantly limited my caloric consumption and I don’t spend hours at a gym. In other words, the estrogen from BC pills might or might not be the problem. How often does your wife work out? How hard and for how long?

 

Your wife might want to consider increasing frequency, duration, or intensity of exercise to improve the effectiveness of her exercise program. If she only participates in one kind of aerobic exercise, perhaps she could participate in a different aerobic activity a couple of times per week to cross-train. I will say that, for me, keeping the frequency at 5-6x a week was especially important for fat loss, and cross-training has been important to keep me from over-training certain muscle groups.

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Breath-holding and exercise

March 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Give up the breath control. Just breath as your natural demand dictates. You have a wonderful feed-back system – your body recognizes oxygen saturation level, blood pH, carbon dioxide levels, etc. and integrates them into a regulated system which is best described as a proven system for achieving equilibrium. Runners can achieve some increase in oxygen carrying capacity in the blood while training at altitude, but work, at any altitude, still requires oxygen.

 

If the partial pressure of oxygen is lower, as it is at altitude, then the body compensates (short term) by increasing breathing rate, and (sometimes possibly through some push toward conscious control) increase in the tidal volume (cc per breath). Longer term is the increase in hemoglobin, but this resets itself once you return to normal altitude. Stair-climbing, etc., gives a workout and we know this because, in part, we are puffing and panting. So if we breathe less often, perhaps we don’t have to work as hard to get the same puffing and panting effect. Seems to me that in a sense you are saying that the rate of breathing is inviolable, should not be tampered with at all. (About 10 years ago, there were these rebreathers that simulated high altitude.

 

Seemed bulky to me, but I didn’t use them.) I’d be interested in any data at all that come to bear on this issue — does breathing every fifth-step while on a treadmill signifcantly increase cardiovascular demand? I’d imagine the answer would probably be “yes.” Would this lead to a training effect over time? Again, I’d imagine the answer would be “yes.” Might this be a useful approach for people wanting to get into better cardiovascular shape without unduly taxing their bodies? I think so. Heck, could a person achieve some mild form of cardiovascular fitness simply by engaging in appropriate breathing (and non-breathing) for a period of time on a regular basis? I think so, but I really, really would like to see the data on this point.

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