I want to start this post with a disclaimer. It is a personal philosophy of mine that everyone has the right and free-will to choose to spend their time however they want. The purpose of this post is not to convince or coerce you to spend your time otherwise, the purpose is merely to reflect and perceive a situation from different view points. If you don't have the time to exercise or you do not exercise, that is your given right and I am not the almighty to challenge that.
The scenario that I want you to consider is the most common reason that people have for not exercising - "not enough time". I believe that this is a symptom of our society as much as it is a symptom of someones life circumstances. Unreasonable work demands, family and relationship commitments, poor public transport, high housing costs causing people to live far from work, traffic congestion increasing commuting time, etc.
Regardless of the circumstances as to why a person does not have enough time to exercise, my concern with this scenario is not that you may not have time to exercise. My concern is that in your mind and when explaining your reasons to other people, you are forfeiting control of your life and to things outside of yourself.
Consider another way to view the scenario. It is not that you don't have enough time to exercise, it is that you have chosen other priorities in life to be more important than exercise, and therefor you have not given yourself time to exercise. Rather than blaming external factors on why you don't have enough time to exercise (i.e. "I have no ability to change that"), accept that its a choice that you have made and as a result you have not put the effort in to make the time. The significant distinction is whether in your mind you have control over the situation or not.
The second scenario requires some honest self-reflection. No one is perfect, and no one has a perfectly balanced life doing all of the things they think they should. Everyone has the right to choose how they want to live their lives even if elements of it are self-sabotaging (i.e. not exercising and gaining excess weight).
If you identify with this reason not to exercise, what I would like you to do is consider the fundamental difference between these two perspectives and have the courage to self-reflect. If you choose to take the second view of acceptance of your current priorities, then that is a small step in a good direction. You can take back control over your choices about how you choose to spend your time, you can stop beating yourself up over not looking after yourself as much as you would like, and you can stop resenting other people and other things for stealing your time.
The same goes if your friend or family member is in this scenario (and I bet that many are). Help them to make this distinction and move one step forward in a good direction, and never try to put them down over their personal choices.
At the end of the day if you decide that it is important enough for you exercise regularly then you will put the effort in to make it work. It might be inconvenient, it might require change, it may mean an early start, and it might mean negotiating with other people, but you will make it work if you choose to. This is also your choice, one for you to make and not for anyone else.
I hope that sparked some thought...
Practical tip: Beneficial and lasting change does not happen from beating yourself over the head with a stick (blame, "should", "must", "have to"). Nor does it come from someone trying to coerce with similar tactics. Lasting change usually happens from honest self-reflection. Change will happen IF and WHEN the person chooses to change.
If you do choose to put exercise at a higher priority then it often helps to be creative with what type of exercise and how you can make it easiest to stick to. Indoor, outdoor, alone, with others, individual sport, team sport, recreation, relaxing, exhilarating, muscle focused, endurance focused, experiment and make your choice. The principles of the human body stay the same, the type of exercise can change.
Alex Budlevskis
Exercise Physiologist
Rozelle Total Health
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Posture - More than carrying books on your head
When most people think of posture they may think of perfectionists and someone with a stick whacking you in the spots that are sticking out where they shouldn't, or to lift things up that shouldn't be sagging. They may think of health professionals doing their intrusive assessments, or their mother yelling at them on the way to school.
The one concept that people often don't realise when thinking about posture, is that posture is your whole body balancing against gravity. In addition to this, not many people also realise that your body is one big biomechanical machine. To be able to appreciate this understanding of posture and the body, I will first cover some fundamental principles of functional anatomy in plain English which will help you to appreciate the importance of posture.
In most major joints of the body such as the hip, spine, shoulder and neck there are a group of muscles which can be classified as the deep group. This deep group of muscles tend to be more concerned with holding a joint in a stable position, and the properties of the muscle tend to be geared more to holding isometrically for long periods of time, keeping the joint stable and strong. Some muscles included in the deep group of the trunk that may sound familiar are the transversus abdominus, multifidus, diaphragm, and pelvic floor.
The larger muscles which are more concerned with gross movement are the more obvious and usually closest to the skin (e.g. pectorals, biceps, triceps, deltoids, quads, gluteus maximum, rectus abdominus). These muscles are considered the global layer, and tend to be geared more for movement and powerful contractions such as pushing, pulling and lifting.
Essentially, in an ideal scenario the deep group of muscles hold the joint stable and in a strong position in order to serve as a platform for the global muscles to exert powerful contractions, and to move in an efficient manner. The saying that "most exercises come from your core" is true in this sense, in that the core builds a stable platform for your joints to move from. The deep muscles and global layer working together in a synergy.
Where posture becomes important in the scheme of deep and global muscle concepts, is that when your posture is balanced and close to what is considered ideal posture, the deep muscles have their best opportunity to work and stabilise the main joints in your body. They use their high capacity for holding and enduring to keep your joints strong and stable while using less energy. Being exercised regularly the deep muscles naturally tend to be stronger and more easily recruited during movements. This then provides a stable platform for efficient and powerful movement of the limbs, and keeps the strain on joint structures to a minimum. The analogy is that of a building crane - if the base of the crane is not stabilised and steady, then the arm of the crane is going to be even more unstable.
What tends to happen when your posture is unbalanced and out of alignment, is that the body starts to develop "holding patterns" where muscles from the global group take over the role of keeping the joint stable, tending to become overworked and tight. In conjunction with these muscles becoming tight, the deep muscle group of the joint rarely get a chance to work effectively, weakening and decreasing in size, allowing them to become "lazy".
This then places more strain on the joint structures and makes you more prone to injury. In the case of the trunk muscles, this combination of a holding pattern and unbalanced posture may even make breathing slightly labored due to the diaphragm serving a dual purpose for trunk stability and breathing, and not having a chance to work efficiently.
To use a practical example of how changes in posture effect balance and muscles in the body, have a look at the images on this website: http://burkecleland.com/?p=174
Using the "forward head" posture as an example of how your body is one big balance against gravity, first understand the effect of the head being forward. Seeing as the head is placed forward, the global muscles on the back of the neck will become overworked and tight (e.g. cervicle extensors, upper trapezius), and the deep group of muscles under the chin will become weak (e.g. deep cervicle flexors). This is a scenario which can predispose you to neck pain, headaches, and rotator cuff impingement.
To further elaborate on the balance against gravity in this example, seeing as the head and shoulders are forward, the hip needs to tilt forward and place the buttocks further back to regain the balance against gravity. The global muscles of the lower back (e.g. erector spinae) will become overworked and tight, and the deep muscles of the trunk (e.g. transversus abdominus, multifidus, diaphragm, pelvic floor) will be disused and become weak and "lazy" seeing as pelvis and trunk is held in a sagged position requiring less use of these muscles. This can predispose you to lower back pain, hip pain, and lower back injury.
To elaborate even further and speculate (without much scientific evidence), seeing as breathing may be slightly shallower and more labored in a holding pattern such as this, the frequent breathing rate may even bring about mild symptoms of anxiety and contribute to stress tension in the neck and shoulders, further exacerbating the cluster of chronic pain in the neck and back.
After using this single example of how the body is one large interconnected balance against gravity, and a large and complex biomechanical machine, is posture really only about carrying books on your head?
In essence: Posture is about keeping your joints in a strong position, and giving your muscles the best possible opportunity to work in the way that they were designed. It is about the right muscles doing the work to hold joints table (the deep group), and the large muscles to remain ready for powerful gross movements (the global layer) rather than taking over the holding of joints. It is about ensuring that you are breathing well, and that your joints are well supported and moving efficiently.
I hope this sheds a new light for some people as to why posture and technique is important in weight training and sports training, as the more you repeat and promote a bad postural habit, the stronger that bad habit gets.
Practical tip: Remind yourself as often as possible throughout the day to keep balanced posture. Head upright, shoulders back, spine neutral, hip neutral. Anything that you do in a day can be considered a postural exercise - sitting, packing the dishwasher, hanging out the washing, an gym session. With constant reminding and repetition holding the balanced posture will become more familiar and require less conscious effort. This constant reminding will also help you to train yourself into new movement patterns which utilise these deep muscles in the way that they were designed.
If you combine this with exercises designed to strengthen the deep muscles, and stretch the global muscles that are prone to becoming tight in these holding patterns, then you have a good holistic exercise program.
Alex Budlevskis
Exercise Physiologist
Rozelle Total Health
The one concept that people often don't realise when thinking about posture, is that posture is your whole body balancing against gravity. In addition to this, not many people also realise that your body is one big biomechanical machine. To be able to appreciate this understanding of posture and the body, I will first cover some fundamental principles of functional anatomy in plain English which will help you to appreciate the importance of posture.
In most major joints of the body such as the hip, spine, shoulder and neck there are a group of muscles which can be classified as the deep group. This deep group of muscles tend to be more concerned with holding a joint in a stable position, and the properties of the muscle tend to be geared more to holding isometrically for long periods of time, keeping the joint stable and strong. Some muscles included in the deep group of the trunk that may sound familiar are the transversus abdominus, multifidus, diaphragm, and pelvic floor.
The larger muscles which are more concerned with gross movement are the more obvious and usually closest to the skin (e.g. pectorals, biceps, triceps, deltoids, quads, gluteus maximum, rectus abdominus). These muscles are considered the global layer, and tend to be geared more for movement and powerful contractions such as pushing, pulling and lifting.
Essentially, in an ideal scenario the deep group of muscles hold the joint stable and in a strong position in order to serve as a platform for the global muscles to exert powerful contractions, and to move in an efficient manner. The saying that "most exercises come from your core" is true in this sense, in that the core builds a stable platform for your joints to move from. The deep muscles and global layer working together in a synergy.
Where posture becomes important in the scheme of deep and global muscle concepts, is that when your posture is balanced and close to what is considered ideal posture, the deep muscles have their best opportunity to work and stabilise the main joints in your body. They use their high capacity for holding and enduring to keep your joints strong and stable while using less energy. Being exercised regularly the deep muscles naturally tend to be stronger and more easily recruited during movements. This then provides a stable platform for efficient and powerful movement of the limbs, and keeps the strain on joint structures to a minimum. The analogy is that of a building crane - if the base of the crane is not stabilised and steady, then the arm of the crane is going to be even more unstable.
What tends to happen when your posture is unbalanced and out of alignment, is that the body starts to develop "holding patterns" where muscles from the global group take over the role of keeping the joint stable, tending to become overworked and tight. In conjunction with these muscles becoming tight, the deep muscle group of the joint rarely get a chance to work effectively, weakening and decreasing in size, allowing them to become "lazy".
This then places more strain on the joint structures and makes you more prone to injury. In the case of the trunk muscles, this combination of a holding pattern and unbalanced posture may even make breathing slightly labored due to the diaphragm serving a dual purpose for trunk stability and breathing, and not having a chance to work efficiently.
To use a practical example of how changes in posture effect balance and muscles in the body, have a look at the images on this website: http://burkecleland.com/?p=174
Using the "forward head" posture as an example of how your body is one big balance against gravity, first understand the effect of the head being forward. Seeing as the head is placed forward, the global muscles on the back of the neck will become overworked and tight (e.g. cervicle extensors, upper trapezius), and the deep group of muscles under the chin will become weak (e.g. deep cervicle flexors). This is a scenario which can predispose you to neck pain, headaches, and rotator cuff impingement.
To further elaborate on the balance against gravity in this example, seeing as the head and shoulders are forward, the hip needs to tilt forward and place the buttocks further back to regain the balance against gravity. The global muscles of the lower back (e.g. erector spinae) will become overworked and tight, and the deep muscles of the trunk (e.g. transversus abdominus, multifidus, diaphragm, pelvic floor) will be disused and become weak and "lazy" seeing as pelvis and trunk is held in a sagged position requiring less use of these muscles. This can predispose you to lower back pain, hip pain, and lower back injury.
To elaborate even further and speculate (without much scientific evidence), seeing as breathing may be slightly shallower and more labored in a holding pattern such as this, the frequent breathing rate may even bring about mild symptoms of anxiety and contribute to stress tension in the neck and shoulders, further exacerbating the cluster of chronic pain in the neck and back.
After using this single example of how the body is one large interconnected balance against gravity, and a large and complex biomechanical machine, is posture really only about carrying books on your head?
In essence: Posture is about keeping your joints in a strong position, and giving your muscles the best possible opportunity to work in the way that they were designed. It is about the right muscles doing the work to hold joints table (the deep group), and the large muscles to remain ready for powerful gross movements (the global layer) rather than taking over the holding of joints. It is about ensuring that you are breathing well, and that your joints are well supported and moving efficiently.
I hope this sheds a new light for some people as to why posture and technique is important in weight training and sports training, as the more you repeat and promote a bad postural habit, the stronger that bad habit gets.
Practical tip: Remind yourself as often as possible throughout the day to keep balanced posture. Head upright, shoulders back, spine neutral, hip neutral. Anything that you do in a day can be considered a postural exercise - sitting, packing the dishwasher, hanging out the washing, an gym session. With constant reminding and repetition holding the balanced posture will become more familiar and require less conscious effort. This constant reminding will also help you to train yourself into new movement patterns which utilise these deep muscles in the way that they were designed.
If you combine this with exercises designed to strengthen the deep muscles, and stretch the global muscles that are prone to becoming tight in these holding patterns, then you have a good holistic exercise program.
Alex Budlevskis
Exercise Physiologist
Rozelle Total Health
Monday, June 7, 2010
My favorite health food shop? - The fruit and veg section of the supermarket.
Why is it that plant foods are considered good for our health?
The short answer is - no one knows yet.
The longer answer is - plant foods contain thousands of chemical compounds, often with compounds that are unique to each plant food. As they are eaten and digested all of these compounds react with saliva, digestive enzymes, bacteria, and each other. Most common fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and spices also tend to have cancer fighting compounds that are unique to each food, their function having been discovered only recently. What they all do to our body once they have all been digested and ingested is not very well understood, and it is very difficult to study in living humans. What is known is that they all act together in a synergy to promote good health.
Until the farming and industrial revolutions, humans largely lived nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Moving from food source to food source, eating a wide range of whole plant foods and wild animal foods, and doing some form of daily physical activity in order to continue to survive. It is also known that thousands of years ago, some animals were able to produce some of the vitamins that we now know we need, such as vitamin-C, however over many years of existing on plant foods they lost the ability to produce these vitamins and became dependent on dietary sources.
Could it be that our bodies have become dependent on the nutrients within these foods? The recent changes to our lifestyle that are a result of living in a modern world, are only a blink of an eye compared the long amount of time that humans lived as hunter-gatherers.
The areas of the world which still eat diets consisting mostly of whole plant foods and wild organic animal foods tend to have very low rates of all of the most common chronic diseases in the West. They also tend to have long life expectancies when basic needs for health are met, such as hygiene and available medical services.
What most people consider normal in the West, such as heart disease, cancer, type-2 diabetes, obesity, dementia, Alzheimer's, etc. all happen to share similar risk factors - low consumption of whole plant foods, and a high consumption of processed foods and industrially farmed and produced animal foods - i.e. the Western Diet. They are all known to be conditions where you genes react with your lifestyle, could it also be due to a void of these plant nutrients seeing as they usually are destroyed and stripped away during the production of processed foods?
(back to talk of nutrition)
The list of known vitamins, minerals, amino acids, anti-oxidants and fat classes are just the tip of the ice-berg in the understanding of nutrition and health. Vitamins and their importance to health were only discovered in the early nineteen hundreds. In terms of nutrition as a science, to quote Michael Pollan, "nutrition is where surgery was at in the sixteen hundreds". With the current body of knowledge on nutrition, it is emerging that foods are far more than the sum of their parts. So, how can modern nutrition science help us promote health in our own lives and find a better way of living?
Something to chew on:
Maybe we're just allergic to the Western lifestyle, and the only truly effective answer to the epidemic of lifestyle related health issues in the West is to try to reclaim a more traditional way of living and eating?
We can fill in the blanks and try to explain this question over the next few hundred years in terms of nutrients and their functions if we really want to, however the evidence is there already today, you just need to see the bigger picture.
Practical tip: How can you replace something that you eat regularly that is a processed food, with a less processed and more natural alternative? Not only will doing this increase your intake of these beneficial and mysterious plant nutrients, they also tend to keep you full for longer and help to promote weight loss.
Alex Budlevskis
Exercise Physiologist
Rozelle Total Health
P.S. If you enjoyed this point of view, I thoroughly recommend that you read "In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto" by Michael Pollan. If you're not afraid of reading something controversial, then I also recommend reading "The China Study" by Campbell & Campbell.
The short answer is - no one knows yet.
The longer answer is - plant foods contain thousands of chemical compounds, often with compounds that are unique to each plant food. As they are eaten and digested all of these compounds react with saliva, digestive enzymes, bacteria, and each other. Most common fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and spices also tend to have cancer fighting compounds that are unique to each food, their function having been discovered only recently. What they all do to our body once they have all been digested and ingested is not very well understood, and it is very difficult to study in living humans. What is known is that they all act together in a synergy to promote good health.
Until the farming and industrial revolutions, humans largely lived nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Moving from food source to food source, eating a wide range of whole plant foods and wild animal foods, and doing some form of daily physical activity in order to continue to survive. It is also known that thousands of years ago, some animals were able to produce some of the vitamins that we now know we need, such as vitamin-C, however over many years of existing on plant foods they lost the ability to produce these vitamins and became dependent on dietary sources.
Could it be that our bodies have become dependent on the nutrients within these foods? The recent changes to our lifestyle that are a result of living in a modern world, are only a blink of an eye compared the long amount of time that humans lived as hunter-gatherers.
The areas of the world which still eat diets consisting mostly of whole plant foods and wild organic animal foods tend to have very low rates of all of the most common chronic diseases in the West. They also tend to have long life expectancies when basic needs for health are met, such as hygiene and available medical services.
What most people consider normal in the West, such as heart disease, cancer, type-2 diabetes, obesity, dementia, Alzheimer's, etc. all happen to share similar risk factors - low consumption of whole plant foods, and a high consumption of processed foods and industrially farmed and produced animal foods - i.e. the Western Diet. They are all known to be conditions where you genes react with your lifestyle, could it also be due to a void of these plant nutrients seeing as they usually are destroyed and stripped away during the production of processed foods?
(back to talk of nutrition)
The list of known vitamins, minerals, amino acids, anti-oxidants and fat classes are just the tip of the ice-berg in the understanding of nutrition and health. Vitamins and their importance to health were only discovered in the early nineteen hundreds. In terms of nutrition as a science, to quote Michael Pollan, "nutrition is where surgery was at in the sixteen hundreds". With the current body of knowledge on nutrition, it is emerging that foods are far more than the sum of their parts. So, how can modern nutrition science help us promote health in our own lives and find a better way of living?
Something to chew on:
Maybe we're just allergic to the Western lifestyle, and the only truly effective answer to the epidemic of lifestyle related health issues in the West is to try to reclaim a more traditional way of living and eating?
We can fill in the blanks and try to explain this question over the next few hundred years in terms of nutrients and their functions if we really want to, however the evidence is there already today, you just need to see the bigger picture.
Practical tip: How can you replace something that you eat regularly that is a processed food, with a less processed and more natural alternative? Not only will doing this increase your intake of these beneficial and mysterious plant nutrients, they also tend to keep you full for longer and help to promote weight loss.
Alex Budlevskis
Exercise Physiologist
Rozelle Total Health
P.S. If you enjoyed this point of view, I thoroughly recommend that you read "In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto" by Michael Pollan. If you're not afraid of reading something controversial, then I also recommend reading "The China Study" by Campbell & Campbell.
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