The Best Exercise For Your Triceps

March 4, 2016

The Best Exercise For Your Triceps

Have you ever thought whether there is a different exercise out there, more interesting and less boring than the usual diamond pressups and triceps extension? Among the best arm workouts you can do is this funny looking exercise, which uses only your own body weight? Yeah, you hear me right, I am an advocate of body weight training. That’s because for the majority of people, body weight training is enough and it can be progressed and regressed.

Furthermore if you practice this triceps exercise you not only tone your triceps bu you also:

improve your posture (probably the number 1 benefits of this triceps exercise in my opinion)
strengthen your core muscles (abdominal muscles, side of the abdomen, back muscles, hips and diaphragm)
protect your lower back and reduce the risk of low back pain (for many people standing exercises or pressups and planks can be detrimental if they do not have good core control and body awareness; problem solved with this triceps exercise)
stabilize your shoulder joint (stronger in a safer way)
stretching and opening up the chest and shoulders
shoulder mobility
mobility in wrists and ankles
finger strength (particularly if you practice on uneven terrain, such as the outdoors)

What does all this mean to you? It means you can have a toned, strong, fit, healthy and truly powerful body in a safer way (this is key). Well….you must do other exercises of this type as well, do develop the body all round.

When I say “of this type” I mean exercises that work more than just big muscles in the body, think about posture, fingers, toes, mobility, flexibility and much more.

Remember, you are as strong as your weakest link.

That’s why I believe this is triceps exercise is among the best out there. One that enables you to strengthen your body in a safer way than other methods.

Here’s a video we made at one of The MTI Online Academy : The Crab Walk or Inverted Crawl.

January 14, 2016

What Is The Correct Body Alignment

Alignment there, alignment here, I talk a lot about body alignment. And for good reason.

I was looking at my 8 year old nieces when I took them ice skating. It was their first time on the ice and they were simply naturals. They kept their balance so well, and naturally knew how to move their feet. I don’t know why I was there. Adults, on the other hand, had problems keeping their feet under their bodies. They learn but it takes longer, and their are very unbalanced.

Looking at them I see the correct body alignment. Natural for the kids, un-natural for the adults. We are born with all sorts of abilities, however, when we start sitting more than moving, and stop moving muscles, joints, body awareness goes into “hibernation”. Through Natural Human Movement we wake up those muscles and help the body remember it’s natural abilities, moving the body the way it was designed to move.

Why is correct body alignment important

Firstly, many of the pains, even chronic pains, are a result of habitual movements over a longer period of time, as well as other factors. Now, we don’t talk about health conditions or fractures, for example. Rather lower back pain, knee pain, ankle pain, shoulder pain.

Constant tension and body misuse, over a period of time, can lead to chronic pain

Second, running, walking, or moving in any way with an incorrect alignment can increase risks of injuries, and perpetuate older injuries.

Third, incorrect body alignment can strain certain muscles, and weaken others.

Fourth, strained muscles will affect your posture and your skeletal system, it can literally deform your skeleton; it may not be visible but it happens, think scoliosis, one of the most obvious situations of incorrect body alignment.

How to align your body correctly

In an article I can only give you the basics of correct body alignment. However, if you apply these elements to everything you do it will make a huge different in time.

Whether you are running, squatting, standing or walking remember the following points:

Feet – roughly hip width apart, toes facing forward
The Tripod – each of your feet form a tripod with the big toe + little toe + heel; focus on keeping this tripod on the ground at all times
Soft knees – not necessarily bent, but soft; it’s very subtle
Bucket of water – imagine your hips like a bucket of water; align your hips so you don’t spill water forwards or backwards
Core – if your hip, the bucket of water, is aligned then your core (you will feel it in the abdominal muscles) will be slightly contracted
Shoulders and years are aligned
Straight line from your ears to your shoulders to your hips to (approximately) the front of the ankles

These are the basics in a standing position. If you have any questions on body alignment or want to try one of The Merisoiu Technique sessions contact me.

January 13, 2016

3 Exercises For Hip Mobility And Stability For Runners

A strong and stable hip joint reduces the risk of injury in your pelvic joints, spine and knees. It also promotes a good posture, as there is no limitation in the hips flexors area (above the thighs, the muscles which help you bring your knee up, that’s hips flexion) and you develop a stronger core and stability muscles.

For runners, and not only, strong stability muscles, a stable hip joints, strong glutes maximus and hips flexibility and mobility can save a lot of injuries, help recover faster from injuries, and help perform better.

By strengthening muscles around the hips joints, which also stabilize the joint, you can relieve lower back pain as well.

Alignment

All exercises must be performed with correct alignment. If you lost technique and perform them with poor alignment then it’s for nothing. Dozens of repetitions are useless if they are not performed correctly.

Running is more than just placing one foot in from of the other. Running with good alignment, and a stable, mobile and flexible hip joint is the key to performance, speed or endurance, and less injuries.

1. Bridges

Lie down on your back.

Soles of your feet, hip width appart, flat on the ground and knees bent.

Keep heels as close to your buttocks as possible.

Lift your hips off the floor – using the buttocks.

This exercise activates your buttocks and hip stabilizers in your hip joints. It will reduce some of the back stiffness and lower back pain, and also improve your posture.

2. Squats

Particularly full or deep squats. These are excellent to strengthen your buttocks, and all stabilizer muscles from your feet all the way up to your core. It is a natural movement and should be practiced every day.

I have already written an article on Deep Squats – Benefits And Technique, it’s more detailed.

3. Balancing exercises

Balancing exercises are again exercises which should be performed daily. They strengthen all stability muscles from the soles of the feet to the core.

Balancing exercises do not stop at just standing on one leg. Not at all. Try variations such as:

standing on one leg and placing a pencil on the floor, then picking it up ( the SeeSaw)
making a big circle around your body as far as possible, close to the ground but without touching (360 Degrees) – see video below
imagine you are the center of a clock, stand on one leg and touch with the other leg (with the toes only) each number around the clock (without putting any weight on the leg that reaches out)

Get creative but do take care where you balance. Even if you have very good balance, in case you do lose balance make sure you will not fall and hurt ourself. Safety first.

These exercises and more are some of the balance exercises we practice on out Natural Human Movement coaching. They are also part of the online Academy – a 12 weeks, weekly training and planning on Natural Human Movement, with videos, audios and detailed technique descriptions.

If you want to know more about The Academy contact me.

If you’d like to experience the outdoors Natural Human Movements training, we have FREE taster sessions taking place in Surrey. Message me and let’s book you on a taster session. Click here to message me.

January 9, 2016

Three Elements Of Healthier And Stronger Joints

This passion for body mechanics started many years ago after I struggled with knee and ankle pain for years, to the point where I was struggling to walk. It became an obsession, which later on lead to learning more, coaching and writing on the topic.

Many of my clients come to me with lower back pain, knee pain and ankle pain. Probably because this is what I am most passionate about.

Having strong joints means we have a strong body. There is less rick of injuries, if we do injure ourselves we recover faster, we have more control over our bodies and, in general, a healthier body and movement.

Strength

As human beings we have been designed to move, and not just walk. For millions of year we have ran, carried, lifted and thrown, jumped and much more. Shoes were simple, no gels and excessive padding, sometimes there were no shoes at all. Chairs were simple four legged stools which required us to engage our muscle to stand upright, thus making those muscles stronger.

Today’s society encourages comfort at the expense of weaker muscles. And with more comfort, less physical activity and weaker muscles, joints and bones weaken as well. They also weaken because of aging, we just makes it sooner.

I often ask my clients what drew then towards me. Some of then say that the system, The Merisoiu Technique, is more complete.

Indeed it is. We learn how to walk, run, jump, lift, throw, carry, crawl, hang, and move if various ways. We get fit and strong with correct alignment. We don’t just exercise, we study movement and we strive to master it.

Thus, for stronger and healthier joints address as many forms of movement as you can:

walking
running
balancing
crawling
lifting, carrying, throwing, catching
squatting
crawling
mobility and flexibility

If you have injuries you must be careful. If you don’t have injuries you should also be careful, because a correct form of movement involves alignment.

Alignment

Whether moving or standing there is a degree of pressure on the joints. The problem is the angle at which the pressure falls.

Movements is not only about picking up limbs and put them in another place. Performing a movement safely requires muscle activation with the correct joint alignment.

This is where we, as fitness industry, go wrong. We educate our clients on the amount of calories and fat they burn by running and jumping up/down, left/right. Not many take the time and have the patient to educate about alignment. It takes work and commitment from the client as well.

Alignment is not something I can talk about in general, besides the general, standing and sitting body alignment. In movement, depending on the movement, alignment changes, although the basics (what I call foundations) of body alignment are still the same.

I will discuss body alignment in more detail in future articles. Until then remember this one thing:

If you draw a line (on the side of the body) from your ear, through the middle of your shoulder, through the hip and ending slightly in front of the ankle, you have a correct body alignment.

There is not perfect alignment, there is a range. I have an mp3 recording for my clients, which takes them through a body alignment visualization. I am happy to share this recording, for free, with the first 7 people who contact me. Not more than 7. To do this we must talk first. I like to know who you are and why you want this recording. Mention this article when you contact me. Simply book a call, it’s free by the way, clicking here.

Micronutrients and Macronutrients

I talk a lot about the mechanical side of joint strength. But we also need to ensure we have enough vitamins and mineral (micronutrients), and fasts, carbohydrates and protein (macronutrients).

The body takes what it needs for bone and joint health from the food we eat.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking health is about what you do this month or this year. The impact of good and bad habits surface later on, 2-3-4 years down the road, or maybe more. Inside the body the effects take place sooner. Just because we don’t see them on the skin doesn’t mean they are not there, good or not.

Being consistent with your diet is the key to a healthy body. To check where you stand do blood tests. They change from year to year.

Besides these 3 we also have Flexibility and mobility, but I will talk about that in another article.

If you have any questions you know how to contact me.

January 8, 2016

Lower Back Pain – Should You Exercise Or Not

When you are in pain the last thing you want to do is move.

Lower back pain doesn’t necessarily mean the back is damaged, it’s not always the case. But because we feel the pain we stop exercising, thinking that’s the right thing to do. In some cases it is, but not always. If the back is not damaged then you can move and exercise. Why should exercise even with lower back pain?

De-conditioning happens very fast. If you don’t move for a few days, when you resume you feel weaker. Even without lower back pain, if you don’t exercise, stretch and move (not only walk) for a few days you feel stiff and weak when you do move. If you do suffer from lower back pain, doing nothing will only add to the pain rather than solve the problem.

Pills helps manage, and calm down if the pain is really bad. But that fixes the symptoms, and not the cause. There can be many causes for lower back pain. Very often core strength and general a weak body can cause lower back pain and, in time, even more serious damage.

Besides being strong, your body also need to be mobile (ease of movement of the whole body) and flexible (related to muscle length).

Preventing and managing lower back pain

Preventing and managing lower back pain requires commitments from the person suffering from back pain.

Going to the gym or taking classes only for this purpose, because you have to and you were told to, thinking you will like them in the end, will only make you unhappy and not commit long term.

Choosing a sport, or type of exercise you enjoy doing increases the chances of committing for a longer time and reap the benefits. Learning about lower back pain and how the body functions, like you do now, little by little, will increases the chances of commitment.

This is what we do at The Merisoiu Technique Institute. We have the solution and we help you, but we also explain how things work. Understanding why you are in pain, how the body and muscles work and how you can prevent further pain and injuries, makes our clients enjoy their training and reap the benefits.

If you are in need of advice contact us.

Sports you can try

Here are some ideas of sports, besides gym, swimming, classes, yoga and pilates, running and cycling, you could try to prevent and manage lower back pain. Training for and practicing the sport you choose will strenghten and mobilize the body, and reduce pain and risk of other injuries.

Indoor/outdoor rock climbing
Squash
Tennis
Cross-fit
Obstacle Racing
Martial arts (Karate, Taekwondo, Aikido, Jujitsu etc)
Even gardening (although not a sport)

Remember it is important to also train for these sports, not just throw yourself into them. For any sport you practice the best thing to do is to have a coach. They will turn your weaknesses into strengths. You want to optimize your body for your sports, nut just throw a ball around.

Movement is more than stepping left and right, back and forth. Movement involved correct joint alignment and muscles must activate in the correct sequence. “Don’t just exercise, learn, develop and master. “

More on lower back pain and exercise for lower back pain in future articles. For now remember that not moving is not the solution.