Health // Category

Low Back Pain WHAT IS IT?

Low back pain can result from a strain of the muscles surrounding the spine due to overuse, bulging or severely damages spinal discs, or a macro traumatic injury to the disc. Spinal fractures from weightlifting are uncommon but not unheard of, including a chronic form of stress fracture called spondylolysis, as well as an acute compression fracture of one of the vertebral bodies.

RISK FACTORS

A few of the risk factors for back injuries include position of the back during a weightlifting exercise, the amount the lifter can (or can’t) engage the entire core to support the back, pre-existing back issues, and daily habits unrelated to the gym. Jobs with prolonged sitting as well as jobs with heavy lifting can both pose risks to the lumbar spine.

During a lift, if you’re using too much weight and your back rounds, you might’ve injured your back. Severe, unrelenting pain, inability to move the muscles of the legs, and trouble controlling bowel/bladder function, are indicators of an injury. Pain running down the back of the thigh toward the lower leg often indicates irritation of the sciatic nerve, but could also be caused by a muscle spasm in the low back or glutes.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The inflammation phase (injury is stabilized) of all musculoskeletal injuries is 5-7 days, and during this time it is suggested to avoid Romanian deadlifts (RDL), overhead squats, weighted squats, and all twisting motions. The repair (tissue formation begins) phase starts up to seven after the injury and can last up to two months. RDLs with light weight are OK during this phase, but avoid good mornings and Olympic lifts such as the hang/power clean. The remodeling phase (type 1 collagen production) can last anywhere from 2-4 months to a year, and we recommend adding the good morning exercise and slowly increasing weight with squats and integrating Olympic movements.

If you need help with back pain we recommend visiting our Physical therapy clinic, The Human Performance & Wellness Center.

“Lifting with a well-positioned, neutral-posture spine goes a long way to minize the risks of low back injury,” Mendler adds.

Warm up: A Smart start to your workout

• Warming up before exercise increases blood flow to your muscles and raises your body temperature.
• This can improve your performance and decrease your risk of injury.
• To warm up before you work out, do low-intensity exercise for five to 10 minutes.
• Try activities like walking, jogging or jumping jacks.
• Instead of static stretches, do dynamic stretches, which get your body moving.

This winter, whether you’re determined to workout outside even when it’s freezing or want to stick to the comfort of your at-home gym (aka your living room, bedroom or garage), there’s one important step before you start: your warmup.

Dr. Alison Putnam, a physician at the Sports Medicine Clinic at Ballard, explains how to effectively warm up for exercise — and why it’s so important to get your muscles warm before you work out.

How to warm up

While “warming up” might incite thoughts of reheating leftovers in the microwave, it also refers to getting your body ready for exercise.

“When you warm up, you’re working on improving blood flow to muscles and warming up muscle tissue,” says Putnam. “You usually want to do some form of low-intensity work that prepares you for the exercise you’re going to do.”

For instance, if you’re planning on going for a run, a low-intensity exercise that would properly warm you up is a slow jog. If you’re doing a strength workout such as weightlifting or Pilates, start with some jumping jacks to increase the blood flow to your muscles.

Other low-intensity warmups include going for a quick walk, pedaling on a bike, doing a few pushups or moving through some yoga poses.

Think of your warmup activity as movement that sightly elevates your heart rate and gets you working up a light sweat (as my favorite workout instructor calls it, “that glazed doughnut look”).

“Aim to warm up for around five to 10 minutes before you start your workout,” adds Putnam.

The dos and don’ts of stretching

If you were taught to do static stretches — where you sit and hold a stretch for what feels like minutes on end — before working out, try dynamic stretching instead. 

“Static stretches are not helpful before you work out,” says Putnam. “Dynamic stretching is better for warming up because it’s a stretch that involves motion.”

Three dynamic stretches that she suggests incorporating into your warmup routine:

Hamstring. To loosen up the back of your legs, stand with your feet on the ground and hinge at your hips, slowly bending over and then standing back up. Your legs should be straight, but don’t lock your knees.

Adductor. To loosen up the inside of your legs, walk your feet out into a wide stance with your feet facing forward and slowly lunge from side to side. Your knee should not go past your toes each time you lunge.

Chest and arms. To warm up your arm and chest muscles, grasp your hands behind your back and while keeping your arms straight, slowly raise your clasped hands up and back down. If you can’t reach your hands, use a strap to connect your hands behind your back. 

Do each dynamic stretch for 30-60 seconds. Then, do some low-intensity work for a few minutes and get going on your workout.

Why warming up is important

The benefits of warming up go far beyond looking like a glazed doughnut.

“Increasing your blood flow and the temperature of your muscles can increase your range of motion and decrease stiffness, which we think can contribute to decreased injury,” says Putnam. 

While results from studies that look at whether or not warming up reduces the risk of injury are somewhat inconclusive, the majority of evidence is in favor of warming up before exercise to decrease the risk of injury.

And with good reason: Jumping (literally) right into your workout without warming up your muscles is like trying to stretch a frozen rubber band. It’s more likely to snap or break, whereas a warm rubber band is stretchy and flexible.

“We also think that warming up can improve your performance,” adds Putnam.

Studies show that elevating your body temperature during a warmup increases the sensitivity of nerve receptors as well as the speed of nerve impulses. In other words, it gets your whole body — mind, muscles, nerves — turned on so that you’re ready to go and give it your best during your workout.

On top of all that, Putnam notes how a good warmup and workout can improve your mental health, too. 

“Warming up and exercise in general increases your relaxation and concentration, which is helpful — especially during a pandemic.”

Even more reason to include a warmup before your next workout

More Than Half of the Global Population Will Be Overweight or Obese by 2035, Report Predicts

If current trends continue, 51 percent of the world’s population will be overweight or obese by 2035, costing the world $4.32 trillion annually, according to a report released this month by the World Obesity Federation.

The World Obesity Atlas 2023, which is published annually on World Obesity Day (March 4) by the World Obesity Federation, predicts that more than 1.5 billion adults and nearly 400 million children will be obese in 2035, which is one in four people compared to one in seven people today.

When adding in people who are overweight, the number will total 4 billion, according to the organization.

Increases in obesity are rising more rapidly among children (ages five to 19 years old) than adults. Childhood obesity could more than double by 2035 compared to 2020 levels. For boys, rates are predicted to double to 208 million, and for girls, rates are anticipated to increase 125 percent to 175 million.

“This year’s Atlas is a clear warning that by failing to address obesity today, we risk serious repercussions in the future,” Prof. Louise Baur, president of the World Obesity Federation, said in the media announcement about the report. “It is particularly worrying to see obesity rates rising fastest among children and adolescents. Governments and policymakers around the world need to do all they can to avoid passing health, social and economic costs on to the younger generation. That means looking urgently at the systems and root factors that contribute to obesity and actively involving young people in the solutions. If we act together now, we have the opportunity to help billions of people in the future.”

The expected $4.32 trillion annual cost of obesity would equate to almost 3 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and is comparable with the impact of COVID-19 in 2020, according to the report.

Every region will see an increase in economic impact by 2035 with the Americas (North, Central and South America) shouldering the highest costs as a proportion of GDP (3.7 percent) and the Western Pacific region facing the highest total costs (US$1.56 trillion), the report predicts.

For North, Central and South America, the rates of obesity for boys will increase from 20 percent (24 million) in 2020 to 33 percent (35 million) in 2035 while for girls it will increase from 16 percent (18 million) in 2020 to 26 percent (27 million) in 2035.

For men in the Americas, the rate of obesity will grow from 32 percent (111 million) in 2020 to 47 percent (187 million) in 2035 while the rate for women will increase from 37 percent (135 million) in 2020 to 49 percent (208 million) in 2035.

The World Obesity Federation presented its report to the United Nations on March 6 and is calling on governments to develop national action plans to battle obesity. In 2020, a panel of global obesity experts developed a framework to help guide governments. The framework calls for:

recognizing the root causes of obesity
monitoring obesity data
investing in obesity prevention
ensuring access to treatments for obesity
adopting a systems-based approach to fighting obesity

If you feel that this is problem for you, schedule a nutrition consultation today at 843-663-6900.

Why is Building Muscle Beneficial?

Building muscle can do more for your body than just increasing strength. Yes, there’s a high that comes with hitting your squat max, but the benefit runs so much deeper than those feelings of accomplishment.

Muscle Building Offers Joint Support

Our muscles offer a huge support system to our joints. They absorb a bit of the impact that radiates through our knees and hips when running, jumping, and even walking. The more muscle we have, the more force gets absorbed, saving our joints from long-term damage. Our muscles also ensure our joints move the directions they’re supposed to. When our muscles are too weak to push against an opposing force, our joints may not be able to handle the impact, causing breaks and tears. This kind of support allows us better balance, preventing those kinds of accidents before they happen.

More Muscle Building Helps to Burn More Calories

Though the difference is not as significant as many assume it to be, increasing your muscle mass also increases your metabolism, meaning you burn more calories at rest in a day. A pound of muscle burns around 13 calories a day, whereas a pound of fat tissue only burns about 4. If you’re bulking, though, you may be needing food more than this discrepancy accounts for.

That being said if you’re putting on muscle, you’re definitely working out more often, and inherently burning more calories throughout your day.

Muscle Helps Build Strong Bones

Believe it or not, putting extra pressure on our bones is actually what helps them grow. So, loading the bones with some heavy barbell squats or a kettlebell overhead press are actually helping them become more sturdy. Bone density becomes increasingly important when it comes to aging. Bone mass gradually decreases as we get older, making them more fragile and thus more susceptible to breaks, in a process known as osteoporosis. This is why you so commonly hear about Grandma’s hip breaking after a small fall from the stoop. Building muscle can help prevent these accidents from happening to you in the future.

Muscle Helps Blood Levels

Gaining strength can even help our blood composition. Our muscles use both glucose and fatty acids for fuel. This keeps our blood sugar levels down. Elevated blood sugar can cause long term effects, such as blood vessels damage and a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, and nerve problems.

Yes, Muscle Makes You Look Good

Yes, there are the obvious aesthetic benefits to adding muscle mass to your frame. Your clothes will fit better, some people might consider you more attractive, and you’ll feel more confident. Those are all big reasons that drive guys to spend hours in the gym pumping iron in the pursuit of gains. There’s no shame in making your aesthetic a reason to get in the gym – it still leads to all the other health benefits.

While there’s so many reasons to focus on muscle building, there’s more to it than just showing up to the gym, hefting some weights, and calling it a day. You’ll need to be a bit more intentional for effective muscle growth. To build muscle, you must push your muscles to the limit, then let them recover and grow stronger as they do. And to do this, you must create the proper recovery environment for them when you’re not in the gym.

This means your quest to build muscle involves a host of variables over a 24-hour period. The things you do in the gym to push your muscles to the limit count. So does the “work” you put in during the other 20 or so hours when you’re away from the gym, everything from rest to nutrition to active recovery. All of this can affect how you build muscle.

5 Problems with rapid fat loss & quick Fixes and What You Should Do Instead

THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!! Fast fat loss and other promises of quick-fixes for building a better body. And it makes total sense.

Check out these two “headlines”  Which one is most appealing?

•You can lose 10 pounds of ugly, unwanted body fat in only 7 days!

Or…

•Lose 10 pounds of body fat in 10 weeks and keep it off long-term!

The first headline — lose 10 pounds in only 7 days — tugs at your heart strings and promises an immediate solution.

The second headline — lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks — not as exciting or sexy, right? I mean come on; only lose one lousy pound per week? Pffft. That’s nothing. Why wait 10 weeks when you can follow the first approach and lose it in only 7 days?

The possibility, heck, the GUARANTEE of losing 10 lbs. in a week is WAAAAAY more exciting!  We want to see the rewards for our efforts as soon as possible.  We have all been programmed to want immediate results.

So, that begs the question – What’s Wrong with Quick-Fixes and Rapid Fat Loss?

So many things, actually.

It is extremely rare that we would ever recommend a quick-fix or rapid fat loss solution.

Here is why:

Problem 1: More often than not, the method required to achieve drastic fat loss & immediate results can’t be sustained long-term.  The methods simply are not maintainable for most lifestyles.

What this means is the you probably will achieve results if you follow the plan, but most won’t be able to maintain the training style or results long-term. Stop trying to do it all at once!  At some point, even with the best of intentions, you stop the diet/program and then regain the weight back because the training regimen was too impractical.

This applies to many (if not all) diets and “hardcore” fitness programs that promise rapid transformation and require, in some cases, 1-2 hours of gym time per day, most days per week.

Plenty of people have achieved amazing, almost unbelievable, results while following such programs, but once they discontinue it, they find themselves right back where they started…or in worse condition.

And this, folks, is the beginning of a vicious cycle. This is why:

Go on a new diet / exercise plan -> Lose some weight (yay!) -> Realize the diet is too strict or the training plan is too tough -> Give up -> Regain lost fat, and then some -> Experience guilt from “failing” ->  Fall further into a funk, eating – whatever, working out – never, because, I mean, what’s the point anyway -> Experience MORE guilt ->  Go on a NEW diet/training plan . . . repeat the whole thing over again. And again. And, again…see where I am going with this?!?

If you are tired of this seemingly endless cycle, CONTACT US today! We will help you get results that last!

Problem 2: The plan is too stressful and complicated, so you give up almost immediately.

This leaves the you feeling like a total failure since you couldn’t adhere to the program. While some people can stick to a rigid diet or workout program for a few weeks or even months, some even longer, MOST abandon the routine after only a couple of weeks, if not sooner.

We’re sure you’ve had friends who started a new diet or workout program and quickly gave up, or maybe you’ve experienced this personally. Asking people to do something drastically different than what they’re currently doing is a recipe for disaster. Key word being, “drastically.” Change is good. And some people may need/want a lifestyle overhaul, but it should be done over time, not in a matter of months, or worse yet, weeks.

It’s not practical to ask someone who doesn’t eat very well to follow a rigid eating plan combined with other “rules”, meal combinations, and other guidelines and a new intense, overcomplicated training plan. 

It is also not realistic to expect a busy individual to work out every single day of the week, multiple times per day, at a crazy high intensity.

Most people begin these programs/diets with the best of intentions. They’re motivated and determined to finally lose the excess fat they’ve accumulated.  They are willing to do WHATEVER it takes…except PUT IN THE TIME necessary to achieve the desired results in a safe, lasting way.  Patience and dedication to the process are SO important.  And, when their life revolves around a super intense program and the stress becomes too much, they quit.

Now, they (you) are left thinking, “Great, I’ve failed again. I’ll never lose the weight.”

They’re left discouraged, frustrated, and believing that building a better looking and healthier body is way too complicated (but it’s really not) and something they’ll never accomplish. 

Problem 3: You always expect rapid fat loss and refuse to settle for anything less than immediate results

Thank you pretty much every online fitness guru and fitness celebrity! If you didn’t read that last sentence with extreme sarcasm, please go back and read it again…I will wait.  When scrolling any of the social media platforms, you are no doubt, inundated with promises of rapid weight-loss programs or nutrition plans. You know the ones – “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days!” Or, “Get a 6 pack in just 6 minutes a day!” The list goes on and on, but I think you get the point.

Let’s just assume that any or even ALL of those claims hold up and you are able to see the promised results. What happens next? What happens upon completion of any of those magical programs? Well, most of the time, the participant finds out how difficult, or even impossible, it is to maintain or continue to see such results. Then comes the frustration, anger, and feeling like a failure.

Rapid fat loss programs or quick-fixes get you addicted to very noticeable, drastic results to the point that you expect and accept nothing less.

You end up frustrated and disappointed when you should be celebrating every victory, no matter how seemingly small.

Problem 4: Quick-Fix programs don’t teach you how to achieve and maintain results long-term

This is critical. Because most quick-fix programs are very rigid, this teaches you nothing about building and maintaining lifelong habits.  You are simply checking off exercises as you complete them like it is nothing more than a “to-do list.”

My job as a trainer and coach is to help guide my members in developing a lifestyle they can sustain long-term. Our philosophy at 8 ONE 8 is designed to be simple, yet effective, and our training and teaching is designed to energize, inspire, and get LONG TERM, LASTING results at all levels.

Problem 5: Can lead to obsessive compulsive or disordered eating habits

This tends to be the case with rapid fat loss diets and programs.  What you will find with these programs is usually a severe caloric deficit, strictly limiting or eliminating certain food groups, and other rigid rules that must be followed. 

These strict rules, and especially the elimination of certain foods and food groups, is a recipe for disaster for a lot of people.   It is so hard to follow these “diet” plans without wavering, that if you slip (and most will, a time or two) you find it very difficult to get back on track. If you are able to overcome a slip, you may overcompensate and self-impose even more restrictive (dangerous) eating habits to “get back on track.” This is the kind of destructive pattern that can eventually lead to obsessive compulsive or disordered eating habits.  We recommend a more well-rounded solution to improving your eating habits.

It’s time to ditch-quick fix diets, break free from binge eating, and be rid of obsessive eating habits for good.

So, what now?

Step One — Ditch the quick-fix mindset

Don’t search for some “holy grail” method or strive to achieve your results overnight.

Yes, drastic, immediate results are possible. But as we have outlined, there are plenty of negatives to a quick-fix approach. My advice: Choose the option that will encourage, and assist you in achieving, sustainable, lasting results.

Step Two — Think both short- and long-term

I’m sure the “think short-term” part is confusing since I just told you to ditch the quick-fix mindset, so allow me to clarify. Think short-term in regards to the process itself. Learn to enjoy the journey.

Don’t become obsessed with your goal (e.g. losing 20 pounds of fat, wearing smaller clothes, etc.) that you forget about today.

Be proud of everything you accomplish. Whether it’s trying a new, delicious food, going to the gym for a great workout, or saying something kind about your body. Celebrate every victory, no matter how small.

Likewise, you need to think long-term. Your journey to build, and maintain, the body you want shouldn’t be about “looking great for swimsuit season” and nothing else. Your goal should be to develop sustainable habits that not only allow you to achieve your goal, but maintain it long-term.

Sustainable, lifelong habits will save you a lot of unnecessary stress and frustration that comes from following quick-fix solutions.

Step Three — Keep it simple

Again, it doesn’t matter what goal you have, you should keep everything simple – not to be confused with “easy.”  The process won’t be easy.  You will have to push yourself and step outside your comfort zone.  However, reaching your health, performance, and physique goals doesn’t need to be complicated.

Focus on the few, important things that will lead you closer to your goals and ignore the minor details. Focus on the tried and true strategies, movements, and principles that have been proven time and again to garner results.  Remember the saying, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Make one small, easy change at a time if necessary. Master that change, then make another one.

By keeping things simple you’ll continue to make progress, build momentum, and set yourself up for success.

Step Four — We can’t stress this step enough – Accept that the results may come at a slower than expected rate

If you follow a program or adjust your eating habits in a way that’s simple and sustainable, results will most likely come at a much slower rate than if you were to follow a quick fix, rapid fat loss, program – AND THAT IS OK!!

Slower results, are, after all, RESULTS and should NOT discourage you.

This is why we encourage you to have a short-term mindset and enjoy the journey itself. When you’re enjoying the process instead of going through the motions just to achieve the results, you’ll have fun, discover your true potential, learn a lot, and become the best possible version of yourself.

Remember — the goal is not simply to build the body you want, but rather, build it AND be able to sustain it.

Keep things simple.

Be consistent.

Enjoy the journey.

Become the best possible version of yourself.