As it turns out, the exercises synonymous with strong, attractive abs may not be the best way to train your core—and may be doing damage to your back. 

“We stopped teaching people to do crunches a long, long time ago,” says Dr. Richard Guyer, president of the Texas Back Institute.  That’s because the “full flex” movement—the actual “crunch” part of crunches – puts an unhealthy strain on your back at its weakest point. The section with the most nerves (and most potential for nerve damage) is in the back of the spine, which is the very part that bends and strains during a sit-up.

“There are only so many bends or a ‘fatigue life’,” in your spinal disks,” says Stuart M. McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo. Inside each disk is a mucus-like nucleus, he says, and “if you keep flexing your spine and bending the disk over and over again, that nucleus slowly breaches the layers and causes a disk bulge, or a disk herniation.”  A herniated disk won’t show through your swimsuit, but it’s no fun, and can cause persistent back and leg pain, weakness, and tingling.

Think of the oft-repeated advice for movers: bend at the hips and lift with your legs, not your back. And what is a sit-up but a back bend done in a lying position? “When people are doing curl up over gym balls and sit-ups, and this kind of thing, they are replicating a very potent injury mechanism on their back,” says McGill. “Every time they bend it they are one repetition closer to damaging the disk.”

And of course, when people do crunches, they rarely stop at one or two: in the quest for flat abs, they’ll churn out dozens at a time, bringing them ever closer to  “flex intolerance”—so much pain and stiffness that it’s difficult to tie one’s shoes or bend down to pick a penny off the ground.

But who cares about back health as bathing suit season approaches? Turns out, crunches might not be the best solution for a flat stomach, either. That’s because doing too many sit-ups at the expense of other, more comprehensive movements can lead to the dreaded “aerobic abs.”  That’s the term celebrity trainer Steve Maresca coined to describe the distended stomachs of those who focus only on the rectus abdominus muscles targeted by sit-ups and crunches. “They look great from the front, but when they turn to the side, their stomachs are extended,” he says. To get the long, lean look, one needs to work transverse abdominius, a large muscle that holds in those rectus abs, and is mainly unchallenged by traditional ab work (aka, the sit-up and crunches).

Doing a sit-up doesn’t train your ab muscles to do the job for which they were designed – keeping your spine straight and secure and providing power for your movements. In everyday life, “the abdominals are braces,” says McGill, author of “Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance” (Stuart McGill, 2004). When doing any athletic movement—even opening a door—“the spine is in a neutral posture, not flexed, and the abdominal muscles are contracted to brace the spine.”

The best way—for both your back and your beach body—to work your midsection is to do movements that challenge the muscles to perform the way they’re designed and expected to work in real life, and not to train muscles in isolation. “It’s important to have strong abs, but strong abdominals are not the only thing,” says Dr. Guyer. “You have your back extenders, your flexors, which are belly muscles, you have your oblique muscles.” Working all of these muscle groups—the anatomical association known as “the core”—is essential to both back health and general athleticism.

As a result, only training for good-looking abs won’t add to your athleticism or overall strength. On the other hand, moves not traditionally designed for good-looking abs can in fact help strengthen and tone those muscles.

Consider the pushup. Not usually thought of as a great ab move, the pushup forces you to work several muscles at once: it forces your core muscles to stabilize your trunk as your arms and back work to move the body up and down. “Do you see how a pushup is a full body challenge?” says McGill. “It challenges abdominals, front of your legs, your arms and your back. That is how you use those muscles in real life.”

Like the pushup, the best exercises for back health and a firmer stomach are ones that work your abs while holding your spine straight, like planks or leg drops (done when you lie flat on your back, with your hands at the base of your spine for added support. Raise your legs up at a 90 degree angle, then slowly lower until they’re only inches from the ground. Repeat until your stomach burns and you want to throw up). And because your core is the center of power for most other exercises, a long workout full of dynamic movements targeting legs, arms and back also translates to a good core workout.

Of course, it won’t matter how muscular your torso is if your body fat is too high. The best way to build strong, visible abs isn’t through repeated sit-ups, but by engaging in circuit training that has you working your entire core while you’re burning calories – and to keep yourself disciplined during meals. “If you want to burn your fat mass, make sure you have a combination of weight training and cardiovascular, but 90 percent of good abs is your nutrition,” says Maresca. However, he does offer a quick tip for those of us with a weakness for caloric food: standing up straight and pulling back your shoulders will instantly tighten your transverse abdominal muscle, making you look a little leaner. It’s not quite as impressive as showcasing a well-developed core via 10 percent body fat, but it does leave a lot more time and flexibility for hitting up happy hour.

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If you are worried about the excess holiday pounds many of us are still carrying around. There are a few easy, natural things you can do to shed them, and none of them requires any unhealthy fad diets.

Enjoy real foods

You might have heard this one already, but it’s really worth repeating: Forget the ready-made snacks and foods that attract you with colorful packaging and marketing spiel. Rule of thumb says that the more that a food is processed, the more it is stripped of natural fiber, difficult to digest and likely to release toxins into your system.

Snack on real foods like raw, unsalted nuts, raw fruits and vegetables or lightly cooked ones, all of which have plenty of fiber, flavor and natural goodness

Avoid fad diets

This means no shake for breakfast, shake for lunch, no small meals microwaved in plastic. No all-protein diets for weeks on end. No pills, and no injections. These type of quick-fix diets appeal to our desire for an immediate result, but they are short-sighted and will often lead to more weight gain once you revert back to your old diet. Remember that your diet should be what you eat normally, not a set of foods for a short period of time where you feel like you are depriving yourself. Adopting healthier eating habits is a much better way to lose weight and keep it off, and to get fit and stay fit.

Start Your Day with Hot Lemon Water

Most of the foods we eat – like pasta, cookies, breads, and meat – create acid in our system. The more acid-creating food we eat, the more body fat is required to cope with it. Contrary to, well, common sense, lemon’s effect on your body is alkaline, meaning that it actually lowers the built-up acid in your system. Drinking a glass of hot lemon water (hot water mixed with a few drops of lemon) when you wake up each morning is a good way to control your weight. The less acid in your system, the less fat your body needs to store.

Forget lunch on the run

Our culture – and particularly families – favor dinner over lunch, as suppertime is typically family-bonding time. But your digestive system is most powered-up when the sun is at its peak point in the sky: noontime. So switch it up; make lunch the most important meal of the day. Swap your sandwich habit for a nutritious mid-day meal, then eat a smaller meal or snack in the evening. The family can get together over moderate sized bowls of soup just as well as it could over chicken and mashed potatoes.

Eat smaller portions

Most of us tend to eat whatever is served up on a plate. But a plateful of food in the average American meal is often two or three times the size of what your stomach can optimally digest. An easy way to judge your ideal serving size for an average meal is to visualize the amount that you can hold in your hands when your palms are placed together. This leaves enough space for your stomach’s digestive juices to work with air and space elements to break down and churn food.

Eat meals according to your metabolism

While we are all told to eat three meals a day, this might not actually be ideal for everyone. You should not skip meals, but instead try to understand your metabolism rate, and plan accordingly. The way to maintain a healthy weight, is to keep your metabolism active. If you have a quicker metabolism, eat smaller meals several times day. If you have a slower metabolism rate, then eat fewer, slightly larger meals. But whatever you do, always maintain regular eating times. Skipping meals altogether slows down your metabolism and interferes with digestion and healthy weight maintenance.

Get to the core of it

Don’t underestimate the power of core strength exercises when it comes to digestion. You might think the objective all those trips to the gym is a toned and fit-looking body. Who doesn’t want a six pack when jogging on the treadmill in her sports bra? In actuality, strengthening your core is as much about balancing your digestion as it is about exercising. Toned muscles in and around your mid-section “massage” your intestines and aid in digestion –helping with the absorption of nutrients and the flushing out of waste products. Adding core strength exercise like Pilates, yoga, dance, or even guided weight-training will also keep in check your digestive system and weight. Try out some of our Pilates, or yoga videos.

Rid Yourself of the 5-A-Day Mindset

While you might think that getting five servings of fruits and vegetables everyday is all you need, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) says you should be having much more than that. Fruits and vegetables are naturally low in calories and provide essential nutrients and dietary fiber necessary for healthy digestion and weight maintenance.

Your daily fruit and vegetable needs depend on your calorie needs, which in turn are determined by your age, sex, and physical activity level. MyPyramid.gov is a great resource for healthy eating; enter your age, sex, and activity level, and get a personal eating plan that includes the appropriate amount of calories and recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables.

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Exercise, diet and sleep. The three major components of health and well-being that we have control over.

We talked about the exercise economies and new measures ( mostly FREE ) we are putting into action, ( and I did forget to mention bikes, roller-blades and skipping ropes we have hidden away that we need to get re-acquainted with ).

So today here are five tips on what we can do to bring down the grocery bills:

1. Make a list and stick to it..do not impulse buy magazines and desserts, biscuits etc.  Make sure you are not hungry when you start your shop….fatal.
2. Make a list of which organic ingredients you will not sacrifice. Mine are eggs and fruits. My girlfriend who eats chickens would never again buy a non-free roaming bird again. We all have our ethical reasons as well as what our taste-buds tell us. I assume most of you like a little or a lot of organic or else you wouldn’t be reading a health web-site, so have a good think about what is important to you, and what you can substitute with non-organic.
3. Can you grow anything? I have 2 window boxes of herbs and 2 big round pots outside the kitchen door for baby tomato plants. If you have a garden, get into those raised beds and start cultivating…as long as you warm-up before-hand, the gardening is great as exercise and  you’re breathing fresh air ! Get digging.
4. Cut down on the red-meats …that’ll save you money and it’s great to get back to a good joint of meat being a treat on a weekend from your local butcher.
5. Clip coupons from the newspaper and from in-store brochures / fliers. It opens you up to new brands and products and then think of them as a new ” treat”.

There are many other ways too…but if you stick to these simple five, you’ll be amazed how you can keep a really healthy diet but not succumb to over-packaging and over-priced processed goods.

Can I state the obvious too….DRINK LOADS OF WATER…often we eat sugary or processed foods when we are actually dehydrated and not in need of sugar. So out go the carbonated drinks for this shopping trip too!

Let me know how you fare and add your favorite tips too.

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…” they ” are not necessarily the bank-managers or your bosses or the government….at the end of the day you decide for economies sake what has to go, you have to make the decision to take away some of your luxuries ( you may even say they are necessities ) and for each of us this is different.

I have just had 2 clients this week say they can no longer afford the luxury of Pilates classes. For others it is the gym membership, for others the constant hair coloring at the hair-dressers. So we make a choice of what we can cut-down on whilst the going is getting tough.

It is all too easy to get down about this…we are all affected by the Global economy..but here are some of the positives , yes I did say positives I have noted.

Best girlfriend numero uno has given up the cigarettes and started long daily walks to keep the weight gain in control.
Alongside the walks ( yes they are free ) we have seen an upturn in traffic of folks all over the world doing their exercises at home and cutting back on private dance/ yoga / Pilates and gym classes.
!! As you know MyBodyZone is Free.

So although i,ve lost cash from my clients i know more of you out there are watching your screens and getting advice and inspiration from us here at Mybodyzone.

Here’s what we can do with what we have left:

1. If you’re not out walking..ask yourself why not? Some of us have very valid reasons, but many not, so just put that questions by yourself …how much fitter would i become and how much would i save in gym membership? Taxis? Petrol? or Bus fares by walking? If it’s cold , wrap-up you burn more calories. If it’s hot, wear a hat, sunscreen , carry water and sweat out those toxins….

2. Many of us have bought fitness equipment in the past. A skipping rope, a pair of training shoes, you may have even access to small pieces of equipment like a trampete, stretch bands, hand weights, a balance ball.

Whatever you already have..start using it. You’ll feel fitter and more righteous for putting those purchases to use.

Listen some of you out there even having running machines and steppers and rowers…it’s time to drag them out, dust them down and get dirty with them!!!

Set yourself the challenge of doing 10 to 20 minutes with those bits of equipment 3 to 5 times a week..whatever suits your lifestyle.

3. Check in to Mybodyzone and find some helpful hints and inspiration.
Start with Essential Core 1 and do this at least 3 times a week.
If you have time to do others, great.

4. Apart from walking and Mybodyzone, breathing is an essential for maintaining great health and well-being. It feeds us on a deep cellular level…listen to Prasads instructions on MYbodyzone. Breathing is a free de-toxification!

5. Affirmations. Yes as Joseph Pilates ( amongst others) said ” it is the mind that makes the body”. You are what you think you are. You are strong and vibrant and slim and attractive..you think this , you are this, you attract this.
Find a phrase or sentence or mantra if you like, and repeat this in a morning on awakening, during your down time during the day (even if this is only the 3 minutes you have whilst at the toilet!!!), and before going to sleep….

I want to hear all about what happens, write and let me know how you’ve turned this negative into a positive.
I think you’ll feel richer than ever with what you have left, and the feeling of using our resources with awareness and mindfullness is truly the path to health and happiness

5 easy steps that can really make a difference to what you’ve been left with when ” they” take it all away.
Stay Positive and Profit.

With love and light from Kay.

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Jennifer Lopez managed to lose three stone 2lbs (20kg) after the birth of here twins, Max and Emme. She got back to her pre-pregnancy weight of eight stone seven pounds (54kg) in only eight weeks. Her secret is her body coach Gunnar Peterson and her desire to complete a triathlon! Now, not all of us can afford personal trainers, or have the drive to get up at 4am and then have the staff to look after the babies when we collapse with exhaustion later in the day. But we can all follow her low carb high protein diet accompanied by some sensible exercising.

The ideal diet varies from person to person, but one thing that is clear is that many health professionals and even our Governments advise intakes of carbohydrate that are greater than is good for us.

In particular, while starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and breakfast cereals have for a long time been promoted as wholesome, nutritious and healthy, the reality is that they tend to be bad for blood sugar and insulin levels in a way that can lead to all sorts of problems including weight gain, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Critics of low carbohydrate diets often do so on the basis of safety. This is ironic because there is actually quite a bit of evidence which shows that lower-carb diets generally lead to significant improvement in certain markers for disease including blood fat levels and measures of blood sugar status.

One such study was published in the on-line journal Nutrition and Metabolism. This study took 50 overweight or obese individuals (average body mass index 33.6) and randomised them to eat one of two test diets. One of these diets was relatively low in protein and rich in carbohydrate. The other was higher in protein (1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight) and lower in carbohydrate (less than 170 g of carbohydrate compared to more than 240 g in the other diet). Both diets were calorie-restricted, supplying 500 calories less per day than the amount estimated to be required to maintain stable weight. The study lasted for four months.

At the end of the study, the higher protein, lower carb eaters had lost more weight (9.1 per cent compared to 7.3 per cent of those eating more carb and less protein), though the difference was not statistically significant. The group eating less carb lost more fat than the higher carb consumers, and this difference was statistically significant (8.7 per cent v 5.7 per cent).

Higher fat loss is important here, because it reminds us that weight loss tells us nothing about what actually has been lost. For individuals who are carry extra fat, fat is the thing that is what needs shifting, and the higher protein, lower carb diet was the clear winner here. And part of the explanation may lie in the fact that the lower carbohydrate diet, in theory at least, should have led to lower levels of the hormone insulin, which happens to be the chief hormone responsible for fat deposition in the body.

Evidence which supports this concept comes from the finding in this study that the lower carb diet led to lower insulin levels after eating compared to the higher carb diet. The difference was statistically significant. Less insulin might not only mean less fat, it may well mean lower risk of type 2 diabetes in time too.

Other statistically significant benefits of the higher protein, lower carb diet were seen in the levels of triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol.

The authors of this study conclude: “A weight loss diet with moderate carbohydrate, moderate protein results in more favorable changes in body composition, dyslipidemia, and post-prandial INS [insulin] response compared to a high carbohydrate, low protein diet suggesting an additional benefit beyond weight management to include augmented risk reduction for metabolic disease.”

Sample High Protein Low Carb Menu

Everyone’s needs are different, which is why the National Academy of Sciences recommends a range of 10% to 35% of calories from protein. If you’re eating a higher-protein diet, try daily menus like this one to get the most nutrition from your low-carb lifestyle.

Breakfast
Yogurt fruit crunch with:

Low fat yogurt (8 oz. or 1 cup)
Sliced fresh fruit: banana, strawberries, blueberries (1/2 cup)
Low fat cereal (3/4 cup)
Orange juice fortified with calcium (6 oz.)

Lunch
Vegetable soup (1 cup)

Spinach salad with:
Fresh spinach (1 cup)
One hard-boiled egg
Sliced, grilled chicken breast (3 oz.)
Shredded carrots (1/2 cup)
Sliced mushrooms (1/2 cup)
Dried cranberries (2 tablespoons)
Crumbled feta cheese (1 tablespoons)
Chopped almonds (1 tablespoons)
Low calorie dressing (2 tablespoons)
Whole grain crackers (4 to 6)

Sparkling water with lemon

Dinner
Roasted Pecan Salmon [see recipe below]
Steamed asparagus with lemon (1/2 cup)
Brown rice with chopped red pepper (1/2 cup)
Mixed green salad with cherry tomatoes and light vinaigrette (1 cup w/ 2 tablespoons dressing)
One whole-grain roll

Iced tea (unsweetened)

Snack
One cup skim milk and 1/2 cup berries blended with ice to make a shake.

ROASTED PECAN SALMON
Ingredients:
4 salmon filets (4-6 oz. each)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons seasoned breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons chopped pecans
1 teaspoon parsley
Wedges of fresh lemon

Preparation:
1. Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper. Place skin side down on baking sheet.
2. Combine mustard and honey, brush on top of salmon.
3. Mix topping of breadcrumbs, nuts, and parsley and sprinkle over salmon.
4. Bake at 400 degrees 10-15 minutes or until flaky. Serve with wedges of fresh lemon.
Nutritional Information per serving: 265 calories, 29 grams protein, 9 grams carbohydrate, 12 grams fat, 1.6 g saturated fat, 4.7 g monounsaturated fat, 4.3 g polyunsaturated fat, 78 mg cholesterol, 0.4 grams fiber, 282 grams sodium and 42% calories from fat.

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This is a great detail to accompany any exercise that involves placing your weight on your wrists, but it is particularly good for exercises such as the Yoga Video - Sun Salutation B or Surya Namaskara B and Yoga Video - Sun Salutation A

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This is a great breakfast, or a brilliant way to get some essential nutrition into your kids.

1 cup milk
1 cup of oatmeal
1 banana
1 cup orange juice

Cut banana into chunks.
Place all ingredients in blender container.
Blend until smooth.
2 servings

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Apart from sheer laziness, one of the ways I justify my lack of gym membership cards is that the whole idea of getting on a piece of energy-using equipment just to use our energy seems like such a waste of, well, energy! And how many regular gym-goers do you know who drive the short distance to the gym, only to then cycle nowhere on a stationary bike?

However, we do still need to find ways to keep fit. So here are ten tips for working out without running down the environment.

Work out at home

There’s a reason a ton of celebrity DVD’s are brought out every year: working out at home is easy and convenient. Plenty of routines—like weight training, yoga, or Pilates—require nothing more than a mat and some room to lunge or squat, so it’s possible to put together a cardio and strength training combination that you can do while watching Friends before dinner. Try creating a home gym using equipment that requires you to generate the power. You could use dumbbells, tubing, kettle bells, jump ropes and self-powered cardio machines such as spinning bikes and rowing machines.

Go outside
Electrically powered exercise machines at fitness centers and home gyms require a lot of energy to operate, but why waste the energy required to run a treadmill or stationery bike when the whole world is waiting for you? Lacing up a pair of running shoes and going for a jog is the simplest workout; all you need are the shoes. Walking, hiking, biking and jogging are all great cardiovascular activities. Along the way, stop to strength train by using your body weight for resistance with lunges, squats, push-ups, pull-ups, dips and step-ups. If you’re not a runner, you still have options: hit your local hiking trails, take your bike out for a spin, or just add a daily walk to your lunch hour. Not only will you get a great workout, you’ll also have lots of fun connecting with the natural world and your community. You can go it alone, enlist a workout partner or even start a workout group in your neighborhood.

Give your gadgets a charge
Why not hook your stationary bike up to a generator, or battery and use it to power electrical appliances from iPods to televisions and laptops. There are kits (like this one) that are simple to install and give you an extra motivational push to make sure you don’t skip your daily workout.

Join a gym
Okay, okay, I know I just said don’t go to the gym, but the reality is that sometimes there are factors that make it nearly impossible to start your own program—winter blizzards, cramped apartments, and late hours all make working out at home much trickier than hitting the gym on your lunch hour. And using the machines already at the gym is better than buying your own. But try to green your gym experience as much as you can: don’t use two towels when one (or zero!) will do, bring a reusable water bottle, and set the treadmill to a higher incline so it uses less energy. If you live in Hong Kong there is also the option of a human powered gym!

Get Sociabubble
Working out with other people is one of the most effective ways to stick with your plan; keeping each other accountable helps you both get fit faster. Finding a jogging partner or a tennis opponent makes it easier to schedule your workouts (and harder to skip them); even better, sign up for a group race or join a larger team to play soccer, softball, volleyball, or any other sport you love. Bonus: The team will likely have a lot of the equipment already, so you can skip buying your own or share.

Fuel right
Make sure your body is fueled with fresh, organic food, and skip the junk. Go for organic energy bars that don’t include ingredients like sugar or artificial colors and flavors, and that are made from fruit, nuts, fiber, protein, and natural (not trans) fats. Before you exercise, fuel yourself with a snack that’s high in carbs and low in fat—like pretzels—and drink lots of water. After your session, snack on a combination of carbs and protein to replenish your energy supplies.

Mix it up
Replace inactive parts of your daily life with activity and you want have to find any extra time. Try walking or riding your bike to work (yes even in the winter you softie) or walking to the supermarket or post office and you’ll save gas and get fitter.

Green gear
Even do-anywhere workouts (like yoga) are easier with a mat, and a biking routine is a bit difficult without the old two-wheeled thing. But you don’t have to buy new. Check the web, or your local sporting goods store (or your closet) for deals on used bikes, weights, and other equipment. Eco-friendly yoga mats, which are made of non-PVC materials, are easy to find, and you might be surprised at how good your workout can be just using everyday household objects.

Dress right
Fancy fabrics help sweat evaporates before it dries on your skin, they keep you dry and warm, and the shoes are cushioned according to your sport. But there are eco-alternatives, too: sneakers made with recycled rubber soles (just be sure to recycle them when you’re done), tops and pants that combine soy and organic cotton blends, and coconut shells transformed into breathable fabrics. Look for companies with sustainable business practices, like Patagonia, REI, and Nau.

Encourage others to change
Having decided that you want to join the gym, you can still encourage your local health club to make some green changes: restrict the use of towels, invest in energy-efficient machines, offer recycling bins for water bottles (or, even better, stop selling them altogether), set up the televisions to shut off when the machines aren’t in use. You could also talk to your workout partner about switching indoor workouts for weekend hikes or bike rides. At the very least it will bring some variety into what can become a boring routine.

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