by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Posture
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Kathryna Hancock
There’s so much to love about a strong midsection � most importantly, it’s essential for a healthy body.
Fact: strengthening the core helps improve posture, prevent everyday injury, and combat chronic back pain, which is all too common if you sit at a desk all day.
Keep in mind that this isn’t a beginner workout. “If you feel your back or hip flexors too much while doing these exercises, it’s an indication that your abs aren’t strong enough to perform them,” he said. In that scenario, you can always reduce the amount of reps, modify the moves, or opt for a more beginner-friendly workout.
The workout: Run through the five-move circuit for a total of three times. Do your best to minimise breaks between each move.
Double Leg Lifts
What�s Your Reaction? Thanks for your reaction Don�t forget to share this with your friends!
Image Source: POPSUGAR Studios
- Lay flat on the ground with your legs extended straight up toward the ceiling. Place your hands underneath the back of your head. For added stability, Austin recommends laying your arms out to your side, allowing the palms to grip the floor much like you would in a push-up position.
- Pressing your lower back into the ground, slowly lower both legs down toward the floor, then slowly raise them back up. If this is too difficult, lower them as much as you can, or lower one leg at a time.
- Complete 10 to 15 reps.
1 / 5
Hip Dips
What�s Your Reaction? Thanks for your reaction Don�t forget to share this with your friends!
Image Source: POPSUGAR Studios
- Begin in a side elbow plank on your right side with straight legs and your feet stacked.
- Inhale and lower your pelvis to the floor, so your right hip hovers just off the floor. Exhale and press up through your right waist to lift your pelvis and return to side plank. Pull your right shoulder blade down your back to stabilize your shoulder.
- Repeat for a total of 10 to 15 reps to complete a set, then switch sides.
2 / 5
V Crunch
What�s Your Reaction? Thanks for your reaction Don�t forget to share this with your friends!
Image Source: POPSUGAR Studios
- Lying on your back, lift your legs and arms up so they are extended toward the ceiling. Lift your upper back off the floor, reaching your hands toward your feet.
- Lower your legs toward the floor while reaching your arms overhead, keeping your shoulders off the mat and your lower back pressed into the ground.
- Repeat the crunch motion to complete one rep.
- Complete 15 reps.
3 / 5
Alternating Two-Point Plank
What�s Your Reaction? Thanks for your reaction Don�t forget to share this with your friends!
Image Source: POPSUGAR Studios
- Start in a plank position with your hands directly under your shoulders and your feet in line with your hips. Lift your left leg off the ground so your heel is even with your pelvis.
- Keeping your torso steady, reach your right arm forward. Really brace through your abs by pulling your navel to your spine. Hold this position for about three seconds.
- Return to plank, then switch sides, lifting your right leg off the ground and reaching your left arm forward. Hold for three seconds and return to plank. This is one rep.
- Complete 8 to 10 reps.
4 / 5
Bicycle Crunches
What�s Your Reaction? Thanks for your reaction Don�t forget to share this with your friends!
Image Source: POPSUGAR Studios
- Lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the ground (pull your abs down to also target your deep abs).
- Put your hands behind your head.
- Bring your knees in toward your chest and lift your shoulder blades off the ground, but be sure not to pull on your neck.
- Straighten your right leg out to about a 45-degree angle to the ground while turning your upper body to the left, bringing your right elbow toward the left knee. Make sure your rib cage is moving and not just your elbows.
- Switch sides and do the same motion on the other side to complete one rep (and to create the “peddling” motion).
- Do 15 to 25 reps at a quick pace.
Repeat the circuit for a total of three times.
5 / 5
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Chiropractic
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
Latest Diet & Weight Management News
TUESDAY, May 9, 2017 (HealthDay News) — A new brain scan study suggests that people whose brains are wired to produce a more muted response to food may ultimately compensate by eating more, thereby raising their risk for obesity.
The new investigation also unearthed possible evidence of a gender divide in the way men and women process the experience of eating. Women’s brains, it appears, may favor a more emotional response to the eating experience, while men are built to focus on how food satisfies the senses.
If so, such brain-wiring differences might explain why women struggle with weight more than men do.
“At this point, these are only speculations which need to be tested in future experiments,” stressed study co-author Arpana Gupta. She is an assistant professor with UCLA’s Ingestive Behavior and Obesity Program in the Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience.
But “considerable sex-related differences have previously been identified in factors driving craving and drug-seeking in substance abuse,” added Gupta.
This latest investigation analyzed brain scans of 86 healthy men and women to “identify the possible role of the brain in the pathophysiology of obesity,” she explained.
In particular, the research team tried to track how eating affected activity patterns of the neurotransmitter dopamine, a so-called “reward” chemical that is critical to the way the brain responds to both satiety (eating) and deprivation (hunger).
The initial finding was that having “a less responsive dopamine system” appears to make both men and women less sensitive to food, and thereby “more prone to food intake in order to compensate for this deficit,” Gupta said.
Translation: People who register a relatively subdued reaction to eating, tend to eat more.
But the really “striking” finding, said Gupta, was an indication that men and women are simply wired differently when it comes to responses to eating.
A woman’s brain seems to draw a significant neurological link between food and the part of the brain that processes emotions, Gupta noted.
Possible proof of that link was seen among obese female participants.
Those women tended to exhibit a relatively muted response to food in brain regions that regulate emotion. That dynamic was not seen among obese men.
In contrast, a man’s brain seems more inclined to link eating to the region that handles things like smell, temperature or taste. And obese men tended to have a relatively amped up response to food in brain regions involved in sensory regulation. That dynamic was not seen among obese women.
As to what might explain why men and women process eating so differently, Gupta said the jury is still out.
“This is a difficult question to answer,” she said, while reiterating that the findings do indicate “a generalized sex difference in the way the reward system functions.”
Lona Sandon, program director in the department of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said that the findings are “not necessarily a surprise.”
For example, Sandon noted that in her experience, women are more likely to talk about food cravings and struggle with eating disorders, such as binge eating. In addition, women are “much more likely to talk about how they turn to food to address mood, particularly foods high in sugar or fat,” she added.
What should these women do? Sandon advised getting off the couch.
“Low dopamine levels are associated with depression, which is often compensated for by eating more food,” she said. “But exercise has been shown in several studies to be beneficial for individuals with depression. Exercise can also have positive effects on appetite,” she pointed out.
“So I would suggest that physical activity or exercise might be part of the answer,” Sandon added.
Gupta and her colleagues are scheduled to report their findings Tuesday at the Digestive Disease Week meeting in Chicago. Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Copyright � 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
SOURCES: Arpana Gupta, Ph.D., assistant professor, Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience, Ingestive Behavior and Obesity Program, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Lona Sandon, Ph.D., RDN, LD, program director and assistant professor, department of clinical nutrition, School of Health Professions, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas; May 9, 2017, presentation, Digestive Disease Week, Chicago
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Chiropractic, Exercise, Fitness, Health, Wellness
Exercise can reduce the risk of heart damage in middle-aged adults and seniors — even in those who are obese, according to a new study.
“The protective association of physical activity against [heart] damage may have implications for heart failure risk reduction, particularly among the high-risk group of individuals with excess weight,” study lead author Dr. Roberta Florido said in an American College of Cardiology news release.
Florido is a cardiology fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
“Promoting physical activity,” she added, “may be a particularly important strategy for heart failure risk reductions among high risk groups such as those with obesity.”
To gauge the influence of physical activity on heart health, the researchers looked at the experience of more than 9,400 people between 45 and 64 years of age. The participants were grouped according to how much exercise they got. Current guidelines recommend at least 75 minutes a week of vigorous activity, or 150 or more minutes of moderate to vigorous activity.
A lower level of activity, called “intermediate,” was defined as up to 74 minutes a week of vigorous activity or up to 149 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity. According to the researchers, those who did no exercise were 39 percent more likely to have heart damage than those who followed the guidelines. Those who followed intermediate level routines had 34 percent more heart damage than their fully active peers.
The researchers found indications that obese individuals who engaged in “recommended” levels of activity had lower blood levels of troponin — a key indicator of heart damage — compared with those who did no exercise at all.
Florido and her colleagues described their findings in the April 24 issue of JACC: Heart Failure.
An accompanying editorial urged heart specialists to promote healthy habits rather than simply treat heart problems once they develop.
