7 Simple Exercises That Undo the Damage of Sitting

Undo the Damage of Sitting

 If you’re like most people living and working in a techno-service economy, you probably spend a good deal of your day sitting down. You go from the kitchen table to your desk at work to your chair in front of the TV. But as we’ve discussed before, spending most of your waking hours planted on your keister is terrible for your health.

You’ve probably experienced those moments when you get up from a sitting position and your butt feels numb and your hips feel so tight that you have to lean forward at the waist just to walk. Excessive sitting leaves your hips and legs tight and your glutes inactive. Even after you stand up, the ill effects of sitting stay with you and may prevent your butt muscles from firing at an optimal level when you really need them – like when you suddenly need to chase down a purse snatcher!

Some fitness experts argue that sitting causes muscles in the hip area to physically shorten (and stay shorter), even after you stand up. While there are no scientific studies to back that claim, from my own personal experience, sitting for lengthy periods of time definitely makes everything feel tight in the groin/butt area.

If you’re an athlete (or fancy yourself one), tight hips and inactive glutes can hamper physical performance in a variety of activities, such as sprinting, squatting, and — my favorite — deadlifting. If you want to perform at your best, you need to make sure that your hips stay limber and that your butt muscles are firing on all cylinders. Even if you’re not interested in deadlifting 600 lbs. (though I hope to change your mind on that someday), keeping your hip flexors loose and glutes active can improve your life on other fronts.

First, having limber hips just feels good, plain and simple. Second, having a healthy range of motion in your hips can help prevent injury when you pursue more recreational physical activities and do household chores. For example, loose hips keep your IT band loose as well, which can ward off knee pain. Finally, taking care of your hips may help improve your posture, which can in turn alleviate back or neck pain. (Not to mention the role of limber hips in doing a mean mambo.)
Below, we provide some simple stretches and exercises that will undo the damage to your hips and butt caused by sitting.

Prevention Is the Best Remedy: Sit Less and Move More

As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The best thing you can do for your hip mobility and glute activation is to simply sit less and move more during the day.
If your employer will allow it, try using a standing desk, which keeps your muscles activated at the office. Keep in mind that, just as with sitting, standing should be done in moderation (doing it for an extended period of time isn’t that great for you, either).

If a standing desk isn’t an option, take five-minute breaks from sitting every 30 to 45 minutes. Stand up and walk around a bit. Maybe even perform a few of the exercises below. Even if you have a standing desk, you should still take breaks every now and then for some movement.

Stretch Out Those Hips

These dynamic stretches and exercises are designed for loosening tight hips that come from sitting too much. I try to incorporate a few of them in my daily workout warm-ups or even sneak some in when I’m hanging out with the kids (who think their dad is pretty odd). Every now and then I also dedicate an hour on Saturdays to just hip and glute work, along with some intense foam rolling.
If you’re really tight, take it nice and easy. As physical therapist Kelly Starrett says, “Don’t go into the pain cave. Your animal totem won’t be there to help you.”

Leg Swings

This is a great dynamic stretch that I do before every workout. It loosens up the hips, hamstrings, and glutes.
Begin with forward leg swings. Find something to hold for balance. Start off swinging your right leg backwards and forwards as high and as far back as you comfortably can. Do 20 swings and then switch legs.
Next are side-to-side swings. Again, find something to hold for balance. Swing your right leg out to the side as high as possible and then in front of you towards your left as far as you can go. Perform 20 swings and then switch legs. Depending on how tight you feel, you may need another set.

Grok Squat

The Grok Squat is very similar to a catcher’s stance in baseball. Simply squat down until your butt touches your ankles. Keep your heels firmly on the ground and your back straight. Hold that position for 30-60 seconds. You should feel your hamstrings, quads, Achilles tendons, lower back, and groin gently stretching. If you’re super stiff, it may take a few days of practice to sink into a full squat. Keep at it. Your back and hips will thank you.
Intersperse a few short squatting sessions into your daily routine.

Table Pigeon Pose

If you’ve done yoga, you’re probably familiar with the pigeon pose. This stretch is the same thing, except you use a table, which makes it a bit easier to perform and allows you to stretch out your muscles from different angles. Start by placing your leg on a tabletop (you could also use your bed) with the knee bent at 90 degrees. Place one hand on the table and one hand on your foot for support. Lean forward and hold for 60-90 seconds. Then lean left to the 10 o’clock position and hold for 60-90 seconds. Lean right to the 2 o’clock position and hold for 60-90 seconds. Repeat on the other leg.
If you have knee problems, rotate your body so that your ankle hangs off the table and place a pillow underneath your knee. Aim to do two pigeon poses a day (I personally do one during my workout and another at a random time).

Couch Stretch

This stretch is a killer. I didn’t realize how unlimber I was until I tried doing the couch stretch. It’s basically a quad stretch ratcheted up a few notches. Starrett argues that this will undo years of sitting.
You actually don’t need a couch for this stretch, it just makes it a bit more comfortable (if that’s even possible). You can also do it on the floor by putting your knee against a wall.
For the “easy” version, place the knee of the leg you’re stretching against the back of your sofa. Place the foot of your other leg on the floor. Slowly raise your torso to a neutral spine position (i.e. standing straight and tall). As you raise your torso, squeeze your butt and abs. Hold the position for up to four minutes. Switch and repeat on the other leg. You should feel things really stretch in your hip flexor area — just don’t push yourself too hard.
To up the ante, bring your non-stretching leg up onto the seat of the couch. Keeping a straight, neutral spine, squeeze the butt and abs and work your way up to holding the position for four minutes. Keep in mind that it may be awhile before you can get your torso to a straight position. When I first started doing this stretch the “hard way,” I could only raise my torso to a 45-degree angle and I’d have to support myself with my hand on the floor. I was eventually able to move to a straight position after two weeks of dedicated stretching. The difference in the mobility of my hips was (and continues to be) significant.
This stretch is so good that I try to do it every day, sometimes before a workout, sometimes when I’m just hanging out while Gus watches Paw Patrol.

Activate Those Glutes

Barbell Bridges

This is another exercise that makes you look goofy but does wonders for your glutes and hips. It has been a great support exercise for the deadlift.
Lay on the ground with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Put a padded barbell across your hips and grab it with an overhand grip about shoulder-width apart. Raise your waist off the ground while squeezing your glutes until your hips are aligned with your body. Return to the starting position, and complete three sets of 10 reps.
Aim to do this exercise one to two times a week. You can add weight as you get stronger. If you can’t do it with the weight of the barbell, try un-weighted bridges.

Clamshells

Fair warning: You’re going to feel a bit ridiculous doing this exercise. But it’s one of the best for activating your glutes. If you’re self-conscious, do this at home before you go to the gym so no one sees you.

Lay on your right side with your hips and knees bent at 45 degrees. Yes, you’re going to look like a middle school girl at a slumber party who’s talking about who she’s crushing on. Don’t worry. Your deadlift will thank you later.

Keeping your feet together, raise your upper knee as high as you can without moving your pelvis. Don’t allow your lower leg to move off the floor. You’ve suddenly transformed from middle school girl to 1970s Burt Reynolds posing in the buff. Pause, then return to a starting position. Do 20 reps on one side and then repeat on the other side. Perform three sets one to two times a week.

Fire Hydrants

Hey, look! Another glute activation exercise that makes you look goofy! It’s called the fire hydrant because you’re going to mimic how a dog pees on a fire hydrant. For real.

Get down on your hands and knees with your palms flat on the floor and your arms shoulder-width apart. (Your knees should be about hip-width apart.) You see me here harnessing my totem labrador retriever.

Maintain a straight, neutral spine and slowly raise your right leg out to the side as high as you can while keeping it bent, just like a dog would. As you can see from my face, this is harder than you’d think it would be. Really feel it in the ol’ butt cheek and hips. Lower and repeat 15 times. Repeat with the other leg. Do two to three sets once or twice a week.

For added glute activation, extend your leg straight after you’ve lifted it up.

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 Sources: Becoming the Supple Leopard by physical therapist Kelly Starrett, paleo guru Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple, and weightlifter Medhi from Stronglifts. If you’re looking to increase not only your hip mobility, but your all-around limberness, Starrett’s book and website are especially helpful. Illustrations by Ted Slampyak

Exercise Workouts

 Exercise Workouts

If you want the exercise workouts to be successful for muscle growth or for weight loss, there are several things you ought to be aware of in day-to-day training.

DIET supports physical effort, and weight loss too, but in a very positive and active way. Don't imagine that if you don't eat and you workout, you'll lose weight spectacularly. If that's the way you train, you've got it all wrong.

-Eat fruits, vegetables to get good carbs, vitamins and minerals that provide your body the fuel for the production of vital energy.

-Include seeds, nuts and cold-pressed olive oil in the diet as they represent the most valuable sources of good fats.

-Eat fish at least once a week, in addition to eggs, low-fat dairy products and lean meat.

Depending on the type of exercise workouts, the dietary needs vary in terms of quantity. Protein is highly important for muscle building, but less relevant for fat loss. What differs between the various diets is the higher quantity from certain food groups. All the rules related to the correct choice of the foods remain valid.

REST allows for muscle recovery and makes fitness progress possible. You should exercise regularly, at least two or three times per week. However, this rule refers to gym training, cardiovascular workouts and intensity training. For health maintenance, you should exercise every day for 30 minutes. By exercise I hereby refer to walking, swimming or cycling.

SLEEP

If you can't rest well at night, the body does not have the energy to support physical effort. Consider the following tips to improve your night rest:

-try to go to sleep at approximately the same hour every night (preferably around 11 pm, not later);
-eat a light dinner;
-drink a herbal tea from plants like chamomile, linden, lavender, passion flower or drink a cup of warm milk;
-take a warm bath and use essential oils to relax.

People who sleep around 8-9 hours per night, have better results from their exercise workouts than those who experience sleep problems.

SUPPLEMENTS

In the context of stressful work conditions and the growing pressure that modern man experiences on a daily basis, the administration of dietary supplements has become common practice.

Take the vitamins and minerals prescribed by your doctor. Pay attention to weight loss and muscle building supplements because they could be ineffectual and harmful. By taking care of all the aspects we've mentioned above, you won't need any wonder supplement to support regular exercise workouts.

What to Expect from Natural Weight Loss

Natural weight loss

A Brief Examination of what to Expect from Natural Weight Loss

With there being countless medical and pharmaceutical answers to all of our weight problems, the fact remains that most, if not all of them only provide a temporary solution, not to mention that they are going to turn you inside out in the process, leaving you with much bigger problems to worry about than your weight. The good news however is that an increasing number of people have started to promote the concept of natural weight loss, which is to say in other words, the concept of losing weight permanently the safe way. While it goes without saying that losing weight naturally will require you to read much more than this article, what follows is a brief explanation of what to expect from the natural weight loss process.

The first step to losing weight naturally is to change up your diet, and not just by replacing your meat with fruits and vegetables, although for some people it would definitely be a good start. You will need to take the time and inform yourself, perhaps even from a professional nutritionist, on what foods are suitable for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then examine their nutritional values; how many calories, saturated fat, sodium, nutrients etc… they have. If your goal is to lose about a pound or two per week, you should try to keep your daily diet about 500 below the number of calories you are burning. In other words, if through your exercising routine you are burning 2000 calories per day, then you should only eat about 1500 calories’ worth of food… which actually brings us to the next part of natural weight loss: exercising.

No weight loss plan is truly complete without a workout system, and you will need to put one together for yourself (or perhaps buy one, if you have the money). The best and surest way to go about it, if you don’t know what you are doing, is to alternate between exercises every week. For instance, if for the first week you are using jogging as your cardio exercise and push-ups for muscle-building, then on the next week you should perhaps bike for cardio (even a stationary bike will suffice) and do pull-ups to build your muscles. Ideally, you should have two or three workouts per day, four to five days per week, each one lasting from thirty to forty-five minutes. The alternation between exercises is necessary if you want to avoid the plateau effect, a state in which your body gets used to your workout and stops developing from it.

And so, as you can see, natural weight loss isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to accomplish, but taking this approach sure is safer than starving yourself for a week and then gaining back the weight you’ve lost. If you really aren’t sure about how you should approach losing weight in a safe, natural, and permanent way, then simply look for natural weight loss guides on whichever search engine you prefer; you are guaranteed to find dozens upon dozens of them, with many coming free of charge.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Video

Do Weight Loss Clinics Really Work?

Exercise Programs

Modern man and woman have so many exercise programs to choose from: fitness and weight loss programs, health recovery programs, body building programs, health maintenance programs and so on. Even when you are interested in just one of these, a simple search on the Internet will leave you baffled and overwhelmed by the number of options.

No matter what you read about, here are a few things you should know about choosing from the multitude of exercise programs.

1. A program should match your physical condition and individuality.

If you suffer from some health problem, talk to the doctor to identify the best way to deal with it through physical activity.

2. Make your choice based on personal preferences. Study the structure of the program before taking it up to see whether you are comfortable with the techniques and strategies used. If you are not a fan of running or similar cardio exercises, choose the sport that best suits you. If you don't like aerobic, go cycling, swim, use the stationary bike or whatever else activity that you take pleasure in.

3. Exercise programs always go hand in hand with dietary changes regardless of the specificity. A balanced diet creates the premises for weight loss, for muscle enhancement and health recovery. Once again you should plan your meals depending on your food preferences, while still sticking to a set of 'rules' such as:

-eat lots of veggies and fruits;
-consume organic products as much as possible;
-drink lots of water;
-avoid bad fats, bad carbs and processed food in general;
-have lots of fibers and wholegrain cereals etc.

4. Analyze your thinking pattern and grow personal awareness. A higher self-consciousness leads to a better and more fulfilled existence. This may seem more easily said than done, but the important thing is to get started.

Pay attention to your body, to your mind and the kind of thoughts that predominate. If you identify fear, anger, pessimism as predominant, you should start working on your transformation so that you make a switch towards a positive life course.

5. The help of a therapist could be priceless in the effort to implement exercise programs, as you can benefit from psychological support to end food addiction, change thinking patterns and behavior.

Lots more can be said on exercise programs, but you should go from the general to the parti

Exercise Routines

Exercise routines are important for weight loss, health-fitness maintenance and muscle enhancement. There are training variations depending of the goals you set for a specific physical activity, but the benefits are usually general. Thus, you may train to grow muscle, but that will inevitably help you lose fat. Or you may strive to maintain fitness, but that will also require some form of muscle stimulation. All types of physical workouts are inter-related supporting a healthy and rewarding lifestyle.

By exercise routines we refer to regular gym training, the practice of a sport or outdoor activity that stimulates the muscles and the cardiovascular system.

What difference do exercise routines make in your life? Here are just a few examples.

Keep counting the BENEFITS!

You'll get stronger bones, more flexible joints, nicely shaped muscles and a good body position.

Physical exercises solve back pains due to incorrect spine alignment. This usually happens when you regularly stimulate the core muscles (abs and back muscles) that are responsible for the body position and balance.

Exercise routines reduce the aging process and accelerated cellular decay, allowing you to stay and feel young for a longer period of time.

More energy is released in the body when you workout regularly, which means that you'll cope better with household chores and work tasks.

Physical activity improves the sleep pattern and allows for good stress management. Through exercise routines, endorphines (chemicals responsible for happy moods) are secreted at the brain level. Moreover, through intense physical activity, you release accumulated tension, and thus sleep better at night, breaking the vicious cycle of anxiety and depression.

Exercise routines can be created for any difficulty level and for all health conditions. Even if you can't do cardio training because you have a heart problem or you're pregnant, there are Pilates and yoga programs that can prove just as effective.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION

Regular exercise routines also support psychological-behavioral changes, being incredibly successful in the fight against depression, anxiety, eating disorders, emotional instability and many more.

You will feel the difference in the energy level, the positive mood and the improved self-confidence. You'll feel better being you, and that counts more than you can ever imagine.

Every single person who's committed to regular exercise routines supported by a balanced healthy diet has reported a significant improvement in the overall well being.

This could happen for you too, if you just care enough for yourself to get moving!