SIMPLE STRENGTHENING

Have you been wondering why your knees hurt?  Do you think it’s just “old age” or “arthritis”?

Well, maybe.  But quite probably not.

Some things are hard on knees.  And when knees aren’t happy they complain.  It’s not just pain or stiffness–it’s an actual complaint!  They are yelling at you:  “Hey!  Help me!  I’m not happy!”

Here are some of the most common things that are hard on knees.

*  Twisting is hard on knees.  So are abrupt stops.  This sounds a lot like basketball and football as I have observed it.  However, a basketball player could still keep throwing the ball.  Stretching and throwing overhead are really good for the upper body and heart.

*  Running is hard on knees because of the pounding.  That’s why walking helps–it uses all of the leg muscles without the jarring movements that usually accompany running.

*  If your vehicle seat is high, that’s very Continue Reading »

Knee pain is no fun!  It keeps you from doing things that you could enjoy.  So let’s find out why knees get crabby.

Muscles in your lower legs attach to your thighs and muscles in your upper legs attach to your lower legs.

Your knees are stuck right in the middle of all of these muscles and guess what!

Muscles are the most common cause of knee pain or any other type of pain.

Sometimes injuries cause knee pain.  Here’s some information about that:

Knee pain can be caused by injury to the ligaments that attach bones to other bones.  Sometimes they require surgery to repair.  Ligaments are dense, tough tissue without much blood supply so they heal slowly but my understanding is that if it is not completely torn from the bone a ligament can heal over time.  Lots of time.

Knee injury can also cause damage to tendons.  Tendons are the ends of muscles that attach to bones.  Like ligaments, they are also tough tissue that takes a long time to heal.  If a tendon totally detaches from the bone it is supposed to attach to, it can create instability in a joint.

But lets assume that you do NOT have a knee injury–you haven’t fallen or been in an accident.  But you DO have knee pain.

Why?

And what can you do to get rid of that nagging knee pain and start doing the things you’d like to do?

Lots of Continue Reading »

Muscle pain in your legs can be caused by too much or too little.  I’ll tell you about that and then I will give you three ways to get rid of the pain in your muscles and joints.

Joint pain, too?  Yes.  Often we think it’s the joint when it’s actually muscle pain.  So these three ways will help your joints feel better, also.

If you don’t move enough–too little–your leg muscles will start to get Continue Reading »

When back muscles are stretched a bit more than they like to be, they get crabby.  They can get really crabby.  Why?

They are trying to tell you something.

They are saying, “Help!  I’m not happy!  You are straining me!  Stop it!”

But what do we often do?

>  Take a couple of pills to hopefully relieve the discomfort in your back.  But that doesn’t really cure the back pain; just helps cover it up, maybe.

>  Use heat.  Oh, not good!  Why?

Because heat helps those poor overstretched muscles relax and get even more stretched.  And even more unhappy.

There are lots of articles at http://SimpleBackPainRelief.com to help you get rid of all types of back pain.

And you will find lots of articles right here at SimpleStrengthening.com to Continue Reading »

Hamstring muscles tight?  Want to know how to get rid of the tightness?  Well, this will probably come as a surprise to you.

Your hamstrings aren’t the problem.

Almost always, the problem is that your quadricep muscles in the front of your thigh are too tight.  They are stronger than your hamstrings.

Your ‘tight hamstrings’ are just a symptom.

The muscles in the front of your body are generally about 30% stronger than the muscles in the back.  It’s easy for the bulky front muscles to over-power the back muscles.  That explains lots of back and neck pain, too.

The reason the muscles in the back of your thigh feel tight is Continue Reading »

Do you want strong, healthy bones?  Then you need a strong back.

Why does a strong back equal strong bones?

Here’s how it works:

When your bones are all Continue Reading »

Knee pain–who needs it?  Why do you have it?  And what can you do to get rid of your knee pain naturally?

If you have access to a swimming pool or other safe body of water, here’s an idea:

Get into the water and move.

If you don’t swim (I don’t) then wear a grown-up floatie (I do.)  That way you can go into the deeper water and move your legs in all different directions.

Or hold onto the Continue Reading »

Strong abdominal muscles help you stay tall and have good posture.  That’s a really good thing because poor, collapsed posture causes heaps and heaps of problems.

When your back muscles and abdominal muscles (your ‘core’) are not strong enough to hold you up, you end up with forward head posture–collapsed posture.  That creates the posture of  ‘old age.’

You see, a lot of the problems of old age are caused by losing the fight to gravity.  Gravity wins.  Boo!

Bodies like to have long, strong muscles.  Not short, tight–long, strong is what they like.

Here are a couple of easy Continue Reading »

Want to get rid of upper back muscle strain?  Want to strengthen your upper back muscles quickly and easily?

Just squeeze your shoulder blades together.  S Q U E E Z E  them to your spine and hold them there for a few seconds.  Repeat 3 times.

Do this only 3 times a day for the first few days or your muscles will ache from overwork.  You have to adapt to new movements gradually.  After a few days, you can start increasing the amount of shoulder blade squeezes by a couple a day.

You can do this when you are Continue Reading »

People have asked me about shoes with rocker bottoms.  They are supposed to make your leg muscles stronger and more shapely but wait–how can that be?

By letting the shoe do the motion rather than the joints in your feet, you are not using your foot and leg muscles fully.

Here’s an article about this very thing from my friend, Dr. Brian Rothbart.

click here –>  The Truth About Rocker Shoes

You DO want strong legs.  They will help with balance and they will help keep you young.

You can easily strengthen the Continue Reading »