SIMPLE STRENGTHENING

There are lots of types of exercise and movement strengthening programs, and most of them are done in upright positions.  Here are some of the reasons I prefer a program that can be done while you lie on your back in bed.

1.  Almost everyone can lie on their back in relative comfort.

2.  Gravity works with you rather than against you.  When you are upright, gravity is working to pull you down toward the earth.  When you are on your back, you are already down.  The force of gravity becomes your friend and assists you.

3.  Your bed acts as resistance.  It is soft enough to press into, yet firm enough to push back at you.

4.  If you have an anatomical leg length difference (like 10% of us–one leg is truly shorter than the other) or if one half of your pelvis (one hip bone) is smaller than the other (like 1% of us) it doesn’t matter.  When you are standing or sitting, these size differences can throw you off balance.  They move the center of your body away from neutral.  When you are on your back, these differences are taken “out of the equation.”

5.  Lots of us are “vertically challenged.”  We just plain feel better when we lie down. This is due to leg length differences, scoliosis (curvature of the spine) or weak back muscles.

6.  If your back is weak and you have trouble staying upright, working from a flat position is easier.

7.  It is easier to isolate the areas of your body that you need to strengthen when you are on your back.

8.  Stretching from this position is also easier because gravity pulls on your arms and legs while your back is in a neutral position.

9.  You don’t need any additional equipment.

So, those are some of the reasons I’m working on a program to help you get strong while you lie in bed.  If you read the articles here at SimpleStrengthening.com you will find lots of “how-to’s.”

It is so important to have a strong back side!  Everything from your knees to the base of your skull should be strong.   When your back side is strong, you will feel better, your body will function better and you will be able to withstand the forces of gravity when you are upright.  This is a good thing.

“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”

Have you ever thought about using your bed as a resistance tool?

When we press against an immovable object, like a wall, we build strength.  That is called resistance training.  Your bed offers some softness and it also allows you to move and press into it while it presses back at you.  Here are a few things you can try when you lie on your back.

Gently and thoughtfully

• press the back of your head into your bed or pillow
• press your shoulders backward into the bed
• squeeze your shoulders toward your spine
• squeeze your belly toward your spine
• press your heels into your bed

See if you can press one hip at a time into your bed.  Can you do the “wave” with your whole body?

It takes only a few minutes when you are in bed to start to get a stronger, straighter body.  When you were a child, you had a strong, straight posture.  You were moving all the time.  You used all of your muscles.  Help your body remember how it used to be.  Use all of your muscles, not just a few.

If you have aches and pains, you can find more information here at Simple Strengthening and at Simple Pain Relief.  There are lots more articles there for you.

Maybe you have knee pain, and maybe you don’t.  Maybe your legs feel weak or maybe they feel “out of balance” or “too tight.”

Your legs were designed to be used in certain ways.  But, lots of times, for all kinds of reasons, we “forget” how we used to climb stairs.  Sometimes, we just “clomp” along, with flat feet.  We “pull” ourselves up, using the handrail.

Sometimes we make our poor knees do all of the work.  Uh oh, not good.

If you learn how to use your legs as they were designed to be used, they will become stronger and feel better.

By the way, if you cannot do this because you have too much knee pain, here are a few tips just for you.

1)  Walk down the stairs backward, while you hold the hand rail.  This uses different leg muscles and might make going down stairs much easier for you.

(2)  Begin a walking program.  Walking properly will strengthen your legs.  Check this article about walking for knee pain.

(3)  Keep reading, because simply knowing the proper way to use your legs and feet might help you immensely!

All you need for getting stronger legs by climbing stairs is…a staircase!  And, your willingness to try.

Here is the technique.

Place one foot on a stair, but don’t pull yourself up with handrail, and don’t lift your body with your knees, and don’t let your feet be flat boards.  There, we got all the “don’ts” out of the way.

Here are the DO’s.

(1)  Do use your feet to raise your body.

(2)  When your foot is on a step, raise your heel.

(3)  Feel your calf muscles work.

Now, only your toe is supporting you on the stair.

If you have to use the handrail or wall for support that’s okay.  But, no pulling yourself on allowed.

(4)  Take a step to the next stair and repeat.  Use your calf muscles and feet to lift yourself up the stairs.

When you use your calves and feet, as they were designed to be used, there is much less stress on your knees.  You will have less leg and knee pain.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”

You’ve heard about the benefits of weight-bearing exercise for strengthening your bones.

Being straight and having a strong backside puts the pressure of being upright on your bones, where it belongs.  That lets your bones become strong.

And you can read about preventing osteoporosis with good posture (which you can create with the SimpleStrengthening exercises.)

I’m here to testify…

I kind of hate to admit it, but from time to time, I trip.

I had a lovely “trip” just a few days ago.  A five-point landing.  No one applauded, but I’m quite sure it was very impressive.

And, once again, I did not break any bones.

And, I am grateful.

How do I keep my bones strong and healthy?

Let me count the ways:

1.  Plenty of sunshine (creates vitamin D.)  Bones need vitamin D to absorb calcium from your food.  (D3 is the best type.)

Most people in the northern United States are deficient in Vitamin D.  This happens because you don’t get enough sunshine on your skin for one reason or another.  Your doctor can do a blood test to check if you are deficient, if you want.

A good time to get sunshine is while you are…

2.  Walking.  Walking is weight-bearing exercise.  So is being on your feet while you watch TV.

Instead of Continue Reading »

Osteoporosis is not something we want to have.  What we really want are strong, healthy bones.

So, I’m going to tell you about the most common cause of osteoporosis.

It’s really common to see people with their heads in front of their bodies.  Sometimes their heads are really far ahead of their bodies.  Not good.

We were built so that all of our bones stack up, one on top of the other.  When our posture is perfect (like it was when we were young children) then our bones support our bodies.

When we start to fall into a collapsed posture–when we get a forward head–then we start using muscles to support our body.  Our muscles are not designed to support us; that’s what our bones are for.

Using the Simple Strengthening program (everything you need to know is here) for easily making your back side strong will correct your posture.

When your posture is once again nice and straight, your bones will be supporting your whole body as they used to.

When your bones are supporting your body, they are “working.”  When they do the job they were designed to do, there is correct pressure on your bones.  This pressure helps your bones to stay and become dense and strong.

Skeletons need to be stacked up properly so your bones will work to support you, and so they will be strong.

When bones are not “working” to support you, they become weak.  So osteoporosis is caused Continue Reading »

I was starting to have “crabby” knees, and decided I had to do something about it.

I remembered working with a man who had severe damage to both knees.  He told me he could walk without pain, even on stairs, as long as he kept the muscles around his knees strong.  He did this with machine weight training.

I thought about him, and decided maybe I could strengthen my legs by walking.

So I began my “serious” walking program, and I have noticed lots of benefits already.  Several are benefits that I wasn’t quite expecting and am very pleased with.

I would have said before that I “walked,” but really, it was more like strolling, stopping to smell the flowers on the way.

So I decided I had better get serious.

I started walking as fast as I could while still able to breathe and talk.  In time, I could walk even farther and faster, with fewer breaks.

I already knew how to let my arms swing from my shoulders (thumbs forward, like shaking hands) and to hold my chest high.  I knew how to “roll” my foot from heel to toe.

So, off I went.

When I started just three weeks ago I had several reasons for walking.

• I’m going on a hiking trip and wanted to be able to easily keep up.
• I wanted to strengthen my heart with aerobic activity, but I hate bouncing around.
• My doctor asks me, “What are you doing for aerobic exercise?”  I always tell her I do massage all day long, but she doesn’t buy it.
• I wanted to drop a few pounds.

But, most importantly,

• I wanted my knees to have less discomfort.  I noticed they were starting to be painful and creaky when moving to a standing position from a seat.
• One day I realized my knees weren’t quite “working right” when I wanted to get up from the floor.  I wanted to; they didn’t.  I didn’t like that, either.

Here are the benefits I have already received from my walking program.

• My legs feel stronger (and they were already strong.)
• My knees Continue Reading »

If your legs feel weak, or achey, here’s a solution for you.

We were built for movement and when we don’t move enough – when we spend too much time in a chair or car – our leg muscles get out of balance and lose strength.  Balance and strength occur when we use our legs. When we use our legs, and they are strong, we feel stable instead of weak.

When your legs are out of balance – some muscles are weaker than others – then you get aches and pains in your legs.  When your muscles are out of balance, they pull on the bones in a different way than they are supposed to.  This causes arthritis.

Some savvy doctors recommend that their older patients take tai chi classes.  Tai chi (pronounced ti-chee) is done standing, and the people who practice it develop strong legs and good balance.

Here’s a simple strengthening movement that you can do at home or anywhere.

Stand near a piece of furniture, like the back of a chair.  Stand close enough so that you can use the chair back as a support for one hand, if you need it.  (And you will probably need it until your balance improves.)

Lift one foot off the ground, and tuck it behind your other calf.

Let go of the chair and try to balance on the foot that is still on the floor.

Keep your hand very close to the chair back in case you need to support yourself.

While you are balancing on one foot, you are using all of the muscles in that foot and leg.  You will notice that the pressure in your foot moves from Continue Reading »

Here’s an easy, simple strengthening strategy to get long, strong torso muscles.

We often fall into the habit of having a weak, collapsed forward posture.  This simple strengthening tip will help you get tall, straight and strong.

You can do this sitting and do this on your back in bed or on the floor.

• Lift your arms over your head, stretching as far as you can.
• Inhale.
• Exhale, and stretch even farther.
• Relax a little, but keep your arms up.
• Inhale, exhale, stretch a little farther again.

As you stretch up, the muscles around your ribs, abdomen and back are getting stronger.  When they are stronger, they will help you stand tall and proud, not slumped forward.

It’s much healthier for your whole body to be straight.  Being straight avoids a lot of pain and problems.

When you do this sitting down, it takes your legs out of the mix, in case they are Continue Reading »

A physical therapist told me that the best way to strengthen abdominal muscles was just to “suck in your stomach and hold it,” several times.  And that does work, but when we want strong and flat abdominal muscles, we often think of sit-ups.

Here are a few reasons why they may not be the exercise-of-choice for you.

When you do sit-ups, it’s easy to aggravate your neck and upper back.  This can cause neck pain and or headaches.

Sit-ups strengthen the upper abdominals.  When the upper abs are tight, they can pull us into forward-head posture.  “Forward-head posture” means that when we are standing up, our head is in front of our body instead of over our shoulders.  Not good, for many reasons.

It’s easier and less potentially aggravating to strengthen your lower abdominals, instead.

This is how to get into position:  Start on your back with your knees bent and pointed toward the ceiling.  Lift, or move, your knees toward your head, so that your shins (lower legs) are perpendicular to the floor.  Now you are ready for the strengthening movement.

Note:  Your head will be resting comfortably and will never leave the floor during the movement.

This is how to do the movement:  Using only your lower ab muscles, not your legs or hips, move your knees closer to your chin.  That’s it.  Your tail bone may lift or roll slightly upward, off the floor or mat.  Go back to the position where your shins are perpendicular to the floor.  Repeat.

Isolating the lower abdominal muscles can be a very ‘interesting’ thing for a lot of people.  They want to do Continue Reading »

If I were to ask you what causes the pain between your shoulder blades, what would you say?

Would you tell me the cause was stress? Overwork? Old age? Arthritis? Or from your nerves or bones?

Would you be surprised if I told you that the cause was most likely…in most cases…muscles?

But not any old muscles.

Overstretched muscles cause most back pain, especially pain between the shoulder blades.

Pain between your shoulder blades and spine can be on both sides or just one side, depending on how you use your body. Some people only get pain on the dominant side, which means if they are right-handed, the right side of their back will hurt.

When our muscles are continually overstretched, like our back muscles are when we have “forward head” posture, they have to react. If they did not react, the muscles would tear and we would be unable to function.

So, instead of tearing, the muscles “splint” themselves.

They become taut and protect themselves from being damaged or ripping off the bone. (Although that can happen in extreme cases.)

When your muscles become taut (think of a rope being pulled from both ends that can’t relax because no one will let go) they become less able to function fully.

They also become crabby.

The overstretched muscles are working way too hard. They are not working the way they were designed to work. Muscles are supposed to Continue Reading »