PUSH-as-Rx ®™ Wellness Exercise & Fitness

Chiropractor, Dr. Alexander Jimenez discusses the fundamental concepts of grip strength training and the benefits of improving grip strength – both for improving athletic performance and also developing proximal shoulder strength.

In the context of athletic performance, grip strength is a fundamental prerequisite in many sports that require aggressive ‘crushing grip’ type movements. The obvious sports that require grip strength are powerlifting (deadlifts) and all the Olympic lifts. Cross fit athletes are exposed to workouts that heavily utilize grip strength in the execution of some of the movements. Sports such as rugby and American football require grip strength in the grappling and tackling of opponents. Many combat sports such as MMA, Brazilian JuJitsu (BJJ), Judo and Wrestling also need above average levels of grip strength. Finally, climbing sports and gymnastics movements also require large levels of grip strength in different hand positions.

Interestingly, grip strength has been associated with strength in the rotator cuff and proximal shoulder muscles, perpetuating the argument that improved grip strength will lead to better shoulder strength and reduced shoulder pathology. This relationship has been proposed as a result of the requirement of a stable proximal shoulder girdle to enable optimal recruitment of the distal muscles, and the force transmitted along the myofascial pathways(1). This concept has been studied by many researchers and the findings of a few select studies can be summarised as shown in Box 1.

Many researchers have shown alterations in muscle activity patterns around the shoulder in the presence of shoulder dysfunction, with the activity of some shoulder muscles increasing, whereas others decrease when gripping is added to shoulder movements(15-17). Gripping may result in a redistribution of force in the rotator cuff muscles(12). Because co-activation of the proximal and distal arm muscles has been shown to occur during gripping (possibly as a result of the grip motor control command eliciting activity in the proximal shoulder muscles), it is feasible that assessment of grip will give an indication of the activity of the rotator cuff(18).

Daniel Alvarado trains athletes to become possible champions but as part of his passion, he is aware that his athletes are constantly faced with victories and defeats. Daniel understands that life is full of ups and downs and he shares how important it is for everyone to take the time to focus on the positive aspects of life. Daniel Alvarado tells us that in order to be successful as an athlete, as a person, we have to stop dwelling in the negative, in the defeat, and have a positive state of mind. Not only will it change you, but the people all around you.

PUSH-as-Rx ® is leading the field with laser focus supporting our youth sport programs.  The PUSH-as-Rx ® System is a sport specific athletic program designed by a strength-agility coach and physiology doctor with a combined 40 years of experience working with extreme athletes. At its core, the program is the multidisciplinary study of reactive agility, body mechanics and extreme motion dynamics.

Through continuous and detailed assessments of the athletes in motion and while under direct supervised stress loads, a clear quantitative picture of body dynamics emerges. Exposure to the biomechanical vulnerabilities are presented to our team.  Immediately, we adjust our methods for our athletes in order to optimize performance.  This highly adaptive system with continual dynamic adjustments has helped many of our athletes come back faster, stronger, and ready post injury while safely minimizing recovery times.

Results demonstrate clear improved agility, speed, decreased reaction time with greatly improved postural-torque mechanics.  PUSH-as-Rx ® offers specialized extreme performance enhancements to our athletes no matter the age.

Please Recommend Us: If you have enjoyed this video and/or we have helped you in any way please feel free to recommend us. Thank You.

Recommend: PUSH-as-Rx ® 915-203-8122
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crossfitelpa…
PUSH-as-Rx: http://www.push4fitness.com/team/
 
Information: Dr. Alex Jimenez – Chiropractor: 915-850-0900
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dralexjim…
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dralexjimenez/

Tracy Lutich, coach and club director of the El Paso Diggers volleyball club, has seen a phenomenal difference in her athletes. Coach Lutich has seen the trainers at Push-as-Rx ® work to better her athletes, not only in strength and conditioning, but also mentally. Tracy Lutich continues to see enhanced results and she greatly contributes the improvement of her athletes to Push-as-Rx ®. She recommends the exceptional work of the trainers at Push as Rx, to others willing to take the challenge.
 
PUSH-as-Rx ® is leading the field with laser focus supporting our youth sport programs.  The PUSH-as-Rx ® System is a sport specific athletic program designed by a strength-agility coach and physiology doctor with a combined 40 years of experience working with extreme athletes. At its core, the program is the multidisciplinary study of reactive agility, body mechanics and extreme motion dynamics.

Through continuous and detailed assessments of the athletes in motion and while under direct supervised stress loads, a clear quantitative picture of body dynamics emerges. Exposure to the biomechanical vulnerabilities are presented to our team.  Immediately, we adjust our methods for our athletes in order to optimize performance.  This highly adaptive system with continual dynamic adjustments has helped many of our athletes come back faster, stronger, and ready post injury while safely minimizing recovery times.

Results demonstrate clear improved agility, speed, decreased reaction time with greatly improved postural-torque mechanics.  PUSH-as-Rx ® offers specialized extreme performance enhancements to our athletes no matter the age.

Please Recommend Us: If you have enjoyed this video and/or we have helped you in any way please feel free to recommend us. Thank You.

Recommend: PUSH-as-Rx ® 915-203-8122
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crossfitelpa…
PUSH-as-Rx: http://www.push4fitness.com/team/
 
Information: Dr. Alex Jimenez – Chiropractor: 915-850-0900
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dralexjim…
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dralexjimenez/

Bryan Filidor, a wrestler for 7 years, strives to continue wrestling in college. Every day, Bryan comes to Push-as-Rx ® where he trains hard and pushes himself in order to achieve his goal of becoming an Olympian. At Push as Rx, Bryan makes the best of his work outs and together with the trainer’s care, his endurance has helped him to exceed more than what he has already been accomplished. Bryan Filidor is grateful for coming to Push-as-Rx ® because the trainers are there for him, no matter what.

PUSH-as-Rx ® is leading the field with laser focus supporting our youth sport programs.  The PUSH-as-Rx ® System is a sport specific athletic program designed by a strength-agility coach and physiology doctor with a combined 40 years of experience working with extreme athletes. At its core, the program is the multidisciplinary study of reactive agility, body mechanics and extreme motion dynamics.

Through continuous and detailed assessments of the athletes in motion and while under direct supervised stress loads, a clear quantitative picture of body dynamics emerges. Exposure to the biomechanical vulnerabilities are presented to our team.  Immediately, we adjust our methods for our athletes in order to optimize performance.  This highly adaptive system with continual dynamic adjustments has helped many of our athletes come back faster, stronger, and ready post injury while safely minimizing recovery times.

Results demonstrate clear improved agility, speed, decreased reaction time with greatly improved postural-torque mechanics.  PUSH-as-Rx ® offers specialized extreme performance enhancements to our athletes no matter the age.
 

Please Recommend Us: If you have enjoyed this video and/or we have helped you in any way please feel free to recommend us. Thank You.

Recommend: PUSH-as-Rx ® 915-203-8122
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crossfitelpa…
PUSH-as-Rx: http://www.push4fitness.com/team/

Information: Dr. Alex Jimenez – Chiropractor: 915-850-0900
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dralexjim…
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dralexjimenez/

Ethan Padilla arrived to Push-as-Rx ®™ with a different set of goals in mind but his plans changed. Despite this, he continued training and with time became a trainer at Push as Rx. Ethan’s life changed as he enjoyed training and building the self-confidence of others through his training. Ethan Padilla is proud of seeing the positive impact he has created on his athletes at Push-as-Rx ®.
  
PUSH-as-Rx ®™ is leading the field with laser focus supporting our youth sport programs.  The PUSH-as-Rx ®™ System is a sport specific athletic program designed by a strength-agility coach and physiology doctor with a combined 40 years of experience working with extreme athletes. At its core, the program is the multidisciplinary study of reactive agility, body mechanics and extreme motion dynamics.

Through continuous and detailed assessments of the athletes in motion and while under direct supervised stress loads, a clear quantitative picture of body dynamics emerges. Exposure to the biomechanical vulnerabilities are presented to our team.  Immediately, we adjust our methods for our athletes in order to optimize performance.  This highly adaptive system with continual dynamic adjustments has helped many of our athletes come back faster, stronger, and ready post injury while safely minimizing recovery times.

Results demonstrate clear improved agility, speed, decreased reaction time with greatly improved postural-torque mechanics.  PUSH-as-Rx ®™ offers specialized extreme performance enhancements to our athletes no matter the age.
Please Recommend Us: If you have enjoyed this video and/or we have helped you in any way please feel free to recommend us. Thank You.

Recommend: PUSH-as-Rx ® 915-203-8122
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crossfitelpa…
PUSH-as-Rx: http://www.push4fitness.com/coaches/

Information: Dr. Alex Jimenez – Chiropractor: 915-850-0900
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dralexjim…
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dralexjimenez/

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6440 Gateway East Bldg B,  El Paso, TX 79905

CALL (915) 203-8122 NOW

Do you have a muscle imbalance? Muscle imbalances occur when one side of opposing muscles is stronger than the other. Many exercise enthusiasts may be getting chronic injuries because of muscle imbalances they don’t know they have. According to renowned physical therapist Dr. Kareem Samhouri, locating and correcting muscle imbalances is essential to good health, and can help cure many of the ailments people encounter daily.

Dr. Kareem is a doctor of Physical Therapy & Kinesiology and owner of Dr. Kareem F Samhouri Fitness LLC. In his practice, Dr. Kareem has rehabilitated and trained a wide variety of patients seeking help for an assortment health issues:

• Improved athletic performance in Olympic and professional athletes
• Joint pain in baby boomers
• Balance issues in older patients
• Coma victims
• Spinal cord injuries
• Rare diseases
• Heart issues
• Lung disease
• Pregnancy
• Stroke victims
• Health issues among children and infants

How To Fix Muscle Imbalance

Dr. Kareem has had many amazing success stories throughout his medical career. One of his favorite patients is a 112 year old women who was wheelchair bound:

“She had very little strength or coordination, but had a great spirit and was willing to work hard. The mission was to reactivate her muscles and nervous system, so we started with simple exercises such as simply lifting one foot and putting it back down.

“Once she was able to do that, we focused on squeezing her knees together and moving them apart. In the beginning she needed assistance, but over time, she was lifting her knees, rotating her shoulders and pulling herself out of her chair with little assistance.

“When she was finally able to lift herself out of the chair without help, she asked me ‘is there any way I can dance?’ The music was turned up and after a little help, she was able to dance for the first time in years!”

Another highlight of Dr. Kareem’s career was helping save the life of a four-day old baby who was born 18 weeks prematurely. This baby was the youngest baby ever born at that hospital and doctors didn’t think this baby was going to survive.

What Dr. Kareem did was to put the baby in different positions:

“Instead of it cringing into fetal position because of all the noises, and sirens, and bells, and whistles going off in the hospital, we opened him up and let his chest breathe a little bit. We moved the baby’s arms in diagonal patterns so he could actually get more breath. We also put a little pressure on the diaphragm so the baby could take deeper breaths, then took the pressure off as the belly would expand and contract.

“All of these factors led towards the baby really just developing a little bit more easily and a little bit faster. Of course, in an infant that’s that young, you really just have to be as gentle as can be. Oftentimes, instead of a hand, it’s just barely a fingertip touch that you’re going to do. When it came to actually moving the baby’s muscles, light, little taps in the areas where the nerve ties into the muscle to say, ‘Hey, right here.’

“Sure enough, baby got better, grew up totally healthy, and ended up living a healthy life.”

When Dr. Kareem consults with his clients, he shares his philosophy on health: “Your body is designed to heal or decay. From now on, decide on your own health momentum. Regain control while you begin to look and feel years younger.”

Dr. Kareem started on his health journey by simply wanting to help his mother with her health issues, but soon discovered he had health issues of his own. After close scrutiny, he was able to determine that his ailments were due to a muscle imbalance, and they were all alleviated by simply straightening out his posture. He eventually graduated from Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and became a physical therapist. Shortly thereafter, he added personal training to his resume, opening the world’s first clinic where these practices were taught all under one roof. Dr. Kareem believes the body is meant to move, and the key to good health is getting it to move correctly.

This is the basis of muscle balance therapy, and it is designed to assist the body with the following health issues:

• Alleviating pain
• Faster healing
• Improved mood
• Improved posture
• Increased athleticism
• Greater quality of life

Causes of Common Muscle Imbalance

There are many causes of muscle imbalance, following are the most common:

Improper Exercise

When it comes to traditional exercise, many of us tend to exercise in a one or two-dimensional way, which is primarily comprised of movements that are either forwards and/or backwards. For example, the bench press and running are two exercises that are extremely popular, but they can cause muscle imbalances if other complementary exercises are not included in the workout regimen.

In many cases, muscle imbalances mean that the larger muscles are becoming stronger at a faster rate than the smaller muscles. According to Dr. Kareem, the issues caused by muscle imbalance affects more than the disturbed area and may cause a domino effect. For example, if a person has a rotator cuff imbalance, the nerve signal that shuts down the muscle is turned on. When a muscle gets shut down, not only does it stop a person from being able to move the way they want, but it slows down their metabolism as well. This can make a person less effective at many other things, which could eventually affect their mood.

Even as adults, we are meant to play. Our bodies are designed to move in every possible direction. That’s how you would naturally hit all the different muscles. Unfortunately, many of us don’t play. We go to a gym and try to simulate the movements, yet we’re missing different diagonals, rotations, and areas that would be balanced by real life dynamic movement. Repetitive workout routines can create muscle imbalances that wreck our bodies over time.

Moreover, imbalances can lead to injury. For some exercise enthusiasts who are getting chronic injuries, it may be from an underlying muscle imbalance. A person can be big and strong in certain areas, but his smaller stabilizer muscles are not being used. As a result, the body is thrown out of balance, oftentimes creating a functional problem.

Muscle imbalances can affect people of all ages. Kids can experience overuse injuries very quickly, making them less capable of excelling in a sport. In adults of all fitness levels, muscle imbalances can have a negative impact on performance; they’ll be slower, less coordinated, and unable to learn new movements quickly. In older individuals, muscle imbalances can result in decreased coordination, decreased strength and joint pain. Many times, the pain seems to have come out of nowhere or flares up suddenly, but in reality, it was based on a long history of improper movement.

Sedentary Lifestyle

The human body was made to move, not sit at a desk or in front of the television for an extended period of time. Excess sitting can cause muscles to become tight and eventually shorter than they are designed to be. The dangers associated with the sedentary lifestyle are well documented. According to data from the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD)1

• Sedentary people have the highest rate of heart attacks.
• For every 2 hours a person watches television, their risk of Type 2 diabetes increases 14%
• Sedentary individuals have an increased risk of breast and colon cancer.
• The risk of stroke is reduced by two-thirds in physically active men and women by 50%.
• Bone loss increases in physically inactive individuals.
• Walking for sixty minutes daily can reduce a person’s risk of obesity by 24%.

A Weak Core

A strong core helps keeps the muscles and internal organs properly aligned. A weak core can cause slouching, which can lead to poor posture, which could lead to muscle imbalances. These imbalances in the core can lead to health issues such as constipation, acid reflux, and other issues.

Common Muscle Imbalance Areas

Muscle imbalances can happen throughout the body. Some of the most common imbalances include the following:

Neck flexors. A person’s neck flexors actually end up quite stretched, while their neck extensors become compressed. This often occurs if a person is right handed and they’re always writing with their right hand, typing in a specific way, reaching for a mouse or a stapler, or just rotating their spine in a very specific pattern and shoulder in the same manner over and over again.

Tight hip flexors. Tight hip flexors are caused by sitting for extended periods of time. The human body was not designed to sit as long and as often as we do, and the result is the hip flexors become shortened. This in turn causes the pelvis to rotate or tilt downward, causing the glutes to become lengthened and weak. This will put more pressure on the hamstrings, increasing the risk of hamstring tears, strains and pulls.

Weak upper back. Another common problem is forward shoulder posture, or “upper crossed syndrome.” This is common among individuals who spend long hours in front of a computer. The head goes forward, and as people make that adjustment, chin comes up, which causes an additional strain. Another cause of the upper back imbalance is performing “pushing” exercises such as pushups and bench presses, but not doing any “pulling” exercises for the back such as bent over rows or pulldowns.

As a result of these imbalances, the trapezius and rhomboid muscles become lengthened and weak, while the pectoral muscles and anterior deltoids become tight.

Tight calves. Women who wear high heels increase their probability of having tight calves. The soleus, gastrocnemius, peroneal, and other muscles in the lower leg become tight. This muscle imbalance can lead to different foot, heel, and ankle problems such as plantar fasciitis and fallen arches.

Tight Piriformis. The piriformis is muscle in the glutes which is also part of the external rotator in the hip. A tight piriformis occurs more often in men than women because men tend to sit with their legs open more often than women. Individuals with a tight piriformis often have knee problems, while others may experience problems with sciatica, which is shooting pain from the glutes to the back of the legs.

Tight abductors. Tight abductors usually occur in women because they tend to sit with their legs crossed. If a person has tight abductors, the femur may become internally rotated, which increases the probability of knee pain.

Muscle imbalance can occur in many different ways. Not only is It important to be aware of their causes, but it’s also important to know the various ways they can harm the body.

Dangers of Muscle Imbalance

Many people are unaware how muscle imbalances can affect their overall health. Oftentimes, I would explain to my clients how “structure affects function.” I would show them an x-ray so they can see how an imbalance could erode their discs early and cause injury. However, it was a challenge for me to get them to understand how that affects their immune system.

Dr. Kareem explains the dangers of muscle imbalance by looking at the problem from both an Eastern medicine philosophy and Western medicine philosophy. He feels both viewpoints are valid, even though they are based on different rationales.

For example, in Western medicine, it’s understood that if we don’t take care of our bodies and keep them in proper alignment, they will begin to deteriorate and become weak very quickly. Pain signals will take over instead of muscle signals and contractions. We’ll begin to lose coordination, which ultimately, means we’ll lose our mobility and become less active. We’ll be less motivated to eat right and begin to feel helpless and assume the fetal position.

When we’re stressed, we curl up in the fetal position, and that’s a position of self-defeat. This position is a sign of anxiety, depression, and tension throughout the entire body. As we begin to look at illness from this perspective, we start to branch over to the Eastern medicine philosophy: how does this affect quality of life?

As we delve deeper into the Eastern medicine philosophy, we must consider the importance of the central nervous system and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and how it relates to muscle balancing: If you have a block in CSF flow, and it gets disrupted (through your brain, through your spinal cord, and back up,) it will change the way your entire body communicates.

Dr. Kareem elaborates further: “If there’s something more critical going on in your body right now, like for example, your nervous system’s compromised because CSF flow is blocked, then it doesn’t care if you want to lose weight. It doesn’t care if you have a cut or a laceration on your skin. It’s not going to heal it as well. It certainly doesn’t care if you have wrinkles that you want to get rid of or if your energy level isn’t what you want it to be. You got to fix the root cause, the number one priority in your body, and a domino effect takes place.

“That, perhaps, linked with oral health are two of the most important foundational things you can do to improve your health, period. If you’re not taking good care of your mouth, and you’re not taking good care of the messaging system for your entire body, those are primitive areas of your body that change everything else. The body’s organized in a way where it’s going to work from the highest priority backwards.”

When it comes to health, many people are focused on the wrong things. People are concerned more about the wrinkles  and the weight loss so energy and focus goes there. They don’t realize that root canals, cavitation, and amalgam fillings in their mouths are making them toxic. It’s important for people to understand these things can cause inflammation, accelerated aging, and other issues. Toxins do this by getting into the cells the nervous system, and ultimately the anterior head. They’re not aware how their spinal cord is stretched and interfering with their nervous system. Instead of focusing on issues like the skin and weight loss, it’s more important to look upstream and get to the root cause of our health issues.

Dr. Kareem believes that it is important to work on the number one system first, which is the endocrine system. When the endocrine system is under stress, hormones are more important than going on a particular diet. For example, if your pelvis is out of position and it’s properly realigned, you might uncover a six-pack you didn’t know you had:

“This is one of my biggest lessons and one of my earliest personal training finds. This was an introduction for me to muscle balancing. You see, there was this girl named Lindsey, and she worked as hard as anybody could work. She wasn’t anorexic, but she was borderline at that point where she was just doing everything she possibly could in the gym. She was eating correctly, so she wasn’t really skimming off food, but she just couldn’t get that final six-pack. She just wanted a little bit of definition. She always had the four at the top of the abs, but nothing at the bottom.

“Finally, I ended up doing a postural assessment on her. I took a peek. You know what? We just needed to tip her pelvis backwards a little bit. When we tipped her pelvis backwards a little bit, lo and behold, all those folds went away. Her love handles weren’t actually there. There was no extra body fat on her body preventing her from having the body she wanted. She just needed to be in a slightly different position.

“Now, the coolest thing is not only did she end up getting the body that she wanted, but she starting moving so quickly, all her results accelerated. It was months of work to get to this point, where then all of a sudden, in the next 30 days, she hit every single one of her goals. Truth was, it only took two weeks to tip her pelvis back into position and a few simple exercises that anybody can do at home with just their body weight alone.”

Do You Have Muscle Imbalances?

Our subconscious mind knows when the body’s out of position. If we turned the lights off in the room, you know your arms are behind you. You don’t have to look over to see that. That’s because there’s these little mechanoreceptors in every muscle telling your brain, “We’re over here.”

Same with when the head is forward. The mechanoreceptors are firing, letting the brain knows it’s out of position. When something is out of position, it sucks the energy right out of the cell. This “energy drain” is disruptive to your central nervous system and, if uncorrected, your entire body over time.

The subconscious mind knows this, but the average person is unaware the imbalance is occurring. They don’t know their head is tilted forward or their hips are slightly misaligned. They look in the mirror and think they are ok. I remember when I did this type of work saying, “Look at your low shoulder,” and they would look at themselves and say, “What low shoulder?” The point is this imbalance is the norm, but it’s can be a huge performance zapper.

If a person has had muscle imbalance for a period of time, one or both of these things can happen:

Our bodies are going to balance themselves out. If your head is tilted one way, you’ll subconsciously raise your shoulder a little bit to balance.
A person may opt to take medication to try relieve symptoms of discomfort. However, medication doesn’t get to the root cause of the issue, which is the muscle imbalance. In reality, a slight adjustment may be all that is needed.


Checking for Muscle Imbalances

You can check for muscle imbalances in the comfort of your own home:

Take a string and hang it from the ceiling, or have someone hold it for you. With the string, divide your body between right and left sides. Take a picture of yourself and compare your two sides.

1. When you look closely at the picture, look for the following signs of muscle imbalance:

• Is one shoulder is up a little bit more than the other?
• Is your side bent a little bit?
• Is your head slightly tilted?
• Is one hip raised little higher than the other?
• Do you have a little bit more of a love handle on one side?
• Is one hip is tighter than the other?

2. Take a second picture with the string dividing the body from front to back by taking it with the string at your side.

• Is your head forward?
• Is your chin tipped up?
• Is one shoulder a little bit higher or rounder than the other one?
• Is your pelvis tipped so that your lower back is arched a bit, and your belly is sticking out?

These imbalances can affect a person in many different ways. For example, if you’re a runner or athlete you may ask yourself “why can’t I get my hamstrings stronger?” or “why can’t I get faster?” This may be a case where you’re not getting the signal because your back’s arched, and you’re tipped out of position. Identifying the imbalances with a concrete image you can reference is an excellent place to begin looking for clues.

Correcting Muscle Imbalances

Once the muscle imbalance is found, steps can be taken to correct it. While many people have the same types of muscle imbalances, Dr. Kareem stresses that it’s also important to focus on personalized health. This simply means to tailor muscle balancing techniques based on your symmetry.

“A lot of people say, ‘My right bicep is stronger than my left. Should I just lift heavier on my left and try and make up for it?’ No. You actually want to back down. You want to cater to the more limited side of your body. Symmetry comes first. The fastest results come from slowing down to balance your body’s strength, and then everything accelerates from there. You want to back off from your weights on both arms to match the strength of your left, and then you would increase.”

“The same thing reflects ability and mobility in tissue release. If you can raise both arms up into the air, but one of your shoulders is hiking up a little bit, don’t go quite as far. Cater to the more limited side just before your shoulder hikes up, and come back. Work on your mobility just here, opening up your chest, increasing your ability to take a deep breath through your diaphragm. Then what happens is before you know it, even just a few reps in oftentimes, you’ll start to get a little bit further. If you just keep pushing past that point of resistance, sure, the left can keep going as far as it wants, but the right’s never going to get any better. That just results in more twisting through your body.”

Dr. Kareem has devised a short, five-minute program that uses a diagonal pattern that brings the body back into alignment naturally:

1. Free Squat

• Stand hip width apart or slightly wider
• Exhale and slowly lower, looking straight ahead
• Inhale and rise back to starting position
• Repeat for 50 seconds
• Notes: Keep feet firmly planted. Arms can be crossed in front of body, fingertips at your ears, or held out (as shown.)

2. Superset pushup

• Start with hands close together
• Exhale and lower
• Inhale and rise to starting position
• Move hands out to shoulder width apart
• Exhale and lower
• Inhale and rise to starting position
• Move arms out passed shoulder width apart
• Exhale and lower
• Inhale and rise to start position
• This is one rep.
• Repeat for 50 seconds
• Notes: Pushups can be modified by doing them on your knees.

3. Fast Bridges

• Lay on back with your feet planted onto the ground
• Keep arms on your sides for stability
• Raise hips toward the ceiling and lower quickly
• Repeat for 50 seconds
• Notes: Keep upper back planted on floor. Make sure to raise both hips evenly. Do not tilt the body.

4. Middle Trap (Bird Exercise)

• Lower body into squat position
• Feet shoulder width apart
• Dig heels into floor
• Tuck your chin
• Extend arms out to sides
• Lower arms to floor
• Raise arms parallel to sides
• Lower
• Repeat for 50 seconds
• Notes: Move shoulder, not the arms.

5. Rotational Plank

• Start in pushup position
• Keep core tight
• Exhale and slowly roll body upwards on your left side
• Inhale and slowly lower body back to pushup starting position
• Repeat for 50 seconds
• Notes: Keep core tight at all times. Body should be rolling back and forward in one fluid motion. Keep arms in plank positions at all times. Exercise can also be done on forearms.

For more information on these exercises, go to Dr. Kareem’s website.

This exercise program is designed to stimulate the front of body, the back of body, the lower body, and the upper body. This excites all of the nerves in the body and involves the smaller muscles. As a person performs these exercises, his body will quickly learn how to challenge the smaller muscles as well.

The body will begin to balance itself out by recruiting the big muscles to send the signal to the smaller ones. The idea here is to “train a nerve, not a muscle,” and that nerve starts in your head.

Dr. Kareem recommends performing these exercises every day or every other day. 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest before you transition to the next exercise. Everything is one minute, and it’s a total of five minutes every other day.

A popular misconception is we must do a certain amount of weight or reps for an exercise to be effective. Popular opinion is we are to do three sets of 10, three sets of 15, five sets, etc. In actuality, there is no solid evidence saying that that has to be the number instead of three reps or instead of six. The reality is your body just wants the cue in the right direction and let it take over. Instead of overanalyzing, we should just let nature take its course. We can self-optimize and trigger our small cues to say, “hey, body, I want to do this now.” When we send that signal for the first time, the body will understand, and it’ll start to superimpose it onto our lives and our body.

The Power of Visualization

An important part of this exercise is visualization. When a person thinks about a movement, the body begins to respond to that movement. Elite athletes use this method to prepare for a race or athletic event. They visualize the entire race before it happens.

It’s important to watch somebody else demonstrate properly first, then picture yourself doing the same move identically. This is the fastest way to learn a movement, and your body will begin to subconsciously learn how to perform the movement as well. Visualization techniques are very effective, and have shown to increase contractile strength by 30%.

On average, it takes about six weeks for a new exercise or activity to become second nature. A good example is getting out of a chair: the average person just gets up and walks without thinking about it, but in the beginning it may have taken effort. This is often the case with babies first learning to walk or people who are going through rehabilitation. They have to learn certain things all over again until they can do them without thinking about them.

Dealing with Chronic Injuries

When dealing with chronic injuries, Dr. Kareem suggests a person back off from their current activities or lower the intensity to ensure they’re not overtraining. It’s time to allow the body to learn something new, and that can be accomplished by performing the five muscle balance exercises described above. Here are a few tips from Dr. Kareem:

Weekend warrior. “If you’re not moving at all during the week, it may be helpful to decrease the intensity on the weekend warrior activities. If you’ve been playing two hours of basketball a day, cut it down to one just for a few weeks until you get the postural piece right.”

Elite athlete. “If you’re an elite athlete, maybe you’ll cut out a little bit of the time that you’re spending in the gym weight training. What you want to do is just use these five exercises initially, and then replace them over time. Use these five exercises. Do your workout, so you’re still playing basketball, or you’ll still play your sport. Within a few weeks, you’ll notice that your posture’s improved. Do that plumb line test, and you’ll see, “Where do I stand?”

Older individuals. “If you’re an older adult, avoiding falls is going to be the number one predictor of your longevity and quality of life. Take the same five minutes and use it as your five-minute mini circuit, or five-minute circuit in anything that you’re doing to enhance your health.”

“Once you know your body’s moving the way you envisioned, you can replace the five exercises with something different and something more powerful for you. It can be coordination training, speed training, balance reaction training, etc.”

In addition to athletics, doing muscle balancing exercises can help alleviate many other health conditions as well.

Additional Benefits of Muscle Balancing

Muscle balancing therapy has shown to help many conditions including the following:

• Arthritis
• Speed
• Chronic pain
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Muscle balancing exercises are designed to improve health on a cellular level, giving attention to cells in the body that need them most.

Improved circulation. Muscle balancing helps the circulatory system become more efficient. This is important because red blood cells carry oxygen and the oxygen mitochondria needed to create energy production for every cell in the body.

Strengthened nervous system. Muscle balancing teaches the body to contract a muscle at the right time and in the right sequence by targeting our nerves instead of our muscles. The body then creates a “pump effect” that allows the deoxygenated blood stuck in your ankles and fingertips to find its way back to your heart efficiently and easily. This allows the heart to focus on getting rich, oxygenated blood back to the rest of your body.

Muscle Balancing with Massage

Dr. Kareem believes in myofascial release, which is a method of applying gentle pressure to eliminate pain and restore motion. When a person gets a massage and they experience a “good hurt,” that can indicate they either have a muscle imbalance or a knot in the muscle.

In addition to the five exercises, a tennis ball, foam roller, or massage are all effective ways to help remove knots and eliminate muscle imbalance. By using these methods, you’re taking something that functions almost like scar tissue, and giving it more slack. When you give your body more slack, you give it more forgiveness. Ultimately, that leads to a more effective, younger-feeling body.

Muscle imbalances can affect a person in many different ways. By eliminating imbalances, a person can see quality of life improve physically, mentally and spiritually. However, fixing muscle imbalance is one piece of the puzzle to realizing optimal health. I encourage you to address any imbalance, but to get real and lasting results a Multi-Therapeutic Approach must be implemented. My MTA involves diet change and variation, proper exercise, fasting, True Cellular Detox™, emotional detox, and more. Combining multiple proven health strategies is the most surefire way I know to fix cellular dysfunction and enjoy your best life.

New research is now indicating that receiving Chiropractic adjustments to the pelvis can increase vertical jump height.  This new research further solidifies the stance of many professional and collegiate teams with providing Chiropractic care for their athletes. In addition to injury prevention this research proves that chiropractic care results in an increase in sports performance.

Please read the full research article below:

The influence of pelvic adjustment on vertical jump height in female university students with functional leg length inequality

Wontae Gong, PhD, PT1
Abstract

[Purpose] This study aimed to investigate the effect of pelvic adjustment on vertical jump height (VJH) in female university students with functional leg length inequality (FLLI). [Subjects] Thirty female university students with FLLI were divided into a pelvic adjustment group (n = 15) and a stretching (control) group (n = 15). [Methods] VJH was measured using an OptoGait. [Results] After the intervention, jump height improved significantly compared with the pre-intervention height only in the pelvic adjustment group, while FLLI showed statistically significant improvement in both groups. [Conclusion] Pelvic adjustment as per the Gonstead method can be applied as a method of reducing FLLI and increasing VJH.

Key words: Pelvic adjustment, Functional leg length inequality, Vertical jump height
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INTRODUCTION

The pelvis, a structure located between the hip joint and the lumbosacral spine and attached to several muscles, regulates the movement of the hip joint and lumbosacral spine. The position of the pelvis is the most critical factor determining the sagittal alignment and posture of the human body1). Only when the pelvis is in the neutral position can be in the right posture, move the upper and lower body in the dynamic posture, and improve daily movements and ambulatory ability2).

Functional leg length inequality (FLLI) worsens due to pelvic tilt in the medial plane and pelvic rotation in the sagittal plane3). Therefore, FLLI might be improved by pelvic adjustment. High-velocity and low-amplitude (HVLA) adjustment has been widely utilized as a general chiropractic adjustment method4). Many studies have indicated that leg length inequality (LLI) causes posture alteration3), limiting exercise and causing tension of the muscles and other soft tissues5). LLI is accompanied by several clinical symptoms6) such as lumbar pain7) and hip pain8). Correcting leg length inequality reportedly reduces pain, increases mobility, and improves posture9).

Vertical jumping is practiced to enhance the muscular strength and endurance of the leg and serves as a barometer of muscular strength10). There have been studies in which plyometric training was undertaken to improve leg muscle strength11), dynamic stretching was applied after jogging for 5 minutes to improve vertical jump height (VJH)12), or HVLA manipulation was performed for talocrural joint dysfunction13). However, there has been no study in which FLLI was corrected and VJH was measured as a barometer for leg muscle strength. Many studies have assessed the effect of pelvic adjustment on FLLI14), posture4), pressure on the foot, and balance15). However, no study has investigated the changes in FLLI and VJH resulting from just a single adjustment. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the immediate effects of a single pelvic adjustment on FLLI and VJH in female university students with FLLI.

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SUBJECTS AND METHODS

A total of 30 female university students with an FLLI of more than 10 mm between the left and right legs were selected and randomly assigned to one of two groups: the pelvic adjustment group (adjustment group, n = 15) and control group (stretching group, n = 15). The exclusion criteria were as follows: anatomical LLI; degenerative osteoarthritis; muscle, bone, or nervous system problems; ankle joint, knee joint, hip joint, or lumbar pain; limited range of motion due to burn or postsurgical scarring; and regular leg exercise. This study was approved by Korea Nazarene University’s Institutional Review Board, and the safety of all subjects was protected during all parts of the experiment. All subjects understood the purpose of this study and provided written informed consent prior to participation in accordance with the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki.

The age, height, and weight of the subjects in the adjustment group were 23.5±4.7 years, 163.0±5 cm, and 54.1±5 kg, while those in the stretching group were 22.2±6.3 years, 162.7±6 cm, and 53.1±6 kg, respectively. Gender was analyzed using the χ2 test, while age, height, and weight were analyzed using the independent t-test. As these analyses detected no statistically significant differences (p>0.05), the two groups were deemed identical.

The pelvic adjustment performed in the adjustment group consisted of an HVLA technique administered in the prone posture in accordance with Gonstead’s theory. Subjects were instructed to lie prone, their pelvic height was checked, and the posterior-inferior innominate bone was given an anterior-superior impact while the anterior-superior pelvis was given a posterior-inferior impact. When making these impacts, the therapist put one of his hands on top of the other, placed them on the posterior-superior iliac spine or the ischial spine, and then gave the impact using his own weight, gravity, and acceleration14). This adjustment was performed 3–5 times by one skilled physical therapist with more than 10 years of clinical experience. The control group stretched the backbone erector, rectus abdominis, iliac muscle, psoas major, quadriceps muscle, leg adductor, and quadratus lumborum adjacent to the pelvis in order to resolve muscular imbalance that could further the pelvic imbalance. In the process, the therapist assisted the subjects in performing additional height training for each muscle and maintaining each posture at the maximum height for 10–15 seconds. The subjects then resumed the initial posture, rested for 5 seconds, and repeated the stretching one more time. Stretching was done three times per posture for a total of 15 minutes4).

For leg length measurement, subjects lay straight on a bed, and the tape measure method (TMM) was used to measure the leg from the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) to the medial malleolus. Beattie et al. reported that LLI as measured by the TMM did not show a significant difference from radiological findings. We were therefore confident in the reliability of using the TMM for measuring leg length16). The measurement started from the ASIS so that pelvic bone-related problems such as pelvic tilt and pelvic asymmetry could be included.

We used an OptoGait (Microgate Srl, Bolzano, Italy), a system for optical detection, to analyze ambulation and measure VJH. On its signal-sending bar, there are 96 LEDs that communicate via an infrared frequency. The signal-receiving bar has an identical number of LEDs. We installed the signal-sending and signal-receiving bars of the OptoGait one meter apart on a flat surface. When a subject performs a vertical jump between the bars, the bars calculate the time at which the subject touches the floor or stays in the air and communicates this information by sending and receiving 1,000 signals per second, generating accurate data. Based on this basic data, the OptoGait software calculates the precise VJH.

Leg length and VJH were measured before and after the intervention. The measured data were analyzed using the statistics program SPSS 12.0 KO (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA), and the collected data are presented as averages and standard deviations. The significance of pre- and post-intervention differences was tested using the paired t-test, and the significance of between-group differences was tested using the independent t-test. The p-value α was set at 0.05.

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RESULTS

In the pre- and post-intervention comparison, VJH improved significantly only in the adjustment group, while FLLI improved significantly in both the adjustment group and the stretching group (p<0.05) (Table 1). When comparing the pre-intervention data, post-intervention data, and changes between the pre- and post-intervention data, VJH showed statistical significance only for the changes between the pre-and post-intervention data, while FLLI showed statistical significance for post-intervention data and changes between the pre- and post-intervention data (p<0.05) (Table 2).



Table 1.
Comparison of the Pre- and post-intervention data for VJH and FLLI in each group (mean±SD) (Unit: VJH-cm, FLLI-mm)


Table 2.
Comparison of VJH and FLLI between the adjustment group and stretching group (mean±SD) (Unit: VJH-cm, FLLI-mm)
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DISCUSSION

The pelvis supports the abdomen, connects the spine and legs, and is involved in transferring weight from the spine to the legs when a person stands up, maintaining a straight posture and enabling smooth arm movements17). Due to their erect ambulation, human beings are exposed to gravity and can thus be subject to a malalignment of the pelvis and legs affecting posture, ambulatory pattern, and balance. LLI is easily observed clinically and causes functional disturbance of normal biomechanics18).

Winter and Pinto reported that pelvic obliquity is caused by LLI19), and Mccaw and Bates explained the relation between biomechanics and spinal deformity due to LLI20). Defrin et al. reported that when a shoe insert was used in 22 chronic back pain patients with LLI of 10 mm and less, pain intensity and muscular weakening were reduced18), which appears to be due to reduced pain and muscular weakening attributed to decreased pelvic tilt resulting from LLI adjustment. On the basis of previous studies on pelvic adjustment, Alcantara et al. reported that following adjustments using fast and slow speed amplitudes in patients with sacroiliac joint obliquity, pain was reduced, and patients could resume daily life and work21). Park et al. reported that balance in 20 elderly men was improved through pelvic adjustment according to the Gonstead method15). In this study, FLLI was reduced after pelvic adjustment, a finding similar to a previous study in which pelvic adjustment helped reduce FLLI and the pressure difference between soles14).

In this study, stretching was not associated with increased VJH, while pelvic adjustment was. In a previous study by Ryan et al. in which subjects jogged for 5 minutes in order to improve VJH, a barometer for leg strength, and then performed dynamic stretching, VJH was increased as compared with a control group that only jogged for 5 minutes12). In the present study, it is suspected that VJH did not increase because only static stretching was applied. Hedlund et al. reported that VJH showed a statistically significant increase following 3 weeks of chiropractic HVLA manipulation in 22 female handball players with talocrural joint dysfunction, which is similar to the findings of the present study13).

Pelvic adjustment balances the left and right pelvic height and left and right anterior and posterior rotation of the hip bones, which, in turn, leads to FLLI improvement. It also balances the left and right muscle lengths of the rectus femoris and sartorius, which are involved in the hip bone’s anterior rotation, and the hamstring and gluteus maximus, which are involved in posterior rotation. This seems to explain the improvement in vertical jump ability. We recommend that pelvic adjustment be applied for decreasing FLLI and increasing VJH, a barometer for leg muscle strength, in the future.

Isaiah Delgado became involved with Push-as-Rx ® to become stronger. Isaiah began training at Push-as-Rx and with the help of Danny Alvarado and the other trainers, the strengthening routines he practiced greatly improved his performance in wrestling. Isaiah continues to come to Push-as-Rx ®.

PUSH-as-Rx ® is leading the field with laser focus supporting our youth sport programs.  The PUSH-as-Rx ® System is a sport specific athletic program designed by a strength-agility coach and physiology doctor with a combined 40 years of experience working with extreme athletes. At its core, the program is the multidisciplinary study of reactive agility, body mechanics and extreme motion dynamics.

Through continuous and detailed assessments of the athletes in motion and while under direct supervised stress loads, a clear quantitative picture of body dynamics emerges. Exposure to the biomechanical vulnerabilities are presented to our team.  Immediately, we adjust our methods for our athletes in order to optimize performance.  This highly adaptive system with continual dynamic adjustments has helped many of our athletes come back faster, stronger, and ready post injury while safely minimizing recovery times.

Results demonstrate clear improved agility, speed, decreased reaction time with greatly improved postural-torque mechanics.  PUSH-as-Rx ® offers specialized extreme performance enhancements to our athletes no matter the age.

Please Recommend Us: If you have enjoyed this video and/or we have helped you in any way please feel free to recommend us. Thank You.

Recommend: PUSH-as-Rx ® 915-203-8122
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crossfitelpa…
PUSH-as-Rx: http://www.push4fitness.com/team/

Information: Dr. Alex Jimenez – Chiropractor: 915-850-0900
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dralexjim…
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dralexjimenez/

Daniel Alvarado runs the gym, Push-as-Rx ®, where he’s seen many people and athletes who pursue losing weight or gaining muscle. He’s seen the determination in every person that steps into his gym and he understands the importance of them believing in themselves. Daniel Alvarado believes in turning his gym into the most positive part of a person’s day and helping people stay motivated by expressing his belief in them and pushing them to become the best is part of the process to help them achieve their goals in fitness.

PUSH-as-Rx ® is leading the field with laser focus supporting our youth sport programs.  The PUSH-as-Rx ® System is a sport specific athletic program designed by a strength-agility coach and physiology doctor with a combined 40 years of experience working with extreme athletes. At its core, the program is the multidisciplinary study of reactive agility, body mechanics and extreme motion dynamics.

Through continuous and detailed assessments of the athletes in motion and while under direct supervised stress loads, a clear quantitative picture of body dynamics emerges. Exposure to the biomechanical vulnerabilities are presented to our team.  Immediately, we adjust our methods for our athletes in order to optimize performance.  This highly adaptive system with continual dynamic adjustments has helped many of our athletes come back faster, stronger, and ready post injury while safely minimizing recovery times.

Results demonstrate clear improved agility, speed, decreased reaction time with greatly improved postural-torque mechanics.  PUSH-as-Rx ® offers specialized extreme performance enhancements to our athletes no matter the age.

Please Recommend Us: If you have enjoyed this video and/or we have helped you in any way please feel free to recommend us. Thank You.

Recommend: PUSH-as-Rx ® 915-203-8122
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crossfitelpa…
PUSH-as-Rx: http://www.push4fitness.com/team/

Information: Dr. Alex Jimenez – Chiropractor: 915-850-0900
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dralexjim…
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dralexjimenez/

Exercise physiologist & PUSH-as-Rx ® fitness facility owner Daniel Alvarado breaks down what a Crossfit workout consists of, the benefits & basic guide to Crossfit.

CrossFit is a high-intensity, always altered, functional movement exercise plan which has found a massive increase in popularity all over the world since it started in the early 2000s. What originally began as an exercise plan to help train military forces, firemen and police is currently taking the fitness world. CrossFit workouts assure to maintain members in the most effective shape of the lives, building muscle quicker, promoting better healing and usually meeting a complete support network of like-minded folks in the act, also!

An increasing amount of accredited CrossFit trainers, gyms, and programs now being offered across the planet, you may be wondering what all of the fuss is all about.

CrossFit?

CrossFit is a type of conditioning and strength workout that uses your own bodyweight for resistance in order to build power all over. Consistent with the benefits of high-intensity interval training, this means no regular cardio workouts and hours spent in the gym. CrossFit workouts may be performed entirely without extra weights or any gear, even though some people will decide to make use of weights for certain motions.

As stated by the creators of CrossFit.com, several simple observations taken from top-performing athletes training over the previous 30 years have formed the basic principles behind CrossFit workouts. Here are some of the essential rationales why they’ve been growing in popularity ever since, and CrossFit workouts were introduced:

• Hefty lifters have the ability to employ more power to tasks than endurance athletes. Powerlifters − those who try to lift maximum weights within three efforts − are especially powerful.
• People and sprinters conditioned to do Burst Training are usually capable to fit the cardiovascular benefits and abilities of endurance athletes, but with less time spent training.
• Endurance athletes and bodybuilders are usually very specialized in their sport — for example, being aerobically fit or quite muscular — but can be lacking in versatility (like having allover strength, power or stamina).
• Doing HIIT workouts and training at high intensities (meaning workouts that will be unsustainable for extended intervals) leads to numerous health benefits, including more rapid weight loss along with more fat-burning and muscle-building.
• HIIT workouts could be done immediately (under an hour or so and at times much less) and don’t demand someone to work out every single day to steadfastly keep up strength.

CrossFit brings together knowledge from a diverse background of the world physically healthy individuals to form one full-body work out high in mind-body benefits. Especially, CrossFit workouts cover “10 Fitness Realms” including:

• Cardiovascular and Respiratory
• Stamina
• Strength
• Flexibility
• Electricity
• Speed
• Coordination
• Agility
• Balance
• Accuracy

6 Benefits of CrossFit Workouts

1. Better Conditioning and Versatility

CrossFit programs are made to increase physical performance in a diverse way, whether it means being able to simply perform everyday tasks better (like mowing the lawn) or preparing your body for demanding competitions. CrossFit athletes train their muscles, joints and ligaments using functional movements, which means they’re useful for more than simply looking great in a bathing suit. Well rounded workouts that use large muscle tissues and different ranges of movement lead to better general health, strength, flexibility, posture and balance.

2. The Ability to Overcome Through Tablelands

CrossFit is broadly varied and based on compound, or functional, movements done in a high-strength manner. This type of training is considered effective at attaining fitness results in the quickest amount of time, while in addition helping you break through plateaus and apathy.

CrossFit isn’t just one kind of workout repeated day after day — in fact, it’s essentially the opposite. By continuously switching up the kinds of exercises performed, muscles used and intensity, CrossFit workouts keep you from plateauing since your muscles constantly must work in new ways. Each plan itself can be adjusted to accommodate all types of people, simply by changing up the weight load, duration as well as intensity of the workouts based on someone’s level of physical fitness.

3. Help Shedding Weight Fast

While lots of people fear doing steady state cardio exercises, yet force themselves to do them anyhow expecting to lose weight, they’re not constantly aware that high-strength explosion training exercises can burn off more fat and in less time.

A 2013 study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning unearthed that improvements in body composition, including fat loss and muscle gain, were critical for all those following a CrossFit plan, aside from their degree of first fitness. The reason behind the study was to analyze the ramifications of a CrossFit-established high-intensity power training (HIPT) program on aerobic fitness and body composition. A total of 23 healthy, adult men and 20 healthy, mature girls crossing all levels of body makeup and aerobic fitness finished 10 weeks of HIPT. Their workouts consisted of lifts like the squat, deadlift, clean, snatch and overhead press, performed as fast as you possibly can in a circuit style.

Body fat percentages were estimated before and following the training program along with maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max) to trail endurance developments. After 10 weeks of training, the results demonstrated significant developments of VO2max and decreased body fat percentage in both men and women. The critical correlation coefficients between absolute oxygen consumption and oxygen consumption relative to bodyweight additionally signal that CrossFit workouts help improve VO2max regardless of someone’s starting changes in their own fat and muscle percentages, body composition, sex, or level of fitness.

4. Less Time Spent Working Out, but More Results

Many people believe that they don’t have time to regularly exercise these exercise hacks try if you’re consistently time-crunched — and they could not be using that time to their greatest advantages when they do figure out how to squeeze in a workout. Group–based high-intensity functional training (HIFT) supplies time-efficient aerobic and resistance exercise at self-selected intensity levels. Studies show these kinds of workouts that are shorter and more intense, coupled with control on the intensity, can increase adherence.

A 2013 study done by the Department of Kinesiology at Kansas State University analyzed effects of HIFT as compared to moderate-intensity aerobic and resistance training (ART) on speeds of exercise initiation, enjoyment, adherence and objectives. They were more prone to keep up and found that HIFT participants spent less time exercising per week than ARTWORK participants, yet were able to keep exercise enjoyment. Considering that a lot of people decide not to exercise due to a deficiency of apathy or time, high-intensity exercise alternatives like CrossFit workouts should, therefore, be a part of public health interventions to improve task.

5. Ongoing Motivation and also a Solid Support System

Something which attracts many people and makes it stand apart is its strong sense of community. Due to the ongoing support that stems from your group-based exercise setting, CrossFitters get the added advantage of getting fellow athletes to help inspire, encourage and instruct the course inside the “CrossFit Box.”

Studies even suggest that working out in a group setting similar to CrossFit helps people to perceive the class more positively. A 2014 study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning collected questionnaires from a total of 144 members (88 females and 56 males) to assess participants’ understandings of CrossFit target structures as well as the motivational climate supported by the trainer and fellow athletes. They found that although targets differed depending on sex, all members generally felt motivation to stay with the plan and changes inside their fitness-related goals as their membership time went on.

A support system is essential for keeping you on track and assisting you to overcome obstacles that may keep you from eating and exercising right. Group motivation means lower dropout rates and more liability, which equates to better results!

6. A Community That Supports Eating Like an Athlete!

Many CrossFit sportsmen opt to start out following the Paleo Diet to get stronger, thinner, quicker and enhance recovery time. Obviously, it is possible to do CrossFit workouts without needing to modify your daily diet, yet to see better health benefits and quicker results, changing particular eating habits can go a considerable ways. CrossFit athletes should eat the following foods most: Thin meats and proteins (like cage-free eggs, wild-caught fish, grass fed beef), vegetables, some fruits in moderation, nuts and seeds, little portions of starchy vegetables (like sweet potatoes, yams, plantains), and plenty of healthy fats from coconut products, avocados or extra-virgin olive oil, for example.

While the paleo diet isn’t essentially a low-carbohydrate diet, because it places all processed foods, sugars, grains, beans and legumes it naturally means your way that is eating less carbs. Muscle tissue receive the glucose they need to fix themselves in the form of loads of some natural starches, fruits and veggies, but in the interim,, the lower- carb consumption and higher protein /fat fills you up and helps with fat-burning.

How To Begin Doing CrossFit Workouts

Should you determine to visit a CrossFit centre or follow a protocol you find online, you’ll discover that following the “Workout of the Day usually does CrossFit workouts ,” also called the WOD. WODs can appear so here’s how they work a bit perplexing if you’re new to CrossFit:

It can help to get down the basic lingo. A “rep” (or repetition) is one iteration of a motion, such as one bench press or one squat. A “set” is several repetitions, like 10 reps or squats. Each WOD normally features a certain variety of sets of various movements. The layout will be to complete the sets, rest, repeat, rest, duplicate and so on.

The level of time for resting between sets depends on a few different factors, like your skill to recover and also the primary goal of the WOD. Occasionally you may want to try having your WOD be timed, so in this situation your rest time between sets would likely be shorter which means you can complete the entire CrossFit workout quicker.

If you attend a class in a CrossFit Box, a WOD description could be written in several distinct ways. For instance, doing a WOD in “ rounds would translate to then duplicating the whole lap again, resting and carrying out a collection of many exercises. As an example, this kind of WOD might be written as “21-15-9” which would signify one exercise is performed 21 times by you, followed by another exercise so on and 21 times. Then you start from the beginning and do the first exercise 15 times, second exercise 15 times, etc.

Should you decide to do a CrossFit-style workout on your own, start by practicing moves you familiar with without additional weights. Start gradually by doing lower reps, until you become more physically able to manage higher repetitions or adding additional weight. Some compound movements to include in your WODs the calories of torch are and that will train large groups of muscles at once:

• Burpees
• Snatches
• Drops
• Situps
• Push ups
• Stands that are hand
• Squats
• Cartwheels
• Deadlifts
• Bench press
• Power cleans
• Scales
• Holds

Various items of exercise equipment might also be used throughout a CrossFit work out, since essentially any high-strength program can be carried out in a CrossFit style. This allows for even more versatility and for you yourself to create a productive work out everywhere, may it be outside, at a track, in your garage or in a basement. Some basic gear to think about in the event you need to take your workouts to the next degree, purchasing comprise:

• A stationary bike
• Olympic weights
• Rings
• Parallel bars
• Yoga or exercise mats
• Horizontal bar
• Boxes that are Plyometrics
• Medicine or stability balls
• Jump ropes
• Hefty ropes

You should ensure that you schedule “rest days” so your muscles recuperate, because CrossFit is challenging to your own muscles. Some common examples of a weekly program may be cycling three days on/one day off, or five days on/two days off. Your precise workout program depends on aims, your intensity and ability to recover.

What Are The Possible Dangers Of CrossFit Workouts?

There’s lately been lots of criticism as to the potential injuries associated with CrossFit training. According to an 2013 study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning, risks being tied to CrossFit workouts contain musculoskeletal injuries and rhabdomyolysis. But, the researchers point out that in medical journals no evidence exists to date to show that CrossFit harm rates are higher than those of other styles of high-intensity exercise.

After a total of 132 online surveys were finished amongst international CrossFit forums, data demonstrated that an injury rate of 3.1 per 1000 hours trained was calculated. Harm rates with CrossFit training look to be similar to those reported for sports for example Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics and powerlifting, and lower-contact sports like rugby. One of the injuries that are reported, spine and shoulder injuries predominate.

To keep yourself safe and prevent injuries or overtraining, make sure to properly warm up, stretch following a work out and give yourself adequate time to recover.

Joseph Sedysa participated in many sports in order to push his body to the limit. Serious to continue challenging himself physically and mentally, Joseph came to Push-as-Rx ®™ where he found the drive to stay healthy.

The trainers at Push as Rx give Joseph Sedysa the right push to get him through the day. Eager to become stronger, Joseph continues looking up to Push-as-Rx ®™ and what the future holds for him.
  
PUSH-as-Rx ®™ is leading the field with laser focus supporting our youth sport programs. The PUSH-as-Rx ®™ System is a sport specific athletic program designed by a strength-agility coach and physiology doctor with a combined 40 years of experience working with extreme athletes. At its core, the program is the multidisciplinary study of reactive agility, body mechanics and extreme motion dynamics.

Through continuous and detailed assessments of the athletes in motion and while under direct supervised stress loads, a clear quantitative picture of body dynamics emerges. Exposure to the biomechanical vulnerabilities are presented to our team. Immediately, we adjust our methods for our athletes in order to optimize performance. This highly adaptive system with continual dynamic adjustments has helped many of our athletes come back faster, stronger, and ready post injury while safely minimizing recovery times.

Results demonstrate clear improved agility, speed, decreased reaction time with greatly improved postural-torque mechanics. PUSH-as-Rx ®™ offers specialized extreme performance enhancements to our athletes no matter the age.

Please Recommend Us: If you have enjoyed this video and/or we have helped you in any way please feel free to recommend us. Thank You.

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Information: Dr. Alex Jimenez – Chiropractor: 915-850-0900
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Pricing

Scaled

PUSH 24/7 Fitness

$35 a month / 12-month contract
$40 a month / 6-month contract
3-month contracts are unavailable
$45 a month / without a contract

24-hour access with RFID card

Rx

PUSH CrossFit

$85 a month / 12-month contract
$100 a month / 6-month contract
$125 a month  / 3-month contract
$150 a month without a contract

We offer 10% off to all military
and law enforcement

FireBreather

PUSH CrossFit + PUSH 24/7 Fitness

$100 a month / 12-month contract
$120 a month / 6-month contract
$150 a month a 3-month contract
$170/ month without a contract
 

Personal Training

Choose Your PUSH Trainer

$250 a month for 12 sessions
$300 a month for 20 sessions

Choose your own trainer,
receive the benefits of regular weigh-ins & measurements, before & after pictures, and consistent mentoring and coaching

DROP-IN RATES

$15 / day
$10 / day when you pre-pay 3 days in advance
$30 / week

Out of town athletes only

PUSH APP

$25 / month

The PUSH App is offered at a flat rate of $25 a month regardless of any membership.

Receive personalized workouts, video training support, and other bonuses!

HOURS OF OPERATION

Monday-Thursday

5 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Friday

5 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Saturday

9 a.m. – Noon

Sunday

Closed

Open Gym

Monday-Friday

Noon – 2 p.m.

Classes are not led by a trainer during open gym and members can choose to design their own workout or follow the WOD.

6440 Gateway East Bldg B,  El Paso, TX 79905

CALL (915) 203-8122 NOW

El Paso, TX. Chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez looks at exercise and fitness from a chiropractic perspective.

The advantages of exercise are plenty: Exercise might help prevent numerous conditions — to osteoporosis — from heart attacks and it can also prevent back pain and neck pain.
Cardiovascular, strength training, and flexibility training exercise all play a significant part in a healthy exercise routine, and each form of exercise contributes to spinal health.

Training & Stretches

Flexibility is something most people take for granted when they’re young, but growing elderly tends to make the significance of flexibility and stretching training a lot more clear as range of movement begins to fall. Yet, stretching and flexibility training may be incorporated into your fitness routine at any given age, and you may reap the benefits for a long time. Flexibility training can boost your mobility, balance, equilibrium, and posture, which will assist you to avoid back and neck pain. Pilates all, yoga, and flexibility training classes might help you enhance your stretches technique and lead to long-term flexibility.

Weight Training & Core Strengthening For Back Pain

You could believe strenuous exercise and strength training tend to be more prone to result in a back injury than to prevent one, but your overall spinal health along with function cans significantly enhance. With feeble back and abdominal muscles, on the other hand, you happen to be more inclined to encounter a back strain injury. For the best results, you will want to combine weightlifting with strengthening exercises that use your own personal body weight as opposition to maintain a healthier neck and back. Make sure do not fail core muscles such as transverse abdominals and the external obliques, and to alter your work outs.

Cardiovascular Exercise

Cardiovascular exercise has many health benefits, and it’s also an essential element of a well-rounded workout routine. One of the key advantages to cardiovascular exercise is the way it can simply help with weight reduction. Being obese or overweight can lead to worsening of spinal circumstances and puts extra strain on your back, so discarding some extra pounds with only a little help from cardiovascular activity can mean great things for your back and spine. Cardiovascular exercise also helps you build endurance, which can be essential for long-term health and will help with rehabilitation from spinal and back injuries. Naturally, cardio has wonderful effects on different aspects of well-being too, from enhancing mood and enhancing cholesterol amounts to lowering blood pressure. Because endorphin levels are boosted by cardiovascular exercise, it can also help alleviate outward indications of depression, which may add to the long-term pain experienced by some people. Like that were quality slumber is promoted by cardiovascular activity, and also a good night’s remainder is essential for back and spine well-being.

Exercise & Aging

It really is particularly important as we age, although exercise is very important at all ages. These deteriorations can impede, although decline of flexibility, range of motion, and function are a part of the natural aging process. Although vigorous action may be hard amongst aged adults, aerobic activity that is light still has tremendous health benefits, specially in comparison to no activity in the slightest. The quantity of exercise one needs so that you can see health benefits might surprise you — you are able to exercise at an intensity level which allows you to carry on a casual conversation and still see health benefits.1 If you have a few other health issues, such as for instance diabetes, high blood pressure, or a heart condition, specific activities may well not be healthy for you. Request your doctor about your planned exercise routine, in case you do not feel comfortable exercising by yourself, and consider exercising in the existence of a physical exercise device. Don’t forget to tune in to your own body, and cease exercise at once should you experience pain aside from muscle soreness that is typical.

The SpineUniverse Exercise Center shows you the top back stretches and neck stretches to maintain your spine powerful and healthy. Discover the crucial advantages of exercise as how to keep healthy as well.

Walk into any gym or health club and you’ll find people exercising their core. Core training has taken the world by storm, and for good reason, as every DC knows. Strengthening the core creates stability and better movement and helps prevent lower back pain. To help patients get the most from their efforts, it’s important they understand what they’re doing. You can explain the difference between the local and global muscles, as I’ve outlined below, and help your patients perform core work safely and effectively.

What Is the Core?

I like to tell patients that their core is a shorthand way of referring to all the muscles of their lower back/pelvis/hip area. It’s where your center of gravity is located and where movement begins. A strong core stabilizes the spine and pelvis and supports you as you move. The core has 29 pairs of muscles that fall into two categories:

– Local Muscles. Patients can think of local muscles as the deeper muscles, the ones close to the spine and responsible for stabilization. They don’t have much ability to move the joints. The local muscles are further broken down into primary and secondary categories. The primary local muscles are the transverse abdominus and multifidi (the two most critical muscles for providing stability). The secondary local muscles are the internal obliques, quadratus lumborum, diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles.

– Global Muscles. The global muscles are the outermost layer of muscle—they’re the ones you can feel through your skin. They’re responsible for moving joints. The global muscles in the core are the rectus abdominus, external obliques, erector spinae, psoas major and iliocostalis.

The core should operate as an integrated functional unit, with the local and global muscles working together to allow easy, smooth, pain-free movement. When the muscles work together optimally, each component distributes, absorbs and transfers forces. The kinetic chain of motion functions efficiently when you do something dynamic, like exercise or run.

Core Injury

An injury to one of the core muscles usually means an episode of lower back pain for your patient. When that happens, the deep stabilizers change how they work as a way to compensate for the injury and protect the area. The stabilizers now have delayed action; they’re turned on only after you move, instead of as you move. Because now they’re not functioning as they should, the brain recruits the global muscles to compensate. That causes a core imbalance. The result: pain in the lower back, pelvis and glutes (the big muscles you sit on).

Exercises designed to help get patients’ core muscles back in balance are the best way to prevent re-injury and avoid lower back pain. Traditional abdominal exercises are often recommended to strengthen the global muscles. These exercises can actually increase pressure on the lower spine. Similarly, traditional lower back hyperextension exercises meant to stretch out the lower spine also may actually increase pressure on it. A better approach to preventing lower back pain is restoring stability with the core exercises below.

Abdominal Brace

The abdominal brace activates all the contracting muscles in the abdominal wall, without involving the nearby obliques and rectus muscles. This exercise strengthens the connection between the global muscles and the deep local muscles. This helps restore the balance between them and improves spinal stiffness.

To get an idea of how the muscles in your core work, place your thumbs in the small of your back on either side of your spine. Next, do a hip hinge: bend forward from the hips about 15 degrees. You should feel the muscles in your lower back move as you bend and stand back up again.

To do the brace, stand upright and suck in your stomach, as if you were about to get punched. Hold hat for 10 seconds, then relax. Repeat 20 times; do three sets.

You’ll know you’re doing the brace correctly if you poke your extended fingertips right into your side below your ribs and then brace. You should feel the muscles move under your fingertips.

Curl-Ups

Curl-ups train the rectus abdominus, the long abdominal muscle that runs vertically from your breastbone all the way down on both sides of your bellybutton.

Start by lying on your back with your hands palm-up beneath your lower back. Bend one leg and put the foot flat on the floor; extend the other leg. Hold your head and neck stiffly locked onto your ribcage—imagine them as one unit. Lift your head and shoulders slightly off the floor by three or four inches and hold that position for 20 seconds. Your elbows should touch the floor while you do this. Relax and gently lie back again. Repeat 10 times. Switch legs and repeat 10 times gain. Do three sets.

Tip: If your patient has neck discomfort doing this, have them push their tongue against the roof of the mouth to help stabilize the neck muscles.

Side Bridge

The side bridge, also called the side plank, trains the quadratus lumborum, lateral obliques, and transverse abdominus muscles, all local muscles that help stabilize the spine.

Start by lying on your side. Place your top leg in front of your bottom leg (the heel of your top foot should touch the toe of the bottom foot). Raise your body using the down-side shoulder and elbow. Cap the opposite shoulder with your free hand. Hold for as long as you can, aiming for 30 seconds. Switch sides and repeat.

Bird Dog

This exercise is great for training the back extensors, including the longissimus, iliocostalis and multifidii.

Start on your hands and knees (quadruped position). Raise and extend the opposite arm and leg simultaneously, like a dog pointing to where the bird is.  Hold or eight seconds, then return to the quadruped position. Repeat eight times, then switch arms and legs and repeat for eight reps. Do three sets.

Conclusion

All the muscles of the core must work together to produce efficient and effective movement. The core is the center of the body’s motion—training it is a critical part of any exercise routine. Teaching your patients proper technique for core training will result in big benefits for them now and in the future.



Share this Core Strengthening guide with patients, courtesy of WebExercises