Here at Backs Etc., we’re obsessed with saunas. But not just for the calming benefits a nice sauna session gives us. There are also a number of ways in which regular sauna sessions can help us physically, as well as mentally. These include boosting strength and endurance and even building muscle.
Read the full article, Why Saunas Can Build Muscle, Boost Endurance, and Increase Strength
This concise article explains the importance of grip strength, including the somewhat frightening study which found that grip strength is closely correlated with all causes of mortality. On the positive side, it details a few resistance training exercises that are excellent for improving your grip strength. At Backs Etc., we work with many clients on improving their grip, through bodyweight, dumbbell and kettlebell exercises.
Read the full article, Get a Grip! Why Your Grip Strength Matters
Chronic feelings of tightness don’t necessarily mean that your muscles are tight and short, especially if you have tried stretching and it doesn’t change things. It is more likely an indication of an increased neurological sensitivity. Perhaps strengthening or improving the way you move may provide the solution. At Backs Etc we can help you with this.
Read the full article, Why Do Muscles Get Tight?
We at Backs Etc. love hiking! We find getting out in nature and getting from place to place under our own natural power immensely satisfying and cathartic. And now it seems that more and more doctors are actually writing ‘nature prescriptions’ or recommending ‘ecotherapy’ to reduce anxiety, improve stress levels, and to curb depression. Looks like it’s good for body, mind and soul, so what are you waiting for? Get out there and hit the trails!
Read the Full article, ‘Doctors Tell Us How Hiking Can Change Our Brains’
Women of all ages should be doing some form of weight training. It is the most important type of exercise to do, coming in ahead of flexibility and cardio training. It will massively reduce your risk of osteoporosis, and is essential in weight control too. If you feel intimidated by weight training and don’t know where to start at, Backs Etc we specialise in giving you a program that will meet your health and fitness goals and is tailored to the equipment you have access to.
Read the full article ‘6 reasons why women should lift weights’
Here at Backs Etc we focus on building our clients’ true and dynamic core strength, initially by getting them to breathe abdominally. We then use primal movements such as rolling and crawling to enable them to integrate the breathing and improve their basic movement patterns, which will translate into improvements in more advanced movements such as running or weight lifting. Get in touch with us if you need some help finding your true dynamic core stability.
Read the article, Crawling like a Baby: How to Break Records and Restore Your Body.
Are more and longer exercise sessions always a good thing? Exercise is a stressor. Usually a good one. But a stressor nonetheless.
If you exercise intensely and/or often, you add stress to a body that may already be overloaded from other life stuff like work, relationships, travel, late nights, etc. People often feel they need exercise to help relieve stress. But it is important to realise that this is physical demand, which you need to recover from and if there is a lot of other things going on, then more recovery time or less intense sessions are essential. Also if your form is poor when exercising this will increase the chance that your session is hindering rather than helping you. So if you’re not sure whether you’ve got the right program to support your fitness and health goals, come on in and get assessed.
Read the full article, How intense workouts (and overtraining) can ruin your results.
Okay, maybe this title is a little extreme. However, this article makes a strong case as to why we should be strength training rather than running or performing other long slow distance – or LSD – activities. The author breaks down a number of reasons why ‘chronic cardio’ is less effective at improving your health, and can actually be detrimental to it in some ways According to the article, Strength training, in contrast, is much more beneficial as the basis of a fitness program, with less of the negatives.
At Backs Etc., we are not anti-running, however, we do see many patients and clients obsessed with running marathons and participating in other extreme endurance events, despite struggling with basic movement patterns, mobility and strength. This type of training can put extreme stress on the body, resulting in pain, injury and a host of other issues.
If you are a runner with niggling pain or want to improve your performance, come to Backs Etc. for an assessment, and we can design a programme to suit your needs.
For more information, read the article ‘Why You Should Not Be Running.’
Proper breathing technique is something we focus on at Backs Etc in both our therapy and training appointments. Without addressing poor breathing mechanics, it can be hard to make lasting changes to a patient’s pain or dysfunction. Often the problem stems from the inability to build intra-abdominal pressure (‘IAP’) using diaphragmatic breathing, and so there is an over-reliance on neck or back muscles that become painful.
Spring is in the air and it’s time to get your feet out of their ‘coffins’. This article describes the importance of footwear that allows your feet to move naturally, especially for the next generation. However, it is so important to both transition gradually and do some foot exercises to strengthen the muscles rather than just take up wearing barefoot shoes 24-7. Vivobarefoot have even launched a shoe with an app to help with this. I haven’t tried it myself but I roll my feet every day and do some basic activation exercises.
Read the full article Welcome to the Second Barefoot Revolution.