by Cori Lefkowith | Sep 3, 2014 | Blog, Core
A strong core means less risk for injury and pain. And if you suffer from low back pain, you need to strengthen your core!
That is why the Pelvic Tilt exercise is a must-do move. It activates your intrinsic core stabilizers so that your core is working and your low back doesn’t have to.
Because we sit all day, which create imbalances and tight muscles, our abs aren’t activated and working. Because our abs aren’t working, our low back sometimes take over and does work it shouldn’t, which leads to pain and injury.
Therefore anyone with low back pain or even simply a desk job, needs to do the Pelvic Tilt Exercise.
Plus if you’ve ever done Leg Lowers, or any other ab exercise, and felt the move in your low back, it means your abs aren’t yet strong enough to stay engaged during that move. Therefore, you need to do the pelvic tilt first to engage and strengthen your abs!
While we firmly believe that EVERYONE should do the Pelvic Tilt, it is often only recommended for women post pregnancy to help them regain their ab strength. However, no one can ignore this very important core stabilizing exercise if they suffer from low back pain!
Here’s how to do the Pelvic Tilt exercise and prevent and alleviate your low back pain!
How to do The Pelvic Tilt:
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by Cori Lefkowith | Sep 1, 2014 | Blog, Core, Exercises
Often when people think about training their core, they think of six-pack abs and crunches.
They think about aesthetics. But core training is about more than getting six-pack abs. A strong core means less risk for pain and injury and it also means you can lift more and run faster.
Plus, core training is about more than working your abs – it is about strengthening everything from your shoulders to your knees.
Proper core training isn’t about doing a million crunches. It is about doing exercises that work everything from your shoulders to your knees.
Core training will improve your stability and strength in every plane of motion.
Below are the Best Core Training Exercises to train your core and improve your stability and strength to prevent injury and help you move better (aka run faster and lift more!).
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by Cori Lefkowith | Aug 27, 2014 | Blog, Foam Rolling, Pain Relief
If you sit at a desk all day, you’ve probably struggled with neck, shoulder and/or upper back pain at some point in your life.
One great way to alleviate some of those aches and pains is by foam rolling.
Foam rolling is basically a massage you can do to yourself.
So if you’ve ever harassed your friends or loved ones for more neck and shoulder massages, here are some ways you can do it yourself!
5 Foam Rolling Moves to Alleviate Neck, Shoulder and Upper Back Pain
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by Cori Lefkowith | Aug 25, 2014 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Handstands
There is just something so cool and fun about handstands.
However, they are far from easy and many of us can’t even hold one against a wall let alone hold a freestanding one for a second.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t include handstand work in our exercise routines.
Handstands are a great way to build upper body and core stability and strength. Beginner variations even improve your upper body mobility so that as your strength increases, you can do more and more challenging variations.
No matter your level, there is a handstand variation right for you that can help you work toward that freestanding handstand and give you a great upper body and core workout.
Check out our How to do a Handstand Progression (and our How to do a One-Handed Handstand Progression) to help you achieve that handstand or at least get in some great upper body and core work!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Aug 22, 2014 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Pain Relief
Especially since most of us sit all day hunched over a computer screen we need to stretch and open up before we workout. We need to do Dynamic Stretches.
Dynamic Stretches are stretches in which you work through a range of motion. They aren’t stretches that you hold. You are moving and allowing everything to warm up as you improve your joint mobility.
These stretches help open up our posture and return our body to proper alignment after sitting all day, which helps us prevent injury when we workout.
However, all too often, people skip their warm up and go straight into their workout, especially when they are going for a run. They figure they will “warm up as they go.”
But it doesn’t work that way.
Without correcting some of the dysfunction we create from sitting all day and warming up our joints through a proper range of motion, we can’t run as fast and we risk getting injured.
Below are 10 Dynamic Stretches for Runners that will help you prevent injury and get your body ready to run so that you can run faster with better form! (more…)
by Cori Lefkowith | Aug 20, 2014 | Blog, Core, Workouts
Circuits can be done in a variety of ways. They can be done for a prescribed amount of sets or they can be done for an allotted time.
When you do circuits for time and try to get as much work done in that time as possible, you are using a training method known as Density Training.
“Density” is the amount of work you are able to do in a set amount of time.
With Density Training, you are trying to increase the amount of work you can do in a set amount of time to improve your strength and your endurance.
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