The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

excercise

RX for Healthy Hips

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By Matthew Marucci

There are few muscle groups in the body more important than those of the hip. In addition to influencing the hip, these muscles can impact the health of your lumbar spine and knees.

When people think about keeping their knees healthy the most common approach is strengthening the quadriceps. While there is nothing wrong with working the quadriceps, the hip, particularly the gluteal muscles, have significantly more influence on the health of your knees. The gluteals help control the position of your femur (thigh bone) and thus the alignment with the tibia (shin bone). Misalignment between these bones can increase the stress placed on the cartilage in your knees and hips. Additionally, if you lack proper alignment between your femur and tibia, the significance of your quadriceps strength decreases even further.

Another common misperception is that activities like running and cycling strengthen your hips. To increase the strength of a muscle you must use enough weight or resistance to reach fatigue in the range of 12-15 repetitions. While running and cycling are excellent forms of cardiovascular exercise, they do little to strengthen your legs. Cardiovascular exercises also tend to engage your muscles in the sagittal plane (front to back movement), while the gluteal muscles need rotation or movement away from the body to be recruited.

The influence of the hip on the spine is simply an equation of motion. The more motion that can be derived from the hips, the less motion will be needed from the spine. Less motion in the spine results in decreased stress placed upon the vertebral discs and ligaments. Minimizing motion from the spine and adding lumbar stabilization exercises (planks, side planks) to your routine is a great recipe for a healthy spine.

Try adding these exercises to your routine.

Clamshells: Lie on your side with your hips and knees bent. Slowly lift your top knee while keeping your feet together. Stop when you feel your pelvis begin to tip backwards.

To add resistance use an ankle weight wrapped around your top thigh or an elastic exercise band around your knees. Perform 3 sets of 12 repetitions.

Side Lying Hip Abduction: Lie on your side with your bottom leg pulled up toward your chest. Lift the top leg up and slightly back. You know you are performing this properly when you feel the back half of your glutes working. You should not feel it on the side of your hip. Perform 3 sets of 12 repetitions.

Modified Side Plank with Hip Abduction: Lie on your side with your knees bent and lift your body off the ground using your elbow and knee closest to the ground. While holding this position gently lift your top leg up and slightly back. Hold the side plank for 30 seconds and try to raise your leg about 15 times during the 30 second period.

Matthew Marucci PT, MSPT, OCS, CSCS is the owner of New Castle Physical Therapy & Personal Training and is certified as an Advanced Hip Clinician with The Hospital for Special Surgery.

Fit at Last

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By Anna Bennett

Amber Jo of Prescriptions for Fitness trained Greeley grad (Class of 2010) Anna Bennett this summer.
Amber Jo of Prescriptions for Fitness trained Greeley grad (Class of 2010) Anna Bennett this summer.

I’m going to be embarrassingly candid here. Prior to this summer, the last time I got myself to the gym was first semester of my sophomore year of college–aka, a year and a half ago–when a friend forced me. I stayed for about 25 minutes, got a smoothie, and left. And the last time I got a “real” work out…never?

Aesthetically, I’ve always been somewhat satisfied with my body image. My weight has fluctuated some through the years, but I have never been considered, though I really hate the term, “fat.” At 5’3” and my weight hovering around 110 pounds, I am not really a candidate for a weight loss camp–still, that’s the kind of push I needed. It was only this past spring that I found my body changing in ways that troubled me. With the combination of Amherst’s (at UMass) candied bacon donuts and my (truly) sedentary lifestyle, I felt bloated on the outside and morbid on the inside. My mom, one of the few who understand how unhealthy my habits actually were, offered to set me up with a trainer at Prescriptions for Fitness in Chappaqua and I agreed to try.

Soon after, I met my trainer, Amber Jo, a friendly young woman (with a rockin’ bod) just three years my senior. After filling out some forms and testing my abilities, Amber customized a routine for me. She designed a “circuit,” which is a series of different exercises performed one after the other, and then repeated a number of times, which challenged my strength and endurance alike. And by “challenged,” I mean I was sweating bullets and flopping all over the place rather than working out. Fortunately, at Prescriptions for Fitness, I was given a private space, where I didn’t have to worry about looking funny or struggling in front of others. There, I was able to learn different kinds of exercises (and flop around all I wanted) in an intimate, judge-free zone.

Between sessions, Amber texted me copies of what we did together. This way, I could exercise on my own and keep what I had learned fresh in my mind. Although I couldn’t push myself quite as far as Amber would, I went from doing nothing to doing something, which was a huge accomplishment for me. Many of the exercises we did involved floor work and weights, so I could work out easily on my own at home too.

Week by week, I still struggled, but felt a gradual improvement. The initial workouts that made me feel absolutely miserable became tolerable, and then, even (gasp!) enjoyable. Feeling myself perform in ways that I was once incapable (as in doing a real pushup!) and Amber proudly acknowledging the ways in which I had improved was a great boost to my self esteem. At the conclusion of my 12 sessions (thanks Mom!), I can say that I now “know how” to work out and am motivated to continue on. For me, having Amber as my trainer was crucial to my personal growth, and probably crucial to my future health.

Editor’s Note: You’re welcome, Anna.

Winning the Winter Weight Gain Battle

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Eve Fogler

By Eve Fogler

We look forward to Holidays as a joyful time to enjoy celebrating family traditions and spend time with friends and loved ones. Though they are festive times, holidays can take a toll on our bodies. It’s easy to get caught up in the frenzy of last minute shopping, cooking, entertaining and partying. Whether you are traveling to celebrate or hosting, there is stress. There is the pressure of coordinating schedules, getting along with relatives, and trying not to overeat. Overeating can be a band-aid for stress, anxiety, or depression. The stress of the holidays can bring emotional issues to the surface. In fact, the Holiday Season is known to be the most stressful time of the year. All that pressure causes surges in cortisol, the stress hormone. What seems cruel is that increases in cortisol cause fat storage, in particular around your middle! Cortisol wreaks havoc with your metabolism and is one of the reasons why you can diet and exercise…and still gain weight. Most of us relax over the holidays by sitting. We sit to watch TV, sit to watch movies, sit to eat holiday meals, and sit in a car or plane and travel to where we sit with friends and family. Have you ever noticed that when you sit for a few hours it becomes increasingly difficult to get up? You may even begin to feel depleted, not rested. Why is that? When you sit for an extended period of time, your heart slows down, decreasing your circulation, and you get less oxygen to your brain. Worse, your metabolism slows down.

So, what can you do?

Well, we all know the key to maintaining weight and avoiding weight gain over the holidays is to: (drumroll please) eat less and move more. I know, it’s MAGIC.

Move

If you get up frequently to move about, you’ll feel a lot better. If you plan ahead how you will fit exercise into your holiday schedule, you’ll have a much greater chance that you’ll actually do it. Go for family walks, call a workout buddy to meet at yoga or walk your dogs together–just move.

Enjoy your Food

When you eat with awareness you’re much more likely to eat what you really want (rather than just what’s around) and to stop when you’ve had enough (rather than when the there’s no food left). Eat with relish and gusto, ’tis the season to be jolly, after all! Take your time, instead of eating while standing up or while doing something else. Enjoy flavors, textures and the experiences.

Extra tips

•Studies show that people who eat breakfast eat less for the rest of the day than those who skip breakfast.

•Be sure to drink enough water. Many times we think we’re hungry but we’re really just thirsty. Stock up on sparkling waters and delicious teas.

Limit the Calories you Drink

You may not realize how many calories you are drinking during the holidays. Liquids don’t nourish or fill you up. These empty calories easily lead to extra pounds of fat on your body. Most cocktails have around 150 calories, but sips here and there can pack a whopping 300 calories, 20 grams of sugar…and more! To reduce calories, choose non-sweet cocktails and “cut” wine or fruit juices with sparkling mineral water. Drink one glass of water for every cocktail or glass of wine. This will save a lot of calories…and possibly rescue you from a nasty hangover as well.

How do you want to remember your holiday? You might not want to look back with regret about wasted time, worry, stress and any overeating. Anna Quindlan wrote a beautiful editorial about how she saw an old picture of herself and her young children and regretted that she didn’t recall being there. Make your gift to yourself to be entirely present during the holidays. Being in the moment makes it that much easier to enjoy your food…and the conversation. Try it, and you’ll notice how much more satisfying your holidays feel.

Eve Fogler is a NY State licensed Health Coach specializing in Eating Psychology and Weight Loss, and Co-President of Well Beyond Cravings, LLC, an online and in-person Weight Loss Coaching Program. Go to WellBeyondCravings.com to find out more.