These are 2 subjects, not one. As usual, I’ll save the exercise stuff for the end of the blog.
I just put down a periodical I receive from the Cleveland Clinic, b-Well, which I think is a quarterly. It’s very good and packed with health information.
An article that caught my attention concerned a topic about which I had first hand experience (near and dear to me as I’ve taken the tried and true approach) and I’ve had clients ask me about the alternative methods. Yes, colon cleansing or detoxifying cocktails.
I guess this is diet and nutrition related as it’s about the residual waste after your body has absorbed what it can from the food you eat.
The article is from the winter 2010 edition (see clevelandclinic.org/BeWell) “Debunking the Myths of Colon Cleansing”. the net takeaway of the article is that these cocktails don’t work, never have and may actually harm you. Dr. Carol Burke states that “regular bowel movements are likely all that’s needed to clear the colon of it’s impurities”. all of that plumbing down there/back there is a perfectly good mechanism for doing the job. And, theses potions won’t help you lose weight either.
OK, that delicate topic is now closed. on to exercise.
Core Exercise
All the aforementioned plumbing is protected by and within your core, which effectively is composed of all the discs, bones, joints and muscles surrounding and supporting the spine including forward to the abdominal wall. or, as I label it with clients, “the girdle area from your hips to your pits, belly button to spine”.
The center of your body and your control of it dictates much of your movements of daily living. any guy that played football remembers a coach emphasizing when covering the offensive player, “Keep your eyes on his belt buckle”. so, keeping the center strong is important.
The exercise- Get a medicine ball. if it is your first time, go light as this is a little advanced and is a bit of a ballistic exercise. Standing in neutral position (feet a little wider than hips), soft knees, chest out, shoulders back, abs tight. Visualize your self standing in a portrait frame with the ball in your hands in front of you. start by flexing your hips and knees with your arms and the ball extended in front of your chest. Swing the ball diagonally to a lower corner of the frame with your chest following the ball, arms straight til the ball is in the corner of the frame, near your ankle. then, begin to straighten up and take the ball (arms extended with chest following the ball) to the other side, upper corner of the frame. the swing should be diagonally, 180 degrees. After your set is finished on that side, switch the other direction.
However, in-between these moves, take the ball between your legs like a center snapping the ball to the punter. start with arms extended and swing the ball between your legs til your elbows touch the insides of your thighs. Immediately go the upward direction stopping the swing at about 10:00 and reverse immediately. Have a good tempo so you have to fight inertia of the swing to go the other way.
The corner to corner swing emphasizes obliques while working hips, quads and hamstrings. the center snap emphasizes lower back (erector spinae) and upper abs/transverse abdominus and touching hamstrings.
With either of these, start slow and work into them.
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