Spokane Fitness Guest Post By Crystal Pointek

Remember the song, “the hip bone is connected to the leg bone, the leg bone is connected to the knee bone.”? Well, it is so very true. Strengthening stabilizers in a specific area add stability throughout your body. Think of when you are trying to lift something heavy, you grunt and grind your teeth and hold your breath (which you should not do). Subconsciously you are actually tightening up you abdominals and creating more stability for your back and hips.  This is your motivation to remember the little muscles! Total body health!

Continuing down; the gluteus medius muscle is the stabilizer of the hip joint and strengthening of this muscle will help prevent knee injury and maximize the potential power of your legs. Because the hip has such a broad range of motion it is important to work all aspect of the joint so that an uneven balance or pull is not created. If you are doing a lateral movement, be sure to target the muscles involved in a medial movement of that same joint as well.

1)      Sumo Squats – Get into a wide stance, more than shoulder width apart. Angle your toes slightly outward. Squat. Make sure your knees are not coming forward over your toes and make you about 20 reps. Play with the tempo and try this with a full range of motion, all the way up or all of the way down (thighs parallel to the floor) or use more of a pulse motion and never straighten your legs all of the way out.

Spokane Fitness Guest Post By Crystal Pointek

What are stabilizer muscles?

Most people have experienced some sort of joint pain, dislocation or ligament or tendon tear! Sure you may know what caused it to happen; strenuous exercise, too heavy of a lift or maybe an awkward directional change. But, are you aware of how you may have prevented it or how you can strengthen up those shaky joints now? Well let me tell you.

Stabilizer muscles are defined in kinesiology as a muscle that contracts with no significant movement to maintain a posture or fixate a joint. Keep in mind that this is a broad definition of a large variety of muscles and sub categories like dynamic, antagonist and points of origin as well as articulation (number of joints affected by its movement) play a major role when considering development of these muscles.

Let’s start with the upper body. Shoulder injuries are among the most common of sports related injury yet often mistreated. Many times anti-inflammatories and rest are all that is recommended for injuries such as frozen shoulder (joint pain caused my an overhead position of the arm) however, even as the pain subsides the new concern should be the rehabilitation of the shallow shoulder joint by strengthening the rotator cuff muscles. These are a couple simple exercises to assist in the strengthening of shoulder and elbow stabilizer muscles.

Spokane Fitness Guest Post By Amy Fairbanks

One major holiday down, one to go this season.

I love this time of year…all the pretty lights, festive decorations, Christmas caroling, holiday parties and special events, pretty snowfall, time with family and friends…and more food than I could possibly eat.

It’s always the good food too. My aunt (and as the rumors go, my soon to be mother and sister in law) are the queens of Almond Roca candy. Christmas season is a killer for me. I’m NOT a sweets fiend, but if there’s a weakness for sugar, Christmas goodies nag away at my resolve. Almond Roca is my personal favorite. Followed closely by chocolate dipped shortbread, frosting iced sugar cookies, chocolate and peanut butter fudge, Mom’s peanut clusters, the list goes on. If the sugary sweets don’t get to me, Christmas dinners will.

My grandparents held a tradition for years that Christmas Eve was a potluck meal…they provided crab meat, my aunt brought Lil’ Smokies in BBQ sauce, mom brought cheesy sausage Queso and tortilla chips and there was usually a veggie tray mixed in and overlooked.

Dad always cooks Christmas Day dinner. Last year, it was BBQ Brisket. Years past, we’ve enjoyed savory Ribeye Roasts with Potatoes Au Gratin and half a dozen deliciously fatty fixin’s.

Can I say it again? It’s a bad time of year for my healthy eating resolve.

Last year was a disaster for my fitness regimen.

It started at Thanksgiving with an overstuffed plate of food and no energy the rest of that weekend to burn the calories at the gym. At the time, I had two gym memberships and no GOOD excuses. I had a chain club membership for my personal cardio workouts and my very own personal trainer at Physzique. Between the two, all the days of the week were covered, I just had to motivate myself to get in there.

But no.

Spokane Fitness Guest Post By Amy Fairbanks

Sometimes it’s the simple things that get to me.

Take diet for instance. I always struggle with eating the right foods for my fitness goals. When I was younger, it never really mattered. Constant activity kept the grease and sugar from sticking to my body in unhealthy rolls. All my favorite foods involved yummy deliciousness in the form of pastries, pancakes (loaded with syrup and peanut butter), pizza, soda, hearty Italian dinners loaded with cheeses and pasta…you name it.

When I hit 19 or so, I went on a vegetarian kick. It was the year my brothers decided to pick up hunting deer…also the year they helped some friends of ours butcher a couple dozen chickens. The deer didn’t bother me until Grandpa helped Ben process the poor creature in the confines of our garage. It was then I discovered that deer hides host a plethora of insects, including ticks. I became an anti-venison activist immediately.

The chickens were the final straw to my sensitive sense of justice and made a vegetarian outta me for reasons other than sanitation. They simply grossed me out with their squawking, the headless mad dashes and beating hearts in the hands of my wickedly prankster brothers.

I remember thinking that, if even on a small scale I didn’t like the idea of meat processing, how much worse is it in packing plants?!

Spokane Fitness Guest Post By Crystal Pointek

I was recently confronted with a question concerning the actual benefits of green tea. The query was, “Does green tea affect protein absorption?”

Hmmm… well that is a wonderful question, and one that leads to many more.  So let’s start at the beginning…

1. Where did green tea originate?
2. Then we can ask; what are the specific benefits?
3. And are there any cons?

Green tea has been around for centuries so let’s assume this is not a fad and begin exploring why exactly it is so popular.

Where did the Green Tea Legends begin?

The origin of tea can be traced back to over 4000 years ago in China, where it found a home among monks; green tea was used to maintain high levels of alertness and concentration during mediation. A Buddhist Monk introduced tea to Japan in the 6th Century and later in the 16^th Century a Portuguese missionary introduced it to Europe. Made solely with the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing, green tea come in many varieties; These varieties can differ substantially due to variable growing conditions, processing, and harvesting time.

The Dirty Little Details – What does this interesting little plant DO exactly?

“In recent years, the legendary medicinal properties of tea have been given serious scientific support. Studies have shown that drinking four cups of green tea a day can reduce the risk of developing stomach and lung cancer as well as heart disease. Green tea contains, among others, the cancer-fighting flavonoid epigallocatechin gallate (ECGC). ECGC is unique in that it seems to battle cancer at all stages, from thwarting chemical carcinogens, to suppressing the spread of tumors. ECGC is as much as 100 times more powerful an antioxidant as vitamin C, and 25 times more powerful than vitamin E. ECGC also may account for the antibacterial properties of green tea.” (Excerpt from online article on Chinese tea)

Tea can also help you maintain healthy blood cholesterol levels by inhibiting oxidation of LDL (low density lipoproteins, or “bad cholesterol). Tea is also rich in fluoride which may help your tooth enamel remain healthy and inhibit the formation of cavities and plaque as well as keep your bones strong and healthy. And lets not forget the best part of all! A hot cup of tea on a cold windy rainy day makes life just wonderful.

So what’s so bad about it?!