3 Ways To Get Fit in 2012!

Did you make a new years resolution to get fit? I know I did! So what are you doing about it? Here are 3 disciplines that can get you there, and you can do them all at once. TRIATHLON! You think I’m joking but I am not!

Triathlon is a sporting event that combines swimming, bike riding and running.  They are 3 fun ways we can get fit in 2012 and it doesn’t have to overwhelm us!

Did you know that at the moment the top 2 triathletes in the world are Australian? Craig Alexander and Pete Jacobs. They recently came first and second, respectively, at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii (3.8km swim – 180km bike ride – 42km (marathon) run).

The most grueling contest, producing the toughest athletes, and they’re from Sydney Australia! I bet you didn’t know that you could actually compete alongside them. Ironman is perhaps the only sport in which you or I could compete in the same event at the same time as the reigning world champion. Amazing!

Ironman is the ultimate challenge but I am not as yet suggesting you or I attempt it. I am suggesting that we start doing each discipline and keep our exercise interesting. Perhaps we can do an Enticer race or even a Sprint Triathlon?

An Enticer race is composed of:

- 300m Swim

- 8 or 10km bike-ride

- 2km run

A Sprint triathlon is composed of:

- 750m swim

- 20km bike-ride

- 5km run

I bet you can easily do one of these disciplines. Am I right? What if you started riding a bike as well? And what if you turned those thoughts of reliving the days when you were a part of a swimming squad in to actually joining a masters (adult) swim squad?

There are several riding and running groups on the North Shore/Sydney to help you get started and keep you motivated. Start an exercise DIARY/LOGBOOK to keep yourself accountable and aware of your activities – it’ll keep you honest about your progress!

Check out the following links:

Running:

Striders                             Cool Running

Lazy Runners Manly          Northside Running Group

Sydney Sweats

Riding:

Renegade (Lane Cove bike shop)          Northern Sydney Cycling Club

Swimming:

Lane Cove Pool                      North Sydney Pool

Willoughby Leisure Centre       West Pymble Pool

Warringah Aquatic Centre

Triathlon Clubs:

Warringah Triathlon Club          Balmoral Triathlon Club

If you’re interested in completing a triathlon here is where you can find more information.

http://eliteenergy.com.au/eds.html

And find the first timers guide here to help you train

If you want to learn more about our Aussie legends please click the following links:

Craig Alexander          Pete Jacobs

If you have any advice, know of a great swim/bike/run group; know a great personal trainer please share with us!

Happy training,

Lucy

Lane Cove Chiro CA

 

 

See related articles:

Exercise – A Preventative Medicine?

Pain? It’s All In Your Head!

 

Exercise -A Preventative Medicine?

 

What do you think is the biggest killer in society today? Smoking, obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes? You’re right in thinking that these things are all huge health problems that can cause death or lead to early death. Dr Mike Evans is suggesting that the actual biggest killer is lack of cardio respiratory fitness. That is…. EXERCISE!

Dr Mike Evans has created a fun cartoon called “23 and a Half Hours”.  It is a 9 minute visual lecture that is both amusing and informative. He suggests that if we are active for just 30 minutes per day we will reduce the possibility of ailments by some astonishing percentages! You will have to watch it to find out for yourself!

http://devour.com/video/23-and-a-half-hours/

“According to a (study conducted by) Steven Blair, Professor at Arnold School of Public Health of South Carolina, low fitness is the strongest predictor of death, above obesity, smoking-related disease and high blood pressure”.

Lennert Veerman conducted a study in Australia, which proves that “TV is a chronic disease”. According to Veerman if a person sit and watches television for 6 hours a day they are reducing their lifespan by 5 years! Although 6 hours seems a huge deal of time it’s interesting to know that the average American watches 5hrs of television per day! So sure watch your favourite sitcom, movie, lifestyle program, but limit it to just that!

Exercise does not have to be overwhelming. Evans is suggesting just half an hour per day, which can be as simple as 3 lots of 10 minutes of walking each day! He is not suggesting the average person needs to start doing triathlon (although we can give you some tips if that’s what you’re interested in) he is simply suggesting that we leave the car at home and walk! Get off the train a stop early and walk the rest of the way to work!

So lets limit our hours of inactivity to 23 and a half per day and get up off the couch and start walking!

Furthermore if you know of any great bush-tracks, beach-walks, bike rides or have any gentle exercise suggestion please let us know.

I look forward to your feedback,

Lucy

Here is a link to Wild Walks, a guide to bushwalking with suggested tracks:

http://www.wildwalks.com/bushwalking-and-hiking-in-nsw

 

 

Recipe for the Future

Alison, one of our amazing CA’s has found this brilliant YouTube that is not only hilarious but also inspiring and educational. Dan Barber presents ‘How I Fell In Love With A Fish’ in one of the TED conferences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EUAMe2ixCI

 Dan Barber is Executive Chef and co-owner of Blue Hill restaurants in the USA and an avid food and agricultural policy writer. He has received many awards for his restaurants and also been recognized by President Barack Obama for his endeavours to “blur the line between the dining experience… (whilst) bringing the principles of good farming to the table”

TED the forum in which this presentation takes place is a “nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.” It brings people together from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Sharing ideas in a public forum in 18-minute presentations, free for all to learn.

This presentation is Barber’s “Recipe for the Future”. He delves in to the world of farming fish and shows there are huge benefits if you simply do it correctly.  The idea is that if you can create a fish farm that:

• does not need to be fed;
• has no impurities;
• is farmed extensively not intensively; and
• measures its’ success on the health of its’ predators

we can create a world where communities can feed themselves sustainably.

Lets move away from the agricultural business plan that is eroding or diminishing our natural resources and look towards an ecological model.

His example is this magnificent ecological fish farm in south-west Spain. His contact is a man named Miguel who is a biologist and is described as 3 parts Charles Darwin and 1 part Crocodile Dundee! They prove that an ecological farm is possible! Barber falls in love with these fish because “even their skin tastes good!”. Farming doesn’t need to be detrimental to the environment. Farmers need to work with their environments instead of against them and not only will our desired resource flourish but so will the ecosystem and its’ inhabitants.

A fascinating and compelling speaker. Take 18 minutes of your time and hear what Barber has to say and be sure to let us know what you think.

Our resources:

For more information of Dan Barber please click the link

http://bluehillfarm.com/food/overview/team/dan-barber

For more information on TED please click the link

http://www.ted.com

 

Avoiding a Blow Out This Silly Season

The month of December is notoriously rife with rich foods, too much alcohol and not enough exercise! It’s a tough one because although some of us try very hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle we have to make exceptions, or do we?

Is it possible to have a healthy Christmas pudding? Is it possible to eat the gourmet delicious treats that surface at this time of year and not feel guilty? We at Lane Cove Chiropractic say YES!

It’s all about tweaking that favourite recipe to minimize sugars and saturated fats. It’s about moderation; and it’s about maintaining our exercise!

Just because you are on a 2-week holiday from work does not mean that you have to fall out of your

routine completely.

Sandy has found this brilliant eBook ‘Christmas Survival Guide’ by Annette Sym with helpful hints on:

-       Entertaining at home

-       Christmas Party Planning

-       Christmas Fare

-       Strategies for the Festive Season

-       Ways to stay active over Xmas

-       Pet Safety at Christmas time

-       Healthy Christmas Gift Ideas; and perhaps most importantly

-       The Healthy You for 2012

To download the PDF please click this link: Christmas Survival Guide

This informative little booklet has recipes and tips throughout. How to make a scrumptious low fat, tasty turkey, salads and most important – Christmas pudding!

It’s about not only surviving Christmas but enjoying it and not feeling guilty about simple pleasures. Changing the habits of moving from meal to meal to including gifts that get you out and about on Xmas day and over the break. Plan a bike ride, a trip to the beach with a cricket set, and light meals.

Plan ahead and minimize the stress on the day. Enjoy yourself knowing that you have made scrumptious meals for your family and friends that don’t leave you bursting at the belt. And exercise! We all know that exercising releases endorphins that essentially make you happy so why not make it a part of your Christmas Day!

Annette has also written several cookbooks that are endorsed by Diabetes Australia.

For more information please visit:www.symplytoogood.com.au

Lets have a Merry Christmas everyone and if you have a favourite Xmas meal or a piece of advice for us over this silly season please post a comment and let us know!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

From the Team at Lane Cove Chiropractic

www.lanecovechiropracticcentre.com.au

 

The Thinking Body

If you believe it’s your brain that does your thinking for you, think again. It is becoming increasingly clear that our whole body is involved in the thinking process. Without proper input from your body, your mind would be unable to generate a sense of self or process emotions properly.

Truman Capote once described himself as a horizontal author, saying ‘I can’t think unless I’m lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch’. There might be something in his posture, which led him to write incredible novels, Darren Lipnicki and Don Byrne at the Australian National University in Canberra have found that people solved anagrams in about 10 percent less time when lying down compared to standing.

The hypothesis for these results is that stress is the enemy of creative thought. When we are stressed we release cortisol amongst other adrenalines, which impede us from thinking about the big picture. Therefore finding a posture that is relaxing to you can play a role on how you think and come up with ideas.

This part of a new area of neurology called ‘embodied cognition’, which is that our body thinks right along with our brain. For instance ‘ you may think that you smile because you are happy, but in fact happy feelings arise in a large part from the psychical sensation for smiling. Furthermore studies have shown where people had their frowning muscles frozen through botox they took longer to read sad or angry sentences.

As chiropractors we notice how posture can affect thinking and emotions. For instance, a commonly encountered posture is the Forward Head Posture, or FHP for short, which is epidemic in people who work at a desk and on the computer.  FHP is characterised by the position of the head sitting forward on the shoulders with a rounding of the upper back and shoulder girdle into a “slumped” position.

Research has also shown that the FHP causes an increase in stress hormone production in the body thereby putting your body into a state of tension and stress. This postural state means you cannot function at your best and we notice in our practice that people who exhibit FHP have difficulty in thinking, balance and co-ordination.

For some great tips on improving your posture go to our website and download our free e-book, “ A Healthy Back for Life.”

www.lanecovechiropracticcentre.com.au

  Mark Uren

Source references:

New Scientist, 15^th October 2011. “Your clever body.”

Proceeds of the 2011 Chiropractors’ Association of Australia National Development Forum:

Dr Heidi Haavik. DC, PhD. Researcher and Neurophysiologist: “The Science of our Chiropractic Toolbox.”

Dr Michael Hall DC, FIACN: “Posture and Function- A chiropractic neurological perspective.”

 

Listen to that little voice inside your head (as long as it’s saying good things!)

A few weekends ago I attended a seminar by Dr James Chestnut. The seminar about how significant our emotional state is in regards to our health. We are often told to eat right and exercise daily to ensure a greater level of health, I wonder though, how many of us have thought about the repercussions of what an ‘unfit’ or ‘untrained’ emotional state can do to our overall health.

Dr Chestnut touched on many points over the two day seminar in relation to the significance of a healthy internal dialogue. I would like to share some of what I took away from the weekend.

I had never really thought about the importance of a healthy internal dialogue, or any sort of internal dialogue for that matter. I had also never realised how often I talk to myself during the day; it is strange now that I am aware of it how much I talk to myself! I don’t shut up! And that is not a bad thing – it’s great to have that little voice that talks all day, as long as it is saying the right things.

We will, over our lifetime, have more conversations with ourselves than we will with anyone else. So if it makes sense that if we wouldn’t allow a friend or family member talking to us badly – why would we allow it from ourselves?

The internal dialogue we have with our selves will affect everything we do throughout the day – it affects our mood and the way we perceive what is happening in our environment. If we are using internal dialogue that is negative and unproductive, there is a good chance that your day is going to be less than wonderful. We need to make sure that what we say to ourselves has nothing less than a positive influence on us. This can be very tricky and in fact for most of us, internal dialogue that isn’t slightly negative will be a challenge.

How many of us look in the mirror and in our heads say “you’re fat” or “you’re too short” we do this and don’t think anything more of it, its fleeting and then we move on to putting our shoes on – giving it no more thought. Little do we know that each time you say something like that to we are creating a belief system by which we live every day.

Belief systems shape our entire lives, most of the time without us even being aware of them or even knowing where they come from.  They are seemingly engrained in our habits and our thoughts.

Toxic belief systems are particularly harmful to our mental and physical wellbeing. As important as it is to be physically fit and strong – it is just as important to be mentally fit and strong. This is because our mental attitude also helps to form our physical one.

So, I would ask you to listen to that little voice inside your head. Be consciously aware of what it is saying. I guarantee you will be surprised. If you find that some of what you say to yourself throughout the day is negative, or something that you wouldn’t let someone else say to you, then I suggest a change in your belief systems is in order. It’s not easy to change a lifetime of engrained nonsense – but the good news is that you can! Just like you train to run a marathon or study to pass a test, you can train yourself to listen and acknowledge new and healthier belief systems. You have to remind yourself every day to be nicer to yourself and only create belief systems that are going to benefit you in the long run.

A fantastic way to use internal dialogue in a positive way is to use the word “YET”.

‘I have not been able to lose that 5kg’

‘I have not been able to lose that 5kg, yet’

This simple word is able to turn a negative piece of internal dialogue into one that creates a sense of hope.  Getting down on ourselves with negative dialogue is of no benefit to us in the short term or the long term. By adding this word, you give yourself the opportunity to create a better tomorrow for yourself. As long as you are able to wake up every morning, you are able to create positive change in your life.

So start having healthy conversations with yourself and see how wonderful you feel.

   Kate Cornish

 

Pain? It’s all in your head!

 

There are nerve fibres in the tissues of your body that respond to all manner of stimuli. If those stimuli are sufficient to be dangerous and damaging to that tissue then special nerve fibres send prioritised alarm signals to your spinal cord. These alarm signals may then travel on up to your brain. Whether those signals get to your brain, and therefore your conscious awareness, depends on a number of factors.

This type of nerve activity is called “nociception” which literally means “danger reception”. We all have nociception happening all the time but only sometimes does it end in pain.

When you stub your toe or have a back ache it’s easy to believe that pain goes into your body and brain. Biologically, this is incorrect. Many, many factors will determine whether the nociception “danger” signals going to your brain at any moment will be perceived by you as a pain event. Most of the time these tissue danger signals will be dealt with subconsciously by your body’s innate healing capacity and as your body automatically heals and repairs that tissue the danger signals are turned down or simply stop.

However, when you are in a state of stress these danger signals will be louder and more persistent than they should be. That will result in you experiencing more pain than you should from even a seemingly trivial incident.

You have probably had the experience in your life when you were very engaged in an activity, like sport, where you copped a knock or sprain or even worse and didn’t feel a thing until you stopped. In other words your body tissues were damaged but the danger signals didn’t impinge on your awareness as pain until you stopped that activity. On the other hand you may well have had a very minor traumatic incident but because you were in a state of stress, you were tired or emotionally upset or unwell, when the pain you experienced was incredibly worse than the actual injury itself.

Common stressors that can make our brain susceptible to experiencing increased pain are-

1. Emotional stressors – financial, relationship and work related are big ones.
2. Chemical stressors- poor diet, smoking, increased sugar intake or too much processed food. Certain medication, drugs and alcohol.
3. Physical stressors- poor posture, pre-existing injury or illness and spinal misalignment (subluxations)

Simple common sense ways to diminish your experience of pain and maximise your body’s innate ability to heal and repair itself are to-

1. Clean up your diet, eat natural unprocessed foods as often as possible.
2. Reduce or improve your stress resilience by meditating, exercising or finding time to do something you love.
3. Make sure your body is mechanically sound by improving your posture and seeing your chiropractor to correct any structural imbalances.

So you see, pain isn’t in your body it’s, really, all in your head.

 

 

 

Run Less, Run Faster!

Learn how to run with the ‘Forefoot Running Method’ used by top athletes. This style of running is natural, makes running easier and more enjoyable.

Mark will be talking about this revolutionary technique on the 18^th Of October at 7pm at Lane Cove Library.

This will be followed by a running workshop on Sunday 23^rd October.

All levels of runners will be catered for:

• Regular runners who compete in fun runs.
• Those who would like to start a regular running program .
• First timers to running.

Mark’s Running Background:

‘I have been a competitive athlete since I was 10 yrs old and held age records over 1500 meters and 3 kilometers. I was ranked in the top 5 nationally over these distances. As an adult I have continued running and competing in fun-runs over distances from 5 kilometers to marathons. Last year, I competed in the World Masters Games and finished 11^th in the 10 kilometre road race’.

If you are interested in having some fun, getting fit and learning a new skill, please call Lane Cove Chiropractic on 9428 4033 – as seats are limited.

 

Are you a Vitalist or a Mechanist?

Do you believe that you are greater than the sum of your individual parts? Do you believe your body is self-healing, self regulating and self maintaining? Or do you believe that if you are broken down into your individual bits then that’s all there is to you?  Do you think that the body needs help to heal and repair and that health comes from the outside in?

The first belief system could be termed “a vitalistic philosophy” and the second one can be termed “mechanistic”.

Mechanists believe that if you take something apart, whether that system is a machine or the human body, that when you break it down to its individual parts then you can learn all there is to know about it. Now that might be true of a machine but is that the case for an incredibly complex living organism?

Vitalists believe that there is more to a living organism than just the “meat”.

Vitalism gained favour in the 19^th century and the proponents of this philosophy believed that there is more to a living thing than the simple agglomeration of its individual bits. Nineteenth century vitalists theorised that there was a form of “vital energy” which flowed in the body and brought the body to life. This vital energy was what distinguished living things from the non-living or so the vitalists thought.

There is a lot of research under way currently which is showing that we humans are far more than an accumulation of just bones, muscles, organs and glands.

One very interesting branch of neurophysiology is showing that even the way we think is much more than just a function of our brain. Research is indicating that we think with our whole body! Our consciousness literally depends on the way our body interacts with our environment.

Research by chiropractic neurologist Heidi Haavik is showing that the information our bodily senses take in from our environment determines how we interact with our environment. This seems self-evident but let’s look at a simple example of picking up a glass of water.

For us to perform this everyday task our sensory systems in our hands, muscles, joints and eyes (to name a few) need to work in a synergistic and co-ordinated fashion. All this flow of information needs to be precisely accurate and is assimilated and integrated in the brain, this process is known as sensorimotor integration. If there is any error or interference to this flow of information then our perception of our environment and therefore our reaction to it and interaction with it will be impaired.

With the example of picking up a glass any interference with this information flow around the body might mean we misjudge our grip or spill the water, we might appear clumsy. Also if our sensorimotor integration is impaired we may bump into things or miscalculate distances or be a bit disoriented. Sometimes our thinking may be a bit slow or muddled.

Dr Haavik’s research is also indicating that a common cause of sensorimotor integration problems comes from spinal joints being misaligned or not moving properly. Chiropractors call this spinal joint problem a vertebral subluxation.

In other words, if your body is out of whack then your perception of your environment will also be out of whack.

This new research is also indicating that chiropractic adjustments can help restore normal information flow around the body and therefore improve the way we can interact with our environment.

Chiropractic adjustments can help get you back into sync with your environment.

We now have a contemporary view of Vitalism. No longer do we believe that there is a mysterious force that flows in the body bringing it to life. The new research is indicating that this complex flow of information around the body allowing living organisms to interact and adapt to an ever changing environment is what distinguishes us from inanimate objects.

A modern definition of vitalism which has been adopted by the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia is-

“Vitalism is a recognition and respect for the inherent self organising, self-maintaining, self-healing abilities of every individual.”

Mark Uren.

 

 

 

 

Let’s get flexible!

Flexibility

Why is flexibility important? Flexibility is vital for our bodies because it allows us to reach our full ranges of motions, enabling our human bodies to be mobile and move freely. Flexibility increases the blood and nutrients supply to the muscles, and this allows the muscles to work at their optimum level. This also has the added benefit of preventing some injuries.

Often our postural habits, whether it is sitting for eight hours at a desk or training for a sporting event, influence certain muscles to be overworked and other muscles underworked. The muscles that are overworked become tight and strained, and this can affect the joints’ mobility. The muscles consequently pull and tug at the joints, whereas in comparison the muscles that are underworked tend to undergo atrophy, in layman’s terms: use it or loose it.

I will now attempt to very briefly introduce muscles that are commonly tight and affect the lower back.

Movements of the vertebral column include flexion (bending forward), extension (leaning backwards) rotation (turning around) and lateral flexion (bending to one side). All theses movements are carried out by different muscles.

Function of the Muscles

In order to fully appreciate the importance of muscles that act directly on the spine it is important to know their function…

1. External/Internal oblique – Main function is to rotate the trunk. The oblique’s also assist in breathing.
2. Transverse Abdominis – Supports the abdominal wall – creates stability of the trunk.
3. Rectus Abdominis – Flexes the trunk forward. The rectus abdomens attaches from the 5^th-7^thribs all the way down to the front of the pelvis so if this muscle is tight  it can cause extra flexion of the trunk this then sends a ripple effect throughout the upper spine causing even the shoulders to flex forward.
4. Erector Spinae– Erector Spinae attaches to the spine allowing the spine to extend. Holding our spines in an erect position, allowing us to stand up straight. Keep in mind that bad posture puts extra load on the erector spinae. Tight erector spinae can lead to a loss of the curvature of the spine.

   

5. Quadratus Lumborum -  Laterally flexes the trunk (allows the trunk to bend to one side
6. Psoas –  Major hip flexor  (when we are all sitting at our desks at work this is the muscle that is being over worked)

Now that we have completed our introduction to anatomy, the rest of the article will be based on how to increase the flexibility of these muscles so we can optimise the benefits of flexibility.

Exercises

External/Internal obliques:

Stand with your feet slightly apart; lift both your arms up overhead. Grip your right wrist with your left hand inhale to prepare the body for the stretch and as you exhale, gently drop your arms and upper body to one side, alternate to the other side.

 

Transverse Abdominis

To effectively stretch your transverse abdominis muscle the use of an exercise ball is needed. Begin by sitting on a ball with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Then lean back and walk your feet forward until the ball is under your back and shoulders. Letting your head relax towards the floor. Stretch your arms overhead and allow them to drop towards the floor.

 

Rectus Abdominis 

With both knees on the floor sit as if in a kneeling position, with the hips straight. Place hands on the lower back and lean the torso backward. In an arching position.

Erector Spinae

Standing with both feet flat on the ground. Bend forward as to touch your toes. Then interlocking the fingers behind the knees and pull upwards.

 

Quadratus Lumborum

Standing with both feet flat on the ground, taking one arm overhead and lean towards that side. For a higher level of stretch cross the same leg behind.

 

 

Psoas

Begin this stretch in a lunge position with both legs at 90 degrees. From the hips lean your body forward. To increase the intensity of this stretch raise your arm above your head. Alternate.

Tips

• Remember to breathe. Deeply inhale to prepare the body for a stretch then exhale as you take out the stretch. Deeply inhaling and exhaling relaxes the body and allows full range of motion to be reached.
• Try to stretch without concentrating on your breathing then repeat the same stretch with deep inhalation and exhalation the stretch should go further.

There really is not any direct prescription for the frequency of stretching; this depends on many factors such as level of fitness, any previous injuries, occupation and so forth.  Generally speaking a good way to start would be 2-3 times a week holding the stretch for 20-30 seconds.

Happy Stretching!

 Sandy