Feb

The Power Poses

We know our minds change our bodies. But do our bodies change our minds?

Powerful people typically are assertive, confidant, optimistic, risk takers, tend to think more abstractly. Physiologically they have more testosterone (dominance hormone) and less cortisol (stress hormone). High power alpha males in nature have high testosterone and low cortisol and powerful and effective leaders also have high testosterone and low cortisol.

Amy Cuddy describes her 2 min experiment;

“this is what we did; we decided to bring people into a blast and ronaldo experiment and these people adopted for two minutes either high-power opposes or low-power poses.”

The results

High Power Poses produced a 20% increase in testosterone (dominance hormone) and a 25% decrease in cortisol (stress hormone).

Low Power Poses produced a 10% decrease in testosterone (dominance hormone) and a 15% decrease in cortisol (stress hormone).

Simply expanding your body for two minutes produces very significant increases in your hormonal levels. These hormones are the same hormones that drive our confidence and our success in many cases. Amy Cuddy makes a strong case for the body’s ability to influence the way we think. Simply faking a motion for two minutes can convince you that you do belong, you can be successful and that you are powerful.

Feb

Forks Over Knives; Plant Based Diets

Looking for a non-diet nutritional plan? Focusing solely on fat or calories often leads to yo-yo dieting–which as we all know, is not healthy. Aim to maintain your weight by reducing your meat intake and sticking to a healthy (TASTY!) vegetarian routine. I follow the 3 day dinner rule: meat every 3rd day for dinner. Repeat till the week is over and you’ll shed pounds fast.

Day 1: 6-80zSalmon with 12oz veggies

Day 2: All vegetarian meal

Day 3: 6-8oz Chicken breast with 12oz veggies

Reach for a fork over a knife and increase your health benefits by going veg for a week. I like this recipe from Wendy Solganik over at Forks Over Knives. It’s a website dedicated to healthy vegetarian eating.

Italian White Bean, Kale and Potato Stew
Serves 6

Ingredients

Feb

Body On Fire

The immune system is supposed to be our greatest defense in defending against pathogens and rebuilding damaged tissue. Without it, your cold would win and your sore back would never heal. Chronic inflammation, brought on by an immune system in overdrive, could lead to illnesses including cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Inflammation-signaling cells or C-reactive proteins (CRP), is a molecule released by the liver as part of the immune response. These levels should go back to normal levels after defending the body, but instead hang out in the blood. What keeps the battle going? Recurring irritants, such as cigarette smoke, for one. Or, as we now know, carrying too much extra weight, or simply getting older.

The efficiency with which your liver detoxes your blood and circulation are two huge contributing factors to your CRP levels.

Feb

Triangle Pose Break Down

Ever wonder how I get such great abs?

This break down of the Triangle Pose illustrates the usage of the inner thigh and the full abdominal wall. It’s one of my favorite poses to do for an overall toned appearance and it also stretches out my hamstrings really well. A great pose to counter the affects of the forward motion of running.

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Feb

The Heart Loves Yoga

Yoga for Atrial Fibrillation

The first ever yoga study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found yoga to be a safe, effective and relatively cheap therapy for improving the lives of heart patients.

The study conducted by The University of Kansas Hospital found that,

“

Feb

Snowy Exercise

Think the snow will slow down your exercise? You could be right–but only in the best way possible! Snowshoeing burns about 45 percent more calories than walking or running when done at the same pace and on the same type of terrain.

Don’t have snow shoes? No worries–just walking or running in your regular shoes with clips or without will produce about a 30 percent higher calorie burn. Plus the cold weather challenges your body to maintain an internal homeostasis, further burning calories.

Don’t use a snowy day as an exercise to skip your workout. Use it as a training tool and best yourself next time the street is clear

Feb

The Mystery of Foot Pain

What do the Lakers star Kobe Bryant, the quarterback Eli Manning, the Olympic marathon runner Ryan Hall and the presidential candidate Mitt Romney all have in common? Foot pain. Believe it or not, Plantar Fasciitis is one of the most common sports injuries, and it’s also one of the least understood.

While Plantar Fasciitis is a very common injury, the consensus on the cause and treatment remains clinically a mystery. Little is understood, medically, about overuse sports injuries in general and that’s why, as a result, they remain difficult to treat.

Most medical professionals agree that Plantar Fasciitis is, very basically, an irritation of the soft tissue that runs along the bottom of the foot, attaching the heel bone to the toes and forming your foot

Feb

Sugar, Sugar

Think a can of Coke here and there can’t hurt you? Think again.

The American Heart Association recommends women consume no more than 6 tsp and men no more than 9 tsp.

Guess how much is in a can of Coke? 13tsp.

Check out The Center for Science in the Public Interest website for more great dietary nutritional information.

Feb

Protein For The People

My new fav protein bar tastes like a rice crispy treat and is low cal at 140 cals for a whopping 13g protein. Huzzah!

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Feb

60 Second Healthy MicroWork

Sometimes getting healthy means making a major time investment at the gym or eating really healthy for a month straight. But sometimes you can make bigger broader strides by making small changes. I call this MicroWork. Check out my own personal set of MicroWork; 18 little opportunities a day to make a change.

MicroWork

Studies have shown changing small habits can help you achieve your goals faster. You should have a long term goal and small short term goals, with sets of habits you can change and check off. These ground rules have a lasting impact on your overall success in any future goals too.

When	The Change	The Benefit
When you get out of bed	Stand up and stretch your hamstrings for 30 sec	27% increase in flexibility in 6 weeks
Before you brush your teeth	Take a baby aspirin	20% reduced risk of breast cancer in women who take one a day
At breakfast	Take a daily vitamin	19% reduced risk of getting sick. When you take daily vitamins, you support your immune system
At the office	Walk to talk to your co-workers, instead of emailing	More than 1lb of weight lost per year by taking an extra 4-5k steps per day
With every meal	Drink ice water	1lb lost every 8 weeks 4257 days ago Short URL Comments Goal Setting/Uncategorized core fit/core fit blog/core fitness/core fitness blog/core fitness chicago/diet/diet blog/doctor blog/fitness blog/goal setting/health/health and wellness/health blog/health goals/microwork/modern heal/nutrition/personal trainer blog/physical therapy blog/shayna robinson/sports performance/wellness Recent Posts Defying Circumstances Through Inner Conviction: The Sapeurs Multipurpose Stem Cells Is Thoracic Spine Mobility Important? This is My Rocky Moment: Top 5 Pain Interventions to Avoid Archives February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 Categories Meta Log in Entries RSS Comments RSS WordPress.org options Tags abs antioxidants brain health chicago core corefit core fit corefit challenge core fit chicago corefitchicago corefit chicago core fitness core fitness blog core fitness chicago diet diet tricks distance running exercise FDA fitness fitness blog full body workout growth factors hangover cure health health and wellness health blog injury prevention meditation mens health personal trainer personal trainer chicago personal training personal training chicago physical therapist physical therapy Physical Therapy Chicago push yourself recovery sexual health shayna robinson sports medicine sports performance womens health yoga Older Posts Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Esquire by Matthew Buchanan.

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Posted in February 2013 …