Lower Body Resistance Training & the Elderly

It's been almost 17 years since I got into the health and fitness industry. It has been quite an interesting career considering the diversity of my clientele since May of 1998 when I got started. My youngest client was 12 years old and my oldest client has been 91 years old. I've worked with high school level athletes, college level and semi-pro athletes. My original intentions were to get into veterinary medicine. Like back then I have always been approached because of my considerable strength in comparison to my size. It may appear to other that I should have 21 inch arms because of my strength. My style of training and that fact that I don't use steroids separates me from these incredible hulk freaks of nature that work out about my parameters. I've always been invested in preventing weak muscles, poor health and disease. My favorite part of my career when it comes to the elderly has been the same reason. I've worked with elderly folks who's strength would embarrass a minor and middle aged populations. When ever I work with the elderly my main focus is flexibility, balance and then strength as well as endurance. The reason I put them in that order is because flexibility will always play an important role in both stability and strength. I could go into details about this but that would require me to write a book on the subject. Instead I will focus on the importance of strength training and the lower extremities of the elderly. 

We have all seen that 'I've fallen down and I can't get up commercial'. It's a harsh reality regarding aging. Many of the injuries associated with falling can be reduced but training must emphasize some of the causes. A loss of flexibility, balance, reaction time as well as strength and endurance are all a part of life as we get older. These factors play critical roles on the consequences of losing balance. Functional movements which require the lower body and are a part of (ADL's) activities of daily living in the elderly will include but are not limited to walking, sitting, standing and climbing stairs. 

Two of the most common things I've heard clients complain about is either back problems or weak knees even though they claim to have no history of injury. I usually tell them these issues may be due to daily patterns putting unnecessary stress on the lower back. I also explain to them that most knee problems are the result of weak hips. After some assessments and some hip strengthening they usually complain about less knee problems. When it comes to the lower back I inquire about their lifting patterns and the type of activities required by there jobs. These questions always lead to finding the underlying issues and addressing it with appropriate measures to reduce the complaints. 

Here are some tips for elderly people engaging in physical activity. If considering starting a fitness program make sure to see the doctor in order to make sure there aren't any underlying risks. Once cleared if you haven't done anything for quite some time, take it easy and start slow. Make sure you are following proper progressions. 

Always warm up before you start any type of physical activity. This can include a walk, jog or cycling according to your fitness levels and abilities. Elderly people should consider a slight incline on the treadmill, an elliptical trainer or a stepper which would make the hip muscles work harder during the warm up and thus would be more appropriate and targeted toward the muscles you intend to work out. 

Exercises which can help activate the muscles of the Glutes in preparation to higher intensity activity include Quadruped Hip Extensions, Dirty Dogs (a.k.a. Fire Hydrants) and Prone Bent-Leg Hip Extensions. 

Avoid trying to do what you 'used to do'. Consider starting off with 8 - 10 exercises which target all the major muscle groups. Perform 1 set for a total of 10 to 15 repetitions. The higher the reps the lower the resistance should be. The lower the reps the higher the resistance should be as well. Target the Gluteus Maximus and the Hamstrings before working out the Quads and Calves. In general target muscles from larger to smaller. 

My favorite exercise for increasing Gluteus and Hamstring strength include Romanian Deadlifts, Single-Legged Deadlifts and Valslide or Stability Ball Leg Curls. Split Squats are also very useful because they engage your Quadraceps and Gluteus Maximus muscles. If your balance improves to impressive levels you can add an Airex Balance Pad or Dyna-Disc for added balance and resistance training. As long as blood pressure is not an existing health problem you can add Isometric training to all these exercises. If you have good flexibility and have no physical conditions which would contraindicate your ability to perform Kettlebell training then you might even include some Swings into your regimen. Kettlebell Swings are part of the fundamentals of including Kettlebells into your fitness program. They are great when done properly because of the major emphasis on the hips, hamstrings and endurance. I hope these suggestions and guidelines will help. As always, when in doubt; hire a fitness professional. 

Purchase: Airex Balance Pad

Muscle Imbalance: Shortened vs Tense

You may have heard someone say that their muscles are tight, or that they have poor posture and in some cases you may have heard the term atrophy. Visually all these conditions look about the same. One muscle might look shorter than the other, one muscle may look bulkier than the other and in the case of posture; the person doesn't appear upright either down below the waist or above the waist. In worst case scenarios it is even evident in the midsection. Muscle tightness, poor posture and atrophy can be attributed to many reasons but each has a root cause which leads to its manifestation. I will give you an example in which they all appear to be the same but the root cause is different. Muscle tightness could be associated to daily behaviors, lack of stretching or over straining and in some cases all of the above. Poor posture could also be attributed to the previous mentioned situations with the possibility of paralysis or injury or paralysis due to injury. Atrophy just like poor posture could be the result of little to no use of certain muscles as well as previously mentioned an injury. Posture and atrophy can be do to the over use and under use of the antagonist muscle. A perfect example of this is working out on your biceps leading to bigger anterior arms. Then neglecting the antagonist muscle in this case the triceps with little to no exercise in comparison. The scenario I just described often results in a posture which resembles a person walking like a guerrilla. The individual appears to be trying to show off by walking with his arms bent as if trying to demonstrate that they have enormous arms. The reality here is that they probably don't stretch the biceps and they are overpowering the triceps by putting to much emphasis on biceps training thus leading to a constant flexed posture of the arms. These same folks often walk with their palms facing behind them rather than to their side pockets. Don't let this happen to you!

Unless there are physiological reasons for poor posture such as paralysis or muscle injury which led to a permanent unbalanced appearance there are many things you can do to prevent the problem from getting worse. Here are a  few solutions I can suggest to help resolve issues related to poor posture and muscle tightness.  Stretch the muscles which have been shortened as a result of adopted lifestyle behaviors such as long hours of sitting behind a desk, extensive hours of driving and ergonomically incorrect positions of your car seat or desk arrangements. Educate yourself or hire a fitness professional to learn how to balance out your exercise routine so that you aren't placing to much emphasis on certain muscle groups while neglecting others. Get back to the basics and learn proper movement based on the situations you are faced with on a regular basis to prevent injury. Create and find opportunities to get your body to go through the various ranges of motions possible by all the joints in your body. Adopt a daily regimen of exercises which counter the effects of your daily behaviors (ex. Cobra Stretch to extend your arms, strengthen your glutes and stretch the frontal midsection as well as hips.)

The benefits of adopting good patterns is equivalent to the benefit of a good diet, getting enough rest and getting your daily exercise. You reduce the possibility unnecessary discomfort and a positive self-image. You will appear more confident and you will feel healthier. Like Nike says, 'Just Do It'!

Below are some useful charts. Take advantage of gaining knowledge and using it to your advantage. If you have further questions or need serious help, you can e-mail me at: damien@irondogfitness.com 

Maximizing Your Shoulder Training Program

I've shared with you many things throughout the year. A lot of it focuses on doing things right and watching out for things that can cause more damage rather than benefits. I've talked about eliciting exercises that work the body as a unit rather than trying to isolate a single muscle. 

The shoulders are a muscle that can make you look like you work out or make you look like you aren't doing anything to address them. Broad shoulders look very attractive with a suit. When wearing a tank top they can make you look flimsy and silly if they have no bulk and definition. Throughout my nearly 17 years in the industry I have been to several seminars put on by organizations well recognized and respected in the fitness industry. I always enjoyed taking the courses which would focus on what's right and what's wrong about an exercise. There was a lot of emphasis on exercises that didn't make any sense either because they didn't actually work the muscles all those bodybuilding magazines claim or they the risk to benefit ratio was just way to high.

There are many exercises that are commonly done at the gym and those include dumbbell (or cable) lateral, anterior and posterior raises. Then you have the dumbbell shoulder press, reverse flyes and the upright rows. Let me not forget to mention that you also have an assortment of selectorized equipment utilizing plates, cables, air pressure and so on. The machines I am going to tell you right now are the most completely useless piece of equipment you could spent time working on. Better yet let me use the words waste your time. Machines are great for rehabilitation if anything at all but from a functional perspective they have absolutely no functional but rather dysfunctional benefits. Resistance bands may be useful since they are similar in function to dumbbells but if you are looking into investing on a piece of equipment based on life of use then these are necessarily a good choice because they often snap without warning. 

There is still another question to consider. Is it okay to perform it sitting? There may be some undue stress on the spine by doing a seated dumbbell or barbell shoulder presses. That is another story of itself. I would highly recommend you do them standing since the odds are that if this type of movement is ever required of you it will almost undoubtedly require you to do it standing in a real life situation unless you are confined to a wheelchair. 

So what are my recommendations. Based on the most recent research conducted by the American Council on Exercise, I will still argue that the best exercises to target the shoulders would be the Standing Dumbbell (or Barbell or Kettlebell) Shoulder Press, the Standing Dumbbell (or Barbell or Kettlebell) Bent-Over Row and the Standing Bent-Over Dumbbell Raises. You may find it boring to do these exercises over and over again but what good would it do for you to do exercises which are going to give you little to no benefit. You may want to do a few exercises that work the shoulders as a form of recovery and to change it up but don't do them very often if your goal is to have a nice set of well defined broad shoulders. 

I thought I should mention that the common upright row you see in fitness and bodybuilding magazines and most fitness books are a complete waste of time. Regardless of the type of equipment you use, this exercise has been repeatedly proven to be a waste of time according to years of research rather than someone's personal feelings. Yes, you see them in Arnold Schwarzenegger's books and so forth but that doesn't make it right. The world used to believe that you would fall off the earth if you sailed to far out into the ocean because they thought the planet was flat or that the sun revolved around the earth because it appeared that way. Well guess what? We found out that wasn't true and it cost some people there life when they were right. Just because the majority of the people ignorantly believed those falsehoods to be true doesn't make it a fact. 

How to Identify Heat Stroke

The heat has been unforgiving this summer. Many of you may have heard in the media or through a casual conversation of the potential for a severe water drought. You may have received a notice advising you of potential fee hikes during peak hours of the day. You may have even been told there may be a hike in your utility bill if you don't reduce personal use of energy during certain times of the day. Then you watch the news and hear about floods going on in other parts of the country.
The heat for some has become an opportunity to spend more time outdoors. Although we hear of terms like heat illness, heat exhaustion, dehydration and so forth you may not understand the difference. Heat Stroke is more likely to effect those involved in intense outdoor activities and those age 50 or older. Do you know what to look for when someone is suffering a heat stroke? I want to give you some insight on this matter.

WebMD identifies Heat Stroke as:

The hallmark symptom of heat stroke is a core body temperature above 105 degrees Fahrenheit. But fainting may be the first sign.

Other symptoms may include:
Throbbing headache
Dizziness and light-headedness
Lack of sweating despite the heat
Red, hot, and dry skin
Muscle weakness or cramps
Nausea and vomiting
Rapid heartbeat, which may be either strong or weak
Rapid, shallow breathing
Behavioral changes such as confusion, disorientation, or staggering
Seizures
Unconsciousness

What you should do if you or someone you know is suffering from a heat stroke: 

• Call 911 first if possible (if not, by following these steps you may save a life. Call 911 as you proceed)
• Have the person lie down on their back
• Move the person to shaded area if outdoors or to an air conditioned room if indoors. Use a fan as an alternative or if someone else is present have them use a piece of card board or similar item to use as a manual fan to promote cooling air.
• Remove unnecessary clothing if needed
• Use a cool wet towel, sponge or water to help reduce the body temperature 
• Use wet towels or similar items like ice packs to reduce body temperature by placing them at the back of the neck, arm pits, back and groin area.
• You can also immerse the person in a tub filled with cool water but make sure the level of water is not so high you drown the victim. 
• Let emergency staff take over once they arrive. 

Always be aware of your environment, current weather conditions and those around you. You could be saving someone's life as well as they can be saving your life if you suddenly start to feel any of the symptoms. Do be afraid to ask for help. 

Hot Body Workout to Fit Hot Weather

If you're like me you probably don't care about being around a crowd of people while working out. As a matter a fact you may find it quite annoying trying to get a decent workout when the gym is full of people because you can't get to anything. You want to have a normal rhythm but it's quite impossible when everything you need is being used by someone else. Even worse, there is a group a folks working their mouths out more than their bodies as they surround the piece of equipment you need. Then there is the noisy guerrilla who feels it is their moral obligation to drop the weights so you could see he just repped a pair of 100 lb dumbbells. 

Well if you're not to over self-conscious about your environment, you could take advantage of working out at a local park. There are some parks that have small trails which can be utilized to give an extra zap to your cardio workout. Along my routes are several parks that fit this description. If anything there may be some street slopes which are similar to trails and can be taken advantage of to add intensity to your regimen. If you have a creative mind you can come up with an awesome workout at any level of intensity to add different types of challenges. I've talked about the TRX Suspension Trainer in the past. I mentioned to you that it's light weight and can be used just about anywhere. I would highly recommend you get yourself one as well as a few resistance bands. You can carry this with you as you get around the park, head up the hill or run up a set of stairs. You don't necessarily have to run if you aren't fit enough. You could start out by alternating some fast walking with a combo of strength exercises every 20 or 30 seconds. 

Here is an example of what you can do with just yourself and a TRX. Fast walk (jog or run) for about 20 seconds, stop and do a set of push-ups to failure, repeat you fast walk and do another exercise like 12 - 20 body weight squats, and continue. Remember to add some core exercises. You could jog, do some Pull-Ups with your TRX and then a set of isometric Planks for the next 20 seconds and so forth. The only limit is your imagination and your will to continue. Do you have it in you?

To Purchase a TRX Suspension Trainer which comes with a Guide Click Here: TRX Suspension Trainer

Did They Lie to You When They Told You to Blame Your Diet as the Cause for being Overweight?

Is it possible that all this talk about being over weight is attributed to your diet and it's just a bunch of hype? You hear this thing all the time about counting calories and getting on these crazy diets that will help you lose 30 lbs in 5 days. If you even Google the phrase I just wrote you will find websites with recommendations on how to do so. Is it true? Is it safe? Maybe, mabye not? If your goal is to lose a certain amount of weight permanently the right strategy is to clean up your diet. Take all the garbage out. Is over eating really the problem? It all depends on your situation. Have you ever considered that you are possibly under-eating? Have you ever considered how much physical activity you get on a regular basis? Have you even considered that your sleeping patterns may be a part of the problem? Maybe it's your stress levels. So what are the hard cold facts? The variables may be numerous. 

We know these facts. Eating an excess of calories in comparison to your body weight will definitely make you put on more weight than you desire. If you eat to much of the wrong foods and not enough of the right foods you may be putting in more calories than you know. A perfect example of this is consuming may liquid calories. You don't feel the load because these types of calories go through your body much faster than solid foods. Why is that? The answer. Your body has to do less work to break down the calories you've just consumed because in liquid form they are almost at the most basic form of breakdown. The other problem associated with this is there may not be enough quality nutrients in a source of nutrition that is primarily liquid. A great example is seen in soft drinks. A typical soft drink will have roughly 20 oz of fluids, 250 calories but if you get the X-large drinks you may be looking at about 500 plus calories, 0 fat, 155mg of Sodium, 69 grams or carbs (which is 69 grams of sugar) and 0 Protein. You will also get a nice cocktail of chemicals and (HFCS) High Fructose Corn Syrup. Yes, this HFCS is probably coming from GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) Corn. Sure you may get some Potassium and Phosphorus but that is hardly abundant in comparison to the junk you are getting which will lead to poor health. 

Although your diet may play a critical role in whether or not you become over weight or obese their is still that question of whether or not you are getting enough physical activity. In a previous article I discussed how getting 10,000 steps a day could help maintain your cardiovascular health as well as help with weight control. What if you aren't getting those daily steps? You need to make sure you are getting some form of exercise. In a recent article published in the ACE -ProSource Blog, they recommended a call to action of getting 150 hours of weekly physical activity. In other words, get at least 2 1/2 hours of exercise weekly or an average of 30 minutes 5 days a week. It may sound like a little but its far more than most Americans are getting. In this same article they reported a staggering increase in physical inactivity. We are talking about reports of going from 19.4% in 1994 to 51.7% in 2010 in women while in men those numbers went from 11.4% to 43.5%. What this research then suggests is that men remain to be more physically active then women. This is a major concern for women who are more susceptible to conditions like osteoporosis then men. If that is not alarming enough, 71.1% of black women between the ages of 40 and 64 report to be physically inactive in 2004. Mexican-American women were the second highest at a tight margin of 70.3%. Probably what I found to be more troubling is that diet remained quite stable according to this same study. In other words, people have not really increased their caloric intake but they have definitely decrease their physical activity. A thought I found even more disturbing is that this study didn't really address income levels and jobs requiring physical activity. This study seems to suggest that even though it's common knowledge that Mexican-Americans and Blacks (Non-hispanic) seem to have jobs which require more physical work.  White women or white men who are more likely to have office jobs which are less labor intensive are still getting more physical activity. This still brings another question. Is it possible and safe to say that the increased intake a processed foods may be another contributing factor? I am going to guess that the answer is yes. This is something that needs to be looked into more directly. While we may not have all the answers, what we do know is that regardless of your race, the one main condition which stood out is women need to become more physically active in comparison to men. 

If you think these statistics aren't true. Take a look around you today. If you work in an office, start counting people and create your own charts. When you go shopping create your own research. When you are at a local venue, take down your own statistics. I would love to see what your numbers look like and you can share them here. Report your city, location which you were at during the time of your data collection and a summary of your findings. Try this in three different locations so you can come up with an average. Are you curious about your neighborhood? Use this as an excuse to go meet your neighbors and tell them you are conducting a research paper and thus collecting statistical data about your neighborhood health. Mention that you require to know the ages, number of people in the household, sex gender and how many people they would consider to be overweight in their home. It's a great way to bond with your neighbors and possibly start your own healthy neighborhood project. Go break the ice with your neighbors. One benefit other than getting to know your neighbors is getting some physical activity out of the way as you walk from door to door. :D

*If you wish to read more about this report go to: ACE ProSource August 2014

Foam Rollers: Do's & Don'ts 101: Part III

In the previous two parts of this series on Foam Rollers we discussed some of the benefits and dangers of using them. I didn't go over how to properly use a foam in the beginning because my goal was to educate you on the purpose and benefits but most importantly on the dangers of incorrectly using such a valuable piece of equipment. As I mentioned before, there are many people using them incorrectly in the gym so don't do something just because the person seems to look like they know what they are doing.
In Part I we discussed the benefits of Self-Myofascial Release for which Foam Rollers are a great tool. This simple device is great when you don't have the budget to invest on hiring someone to give you a professional sports massage, is low cost, readily available and very light which makes them easily transportable. In Part II you learned a little bit about anatomy so you can understand like in Part I, where and where not to use Foam Rollers and the reasons for that.

Here are best practices on using a Foam Roller for Self-Myofascial Release:

• Great to use as part of your pre-stretching regimen prior to starting any static or dynamic stretching and before starting any exercise or physical activity.
• Using slow movement of your body weight over the foam roller to look for tender spots
• When you find tender spots, hold your body over the area for at least 30 to 90 seconds. Although this may be quite uncomfortable, hold your position over the tender spot until the pain diminishes from 50 - 75%
• Look for more tender spots near the original point. Repeat the previous instructions on all tender areas. You may find that some tender spots close by are even more tender which is usually the original cause of more tight and tender spots. You can do one last long roll across the entire region once you have finished addressing the painful areas to help relax the entire muscle. Glide across slowly and from smaller to larger lengths. 
• Always glide across parallel to the path of the muscle which you are working on.
• Foam Rollers are a great tool to massage the muscle after an intense workout, therefore a great tool to use during your cool down. 
• Follow this link to download a copy of Perform Betters' Foam Rolling Techniques PDF and get started on your own Foam Rolling regimen. 

I hope you found this 3 Part Series on Foam Rolling useful. If you have any questions I can always be reached at (323)972-4487 or damien@irondogfitness.com. 

To Purchase your own Foam Rollers Click Here: Foam Rollers

Foam Rollers: Do's & Don'ts 101: Part II

I hope you enjoyed the first part of this series. The first half of this article focused on some of the benefits as well as some of the potential dangers of Foam Rollers. In this segment we will discuss some of the best situations in which to use a Foam Roller, proper use on certain muscles and more situations in which Foam Rolling is ill advisable.
So here is some more food for thought. It is ill advisable to Foam Roll on a tendon. You need to understand anatomy to realize that rolling on tendons is a bad idea. I will try and describe this in layman terms so you understand. Think of a muscle like a piece of rubber band or bungee band. If you stretch it, it regains it's form and with age just like our bodies, it begins to lose it's elasticity and can tear from over use. Tendons on the other hand are more like a piece of beef jerky. If you stretch it, it doesn't regain its shape so easily. In fact if you over stretch it, it loses it's original form which is what happens to tendons and ligaments when you injure them. The reason tendons recover so slowly is due to limited blood flow. If you use a large round marble to press and roll it over a rubber band, again like a muscle it regains its shape. If you do the same thing to a slice of beef jerky, well that just doesn't happen so easily. Using a Foam Roller on a tendon which exacerbate the overstretched tendon. A tight tendon, again if you understand anatomy, is actually due to a tight muscle. If a muscle is tight from injury or inadequate warm up, your tight muscle will pull at the tendons which connect it to the bone. So the tendon if you understand this, becomes the victim of a tight or knotted muscle until that tension is release. Once the tension on the muscle is release, the tension and strain on the tendon is like to release and relax unless the tendon was somehow directly overstretched such as in a sudden jerking and bending of the ankle due to excessive force.

As we discussed in Part I, make sure you are using your Foam Roller in areas where there is bone to protect the organs of your body. Also, don't do any rolling over your joints since there isn't much muscle in those area with the exception of the shoulder joint. You can roll over your Deltoids but it's actually quite difficult and awkward to do so. Instead have someone massage your shoulder with their hands or the famous runner's tool know as 'The Stick'.

Click Here to Purchase 'The Stick'

Great areas of your body to use Foam Rollers are your Calves, Abductors, Adductors, Tensor Fascia Latae (NOT your IT Band - Ilio-Tibial Band), Piriformis, Latissimus Dorsi and Thoracic Spine (avoid the Lumbar Spine as mentioned before due to risk of putting excess pressure on your Kidneys). All ways roll parallel in the direction of the muscle length rather than the width. If you don't understand anatomy enough to know what I am saying or find the muscles I just mentioned, you are probably better off not doing any foam rolling techniques. Your more likely to cause a problem rather than fix or prevent a problem. 

Foam Rollers: Do's & Don'ts 101: Part I

You may have heard of them, seen them lying around in the gym and you may have even seen people using them. Do always do what you see others doing because more than half the time people are doing the wrong thing in the gym. It's like a monkey see, monkey do kinda thing. I've seen people using foam rollers in the gym and sometimes I want to tear my hair off and beg them to stop. In my industry you learn that not everyone wants your advice no matter how right you are. The National Academy of Sports Medicine recently wrote and article on whether or not it's good to Foam Roll on your lower back. 

So what is the purpose of Foam Rolling? The answer: The purpose of Foam Rolling is to relieve muscle tension popularly called knots in the muscle and to relieve muscle pain. Benefits of Foam Rolling include increased flexibility, function and performance of the muscles but can also help reduce injury by directly releasing muscle tension.

Be careful when searching through Google to find guides on how to use foam rollers and even when searching on YouTube. You will find explanations but not everyone showing you how to use them is actually telling you the right thing. 

Below is a list of the benefits of using a Foam Roller for Self-Myofascial Release:

Benefits of Self-Myofascial Release

• Corrects muscle imbalances
• Improves joint range of motion
• Relieves muscle soreness and joint stress
• Decreases neuromuscular hypertonicity
• Increases extensibility of musculotendinous junction
• Improves neuromuscular efficiency
• Maintains normal functional muscular length

So before we talk more about how to use a Foam Roller properly let's first discuss whether or not Foam Rolling is good for use on your back. Most importantly take my advice and don't use a Foam Roller unless you absolutely understand how, what, why and when's about Foam Rolling. Make sure you first understand the cause of your back pain. Avoid self-diagnoses if it is not your profession. Don't take the advice of someone who is not a professional in the field of health and fitness or sports performance. Okay, now that we cleared that up let's talk about Foam Rolling and your lower back. While Foam Rolling may help reduce some pain if the underlying cause of lower back pain is not addressed, you aren't really doing anything to solve the problem. It's like placing a bandage on a cut, it covers the problem but it doesn't solve it. I found one key paragraph which really pointed out why it is ill advised to use a Foam Roller on your lower back. This is what Kyle Stull had to say in the NASM article, "If an individual does as is taught (about proper use of Foam Rollers) and does try to relax then they essentially just lay across the roll and force even more of an arch in their low back along with applying excessive pressure on the lumbar spine and the discs that separate them. Therefore, this ultimately aggravates the mechanical position that caused the low back pain in the first place". Here is another important point Stull mentioned that I haven't mentioned yet, "Areas the foam roll is used should have bony protection for organs. For example, when rolling the chest, there is no danger to the heart because the rib cage provides adequate protection. In the low back, there are the kidneys and the liver, which have little to no bony protection (Newton, 1998). While they may be protected by large muscles, it is still considered an endangerment site, especially when using body weight compression across such a large object.

So the moral of the story is first find out what the problem is by speaking to a professional. Address the root of your lower back problem and use the advice of a professional to help you solve the underlying cause before doing anything. 

To read more on the original article go to the NASM website: Should Your Foam Roll the Lower Back

If you wish to purchase a Foam Roller you can click on the picture above or follow this link: Foam Roller

Sleep Apnea and Your Health

Sleep Apnea is more common than people realize it. Did you know that if you are male you are 3 times more likely to suffer from Sleep Apnea? Do you know the health risks? Do you know what you can do about it? Here is an interesting infographic which provided some statistics and information on the dangers of Sleep Apnea and more. Click on the image to enlarge

Original Source: Sleep Apnea