Q:  I have been spending a lot of time on the computer lately. I have noticed that my neck is really starting to bother me, and I am starting to get headaches as well. What exercises can I do to avoid these aches and pains?

A:  This is a very common problem and one that is usually due to poor body positioning and/or weakness of the shoulder and neck muscles. Strong shoulders and upper back muscles actually help to take pressure off of the neck and help maintain the head and neck in an anatomically ideal position.

The first step in avoiding chronic neck pain involves assessing the position that you are in while at your desk or computer. The elbows should be at a 90 degree angle with the work station so your hands can work with minimal involvement of the arm muscles.

Next, is the position of the shoulders. Anything that causes you to round your shoulders forward will put excessive strain on the neck. If you find that your shoulders are rounding forward while you sit at work, here are 2 simple exercises that will help to counteract this posture:

1)  The first exercise involves developing the latissimus dorsi muscles, which are located along the lower side ribs and mid back area. One way to strengthen these muscles is by performing an exercise that pulls weight against resistance from above your head, such as a Total Gym Lat Pull Down (see the exercise here). The idea is to train your shoulder muscles to be pulled down, away from your ears while at rest.

2)  The second exercise involves recruiting your back muscles, including the rhomboids, teres major and minor, to help keep your shoulders back and down away from your ears.  You can recruit these muscles by squeezing your shoulder blades together and holding that position for 30 seconds, or perform Pull-ups on Total Gym. Try this exercise by visiting http://www.totalgym.com/c-18-upright-prone.aspx and click on the “Pull-up” video.

If you do 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions of these exercises 3-4 days a week, that is all you need to develop healthy posture and avoid neck pain.

Find more Total Gym Back and Shoulder Exercises by visiting the NEW Exercises section of Total Gym.com at www.totalgym.com/exercises. You can search for exercises by Body Position here: http://www.totalgym.com/c-7-back.aspx.

Remember:  Avoid any exercise that requires you to push weight up and over your head, which could develop your trapezius muscles that sit high up on your shoulders and can aggravate your neck pain.

In addition, any type of stretching, range of motion or yoga exercises can help to relax your neck as well to increase your flexibility. Of course, if you are not sure of the cause of your neck pain or headaches, or if you have weakness or numbness of your hands or arms, consult your doctor as there may be more to the issue than just neck strain.

In the meantime, continue to use your Total Gym, consulting with a personal trainer or physician along the way, to ensure you are doing the exercises properly.

Keep working hard at staying well and healthy!

Until next time,

Elizabeth Salada, MD

Dr. Salada is board certified in Internal Medicine and has been in practice in San Diego since 1996. She attended medical school at Wake Forest University where she received high honors in Family Practice and Internal Medicine. Her final training was obtained from Pennsylvania State University where she completed her residency in Internal Medicine. Visit Dr. Salada’s website for more information: http://elizabethsaladamd.com/. 

By:  Physical Therapy Contributor Jessie Carter, PT

Low back pain has been a common theme around the clinic lately. Every year around this time, there seems to be an increase in patients complaining of back pain – aches and pains from shoveling snow, back strain from carrying shopping bags and packing gifts, and chronic pain patients want to address before the holidays.

I was out with the best of them on Black Friday braving the crowds. What started as a quick trip to snag some deals, however, turned into an all-night, exhausting event.

Consider these tips to keep your body from wearing down before you do:

• Wear comfortable shoes such as walking or running shoes when shopping. When it comes to walking the mall, comfort should win out over your cutest pair of heels to prevent stress to your ankles and feet.
• Lighten your load when you can. If you are shopping for a lot of items or for a long period of time, consider making frequent trips to your car to drop off packages. This provides extra exercise while reducing the stress on your back muscles.
• Distribute the weight of packages and shopping bags evenly on both sides of your body.  This means that you have to avoid holding all your bags in one hand to sip your favorite drink or fumble for your keys. This also means avoiding what I call “attitude standing” – propping all your weight through one hip (often times to hold a child propped on that same hip). Standing in this position can create undesirable forces through the hip joints, pelvis and spine.
• Women, keep your suitcase (I mean purse) weight to a minimum to avoid undue stress and fatigue. Only carry necessary items such as your wallet and keys. When carrying your purse, consider strapping that makes your body work the least or requires large joints over smaller joints to carry. For example, use a bag that has a shoulder strap or can be worn as a backpack instead of a purse with smaller handles.
• Plan ahead if possible. Whether you are going to campout to get the best deals or do a marathon shopping spree, you can ease physical and mental stress by making a list and avoiding prime shopping times. Remember that long lines and busy parking lots increase your time standing and walking.

While most back pain is mild and resolves on its own, some pain persists or comes back repeatedly over time. A lot of my patients, who have experienced low back pain for years, tell me they have tried multiple treatment options without success. They also report that each time the pain returns, it seems to get worse.

When you experience low back pain, one of the best things to do is to stay active and continue with your normal routine as much as possible, without the risk of further injury. This seems to contradict the old approach of “putting someone to bed” when they are down on their back. Bed rest for more than a day has been shown to actually slow recovery.

If your pain worsens or lasts more than a few days, then it is time to see a medical professional.  Immediate medical attention should be sought if you experience loss of bowel or bladder control, numbness in the groin or inner thigh and/or pain that does not change with rest.

Continue your Total Gym routine over the holidays to maintain optimal strength and tone. Try these “Cable Core Work” exercises to target your snow shoveling and shopping muscles: the shoulders, back, arms and chest in conjunction with the core.

Arm Cable Exercises; Recruiting the Core

The mad rush of the holidays is here…following these simple tips and taking care of your body will allow you to enjoy the season and shop without the drop.

Happy rehabbing!

Jessie Carter is the owner of High Pointe Rehab in Clarksville, TN, where she utilizes Total Gym for physical therapy and fitness training to offer the full continuum of patient care. Jessie is a 2001 graduate of the University of Evansville (UE) in Evansville, IN, where she earned both her BS and Master’s degrees in physical therapy. Contact Jessie at jessie@highpointetn.com with your questions or ideas for future topics.

Healthy New Posts From “Fytness Fanatik” Amanda Lynn Hare!

New Total Gym Inside blog contributor Amanda Lynn Hare is a Total Gym user since 1998. Amanda Lynn is here to share her enthusiasm for healthy, fit and fun living.

Keep your gut in check this holiday season with Amanda’s favorite core strengthening exercises! Benefits include: a tighter midsection, stronger core (trunk and back) and improved posture!

Amanda suggests completing 10-15 reps of each exercise below (depending on your fitness level):

* Pullover crunch with legs in table top position

* Ab crunch with SCRUNCH (Now 50% Off! Click here)

* Crunch with hamstring curl using the Folding Foot Holder (standard on Total Gym Sport, GTS and PowerTower) or the Wing Attachment for XLS

* Crunch at higher incline (no hamstring curl)

Plyometrics. I love em’ …  my clients love em’ … and you should integrate them into your training as well.

This month’s blog is a follow up to my “Fun & Fit with Plyometrics” post in September. Try adding these upper body Plyo moves to your Total Gym routine to increase the challenge, intensity and body-shaping results of your workouts:

Your challenge is to try these exercises unilaterally!

Stay tuned as I will play more with Plyos in upcoming blog posts. Don’t worry golfers, I will be back with more golf-specific Total Gym tips in January when the tour kicks off it’s 2012 season in Hawaii.

Enjoy and hit em’ straight!

JayDee Cutting is a GRAVITY Master Trainer, certified personal trainer, Pilates instructor and creator of the “Core Golf Fitness” program. JayDee’s Core Golf Fitness DVD offers on-course and warm-up exercises proven to help advance your golf game and is available for purchase at http://coregolffitness.com.

Congrats to Rory McIIroy on a fabulous U.S. Open victory!  What a talent and performance.

Today’s blog is directed toward injury prevention for golfers but will benefit any athlete, weekend warrior or workout enthusiast.

A large percentage the golfers I have worked with complain of low back pain or fatigue during or after a round of golf. This is understandable as the golf swing and putting stance require a great deal of core strength during a four-hour round. Stretching and strengthening the lower back muscles can alleviate and eliminate such issues as well as give you more power and club head speed.  From experience, I see people tend to focus on the parts of the “core” that we can see in the mirror while neglecting the back muscles. Here are some Total Gym exercises to help strengthen the all-important back muscles:

THE SHAMU – In case you haven’t seen a SeaWorld Shamu show, when Shamu hits the deck his tail and head are lifted and the only thing touching the floor is his belly.

• Lying stomach down on your Total Gym with your head facing the tower, come up into an isometric pull-up position, where the arms are at a 90 degree bend.
• Deeply inhale with no movement – upon the exhale, lift the crown of your head towards the top of the tower and attempt to lift your thighs off the glideboard.  Inhale while moving back down and repeat.  Repeat focusing on form until fatigue.  Next – the counter stretch.

PILATES ROLLOVER – My clients love this lower back stretch and wonderful hamstring release. (see photo to the right). The beauty of doing this on the Total Gym is two-fold:

• It places less stress on the neck than a traditional Pilates rollover or yoga plow.
• You can position your feet on the squat stand to anchor your stretch, eventually dropping your feet lower on the squat stand as your flexibility increases.  Also, play with bending the knees in this position to increase the lower back stretch.

I hope you’re all having a great golfing summer!

Until next month – hit em’ straight!

JayDee Cutting is a GRAVITY Master Trainer, certified personal trainer, Pilates instructor and creator of the “Core Golf Fitness” program. JayDee’s Core Golf Fitness DVD offers on-course and warm-up exercises proven to help advance your golf game and is available for purchase at http://coregolffitness.com/.

Most fitness experts agree that the V-shape in the back is what most people want before swimsuit season. The key is to strengthen the muscles of your core, back and shoulders. So I’ve designed my special “V for Victory” Super Circuit!

I’m going to show you 6 simple exercises to strengthen your core and tone your back and shoulders so you can show off that new beach body! Let’s start with the back, which is the largest muscle group in the body.

Here are two exercises that I believe are simply the best! The lateral pull down is an exercise that tones the mid to lower back muscles. Everyone needs to strengthen their back muscles because a strong back reduces the chance of injury. The swimmer exercise on Total Gym is the perfect exercise for toning the back muscles that surround the spine.

The kneeling upright row and lateral shoulder raise are two great exercises for the shoulders. The pullover crunch and seated torso rotation are two exercises that will strengthen your core and get you looking fit for summer. In fact, the seated torso rotation is my new personal favorite core exercise because it really works the oblique muscles as well as the abdominals!

There you have it! Now you can spring into action to get ready for summer. I recommend starting with one circuit and progressing to 2-5 sets of the circuit for your V for Victory summer body!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsvX_lVBwxk

Suggested workout circuit:

Exercise 1: Lateral pull down

Exercise 2: Seated torso rotation

Exercise 3: Kneeling upright row

Exercise 4: Swimmer

Exercise 5: Lateral shoulder raise

Exercise 6: Pullover crunch

Complete 1^st circuit at a level which allows you to comfortably complete 10 repetitions.

Refer to your Total Gym exercise guide for specific information for sets and repetitions for your personal fitness goals.

Introducing the newest line of Total Gym incline trainers -- the all-new Total Gym Sport and newly enhanced Total Gym GTS and PowerTower. More incline levels, a larger glideboard, all-aluminum rails and convenient folding/unfolding capabilities take Total Gym training to a new level. See what we mean: www.totalgym.com/products. Give us a call to discuss your new Total Gym model for summer 800-541-4900 ext. 300.

This is my winter workout routine which focuses on the legs, chest, shoulders, triceps and back. I’m going to show you how to take advantage of the Total Gym accessories and how easy they are to use.  The Total Gym attachments are very easy to put on and take off, although most people may not don’t bother to use them because they think it’s too much of a hassle. Believe it or not, it only takes about 5 seconds to attach and take off accessories!

In this video, I will demonstrate a squat exercise and take you through a series of leg/hip movements. The squat exercise focuses on the thighs and glutes. Feet turned out/wider stance emphasizes the inner thigh. Unilateral squat increases the overload by using just one leg at a time. This unilateral squat is tougher, but can yield better results. Did you know that more than half of your muscle mass is from your waist down? Most people do not focus enough on training the lower body.

Stay warm this winter and heat up your workouts with these fun exercises!

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To watch the introduction for this series click here.

This video is the latest in a series of exercise tips and workouts that I created for Total Gym customers.

Have suggestions for a workout you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments box on this blog post.

Progression Back, Shoulders & Biceps

Have suggestions for a workout you’d like Tom to perform? Let us know in the comments box on this blog post.

Progression Back, Shoulders & Biceps

Have suggestions for a workout you’d like Tom to perform? Let us know in the comments box on this blog post.