These tips are provided by Anne Beecher and other members of the health community. We focus on maximizing the comfort you experience in your day to day life. New tips are provided periodically, so check back and see what's new! Back to Current Tip 1. Tips for Joint Safety   Before strength training and stretching, do general cardiovascular warm-up exercises to increase circulation and literally warm your body for 5-10 minutes. Low to moderate intensity - for example, walking or biking. Before strength training, do joint specific warm-ups. Initiate target moves with no or light weights. Example: Biceps Curl with 10 pound weights. First, mimic the same movements without weights or with five pound weights for 10 reps., wait 20 seconds. Proceed to your 10 pound set. You may find that when you get to the 10 pound set you are more comfortable, you can do more reps., or even increase the weight lifted with greater ease. Use this technique for all your resistance positions. Use your best posture during the movements. Poor posture while using weights is a common cause of injury to the neck or low back. If you cannot maintain your posture, you may be using too much weight. ~Anne Beecher, Therapeutic Massage TOP 2. My Top Two Stretches for Body Comfort  Great for Computer Users and Posture Maintenance!! Here they are, the top two stretches for your posture, especially if you have to sit a lot during the day. Do you have slumped shoulders and low back soreness when you stand up from your desk? Computer work effects two of your biggest muscle groups: the Quadriceps (quads.) and the Lattisimus Dorsi (Lats.). The quadriceps group is located on the front of your thighs. These muscles are shortened when sitting and the hamstrings on the back of your thighs are lengthened. This is a muscle imbalance that can easily be corrected with stretching. In addition, the shortened quads pull on the hips when you try and stand up. Keeping these muscles lengthened everyday through stretching will give you the body comfort you're looking for. The Lattisimus Dorsi are large muscles located on the back. They attach onto the arm and when shortened give us those rounded shoulders we're always trying to combat. They also effect the low back because they're such large back muscles! Stretch these muscles and you're really going to feel better even as you're working! How do you stretch them? They are stretch number 16 & 26 on your DVD and Poster from The Stretching Resource. It really is this easy to get comfortable!!! ~Anne Beecher, Therapeutic Massage TOP
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