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Far from a recent development is the kettlebell. As a matter of fact, they seem to have arisen during the opening years of the 1700s according to the experts. Over the course of recent years, however, kettlebells have grown in renown to emerge as one of the most popular workouts worldwide. So why not try them out? The simpler moves are accessible to anybody, no matter their prior keep fit regime, and there’s no need to pay a great deal for the required gear. You can’t just leap straight into the trickier exercise routines. So, always walk before you run, as your father might say. Whatever else you do, with kettlebells as with all weights, you must be certain you get yourself the right weight for you. Although, when you use kettlebells in your exercises, you need smaller weights than you’d expect. Gauged along gender lines, the 18lb weight is commonly right for female beginners, while men just starting out are likely to do best with a thirty-five pound variety. Actually, the weights are remarkably light - you see, with these exercises, the improvement comes more from the activity and not from the amount of weight that is being used. You’ll find that it’s wise to order an educational pamphlet or DVD to provide guidance and make certain you carry out the routines correctly. The starting exercise to learn with the kettlebell is the two-handed swing. This move acts as the foundation of many other kettlebell routines, and it’s not quite as simple as it seems. At all times your motions must be fluid, taking care not to be hasty. You also want to ensure you don’t lift the kettlebell with your back or shoulders - use your hips. After you’ve mastered this exercise, you’re ready to tackle the complex kettlebell routines. To retain your devotion, variance is essential - you can always adjust the accompanying music, move routines in and out of the fitness program, and so on. A second pair can be incorporated once you’re comfortable, and to punch the situation up completely you may perhaps even alter the weight of the kettlebells. If you do this you have the chance to bypass the levelling effect which renders regular exercises less efficient. A point we ought to repeat here is that the kettlebells will not help you increase muscle or aid in bodybuilding. Rather, use them for weightloss and, also, to improve and maintain all round fitness and health.

Finally, bring a kettlebell session to your pre-existing keep fit scheme. Clearly, the degree to which you employ these exercises will vary from person to person. Stick to just using them once or twice over the course of the week for general body maintenance, or push it up and include sessions daily. You will slim down faster than you’d imagine…

OK. In the world we live in today, your looks are actually way more important than they used to be. Being fit in a physical and moral way is what builds the social image of a person. Sort of, it’s a correctness that covers both body and morals. This is the reason for a lot of interest in weight loss and fitness: prople want to get in shape. This is very important for many, after a holiday period like christmas, with lots of food and less vegetables.When wanting to get in shape and lose that extra weight, a close look must be taken on the diet you have been having. This is the very first thing you do in this. ? Are you eating enough vegetables and fruits? Yes, many of us think burgers, soda, fish and chips, nachos and so on taste great. but they will give you bad health and a big belly. That food contains WAY too much fat, it is OK if you are a physical hard working person in a 1800s coal mine or something. But most modern people cannot burn all that fat.The body is constructed in order to store excess fat to be able to survive periods of hunger. Energy is stored on the body itself. A laid back lifestyle combined with pizza, chips and coke just ends in the same way: someone got fat. And it was you. This energy is not thrown away, but converted to fat and put into storage. Start eating quality low fat foods instead of those pizzas and burgers. you’ll feel better in the long run. It is a great start of an effective diet! A nice addition to a weight loss plan is a good fat burner pill like Fatblast X-treme. We recommend it to you and would like to encourage you to read more at their website. Click the link.

Agonizing back? Stiff neck? Continual pain with joint movement? Many people would suggest a visit to a chiropractor. It’s true that visiting a chiropractor is a great way to alleviate neck and joint pain. A trained chiropractor is able to manipulate and restructure the vertebrae that have become misaligned due to poor posture, overuse, or long-term strain to the area. Most patients experience recognizable relief after 1 - 3 visits.
Chiropractors urge that patients come back, sometimes on a monthly basis to continue their treatment. Why is this? Because work done by
chiropractors offers only temporary relief from the problem. After a few months,
the vertebrae or joints once again fall out of alignment. In order to experience unending relief from the pain, you have to resolve the real problem. What makes vertebrae or joints to become misaligned in the first place?

When a person has poor posture or uses the same muscles on a regular basis, this causes certain muscles to become stronger and tighten then others. These muscles then pull at the vertebrae, bones, and joints causing misalignment. This condition of the muscles is known as a muscle imbalance. When a person visits a chiropractor, he or she does what they can to realign the vertebrae or joints. But if these muscles imbalances still exist, then it is only a matter of time before they literally pull the bones out of alignment again. This is why seeing a chiropractor only offers temporary relief.

The only long term solution lies within correcting the muscle imbalances that are present. Properly operating muscles should function in conjunction with one another. Contract / relax or relax / contract. If any muscle within a muscle group is in a constant state of rest or contraction, then a muscle imbalance takes place. In order to remedy this, the weaker muscles in the group must be strengthened. This requires proper exercising and strength training, focused specifically on the weaker muscles.

How do you know which muscles to concentrate on or what exercises to do? When it comes to the matter of exercise, a person with back, neck, joint problems must be highly cautious. Doing the wrong kind of exercise or using wrong form can seriously hurt the body. That is why in situations like this it is important to first consult your doctor and to have a educated professional service you along your journey.

The best solution to correct your muscle imbalances is to hire a certified personal trainer who is a corrective exercise specialist. He / She will work with you to strengthen those weak muscles and work out any knots in the tight ones. Once your muscle imbalances are corrected, the muscles will no longer pull the vertebrae and joints out of alignment - thus eradicating back or joint pain.

If you have back, neck, or joint pain, seeing a chiropractor will ease your pain for now. But if you want long term relief, contact Total Body Solutions.

Swimming is a great, low impact, exercise. Because you are moving against the water you actually burn more calories per distance covered than you do by walking, biking or engaging in other land based activities.

One thing that can be hard with swimming is putting together a good workout that keeps you interested and engaged. Also, swimming workouts take more time and planning than other exercises so it is crucial to know what you plan to do for how long before you get in the water.

One of the most important things to remember when creating a swimming workout is to have variety and to keep everything within your skill level. Don’t plan to swim ten 100-meter butterfly sprints all in a row with a short interval time. Workouts like that will frustrate you. That being said doing four 100-meter butterfly sprints with a long interval may be the perfect apex to a great workout. It is all about keeping things in perspective.

As a general guide each swimming workout should have a warm-up, a major set, and a cool down. You can also add in smaller sets on either side of the major set. Making those smaller sets a different stroke is a great way to keep variety in your workout.

A sample swimming workout is as follows: A 500-yard freestyle warm-up, five 100-yard IMs on a long interval, two sets of five 100-yard freestyle sprints decreasing (increasing speed each sprint) with a two-minute rest between, and finishing with a 300-yard freestyle or backstroke cool-down.

This, of course, is just a guideline. Feel free to do what feels right for you. Just getting in and swimming is a great choice for your body. Keeping your workout well rounded and interesting will keep you coming back to the pool again and again.

Fat reduction is a challenge almost all fight with sooner or later. The hunt for the best fat reduction plan or the most efficient physical exercise routine can last for years. Without examination, it seems like the search is about more or less looking physically fit to please others.

You must make a good impression on “them,” right? To be successful, lucky, and appeal to that life-time spouse, you must look smashing to them. Hmmmm.

This is partially accurate, all the same, appearing physically fit (worthy) is really just about getting in touch with your individual dignity, accessing a more vibrant worth that is not obtained from your appearance. “How to drop off weight” must not be the lone question asked. You should not let go of the pursuit of losing weight, but at least try putting this question along side of it: “How can I find a sense of worth and fitness on the inside, no matter how my body looks?”

You probably are already asking such a question, unconsciously.

As you are trying to lose weight, the above question normally rests beneath the quest you are on. Seeing as how it remains present anyway, why not make it top of mind. Make it an absolute priority. Make self-acceptance just as worthy in importance to easy weight loss. Then see what happens.

When you make self-pride the goal, together with a plan to lose weight, you are on the road towards feeling much better emotionally. You start to picture that there are other ways to resolve this task, beside just dieting and physical exercise. Going for true self-regard gets you to address the problem directly. You then begin to unveil the nitty-gritty issues.

It is imperative that you get help if many wounds are coming out. There are some wonderful books and resources on fat loss, self-esteem, body image, and honest self-acceptance that will elevate you to new heights.

However the issue and its resolution begin with you. What I am saying here is that the actual job is not finding a quick weight loss diet, or what to eat, etc. the real issue is self-judgment. It must begin there.

You merely feel bad in the eyes of others if you are looking at your self through judgmental eyes. When you take of your “glasses” of self-judgment, no matter how worrisome it was, then you will have arrived at the source of the problem. You emerge from that state by choosing to do so. You stay away from self-judgment about your body image or anything for that matter, by realizing how unproductive it is, and simultaneously finding paths to experience more self-pride.

It’s week three, and you’ve already learned the importance of drinking plenty of water, and by now, are seeing and feeling the countless benefits of cardiovascular exercise, or walking. So, it’s time to turn it up a notch. Let’s add weights to our weekly program, to reshape your body, and your mind!

Weight training is one of the most important parts of your life-long exercise program. In fact, the American College of Sports Medicine now recommends weight training for every adult. The sooner you start weight training, the more muscle you’ll keep. It’s a use-it-or-lose-it phenomenon.

Weight training is also a great area in which to practice mental imagery. You can imagine your muscles getting firmer and bigger as you perform your weight training exercises. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how this simple tool will help keep you motivated, and will help yield a higher return on your exercise investment!

Keep in mind, building muscles by lifting weights does more than make you look and feel better. It speeds up your metabolism! Which is great news to anyone trying to lose weight or get fit. Lifting weights also gives you more energy, allows you to eat more food, and recaptures lost youth.

Weight training also increases bone density more than activities like swimming or even running. By stressing the major bones in the body, weight training offers tremendous protection against the thinning of bones, or osteoporosis. And, by building more muscle, you protect your joints as well. For instance, squats strengthen the knee joint by building stronger, firmer ligaments and muscles.

For a weight training program to be effective, you will need to exercise between three and five days per week. You will need to exercise each muscle group with weights, at least once a week, or preferably twice. For example…arms twice, shoulders twice, legs twice, chest twice, etc. Abdominal muscles will be exercised two to three times a week.

I know the rest of this newsletter may be a bit confusing, but to really get detailed and explain exactly how to target your particular goal with weight lifting is beyond the scope and space allocated for this Special Report, so to assure the safety and effectiveness of your workout, you may want to consider using a personal trainer at least once to help you design the proper exercise routine and sequence for your body type. A personal trainer will show you the proper way to do each and every exercise, and help you get things done effectively.

Here a few tips of how to put together a great muscle-toning, fat-burning workout:

• Each upper body muscle gets 2-3 sets, 12-14 repetitions per set. (Twice weekly, but not on consecutive days).

• Each lower body muscle gets 3-4 sets, 12-14 repetitions per set. (Twice weekly, but not on consecutive days).

• Woman should lift a weight that is approximately 60% of the absolute maximum they could handle for this number of repetitions. Men should do at least 75% of their maximum.

• Move from one muscle group to another without rest. When you have worked all the upper body muscles, take 30 seconds of rest. With lower body muscles, you will need 60 seconds of rest. This is known as a circuit. Repeat circuit 3-4 times.

• Abdominal muscles should be worked three times per week. Various crunching exercises are used to best work the abdominal muscles. Do four sets for the abdominal muscles, 20-40 repetitions per set. It is more important to focus on the intensity of the exercise than the number of repetitions or sets. You should achieve a significant “burn” in the abdominal muscles on each set. You should not feel pain, especially not in your neck or back.

• After each of your resistance training or weight-lifting workouts, you should stretch. Some stretching should always be done at the end of a weight-lifting workout because this is when you need to elongate and relax the muscles.

The following are suggestions for easy-to-perform exercises that can be used in your weight-lifting routine, you can choose 2 from each list and put your workout puzzle together with them as your foundation…

(((Upper Body)))

Chest/Shoulders: Lateral Raise, Dumbbell Shrug, Upright Row, Bench Press, Fly’s, Incline Press, Parallel Dip, Bent-Forward Cable Crossover

Back: Chin-Up, Lat Pull Down, T-Bar Row, Decline Seated Cable Row

Arms: Triceps Dip, Triceps Press-down, Overhead Triceps Press, Seated Triceps Press, Biceps Curl, Preacher Curl, Machine Preacher Curl, Cable Curl

(((Lower Body)))

Legs/Buttocks: Squats, Lunges (side-to-side and/or front-to-back),
Leg Press, Leg Lifts, Leg Curls, Calf Raises

Abdominals: Abdominal Crunch, Rotary Torso, Ab Flexor Machine, Leg
Lifts from Roman Chair, Leg Lifts (while flat on back), Leg
Scissors (while flat on back)

Change these exercises around, trying different ones each time you exercise a muscle group. This will yield quicker results, while providing many additional benefits. Also, the exercises listed above include exercises that can easily be done at home with dumbbells or a weight bar and weights, as well as exercises that are specific to the gym.

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© 2002-2005 Wisdom Books, LLC & Christopher Guerriero WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Christopher Guerriero, is the founder of the National Metabolic & Longevity Research Center and a best-selling author, speaker, and coach to millions. He is creator of the award-winning ‘Maximize Your Metabolism’ system. To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for FR*EE how-to articles and F.REE teleseminars, visit http://www.MaximizeYourMetabolism.com

After a thorough physical examination, including x-rays, my Doctor diagnosed my arm and shoulder pain as a rotator cuff tear and naturally suggested immediate surgery. “The Ultimate Rotator Cuff Training Guide” by Physical Therapist Brian Schiff has so far saved me from having to go through that surgery.

After I heard the Doctor’s diagnosis and suggestion, I searched the library and the internet for non-surgical solutions. I may have found a possible answer. I started using Brian Schiff’s Training Guide and followed his very explicit directions for the stretching, range of motion moves and exercises. I am in week 2 of a 4-6 week regime and have noticed a marked improvement.

In this article I am attempting to explain how this Training Guide has worked for me and would suggest that you to try this method before considering surgery.

Brian Schiff graduated from The Ohio State University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree of Physical Therapy in Allied Health Professions. Since then, he has practiced as a licensed physical therapist specializing in sports medicine.  Through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, Brian became a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) in 1998.

By doing the exercises in “The Ultimate Rotator Cuff Training Guide”, I came to understand that it was a highly efficient system for relieving pain in the shoulder. Brian Schiff put together the guide for people with frozen shoulder, osteoarthritis, Rotator Cuff tendonitis, Rotator Cuff tears, impingement or bursitis.

Don’t be intimidated by the fancy words, Brian explains what they all mean and how to use the exercises to alleviate pain. He goes into a detailed description of each particular problem and how to best use the different exercises to your greatest advantage.

There is one disadvantage. It is recommended that the stretching and range of motion moves be done everyday. To some this may seem daunting, but it is definitely worth it to work this into your daily schedule. This is not a magic pill; it will take at least 4-6 weeks to start feeling the relief from your regular routine.

In the Ultimate Rotator Guide one of its most valued points is that Brain doesn’t just write out how to do each motion, he has pictures of him actually performing each move. This is extremely helpful in showing you the right form for each exercise. The right form is essential in making the motions work for you. So, not only does he outline how to do the moves in the eBook, he has added pictures in all aspects of each move. In the very beginning of the eBook he answers frequently asked questions that he knows from experience.

Another invaluable part of getting his eBook is that if you have any other questions you can email him. I did, and he always got back to me on the same day.

The Ultimate Rotator Guide is a truly concise map to overcoming shoulder pain. The eBook logically and easily pulls you through the process of using these exercises to eliminate pain in an attempt to avoid shoulder surgery.

Do not think this will instantly heal you, it will take practice. You must do the exercises on a consistent basis. It is critical that you follow the directions to achieve your goal of a pain free shoulder.

When I first started the program I thought that it was impossible to take this much time everyday. However, after the first week when I had practiced the moves it didn’t take nearly as much time as in the beginning. I was able to smoothly do all the moves in less than thirty minutes.

Normally there are always some weaknesses in eBooks but I couldn’t find any in the Ultimate Rotator Guide. My experience is that it is taking away most of my Rotator Cuff pain and is keeping me away from Rotator Cuff surgery. Remember, I am in week two and much has been accomplished.

Wouldn’t you use a program that would take away most, if not all of your shoulder pain? If you want to learn how to strengthen your shoulder and relieve your aching I would highly recommend “The Ultimate Rotator Training Guide”. In fact, I give it 9 out of 10. I can’t thank Brian enough for supplying this valuable information and hopefully saving me from surgery.

Visit Mary Hanna’s websites at: Web Marketing Reviews Cruise Travel and Review of the Rotator Cuff Guide

Nitric Oxide supplements are probably the most popular supplements on the fitness market today. Walk into any health food store that caters to bodybuilders, and you’ll see names of products such as NO2, Nitrix, NOxplode, SuperPump 250, NOX, TracNO and many others.

I’m a strong supporter in nitric oxide products to build muscle and there’s been some double-blind studies that support the effectiveness of nitric oxide supplements. But with so many Nitric Oxide products on the market, how do you know which one works the best for you.

To answer the question of which one would be best for you, let’s look at what nitric oxide is. Nitric oxide is a colorless gas that’s found in the tissues of all mammals. It’s actually a natural vasodilator of smooth muscle (but not skeletal muscle). Nitric oxide also performs cell-to-cell communication for some metabolic functions and this is how it is used by the body to communicate with other body cells.

Natural nitric oxide on its own just lasts briefly in the body. But there is an analog to produce this gas, as it occurs when enzymes in the body break down the amino acid called Arginine (l-arginine).

Nitric Oxide has been determined to control the circulation of blood and may actually increase blood flow. It also sends signals between nerve cells, and can serve to deliver more nutrients to muscle cells, helping the muscles to increase in size when subjected to stress (that “pumped” feeling from working out).

It is these large, full pumps that bodybuilders seek when lifting weights. As a side note: Erectile Dysfunction (ED) prescriptions work in a similar way to increase blood flow (just that ED prescriptions focus on controlling blood flow in a different area).

The MRI company defined this industry when they came out with the first nitric oxide supplement. I believe it is still the best nitric oxide on the market, but usually it’s also the most expensive. BSN and MHP and Pinnacle and Gaspari also make good nitric oxide supplements, but to me, they don’t seem to be as effective as the MRI NO2, although I believe different people will have varying results until they find the one that works best for them.

The way to tell which nitric oxide supplement will work best for you is to try one for 6 weeks. In about 2 weeks of using a nitric oxide supplement, you should be able to feel a “pump” after your workout and you’ll be reminded of this feeling throughout the day as you continue to feel “pumped.” It’s kind of like that “tight” feeling you might feel the first five minutes in the morning upon arising, before your muscles have had a chance to stretch.

If you don’t feel “pumped” and have a renewed desire to head back to the gym each morning after 6 weeks of trying a nitric oxide supplement, try a different one. If the first supplement you try doesn’t get you to that “pump,” you’ll probably only need to try one or two others until you get that “good” feeling. Then you can stick to your chosen nitric oxide generator for a long time.

I should also mention possible side effects of nitric oxide. While I haven’t heard or seen any serious health side effects, it’s possible to have dizziness, some fatigue, headaches or diarrhea, as these would be symptoms of too much arginine and they’ll go away upon reducing the amount of arginine taken.

There’s also been some recent reports stating that certain ED prescriptions may cause a sudden blindness, and seeing that some of the process of vasodilation could be similar to nitric oxide, I researched to see if nitric oxide could cause a sudden blindness similar to the ED prescriptions. What I found is that nitric oxide works with a different receptor and it appears that this would not be a problem. I still take NO2 and I really like it.

This information is not meant to replace medical advice. If you need medical help, seek a qualified physician and explore all your options together.

Copyright (c) 2006.

Jessica Deets has been researching information on the internet for over 4 years. She also interviews experts in different areas to bring you helpful information. For more information about effective muscle-building alternatives to steroids, see the website at http://www.legalsteroidalternative.com

The main shoulder muscles that concern bodybuilders are the deltoids and although they work closely with the arms and chest muscles, it is possible to isolate the delts in a training session. Unlike other body parts though, the shoulder is not designed for heavy lifting in all directions so beginners need to take care and use lighter weights than usual for shoulder-isolating exercises.

The deltoid covers the shoulder and consists of three distinct segments:

1. The anterior or front deltoid allows you to raise your arm to the front.

2. The medial or middle deltoid allows you to raise your arm to the side.

3. The posterior or rear deltoid allows you to draw your arm backwards when it is perpendicular to the torso.

The front delt usually receives plenty of work with chest exercises such as the bench press and pushup, so you’ll need to use common sense and listen to your body when performing exercises that specifically target this muscle. The recommended shoulder exercises for beginners are as follows:

1. Seated dumbbell press - 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This exercise places the emphasis on the medial head.

2. Front lateral raise - 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This exercise emphasises the front delt.

3. Rear lateral flyes - 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This exercise targets the rear delt.

As with all exercises you need to take care in scheduling specific body parts. To begin with you should incorporate your shoulder exercises into a program similar to the one suggested below:

Day 1: Biceps, Back, Abs

Day 2: Hamstrings, Shoulders, Abs

Day 3: Quads, Forearms, Calves

Day 4: Triceps, Chest, Abs

For the first couple of weeks complete one set but then add one set each week to a maximum of three. At the end of three months you will be ready to move on to more intensive intermediate level exercises.

Rick Mitchell has written numerous articles aimed at helping athletes, from beginners to advanced, understand how to build muscle and increase strength. He has also developed several supporting web resources including Fitness Gear Online

Welcome to article number 2 in our series “Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts”. In this article we are going to talk about how bodybuilders tend to create massive muscle imbalances and what you can do to not be one of them.

If you missed the first article, you can read it by clicking on the link below.

Here’s a breakdown of the articles to look for:

1. Article #1 - Choosing The WRONG Exercises

2. Article #2 - Training Variations for Pain Relief and Maximum Results

3. Article #3 - Targeted Stretching

4. Article #4 - Targeted Exercises

5. Article #5 - Rest, Recovery, and Injury Prevention

Article #2 - Training Variations for Pain Relief and Maximum Results

Bodybuilders are a stubborn bunch… almost as bad as runners! And they tend to follow the “HERD” doing whatever exercises and routines the “pros” are doing…

Now, if your goal is to be as big as possible and you are not at all concerned with your health and fitness, don’t even bother this article… this article is for bodybuilders who ARE concerned about their health and want to be big, strong, powerful, and agile… if that’s you, read on…

The reason so many bodybuilders suffer from so many different injuries is because there are several things the “pros” don’t tell you…

First off, the articles that you see in all the muscle mags aren’t even written by the “pros”… and the workout routines they recommend are always extreme and often not even used by the “pro” who supposedly wrote because their main goal is to sell magazines… not give you the real deal on bodybuilding.

If you are serious about bodybuilding and want to achieve your true peak, you need to stay injury free… and that’s just about impossible if you train they way most bodybuilders do.

There are several key strategies that you can use right now to not only eliminate any aches, pains and injuries you currently have, but also keep from creating more muscle imbalances in the future.

Strategy #1 - Target the Weaklings!

No, we don’t mean the exercises you think your weak at, or even the muscles you think are underdeveloped… what we mean is the muscles that are weak in relation to the opposing muscle group.

For example, in the first article we talked about why the Leg Extension is not a great exercise and why it’s responsible for so many cases of knee, hip, and back pain… and the reason is, most people, especially bodybuilders, are already over developed and stronger in the quadriceps… and usually have a significant imbalance between the quadriceps and hamstrings.

Another reason bodybuilders tend to develop so many severe muscle imbalances is because they emphasize the front of the body more than the back… a great example of this is what we call “The T-shirt Muscle Workout” and it usually consists of dozens of sets of chest and biceps…

you know what we mean… in just one workout you do flat bench, incline, decline, pec deck, dumbbell fly, cable cross overs… and then for biceps you’ve got barbell curls, dumbbell curls, preacher curls, cable curls, machine curls, and the list goes on…

So instead of emphasizing the muscles that are already strong, why not really hit those weak and under worked muscles like: neck, upper back, shoulder rotators, hamstrings, glutes, hip rotators, lower abs, and shins.

These areas tend to be weak, tight, out of balance with their opposing muscles, prone to muscle strains and pulls and most importantly, these imbalances lead to major injuries and conditions like back pain, knee pain, rotator cuff tears, tendonitis and others.

All of these conditions are caused by muscle imbalances and will NOT go away unless you work towards correcting the imbalances… and the only way to know for sure which imbalances are causing your pain or injury is to do a series of physical assessments like the ones covered in our “Lose the Back Pain Video”.

Strategy #2 - Experiment!

Here’s a personal challenge for you: Replace at least 1 of your normal weekly workouts with something totally different like combat martial arts, kettle bell training, functional training, or even strongman style exercises.

For example, instead of doing your super heavy, 3 inch partial rep leg presses, try a single leg squat… and if that’s easy, try adding weight! Or instead dozens of sets of shoulder presses and lateral raises, see if you can do 1 handstand push-up.

Those are just a few examples… do yourself a favor and experiment with other types of exercises. You can find hundreds of different types of training styles by taking classes, reading books, watching videos, surfing the web, hire a personal trainer, etc.

We aren’t asking you to give up your traditional workouts… but just cross-train a bit so you not only work towards a balanced body but also towards a stronger, more powerful and usable strength. Again, what good is muscle if you can’t use it!

Strategy #3 - Switch It Up!

Another great way to minimize the number of missed workouts due to injuries is to vary the exercises that you do for each muscle group. For example, if you always do barbell squats try rotating in other exercises like single-leg leg presses, trap-bar dead-lifts, d-bell squats, etc.

Conclusion

Remember, the key to eliminating injuries and preventing future ones is to identify what areas you need to target. In the next two articles we’ll be discussing in detail, how to address various injuries like back, hip, knee, and shoulder pain with targeted exercises and stretches. In the meantime, be sure to read thru all of our detailed articles and if you have questions, please post them in our discussion forum.

Article by Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS, CSPN and Steve Hefferon, CMT, CPRS of http://www.losethebackpain.com. If you’ve got back pain or sciatic pain, you’ve gotta check out their video.