Best Leg Muscle Building Exercises for Long Femurs
If you’ve given up on the squat due to long femurs, here are the best exercises to build muscle in your legs.
Time and time again, the muscle building literature says that people with long femurs “make poor squatters.”
This is no myth in that trainees with long femurs must have a pronounced forward lean to keep their balance as they approach parallel in the squat, let alone deeper. I’m a certified personal trainer.
“Long femurs” refers to a relative measurement, not an absolute length, in particular, femur to torso ratio.
Thus, if a short person’s femurs are longer than their torso, they will have more difficulty squatting than will a very tall person whose femurs are a lot shorter than their torso.
Best exercises for those with long femurs (no particular order):
Split Squat with Elevated Foot with dumbbells.
Shutterstock/Artsplav
Try to keep torso erect. The drawback is there’s a limit with how much weight you can hold in each hand. (A free barbell can also be used.)
Split Squat with Back Foot on Floor with dumbbells (a.k.a. stationary weighted lunge). Same as above.
Split Squat with Smith Machine. If you’ve reached a point where you need heavier dumbbells with split squats than your gym provides, try the Smith machine.
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Weighted Walking Lunge. Keep torso erect. Whenever I see men doing this with huge dumbbells, they always have well-developed quads.
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Though I also gather that some of that development is from other leg exercises, very possibly the back squat, but I’m sure they wouldn’t be doing weighted walking lunges with heavy dumbbells if it didn’t help build leg muscle.
Weighted Single-Leg Step Up.
Shutterstock/WoodysPhotos
Do not confuse this with the aerobic version where the trainee is going up and down for many reps while holding dumbbells.
The dumbbells should be heavy enough to prevent more than 8-12 reps with good form. Keep torso erect and don’t rush.
The higher the step, the more hamstring and glute activation, so use a higher step to really build leg muscle.
Dumbbell Squat. Hold dumbbells on either side and see if you can go parallel. Widen stance until you can and do this before a mirror. The caveat is the limitation on dumbbell weight.
Women with long femurs won’t be presented as much with this limitation, as it’s far less likely that a woman will get too strong to be challenged by holding a 100 pound dumbbell in each hand.
Thus, dumbbell exercises are even better for women with long femurs wanting to build muscle. This isn’t to say that a woman can never “outgrow” 100 pound dumbbells.
Sumo or Wide Squat. This is great at building leg muscle. A person’s femurs would have to be outrageously long for this exercise to be difficult to do.
However, the wider the stance, the more hip and hamstring flexibility required.
A great sumo stance is possible only with adequate hip/hamstring flexibility.
Want to build leg muscle and have long femurs? Then get going on achieving flexibility. (One way to do that is to just keep doing the sumo squat.)
Front Squat. Many with long femurs swear by this for building leg muscle.
Shutterstock/Syda Productions
Sumo Deadlift. This, too, will build leg muscle and has similar dynamics to and requirements of the sumo squat.
Shutterstock/Nomad_Soul
Machine Hack Squat. Give this a try. Many trainees find it uncomfortable and hard on the knees, however. A variation is to face the machine.
Credit: GeorgeStepanek
Leg Press. Get at least a 90 degree knee bend; preferably go deep.
Shutterstock/Free around
Box Squat. Make sure the height of the box allows your femurs to be at least parallel or a little deeper.
Don’t abuse the presence of the box by resting too long on it at the bottom of the movement or losing the lower back arch.
Don’t let feet leave the floor when you make contact with the box. Pretend the box isn’t there, even.
Many fitness professionals swear that this exercise really builds leg muscle, and even those who don’t have long femurs will do these to help build leg muscle.
If you have long femurs and want to build leg muscle, there’s no reason why you can’t achieve this. It’s a myth that the back squat is for every body.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Dean Drobot
Can Low Back Flexibility Offset Long Femurs in the Squat?
Learn about what increasing low back flexibility can do for your squat if you’re stiffed with the curse of long femurs and a short torso!
If you’ve been working hard on getting your squat to parallel without an excessive forward lean, thanks to “bad levers” (femurs longer than torso), you may have read somewhere that the problem is primarily lack of flexibility in your low back.
I have investigated the issue of bad levers or poor anthropometrics as they apply to the back squat, a favorite exercise among those wanting to build up their legs and glutes.
The more flexible your low back is, the less difficult the squat will be if your femurs are longer than your torso. Your overall body height is not relevant.
However, a super flexible lumbar region doesn’t mean that your entire back will be as upright as someone’s whose femurs are shorter than their torso.
Instead, super flexibility will enable the upper portion of your back to be strikingly upright, even if you have a short torso and long femurs.
How do I know? I recently witnessed this. A man was doing back squats. His movements were very deliberate and careful, and it was obvious he’d been working very hard on perfecting his form.
He had a visibly shorter torso than femurs, one of those “high waisted” men. (The better term is “high waist,” not “short waist”).
His low back was so super flexible that the upper portion of his spinal column was fairly upright as he sunk to a tad past parallel.
It looked really odd. This was his way of overcoming the short torso long femur issue.
But it’s too simplistic, and not fair at all, to state: “Well gee, if your femurs are longer than your torso, just improve your low back flexibility and you’ll be able to do the squat.”
The degree of flexibility in this man’s lower spine was significant, something that most men will never be able to attain.
It’s possible this man used to train in a sport that’s conducive to substantial lumbar “bendability,” such as diving.
He was tall, so I’m doubting he was ever much into gymnastics.
His low back was so ultra-flexible that when he walked around the gym, it was molded in hyperextension: His chest puffed out and his butt stuck out.
To the untrained eye, he walked around with arrogance, but what this really was, was a locked-in position of his vertebral column.
To expect to develop this kind of flexibility, to overcome the difficulties that a short torso and long femurs cause in the back squat, is just unrealistic.
However, if you’re one of the few who can develop this kind of rare bendability in the vertebral column, it will definitely assist you with getting parallel and beyond in your back squat.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
Can Construction Work Substitute for Gym Weight Workouts?
Are you in construction and wondering if this will build muscle the way that training at a gym with weights will?
The big question for men in construction work who believe that this occupation can replace weight lifting for building muscle, is this: When is the last time you saw a construction worker who was “jacked”?
have physiques that look like the ones you see in magazines like Men’s Fitness, and certainly not the bodies you see in more hardcore bodybuilding magazines.
From time to time I’ll spot a construction worker whom you can tell works out with weights — weights at a gym, not equipment on the job.
Yes, some of the workers routinely hit the gym, and this is what gives them their symmetrical muscular bodies, not anything they’ve been doing at the work site.
This is why you’ll see plenty of skinny, and overweight, potbellied construction workers.
When they are portrayed in movies and TV, often the actors look fresh out of a gym.
This creates the stereotype of construction workers having these wonderfully sculpted, muscled, ripped bodies.
In real life, it’s rare to see such a physique among that row of construction workers sitting on a ledge eating their lunches while they watch the women walk by.
In short, this type of work does not substitute for gym workouts.
Take a look at the vast majority of construction workers for your proof.
Not only that, but more and more women are entering this field, and you certainly don’t see these women resembling Mr. World competitors, or even a fraction of that. They look like typical, 5’4, 144 pound ladies.
Men who wish to build muscle mass will typically work a specified group of muscles in a given training session – to failure. This is not what happens in construction.
On the job, the worker tends to use his entire body, many muscles, and certainly not to muscle failure.
It may also be the same muscle movements nearly every day on the job, and the result is quick adaptation by the muscles — and this will not promote muscle growth nearly as much as a focused, highly structured gym workout.
- Your gym workout is designed to build muscle mass.
- This is not the goal of the work being performed by a man building a house.
- The goal there is to build the house or complete the task at hand.
Look at it this way. If you want big mean biceps, what do you have to do? Curls, of course (along with compound exercises that involve biceps activation).
What task on a construction site mimics targeted biceps — and especially triceps — work?
Though construction workers use their biceps to carry heavy items, the mechanics behind this are quite far-removed from what occurs in the gym when targeting the biceps muscles.
What task on the construction site simulates the bench press?
Though there can easily be some construction movements that are similar to the deadlift, bent-over dumbbell row, overhead press, dumbbell squat and farmer’s walk — it’s important that you realize that:
• A construction worker’s movements lack the structure, deliberation and consistency of a weightlifting regimen.
• Methodical repetitions are not performed on the job site.
• Proper form is rarely given much attention.
• The worker’s dominant arm will be doing most of the work, creating imbalance in the shoulder and back.
Though this kind of work can be grueling and burn a whopping amount of calories, it is not conducive to building the big, strong and symmetrical muscles that you seek.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained clients of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
What Makes Legs Shake During Leg Presses?
Does doing leg presses make your legs shake?
So your legs shake while doing leg presses; what is going on here? I’m a former personal trainer and was not uncommon for my clients’ legs to start shaking in the middle of performing pressing routines.
And when this happened for the first time, almost always, if not 100 percent of the time, the client would ask, “Why are my legs shaking?”
If this is happening to you, do not worry. I told my clients that leg shaking is a sign of very hard work, in combination with the lower body performing a routine that it’s not accustomed to.
This is a simplistic explanation, but I obtained a more thorough explanation from Fabio Comana, Senior Fitness Educator for the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) as well as an ACSM-certified personal trainer
He explains that when your legs shake during presses, it’s “nothing really to be concerned about other than the fact you have exerted yourself a little hard and the muscles are not receiving adequate oxygen.
“The shake experienced during the exercise is simply muscle unaccustomed to this intensity of work — during recovery, most commonly attributed to muscle fatigue.
“I would doubt any neural or physiological concern unless damage with injury was inflicted upon the muscle.”
Some people report quivering legs after the exercise, but what about during?
Freepik.comgpointstudio
Well, limbs are under the most exertion during a strenuous routine.
When my clients’ lower limbs shook, this told me they were pushing their absolute hardest and had a high tolerance for lactic acid buildup, or that wicked “burn” that occurs in strenuously-working muscles.
I also told my clients that the quivering or trembling is a temporary reaction in their legs.
Shutterstock/Syda Productions
After several more workouts on the pressing apparatus, or whatever maneuver causes the quivering, their muscles will start adapting and will eventually no longer cause the trembling.
Additionally, I inform clients that once the routine is completed, the quivering should stop.
When muscles are short on oxygen, as a result of a very intense exercise routine, they may spasm, and this is what you perceive as the shaking.
These are benign spasms, which may also be on a much smaller scale in the form of muscle twitching.
The reason that the whole-limb-shaking is more likely to occur in legs, than in the arms, is because the lower body has the largest muscle groups in the entire body, and hence, these large, strong muscles are able to generate more force production than the muscles of the upper body can.
This means greater potential for lots of work to get done in a short amount of time, and as a result, muscles are apt to get depleted of oxygen in very hardworking people.
Due to the mechanics of the leg press machine, a person can exert quite a bit of effort with this equipment, and shaking is more likely to occur due to the person’s body position, versus when he or she is performing barbell squats.
Fabio Comana is frequently featured on TV, radio, Internet and in print publications, and has authored chapters in various textbooks and publications.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained clients of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Free around
Prevent Finger Pain from Climbing: 6 Ways
Follow these guidelines to help prevent finger pain related to climbing.
Finger pain from climbing can be caused by more than one factor, says Joseph Ciccone, DPT, CSCS, a doctor of physical therapy and certified strength and conditioning coach with ColumbiaDoctors in New York, NY.
“If you are a novice and start climbing, then having light soreness can be expected as your body is performing a new activity and needs a chance to accommodate to the new stresses,” says Ciccone.
“It is especially important to gradually increase amount of time climbing and difficulty levels, as this will allow your body to become conditioned to the new imposed stresses, which will decrease soreness.”
That’s the first step to preventing climbing-related finger pain. I’ve done a lot of climbing myself, and can vouch that sometimes, finger pain or discomfort comes the day after climbing, so it’s easy to get ahead of yourself while you’re participating in this sport without realizing how your fingers will feel the next day or two after.
#2: Ciccone advises all levels of climbing athletes to perform strengthening exercises for the hands, elbows and shoulders, “as the strength will improve control and stability when climbing,” he says.
#3. Ciccone explains that after climbing you can apply a cold compress or ice to your hand and fingers to minimize pain and inflammation. You can dip your hand in a bowl of ice and water and soak for 10-15 minutes.
#4. Climbing is one of those sports where the athlete really pays for it when consistency is lost over even a short time. Ciccone urges consistency.
Two or three times a week is consistent enough to get the fingers used to the stress of climbing.
#5. Some climbers don’t believe cross-training is necessary, and shy away from gym workouts.
At a minimum, these athletes should use hanging boards and devices specifically for strengthening the hand and grip, says Ciccone.
#6. “In addition it should be noted that climbing is a full body activity, and having addressing shoulder, core and lower extremity strength/dexterity and endurance are all factors that can take stress away from fingers and utilize other parts of the body to distribute forces.”
This means that climbers will benefit from strength training. This doesn’t have to be with heavy weights.
Shutterstock/Oleksandr Zamuruiev
Strength training with light to medium resistance will strengthen joints and help the body, as Ciccone says, distribute forces more efficiently.
Implement these guidelines and they’ll go a long way at helping prevent climbing-related finger pain.
Joseph Ciccone’s practice focuses on numerous musculoskeletal conditions, including management of chronic and acute injuries, and surgical rehabilitation. He has a strong interest in adolescents, weekend warriors and professional athletes.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained clients of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Seasontime
Walk Backward on a Treadmill for Low Back Pain Relief
You can relieve your low back pain by walking backwards on a treadmill…
…but if you hold on, you’ll sabotage this benefit!
You need to stand upright and keep your hands off the rails.
Walking backward on a treadmill can relieve low back pain, says a study (Journal of Exercise Physiology online (Vol 14, No. 2, April 2011).
The JEP’s summary includes: “The results support backward walking to reduce pain and increase low back range of motion for athletes with LBP.”
Though the study was conducted on athletes, namely NCAA Division 1, this doesn’t mean that in order to reap the benefits of backward walking for your low back pain, that you must be a collegiate athlete.
“Walking backwards helps to strengthen the quads, calves and glutes,” says Dr. Tom Carpenter, whom I interviewed for this article.
Dr. Carpenter is a corrective exercise specialist, certified personal trainer and chiropractor, inventor of Stand Corrected™, a portable harness-like stretching tool that helps alleviate back, neck and shoulder pain.
“These muscles help to improve balance and posture in general, but specifically, the quads and glutes contribute to stabilizing the pelvis as well,” continues Dr. Carpenter.
“The pelvis is the foundation for the lumbar spine and lower back muscles.
“By improving the proper tone and balance to these muscle groups, the very important pelvic alignment is supported, contributing to a healthier lower back.”
Stand Corrected™
I’ve encouraged my personal training clients to walk backwards on a treadmill for several reasons including alleviation of back pain.
Athletes may have been chosen for the JEP study simply because they can quickly adapt to walking backwards, versus the general non-athletic population.
I’ve had my non-athlete clients walk backwards on a treadmill without any problem, including a middle-age, obese woman with osteoarthritis in her knees.
About 80 percent of people with low back pain do not show, via imaging results or diagnostic tests, any specific pathologies that can explain the low back pain.
Even a very fit athlete can experience low back pain upon bending over to reach into the back of a refrigerator (I actually knew a firefighter-in-training who experienced this).
For the JEP study, subjects were given a pretest which included getting used to walking backwards on a treadmill without holding on.
Not holding on is very important because this forces the body to move in a natural pattern.
On the other hand (no pun intended), placing your hands on the rails cancels out the benefits of a hands-free movement and produces an unnatural, inefficient posture.
The pretest had the subjects walking backwards without knowledge of the speed, which was gradually increased until they said they could no longer comfortably handle whatever speed they were at (without holding onto the rails, of course).
The control group was “healthy active individuals” who did not have low back pain.
After the pretesting period, the subjects then walked backward on a treadmill three times a week, for 15 minute sessions, and controlled the speed.
The report states: “…both groups increased velocity, stride parameters, and low back ROM following 3 weeks of backward walking exercise.
It appears that the presence of LBP did not interfere with the ability of participants to adapt to the actions of backward walking. Both groups achieved greater walking velocity…”
ROM refers to range of motion. The report also says: “…all LBP subjects reduced self-reported P and over half significantly increased low back range of motion.
This finding suggests, as has been previously reported (21), that backward walking improves low back flexibility..” And “P” refers to pain.
How does treadmill backward walking relieve low back pain?
The explanation is technical, but the translation is: The joint action when walking backward differs a bit from the joint action of walking forward.
This altered joint action affects the vertebral disc space…in a positive way.
But you don’t need to know how treadmill backward walking relieves low back pain in order to get on a treadmill and just do it.
I have my clients start out very slowly and I stand before them, my feet straddling the moving tread.
This gives them peace of mind, and it’s also a good practice on my part as a fitness professional.
But if you’re alone, start at a very slow speed, say, 1 mph.
Like the study subjects did initially, place hands on the treadmill rails and get positioned with good walking posture. But at some point you must remove your hands.
Otherwise you’ll cause a disservice to your body. Holding on “would negate the normal healthy bone rhythms and core muscle stability that are engaged by not holding on,” says Joseph Ciotola, MD, orthopedic surgeon at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital at Mercy Medical Center.
Don’t fear falling off; you’re going only 1 mph. Spend as much time as needed getting used to this. It’s supposed to feel different, even awkward.
But you will get used to it. As you get more comfortable, let go of the rails, and just gradually increase speed.
Mimic the research: Walk backwards on the treadmill without holding the rails, three times a week, for 15 minute sessions.
See if this doesn’t help relieve your low back pain, especially if your doctors have not pinpointed the cause via diagnostics.
Photo credit: Aleesia Forni
Based upon 30+ years of experience, Dr. Carpenter’s practice approach reflects his belief that restoring optimum health and function will enable his patients to enjoy a much greater amount of vitality and wellness. Chiropractic care is true health care, not sick care!
Dr. Ciotola is dedicated to providing his patients the best orthopedic care possible for their hip, knee or shoulder pain.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: rohit-reddy
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Source: asep.org/journals/JEPonline
Does Deadlifting Make Your Elbow Hurt? Solution for Pain
One day I noticed that after completing my third or fourth set of deadlifts, my right elbow felt a bit funny.
This funny feeling was in the joint; the tendon had somehow been overloaded or strained in some way.
If this has been happening to you, ask yourself if you’ve been doing the repetitions fast. Because that’s what I had been doing.
By doing the deadlift rapidly, the elbow is subjected to forces that it doesn’t absorb when this exercise is done at a more standard pace.
A more standard pace allows for less erratic motion. The first solution, then, is to return to a normal speed of reps.
However, suppose your elbow feels funny or hurts a little after completing normal-paced deadlift sets. What then should you do?
When you grab the bar and begin pulling it off the floor or mount, put a very slight bend in your elbows. This will reduce the tension on the bones, and thus, the joint.
The very slight bend will recruit more biceps and forearm muscles, yes, but — it will subtract some tension off of the tendons in the elbow.
What this technique means is that, while providing some relief to strained tendon tissue in the elbow, it will also mean you cannot lift your maximum load this way. It’s a tradeoff.
Continue lifting your maximum load and you’ll continue damaging the elbow.
To allow the elbow to heal, use a lighter load, perhaps what would be a 15-20 RM — but done for 5-7 reps.
Accept it: A tendon strain means you must give up your heaviest lifts till it heals.
Whether using an underhand or overhand grip, my technique employs very slightly bent elbows throughout the entire deadlifting set, and the set is performed at a normal pace, complete range of motion.
You then set the bar gently — yes, gently — back on the floor or mount. Letting it bang back down puts a shock through the elbow joint.
If you release the bar so that it falls to the floor (freeing your joints), the loud sound can damage your hearing if done often enough.
After employing this technique for three weeks, I began noticing a big improvement in my elbow in that after completing all of my deadlift sets, there was no longer any discomfort.
However, just to play safe (don’t get ahead of yourself), continue this technique for two or three more weeks.
Then ease yourself back to your maximal lifts as much as you can with the very slightly bent elbows, and gradually return to your normal lifting from that point (straight arms).
Of course, if pain in the elbow continues from deadlifting despite these approaches, abandon the activity and consult with a sports medicine physician for guidance.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Shutterstock/vhpicstock
GOMAD vs. Olive Oil for Weight Gain
GOMAD means a gallon of milk a day for weight gain, but have you ever considered olive oil?
When a man chooses GOMAD for weight gain, it’s usually whole milk, or maybe 2 percent. However, GOMAD is very impractical, whereas olive oil may just do the trick with a fraction of the hassle.
Let’s compare GOMAD with olive oil if your goal is simply to gain weight and get rid of that “weakling” or skinny look, as many “skinny” men strive to do.
They lift weights faithfully and eat as much as they can, yet are still, from their point of view, too skinny.
As a personal trainer I’ve worked with men who were struggling to put on weight. And I see men at the gym, during my own workouts, who are clearly underweight and obviously trying hard to put some meat on.
A few problems with GOMAD is that in some individuals it will cause a lot of diarrhea.
It’s also difficult to drink a gallon of milk every day on top of what you’ve already been eating.
Remember, a gallon of milk a day here is not a replacement for food; it’s an accessory, since weight gain is the goal. Many men have reported gaining quite a bit of pounds doing the GOMAD thing for just one month.
But for how long can you keep doing this?
GOMAD = 1,200 calories a day for whole milk; total fat: 64 grams, of which a whopping 40 grams is the “bad” fat of saturated; protein: 64 grams; and carbs: 104 grams. This may sound like an excellent weight gain formula.
However, 40 grams a day of saturated fat is very unhealthy, for those of you who are, in addition to packing on pounds, interested in being healthy.
For olive oil to hit 1,200 calories in a day, you’d need just 10 tablespoons. Ten tbs of olive oil = 140 grams of fat, way more than milk.
However, just 20 grams of that 140 are the “bad” saturated fats. All that olive oil still equals no protein and no carbs.
However, if you subscribe to the calories-in vs. calories-out model for weight gain, then it won’t matter that olive oil has no carbs or protein. It’s still 1,200 calories, plus all that fat — most of it very healthy fat.
So which is easier to ingest every day? A gallon of milk (in addition to what you normally stuff yourself with to gain weight)?
Or…10 tablespoons of olive oil? A few tablespoons will go unnoticed in a protein shake.
If you’re drinking a few protein shakes a day, you can easily knock down five tablespoons of olive oil and never know it.
Depending on the size of your protein shake, you can slip in three tablespoons of olive oil in each serving and never taste it.
Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to your rice’s cooking water, and another tablespoon (with vinegar) to your green salad, and there’s your 10 tablespoons a day of olive oil! Was that easy or what?
What if you don’t eat rice? If you hate rice, add olive oil to your boiled potatoes, yams or pasta.
Between rice, potatoes, pasta, salads and protein shakes/smoothies/drinks, you can see how simple it is to ingest 1,200 calories’ worth a day of olive oil.
And you won’t get sick on it, like you might with GOMAD, especially if you’re lactose intolerant.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained clients of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
Risk of Kids of Anorexic Moms Developing Eating Disorder?
An expert explains the risks children have in developing anorexia nervosa when their mother struggles with the eating disorder herself.
How much can an anorexic environment, created by a mother, raise the risk of her children (particularly daughters) developing an eating disorder?
How much are daughters of mothers struggling with anorexia at risk for internalizing the thought process?
Kids at a very young age may imitate what they see around them without fully understanding what is going on.
But, are they more likely to become anorexic, have a poor body image, and obsess about food?
“Children of women with eating disorders are definitely at risk for developing their own eating disorder,” says Beth Rosenbaum, LCSW and primary therapist at The Renfrew Center, the country’s first residential treatment facility and largest network of eating disorder treatment facilities.
Recent research shows a possible genetic component to developing anorexia nervosa, adds Rosenbaum.
However, this disorder is virtually unheard of in cultures where the thin body is not prized.
Anorexia also increases in prevalence as cultures become more Westernized. This strongly indicates there’s more to developing anorexia than a genetic component.
Rosenbaum explains, “We also know that being raised in a household with disordered eating places a child at risk for developing the behavior.
“Children observe their mother’s behaviors and hear her comments about her body. This can greatly influence how the daughter or son perceives his or her own body and can influence the child’s own relationships with food.”
This is why it’s extremely crucial for mothers, whether they struggle with anorexia or not, to be very cognizant of what they say about their bodies within earshot of their kids.
“A child will notice when his or her mother may cook a healthy dinner for the family but not eat with the family or not eat the same food,” says Rosenbaum.
“Children hear when their mothers criticize their own bodies and when they dress to hide their bodies.”
As part of therapy, Rosenbaum involves family members in the treatment process.
This includes husbands who can be a main support system in the recovery process.
They need to have a solid understanding of anorexia and other eating disorders, says Rosenbaum.
The husband can also play an important role in encouraging healthy eating and a positive body image among his children, so he should not turn his back on getting educated.
Rosenbaum also believes strongly in including older children in family therapy.
When it comes to how a mother’s disordered eating and negative body image can affect her children, it is clear children are impressionable and parents need to be mindful of this.
Beth Rosenbaum specializes in working with women with mid-late life eating disorders. She has presented frequently on eating disorders and body image issues.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained clients of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
Source: renfrewcenter.com
Top image: Shutterstock/Kleber Cordeiro
Should Anorexic Women Avoid Parenthood Due to Mental Illness?
It’s a fair question: If a woman has anorexia and has not yet had children, should she postpone parenthood until she absolutely feels she has conquered her eating disorder?
Anorexia nervosa is a form of mental illness, but it’s a very unique psychiatric disorder, hardly comparable to schizophrenia or even bipolar disorder.
Is it ethical for a woman who knows she has anorexia nervosa to willingly have a child?
This isn’t about the medical aspects of pregnancy to the expectant mother and unborn child.
It’s about raising children in an “anorexic environment.”
And what about anorexic women who already have kids; should they not have any more until they have overcome their eating disorder?
Good News for Anorexics Who’d Like to Have Children
“It is not necessary for a woman with anorexia to wait to start a family until they have recovered,” says Mehri Moore, MD, medical director/founder of THIRA Health in Washington which offers programs for women and girls facing depression and anxiety.
Again, the issue here is after the fact: the actual raising of kids. And here is what Dr. Moore says about that:
“Typically their anorexia does not affect how they nourish their children.
“Most anorexics are perfectionists and as mothers try to do their best in raising and nourishing their children.”
On the other hand, being a perfectionist can backfire, in that the perfectionistic parent may push their kids too hard to be perfect or excel.
Of course, a non-anorexic mother can be a perfectionist as well. Perfectionists, whether they have an eating disorder or not, need to be acutely aware of the effect this trait has on their kids.
Dr. Moore adds that children, especially girls in their developmental years, can be especially adversely influenced by the anorexic mother’s body image issues and negative self-talk.
Is there ever a perfect time to become a mother? For many women, there doesn’t seem to be.
Dr. Moore says, “It is really not optimal for women with anorexia to start a family while they are still suffering from the eating disorder, but we have seen mothers with anorexia raise perfectly healthy, well-adjusted children.”
The other end of the continuum, says Dr. Moore, is that she has seen anorexia extend three generations, with this illness being “passed down” from mother to child.
Thus, the recommendation by Dr. Moore is that anorexic women be in full recovery before starting their families, yet it’s also true that a woman with this eating disorder is still capable of raising well-adjusted, healthy kids.
In 1991, Dr. Moore founded The Moore Center (now Eating Recovery Center of Washington), which is the longest-established treatment center specializing in eating disorder treatment in the Pacific Northwest.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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