How to Get a Stronger Grip for the Deadlift
You know it: You could be deadlifting so much more if it wasn’t for that weak grip of yours.
But don’t despair because there ARE ways to get a stronger grip for this compound exercise.
So you already know that a weak grip can hold you back from doing your best deadlifts.
Your legs may be strong, lower back strong, shoulders strong, but a weak grip will interfere and force you to set the barbell down even though you have a few more good reps in you.
Ditch the Gloves
They help you maintain a better grip on the barbell, but this is not the same as increasing your grip strength.
You want to create an independently stronger grip and wrist, but all that the gloves will do is interfere with this process.
Powder is okay, but the gloves create an artificial assistance. Think of it this way:
Suppose in a real life situation you must lift something heavy, and it requires a good, lasting grip.
You won’t be prepared, because in real life, you won’t have the gloves handy to rely upon.
Simply sticking to your deadlift program may not be sufficient for building adequate grip and wrist strength, especially if you’re advancing quickly, so you must do something for your hands beyond just your deadlift routine.
Chin-ups and Pull-ups
Chin-ups and pull-ups will help build grip strength if you do these using only your index, middle and fourth fingers.
And then use only your middle, forth and pinky fingers for more sets.
Farmer’s Walks
Shutterstock/ DisobeyArt
Farmer’s walks while holding heavy dumbbells will dramatically contribute to enhancing grasping and wrist strength.
In other words, you are somewhat mimicking the deadlift motion.
Wrist Curls
Wrist curls won’t do a whole lot of good because this does not mimic the deadlift motion.
As you know, in the deadlift your wrists are in a fixed, immobile position, and as your hands begin fatiguing, the fingers begin absorbing a lot of the weight.
Ultimately, the fingers will fail if not strong enough to continue grasping the bar.
In my opinion, the farmer’s walks are better than the chin-ups/pull-ups because farmer’s more closely resemble the deadlift action.
Shoulder Shrugs
Another routine for strengthening would be shoulder shrugs.
Shoulder shrugs can be done with dumbbells, the Smith machine or a shoulder shrug apparatus.
When doing grip strengthening exercises, use heavy weights.
If you’re doing a 6-rep max with the deadlift that’s supposed to be an 8-10 rep max, but your hands conk out at the sixth rep, then doing endurance gripping exercises won’t help much at all.
The goal is a powerful grip, and a powerful grasping action will provide enough juice to last you through 12 deadlift reps.
Perform the hand strengthening exercises after your deadlift routine and on another day at the gym that’s several days out from the deadlifting regimen.
Here are six exercises for an overall better deadlift.
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/Ajan Alen
School Principal Bullying Your Child? How to Take Charge
A school principal should never get away with bullying a student, and don’t EVER assume the student must have done something to deserve this!
Here’s advice for parents from an expert on bullying when it turns out the school principal is the problem.
Yes, sometimes the school bully is the principal. At the high school I attended, the principal fit the definition of bully.
I once witnessed him grab a non-aggressive boy by the throat and shove him up against the lockers.
You can imagine what kind of social skills this full-grown person had with the students.
After I had graduated from college, I learned he’d been fired for being physically aggressive to another student.
Unfortunately, it took that long for something to be done. He knew which kids he could get away with picking on.
People like this instinctively know which students feel powerless, or, to put it another way, which kids have parents who feel powerless or would be too afraid to complain to their parents about the principal.
“Workplace bullies are more common than one might think, especially when they are in positions of power,” says Dr. Marilyn Benoit, MD, Chief Clinical Officer and SVP of Clinical & Professional Affairs of Devereux, the largest not-for-profit behavioral healthcare organization in the country.
Dr. Benoit has a family practice as a child and adolescent psychiatrist.
She points out that even when a parent learns the truth about the school principal, they may be intimidated by this individual’s position of power, and hence, not take strong measures to resolve the situation.
Compounding the problem is if someone’s child is being harassed by classmates or a teacher.
If the principal is also a bully, who will go to bat for the young victim?
“Bullying in school is particularly damaging, because in the school hierarchy, students are expected to be respectful and obedient of their teachers and principals,” explains Dr. Benoit.
“So that when principals are the bullies, it affects the entire tenor of the school — morale is low, and the fear of initiating a response to the principal can create a negative environment.”
What can parents do when they find out that the school principal is a bully?
“My best advice is to mobilize other parents for support,” says Dr. Benoit.
“If you create a groundswell of support from parents and the school, you can address the issue in a broader manner and do what you need to do to petition to the school board.
“It’s extremely hard to do it alone and may seem too frightening, especially if you believe your child is at risk.”
Dr. Benoit is past president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and has provided Congressional testimony on issues including child abuse, teen pregnancy and youth suicide.
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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Top image: Shutterstock/Roman Samborskyi
Why Teachers Shouldn’t Force Students to Work in Groups
Find out why it can be very detrimental for teachers to make students get into groups to work on assignments: social exclusion can result.
The benefits of teachers telling their students to get into groups do not apply to all kids, and for some individuals, this common practice amongst school teachers can set certain students up for the so-called social exclusion.
If you’re a teacher who has students form groups after giving an assignment, have you noticed that there’s always one or two kids who are reluctant to join a group?
Or perhaps there’s just one “outcast” who, instead of reluctantly dragging their chair up to the nearest group, remains alone?
In my tenth grade math class was a boy named “Glen.” Nobody wanted him in their group, even though he never did anything to offend. He was a bit awkward, had no friends and kids often teased him.
The teacher thought he was nothing more than a disobedient kid and would order him to join a group, unaware of how difficult this was for him.
I recall one time while he was doing his assignment by himself, she ordered him out into the hall.
I could hear her sternly lecturing him that she was fed up with the recurring situation of him wanting to work alone, and threatened to call his parents if it persisted.
The kids in the group I was with all looked at each other in disbelief over this teacher’s ways (nobody liked this teacher), yet at the same time, we didn’t want Glen in our group because he didn’t “fit in.”
“As teachers, we often jump to conclusions on what is creating the exclusion when in fact there may be other underlying issues,” says Carleen Wray, executive director of Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE), which equips youth with information to take action to prevent and solve bullying issues.
This math teacher had no concept of the gravity of social exclusion.
In her mind, there was a one-size-fits-all application to learning.
As a teacher she should have realized that telling kids to get into groups creates a strong potential for goofing off, yakking about weekend plans and who their latest crush was, etc., rather than doing the assignment!
Kids who looked forward to groups were the ones who goofed off, and any student who preferred to be alone certainly could do their assignment more efficiently in solitude. Some teachers don’t get this.
Group work doesn’t always create a better understanding of the material.
There are lots of Glens out there.
Imagine waves of humiliation and embarrassment sweeping over Glen as he pulls his chair up to a group, witnessing them roll up their eyes in disgust.
Suppose they don’t understand the assignment and he does. Why on earth would he ever, ever care to help them out? To all teachers and parents reading this article, answer these above questions.
How Teachers Can Create a Positive Environment for Effective Inclusion
Wray explains that teachers who want students to work in groups should “set clear behavioral rules and expectations for the entire class.”
An “environment of respect and inclusion” should be created by the teacher; the socially-excluded student should never be shamed by the teacher! Every child needs to feel respected and equal, continues Wray.
Teachers must show empathy, and explore the reasons behind the social exclusion. Social exclusion is a form of bullying, and can be more psychologically damaging than being tripped in the hallway by a jock.
Wray also recommends using a variety of teaching strategies that include “learning circles, pairs, and small groups so that students have the opportunity to work with others in various settings.”
What if a teacher doesn’t want to bother with all of this social dynamics stuff and just wants to teach their subject?
Solution: End the forced groupings.
There are no studies showing that lack of group work instills poor academic habits or failure to thrive academically or socially. Kids have plenty of time to fraternize with each other after school.
The classroom is for learning math, history, English, science, etc., rather than a conduit for humiliation and social exclusion.
“As with all teaching strategies, group work or cooperative learning strategies are highly effective when used appropriately, and can encourage positive relationships, understanding and respect among the group members,” adds Wray.
“Poorly formed groups can set students up for exclusion: last student chosen and group leadership issues — excluded student assigned undesirable tasks or tasks apart from group.”
Minimizing Social Exclusion in Classroom Groups
“Use effective random grouping strategies for small group work so students are not set up to exclude others,” advises Wray.
She recommends using colored index cards that are randomly passed out.
Another way to group is by color of shoes, type of shoes, or absence or presence of shoe strings.
Students can also be grouped according to commonality: shirt color, pet ownership, number of siblings, travel locations.
Carleen Wray
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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Top image: Shutterstock/Lisa F. Young
Sources
cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning/03/group.html
serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/cooperative/index.html
Why Is My Child a Bully MAGNET?
Find out what’s different about kids that makes them a magnet for bullies.
I once read of an adolescent boy who was relentlessly bullied at his junior high school: a bully magnet.
His mother had him transferred to another school, and lo and behold, the same situation quickly unfolded: scathing bullying on a daily basis.
What about this boy made him a bully magnet?
This story appeared in the local newspaper years ago. It included the boy’s full-body shot: He looked very nerdy and unathletic. But being a bully magnet is more than just looking like a geek.
Many geeky looking kids are not the victims of bullies, and I once saw a talk show in which a girl stood up in the audience and admitted she used to be a bully, but she looked nerdy.
“Bullies look for victims to gain the perceived power they get from bullying,” says Carleen Wray, executive director of Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE), which equips youth with information to take action to prevent and solve bullying issues.
“They are going to target kids who are different, who may be social outcasts, or are easy victims,” she continues.
“Remember, the bully is looking for popularity and acceptance through his actions, and a perceived sense of power.”
The dynamics of bully magnets are perplexing.
It’s a complex issue that can be mind-bending to understand. For two years I attended an all-girls Catholic high school; students had to wear uniforms, so nobody was ever bullied for clothing.
However, there were quite a few girls in my grade who had all the features of a bully magnet, including acne, obesity, a geeky appearance and a homely face. Yet they weren’t bullied.
One girl in particular had what should have been bully magnet material: acne, overweight, and her last name was Hippolito. Need I say more? Yet nobody ridiculed her.
Another was much taller than most of her classmates, had a really bad case of acne, glasses, a nasal-like voice, got straight A’s, and her last name was Raby. Again, nobody made fun of her.
A third had a speech impediment, a mild lip deformity, and her last name was Frump. No joke here. This is all truth.
None of these girls were ever harassed, yet none of them were the least bit intimidating, either.
On the other hand, does a really good-looking kid ever get bullied by lots of classmates?
Key Traits of Bully Magnets
“Many studies show that those who are at the highest risk of being a bullying victim are those who tend to be loners, ones that don’t get along well with others, may have few friends, are not in the popular crowd, and who do not conform to social or gender norms,” says Wray.
“Many have low self-esteem or suffer from mental issues such as anxiety or depression.”
Why Do Bullied Kids Give Power to Their Tormentors?
What is it about the bully-victim dynamic that siphons power from the victim and feeds it to the bully — drawing the bully in like a magnet?
There are two disturbing sides to this coin: the bully who strips the victim of power, and the victim who enables this.
I’m not talking about the bully on the wrestling team who physically overpowers the victim who can barely bench press 50 pounds.
Most people have witnessed a classroom or schoolyard situation in which the bully was either the same size as the victim or even smaller. I certainly have.
And I’ve read about countless cases in which the victim was picked on because they were so much bigger than their classmates.
Thus, the power issue is not related to muscle in many circumstances, perhaps the vast majority.
“Most bullied children don’t fully understand the power dynamics being sought by their tormentors, and inadvertently respond in such ways that end up giving bullies just what they are looking for,” says Kyle Gillett, PhD, LMFT, Executive Director and Founder of Solstice East and Asheville Academy for Girls.
Dr. Gillet leads groups and conferences on bullying, assisting not only victims but also the bullies.
“Our brains are built to first and foremost keep us safe,” he continues. “The part of the brain that first begins to develop in a newborn is the brain stem, also sometimes referred to as the reptilian brain.
“This part of the brain deals purely in instinctive reflex—and houses what has popularly become known as the ‘fight or flight’ response.”
However, there’s one more term to add here: freeze. Hence, it becomes “fight, flight or freeze.”
Dr. Gillet explains, “These reflexes are extremely important to the maintenance of life, as if confronted by a lion:
“It is important for the brain to provide a quick response regarding what might be the best thing to do (these are also the same reflexes that tell our body to move your hand if it has come in contact with a hot stove).
“For a young child, this may be the only response available to them, as their cognitive development hasn’t progressed to the level that they can mentally step away from the situation for a brief moment and problem-solve regarding how to approach the situation in a better way.”
If this pattern of response is repeated often enough without any intervention (e.g., involvement in a confidence-boosting sport), it will become ingrained, so when a young child is a teenager, they will still default to this passive response to harassment, becoming a magnet for bullies.
Dr. Gillet explains how that happens: “During middle and high school, the focus of neurological development moves forward through the mid-brain toward the prefrontal cortex, which is where higher-level problem solving and executive functioning resides.
“However, if children have experienced significant bullying prior to this time, their neurological development can become stunted to the extent that the highest concentration of connections remains in the brain stem.
“When this occurs, a child may respond to every situation or challenge as if it were a threat—making it very difficult for them to respond in any other way.
“This creates a self-reinforcing cycle that later in life can easily lead to a pattern of abusive relationships.
“If you believe that your child may be getting stuck in this reinforcing cycle, it is important for you to seek therapeutic support for them in order to help break this cycle.
“This can sometimes be found within the school system, but can certainly also be found through a variety of other local resources.”
As you can see, being a bully magnet has LITTLE to do with body size or strength.
Carleen Wray
Dr. Gillett’s career has focused on treating both boys and girls, with specialization in trauma, processing difficulties, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, OCD and difficult family systems.
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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Top image: Shutterstock/Motortion Films
Sources: solsticeeast.com, ashevilleacademy.com
Is Pedaling Backwards on the Elliptical Machine Bad for Knees?
Pedaling backwards on an elliptical machine may be just what the doctor ordered for your knees; there’s no need to think that this might harm your knee joints in any way.
The research was presented at the American College of Sports Medicine’s 58th Annual Meeting and 2nd World Congress on Exercise in Medicine® in Denver in 2011.
In terms of cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength, study subjects who pedaled backwards on the elliptical (and walked backwards on a treadmill) did better than those who moved forward.
Here is what the lead author of the study, Elmarie Terblanche, PhD, states:
“Participants who used backward locomotion showed significantly greater gains in quadriceps and hamstring strength.
“Additionally, they had greater aerobic capacity than the forward-locomotion group.”
The subjects had a variety of knee injuries and were randomly assigned to backwards and forwards pedaling groups.
They completed 24 supervised sessions that included exercises for strength, flexibility and balance.
The backwards pedaling group averaged a 9 percent greater capacity in aerobic fitness.
“We say, do it backward!” says Terblanche, referring to rehabilitation routines for those with knee injuries.
The deduction that I can make as a personal trainer is that people with healthy knees can benefit from pedaling backwards on the elliptical machine as well.
This is not something that should be reserved for just those with “bad knees” or who are overweight or older.
Even young athletes should do this, as it provides a unique challenge.
Backwards pedaling feels less intimidating to most people, than does walking this way.
Nevertheless, next time you’re on the elliptical, go backwards for a few minutes here and there out of your session.
For greater quadriceps recruitment, sink down a bit (lower your center of gravity).
Important: While in the lowered position, try to keep back straight!
Maintain balance by lightly keeping fingertips slightly contoured to the rails; do not outright grab the rails.
Because if you do, this will subtract workload off the legs, which will defeat the purpose of this type of training.
If you decide not to be lowered, then don’t hold on at all.
This will force your core to work to keep balanced!
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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Source: acsm.org/about-acsm/media-room/news-releases
10 Bench Press Mistakes that Women Make
There’s a lot of info out there on the mistakes men make with bench pressing, but what about women? Yes, there is a difference.
More and more women are taking up the bench press, and this means more and more mistakes being committed.
So I will set things straight so that women can focus on doing the bench press right, and this includes not just technique, but information about this compound exercise that many women have wrong.
Common bench press mistakes women make (no particular order):
#1. Avoiding this effective exercise altogether out of fear it will bulk up their chest. Believe it or not, some women still think that bench pressing will give them a chest just like their husband’s.
Though women who compete in this exercise and lift literally 300, even over 400 pounds (Becca Swanson set a world record with a 551-pound lift in 2006) don’t exactly have the physiques that most women dream of, we’re not talking about training to break records.
This is about performing this multi-joint exercise as part of a fitness and toning regimen.
In order for a woman to start looking more like a man as a result of bench pressing, she’d have to be lifting as much as a man — and that’s men who are strong!
Men just starting out with this exercise may still look scrawny, even though they’re lifting 150 pounds!
You will not “bulk up” lifting the range typical for females: 45 pounds to barely 100.
At health clubs, it’s rare to see a woman benching what would be considered a lot of weight, and even then, they aren’t anywhere near bulked up.
Let’s crush this myth once and for all. Becca Swanson (5-10) weighs 240 pounds. She couldn’t weigh this much without a special dietary regimen to support it.
#2. Under-loading the weights out of fear of bulking up. See #1 above.
#3. Overloading the weights and then bringing the bar down only part way, but then believing they actually lifted all that weight.
Bringing the bar down only half way is not the same as all the way, and you’re fooling only yourself. This is a bad habit that can and should be broken.
#4. Thinking that this popular routine will make their breasts larger. If this were true, it would spread like wildfire and put breast-enhancement surgeons and manufacturers of “breast creams” out of business.
Why would a woman spend $5,000 on breast implants when she could just build up her breasts with the bench press? Weight-lifting does not build up fat — and breasts are made up of fatty tissue.
#5. Believing that this routine will shrink their breasts. Trust me, this won’t happen.
This concern was presented to me by several of my female clients when I was a personal trainer. “Will never happen,” I’d tell them.
#6. Not doing rotator-cuff exercises. Women need to realize that the bench press recruits the rotator cuff muscles and their tendons, especially as the weight becomes heavier.
Dumbbell side lifts will warm up the rotator cuff. Source: GeorgeStepanek
Rotator-cuff-targeting exercises should be done to guard against injuring these tendons.
#7. Arching their back while straining to push up a weight. This defeats the purpose, because the back arch causes other muscles to get in on the act.
Bench pressing is for the chest/shoulders/triceps, not the back. Plus, the back arch can harm the back. Place your feet flat on the bench to discourage back-arching.
The exception is if you’re training for a powerlifting competition, in which an extreme back arch is very common because it reduces the distance the bar has to travel.
But again, if you’re bench pressing for fitness and strength, keep your back flat on the bench.
# 8. Not being aware that they’re pushing the bar up crooked. This is most prevalent when an individual uses just the Olympic bar (only 45 pounds), or an even a lighter bar.
#9. Not asking for a spotter to help with heavier lifts. Many men will be more than happy to spot a lady with a bench press, even if she doesn’t look like Pam Anderson.
#10. Believing that the bench press is the only means to achieve results, be they muscle-toning, increased upper body strength or firmer arms. This exercise can be uncomfortable, even at lighter weights.
It is said that Arnold Schwarzenegger hardly ever, if at all, did this exercise on a flat bench, because of the injury risk to the rotator cuff. Instead, he used an inclined variation.
Women need to realize that the bench press is not the only means to an end; other exercises will do just as well, such as incline, dumbbell and horizontal chest presses.
Women should never assume they are missing something if the bench press is not part of their workout regimen.
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/ 4 PM production
Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becca_Swanson
Can You Get Six-Pack Abs from Cardio or 1,000 Sit-ups a Day?
So which is better for getting six-pack abs: 1,000 sit-ups every day or a regular program of cardio?
After all, who doesn’t want six-pack abs, right?
Cardio beats 1,000 daily sit-ups any day for getting a six-pack.
Why is cardio superior to doing a thousand sit-ups every day for achieving six-pack abs? After all, cardio doesn’t even target the abs.
But it’s not about targeting. It’s about engaging the abs in combination with burning overall body fat.
If you target the abs, even with a thousand sit-ups every day, you’re still working only a very small muscle group.
The abdominal rectus (six-pack) group functions to stabilize the spine, as well as bend the trunk. Big deal.
Carrying out these tasks won’t do much to raise the body’s energy needs, even if the bending (sit-ups) is repeated a thousand times.
Though a poorly conditioned person will struggle with just one sit-up, don’t let this fool you.
This simple isolation movement is very miniscule work as far as force production and energy expenditure. Ab muscles are weak.
When people lift very heavy things, which muscles do they use?
Their legs, back, chest and shoulders, essentially. When you do cardio, which muscles work?
Those in the legs (and butt). For people who find it difficult to understand how cardio can bring out a six-pack, and 1,000 crunches a day will fail, I say look no further than the most extreme form of cardio: the competitive sprinter.
Show me one competitive sprinter who does NOT have a prominent six-pack. This also goes for 400 meter, even 800 meter specialists. It goes for soccer players and tennis players, who do a lot of cardio.
But you need not do a lot of cardio to get a six-pack or definition.
Freepik.com, dille
The time spent running, that the above athletes actually do, isn’t that much, when you really think about it. It’s brief bursts, stop and go, stop and go. But the bursts are significant.
When we apply this concept to a structured cardio program for the non-competitive athlete, it translates to high intensity interval training. This is a form of cardio exercise. It blasts fat.
In order to “get” a six-pack, you must shed enough body fat to reveal these ab muscles.
A thousand crunches a day will shed miniscule fat. But high intensity interval training (even when done only twice a week) will burn a LOT of fat because it speeds up resting metabolism!
HIIT sets off a hormonal response that results in accelerated fat-burning, even while you’re at rest.
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 for Bally Total Fitness.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Viktor Gladkov
Benefits of Backwards Pedaling on an Elliptical Machine
The forward direction of pedaling on the elliptical trainer recruits a different pattern of muscles than does going backwards.
Try it and you’ll feel the difference.
With elliptical backwards pedaling, your upper body is facing forward, opposite the direction of your movement, unlike in backwards walking/jogging or reverse stepping on a stair climber.
Posture and body alignment will be thrown off when a person is forward pedaling AND holding onto the machine’s rails.
In pronounced cases, the person is leaning forward, butt sticking way out while they hold tightly to the rails.
Remove the hands and let them swing in synch with the lower body, and this will immediately correct postural deviations.
For a real thigh (quadriceps) killer, pedal backwards on the elliptical but squat down a bit. Keep back straight.
The lower you go, the more challenging it will be to keep from holding onto the rails.
So if you feel a need to, I recommend lightly making contact with just the fingers – no outright gripping, since gripping or clasping with the entire hand will encourage pulling and yanking as you fatigue.
The idea is to induce a nasty burn in the quads while using the fingers on the rails only to maintain balance.
Try to keep back straight. The higher the pedal angle, the more difficult this maneuver will be.
This is a serious thigh burner. Your quads will KILL.
Because this type of exercise is so searing, it’s supposed to be done for only a few minutes or so at at time, after which you straighten your legs into their normal pedaling position and pedal forward for recovery.
If your thighs exhaust after only 30 seconds, then go into recovery mode.
This is not supposed to be a sustained activity, but rather, a brief and very intense interval.
Do three or four of these; think of this as a hybrid of squatting and pedaling: “Squadaling”
Backwards pedaling on the elliptical is also useful without the squatting or half-squatting, if for no other reason it alleviates boredom from the same forward motion.
It definitely targets the quads more than forward pedaling.
Finally, backward pedaling on the elliptical trainer is superior to backward walking on a stair stepper or revolving staircase machine.
On the staircase, one’s leg movement speed is limited due to the precarious nature of the body position.
Adding to the cumbersome nature of this is that you must be acutely aware of foot placement, requiring you to continuously look down if you’re not holding onto the rails, which will compromise your posture.
Pedaling backwards on the elliptical machine will allow you to go all-out without worrying about foot placement or losing balance.
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: Freepik.com/jcomp
Orthostatic Hypotension Caused By Low Thyroid
Low thyroid may be causing your orthostatic hypotension, even if you’ve already been taking medication for low thyroid.
The efficacy of medication for low thyroid can become compromised by surgery, such as coronary bypass, or, your body many spontaneously need a higher dose over time – and these issues can bring on symptoms of low thyroid that you may not have had before… such as orthostatic hypotension.
Basically, orthostatic hypotension (orthostasis) is when there is a sudden and extreme blood pressure drop when a person changes positions: rising from a lying or seated position and then standing or immediately walking across a room.
The autonomic nervous system regulates blood pressure changes so that when a person makes sudden changes in position, blood pressure adjusts appropriately.
With orthostatic hypotension, this mechanism doesn’t work properly.
As a result, a person with orthostatic hypotension who (for example) stands from a seated position and immediately walks away, will experience a range of interesting effects:
- an impending black-out feeling
- feeling dizzy or faint; woozy or lightheaded
- or even actually passing out — presenting a fall hazard.
There are many causes of orthostatic hypotension, and I wondered if low thyroid could be one.
Can low thyroid be a cause of orthostatic hypotension?
“Yes, a major cause of orthostatic hypotension is poor adrenal functioning, commonly known as adrenal fatigue,” explains Kent Holtorf, MD, MD, thyroidologist and founder of Holtorf Medical Group in California.
“The adrenals can fail to function properly with low thyroid levels, so untreated or undertreated hypothyroidism can result in orthostasis.”
Hypothyroidism is the medical term for low thyroid, when this gland does not produce adequate amounts of the hormone thyroxine, which controls metabolism and many other bodily processes.
It’s not surprising, then, that low thyroid can mess up adrenal function. The adrenals are glands. Adrenal deficiency can be diagnosed with blood tests.
If you’ve been suffering with what seems to be orthostatic hypotension (various tests given by medical professionals can confirm a diagnosis; and a home test with a blood pressure monitor is a valuable tool in pointing towards this condition), you must have your thyroid levels checked, even if you’ve been on medication for hypothyroidism and a past blood test showed a normal TSH level.
What can you do in the meantime to minimize orthostasis as well as help suppress other hypothyroid symptoms?
Is there an interim drug to help with orthostasis that can be taken until the thyroid medication is increased?
Dr. Holtorf explains, “There are a number of treatments for orthostatic hypotension, including increasing salt and fluid intake, taking adrenal support nutrients such as licorice root and ginseng, and adrenal support hormones such as cortisol, fludrocortisone, DHEA and pregnenolone.”
Dr. Holtorf has published a number of endocrine reviews on complex topics in peer-reviewed journals on controversial diseases and treatments.
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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Top image: ©Lorra Garrick
Best Treatment for Metabolic Syndrome: Can Lead to Diabetes
Metabolic syndrome is no picnic but it’s highly treatable. You may have metabolic syndrome and not even know it.
It is dangerous. It comes with fatigue, slowed metabolism and fat gain, plus blood sugar issues that can lead to type 2 diabetes.
Your doctor can tell you if you have metabolic syndrome or are headed in that direction.
Of course, if you’re overweight, don’t exercise and eat a lot of processed foods — and you feel rundown or often fatigued — you wouldn’t exactly be in left field to suspect metabolic syndrome.
Best Ways to Fight Metabolic Syndrome
One great way is the Mediterranean diet.
“The Mediterranean diet is high in fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts and seeds, and olive oil,” says Julie Cunningham, MPH, RD, LDN, registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator.
“Thus, it contains lots of antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids and fiber, which are beneficial for the prevention of different cancers as well as heart disease.”
Falsely Believing You’re on the Mediterranean Diet
Many people believe they are on the Mediterranean diet, when in fact, their eating habits are far from it.
Olive oil in your cupboard, in and of itself, does not mean you’re truly on the Mediterranean diet!
A very large study in Journal of the American College of Cardiology (March 15, 2011) endorses the Mediterranean diet as a way to fight off metabolic syndrome.
What exactly is metabolic syndrome?
Metabolic syndrome is the catch-all term given to having a cluster of conditions that significantly raise risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
The cluster of conditions are: insulin resistance, poor cholesterol profile, high blood pressure, and a higher than normal risk for developing blood clots.
As just mentioned, metabolic syndrome is associated with obesity, as well as just having excess belly fat.
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Who gets metabolic syndrome?
A blaring risk factor for metabolic syndrome is lack of exercise, or inadequate exercise.
“People with metabolic syndrome benefit from regular cardiovascular exercise (such as walking 30 minutes five days per week), mild weight loss if they are overweight, and a diet that is high in omega-3 fatty acids (olive oil, fatty fish, nuts and seeds).” explains Cunningham.
Other lifestyle habits put you at risk for metabolic syndrome:
- Progressive weight gain
- Smoking
- Highly processed-carbohydrate diet, and though metabolic syndrome can cause weight gain, being obese is the greatest risk factor.
The Study Report
The JACC report is an analysis of 50 studies involving the Mediterranean diet, encompassing about 500,000 participants.
The Mediterranean diet positively impacts problems like excessive waist circumference, “bad” cholesterol and triglyceride levels, blood pressure and glucose (blood sugar) metabolism.
“The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome is increasing rapidly throughout the world, in parallel with the increasing incidence of diabetes and obesity, and now considered a major public health problem,” says lead researcher Demosthenes Panagiotakos, PhD, in the paper.
Mediterranean diet food pyramids vary.
But the variation is minimal. Whole grain cereals are also permitted, and some pyramids show daily consumption of olive oil or olives.
The Mediterranean diet forbids processed foods as staples other than the cereals, breads and pastas.
“Our results add to the existing knowledge, and further demonstrate the protective role and the significance that lifestyle factors, and mainly dietary habits, have when it comes to the development and progression of the metabolic syndrome,” says the JACC paper.
