R.I.C.E for Sprains and Strains?

Strains and sprains can be treated at home by following a simple plan called RICE, which stands for rest, ice, compression, and elevation.

Rest

If you strain or sprain your knee, stop or reduce your activity level for a day or two. Depending on the severity of the pain, your doctor may also suggest that you avoid putting any weight on the specific body part for up to two days. If needed, crutches or a cane can keep you moving.

"The amount of time you rest varies," says Robert Gotlin, DO, director of orthopedic and sports rehabilitation at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. "We recommend and promote rest as part of RICE therapy for as long as you have to in order to get the swelling reduced and the pain to an 'ooooh' rather than an 'ouch.' Rest at least a week, but most muscle strains or sprains are micro-tears of the tissue, and that takes at least three weeks to heal. Don't exercise or do the activity that caused the pain in the first place."

William Bargar, MD, director of the Joint Replacement Center at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento, Calif., and spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, points out that rest can be a double-edged sword. "If you don't use your joints, they get quite stiff. Sometimes they get worse if you use them. I say to use your symptoms of pain asa guide.If, when you do a certain activity, you have significant discomfort or more pain later in the day after doing it on a repetitive basis, you need to cut it out for a while until the pain goes away."

Ice

Use a bag of ice or cold pack on the injured body part four to eight times per day for 20 minutes each time. Don't hold it on there longer than 20 minutes because it can cause frostbite. To be careful and more comfortable, surround the ice pack with a towel to avoid freezing the skin.

"Usually, I tell patients to use ice after the activity that caused the pain but also to use heat before an activity," Dr. Bargar says. "A little warm-up is helpful, and heat to the joint or a hot shower or tub will help loosen you up, helping to avoid an injury or create pain."

Compression

In an effort to reduce the swelling that's causing your joint pain, use a compression bandage. These include either elastic-type wraps, such as an Ace bandage, air casts, special boots, or splints. Check with your health care provider on which one to use and how tight it should be.

Elevation

Another way to help reduce the swelling is to elevate your leg on a pillow above the level of your heart. "Just do this for the first day or so to help control the swelling, but no longer," Gotlin says.

Muscle of the Week:

3 Moves that target your TRICEPS

DIPS

1) Sit on a bench or chair

2) Begin with the hands next to or slightly under the hips.

3) Lift up onto the hands and bring the hips forward.

4) Bend the elbows (no lower than 90 degrees) and lower the hips down, keeping them very close to the chair. Keep the shoulders down.

5) Push back up without locking the elbows and repeat for 10-16 reps.

SKULL CRASHERS

1) Lie on the floor or a bench and hold a light-medium barbell with the hands close together, about shoulder-width apart.

2) Extend the arms straight up over the chest, palms face out and thumbs wrapped around so that they're next to the fingers.

3) Bend the elbows and lower the the weight down to a few inches above the forehead or until the elbows at about 90-degree angles.

4) Squeeze the triceps to straight the arms without locking the joints.

5) Repeat for 1-3 sets of 10-16 reps.

TRICEP PUSH-UPS

1) Kneel in front of the ball and roll forward until the ball is under the mid-upper

thighs (the further out you are, the harder this move is).

2) Place the hands shoulder-width apart and place them just below the chest.

3) Bend the elbows and keep them close to the body and facing the back of the room as you lower down into a pushup in a see-saw motion (i.e., don't bend at the hips)

4) Push back to start and repeat for 1-3 sets of 10-16 reps.

The Dangers of Deep Squats

In 1961, Kari Klein, from the University of Texas, published a paper showing that deep squats loosened the knee ligaments (J Assoc Phys Ment Rehabil, 15: 6-11, 1961). Based on this study, the American Medical Association recommended against deep squats. This paper caused several generations of American men to practice 'curtsy squats' and leg presses in the gym. Since then, many well-controlled studies showed that deep squats-when practiced correctly-strengthened and stabilized the knee joint. These studies showed that the forces on the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments in the knee decreased as the knee flexed.

Performance goals should determine squat depth. Squatting to parallel builds the quads best, while squatting lower puts greater loads on the glutes. People with healthy knees can do deep squats, but they are not recommended for people with arthritis or chondromalacia (sore kneecaps).

(National Strength and Conditioning Association Hot Topics Reports, 2009)

Did You Know?

Mushrooms

Meaty and filling, as a stand-in for beef they can slash up to 400 calories from a meal. They may

also protect against breast cancer by

helping to regulate a woman's estrogen levels.

Try this: Sauté sliced mushrooms and shallots until tender. Add a splash of white wine and cook until evaporated. Serve over roasted fish or chicken. Or try grilled steak, mushroom, and green bean salad.

Walnuts

A surprisingly good source of omega-3 fatty acids. Those are the fats that lower the bad-

for-you cholesterol (LDL) and raise the good-for-you kind (HDL).

Try this: For a healthy on-the-go snack, pack a handful of walnuts with some dried figs and a few anise seeds. (As the ingredients sit together, the anise releases flavor.) Or try corn salad with feta and walnuts.

realsimple.com

Question of the Week:

Q: Should I train my abdominal muscles every day? Also, how many repetitions of crunches should I optimally perform?

A: You should treat your abdominal muscles like any other muscle group, which means you shouldn't train them every day. Your abdominals, like all of your other muscle groups, need recovery time between workouts.
As with any resistance training exercise, you ideally want the last few repetitions to be difficult to complete.
Performed correctly, 10 to 25 repetitions for one to three sets of abdominal exercises provide a more than adequate training stimulus. If you can perform more than 25 repetitions of an abdominal exercise, you are most likely performing the repetitions too rapidly or with improper form.
You can increase the challenge and intensity of abdominal exercises by using added resistance, moving more slowly or performing the exercises on a slant board or exercise ball so that your head is at a lower elevation than your legs.

Bryant, Cedric

"QUOTE OF THE WEEK"

"A CHAMPION lets nothing interfere with theri priority - becoming the best they possibly can become"

-Scotty Kessler

Spring-Clean Your Exercise Routine

Ditch: Old walking or running shoes

Instead: Invest in a new pair of kicks, because worn-out soles are a quick path to injury.

Write the purchase date on the tongue or side of your shoes and let your weekly mileage be your guide. If you walk or run 10 miles per week, replace your shoes every 12 months; 15 miles, every 8 months; 20 miles, every 6 months; 30 miles, every 4 months.

Ditch: Your freebie pedometer

Instead: Spend $20 to $25 for a better-quality one.
A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine tested nearly 1,000 low-end pedometers and found almost three-quarters of them were inaccurate-with most of them overestimating step counts.

Ditch: Lightweight dumbbells

Instead: Use heavier weights that challenge you, says Tim Davis, director, Peak Performance in New York.

Your body has an amazing ability to adapt quickly, so if you don't regularly increase the weight

you're lifting, you'll eventually plateau. Lift as much as you can, as long as it isn't painful and you feel in control throughout the move.

Ditch: Sipping only when thirsty

Instead: Drink 4 to 6 ounces of water for every 15 minutes of

exercise.

Sweating away even a tiny portion of your body weight can doom your workout by making your heart beat faster and causing you to feel weak and tired.

Ditch: The idea that more is better

Instead: Focus on the quality, not length, of your workout, Davis says.Instead of walking or biking at one speed for an hour, halve your workout (and burn the same amount of calories) by doing sprint intervals-30 seconds to 2 minutes at a very fast pace, followed by 2minutes at normal pace.

Ditch: That old cotton T-shirt

Instead: Go high-tech and invest in workout clothing made from wicking fabrics.Why?

Synthetics do a better job of keeping you drier and cooler while you exercise (but you knew that already).

Excerpted from Health.com contributing writer Judi Ketteler February 11, 2008

Stretches of the Week:

Seated Glute Stretch

Target: Gluteus Maximus

Lying Pretzel Stretch

Target: Gluteus Medius & Gluteus Minimus

Lying Illiotibial Stretch

Target: Tensor Facia Latae

Lying Prirformis Stretch

Target: Piriformis & Quadratus Femoris

3 Types of Exercise You Need to Stay Fit

1. Cardio

In order to lose weight and keep it off, I recommend exercisingaerobically for six hours a week at a moderately high intensity, which I define as vigorous activity with very deep breathing. This may sound like a lot, but you can break up those six hours however you like. Cycling or walking for an hour six days a week would do it, or you could exercise on an elliptical trainer or swim for 75 minutes five days a week. Although you may not be ready for six hours right off the bat, aim as high as you can when you begin. Make your first goal 90 to 150 minutes per week, the minimum amount for disease protection. If you're very overweight or have any medical conditions, check with your doctor before increasing activity.

2. Strength Training

Strength training will increase your muscle tone, which requires more calories to maintain than fat; therefore, your body will burn a greater number of calories as part of its daily upkeep-even when you're sleeping. Strength training also reinforces the skeleton, helping to stem bone loss. You'll want to start with a variety of exercises, using either free weights or machines, that work the

major muscle groups: abdomen, back, arms, shoulders, and

legs. And you'll want to begin with weights that are challenging but not so heavy that they force you to compromise your form.

Ideally, work up to doing strength-training exercises two to three

times a week.

3. Functional Fitness

Being "functionally fit" means having the strength and agility to get through daily life with ease-from toting an armload of groceries to reaching for a coat in the back of a closet. Functional fitness also makes other types of exercise easier and helps protect you against injury. The exercises that improve functional fitness are primarily stretches, crunches, and other resistance exercises that you do with orwithout weights. As a group, they increase your core strength, flexibility, balance, and coordination, as well as improve your posture and help you move more gracefully. They take so little time, you should really do them every day, but if that's impossible, do what you can.

Excerpted from The Life You Want: Get Motivated, Lose Weight, and Be Happy; Simon & Schuster. Copyright (c) 2010 by Bestlife Corporation

Muscle of the Week:

3 Moves that target your glutes

1) Squats

Stand with feet shoulder width apartBend the knees, keeping the knees behind the toes. Press into the heels and stand up.Repeat about 2-3 sets of 8-16 reps.



2) Lunges

Stand with feet shoulder width apart.
With one foot take a step forward. Knee should be at a 90 degrees angle with knee above the toes.

3) Step-Ups

Get a box about knee high. With one leg, step onto the box, slowly pushing through your heel. Then step down slowly. Repeat with the same leg or alternate.

Walk Stairs Two at a Time to Burn More Calories

Most weight-loss experts advise people to walk the stairs and avoid elevators. What's the best way to burn calories during a stair climb? Jinger Gottschall and colleagues from the Pennsylvania State University found that walking every other step with alternating feet burns more calories than walking one step at a time. People move faster and use more power during alternate step climbing. Stair climbing is an excellent exercise that can be included easily in a physically activity program.

(Journal Strength and Conditioning Research, 24: 2558-2563, 2010)

Onion Dip for Veggies

Do you get tired of the same snacks, and sometimes you need to just change it up. Dips are nice that way. You can still get your veggie in, but you can do it by dipping them in something yummy and healthy. Here's a new take on an old-favorite. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-1 tsp olive oil
-1 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
-1 cup VOSKOS nonfat Greek Yogurt
-1/2 cup fat-free mayo
-1/2 tsp sea salt
-1/4 tsp garlic powder
-1/4 tsp onion powder
-1/4 tsp white pepper
-1/8 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:
Sauté thinly sliced onions in olive oil over medium heat until starts to brown. Combine onion with remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Either serve immediately or keep in fridge. Each servings is roughly 1/4 cup. Serve with fresh veggies.

Nutrition:
Calories 54; Calories from Fat 7.0; Total Fat 0.78g; Cholesterol 2.5mg; Sodium 310.06mg; Total Carbohydrate 6.65g; Dietary Fiber 0.53g; Sugars 2.7g; Protein 4.19g

Question of the Week:

Q: Does any proof exist that exercise can help a person live longer?

A: Absolutely. One of the largest study measuring fitness

ever conducted found that exercise will indeed help a person live longer.

Led by Dr. Steven Blair of the Institute of Aerobics Research in Dallas, the eight-year study evaluated the fitness and mortality levels of 13,344 men and women. Researchers involved with the study found that exercise reduces the death rate from all causes, particularly cancer and heart disease.

Physical fitness was measured by each subject's performance on a standardized treadmill test - a test which is designed to accurately assess aerobic fitness (the most commonly accepted indicator of physical "health"). Based on the test results, the subjects were then grouped by gender into 5 categories ranging from least to most fit. The results of the study showed that the higher the fitness level the lower the death rate, after the data was adjusted for age differences between the subjects.

Compared with the most-fit subjects, individuals in the least-fit category had death rates 3.4 and 4.6 times higher for men and women respectively. The differences in mortality rates held relatively constant even after obvious causal factors, such as smoking and cholesterol level, were considered. For both men and women, the largest drop from one fitness category to another was from the least-fit to the next most-fit group. Expressed as deaths per 10,000 person-years, the age-adjusted death rates for men and women in the sedentary category fell from 64 and 39.5 to 25.5 and 20.5 respectively in the next most-fit group, a decline of more than 60 % for men and 48 % for women.

The implication of Blair's findings are extraordinarily significant, particularly for a sedentary individual. On a major scale, this study documents the fact that a modest amount of exercise can and does go a long way. The equivalent of walking 30 min a day is all that is required to move from the most sedentary category to the next most fit category.

Bryant, Cedric

"QUOTE OF THE WEEK"

"You can't make a great play unless you do it first in practice"

- Chuck Noll

THE DEADLIFT: A Great Exercise for Building Raw Horsepower

The deadlift is one of the three power lifts. It is also a great exercise for building total-body strength and power. It is an excellent predictor of performance in high-power movement such as jumping, sprinting, and throwing. However, this exercise can cause injury if done incorrectly. Michael Hales from Kenneshaw State University in Georgia said that the two greatest problems during the conventional style deadlift is excessive trunk lean and premature knee extension at the start of the lift. Most lifters find it easier to maintain a safe spine position during the sumo style of deadlifting.

The choice of deadlift style should consider the athlete's body type. For example, those with long torsos and short arms might prefer the sumo style, while those with long torsos and long arms might be more successful with the conventional technique. Done incorrectly, deadlifts can potentially cause serious injury. Seek the advice of an experienced coach before doing this lift.

(Strength and Conditioning Journal, 32(4): 44-51, 2010)

Homemade Sugar-Free Maple Syrup

Servings:

Makes 1 cup

Serving size 2 tbs

Ingredients:
-1 cup boiling water
-up to 2 cups sugar substitute (ie Stevia Granular)
-2 tsp cornstarch or other thickener (add more if needed)
-1 tsp maple extract

Directions:
Bring 3/4 cup water to a boil. Add sugar. Stir remaining 1/4 cup water and thickener together in a small cup. Add to pot and boil, stirring constantly to avoid clumps. Remove from heat and add maple extract. Keep in a sealed container until needed. Store in fridge.

Nutrition:
-Calories: 3
-Total Fat 0g
-Cholesterol 0mg
-Sodium 0.06mg
-Total Carbohydrate 0.61g
-Dietary Fiber 0.01g
-Sugars 0g
-Protein 0g

Question of the Week:

Q: How important are the warm-up and cool-down portions of a workout?

A: Warm-up and cool-down activities should be an essential part of all exercise programs.
The purpose of warm-up activities is to prepare the body, especially the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems, for the conditioning or stimulus phase of the exercise session. The cool-down phase assures that venous return to the heart is maintained in the face of significant amounts of blood going to the previously working muscles.

Light aerobic endurance activities, coupled with activities, provide the fundamental basis for both the warm-up and cool-down phases. The length of the warm-up and cool-down periods depends on several factors, including the type of activity engaged in during the conditioning period, the level of intensity of those activities, and the age and fitness level of the participant.
In general, the warm-up and cool-down phases should last approximately five to ten minutes each. If the individual has less time available to work out than usual, it is recommended that the time allotted for the conditioning phase of the workout be reduced, while retaining sufficient time for both the warm-up and cool-down phases.

Bryant, Cedric

"QUOTE OF THE WEEK"

"Sports do not build character. They reveal it."

-John Wooden

Do You Need a Personal Trainer?

6 Reasons a trainer may be right for you.

Personal trainers aren't for everyone, but a trainer provides certain benefits that you can't find when working out on your own. Here are ten reasons a personal trainer may be right for you.

1.) Motivation

One of the main reasons people benefit from a personal trainer is that they loss motivation to stick with a consistent exercise program. Certified personal trainers can provide structure and accountability, and help you develop a lifestyle that encourages health.

2.) Individualized program
If you have any chronic health conditions, injuries or training goals (running a marathon, for example) a trainer will work with you and your health care provider to plan a safe, efficient program that considers these needs and enable you to reach your health goals.

3.) Efficiency
Personal Trainers help you focus on results and stop wasting your time doing inefficient workouts. A personal trainer has a plan and will help you get maximum results in minimum time.

4.) Improve technical skills
If you play a particular sport, the right personal trainer will help you improve your skill by

showing you new training techniques specific to your sport. The Trainer will incorporate skills training into your program so you improve not only your strength and endurance, but your agility and mental focus as well.

5.) Break through plateaus
Ok, you are already in pretty decent shape, but you've been there for years. If you are stuck in the same routine and want to break out of a rut, a personal trainer is the perfect solution. A trainer will jump start, not only your motivation, but your routine as well.

6.) Lose Weight

There is a good reason that the number one reason people hire personal trainers is to lose weight and get into shape -- it works. If you made a resolution to lose the fat and build the muscle, a trainer can keep you on track and help you realize that goal.

Before you hire a personal trainer you should make sure that they have the proper qualifications to tend to your needs or to achieve your goals.Make sure that you should feel comfortable with the trainer, his/her style of communication and the expectations of your time together.

Elizabeth Quinn

Meat eaters gain more weight over time

Roughly 66 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. A six-year British study showed that excessive meat consumption might be a contributing factor. Researchers examined the dietary patterns of 100,000 men and 270,000 women in countries across Europe. People who ate the most meat gained more weight during the study, even when controlling for caloric consumption.

Weight gain was proportional to the amount of meat consumed. People gained an additional 4 pounds for every 9-ounce increase in average daily meat consumption. This study did not support the popular idea that increasing protein intake promotes long-term weight control. Reducing meat consumption might help prevent weight gain.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 92:398-407, 2010

Question of the Week:

Q: What is VO2 max and why is it important?

A: If you increase the intensity of exercise, a number of things happen in your body. A rise occurs in heart rate, respiration, and oxygen intake, as well as in the activity levels of other parts of your oxygen delivery and utilization (aerobic) systems.
A point occurs, however, beyond which oxygen intake cannot increase, even though more work is being performed. At this point, you have reached a level that is commonly referred to as VO2 max or maximal oxygen uptake. VO2 max is considered to be the best single indicator of aerobic fitness, since it involves the optimal ability of three major systems (pulmonary, cardiovascular, and muscular) of your body to take in, transport, and utilize oxygen.

Thus, the higher your VO2 max, the greater your level of physical working capacity.

Bryant, Cedric

"QUOTE OF THE WEEK"

"A true champion is someone who wants to make a difference, who never gives up, and who gives everything he has no matter what the circumstances are"

-Dot Richardson