workout - Hope Clinic Care

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Your workout posture may determine the quality of your workout routine.

How many of you put hitting the gym as your 2022 resolution?

Maybe you want to lose weight. Or maybe you want to gain weight. Or maybe you don’t care so much about it, and instead, you’re aiming for better stamina, better endurance, and overall, just a better lifestyle. Whatever it is, there are several things you need to pay attention to, especially if you’re a beginner. One of them is your workout posture.

Fitness is a world of its own. There are countless articles, hacks, tips and tricks out there. You’ve probably heard about how important correct posture is while exercising, but why? Well, to put it simply, posture is the body’s alignment and positioning in relation to the force of gravity. Gravity exerts pressure on our joints and muscles, so, maintaining a good workout posture ensures that the force of gravity is distributed evenly throughout our body as you exercise.

Let’s say you’re doing squats without a proper form. Your back is rounded, your knees go too far beyond your toes, you’re not going low enough… if you do this repetitively, it will not only strain your joints, but it also won’t train the muscles you’re targeting enough. Eventually, you’re left with knee, ankle, or lower back injuries instead of a leaner lower body.

Now, let’s take a look at the proper postures of 2 popular exercises: squats and push-ups.

1. Squats

Squatting is a popular exercise method for training lower body muscles, such as glutes and hamstrings. To do it correctly, these are the steps you can do:

Stand with your feet a little wider than your hips.
Make sure that your toes point slightly outward.
You can put your arms straight, or you can bend them while clasping your palms together.
Your heels and the balls of your feet must remain glued to the surface.
Keep your core tight and your upper body straight as you squat down, reaching a little over a 90-degree angle. Make sure that your knees remain facing outward and stay in line with your toes.
Straighten your legs to lift back up.

2. Push-up

Ah, the classic upper body strength exercise… push-ups. Seems simple, yet apparently, a lot of people still do it incorrectly. So, here are a few steps of how to have a proper push-up form:

Get down on all fours, straighten your legs, and place your hands slightly wider than your shoulders.
Keep your core and glutes tight, and your back straight.
Your buttocks must be in line with your body, not higher in the air or lower to the ground.
Gradually lower yourself, arms bent all the way while keeping your posture straight until your chest is close to the floor, but not entirely touching it.
Push yourself back up. When you do this, maintain your posture. Do not hollow out your back, as it would hurt your shoulders.

So, have you been doing it right? If not, well, it’s not too late to correct your workout posture. However, we know that sometimes, accidents occur. Sometimes, things just go wrong. Maybe your muscles ache, or your joints are strained. Fear not! When injuries happen and it seems like your body is giving up, there’s a convenient solution for you: Hope Clinic Care.

Hope Clinic Care is a place where you can get non-invasive and non-opioid treatment. With an over 93% success rate, Hope Clinic Care offers excellent treatment procedures that are 100% drug-free! Using verified hands-on techniques and dual modality devices, such as a proprietary 3D Motion analysis, we are able to identify areas that are either misused or dysfunctioning. This enables us to more specifically identify and treat the problem.

Hope Clinic Care provides solutions to relieve pain caused by incorrect workout posture by facilitating your body to maximize its healing and repairing ability. No drugs needed, yet just as effective—if not more. Make an appointment now at https://hopecliniccare.com/contact-us/ or call (1)480 659 5470.

Working out and exercising are important for so many reasons. From cardio to strength training, it is beneficial for your body and overall well-being. However, do you know what’s also necessary? Yes, warming up and cooling down before and after working out! Lots of people skip these steps without thinking much about it. Maybe they want to save time, maybe they assume that the main workout is the only thing that counts, but here are 3 reasons why you shouldn’t skip warming up and cooling down before and after exercising!

Warming up prepares your body before committing a more intense workout routine, while cooling down helps the body to safely transition to a steady state of rest.

When you warm up, the low-intensity physical activities increase the blood flow to your muscles and raise the temperature of your body. By doing so, the stress and strain put on your muscles once you add the intensity of your exercise is less severe. Thus, the possibility of getting injured decreases. Warming up also minimizes the muscle soreness you would usually experience a few hours after a workout.

On the other hand, the purpose of cooling down after your workout is to gradually bring your heart rate and blood pressure to its normal level—the level it was at prior to exercising. While working out, your heart rate works harder than it does normally. So, once you’re done, ease it back down slowly instead of stopping abruptly. When you gradually decrease the pace and intensity of your exercise, it helps to regulate your blood flow as well.

Warming up

Warming up improves oxygen-efficiency, and cooling down speeds up your body’s recovery.

During an intense workout, your muscles demand more oxygen. Warming up allows oxygen to be released at a higher temperature and at a steadier rate, which improves muscle flexibility and contraction/relaxation, making your workout more effective. Then, after a heavy workout, lactic acid builds up within your system, and it takes time for your body to clear it out. Cooling down can assist this process of releasing and removing lactic acid, speeding up your body’s recovery.

Warming up also prepares you mentally, and cooling down reduces Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).

Another side benefit of light warm up exercises is it helps your brain become more focused and motivated. This will get you through your workout routine, helping you train and improve your flexibility, strength, coordination, and technique. Afterwards, muscle soreness is expected, which usually happens several hours or a day later. This is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), and it can get extremely uncomfortable. Cool down exercises can alleviate excessive muscle soreness, allowing your body to bounce back before your next workout.

Now that you’ve learned of the 3 reasons why you shouldn’t skip warming up and cooling down before and after exercising, let’s move on to the simple warm up and cool down exercises that you can do!

Side lunges

Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
Take a wide step out to the left. Keep your right leg in its original position, and bend your left knee as you push your hips back. Make sure that both feet are flat on the ground throughout the lunge.
Pause briefly with your left knee over, but not beyond, your toes. Lift your hips and return your left foot to the starting position.
Repeat the same process with your right knee.
Do 1 to 3 sets of 8 to 15 reps.

Dynamic stretching

Leg swings

Raise your right leg out to the side, balancing on your left foot.
Swing the right leg in front of the left, and then swing it back out to the side.
Complete three sets of 10 reps, and then repeat with the left leg.

Side bends

Stand straight and reach both arms straight up overhead as you inhale.
Lower your right arm down the right side of your body. Exhale as you lengthen the left arm over the head while bending your body gently to the right.
Inhale as you return both arms overhead to the center and exhale as you repeat on the left side.
Repeat for 10 times each side.

Jogging

Jog at a slow pace for 3-5 minutes.

Quad stretch

Stand and hold onto a wall for balance if needed.
Grab the top of the left foot and bend your knee while bringing the foot towards the glutes. Make sure that your knee points straight at the floor.
Squeeze your hips forward for a deeper stretch.
Hold for 15 to 30 seconds and switch sides, repeating one to three times per leg.

There are plenty of warm up and cool down exercises out there, you just need to find what works for you. However, one thing that you should pay attention to is: never rush your warming up and cooling down sessions. Both are beneficial for your workout routine, your body, and your overall health. Happy warming up and cooling down!

No gain without pain, but if we can avoid it, then why not?

Hitting the gym for the first time can be intimidating, especially if you go on your own. Once you walk in, it can even feel like people are staring at you (but honestly, they’re not). Then, as a gym newbie, you’ll have to be familiar with the equipment, or maybe you’d want to make small talks with the fitness junkies who have been devoted members there for years. Well, making friends is necessary, but knowing the correct workout posture and how to use the equipment properly is more essential.

Why? Obviously, when you’re not familiar with the fitness gears and proper exercising positions, it’ll be easy for you to get injured. You don’t want that. It’s not only painful, but it will also interfere with your daily life outside the gym. There are several injuries that are common in the fitness world that you, as a gym newbie, should know. Let’s break them down one by one.

Lower back pain

This injury is one of the most common ones. Lower back pain may result from muscle strain that happens around the area of the spine, either due to overstrenuous workout and heavy-lifting, or incorrect body posture.

Knee pain

Knee pain occurs among gym enthusiasts quite often, too, and it can be excruciating. Knee injury has different types, though, such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, which is a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament that connects the thigh bone to the shin bone. Another knee pain involves irritation and inflammation of one or more tendons that attach the muscles to the bones, which is called patellar tendinitis.

Knee pain

Shoulder strain (rotator cuff injury)

Rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons that stabilize the shoulder joint, allowing you to move and rotate your arms. When your rotator cuff is hurt, it will be hard for you to even comb your hair. Your shoulder will ache at the slightest movement. It may be a result of lifting excessively heavy weight and improper training form.

Shoulder strain

To minimize the possibility of getting injured, it’s important to do some warm-ups and stretching before working out. Start small—by running a short distance on a treadmill before increasing the number once you get used to it, by lifting lighter weights first before gradually moving on to the heavier ones. Be consistent and press on, but don’t be too hard on yourself either. Aim for progress instead of perfection.

However, if you wake up the next morning after your first gym day, you may experience soreness throughout your body. This is normal, it doesn’t always mean your body’s injured, as long as the soreness and pain subside within a reasonable timeframe. But if the pain persists, then that’s a sign that you do get injured. That sucks, but injuries shouldn’t stop or demotivate you from reaching your goals.

When it happens, instead of taking prescribed medicines, let me offer you a better alternative: physiotherapy. Physiotherapy has been proven effective to treat various injuries, from the injuries with milder pain to the chronic ones. And when we’re talking about exceptional physiotherapy techniques, there is only one place to go: Hope Clinic Care.

In Hope Clinic Care, you can get non-invasive and non-opioid treatment for your injuries. With an over 93% success rate, they offer excellent treatment procedures that are 100% drug-free! Using verified hands-on techniques and dual modality devices, Hope Clinic Care provides solutions to relieve pain by facilitating your body to maximize its healing and repairing ability. No drugs needed, yet just as effective—if not more. Before you know it, you’ll be able to hit the gym again.

Prove it for yourself. Make your appointment now at www.hopecliniccare.com.

Your workout posture may determine the quality of your workout routine.

How many of you put hitting the gym as your 2022 resolution?

Now, let’s take a look at the proper postures of 2 popular exercises: squats and push-ups.

1. Squats

Squatting is a popular exercise method for training lower body muscles, such as glutes and hamstrings. To do it correctly, these are the steps you can do:

Stand with your feet a little wider than your hips.

Make sure that your toes point slightly outward.

You can put your arms straight, or you can bend them while clasping your palms together.

Your heels and the balls of your feet must remain glued to the surface.

Keep your core tight and your upper body straight as you squat down, reaching a little over a 90-degree angle. Make sure that your knees remain facing outward and stay in line with your toes.

Straighten your legs to lift back up.

2. Push-up

Ah, the classic upper body strength exercise… push-ups. Seems simple, yet apparently, a lot of people still do it incorrectly. So, here are a few steps of how to have a proper push-up form:

Get down on all fours, straighten your legs, and place your hands slightly wider than your shoulders.

Keep your core and glutes tight, and your back straight.

Your buttocks must be in line with your body, not higher in the air or lower to the ground.

Gradually lower yourself, arms bent all the way while keeping your posture straight until your chest is close to the floor, but not entirely touching it.

Push yourself back up. When you do this, maintain your posture. Do not hollow out your back, as it would hurt your shoulders.

Read more articles:

Warming up prepares your body before committing a more intense workout routine, while cooling down helps the body to safely transition to a steady state of rest.

Warming up improves oxygen-efficiency, and cooling down speeds up your body’s recovery.

Warming up also prepares you mentally, and cooling down reduces Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).

Now that you’ve learned of the 3 reasons why you shouldn’t skip warming up and cooling down before and after exercising, let’s move on to the simple warm up and cool down exercises that you can do!

Side lunges

Stand with your feet hip-width apart.

Take a wide step out to the left. Keep your right leg in its original position, and bend your left knee as you push your hips back. Make sure that both feet are flat on the ground throughout the lunge.

Pause briefly with your left knee over, but not beyond, your toes. Lift your hips and return your left foot to the starting position.

Repeat the same process with your right knee.

Do 1 to 3 sets of 8 to 15 reps.

Dynamic stretching

Leg swings

Raise your right leg out to the side, balancing on your left foot.

Swing the right leg in front of the left, and then swing it back out to the side.

Complete three sets of 10 reps, and then repeat with the left leg.

Side bends

Stand straight and reach both arms straight up overhead as you inhale.

Lower your right arm down the right side of your body. Exhale as you lengthen the left arm over the head while bending your body gently to the right.

Inhale as you return both arms overhead to the center and exhale as you repeat on the left side.

Repeat for 10 times each side.

Jogging

Jog at a slow pace for 3-5 minutes.

Quad stretch

Stand and hold onto a wall for balance if needed.

Grab the top of the left foot and bend your knee while bringing the foot towards the glutes. Make sure that your knee points straight at the floor.

Squeeze your hips forward for a deeper stretch.

Hold for 15 to 30 seconds and switch sides, repeating one to three times per leg.

No gain without pain, but if we can avoid it, then why not?

Lower back pain

This injury is one of the most common ones. Lower back pain may result from muscle strain that happens around the area of the spine, either due to overstrenuous workout and heavy-lifting, or incorrect body posture.

Knee pain

Shoulder strain (rotator cuff injury)

Prove it for yourself. Make your appointment now at www.hopecliniccare.com.