The Body & Movement

Wrist Pain When Exercising

If your writs don’t hurt you may take for granted how much they are supporting you on an exercise like sidebends.

Our fingers do not have any muscles. They move like puppets on a string via tendons connected to the muscles of the hand and forearm. That means we need flexible, strong, mobile wrists so that our fingers can maintain all their movements. The opposable thumbs we love so much would be less useful without a tendon running off a muscle down through our wrist. Whether our wrists are tight or weak, it can cause wrist pain when we do exercises that rely on the wrists. This includes plank, push-ups, tricep dips, holding weights, or supporting your body weight in any way. If the wrists are getting in the way, it can drastically limit our upper body work.

Injuries or carpel tunnel make people think of their wrists, but otherwise, unlike six pack abs, most people are not looking to tone their wrists. This becomes a problem if you go to do an exercise and your wrists get in the way because they are weak or feel strained when you put your […]

Wrist Pain When ExercisingMaggie Downie2018-03-21T15:42:56-04:00

Straight Arm or Elbow Plank

Snap a picture doing your favorite version of plank and send it our way!

As humans we ponder many great philosophical questions of life such as what is the meaning of life? Or can we trust our own memories? What is time? What is reality? And now we can add should I be doing a straight arm or elbow plank (aka forearm plank)? People always want to know which is harder.

The Answer

Apparently, the answer to this seemingly simple question is as mind boggling as all the rest. Making the answer: BOTH. Alternating between both is important because the body requires, likes, and benefits from variety.

Read a book or look online and most places will tell you a straight arm plank is harder, but not all agree. Clearly, this is a mystery. In my body, there is no doubt in my mind that an elbow plank is considerably more challenging. Everybody is different. But here are the facts we have.

Facts

An elbow plank works your abdominal muscles more. Everyone agrees on that and you can probably feel it for yourself if you compare planks.

Elbow plank is easier on the wrists. So if your […]

Straight Arm or Elbow PlankMaggie Downie2018-03-21T15:42:15-04:00

Arm Strength

Planking on a mountaintop in New Hampshire

Arms tend to be a weak point for many ladies. But there are so many fun moves we can do if our arms, wrists, and shoulders are strong and stable enough. You can do handstands, cartwheels, monkey bars, kick boxing classes, and push-ups. Am I selling you on arm strengthening exercises yet? Okay, you can pick up your grand kids, nieces or nephews. You can lug your own bag through the airport and get it up in the overhead bin without assistance. Even little things like brushing our hair comes from our arm strength.

To build up to all the exercises you dream of doing, start with the basics. Check out the videos below for some very basic arm strengthening exercises. Never do anything that hurts. It’s never worth it. Take your time building up.

For the Shoulders:

Basic Tricep & Bicep Exercises:

Overhead Press for Shoulders:

Plank to Down Dog (Great for strength and shoulder flexibility combined)

Want to Learn More:

Read Tips for a doing a handstand. Click here.

Having Goals and Trying a Jacob’s Ladder. Click here.

What is your purpose? Click here.

Ways to Keep in Touch:

Arm StrengthMaggie Downie2018-04-24T16:01:05-04:00

Instructor Highlight Helen

Helen isn’t an instructor, but you’ve seen her work if you’ve opened our newsletter or been to our Facebook page. Helen handles all our social media and networking. She also regularly provides Maggie with lessons about how to use basic technology like her iPhone, so our appreciation for Helen runs deep. Here’s Helen’s highlight!

Get to Know Helen:

When you aren’t teaching what are some of your favorite ways to move?

I don’t teach, but I enjoy taking walks! It may seem silly but I enjoy moving while cleaning the house… the house gets clean and I get moving!

What song motivates or picks you up the most?

It depends why I need to be picked up… but something upbeat and catchy!

Favorite Food?

Pizza!! I am also a sucker for Reese’s Peanut Butter cups.

Time you normally crawl into bed?

I am usually in bed around 10pm, but don’t fall asleep until a little after 11pm… I need time to decompress!

What skill would you like to master?

I would love to learn more about graphic design.

What would be the most amazing adventure to go on?

I am not sure Disney is an adventure, but I really want to go. I would […]

Instructor Highlight HelenMaggie Downie2018-04-24T16:02:57-04:00

Arm Workouts

Clearly, I need to do more arm workouts. My friend’s eight-year-old daughter asked me how old I was. I made the mistake of saying, “How old do you think I am?” She walked over to me and instructed me to lift my arm up and out to the side with a bent elbow. Then she patted my tricep flab to test its giggle-bility and pronounced me “forty!” I’m thirty-six. Apparently, my triceps age me.

Everyone laughed and my father-in-love (what we endearingly call my boyfriend’s dad) asked the eight-year-old how old she thought he was. “Fifty,” she guessed. In her mind I was ten years younger than a 78-year-old man.

This is my great-grandma.

As a little girl, I was fascinated by my great-grandma’s tricep flab, and she amazingly let me play with it. She was reasonably toned, but I could still whack her sagging arm back and forth. Born in 1899, she’d spent her early years washing her clothes by hand and cooking everything by hand, using a whisk instead of electric beaters. She was strong. Some tricep flab is going to happen to the best of us.

April Arm Month

In honor of […]

Arm WorkoutsMaggie Downie2018-04-02T10:22:11-04:00