Ab Crunches And Neck Pain And Neck Discomfort

Many people suffer from neck pain when they are doing crunches or other abs exercises.  Let’s talk a little about some potential reasons people have neck pain during their ab workouts.

The first potential reason that people suffer from neck pain during abs exercises is poor form.  When sit ups fell out of favor, crunches became the primary abs exercise in fitness routines, but most people don’t know how to do crunches correctly.

When performing crunches, your spine should curl forward and your shoulder blades should lift off the floor.  This is a simple mistake that people make in form.  Because many people are afraid of doing sit ups, they use a less than ideal range of motion for crunches.

When you use only a small range of motion from your middle and lower spine, you shift the emphasis to your neck and upper spine.  So what happens for many people is that the only area that moves when they perform crunches is their neck, which can lead to faster fatigue in the neck and potentially cause some neck pain.

In addition to having poor form and not using all the range of motion for crunches, some people pull on their neck in order to get more range of motion.  When you perform crunches, your hands should only be used for light support, and your neck should stay close to the neutral position.

The 2 main mistakes in form that may cause neck pain during crunches are using a limited range of motion and pulling excessively on the neck.  Interestingly, sit ups actually put less pressure on the neck than crunches.  Let’s talk a little about why.

When you look at the position of your body in relation to gravity, there is more tension on your neck during the first part of a sit up because gravity is pulling down on your neck, and the muscles in the front of the neck will contract to stabilize your head.  However, when you move past the initial part of a sit up, gravity will pull less on the muscles in the front of your neck.  So during sit ups, you neck muscles get a little rest when you are in the full sit up position.

If you compare sit ups to crunches, you’ll notice that since you never go all the way up during crunches, your neck muscles never really get a chance to rest during the exercise.  Your neck muscles are supposed to work during crunches, but sometimes the neck muscles will get fatigued before the abdominal muscles.

If you have pain in your neck during crunches here are a few workout tips.  First, just keep practicing.  If you are completely new to working out you’ll get stronger. 

Second, stretch your neck muscles before or after your ab workouts.  If you sit at a desk for work chances are your neck muscles are stiff and inflexible.  Stiff neck muscles will put more pressure on the neck during crunches and other abs exercises. 

Third, work your abdominal muscles in different positions.  You don’t have to spend your entire ab workout lying on your back.  You can do seated, standing, side-lying, or face down abs exercises.

If you’ve had problems with your neck during your ab workouts try the above tips.  However, if you are having persistent neck pain that is beyond fatigue and slight discomfort, you should consult with a healthcare professional.  Burning, stabbing, shooting pain, or numbness and tingling are signs you should see a licensed health professional.  Don’t let neck pain stop you from working your abs.

Gymnastics Training Article: Cast Handstand on Uneven Bars

Gymnastics Training Article: Cast Handstand on Uneven Bars

By Karen Goeller, CSCS

Many gymnastics coaches do not assign enough sport specific conditioning or understand the mechanics of the cast on bars. When the gymnast attempts to cast before her shoulders are in the correct position, her body goes out rather than up. She also has less momentum if she attempts to cast after her legs reach the front support position with her feet behind her. The gymnast’s legs do not have as efficient a cast as she does when she leans forward to see her knees before she casts.

A gymnast must see her knees before she attempts to cast. Her body must go from the pike position to nearly straight (hollow) position rather than from straight to arched for a proper cast handstand. In other words, a gymnast must get her shoulders over the bar before she attempts to kick her legs for the cast. She must compress well and lean forward enough to place her shoulders in a planche position. Many gymnasts do not understand the concept of keeping their feet in front of the bar (or seeing their feet) out of the kip before the cast. This is mostly a timing issue, but also a lack of understanding of the momentum and body shapes. With the cast handstand, if the timing is correct it will be much easier to form the correct shapes.

An arch in the back is not the proper body position for a cast to handstand. Many gymnasts arch because they are trying to cast from an already straight shape rather than from the compressed shape. Coaches should not allow their gymnasts to cast with an arch because that can easily become a bad habit which is very difficult to correct.

So many gymnasts also struggle with this skill because they lack the upper body strength required to lift their body. The cast handstand is a simulation of the front lateral raise exercise that many exercise enthusiasts perform with only with a fraction of their weight. As a fitness trainer, I have seen many female clients struggle with less than 5%-10% of their body weight during this exercise. Even the more advanced fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders only use a fraction of their body weight with this exercise. A gymnast must be able to open the shoulder angle completely with a little momentum and enough strength to lift most of her bodyweight.

Perhaps, knowing this, the gymnastics coach can help their young gymnast progress toward their goal, the cast handstand, by allowing small increases in strength when using dumbbells or a toning bar for conditioning. A great step would be to use extremely light weights, such as wooden dowels to teach the mechanics of the cast. Once the mechanics are mastered, the young gymnast can graduate to a 1.5 – 2 pound dumbbell in each hand. Take precautions! Many children, although they have recently become accustomed to literally tossing their body weight around during gymnastics training, have no experience using weights for strength training.

Here is one very useful gymnastics drill that simulates the cast handstand.

The Straight Arm Cast / Lift Drill: Have your gymnast sit on the floor with their knees bent and back against padded wall. Next, have them hold two very light dumbbells with their palms facing the floor and the weights resting on the floor until they are ready to begin the exercise. Instruct your gymnast to raise their arms forward and upward toward the ceiling, simulating the cast to handstand. (front lateral raise) Once at the top of the lift, allow your gymnast to lower their armsthe weights by bringing their hands forward then to a low front position. Be sure you instruct your gymnast to keep their elbows nearly straight, but not locked on this drill. Once your gymnast has done an assigned number of repetitions, have them perform a tight hollow cast on bars. Remember, it will take time before your gymnast will build the strength to literally lift their body weight using this very small muscle group.

Here is another very useful gymnastics drill is using fitness bands or surgical tubing as the resistance.

Band Cast: Wrap a therapy band or surgical tubing around the base of very sturdy equipment, such as beam, vault, or bar base. Have your gymnast lie on their back and grasp the band or surgical tubing. Their feet should be closer to the base than their head and instruct your gymnast to bend their knees. Once your gymnast is in place, instruct them to hold the band very tight as they pull the band from their thighs toward the ceiling and then up toward their head while keeping their arms straight and close to their body. At this point your gymnast’s hands should be touching the floor and their arms should be close to their ears. Once they have completed the top portion of the exercise, allow them to return to the staring position. Instruct your gymnast to return the band slowly going toward the ceiling and then down toward their thighs. This should also closely simulate the cast to handstand.

After performing these drills frequently, your gymnast should become more accustomed to the feeling of lifting their arms forward and then up towards their head for the cast handstand.

Next, spot your gymnast for some cast handstand drills on bars. Have your gymnast start in a front support on the bar. Once they are in place, instruct them to cast. First, have them bend at their hips and lean forward. Instruct your gymnast to look for her knees. Once she can see her knees, instruct your gymnast to kick her legs up toward the wall behind her. Instruct her to push her hips off the bar and then push down on bar with her arms and upper body. Remember, your gymnast must remain tight and hollow throughout the skill. Be sure your gymnast leans well over the bar and be prepared for her to collapse if she lacks the strength necessary. Hold the front of her shoulder to prevent her arms from bending in addition to spotting her legs. Most gymnasts have a tendency to cast back and not up because they fail to lean forward enough. Once your gymnast’s hips are off the bar, you can catch her shins and hold them in the tight and hollow position. Make any corrections necessary at this point. Once you and your gymnast are comfortable with this position, instruct and help your gymnast to rock forward (planche) and back to gain strength in her abdominal and upper body muscles. Once your gymnast is comfortable remaining tight and hollow while you rock them forward and back, lift your gymnast up to the handstand. (Take precautions! Make sure your gymnast can remain tight and you are strong enough to spot.) You may need to add each step over the course of several weeks or months, depending upon the gymnast’s individual strength. After the correct handstand position has been attained, return your gymnast back to the bar in a front support position. Eventually, your gymnast should be able to perform several repetitions each turn.

Remember, good form is just as essential during casts as with all other gymnastic skills. The cast handstand takes a great deal of time and effort to achieve, but it can make the difference between the state champion and everyone else. There are more gymnastics drills and conditioning exercises for the cast handstand in the book, “Gymnastics Drills and Conditioning Exercises.” You can find that book at www.GymnasticsDrills.com.

Always keep safety in mind while training. Please remember that you are responsible for your own personal safety. If you are a coach you are responsible for the safety of your athletes.

By Karen M. Goeller, CSCS
Gymnastics and Fitness Author

5 First Aid Tips For Common Sports Injuries

Athletes, sports persons or fitness enthusiasts or any one who is into sports activities are prone to sports injuries. In fact sports injuries are integral parts and parcels of your sporting career. But there are ways in which you can avoid getting injured and reduce the number of sports injuries.

Following are 5 tips on first aid for common sports injuries. These happen to be quick treatment techniques which minimize the pain and affliction pretty quickly. This also helps in quicker healing and fast recovery.

Tip # 1

It is often noticed that sports injuries are accompanied by sudden pain and swelling in that area. And if you experience any such excruciating pain you should immediately stop exercising or playing that game. This is the 1st preventive step towards ensuring that you don’t damage your body further.
After stopping your activity, you have to start appropriate treatment instantaneously. Give your body adequate rest to heal itself completely.

Tip # 2

People are often confused about whether they should apply heat or ice to their injuries. Normally you have to apply ice to treat your injury at first. But when the injury has healed quite a bit, you will experience niggling pains, chronic aches and muscle tension. To ease these things, you may apply heat.

Tip # 3

The best way to minimize injuries and swellings is to use ice compression on that area. This reduces the swelling and associated pain. When you experience acute soft tissue injuries such as tears, springs, strains or bruises, you have to minimize, stop and prevent the swelling. There might even be internal bleeding for all you know when soft tissue damage occurs.

Take an ice compression and apply this on your injury. The injured part of your body has to be placed at an elevated level above the level of your heart. And for keeping the swelling in check, you may take the help of a compression wrap. This checks the pooling of blood inside tissues.

However, it is best to wrap the bandages snugly so that you are comfortable and not too tightly.

Tip # 4

You have to learn the proper method of icing your injury. After wrapping your injury with a compression wrap, you have to apply ice on it. This is more effective. You have to apply ice like this several times daily and each ice session should last for at least 20 minutes.

Tip # 5

It is foolish to apply heat on acute injuries for this will aggravate the injury.
I therefore, personally feel being prepared with sports first aid or sports first aid kit is a good idea for individual athletes and teams.

Fitness Games! Fun Fitness Games – The Ultimate Fitness Games Guide And The Best Fitness Games!

Fitness Games! Fun Fitness Games – The Ultimate Fitness Games Guide And The Best Fitness Games!

For Guide:

http://gamesfitness.blogspot.com

Introduction:

 You Must This Guide If You Love Fitness Or Sport Or Fun Or The Life.

This The Best Guide Of Fitness & Sport & Fun.

Dear Fellow Fitness Professional
 

How much are 51 + fresh, fun-filled boot camp games worth to your existing boot camp business?
 

Give me any group of people and I guarantee that I will have them burning calories and at the same time, laughing until their sides split!
 

And it’s all because of this new eBook…

My name is Scott York and as a fitness boot camp owner and operator, the biggest worry that I use to have was coming up with fresh ideas for my classes.

I mean how many push ups, sit ups and burpees can people do before they are bored out of their minds?

If you’re like me, you pride yourself on coming up with new workouts and not continually using the same old cookie cutter workouts from a year ago.

I used to stay up late at night racking my brain trying to come up with something new, something fresh that would get ME excited about the next day’s class.

 love to spring these games on unsuspecting boot campers!

Everyone is involved and everyone is moving at the same time (no standing around waiting for their turn like in some other games that I have seen).

They have fun, burn calories and before they know it the class is over.

They go to work, tell their friends and almost before I know it, I’ve got a couple of new clients who heard about my class!

This is how you grow your business – WORD OF MOUTH!…

It’s the most powerful way.

For Guide:

http://gamesfitness.blogspot.com

The Truth About Abs Book-The Truth About Abs

The Truth about Abs is a program written by Mike Geary, who is an individual nutritionist and trainer. It is an eBook coming into being in 2004, which represents an efficient way to lose weight and to gain six sexy abs. Instead of telling you how to train their abs, it gives a guidance to do body exercises. Treat the belly as a part of the whole body, as when you are doing body exercises, the belly will help to give some strength.

Shocking foods that burn belly fat Click here

In this way, the fat on the belly can be burnt and abs can be built. Besides, do the exercises intensively and fat loss will be obvious in a short period. There are 8 levels both for the body and abs exercises respectively. There is no need for you to join the membership of a fitness club—doing workouts at home is time-saving and convenient, more importantly, the same effect can be achieved in your room with this program.

Unlike other books of the same kind, this one does not ask you to follow some strict recipes. It just gives a very simple meal plan, and you can choose your own food based on the principles of the plan. What’s more, The Truth about Abs is also represented by the diet program. So you can build your figure with nutrition-balanced diets.

In addition, the book has a guarantee, that is, if you fail to achieve anything following the book in two months, you can claim to have all your money back.

So, why not find your self-esteem with its guidance right now?

Step By Step Video Guide Click here