Spiderman with Weights: Overall Workout

Several posts ago, I wrote about the great exercise of "walking" across the floor and back as many times as you can. You can accentuate the difficulty of this exercise by holding free weights, and - or by adding ankle weights. Keep your head, neck, back and hips in line. Do not lit your pelvis above your back. Move on the palms of your hands and balls of you feet for as long as you can. You may need to rest every 10 yards or so. Then take a warm bubble bath to soothe your muscles!

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician. javascript:void(0)

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Your Brain and Exercise

Bone-morphogenetic protein, or BMP, is found in the brains of laboratory mice and throughout the body and keeps brain stem cells from dividing into additional stem cells or baby neurons that make one more alert, and more quick to learn and remember. At Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, exercise was found to possibly decease BMP levels in mice. Noggin a brain hormone which inhibits BMP activity, had similar effects as exercise. Exercise may increase Noggin levels or decrease BMP levels. there is a concern that too much exercie, low levels of BMP or high levels of Noggi, may not regulate stem cells enough. But stem cells seem to wear themselves out if too many or too active. More neurons are not formed. Further studies are needed.

Find out more by reading the New York Times article Phys Ed: Your Brain on Exercise by Gretchen Reynolds. at http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/your-brain-on-exercise/or by looking up BMP and other key words at www.pubmed.gov.

Find my book Pocketguide to Fitness and my other books on https://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/BookSearchResults.aspx?Search=louiza%20patsis and https://www.amazon.com/s?k=louiza+patsis&ref=nb_sb_noss_2 .

Killer Exercise for the Obliques

Lie down on your left side on a mat. Place your hands behind your head, arms out. Keep your neck straight. Face forward. Use your right oblique muscle to bring your right elbow closer to your waist. Simultaneously lift your legs, the right on top of the left leg, to your right elbow. Repeat for four sets of ten repetitions. Place your hands behind your head, arms out. Keep your neck straight. Face forward. Use your left oblique muscle to bring your left elbow closer to your waist. Simultaneously lift your legs, the left on top of the right leg, to your left elbow. Repeat for four sets of ten repetitions.

Stretch each oblique for at least 10 seconds: Sit with your legs in front of you or in a lotus or modified lotus position, or stand. With your arms over your head,bend in one direction. Repeat for the other direction.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician. javascript:void(0)

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Use Your Rib Cage for Your Abdominals

Vic Lamonda uses this, as many others do, in his Broadway Dance class at Alvin Ailey Dance Center.

Stand with legs shoulder width apart. Place the palms of your hand on your hipbones. Thrust your ribcage forward in one controlled motion, while keeping everything else steady. Go back to center. Repeat three times, for four total repetitions. Now thrust your ribcage backward. Repeat three times. Do the same for each side. Repeat three times. Now circle clockwise four times using all four positions. Do the same counterclockwise.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.