Here’s how to start the New Year off right! The Year-That-Must-Not-Be-Named is finally over. A worldwide pandemic. Racial injustice. The stock market crash. Billions of people radically changing the way they work and socialize. It was, by almost any measure, a terrible year, and I’m pretty sure everyone feels the same way about 2020 as […]
Exercise doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. If you don’t have the time or space to get a full workout in (or if you’re just not comfortable going back to the gym yet), welcome to the club. Just like almost everything else in 2020, we’re all finding new ways to make our lives and bodies work […]
Let’s get the facts straight about back pain! Despite billions being spent, and millions of patients being prescribed opiates or surgery every year, back pain remains the world’s leading cause of disability. However, much of what people think is common knowledge about back pain may actually be making things worse. Misinformation about back problems abounds. […]
Can swearing at the gym make you stronger? Anyone who’s ever really pushed themselves to run farther, lift heavier weights, or spin faster knows that intense exercise can cause even the most reserved gym-goer to unconsciously mutter expletives. And if you don’t typically cuss when you’re working out, you may want to try it: New […]
It’s Time To Get Off The Couch! This year will certainly be remembered for a lot of things, but 2020 will probably also go down as the year of the couch potato. Being sedentary goes hand in hand with staying indoors. There’s probably never been more opportunity to stay at home and binge television series […]
Does your jaw click? At Ascent Chiropractic, we see a lot of patients with TMJ problems. It’s not exactly an uncommon condition – 12% of Americans suffer from chronic TMJ syndrome pain (also known as TMD). TMJ syndrome happens when the temporomandibular (jaw) joints aren’t working correctly. Sometimes this leads to a dull painful ache […]
Fitness Fix: Help for Weak Wrists! Maybe you’re recovering from an athletic injury, or you’re finding you need to end push-up sets early to shake out your wrists. Or maybe your wrists are screaming from long days spent at your computer or even just holding onto a squirming baby for hours at a time. Whatever […]
Get moving with these moves! At Ascent Chiropractic, we see athletes every day ranging from pro cyclists to kayakers to powerlifters. And while, yes, they’re often here for relief from the back pain & neck pain the rest of us experience, they also come to us to help improve their natural mobility. I’m constantly preaching […]
No pain, no gain? We’ve all experienced that day-or-two-after-a-workout agony – the kind where just getting out of your car or wobbling up the stairs makes you feel like you’re 95 years old. It’s called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and if you’ve been in the gym enough you’re probably not a stranger to it. […]
Gym closed? Here’s how to avoid the #Quarantine15. Let’s be honest, the majority of Americans are going to come out of this quarantine in one of two ways: super fit because they’ve had nothing to do but workout for weeks or in dire need of a diet and serious chiropractic care because they rarely left […]
Workouts: Should You Lift or Do Cardio First? I get it: we’re all insanely busy and it’s a miracle that we can get to the gym at all. So when we work out, most of us try to get in both strength training and cardio exercise in a single session. But should you do weights […]
Fix your posture, grow your delts & heal your shoulders! What the heck are face pulls? If you’ve ever been treated for a shoulder injury at Ascent Chiropractic there’s a good chance you know all about them. But if you’ve never done them before, face pulls just might be one of the best-kept workout secrets.
What’s Better For Your Back: Barbell or Hex Bar Deadlifts? The deadlift is one of the gold standard lifts in the gym. It’s pretty simple, really: You load a barbell up with weight, grab it with a shoulder-width grip, plant your feet on the floor and pull until the weights come off the floor.
Cheat Your Way to More Muscle? I get this question from my athletes often: When it comes to weightlifting, are ‘cheat’ repetitions worth it? You’re probably not surprised to know my short answer is ‘no.’ The long answer, however, is that not all cheating is created equal.
What Actually Is Muscle Memory? Muscle memory is a fascinating topic that’s essential to understanding what’s going on with your musculoskeletal system. And it’s for more reasons than simply making your muscles look good now that summer’s finally arrived (although I’m plenty aware that that’s important to my patients too).
There’s no excuse for not exercising – your life depends on it! Sure, some of us live for the “workout high” — that intoxicating feeling derived from getting your heart rate up and pushing your body’s limits, while for others exercise is a chore, an item to be checked off their to-do list.
Correcting ‘Computer Guy’ Posture! A few months back I discussed how to correct anterior pelvic tilt – also known as ‘butt and gut syndrome’. It quickly became (by far) the most-read article on my blog, so if you haven’t read it yet check it out. So let’s expand on that by discussing the exceedingly-common upper […]
Feeling especially sore after a workout? Whether it’s a nagging sore shoulder or a stiff and painful lower back, there are a couple warning signs to look out for to determine if it’s a normal post-exercise ache or something you should seek medical attention for. Before you test a minor ache and turn it into […]
The Best Core Strengthening Exercises that Won’t Harm Your Back! THE CORE. We hear about the core and the importance of strengthening the core all the time, and if you’re a patient at Ascent Chiropractic, you’re probably sick of hearing me talk about why you need to be working on your core musculature.
Make 2019 Your Year For Maximizing Your Fitness! When January first rolls around, the season of excess quickly transforms to a season of new expectations – more than 40% of Americans report making New Year’s resolutions. But – surprise, surprise – 80% of those people are no longer following them by the first week of […]
Rounding up the most important research of the year! 1. Reducing your risk of diabetes could be as simple as taking vitamin D and fish oil. The number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes is expected to rise by 20% in the next 12 years, but consuming a diet rich in vitamin D and fish oil […]
Protect Your Shoulders & Back In The Gym! When it comes to proper lifting form, trainers and fitness gurus tend to harp on making sure your lower body lifts are performed properly. A lot of people end up underestimating how technical upper body exercises actually are, and reserve all that technique work for the big […]
Fix your pushup mistakes! Most of us (including me!) learned how to do pushups in grade school. Ever seen a grade schooler try to do a pushup? It’s not pretty, and unfortunately, few people ever get better.
Want an all-natural solution to decrease pain, improve your mood, protect your brain from age-related decline, and enhance your memory? Sound too good to be true? It’s not, but unfortunately, even though we’d all love a miracle drug that we could take in the morning and go on with our everyday lives, it’s not as […]
Why Are We Still Doing Sit-ups and Crunches? Myths (especially myths concerned with health and fitness) take a long time to die. As a sports chiropractor, over the past ten years I’ve seen many ridiculous fitness trends come and go, and it’s finally time for sit-ups and crunches – mainstays of core and abdominal training […]
Squats have long been a staple of lifting programs. It’s easy to see why: it’s hands-down the most effective exercise for building strength, speed, and size, and has a remarkable carryover to everything from the vertical jump to Olympic lifts. When you squat you use pretty much every muscle from the waist down. The big […]
The 8 Best Arm-Sculpting Exercises. We all love doing compound exercises with heavy weights at the gym. But bench presses, squats and deadlifts alone aren’t going to get you sculpted arms because they aren’t sufficiently targeting and isolating the muscles of the triceps, biceps, forearms and shoulders. To maximize arm strength and size gains, we’ll […]
Why Do We Care So Much About Testosterone? There are very few factors more important than testosterone when it comes to overall health and function in men. Of course, we all know about testosterone’s ability to increase muscle mass and strength by increasing muscle protein synthesis. But studies also show the major benefits of testosterone in […]
Our Brains Were Wired To Move. For millions of years, our ancestors moved – walking, running, climbing – as an integral part of daily life. Today, most of the modern world doesn’t move nearly as much as we were designed to, and new research suggests that it’s one of the major factors contributing to the […]
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is one of the biggest buzzwords in the fitness industry. The basic idea to do short periods of all-out work followed by short periods of active rest to make the body work harder (and burn more calories) than it might during extended steady-state cardio.
Put More Years In Your Life & Life In Your Years Most of us wish to have a long and healthy life span. Most importantly, we all wish to remain healthy and active for as long as we’re alive. However, with human life changing dramatically over the last century, never before has the risk of […]
Are You A Weekend Warrior? Planning on getting together with the guys for a game of football this weekend? Shooting some hoops or running a 5K? If so, are you sure your body is prepared for this kind of intense physical activity?
Starting A New Exercise Plan: Sound Familiar? You splurge on new workout clothes and equipment, sign up for the most exciting fitness classes, and hit the gym like an addict for two weeks. But it starts with just one missed workout, progresses to a couple absences per week, and then you’ve completely fallen off the […]
Avoiding Back Pain As we age and our bodies become more susceptible to damage from every day activities, back pain can become increasingly problematic. Minor aches and pains can progress to long-term damage if we are not careful how we carry out certain activities. Consider these tips when engaging in daily activities to keep your back […]
Stressing Out? Have you ever seen the “Stress Reduction Kit” poster that directs the stressed-out user to place the kit on a firm surface, BANG HEAD HERE, and repeat as necessary (or until unconscious)? Unfortunately, stress is a fact of nature, but dealing with it doesn’t have to be as painful as the Stress Reduction […]
