Legs of a Champion

Let's talk about legs, their importance and their impotence at times... 
Good stuff - easy to strengthen, easy to stretch, and burn a lot of calories when they're in shape.
Bad stuff - weak or tight muscles can lead to imbalance, back pain, and more susceptible to injury.

To help them "do their thing" we need to ensure that we work to strengthen, stretch and use these large muscles.
Do stairs, as slowly as you need to.
Walk, or run if that's your thing.
Work the outsides and insides squeezes and lifts, get it all.
Stretch em' all, quads (the ones on the front) being too tight can lead to swayback and lower back pain.
                       hams (back ones) can cause hip pain and a greater chance for displacement.
                       glutes and other bottom ones can lead to sciatica, hip pain and radiating pain to the groin.

Do our thing, so they can do their thing for us!

So long?

Nah, I'm not leaving, but you might have thought it from my absence.  See previous posts about kids and then I'll just say I'm sorry.  I'm back! Whew!

Warmer days!  Anyone wonder about the truth to things in the summer?  Like does your hair really grow faster? (Yep)  Or can lemon juice lighten your hair?  (Yep, but it can also dry it out.)  What about natural bug repellents - here's a few - marigolds in your garden, citronella (duh), garlic, peppermint (also kills fungus), clove, thyme, sage, most peppers.  I wouldn't bathe in garlic (although it might be effective, but peppermint is nice. 

Ok, what about people health, do you really weigh less in the summer?  Generally this is true, but it's not because of the weather, during the summer months most people eat more fresh fruits and veggies and they're outside more.  Being outside and active fights that horrible cortisol even a few minutes at a time. 

Other comments or questions?  Let me know!

Forgot *blush*

I forgot my cool poem to share:

The tide recedes but leaves behind bright seashells on the sand,
The sun goes down but gentle warmth still lingers on the land.
The music stops, and yet it echoes on it sweet refrains...
For every joy that passes, something beautiful remains. -- M. D. Hughes

Add something warm to your day today, cinnamon, ginger, sandalwood.  Beautiful and bright.

Health and Love

I had an interesting and intriguing thought today, while working to help my daughter understand why a baby needs a nap.  We were talking about taking care of our bodies, and taking care of each other, and I thought of something.  We should be doing way more "romantic" things everyday.  We should be wooing, ourselves.

Not to make light of the importance of romance in intimate relationships, but there are others that need those same gestures from us.  Heard the expression wooing the boss, or client?  Sure!  Maybe part of the key to self-care is to think of ourselves as someone to be romantic to. 

I'm wondering if being more romantic to myself, and helping others do the same, couldn't improve a lot in our lives.  It would help with self-esteem, self-understanding, happiness, acceptance, and in turn improve most of our other jobs in life.  When we set out to woo someone we try to learn what they enjoy, what they need and most importantly what would make them happy, then we try to do it. 

Heard that to romance your wife, do the dishes?  Or dress up and take her out?  How about to care for your husband compliment and thank him?  Or just have some fun with him *nudge, nudge*?  So how would those things relate if we were wooing ourselves?  I feel better when I'm clean and look good, when I acknowledge something I've done well, or when I let myself off the hook for something.

Let's make a date, and let love in again.  :)

Growth

Spring is a great time.  A time of renewal, of change and of hope.  It's spiritual, beautiful, and exciting.  Unfortunately change can also be something that's stressful, painful and distinctly slow.  So, I find myself asking, how can I "grow" more quickly? 

Taking advice from plants, it's patience, sunlight, and keep breathing.  But then again, one bad freeze and a lot of them don't make it either.  So maybe it's self-care, protection, and nutrients, but nutrient rich soil will do nothing for a plant without water.  It becomes a combination of things, and maybe that's why growth is hard.  If we could pinpoint just one thing to make it easier, it would be easy, but it's not.

Acceptance, flowing, patience, hope, nutrition, water, sun, and a little help, and perhaps we can all bloom this year.

To bloom, we should understand what it is that makes us special.  A challenge, that's we've been given before, but can always re-address, to discover our passion.  If hope springs eternal, and spring is the season of hope, let's refocus on what we want to become - plant our seed today.

Tomorrow, I want to share a beautiful poem I found.  :)

Sunscreen

I'd love comments about brands and ideas you've tried.  Very important in the coming months.  I feel aware of the dangers of exposure in the past year or two as I've checked in with family after surgery to remove skin cancers. 

Every morning, I need to get the whole family in on water, sunscreen and vitamins.  Some days I do better than others...  :)

I attended a webinar recently on Xylitol.  I had tried Spry gum recently because it's supposed to be better for your teeth than any other gum, so when this webinar was offered to explain how Xylitol was different I was all on board.  They're diversifying the Xylitol from just gum and toothpastes to things like nasal wash and spray for children and adults.  It affects the bacteria that eat it.  Interesting. 

For those interested, these are the two Spry flavors we've tried and my whole family likes both!

Stretch...

I don't know why, but recently I've been surrounded by aches, pains, fevers, and unfortunately upset stomachs.  So, health, wherefore art thou?

Keeping in mind that stretching, strength and cardio are ALL important, which ones come in to play first?  It depends.  Age, health, injuries, nutrition all play a part.  That being said, the easiest ones in my opinion to change are strength and stretching.  All cardio is good, take a flight of stairs, walk for at least 10 minutes in a row, etc.  The hard part about cardio is making the time.  You can walk and watch tv or talk on the phone, but a lot of cardio involves just setting aside a little time, which is what makes it difficult.  That's not an excuse, though!

So the easy ones, stretching and strength.  Stretching ideally should be done in the morning and evening, relax, and renew.  Yoga is great for stretching.  Basically though, stretching is about meeting the needs of your body.  It's good to stretch every major area, the back (front to back and side to side [be careful with twisting stretches, that's when a lot of injuries happen]), the legs (hamstrings, quads, and calves), the shoulders and arms, the neck and the hands and feet.  Stretches don't have to be long, but it's good to get most areas addressed.

Strength, can be done almost anywhere.  Static strength exercises (non-moving) can be done as you're reading this.  If you're at a desk, push up against the desk with your legs (engage your abs to avoid straining).  Push-ups, sit ups, arms, legs, back, abs all can and should get some time.  They've done studies to show how important strength training is and have found that it influences our bodies is almost every way, energy, heart health, bone health, hormones, all of it.  Hand weights are great, ankle weights too.  Even just engaging the muscles and breathing helps. 

Tighten and hold, 2....3.....4.....5.... and release.  Keep it up!