Mind that steel ruler. Habit of the week.

The integrity of the core muscles

Nine out of ten of us will experience a sore back some time in our lives.  That is nearly all of us.  One of the causes of chronic back troubles is simply a failure to maintain the natural curves of the spine, particularly when ex are distracted by a heavy load, or even watching TV.

The lumbar curve is the focus of this week's habit.  It's at the back of the waist.  This week's habit is to imagine a 30cm ruler which defines the interval between the pubic bone and the breast bone.
Try to maintain the distance and the integrity at the front of your body, while standing, while sitting and importantly, while squatting or lunging.  Let's not collapse or slump into our hip tendons and bones.  Habit is the week mind your own steel ruler.

30-20-10 - Habit of the Week

Here is a challenge.  It is a modified H.I.IT., that's high intensity interval training.  The difference is,  I think it's do-able.

It is simple
     Walk for 30 seconds,
     Walk briskly or jog for 20 seconds
      Sprint hard for ten,  on the spot, I suggest.

If you are not fit or a beginner, 5 cycles of this is recommended.  If you are fit and want a bit of a challenge, 10 intervals.

HIIT is supposed to reduce the actual training time, while giving better results.

It is a variation on our 8 second sprint/12second walk that we have been doing in class.

Don't forget, our HIIT can be done on a stationary bike, or in the pool.

News from space First Lettuce ....

Just heard the great news.  NASA announced that the astronauts have eaten a lettuce which was entirely grown on the space station.  James on Rn breakfast radio just said 
"That's one small bite for a man, one giant leaf for mankind"

I love it.

Shopping for food when you are tired.

The Horizon series, "The Right Diet for You" is worth a look.  The second episode of ran an experiment.  They allowed one group of five participants to go to sleep at the regular time.  The other group, however, were asked to stay awake until 3.00am.

Next morning, both groups were asked to complete a shopping task, to buy four different, things, for example, a snack for yourself right now, a pre-packaged dinner, a meal for a family of four, etc.  The time was restricted to 20 minutes and they were restricted to an amount of money.

You can guess, that the group who were sleep deprived shopped unwisely.  However, the scale is gob smacking.  The group who were sleep deprived bought food which contained 50 per cent more fat, sugar and salt.

WE SHOULDN'T SHOP WHEN WE ARE TIRED.

Be nice...

The program recommended that if we must shop at the end of a long working day, make a list the day before, when you are not tired.....

Manage your equilibrium, work on your balance - Habit of the week

We sit or stand for many hours each day.  If we are not quite in balance, namely, slightly leaning or twisting to the left or right, this imbalance can be amplified by the amount of time we are in a particular position. So check, right now, is your body weight more on the right side or the left.  This is especially important when you are concentrating on a particular tasked, when you are absorbed in it.

So, the habit of the week, for this week, is to sit or stand with your body in balance - left or right.

If you are already pretty well adjusted.  How about practising your balance. Check right now.   Stand for just a few seconds on one leg.  Be careful, have something to hold onto like a chair or a counter just in case you start wobbling.  If standing on one leg is too easy, make it harder.  Make it a challenge, just make sure you have the back up of the chair, or whatever, to hold on to.

So, habit of the week is also practise your balance.. You will see an improvement by the end of the week.