Flexibility training is an essential, yet often overlooked health-related component of fitness. Numerous studies support the short- and long-term benefits of various types of stretching, including static stretching, dynamic stretching, and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), just to name a few. Here are 10 reasons why you should be stretching on a regular basis. Decreased stress…
Fresh, younger-looking skin is something everyone can appreciate. And with summer around the corner, many of us are turning our attention to what we put on our skin to protect it from the elements. However, what we put in our body can be just as important as what we put on our body. The nutrients…
ACE Advocacy and Outreach Spring is upon us, and the warm sun and blue skies create a perfect backdrop for outdoor workouts. There is a long list of health benefits associated with being outside, like boosting immunity, mental health and brain function. Performing outdoor workouts has even been shown to increase satisfaction with fitness programs, which…
Eating regularly throughout the day is essential for providing your body with appropriate fuel. But individual nutritional requirements can be quite different depending on your daily activities and exercise routines. Nutritional demands also differ based on workout duration and intensity (Mayo Clinic, 2010). One of the critical times to pay attention to your nutritional needs…
Traveling alone overseas can be a much-needed break from day-to-day social obligations, a chance to explore independently and engage in local communities on no one’s time frame but your own. “One of the huge benefits of traveling alone is that you do have the opportunity to get more in touch with yourself and have a…
Agility training isn’t just for athletes—it’s important for anyone who wants to move quickly and easily, and to improve their reflexes, focus, balance, coordination and/or neuromuscular awareness. Plus, it’s a really fun way to add some intensity to your workouts. To get the most out of agility drills, you want to push yourself, but also…
Health-conscious individuals can spend a lot of time planning and scheduling their workouts to get the greatest possible benefit. But an intense workout also requires focusing on your post-training nutritional needs, which includes when and what to eat to replenish your body’s energy stores, while also supplying the nutrients to rebuild and repair damaged tissue….
It’s pretty hard to shock an emergency physician. “We see the worst of the worst, and the silliest of the silliest,” Abdullah Pratt, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Chicago Medicine, told me recently. I was chatting with him about the situations he’d witnessed in the E.R., specifically the ones that made him…
We know that performing crunches, which involves flexion of the spine, is one way to fire the rectus abdominis, but when designing abdominal sequences it is important to consider all segments of the abdominals and how they move or stabilize the spine. Here are five exercises that target all of the abdominal muscles by flexing,…