Category Archives: Yoga & Exercise

Posture Exercises for Stiff Upper Backs

Posture, Yoga & Exercise
  • Are you concerned about your posture? 
  • Are you specifically concerned with your upper back getting hunched as you age?

I’ve been working with adults in their 60s, 70s, and 80s for the last 15 years. One thing I have observed is KYPHOSIS. That’s a fancy way to say “hunched upper back.”

Besides the fact that it makes people look old, kyphosis causes several big problems:

  1. Low back and neck pain
  2. Spinal fractures
  3. Rounded shoulders
  4. Pinched nerves at the neck which can cause vertigo
  5. Physical compression and pressure on lungs and heart

If you’ve been with me a for a while, you know that I am super passionate about posture because… it is more than posture! Our posture is really our joint alignment, which impacts everything we do.

Kyphosis (aka old lady or old man posture) is NOT an inevitable part of aging. It’s preventable and change-able. I’ve helped many clients overcome the hunch.

I’ve looked at tons of posture exercise books and programs. There’s something really important missing.

What’s missing is an understanding that once the upper back is stiff, you can’t simply “stand up straight” or “strengthen your back.”

When the upper back is stiff and stuck, and it doesn’t move. When you try to stand up straight, or do back extension exercises, the movement is forced down into the lumbar.  Then we wonder why it hurts! It also puts the vertebrae at risk of fracture and discs at risk of bulging or herniating.

When the upper back is stiff and hunched, the best strategy is to “sneak in the side door.”

By that I mean that you can’t simply stand up straight or do back extension (back bending) posture exercises. 

Sneaking in the side door means we need to mobilize the spine with lateral bends and rotations first, then progress to extend (straighten up).

Check out the video to learn two posture exercises for stiff upper backs. 

You can also do them for preventative maintenance!

Or keep reading below the video..

How can you tell if you are stiff and hunched?

When you try to stand up straight, does your pelvis push forward? 

If so, there’s a pretty good chance your upper back is stiff.  Unfortunately, when you try to stand up straight, this position pinches your lower back. It can feel uncomfortable or just that you can’t sustain it for long.

Which posture exercises work for a stiff, hunched upper back?

When the upper back is stiff and hunched, the best strategy is to “sneak in the side door.” By that I mean that you can’t simply stand up straight or do back extension (back bending) posture exercises. The back is stiff and stuck, and it doesn’t move.

Sneaking in the side door means we need to mobilize the spine with lateral bends and rotations first, then progress to extend (straighten up).

I’ve looked at many books and online programs teaching posture exercises, and this important step is missing!

The Two Posture Exercises that Help a Hunched and Stiff Upper Back

1 ) Lateral Bend

Stand with your side next to a wall, with your arm reaching out at shoulder height to touch the wall. Keeping your pelvis aligned over your hips, reach up with the free arm as far as you can. Reach up and a tiny bit over. Feel the movement in your upper back. Repeat 3 times and then on the other side.

2) Rotation at wall

Stand with your side next to the wall, with that leg forward. Twist to the wall and lean in, using your hands in push up position. Feel the movement in your mid back. Repeat 3 times each side.

 

How long will it take to improve your posture?

It depends!

I’ve helped people make visible, measurable change in their posture during a one hour session. I’ve also worked with people for 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months before seeing a measurable change.

You might like to get a posture reality check. Please book a complimentary consultation to find out how!

Book a complimentary consultation here.

How many reps should I do?

Yoga & Exercise

Many people ask me this question, “How many reps should I do?”

You might be wondering if you are doing enough reps – or repetitions –  to build and maintain muscle as you age. 

You probably already know about that scary word SARCOPENIA. If you don’t, sarcopenia is the age-related loss of muscle. To maintain or build muscles as we age, we have to work them to their capacity, and a little bit beyond. This is called the overload principle. 

Many of my older clients worried that they would get injured if they lifted heavier weights. I reassured them – and now I’m reassuring you – it’s not only safe, it’s necessary.

Back to the question… “How many reps should I do?” There’s a short answer and a long answer. 

The short answer is  – as a beginner, 10-15 reps. When you can do 15 reps X 2 easily, increase weight until you can only do 8-10 reps.

The long answer is to “How many reps should I do?” is “It depends.”

Watch the video below or keep reading to understand the the nuances of how many reps you should do.

It depends…

It depends on several factors, including:

  • What injuries or aches and pains do you have in this area of your body?
  • How long have you been doing these types of exercises or lifting weights?
  • How do you feel after 10 reps, 12 reps, 15 reps or more?
  • Can you maintain good form and finish the exercise to full range of motion?
  • Is the exercise an isolation exercise or an integrated (functional) exercise?

Safety first, last, and always.

First, if you have any injuries or aches and pains, do no harm. It’s not worth lifting a heavy weight or doing a new exercise if it worsens a joint pain you already have.

Here’s a blog post about how to do upper body exercises even if you have arthritis in your hands or wrists.

Work with a professional to identify exercises that do not aggravate any previous injuries. (Book a consult with me here!)

I’ve learned the hard way – in my own body and from my clients – that it is not worth it to push through an exercise when we have an injury. Sometimes we have a “tweak,” such as a slightly sore neck. Sometimes we have not slept well the night before. In those situations, I choose to walk, stretch, do some yoga or light exercise. I wait for another day to lift heavy weights.

For a New Exercise – 10-15 reps X 2 sets

If you’re a beginner exerciser or a beginner for this particular new exercise, start with 10-15 repetitions. Take a rest and see if you can do 10-15 for the second time.

Maintain good form

Maintain good form and full range of motion through each repetition. For example, if you are pulling a band, start with your arms extended, and pull your hands all the way back behind your ribs.

When you can avoid injury and maintain good form and full range of motion for 10-15 reps, increase your weights until you are fatigued at 8-10 reps.

Our muscles and bones respond to the overload principle. This means they adapt only when they are challenged beyond their current capacity.

If you are using resistance bands or tubes, go to the next level. Experiment with combinations of bands to continue increasing your challenge level.

If you are using dumbbells or machines, increase your weight by 10% or until you find the weight that fatigues you at 8-10 reps.

Fatigue means that you are so tired that you could not continue the exercise with the same form, range of motion and chosen weight. You can learn more about fatigue in this article from the American Council on Exercise.

Isolation exercises versus functional exercises

Another important distinction is the difference between isolated exercises and integrated, or functional exercises.

Isolated exercises work one muscle group. A quadriceps machine is an example that just works the quadriceps muscles.

Integrated, functional exercises work more than one muscle group. They look like movements we would do in real life. Squatting is an example of an integrated, functional exercise because it works more than one muscle group and looks like something we do in real life. We work the fronts, backs, insides and outsides of our legs, lower legs, and gluteal muscles. We even work the core muscles as we are moving the entire body.

The “rules” about reps and sets and building muscles were designed for isolation exercises.

Sometimes when we do integrated, functional exercises, it’s harder to fatigue any one group. That’s because they are helping each other out!

We can still add weight by holding dumbbells or wearing a weight vest or weight belt. But sometimes it is more interesting and useful to add overload/challenge to the exercise by changing our environment, the direction we move, or adding complexity, such as squatting while rotating or catching a ball.

All of that is fun, and there’s more than I can cover in this blog post!

The bottom line…

Do resistance exercises at a weight that fatigues you after 8-10 repetitions.

How often? 2-3 days per week

How hard? At the safe edge of your comfort zone regarding position, weight, speed, duration, or repetitions. Include functional movements that challenge your balance and your brain!

Rest 48-72 hours before you repeat.

Sources:

Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (2018), 2nd Edition, US Dept of Health and Human Services, Chapter 5: Guidelines for Active Older Adults

Chodzko-Zajko, Wojtek J., et al. Exercise and Physical Activity for Older Adults, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, July 2009 – Volume 41 – Issue 7 – p 1510-1530

Kohrt, Wendy M, et al. Physical Activity and Bone Health, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: November 2004 – Volume 36 – Issue 11 – p 1985-1996

What about you?

Leave a comment below…

 

Are you lifting weights or using resistance bands? How many reps do you do before you feel fatigued? What questions do you have?

Book a complimentary consultation here.

3 Top Exercises for Osteoporosis (and 1 You Should Never Do)

Yoga & Exercise

This article was originally published in Sixty and Me online magazine, where I am a guest writer. 

If you prefer to listen and watch, click on the video below. Or scroll down to keep reading.

Do you worry that you’re not doing enough exercise – or the right kinds? Are you concerned about getting hurt if you exercise incorrectly? Wondering what really works to build your bones?

In my line of work, I communicate with many clients who wonder those same questions. Here are my three top exercises for osteoporosis (and 1 you should never do!)

Our Bones – The Bad News and the Good  News

The bad news is that approximately 20 million women aged 50+ in European Union countries have osteoporosis. In the United States, over 50% of women over 50 are at risk to break a bone, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

The other bad news (I promise this part is almost done!) is that age is the #1 factor in fracture risk. In other words, the older we get, the more likely we are to break a bone.

The good news (yes, there is good news!) is that you are not a statistic! Osteoporosis is NOT inevitable, and broken bones aren’t either. You can take positive action steps at every stage of life to ensure that your bones stay strong.

It’s common knowledge that exercise is good for our bones, and research supports this.

Three types of exercise really stand out for building bones, and we’ll cover them below.

Note: Please check with your medical team before beginning anything new. Listen to your body to progress gradually, and always give recovery time in between sessions as needed. 

Exercise #1 – Weight-Bearing Impact Exercise

Walking, dancing, and hiking are perfect examples that combine bearing weight on our feet and legs while impacting the earth with each step.

There are three kinds of impact exercise – low, high, and medium.

Low Impact Exercise

High Impact Exercise

Exercises of high impact cause both feet to leave the ground at the same time. Examples include running, jumping, hopping, and vigorous dancing.

While some sources recommend that women with osteoporosis avoid high-impact activities, it is an individual judgement call that depends on the severity of your osteoporosis and your fitness level. Check with your medical team.

Medium Impact Exercise

Medium impact exercises include movements in which we impact the ground with more force than walking, but at least one foot stays on the ground.

The best example is stomping. When you stomp, one foot stays on the ground while the other makes a bigger impact. It’s safer than jumping because you can do it in a doorway, while going upstairs with one hand on the railing, or even sitting down.

Try it now – just raise one foot and stomp as if you were crushing a can with your foot. This is my favorite exercise to teach active older women, as it also helps us get out any frustrations with the satisfying loud stomp on the floor.

Weight-Bearing Impact for the Upper Body

What about weight-bearing impact for the upper body, you may ask.

We cannot ignore the bones of the upper body, as wrists are a common location for fractures. We bear weight on our hands and forearms in yoga and bodyweight exercises like planks and push-ups. Tennis and Pickleball also are great ways to add impact exercise for your upper body.

Exercise #2 – Resistance Exercise

Resistance exercise is another way to say “lifting weights” or “strength training.” Research proves that resistance exercise works to build bones.

Having worked in gyms and wellness centers for many years, I observed that many women skipped this essential aspect of fitness.

The other mistake I often see women make is staying with very light weights forever. To create changes in our bones, we must activate the “principle of overload.” This means that we must fatigue our muscles in order to strengthen our bones.

If you do an exercise 12-15 times, you should be so fatigued at the end that you could not do any more with good form. If you are not that tired, change the exercise and/or add resistance.

For upper body bone strength, I recommend push and pull exercises with a band. If you have arthritis in your hands or wrists, there’s still a way – check out this video!

Exercise #3 – Balance!

 It’s no surprise that if you don’t fall, you probably won’t break! Balance exercise is a non-negotiable essential in every active woman’s routine. Unfortunately, most balance exercise programs for women over 60 don’t include balance exercises that look like real life.

We don’t fall and break a bone when standing on one leg while touching a wall with our hand. We don’t typically break a bone while standing on an imaginary balance beam next to our chair.

Please don’t get me wrong. It’s not that these are BAD exercises. They are a good starting point, but they don’t take us far enough into a zone of challenge, and they don’t mimic the challenges of real life.

Real-life challenges include tripping over a tree root, walking on a slippery surface, and stepping down from a steep stair.

To challenge your balance to prepare for real life, balance exercises need to be dynamic and three-dimensional. That means you’ve got to move your body forward and back, side to side, and in rotation.

For some examples, check out this video about how to make your balance exercises look like real life.

The One Exercise You Should Never Do

 If you have osteoporosis in your spine, don’t hunch or crunch!

The lumbar spine is designed to have a natural curve inward. In anatomy terms, it’s called extension. The opposite is flexion, which rounds the spine forward.

Excessive flexion of an osteoporotic spine can lead to vertebral fractures, also called compression fractures. The fronts of the vertebrae experience too much pressure, and they give way in the form of small cracks.

Several movements that cause too much flexion should be avoided if you have osteoporosis in your spine:

  • Hunched posture standing or seated;
  • Sit-ups and abdominal crunches;
  • Rounding your back while lifting an object;
  • Flexion of your spine in yoga, Pilates, or other forms of exercise with repetitive forward bends. Keep your lumbar curve neutral.

What are you doing for strong bones? What exercises have helped you feel stronger? Have you had measurable improvement over the years in bone density due to exercise? Please leave a comment below!

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice. Please consult with your doctor to get specific medical advice for your situation.

Click here to book a free consultation.

How to do upper body exercise if you have arthritis in hands

Yoga & Exercise

Would you like to strengthen your upper body, but have trouble holding dumbbells or handles?

Painful hands, thumbs and fingers used to be something we expected only at a certain age/stage of life.

Unfortunately, due to “cell-phone-itis,” many younger people have unnatural bone deposits in their hands and thumbs.

I noticed more bone growth on my left thumb only 2 years after using a smart phone. I had used my left hand the hold the phone while using my right to navigate.

Left thumb showed more bone growth after using smart phone two years.
Right thumb looks more normal.

In this video I show how to use thera-bands or exercise bands to do upper body exercises even if you have arthritis in hands.

Keeping our upper bodies strong is so important at every age and stage of life!

Resistance exercises – or strength exercises – have many benefits including: 

  • Increase muscle mass
  • Increase bone density
  • Raise metabolism due to more muscle mass

Here are some more tips to vary the exercises I show in the video:

  1. Vary the height where you anchor the band
  2. Change your distance from the anchor
  3. Roll the band more times around your arm to shorten the band to make it harder.

 

You might benefit from these blog posts:

Exercise Safely with Osteoporosis

Best Balance Exercises

What You Need to Know About Bone Density Tests

 

I like to give credit to everyone I learn from…I got this idea from Margaret Martin, who has a great YouTube channel about exercise for osteoporosis. Check her out!

Let me know how this works for you! What challenges do you face re: exercise and what do you to overcome the challenges?

I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below!

Is barefoot training for you?

Yoga & Exercise

Should you exercise in bare feet or in your shoes? It depends.

Foot problems can lead to knee, hip, back, and neck problems. And sometimes it just makes your feet hurt!

In this post I’ll share with you how I came to a compromise with my floppy, flexible, overly-pronated feet!

CAVEAT _ This is a very complex topic! I’m simplifying it A LOT to make this short and point you in the right direction.

Check out the video below or keep reading …

Some people have feet that are too floppy, too flexible. These often pronate too much, or stay pronated too long in the gait cycle. Pronation is the action of rolling to the inner foot.

Some people have feet that are too stiff. These feet often supinate (roll out) too much or stay there too long.

And many of us have feet that don’t pronate or supinate at the right times.

Here’s what I do with bare feet:

I practice yoga. I walk slowly on the beach and in the yard (not too far). I piddle around the house in my kitty slippers.

But when I do more vigorous exercise:

Dancing, hiking, lunges, squats, jumping, hopping (high impact)

I wear my athletic shoes and custom orthotics.

If you’re having foot pain or any pain with activity, you might get your feet checked by a physical therapist, podiatrist or a Fellow of Applied Functional Science that understands real life movement of the feet and legs.

Here’s a link to find a Fellow of Applied Functional Science near you.

I hope this helps you keep moving and grooving on happy feet! Leave me a question or comment about your feet.

Exercise safely to improve balance and bone health in Balanced Bones.
Stand taller with Posture School.