Never do Sit Ups Again...!!!

Traditionally if you wanted to create a strong core and rock hard abs, you had to do an endless amount of sit ups. You would either put your hands behind your head, torquing your neck and causing all sorts of low back pain, or you would put your arms across your chest and try to keep your head straight, looking at the ceiling, and all the while remembering to breathe properly.

Then crunches, which targeted only a small portion of your abs, came along, but they too created other issues with low back and neck. These injuries were much less than the sit up but did not give a well- rounded full abs workout.

So late at night you are sitting around on the couch or lying in bed and all of a sudden you see these infomercials. The people all have amazing abs and they are giving all the credit to the newest and greatest machine on the market. For only $99.95 you too can have the abs of a Greek statue. Some of these machines are great and others fall by the wayside.

In my business we see people all day long that have one major issue. If this issue was taken care of, then all of the other problems would be much easier to handle. This is the issue of CORE STRENGTH.

There are several ways to work the abs, but the greatest way that I have found WITHIN a workout that does not take any extra time and yet burns up your tummy like no body's business, IS...................

Systematically get yourself into an unbalanced position while at the same time doing other resistance training. Then do what is necessary to get balanced while continuing the resistance training.

In other words, creating an imbalance and attempting to find that balance while in the midst of doing your resistance training is the answer.

Suggestions for how to do this are:

1. Use a balance ball while lifting your free weights.
2. Balance on one leg at a time.
3. Use pulley machines that pull back on you creating a need to balance both
directions.
4. In order to get to your oblique’s, cross your body and create straight
movements.

Soon I will have pictures and the like up so that you can see how you can utilize these techniques to build a powerful, flexible core without ever doing sit ups again!!!

Written By Ari Gronich
www.performancetherapist.com

Fresh Injuries and the Proper use of Heat and Ice...

Situation: You just pulled a muscle in your calf and need to know the correct protocol for a quick recovery.

The standard treatment is known as R.I.C.E. which stands for:

Rest
Ice
Compress
Elevate

I have a different method that produces much faster healing and recovery with the potential to come out of the injury with more flexibility and power than with the standard treatment.

The First Step is:

Ice and elevate your leg, preferably above your heart. This will allow for inflammation to go down and proper circulation back into the damaged area.

The difference comes in this Second Step:

While you are elevated, begin to flex your foot and calf muscles slowly. Hold the flex for 10-15 seconds or as long as you can. Push down into the ground; work the muscle tissue. Remember to do this slowly and with much care. What you will find is that through this working of the muscles you will end up pushing more of the fluid through the muscles thus decreasing inflammation and swelling and increasing your flexibility and mobility. The more intensely you can push through the pain, the more quickly you will recover.

The Third Step in this process is HEAT!!!

Heat is tricky and must be handled with care. It is with many years of seeing patients and working with dry heat and moist heat and all kinds of heat that I found what seems to work the most effectively: Steaming Heat from a Wet Hot Towel!!! It is truly that simple. Dry heat tends to add to inflammation and the seizing and cramping of muscles. Even moist heat, like from a hyrdrocolator, tends to increase muscle stiffness - especially when you take the heat away and the cool air closes in.

Take a towel and wet it with steamy hot water or put it in a plastic microwavable bag and heat it inside a microwave until it is steamy hot, then place that on the troubled area.

My experience is that because of the nature of steamy heat, it opens the pores of your skin and increases your body’s ability to draw out toxins while increasing circulation and decreasing inflammation.

Just a logical guess, but because the steam is PULLING up away from the skin, it is pulling more of the lactic acid to the surface and out of your skin bringing the damage closer to the surface and allowing for a more expedient recovery time.

In summary, for those of you who do not like 4 letter words, the new MUCH better method I recommend is:

Ice
Elevate
Flex with resistance
Steamy heat
Flex
Elevate
Ice
Rest
Repeat

I am off to the Infrared Sauna

’Till Next Time

Written By Ari Gronich
www.performancetherapist.com

Why I am writing this Blog!!!

I am writing this blog to introduce myself and this concept of Performance Therapy. My name is Ari Gronich, and I am the founder of the Academy of Performance Therapy.

So What is Performance Therapy ANYWAY!!

Performance Therapy is a three-pronged approach to your body as it relates to your sport. It incorporates the treatment and prevention of injury along with improving performance. It is unique in that our approach incorporates a holistic view of soft tissue damage and its effects on the entire moving system of your body. We look at joints, ligaments, tendons, muscle bellies, balancing muscles, core strength, and much more to develop these complete, and yet individualized, programs for each person.

In this particular blog, I want to share with you some ways in which YOU as an individual can take a proactive step in your own Injury Prevention and Pain Relief as well as increase your performance. Things you can expect to get out of this blog include:

1. How to deal with a fresh injury

2. How to speed up your recovery time

3. A new approach to stretching that will GREATLY increase Injury Prevention

4. The Importance of Range of Motion and Flexibility Training

5. Building a powerful Core without ever doing sit ups again...

Written By: Ari Gronich
www.performancetherapist.com