How to have flexibility in your body

WholeLife Matrix: Health and WellBeing - Exercise and Fitness - Flexibility

"Make an effort to perform each exercise through a full range of motion to reap major flexibility benefits." - Jeremy DuVall, M.S., CPT

Improving flexibility by stretching is an important part of a workout routine.  Stretching helps you to get the most out of your workout and eliminates tightness in your body. Flexible muscles let your joints move through a full range of motion and prevent repetitive stress injury. 

Benefits of Stretching

In addition to improving your performance and reducing injury, stretching can help to improve your posture and reduce lower back pain and muscle soreness.  It helps by increasing blood and nutrients to the tissues and improving coordination.  Your stress level will be reduced and you will enjoy your exercise routine more.

When to Stretch

You should be completely warmed up before you begin to stretch.  It is also good to stretch after your workout when your muscles have become very warm and pliable.  Stretching throughout the day can also reduce tension and stress, so it is a good idea to do some stretches when you have breaks during your work day. 

Areas to Stretch

Stretch the muscles that you are focusing on using during your workout. If you have limited time for stretching, concentrate on major muscles or the muscles that are usually the tightest such as your calves, chest, hamstrings, quads, and hips. 

How to Stretch

Spend at least five minutes on stretching. As you hold a stretch, the sensation of tightness should diminish.  Stretch to the point when you feel a gentle pull on your muscle - before your start to feel discomfort.  Do not bounce when doing static stretches; bouncing can result in a pulled muscle. Breathe out into the stretch and do not hold your breath.  Each stretch should be held for approximately 15 to 30 seconds.  If you feel pain or too much tightness, stop the stretch.  Shake out your limbs in between stretches and do two to three stretches before doing the next exercise.  

Types of Stretching

There are several types of stretching. These include Ballistic stretching, Dynamic stretching, Active stretching, Passive (relaxed) stretching, Static stretching, Isometric stretching, and PNF stretching.  The most popular type of stretching is static stretching.  It involves stretching a muscle to its furthest point and maintaining that position.

There are also popular exercises that you can do to increase your flexibility that involve stretching, such as yoga.

In the WholeLife Matrix, we have four aspects for developing and accessing flexibility: 

1.  Stretching

2.  Yoga

3.  Pilates

4.  Isometrics

Picking a type of exercise that you enjoy doing that involves stretching is a great way to get the benefits or exercise while, at the same time, also improving your flexibility.

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Weight Management Tips

WholeLife Matrix: Health and WellBeing - Nutrition and Weight - Weight Management

"The key to keeping weight off after a diet is incorporating habits of sound nutrition, regular exercise, and reasonable expectations that you can stick to for a lifetime." - Joan Salge Blake, MS, RD, clinical associate professor at Boston University

It is important to manage your weight to live a healthy and happy lifestyle.   Here are some tips for looking and feeling your best!

1. Enjoy Daily Exercise

Exercising regularly will boost your mood and concentration, reduce stress, and help keep your mind and body healthy.  Pick types of exercise that you enjoy doing and can continue to do on a regular basis.  There are many options such as running, biking, swimming, and tennis.  You do not need to do strenuous exercise to lose weight or to maintain your weight.  Just walking for twenty minutes a day can help you to lose weight or to maintain your weight. Regular exercise will help you to burn fat, feel less hungry, and stay fit. It is also important to get sufficient sleep to regulate our body.

2. Drink Plenty of Water

Drinking 6 to 8 glasses of fluids every day will help keep you from overeating and will keep you hydrated.  Try to avoid sugary drinks. Drinking tea can also help. It has been shown to prevent dental decay, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis. There are a variety of teas that are recommended for weight loss.

3. Fill Up on Fiber

The recommended daily intake for fiber is 25-30 grams. High fiber foods include whole grain breads and cereals, whole wheat pasta and rice, dried beans, fruits and vegetables.  Four to five cups of fruits or vegetables are recommended for each day.  They are a good source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber and naturally low in calories and fat. Fiber helps you to eat less and curbs hunger by filling you up faster.  Eating a salad before your meal or a cup or bowl of vegetable soup can reduce calories by ten percent.  Also, soluble fiber can lower your cholesterol.  

4. Low Carb Diet

It is good to have a low carbohydrate diet because carbohydrates can raise your blood sugar level, increasing your insulin, which causes your body to store fat.  With a low carb diet, you won’t be hungry between meals because you will be burning fat.

5. Including Dairy

Including three servings of milk, yogurt, or cheese a day can help your burn fat and lose weight.  Dairy products are a good source of vitamin D and calcium.

6. Control Your Portions

Portion your meals in a calorie-conscious way thinking of both the quality and the quantity of the calories you will be consuming. Carefully counting calories may help you to lose weight, but for the long run, you need to learn to manage your portions to control your calorie intake. To control your portions, try to use smaller to medium sized plates. One quarter of your plate should include a palm-sized portion of lean protein such as fish or chicken (about 3 ounces).  Another quarter of your plate should contain unrefined grain such as brown rice (about the size of your fist).  Half of your plate should be filled with various colorful vegetables.  Eat your food slowly to enjoy your meal and to allow time for your body to signal that it has had enough.  If you still feel hungry after you have finished eating your portions, wait 20 minutes.  If you are still hungry, eat a piece of fruit, some more vegetables, or a tossed salad.

In the WholeLife Matrix, we have four aspects for developing and accessing weight management: 

1.  Weight Monitoring

2.  Exercise

3.  Body Mass Index

4.  Stability Over Time

7. Managing Your Calories

Do not skip meals.  Eat three meals a day and snacks to fuel your body so that it will work efficiently throughout the day.  Eat breakfast to jump start your metabolism and consume most of your calories in the first half of the day.  You will need less calories during the evenings when you are less active.  Check your weight on a scale if this encourages you and helps you to make sure that your weight is not going back up.  Weight fluctuates daily and hourly so it is recommended that you weigh yourself once a week. You can also tell if you are gaining or losing weight by how well your clothes fit.  Keeping a food log of what you are eating each day and the approximate number of calories for each food can help you keep track of how much you are eating and how healthy the foods are.  You can also include your exercise plan and weight goals.

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Health & WellBeing - Exercise is a habit

Matrix Key - Health & Wellbeing - Exercise and Fitness

Exercise is one of the best examples of a habit.  You can create a habit, or you can let a habit create you.  When you talk to people who are strong in this quadrant, you realize that exercise is an essential part of their daily routine, much like brushing teeth or eating breakfast.  They don't consider if they will exercise, only when they will exercise.  

The key to building a lasting habit is to focus on creating a new identity.  Rather than thinking "I should start working out" and leaving the gym after two weeks, decide what kind of person you want to be.  "I am a person who exercises.  That is just something I do."  Change your focus from if you will exercise, or feeling like you have to exercise because you made a resolution, to just asking yourself when you will exercise in a given week.  As always, schedule this time in your calendar, and treat it as seriously as a doctor appointment or office meeting.

In the WholeLife Matrix, we identify four key components in establishing a balanced exercise and fitness routine:

1.   Exercise Plan

2.   Strength Training

3.   Flexibility

4.   Cardio

If you have an established exercise plan, take a few minutes for a quick review.  Have you incorporated all these components in your practices?  Like everything else in the WholeLife Matrix, a balanced approach is important.

If you find yourself weak in this quadrant, why not start with a walk around the block?  Ask a friend to join you and strengthen your Relationships quadrant at the same time!  Remember that doing something, anything, and repeating it, will instill the habit.

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Health and Well Being

Matrix Key:  WholeLife Matrix - Health and Well-Being

"The greatest wealth is health." - Virgil

What could be more important in life than Health and Well-Being? Health and Well-Being is one of the four primary quadrants of the WholeLife Matrix. If we cannot get out of bed in the morning and feel well enough to function, how are we ever going to accomplish everything we have to do and handle in the day?  Our bodies and minds are high performance machines, and they need care and maintenance if they are to last.  If you put time and effort into maintaining your car, shouldn't you put at least that much effort into maintaining you?  Yet many of us put ourselves last, running ourselves into the ground until we are sick, tired, and worst of all, depressed and depleted.

The WholeLife Matrix breaks Health and WellBeing into four key components:

1. Vacation and Time Off
2. Having Fun
3. Nutrition and Weight
4. Exercise and Fitness

We all know that we should be working on all four of these components, but haven't we all put off at least one of them?  It's easy to skip that day at the gym, to work through the weekend, and to eat that slice of pie.  In order to have a balanced life however, we must be proactive about Health and WellBeing, and schedule time for it into our calendars.  If we want to keep the engine running, we must maintain it!

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