November 26, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC Whether you’re on your way to a brain-boosting yoga class or don’t have time to make some healthy breakfast tacos, a protein shake for breakfast can be a convenient on-the-go option. After all, protein is a key nutrient to saying full after a meal. But given that it’s so easy and portable…there has to be some kind of catch, right? How healthy is it? “Protein shakes can be healthy at any time of day,” says Sonya Angelone, RDN and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Protein gets the digestive juices or proteases started in the stomach,” she says, which can potentially help kick-start your digestion for the day. (Always a good thing in the a.m.) Plus, experts generally tend to like starting the day with a bit of protein to help stabilize blood sugar levels and keep you fuller for longer. However, not all protein shakes are necessarily a good idea, Angelone adds. “What makes it healthy or not isn’t so much about when it is consumed but exactly what is being consumed,” she says. For example, some protein shakes could cause some gastrointestinal issues. “Protein can [often] come from the liquid base like soy milk, dairy milk or other beverages. Many non-dairy beverages have very little protein and often contain thickeners which could be problematic for some people leading to gas and bloating,” she says. Others might have issues digesting certain kinds of protein powder commonly used in these shakes,
Category: Yoga
I’m a yoga teacher, and these are the best back stretches for your spine
November 25, 2019 at 09:27PM by CWC If there’s one part of your body that you’re kind of a bully to without even realizing it, it’s your spine. All that slouching eventually causes pain and increases your risk for injury. Perhaps more so than other parts of your body, taking the time to stretch your spine makes a big difference in how you feel now and in the future. In short, the best back stretches help get your back… back on track. “Regularly stretching your spine can decrease your risk of injuries, improve range of motion, and enable your muscles to work more effectively,” says Katherine Parker, yoga instructor and co-founder of Yomassage. “It can also help prevent joint stiffness.” To make sure you’re stretching your spine as safely and effectively as possible, Parker and yoga teacher Stacy Dockins recommend sticking to a few easy back stretches. The best back stretches for your spine 1. Locust pose How it helps: “Locust pose is a backward bend that requires an active range of motion. It will strengthen the backside of the body while encouraging the release of the anterior shoulders, chest, and hip flexors,” says Dockins. Begin lying face down with your arms reaching back in airplane wing position and your palms facing down. With your feet about hip-width distance apart, lift your chest and legs off the ground. Keep your neck long and actively squeeze your shoulder blades together and down toward your back pockets. Hold for five slow breaths.
The best Black Friday fitness equipment deals to bulk up your home gym
November 25, 2019 at 06:00PM by CWC One of my biggest dreams in life is to have a full-on gym in my home. Since I live in New York City, that will never happen (unless I somehow become a countess someday and get myself a mansion). But, at the very least, it’s now that time of the year when Black Friday fitness equipment deals have me dreaming of the possibilities of a sweat box all to myself. As the prices of covetable workout essentials get slashed, I’ve been doing some Nancy Drew detective work to find the best of the best deals that the fitness world has to offer this shopping season. If you’re like me and want to use this wallet-friendly opportunity to bulk up your home gym setup, I’ve got you. Whether you’re looking for small additions to your sweat corner like weights or stuff that’s more high-tech (hello, Theragun sale), keep scrolling for the best Black Friday fitness equipment deals you can score this season. Photo: Theragun Theragun Black G3 Premium Handheld Percussive Therapy Device, $299 A Black Friday fitness equipment deal I’m particularly pumped for? The Theragun, which is getting a $100 price reduction at Walmart (in stores and online). This percussive, muscle-massaging device is the quickest, easiest way to relieve soreness in your body, and you can do it while sitting on the couch. Photo: Studio Sweat onDemand Studio Sweat OnDemand Bike Bundle Set, $1599 Workout streaming site Studio Sweat OnDemand is offering $400 off of
5 speedy ways to perform myofascial release on the tightest parts of your body
November 24, 2019 at 10:00PM by CWC For today’s lesson in recovery treatments, allow me to take us back to high school anatomy to explain a little something about fascia—aka the highly relevant, super important system in your body that’s frequently to blame for all of that post-gym muscle soreness and tightness. The method for loosening it all up? It’s called myofascial release, and it’s as easy to do on your own as grabbing a foam roller and getting to work. “Fascia is a thin layer of connective tissue that encases, supports, and separates the muscles and organs throughout our body,” says Jeff Brannigan, the Program Director at Stretch*d. To give you a visual, it’s sort of like a fishing net or chain link fence that holds everything (your organs, tissues, etc.) together. But, says Brannigan, “when fascia becomes restricted from strenuous activity, overuse, inactivity, or trauma, it can often result in pain, muscle dysfunction, and compromised blood flow.” So if you’ve been going harder than usual at the gym and not recovering properly, your fascia can wind up getting twisted up. Enter myofascial release, a technique you can do on your own that uses gentle pressure to alleviate tension and discomfort in your muscular system, which preps your body for future workouts. “The pressure ‘overwhelms’ overactive muscles, like our quads and traps, so that they can reset,” says Crunch Fitness personal trainer Tim Coyle, adding that myofascial release also increases blood flow and range of motion in your muscles. “By
This week’s Neptune trine Mercury may make for an extra-emotional Thanksgiving
November 24, 2019 at 10:00PM by CWC The week begins with dynamic cosmic energy afoot. The moon wanes dark, as the new moon in Sagittarius quickly approaches. Happening on November 26 at 4 degrees of Sagittarius at 10:05 a.m. EST, this second-to-last new moon of the decade invites hope, optimism, and growth. To make the most of it, ask yourself this: What do you most desire to create at this time in your life? What is tugging at your heart? Here’s the deal: Jupiter in Sagittarius rules this new moon. He’s currently wrapping up his stay in his home domain—a place he’s traveled since November 2018—and this new moon provides a moment to conjure his support to catapult your growth. So get clear on your needs, wants, and longings. Looking ahead to December 2 when Jupiter moves into Capricorn, you can expect a major pivot from the changing tides. So capitalize on the opportunity of the present moment that this new moon provides to stake claim to your dreams. Take time on Tuesday to write down your new-moon wishes, and commit them to yourself. No retrogrades in sight—rather, Neptune trine Mercury Speaking of dreams, Neptune stations direct on Wednesday, awakening passions within. Neptune rules all things ephemeral and functions as a higher octave of Venus, meaning the direct station helps you access a deeper place of love within yourself. One effect of Neptune coming out of retrograde is that you may feel a bit more emotional than you’re used to.
I professionally stretch people for a living—and this is the best stretch in my arsenal
November 23, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC A good stretching session makes everything better—you know this. But some days you simply don’t have time to follow along a YouTube video or list of feel-good exercises. Sometimes all you need to do is set aside a few minutes for just one stretch—and who better to cue you in on the most beneficial move than someone who professionally stretches people for a living? When you visit Racked Stretch in New York City, you can have a pro stretch you out based on your needs and problem areas. Even with the countless moves the stretching pros have in their arsenal, the Closed Figure 4 hip stretch is the one that always gets overwhelmingly positive feedback from clients. “The number one stretch that’s been beneficial to every client I’ve seen are our hip stretches. We have a few different variations, but the Closed Figure-4 is definitely number one,” says Hayley Lubow, Racker and training leader at Racked Stretch. “It involves the entity of the hip area—including the joints and muscles—and even starts to get into the connected muscle groups like the hamstrings. Basically, you get a lot of bang for your buck.” I can attest that the Closed Figure-4 stretch feels ah-mazing, but it does so much more than I realized. “Most of our clients sit at a desk for work, and that crunching of the hips for eight or more hours a day can have devastating results on your posture,” Lubow says. When you have
The ‘Pilates burpee’ may go down in history as the hardest core exercise ever
November 22, 2019 at 07:07PM by CWC If I could poll the entire world about the most challenging workouts, I bet at least 70 percent would namecheck the burpee. In a shocking turn of events though, it turns out one Pilates-inspired burpee variation somehow manages to make the move harder. While a standard burpee requires speed and agility, the Pilates burpee focuses on slow, measured movements that light up every muscle in the body. The sequence is very (very) similar to the yoga’s sun salutation A, and requires the same amount of practice to execute properly. So if you don’t nail it on the first try, don’t fret. Make a point of returning to your mat on a daily basis, and before you know it, this harder take on burpees will be no big deal. How to do the Pilates burpee variation that will make your whole body quake [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00W7vuidmHw] Repeat the Pilates push-up 3 to 5 times for a full warm up. 1. Start standing. Bring your arms up straight overhead. 2. Roll your spine slowly down toward the mat, engaging your abs as you go. 3. Once your hands touch the floor, walk them out to plank position. 4. Bend your elbows straight back to come into a tricep push-up (chaturanga). More advanced practitioners can lift one leg as they lower down. Extend your elbows again and come back to plank. 5. Walk your hands back so you’re in the same curved forward fold. 6. Use your
How this entrepreneur is making yoga more inclusive—one practice at a time
November 21, 2019 at 02:30PM by CWC https://content.jwplatform.com/players/RncmeiuV-AjgxWzQ7.js Meet Wellness Collective, our immersive curriculum with Athleta that hooks you up with actionable advice from the smartest experts and brand founders in wellness right now. Get the goods at our monthly event series in New York City, plus our online one-month wellness plans. When you enter a yoga or meditation session, you’re generally focused on you and trying to ignite that inner balance through movement or intention-setting. But for Nicole Cardoza, founder of Yoga Foster—a nonprofit that empowers school teachers with yoga resources for the classroom—she’s not on the mat for just a clear head or better balance. “My work is really rooted in understanding where the gaps are in wellness and how we can make it more accessible,” she says. And to do that, Cardoza immerses herself in underserved communities to understand what they really need out of a well-rounded education experience. “I don’t think it’s enough to practice yoga or mindfulness or wellness for the sake of ourselves,” she says. “What I always recommend is to be paying attention to who’s not in the room.” While you don’t need to go out and earn your own yoga-teaching license to encourage and propel this mindset (unless that’s what you desire), Cardoza suggests asking yourself, “Who is missing and how can you advocate for them in a really honest and authentic way?” The real lesson here? Inclusivity—and using your voice to be a change-maker within the conversation. Watch the video above to get an inside look
3 feels-so-good exercises that’ll decompress your spine for a happy back
November 21, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC I hate to say it, but my back probably spends the majority of the day in a not-so-good posture. From slouching at my desk to being sprawled out on my couch watching reality TV, you could say my spine isn’t the picture of perfect health… and that’s mainly due to all of that compressing that I do to it. Compressing your spine is like crumpling damp clothes into a ball—it makes a mess, and throws proper alignment all out of whack. “Oftentimes, back pain sufferers simply feel crunched—as if the weight of the world is hanging from their shoulders, causing immense pressure upon their spines,” says Chris Tomshack, DC, founder and CEO of HealthSource. “In a way, they’re not wrong. Gravity is one of the factors of disc degeneration, herniated, bulging, and slipped discs, as well as sciatica, and the debilitating pain that often comes as a result.” Your answer to preventing these crunched-up woes? Decompression, which involves doing stretches and exercises that elongate your spine. “If you feel like something could ease the pressure simply by helping you stretch and pull, there are simple spinal decompression exercises you can do at home,” says Tomshack. Here are his go-to spinal exercises you can do anytime, anywhere to decompress your back for a healthier posture. 1. Cat stretch: This basic yoga move is so good for your spine. “The cat stretch helps to increase circulation in the spine while strengthening the muscles surrounding it,” says
When you’re feeling sore, these are the best workouts to do
November 20, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC “I’m sore” is my favorite excuse for skipping a day at the gym. Really, who wants to suffer through squat thrusts when their quads are already on fire from an intense spin class the day before? Not me, that’s for sure. According to the pros, soreness isn’t quite a foolproof “get out of jail free” card. As awful as it may feel to claw yourself out of bed and get to the gym, there are certain exercises that can actually help you get through the stiffness. In order to understand how to work through your soreness, you first need to understand what it actually is. A particularly intense workout will leave you sore because of the stress you put on your muscles while you were exercising. Exerting your muscles creates micro tears in them, and when those heal it’s what makes you stronger, making the “sore phase” part of the healing process. “When you work out during the ‘sore-phase,’ it feels more difficult because the body is still healing from the work out before,” says Keren Day, DC and founder of Racked Stretch. “The painful sensation happens because your body is already using energy to heal your muscles. It’s like pushing on a bruise on the surface of the skin. It hurts because the body has sent healing components to clean up the area—those inflammatory components signal pain when the area gets touched as a protective mechanism.” This, of course, is different than