Category: Yoga

September 30, 2019 at 09:54PM by CWC After a week when I’ve skipped a yoga class (or two, or three), the simple act of raising my arms over my head feels near impossible. The shoulder tension sparked by #desklife is all too real, and something Casey Chiro, DC, says is best solved by everyone’s favorite strength training move. The one, the only push-up. Or, more accurately—a scapular push-up. “The Serratus anterior plays a major role in helping you raise your arms above shoulder height,” writes Dr. Chiro in an Instagram post, describing the muscle at the vertebral border of scapula. “It also helps stabilize the shoulder, protects against neck pain, and helps you hold good posture.” Scapular push ups summons the strength of the Serratus anterior, and helps the shoulder work with both strength and a complete range of motion. In other words, it’s a win-win. Ready to learn the best move out there for improving shoulder mobility? The scapula push up has you covered.   View this post on Instagram   The Serratus Anterior plays a major role in helping you raise your arms above shoulder height. It also helps stabilize the shoulder, protects against neck pain, and helps you hold good posture. ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Scap Push Ups effectively recruit the Serratus Anterior, and strength of this muscle is essential for optimal shoulder performance. ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Here’s How To Perform Scap Push Ups⁠⠀ 1⃣Start with your hands on a wall, bench, or floor, with your hands directly under your

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September 30, 2019 at 08:45PM by CWC Six-pack abs are a lie, but I just learned about something that’s making me double down on my core regimen in a way I haven’t in years. And no, it’s not J. Lo’s age-defying turn in Hustlers. Thanks, Reddit, for awakening my awareness of the “coregasm.” According to Kinsey Institute fellow Debby Herbenick, PhD, MPH—who literally wrote the book on the topic with The Coregasm Workout—not only are coregasms (or exercise-induced orgasms) real, they’re also not all that uncommon. “In a U.S. nationally representative probability survey, we found that nearly 10 percent of Americans had experienced an exercise-induced orgasm at least once in their lives,” she tells me. “A smaller percentage experience them with regularity.” Dr. Herbenick also tells me coregasms are an equal opportunity exercise perk. Her first study on the topic was performed on women, and after she published it, men “came out of the woodwork,” emailing her from all over the world to tell her about their own exercise-induced orgasms. So you want to coregasm—which exercises are your best bet? There’s a reason this type of climax is known as a “coregasm” and not an “exergasm,” aside from the cute rhyme: Not just any type of workout will turn your gym into the diner from When Harry Met Sally. “Exercises most commonly associated with coregasm include those that are what I call ‘core-demanding,’ that ask a lot of core abdominal musculature,” Dr. Herbenick tells me. Crunches are one way to

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September 30, 2019 at 12:05AM by CWC https://www.youtube.com/embed/ii9mlNKygsY” frameborder=“0″ allow=“accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen> Pulling off the transition from “sweaty mess at the gym” to “fresh-faced glowing angel” is a skill that, alas, eludes me. But who better than to teach us all how to rush from a workout to dinner plans than someone who pulls it off nearly every day, sans shower? In the latest episode of Well+Good’s Self-Care Nation series, yoga teacher Tess Koenig shares her workout-to-night beauty routine. “Over the years of teaching, I’ve gone from full-face feeling like I need to look professional to not, because we’re sweating,” she says, explaining that she now comes to her classes makeup-free instead of totally glammed up. “Obviously it’s your choice, whatever makes you feel good. But just by trial and error I learn that I feel best when I don’t wear makeup working out or teaching, and then I do a little bit to go out and be social.” Her easy, 10-minute routine uses products that are easily stashed in her gym bag. Pro tip: If you tend to be in a haze post-workout, make sure all these products look very different from each other, Koenig says. “I definitely have done the thing where I think I’m using a dry shampoo and really I’m using a tinted moisturizer on my hair just by not looking,” she explains. To which I say, “been there.” Included in her routine is a genius hack for preventing buttne, tips for turning

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September 29, 2019 at 06:00PM by CWC Stretching doesn’t always feel like a necessity. You already just pounded out a workout, and the last thing you want to do is take even more time out of your busy schedule to stretch out your muscles, too. But making it a commitment can do your body good. Especially your feet. Despite my feet (literally) carrying me around every day, allowing me to hit my 10,000-step goals without hardly any complaints, I never really give them their due for such impressive efforts. The easiest way to reward your feet for a job well done is to do some yoga foot stretches. And because it’s hard to know where to start, yoga instructor Brett Larkin of Brett Larkin Yoga came through with a 15-minute routine on YouTube featuring all of her favorite easy-to-follow foot and ankle stretches. Paired with deep-breathing, the yoga flow goes through stretches made to give your body some relief after running or doing a cardio sesh, as they target the Achilles tendon, fascia, and entire foot. Because the area is often forgotten about in recovery, even doing a few of them will quickly make you realize just how tight your feet really are and help you loosen up between workouts, whether you’re power walking or sweating it out in HIIT. So change into some comfy clothes, grab a mat, and press play on the video below. Your feet will thank you. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qPYMi97-hY] Want to keep on treating your feet?

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September 27, 2019 at 10:56PM by CWC I rarely think about my mental state before I choose my workout of the day. My go-go-go Aries mentality usually makes me gravitate towards difficult runs or muscle-quaking strength training—regardless of my current headspace. When Maillard Howell, owner of CrossFit Prospect Heights and founder of the The Beta Way, posted that he goes for low-impact workouts on low-energy days, I was intrigued. Should we all be turning to less strenuous moves on days that are mentally tough? The trainer tells me that the one word answer is “abso-freakin’-lutely.” For him, a bad night of sleep is a deal-breaker when it comes to high-impact, laborious workouts. So on days following a not-stellar night of rest, he’ll opt for something more chill. “I feel really good when I’m well-rested. Am I able to perform even when I’m not well-rested? Yeah, maybe 70 percent of the time. But sometimes when you have a really bad session, it’s best to just pack it in,” he says.  In the battle between what’s most important for your well-being, sleep always wins over exercise (just ask experts). “There’s a fine line between being totally sedentary and keeping the body moving and feeling good.” —Maillard Howell, owner of CrossFit Prospect Heights Beyond the sleep aspect, there are other reasons you may choose a recovery-focused workout over an intense cardio or weights session. Let’s say a day at work has left you wiped. That means you already have a great deal of the stress hormone, cortisol,

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September 27, 2019 at 03:43PM by CWC Looking around a yoga class can often feel like you’re at a circus, watching people contort themselves into literal pretzels or lift themselves into the air with nothing more than a few fingertips. If you’re a beginner, it can feel intimidating and frustrating, but remember: Every handstand-holding yogi had to start somewhere. So, if you’re hanging out in child’s pose wondering why you can’t flex your body into these positions, it’s time to master “the big five” yoga fundamentals. “Developing a yoga practice is just like building a house: You need to start with the foundation before you can begin adding furniture and decor,” says Los Angeles-based yoga master Claire Grieve, who’s been practicing for over a decade. To build that foundation, she says that you need to perfect warrior I, downward-facing dog, forward bend, boat, and savasana, which can help to deepen your practice for more ahem adventurous poses in the future. “Mastering these five poses will help you set a strong foundation for an advanced yoga practice,” says Grieve. “By strengthening your muscles and mind, you can be on your way to an elevated practice.” Here, Grieve breaks down the poses that will set the stage for the entire rest of your practice. Nail the “big-five” yoga poses, according to Grieve 1. Warrior 1: “Warrior I is a strengthening pose for the entire body,” she says. “Practicing this pose will strengthen every major muscle group. It will also help you understand

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September 24, 2019 at 06:55PM by CWC What if manifesting your best life actually doesn’t require mood boards and pushing hard to reach your goals? What if the secret is simply…  to feel good? That’s the concept behind Gabrielle Bernstein‘s new book, Super Attractor: Methods for Manifesting a Life Beyond Your Wildest Dreams. But here’s the really wild part: When you do less, you attract more. Focus on feeling good, Bernstein says, and wonderful things start to happen—and it won’t feel like work. Here, the best-selling author talks about co-creating the life you want—and shares an audio excerpt from Super Attractor to help you get started. Well+Good: First, what is a Super Attractor? Gabrielle Bernstein: A Super Attractor is someone whose primary focus is on feeling good. When people make feeling good a priority, then they become a magnet for what they want. Can anyone be a Super Attractor? We are all Super Attractors—we just forget. We’ve detoured so far into fear, judgment, and attack that we’ve blocked that Super Attractor power. How can people start to remember that part of themselves? The first step is to recognize the way they disconnected from it. That involves recognizing the ways your thoughts and belief systems work and how they’re making you feel. In the book, I call that the Choose Again method. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/679075296?secret_token=s-AunHA” params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” iframe=”true” /] How does that method work? The first step is to witness your thoughts: how did they make you feel?  The second step is

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