Alva Springs

Rediscovering the Benefits of Meditation

Do you know why it seems modern life is more stressful than historic times? How can it be, when our ancestors had real problems of survival, and our problems are things like getting a document completed on a deadline? The answer is simple: as it has become easier and easier to survive, we humans have simply created more problems for ourselves. Since our bodies can’t ...

Reasons for Sports Medicine

Have you ever wondered why there needs to be an entire medical practice devoted just to looking after athletes? After all, people who aren’t into sports suffer injuries all the time and get very good treatment from general practitioners and/or emergency care staff. People have been getting injured with or without sports forever. Why have a medical specialty in that field? Sports medicine isn’t just ...

Weight Lifting and Stress Management

Who doesn’t have too much stress? We’re all pummeled by the stuff on a daily basis. Stress is a normal, healthy response when you’re in danger. Unfortunately, the body relies on the brain to tell it when there’s danger, and the brain doesn’t distinguish well between “Oh, no, a building’s about to fall on my head!” and “Oh, no, I’m not going to meet that ...

Cross Training and Weightlifting

Weightlifting is great in and of itself, but it can also improve your performance in other sports. Professional athletes lift weight as part of a standard training routine. Many of them focus on parts of the body they need to strengthen in order to play better at their chosen sport. A batter will work on upper body strength to hit balls further and faster while ...

Learn How to Dance

We’ve talked a lot on this site about dancing for fun and for exercise, but what if you’re interested in learning to dance professionally? Or, at least, to dance as well as a professional? There are a number of options available to you. Do you need talent? The best professional dancers have both raw talent and loads of instruction and practice. If you lack talent, ...

Sports Injuries Explained

There are a number of different types of injuries you are likely to incur from playing sports. Knowing what they are and how to recognize them can help you seek out the best treatment when injuries occur. This knowledge can also help you distinguish between injuries that need immediate treatment and those that will most likely heal on their own. Acute Acute injuries usually occur ...

Tummy shrinking for beginners: Long Arm Crunch

We’ve been talking about effective stomach-flattening exercises that are suitable for beginners who need to build up slowly. We covered the Vertical Crunch and the Hip Lift, two exercises that target the stomach muscles. Today we’ll be looking at a third exercise called the Long Arm Crunch. While the first two exercises mainly worked your lower abdominals, this one focuses on the upper stomach muscles, ...

Tummy shrinking for beginners: Hip Lift

We just talked about an exercise called the Vertical Crunch that’s for beginners looking to strengthen and flatten their stomachs. Today we’ll look at a second exercise, also designed for beginners, that also targets the stomach muscles. As with the Vertical Crunch, you want to start out slow, doing only as many repetitions of the exercise as feels comfortable at first. Eventually, you should build ...

Tummy shrinking for beginners: Vertical Crunch

There are dozens of good exercises for flattening your stomach, but if you’re new to exercising, you may find not all of them are right for you. If some of the exercises you’ve tried seem to require strength or flexibility you don’t have (yet), don’t get frustrated: there are others that will work well, too, and are designed for beginners. This series of articles will ...

Weight Lifting as Physical Therapy

You might be surprised to hear that many people have their first experience of strength training not in a gym, but in a physical therapy session. Strength training is an integral way to rebuild muscle tissue after a muscle’s been allowed to atrophy (in the case of recuperating from injury). It’s also helpful with strengthening joints weakened by arthritis, injury or degenerative conditions. Some people ...

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