Foot exercises for Dancers
Howdy all!
So if you go into a high-end athletic shoe store, they will examine your feet, determine their weaknesses, and recommend to you the perfect shoe that will compensate for your particular feet’s / ankle’s problems.
Or, instead of compensating with shoes, arch supports, and various braces and band-aids, you can do some simple exercises to strengthen your feet. That is not to say that good foot gear is not a great thing, and I highly recommend getting a variety of shoes that fit you and help support your feet.
However, I also recommend strenghtening your feet and ankles as much as you strengthen the whole rest of your body.
Back in the day before even concrete pavement and athletic training shoes, humans had to strengthen their feet so they would work well on a variety of uneven surfaces. Now we coddle or ignore our feet so much that they are mushy, flat, and weak.
Not so for dancers! Feet are the foundation of our posture, balance, and movement. To dance well we must have strong and flexible feet and ankles. Even if you have never danced a day in your life, you can use these exercises on a daily basis to begin to get your feet in shape:
All of this discussion of feet,ankles, and legs is a build up for our last week of dance technique class, which will be on how to safely execute various jumps and landings. See you next week on Wednesday at 3:30 pm!
Just like this!
How much do you see your friends and family?
When scientists have gone around the world searching for the “happiest people” or the “healthiest people” there’s one trait that comes up that ranks highest on both lists. Time spent with friends and family.
How much time do you spend with your friends and family? Whoever it is that you like, your social support network – it doesn’t matter if it’s your blood relatives or your new found “family” in a hippie commune. It seems that the more time you spend with the people you like, the happier and healthier you will be.
This should be an easy prescription to fulfill. Who doesn’t like seeing their friends? After time with your good friends you can feel refreshed and revitalized. They can give great advice and perspective on problems you may be having, or things you find stressful. Or hearing about their problems can help you shake you out of your own head, and help you to become stronger and more generous as you help them with their problems.
But count up the actual hours we spend with people we don’t know or don’t like (at work perhaps, or commuting, or in obligatory social settings we don’t actually enjoy) and add to that the hours we spend effectively by ourselves (watching TV, on the computer, on the blackberry), and there are very few hours we actually spend interacting with our friends.
By the way, I do not count sitting in the same room as friends and watching TV as time interacting with the friends. I know many people do count this time as social time, laughing at youtube videos, watching movies, etc. But I feel in these cases that people are interacting with the screen that is manipulating them emotionally. They are not getting real time human interaction with another human that is responding to them. A screen gives out one way, it is not a give and take relationship. And thus many people end up spending many “empty” hours feeling like they are interacting with people while on facebook, email, or while watching TV. But I do not think it subs in for actual time engaging with another person in the same room at the same time.
So in short, take a little tally this week. It may be more important to your health than getting exercise or eating right. Post in the comment field below – how many hours do you spend a day or per week with people you like?
Crazy Busy
I just finished a book called “Crazy Busy” by Edward Hallowell – and I think it’s well worth picking up for a read.
As far as I can tell, this guy has been working as a psychologist for upper class, highly motivated but also highly stressed clients for a long time.
He’s noticed that in the last 5-10 years the problems of these clients have changed, but not many people have been aware of the changes.
Basically, as computers, cell phones, the web, and other forms of data storage and transmission continue to improve, our brains are increasingly flooded with data.
The amount of friends we try to keep track of (facebook), the number of buying or selling opportunities we have (ebay or craig’s list), the number of hobbies we could have, newsfeeds we could read.. all of it has increased exponentially.
And that’s great. But it also makes us crazy. Or at least crazy busy. Take for example, back in the land of “before” – you were friends with whoever was around. More or less. Maybe you tried to keep in touch with a few people who were really special but far away. But for the most part, once you lost touch with someone they were gone. And that allowed people to easily and humanely trim their social circles to a manageable size.
But now you can easily retain many more people on your “friend” list than you ever could before. Should you remember all their birthdays so you can at least write on their facebook wall? Can you keep up with all of them via twitter?
Or do you just drive yourself crazy and spread the meaningful social interaction time that you do have so thin that you aren’t really friends with anyone?
Hallowell asserts that the data that overwhelms us these days can make us all act like we have ADD. We don’t have it, but we act like it in many destructive and unhealthy ways.
He offers a few solutions to combat the problem. Obvious ones, like pick what’s important and stick to it. Find big projects / problems / people in your life that take lots of time but don’t give much reward and cut them out, no matter how painful. He has a whole system for monitoring your time budget (as important as a monetary budget, but much less frequently done!)
I think there is a part of the world (most of it?) that would kill to have the problems Hallowell discusses. There are many parts of America, let alone the rest of the world, where people would love to have a Blackberry and latte addiction. If that was the worst of their problems they would be very happy indeed (at least at first?). So I did find some of Hallowell’s catastrophic language a bit shallow. But the problems of the successful and rich are still problems, even if they seem a little silly sometimes.
So if you have noticed that when people ask you how you are doing, you don’t say “good” or “okay” but instead say “busy” or even “crazy busy”, maybe you need to pick up this book. I know it did me a lot of good, helping me get some perspective on what projects of mine needed to be put to rest, and where I could better focus my time. If you have any suggestions of changes you’ve made to streamline your life, feel free to share with all of us below in the comments field!
Water. Drink it.
So I write this post not only to remind you, oh kind reader, but to remind myself.
As we move into the hotter months of the year, it is more important than ever to drink enough water. Simple rule – 8 by 8 – 8 glasses of 8 ounces per day. And it’s nice to spread it out – you could gulp all that water down in one sitting, but your body can’t absorb it as well.
Drinking enough water has myriad health benefits – from preventing headaches, improving mental clarity, to improving digestion and weight loss. Most healthy adults get abou 30% of their water from the food they eat, and the remaining from all kinds of fluids that you drink. So especially on a hot day when you might not eat as much (heat sometimes depresses appetite) make sure you make up your fluids in beverage form.
If you need to add some flavor to make your water go down a little better, try a little vitamin powder like EmergencyC or Airborne. Or add just a little juice, lemon, honey, or mint to add some flavor (Mexico has it right with the agua fresca thing – super refreshing!). The amount of preservatives, additives, and other nasty junk that’s in sports drinks and energy drinks is not good for your body! ! There is some dispute about whether drinks that also have caffeine or sugar in them are as hydrating. It seems that after scientific study, it’s all about what your body is used to. If you normally drink caffeine, then the same amount of caffeine in your coffee will not dehydrate you. But upping your dosage can change your hydration level, so be careful on those quadruple espresso days to also have some water!
Say nay sayers to all this water drinking point to scientific studies that focus on the minimum amount of water that the body needs to survive. Which really is not my point. Yes, we can survive on as little as one liter a day. However, your body will not only survive, but thrive, on a much higher hydration diet. Drink up!
Any good tips on how you stay hydrated? Favorite flavors of Emergen-C? Share with us below in the comments field….
6 pieces of sushi = mercury poisoning
All right, so that title is a little blunt, but I’ve recently had not one but 2 friends of mine realize that their health issues are not just random unrelated problems, but due to mercury poisoning.
So I thought I’d spread the good word – quoting from the New York Times, “Recent laboratory tests found so much mercury in tuna sushi from 20 Manhattan stores and restaurants that at most of them, a regular diet of six pieces a week would exceed the levels considered acceptable by the EPA. Sushi from 5 of the 20 places had mercury levels so high that the Food and Drug Administration could take legal action to remove the fish from the market. The sushi was bought by The New York Times in October.” And these were not skanky corner sushi shops, they were high end restaurants.
In fact, that may be some of the problem. Many “high end” fishes, like shark, swordfish, and blue fin tuna, have the highest levels of mercury. But it shocked me to think that just 6 pieces could put someone over their weekly limit of mercury – I know a lot of people who eat a lot more sushi than that – let alone other kinds of fish or shellfish!
Mercury poisoning is particularly creepy as the symptoms can be hard to place. Mercury tends to collect in nerve tissue (including the brain) so symptoms can be psychological (like memory problems, strange dreams, or mood changes) or physical (like loss of range of vision, fatigue, or muscle weakness). many times the symptoms seem unrelated so people remain undiagnosed. Apparently it’s a simple test to get done and you can know right away what the level of mercury is in your system. If you have a friend who has been eating lots of big fish, maybe tell them to check into it.
The other creepy thing about mercury poisoning is you can’t tell at all whether your fish is clean or came out of Minamata Bay. So although fish can be very healthy for you, it really is safest to stick to 2 helping of fish or shellfish per week (or less). And do check here for info on what kinds of fish are particularly dangerous.
If you have a moment, it also might be a good time to drop a line to your congressperson to tell them you find it irresponsible that we continue to sell fish without warnings about mercury. Even worse, we give children tons of tuna fish in their school lunches – sometimes the worst mercury level fish – with no thought to their developing nervous systems. Since the EPA has been so downtrodden by lobbyists (yes, there is a tuna lobby) it’s good for citizens to try and counterbalance their influence by writing in and demanding safe fish and seafood for our children and ourselves.
If you have any more info on this topic that you’d like to share, or other resources we can look up, please comment below, thanks for sharing!
Stomach Sized Portions
It’s the plates.
Plates used to be.. I would assume, a more reasonable size. I’m sure you’ve heard all this before, but especially at restaurants, plates are now a lot bigger than they used to be.
So if you’re trying to be healthy, maybe find your optimal weight, maybe just not have a food coma after lunch, look at your portion size.
Do you know how big your stomach is? Apparently only about the size of your fist. One fist. That’s pretty damn small. Of course, when you eat it expands to hold approximately a quart or more of food. Apparently it can hold up to 5 quarts (I think I’ve probably done this at Sneha/Grand Indian buffet, but I wouldn’t recommend it).
So when eating, try to consider the size of your stomach and what you’re putting in there. Try to put in.. maybe 2 fists of food? Instead of 10? Not only will you digest your food better, you’ll avoid a lot of food coma problems by not overloading your body with too much food all at once.
To good health… (and tasty Indian food).
If you have particular tips for keeping down your portion size – or tips on your favorite Indian restaurant please share them below in the comments field.
Swine Flu
Number of people in US killed annually by heart attacks: 445,687.
Number of people in US killed annually by car accidents:: 42,000.
Number of people killed annually by being struck by lighting: 90.
Number of people in US who have died of swine flu: 1.
Okay, seriously. I know that the media likes to have exciting catastrophes to talk about because it makes people tune into the news channel. They LOVE to blow any little problem into a mighty plague or smiting of the hand of God because how else are they getting to get an apathetic and overly stimulated public to pay attention?
But really, swine flu? My condolensces to the poor families of any of the people in Mexico – and the one family in Texas – that have had people succumb to the disease. But this has been blown WAY out of proportion.
Quite honestly, people die of the common cold (normal influenza) all the time – about 20,000 a year. But do you see people freaking out about that?
I mean, hey, common sense is great. If you’re sick, don’t sneeze on people. Even wear a mask. Wash your hands. Eat healthy, get enough sleep. If you’re going to worry about anything, worry about getting enough exercise and good food to keep your heart healthy, and be careful driving.
Stretching
So I was chilling with some of the trainers at the one of the gyms I teach at. I had just finished subbing a Zumba class for a friend and was stretching before heading home.
As I was doing some more exteme stretches (yoga pigeon and full hamstring stretches) of course all the buffed up trainers thought what I was doing was impossible. Even worse, they all seemed to thinking stretching was totally unneccesary and a waste of time. Most of these guys couldn’t touch the back of their neck – their arms and shoulders were so bulked up and inflexible. But besides their own lack of flexibility, I was saddened by their complete dismissal of the benefits of stretching.
So I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the topic, in case any of my friends are taking with personal trainers like these guys.
Stretching is highly beneficial to your body. Stretching can:
- Reduce muscle tension
- Increase range of movement in the joints
- Enhance muscular coordination
- Increase circulation of the blood to various parts of the body
- Result in fewer in juries
- Decrease muscle soreness
- Increase energy levels (resulting from increased circulation)
Let me just take one of those bullet points – increased range of motion. That doesn’t sound very exciting, right? Who cares if the range of motion of my ankle joint, for example, is 6 degrees or 12 degrees? That’s not going to make me a better athlete.
Oh but it is! Take, as the example, the ankle joint. If one does not stretch one’s calf muscle, the ability to flex and point the ankle can greatly diminish. This loss of range of motion can mean you can’t squat as far. Without the ability to do a deep squat, you can’t jump as high or run as fast. So losing range of motion in just one joint in the body can horribly diminish your athletic potential.
It can even make daily living harder. Without a 10 degree range of motion in the ankle, it can be difficult even to go down stairs. But some simple stretching for the calf and ankle muscles can relieve all of these problems.
Take that concept and apply it to all your joints. Those buffed up guys in the gym? They wouldn’t be able to throw a ball like a real pitcher who has great range of motion in his shoulders. Or have the hip flexibility to be a good rock climber or runner.
If you are going to lift (and doing some resistance training is good for most every body), make sure to stretch inbetween your sets, and thoroughly stretch at the end of your workout – spending at least 15 minutes stretching can save you from slowly shrink wrapping your body into a tight little package that can’t move. I know it can be hard to make yourself quit lifting sooner and save time for stretching. It can be hard to think that this part of the workout is really “worth it”. Check out my post on the benefits of “rest” and perhaps you’ll be more likely to add stretching into your daily routine.
What do you do to stretch? Please share below in the comments field…
Do you rest enough?
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but sleep and rest of vitality important to your health. They are sadly also highly underrated by popular American culture. It seems like many people emulate “successful” people around them who are super busy. They see these successful, busy people cutting short on their sleep and rest and making do with coffee and sugar and adrenaline. Pretty soon everyone thinks that rest and sleep must be short changed if one is going to be successful.
Don’t buy it! One of the best ways to lose weight, feel more fit, do better at work, and even have more friends is to Get Enough Rest and Sleep.
I separate those two because I feel like they are both important. Of course, quality and quantity of sleep are important. Are you getting enough? If you wake up in the morning on your own without an alarm clock, you’re getting enough sleep. If that sounds patently absurd (you always snooze 17 times and are still exhausted when you drag yourself out of bed) then perhaps you should look into making your bedtime earlier. I mean, do you really need to watch that extra episode of TV?
Rest is an even more underrated concept in America (interesting note – if you Google Rest you gets lots of info on the programming language, and some pages on restful sleep – but no pages on rest – it’s that underrated). Everyone has different things that are restful to them – some extroverts “rest” most when they are with people and enjoying themselves socially. Many introverts “rest” by themselves, whether walking, gardening, reading, or what have you. Some forms of exercise can be restful (like yoga or pilates), but I think it’s good to set aside time outside the gym to do whatever you find the most restful. I am always amazed at how much faster my body trains (gets in shape, stronger, slimmer, etc) if I am taking an hour or two per day to rest.
What I find particularly restful is filling up with beauty. I feel almost like I am drinking in beautiful sights or sounds. This can be walking through a beautiful natural setting, a garden, or even sitting in my backyard and watching the alleycats and birds. Listening to beautiful music, or watching beautiful dancing can also be very fulfilling.
This kind of rest helps me to recharge, and I think is a missing element for many people who struggle with their weight and fitness. They keep pushing harder and harder to try and lose those 5 pounds, but the harder they struggle the less rested they feel, and their body resists.
Rest and sleep tell your body that all is well, and when all is well, your body natural relaxes into its ideal fitness level.
What do you do to rest and relax? Share your tips with all of us below in the comments field…
