As much as I love to exercise, I know that if I don't eat well my body will not allow me to do the tough things I love to do. Getting the right amount of vitamins and minerals from our food is essential and is one thing that many people, in particular the gym junkie ignores to their own demise. If you are like me and sweat a lot then you really can deplete your body very quickly leaving several important bodily functions to be compromised. Replenishing the body with the necessary vitamins and minerals is essential if you want to remain in great health. One mineral that is easily depleted yet extremely important to our health is MAGNESIUM. In this article, we will look at why it is so vital to your health, what happens if you are deficient, why older adults are more vulnerable to deficiency, and lastly what foods to eat to meet your body’s requirements.

In my recent article about core strengthening exercises I compared the value of using isolation exercises versus integrated movements, I posed the question how much strength do your abdominal muscles really need? Based on scientific research by McGill the answer to this question was on average about 10% of maximal voluntary contraction. The ability to fire first and maintain endurance of the core muscles for long periods was of more importance than the overall strength of the abdominal muscles. When you consider how many people devote considerable time to improving their abdominal strength via planks, sit-ups, roll-outs, and various other exercises the question I now have is can you have too much strength? For most muscle groups more strength is a good thing, but is this the same for the core? For as we discussed in the previous article, these muscles are not designed to function the same way and as you will see shortly, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

The side lying clamshell exercise is one of the most prescribed exercises for people with weak glutes. Clamshells are a favourite exercise of most physical therapists and featured in nearly every group class as the best way to strengthen your gluteus medius muscle. While the clamshell is intended to have good activation of the gluteal muscles there are several problems this exercise that can create problems in the hip and pelvic region, and in some cases can even make the glutes weaker! In this article, I will explain how to use this exercise correctly and ensure you avoid the common mistakes many people make.