One of the most difficult areas of the body to work with is the thoracic region. It is such an important part of the body for providing the necessary mobility required for efficient movement with the upper body and the legs. It is also quite vulnerable to rigidity and stiffness from inactivity and poor movement strategies that can very quickly lead to a host of problems. Usually neck pain, shoulder pain, or lower back pain is the first result of any loss of thoracic mobility as these joints sacrifice their stability to make up for the loss of movement in the thoracic region. Having a series of exercises in your toolkit to restore your thoracic mobility is vital and in this article we show you our top 10.
Achilles tendinitis is a common injury for all athletes and fitness participants, especially those who run seriously as a sport or main fitness activity. It is often the result of overuse from repetitive actions seen in running and jumping sports and statistics show that it is one of the most common of all overuse injuries, accounting for 10% of all running injuries. This is a much different injury to an acute stress or accident-type injury such as an ankle ligament sprain from rolling an ankle or a collision injury often seen in sports like football. Like all overuse injuries, once it sets in it can be extremely difficult to get rid of so it is vital you prevent it from happening in the first place. Ignoring the warning signs is dangerous and can lead to full Achilles ruptures which is something that is seen a lot in professional sports like NBA basketball. I see a lot of similarities with this injury and ACL injuries in relation to the underlying cause. In order to prevent the problem you need to know what causes it. Unfortunately, it is not a simple answer to explain as the cause can differ from person to person and can be a multitude of factors you need to keep in mind. In this article I will explain the lessons I have learned from suffering and recovering from an Achilles injury myself years ago, along with research and my experience working with many complicated cases.
One of the best additions to the strength training world in recent years is the use of battling ropes. They are a very simple and versatile piece of equipment to that are suitable for all levels of fitness and experience. They can be used in an infinite number of ways only limited by your imagination and can provide that edge in your training that may be missing. Battle ropes are thick, heavy ropes with one end of the rope wrapped around an anchor at its midpoint so that 2 evenly lengthened ends can be held in each hand. The ropes are usually waved, slammed, or pulled and there are a seemingly endless amount of different exercises and variations to choose from. In this article, I will explain the 7 main benefits to your health and fitness when using ropes in your workout. Also make sure you check out the workout video at the end of the article that features 10 versions you can try.