The Best and Worst Exercises for Bad Knees.

Exercise may be the best medicine for chronic achy knees. "Strengthening the muscles around the joint protects you from injury by decreasing stress on the knee," says Willibald Nagler, MD, chairman of rehabilitation medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Campus in New York City. But you must use good form and technique when doing exercises for knee pain.

÷ The First Commandment :

Never bend your legs to a point where your knees stick out past your toes. That puts a lot of pressure under the kneecap. This not only applies to the following exercises for knee pain but also when you're stretching or doing aerobic activities such as step aerobics.

#1- Best Exercises for Knee Pain:

1-Partial Squats:

 Stand about 12 inches away from the front of a chair with your feet about hip width apart and your toes forward. Bending at the hips, slowly lower yourself halfway down to the chair. Keep your abs tight, and check that your knees stay behind your toes.

2-Stepups:

 Using an aerobic step bench or a staircase, step up onto the step with your right foot. Tap your left foot on the top of the step, and then lower. As you step up, your knee should be directly over your ankle. Repeat with your left foot.

3- Side-lying Leg Lifts:

 Wearing ankle weights above the knee, lie on your left side, legs straight and together, with your left arm supporting your head. Keeping your right foot flexed and your body straight, slowly lift your right leg to about shoulder height, then slowly lower. Repeat with your left leg.

4- Inner-thigh Leg Lifts:

 Wearing ankle weights above the knee, lie on your left side, slightly back on your butt. Bend your right leg and place it behind your left leg with your right foot flat on the floor and your left leg straight. Support your head with your left arm. Slowly lift your left leg about 3 to 5 inches, then lower. Repeat with your right leg.

5- Calf Raises :

Using a chair or wall for balance, stand with your feet about hip width apart, toes straight ahead. Slowly lift your heels off the floor, rising up onto your toes. Hold, then slowly lower.

6- Straight-leg Raises :

Sit with your back against a wall, left leg straight and right leg bent with your foot flat on the floor. Slowly raise your left leg straight up about 12 inches off the floor. Hold, then slowly lower. Repeat with your right leg.

7- Short-arc Knee Extensions:

 In the same starting position as the straight-leg raises, put a ball (about the size of a basketball) under your left knee so that your leg is bent. Slowly straighten your leg. Hold, then slowly lower. Repeat with your right leg.

8- Hamstring Stretch:

 Lie on your back with your left leg flat on the floor. Loop a towel or rope around your right foot and pull your leg as far as comfortable toward your chest, while keeping a slight bend at the knee. Keep your back pressed to the floor throughout the stretch. Hold for 10 to 30 seconds and then release. Repeat three or four times with each leg. Do this stretch five or six times a week.

#2-Worst Exercises—Avoid These:

A few of the following exercises can be done safely if you have chronic knee problems; they're on this list because they're more likely to be done improperly. The exercises above are safer, while still giving you similar results.

•Full-arc knee extensions
•Lunges
•Deep squats
•Hurdler's stretches.

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Top 3 Exercises for a Strong Core and Ripped Abs.

When I'm in a time crunch and can't hit all my favorite plank variations, I have three moves I always rely on, and one of them involves that funny-looking blue half-ball that you always see at the gym called a BOSU ball.

In recent studies by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, using a BOSU ball under your lower back during core training can increase activation of the rectus abdominis by nearly 25 percent. (Yes, please!) Simply add these three moves to your workout, either between sets or at the end, to really feel the burn.


#1. Single-Leg BOSU Bicycle:

One of the best way tighten the lower abs is by moving your legs. Really focus on bringing the abdominal wall in throughout your movement instead of flexing your abs too much and letting them stick out. Imagine your waistband shrinking, and pull your belly button into your lower back.

- Position yourself so that the bottom of your booty hits at about the last circular line of the BOSU.

- Lean back, placing one hand behind the head and the other to the side for balance.

- Extend the opposite leg and arm long off the floor, and then twist your knee to your elbow as you come up.

- Make sure to extend all the way back down, feeling a slight arch in your upper body at the bottom of the movement, and keep the elbow wide. Do 15 reps on each side, and then repeat.

*TIP: These will make you feel the burn quickly. Do as many as you can with a slow, controlled pace.

#2. Oblique Crunch Plank:

Sometimes simple is good. This high-plank variation simply pulls one knee up at a time to activate the obliques and stabilizing muscles. This move also tones your shoulders and legs as you work.

To really get the most out of this one, play with tempo. Try the first 10 with a slower pace (count to two coming up and two going back down). For the next 10, double the pace without a break. As always, exhale as you pull the knee wide and pull the belly button in.

- Starting in a high plank, place your hands directly under your shoulders.

- Maintain the position as you pull one knee wide to the side, all the way to the elbow.

- Return to starting plank and switch sides.

Do 10 reps slow (count to two coming up and two going back down) and then 10 reps fast (double the tempo) for two to three sets.

#3. Hanging Straight-Leg Raise:

One of the reasons the BOSU can do so much to engage your core is the slight hyperextension it creates through the upper body by being on a rounded surface instead of a flat one. To really amp things up, get rid of a supportive surface all together. The biggest challenge here is to not swing or use momentum. Take your time and keep the movement as smooth as possible. Hanging from a bar with a straight body, ensure that your arms are long and shoulders are down away from your ears through the entire exercise.

- Keeping your legs as straight as possible, lift them to the bar (or as high as possible).

- Slowly lower your legs to starting position and repeat. Do 15 to 20 reps.

*TIP: Not quite there yet? Modify by bending your knees and keeping your legs apart. Pull your knees toward your elbows and you'll be progressing to straight legs in no time.

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Insanely Motivating Fitness Girls That Will Inspire You Loss Weight.

You want to loss weight and get fit but you don't want to join a health club -- it's too expensive, there's no gym convenient to you, or maybe you're just the independent type. Or perhaps you're already a gym member, but your schedule has been too manic for you to get away.

Meet " klaudiaignasiak_fit" IFBB Bikini Fitness Competitor 👙💋. ⭐️TOP9 Polish Junior Championships 2015.⭐TOP6 place Polish Junior Championships 2014.

That leaves working out at home. But can you really get a great workout without leaving the house?

In today's world, the reality of it is people don't have time to go to a facility every day anyway.

Believe it or not, at Instagram Fitness Pros they encourage folks to exercise at home as much as at the gym. This way, they are more apt to adopt fitness as a lifestyle. "The key thing is that you do something, somewhere, sometime.

Fitness experts say it doesn't take much effort or money to design an effective workout program at home. Things like fit balls, dumbbells, exercise bands or tubing, and push-up bars are an inexpensive way to create a routine that works all the major muscle groups.

But even with no props or machines, you can build muscles and burn calories.

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How to Improve Muscles performance in Training and Achieving your Goal.

Learn some tips that will make you may have a faster muscle recovery and thus improve their performance in training and achieving your goals.

In bodybuilding, as important as nurture and train the body properly is knowing provide specific periods of not only the muscle recovery, but the body in general, to provide increasing earnings and longer lasting.


Train intensely is fundamental to stimulate the muscle, however, he becomes totally ineffective when not take into account an adequate muscle recovery. So just do not train properly and eat correctly, the correct muscle recovery is as important as other factors, for "the muscle grows is at rest," you have heard this phrase?

And when we talk about recovery, soon comes to the minds of most bodybuilders rest, sleep, the act of sleeping. Of course, this is one of the most important ways to recover from something stressful, but there are other methods that we can use for that muscle recovery is even more effective. Let's meet some of these methods?

#1 - Triggers The Body a Conducive Environment  And Time  For Sleep:

Sleep is one of the main and most important stages of the recovery period. As important as food and as important as the training itself, sleep can be extremely anabolic and assist in muscle gains and reduction of body.


Today, divided into different phases, sleep represents in each one stage in which the body has different actions in various body structures and different impacts against it. And these range from synthesis and hormonal secretions, the protein synthesis, glycogen synthesis, relaxation of body and mind and etc.

Sleep all the time is not something that results or bring extra benefits, so the hours INTENDED FOR SLEEPING are essentially required to be overvalued and in fact exist. An individual, for example, that presents difficulties or inadequacies with the time to sleep, usually presents with numerous physical and mental problems, ranging from simple weariness even mental disorders.

Sensitive to light, temperature, sounds, touches, smells and other body is directly influenced during sleep and moments before it to perform this physiological state well or not. So try to sleep in pleasant surroundings without noise or any noise, away from the minimum brightness (some references show that even a simple LED on can bring harm) without strong odors and properly scheduled hours.
This will be essential to properly recover the body in the rest period and then increase still more intensity in training, making them increasingly have optimized efficiency.

#2- Use Melatonin
Sleep well with melatonin:

Completing the previous tip on providing adequate sleep for muscle recovery, a tip that I personally use and find very interesting is the use of melatonin.
Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland after dark, so we can have sleep. But as they get older the amount of secreted melatonin decreases, which means that we have a quality of sleep worse. To solve this problem the tip is the use of any supplements melatonin base.
Use of melatonin-based supplements will make you able to regulate your sleep cycle, and presents several other benefits such as:
Strengthen the immune system;
Regulate the sleep cycle;
Reduce free radiciais;
Anti-oxidative effect;

More energy for the day, because you will have a better sleep, and  etc.

So whether or not trouble sleeping, melatonin can be an excellent accompaniment to a good muscle recovery after all sleep better never hurts.


#3- Use massage for better recovery
Sports massage to relax the muscle:

Massage is one of the fastest and pleasurable recovery means that there is, but it is not accessible to all, as in Brazil therapist is priced a little high. But if you have the possibility to massage once a week or once a month, do not think twice, do it!
A good massage will make your muscles are relaxed completely, which is totally in favor of good muscle recovery. Furthermore, the massage will help to ensure a reduction in muscle tone, accelerating the elimination of metabolic waste and improves the blood circulation.

A good massage option for us bodybuilders is called sports massage.

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The Best New Health and Fitness Stars on Instagram.

If you need a little push to get yourself to the gym, look no further.

Whether you want workout tips or you're just looking for a little motivation, there's no doubt that Instagram is great spot for fitness lovers. It's full of yogis, trainers, and people who just want to document their fitness journeys. But with the many hashtags and 'grammers out there, we know it can be hard to find the best of the best.

Instagram is loaded with fitnessaccounts but some aren't as good as others. ... From (healthy) food porn to impressive exercises, Instagram is a goldmine for any fitness .... Could Insects Be the New Superfood?

Their fitness account features healthy foods, inspiring ... borderline prophetic captions that just make you feelgood.

Here are one of The Best New Health and Fitness Stars on Instagram you should follow now.

Check out " Constandinos J. Kyriakides"

You will not disappointed u think.!!

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Foods for Bone Health: Getting Enough Calcium From Your Diet.

Meet your daily requirements for calcium with these dairy foods and vegetables.

Getting enough calcium from your diet can be tricky. According to the Institute of Medicine, Americans consume about 72% of their dietary calcium from milk, cheese, and yogurt and from foods to which dairy products are added, such as pizza and ice cream. The rest is derived from vegetables (7%); grains (5%); legumes (4%); fruit (3%); meat, poultry, and fish (3%); eggs (2%), and miscellaneous foods (3%).

While people can absorb about 30% of the calcium in dairy and fortified foods (such as orange juice, tofu made with calcium sulfate, and soy milk), absorption is about twice as high from certain green vegetables, such as broccoli, bok choy, and kale.

Much less calcium is absorbed from foods with high levels of oxalic acid—spinach, collard greens, sweet potatoes, rhubarb, and beans—and eating spinach with milk, for example, also reduces the calcium you can absorb from the milk. The calcium in foods that are high in phytic acid—whole grains, wheat bran, beans, seeds, nuts, and soy isolates—is also poorly absorbed, but these foods do not block absorption from other calcium-rich foods like milk.

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How to Get the Vitamins and Minerals you Need.

Good nutrition is much more than something to fill your stomach -- what you eat can affect your health, energy, and well-being in so many ways.

The most important feature of a good diet is variety. We all know variety is the spice of life, but did you realize that unless you eat a wide variety of foods, you may be missing out on important vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients? Eating the right mix of vitamins and minerals will help you feel and look your best at any age.

Color Rules

To make sure your eating plan contains all the nutrients you need, choose a rainbow of colorful foods. The pigments that give foods their color are also the nutritious substances that can reduce your risk of cancer and chronic diseases like heart disease.

Of course, foods with the most "pigment power" are mostly fruits and vegetables -- yet another reason to fill your plate with these fiber-filled, low-calorie, fat-free, super foods! Eaten together, fruits and vegetables pack an even bigger punch in reducing free radicals -- unstable molecules in the body that damage cells and are thought to contribute to the development of many diseases.

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 Vitamins in the News

The hottest vitamins these days are the antioxidants (E, C, and A, along with the mineral selenium) and the "sunshine" vitamin, also known as vitamin D.

Antioxidants help gobble up those nasty free radicals. A diet rich in antioxidants has been linked to a host of health-promoting, disease-fighting activities in the body.
Antioxidant-rich foods include:

•Vitamin A and beta-carotene: pumpkin, squash, carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, cantaloupes, dark leafy greens, and mangoes

•Vitamin C: citrus fruits, strawberries, bell peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and asparagus

•Vitamin E: vegetable oil, almonds, whole grains, wheat germ, sweet potatoes, and yams


Selenium: salmon and haddock
Vitamin D has been in the news lately as studies have shown that people living in northern latitudes (such as much of the northern U.S.) may not get enough of this nutrient. Without adequate vitamin D, your body can't properly absorb calcium, leading to a higher risk of broken bones -- especially in the elderly. A recent Swiss study suggests that elderly folks may be able to reduce their risk of injury from falls with vitamin D supplementation.

The best source of this nutrient is sunshine. Other good sources include:
Fortified milk and some orange juices. Juice manufacturers are now adding both calcium and vitamin D for better absorption.

•Salmon and mackerel
•Eggs
•Liver
•The Calcium Connection

Calcium is also the super-nutrient for keeping bones and teeth strong and preventing osteoporosis. The best sources of calcium are dairy foods, though it's also found in
dark leafy greens and

fortified products like cereal and orange juice.

Food or Pills?

Supplements are not the secret weapon to better health, nor can they make up for a poor diet. While vitamin and mineral pills can help round out a healthy diet, they cannot take the place of the many nutrients and fiber found in whole foods.

At the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic, we recommend taking a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement for nutritional "insurance." Depending on your food choices, even the best eating plans can fall short of meeting all your nutritional needs. Taking a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement is safe and may offer additional health benefits. According to a study published in the August 2003 Journal of Nutrition, a daily multivitamin can reduce your risk of having a first heart attack. Other studies have suggested that daily supplements can help maintain good health and reduce the risk of chronic disease.

But remember that more is not always better: When you are choosing your daily multivitamin/mineral, make sure it contains no more than 100% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance for any nutrient.

It's a much better idea to get your nutrients from food and take a simple vitamin/mineral supplement once per day -- unless your physician recommends otherwise. (Keep in mind that that certain health conditions, such as pregnancy, call for specific supplements, so check with your doctor if you have health issues.)

The Basics

Every day, scientists are discovering substances in food that promote health and protect against diseases. As time goes on, they will likely uncover even more exciting links between nutrients and health.
In the meantime, here are some basic things we know for sure about vitamins and minerals:
Vitamins and minerals have no calories.


All vitamins and minerals can be found in foods.


If your diet has too little of a vitamin or mineral over a long period of time, you will develop a deficiency.

The best form of most vitamins and minerals is the kind you get from food.

So go ahead: Add any or all of the foods mentioned in this article to your grocery list. Choosing foods and beverages that are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and other healthful substances will help satisfy hunger, ward off chronic diseases, and keep a zip in your step.


Via:  http://www.medicinenet.com/vitamins_minerals_and_nutritional_supplements/article.htm

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