Body Backed By Science

Your  glutes  largest muscle group in your body, making them incredibly important for pretty much every physically demanding thing you do. While most trainers would point to the traditional squat for building muscles below the waist, it’s the hip thrust that activates your glutes and prevents some of the problems that arise from ignoring those “non-mirror” muscles. “Weak glutes are associated with tight hip flexors, sore knees, and can be associated with poor movement mechanics,” says  Dr. Austin Robinson , a strength coach with a Ph.D. in exercise science. “Targeting the glutes with hip thrusts should help these issues and improve other important lifts, such as squat and deadlift.” Don’t think I am saying stay away from squats because hip raises are it. Absolutely not, you need both moves.  According to a  2015 study  published in the  Journal of Applied Biomechanics  led by  “The Glute Guy” Bret Contreras , barbell hip thrusts activate...

When it comes to food I see to many people stressing over being perfect. Here’s what that stress can do: Perfectionism may be a strong suit or a stumbling block, depending on how it's channeled, as clinical psychologist Jeff Szymanski explains. Dr. Szymanski is an associate instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and executive director of the International OCD Foundation. "The core of all perfectionism is the intention to do something well," says Dr. Szymanski. "If you can keep your eye on intention and desired outcome, adjusting your strategy when needed, you're fine.... But when you can't tolerate making a mistake, when your strategy is to make no mistakes, that's when perfectionism starts veering off in the wrong direction." In its most severe form, perfectionism can leave you unable to complete any task for fear of making a mistake. This is why I tell my clients not to stress over food when life gets rough. Take a day (when I app...

I wanted to touch on the salt and sugar topics a bit. We have all heard how bad sugar is and had a battle of what sugars to actually use. We have all heard how bad salt is for your body. I am going to debunk a few of these rumors.  Lets touch on sugar first. Dr. William Coda Martin once said, “When is a food a food and when is it poison”? His medical definition of poison was, :Any substance applied to the body, ingested or developed within the body, which causes or may cause disease. Physically: Any substance which inhibits the activity of a catalyst (which is a minor substance, chemical or enzyme that activates a reaction).” The reason Dr. Martin has classified refined sugar as a poison is because it has been deleted of its life forces, vitamins and minerals. What is left is pure, refined carbohydrates. The body cannot effectively utilize this refined starch and carbohydrate unless the depleted proteins, vitamins and minerals are present. When we eat sugar in absence of nutri...