Swimming is Good For You

Ok!  Everybody into the pool!!!  Swimming can be the gentler and kinder workout for your knees, but you can really kick butt and get a better butt while playing around in the water.  Every time you kick in the water, you are increasing your muscle strength, burning calories and increasing your overall flexibility.  The strokes and form of swimming enable you to lengthen your body to its max, thereby elongating your muscles and stretching your tight and shortened muscles.  The forgiveness of the anti-gravity feeling of the water gives you that 'feel good' and happiness of being a kid in the water.  Your lungs will get a great workout through rhythmic breathing and your heart will love you for the overall increase in blood circulation.  After several weeks of pretending you are a fish, you'll notice toner, firmer muscles and a 'lifeted' butt.  Swimming is one exercise that uses all the muscles groups, so you just can't go wrong.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Can't swim?  Shame on you!!!  You might have to save your own life one day just by knowing how to swim to safety.  Take this perspective and go take some swimming lessons.  If you know how to swim, check out your local community or health club pool and join a refresher class, a water polo class or some fun weekly group swim.  If you're a loner, just jump in and do your thing.  For the readers here in Manhattan:  the Reebok Club, Chelsea Piers and Asphalt Green all have wonderful facilities, multitudes of classes and lessons for all levels.  You'll feel great and look great at the end of the day and what better way to impress someone at the beach with that new butt!

Knee Pain and the Posterior Thighs

Knees are tricky business, indeed!  But did you know that quite often, knee pain is a result of insufficient strength of posterior thigh muscles?  Yessiree...lack of strength of the semitendinosus, semembranosus and biceps femoris can lead to instability of the knee joint because they attach at the superior and inferior posterior ends of the thigh (to put it in plain English).  Women, particularly can 'hyperextend'  at the knee joints, which makes them look like bow-legged sailors (not a very attractive look for skirts and dresses).

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  If you are experiencing knee pain, make an appointment today for an orthopedic evaluation and treatment.  Acupuncture is highly effective in the treatment of orthopedic injuries and along with your treatment, you will receive suggestions for muscle-strengthening exercises that will make you legs long, hard, lean and mean, and...oh yeah...you'll get rid of that nasty knee pain in the process!