Exercise

Subterms

    More stories

    • 88 Shares159 Views

      in Elections

      A 12-Minute Workout to Build Foot Strength

      by

      Much like how the network of muscles around the hips, pelvis and back act like scaffolding for the spine, the tiny muscles within the feet are responsible for supporting the arch, absorbing load and keeping you stable when you walk or run.“You put four to six times your body weight through your feet when you walk,” said Courtney Conley, the founder of Gait Happens, a Colorado-based online education resource focused on foot health. “And 11 times your body weight when you run.”These muscles within the foot, known as the foot core, are activated when we walk barefoot but become dormant and weak when we wear narrow, cushioned footwear, Dr. Conley said.Over time, a weak foot core alters your gait and can lead to falls and injuries, such as shin splints. Therefore, anyone who spends a lot of time on their feet — such as a nurse or restaurant server and people who run or walk for fitness — could benefit from adding foot strengthening exercises to their routine, said Dr. Conley.If you want to strengthen your running game or simply protect your feet as you age, try the following five drills, listed from easiest to most challenging. They won’t take more than 12 minutes to complete in one session, but you can also sprinkle them throughout your day.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares179 Views

      in Elections

      For a Strong Body, You Need Strong Feet

      by

      These three simple tests could save you a lot of pain in the long run.Building long-term strength means training all parts of your body: your legs, your arms and your core. But what about your feet?Your feet are responsible for mobility and balance. And having strong feet with dexterous toes is important for both for health and fitness, said Courtney Conley, the founder of Gait Happens, a Colorado-based online education resource focused on foot health.But most people first learn about the concept of foot strengthening after an injury, she said. Incorporating foot and toe exercises into your routine long before you develop shin splints or plantar fasciitis can help prevent those injuries and improve how you walk, especially as you age.“Toe weakness is the single biggest predictor of falls when we get older,” Dr. Conley said.Why foot strength is importantIn some ways, simply moving through life on your feet gives them a workout, said Martin Ellman, a podiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. You engage the foot core — a network of tiny muscles in your feet that create balance and provide stability — every time you stand or walk.The foot should act like a tripod, said Dr. Conley. When you stand, your weight should be distributed between the heel and the base of the big and little toes (the meaty parts), with your toes splayed in order to create a strong foundation.However, poor footwear often cramps the toes and stiffens the midfoot, said Jim Dooner, a physical therapist at the Foot Collective, a Brisbane, Australia-based foot care company.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 163 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      Do the Wrist Weights Going Viral on TikTok Work? We Asked the Experts.

      by

      We asked fitness experts what wearable weights, which are popular on TikTok, can really do for your health.Wearable wrist weights, which once seemed relegated to the dustbin of fitness history, are seeing a resounding resurgence on social media.The one- to three-pound cuffs first gained popularity during the fitness boom of the 1980s, when exercisers strapped on models made from fabric and filled with sand. But by the early 2000s, they had mostly gone the way of the leg warmer. It didn’t help that they absorbed sweat, which made them smell over time.Their current resurrection has been fueled by brands like Bala, whose weighted “bangles” look like a fashion accessory: They are made from silicone-covered steel and come in muted colors that seem designed for TikTok and Instagram.Like many at-home fitness brands, Bala’s business saw a boost during the pandemic. The company’s founders presented the bangles in a February 2020 episode of “Shark Tank.” A few weeks later, pandemic lockdowns took effect, and suddenly, “everyone needed toilet paper and workout equipment,” said Natalie Holloway, Bala’s co-founder. Before long, other versions, with a similar aesthetic and silicone design, appeared on Amazon and retail store shelves.In recent years, fitness personalities and social media influencers have promoted the benefits of wrist weights. Beyond Bala, a variety of other styles exist, including sweat-wicking options from Nike and leather wraps from the workout mogul Tracy Anderson.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in Elections

      Why Chronic Illness Symptoms are Commonly Dismissed as Just Stress

      by

      Chronic disease symptoms are often dismissed by physicians — and patients themselves. But that comes from a complex relationship between sickness and stress itself.Amina AlTai had always prided herself on her drive and resilience. When she began experiencing brain fog and fatigue, Ms. AlTai, 39, simply thought it was from working long hours in her marketing job. So she started writing down reminders to keep herself on track. But then her hair started falling out, she gained and lost a lot of weight and she started having gastrointestinal issues.Ms. AlTai was certain that something was wrong. But the first six doctors she saw didn’t take her seriously, she said. Some told her she had so much hair that losing a little bit shouldn’t be a problem. Several said she seemed healthy, and dismissed her symptoms as simply stress. It was only when another physician ordered blood tests that Ms. AlTai was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease and celiac disease, two autoimmune conditions that can damage the thyroid and the small intestine.“They called me and told me, ‘Don’t go into work. Go to the hospital instead, because you’re days away from multiple organ failure,’” Ms. AlTai remembered. The two chronic diseases had upended her ability to regulate hormones and absorb critical vitamins and nutrients.Scientists now know that stress is intimately linked with many chronic diseases: It can drive immune changes and inflammation in the body that can worsen symptoms of conditions like asthma, heart disease, arthritis, lupus and inflammatory bowel disease. Meanwhile, many issues caused by stress — headaches, heartburn, blood pressure problems, mood changes — can also be symptoms of chronic illnesses.For doctors and patients, this overlap can be confusing: Is stress the sole cause of someone’s symptoms, or is something more serious at play?“It’s really hard to disentangle,” said Scott Russo, director of the Brain-Body Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Elections

      3 Exercises to Test Your Physical Fitness Level

      by

      How do you know if you are fit? Or, at least, fit enough? And how can you tell if your fitness is improving?You have to test yourself. And while most people haven’t participated in a fitness evaluation since their high school Presidential Physical Fitness Test, it’s good to occasionally check in on your progress.“It’s very important to know that what you’re doing is working,” said Matt Fitzgerald, coach and author of “Run Like a Pro (Even if You’re Slow).” “Then you can course correct if what you’re doing is not working.”In fact, some experts say that testing yourself every three to six months can tell you more about your fitness than looking at daily performance, which often varies significantly. While fitness can be measured — and expressed — in many ways, here are three tests designed to track strength and cardiovascular fitness that can be done with little or no equipment.Jump ahead• The Dead Hang for grip strength• The Cooper Test for cardiovascular fitness• The Plank for core strength

      [id*=”scrolly-instance-“] p {
      padding-left: 20px;
      padding-right: 20px;
      }

      [id*=”scrolly-instance-“] p span {
      background-color: white;
      display: block;
      text-shadow: none;
      color: #333;
      font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, ‘times new roman’, times, serif;
      font-size: 1.125rem;
      line-height: 1.5625rem;
      padding: 20px;
      }

      #scrolly-instance-1 .scrolly-image-0,
      #scrolly-instance-1 .scrolly-image-2 {
      object-position: bottom;
      }

      #scrolly-instance-2 .scrolly-image-1 {
      object-position: right top;
      }

      @media (min-width: 740px) {
      [id*=”scrolly-instance-“] p span {
      font-size: 1.25rem;
      line-height: 1.875rem;
      }
      }
      We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      How Your Body and Mind Change in Midlife

      by

      Midlife, typically defined as ages 40 to 60, is an inflection point. It’s a time when our past behaviors begin to catch up with us and we start to notice our bodies and minds aging — sometimes in frustrating or disconcerting ways. But it’s also an opportunity: What our older years will look and feel […] More

    • 125 Shares109 Views

      in Elections

      TikTok Attempts to Rein In Diet and Weight Loss Content

      by

      The company said it will work to remove content about drugs like Ozempic, extended fasting and more from the “For You” feed.Emma Lembke did not know what an algorithm was when she started using social media.The then-12-year-old was thrilled when her parents gave her permission to join Instagram. She quickly followed all kinds of accounts — from Kim Kardashian to Olive Garden, she said — and was soon spending five to six hours a day on the app. Then one day she searched for “ab workouts,” and her feed shifted. She started seeing 200-calorie recipes, pro-anorexia posts and exercise routines that “no 12-year-old should be doing in their bedroom,” she said.Ms. Lembke, now 21, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in February 2023 about how social media led her to disordered eating, and what she and other advocates see as a dire need for stronger regulation to protect social media’s youngest users.Social media platforms have promised to take more action. On Friday, TikTok enacted what some experts called one of the most well-defined policies by a social media company yet on weight and dieting posts. The company’s updated guidelines, which come as TikTok faces a potential ban in the United States, include new guardrails on posts that show “potentially harmful weight management behaviors” and excessive exercise.TikTok said it will work to ensure the “For You” page, which serves as the main content feed on TikTok and is driven by an algorithm that caters to a user’s interests, no longer shows videos that promote “extended intermittent fasting,” exercises designed for “rapid and significant weight loss” or medications or supplements that promote muscle gain. The new regulations also aim to crack down on posts from influencers and other users promoting products used for weight loss or to suppress appetite, such as drugs like Ozempic. They also aim to curb content promoting anabolic steroid use.Under the new policy, machine learning models will attempt to flag and remove content that is considered potentially dangerous; a human moderation team will then review those posts to see if they need to remain off the For You feed, should be removed from age-restricted feeds or should be removed from the platform altogether, said Tara Wadhwa, TikTok’s director of policy in the United States.The elimination of problematic TikToks from the main feed is meant in part to “interrupt repetitive content patterns,” the new guidelines said. Ms. Wadhwa said the company wants to ensure users aren’t exposed to diet and weight loss content “in sequential order, or repeatedly over and over again.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 75 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      Dancing Past the Venus de Milo

      by

      I fell in love with the Louvre one morning while doing disco moves to Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” in the Salle des Cariatides.The museum, a former medieval fortress and then royal palace, had not yet opened, and I was following instructions to catwalk and hip bump and point in the grand room where Louis XIV once held plays and balls.The sun cast warm light through long windows, striping the pink-and-white checkered floor and bathing the marble arms, heads and wings of the ancient Grecian statues around me.“Point, and point, and point,” shouted Salim Bagayoko, a dance instructor. So I struck my best John Travolta poses and pointed around the room, my eyes landing on the delicate sandaled foot of Artemus, the wings of a Niobid and the stone penis of Apollo.The woman beside me caught my eye. We giggled.Over the years, I have felt many things in the world’s most-visited, and arguably most-famous, museum — irritation, exhaustion and some wonder, too.This time, I felt joy.The classes are part of an effort by museums and galleries across France to put on Olympics-themed shows as Paris prepares to host the Olympic Games.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More