Sunday, November 24, 2013



Stuart McGill talks about spinal flexion and the consequences.



"There are only so many bends or a 'fatigue life'," in your spinal disks," says Stuart M. McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo. Inside each disk is a mucus-like nucleus, he says, and "if you keep flexing your spine and bending the disk over and over again, that nucleus slowly breaches the layers and causes a disk bulge, or a disk herniation." A herniated disk won't show through your swimsuit, but it's no fun, and can cause persistent back and leg pain, weakness, and tingling.
Think of the oft-repeated advice for movers: bend at the hips and lift with your legs, not your back. And what is a sit-up but a back bend done in a lying position? "When people are doing curl up over gym balls and sit-ups, and this kind of thing, they are replicating a very potent injury mechanism on their back," says McGill. "Every time they bend it they are one repetition closer to damaging the disk."

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Why Sitting Kills While Moving Heals

Why Sitting Kills While Moving Heals

"Lipoprotein lipase is dramatically reduced during inactivity, and increases with activity, the most effective activity being, you guessed it, standing up from a seated position. Lipoprotein lipase is an enzyme that attaches to fat in your bloodstream and transports it into your muscles to be used as fuel. So essentially, simply by standing up, you are actively helping your body to burn fat for fuel."