Menstruation & Inversion

An interesting email from reader, Karen:

"During a general discussion about Pilates with a friend who practices Yoga, she asked me if female Pilates students are told not to do similar inverted exercises like the plough (roll-over / jack-knife / short spine), head / shoulder stand during menstruation. I told her no, and I asked her why not. She replied that her Yoga instructors had explained that the flow of energy during those days will be blocked during inversions and may cause giddiness.

I did a quick search on the internet, and there are basically 2 schools of thought :
Not OK (http://www.yoga.com/ydc/enlighten/enlighten_document.asp?ID=74&section=9&cat=93)

It's OK (http://yogapilates.suite101.com/article.cfm/practicing_yoga_on_your_period) (http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/831).

Presently ignoring the philosophy behind Yoga, I hope you would share thoughts as female Pilates instructor on the topic, and whether a female body executes the Pilates exercises differently (from your personal observations) during the different stages of the cycle.

Thanks,
Karen"

First of all, I need to thank Karen for bringing up this topic for discussion. I myself was confused when I first started off in fitness industry too.

In the past, it was believed that performing inversion exercise during menstruation may lead to 'retrograde menstruation', where menstrual blood tissues 'leaks' out of the womb thru the fallopian tube openings into the pelvic area. These blood tissues then stick to pelvic organs and continue to grow and respond to fluctuation of female hormones throughout the menstrual cycle, causing symptoms of endometriosis. Thus women were advised to avoid inversion exercises during menstruation.

However, retrograde menstruation happens natually in almost all women, but only 3-10% of them suffer from endometriosis. So there must be other factors (e.g. genetic and immune dysfunction) that actually cause the condition. And inversion exercises should not be blamed on its own.

Others were concerned that inversion exercise might cause vascular congestion, leading to heavier menstrual flow. However vascular congestion can also be aggravated by standing and other physical activity, not just inversion pose alone.

My take is, inversion exercise is safe to be performed during menstruation, as long as you don't hold it for too long (seriously, what's the point of holding yourself long in the inverted pose?!). As with any other exercises, one should listen to their body and see what works and what doesn't for their own body. If you have much heavier menstrual flow or pelvic pain after doing inversion exercise, then do less or avoid them completely in future.

*To side-track a little, inversion exercises are absolutely NO-NO for people with high blood pressure, stroke, post-natal and glaucoma.

Make Your Body Burn More Fat on Its Own!

There are many things in life that doesn't work in the "more-the-merrier" manner, unlike what most people think, dieting and exercise are just two of such examples.

Many overweight people achieved incredible amount of weight loss when they change their lifestyle, that is by eating less and exercise more. But they soon reach a weight-loss planteau, the speed and amount of weight loss start to slow down and even stop. They become so eager to continue losing weight that they stop eating proper meals, and they do cardio exercises like running and biking for few hours, DAILY.

Problem is, what if these people hit another weight-loss plateau? Are they going to increase their exercise duration to 24/7 just to lose extra pounds?! That just doesn't make any logical sense.

What really happen to these people is, as explained by Yahoo Health:

Our bodies are built to survive, so when you exercise for long periods of time (often and consistently) your body thinks it needs to hold on to fat for energy. Doing short (12-15 minute), intense exercise sessions builds strength and burns calories, but not fat, so it “feels safe” using fat stores for energy after exercise.

So if you run everyday for 30 minutes, you are turning your body into a fat-sparing machine. So what is the ideal strategy to keep your body efficient in burning fat and to spare your precious time for social life than to be stuck in endless cardio exercise?

1. Instead of running/biking everyday for 30min, exercise in short, intense bursts (interval training) for effective fat burning after exercise. E.g. Run for 10-15min at 80-85% (depends on your fitness of course ) max heart rate (MHR) instead your normal routine of 30min at 65% MHR

2. Build more lean muscle by increase the amount of resistance/strength/weight training you do. Muscle is ‘metabolically active’ and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you’re not moving. Don't worry, weight training is NOT going to make you look like body builder that easily.

3. Chill on the amount of food you are eating.

Here is a sample five-day/week training schedule for you:

Day 1 Weight training for big muscle groups (Back/Chest/ Legs) and short & very intense cardio training , e.g. 15-minute fast run/walk or fast cycling sprint intervals. Day 2 Moderately long, moderately intense session (30-45 minutes) of strong walking, cycling, or Pilates Day 3 60-90 minutes of a moderately paced walk/hike. Day 4 Short & very intense cardio session, e.g. 15-minute fast run/walk or fast cycling sprint intervals. Day 5 Weight training for big muscle groups (Back/Chest/ Legs) and moderately long, moderately intense cardio (30-45 minutes)

It would be great if you can add on daily Pilates practice to your training scheule too! But remember, more does not equal to better. Make sure you practice Pilates exercises with control and precision. Repetition is never the emphasis in Pilates.

Toes Saver for High-Heel Wearers

High-heels are must-have in a lady's wardrobe. They come in different shapes and styles and they are always in the fashion trend.

Why? Because high-heels can do wonders to enhance a lady's look. They make her look taller, legs appear longer and more slender. And they can also miraculously make buttocks seem firmer and rounder to the eyes.

But wearing high-heels regularly have detrimental effects to the feet, and to other parts of the body too. It may cause foot deformities like bunion and degenerative changes in the knee joints. Since high-heels affect the way a lady stands, it affects her posture and thus might cause problem in the spine too.

But how can any lady give up the sexy heels? Moderation is the key. Choose heels fit properly (though oftern not easy!), wear high-heels on alternate days allows your foot to rest and recover with wearing more comfortable footwear. Of course doing Pilates can help too, it can maintain foot health as many Pilates exercises stress on proper foot/ toes alignment, balancing and strengthening the foot structures.

You can also save your foot (and save yourself from giving up wearing that favourite pair of heels!) by spending just 5 minutes every night doing simple stretches. I had made a video sometimes ago to demostrate these stretches, but I have yet to figure out how to add on subtitles (can some kind soul pls enlighten me!). So instead I have borrowed a good illustration from a Hong Kong lifestyle magazine, Sudden Weekly, which demostrate the stretches. Please bear with these static images and instructions till some kind soul enlighten me with simple and non-time-consuming video editing:
For those who can't read chinese, here is the translation:

1st Pic on the left: Gently pull the 1st tarsal (aka the big toes) downwards. Hold 30 seconds to lengthen and relax the joint.

2nd Pic on the left: Gently pull the big toes and 2nd toes apart. Hold for 30 seconds to "straighten" the big toe

3rd Pic on the left: Grab a small towel firmly with all the toes, repeat 3 sets of 20 repetitions to strengthen the foot muscles.

1st Pic on the Right: Stretch the big toe up towards your shin. Hold for 30 seconds to lengthen and relax the plantar fascia (fibrous supportive tissue) under the foot

Calf Stretch: Stand with back foot flat on floor and transfer weight to front foot. Keep your back straight and hold for about 20 seconds for each leg. This will help relax and lengthen the calves muscles.

Remember just 5 minustes a day can help prevent bunion and give you a prettier and healthier feet. It can also reduce your chance of having to go thru expensive and painful bunion surgery.

~~ 5 minutes a day will give you a prettier and healthier pair of foot!

My Sports Bra Gives me Neck Ache!

It's a shame that, though I practive Pilates regularly, I suffered from bad neck aches.

Sometimes my neck ached so bad that I felt like the whole world was crumbling down my head.

Pilates had already given me a lot of pain relief. So you can imagine how bad it had been.

I changed my mattress, got myself a new memory foam pillow. I am careful with my posture, I have strong back muscles and I stretch regularly. I didn't know what's causing the ache and I even suspected something was wrong with the Feng Shui of my room, so I painted the walls a new colour and shuffled furniture into new layout. But why didn't the neck ache go away?

One weekend I was all alone at home working at my laptop and my neck started to ache badly. I wanted to rub the ache off my neck, so I reached for the massage oil. But the moment I took off my sports bra to make way for the massage, the pain immediately reduced 80%! Only then I realised, gosh, my favourite sports bra was the culprit!

I have been wearing this sports bra for years. I liked it a lot because it gave me very good support (maybe too good support) for my run. Apparently my body had changed over the years and my upper body had grown bigger, meaning the sports bra became tighter. The shoulder straps of the bra acted like super shortened upper trapezius muscles and bound my shoulders and neck uptight. That was what made my neck ached! No wonder all my stretches didn't work.

Besides neck ache, wrong bra size can also cause backache, shoulder pain, tender bust and bad posture. It is not a matter that ladies should take casually.

If you do have neckache (and bra size is not the main culprit), try the following:
1. Isometric exercises

• clasp hands together behind head and press head firmly against hands for five seconds, then relax pressure
• bend head forward and apply gentle pressure with hands for ten seconds, relax pressure once again
• repeat five more times or as needed.
  
• Do not force head too far forward and stop if any pain is felt.

2. Stretching

• bend head to right and hold for ten seconds, then roll gently, head forward, then to left.
• shrug shoulders, hold for a few seconds and then release.
  
• Repeat if needed.
  
• Go slowly and don't force head to shoulders, only go as comfortably as you feel.
  

Anyway, I found this video pretty cool, it gives a short and sweet overview on neckache and pain relief good exercises:

Pilates: How To Prevent And Relieve Neck Ache