The Secret to Better Health is Exercise - 4 Prescribed Exercises.

Whether you're 9 or 90, abundant evidence shows exercise can enhance your health and well-being. But for many people, sedentary pastimes, such as watching TV, surfing the Internet, or playing computer and video games, have replaced more active pursuits.

What exercise can do for you

Millions of Americans simply aren't moving enough to meet the minimum threshold for good health — that is, burning at least 700 to 1,000 calories a week through physical pursuits. The benefits of exercise may sound too good to be true, but decades of solid science confirm that exercise improves health and can extend your life. Adding as little as half an hour of moderately intense physical activity to your day can help you avoid a host of serious ailments, including heart disease, diabetes, depression, and several types of cancer, particularly breast and colon cancers. Regular exercise can also help you sleep better, reduce stress, control your weight, brighten your mood, sharpen your mental functioning, and improve your sex life.

A well-rounded exercise program has four components: aerobic activity, strength training, flexibility training, and balance exercises. Each benefits your body differently.

Fighting disease with aerobic activity

Aerobic exercise is the centerpiece of any fitness program. Nearly all of the research regarding the disease-fighting benefits of exercise revolves around cardiovascular activity, including walking, jogging, swimming, and cycling. I recommend working out at moderate intensity when you perform aerobic exercise — brisk walking that quickens your breathing is one example. This level of activity is safe for almost everyone and provides the desired health benefits. Additional health benefits may flow from increased intensity.

Protecting bone with strength training

Strength or resistance training, such as elastic-band workouts and the use of weight machines or free weights, is vital for building muscle and protecting bone.

Bones lose calcium and weaken with age, but strength training can help slow or sometimes even reverse this trend. Not only can strength training make you look and feel better, but it can also result in better performance of everyday activities, such as climbing stairs and carrying bundles. Stronger muscles also mean better mobility and balance and a lower risk of falling and injuring yourself. Also, more lean body mass aids in weight control because each pound of muscle burns more calories than its equivalent in fat.

Easing back pain with flexibility exercises

Stretching or flexibility training is the third prong of a balanced exercise program. Muscles tend to shorten and weaken with age. Shorter, stiffer muscle fibers make you vulnerable to injuries, back pain, and stress. But regularly performing exercises that isolate and stretch the elastic fibers surrounding your muscles and tendons can counteract this process. And stretching improves your posture and balance.

Preventing falls with balance exercises

Balance tends to erode over time, and regularly performing balance exercises is one of the best ways to protect against falls that lead to temporary or permanent disability. Balance exercises take only a few minutes and often fit easily into the warm-up portion of a workout. Many strength-training exercises also serve as balance exercises. Balanced-enhancing movements may be woven into other forms of exercise, such as tai chi, yoga, and Pilates.

Exercise at a glance

In a nutshell, exercise can:

• reduce your chances of getting heart disease. For those who already have heart disease, exercise reduces the chances of dying from it.

• Lower your risk of developing hypertension and diabetes.

• Reduce your risk of colon cancer and some other forms of cancer.

• Improve your mood and mental functioning.

• Keep your bones strong and joints healthy.

• Help you maintain a healthy weight.

• Help you maintain your independence well into your later years.

4 of The Best Exercises You can Ever do

If you're not an athlete or serious exerciser — and you want to work out for your health or fit in your clothes better — the gym scene can be intimidating and overwhelming. 

Members of Poulin Health & Wellness have the Luxury of having Nicholas Poulin at their residence. Free from crowds and everyone's sweat. 

Just having to walk by treadmills, stationary bikes, and weight machines can be enough to make you head straight back home to the couch. 

Yet some of the best physical activities for your body don't require the gym or ask you to get fit enough to run a marathon. These "workouts" can do wonders for your health. They'll help keep your weight under control, improve your balance and range of motion, strengthen your bones, protect your joints, and even ward off memory loss.

No matter your age or fitness level, these activities are some of the best exercises you can do and will help you get in shape and lower your risk for disease:

1. Swimming

You might call swimming the perfect workout. The buoyancy of the water supports your body and takes the strain off painful joints so you can move them more fluidly. "Swimming is good for individuals with arthritis because it's less weight-bearing," explains Nicholas Poulin, Founder of Poulin Health & Wellness.

Research has found that swimming can also improve your mental state and put you in a better mood. Water aerobics is another option. These classes help you burn calories and tone up.

2. Tai chi

This Chinese martial art that combines movement and relaxation is good for both body and mind. In fact, it's been called "meditation in motion." Tai chi is made up of a series of graceful movements, one transitioning smoothly into the next.

Because the classes are offered at various levels, tai chi is accessible — and valuable — for people of all ages and fitness levels. "It's particularly good for older people because balance is an important component of fitness, and balance is something we lose as we get older," Nicholas says. Take a class to help you get started and learn the proper form. You can find tai chi programs at your local YMCA, health club, community center, or senior center.

3. Strength training

If you believe that strength training is a macho, brawny activity, think again. Lifting light weights won't bulk up your muscles, but it will keep them strong. "If you don't use muscles, they will lose their strength over time. Muscle also helps burn calories. "The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, so it's easier to maintain your weight," says Nicholas, to other exercise, strength training may also help preserve brain function in later years. Before starting a weight training program, be sure to learn the proper form.

Nicholas recommends working with a Fitness Expert who can critique your form, reps, sets, and pace. Start light, you should be able to lift the weights ten times with ease. After a couple of weeks, increase that by a pound or two. If you can easily lift the weights through the entire range of motion more than 12 times, move up to slightly heavier weight. (How Sleep Can Help You Build Muscle)

4. Walking

Walking is simple yet powerful. It can help you stay trim, improve cholesterol levels, strengthen bones, keep blood pressure in check, lift your mood, and lower your risk for a number of diseases (diabetes and heart disease, for example). Several studies have shown that walking and other physical activities can improve memory and resist age-related memory loss. All you need is a well-fitting and supportive pair of shoes. Start with walking for about ten to fifteen minutes at a time. Over time, you can start to walk farther and faster, until you're walking for 30 to 60 minutes on most days.

Take control of your health again.

Best Way to Lose Weight - Stop Doing it WRONG

I'm going to share with you the most crucial weight loss strategy that will literally make or break your success. This is the number one fat loss tip I could ever give you. If you don't get this right, you can kiss your fat loss results goodbye. This is the one absolute requirement for weight loss, and it’s something you’ve probably heard of before. However, there’s one critical distinction about this familiar advice that you might not have considered - and this one thing makes all the difference in the world…

Please keep in mind I am a big advocate on body positivity and feeling good in your own skin. You don’t need to have abs or a toned body to be beautiful. This article is to inform you on how to lose weight if that’s your goal. Your loved ones and I would like you around for a long time if you struggle with your weight ask for help! Now let’s get to it.

Let me quote Melvin Williams, PhD, professor emeritus of exercise science at Old Dominion University and author of the textbook Nutrition for Health, Fitness and Sport (McGraw Hill):

“Human energy systems are governed by the same laws of physics that rule all energy transformations. No substantial evidence is available to disprove the caloric theory. It is still the physical basis for bodyweight control.”

— Melvin Williams, PhD

There are a variety of diet programs and weight loss “gurus” who claim that calories don’t count. They insist that if you eat certain foods or avoid certain foods, that’s all you have to do to lose weight. Dozens, maybe hundreds of such diets exist, with certain “magic foods” put up on a pedestal or certain “evil fat-storing foods" banished into the forbidden foods zone.

Other weight loss “experts” invoke the insulin/carbohydrate hypothesis which claims that carbs drive insulin which drives body fat. Majority saying“Carbs are the reason for the obesity crisis today, not excess calories.”

They are all mistaken.

Of course, there IS more to nutrition than calories in vs calories out. Food quality and nutrition content matters for good health. In addition, your food choices can affect your energy intake. We could even point the finger at an excess of refined starches and grains, sugar and soft drinks (carbs!) as major contributing factors to the surplus calories that lead to obesity. However, that brings us back to excess calories as the pivotal point in the chain of causation, not carbs. A caloric deficit is a required condition for weight loss - even if you opt for the low carb approach - and that’s where your focus should go – on the deficit. This is why Intermittent Fasting(16:8 Diet) is such an effective weight loss program. You want to eat healthy the 8 hours you are eating but you are burning fat the 16 hours because no calories are being consumed.

Trying to count every single calorie - in the literal sense - can drive you crazy and is probably not realistic as a lifestyle for the long term. It's one thing to count portions instead of calories, that is at least acknowledging the importance of portion control. I use a food scale and measure my portions based on a cup, ounces, etc.

For example my third meal of the day consists of the following. Please keep in mind I’m looking to gain muscle and not trying to lose weight this is just an example. 

10oz Chicken 307.6 Calories, 63.1 Protein, 0 carbs, 3.9 Fat

1 cup of Broccoli 31 Calories, 2.5 Protein, 6 carbs, 0.4 Fat

6oz Sweet Potato 151.2 Calories, 3.4 Protein, 33.4 carbs, 0 Fat

Total:  489.8 Calories,  69 Protein, 39.4 Carbs, 4.3 Fat

However, it's another altogether to deny that calories matter. Is it necessary to count every calorie to lose weight? No. But it IS necessary to eat fewer calories then you burn. Whether you count calories and eat less than you burn, or you don't count calories and eat less than you burn, the end result is the same. Personally, I'd rather know exactly what I'm eating rather than take chances by guessing.

I believe that it's very important to develop an understanding of and a respect for the law of calorie balance (and portion control). I also believe that it's an important part of nutrition education to learn how many calories are in the foods you eat on a regular basis, including (and perhaps, especially) how many calories are in the foods you eat when you dine at restaurants.

Now, here’s that critical distinction…

You’ve heard it said, “exercise more and eat less” a million times. However, saying “focus on the calorie deficit” is NOT the same thing. If you don’t understand the difference, you could end up spinning your wheels for years. You could exercise more, but if you compensate by eating more, you cancel your deficit. You could eat less, but if you compensate by moving less, again you cancel your deficit.

This type of compensation can happen unconsciously, which leads to confusion about why you’re not losing weight or why you’re gaining. That often leads you to make excuses or blame the wrong thing… anything but the calories.

Therefore, “focus on the calorie deficit” more accurately states the most important key to weight loss than “exercise more and eat less.” Make sure you understand this distinction and then follow this advice.

Last but not least, keep in mind that there are a lot of ways to establish a deficit and many of those ways are really dumb. Eating nothing but grapefruits, cabbage, Twinkies… but in a deficit?… Dumb!

Conclusion

The bottom line is that a calorie deficit is required for fat loss, but once your deficit is established, the composition of your hypo-caloric diet DOES matter. That’s why any good fat loss program starts with "calories in vs calories out" but doesn’t stop there - you also need to look at protein, essential fats, macronutrients, micronutrients, food quality and how the diet you choose fits into your lifestyle. This is the pivotal strategy that my entire Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle system hinges upon.

Don’t let the simplicity of this idea fool you. This is the #1 key to your successful weight loss now and in the future: Focus on the deficit!

Train hard and expect success!'

Thank you for reading my blog! Let’s get you on track to living healthier life!

Your Friend,

Nicholas Poulin

CEO & Founder

Poulin Health & Wellness

5 Prescribed Exercises to Stregthen Your Glutes

Hello,

I hope you all are doing well.

This article is not just for women; it’s for men as well! Men, I know you’re asking: Why do I need to work my butt? I want a big chest and big arms! Well, I’m sorry to tell you but, all these ladies are smart and way ahead of the game! Your glutes are SUPPOSED to be the biggest muscle in your body and should perform exceptionally well. They are large and powerful because they have the job of keeping the trunk of the body erect. Your glutes are the chief antigravity muscles that aid you when walking up stairs. In other words, they play a crucial role in just about everything you do, so keeping them strong is essential for staying active and independent longer. When these muscles lack in strength, your body will let you know.

 Here are four common problems that may be the result of your weak glutes, along with the exercises you need to get your rear in gear.

Sign #1: Low Back Pain

If low back pain often puts a damper on your day, consider it a warning that your glutes are sleeping on the job.

“Our brains will call on whichever muscles are needed to perform a function,” says Nicholas Poulin, CEO & Founder of Poulin Health & Wellness in New York City. “If one group of muscles isn’t up to the task, your brain will order another group to pick up the slack.”

In other words, to help you complete everyday tasks—like bending over to lift something off the floor—your brain will shift the brunt of the work onto the lower back to compensate for weakness in the glutes. Over time, the added stress on your lower back builds up, leading to soreness, pain, muscle spasms, and possibly injury.

 Recent research backs this up. A study published in the journal PLOS One found that middle-aged women with chronic lower back pain had much smaller butt muscles than their pain-free counterparts. In addition, the smaller the muscles, the more medical visits women made to address low back pain.

Sign #2: Knee Pain

Achy knees are often written off as an inevitable side effect of getting older, and while it’s correct that knee pain has many age-related causes (namely, arthritis), chances are, weak glutes are a big part of the problem, Poulin says. If you’ve been diagnosed with arthritis, strengthening your glutes can at least help offset some of the pain you might experience.

Your glutes—the gluteus medius in particular—play a starring role in stabilizing your knees as you walk, stand, and chase after your grandkids.

“If you don’t have musculature above the knee to stabilize where that knee is in space, it will just go catawampus,” Poulin explains. For most people, the tendency is to let the knees fall inward, since that’s where they feel most stable, he says. But then, unfortunately, they start to feel pain.

Sign #3: Balance Problems

“When my patients have poor balance,” says Poulin, “it usually means they have weak glutes as well.”

This is because your glutes provide a stable base from which your arms and legs can move. If that base is weak and unstable, your limbs become weak and unstable as well.

Sign #4: Trouble Climbing Stairs 

The glutes are a powerful, thick, and fibrous muscle, Poulin says. As such, they play a significant role in generating power. If you look at sprinters, gymnasts, football players, and other power athletes, you’ll notice they all have noticeably strong behinds.

 Your daily to-do list may not require you to chase wide receivers, but it inevitably involves climbing stairs, going for walks, or playing tennis with friends. All of these activities require power, and power requires strong glutes.

If you quickly tire, get winded easily from climbing stairs, or you can’t return a volley as soon as you used to, chances are your glutes need work. “Everyone chalks loss of power up to old age,” says Poulin. “But, it’s often because of weakness in the glutes.

The Secret to Better Health is Exercise - Four Prescribed Exercises

Now let’s get you on track to living a healthier life! Here are 5 Exercises you can do at HOME to make improvements on how you feel and look!

Exercise #1 Body Weight Squats on Chair

Poulin explains that the squat is a great bang-for-your-buck exercise: It strengthens your glutes, abdominals, and all the big muscles in your legs, including the quads (front of your thighs) and hamstrings (back of your thighs).

How to do it: Stand tall with your feet shoulder- to hip-width apart. Hold your arms straight out in front of you at shoulder level, and brace your core. This is your starting position.

From here, push your hips back and bend your knees to lower your body into a squat, not letting your knees cave in as you do so. Pause at the bottom for two seconds, then squeeze your glutes to return to standing. That’s one rep. Perform two sets of 10 reps, or as many as you can until you tire. Aim to do this exercise three to four times per week.

Exercise #2: Standing Hip Extension

This move targets the gluteus maximus—the largest muscle in your body—and teaches you to stabilize your core to keep your pelvis centered, Poulin, says.

How to do it: Stand tall facing a wall, kitchen counter, or back of a sturdy chair, holding onto it for balance. Keeping your back straight, brace your core, and allow both legs to bend slightly.

From here, lift one leg straight behind you as far as you comfortably can, making sure not to bend your knee further as you do so. Don’t worry about how high you can lift your leg; what matters is that you’re able to squeeze your glutes without using your back muscles to compensate.

Pause for three seconds, then slowly lower your leg to return to starting position. That’s one rep. Do ten reps, and then repeat with your opposite leg. Perform two sets total three to four times per week.

Exercise #3: Lying-against-the-wall Clamshell

Clamshells build strength in the gluteus medius, the muscles on the sides of your hips that help stabilize your pelvis while you walk.

How to do it: Lie on one side with your legs stacked and knees bent at a 45-degree angle. Keeping your hips steady and your top foot down, lift only your top knee as high as you can. Lower your top knee back to the starting position. That’s one rep. Do ten reps, and then repeat on the other side. Perform two sets total three to four times per week.

Reminder: How high you’re able to lift your knee doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you activate your hip muscles without rotating at the pelvis, Poulin says. 

Exercise #4: Single-Leg Stand

Poulin loves single-leg balancing exercises for building glute strength and stability. This exercise also has a tremendous impact on your ability to perform everyday activities that require supporting yourself on one leg at a time, such as walking and climbing stairs.

 How to do it: Stand tall with your feet together and brace your core. From here—holding onto a wall, counter, or sturdy chair for balance, if necessary—lift your right foot just off of the floor so that you’re standing on your left foot. Imagine a string through the crown of your head is pulling your spine straight toward the ceiling, and engage your core to avoid leaning to one side. Try not to anchor your leg on the other, meaning squeeze them together. 

Hold this position for 30 seconds or as long as you can, then repeat on the opposite side. Poulin recommends doing this exercise every day, if possible. If you want to make it harder, add in some single-leg kicks: Engage your glutes, and alternate reaching your floating leg forward, backward, and to the side ten times. Then, switch legs and repeat.

Exercise #5 Side-lying Hip Raise

Performing side-lying hip abductions (or leg raises) on the floor is an effective way to train your lateral glute muscles, which are essential knee stabilizers and help round out your overall butt development. 

How to do it: Make sure that the toes of the working leg are pointing downwards. This ensures that the hips, not the thighs, are doing most of the work. Poulin recommends two sets of 20 to 30 reps on each side with minimal rest between sides. Once you master these, consider adding an ankle weight to give your glutes another reason to hate you.

Are you looking for an online coach who can help relieve your pain and feel more confident? Nicholas Poulin, is known for being an expert in his field and has limited slots open for Virtual sessions. Click the link below to inquire.

Best,

Nicholas Poulin

Founder & CEO

Poulin Health & Wellness

Foam Roller Stretches - Acute pain & Self-myofascial Release

Hello,

Foam rolling, also known as self-myofascial release, helps release muscle tension by making the top layers of tissues more flexible. It's a very inexpensive way to help relieve pain as well as break down some of those trigger spots the develop in the fascia. I usually look at areas of problem for my members and try to help aide it. 

So here are a few stretches you can implement in to help. 

Please be advised: Foam rolling is for acute pain that consists of tight muscles, which should feel achy and comes and goes. Foam rolling should give you signs of relief.

Chronic pain that consists of sharp or tingling lasts more than 12 weeks, or started after some traumatic incident, see your doctor. A doctor can advise about more serious muscular or skeletal injuries while a physical therapist can analyze your movement to pinpoint the problem.

Shoulder & Neck Pain

How to foam roll your upper back: Lie with the foam roller perpendicular to your spine, just under your shoulder blades, with your butt on the ground. Support the back of your head with hands and extend your spine backward, then return to the starting position. Continue rotating backward and forward.

Stretch your chest: Commonly,  shoulder pain is due to poor posture, which consists of the pectoral muscle and latissimi dorsi muscle being tight.  Stand in the middle of a doorway with your arms extended at the sides at a ninety-degree angle. Holding onto the doorframe, have one leg forward, and start shifting your weight forward on to front leg until you feel the stretch in front of your shoulders and across your chest. 

Knee Pain 

Pain in this joint often comes from tightness in the iliotibial (aka your IT band) running up the outside of your thigh or from tight quads.

How to foam roll your IT band and quads: Lie with a foam roller just above your knee on the outside of your leg.

Make sure it's perpendicular to your body. Move your body back and forth, so the roller moves along the IT band from your knee up to your hip. Then roll your quads, pausing when you hit a tight spot; bending and straightening knee will help get deeper into the muscle. 

Stretch your quads and hip flexors: Kneel in front of a couch or wall. Keeping your left knee on the floor, raise the left foot behind you and rest it against the couch or wall. Step your right leg out, so the right foot is flat on the floor, and the right knee is bent, thigh parallel to the floor. Hold this pose for a few breaths. You should feel the stretch in your left quad and hip flexor — alternate sides. 

Back Pain

Pain in your back might stem from the front of your body: A tight hip flexor (the muscle where your legs meet your hips) often tugs on your lower back and results in aches in that area. Using a lacrosse ball is better for targeting lower-back pain than a foam roller because it can get deeper into the tense tissues. I recommend using the lacrosse ball rather than rolling your back.

Roll your lower back:  Lie face down with a lacrosse ball under your hip flexor, easing your weight into it. Roll in small circles until you hit a tight spot, then stop and let the muscle sink into it. Bending knee behind you and letting your lower leg fan in and out can also help.

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Best,

Nicholas Poulin

CEO & Founder

Poulin Health & Wellness