How to get rid of muscle cramps in your legs

  

The muscles in your legs are made up of bundles of fibers that alternately contract and expand to produce movement. A cramp is a sudden, involuntary contraction (tightening) of one of these muscles, typically in your calf. Cramps can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. They can be mild, or intense enough to wake you out of a sound sleep. A sudden, painful muscle spasm in the leg is called a charley horse, which legend has it is named after baseball player Charlie "Hoss" Radbourn, who reportedly suffered from frequent cramps back in the 1880s.

Sometimes there is no obvious cause for a cramp. Exercise is a common trigger, especially after you've exercised for a long period of time or in the heat. Muscles that are tired or dehydrated become irritated and are more likely to cramp up. A deficiency of electrolytes such as magnesium or potassium in your diet can lead to more frequent cramping, by preventing your muscles from fully relaxing. The risk of a cramp increases during pregnancy, possibly because of circulatory changes and increased stress on the muscles from a growing belly. Age is another factor, with cramps becoming more frequent in middle age and beyond. Older muscles tire more easily, and they become increasingly sensitive to lower fluid volumes in the body. Cramps can also be a side effect of medicines like statins, which are used to treat high cholesterol.

Symptoms of muscle cramps

They can include:

• Sudden pain and tightness in a muscle, typically in your calf
•  A temporary hard lump or twitching under the skin

Diagnosing muscle cramps

You should be able to treat a cramp on your own, but see a doctor if your cramps are severe, you get them often, or you have other symptoms (like numbness or weakness) along with them. Rarely, cramps can signal a problem with the spine, blood vessels, or liver.

Treating muscle cramps

Most cramps will go away on their own within a few minutes. Massaging or gently stretching the muscle will help it relax. Heat is soothing to tense muscles. Apply a heating pad or warm wet washcloth to help loosen up the muscle.

To avoid leg cramps in the future, drink plenty of fluids before and during exercise. Muscles need fluid to contract and relax properly. Prevent tightness by warming up your leg muscles before you work out with some walking in place or a slow jog. After each workout, stretch out your leg muscles for a few minutes. Do another set of stretches before bed if you tend to get cramps while you sleep.

 

 

Simple core strengtheners for every day of the week

By Heidi Godman, Executive Editor, Harvard Health Letter

Doing just a few minutes of activity per day helps boost core strength so you can stay active and independent.

Our ancestors might have been surprised to know that future generations would struggle to keep their muscles strong. After all, it took lots of work to survive each day — farming, hunting, hand-washing clothes, and walking or riding animals to get around. All of that activity helped people maintain muscle strength.

Now it takes a concerted effort to strengthen the muscles, especially in the core (the abdomen, hips, back, and chest). Core muscles help us bend, lift, sit, stand, climb, and stay active and independent

 5 surprising benefits of walking

The next time you have a check-up, don't be surprised if your doctor hands you a prescription to walk. Yes, this simple activity that you've been doing since you were about a year old is now being touted as "the closest thing we have to a wonder drug," in the words of Dr. Thomas Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of course, you probably know that any physical activity, including walking, is a boon to your overall health. But walking in particular comes with a host of benefits. Here's a list of five that may surprise you.

1. It counteracts the effects of weight-promoting genes. 

 Harvard researchers looked at 32 obesity-promoting genes in over 12,000 people to determine how much these genes actually contribute to body weight. They then discovered that, among the study participants who walked briskly for about an hour a day, the effects of those genes were cut in half.

2. It helps tame a sweet tooth. 

 A pair of studies from the University of Exeter found that a 15-minute walk can curb cravings for chocolate and even reduce the amount of chocolate you eat in stressful situations. And the latest research confirms that walking can reduce cravings and intake of a variety of sugary snacks.

3. It reduces the risk of developing breast cancer. 

 Researchers already know that any kind of physical activity blunts the risk of breast cancer. But an American Cancer Society study that zeroed in on walking found that women who walked seven or more hours a week had a 14% lower risk of breast cancer than those who walked three hours or fewer per week. And walking provided this protection even for the women with breast cancer risk factors, such as being overweight or using supplemental hormones.

4. It eases joint pain. 

Several studies have found that walking reduces arthritis-related pain, and that walking five to six miles a week can even prevent arthritis from forming in the first place. Walking protects the joints — especially the knees and hips, which are most susceptible to osteoarthritis — by lubricating them and strengthening the muscles that support them.

5. It boosts immune function. 

Walking can help protect you during cold and flu season. A study of over 1,000 men and women found that those who walked at least 20 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, had 43% fewer sick days than those who exercised once a week or less. And if they did get sick, it was for a shorter duration, and their symptoms were milder.

You can live free from the dangers of hypertension! Enjoy greater cardiovascular fitness — and better health — starting now!

The latest guidelines have made the importance of maintaining lower blood pressure numbers abundantly clear. Indeed, now nearly half of American adults are considered to have high blood pressure, with double the risk of heart attacks and strokes as well as increased risk of kidney failure, loss of eyesight, and even Alzheimer’s. You don’t have to be in that group. You can effectively and successfully lower your blood pressure.

This interactive online course will show you how. You’ll discover the strategies, the medications, and simple lifestyle changes that will make a truly significant and measurable difference.

You will understand hypertension’s causes and its effects. You’ll learn tips and techniques for reducing your blood pressure from top Harvard doctors. You’ll find a course packed with engaging videos, helpful downloadable charts, and interactive quizzes.

You’ll discover an extraordinary diet that can lower systolic blood pressure 11 points in 8 weeks! You’ll find exercises that reward your effort...ways to ease stress and improve sleep...and even how to insure the most accurate blood pressure reading.

More than ever, you need to know where information is coming from — especially when it’s your health. Controlling Your Blood Pressure comes to you from Harvard Medical School, the nation’s top-ranked school for medical research. In the course, Harvard doctors share strategies for addressing hypertension’s causes and show you how to use today’s advances to your greatest advantage.

You will be introduced to specific, yet simple, lifestyle changes that will help you achieve a lasting reduction in your blood pressure numbers. The instruction is clear, concise, and uncomplicated.

You’ll learn the best procedures for an accurate baseline test. The doctors will reveal two home monitors you should avoid...three taboos before a test...and the one important step that is often overlooked.

Of course, you’ve heard of “white coat” hypertension, but did you know about masked hypertension? You’ll find how to unmask this dangerous condition. You’ll find why, after age 65, women are at greater risk for high blood pressure...the seven risk factors you can control...and six important tests your doctor may suggest.

And you’ll welcome how easy it is to make strides without sacrifice. You’ll be introduced to several easy and enticing eating plans that offer lean, minimally processed foods, packed with nutrients, but not calories. You’ll find how to incorporate the three minerals essential to successful blood pressure management...and 15 smart low-sodium substitutes.

You’ll get guidance for the most helpful exercises and for maintaining motivation. You’ll master effective techniques to manage stress and improve sleep.

And the course offers an impartial, frank assessment of today’s expanded array of medications to help you make the safest and smartest choices to meet your goals.

The good news is that what’s gone up can come down. You can lower your blood pressure. You can safeguard your heart and your health. And you can do it now!

You’ll want the doctor to take your blood pressure!

As you apply these simple proven strategies, you’ll not only feel the difference, but with every blood pressure reading you — and your doctor — will see the difference.

This breakthrough learning package is loaded with illuminating slides and videos, interactive quizzes, charts, worksheets and more. This is a course that will set you on course for renewed cardiovascular health and dramatically reduced risk of heart attack, stroke, and age-related illnesses. Don’t wait. Invest in yourself! Order Controlling Your Blood Pressure now!

 

 

Liberating Relief from Aching,
Stiff or Injured Hands

If you suffer from the pain and frustration of aching hands caused by arthritis, tendon trouble, “pinched” nerves, or injuries, Harvard doctors have great news for you.

Today, more options than ever are now available to you to help ease your pain, strengthen your hands, and help you to once again enable you to do the things you used to take for granted.

Thanks to the strategies and treatments revealed in Harvard’s Healthy Hands Special Report, thousands of men and women have received a new lease on life, free of the limitations that once robbed them of their freedom to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. For example...

“This has been life changing for me.” Stephen had been an active, lifelong athlete when at age 72, arthritis of his thumb made him unable to ride a bike or swing a hammer without pain — let alone pay his beloved softball. But after undergoing a fairly new surgical procedure recommended by his doctor (see page 19), he declared “my grip strength is back and I can throw the ball as hard as I used to!”

“I don’t wake up with numbness, and I can use the keyboard, hold my phone, grip the steering wheel, and get back to my crafts.” Carrie, a 46-year-old physician assistant, could no longer reliably hold medical instruments due to her carpal tunnel syndrome. After the having the procedure described on page 33, she exclaimed “At my two-week check, I had a full range of motion, so I didn’t need hand therapy.”

“It’s been a dramatic improvement. I now have full mobility in all my fingers on both hands...” Scott, now 70, was no stranger to painful hand injuries — but it was the worsening curling of the fingers of both of his hands from Dupuytren’s disease that had him looking for help. Cortisone shots worked for a while, but it was the surgery described on page 29 that provided lasting relief.

 

 

Protect your eyes from declining vision, glaucoma, and AMD. Discover how you can ensure your eyes’ best health...enjoy better vision...and prevent a sight-threatening eye disease. Dear Reader, As we age, our eyes age as well. Our eyes’ lenses become harder and less elastic. It becomes more difficult to read without glasses. We find it increasingly difficult to drive at night. We may experience flashes and floaters. Our eyes are sometimes dry, or teary, or tired. Too frequently our aging eyes become more vulnerable to cataracts and vision-impairing diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or diabetic retinopathy. You can keep your future bright! A new report from Harvard Medical School will show you how to sensibly and seamlessly adjust to common changes...sustain maximum eye health...and prevent and treat serious eye disease. In this awaited guide you’ll discover specific steps you can take to halt worsening vision, ease annoying discomfort, and stimulate lasting eye health. This report provides important and empowering news about the most recent advances in cataract surgery, exciting progress in halting glaucoma, breakthroughs in managing AMD, and much more. End your concern and confusion about declining vision, cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and more! If you ask any adult which of their five senses they’d most hate to lose, the answer invariably is their sight. Whether you’re behind the wheel or in front of your computer or just reading this page, you depend on your sight. Your sight both keeps you connected and gives you independence. But like the rest of your body, your eyes change throughout your life. This report will show you how to keep pace with those changes — from the most common to the most sight-threatening. In The Aging Eye, Harvard doctors share strategies and advances to fortify eye health and ward off eye disease. Most of us don’t mind reading glasses (except when we misplace them!). What’s important is retaining our sight and the freedom and fulfillment it ensures. In The Aging Eye you’ll discover steps you can take now to protect your eyes — and your vision — throughout your lifetime. With the report... ...you’ll know what to expect — and do. You’ll be ready for those changes adults can anticipate. You’ll learn why close-up vision weakens over time and the role of new corrective options. You’ll find a technique to halt floaters...a break-through advance to resolve dry eyes without drops...ways to relieve the itch of conjunctivitis...an outpatient procedure for a retinal tear...and more. ...you’ll be on top of advances halting serious eye disease. The report high-lights progress in cataract surgery and replacement lenses. You’ll be alerted to a new sustained-release medication for glaucoma...emerging tools to monitor and manage AMD...and ways to slow effects of diabetic retinopathy. ...you’ll master easy measures to safeguard your sight. The report offers practical ways to boost eye health. You’ll discover two foods better than carrots for your eyes...a vitamin that may help stall cataracts...how to select the right sunglasses...and one change that can cut the risk of AMD in half.

 

Healthy eating for blood sugar control

If you have diabetes, a healthy eating plan for you is not that different from a healthy eating plan for people without diabetes. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) echoes the dietary guidelines recommended for the general public — that is, a diet centered on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes (peas and beans), and low-fat dairy products.

However, you'll want to pay special attention to your carbohydrate intake.

Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains provide more nutrition per calorie than refined carbohydrates and tend to be rich in fiber. Your body digests high-fiber foods more slowly — which means a more moderate rise in blood sugar.

For most people with diabetes, carbohydrates should account for about 45% to 55% of the total calories you eat each day. Choose your carbohydrates wisely — ideally, from vegetables, whole grains, and fruits. Avoid highly refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta, and rice, as well as candy, sugary soft drinks, and sweets. Refined carbohydrates tend to cause sharp spikes in blood sugar, and can boost blood triglyceride levels.

Fiber comes in two forms: insoluble fiber, the kind found in whole grains, and soluble fiber, found in beans, dried peas, oats, and fruits. Soluble fiber in particular appears to lower blood sugar levels by improving insulin sensitivity, which may mean you need less diabetes medicine. And a number of studies suggest that eating plenty of fiber reduces the chances of developing heart disease — and people with diabetes need to do all they can to lower their risk.

 

 

The impact of stress on your gut

Given how closely the gut and brain interact, it might seem obvious that the pair often influence each other. Some people feel nauseated before giving a presentation; others feel intestinal pain during times of stress. In any case, emotional and psychosocial factors play a role in functional gastrointestinal disorders.

Treating the whole body

Stress-related symptoms felt in the gastrointestinal tract vary greatly from one person to the next, and treatment can vary as well. For example, one person with gastroesophageal reflux disease might have an occasional, mild burning sensation in the chest, while another experiences excruciating discomfort night after night. As the severity of symptoms varies, so should the therapies, medications, self-help strategies, or even surgeries used to relieve them.

Many people have mild symptoms that respond quickly to changes in diet or medications. If your symptoms do not improve, your clinician may ask you more questions about your medical history and perform some diagnostic tests to rule out an underlying cause. For some people, symptoms improve as soon as a serious diagnosis, like cancer, has been ruled out. Your doctor may also recommend symptom-specific medications.

But sometimes these treatments are not enough. As symptoms become more severe, so does the likelihood that you are experiencing some sort of psychological distress.

Often, people with moderate to severe symptoms, particularly those whose symptoms arise from stressful circumstances, can benefit from mind directed therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and relaxation techniques. Some people are reluctant to accept the role of psycho-social factors in their illness. But it's important to know that emotions cause genuine chemical and physical responses in the body that can result in pain and discomfort.

Behavioral therapy and stress reduction treatments help manage pain and improve other symptoms in ways that are different from how drugs act. The goal of all therapies is to reduce anxiety, encourage healthy behaviors, and help people cope with the pain and discomfort of their condition.

 

 

Are your knees worn out?

Harvard doctors reveal what you need to know before you
agree to a knee replacement

Dear Reader,

Are your knees stiff and achy when you get out of bed in the morning? Is it painful to go up and down stairs? Or stand up after you’ve been sitting for a while?

Chances are you’ve got osteoarthritis caused by worn down cartilage inside your knee joint. If your knees are giving you enough trouble, you may be considering having one, or both, knees replaced.

A total knee replacement can be life-changing — helping relieve pain and restore movement. In fact, 730,000 total knee replacements are done each year, making it the most common inpatient surgery in the U.S.

But that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. As with any surgery, there are risks. That’s why you need Harvard Medical School’s Guide to Total Knee Replacement. This report brings you everything you need to know about total knee replacement to help you make the best possible decision for your health. For example, you’ll discover...

Why your knees wear out. Few joints in the body do as much every day as the knees. They help you walk, climb, carry heavy objects, and work. In fact, every step you take on level ground puts one to one and a half times your body weight on each knee. Make that two to three times your weight, when you go up and down stairs. And if you’re a few pounds heavier than you’d like, your knees are getting hit with an extra four to six pounds of pressure for every extra pound!

Do achy, noisy knees automatically mean they’re “bad enough” for a total replacement?

When your knees hurt it’s tempting to think that having a total knee replacement will restore you to your twenty-something active self. Sadly, that’s not the case. In Harvard’s Total Knee Replacement report, you’ll get the facts about knee replacement written in easy-to-understand English. You’ll discover:

• The options you should try before you agree to surgery

• Why you may not want to have your knee replaced if you’re younger than 60

• The procedures that can help you get relief without having a total replacement

• 8 signs it’s time to consider a total knee replacement

• And much more.

Download now and start reading Total Knee Replacement

If you do need a replacement, or think it’s time to seriously consider it, Harvard’s Total Knee Replacement guide is invaluable. You’ll find a list of critical questions to ask your doctor about his or her credentials and experience — the best doctors welcome these questions — to help ensure you have the best possible surgeon. In addition, you’ll learn the basics of the various types of knee joints available (there are over 150 implant designs) so you can work with your doctor to find the best type for you. You’ll even learn why implants with special features that sound great, may actually have a slightly higher risk of complications.

And, since this is often elective surgery, Total Knee Replacement explains the many benefits of prehabilitation. This type of physical therapy may help you have a shorter hospital stay, less post-op pain, and even a faster recovery. You’ll also learn why minimally invasive surgery may sound like the best option, but could make it harder for your doctor to install the implant... common reasons implants fail and how to help avoid these problems and so much more.

 

 

 

Healthy gut, healthier aging 

By Heidi Godman, Executive Editor, Harvard Health Letter  

 

Support beneficial microbes in the gastrointestinal tract with these healthy lifestyle habits.

 

Trillions of microbes — bacteria, viruses, fungi — call your gut home. They do more than just help you digest food. They fight harmful pathogens; make vitamin K and other important chemicals; affect the way medications work; and may influence your immune system, heart health, and cancer risk. It also appears gut microbes may play a role in healthy aging and longevity. The genes of all your gut microbes are collectively called the gut microbiome.

Encouraging findings

In a study published online Feb. 18, 2021, by Nature Metabolism, scientists observed that older adults whose mix of gut microbes changed the most over time lived longer than those people with less change in their gut microbiome.

The study didn’t prove that an eclectic microbiome directly caused people to live longer. However, such a microbiome was also associated with lower cholesterol levels, faster walking speeds, and higher levels of beneficial blood chemicals — all factors that lengthen the life span.

How do you make your gut microbiome more diverse and achieve health benefits? It mainly comes down to lifestyle factors. Indeed, one of the reasons that a healthy lifestyle may protect your health is through the impact of your lifestyle on your microbiome.

Eat a healthy diet

Eating the right foods is one of the best ways. Your gut microbes like to eat, too, and their favorite foods are the ones that are healthiest for us: fruits, vegetables (especially dark, leafy greens), legumes (beans, peas), and whole grains (quinoa, whole wheat, brown rice). "Those foods contain fiber. Our bodies don’t break down fiber for food; fiber passes through to the gut and microbes feed on it. It gives them a good environment to grow," explains April Pawluk, strategic program manager at the Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center.

But when you eat an unhealthy diet with lots of processed, fatty, sugary foods, it makes it harder for helpful microbes to survive. "In the absence of diversity-promoting nutrients like fiber in our diets, the genes of our gut microbiome can produce chemicals that could increase our risk for developing different diseases," Pawluk says.

Exercise

Exercising appears to promote gut microbiome diversity, but the way it works is a matter of speculation, ­Pawluk says. Several ways are plausible. "It could be that exercise changes the rate at which material moves through the intestines. Or perhaps exercise reduces inflammation in the gut. Or exercise might alter our appetite, and alter the way that our bodies process the food we eat. All of these could affect the microbiome environment," Pawluk says.

Get a dog

Dogs are always tracking things in from outside — like dirt, grass, and insects — exposing their human families to more microbes. That might help counteract the effect of a modern world on the microbiome.

"Over the past century, there’s been a decrease in the diversity of the human microbiome, possibly because of sanitation and modern medicine," Pawluk says. "Studies looking at young children growing up in a house with a pet show their microbiome becomes more diverse and they have less risk of allergies. We don’t know if this helps older adults, but it wouldn’t hurt."

Don’t smoke

Cigarettes contain lots of chemicals and toxins that are harmful to the whole body, including your gut and its residents. "Smoking can kill some microbes and decrease microbe diversity. Smoking also puts physical stress on the body, including microbes. And when microbes are under stress, they change their function; they sense that they’re in a bad situation and in some cases attack each other — or us. That can cause imbalance in the gut microbiome," Pawluk says.

Consider probiotics

One last suggestion that may affect the gut microbiome is to ingest colonies of "good" bacteria known as probiotics, which come in pills or powders or occur naturally in fermented foods (such as yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut). "The intention is to boost the amount of beneficial bacteria in the gut," Pawluk says. "If you’ve recently taken antibiotics, which kill both harmful and beneficial bacteria, probiotics may help re-establish a diverse microbiome. The thing is, if you already have a diverse gut microbiome, adding more of one species probably isn’t going to promote any significant change."

But Pawluk says there’s no evidence probiotics are harmful, especially when they come from food. And there are many reasons why you might want to eat healthy probiotic-rich foods like yogurt, which has lots of calcium, or try any of the lifestyle habits we’ve laid out here. They all benefit health in numerous ways.

 

 

 

 

 

               Self-Help for Atrial Fibrillation 

Diet, exercise, and other lifestyle factors are known to affect your risk of heart disease. The major risk factors for heart disease, as well as the condition itself, are all closely linked to the risk of developing atrial fibrillation. Can a heart-healthy lifestyle prevent atrial fibrillation? Can it reduce symptoms?

 

 There's preliminary evidence that managing the risk factors for heart and blood vessel disease may improve the long-term outlook for people with atrial fibrillation. On a practical level, that could mean fewer episodes of a-fib and improvements in symptoms—in short, a better quality of life for you.

Focus on heart health

The ability of lifestyle change to reduce the burden of atrial fibrillation remains an active area of research. In the meantime, take steps to live a healthy and active lifestyle, in addition to medication and other standard a-fib treatments:

• If you smoke, quit.
• Control high blood pressure.
• Get treatment for sleep apnea if you have it.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Don't drink alcohol, or consume only in moderation.
• Keep your cholesterol and triglycerides within a healthy range.
• Get regular exercise.
• Get recommended vaccinations for the flu and pneumonia, especially if you have heart disease.

Make sure to also ask your doctor or pharmacist about any new medications, including over-the-counter remedies and herbal supplements. Sometimes these can interact in a harmful way with warfarin, direct oral anticoagulants, or rhythm-controlling drugs.

Although your ability to prevent or treat atrial fibrillation with a healthy lifestyle has limits, most people are able to control bothersome symptoms long-term with medication, procedures, or both. That said, some people run out of safe or effective options, in which case the a-fib will become permanent. But with proper anti coagulation, you can still minimize your risk of stroke, the most dangerous complication of this abnormal heart rhythm.

       The simplest way to look and feel younger

           Be more flexible and mobile, too, in just minutes a day

 The Simplest Way Ever To Safely Become 

Stronger More Flexible

& More Energetic

If you have just 15 minutes to spare, you can help build a healthier, younger body!

For centuries, body-weight exercise — actions that move your body against the resistance of gravity — has been a mainstay exercise for athletes and soldiers helping build strength, endurance, balance, and flexibility.

It happens to all of us, Reader,

As we get older, we start to realize we’re not a strong as we used to be ... or as flexible. And we admit that we don’t have as much pep as we used to have, either.

And we wonder: What’s the best yet safest way I can get back in shape — and improve my overall health?

Good news: The health and fitness experts at Harvard Medical School have the answer you’re looking for: The start-slow-and-easy workout routines that use your own body weight to strengthen your whole body — routines that offer a wealth of better health and more pep in your step.

They’re all in Harvard’s Special Health Report Body-Weight Exercise, along with easy-to-follow directions and how-to photos. And more good news: you can easily do these feel-younger exercises at home and adjust them to your fitness level. And there’s positively no equipment necessary to get great results.

Today, because they can be easily adapted to fit a wide range of needs and fitness levels, they’re the perfect form of exercise to help you look and feel younger ... prevent falls ... strengthen and protect your back, knees, hips ... fortify your stabilizing core muscles for better posture ... and more.

That’s what makes Harvard’s Body-Weight Exercise Special Report so helpful to you right now. Step-by-step, our health and fitness experts guide you to a healthier, younger body — even if you only have 15 minutes to spare. For example, you’ll discover:

•

The single tried-and-true exercise that is practically a total body strengthener.

•

How to build well-defined calves — the key anti-gravity muscles that keep you standing tall.

•

The small ab-engaging movement that helps support your lower back.

•

How to strengthen your hip muscles to help prevent knee pain and make walking easier.

•

The easy-on-the-joints cardio interval workout builds endurance as it strengthens your core.

•

The classic exercise that tones and strengthens the back of your upper arms — making it easier to open a stuck window, for example.

•

A lunge exercise that will help keep you strong and agile, making it easier to pick things up from the floor.

•

The squat exercise that helps improve your balance, stability, posture, and power.

•

The “super” exercise that strengthens your back muscles and helps you stand tall.

•

The simple rehab exercise helps stabilize your pelvis and prevent injuries.

And the beauty of body-weight exercise is that even short workouts can deliver noticeable results.

When you start one of these body-weight routines, there are certain changes you will notice — like having more energy, being able to lift things more easily, seeing some definition in your muscles, and maybe even losing some pounds or inches.

And then there are the changes that you can’t see — like stronger bones, lower blood pressure, and your body’s improved ability to manage blood sugar.

•	Step-by-step directions and color photos show you exactly how to perform each exercise, and offer tips and techniques that ensure perfect form for best results
•	Two workout levels — basic and challenge — allow you to begin your fitness efforts easily and then progress at your own pace.
•	“Make it easier” and “make it harder” options on each level let you customize each exercise to your fitness level.
•	Tips for those with specific conditions — including heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis — that can help you get more out of your workouts and avoid injury.
•	Simple warm-up exercises that lubricate your joints, so they move freely for better performance.

 

 

 

 centuries, body-weight exercise — actions that move your body against the resistance of gravity — has been a mainstay exercise for athletes and soldiers helping build strength, endurance, balance, and flexibility.