Currently Browsing: Fitness

Different Exercises to Help Alleviate Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain is experienced by more and more people today. No matter if you work in manual labor or you sit in a desk all day, you’re prone to experiencing lower back pain if you’re not careful. Fortunately, there are many exercises you can do to alleviate lower back pain. You won’t even need to go to a gym in Singapore too.

Bird Dog Exercise

One reason why the bird dog exercise is ideal for reducing lower back pain is that it teaches you to focus on mobilizing your back all throughout.

The bird dog is done by getting on all fours, with your hands and knees on the floor. Position your hands under your shoulders and make sure your knees are also directly under the hips. Then, extend your right arm and left leg so they are level with your spine. Hold this position for 5-8 seconds then go back to the starting position. Then do the opposite and extend your left arm and right leg this time.

Bridges

The gluteus maximus or the buttocks is actually the largest muscle in the body. Because of that, a weak gluteus maximus will cause lower back pain. Bridges engage the glutes and are a great exercise for keeping the muscle strong.

Firstly, you want to lie on the ground while leaving your feet flat on the floor near your butt. Then, slowly lift your buttocks by pressing your feet on the floor until your whole body is straight. Make sure to keep your shoulders on the floor and to keep your arms at your side for better balance and support. Hold that position for about 10 seconds. Repeat about 5 times.

Supermans

The superman allows you to stretch and strengthen your back extensors. Back extensors run along both sides of the spine and basically helps you maintain a good posture and also arch your back.

As the name suggests, this is simply done by copying how Superman flies, with a few modifications of course. First, you want to lie down on your stomach and stretch both your arms out over your head. Then, stretch your legs but keep them on the ground. There will be people who find this exercise uncomfortable though. If you think this exercise does not benefit you, you won’t have to do it.

Try to Avoid: Leg Raises

The leg raise is mainly an exercise for the lower abdominals. Though this is the case, the movement involved in the exercise puts certain demand on the hips and the lower back. If you lift both your legs when your core is still weak, your back will compensate and that could lead to more lower back pain. As an alternative, you can try just lifting one leg at a time, with the other bent at the knee.

The Best Fitness Tracker for Every Personality

Whether you are prepping up for a marathon, working out to get your body summer ready or just trying to complete your 10,000 steps a day, these are a few of the best trackers out there.

1. For Cardio Buffs: Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro
The Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro offers smartwatch-like features and super accurate heart-rate monitor—it automatically starts monitoring the moment you start moving, no ‘start’ button required. It also tracks every step you make, your sleep cycle and your calorie burn. In addition to its mega fitness features it looks slick and gorgeous on the wrist.

2. For Buffs on a Budget: Huawei B 2 Pro
Like any fitness tracker on their entry level, this fitness watch by Huawei features heart-rate tracking and step counting. However, there are a few features that you don’t typically see in trackers in the same price as this. This Huawei smartwatch has easy-to-use interface, can track specific workouts including swimming, special fitness features like run coaching and relaxation training, GPS connectivity and basic phone notifications like emails and calls.

3. For the Outdoorsy: Garmin Vivoactive 3
With heart-rate monitoring, GPS connectivity, barometric altimeter and 15 sports modes, the Garmin Vivoactive 3 can track almost everything you would want to do from running to hiking and swimming. And since this smartwatch is specially designed for adventurers, it gives you access on things like trail running pace, on-wrist compass and even customizable interface that shows the sunrise and sunset time of the day.

4. For the No-Fuss Man: Fitbit Zip
For a no-fuss tracker that doesn’t have to be worn like a watch on the wrist, check out Fitbit Zip. It’s so easy to use. Its LED display is visible at all times, unlike most of smartwatches that need to be tapped or requires pressing a button to light up. It doesn’t need charging as well. The smartwatch runs on replaceable battery, which can last for six months. It also syncs to Fitbit ap on your iPhone or Android device.

5. For those who just want the best: Fitbit Versa
If you’re a fan of Apple Watch, we won’t hold you back on that. It’s probably the best smartwatch in the market. But the new Fitbit Versa makes is a great competitor to the King of the smartwatches. It can start tracking your activities the moment you get up in the morning and when you hit the sheets at night. It is much cheaper than Apple and can sync to both iOS and Android devices.

These devices are great for monitoring your activity levels and workouts. Find one which one works for you and appeals to your taste.