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Exercise away your aches and pains!

By Mario Hostios

In middle age Europe the common description of a man over 40 years old included being bald, dim sighted, and toothless. Not only was life harder in those days, many were ignorant of how to care for themselves in ways we now take for granted. No one in today's world assumes that we are destined to be toothless by middle age. We all know that some regular brushing and flossing of our teeth is the key to keeping them and that daily maintenance is more important that going to the dentist if one had to chose between the two.

So why is it that we continue to assume that maturation beyond early adulthood inevitably brings pain? We all have heard the notion that "well, when you get older, you will feel it in your joints." We accept becoming stiff when we wake up in the morning, because, "you are not a kid anymore."

Well, it is not true, plain and simple. Age is not the reason we get arthritis, painful joints and muscles, and adopt the stooped shuffle of an "old man". Instead, it is neglect of our bodies, in particular, our posture. Pay close attention because I am about to offer you the toothbrush and floss to keep your body pain free for the rest of your life. When you finish this article you will never be able to say "I don't know what I can do about my pain."

Eating is what our teeth do, and brushing and flossing is how we maintain them so we can eat. Your back and neck (and everything else) are no different. Being active and using your muscles and joints is not the same as brushing and flossing them. Virtually all of us have never done anything to maintain our muscles and joints. When you understand this, it should be no surprise that they will start to hurt before long. Here is the key thing to address and three ways to do it:

Posture, posture, posture What is posture? Posture is the neurological relationship between your muscles and brain that is run on your automatic pilot, just like your heartbeat and other automatic functions. Ideal posture is like a software program on the hard drive (brain). For many reasons, that software program can be corrupted, in which case the hard drive develops compensations in the program to do one simple thing: keep your eyes parallel to the ground. Look at someone with perfect posture and someone else with terrible posture and you will see that in both cases the brain is trying to keep the eyes parallel to the ground. In the case of the person with bad posture (software viruses) the brain has to automatically twist and distort the muscle tensions in the body to accomplish this, creating mis-alignments in your joints that wear them out. Just like any computer, to keep your posture software free of viruses, it needs to be updated regularly. Keeping your posture software free of viruses will keep your muscles closer to their ideal length/tension relationships allowing them to move your joints pain free thru ideal alignment.

The first way to do this is: The Morter March Developed by a chiropractor, Ted Morter, this exercise reboots your posture software program in 2 minutes with immediate and noticeable changes. Unfortunately there isn't enough room in this article to teach it to you. Instead, go to www.livefitla.com/freestuff.html and click on "Mario explains the Morter March" for downloadable instructions.

The second way to do this is: Tai Chi/Chi Gong Exercises traditions from chinese medicine, Chi Gong is like the Morter March in steroids. However, it requires more time and effort to learn. Once you understand how powerful it is, you will be eager to devote 15-20 minutes a day to do it. Go to www.livefitla.com/tai-chi.html and download my free ebook (you can listen to the audio too!) that explains what Chi gong is and how it works.

The third way to do it is: Functional exercise: Weight training can be used to buff up, slim down, and also like putting braces on teeth to lengthen tight muscles, shorten loose muscles, and align crooked joints. Cutting edge "bio-mechanics" like Paul Chek and Gray Cook have developed testing protocols and programs in the rehabilitation and athletic arenas that are have been funneled into the personal trainer community and are now more widely available. Find a personal trainer with some specific training in functional movement, core conditioning, or corrective exercise. Your bio-mechanic is at least as important to your body as your car mechanic is to your car. If you want your body to look and feel like a mint condition classic car 50 years from now, you will get a qualified mechanic to maintain it so you can enjoy driving it!

About the Author:

Mario Hostios is a certified personal trainer in Los Angeles, Ca. To get more Mario, free ebooks, and audio, go to www.livefitla.com.