Making Contact: The Right and Wrong Way to Use Exercise Machines

I am obsessed with ergonomics. It's part of being a massage therapist. So it's no surprise that every time I go to the gym, it's like nails on the chalkboard. I'm constantly seeing someone straining on the machines, just cruising for an injury. Because it's usually my husband.

He should really read this article below. It goes over the proper points of contact and stabilization needed to help prevent injury and maximize your reps. And proper alignment on the machine isn't the only thing to keep in mind. The article doesn't cover two other things to consider: Using too much weight or trying to complete your sets too fast are other recipes for injury (cough cough husband).

Making Contact: The Right and Wrong Way to Use Exercise Machines:

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Meditation for spring

Review and plan your life for a more satisfying year

Spring is a potent season to look over the past and institute changes for the future. It is a good time to set clear goals, or intentions, that reflect your desires. This spring, try letting your impulses follow the growth you see in nature, and see how it affects your own perceptions and desires. To get started, try this personal reflection and writing exercise.

1. Find a favorite place to sit quietly, indoors or out. Breathe fully and deeply for a few minutes, keeping your attention on the breath.

2. Ask yourself: What can I clear out or let go of from the past year as I move into this fresh season of growth and rebirth? Observe your thoughts and feelings for 3 or 4 minutes.

3. Write down three things you would like to let go of. Put this “Let Go” list aside.

4. Now ask yourself: What do I desire in this new season? What seeds would I like to plant? Again see what answers come to you.

5. Write down three intentions for the coming year.

6. Take the “Let Go” list and burn it, or bury it in the soil.

7. Go back to the “Intentions” list. If you would like, illustrate or add color to it. Hang it up somewhere you will see it each day as a reminder of the seeds you have sown inside.

If you rearrange your life so that you plant new creative ideas in spring every year, you may be amazed by the increase in satisfaction you experience, as well as a deeper connection to the flow of nature’s seasons.