10 deep knee bend squats, right side view - 06/01/11 (Spring)
Sometimes, something I read or notice in a video strikes a deep chord and causes me to re-evaluate and modify my exercise routines.
For example, ever since I came across these inter-related passages by Maoshing Ni and Deepak Chopra about bone density and weight bearing exercises, and after I watched this video by Mantak Chia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Awp0Ik6gLQ
I began doing more deep knee-bends and squats every day.
**
Maoshing Ni
SECOND SPRING
"... basic things you can do to keep your skeletal structure strong: engage in exercises that put weight on your legs: walking, running, tai chi." (p 26)
**
"Before you turn to prescription medications to save your bones... engage in weight-bearing exercise for 20 minutes, at least three or four times a week. This is your first line of defense against thinning bones. As with muscles and muscle tone, you have to use it or lose it. Work your bones and they'll stay strong. Neglect them and they'll crumble. Start walking, at least, today, and work up to longer periods of exercise. Taking supplements alone will not prevent bone loss. You have to pound the calcium into your bones with walking and other exercises that put weight on your bones." (p 240)
**
"Use gravity to your advantage... do weight-bearing exercise; gravity will strengthen your bones and help keep you free from the ravages of osteoporosis." (p 241)
**
"To maintain the strength of your legs, perform this simple exercise. Sitting in a chair, stretch your arms out in front of you and slowly rise to a standing position. Now sit back down. Do this 10 to 15 times - - and remember, keep it slow. Do this exercise at least once a day, and also incorporate a new habit into your daily activities: sit down twice! Every time you have occasion to sit in a chair, get back up and sit down again. It's easy to make this part of your routine, keeping your leg muscles strong and toned." (p 242)
**
"Rejuvenate growth hormones with exercise
"HGH (Human Growth Hormone), produced by the pituitary gland in the brain, maintains healthy cell growth for everyone. When we're young, we secrete a lot of this hormone to promote bone and muscle development. After age 25, as HGH production declines, our bodies tend to have less lean tissue, more fat, and thinner skin; hair falls out, mental function wanes - - all this because our cells can't replace themselves as efficiently as before.
"Stimulate your body to produce more HGH ... by performing squats to exercise the large muscles. Do leg presses at the gym; at home, simply grasp a heavy object, bend your knees, keep your spine straight, squat down and hold the position, count to 10, then come back up. In one study, squatting exercise caused an eightfold increase in HGH levels." (p 243)
**
Deepak Chopra
AGELESS BODY, TIMELESS MIND
"At the Tufts aging center, the bone density of a group of young women runners was compared with that of women who did no regular exercise. Even though they were 20 percent lighter than the nonrunners, the runners still had stronger leg bones. This made sense considering that the runners' leg bones were doing more work and bearing more weight, but the researchers were startled to find that the runners' forearm bones were also denser, despite the fact that these bones received no extra weight at all. Somehow the whole skeleton shared the message to deposit more calcium into the bone tissue, thanks to chemical signals (probably in the form of hormones) that were triggered at the quantum level. The whole body knew that exercise was being taken." (p 129)
**
When several health experts I respect deeply all agree on a certain subject,
I tend to take those recommendations very seriously.
My personal exercise program is always gradually evolving as I integrate newly absorbed information into my previous understanding about better health practices.
Nowadays, whenever I walk through my local park, I make a point of stopping to do 10 or more deep knee-bends.
I'm hoping that working my legs more intensely, by doing deep knee-bends and squats every day, will help drive more calcium into all of my bones, making them stronger and less brittle as I get older.
ChiGuy396
ChiGuy396@yahoo.com
**
Loading...
6:13
Dr. Maoshing Ni on Good Day L.A.by taoofwellness2,348 views
Link to this comment:
All Comments (0)