Hamstring Stretches (continued)

I have two more hamstring stretches, so here they are! 

Downward Dog

This is a yoga position called the Downward Dog; the name actually makes sense because I see dogs doing this all the time! It's a great position, because not only does it target your hamstrings, but it also stretches your back and shoulders. Just follow the picture because it's kind of difficult to explain in words. Here are a few points to keep in mind:

1) Your body should look like a mountain and not a hill. There should be a sharp peak at the top (your butt) rather than a round arc.

2) Try pressing your stomach through your legs. A normal person won't be able to literally do that of course, but working with that goal in mind helps give you a better hamstring stretch. It also helps you create that peak mentioned earlier.

3) Press your shoulders towards the ground. This is what stretches out your shoulders and back.

Standing Lunge

All there is to executing this stretch is doing a lunge and holding it. 

1) Stand normally.

2) Take a step forward (about 2-3 ft. in front of you) and bend your front leg. 

3) To enhance the stretch, keep your heel on the ground and bend your front leg more if you don't feel a pull in your muscle.

This stretch is great for the bottom half of the back of your leg; it stretches your hamstring, achilles tendon, and calf muscles. 

Even more stretches will be coming soon. ;)

Stretches (improving flexibility): HAMSTRINGS

I'm only going to post two stretches for now, because it takes too long to download many pictures at once. This is already my third attempt at putting pictures in...well I guess third time's the charm! For the previous two times, it wouldn't even be done in hours; then Firefox would randomly crash and cancel the loading. So that was a huge waste of time. :(

Anyway, I mainly have leg stretches, and the two here are specifically for loosening up the hamstrings (basically the muscle of the back of your leg/behind your knee). They're pretty basic stretches you may have seen before, but the reason you see people doing them all the time is because they stretch really well! Alright now let's get to business...


"Figure 4"
This stretch is called the Figure 4 because the leg position looks a little like the number "4."
1) Sit on the ground with one leg straight in front of you.
2) The other leg is bent and horizontal to the floor. Your knee should not face the ceiling.
3) Lean forward as much as you can and try to lie flat on the straight leg.
You should feel a stretch in the hamstring of your straight leg. Since it only stretches one side, remember to repeat on the other!
If you want to challenge yourself, flex the foot of your straight leg. 

Pike
All you have to do is hold a pike position. This can be done sitting or standing. I don't have any standing pictures, but it's pretty much the same as the sitting. Just tilt your head to the side and you'll see it. :)
Sitting
1) Sit on the ground with both legs straight in front of you.
2) Lean forward as much as you can. Your goal should be to touch your face to your legs.
You should feel a stretch in both your hamstrings this time.
Again, flex your feet if you want to intensify your stretch.
Standing
1) Stand with your legs hip-width apart.
2) Bend down and try to touch your toes. Try pressing your lower abdomen between your legs/try keeping your back straight -- it stretches more.

I hope this helped! Stay tuned for more stretches. ;)

Homemade Granola

My friend and I decided to make sugar and oil-free granola bars since store-bought ones are usually way too sweet in general. We used Alton Brown's recipe we found on foodnetwork.com but left out all the butter and sugar. Leaving out the butter made everything hard to stick together, so it ended up being granola crumble instead of bars. Although it didn't exactly turn out as planned, it made a great hiking snack (almost like trail mix), and is also perfect for yogurt parfaits!

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped, dried fruit (any fruit is fine; we used mangoes, cranberries, raisins)



Great for on-the-go. 

• 1/3 cup nuts, toasted or not (any nut is fine; we used toasted almonds)

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Oil a 9x9" baking pan or glass container.
3. Spread oats out onto a baking sheet and place into preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until toasted/aromatic. If you have un-toasted nuts and want to toast them, place them into the oven along with the oats.
4. After taking out the oats, lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
5. Meanwhile, combine the honey, water, and vanilla.
6. In a separate bowl, mix together the dried fruits and nuts.
7. Finally, mix everything together and pour into prepared pan. Press it down to cover the sides of the pan.
8. Bake for 25 minutes. Let it cool completely before shaking it out of the pan. If you don't, it might fall apart into even smaller pieces.



End result!

Muscle and Joint flexibility

I would say having good muscle and joint flexibility is not a “must” for health, but does make daily life easier. It makes everyday movements easier (such as picking something up from the ground), helps prevent injuries when doing sports, lowers your chance of falling as you get older, and allows blood flow to the muscles, which may help an injured muscle heal faster. Also, having stiff spine and hips can lead to bad posture (hunch backs...oh no!) and potential back problems.

Muscles and joints can become inflexible through aging or lack of movement, so if any of those two things sound familiar to you, you better start stretching! (That’s everyone, because nobody stops aging. >:D)

A few points to keep in mind while stretching are:

• Warm up for 5-10 minutes first. Stretching cold muscles=high risk of injury. Warming up also allows your muscles to relax and loosen up.

• Stretch on a regular basis if you want to see results quicker. You can start off with one or two days a week, then work your way up.

• When stretching, you should feel a pull or tension in the muscle and maybe soreness, but not sharp pain. Hold the stretch until the tension subsides (usually 30 sec). Athletes who participate in sports that require intense flexibility such as gymnastics or dance often overlook this, and that’s partly why there are so many people who get injured doing those sports.

• Try not to bounce. It creates tears in the muscle which will actually lead to stiffer muscles than before. That’s just frustrating, because who wants to work to get worse? I used to bounce a lot when trying to get my oversplits, and yes, the next day, I felt like I didn’t get any more flexible than before.

Surprisingly, another thing that will help with flexibility is your intake of vitamins. A few vitamins and foods that will help are:

• B-3: meats (chicken, tuna, turkey, salmon), Shitake mushrooms, peanuts
• B-5: sweet potatoes, corn, avocados, broccoli, eggs, mushrooms, cauliflower, sunflower seeds, swiss chard
• B-6: meats (chicken, tuna, turkey, halibut), hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, potatoes, chickpeas
•  C: oranges, bell peppers, kiwis, brussel sprouts, strawberries, broccoli, cantaloupe, papayas, guavas, cauliflower
• D: SUN, fish (salmon, tuna, sardines), eggs, milk
• E: olives, asparagus, hazelnuts, almonds, spinach, sunflower seeds, swiss chard

I will post specific stretches with pictures and descriptions soon. :)

Vegan "Chocolate Bombs"

The outer layer is somewhat crisp (hence the dry look), but the inside is very moist.

The other day, my friends and I were having a sleepover and decided to bake something (like we always do whenever we hang out). We came across a chocolate muffin recipe and it turned out awesomely delicious; it was only after we finished baking that we realized it was vegan! It turned out so...normal, I bet you wouldn’t even be able to tell that it didn’t contain butter, eggs, or milk. 

 

You can cut down the sugar to half the amount or less; we added a little more than half and it still turned out way too sweet. For extra chocolatey-ness, add more cocoa powder and a bit of chocolate chips. We sprinkled chocolate chips as decoration on top of the spooned-out batter before placing them in the oven. They turned out looking like bombs, so we named our muffins, "chocolate bombs!"

 

If you are a vegan or have milk allergies, this recipe is for you!

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup cold water

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and flour a cupcake pan or use paper cupcake liners.
3. Mix sugar, flour, salt, baking soad and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl.
4. In a small mixing bowl, combine vanilla, white vinegar, vegetable oil and cold water.
5. Slowly add wet ingredients to the dry, using a wire whisk to beat it until well mixed.
6. Divide batter into the prepared cupcake pan.
7. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool completely.
9. Dust cooled cupcakes with powdered sugar or a cinnamon and sugar combination in lieu of frosting.

Taken from Suite101: Chocolate Cupcake Recipe: Dairy-Free Desert for the Lactose Intollerant | Suite101.com http://suite101.com/article/chocolate-cupcake-recipe-a86936#ixzz22vlQPF7G

Sleep!

There seems to be almost a...game or competition going on between the upper-classmen at my school on who slept the least every night. Around the campus, I would hear people say to their friends, “I only slept four hours last night,” like they’re proud about it or almost as if they were bragging about it. Then another person in the group would say, “Well I only slept three!” This horrible game needs to end soon and you would think so too, knowing the consequences of sleep deprivation.

Consequences 

1. In adolescents, it can stunt your growth because 80% of growth hormones are released during sleep.
2.  Sleep deprivation is also linked to obesity and diabetes, by messing with how our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by also messing with the hormone levels that affect our appetite. It messes with our natural bodily functions, and everything! :[
3.  The different systems of our body that are most affected by lack of sleep are: cardiovascular system, immune system, metabolic functions, and the brain & nervous system.
4.  It puts people into a higher risk of road accidents/car crashes and bad grades (oh no!), because you will not be as alert when drowsy. 
5. Sleeping helps store newly-acquired information into your brain, so lack of sleep will allow the things you just learned to slip away from your long-term memory. Studies show that people who slept after learning something new had better scores on a test after, while people who didn’t sleep got worse results.
6.  Lack of sleep will probably give you dark circles and bags under your eyes...nobody wants that!

Signs of Sleep Deprivation

Usually, people can tell pretty easily when they’re sleep deprived, because they’ll simply feel sleepy! Nonetheless, here are some signs:

1st stage: irritability, moodiness

2nd stage: bad memory, inability to multitask, dull emotions/emotional response

3rd stage: blanking out/micro-sleeps/nodding out/harder to focus or pay attention

Once you get to the third stage, driving gets dangerous or you’ll most likely start to fall asleep in class.

For more information on sleep, you can visit:

National Sleep Foundation

www.sleepfoundation.org

Sleep Research Society

www.sleepresearchsociety.org

Who knew there was a National Sleep Foundation??

Now if you will excuse me, I need to get some sleep of my own because it's 3:30am right now! I'm going to wake up tomorrow (actually today) as a midget and not remember anything I did the past week. I'm kidding, guys! ;P