5 Secondary Muscle Groups That Affect Your Core

by Janet Lee, from Women’s Fitness E-Zine

The tightest bellies aren't formed simply by firming the 4 muscles that make up your abs. "Think back to those athletes' bodies at the Olympics," says Dixie Stanforth, Ph.D., a teaching fellow in the department of kinesiology and health education at the University of Texas at Austin. "One of the things that makes them look so good is that they don't train muscles in isolation. They're not doing abs-only moves. They're using many muscles at once, because that's how the body works best."

In other words, thanks to the domino effect, fine-tuning how much other supporting muscles pitch in during certain exercises can help you trim your waist. Meet 5 muscles that affect your core, and find out how to get them to work as ab tighteners. (BTW, mastering these ways to engage your abs during any workout is just as important as pinpointing these 5 muscles.)

Neck Flexors: Have you ever noticed that your chin juts toward the floor when you hold a plank? Or that your head seems to lead when you bang out crunches? "That means your neck muscles, specifically the sternocleidomastoid and scalene—are trying to power your abs," says movement specialist Perry Nickelston, D.C., the author of the upcoming Stop Chasing Pain.

To put the work back on your abs, pull your head in line with your shoulders and tuck your chin. Since the back of your neck is often tense and tight, release tension there before you do any ab work: Lie face up on the floor for a minute or two with two tennis balls placed at the base of your skull on both sides of your spine.

Diaphragm: If you typically don't fill your belly with air every breath— and most of us don't—you're short- changing your ab workout. "Breathing shallowly from your chest means you'll never get optimal strength or power during moves like squats, dead lifts, and plyometrics," Nickelston says.

The diaphragm muscle sits below your lungs and is usually on autopilot (meaning it works without you telling it to, but if you train it to work better, it will). It increases intra-abdominal pressure and thus adds to your core stability— especially when you're moving. A wimpy diaphragm makes it tough for your body to stabilize your spine, which puts you at risk for pain, injury, and poor performance during exercise, sapping abs-sculpting opportunities.

"Think of your abs and back as a cylinder and expand both of them as you breathe to more fully engage the diaphragm," Nickelston says. "It's the most important and effective thing you can do to improve your stability." First, perfect the technique when you're at rest: Lie faceup and press the back of your rib cage into the floor with each breath. Now maintain that sensation during core moves to elicit more ab activation and power but also to engage your abs during any exercise you're doing.
Serratus Anterior: These fingerlike muscles along the sides of your ribs stabilize your shoulder blades, Stanforth says. A sign that they're not firing is if your shoulder blades stick out or "wing" when you're in a plank. Strengthening them will make holding planks and powering through push-ups much easier— and the muscle fibers themselves can make your midsection look super sculpted. To activate your serratus, pull in your front ribs. To toughen them up, hold a plank and press your palms firmly into the floor as you pull your shoulder blades apart. Squeeze them back together; repeat. Do two sets of 12 reps three days a week.

Psoas: This hip-flexor muscle runs from both sides of your lower spine around to your pelvis and is tight (and weak) in most people. A tight psoas can turn off other muscles, including your abs and butt—meaning you're not getting the most out of your workouts. It may also tilt the pelvis forward, making your abs protrude and giving the appearance that you have a belly, Nickelston says.

Stretch and strengthen your psoas with this move: Kneel on the floor on your right knee with left foot flat in front of right knee, hands on hips. Shift hips forward, without tilting them up or overarching your back, so you feel a stretch through the front of your right hip. Hold for 30 seconds, then drive your right knee into the floor as if you're trying to bring it forward (it won't move). Hold for 10 seconds; release. Repeat twice. Switch legs; repeat. (P.S. this is just one of 5 Crucial Stretches Your Body Needs.)

To stop your psoas from taking over during floor ab moves, don't anchor your feet, says Stanforth. "Instead, place the soles of your feet together and let your knees open wide to release the psoas and let your abs do the work."

Adductors: The adductor muscles are your inner thigh muscles. When they work together with your abs (especially the obliques) as they're meant to, they form a powerhouse center that generates force from the middle of your body out. "Usually the adductors are overused because the abs are weak and underworked," Nickelston says.

To teach the adductors and abs to work together, try the Pallof press: Anchor the center of a resistance band around a pole at chest height. Grab ends with each hand; step away until the band is taut. Stand perpendicular to the band with left side facing the pole and legs staggered, left foot in front of right, to start. Hold hands together next to chest for four counts; slowly extend arms forward at chest height for four counts and hold for four. (Resist being pulled to the left.) Return to start. That's one rep. Do five reps. Switch sides; repeat.

Who Are You? Memories, Points of View and the Self

The Discovery is a 2017 Netflix film in which Robert Redford plays a scientist who proves that the afterlife is real. “Once the body dies, some part of our consciousness leaves us and travels to a new plane,” the scientist explains, evidenced by his machine that measures, as another character puts it, “brain wavelengths on a subatomic level leaving the body after death.”

This idea is not too far afield from a real theory called quantum consciousness, proffered by a wide range of people, from physicist Roger Penrose to physician Deepak Chopra. Some versions hold that our mind is not strictly the product of our brain and that consciousness exists separately from material substance, so the death of your physical body is not the end of your conscious existence. Because this is the topic of my next book, Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia (Henry Holt, 2018), the film triggered a number of problems I have identified with all such concepts, both scientific and religious.

First, there is the assumption that our identity is located in our memories, which are presumed to be permanently recorded in the brain: if they could be copied and pasted into a computer or duplicated and implanted into a resurrected body or soul, we would be restored. But that is not how memory works. Memory is not like a DVR that can play back the past on a screen in your mind. Memory is a continually edited and fluid process that utterly depends on the neurons in your brain being functional. It is true that when you go to sleep and wake up the next morning or go under anesthesia for surgery and come back hours later, your memories return, as they do even after socalled profound hypothermia and circulatory arrest. Under this procedure, a patient’s brain is cooled to as low as 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which causes electrical activity in neurons to stop—suggesting that long-term memories are stored statically. But that cannot happen if your brain dies. That is why CPR has to be done so soon after a heart attack or drowning because if the brain is starved of oxygen-rich blood, the neurons die, along with the memories stored therein. […]

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I am Not Living in a Computer Simulation, and Neither Are You

BY PETER KASSAN

The notion that we’re all just computer simulations living in a simulated universe—once the stuff of late-night college dormitory bull sessions—has now resurfaced, having been espoused by (among other eminences) a world-famous astrophysicist and an Internet entrepreneur billionaire.

The notion is the latest manifestation of what was perhaps first contemplated (and then, at least to his own satisfaction, disproved) by Descartes, whose cogito, ergo sum—I think, therefore I am—was the first step in an attempt to figure out what can be reliably known, although he considered not a computer program creating the illusion of his body and his world, but an evil demon. The idea is a close cousin of the philosophers’ thought experiment (or parlor trick) known as “brain-in-a-vat,” which is said to have inspired the Matrix movies. Notice, though, that brain-in-a-vat requires a real brain in a real vat and the Matrix movies had real brains in real people plugged into their simulated world. The proposition that we’re all just computer simulations in a simulated universe eliminates the vat, the brain, the people, and the world. It can also be seen as the nerd’s version of the notion that we’re all simply dreams in the mind of God—perhaps the central creed of a Church of Computer Science.

The computer simulation argument proceeds along these lines:

• The universe contains a vast number of stars.
• Some of these stars have planets.
• Some of these planets must be like Earth.
• Since intelligent life arose and eventually invented computers on Earth, intelligent life must have arisen and invented computers on some of these planets.
• It is (or inevitably will be) possible to simulate intelligent life inhabiting a simulated reality on a computer.
• Since it’s possible, it must have been done.
• There must be a vast number of such simulations on a vast number of computers on a vast number of planets.
• Since there’s only one real universe but there’s a vast number of simulations, the probability that you’re living in a simulation approaches one, while the probability that you’re living in the real universe approaches zero.

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Thinking Positively: Why You Need to Wire Your Brain to Think Positive

 from PsychAlive

Our brains are hardwired to focus on the negative. If our boss tells us five things we are doing wonderfully at work but mentions one area we need to improve upon, or our partner consistently compliments our appearance but one day comments that a certain outfit is not flattering, we zero in on the negative.

Often, one less-than-positive comment can sink our entire mood. This negativity bias evolved in the human brain to help our ancient ancestors focus on threat and increase their chances of survival. However, focusing on the negative can hinder us in the modern world, which is why it is so important for us to train our brains to start thinking positively.

What Does Positive Thinking Entail? Thinking positively simply means taking a more optimistic approach to life. It means choosing to focus on the positive over the negative and remaining hopeful rather than despondent. When life presents challenges, we meet them with a more confident and productive attitude.

Benefits: Studies show that positive thinking is good for both our mental and physical health. According to the Mayo Clinic, the health benefits of positive thinking may include:

Increased life span
Lower rates of depression
Lower levels of distress
Greater resistance to the common cold
Better psychological and physical well-being
Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

Thinking positively simply makes us feel better. We have more self-confidence when we focus on things we actually like about ourselves rather than narrowing in on all of our self-criticisms.
Thinking positively helps keep us out of negative thinking patterns, such as rumination that can lead to more self-hatred and depression.

Why It’s So Challenging to Think Positively: Studies show that positive thinking is good for both our mental and physical health. According to the Mayo Clinic, the health benefits of positive thinking may include: increased life span, lower rates of depression, lower levels of distress, greater resistance to the common cold, better psychological and physical well-being,  better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, better coping skills during hardships and times of stress.

Thinking positively simply makes us feel better. We have more self-confidence when we focus on things we actually like about ourselves rather than narrowing in on all of our self-criticisms. Thinking positively helps keep us out of negative thinking patterns, such as rumination that can lead to more self-hatred and depression.

Take time to “take in the good”: Spend more time soaking up positive experiences. Remember that your brain doesn’t automatically store positive stimuli in your long-term memory, so you need to give it a boost.

Dr. Hanson suggests that when you have a good experience, no matter how mild it may be, “try to stay with it for 20 or 30 seconds in a row – instead of getting distracted by something else.” This process helps strengthen positive thinking patterns in your brain. The more you practice savoring positive moments and taking in the good, the easier it will become for you to think positively.

So, if there’s a nice moment between you and a loved one, take 10-30 seconds to bask in the glow of the warm feelings. If you notice a particularly beautiful sunset on your walk or drive home, take a few extra moments to drink it in. If you happen upon a blooming garden, literally stop and smell the roses. By taking the time to soak up pleasant experiences, you are rewiring your brain to be more positive.

Practice Gratitude: Gratitude offers us a reliable path to positivity. If you are feeling down or negative in your life, take a few minutes to write down a few things you are grateful for. We often forget about these elements when things get challenging.

Studies have found that gratitude is linked to greater happiness, better health and more optimism and positive emotions. According to Robert Emmons of the Greater Good Science Center, gratitude allows us to celebrate the present, blocks toxic, negative emotions, makes us more resilient, and increases our feelings of self-worth. Gratitude is like a muscle; the more you utilize it, the stronger it gets.

There are many effective gratitude practices. For instance, you can keep a gratitude journal or a gratitude jar, where you write down one to five things you are grateful for each day. Emmons suggests that writing occasionally (once or twice a week) in more depth may be more effective than writing short, daily lists. He also suggests that you “get personal” and focus your gratitude on people rather than things.

Don’t Get Caught Up In Self-Criticism: One of the biggest obstacles to thinking positively is the Critical Inner Voice. We all have an inner critic that loves nothing more than criticizing our every move. This inner critic can lead us into a spiral of shame or self-hatred.

Ruminating on negative thoughts about ourselves, or others, only strengthens the neural pathways for negative thinking. In order to retrain our brains to think positively, we must stand up to our inner critics and not indulge in self-attacks.

If you notice yourself thinking negatively about yourself, interrupt the thought by saying something more positive. For example, if you think something like “I’m so stupid. I definitely failed that job interview.” You could interrupt the thought by saying to yourself, “I’m not stupid. I put myself out there and tried my hardest. Even if I don’t get this job, I’m still okay.”

Practice Self-Compassion: Thinking positively doesn’t mean that you have to love yourself all the time. Rather, you should strive to see yourself compassionately and treat yourself with the same kindness and respect that you would offer to a friend. According to self-compassion researcher, Dr. Kristin Neff, there are three key components for practicing self-compassion:
   1) Acknowledge and notice your suffering.
   2) Be kind and caring in response to suffering.
   3) Remember that imperfection is part of the human experience and something we all share.
Taking a more compassionate attitude to yourself, especially when you are struggling can help you sustain a positive attitude toward yourself. You can find self-compassion exercises on Dr. Kristen Neff’s website.

Avoid Overly Negative/Cynical People: The people we spend our time with can have a big impact on us. When we hang around friends, family, or coworkers who are caught up in a negative mindset, their attitude can rub off on us. When talking with someone who is cynical about the world, complaining about their job, or gossiping about a mutual acquaintance, it is easy to naturally slip into those negative conversational patterns and begin to feel more critical ourselves.

If you notice yourself feeling bad after spending time around certain people, try to limit the amount of time you spend with them. Or try to shift your conversations with them to more positive or neutral topics. (Note: this doesn’t mean not being there for a friend who is going through a hard time. There is a difference between talking openly about something painful or a personal struggle and simply complaining about life and being cynical.)
It is equally important to notice when you feel particularly good after spending time with certain people. Give these positive relationships more importance in your life and seek to cultivate, expand, and spend more time on them.

An Outbreak of Mass Hallucinations and Shoddy Journalism: Why We Need Skepticism More Than Ever

BY ROBERT E. BARTHOLOMEW

When a mysterious epidemic of hallucinations was reported to have broken out in Oregon in October of 2016, media outlets around the world portrayed the story as a baffling medical mystery. There’s only one problem: it never happened. The case of the hallucinating Oregonians serves as a stark reminder of the threat posed by an uncritical media, and the need for skepticism and critical thinking.

During the early morning hours of Wednesday October 12th, 2016, an extraordinary story began unfolding in the community of North Bend, a small picturesque suburb of Coos Bay nestled along the Pacific Ocean in southwest Oregon. At about 3 am, police responded to a 9-1-1 call of vandalism. The complainant was a 57-year-old woman who was a live-in caregiver for an elderly resident. The caller claimed that several people were trying to remove the roof of her car. When police arrived, they could find no evidence of any crime and soon left. Two and a half hours later, the same woman again called to report that the vandals were back and trying to remove her car roof. Once again police rushed to the scene but could find nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the responding deputies, Doug Miller and David Blalack, could find no evidence that any crime had been committed. Given the unusual nature of her claims, police grew suspicious that the woman may have hallucinated the episodes. She was taken to the nearby Coos Bay Area Hospital where she was examined by medical personnel, “appeared fine, and returned home.”1 […]

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Ginger Helps You Burn Fat (Among Other Things…)

A major new scientific review finds that ginger may be the world’s most effective natural weight loss aid. Chinese researchers did an in-depth review of previous studies on ginger’s effect on body weight and overall health. They found that adding a little ginger to your daily diet speeds up your metabolism. At the same time, it fights hunger by making you feel more satisfied.

One study cited in the analysis closely examined the effects of ginger on a small group of men. Their ages ranged from 19 to 50. Each day, the men were given a breakfast of 5 mini-corn muffins and a glass of orange juice. Half the days they accompanied their breakfast with a cup of hot water. On the other days, they added 2 grams (¾ tsp) of powdered ginger to the hot water.

After breakfast, the men completed questionnaires every hour for 3 hours about how hungry they felt. They were also tested hourly for six hours to determine their metabolic rate and energy expenditure. On the days when their breakfast was accompanied by ginger tea, the participants reported less hunger and greater feelings of fullness. They also ate an average of 47 fewer calories than on non-ginger days.

It takes roughly 3,500 calories to produce one pound of body fat. So if the men in the study had ginger tea every morning for breakfast, it would translate to a weight loss of about 5 pounds a year.

Another study showed that ginger was as effective for weight loss as the prescription obesity drug Xenical. That study also found that ginger increased levels of HDL or good cholesterol. Two other studies in the analysis looked at the effect of ginger on animals. One found that overweight animals given ginger daily lost weight steadily for 30 days. The review recently was published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 

Why Ginger Works for Weight Loss: Ginger increases the thermic effect of food. This means it raises your body temperature and boosts your metabolism. In turn, you burn more calories.

Ginger contains gingerol, a natural appetite suppressant. Gingerol increases the body’s levels of leptin, the “satiety hormone.” It makes you feel full. Researchers found that ginger also reduces weight by suppressing cortisol production. Cortisol is a hormone produced during times of stress. It contributes to hunger and causes the body to store fat.
Three Ways to Get Ginger into Your Diet: Ginger—fresh or powdered—is easy to add to your diet. And unlike prescription diet drugs, it has no side effects. Here are three simple ways to use ginger to lose weight:

   1). Before meals, chew on a thin slice of fresh ginger root. Not only will this help control your appetite, it will also stimulate your digestion.
   2). Grate fresh ginger root and add it to just about any dish. Ginger adds flavor to everything from stews to salads to smoothies. To maximize its benefits, don’t cook it for any longer than six minutes.
   3). Brew ginger tea. You can simply add ginger powder to hot water like they did in the study. Or you can buy ginger tea bags. Iced ginger-lemon tea is particularly delicious.
Keep powdered ginger in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. It will last for several months. Fresh ginger root will last in the refrigerator for about three weeks. If you freeze it, it will keep its potency for about 6 months.

I don't always lose stuff...