Fix Your Form: How To Do The Perfect Shoulder Press

If you don't know your way around a weight room, heading to the gym can be intimidating -- and even dangerous. But paying attention to a few simple rules of proper technique can make you slimmer, stronger and healthier all over.

We spent an afternoon at Equinox with trainer and manager Rebecca Woll, learning the ins and outs of some of the most popular strength-training machines.

We've been sharing Woll's thoughts on the biggest mistakes we all make while building muscle, plus her tips and tricks for better form. This week, we're perfecting the shoulder press.

The Faux Pas: Woll says she sees many people set up this machine so that the handles are too high. "You would never pick something up, bring it to 90 degrees, and then press it -- imagine carrying your laundry bag and then giving it to someone else," she says. "You want every [exercise] to be functional."


The Fix: Set up the bench so that the handles fall slightly below your shoulders, she says. Then press up so that the elbows are right by your ears. For a little added bonus, Woll suggests pulling slightly away on the handles to activate smaller parts of your muscles that aren't as developed.

Tell us how it goes in the comments below!

Fitness Motivation Tricks

The ability to go up to my fifth-floor walkup without feeling winded!
-- Amanda L. Chan, News Editor

My fitness motivation is endorphins!
-- Gina Ryder, Community Manager

I visualize my cells repairing, recycling and rejuvenating themselves and it makes me feel like I'm actively participating in a transformation.
-- Meredith Melnick, Nutrition and Fitness Editor

debated paying $70 a month for a gym membership for a while. But now that I have one, knowing $35 is being deducted from my paycheck every pay period motivates me to go. Cheapness trumps laziness.
 -- Laura Schocker, Senior Editor

For some "me" time. It's basically the only time of the day (besides sleeping) when I don't check my phone/emails.
-- Sarah Klein, Associate Editor

To get rid of headaches and fit into skinny jeans!
-- Kate Bratskeir, Associate Editor
 

Working out makes me feel comfortable in my body. I find feeling good and looking good translate to bolstering confidence in other aspects of my life.
-- Alana B. Elias Kornfeld, Executive Health Editor 
 

It helps me keep a positive outlook [and with] physical/emotional/spiritual well being.
-- Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald, Wellness Editor
 

When I'm tempted to give up on a run, I imagine there's an attractive man, often Leonardo DiCaprio, waiting for me at the "finish line"!!
-- Anonymous staff appreciator of mid-90s teen heart throbs

Exercise Mental Benefits: How Workouts Boost Brain Power

We all know that regular exercise is a major player in our ability to achieve a healthy weight, a longer life expectancy and a reduced risk of chronic diseases -- from cancers to heart disease to diabetes. And, as you've likely discovered, it makes you look good too. But when you hit the gym, your biceps and lats aren't the only muscles you're working. Mounting research shows that aerobic activity may be one of the most important factors in maintaining a sharp brain.

 Just last week, a study revealed that exercise helped a group of men learn a new skill through enhanced "motor memory." But that's not the first or last word in the brawn-brain connection. Here are seven ways that getting your blood pumping is the best chance for gaining mental power too:

Cardio Or Weights First? Exercise Order Sometimes Matters

"Is there an order to working out? In other words, should I do weights first and then cardio?"
-- Karen 

Working out is always good for you. The good news is that, whether you do it before or after weight training, cardiovascular exercise like running, swimming, biking or machine-work will improve everything from your heart health to your mood to your chance of avoiding many cancers. And lifting weights helps with everything from bone density to metabolism.
But according to exercise physiologists and personal trainers we spoke with, the order of operation can change depending on a person's goal.
"This question is one of the biggest questions on people's minds when they go to the gym," says personal trainer and HuffPost blogger Jeff Halevy. For those who are seeking weight loss, cardio should come first, but if gaining muscle mass is the goal, it's time to hit the weight room first. But why?

Let's start with the muscle-building scenario. "Doing cardio first will induce fatigue that may compromise technique and possibly increase risk of injury," explains Fabio Comana, director of Continuing Education for the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Exhausting oneself with a big run right before weights and resistance training doesn't just up the risk of injury, it also means you'll have less energy to throw into a really good weight training session.
On the other hand, if you're looking to lose fat, Halevy recommends doing interval cardio training before getting started on weights. As he explains, the cardio will deplete your body's supply of glycogen -- the stored form of glucose in muscle cells and a primary material in our energy storage. Once glycogen is depleted, the body turns to more long-term storage sources, like fat.
"If your goal is strictly a lean body -- not to be strongest, or most powerful, but achieve maximal leanness -- I always recommend implementing high-intensity interval training at the beginning of each workout," says Halevy.
But that doesn't mean weights aren't important for fat loss. In fact, when it comes to analyzing the percentage weight loss that's comprised of fat versus lean tissue like muscle, weights have cardio beat overall.
"Resistance training should always be a consideration," explains Comana in an email. "Mother nature will help us lose lean tissue naturally (23 percent in women between ages 30 and 70), that we need to preserve. Diet and cardio also results in lean tissue losses (68 percent fat, 22 percent muscle / lean tissue). Whereas diet and resistance leads to 97 percent fat loss, and only 3 percent lean tissue loss."
There may be other reasons for doing cardio first. As Comana points out, many more people are familiar with cardiovascular exercise, so it will seem less intimidating and is thus more likely to happen. If the weight room is daunting enough to prevent a workout session, it's worth getting started on cardio and working your way up. And if another health goal -- say Type 2 diabetes or hypertension prevention or treatment -- is the priority, Comana recommends cardio over resistance. "Some diseases are better managed with cardio first, then introducing resistance training later," he told Healthy Living.
It's important to get the opinion of a doctor and certified personal trainer or exercise professional before proceeding, but the takeaway is simple: if you're exercising, no matter the order, you aren't doing anything wrong. Depending on your goal, you may want to choose one type of exercise over the other. Of course, you could alternate days and avoid the question entirely.

What Is Excessive Sweating?

Why do I sweat so bad when I exercise?
-- Denise, 56, Mokena, IL

We've gotten some variation of this question from several readers: why do some people sweat more than others? Why do some people sweat from their faces, while others mostly sweat from their hands? When is sweating considered excessive and why am I sweating anyway?
So we spoke with Dr. Lyall Gorenstein, surgical director at the Columbia University Hyperhidrosis Center in New York and Dr. Noel Perin, director of minimally invasive spinal surgery, Department of Neurosurgery at NYU Langone Medical Center and an expert in treating complex hyperhidrosis.
Let's start with the basics: the primary purpose of sweating is to cool your body down. "Sweating is the body’s natural, neurological response to cool the body by stimulating the sweat glands to produce moisture that cools the body by drawing heat from the body during evaporation," Perin tells HuffPost Healthy Living. "Because everyone’s body is different, the response differs from one individual to another, producing varying levels of perspiration."

When your body temperature rises, whether because of sweltering external temperatures, exercise or hormonal changes (often associated with menopause), it stimulates the two to five million sweat glands that are distributed under your skin. These glands exist throughout the body, though they have higher concentrations in certain areas like the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet.
Perspiration works because it carries the heat generated by your body to the skin's surface, where it evaporates into the atmosphere, lowering overall internal temperature. Think of a bead of sweat as a vehicle for heat conducted by your body: it transports body heat to the surface, where it can diffuse into the external world. And that protects the integrity of your cells and organs from the dangers of overheating.
A secondary, less pronounced purpose to sweating is to help shed the body of waste that occurs as a natural byproduct of cell metabolism, according to Gorenstein.
But why do some people sweat more than others? Among the range of sweating that is considered normal -- that is, functional, predictable and not associated with a medical condition -- there is no known reason for the variation in sweating. "If we're talking about otherwise healthy individuals, which is to say not people who are obese or have another condition that could contribute, it's simply a physiological variation," Gorenstein tells HuffPost Healthy Living. "Just like how the average resting body temperature is 98.6, but many people exist on a bell curve around that."
Since sweating is a normal, physiological response to exercise, chances are that sweating during exercise -- even if you are sweating more profusely than your neighbors on the treadmill -- is not an indication of a problem. When in doubt, it's always better to have that confirmed by a doctor.
However, if the sweating occurs not just during exercise, but at random -- as a stress response or when you are at rest or in a controlled temperature environment -- it could indicate a condition known as hyperhidrosis. One telltale sign of hyperhidrosis is that you'll often sweat profusely from one specific area of the body, most often the palms of your hands or soles of your feet, but also sometimes the armpits.
"It can reach a point of socially uncomfortable results," says Perin. "Everything from minor annoyances such as smudged writing paper to much greater issues like difficulty holding a pen or the social discomfort caused by soaked clothing and wet handshakes."
Sometimes excessive sweating can be caused by another condition in what is called secondary hyperhidrosis. Infectious disease, hyperthyroidism, menopause and some cancers can cause hyperhidrosis, according to the Mayo Clinic, though Gorenstein has found that obesity is the most common cause of secondary hyperhidrosis.
But people with primary hyperhidrosis very often begin to experience it in early childhood or even infancy, according to Gorenstein. "Patients will tell me stories about leaving tracks on the floor as toddlers," he says. Primary hyperhidrosis is to some extent hereditary. In fact, WebMD reported that about 50 percent of hyperhidrosis cases can be traced to family history.
No one is sure what the mechanism for primary hyperhidrosis is, beyond the understanding that it is a neurological response. Gorenstein has conducted a series of clinical studies comparing hyperhidrosis patients to a control group of normal sweaters: monitoring the brains of study participants using an fMRI machine, he and his colleagues showed the group visually disturbing images to cause anxiety and stress response. They demonstrated that when patients with primary hyperhidrosis looked at the pictures, their hands began to sweat. The control group did not sweat, though they did have other measures of sympathetic response, such as quickened pulse.
For hyperhidrosis patients, treatment options vary: while some mild forms respond to prescription-strength topical antiperspirants, other options include water iontoforesis, botox injections in the armpits (an FDA-approved use) or, in extreme cases, surgical intervention.
While hyperhidrosis can be debilitating, especially socially, it is not dangerous on its own. It can, in some rare instances, be associated with a dangerous condition and should be diagnosed properly for that reason. Likewise, exercise-induced sweat, even at above average volume, isn't anything to worry about.

How To Stretch Safely For Flexibility After 50

 I am looking to get back into martial arts at 58. How do I get my agile flexibility back without tearing my muscles while stretching? -- David 

  It's true that as we age, flexibility becomes an even bigger concern. All of the experts we interviewed agreed that older bodies come with an ultimatum: Use it or lose it. If you aren't maintaining an active lifestyle, you can expect accelerated muscle loss, decreased stamina, strength, range of motion, balance and flexibility.

 So getting into a new fitness routine or revisiting or ramping up an old one, like Martial Arts, is a really great idea. But David is right to be concerned about flexibility in middle age. "There are normal things that happen with aging -- naturally occuring phenomena," says Patrice Winter, a clinical physical therapist and spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association. "One of those is flexibility -- if you don’t stretch and move, your joints start to get less flexible. It's really important to keep joints moving."

 And some parts of our bodies suffer more than others. "The older we get, sitting more, our hamstrings tend to get tight. The muscles in the back of the calf, around our Achilles' tendons," says A. Lynn Millar, Ph.D., a physical therapist and professor of physical therapy at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. "The other area that people might not notice as much is the chest muscles. If we’re working at a desk, we bring our head forward and round our shoulders, so the muslces in the front of our chest -- our pectoral muscles -- get shortened and tight while our back muscles loosen."

There are so many kinds of stretching that it can be a bit confusing. The key is to warm up the muscle and then push its limits in terms of pliability and range of motion. John McCarthy, a physical therapist and an associate professor of physical therapy at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, recommends doing either static or dynamic stretching exercises. Static stretching, or taking a position that elongates the muscle and holding it, is beneficial because it's extremely low risk for injury, he says, while still improving range of motion and flexibility. Because static stretching doesn't involve warming up the muscles first, it's best to do the stretches during or following a cardio or strength-training workout.

 Dynamic stretching, by contrast, involves taking a position at the end range of motion, applying slow, steady pressure to push that boundary and then returning. Because it is a series of exercises, it does double duty -- warming up the muscle and then working to enhance flexibility and range of motion.

Regardless of your chosen type of stretching, McCarthy recommends consulting a physical therapist or well-regarded book for specific moves. Millar suggests this routine: choose stretches based on where you feel tightness. For static stretches, the typical recommendation is 30 seconds per stretch, performed in three reps. "You'll see an improvement in the range of motion even if you do each exercise once for 15 seconds," she says, but the benefit is greater with increased duration and repetition. Although most official guidelines recommend stretching three times a week, Millar says that daily stretching is more effective and not dangerous.

 For dynamic stretching, think about your activity and how you will use your body. For example, if you'll take on a martial arts class, you might know you'll be throwing punches and high kicks. Before you get started, do some slow motions to simulate the positions you'll take during the course of the class.

 But how do you know if you've taken a stretch too far? You should still be able to breathe and talk, says Winter. If you have to hold your breath, you're going too far. Millar says that you shouldn't feel your muscles trembling -- a sign that you're stretching too deeply. Dial it back until you're feeling a gentle pull, but no burning or pain, she says.

 One caveat: many older patients experience tightness around the hips and other joints. While this is often muscular, it can occasionally be a sign of arthritis-associated tightness in the joint. To differentiate, Millar, who is also a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, recommends checking your hamstrings: if you can lie flat on the ground and lift your leg to a 90-degree angle, the problem is unlikely to be inflexibility and is instead arthritic stiffness in the knee or hip, she says. If you suspect the latter, see a physician for a medical evaluation.