See also:

Video tutorial for frown lines

Video tutorial to lift cheek muscles

Video tutorial for jawline

Recommended reading

See also: How to apply for Lorraine’s natural beauty campaign

Recommended reading

Pic credits: Bori Lugosi. Copyright Strongman training Chris Heron

Here’s a video from the first Strongman training outdoors class at the Albany Club from Saturday 4th February. Lots of smiles, lots of hard work and lots of calories burned!

The video shows the highlights from the hour-long class and all details on how to book are featured at the end.

All fitness levels welcome, speak to Chris beforehand about any injuries you may have.

By Paola Bassanese

In a recent meditation workshop, all participants were asked to really focus on the mechanics of walking and turning their attention on each movement that makes it possible to take a step.

What we take for granted is actually a complex dynamic of synergistic movements. Biomechanically, dozens of muscles engage at the same time to move the body forward.

As far as the thought processes are concerned, we walk “on autopilot” so we use our autonomous nervous system to give the right commands to our muscles.

The muscles we use are the “quads” ie, rectus femoris, vastus medialis and vastus lateralis, sartorius, hamstrings ie, biceps femoris, semimembranosus and semitendinosus, shin muscles ie, tibialis, peroneus longus, and calves ie, gastrocnemius, and soleus.

Each time you take a step, you need to lift one foot off the floor while balancing your body weight onto your other foot. Your hips tilt sideways while bending your knee and you land on your heel propelling your body forward. You then straighten the forward leg while the back leg prepares to bend.

5th February 2012: London is covered by deliciously creamy snow resembling marzipan icing on a cake.

If you walk through thick snow, the extra effort and the colder temperature helps you burn additional 3-7% more calories.

For a blow-by-blow account of how many calories you can burn snow walking, Walk About Magazine has all the facts and figures. The average person could burn up to 500 calories an hour walking in pressed snow but up to 700 for powdery, thick snow.

Massage appointments make take a bit of a back seat as transport is disrupted. Keeping muscles warm and supple is essential if you are unable to have a massage treatment so some dynamic yoga would help if you are stuck at home.

Sun salutations are the obvious choice as the rapid succession of poses raises the heart rate and body temperature.

If you can brave the elements and can commute to Marylebone, a trip to Indaba Yoga is worth every penny as the studio has a gorgeous hot yoga room at a toasty 30-35 degrees Celsius. If you happen to go there on a Tuesday, you can book an appointment with me for deep tissue, manual lymphatic drainage, pregnancy massage or natural facelift massage.

Starting from 4th February 2012, Chris Heron, personal trainer, is leading Strongman outdoors group training sessions.

The training consists in short group activities (groups of 2-3 people for a maximum of 30 people per class) ranging from pushing a prowler to lifting kettlebells, hammering and lifting heavy tyres.

These exercises have been designed to burn calories fast and build stamina and muscle mass. They are short and intensive and working outdoors in winter puts the body under additional pressure as you are burning more calories to stay warm. For example, in our first session on 4th February the temperature was -3 Celsius and we all had to work so much harder to keep supple and injury-free.

After the gruelling session, I offered short seated massage treatments to the participants: a good shoulder rub was what they needed as a reward for their hard work! Please note that massage appointments can be booked every Saturday after Strongman and the Albany Club is open 9am-5pm on Saturdays.

This is a good all-round type of workout and will be available every Saturday morning at the Albany Club. Contact Chris Heron for more details.

Personal trainer Chris Heron is launching a new series of Strongman training classes at the Albany Club starting from Saturday 4th February 2012.

Strongman training has been designed to achieve rapid results with strength training and weight loss.

Here’s a promotional video (yours truly will be attending and reporting back!):

Continuing treatment with client with frozen shoulder, with the realisation that it is near impossible to categorise people into neat boxes.

If you look at youtube videos from specialists on frozen shoulder, the manipulation they demonstrate may work for some cases and for others they won’t. Having said that, I have full respect for all my colleagues in the massage, osteopathy, physiotherapy and chiropractic sector so they all know how and when to apply specific techniques and manipulations.

As a massage therapist, and having had training in working with frozen shoulder, I have found that the best thing to do is to work with the client’s pain tolerance and preferences.

In my current case, sleep patterns are still irregular due to the pain (client is taking painkillers which only work for 3 hours). I wish I could say that the massages are helping my client sleep better or have less discomfort but I can’t.

The only way I believe I am adding some value is by simply being there and being supportive. My client is seeing a specialist and NHS physiotherapist so the thought of having a support team is reassuring in these tough times.

My current treatment methodology includes very simple kneading and soft tissue release particularly in the rotator cuff, deltoids, pectoralis, scalenes. Abduction is too painful so accessing the infraspinatus and serratus anterior is an issue.

The main goal my client and I are trying to achieve is general relaxation so we always conclude the treatment with a comforting foot massage.

Cases like this are truly humbling and they remind you, as a massage therapist, never to make any claims about “healing” or “fixing” people. As long as I can be there for my clients, I am doing a good job.

See also part one.

ADDENDUM. Cortisone injections are usually prescribed for frozen shoulder. A new technique called Hydrodilatation was recently introduced both as an alternative to or to complement cortisone injections. Hydrodilatation or arthrographic distension is the injection of fluid (can be a combination of saline and steroid) to break down scar tissue and ease movement.

I have noticed that people are getting a bit confused when it comes to apply for the Lorraine natural beauty competition so here’s a little video tutorial.

To recap:

1. go to www.itv.com/lorraine/lifestyle/lorrainenaked
2. enter your details and remember to tick the box saying that you did not have plastic surgery or botox
3. upload a recent picture of yourself without make up.

A panel will then select a few candidates to put through to the public vote.  Best of luck everybody!

The conversation will continue through the month of February so there’s plenty of time to contribute thoughts, ideas, articles and videos.

Head over to twitter, look at the day’s topic on #HealthAtoZ and have your say.