This chapter introduces you to a very special friend who you should always cherish: your spine. Your spine allows you to stand up straight, bend forwards and backwards and twist side to side. It also gives you presence, helps you show off your body and makes heads turn as you walk by. Learn about it, how to care for it and while your at it, find out how to pile it all up to sculpt your body to its best!
What You Never Really Quite Understood
Ever hear a gym-rat go on and on about joints, articulations, tendons and all that technical nonsense, and start feeling slightly dizzy?
Need a little coaching in this area? We’ll give you the basic pointers to understand what all that tech-talk is about:
Ligaments: a short band of tough fibrous connective tissue composed mainly of collagen fibers. They connect bones to bones, forming a joint. Their main job is to limit the mobility of articulations.
Tendons: a tougher band of fibrous connective tissue. They attached muscles to bones. They are similar to ligaments except that ligaments join one bone to another.
Once you realize that ligaments connect bones to bones and tendons connect muscles to bones, all that anatomy starts to become clearer.
And now for the main treat:
Joints: the association between at least two bones, allowing them to move. Its job is to make repeated movement between these bones as smooth, safe, and efficient as possible.
Joints are made up of several parts that allow it to function properly.
Cartilage: a smooth substance that covers the part of the bones that participate in the joint. It absorbs shocks and makes a more comfortable fit between bones.
Muscles: nothing to say here, just that muscles link bones together and provide the force to move them.
More Ligaments: these strong tissues form a capsule or outer covering around the joint, protecting it and limiting its movement.
Joint fluid: also called synovial fluid, it consists in a thin cushion of fluid that absorbs shocks and prevents damage from bones hitting each other.
Bursae: these are fluid-filled pockets that prevent friction between the skin and joint, between two bones, and between a tendon or a ligament and a bone.
Now we’re ready to talk Anatomy!
Santa’s List
Whether Christmas is still far away or just around the corner, it`s never too early to get a head start on your list! Seriously, I think its always good to have a wish list in hand, just to remember what you want and where your heading.
So let’s check out what`s on everybody`s wish list: a great body, poise, elegance, savoir-faire, self-confidence, grace, sex appeal… and a Mercedes Benz to top it off.
What are the good news? The good news is that most items on your list are things you can acquire with no money at all –scratch the Mercedes Benz. All you need is a bit of will and a little practice: both go for free.
And I believe that the genie in the lantern who can make all these wishes come true is carefully hidden, tucked deep away, but inside every single one of us: our spine.
So, believe me, its all in there. All you need is to learn how to use it. This is what this chapter is about.
So, sit up and listen carefully. Here goes some basic cues to make your wish list come true...
