Leg, Butt, Hip, Thigh Magic: Tough US Marine Finds New Muscles Thanks to His Lady

Before I get into today’s e-newsletter – I just want to say “Thank you” and let you know that it means the world to me that you take the time to read each of these short and snappy pieces I’ve put together for you.

I understand not every single one of these may strike a chord with you – but please understand – I have over 320,000 readers all over the world who also get these articles…

So – as you read each issue, and you realize that you know someone else who can also benefit from hearing my perspective and learning about other people’s real life experiences – please feel free to forward any of these e-newsletters to them.

I may have mentioned this in an earlier edition. Women, *AND MEN*, who follow typical weights & machines type programs are VERY prone to experiencing hip and lower back problems which can worsen over time and cause serious issues that last a lifetime.

Ask any physical therapist – and they will vouch for this phenomenon. Oh – you’ll find many people who are pain free – but as time wears on and they place the wear and tear on their joints by constantly cranking on the weights and machines – it eventually catches up to them…

I talk about this female hip pain because it was the major topic in the last issue – and you’ll read about it here too.

OK – onto today’s incredible story. This one came in as a response to the previous edition.

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: RE: Secrets of a Trainer: A striking similarity between Candace and Helene…
From: “Candace T.” – c.t.@______________.com –
Date: Thu, January 29, 2009 12:54 am
To: – pam ( at ) joeyatlas. com -

Hi Joey and Pam,

Wow! After reading Helen’s email about her hip pain I had to send a response to you.

For six years I had a sharp pain in my hips. Every time I put my leg out of the car to pull myself up, a sharp pain would shoot through my hips. Someone told me it might be due to the cheap shoes I was wearing.

Well, I stopped wearing them five years ago, but the pain persisted. I was too stubborn to go to the doctor (he would probably just prescribe some pain reliever or medicine with the additional side effects).

Anyway, I started doing the ULBHTM once a week and just after a few weeks I noticed that the pain went away. Since I have had a pain in my right shoulder from being on the computer so much, I decided to try your Ultimate Upper Body program. I just started it a week ago. I also bought your stretching routine, Optimum Flexibility, and plan to start that this weekend.

Here’s a funny story. My boyfriend had heard about the ULBHTM program that I bought. I took your travel sheets camping with us (Camp Pendleton Military Base Campground). I challenged him to do the workout with me and he thought it would be way too easy.

He is a retired Marine and works out at the gym with weights.

There we were doing the workout in our campsite with the neighbors chuckling at us!

Two days later as we were packing up to leave the camp he could hardly step out of the trailer because he was so sore (he was feeling his ‘LBHT’ body parts…he he).

He realized that your program is not “just for the ladies”, but also for men wanting to discover muscles that they never knew they had!

He wanted to borrow my Joey Atlas stretching DVD to see what it was all about, but I told him it’s time for him to buy his own )

Not to be cruel, I do love him, but I was feeling like the little kid who just got a new toy and hadn’t even had a chance to play with it before her sibling tried to snatch it up. Silly isn’t it? He laughed about my so called “death grip” I had on the DVD when he asked to borrow it.

Anything with ‘Atlas’ on it is now the hot ticket item in my house.

Candace
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How great as that!?

Candace gets rid of her mysterious hip pains – AND shows her boyfriend (former Marine!) how to “work” the LBHT area with no weights – and no machines.

If you know any men who need a complete lower body workout – put them to the test by having them do Level 1 – I guarantee, you will blow their mind – and you’ll get to watch them walk funny for a few days )

Yes, my methods are ‘different’. Some say ’simpler’, some say ‘focused’, some say ‘no-fluff’, some say ‘pure genius’. What do you say?

That’s it for today’s issue …

Your trainer for life – your trainer forever,

Joey Atlas – Creator of the Most Effective, Most Coveted, Most Talked About, Exercise Program for Women That Targets the Female Trouble Spots and Problem Areas More Precisely Than a Skilled Surgeon’s Cosmetic Scalpel and Laser Tool…

- and you can get your’s, sent right to your doorstep, right here: http://legbutthipthighexercises.com/order/
– or read the main page to see everything you get:
http://legbutthipthighexercises.com

- We ship DVDs WORLDWIDE
- The programs can be done everywhere: house, office, vacation…
- It’s like having me at your side, anytime – day or night…
- And you’ll never have to look for a personal trainer again, ever… ——————————————————————–

Exercises for Better Sex, a Better Body, and Better Marriage

There’s no doubt about it – being in better shape means better love-making, intimacy and sex. Please remember – ‘better shape’ is a relative term – I’m not suggesting you have to be a perfect 10. Those of you who’ve been following me for a while know what I mean…

But – what most women don’t know is how fast the sexual enhancement effects of exercise can be realized…

Better Sex Exercises
credit to www.urban-arts.co.uk

This email says it all:

Hello Joey -

I recently purchased your Leg, Butt, Hip and Thigh Makeover DVDs and as soon as I came home yesterday I started “the Makeover”. After moving the tv room coffee table out of the way, I put my mat on the floor and started the lower body exercises – excellent instructional cues, Joey…

Many of these female exercises are foreign to me but I quickly got the hang of it – and your training instructions make it pretty easy. The exercises are interestingly fun, pretty clever and actually deliver a challenge to strategic muscles – a VERY targeted program to say the least.

I must say, Joey – this is a far cry from the typical body bashing squats, lunges and machine routines I’ve been through at the gym, a pleasant departure, I’ll admit… – I’m just so surprised at how much deeper and evenly distributed I feel your program working – (not sure if I’m said that properly – but you know what I mean…)

Anyway, my husband got home from his office meeting as I was finishing up the last three exercises and he was pretty thrilled to be able to watch me exercising. He grabbed some food and sat down on the couch and said ‘I LOVE your workout outfit, Tee’. He made me laugh so I tried to gently change the subject and asked him if he thought I was doing the exercises properly…

He really liked the dvd and made a few comments about your methods… All of this created a romantic mood in him. He went into the bathroom and posted a note that said “True love lasts forever…”. My heart simply melted and needless to say we had some ‘VERY intimate’ time together – it was wonderful…

This program will definitely enhance many marriages and relationships, Joey – brilliant work – I LOVE this program – and what it’s doing for my body, mind and spirit… )

Many thanks, Joey…

Taunia Foreman, Administrative Assistant
Linsco/Private Ledger, Member NASD/SIPC

Great stuff – I must say….

What are your thoughts and/or experiences about sex and exercise? Please post below – I’ll be waiting to hear from you…

Your trainer…

Joey Atlas

Back Pain and Fitness: Prevention & Treatment of Back and Body Pain for Lifelong Wellness

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If you go to the health club to get healthy and fit, look good, feel good and pamper your ego, then I urge you take a minute to think about something…

Do you remember the old adage, “People like to do what they are good at and comfortable with”? Are you living that old adage at the gym? Most people do. They have a set routine at the gym and it’s that routine coupled with the mechanics of the equipment that can lead to trouble–either very quickly or over time.

Here is the problem. Working out can lead to injury, no question. The challenge is in knowing how it can happen and how to prevent it. There are two basic categories of injuries: the sudden accident (a.k.a. trauma) and what can be described as the Process Injury (in other words, the long, slow development of a condition.) My goal is to protect you from both types of injury.

Traumatic Injury at the Gym

Let’s start with the 5 basic concepts of working out in order to show you how easy it is to injure yourself in a traumatic way.

• Intensity: How hard you work out.
• Frequency: How often you work out.
• Duration: How long you work out.
• Progressive Resistance: Using more resistance with each set you perform.
• Progressive Overload: Starting at a higher level of resistance at subsequent workouts.

Each one of these principles has the ability to cause injury. But when you couple them with having a trainer or workout partner egging you on to eek out one more rep as you get fatigued, you go into all kinds of contorted positions to get the job done.

All of a sudden, Bam-O! A hundred different injuries can happen. And they will take a long time to heal. You will have defeated the entire purpose of going to the gym in the first place.

Please understand that the body can tolerate a lot of abuse before you pay the penalty of an injury. Just know that injuries can happen in seconds and the effects can last a lifetime.

Injury as a Process

Traumatic injuries do happen. But more often it is the slow progression injuries that are far more sinister and very well may be the root cause of some traumatic injuries. So I would like to focus on what happens over the long term so that you can make a change now to prevent injuries.

I have spent the last 10 years of my life dealing specifically with what are called muscle imbalances and their effects on the back and body. In describing the concept I will use some examples and try to make you aware of what possible injuries you could be facing.

Let me begin by describing what muscle imbalances are and then give you an example. Muscle imbalance can be defined as strength and flexibility of one muscle group compared to the opposite muscle group. So if you compare the strength and flexibility of the quadriceps to the opposite muscle group, the hamstrings, in nine out of 10 people the quads will be overly strong and overly tight compared to the hamstrings. That’s the definition of having a muscle imbalance.

How Back and Body Injures Start!

The quads are always going to be stronger then the hamstrings, so you may be wondering what is wrong with that. Let me give you some possible examples of what can happen if your quads are out of balance with your hamstrings. As I give this example, understand that there are other imbalances that often happen at the same time to develop this condition. For example, the hip flexors and the glutes can be out of balance too.

When the quads are out of balance with the hamstrings, there can be uneven and excessive wear and tear on the cartilage and ligaments of the knee. The knee will not function correctly and conditions will develop to the point were running or physical activity will be impossible.

Second, balance between the quads and the hamstrings keep the pelvis in a neutral and stable position. But when you have overly strong and overly tight quads, your pelvis will be pulled in several different directions. In some cases the whole pelvis is pulled excessively forward. In other cases one side of the pelvis comes even more forward and the hip goes too high, causing the pelvis to rotate. This is very common in physically active women over 40.

When the pelvis is not in the most neutral and most stable position possible, the spine may go into abnormal curvature. It is that abnormal curvature caused by the muscle imbalance that can set you up for hip problems, SI joint problems, back problems and sciatica.

How Does This Happen?

The very equipment you are using at the gym is either directly or indirectly helping you develop your muscle imbalances and setting you up for future problems.

Let me give you some examples. You cannot help but develop raw quad strength when you use the leg extension machine. As I asked you before, do you stick to exercises that you like to do? Let’s face it, everyone hates to work the hamstrings because they are weak and it is hard to do. So most people overwork their quads and under-work their hamstrings.

Another example is the calf raise machine. Again, the calf muscle will always be stronger then the muscles in front of the shin, but when you blast your calves and do not work the muscles in the front of the shin you are setting yourself up for planter fasciitis, heel spurs, Achilles tendonitis and even knee problems.

Let me recap. Working out with gym equipment puts enormous unnatural force through the joint, restricts movements to linear motions and can very easily overdevelop muscle groups. This combined with the development to muscle imbalances—is a hidden root cause of most if not all physical injuries at the gym.

Action Steps

As with any new desire to make a change in your life, you must first have a starting point. There is no easier way to get started then to take an inventory of where you are right now. It will not help you at all to make subjective assessments about yourself and not be honest, so I have a few suggestions:

• Take photos of yourself. I would not always recommend this. But in cases were your health and wellness are at stake, why not? Here is what you can do. Put on a bathing suit and have someone take photos, front, back and both sides, making sure that you see head to toe. Then take a look–not with a judging eye but a caring eye, looking for areas that are not in balance. For example, is your head straight? Is your head over your shoulders or is it forward of your shoulders? Are your shoulders level? What about your hips, are they level? (Look at your side view and suit line as a guide.)

Those are just some of the areas that you can gauge yourself on. You can also use the photos as a reference of how you are now so you can look back at how you were then.

• Feel the pain. The best way to assess pain is by asking yourself how you feel in the morning, during the day and at night. With this one you will need to be honest with yourself, and I suggest that you write this down. You can even mark up the photos you took by writing on them at the body part or parts where you feel pain.

• Listen to your body. If you are working out and you feel a little something and you’re not quite sure what it is, rest assured it’s your body telling you it does not like what you are doing to it.

• Build your awareness. If you live with fear, worry or doubt about your weight, health or medical condition, the best way to overcome that it is to build your knowledge on the subject. Study what others already know. And remember to always stay enthusiastic about the process. That is the secret to achieving your goals.

If you do not mind I would like to end with a short story of a one of my clients. She is a 43-year-old professional with a desk job. One day she decided that she was going to lose 20 pounds by summer. So she joined the gym, where she took a spinning class, used weights and at the same time trained for a 6K run on Memorial Day. She did this for about four months. Fast-forward to race day. She starts the race and within the first mile she knows she is in trouble. But she decides to finish the race because the pain is not that bad.

I get a call that night. She tells me that she cannot walk and asks if massage would help. I go over that same night. When I get there she is on crutches. She cannot walk. She has foot pain, knee pain and the effects of Piriformis irritation. I agree to work with her and only do what she can tolerate. I then urge her to see a doctor. On Monday morning, she does.

At the appointment she was diagnosed with a bone spur in her heel, a stress fracture on her tibia by the knee and wicked Piriformis Syndrome. As I write this, two months later, she still has not been able to return to any physical activity.

Listen to your body. It may be telling you something…

Steve Hefferon is a Certified Massage Therapist, Certified Post-Rehab Specialist and Co-Founder of the Healthy Back Institute. His work has helped thousands of people diagnose and address the root cause of their back and body pain by identifying simple muscle imbalances that pull the back and body out of proper alignment and function. Click here => http://www.EasyBackPainFix.com to read your FREE ‘Back Pain Relief Guide’ and to learn more about Steve and The Healthy Back Institute.

Glutes Exercises – What’s Really ‘The Best’ Glute Exercise?

I’m constantly on the lookout for the latest information, research and success stories regarding lower body fitness for women. I come across a lot of pretty lame stuff, some ok stuff and every once in a while a some very good stuff.

But today – I came across an article that focused on womens glutes, the larger muscles of the butt.

Now one thing I don’t like is any article titled ‘The Best’…whatever, whatever… – because there are always situations and contingencies where that ‘best’ thing is not the best – and quite often maybe even the worst.

The biggest problem with the articles I see that ‘feature’ the best exercises for the glutes is that 98% of them are focused on the gym or health club environment and include the use of weight and machines. Not realistic for most of us ‘regular people’.

Yes – I have seen a handful of articles featuring just bodyweight types exercises that can be done at home or at the office – but even these will contain errors in the exercise instructions of proper form, tempo and/or progression, etc.

That is one of the biggest problems with the internet. It’s very hard to trust the source of information – let alone, know if it applies to you or not.

Truth is – there are a lot of ‘best glute exercises’ – and any one of them becomes exponentially better when combined with other glute exercises and are performed with proper tempo form and sequence.

Do your glutes need improvment?

If so – what would you like to improve about them?

How would you describe it?

Do you want sexy glutes, nicer glutes, smaller glutes, bigger glutes, rounder glutes, firmer glutes, tighter glutes, lifted and perkier glutes? Did I miss one?

Tell me below by clicking on ‘Comment’

- I want to know )…

On top of this – there is no single leg, butt, hip or thigh exercise that can stand alone with the title of ‘the best’. The truth is when you take several carefully chosen exercises and combine them properly – the resulting combination ‘may’ be considered one of the best.

This is the principle of “synergy”. It’s the synergy between several lower body exercises – executed with certain form, tempo and sequence that gives women the visible results in their lower bodies.

Here’s a mini leg, butt, hip and thigh home exercise program that many women have gotten great results with. You can download and print it out right now.

trouble-spot-tune-up-for-women <= click here to open - or right click and 'Save to Folder' or Desktop

It's a small sample of exercises carefully chosen from the full programs contained in The Ultimate Leg, Butt, Hip and Thigh Makeover Home Exercise DVDs for Women.

Enjoy and let me know how you do with this little program.

Your trainer,

Joey Atlas