Day 34 - Save Your Pennies, You Don't Need Brazilian Butt Lift!

A song for you, to the tune of the Bellamy Brothers "Let Your Love Flow":

Oh, when you're walkin'

You know it feels good

No need for talkin'

Just get out in the 'hood

And let your lymph flow

It don't matter if you

Don't have a reason 

chorus:
Oh let your lymph flow, 

And just let your arms swing

Yes, let your lymph flow

It'll make your heart sing

Stay off the treadmill,

It's not a nat-u-ral thing

It's for stroke vic-tims...

Uh-huh. For reals. Did you know that?

You know that lymph flows best when you're in a natural walking state, arms swinging in a relaxed, reflex-driven motion. 

You might not know why I want you to NEVER walk on a treadmill. 

When you walk outside, you extend a leg behind you (using your gluteal muscle, or butt), and then push off on that leg to take your next step. 

Easy-peasy, rice and cheesy, huh?

But, when you use a treadmill for walking, you don't extend that leg and push off, because the ground is already moving underneath you. You CAN'T push off. You have to LIFT your leg. Which makes you walk more like this:

When you are on a treadmill, you are PICKING UP your leg each time. Instead of using your butt muscles to extend a leg to walk, as nature intended, you are using your hip flexors, which are these:

WHOA! These suckers are already completely overused for the other stuff you do all day! Like this:

And this

And this

And this

And even this

So you want to get on a treadmill and overuse them some more? And under use your B-U-T-T? 

Why?

You want a nice caboose? Get out and walk. 

Can I get an "AMEN"?

A fact you may not have known:

Treadmills--the relative of the kind we use in gyms today--were developed to aid stroke victims who could not walk well (or at all) on their own. It was a device that could help retrain the muscles/brain for perambulation while securing the patient in a safe, upright position. 

Great for stroke victims, but not for you. You are working the wrong walking muscles when you're on that treadmill. You are not promoting proper muscle development. Same thing with running on one, if you feel you must run. 

Personally, I believe we should only be running when being chased by tigers. 

 

Okay, I'm done. 

As a side note, I don't "hate" many things, but I do hate marionettes. Those of you who know me, know that there is little I fear. However, I've had this inexplicable fear of clowns and marionettes ever since I could remember. Recently, I found out that when we'd stay at my grandparents' place, my big brothers used to chase a 4-year old me around the dark, musty storage barn with a CLOWN MARIONETTE, chanting "I'm going to kill you, Dani, I'm going to kill you!"

That explains a lot, I guess.

Don't walk like a marionette today, please.

Dani