Strengthener # 3: gluteus medius

The gluteus medius is a muscle that you find on the exterior side of the hips. It is part of the 3 gluteus muscles that are part of your buttock. This muscle is stabilisor in the walking process. It does also help taking the leg away from the body, in an abduction. How is how to strength this muscle:
-Get on your knees, with your palm against the floor. While keeping your knee bend, bring your leg to the side, like a dog will do. For that reason, this exercice is called the `fire hydrant`.

 Hold this movement for 5 seconds. Repeat 8 times. As you get confortable with this exercice, you can add some repitition and even add an elastic band to add some resistance.

Stretching #4: Suboccipital

The suboccipitals are situated just where the skull(the occiput) meets the vertebral spine (the cervical vertebreas). When they are too tight, they can cause some neck pain or headaches. Here is how to stretch them :
-Sit down on a chair(or you can do it standing against a wall). Sit up straight. It is really important to not bend your neck down during the exercice. Bring your chin back so that you make a "double chin". You should feel the stretch on the back of your neck.

Hold the movement for 30 seconds. Stop if you feel some pain. It is normal to feel a stretch, but you could harm yourself if you feel some pain. Repeat 3-4 times a day.

Strengthener #2: abs

 To have a good posture, the muscles all around our torso need to work as a team. The group that most of you know are the abs. You would see here one exercice for them for beginners and one that is more advanced:
 Starter: -"Crunch": Lay on the ground, lying on your back. Bend your knees so your feet are flat on the floor. Cross your arms on your torso. Contracting your abs, lift your torso off the floor until your scapulas(shoulder blades) are off the floor. Hold for 5 seconds. Do 3 set of 8 to start.

Avanced: - Plank :  Lay on the ground, on your belly. Put your fore-arms near your head, palms on the floor. Lift yourself, like on the picture below, being on your toes and holding yourself on your arms, contracting your abs. Hold for 30 seconds to start. Repeat 3 times.

 Don't forget, if you are feeling any pain, stop immediatly. It is really important to drink water, especialy if you are training.
N.B.Most people have a hard time with the plank, so be carefull while doing it. Personnaly, I can do 20 crunches no problem, but holding the plank for 30 seconds is real hard. So be sure to start with the crunches!

Stretching #3 : superior trapezius

 The superior trapezius is the muscle that is in the shoulder and finish at the back of the head. It's one of the three componant of the trapezius. When this muscle is tense, he can cause some pain in the shoulder or some headache. Here is how to stretch it:
- Sit straight. Put an hand underneath yourself. Bend your neck on the other side, just like if you were trying to touch your ear on the other shoulder. You can hold your head in the stretch with the other hand.

 Hold that position for 30 secondes. Repeat 3 to 4 times a day. Don't forget that you need to feel the stretch but not pain.

Stretching #2 : piriformis

The piriformis is the muscle that is underneath the gluteal majoris. He does the rotation of the leg. If this muscle is tight, he can affect the sciatic nerve. This last one is situated either underneath, over or in the piriformis. He can be responsable of some aches going down the leg, or can be part of a lower back problem(lombar part).
 Here are two ways of stretching it :
-Lay down on your back. Flex your hip at an angle of 90 degrees on one side. Put the heel of the other foot on the knee of that leg. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds. Repeat 3 to 4 times during the day.

- Sit on a chair. Be sure to sit straight. Put one heel on the opposite knee. Keeping your back and head aligned, bring your torso foward until your feel a stretch in your gluts(be sure to bring your torso and not only your head/neck). Hold it for 30 seconds and repreat 3 to 4 times a day.

 Don't forget that when you are doing a stretch, you want to feel the stretch but not pain. When you are feeling pain, you are going too far and can over stretch the muscle. Between the two choices mention here, it is up to you to find the one that feels more natural to you or seem to be working better.

The reason behind the take-home exercices

 I know that as a massage therapist, I give to my clients something to do at home after each massage, maybe a new thing or just to continue what you already been doing and seemed to work for you. But here is why it is important that you actually do the stretch or strenghting exercice we gave you at the end of the massage. As a massage therapist, I see you for a massage one or 2 times a week, sometime every 2,3, 4 weeks. During the massage, I usually work on the muscles that need more work and see how tense they are. But between appointments, you continue with your daily life. What we don't realise, it's often something in our everyday life that will effect our posture and will produce that pain. The exercice that is given at the end of the massage is to try to bring back your posture to where it should to be the optimal posture(what have been descrive as the posture to have to not have pain, or problems). The problem might be just a habbit we have(like the way we sleep) or a certain muscle that need to be stretch or be stronger. And by doing so, you continue my work as a massage therapist. If you want to feel better you have to be active in the proccess!

Stretching #1: Pecs

Since every day life makes that our posture brings the pectoral in a position that are shorten/contracted, many of us have them tight. That can produce some pain in the back, between the two scapulas(shoulder blade) because the muscles between them and the spine( the rhomboids) are overstretch.Here are the different ways to stretch the pec:
-#1 :Stand in a door frame with one arm on each side of the frame. Do a step foward(with only one leg) until you feel a stretch(most people would feel that stretch where the arm is attached to the chest). Be sure to keep your back straight during the stretch. Hold that position for 30 seconds. Repeat it 3 to 4 times a day.

-#2: Stand beside a wall so that your body makes an angle of 90 with it(one of your side could touch the wall). Put your arm on the wall just behind yourself, just like the picture underneath shows, about shoulder high. You should be feeling a stretch, not pain, pain could cost an elongation. You can also do that movement a little higher than shoulder height and lower. Hold each position 30 seconds and repeat 3 to 4 times a day.

When doing ome stretch, you should feel it, but it shouldn't be painfull. Go slowly and respect your limits.