bad stomach cramps when doing abdominal crunches sit ups

A lot of people exercising suddenly feel sharp painful stomach cramps when they do a couple of sit ups, or abdominal crunches.

Some tips to prevent cramping:

• warm up first, don’t do a lot of sit-ups all at once. then start em out in really small numbers, after a few, roll over and do a cat stretch (lay on your stomach, feet/legs togeather, put your hands down by your sides, then stretch up, straight arms, and lean back, like a kitty stretching.  Then, do cool down at the end too.
• don’t drink too much cold water especially just before exercising.
• don’t do these crunches right after you eat

Top 11 qigong tao books

1) “Art of the Bedchamber: The Chineses Sexual Yoga Classics Including Women’s Solo Meditation Texts”  by Douglas Wiles; published by State University of New York Press at Albany, New york

2) “The Sexual Teaching of the JadeDragon: Taoist Methods for Male Sexual Revitalization” by Hsi Lai; published by Destiny Books of  Rochester, Vermont

3) “The Sexual Teachings of the White Tigress” by Hsi Lai; published by Destiny Books of Rochester, Vermont

4) “Sex, Health, and Long Life: Manuals of Taoist Practice” translated by Thomas Cleary

5) “Taoist Secrets of Love: Cultivating Male Sexual Energy” by  Mantak Chia & Michael Winn

6) “Healing Love through the Tao: Cultivating Female Sexual Energy” by Mantak Chia

even senior citizens can learn cane fu

The St. Leonard retirement village here has a whole new way of thinking about recreation: Bingo has made way for cane fighting.

“Down on top of the head and up between the groin!” urges instructor Debra Stewart, of nearby Chung’s Academy of Martial Arts, commanding a dozen gray-haired students swinging canes at imaginary attackers. “Stomp him! Dig it in there. Do it hard!”

Watch demonstrations of cane defense moves.

Jim Ghory, an 82-year-old retired toolmaker, volunteers to take a few demonstration shots at Ms. Stewart, who has a black belt in tae kwon do, a Korean martial-arts discipline. “You want [it in] the collarbone or the ribs?” he asks.

Are running shoes a waste of money?

Thrust enhancers, roll bars, microchips…the $20 billion running - shoe industry wants us to believe that the latest technologies will cushion every stride. Yet in this extract from his controversial new book, Christopher McDougall claims that injury rates for runners are actually on the rise, that everything we’ve been told about running shoes is wrong - and that it might even be better to go barefoot…

By CHRISTOPHER McDOUGALL

Every year, anywhere from 65 to 80 per cent of all runners suffer an injury. No matter who you are, no matter how much you run, your odds of getting hurt are the same