Toothbrush squatting - the latest craze?!
New Year, new you
New Year, new you was the message from Trust me I’m a doctor last night on BBC2. Basically they did a round up of various things - will protein supplements help me put on more muscle? How can I get my body to burn more fat without doing more exercise? Are ‘antioxidant-rich’ products good for me? Is it safe to reheat leftovers? etc. There was one section of the programme that made me smile though - Can I get stronger without going to the gym? According to the experts we should all be doing 150 minutes a week (gulp!). It sounds a lot but it’s only a 20 minute dog walk every day. The NHS also recommends a couple of resistance training sessions per week just for good measure, but who wants to go to the gym and pump iron? - not me!
Just to make us all feel much better it appears that we get weaker as we get older. Our muscle can decline in mass by up to 1% per year when we reach the ripe old age of 40. Should we care? yes we should, because just like gum disease it can seriously affect our health and doing the right exercises can slow or even reverse the muscle loss process (and guess what? brushing your teeth effectively can help prevent gum disease too).
So I was intrigued to hear how you do it without going down the gym and it’s simple - squat whilst brushing your teeth - and the slower and lower you squat the better!
OK so it’s not just toothbrush squatting. There are a number of other exercises you should also be doing (I like the vacuum lunges - remember Freddie Mercury in the "I want to break free" video?!) but the results after one month were quite incredible according to Dr Moseley. All the participants were more toned and had increased their leg strength by 12% so it can only be good for us.
Should you want to find out more about tooth brush squatting you can go to Trust me, I’m a Doctor here and if you are really, really keen and want some more toothbrushing exercises to do I have found these for you courtesy of Babylon Dental Care in New York!
Happy New Year everyone !
