Being on the same page as your partner can solve a lot of things. Chores are shared equally, picking a movie takes like five seconds, and your sex life is great.

But we’re going to go ahead and guess that you and your significant other don’t agree on literally everything. And when you disagree about how much sex is enough, that can be a big problem.

Though you’re on your own when it comes to deciding between The Queen and OA, we’ve asked experts to explain why syncing up your sex life can be tough and how to fix that.

The problem: you want sex more often

Men greatly underestimate their partners’ sex drives, a recent study from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found. It also showed that if men thought their partners weren’t up for doing it, they wouldn’t attempt to initiate.

Shocker: Women do want sex! But we’re typically not as free with sexual expression, so men don’t pick up on our cues.

Read more Is it true that the less you have sex, the less you actually want it?

Sync up: You’ve got to tell your guy directly you want to get busy. Feel awkward? Bring it up in a setting that makes sense – say, while watching a romantic movie.

“The language we use to talk about sex can be sexy in itself,” says Dr Ian Kerner, a psychotherapist and sexuality counsellor in New York City, so phrase it like a fantasy. (“I love morning sex with you. It would be so hot if we could do more of that.”)

If it’s still not happening, make an emotional case, says Dr Megan Fleming, a New York City sex and relationships expert. Explain what it means to you (for example, you feel closer to him) so he knows it’s important to you and your bond.

The problem: he wants sex more often

Men’s higher libidos are hardwired (more testosterone) and socially ingrained (they’re taught to pursue sex), says Dr Fleming.

Another perk: It’s physiologically easier for them to get aroused spontaneously. All they need are simple signs, like seeing you step out of the shower and – boom.

Read more: 7 common reasons why you don’t feel like sex

Sync up: You don’t have to satisfy every hard-on, but don’t belittle his requests either.

Rejections like “Jeez, you’re always so damn horny” will build up over time.

“The higher-desire partner’s sexual frustration can leave them feeling hurt, while the lower-desire partner feels pressured,” says Dr Kerner.

The solution? Compromise on how often you want to do it, and schedule your romps. He’ll know you value sex with him and seeing Thursday’s 8 p.m. “;)” in your calendar will put you in a sexy mindset to prep for the deed.

^{This article was originally published on www.womenshealthmag.com} 

^{Image credit: iStock}

Jamie Hergenrader

There are as many ways to train as there are coaches, plans, online articles and books.

Even seasoned riders can get lost in the sea of intensity zones, HIIT workouts, mobility moves, plyometrics, strength work and core training.

That’s because coaching and training advice trickles down from the professional tiers, where you need meticulously monitored training plans to squeeze out every potential watt for even the smallest marginal gains.

But for the average rider who just wants to get fit and pick up some speed and stamina to hang with (or hammer with) their usual riding crew, it doesn’t have to be that complicated.

The first step, of course, is to ride your bike! That lays your foundation.

Then build on it by hitting the following training high notes to develop strength, speed, mobility, and stability.

1. Burpees

Cycling by itself doesn’t do much to develop core strength – in fact, core strength often suffers in cyclists. But that doesn’t mean your core isn’t critical to cycling.

Research shows that when the core fatigues, pedalling mechanics break down, paving the way for poor performance and injuries.

Cycling also doesn’t do much to build your bones. One seven-year study of competitive master cyclists found they actually had lower bone density than their non-athletic peers. So resistance training and/or some impact exercise are important.

One word here: Burpees. This multi-faceted move that combines push-ups, squats and jumps can bolster your core, strengthen key cycling muscles and help you build bone density.

As if that weren’t enough, a study published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism showed that active women who performed just one set of 8 x 20 seconds (with 10 seconds of rest between 20-second reps) of a single whole-body aerobic–resistance training exercises like burpees four days a week not only improved their aerobic fitness as much as their peers who ran on treadmills for 30 minutes four days a week, but also significantly improved their muscular endurance, a huge benefit for long, hilly rides.

Do it: Perform 10 to 15 reps, two to three sets, two to three times a week.

• Stand straight arms at sides.
• Squat down, placing hands on floor, shoulder width apart.
• Jump legs back into high plank, pushup position.
• Perform pushup.
• Jump legs toward hands, back into the squat position.
• Extend legs and jump up, swinging arms overhead and repeat.

2. Tabatas

Named after exercise scientist Izumi Tabata, these all-out efforts train your body to recruit maximum muscle fibres and to fire them faster as well as raise your lactate threshold, which makes even your hardest rides feel easier.

They also help you hang onto your precious fitness when time is tight and you can’t squeeze in longer days in the saddle.

Because they’re super short, it’s also easy to psyche yourself up for them (one set takes just four minutes, which includes the rest intervals). Adding them to your usual training can help you see improvements fast.      

In a study published in the Journal of Sport Science & Medicine, exercisers who added just one high-intensity interval session, like tabatas, to their usual moderate cardio-training routine improved their VO2 max by 10% compared to a 3.9% improvement among their peers doing a similar amount of moderate training alone.

Do it: Perform once a week

• Warm up for five to 10 minutes.
• Pedal as hard as possible (you’re going for maximum power output) for 20 seconds.
• Soft pedal for 10 seconds.
• Repeat six to eight times.
• Rest four to five minutes.

If you are accustomed to interval training, repeat for another set – or two, if you’re feeling game. If you’re new to intervals, stick to one set.

3. The Founder

If you’re like most people, you spend a great deal of the day sitting. All that time planted on our behinds puts our glutes on extended inactive duty to the point where they eventually stop doing their job when we want them in action, like keeping us stable in the saddle and helping us charge up hills.

Keep your glutes – as well as your hamstrings and the muscles that support your spine – strong and active with one simple move: the Founder, the keystone move in Foundation Training.

The Founder is grounded in glute activation and strengthens the whole posterior chain from your shoulder blades to your knees for better mobility and injury prevention.

Do it: At least once a day

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and weight on your heels. Hinge forward from your hips, pressing your butt back and extending your spine. Reach back with your arms, pulling shoulders down toward your butt. Hold 15 seconds.

Bring your arms up overhead and reach forward with hands and press back with your hips. Hold 15 for seconds.

Fold forward again, keeping your back flat and knees bent. Breathe deeply a few seconds. Place your hands on your thighs and return to a stand.

4. Threshold drills

The cornerstone of cycling improvement is raising your lactate threshold so you can produce more power at a comfortable heart rate. Probably the most effective way to increase your power at threshold is to perform long, steady intervals where you hover right at or just below threshold.

These intervals are especially effective for flatlanders who want to improve their hill climbing ability without traveling to an actual hill.

Just ask Mount Washington women’s record (1:07:32) setter Victoria DiSavino of Buffalo, New York.

“I work long hours so I don’t have the opportunity to travel to the hills to train,” she says. “I just go out and do three 20-minute efforts at threshold, which is pretty much the equivalent of the power you use to go up Mount Washington.”

Threshold drills are relatively easy to do but require concentration because it can be easy to let your mind (and your effort) drift.

Do it: Perform once a week

After a good warm-up, ride 10 minutes at a steady effort, at an exertion level of 6 to 7 on a 1 to 10 scale, about 85% of max heart rate and where you can speak just a few words at a time.

Recover for five to 10 minutes (you’re aiming for adequate recovery, so you can maintain your target intensity for the next effort), and then repeat two more times.

Once those feel easy, do two to three 20-minute steady-state efforts, recovering for 10 to 20 minutes between each.

Read more: Lactate threshold 101

^{This article originally appeared on www.bicycling.co.za}

^{Image credits: iStock}

Selene Yeager

Knee arthritis can make it difficult to perform normal activities like walking or climbing stairs. It is a serious disability for many people.

Weight loss from dieting can slow the progression of knee arthritis in overweight people, according to a new study.

Degeneration of cartilage

A previous Health24 article reported that obese and overweight people who lost 5% or more of their weight over four years saw less degeneration of their knee cartilage compared with people whose weight stayed stable.

But losing pounds from exercise alone will not help preserve those ageing knees, the researchers found.

The study was scheduled for presentation at the annual meeting of the RSNA, in Chicago.

Obesity is a major risk factor for painful knee osteoarthritis – degeneration of cartilage caused by wear and tear. Weight loss can slow the disease, but it wasn’t clear until now if the method of weight loss made a difference.

Apparently, it does.

Diet versus exercise

“These results add to the hypothesis that exercise alone as a regimen in order to lose weight in overweight and obese adults may not be as beneficial to the knee joint as weight loss regimens involving diet,” said lead author Dr Alexandra Gersing.

Gersing made her comments in a news release from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). She’s with the University of California, San Francisco’s department of radiology and biomedical imaging.

The study included 760 overweight or obese adults who had mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis or were at risk for it. The participants were divided into a “control group” of patients who lost no weight, and a group who lost weight through either a combination of diet and exercise, diet alone, or exercise alone.

After eight years, cartilage degeneration was much lower in the weight-loss group than in the control group. However, that was true only of people who lost weight through diet and exercise, or diet alone, the investigators found.

Study participants who exercised without changing their diet lost as much weight as those who slimmed down through diet plus exercise or diet alone, but there was no significant difference in cartilage degeneration compared to the control group.

^{Image credit: iStock}

As runners, we understand the value of our legs and our feet. But your ankles deserve respect as well.

“Ankle and foot strength plays a major role in what happens in your entire kinetic chain when you’re running,” says physician Dr Marci Goolsby.

“It’s really important to address any issues and make sure you’re as symmetrical and balanced as possible.”

Here, Dr Goolsby and two other experts share exactly what you’ll gain when you give your ankles the attention – and respect – they deserve.

1. Prevent painful sprains

The most common type of ankle injury is classified as “inverse”, meaning the sole of the foot twists inward.

About 80% of ankle injuries fall into this category, explains Dr Steven Weinfeld, Chief of Foot and Ankle Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

This can happen when you take a misstep while running (or even walking) that rolls your foot in underneath your ankle.

Having strong muscles surrounding your ankles (the ankle itself isn’t a muscle) can help prevent this type of injury, commonly known as a sprain.

“When you take a misstep and your ligaments start to twist, the muscles on the outside of your ankle can fire back and prevent the twisting,” explains Dr Weinfeld. “Your muscles can be trained to help protect you from these injuries.”

2. Combat Achilles and posterior tibial tendinitis

Two other common injuries that result from your foot twisting inward: Achilles and posterior tibial tendinitis. When your foot pronates (or rolls inwards), it puts undue stress on the surrounding tendons.

“With repetition, this causes micro-tearing [also called tendinitis],” explains Dr John Jachimiak.

This tendinitis can damage your Achilles as well as your posterior tibial, the tendon that attaches the calf muscles to the bones on the inside of the foot.

Dr Jordan Metzl shows you how to treat and prevent the dreaded Achilles tendinitis in the video below.

A weak, misaligned ankle can stress the adjacent joints, including your knee, hip and lower back, says Dr Weinfeld.

“If something is off or abnormal anywhere along this kinetic chain and you are asking your body to do an asymmetrical sport like running, you will likely see injuries elsewhere,” adds Dr Goolsby.

4. Boost your athletic performance

“Most people – including elite athletes – have deficiencies in ankle strength,” says Dr Jachimiak, who notes that when it comes to running, stronger muscles around your ankles mean more power, agility and mobility out on the road.

5. Improve running stride

Having sturdy ankles while running can “help your heels come down properly and ensure a correct stride,” says Dr Weinfeld. “It’s a matter of keeping your limbs properly aligned.”

6. Improve ability to walk in different shoes

“There’s a certain amount of strength needed to walk in high heels,” explains Dr Weinfeld.

Having strong muscles around your ankles will minimise the risk of rolling your ankle while sporting such shoes.

^{This article was originally published on wwww.runnersworld.co.za}

^{Image credit: iStock}

Jenny McCoy