| How to Do Arm Circle Planks Posted: 14 May 2017 05:00 PM PDT Arm circle planks are a great way of keeping your arms and abdominal muscles toned. If you have been doing planks for a while and need an extra challenge, you may enjoy arm circle planks. To complete arm circle planks, you will need to be relatively comfortable with your plank. Once you have it down, you should watch out for common mistakes such as letting your buttocks fall to the ground or tilting to one side of your body.[1] EditGetting Into a Plank - Roll out your yoga mat and get into position. Find a comfortable spot at the gym or at home to perform the arm circle plank exercise. Once you have rolled out your yoga mat, you can go ahead and kneel down at the back of your mat. If you like, you can do a few shoulder rolls to prepare for the arm circle planks, since the exercise can be quite hard on your shoulders.
- To do shoulder rolls, pull your shoulders towards your ears on your inhalation. When you exhale, let your shoulders drop towards the ground. Repeat this movement six times.[2]
- Place your hands on the ground in front of you. Your hands should be directly underneath you and just a little wider than your shoulders. Imagine you are about to do a push up, since the starting position for a plank is the same. Like the name implies, the plank involves holding your body as straight as a plank.[3]
- If you have sensitive hands or don't feel ready for a full plank, you can start the plank pose with your forearms on the ground instead of just your hands.
- Put your legs out straight behind you.[4] Your toes should be firmly planted on the floor, with your legs extending straight back. Avoid pointing your buttocks to the ceiling or letting them fall to the floor. You want to have your legs pointing straight behind you and your entire torso straight as a plank. You don't want to push your weight back onto your heels, since this will reduce the workout for your abdominal muscles. Squeeze your abdominal muscles and glutes in order to benefit from the exercise and avoid injury.[5]
- Imagine you are as straight as a tall tree. You should feel very straight and firm in this pose. It should be challenging but also rewarding.
- Make sure you are straight as a plank. Check that your head is in line with your back, rather than falling to the floor. To ensure your head is in the right position, let your gaze fall to the floor about a foot down from your hands while maintaining a straight but relaxed neck. Continue holding the pose for as long as you are able. If you feel quite comfortable with your plank, you can go ahead and move on to the arm circles.[6]
- If you find your head falling to the floor, it may be a sign that you are already tired from the exercise and not yet ready for the arm circles part of the exercise.
EditDoing the Arm Circles - Choose a weight. You can do arm circles with or without a weight. If you are doing this exercise for the first time, it is best to just use your body weight. If you have been doing the exercise for a while and it is getting easy, you could hold a water bottle while doing the arm circles or use a small amount of weight.[7]
- If you are just starting with weights, you could start with a two-pound weight.
- Do the arm circles with your left hand. With your body weight on the right hand and your core muscles engaged, make a circle with your left hand. Imagine you are doing a windmill pitch in a baseball game, since it is a similar motion. Start by pointing your fingers towards the front of the room. Then, gradually move your arm towards the ceiling. Then, move your arm behind you towards the back of the room, and then back into the starting position. The motion should be continuous, so don't stop at any point in the arm circle.[8]
- Make sure you aren't sending your weight back onto your heels, which will give you a leg workout but will not strengthen your abdominal muscles.[9]
- Your hips should be level with your shoulders.[10]
- Shift your weight onto your left hand. Spread the fingers on your left hand so that they can support your body weight. Gently, shift your body weight over onto your left hand so that you are prepared to do the arm circles with your right hand.[11]
- Do arm circles with your right hand. With your left hand and your core muscles supporting you, make a circle with your right hand. Point your right fingers towards the front of the room. Then, gradually move your right hand in a big circle until it comes back to the starting position. Once you have done an arm circle with both your right and left arm, you will have completed one repetition of arm circle planks.
- Continue to engage your abdominal muscles. To avoid too much pressure on your hands, you should engage your abdominal muscles.[12]
- Repeat five to eight repetitions of arm circle planks. While you are doing the arm circles, you want to maintain good plank form. Maintain good form by keeping your core muscles fully engaged and your head aligned with your back. You also want to make sure you are not pointing your buttocks towards the ceiling or letting them fall to the ground while performing the arm circles. If you find yourself losing your plank form, you should take a rest and try again another time.[13]
- Avoid letting your buttocks point to the ceiling or fall to the floor.
- Do a variation of arm circle planks. Instead of moving your arms in a big circle, you could make small circles in front of you. Starting from plank position, point your fingers in front of you and make five or six tiny circles. Then, return your hand to resting position. Complete the movement on both sides. Repeat five or six times.[14]
EditFixing Common Mistakes - Fix an arched back. If you find your arms are getting sore while completing the exercise, you may inadvertently arch your back. Although this may provide temporary relief, it will give you a sore back and will not exercise your core in the proper manner. If this happens, widen your shoulders and make your palms wider. With wider shoulders and palms, you should then engage your core and keep your body straight as a plank.[15]
- Avoid lowered hips. If you have been doing a number of arm circles and get tired mid-way through, you may find your hips want to lower to the floor. This is simply a sign of fatigue. However, letting your hips fall down actually defeats the entire purpose of the exercise, which is to tone the core muscles. If this happens, tuck in your buttocks and squeeze your glutes.[16]
- If it happens repeatedly, you could also try widening the width of your stance so that your feet are a little further apart and more stable.
- If you are simply too fatigued, take a break and try again later when you have more energy.
- Don't point your buttocks to the ceiling. If you point your buttocks to the ceiling like in the downward dog pose, you will not be working your abdominal muscles very well. The point of the plank is to have a straight torso and engage the core muscles throughout the exercise. If you find yourself pointing your buttocks to the ceiling, simply put your hips back down and engage your abdominal muscles.[17]
- Avoid tilting your hips to one side. While doing the arm circles, you want your hips to be parallel to the floor. Avoid letting your weight fall to one of your hips, which will result in undue strain. The goal is to keep your hips in line with your shoulders and parallel to one another throughout the exercise. You want to work both sides of your body evenly.[18]
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| How to Make Stud Earrings Posted: 14 May 2017 09:00 AM PDT Stud earrings are quick and easy to make. You can find unique beads, buttons, and charms to create one-of-a-kind stud earrings for yourself, for your friends, or to sell. You will need to get some special materials together before you start, and then you can create all kinds of different stud earrings. EditUsing Stud Earring Flatbacks - Gather your materials. Making stud earrings is easy once you have assembled your materials. Check out your local craft store for earring flatbacks, earring décor pieces, and jewelry glue. Before you get started, you will need:[1]
- Stud earring flatbacks
- Earring décor pieces, such as beads, buttons, pennants, etc.
- Jewelry glue (or super glue)
- Paper towels
- Toothpick
- Apply glue to the earring flatback. Use the toothpick to apply a dot of glue to the stud earring flatback. You don't need a large amount of glue, just enough to cover the surface of the earring flatback.[2]
- Superglue also works if you are in a hurry. If using superglue, then you can apply the earring glue directly onto the earring flatback with the tube. Only use a small amount and be careful not to get any on your skin or other surfaces.
- Be sure to work over a paper towel to avoid getting glue onto your table and other surfaces.
- Press earring décor onto the earring flatback. Take the piece you want to mount on the earring back and press it onto the glue on the earring flatback. Hold the pieces firmly together for a minute to give them a chance to bond. Then, place the earring on your paper towel to dry the rest of the way.[3]
- If the earring piece you have added has a flat surface, such as a button or flat pennant, then place the earring face down rather than on its side.
- Allow glue to dry. Leave the earrings alone to dry for a few hours or overnight. It is important to let them dry completely before you wear them.[4]
- If you used superglue, then your earrings will be ready after just a few minutes. However, you may still want to leave them be for up to an hour to let the glue dry and bond completely.
EditDesigning Earrings - Look for beads and buttons in craft stores. Craft stores are the best place to find all kinds of different beads, buttons, and other cool things to make into stud earrings. Look for items that have a flat surface on one side. This will make it much easier to attach the items to the earring flatbacks.
- If using buttons for your earrings, you may want to paint over the button with some clear nail polish before gluing it onto the stud flatback. This will make the button shiny if it is a matte button.[5] Let the nail polish dry completely before gluing it onto the stud.
- Use clay to make your own designs. If you want to create your own beads to glue onto the earrings, then clay beads are a great option. Try getting some air drying clay in your local craft store and then shape the clay into bead to glue onto your earring flatbacks. You can use multiple colors of clay to create interesting designs in the clay.
- Make a pair of bow earrings.[6] You can tie ribbon into a bow and then glue the bow onto a flatback for a cute pair of bow earrings. Look for ribbon that is narrow enough to tie into a small bow. Then, tie two equal length pieces of ribbon into bows and glue them onto the earring flatbacks.
- Create a pair of holiday themed earrings. If you want to make a special pair of earrings for a holiday, such as St Patrick's day, Halloween, or Christmas, then you can look for holiday themed pieces to glue onto stud earring flatbacks. Craft stores are the best place to find these kinds of items.
- For example, you could glue a four leaf clover charm onto an earring flatback for St. Patrick's Day, or glue a jack-o-lantern piece onto an earring flatback for Halloween. You can make yourself a pair of holiday themed stud earrings for every holiday of the year!
- Try using old jewelry. If you don't want to buy any new beads or other notions to turn into earrings, then you can also convert your old, unwanted jewelry into stud earrings. Try taking apart old necklaces and bracelets and using the beads and charms to create stud earrings.
- Be sure that you no longer want the item and that it is something you can break apart before you try to harvest the beads and charms from a piece of jewelry.
- Use scissors to cut the string holding the beads and charms together.
- Break apart the old jewelry over a bowl or other container to ensure that the beads do not go everywhere.
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| How to Volunteer As a Hospital Baby Cuddler Posted: 14 May 2017 01:00 AM PDT Babies who are born prematurely, have a serious health issue, or are suffering from some form of addiction will often spend considerable amounts of time in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). During this time, they are often separated from their parents for significant amounts of time. Baby cuddlers are a group of volunteers who spend time holding babies throughout the day so that they experience the physical contact and love that is needed during infancy. In order to volunteer as a hospital baby cuddler you will need to research programs in your area, apply to volunteer, and complete all training courses.[1] EditResearching Baby Cuddler Programs - Locate a hospital with a baby cuddler program. Complete a Google search to determine if your local hospital has a volunteer baby cuddler program. For example, you could search "volunteer baby cuddler programs in Toronto." This will provide you with a number of hospitals in the area that have volunteer positions for baby cuddlers.
- You can also contact your local hospital and ask if they accept volunteers directly for the position of baby cuddler.
- Most hospitals will indicate on their website which volunteer positions need to be filled. If baby cuddler is not listed, you can email the volunteer coordinator to find out if they are accepting applications for that position.
- Read up on the volunteer requirements. Once you have located a hospital that contains a volunteer baby cuddler program, you will need to read up on the volunteer requirements. Most hospitals include a list of requirements on their volunteer webpage.[2]
- For example, volunteers need to be at least 18 years of age, they need to be able to volunteer a minimum number of hours each week, complete a health assessment, have a criminal background check performed, provide an up-to-date vaccination certificate, etc.
- Some hospitals will also have student volunteer programs for individuals under the age of 18.
- Gather all material needed for the application. Once you have determined what information is required in order to volunteer at this hospital, you will need to gather all of the relevant material. For example, you may need to get a criminal background check completed in order to be accepted as a volunteer. You may also need to get an annual flu shot.
- Make sure you have all of the information needed before applying.
EditApplying for a Volunteer Position - Fill out an application. In order to apply for a volunteer position, you will need to fill out an application form. These forms will ask a number of questions including:[3]
- Name, address, phone number, date of birth, education, employment information, volunteer experience, availability, etc.
- Find references. Most volunteers also have to provide the hospital with the contact information for two to three references. These references should not be family members or close friends, unless you have worked for them in the past. In some cases your references are expected to fill out a form answering questions about you. In other instances the hospital will contact the reference and ask them a few questions about you.[4]
- Choose references that will speak highly about your work ethic, reliability, friendliness, and professionalism.
- For example, you could ask a current/former boss, employer, or volunteer coordinator that you have worked with.
- Always notify your references before you include them in an application. This way they will be expecting the hospital to contact them.
- Complete an interview. Most hospitals interview potential volunteers before accepting them. This allows the volunteer manager the opportunity to get to know the applicant and assess them in person. In order to prepare for the interview, you should make sure that you have all of your required documents completed. You can also create a list of questions that you would like to ask during the interview.[5]
- For example, you may want to ask "What does the training program entail?", "Can I request to work in a specific area of the hospital?", "Do baby cuddlers require any additional training?"
- Arrive for your interview on time and dress in a professional manner.
EditCompleting Training and Finding a Position - Complete volunteer training programs. Once you have been accepted as a volunteer, you will likely need to complete some form of training program. This could include watching health and safety videos as well as learning about the policies and procedures of the hospital environment. Baby cuddlers may need to complete additional training concerning bedside manner and how to handle infants.[6]
- Take your training seriously. Pay attention, take notes, and ask questions if you need clarification.
- Request a position as a baby cuddler. If you are mainly interested in working as a baby cuddler, you should speak with the volunteer coordinator. Ask if there are any openings available in the NICU for volunteer baby cuddlers. Alternatively, you could let your supervisor know that you are interested in the baby cuddling program.
- Add your name to the wait list. Baby cuddling is a highly sought after volunteer position in hospitals. As a result, many of these positions are filled. Ask if you can have your name added to the waiting list so that if a position opens up in the future, you will be considered.
- Continue to volunteer in other areas of the hospital in order to demonstrate your enthusiasm.
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