Archive for January 2008
Yes! People exercise for many reasons with a few being health, weight loss, weight management and pleasure. Whatever your reason is for exercise, you want to get the maximum benefit out of the time you spend exercising. You will not get the most out of your efforts without warming up and cooling down.
The Role of the Warm Up.
The stretching and warm up exercises you do before you start your full workout let you prepare your muscles and body for the changes that take place during strenuous activity. Exercising requires more fluids, more nutrients to the cells, more oxygen, a higher heart rate and an increase in respiration.
You should drink plenty of water about 20 minutes before you plan to exercise. You’ll lose water during your exercising so proper hydration before you start will help you prevent muscle cramps due to dehydration. Proper fluid levels before during and after exercising will let your body more efficiently deliver the oxygen and nutrients it needs.
Slowly stretching the muscles you’ll be using will loosen the muscles you’ll be using, loosen up the joints involved, prepares the nervous system for exercise and heightens your mental awareness and focus. Slowly stretch and hold your position for about 20 seconds before relaxing. Do not bounce or do a quick stretch and release because these resemble muscle contractions and you can actually cause damage to muscles or joints that aren’t naturally lubricated yet.
The kind of warm up you do should be influenced by the exercises you will be doing. Runners my do twists and extensions in place. Slow riding on a stationary bicycle may be another warm up method in addition to the twisting. Martial art participants may go through the movements used in slow motion to let the body remember and get acclimated to the moves. Weight lifters may start out doing the full number of reps they intend to do during their session but at half the weight that will be used during the peak. A second set of reps may be done at 80 percent of the full workout weight but only 2-3 reps. A third set at 90 percent with 2-3 reps will complete the warm up. Rest for about 30 seconds then do your full workout with the full weight load and your body will experience less stress and you’ll get the maximum benefit out of the workout.
Warming up before you exercise helps your body function at its best which means you burn the most calories and have a reduced risk of injury.
The Role of the Cool Down.
The cool down helps your body return to its normal blood flow, oxygen levels and heart rate to reduce the risk of muscle cramps or a heart attack.
Drink more water after you exercise. Water will help the body cool itself and help eliminate toxins.
Stretch your core muscles plus the muscle groups used during your exercise and hold each position for at least 60 seconds during your cool down. This stretching session while your muscles are heated helps cool them and increases your flexibility. Do not forget to stretch you neck while doing your warm up and cool down. You may not realize it but these muscles will be tensed during your exercise and they deserve the same stretching attention as every other muscle group.
Your cool down stretches also give your mind and body a chance to relax from their focused and stressed states to their normal working levels. You may find these cool down stretches as a way to relieve your tired mind and body so you can more fully enjoy the workout you just completed.
Getting the most that you can out of your exercise program you’ve chosen is your goal and warming up before exercising and cooling down after that exercise will help you get the most benefit for the time spent which should be the most rewarding and pleasurable.
If you really want to take control of your exercise program to burn fat and gain muscle, I recommend the book Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle written by Tom Venuto who is a natural body builder, certified personal trainer, certified strength and conditioning specialist and nutritionist.
Disclosure of Material ConnectionPresented by Natural Remedies Products Staff - Natural Remedies Products
Ask Dr. Wayne Garland a specialist in natural remedies and natural products.
Powered By WP Footer
Diets do not work BUT many people think a change of life style equals you on a diet. This article discusses how you can turn that belief into success.
I’m betting you’ve tried one or more diets in your life and as soon as you quit the diet you gained back what you’d lost and more. There is a very good reason for this.
Your diet probably reduced your caloric intake by 50 percent or more. Your body saw this drastic food intake reduction as starvation and stored part of everything you ate as fat and burned the lean muscle tissue in your body for energy.
As soon as you started eating at your previous levels, you started rebuilding your muscle mass and that plus the increased fat you gained during your diet pushed your weight higher.
This means fat loss cannot equal you on a diet.
The correct path would have been to reduce your calorie intake by no more than 20 percent and to increase your level of exercise. (I heard that groan.)
What you may not know is even minimal exercise, when done properly and consistently, helps increase your metabolism and active muscles burn fat when the calorie intake has been even slightly lowered.
Modestly reducing the calorie intake plus increased exercise is a double whammy that forces your body to burn fat. Fat loss is your undeclared goal anyway.
Ignore your scale while eating less and exercising more because lean muscle weighs more than the fat you are losing.
An additional benefit to those that choose an aggressive resistance training program is your muscles become healthier and their cellular age may more closely resemble the muscle health of a young adult.
Good nutrition through diet, vitamin and mineral supplements, increased water consumption, cardio workouts and resistance (strength) training will equal the fat loss you are seeking.
Most of us don’t understand good nutrition, portion control, eating 5-6 meals a day, what exercises to do, when to exercise and where all of this information can be found. I recommend you check out the NutriSystems Advanced program because they offer not only the foods in the right portions but counseling, support, a DVD on exercising and more so you on a diet can equal a successful lifestyle change.
Disclosure of Material ConnectionPresented by Natural Remedies Products Staff - Natural Remedies Products
Ask Dr. Wayne Garland a specialist in natural remedies and natural products.
Powered By WP Footer
Hair loss prevention is something everyone can do but most don’t. This article discusses hair loss and how hair loss may relate to your overall health.
Your hair falling out may have nothing to do with your hair and everything to do with your overall health. Hair loss may be a sign that you have a health issue that needs to be addressed.
Hair loss is experienced by both men and women for many reasons.
Cancer, hypothyroidism, severe stress, major surgery, child birth, mycotic infections, toxins and people that stress their hair with ponytails or corn rows may all experience hair loss. Heredity may or may not influence hair loss. Mineral deficiencies may also cause hair loss or prevent proper hair growth. As you can see from this list, many of the causes of hair loss are physiological in nature and can be addressed.
Natural Hair Loss Remedy
A single natural hair loss remedy does strong>not exist and never will. Each person is physiologically unique and has unique external forces that cause various levels of stress and toxins in the body. Commercial products that treat only the hair loss may or may not help but they do not address the underlying cause of the problem. Home remedies for hair loss may work for some people and not others. The best thing you can do is make sure you are giving your body the proper minerals and vitamins it needs to improve your health so your body can make the repairs it needs to your body so it can then begin to grow hair in healthy hair follicles that you still have.
“Hair Loss No More” is an eBook that was written by Jonathon E. Phillips that gives you a step-by-step guide that helps you address your overall health, well being and to regain hair. This eBook may just be a natural hair loss solution that works for you as part of your overall health care and hair loss prevention program.
Disclosure of Material ConnectionPresented by Natural Remedies Products Staff - Natural Remedies Products
Ask Dr. Wayne Garland a specialist in natural remedies and natural products.
Powered By WP Footer
