Three Things Every Exercise Program Should Have

A complete, safe and effective fitness program must include aerobic exercise, muscular strength and endurance conditioning, and flexibility exercise.

Aerobic exercise does good things for your cardiovascular system and is an important part of weight management. Muscular conditioning can improve strength and posture, reduce the risk of low-back injury and is an important component of a weight-management program. Flexibility exercise is needed to maintain joint range of motion and reduce the risk of injury and muscle soreness.

 

Aerobic exercise can be as simple as walking, jogging, jumping rope and dance-exercise are good forms of weight bearing aerobic exercise, which is any activity that uses large muscle groups in a continuous, rhythmic fashion for sustained periods of time and during which the individual’s body is not supported in some fashion.

 

How often should you exercise? Three to five days of aerobic activity is fine for general health maintenance. If you’re trying to lose weight, aim for five to six days a week, being sure you take off at least one day a week.

 

Pick calisthenics, free weights or machines. Just be sure that your strength training includes exercises for every major muscle group, including the muscles of the arms, chest, back, stomach, hips and legs.

Start with a weight that’s comfortable to handle and perform eight repetitions. Gradually add more repetitions until you can complete 12 repetitions. For greater strength conditioning, add more weight and/or more repetitions, in sets of eight to 12, when the exercise becomes easy.

Proper stretching involves holding a mild stretch for 15 to 30 seconds while you breathe normally. Always warm up before you stretch. Like strength conditioning, flexibility exercises should include stretching for all of the major muscle groups.

Healthy Ways To Eat Food

Eating out at a Restaurant may sometimes be difficult, because there are so many ways to prepare and cook the food.
Look for these terms for healthy and lowest calorie foods to eat: Look for grilled, steamed, boiled, poached, baked, roasted, broiled and braised.
Avoid battered, buttery, creamed, creamy, scalloped, fried, rich in cheeses sauce, holla

ndaise, bearnaise, tempura, with gravy, au gratin, Alfredo, breaded, croquettes, a la king, Newburg, and deep fried.

For sodium concerns, avoid smoked, broth, creole sauce, tomato base, fish sauce, barbecued, soy sauce, marinated, Parmesan, hoisin sauce, pickled, teriyaki, cocktail sauce, mustard sauce, and chili paste.

How to Stop Eating Your Anger

Sometimes, terrible instances happen.  It may be a  job loss, a house fire, a serious accident, a death, and certain frustrations. Does this bring you to an emotional low, and your weight to an all-time high? Sometimes, you internalize anger. Do you use food to deal with the depression, emotional hurt and reduced self-esteem that follows?  People who swallow their anger feel, for whatever reason, that they can't express it, so they resort to food.  Eating out of anger or frustration often sparks binges, which can really pile on the pounds.

The comfort of a sugar high is another factor. In the 1970s, researchers at MIT found that sugars and starches have a powerful effect on serotonin, a brain chemical that helps control both our emotions and our eating, which is why we tend to crave those types of foods when we're upset. Some of the newer drugs for anxiety or depression, such as Zoloft and Paxil, also help alleviate symptoms by increasing serotonin activity in the brain. So, in a very real way, eating two jelly doughnuts or a candy bar is a type of self-medication. This can lead to severe health issues!

If you can try to get some control, by working off any anger and stress by exercising, not by eating, you can begin to feel great!

If you suspect you often eat because you're angry or frustrated, what can you do about it?

Recognize that your life is never going to be trouble-free.
Put a name to what you are feeling.
Forgive yourself.
Beware of "You can't control me!" or defiance eating.
Take your emotional temperature each time you begin eating.
Install roadblocks to ward off emotionally triggered eating.
Reject lingering cultural baggage, like "Ladies don't get mad."
Jot down what you eat each day.
Don't expect to totally change your anger style overnight.

If you find that you spend a good portion of your time angry or frustrated and are overeating because of it, you may want to get help. The following peer groups often discuss issues surrounding emotionally triggered eating and are either free or have a nominal fee.

• Log on to Overeaters Anonymous or call 505-891-2664.
  
• Log on to Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) or call 800-932-8677.

Get Ready To Hit The Slopes

You don’t have to wait for the snow to start falling to get ready for ski season. Start your training now.

Skiing is an activity that involves a variety of elements: strength, endurance, balance and coordination. Hit the slopes without developing these components and you may be in for more than a little embarrassment, you might even hurt yourself.

This is where sport-specific training comes in. Generally speaking, sport-specific training programs involve focusing on the various skills associated with a particular activity.

A sport-specific program may also take into account skill-related measures of fitness such as agility, balance, coordination, power, speed and reaction time. Most sports require a mixture of these components.

Skiing is a sport that relies heavily on skill-related fitness. A traditional fitness program, which includes a combination of weight training and cardiovascular exercise, will only take you so far.

There are several ways to begin a sport-specific training program. The simplest way is to add several new exercises to your regular workout schedule.

Exercises such as crunches to work your abdominals are essential in creating a solid “core” for balance and agility.

It is important to train your body to withstand and absorb the impact associated with skiing. Plyometric movements, such as hopping from side to side, develop muscle power and strength as well as improve agility.

A great way to integrate these elements into your existing routine is to create a circuit-training program, which involves rapidly moving from one exercise to the next.

Use the slide for lateral training, perform one-legged squats to develop balance and strength and use a step-bench platform to improve power. Try catching a bean bag as it drops off your forearm to improve reaction times or bounce two balls to improve coordination.

Cardio or Weight Training First?

Working out is always good for you. The good news is that, whether you do it before or after weight training, cardiovascular exercise like running, swimming, biking or machine-work will improve everything from your heart health to your mood to your chance of avoiding many cancers. Lifting weights helps with everything from bone density to metabolism.

For those who are seeking weight loss, cardio should come first, but if gaining muscle mass is the goal, it's time to hit the weight room first.

"Doing cardio first will induce fatigue that may compromise technique and possibly increase risk of injury," explains Fabio Comana, director of Continuing Education for the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Exhausting one with a big run right before weights and resistance training doesn't just up the risk of injury; it also means you'll have less energy to throw into a really good weight training session.

On the other hand, if you're looking to lose fat, try doing interval cardio training before getting started on weights. The cardio will deplete your body's supply of glycogen, the stored form of glucose in muscle cells and a primary material in our energy storage. Once glycogen is depleted, the body turns to more long-term storage sources, like fat.

If your goal is strictly to have a lean body, not to be strongest, or most powerful, but achieve maximal leanness; try high-intensity interval training at the beginning of each workout.

But that doesn't mean weights aren't important for fat loss. In fact, when it comes to analyzing the percentage weight loss that's comprised of fat versus lean tissue like muscle, weights have cardio beat overall.

There may be other reasons for doing cardio first. If you have Type 2 diabetes or hypertension prevention and treatment is the priority, then do cardio over resistance. Some diseases are better managed with cardio first, then introducing resistance training.

It's important to get the opinion of a doctor and Certified Personal Trainer before proceeding. If you're exercising, no matter the order, you aren't doing anything wrong. Depending on your goal, you may want to choose one type of exercise over the other. Of course, you could alternate days and avoid the question entirely.

 

Energize Your Life with Strength Training

Many of the changes associated with getting older are actually due to becoming less active with age. Unless you regularly engage in activities to strengthen your muscles, you’ll lose about a half a pound of muscle a year in your 30s and 40s, and that rate can double once you turn 50. As you lose muscle, you lose strength, and that compromises your ability to do even simple things, such as carrying your groceries, getting up from a seated position or gardening. Your metabolism also slows down as you lose muscle, so your body will need fewer calories to maintain itself, and you’re likely to gain excess body fat, unless you eat less. Excess fat contributes to a multitude of health problems: heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. It doesn’t matter, if you’re 50 years old or 80, studies show that strength training can help.

Here are some good reasons to start weight training:

1. Maintain your independence as you get older
2. Improve your quality of life, allowing you to do the things you enjoy with less effort
3. Strengthen and preserve your muscle tissue
4. Strengthen your bones
5. Reduce your risk of falling
6. Improve control of blood sugar
7. Increase your metabolism
8. Improve your body composition to less fat and more muscle
9. Reduce your resting blood pressure
10. Speed up the rate at which food moves through your digestive system, reducing risk of colon cancer
11. Reduce your risk of low back injury
12. Elevate your mood and your self-confidence
13. Relieve pain from osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis
14. Enhance recovery from stroke or heart attack

Group Training

Interested in hiring a personal trainer, but concerned about the cost of one-on-one training? Sharing the sessions and the cost with others is a growing trend. Small group personal training can help you reach your fitness goals without breaking your budget. 

For additional info, ask me.

Circuit Training

Circuit Training

Looking for a way to combine your fitness routine with some new energy and excitement? Whether you’re a seasoned athlete or just getting started with physical activity, circuit training is a great way to challenge your body in a variety of ways while boosting the fun factor.

What Is Circuit Training?

A typical circuit training workout includes about 8-10 exercise stations. After completing a station, instead of resting, you move quickly to the next station. A muscular strength and endurance circuit alternates muscle groups, such as upper body, lower body and core, so little or no rest is needed in between stations. You can combine aerobics with strength in a circuit too. This type of circuit alternates 1-2 sets of resistance exercise (body weight, free weights, dumbbells, kettle bells, bands, etc.), with brief bouts of cardiovascular exercise (jogging in place, stationary cycling, rowing, etc.) lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. Depending on your goals and the number of circuit stations, you can complete 1 or more circuits in a 30-60 minute session.  Circuits can be tailored to your fitness level. 

Advantages of Circuit Training

Boredom and time constraints are frequently cited reasons for giving up on a fitness routine. Sound familiar? Circuit training offers a practical solution for both. It’s a creative and flexible way to keep exercise interesting and saves time while boosting cardiovascular and muscular fitness. You’ll burn a decent amount of calories too. In a 1-hour circuit training session, a 150-pound person burns about 308 calories at a moderate intensity; and 573 calories at a vigorous intensity. Because the exercises can be performed in any sequence, you can create an endless number of combinations and design every workout to match your mood or specific training goal. Participating in a group circuit-training class is a great way to discover new exercises you might not have tried on your own.

I can design a program just for you.

Cancer Patients Beat Depression with Exercise

By David Haas

Several years ago, doctors and professionals warned cancer patients against exercising while they were battling the disease. It was believed that exercise was a drain on the body and wouldn’t help the cancer patient heal. Today, professionals in the medical field know that the exact opposite is true. Exercise cannot only help prevent cancer, but it can help you beat it, too. Doctors now recommend that cancer patients get at least two and a half hours of exercise every week, no matter how light. Even walking at a slow pace is beneficial if you’re at the height of your cancer treatments. Regardless of if you have breast cancer or are dealing with treatment for mesothelioma, exercise will help in more ways than one.

Many people who have dealt with or are dealing with cancer feel depressed. Learning that you have cancer can drag down your mood drastically. Fearing the worst can make it impossible to function and regain a happy mood. Even after beating cancer, so many survivors live in fear of the cancer returning some day. This stress takes an immense toll on the body and mind. Dealing with cancer, even if the best possible outcome occurred, is so mentally taxing that many people never bounce back. When depression sets in, it can be near impossible to do things to help yourself get out of it.

Exercise is among the best holistic approaches to improving your mood and beating depression. Exercise naturally raises your serotonin levels, which is the chemical in your brain that’s responsible for a positive, upbeat mood. People with depression don’t have enough of this chemical, which makes it pretty much impossible to simply feel happy on their own. Exercise will increase your serotonin, raise your mood and make you feel less depressed. You won’t even need any pricey medications to feel an instant lift.

Even if you’re feeling healthy enough to start working out daily, consult your doctor. Cancer takes a huge toll on the body and your doctor will be able to guide you towards what your body can handle at the moment. You’ll also need to learn the difference between feeling sick and feeling weak. If you’re undergoing chemotherapy, for example, you may actually be too sick to exercise. Take a few days off and get back on your feet when you’re feeling better.
 
http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/

What Is Functional Strength Training?

Most would agree that there is nothing functional about sustaining an injury due to improper training.

In many respects, functional strength training should be thought of in terms of a continued movement. As humans, we perform a wide range of movement activities, such as walking, jogging, running, sprinting, jumping, lifting, pushing, pulling, bending, twisting, turning, standing, starting, stopping, climbing and lunging.

Simply stated, the primary goal of functional training is to transfer the improvements in strength achieved in one movement to enhancing the performance of another movement by affecting the entire neuromuscular system.

In functional training, it is as critical to train the specific movement as it is to train the muscles involved in the actual movement. The brain, which controls muscular movement, thinks in terms of whole motions, not individual muscles.

Exercises that isolate joints and muscles are training muscles, not movements, which results in less functional improvement. For example, squats will have a greater "transfer effect" on improving an individual's ability to rise from a sofa than knee extensions.

The exercises with the highest transfer effect are those that are essentially similar to the actual movement or activity. It is important to note, however, that individuals cannot become expert at a particular movement or activity by training only with similar movements. For optimal results, repeated practice of the precise movement is required.

Exercises performed on most traditional machines tend to be on the low-end of the functional-training continuum because they isolate muscles in a stabilized, controlled environment. While it may be true that traditional, machine-based exercises are not the best way to transfer performance from the weight room to the real world, it does not mean that such exercises should not be a part of a training program.

For example, "non-functional," single-joint exercise can play a critical role in helping to strengthen a "weak link" that a person may have to restore proper muscle balance. Furthermore, doing such an exercise can allow an individual to more safely and effectively participate in functional-training activities while also reducing the risk of injury.

In the final analysis, it must be remembered that functional training is not an all-or-nothing conclusion. Functional strength training should serve as a supplement to traditional strength training, not as a replacement.

Properly applied, functional strength training may provide exercise variety and additional training benefits that more directly transfer improvements to real-life activities.