Archive for October, 2009

Running On A Treadmill And Running Outside: What’s The Difference?

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

treadmillexerciseWhen you choose to run for daily exercise and fitness, you have two basic options. You can run indoors on a treadmill, or hit the pavement outside for a quick run. Either option can provide a great workout.

However, each option for running has distinct benefits and demands.

Most people develop a preference for the type of running they find easiest. Some people prefer the feel of the wind on their face when taking a jog outdoors, while other people prefer the comfort and security of their own home.

If you are trying to determine which option is best for you, consider the following pros and cons of both types of exercise.

The Pros of Running Indoors On a Treadmill

When running indoors on a treadmill[treadmill exercise] you can enjoy the feeling of the machine moving beneath your feet. Instead of fighting to take the next step, you have no other option than to move forward. You can also eliminate the resistance of wind against your body by running indoors.

Treadmills allow you to control the surface you run on as well. If you are new to the workout game it may be easier to run on a flat surface than one that goes up and down and is uneven.

If you are prone to accidents you will find that a padded flat surface is much easier to navigate than one covered with rocks and natural debris.

You will also find that you can quickly increase the resistance of your workout by increasing the incline of your treadmill. Therefore, if you want to gradually increase difficulty, a treadmill can be a great option.

The Benefits and Demands of Outdoor Running

When choosing to run outdoors you will find there are many benefits. You can enjoy the feel of the sunshine on your body, while breathing in the fresh air all around you. You also get to enjoy a change of scenery as you run.

Many people find that running outside, and looking around, is more fun than staring at the inner walls of your home as you try to workout. However, you will want to consider the area that you will be traveling through during your run.

Is your neighborhood safe? Do you feel comfortable running at any time of day? If you do not feel safe in your local neighborhood running, you may want to enlist your friends to run with you.

However, that is another benefit of running outdoors. You can enjoy the company of friends as you run. Working out and losing weight is never easy. Therefore, forming a group of runners may be just the incentive you need to lose weight.

Indoor or Outdoor: Either Choice Is Great!

Whether you choose to run indoors or outdoors, making the effort to stay in shape is great. Research has shown that running can be a very beneficial exercise for heart and lung health. So try out the treadmill and the local track and discover which option is best for you.

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Gain Healthy Body Weight And Bulk Up By Exercising

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

exercisingIt’s often misunderstood that gaining weight is a necessity to gaining muscle. In order to gain weight in a healthy manner you’ll need to exercise and have a balanced, healthy diet.

You’ll need to increase your caloric intake by 500 calories at least. The key is to make sure these calories are not from sweets and candy.

Healthy foods, such as vegetables and meats, should make up the bulk of these extra calories. The catch is that with any increase in calories, you will need an intense workout routine to add muscle and not fat.

Here are some tips to help you gain healthy body weight, as well as bulk up by exercising.

Determine Your Routine

The very first thing you need to do is to figure out your eating and workout routine. Do you have the time to work out each day or only three or four times each week? Does your lifestyle allow for three meals a day or six small meals? While it’s important to eat enough food to gain weight, it’s also important to gain the right type of weight.

It’s more complicated to gain muscle than just adding a lot of calories to your diet. You must exercise and you must stress your muscles to the point of breakdown in order for them to become stronger and bigger.

Choose Your Exercises

This is obviously a very important step in gaining weight and bulking up through exercise. Gaining muscle is much different from losing weight, simply because you can choose which part of your body you would to work on. However, this can be a problem if you wish to work on one specific part of your body.

You’ll need to have a truly balanced program that will target all areas of your body. The best way to do this is to split up the different muscle groups every day.

You should also leave about 48 hours in between exercising the same group of muscles. You also do not want to do too much too quickly or you may quit. Free weights and machines together will give you the best workout.

Change Your Routine

You’ll need to change your routine as your muscles become accustomed to your workout. If you stay with the same routine, you will not progress any farther. It helps to keep a workout diary in order to know exactly how you are progressing, and what the next routine change needs to include, in order to make your muscles stronger and bigger.

Make the Right Choices and Enjoy a Healthy Weight

If you eat more without exercising, you will gain weight. However, you’ll gain fat not muscle. By increasing your caloric intake, along with the right exercise program, you will build stronger, bigger muscles. Keep changing your routine if you find that you are no longer progressing.

If you decide you don’t want to gain any more weight, you will need to decrease your intake of calories or increase the amount of exercise to burn calories. This would include cardiovascular or aerobic exercises. Good luck!

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Gain Healthy Body Weight And Bulk Up By Exercising

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

exercisingIt’s often misunderstood that gaining weight is a necessity to gaining muscle. In order to gain weight in a healthy manner you’ll need to exercise and have a balanced, healthy diet.

You’ll need to increase your caloric intake by 500 calories at least. The key is to make sure these calories are not from sweets and candy.

Healthy foods, such as vegetables and meats, should make up the bulk of these extra calories. The catch is that with any increase in calories, you will need an intense workout routine to add muscle and not fat.

Here are some tips to help you gain healthy body weight, as well as bulk up by exercising.

Determine Your Routine

The very first thing you need to do is to figure out your eating and workout routine. Do you have the time to work out each day or only three or four times each week? Does your lifestyle allow for three meals a day or six small meals? While it’s important to eat enough food to gain weight, it’s also important to gain the right type of weight.

It’s more complicated to gain muscle than just adding a lot of calories to your diet. You must exercise and you must stress your muscles to the point of breakdown in order for them to become stronger and bigger.

Choose Your Exercises

This is obviously a very important step in gaining weight and bulking up through exercise. Gaining muscle is much different from losing weight, simply because you can choose which part of your body you would to work on. However, this can be a problem if you wish to work on one specific part of your body.

You’ll need to have a truly balanced program that will target all areas of your body. The best way to do this is to split up the different muscle groups every day.

You should also leave about 48 hours in between exercising the same group of muscles. You also do not want to do too much too quickly or you may quit. Free weights and machines together will give you the best workout.

Change Your Routine

You’ll need to change your routine as your muscles become accustomed to your workout. If you stay with the same routine, you will not progress any farther. It helps to keep a workout diary in order to know exactly how you are progressing, and what the next routine change needs to include, in order to make your muscles stronger and bigger.

Make the Right Choices and Enjoy a Healthy Weight

If you eat more without exercising, you will gain weight. However, you’ll gain fat not muscle. By increasing your caloric intake, along with the right exercise program, you will build stronger, bigger muscles. Keep changing your routine if you find that you are no longer progressing.

If you decide you don’t want to gain any more weight, you will need to decrease your intake of calories or increase the amount of exercise to burn calories. This would include cardiovascular or aerobic exercises. Good luck!

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Three Reasons Not To Skip Your Breakfast

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

breakfastYou have probably heard the old saw; breakfast like a king, lunch like a commoner and dine like a pauper. This one still holds true in that you must have a healthy breakfast every day, it is the one meal you should not be skipping.

It should be a healthy but hearty combination of carbs and protein that will give you sustained energy all through the day.

Breakfast helps you build muscle

Since the stomach is empty in the morning this is the right time for it to fill it full of nutrients which the body will be more receptive to in the morning.

A high protein breakfast is helpful in one’s aim to gain lean muscle.

You won’t overeat during the day

If you have had a nutritious breakfast in the morning, you will feel full and satisfied for a longer time as a day progresses and you won’t be ravenous when the next meal time comes along, making it less likely that you will over eat.

You have more energy throughout the day

A healthy well balanced breakfast will make sure that your body has the fuel and the energy to face the day ahead and not flag or feel tired.

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Three Reasons Not To Skip Your Breakfast

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

breakfastYou have probably heard the old saw; breakfast like a king, lunch like a commoner and dine like a pauper. This one still holds true in that you must have a healthy breakfast every day, it is the one meal you should not be skipping.

It should be a healthy but hearty combination of carbs and protein that will give you sustained energy all through the day.

Breakfast helps you build muscle

Since the stomach is empty in the morning this is the right time for it to fill it full of nutrients which the body will be more receptive to in the morning.

A high protein breakfast is helpful in one’s aim to gain lean muscle.

You won’t overeat during the day

If you have had a nutritious breakfast in the morning, you will feel full and satisfied for a longer time as a day progresses and you won’t be ravenous when the next meal time comes along, making it less likely that you will over eat.

You have more energy throughout the day

A healthy well balanced breakfast will make sure that your body has the fuel and the energy to face the day ahead and not flag or feel tired.

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White Bread: The Danger Lurking In Your Kitchen

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

White BreadThat one item that has long been a constant at our breakfast tables, has earned quite a bad rap in recent years.

Keep being told that white bread is bad for you, for your health; why exactly is this so? What is it about white bread that is so bad for you? There are several reasons:

Refined flour

The refining of wheat flour strips it of many of the nutrients and health giving properties that wheat has.

The wheat germ and bran, which are the most nutritious part of the wheat grain, which includes vitamins and minerals are removed when making refined flour. What remains are starch and some protein.

The protein is not good quality protein. The starch is converted into sugar and is stored in the body as fat. Refined flour provides what are sometimes known as empty calories, or calories without the goodness or nutritional value of wholesome food.

Low Fiber

Fiber is essential for the healthy functioning of the human body and for the efficient working of the digestive system. In milling of refined flour, the fiber of the wheat grain is removed and what is left is not healthy.

Lack of sufficient fiber in the body also makes it difficult for the colon to evacuate the bowels of waste matter effectively, which can lead to Irritable Bowel Syndrome and even cancer of the colon.[colon cancer]

Digestive rates and the efficiency with which the food is digested slow down. There are also greater amounts of fat deposits and this increases how negatively eating white bread can impact health.

Bleaching

Ever wonder why that loaf of white bread is so white when the grain that it supposedly comes from is brown? Well the fact is that the flour that is used to make the bread is routinely bleached using chemicals, which results in the white color.

There are several harmful bleaching agents used for this and among them is chloride oxide, which, when combined with whatever proteins are still left in the flour, produces alloxan. This is a poison and has been used to produce diabetes in laboratory animals. Chlorine oxide destroys the vital wheat germ oil which is another nutritive element destroyed.

For someone who is used to eating white bread all their lives, the switch to whole grain bread (as against brown bread, which may simply have some caramel added for the color) may be a bit difficult however one can soon get used to it, and can also start to appreciate a healthier and tastier meal option.

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Tips To Improve Core Strength

Monday, October 19th, 2009

push upAthletes, trainers and coaches all over now understand that training and working hard at a discipline may mean nothing, if an athlete has not worked on strengthening the core of the body, on improving the core strength and muscle power of that region of the body.

The abdominal muscles, the hip muscles and the spine muscles form the core of the body, upon which the optimum functioning, stamina and overall ability of the body depends. It is these groups of muscles that the body depends upon for stability and it is from the core that the body derives its power to perform.

It isn’t abdominal exercises only that will help you work on your core strength; there are many more aspects to developing core strength. So concentrating on getting that six-pack won’t ensure core strength. You need to target a larger area.

If using equipment, use free weights like medicine balls, dumbbells, balance boards or wobble boards, stability balls and kettle-bells. There are several ways to develop core strength using nothing more than your body.

Abdominal bracing can be a little tricky to learn however with a little practice, you can do it, so long as you concentrate on even breathing and it can be very effective in developing core strength.

Push ups, squats, hip lifts, lunges, back extensions, Russian twists are all extremely helpful in developing strength, endurance and stamina.

To improve core strength, the aim should be to increase stamina and endurance, which may often take the form of unconventional exercise or disciplines: Yoga, which is seen to greatly improve flexibility and suppleness of the body, is seen to be great for improving core strength. Yoga is useful for centering and its meditative qualities also offer people mental relaxation which goes a long way in improving concentration.

The ancient discipline of Pranayam, which is related to yoga, is also useful for developing core strength, because the accent is on breathing in pranayam. For instance the Kapaal Bharti Pranayam concentrates on the strengthening the stomach muscles and has been described as an internal massage for the body’s organs.

Pilates is another discipline that is seen as being extremely useful in the improving core strength, because Pilates is all about balance. The graceful, precise movements of the pilate exercises ensure that the ability of the individual to center and to focus improves.

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Post Workout: To Shower Or Not To Shower

Friday, October 16th, 2009

warm showerAfter a hot sweaty work out, a cold shower may sound great, but not so fast. There are some dos and don’ts about showering post a workout which one needs to keep in mind.

Showering is not only a very attractive option after a workout, it is also a hygienic thing to do since it will clean your skin of the sweat as well as the oil and waste matter that the body has secreted during your work out, which would otherwise clog your pores.

However it’s important not to take a cold shower because this can shock the system since the body is heated by a recent work out and has an elevated temperature.

A warm shower will not shock the system in a similar way. Also it is best to let the body cool down somewhat after a workout, so give it about 15 minutes before you hop into the shower.

A higher temperature of water in the shower also has the benefit, according to some, of flushing out the lactic acid from the skin that can build up during the work out. Also warm water will relax the muscles and keep your circulation.

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Free Weights Versus Machines: What Gets You Maximum Gains?

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

weight trainingThis is a topic that body builders debate from time to time; whether it is the so called low tech free weight work outs that give you the maximum gains or the high tech machines.

Free weights are those implements that you can manipulate three dimensionally, since they are unattached to any machine or apparatus.

These could be dumbbells, ankle weights, medicine balls, barbells etc, and one could also classify the human body as a free weight, which by itself permits us to perform so many weight bearing exercises.

Weight exercise machines that gyms are typically equipped with; the kinds with multiple exercise stations such as the pec deck or a smith machine are the machines other than free weights that are fixed and do not allow three dimensional manipulation of them. There are pros and cons of both:

Weight machines are good to start out with

For someone who is just starting out in their weight training program, who may not know precisely what is to be done, it is a good idea to use machines which will offer support when they are still figuring out what to do and how.

It is less likely that one will be injured by using weight machines because they are built along a fixed path which has instructions so that one is unlikely to do the exercise in a wrong or injury causing manner.

Also the machines usually have printed instructions along with them so that one knows what is to be done. A beginner would be hard pressed to figure out exactly how to use barbells or dumbbells at first. Also you are less likely to be injured by a fixed machine than by a dumbbell dropping on your foot!

Free weights are more flexible and offer a wider variety of possible motion

Weight machines are limited in the ways that you can use them. They also target only certain specific muscle groups and you would end up needing more machines if you want to get a full body work out.

Also free weights, because of the fact that all the control has to be exerted by the body and not the machines, tend to give a somewhat more intense work out than machines would. Since machines are more supportive, they may give you less of a work out.

Free weights may be harder to master and probably more likely to cause injury, but they are more versatile and functional and can offer a more complete body work out.

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Steroids: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

SteroidsLike it or not, one has to accept the presence of steroids and their large scale use in the fitness and body building space.

Anabolic Steroids do have the following benefits and uses:

  • They help pack on the muscle mass and improve bone density
  • They are used therapeutically in medicine to stimulate bone growth and appetite
  • Anabolic steroids have virilziing and androgenic properties that can induce male puberty,
  • They are also used to treat chronic wasting conditions, such as cancer and AIDS

Anabolic steroids have long been used to increase weight, lean muscle mass and improve strength however their use in athletics and bodybuilding has always been controversial since it is construed as a form of ‘cheating’ that gives one an unfair advantage in competitive sport.

Use of steroids is generally referred to as doping and banned by all major sports organizations due to the fact that is a form of cheating and also due to the fact that many adverse health conditions result from their use.

Since laws are in place that restricts the use of anabolic steroids, there is a thriving illegal trade of these drugs on the black market.

Not only is this against the law it could be dangerous in more ways than one, since fake or adulterated steroids are also sold under this guise which could be not just detrimental but actually dangerous. Long term or excessive use of steroids can have the following side effects:

  • Steroid use can have a negative impact on cholesterol; increasing LDL (the good cholesterol) levels and diminishing HDL (the bad kind)
  • They can cause high blood pressure
  • Liver damage
  • Structural changes in the heart
  • Cardiovascular disease and coronary artery disease can also result
  • Heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest
  • There are also several psychological effects that can result, such as increased aggression and violence
  • Steroids can be dependence inducing, making many dependent upon the drug which can cause withdrawal symptoms when withheld.
  • Mood disturbances, hypomania and depression can also be the side effects of use.

So while it is tempting to make fast gains from the use of anabolic steroids, it is at best a dangerous short cut, with potentially life threatening consequences, and this use is best avoided unless there is a medical requirement that indicates its requirement or use.

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