Exercise routines can become boring over time, which could contribute to the whooping drop-out rates. (Fifty percent of people abandon their exercise program within six months.) An easy way to spice up your program is to incorporate small changes into your favorite moves. This can be accomplished by simply switching your stance or the position of your arms, or layering movements in order to create a totally new exercise. Check out these three ideas to introduce challenge, fight boredom and get you through the plateaus.
“Fuel” for Thought
Do you know how your body transforms that slice of pizza into energy? The concept behind it is simple: energy is released whenever chemical bonds are broken. After digestion and absorption, food molecular bonds are broken, releasing energy to sustain body functions such as growth and repair, transportation of substances, and muscle activity. The human body uses mostly carbohydrates and fat for fuel. Protein typically offers only a small contribution toward energy.
Weight-Lifting 101: General Guidelines
Resistance training is an essential component of any exercise program. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends loading exercises for all healthy adults in order to maintain bone and muscle health. Loading exercises are defined as drills that use body-weight or any resistance tool (free weights, bands, or machines) to create a physiological challenge. Overloading the body places muscles, bones and joints under (controlled) stress, which induces positive adaptations such as increase in muscle mass, strength gain, and bone mass improvement.
Form Follows Function: The Specificity Principle
Have you been working out really hard but lacking results? If so, you might want to reconsider your training routine. The problem is that the human body responds to stress (and believe me, exercise is a type of stress) by suffering distinct physiological adaptations which are highly specific to the type of stimulus. This means that your training outcomes depend on the type of activity you choose to perform, the training volume, and the exercise intensity. Thus, in order to obtain the results you desire, your training program should stress the right physiological systems.
Keeping Track of Your Progress
Perhaps the number one reason why people abandon an exercise program is the lack of visible results. It’s not that they are not getting any results; they just can’t notice them. Most people pursuing weight-loss goals feel discouraged after a few weeks of training because they don’t seem to be losing weight fast enough.
Household Workout – Part II
In the last article, we discussed the importance of maintaining good posture and body alignment when performing household chores. Now, we will apply those safety principles to some of these day-to-day activities.
Household Workout – Part I
Cleaning the house, doing laundry, and making the beds are chores that we are all very familiar with. But did you know that activities of daily living may contribute to a good chunk of our energy expenditure? This is especially true for sedentary people. Our metabolic rate, i.e., the total amount of calories we burn during the day, increases as we exercise and decreases as we rest. This means that the more you move, the more calories you’ll burn throughout the day. What many people don’t realize is that household chores are basically exercises. They are usually composed of complex movements that recruit several muscle groups at once and usually require the participation of multiple joints. In addition, some of these activities may even be considered vigorous, raising your heart rate and leaving you out of breath quickly. They do burn a considerable amount of calories too. For example, vacuuming, mopping, or scrubbing floors can burn as many calories as a brisk walk.
Taking Care of Your Feet and Ankles – Part II
In the last article, we discussed how muscle imbalances may cause ankle and foot misalignments. These misalignments can then produce erroneous biomechanics which may result in injuries. When muscles are activated through abnormal patterns, they may lead to inflammation and tenderness in body tissues such as fasciae, tendons, and muscles, which results in painful conditions and joint instability. Many people know what I’m talking about. Foot and ankle impairments such as plantar fasciitis[1], Achilles’ tendinopathy[2], shin splints[3], and ankle sprains are usually associated with lack of flexibility of the ankle and hyperpronation of the foot (flat foot), conditions caused by local muscle imbalances.
Taking Care of Your Feet and Ankles – Part I
Have you been giving your feet any attention lately? If you are like most people, you probably don’t even notice them unless you need a pedicure. Even though this region is usually neglected by many people, our feet are very important structures and deserve some TLC.
Training with a Purpose
Starting an exercise program doesn’t seem to be a problem for most people. After all, many of us begin every year with a club membership and lots of good intentions. However, sticking to the plan is another story. According to fitness specialists, dropout rates are as high as 50% in the first six months. As a trainer, my goal is to improve exercise adherence. Therefore, I would like to suggest one thing: exercise with a goal in mind. This is because when you have something concrete to pursue, you’ll be more likely to stick to your program. In addition, it is easier to create a plan of action when you know exactly what you want from your training.