Archive for November, 2007
Fitness Strategies and Benefits
Fitness Strategies and Benefits by Renee Kennedy
Stretching:
Concentrates on improving flexibility. Stretching requires no fitness equipment. Types of stretching include Yoga and Pilates. Whether you decide to stretch before, after or during your exercise routine, there is no doubt that stretching should be included every time you exercise. It keeps your body agile while engaging in any type of resistance or cardio training routine.
Benefits of stretching:
1. improves flexibility
2. increases range of motion 3. promotes relaxation
4. improves performance and posture 5. reduces stress on your body and reduces risk of injury for any resistance training routines or athletic performance
Strength Training, Weight Training or Resistance Training: Concentrates on improving muscles. Strength training or weight training may require you to lift free weights or use equipment that makes you lift weight. It may also be called resistance training because you are putting resistance on your muscles to improve them. In resistance training you may use tools like rings and tubes rather than weights. Some exercises also allow you to use your own body as resistance. For instance, abdominal crunches can be part of a strength or resistance training routine. Strength training should be included in an exercise routine.
The benefits of resistance and strength training: 1. helps you lose weight in two ways: improves your muscle mass and increases your energy expenditure, both make you to burn more calories.
2. helps you tone and look better even if you are not overweight. 3. gives you more strength and endurance 4 increases bone density 5. has cardiovascular benefits 6. may help reduce risks of injury in athletes
Cardiovascular or Aerobic Training: Aimed at improving your heart muscle and cardiovascular system. Cardiovascular training or aerobic training may be accomplished in several ways and you don’t need to spend any money. Walking, jogging, skipping rope, boxing, dancing, riding a bike - any of these qualify as aerobic exercise. Cardiovascular training should be an essential element of your fitness routine.
Benefits of cardiovascular training: 1. strengthens your heart 2. helps you lose weight and reduce fat 3. increases your endurance
Interval Training or Anaerobic Training: Aimed at improving aerobic endurance for athletes. Interval training is characterized by repetitions of heavy exercise with a recovery period following each repetition. For instance, you might sprint for 10 seconds and then follow that sprint with a two minute recovery jog. Then you repeat the sprint/jog routine for about 20 minutes. During the sprinting you are producing a state of oxygen debt. This can also be called anaerobic training because you are out of oxygen. Circuit training is also a form of interval training.
Benefits of Interval Training: 1. improves athletic endurance 2. strengthens the heart muscle 3. improves the lungs or the ability to take in oxygen
Cross Training:
Aimed at improving aerobic endurance, strength and flexibility in athletes. Can also help fight boredom for anyone who exercises. Type of training that requires you to do two or more types of exercise either within the same routine or in successive routines. For example, you may stretch every day for flexibility, lift weights two days a week for strength training, and ride a bike once a week for aerobic endurance.
Circuit Training:
Type of interval training aimed at losing weight and inches. Circuit training has been made popular by places like Curves and Ladies Workout Express. In circuit training you have several pieces of strength training equipment interspersed with aerobic equipment like steps or jogging pads. It has all the benefits of both cardiovascular and strength training workouts.
Renee Kennedy is the editor of the monthly ezine NutriCounter Update. Come and visit the NutriCounter web site at http://www.nutricounter.com/news.htm for an extensive selection of articles on health, nutrition and exercise.
Renee Kennedy is the editor of the monthly ezine NutriCounter Update. Come and visit the NutriCounter web site at http://www.nutricounter.com/news.htm for an extensive selection of articles on health, nutrition and exercise.
Do You Make These South Beach Diet Mistakes?
The South Beach Diet works, for most people. Its low fat, low carb approach helps you lose weight quickly and easily. Health benefits are great too.
But there’s some easy mistakes you must avoid.
Gain Weight in Phase 2
Most people do well being strict in Phase 1. But what happens when you switch into Phase 2 ? Often, you put some weight back on again. Why ? Because your body’s starved of carbs for 2 or 3 weeks. At the start of Phase 2 it grabs at every carb you give it, and turns them into fat. I learned this lesson the hard way, gaining 2 lbs in my first Phase 2 week. So reintroduce carbs slowly when you go into Phase 2, and make sure they’re good carbs.
Feel Hungry
Yes, if South Beach makes you hungry, you’re doing it wrong. You don’t need to feel hungry. Eat 3 meals a day, with snacks in between, choosing from the foods allowed in your current phase.
Stay in Phase 1 for too Long
Isn’t Phase 1 great ? You can lose from 8 to 13 lbs in just 2 weeks, without being hungry. So why leave Phase 1 ? Why not keep up your rapid weight loss ? Because you must start adding some carbs back in. A healthy diet includes some good carbs like wholemeal bread, porridge and fruit. A permanent Phase 1 also gets a little boring, and you’ll start to cheat. Yes you will. A few biscuits here, a few biscuits there, and soon you’re cheating rather than dieting. It’s better to switch into Phase 2 after 2-3 weeks, and accept a slower healthier weight loss.
Fall Victim to Bread Craving
How many people list ‘bread’ as an addiction ? Seriously, there’s a lot. Unfortunately, white bread is right near the top of the Glycemic index, and about the worst food you can eat on your diet. When you get into Phase 2 you’re allowed to eat bread, but only slices of wholemeal. Same with rice and pasta. Small amounts, and ideally whole grain versions. Bad carbs add weight.
Ignore the Health Benefits
Most people start a diet to lose weight. I guess that’s what a diet is for. But some diets, particularly South Beach, have major health benefits. In fact, it’s worth going on the South Beach Diet just for the health benefits, even if you don’t lose weight (but you do). My blood pressure was high when I started. After 3 weeks it was back to normal. People with pre-diabetes, or potential heart problems, can much reduce their risk by following this diet. So there’s lots of beneficial internal changes in your blood chemistry happening while you’re losing weight.
So if you follow the South Beach Diet properly, you’ll get great results. You’ll lose weight quickly, keep it off, and get some major health benefits.
Discover easy to follow weight loss secrets with a free mini-series of South Beach Diet Tips. And learn how to get your own ‘virtual personal trainer’ video. Click http://www.south-beach-diet-video.com/ata or send blank email to mailto:southbeachtips@digilectual.com?subject=subscribe
About the Author
Neil Stelling successfully lost weight on the south beach diet.
Reading Another’s Thoughts On Weight Loss Leads to More Questions
I bought a used book, Eating Disorders,(a new approach to treating anorexia, bulimia,and overeating) by Gregory Jantz, PH.D.. Each chapter has a section where you have questions and various writing exercises in which you are to express how you feel about such things as public, food, and feelings.
As I got into the question section of chapter one, I saw someone had already written in the book. Reading the responses, it was obvious that person was attempting to lose weight.
I could sense the despair, loneliness and isolation of that person in their writing. She/he wrote about their fear of undoubtful foods and their obsession with others. that person constantly thought about weight loss but felt helpless.
I flipped through the rest of the book to see whether their outlook had changed. Hoping to see a glimmer of self-worth expressed. that person never went past chapter 2.
I could see that person had more issues to deal with than just weight loss. Wishing I could give them a hug and tell her/him they are not alone.
I sit here wondering….where is that person today? How do they feel about themselves? Are they working on their issues? Are they experiencing success on their weight loss journey?
I’ll say a prayer for them and have comfort knowing they are in God’s Hands.
Original post by Chris
Boost Your Metabolism With Negative Calorie Foods
There\’s just about nothing most society won\’t try to lose weight. It\’s like a quest for many public, jumping from the latest reduced calorie diet, swallowing some miracle metabolism boosting pill, or buying the latest fat burning exercise machine they see on late night infomercials. that is all fine and good considering we all want to believe there is a magic panacea that will quickly and easily
Original post by Alex Smith
Monitoring of a common epilepsy drug during pregnancy
Research at Emory University shows that monitoring the level of an epilepsy drug, called lamotrigine, in the blood helps reduce increased seizure activity and improve the overall health of pregnant women and their fetuses. The findings are published Nov. 28 in the online edition of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology……..
Original post by Heather Craven
Detecting HIV in resource-limited settings
Integrating HIV examining programmes into primary medical care can help achieve early diagnosis of HIV infection, even in relatively poor areas, research reported in the online open access journal AIDS Research and Therapy has shown. Scientists from Harvard Medical School and the non-governmental organisation Partners In Health (PIH, www.pih.org), both based in Boston, USA set out to see whether HIV diagnosis was delayed considering doctors missed opportunities to pop quiz humans who were at risk of HIV during clinic visits……..
Original post by Heather Craven
Cancer risks for urban African-American women grow
Women living in the inner city have difficulty meeting dietary goals that could help prevent cancer, as per a report from Johns Hopkins University researchers. In a study of African-American women living in public housing within Washington, D.C., the scientists observed that the majority met one or none of five dietary goals suggested to reduce the risk of developing cancer. In specific, these women were unlikely to eat a healthy diet that included the recommended amount of fresh fruits and vegetables……..
Original post by Heather Craven
