Tag Archives: exercise

Weight Loss Plateau Solutions

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We all know the feeling, when you first start to lose weight you might lose a good few pounds a week.  In the beginning this can give you a real sense of achievement and the determination to continue with your weight loss efforts.

The problem is that after you have been losing weight for a few months and you get closer to reaching your goals, you can find that it gets to be more and more difficult to lose weight.  Instead of a few pounds a week, it might be more like one pounds every few weeks.

So what are you supposed to do about it?  You might be eating the best diet you possibly can along with exercising as much as you are able to fit into your busy schedule.

When you get to this point it might be a case of looking to see what the best natural weight loss pills have to offer.

I know what you’re thinking “but weight loss pills are just one big scam.”  Well, yes, you are partly right.  However this is because there are so many junk products on the market that simply don’t work.  Or, at worst, they can make you ill or kill you.

Naturally, you want to lose weight to look good but you also want to lose weight in order to be healthier and feel more vibrant.  You certainly don’t want to do anything to put that at risk.

First of all, you should research the different types of weight loss pill.  For instance there are fat binders, carb blockers and appetite suppressants.

If you eat a lot of fat then it’s best that you choose a fat binder.  If your weakness is carbs such as pasta and bread then a carb blocker will work better.  Alternatively you might simply eat too much of both in which case you may prefer to buy an appetite suppressant.

Remember, knowledge is power so you want to do as much research as you possibly can to make sure you are making the right choice.

Enjoy the Positive Benefits of Yoga With Your Own Mat and Bag

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Most people go to a yoga class to exercise and reduce stress. The concept is very inviting and yoga classes are becoming more and more popular at gyms and fitness centers. Many people attend a class and say it has a positive impact on their life, health and well being. People seldom give much thought to the type mat that they use for the experience. The mats provided by the gym can be a source for bacteria but most people never even think about the possibility. However, an exercise facility is the perfect breeding ground for MRSA, a horrible infection caused by methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus bacteria that can be deadly. Yoga mats are used by many people over and over and are often not cleaned properly. This allows the bacteria to flourish on the community use mats. Instead of being a relaxing and healthy experience the mats could cause an infection that could alter a life permanently. Avoiding public use mats is a great first step to avoid bacteria. Continue reading →

Running and Foot Pronation

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Runners sometimes think of pronation as something negative or harmful. However, if present in the right amount, it serves as the body’s natural shock absorber. The body responds to the physical forces encountered during walking and running by the action of pronation. When the foot strikes the ground, the arch flattens and gets longer, which enables the foot to roll inward. Without healthy pronation, we would experience many more stress-related injuries when running. To see example photos of the three types of foot pronation, please visit: Cross Country Running Shoes 101.

Neutral Pronation

An optimum foot-strike is described as neutral and results in a slight inward movement of the ankle bone when the foot is in impacts the ground. Runners with neutral pronation are naturally less likely to experience stress-related injuries, because of the foot’s efficient shock absorption capability.

About 25% of all runners have neutral pronation and can benefit from a neutral running shoe. They also can wear a shoe with mild support, but they are better off avoiding motion control shoes, and shoes designed for medium or heavy support.

Over-pronation

When the foot continues its inward roll past the neutral position, it is described as over-pronation. Although a small degree of pronation is the body’s natural means to absorb shock,  too much pronation can contribute to many kinds of running injuries. Most runners exhibit over-pronation to various degrees. Usually, the over-pronating runner requires a shoe that controls excess pronation and guides the foot back along a neutral path.

  • 50 to 60% of all runners display mild to moderate over-pronation, and can benefit from a support shoe.
  • 20 to 30% of all runners display severe over-pronation, and can benefit from a motion control shoe.

Under-pronation (Supination)

On the other hand, not enough pronation is described as under-pronation or supination .  A supinating foot usually has a rigid arch that doesn’t lengthen properly upon impact, so the fool fails to roll enough to absorb the shock. The stress of each foot-strike is instead carried through to the bones,  joints,  and tendons of the leg and foot. Supination causes the body to absorb shock poorly, and results in a different set of possible injuries.

Only 3% of runners naturally supinate.  They can benefit from  a neutral running shoe, one with flexibility and cushioning.

Corrective Shoes

Modern cross country running shoes are constructed to provide various degrees of flexibility, cushioning, and support. In the right combination, these features can help to meet each individual runner’s needs, based on correcting his or her particular type of pronation.

Building Muscle and Body Sculpting: A Beginner’s Guide

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When most people decide to start body sculpting, they go about it the wrong way. Instead of developing a safe fitness program for building muscle that their bodies can use, beginners often grab a protein shake and make a big mistake: They mimic professional bodybuilders by using isolation techniques to target specific “show muscles” like biceps and pectorals.

There’s nothing wrong with protein shakes, but isolation techniques are meant for fine-tuning your body once you’ve already built up a solid base of support muscles. Targeting single muscles or small muscle groups specifically is actually a very inefficient way to build muscle, and it can also be dangerous. It’s quite easy to strain a muscle or injure a joint if you push yourself too hard, too fast, and not in the right way.

If you start off, as most do, by trying to lift as much weight as possible instead of slowly building up your core muscles, you’ll almost certainly do yourself some harm. This is why many experts recommend calisthenic exercises instead of free-weights for those just starting out.

For example, bicep curls are not the most effective or safest way to build up your arms in your first year of training. A better solution? Simple pull-ups. Pull-ups are a calisthenic exercise, meaning they use your body weight as the form of resistance, and they’re also a compound exercise.

Compound exercises target multiple muscles at once, growing the group together naturally, safely, and giving you a lot of practical strength. In the case of pull-ups versus bicep curls, you’ll be building muscle in your core (abdominals), shoulders (deltoids), and your forearms all at the same time.

Compare this to starting off with pro-bodybuilder strategies that build up individual muscles to further sculpt an already extremely developed set of muscles, and it’s clear which technique is better suited for the beginner. So take it slow, and build those muscle evenly and safely! You’ll be better off for it.

Arthritis Rates Higher in US

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A recent study has found that Canadians have less arthritis and less arthritis-related disability compared to Americans. Researchers blame the increased rates of obesity and inactivity in the U.S. for the increased incidence of arthritis.

These statistics were released in the March publication of Arthritis Care & Research. The information came from the Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health, and pointed out that the levels for joint disease for people in the U.S. are about 2% higher than Canadians. Continue reading →

Working Out Is Only Half The Battle

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I don’t care, how many pull ups you do, how many push ups you can squeeze out,  how many mason twists you can muster or how much iron you can push.  If your not paying at least as much attention to your diet as your workout routine, your totally missing the whole point.  Doing killer workouts and eating poorly, is akin to owning a Ferrari, and pouring a pound of sugar down the gas line.  It simply won’t work.  At least not as effectively as it should.  Not eating properly before a workout, means you won’t be able to push as hard or perform as well during your workout.  Not eating and drinking the right stuff after your workout, means your body doesn’t get the necessary nutrients, vitamins and supplements it needs to recover.

I know, I’ve tried it both ways.  Just this past summer, I did the most intensive  and well laid out fitness routine of my life.  I did it for three months, and I followed the instructions to a “T”.  That included the nutrition guide that went along with it.  Now I must confess, that I’m not saint and there were a few days during the three months, when I deviated.  Social life and pressures being what they are, sometimes tend to intrude and you give in to the temptation.  About a month into the routine, I had a couple of beers with family who were visiting from far away, and I hadn’t seen for a while.  Which was great at the time, but really surprised me the next day.  I barely made it through a workout, I had been killing for weeks.

I learned quite quickly, it doesn’t take much to throw the body off.  The extra carbs (beer is load with crappy sugar carbs),  I put into my body at a time when my diet had been very low in carbohydrates had an immediate effect on my performance.  The other cool thing I learned from doing that fitness program, was how habit forming our diets become.  In both a good and bad sense.  Even though I finished the program five months ago, I still follow a lot of what the nutrition guide laid out for me.  I continue to eat low fat proteins, good carbs, fruits, vegtables, supplements, and take vitamins every day.  Many of those bad food choices are no longer even a temptation for me.  Potato chips and salty snacks which were hard for me to resist in the past, really have little appeal to me anymore.

It feels good to be healthy, and all you need is the desire to make a change and a little determination to see it through.

How I Got Into The Best Shape Of My Life

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I decided, to write a few words here, about what I did last summer.  And no, it wasn’t anything nasty, illegal, or immoral . . . you guys watch too many movies.  What I did, was get into the best shape of my life.  So, I’ve decided to write about it here to share my success with everyone else out there.  And, maybe to brag a little bit.  Also because, my family and friends are getting tired of hearing about it, so I’m in search of a new audience.  Yes, that would be you guys.  Well, what I ended up doing, was a little fitness program called P90X.  Now, before you start running away because you’ve seen the infomercials, just give me a minute or so to explain.

While it’s true, that yes this is a program that was hawked with one of those sleazy infomercials that will all flip by with our remote faster than George Clooney runs from a marriage altar, it doesn’t mean they don’t work.  To be quite honest, just about any of those fitness programs out there will work, if people summon up enough determination and grit to follow them though from beginning to end.  I’ve never done one before personally, and I kind of just stumbled onto this one.

I was actually reading a online discussion forum, that had absolutely nothing to do with health, fitness, or losing weight.  It was a techie forum actually, and a few of the geeks were asking each other if they did anything to stay in shape when they found the time to get away from their computers.  Someone mentioned this program, and actually posted a few pictures of himself.  I must admit, this guy looked pretty ripped.  Especially for a computer geek.  My interest was peaked.

I did a bit of research, read a few blogs, watched a bunch of YouTubes, and read umpteen testimonials of others who had completed the program.  It was pretty hard to find someone that had actually finished it, and had anything negative to say about it.  So, I decided to give it a shot.  I normally don’t do regular exercise type stuff, as I’m a pretty avid squash player.  I generally figured that kept me in pretty good shape.  The thing is though, that squash is a high impact game and people that play a lot tend to end up with a bunch of nagging injuries.  Especially those getting as old as I am.

So, I figured, that this would give my body a bit of a break, and perhaps get me in a bit better shape.  I hummed and hawed a bit about the whole nutrition side of the program, as I wasn’t sure I really wanted to figure all of that out.  I decided, if I was going to do it, then there was no point in going half way.  So I did both the workouts and followed the nutrition guide religously.   OK, maybe I deviated a few days, but only a few ;)   In hindsight, that was a great decision, as there’s no way I would have gotten the results I did without good eating.  Even today, when I’m not doing all the workouts, I still follow a lot of the nutrition stuff.  It just became a habit.

These days, I’m thinking of doing the whole thing over again.  Many people do a few rounds of it.  Can’t wait to see what I look like after round 2.