Below is a quick list of helpful and knowledgable information to help you get started on the path to personal wellness
Some benefits of resistance training on your health include: raised metabolism, your muscle tissues require more calories to maintain, helps prevent osteoporosis,reshapes and tones your body, and many more.
Some benefits of cardiovascular training on your health include: weight management, lowered blood pressure, raised HDL'S (the good cholesterol), reduction of the risk of coronary heart disease, help in preventing some cancers, and many more.
While it is extremely important to pay close attention to your fitness regimen-proper cardiovascular workout, strength training, and stretching, it is equally important to pay attention to your diet. Putting the wrong nutrients in your body can ultimately affect the overall fitness benefits of an active lifestyle. Putting too many calories (good and bad nutrients) can and will lead to weight gain. Nutrition is important for fitness and so is proper hydration. Water is by far the most important nutrient for the athlete. For optimal performance, fluids must be replaced before, during, and after exercise. For more information on this topic.
Practically all foods contain a mixture of the three energy nutrients, although they are sometimes classified by the predominant nutrient. A protein-rich food like beef actually contains a lot of fat as well as protein. A carbohydrate-rich food like corn also contains fat (corn oil) and protein. Thus it is incorrect to say we are eating a protein when we eat meat; we are actually eating a protein-rich food that also contains other nutrients, such as fat. Only a few foods are exceptions to this rule, the common ones being sugar (almost pure carbohydrate) and oil (almost pure fat).
Water is such an integral part of us, yet we seldom are aware of its importance--deprived of it, the body can survive only a few days. The body fluids, made up mostly of water, bring to each system all the exact ingredients required and also carry away the body's by-products. Water is also an important, active participant in many chemical reactions in the body. It can act as a lubricant around joints and also protect sensitive tissues and organs from shock.
Water is by far the most important nutrient for the athlete. For optimal performance, fluids must be replaced before, during, and after exercise. Most people rely on thirst as an indicator of how much water is lost. Unfortunately, thirst is not an accurate indicator of how much fluid the body has lost. Water losses can and must be monitored by one of two methods:
| Nutrient | Functions |
|---|---|
| Protein | Builds and Repairs Body Tissue |
| Carbohydrates | Provide Energy for the Body |
| Fat | Necessary part of every cell; protects internal organs — carries fat soluable vitamins |
| Vitamins & Minerals | Regulate Body Process |
| Water | Important for the many chemical reactions in the body |
The energy nutrients-carbohydrates (CHO), protein, and fat-all contain calories. Their energy can be used by the body in several ways: for heat, to build its structures, to move its parts, or to be stored as body-fat. The energy values of these nutrients are:
Flexibility is defined as the ability of a joint to move freely through its full range of motion. Flexibility has many benefits and several are listed below. It provides increased physical efficiency and performance. A flexible joint has the ability to move farther in its range and requires less energy to do so. It also decreases the risk of injury. Although there is insufficient data to support this conclusion, most professionals agree that increasing ROM (Range Of Motion) decreases the resistance in various tissues, and one is therefore less likely to incur injury by exceeding tissue extensibility, or maximum range of tissues, during activity. For more information on this topic.
Back pain is experienced by eighty percent of the population. The cause can often be traced to poor posture and body mechanics in the workplace. Correct posture is a must. Use stretching techniques to stretch the tight muscles in the chest and upper back. Strengthening exercises for the upper back is also important.
As you might have guessed, I am very passionate about fitness and helping people find their niche in the world of wellness. I truly enjoy the look on the face of my clients when I see they get it, they know what it takes to succeed. Needless to say, I have gotten several other looks from my clients over my career, and some of them were simply not pretty.
I am certain they wanted to say something quite unpleasant to me when I was pushing them to do just a little bit more. But fortunately for me, they bit their tongue and eventually were glad that they had been pushed to reach their very best fitness level.
They finally realized that wellness is a lifestyle, not just a temporary fix. They feel better, feel stronger and look their best. I know at that point they will not stop their fitness plan because they have seen some pretty astonishing results.
Getting there, however, may be quite the challenge. As I mentioned last week when it comes to the component of fitness called resistance training, “more is less.”
The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism. One might say you are a calorie-burning machine. But actually, how many people do you know resistance train on a regular basis?
I am not usually a numbers person, but the following numbers have great significance to me and to what I do. Let’s look at the following:
Well, those numbers are quiet sobering to a personal trainer. Eighty percent of adults do not exercise for muscular strength or endurance – wow, that doesn’t speak very good for my job security!
With all kidding aside, that statistic is concerning. Why do people choose not to exercise? As you can see from the numbers above, it does not take a whole lot of time to build a little muscle. You will see improvement in a short period of time, especially if you are a male because of the higher testosterone levels.
Women, before you get discouraged, let me tell you that you too can build muscle, raise your metabolism, improve appearance and much more. After all, we do not want to look like a man – just give us a little definition and tone, and we are good to go.
When I first began to train women with weights, some were worried that they would develop big shoulders or massive, masculine musculature because of weight training.
Be assured ladies that shoulder width, like hip width, is influenced by genetics and that significant muscle gains require strenuous weight lifting for many months and higher levels of sex hormones such as androgen and testosterone.
So ladies, do not be afraid to train with weights. You will experience the following:
We will take a closer look at each of these benefits in next’s week’s column.
Regardless of your age or gender, you can benefit from resistance training. It is not true that loss of strength and muscle is inevitable with age. The typical adult individual can lose up to 30 percent of his or her muscle mass between the ages of 20-70, but this loss is more from disuse rather that from aging alone.
If you have ever broken a bone and had a cast put on it, you notice that that part of your body atrophies or becomes weaker and smaller due to disuse. The same is true for all the muscles in your body. “Use it or lose it” certainly applies to your muscles. See you in the gym.
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