Posts Tagged ‘Fit’

How fit you are can be judged by your heart rate during exercise and rest…

Resting heart rate or bradycardia refers to the number of times the heart beats per minute, when you are at rest. Normal range is 50 to 100, most people’s hearts beat 60 to 80 times a minute. Above 100 is considered a rapid pulse, called tachycardia. resting heart rate varies from person to person and over the course of the day, due to genetics and other factors. Heart rate is faster when you get excited, anxious, or angry or if you are in pain or fever. It rises temporarily if you smoke or drink a lot of alcohol or coffee. On the other hand, resting heart rate slows during sleep and tends to be lower if you are very fit.

In general, a slower heart rate is better than a faster one as faster rate puts more pressure and stress on your heart and blood vessels. In fact, studies have shown faster resting heart rates increases risk of heart disease and death from all causes, independent of fitness levels and other cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and being overweight.

A higher heart rate is linked to poorer outcomes in both healthy people and those with heart disease. Resting heart rate may be an even better predictor of premature death than cholesterol and blood pressure. Reducing heart rate is an accepted treatment goal for people with certain heart conditions, but it may also benefit people with hypertension and, preliminary research suggests may be even healthy people.

Heart rate during aerobic exercise raises your heart rate for at least 20 minutes. This enhances aerobic capacity – that is, the ability of your cardiovascular system to deliver oxygen to the body’s cells during exercise.
How long it takes to reach your target heart rate largely depends on how conditioned you are. If you are in poor shape, your heart rate will go up quickly with exercise. If you are in good shape, it will take longer. If your heart rate is naturally low, one has to overwork to get into the standard target zone; if your heart rate is high to start with, you may get into the zone too easily.

the length of time it takes for heart rate to return to normal is a good measure of fitness. The more fit you are, the faster the recovery. Heart rate drops most sharply in the first minute after you stop exercising, it should then fall about 20 beats a minute – a drop of less than 12 beats a minute is considered abnormal. This recovery heart rate is measured as part of an exercise stress test.

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What are different myths that surround fitness?

Avoid believing everything you hear. There are lots of myths in fitness that might cause injury and stop you from getting the best workout.

Myth 1: Even after you finish your workout, an aerobic workout helps to boost your metabolism.
It is true that the metabolism continues to burn at a slightly higher rate after finishing an aerobic workout, but the amount is too small to be taken into consideration.

Myth 2: Running on treadmill puts less stress on knees than running on roads.
Running impacts the knees as your body weight relies on the joints, which causes stress. It does not matter whether you run on a treadmill or on road. Reduce this impact by varying the workout instead of running for a long time at a stretch.

Myth 3: Swimming helps in reducing weight quickly.
Swimming increases lung capacity, tone your muscles and even helps de-stress you. It does not really help you lose many pounds. Swimming also makes you feel hungry and you end up eating more.

Myth 4: Sweating is a must while exercising.
It is possible to burn a number of calories without breaking a sweat. Light weight training or walking are also effective methods of workout.

Myth 5: Ab machines help to get rid of belly fat.
It helps to strengthen muscles around your middle and improve posture, only a strict diet and exercise regime will help you burn that fat. Follow a workout that includes both cardiovascular and strength training factors that will decrease your overall fat.

Myth 6: Pain is good while working out
Some amount of soreness is normal but searing pain while working out is not a good sign. An exercise should not hurt you while you are doing it.

Myth 7: Yoga helps relieve all types of backache
Yoga helps when your backache is muscle-related because the stretches and positions work to relax the muscles. but if your back problems are related to ruptured disc or some other similar problem, yoga is definitely not the answer.

Maintain a healthy body and mind – Sharpen Your Mind By Exercising It

Exercising body is very necessary to keep it fit and healthy… But in order to have a healthy body, a healthy mind is also necessary. Doing unique, random, different, and ridiculous things is a good way to exercise the mind and promote new ways of thinking about the world around us.

- Stimulate your ears differently.
- Stimulate your eyes in new ways.
- Learn about different people and lifestyles.
- Join clubs based on things you have no knowledge.
- Watch movies that you normally don’t partake in.
- Learn how to write backwards.
- Read backwards or upside down.
- Build ridiculous things like radios, legos, robots etc.
- Walk backwards.
- Learn to juggle.
- Attend churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, trade union meetings, places of worship and meditation.
- Play strategy games like Bridge, Checkers, Chess, Sudoko etc.
- Travel.
- Learn to read and write new language.
- Learn to play some musical instrument.
- Talk to someone you wouldn’t normally talk to.

Engage in stimulating mental activity to strengthen brain cells and nerve connections. Vigorously exercising your mind, regardless of age, is necessary for long-term mental health. Do not allow long periods to elapse without stretching, extending, and forcing your mind into new areas of stimulation and challenge.

Exercise improves blood flow, metabolism, energy, mental focus, people who have had long-term stress. It helps the brain start to re-grow new cells and helps them extend and connect better with other cells.

Always engaging yourself in some sort of new learning is very important. Challenge yourself to learn a hobby, computers, a new skill, or build a website. It is “the challenges” that will force your mind into a higher level of activity.

Mind-Body exercises promotes body awareness through the performance of precise physical movements that controls and balances your own body-weight. A mind-body exerciser never needs to be entertained while exercising. They never workout totally oblivious to the exercises that they are performing.