Loosen up – the best warm-up
If you stretch when the muscles are cold, the risk of injury including pulled muscles is increased. Before you stretch, warm up the muscles with a low intensity activity such as walking for several minutes while gently pumping your arms. Using a light weight do a warm up set of the exercises you are intending to do to target the muscles. Stretching muscles after a more strenuous activity or exercise is also beneficial.
- Save time by holding your stretches : It takes time to lengthen tissues safely. Ideally, hold your stretches for at least 30 seconds up to 60 seconds for a really tight muscle or problem area. If you do so, you will need to do each stretch only once or twice for most muscle groups.
- Ease into each stretch : Spend the first 15 seconds in an easy stretch, just to the point that you feel a mild tension – never bounce. The tension should be comfortable, not painful. Then stretch just a fraction of an inch farther until you again feel mild tension – not pain – and hold the stretch for 15 seconds. If you feel pain, that is too far. Back off to the point where the pain is gone, and that is where you will want to hold the stretch.
- Breathe : Do not hold your breath while stretching. Exhale as you go into a stretch and then breathe slowly and evenly as you hold it.
The Best Warm-Up
If you have time for just one warm-up exercise, try the squat to stand. It improves mobility in the ankles, hamstrings, torso, and upper
back, and is particularly great before a squat workout. Place your feet slightly outside shoulder width and reach your arms overhead. keeping legs as straight as possible, bend at the hips and try to touch your toes. Now squat down to where your thighs are parallel to the floor, and let your arms hang inside your knees. keep your eyes focused ahead the whole time. Then from the squat position, reach both arms up to the ceiling, extending your upper back as much as possible. Now stand up. This is one repetition.
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Categories: Diet, health, pain, Relief, Stretch Tags: Activity, Back, Body, Exercise, hands, health, Healthy, Hips, Loosen up, Muscles, Squat, Stretch, Stretches, Stretching, Tissues, Walk, Walking, Warm-up
Bring aerobics safely into your daily life to live healthy.
Aerobic means “with oxygen,” and it refers to activities of moderate intensity performed for an extended period of time. Aerobics are particularly helpful for weight control. Physical activity helps to control your weight by using excess calories that otherwise would be stored as fat. The number of calories you eat and use each day regulates your body weight. Everything you eat contains calories, and everything you do uses calories, including sleeping, breathing, and digesting food. Any physical activity in addition to what you normally do will use extra calories.
Following a regular aerobics program gives you a sense of commitment and control – two positive mental attitudes that help counteract stress. Aerobics also relax tense muscles, thereby relieving your body’s stress response. Aerobic exercise is any extended activity that makes you breathe hard while using the large muscle groups at a regular, even pace.
Health Benefits of Aerobics
- Aerobic exercise strengthens the heart and lungs, making breathing more efficient and improving the efficiency of the heart.
- Aerobic exercise tones muscles throughout the body, which can help reduce blood pressure.
- People who get regular aerobic exercise consume more oxygen and pump more blood with each beat.
- Blood supply to the muscles is increased, as well as their ability to use oxygen.
- Heart rate and blood pressure are lower in people who get regular aerobic exercise.
- HDL cholesterol (that’s the good stuff) is increased.
- Triglycerides in the blood—a risk factor for heart disease— are decreased.
- Body fat and weight can both be reduced by getting an hour of aerobic exercise a few times a week.
- Glucose tolerance and insulin resistance improve in those who regularly exercise, reducing the risk of diabetes.
- Mitochondria inside the muscle increase in number and activity. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells. They do all the heavy-duty work to keep you moving.
Bring aerobics safely into your daily life
- Maintain a comfortable pace.
- Increase your workout in stages to get the most benefits with the fewest risks.
- Select activities that fit your personality and have an element of fun.
- Plan a workout schedule. To gain the most health benefits it is important to exercise as regularly as possible.
- Maximize your safety and comfort.
- Challenge yourself.
- Whether your goal is to control your weight or just to feel healthier, becoming physically active is a step in the right direction.