Visually Impaired Children and Dance
Visually impaired children may not have much experience of what their bodies can do. There can be delays in their physical development in the critical early years of childhood. They also often have deficits in physical and motor fitness. This can in turn lead to problems with balance and co-ordination. Research has shown that blind people expend more energy in everyday activities than those who can see which can cause tension and stress. Young people with vision problems can also feel socially isolated and very vulnerable to exploitation.
Attending dance movement sessions can bring numerous benefits on many different levels. The pupils learn to listen to instructions and become a member of a group. They learn to express feelings and emotions physically in a non-aggressive manner. Familiarity with their bodies is increased and they learn to use them creatively. Physical flexibility , co-ordination and cardiovascular fitness all improve. Classes are team-building and confidence enhancing. The participants discover that the whole of their bodies can register feelings of touch. Arms, legs, feet, knees, back or butt all feed back sensations of touch.
Classes need to include rhythm and instrumental work, singing accompanied with movement, body awareness exercises, dance improvisations to music and contact improvisation. Contact improvisation is partner work where the weight between the two close moving partners gives rise to the movement.It is a pleasurable, free-flowing dance form. It is sometimes referred to as an art sport because it combines gymnastic and poetic qualities, a healing art because it promotes physical and mental well-being. It is a movement form uniquely suited to blind and deaf/blind people because it is based on the sense of touch.The dance emerges from paying attention to sensations on the surface of the skin and inside the body as two people move in close physical contact.
Kjersti Engebrigtsen a Norwegian dance movement therapist writes " it is often said that the blind understand sequence by touching one thing at a time Dancing on the contrary is a simultaneous experience".
I have had blind pupils in the groups of children with special needs with whom I have had the pleasure of working. Some of them were in wheelchairs with no voluntary movement. Their class teachers and I worked on the floor with them. Usually the pupil was positioned between our outstretched legs leaning back against our chests for spinal support. We never, ever manipulated their limbs. The sessions were mainly about gentle movements to music with sensory elements such as texture, smell and light included. This group had very severe problems but they obviously enjoyed the classes.
We also did square dances with the children in wheelchairs. This activity was much appreciated by them. It increased their spatial awareness as well as their feelings for speed and direction.
I have also worked with blind teenagers in a mixed ability group. Here the emphasis was on socialization and confidence building. There were many activities which needed total confidence in other people. One such activity was standing upright on the vaulting horse and leaping off to be caught by many willing hands. I tried this with my eyes closed and it was terrifying! I really admired the complete trust shown by these young people.
Gender issues arose with this group and we had to be extra sensitive to each individuals choices, wishes, likes and dislikes. A session of social dancing was always included. Being able to take part in social dancing gives teenagers confidence at a time when they are endeavouring to lead a more independent social life. It's good for them to be able to behave in the same way as their peers.
At the moment there is a great deal of innovative work going on in this field. The Third St. Ensemble Company, based in Tuscon in the United States, has a mixed company of children, young adults with or without disabilities, blind and deaf dancers.Amazingly the company performs in English, Spanish and American Sign Language. Wheelchairs are incorporated as props in contact improvisational techniques.
Many of you will know of "Dance Dance Revolution" a game played on a Play Station console. Students at the University of North Carolina had an idea for a modification which would get visually impaired children moving while teaching them braille. They adapted "DDR" mats so that they could be connected to the USB port on a PC. This has created a game which gets the children moving while teaching them braille characters at the same time. The children use their hands, feet, head or other parts of their bodies to press appropriate dots for the braille character. Schools throughout North Carolina are now using this system which helps improve spacial awareness while also improving muscle strength.
Buse Gowda of Bangalore, India lost his sight at three years old due to an accident. Ashok Kumar was a dance teacher engaged by the Ramana Maharishi Academy for the blind. He had no idea how to teach dance to visually impaired students. It was Buse Gowanda who asked Ashok Kumar to demonstrate and hold a pose. He then felt his teachers' limbs to understand and explore the pose. Buse Gowda then tried to copy the pose. To help his students Ashok Kumar created a "touch and feel" technique. Buse Gowda is now a renowned dancer who excels in facial expressions. He received a national award in 2000 for outstanding achievement in the field of creative arts.
This just shows that blindness does not stop those with talent from being great dancers if we give them the opportunity.
About the Author
Dzagbe Cudjoe is a Dance Movement Therapist and ethnologist with wide experience of Dance in Africa and Europe. As an ethnologist her main field of research was into West African traditional religion. As a Dance Movement Therapist her area of specialization is working with children who have challenging behaviour or severe physical and intellectual Special Needs. Dzagbe is now working on helping the parents of such children to appreciate the healing effects of dance. She is the author of the e-manual "Dance to Health - Help Your Special Needs Child Through Inspirational Dance." For more Information visit Dance to Health
Tai Chi - Stress Relief For the Busy Mind
The attractive girl with the short, spiky, black hair jumped out of her car; phone firmly glued to her ear. She came into the convenience store (where I was deciding what to buy) and padded around, quickly, gathering various snacks and drinks, never for a moment breaking the tapestry of conversation she was weaving with whomever was on the other end of the line. She continued talking as she got in the check-out line just ahead of me, never pausing or breaking concentration even when it came time to slide her debit card through the reader. She gathered her purchases and exited, still talking intently.
I followed her out, visually, as I paid for my Diet Coke (not very "tai chi" of me, I guess, but it's my only vice!) and watched her get in her car, maneuver one-handed out of her space and speed off, phone still firmly affixed to the side of her face. As someone who spends a good deal of time with his own thoughts, I'm still amazed when I see a person who, seemingly, has no "inner life." By that, I mean someone for whom their own head-space and internal dialog is something to be escaped rather than indulged. The reality of being left alone with only their own thoughts for company is something that causes panic rather than peace.
Unfortunately, I sometimes suspect that the cell-phone, iPod, Gameboy age has spawned an entire generation of such creatures. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my iPod as much as the next person. In fact, I frequently use it to listen to slow, relaxing music while doing Tai Chi, (you knew I would get to Tai Chi eventually, didn't you?) since it helps to block out the outside world a little better when I'm practicing in a noisy place. However, I think it's important for people to come to terms with being alone inside their heads.
Tai Chi is a great tool for this. Since Tai Chi ultimately becomes a form of moving-meditation, it's a great way to become comfortable with your inner self and your own thoughts. I believe that a big part of stress and our stressful lives is the failure (or inability) to slow down and quiet our minds for even a short period of time each day. This is where I find Tai Chi (and Chi Gung) so helpful. Even five minutes taken for slow, deep breathing and relaxation during the course of a stressful day can have tremendous benefits.
However, you don't need to worry about losing out on productive time. In fact, you may find that as you learn to relax and let go while performing Tai Chi, some of the best ideas you've ever had will float to the surface in your newly quiet mind.
About the Author
Pete Glaze is the creator, webmaster and principal author of the website http://www.taichistudent.com, a site written for Tai Chi students (and potential students) where you can find information about Tai Chi and how to find a class or teacher. (c) Copyright - Peter E. Glaze. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Don't Touch Me There! - Avoiding Massage Mishaps and Misunderstandings.
There is no avoiding this simple fact about massage therapy: Providing or receiving the healing power of touch is intimate. And intimacy, even in the most professional settings, can expose vulnerabilities and lead to uncomfortable and even awkward situations.
It is the responsibility of the massage therapist to create an environment that is conducive to a healthy, relaxing and satisfying experience for the client. On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the client to communicate with the massage therapist in a manner that allows the therapist to provide the service in a manner that puts the client at ease.
An experienced massage therapist will be able to guide the recipient through the massage process so that there is little confusion about some of the basic areas that cause embarrassment or confusion.
Take It All Off?
The amount of clothing worn during a massage is dependant on the type of massage being administered. It is normal to be completely undressed during a full body Swedish massage but is not absolutely necessary. If a client prefers to wear panties or briefs during the massage that is fine. Frankly, the client should be able to wear whatever makes them most comfortable. Regardless, the therapist will appropriately drape the client so that only the areas of the body being massaged are exposed.
The therapist will usually instruct the client about what to expect before they begin undressing. The therapist will then leave the room and allow the client to undress and get comfortable on the massage table under a sheet or towel. The massage therapist will then uncover only the area of the body being massaged.
Touchy Feely
There are a variety of reasons that an individual may want a massage: stress relief, relaxation, general wellness, enhance circulation, improved flexibility, etc. No matter what the reason for the massage the therapist is always under the obligation to respect the boundaries set by the client and to establish his or her own boundaries.
Therapeutic massage is, by nature, a sensual experience. However, it is not intended to be a sexual experience. If a client, male or female, makes any overtly sexual requests or suggestions then the therapist is obligated to professionally and forcefully identify the inappropriateness of these comments. Conversely, no therapist should take liberties or make assumptions relative to what parts of the body can be touched.
In general, it is never appropriate to touch the genitals during a massage session. The client cannot expect to be touched sexually and the therapist cannot touch a client in a sexual manner. Either case will betray the trust in the relationship between the two parties…to say nothing of the potential for legal and ethical issues.
And let’s be clear. While there are documented benefits of breast massage, it is not, and should not be, included in a total body massage. Breasts are off limits unless a very special request is made of a qualified therapist. The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork includes a specific policy in its Standards of Practice. The Board states that therapists may "only provide therapeutic breast massage as indicated in the plan of care, and only after receiving informed voluntary consent from the client." That being said, breast massage is legally restricted in some states.
An experienced massage therapist, male or female, will know how to deflect sexual advances by a client. If a subtle response does not do the job then a forceful statement or ending the session will be the correct response. Any client who feels that they are being touched inappropriately should feel confident in their right to speak up. If it is incidental contact or just an accident the therapist will apologize and continue with the client’s discomfort noted accordingly.
Extracurricular Activity
As stated earlier, touch is intimate. Permission for such intimacy is accorded based on the massage therapist’s professionalism and the trust of the client. At the same time, a relationship is established…a professional relationship but a relationship nonetheless. Understanding and honoring the boundaries of that relationship will allow both parties to fill their roles appropriately.
It is generally accepted that there ought not to be any personal relationship between the therapist and a paying client. Allowing the relationship to expand beyond the massage table to a social or even romantic connection is to invite a host of ethical dilemmas. A therapist could be perceived as taking advantage of a client who might be in a vulnerable state due to stress or physical ailment. In the state of Washington it is illegal to date a client within two years of the last session. That is strict stuff and is as likely to protect a therapist from misunderstandings as it is to protect a client.
Borders and Boundaries
Providing the healing power of touch is an honorable and ancient profession. The benefits of massage therapy are numerous and continue to gain acceptance as a mainstream health practice. No one should ever have to feel uncomfortable about getting a massage and they won’t if they are in the hands of a well-trained and ethically centered massage professional.
About the Author
J. Terrence McDermott is the administrator of Massage Schools Guide at http://www.massageschoolsguide.com, a website offering resources for prospective massage therapists. He specializes in online continuing education resources.
How To Properly Build Muscle and Put On Size In The Gym
First of all, it is important to have a goal – weight training is good for increasing strength, adding more bulk to your frame, or toning existing muscle. This article will focus on the techniques needed to build MASS. In order to build mass, it is essential to damage existing muscle in order for it to be repaired. Given the right stimulus, the body is incredibly efficient at repairing itself, new tissue is often stronger and healthier.
Here are some essential tips for piling on the muscle:
1) Feed your muscles
Muscle needs protein order to grow; a high protein diet will ensure that you get maximum growth from your muscles. Lean red meats are a good source of protein and also contain other nutrients essential for muscle growth. It is better to eat little and often as opposed to larger meals less frequently, it is also a good idea to have meals prepared prior to your workout, or to have a protein shake handy – this will prevent snacking. Your diet should also include quality calories, vitamins, good fats, minerals and lots of water.
2) Stick to a plan
Firstly, identify your goal – getting “bigger” is simply not specific enough, how big do you want to be? Why not identify a target weight, or chest measurement? Making your goal specific will ensure that you have something to aim for, something against which you can measure your performance. Once you have decided on a goal, you need to then formulate a plan which will enable you to achieve it. Most gyms will be able to help you with a routine which will help you achieve your goals, but unless you can afford a personal trainer, it is up to you to follow it. It is easy to deviate from your plans, doing so can lead to setbacks and also cause you to lose motivation altogether. Firstly, you will need to give your plan time to work; you will not see results overnight, building muscle takes time. Some muscle building magazines will tell you the latest “killer abs” exercises, or “how to build massive biceps” but hopping from system to system will not get you anywhere. This is why it is important to stick to your plan.
3) Core muscle building exercises
It makes sense to target the stronger, larger muscles when aiming to increase your muscle mass. It is possible to build a lot of muscle using only the following exercises: Squat, bench press and wide grip pull up. Using these methods will help you build strength and muscle mass in primary and secondary muscle groups. Squats target quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes, the bench press will target your entire chest (pectorals,) triceps and front shoulders (deltoids.) The wide chin grip pull up focuses on lats, but also targets the entire upper back, biceps and forearms. These exercises should be the foundation of your weight training routine, they target a wide range of muscle groups and you will see results much faster.
4) Master the techniques
Before you add an extra 20kg to the bar, are you at risk of injuring yourself? To get the most out of your session you must ensure you are lifting correctly. Your muscles learn correct movement through repetition; this is why it is advisable for new gym members’ not to begin with heavy weights. Bad habits lead to bad technique which can lead to injury. If you are not sure whether you are lifting a weight correctly or it does not feel right, you should seek advice from someone more experienced. For example, you often see people arching their back struggling to bench a massive weight – this is a bad technique that must be unlearned in order to progress. If you perform your lifts correctly, your muscles will learn the correct techniques and you will benefit more from your training.
5) Train hard
Building muscle is not a walk in the park; it is going to be hard work. You must train with intensity in order to gain the maximum benefit from your training.
6) Use free weights
Most gyms have a combination of free weights and resistance machines, it is essential to use free weights wherever possible. Free weights require a greater range of motion than most resistance machines; therefore, using them makes better use of primary and secondary muscle groups. This, in turn, will build compound mass because it increases the number of muscles used in training.
7) Identify your weaknesses
Under developed muscle groups often show growth quicker than those which are more developed. With experience, you will be able to identify your weaker areas and target them with specific exercises.
About the Author
Tim is the owner of the online supplement store, Scottsdale Nutrition Supply, he enjoys writing articles that are informative to everybody that maybe looking for nutritional and supplement information that can help anybody in their everyday lives.
The Stomach And Intestinal Tract Go Hand In Hand For A Healthy Life
Are you plagued with stomach cramps, pain in your abdomen, reoccurring heart burn, bloating, diarrhoea or constipation? I certainly have experienced each one of these through my own life and I am sure you may have too. These symptoms plague everyone at one point or another in their lifetime and are related to good digestion. Good digestion includes both the stomach and our gastrointestinal tract (GIT).
Our GIT is over 30 feet in length which processes food and nutrients, including the vitamin supplement regimen you take on a daily basis. As you grow older your digestive system begins to work less efficiently. Most people in their middle and later years can benefit from taking some form of digestive enzyme.
Food intoleranceOur bodies react differently to different foods, for example, our bodies react to some foods by producing gas. If you have a problem with gas, it may be because your body is having trouble digesting these foods we eat. The following list may be some source foods to try avoiding.
Possible sources
1.Apples
2.Dairy products
3.Cruciferous vegetables
4.Onions
5.Corn
6.Nuts
7.Carbonated beverages
However, if you can’t live without your favourite fruit (apples) or corn and dairy products, try taking two Plant enzyme capsules at the beginning of each meal. A more serious GIT problem can lead to what is called irritable bowel syndrome. Irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic disorder that is characterized by abdominal pain, intestinal gas and diarrhoea, constipation or both. The watch list of foods to stay away from includes the list above as well as eliminating wheat, coffee, tea, citrus fruits, potatoes, additives, preservatives and white sugar. Though you may find yourself having to deal with a gastro irritation it is important to consider (i) what you eat (i.e. the food combinations one employs) and (ii) supplementing your diet to help your body digest food (i.e. taking two Super Enzyme capsules before each meal).
Bowel Problems
Constipation can become a chronic problem if it is not taken seriously. Steps should be taken as soon as possible correct constipation. Constipation is toxic, and according to the Harvard Health Letter, constipation is responsible for 2.5 million visits to the doctor and gives reason for the $400 million dollars spent on laxatives each year. To begin finding relief and recovery from constipation problems, start by watching your diet and its relation to the pattern of consistency in your stool and the ease of evacuation (ease of bowel movement). To help facilitate a consistent and frequent bowel movement try taking before bedtime one tablespoon of apple psyllium powder mixed with one packet of Effer-C dissolved in a large glass of water. Also, a lack of water in the diet can cause constipation. If a lack of water is the problem, drinking 1 gallon of water each day can help. Some may think that it is impossible to drink 1 gallon of water each day, but in fact it is relatively easy to do so. Keep a glass of water by your desk all day long at work taking sips every 15 – 30 minutes can help you get the needed water your body needs to cleanse its self effectively.
Digestive enzymes contain nutrients that feed friendly bacteria which are involved in cholesterol production, regulating energy, activating immunity, repairing cell damage, and elevating constipation. Therefore, it is imperative to stimulate the growth of these friendly micro-organisms. Adding a good probiotic to promote a healthy balance of intestinal flora, and regulate various digestive processes that are going on in your body can improve digestion and assimilation and restore the balance of normal intestinal function.
About the Author
For more information on probiotics, fiber in capsule or powder visit http://vitanetonline.com/ where one can find a large selection of supplements to help improve health.
At What Age Should Children Start Dance Lessons?
The bodies of young children are growing and changing fast. So it is very important not to demand more physically, and intellectually than they can safely manage. The pre-school years are a time to encourage motor skills through a wide range of activities taking place in a variety of settings. There is no doubt that it is beneficial to establish an interest in movement and exercise as early in life as possible. Childhood obesity and its risk to health is a growing problem in many areas of the world.
Informed opinion is that toddlers and pre-schoolers should have a minimum of sixty minutes up to several hours of daily, unstructured physical activity. They also should not be sedentary for longer than an hour at a time except when sleeping. Perhaps some children labelled as "hyper-active" actually are not but have parents who cannot cope with their energy levels.
Toddlers at about eighteen months old will experience music by dancing with happy enthusiasm. This does not mean they are ready for formal classes. They are not usually sufficiently mature to follow the instructions issued in a session, nor do they have the necesssary physical control. We must remember that children develop at different rates.
Reputable schools will not usually take little ones for ballet or tap until they are three or four years old. All instruction in dance forms such as ballet, tap and jazz should directly relate to the childs physical development. Physical development and chronological age do not necessarily go hand in hand.
The one to two year old can safely attend "Mommy and Me" sessions where they have the re-assuring presence of someone well-known to them. Some establishments allow two year olds to take part in a weekly thirty minute class. There are schools which start with simple formal ballet lessons at three and a half. This is not necessarily a good idea. It is easy to damage young bodies through faulty teaching. In ballet the "turnout" if undertaken too early can cause problems. The "turnout" is the external rotation of the leg from the hip so that the dancers knees and toes are facing away from the body. Undertaking "pointe" (where the dancer rises to the tips of the toes while performing ballet steps) work too early can lead to deformation of the feet.
Two to three year olds do not need formal lessons. They need creative movement classes where they can let off steam, have fun and use their imaginations. Pupils under the age of seven should not take part in recitals. Performing for strangers can be a negative experience for some.
What do you need to look for in choosing a school? Having made the decision to let your child learn to dance how do you find a suitable teacher? First of all take on board that retired dancers do not as a matter of course make good teachers. It is necessary to understand the social and physical developments of childhood as well as child psychology. A teacher must like the younger age groups and be able to strike a rapport with them. The late, great Dame Margot Fonteyn said "The art of teaching ballet and the art of dancing are two different arts, not always achieved by the same person." Teaching is a vocation and needs training, knowledge and experience. Those practising must hae sound teaching methods, imagination and boundless enthusiasm. The person in charge needs to be able to stay in control of the class without getting flustered or raising his or her voice unduly.
Parents should be allowed to watch the class through a window or TV monitor. Their presence in the studio itself would be a distraction.
Numerous types of movement come into consideration for example as already mentioned ballet,and jazz, also improvisational, rhythmic gymnastics (a combination of dance and gymnastics) and tap dance to name but a few.
What are the benefits for young children who attend dance classes? They learn such skills are listening carefully and not talking while instructions are being given. Furthermore they also learn to be a member of a group and to take turns. Classes offer the opportuity to move to a beat, increase musicality and the use of the imagination. Those taking part learn to express their feelings and emotions physically in a non-aggressive manner. Pupils are helped to become more familiar with their bodies and to use their bodies creatively. Sessions can also offer experiences of different cultures. To this list of benefits we must add physical flexibility, co-ordination and cardiovascular and general fitness are improved. Dance lessons are also a team-building and confidence-enhancing activity.
Dance classes are helpful to all including children with special needs. The Children's Hospital in Boston in the United States set up a dance program for children with Downs Syndrome. At the end of the program the participants showed decreased body mass index as well as social benefits, improved general health and increased self-confidence.
To give your young kids the opportunity to learn about dance at a young age is to give them a wonderful introduction to the aesthetic aspects of life.
About the Author
Dzagbe Cudjoe is a Dance Movement Therapist and ethnologist with wide experience of Dance in Africa and Europe. As an ethnologist her main field of research was into West African traditional religion. As a Dance Movement Therapist her area of specialization is working with children who have challenging behaviour or severe physical and intellectual Special Needs. Dzagbe is now working on helping the parents of such children to appreciate the healing effects of dance. She is the author of the e-manual "Dance to Health - Help Your Special Needs Child Through Inspirational Dance." For more Information visit Dance to Health
Heart-Healthy Dietary Guidelines Tailored For You
According to an October 5th press release from the American Heart Association, new dietary recommendations for heart health are going to appear in the October 31st edition of Circulation, which can be downloaded for free from the AHA website. These recommendations have been revised to provide a more individualized approach to the American diet, especially for those in high-risk group, which will make dietary changes easier. The new recommendations encourage Americans to achieve an overall healthy eating pattern, an optimal body weight, desirable cholesterol levels, and desirable blood pressure levels. The American Heart Association hopes that healthier eating will lead to a lower number of deaths related to heart disease, which happens to be the number one cause of death in America for over one hundred years. Many scientists have discovered links between diet and heart health, yet American eating habits continue to decline. In response to this, the AHA has made four changes to their dietary guidelines to improve the success rate of Americans struggling to follow a healthier lifestyle.
The American Heart Association believes that the new guidelines will be easier to follow because they require less calculation. The recommendations focus on overall eating habits, which are described in terms of food groups, rather than percentages of fats and nutrients. They stress what Americans should eat, rather than what they shouldn’t. This doesn’t mean that Americans no longer have to regulate their dietary choices, but it does give them greater freedom especially in terms of dining out.
These new guidelines suggest a diet including fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, low-fat and non-fat dairy products, fish, lean meats, and poultry. Even though the diet still includes at least five servings of fruits and veggies and six servings of grain, two servings per week of fatty fish have been added to the dietary guidelines, additionally, the revised guidelines still recommend that the nutrients come primarily from food instead of supplements.
The revised guidelines also focus on the importance of preventing obesity. The American Heart Association is very concerned with the caloric intake and food choices of Americans, and they worry that Americans do not consume enough nutrient-dense foods. The new guidelines recommend smaller portions, a more varied diet, better food choices, and increased physical activity. They also warn that overweight individuals who are dieting shouldn’t lose more than two pounds each week.
The American Heart Association also hopes that the new guidelines will help health care professionals make diets that will better meet each individual patient’s needs, especially for those with high blood pressure or cholesterol, diabetes, insulin resistance, high triglycerides, congestive heart failure, kidney disease, and obesity. For these individuals, having optimal dietary habits and reaching an optimal body weight can make a huge difference. Additionally, with multiple risk factors (high blood pressure, glucose intolerance, excess abdominal fat), which are often called Syndrome X, are being told to avoid those diets that are low in fat and high in carbohydrates because they have a tendency to lower HDL, “good”, cholesterol levels. Rather, these people are encouraged to add more unsaturated fats such as see oils to their diet.
About the Author
More information on heart health and dietary guidelines can be found at http://vitanetonline.com/ where a large selection of vitamins, herbs and vitamin combinations are available to boost heart function.
5 Ab Exercises Better Than Crunches
Crunches are an overused and under productive exercise. They present a considerable risk to the health of your lower back and spine and only work a limited range of your core muscles. They never have and never will burn fat off of our ‘stomach’ or midsection and if you do enough of them will simply cause you to grow bigger and stronger abs muscles without working your lower back and oblique muscles. Doing excessive amounts of crunches could very well lead to imbalanced abs and core development as well as potential lower back and spine pain and problems. Here are 5 exercises that work your abs and core in better, safer and more balanced positions than any crunch can.
Stability Ball Roll Outs:
• Kneeling on the ground in an upright position with your elbows on a stability ball
• Roll the ball out in front of you extending your body and arms as far as you can go
• Keep your back, spine, and body from your shoulders to your knees straight like a board or plank
• Hold the extended position for a second or two
• Pull yourself back to the starting position
This exercise works your abs, lower back and core all at once. You can keep your spine straight and stable throughout the whole exercise which makes this very safe for your spine and lower back.
Planks:
• Lie face down on the ground
• Get up into a push up position resting on your feet and hands (you can also rest on your elbows instead of your hands)
• Hold this position for a timed interval keeping your spine and body straight like a board or plank
• Start with a manageable time like 30 seconds working up to 60-70 seconds as you get better at them
This exercise works all the muscles of our core and keeps your spine stable and straight.
Side Planks:
• Lying on the ground on your side
• Stabilize your body on one hand (or elbow) and your feet
• Keep your body rigid and straight like a board or plank
• Hold this position for a timed interval
• Switch and do the other side in the exact same fashion
This exercise will work your oblique (side abs muscles) harder as well as working your abdominal muscles and lower back muscles. This exercise also allows for you to keep your spine straight and keeps your back safe from injury.
Mountain Climbers:
• In a push up position
• Bend one leg bringing the knee up to your chest (you can also touch your opposite elbow to that knee for added work)
• Alternate each leg and arm in a climbing type of motion
• Keep your back straight throughout the movement
This is an advanced exercise that works the core muscles similar to a plank with the added work of moving your legs and arms.
Stability Ball Pikes:
In a push up position with your feet on a stability ball
Keeping your back and legs straight no bending at the knees pull the ball toward your body
You should end up in a pike position with your hands on the floor your butt elevated in the air, bending at the waist only, knees straight
Slowly roll the ball back to the starting position
This exercises also works all the muscles of your core without putting your lower back in a compromised position.
These are just a few examples of ways to work your ‘core’ and abs without ever doing a crunch. Each one of these exercises works all the muscles of your core in a more balanced way than a crunch and also allows you to keep your spine and lower back in a safer position.
About the Author
John Barban has a masters degree in human nutrition and is a varsity strength and conditioning coach. His trademarked www.6minutecircuits.com workout is desgined from the same principles he uses to train varsity athletes for women. www.eatstopeat.com is John's preferred nutrition strategy that he uses with his clients to effectively lose weight without sacrificing any of the foods they like to eat.
The Effects Of Senior Care On Today
Today's full time workers have a lot on their plate. They work a full workweek, often including overtime hours. They head home and concentrate on family life, spending time with spouses, children and other family activities. And now more than ever, they spend time at their parents' homes taking care of daily chores they can't attend to themselves.
Baby boomers today are now in their 40's and 50's, with a wide range of responsibilities. Because their parents are in their 70's, 80's and beyond, they are also facing the facts of making decisions for their parents; a responsibility that is often difficult and time consuming. It's also having a huge impact on businesses, and employee productivity.
According to The MetLife Caregiving Costs Study: Productivity Losses to U.S. Business, produced jointly between MetLife Mature Market Institute and the National Alliance for Caregiving, U.S. businesses lose between $17.1 billion to $33.6 billion per year on employees taking time off to care for elderly family members. This is an increase of $4 billion in each category up from 10 years previously. And as baby boomers continue to age, this number will also continue to rise proportionately.
Today's caregivers make up about 21 percent of the working population. They spend time shuffling their elderly loved ones to appointments, or spending time caring for their needs. Because of the changes in insurance and pension options, caregivers are opting to take on more responsibility, and bypassing the traditional elderly care options.
Increasingly men are also taking on the role of caregiver. Currently about 39 percent of caregivers are men assuming the primary caregiver position. Not only are they assuming this caregiver role, but they are also tackling it while holding down a full time managerial or executive position.
All of this is helping change the way businesses are handling employee relations. With these statistics, it's easy to see why employers need to being making concessions for today's caregivers, and take a proactive approach to caregiving in the future.
To start, an employer needs to move beyond awareness, and create programs to help their employees through different stages of life.
Education can begin in the workplace. Many employers offer brown bag lunch seminars, or other resources to offer ideas and solutions to their employees. In many cases, just knowing about resources and help in your community can take some of the burden off day-to-day chores.
Human resource departments are also beginning to hire geriatric managers that can help an employee assess their situation, and make recommendations based on the needs of the employee and his or her family.
Flexible work hours are also becoming more acceptable. Because of a variety of family needs, being able to come in early, or work later into the evening can be a big benefit. Telecommuting is also becoming an option with the high tech options available to employers.
Above all, being open to ideas and possibilities will be key in the future. As the needs of the elderly continue to increase, only time will tell how well employers can handle their needs. To be successful in the future will demand a variety of options, and the ability to change.
About the Author
Jonnelle Leimbach is the co-owner and President of Seniors Etc, an in-home caregiver company helping seniors stay in their homes for as long as possible. Seniors Etc currently serves the Denver Metro area in Colorado, and provides a variety of services, including light housekeeping, meal preparation, medication reminders, hospice assist, respite care and companionship. Sign up for our report, How To Tell When Your Family Is Ready For Homecare at SeniorsEtc.com
Beginning Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is simply the process of increasing the muscle mass of the body and decreasing the amount of fatty tissue in the body. This is accomplished through the use of Progressive Resistance Training. Progressive resistance means increasing resistance (weight) over time in a particular movement (exercise).
Increasing resistance is possible due to the body's ability to adapt to stress by becoming stronger in response to the stimulus of exercise.Simply put, when you work a muscle hard, the fibers are actually damaged or broken down and the body responds by repairing the muscle and making it slightly bigger and stronger to prepare for the work to be repeated. If the work (exercise) is repeated frequently (with enough rest in between for the repair process to take place) with increased resistance each time, theoretically, the muscle will get progressively larger and stronger.That is the basis of bodybuilding weight training.
It is a simple process, but there are many, many variables that can affect how fast and how much the muscle will grow. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:
Nutrition
Rest
Intensity of workouts
Frequency of workouts
Nutrition is a huge part of successful bodybuilding. I would highly recommend reading everything you can get your hands on dealing with bodybuilding nutrition and supplementation. One way to keep informed in this area is to subscribe to a good Bodybuilding magazine such as Flex or Muscle & Fitness. Both of these fine bodybuilding magazines have many great articles each month dealing with diet, nutrition and supplements.
Rest is another important area to consider. In this day and age, it is not unusual to get less than 6 hours of sleep a night for a lot of people. I recommend trying to get at least 8 hours if at all possible, even if you need to take a nap! Your body does most of it's growing as you sleep, so get all you can!
Workout intensity is something that entire books have been written on. I recommend reading up on this topic as well. Flex and Muscle & Fitness deal with this topic in depth as well. Basically you need to find the right amount of intensity to trigger muscle growth. When a bodybuilder is just starting out, it does not take much to trigger new muscle growth. However, the body can quickly adapt to repeated stress and this can cause muscle growth to slow or stop all together. When this occurs, bodybuilders refer to it as a "plateau". This is when changes to workout intensity must occur. The muscle must be subjected to a new kind of stress that it is not used to in order to stimulate new growth. Fortunately, there are many methods of changing the workout intensity, but that is beyond the scope of this article.
Frequency of workouts is something that will vary from bodybuilder to bodybuilder. Some bodybuilders workout every day and some only 3 days per week. You will have to experiment with this to determine what works best for you. You must give your muscles enough of a break between workouts to repair themselves, but you don't want to wait too long between workouts or you will not get maximum results.
Beginner Level
First and foremost, check with your physician to make sure you are in good physical condition to start a weight lifting or bodybuilding program! I recommend that beginners to bodybuilding start with a simple workout plan. This plan should consist of one exercise per bodypart, working the entire body 3 times per week.
Bodyparts are divided as follows:
Chest (pecs)
Back (lats)
Shoulders (delts)
Triceps (back of upper arm)
Biceps (front of upper arm)
Forearms
Abdominals (abs)
Quadriceps (front of thigh)
Hamstrings (back of thigh)
Calves (back of lower leg)
Here is an example of a workout:
Bench press
Lat pulldowns
Military Press
Tricep pushdowns
Barbell curls
Crunches
Leg extensions
Leg curls
Standing Calf raises
You can start out each exercise with a warm up set. For this set, choose a weight that will allow you to do 25 reps without killing yourself. This will get your muscles ready for heavier weights.Then do 3 sets of each exercise of 8-10 repetitions.
For your first set, choose a weight that will allow you to 10 reps without struggling too much. Rest for 30-60 seconds, then increase the weight for your second set that makes 10 reps considerably harder. For your third set, choose a weight that is heavy enough that you cannot do any more than 8-10 reps no matter how hard you try.This is called muscular failure. You must take your muscles to the point of failure or they will not grow. The last few reps of the last set are the ones that will trigger your body to respond by making the muscle bigger and stronger.
Write the weights down for each exercise so you know where you are for the next workout.
It will take a bit of trial and error until you find the correct weight in each exercise. Be sure to take care when you first start out not to load the bar up with some ridiculous weight that may cause injury to your muscles, tendons, or your foot when you drop it!
As time goes on and you are diligently following your training program, you will notice that when you get to rep number 10 on your last set, you feel like you can do one or two more. This is good! Go ahead and do one or two more for a total of 11 or 12. When you are able to do this for 2 or 3 workouts in a row, it is time to increase the weight in that particular exercise.
If you are training a relatively large muscle group, such as chest or quads, you may try increasing the weight by 10 or 15 pounds. If you are doing biceps or delts, then maybe increase only 5 pounds or even 2.5 pounds. The new weight should limit you to 7 or 8 reps on the last set. Soon you will be back up to 12 with the new weight, and then you will bump the weight up even more.These increases are what you are working so hard for. Increased weight means increased strength, which means increased muscle mass!
Be sure to write everything down as you train. This is very important for several reasons. First, you may not remember what weight you used in a particular exercise the next time you workout, and you will waste time and effort having to figure it out again! Second, you need be able to gauge your progress as time goes on. When you see that you are using 10 or 15 more pounds than you did a month ago, you know your strength is increasing and this is great feedback!I recommend getting a good training journal, but you can use any pad of paper. Create a space for the following data for each workout:
Date
Muscle Group worked
Exercise name
Number of sets
Number of reps in each set
Weight used each set
Personal Notes
Write things down that may have a positive or negative affect on your workout, such as energy level, whether you were tired or still sore from your last workout, or maybe your left shoulder has been bothering you, etc. If you are detailed here, you may be able to learn some important clues as to what makes you have a good workout verses an "ok" workout. Maybe you'll find that when you workout right after work you have more energy than when you wait until 8 o'clock. Or maybe certain foods you eat before a workout help you with your energy and focus. Write down if you have a cold, or if you are recovering from an injury, or if any particular exercise hurts you when you do it. These notes will come in handy sooner or later in the course of your bodybuilding program.
Use this program for 4-6 months and you should see some real progress. At that time, you may want to start to include some advanced techniques to increase your workout intensity in order to continue making good gains.
About the Author
David Monyer has been involved in bodybuilding for the last 20 years, making most of his muscle gains in his basement gym, as well as different clubs and gyms over the years. For more information and well researched sites to purchase equipment and supplements, visit RockSolidBodybuilding.com.
Wheelchair Dancing and Your Child with Special Needs
Wheelchair dancing or adaptive dancing as it is also called is growing rapidly in popularity and has been in existence for more than twenty years. There are many different forms. Sometimes it's a matter of two people doing their own spontaneous "thing". If the man is a wheelchair user his partner may sit on his lap and they dance seated. Then there is also line dancing when everyone executes pre-arranged moves or there is partner dancing with one or both participants in wheelchairs
Ballroom dancing is yet another form. Even such dances as the waltz, foxtrot and rhumba are possible.
Wheelchair dancing is an international competitive sport involving athletes with a physical disability that affects the lower limbs. There are classes for "combi -style" (standing) partner or duo-dance with two wheelchairs. There are also formation dances for four, six or eight competitors.
Traditional wheelchair dancing involves moving the wheelchair across the dance floor, while wheelchair tap dancing concentrates on the movements of the legs while in a seated position. People who have movement in their feet can tap dance wearing tap shoes. Those with no foot movement can clap their hands instead wearing gloves with taps attached.
Those dancers who have movement in their arms and legs but not enough strength to dance standing upright can do so seated on a chair or lying on the floor. Almost everyone with mobility disablities can do some form of dance.
Many groups exist to encourage people with disablities to dance. One such is Third St. Ensemble Co. Performers range in age from eight to twenty-three and include children from diverse backgrounds and with many different problems. Wheelchair dance usually is a part of their performances and all company members are skilled in dance chairs.
Another such programme is a community based programme at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. To quote "This program is for children ages seven years and up with mobility challenges whose primary mode of transportation is the wheelchair. The focus of the class is the development of a variety of locomotor, rhythmic and creative skills using enjoyable dance experiences. Children have the opportunity to explore a variety of dance forms such as ballet, jazz dance, and creative dance and to gain confidence through performances and workshops."
Very exciting developments are taking place in the world of wheelchair dance. In a project called Feileacan (Gaelic for "butterfly") a mixture of able-bodied dancers and the avatars controlled by children in wheelchairs create dance that combines complex machine interfaces and virtual-reality computer graphic tools.
These particular developments, wonderful as they are, will not form the basis for any further discussion of wheelchair dancing.
There are young people who are highly competitive and highly physical who will be attracted to dance as sport. There are others who want and are in a position to go to a class and learn regular Ballroom, Line dances etc.
Dance classes of any kind can be highly therapeutic but they do require that participants strive to attain certain specific standards of movement and technique. This can itself create tensions and anxieties for the person
. Dance therapy is different in that there is total acceptance, encouragement and no criticism. As a dance and movement therapist I am in favour of using inspirational or "free" dance as it is also known..
I constantly emphasize that my dance and movement therapy experiences have been with children who have very profound physical, emotional or learning difficulties. In some cases the children had all three.
Our sessions were limited to one hour once a week during term time.The children in wheelchairs were totallly integrated with those who did not have mobility problems. None of the children in wheelchairs were capable of manouvering them on their own. In fact, some of the children had no controlled movement. The children did not have special chairs for dancing. The chairs had to be manouvered by helpers. Depending on the weight of the child and the design of the wheelchair this could be very tiring indeed. But no matter the difficulties, fun was had by all!
If the dance therapy session at home consists of just you and your child then you won't have the opportunity to interact with a number of other wheelchair users. It will be a threesome of you, your child and the chair. Of course, any number of people can dance and interact with the wheelchair dancer.
As with any dance attention should be paid to choice of music and the dance itself needs to reflect the ryhthm and mood of the piece. The chair can be wheeled so that there are sudden punctuation stops, turns that are sharp, gentle, slow or fast, changes of direction at various speeds, changes of height by tilting the chair.
The wheelchair dancer needs to be encouraged to move as much as possible interpreting the music. Changes of facial expression are important especially in children who are not normally very communicative.
Adaptations of line and square dances are often easily undertaken or you can create you own. To start you off here is a simple little circle dance for approximately six wheelchair dancers.
1. The wheelchairs are positioned in a large circle at equal distances from each other.
2. Then the chairs are pushed clockwise around the circle until each person is back in his or her original position. The person pushing can skip, gallop etc.
3. Repeat same move counter-clockwise.
4. Facing forward the dancers are pushed to the centre of the circle. Stop. If possible the children then hold hands with the person on either side of them.
5. Repeat steps 1 and 2 in the centre of the circle.
6. Dancers are pulled out of the centre circle facing backwards until they reach their original positions as in Step 1.
7. Tilt chairs onto the rear wheels, then turn the chair to the left and drop it onto all four wheels.
8. Repeat move 7 to the right.
9. Repeat moves 1 to 8. You can count the steps, make sounds, or sing etc. while doing this dance.
I hope this sparks your imagination!
About the Author
Dzagbe Cudjoe has an MA in Ethnology and has worked in Ghana and Nigeria. It was while undertaking field research in these countries that she first became aware of the power of Dance as a healing tool. This realisation led her to train as a Dance Movement Therapist.Her main area of interest is children with special needs. She is the author of the e-manual "Dance to Health - Help Your Special Needs Child Through Inspirational Dance". For more Information visit Dance to Health
Move Your Body
Exercise is an essential part of your well being and losing or maintaining weight. When working with clients I have found that the very idea of doing regular exercise sometimes stops some people from committing to a healthy eating program to lose weight because the idea of regular exercise, for many, conjures up pictures of sweating it out at the gym or fitness center, lifting weights and doing aerobic classes of some nature or other. Don’t let that stop you from starting a good lifestyle program.
There are plenty of other ways to exercise that do not involve the gym. This could include dance, playing a sport, swimming, horse riding, playing golf, going bowling etcetera. I am sure you get the picture. Choose something that excites you and that you have either enjoyed doing in the past or would like to try out now. To really have effect exercise needs to be done on a regular basis and for a sustained period of time at each interval; enough time to get the heart rate up. It is recommended that any session to be for a minimum of 30 minutes and for at least 4 times a week. This is a good starting point and you can always work yourself up from there. But the idea is to start and start somewhere.
Working out is not only good for health and weight maintenance, but it really does relieve stress. Everyone talks about this fact, but have you tried it out? You will be surprised at how going to the gym or running around the block a few times knocks stress right out of the ring. It is not a mere fallacy. There are real reasons for this. Moving your body releases endorphins, which are the essential feel-good chemicals found in your brain.
Researchers are not really sure how exercise triggers the release of endorphins. There are two thoughts around this namely; is it because of the positive emotion you feel when you meet and overcome a physical challenge or is it from the exertion itself? Whichever one, it does not really matter. What does count is that we know that physical activity can provide a rush of good energy. It can ease anxiety, panic and stress, even mild depression and on top of that it is a good way to keep healthy and increase the quality years of your life.
If you are still not convinced, do an experiment and compare the lives of people who exercise on a regular basis to those who do little or none. Compare their general outlook on life, levels of personal and other success, body tone and the color or look of their skin. Observe to see who manages to keep a positive outlook on life in the face of adversity and who tends to walk around with an innate air of confidence and pride.
How do you feel when you commit to regular exercise? Personally for me it always lifts my spirits, problems become more manageable and less catastrophic and physically I look and feel much better. Each time I follow through on my promise to work out, I feel good about myself. I have developed trust in myself to follow through and this alone has helped to develop a more authentic feeling of confidence in myself and my abilities.
Start to work some exercise plan into your week, move your body and gain a new lease on life.
About the Author
Kim Knight, The Success Weight Loss Coach, has helped a number of clients target and reach their goals. The Weight Loss Coach is not only a sought-after trusted and inspirational coach. There are many successful clients whose friends and family are amazed at finding out that someone else coached them on their overall transformation. For more information, visit Kim’s site at www.kimknightcoaching.com.
Dance Can Be An Effective Tool in the Fight Against Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity is already a very serious and disturbing problem in the United States of America and many parts of Europe where obesity in general is increasing.The problem looks set to spread to other parts of the world as their standard of living improves.A diet with a high fat, sugar and salt intake and a sedentary lifestyle have all been major contributing factors in childhood obesity. As a result children are getting Type 2 diabetes and other illnesses usually associated with middle age. We have a generation of children who may well die before their parents.
It seems that the present generation is no longer keen on traditional competitive team games. Modern technology has led to children wanting to entertain themselves and to be personally in charge of the activity. Television and computer games loom large in their lives.
Overweight and obese children need to follow a strict weight loss regime and take increased exercise to help burn up the calories. The difficulty is that children who have a problem with their weight don't enjoy the changes in their eating habits and are unenthusiastic about exercise. Cajoling, bribery, and threats do not work. The trick is to find an activity which burns calories but is not necessarily immediately seen as exercise. It also needs to be interesting and fun. This is where dance comes into its' own as a calorie burning aerobic form of exercise.
Dance, partially due to television shows, is now the "in" way to exercise. Increasing numbers of people are using dance workouts as a way of exercising. You don't need to be a great dancer to enjoy the health benefits of dancing. The main purpose is to enjoy moving to music and music plays a large role in young peoples lives these days
Dancing can be a really good Mind-Body-Spirit workout. Physical activity in general keeps body and brain healthy by increasing the amounts of brain chemicals that encourage nerve cells to grow. Dance helps people of all ages and physical limitations to get and stay in shape. There is chair and wheelchair dancing for people (including children) who have mobility difficulties.
The benefits of dancing are the same as other low-impact weight bearing activities such as walking fast, cycling or aerobics. This form of exercise also strengthens bones and muscles without stressing the joints. It tones the whole body and improves posture and balance. There is an increase in stamina and flexibility and a reduction in stress and tension which are often a problem for overweight children.
There are numerous forms of dance which may appeal to children and which could help in the battle against childhood obesity
Hip Hop and Capoeira are two dance forms which children may find appealing. Capoeira is a Brazilian hybrid dance and martial art. Cardio Capoeira is very challenging indeed. An exercise session involves heavy sparring (i.e dancing ) that can be done either solo or with a partner. It involves a lot of kicking, spinning and cartwheels. In this workout the buttocks, quadriceps and hamstrings are really exercised due to the multiple repetitions of a deep side-to-side lunge which links one capoeira movement to the next.
Cardio Salsa is a low-impact but high intensity workout combining prcise, fast-paced Latin choreography - merengue, mambo, cha-cha, samba - with traditional aerobic dance steps (such as the grapevine), repeated lunges, and arm raises. The great advantage of this exercise programme is that what is learned can be practised on the dance floor. Knowing the steps and being able to move to complex rhythms is likely to increase self-confidence and poise.
Masala Bhangra , is a challenging workout, based on the traditional folk dance of India. It involves a choreographed series of hops, foot stomping and hip gyrations accompanied by hip-hop influenced bhangra music and live drumming. Most moves are performed while vigorously shaking the arms at 45 degree angles to the side of the body and doing multiple, rapid-fire shoulder raises. This form of dance workout results in firm arms and sculpted shoulders. The same sort of classes are also known as Bhangra Aerobics.
There is now a dance form which is proving highly popular with people in general and is proving to be a great hit with children. The video game Dance Dance Revolution (D.D.R) is made by Konami of Japan where it was located in arcades in that country.It is now more usually played on Sony's Playstation 2 and Microsoft's box game consoles.
There are a number of other games such as Red Octanes's In the Groove, Pump It Up, Exceed, Dance Along and Para Para Paradise.
The video game Dance Dance Revolution and other such games may be a means of helping children loose weight. As a song plays (and all sorts of music is suitable) arrows pointing forward, back, left and right, appear on the screen in various sequences and combinations. The players must step on the matching arrows on a mat on the floor. Players can dance by themselves, with a partner or in competition
Some states in the U.S are already using it as a regular part of their physical education curriculum. Dance Dance Revolution offers excercise without children having to possess the skills demanded by sport and games. As a result it appeals to children across the board.
A study was carried out last year in Rochester, Minn. an area which has a particularly severe problem with childhood obesity. The research team from the Mayo Clinic found that children playing Dance Dance Revolution used significantly more energy than children watching television and playing traditional video games. D.D.R does meet standards for aerobic fitness by raising the heart rate sufficiently for the required period of time.
In Redmond, Oregon In the Groove was installed in third and fourth grade classrooms for a five-month study. The most "at risk" students were chosen to become "Groove Masters", mentors to other children. Some of the results from the study included:-
1. Absenteeism dropped by more than 50%
2. According to teachers, 85% of the mentors grew in social skills
3. 94% of the students who took part showed increases in leadership skills and confidence, which increased self-esteem and improved academic performance.
4. 4th grade students who took part in the study improved their mile run by 13.8%
5.Students became more enthusiastic about sports, fitness and dance,
The games were shown to give a good aerobic workout and to assist in weight loss, a very important factor in the battle against childhood obesity.
Dr Debra Liebermann of the Dept. of Communications, at UC Santa Barbara calls this video activity "exergaming". She described Dance Dance Revolution as a game, a social activity, a dance and performance platform, a workout and weight loss tool, and a classroom and workplace activity. She lists a number of reasons for its appeal:- the games challenges, the music, the joy of movement, the work out, and social interactions.
There are versions that allow aerobic instructors to work with a group.
Dr Liebermann's conclusions regarding these games was that they "make a very positive contribution to player's stress management, weight management, fitness and health".
This is perhaps a form of dance which will be acceptable to overweight children in that it is a fun happening which they will be happy to take part in.
Parents do take medical advice before putting your overweight child on a diet and exercise programme.
If children are not immediately attracted to a specific kind of dance - experiment. There's a dance out there for everyone. Have fun finding it!
About the Author
Dzagbe Cudjoe is a Dance Movement Therapist and ethnologist with wide experience of Dance in Africa and Europe. As an ethnologist her main field of research was into West African traditional religion. As a Dance Movement Therapist her area of specialization was working with children who had challenging behaviour or severe physical and intellectual Special Needs. Dzagbe is now working on helping the parents of such children to appreciate the healing effects of dance. She is the author of the e-manual "Dance to Health -Help Your Special Needs Child Through Inspirational Dance". For more Information visit Dance to Health
Basic Principles of Training
Train The Way You Want Your Body To Change.
This basically means to stress your body so it changes your body to what you want. If you want to improve your general fitness, develop a well-rounded program that focuses on the major muscle groups. Endurance, weight training, and flexibility exercises should also be included with your weight training in your program.
This you can say is the most important training principle as the body adapts to stress in a highly specific way. The best way to improve your performance in a sport is to practice that sport. Improvement will only occur when you practice the skill correctly and incorporate new fitness gains into it.
The principle of specificity should be the central consideration in any training program designed to improve skilled performance.
So when it comes to your goals and what you want to achieve depends on the way you train. If you want to achieve weight loss than do more cardio, if you want to build muscle than lift more weights. It is pretty simple when you learn the basic principles of program developing and weight training.
Eat A Well-Balanced, High Performance Diet.
If you want to create a “great body” the thing you need to focus on the most is your nutrition. Making sure that you are eating a sensible and nutritionist diet that gives you enough protein to build muscle you less calories to help lose weight.
Your diet depending on your goals should most consist of fruits, vegetables, fish, and whole grains. Foods that we need to eat but in moderation are monounsaturated fats like olive oil, nuts, and avocados.
Establish Realistic Goals.
The goals you set should reflect factors such as capability and motivation in your training program. Make sure you set achievable short-term goals so you can motivate your to reach each one of these short-term goals that will lead you to achieving your long-term goals. After achieving your goals, reevaluate your training program and set you goals. Always shoot higher and higher but make sure the goals are reachable.
Have A Workout Plan.
Writing things down in a journal or any kind of planner your goals and how you are going to achieve them is one of the keys to success. If someone wants to lose 20 pounds than they should right down how many pounds they want to lose each week and what exercise and nutrition program they will use to reach that goals. The exercise program should include weight training, cardio, and flexibility for a well-rounded fitness program. It is just a great way to stay organized and will help you still to your workouts and eating plans.
Train All Year Round.
Establishing a year-round program with specific goals and variation to the stage or season you are in. It is best if you change up your training once in awhile to keep your body new and fresh. If you miss workouts or take an extended break than all your gains will slowly disappear right before your eyes.
These tips may seem very simple and basic because they are but most people can’t even follow these tips. Before going any further in your fitness and weight loss program make sure you accomplished these five basic tips that will make you or break you.
Have a great day and God bless!
About the Author
Jared Wash is an author with certifications by ACSM, NESTA, and ISSA in personal trainer, nutritionist, and online fitness coach for weight loss. His mission with top weight loss site is to guide people away from false lies and myths in the fitness industry.
Maximum Morning Fat Burn
The question, “on is morning cardio really the absolute best time to burn fat” has become a major research topic for bodybuilders, fitness experts, and people seeking weight loss. Morning cardio is not only known for burning more percentage of fat but for keeping the metabolism firing all throughout the day. This debate and theory has gone back and forth but finally scientist have come up with strong evidence why and how doing cardio in the morning before breakfast is more effective on burning fat for over all weight loss.
On the other hand many believe strongly that as long as you burn more calories than you consume in a day than when you exercise does not make a difference.
Now, this doesn’t mean you should only do cardio in the morning and not any other time in the day as many people are every busy in the morning. I recommend for weight loss that exercising anytime that works for you is the best. The reason I recommend doing your cardio in the morning is that it is believed to burn 3 times more fat, keeps your metabolism high all day, and is the best anti suppressant to eliminate your hunger cravings.
Research by scientist with morning cardio has strong arguments:
1. Doing cardio after an 8-12 hour overnight fast right when waking up in the morning, our body’s glycogen storages are mostly depleted. In this state when doing morning cardio our bodies are forced to use mostly fat because our glycogen storages are depleted.
2. When eating insulin is released this interferes from our body using fat for energy. In the morning, insulin is limited leading to more body fat than calories from food are being burned when doing cardio.
3. If you don’t know already carbohydrates when broken down are turned into glucose, so having less glucose floating around in your blood stream will lead you to burn more fat than glucose for weight loss.
4. When eating right before a workout, burning off all those calories you just ate will be your body’s number one priority before burning body fat.
5. Doing cardio in the morning is by far the absolute the best way to keep your metabolism elevated throughout the day. When cardio is done in the evening, calories are burned during the exercise, but sorry to say it does not take advantage of the “after burn” as when you go to sleep your metabolism drop dramatically.
Scientist has proven these additional benefits from morning cardio:
1. Feeling great all day caused by the releasing mood-enhancing endorphins.
2. Energized and a great way to wake you up.
3. Depressing your appetite for the whole day.
4. Morning cardio helps our circadian rhythm making it easier to wake up in the morning at the same time.
5. When exercise is done early in the day, people are less likely to skip the workout as being tired after work, and friends can distract you leading you missing workouts.
6. Making time for exercise is as easy as setting your alarm earlier in the morning.
7. Increasing metabolism rate throughout the day to burn fat all day long.
For a lot of people the trouble is starting out and staying motivated so beginning with 30 minute to 1 hour sessions in the morning three times a week is an excellent way to start out. Just remember that you are burning 3x more fat and once you are finished the rest of the day is yours.
Exercise is an excellent stress release that makes life a whole lot more enjoyable with out feeling stressed out, and tired 24/7.
Last tips for more the most fat in less time is by doing the “HITT” program. The HITT program is done with high and low intensity like sprinting for 50 yards as hard as you can and walking for 20 yards than repeating. It can also be done on a stair climber, treadmill, bike, etc. This type of exercise will burn more fat in less time and will keep your heart rate higher leading to more calories burned.
Doing morning cardio does not only benefit body builders and fitness professionals but to everyone that wants to take advantage of exercise for weight loss or just a healthy life. This theory on morning cardio has not been 100% proven but the results people have received are incredible, and speak for themselves.
Make the most out of your workouts for better weight loss results.
Have a great day and God bless!
About the Author
Jared Wash is an author with certifications by ACSM, NESTA, and ISSA in personal trainer, nutritionist, and online fitness coach for weight loss. His mission with top weight loss site is to guide people away from false lies and myths in the fitness industry while focusing on true health and weight loss methods.
Why Can’t I Lose Weight
Eating Too Much
Being a strong believer in sound nutrition and always preaching that nutrition is not only how much you eat but when, what, and why? These three words determine if you lose or gain weight. Let’s break them down really quick.
When, What, and Why? Eating at certain periods in the day is crucial for healthy nutrition and satisfying weight loss. For starters, the two most important meals of the day are breakfast and dinner. These two meals are the jump start and hibernating factors of your fat storing or burning metabolism. Eating a big breakfast will ensure you are burning calories all day while elevating your metabolism as much as possible without exercise. Dinner is the hibernating factor as it should be your last meal of the day and I might want to add that it should be your smallest one as well.
You have two choices on what your dinner will do for you. If you eat a low carb, low fat, and high protein meal equaling in fewer calories, your metabolism will most likely burn fat throughout the night while you are sleeping. If you eat a high carb and calorie dinner your metabolism will do it’s best to try burning all those calories you just ate but most often they will go straight to your fat storages.
So are you having your body turning your food you ate during the day to fat while you sleep? I am pretty sure this is not what you want so force your body to burn fat all day and all night long.
Not Eating Enough
Not eating enough calories will decrease the amount of calories your body burns during the day by itself which also indicated having a sluggish metabolism. Personally, when someone tells me they want to lose weight while only eating 1200 calorie or less per day, it automatically has me saying in my head that it is a sure-fire way to ensure that they don't lose a pound and pack on more than when you started. Determining the right amount of calories to consume for weight loss is very important, and is the most effective method for losing weight for the long term.
Exercise Is Not Efficient
I don’t like to step on anybody’s feet on this section but most people don’t know how to exercise that will actually give them satisfying results. I love to see people walking around town with friends and family or doing lap swim at the city pool as they are having fun while exercising. On the other hand; if their goal is to lose weight as fast as possible, than just walking is not effective enough for their desired results.
I’m not saying you have to go through hell but a little intensity is the key for success. Besides encouraging you to increase the physical activity in your daily life, your workouts should consist of weight training and cardio together.
Depending if you are going to workout 3, 4, 5, etc. days in a week, remember that you only have to be in the gym no longer than hour when you increase your intensity. Some simple tips for increasing your intensity are super sets in the weight room to lift more in less time. Another tip is lifting the appropriate weight, so if your going to lift around 15-20 reps than your muscle should be burning between 15-20. Keep shorter rest periods as this will keep your heart rate up, and your fat burning accelerated.
There is so much more you can do to get the most out of your workouts, and if you want the best results I recommend the #1 natural bodybuilder Tom Venuto's book, “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle.”
Diet Is Not Efficient
Even if you take the time by motivating yourself to increase your exercise intensity and frequency, you must consider cleaning up your diet as nutrition is 80% responsible for losing weight. Healthy eating consist of eating balanced meals, eating the right portions at the right times, and one of the most important, having the right foods at the right times.
Some simple tips you hear all the time are to consume more fruits and vegetables while making sure to eat a heart healthy breakfast to jump start your day. With that, I also recommend increasing daily protein in take as it speed up the metabolism 35% more than carbohydrates and fats, and is less likely to be stored as fat. Another tip that should be followed is to consume enough water during the day to keep your body hydrated and can also help decrease your hunger cravings.
A few tips I am going to leave you with are eating less-processed foods, stick with whole grain carbs, and purchase extra low fat ground beef/steak so the fat in take is not excessive. Your day should consist of more carbs in the morning and decreasing throughout the day till dinner that should be low carb and high protein.
Don’t cut yourself short of your weight loss goals with poor eating.
“Eating clean makes your body adjusts to being lean.”
Too Much Stress
Having too much stress in your life can make weight loss seem impossible and it’s not all your fault. When you are stress your body releases a hormone called cortisol. This stress hormone regulates blood sugar, energy production, inflammation, and healing. Too little of cortisol can leave you fatigue and basically feeling like crap. If that’s not bad enough, if you have to much cortisol your body mobilizes the energy into mostly fat making weight gain every easy. There are many types of form of stress but let me list out some ways to decrease this effect.
• Get enough sleep preferably 6-8 hours
• Eat a balanced diet
• Exercise regularly to relieve stress
• Take 30 minutes and do something relaxing
• Drink mostly water and decrease consumption of caffeinated beverages
We all have every busy lives and stress is one of the things that many people don’t think of when they can’t seem to lose any weight. Life is too short to be stressed out all the time, so give it your best shot and good luck.
Have a great day and God bless!
About the Author
Jared Wash is an author with certifications by ACSM, NESTA, and ISSA in personal trainer, nutritionist, and online fitness coach weight loss. His mission with top weight loss site is to guide people away from false lies and myths in the fitness industry while focusing on true health and weight loss methods.
Weight Loss Done Wrong!
If you have tried continuously to lose weight and have failed, you must know that there are several simple but powerful factors that could have been holding you back.
So do you need to know?
1) You must know that each pound of fat on our body consist of 3500 calories, so for each pound of fat you want to lose you must burn 3500 calories. That is burning an extra 500 calories a day for a week just to lose one pound of fat.
2) It is recommended to lose about 1-2 pounds of body fat each week for healthy weight loss.
3) Eating 500 less calories a day is much easier than burning off 500 calories a day.
4) Weight loss without exercise will lead you to a dead end as you will have to strave yourself to lose 1 to 2 pounds each week. Exercise not only burns fat, it also can act like a food depressant eliminating any disturbing food urges.
Exercise speeds up your metabolism, increases your energy levels, adds muscle tone, decreases stress and strengthens your heart. Exercise is vital.
This may sound like a lot but it can easily be achieved if you educated yourself, learn some weight loss tips, and stay away from these dead ends.
Now I’d like to begin my talk about the first factor, exercise, with a little hand raising exercise. Most of you already know that a reasonable amount of exercise, on a regular basis, is a healthy thing for us to do.
This information should come as no surprise because the fact that exercise is good for us is commonly understood by most adults living in the United States today. However, not all of us are able to perform regular exercise. Our time and energies are constrained by the responsibilities in our lives. For example, have the responsibilities in your life ever STOPPED YOU from practicing exercise on a regular basis?
This failure to exercise is completely understandable because many of us have perfectly good reasons why can’t exercise.
Two of the most common reasons that I have heard and experienced are:
- I simply don’t have enough time in the day to exercise, or
- I have health challenges that prevent me from exercising.
If you, or any of your friends, are using these reasons not to exercise, I am going to share with you, a piece of information that has allowed me and an exceptional few other people to exercise EVERY SINGLE DAY!
Now I’ve been running, biking, and lifting weights 2-6 times almost every week consistently for about 17 years, and I only discovered this strange technique just a few months ago, while listening to a lecture by the world class gymnast and author of ‘Way of the Peaceful Warrior”, Dan Millman.
Dan said, “the way all of us can exercise every single day is to wake up every morning, get out of bed, and do ONE jumping jack!” Now, of course, it doesn’t have to be a jumping jack. It can be anything! For example, I was just looking at Bank of America’s new health website, and they had an exercise on there that I believe about 95% of the people on this planet can do…
It was close your eyes really hard, and flex your lip and jaw muscles by pursing them together, like this… (close eyes, purse lips and jaw) At first I thought, what good can such a small amount of exercise do anyone? But then I realized, that the most important GOOD it does, is that is creates a certain mind set, a certain habit, a time dedicated every single day to bettering ourselves with exercise. And as our time, and energy, and ability allow, we can increase that one jumping jack, to 2 jumping jacks, or 10, or 20. Again, it doesn’t matter WHAT exercise you choose, just be sure to do it every single day, then INCREASE it when you can. Now because of this information, the next time someone asks you if you perform regular exercise, you can say, “As a matter of fact! I exercise every single day!”
Now I would like to talk about the 2nd fitness factor… Eating healthy foods and supplementing if necessary in diets. Now materialistically speaking… You and I have been given the greatest gift in the world! We have been given a body with which our souls can use to consciously experience life! And if we are lucky enough to have a fully functioning brain. And if we lucky enough to be able to decide HOW we want to treat our brain and our body… Why would we want to tarnish this incredible gift by feeding it full of foods that accelerate our body’s degradation? Foods that accelerate our mental decline.
Well that’s exactly what we do, when we eat foods with little or no nutritional value, and foods composed primarily of refined sugars. Our body is a very complex biological mechanism, and if we want to give it the nutrition it needs to function with absolute optimal performance, we need to seek the advice of experts. We need to talk to or read books written by appropriately trained physicians or nutritionists. Then we need to get a second option, and talk to another expert or read another book. Then get a 3rd opinion and continue to learn how feed our body, and how to care for it properly.
Now, you don’t have to wait until you talk to a physician or read a book to start eating healthy. You can simply use your COMMON SENSE to start eating healthy today!! Eat more vegetables, eat more nuts and whole grains, eat more fresh fruit, and if mixed with exercise, eat more meat, fish, and real cheese. Not processed cheese foods, like cheese-wiz, or American cheese in those little plastic wrappers, those are actually quite bad for you. Now if you decide to eat healthy, and exercise regularly, keep in mind that fitness can only be achieved if you add the final ingredient, the 3rd factor, persistence over time.
And, if you persist, I promise you that, in time:
You will be able to look in mirror and feel proud.
You will be able look back at your accomplishment and dedication and feel proud.
And with the additional clarity and focus you have gained from the additional oxygen and circulation that you have given to your brain, you will be able to strategically share this information to help your children, and to help your family, and to help your friends to feel just as proud as you will.
This in one of the things that annoys me the most is hearing people say they have tried everything and they want to lose weight so bad but they do nothing or fail because they did it wrong. If you are serious about losing weight, make the commitment and do something.
Healthy weight loss is not difficult, if you educate yourself and stay away from all the fad diets that are advertised, you will too be able to experience a whole new world to nutrition, exercise and healthy living.
Have a great day and God Bless!
About the Author
Jared Wash is an author with certifications by ACSM, NESTA, and ISSA in personal trainer, nutritionist, and online fitness coach for weight loss. His mission with top weight loss site is to guide people away from false lies and myths in the fitness industry while focusing on true health and weight loss methods.
Fasting for Weight Loss or Not
Reading hundreds of articles, reviews, and case studies has really pushed me to explain this huge fasting for weight loss method that thousands are turning to for their weight loss goals and improving their diets.
Fasting has become a very popular weight loss method that people are claiming they have lost 30-40 pounds in only a 30-day fast that is pretty incredible. Some even have dropped 3-4 pounds in a single day. Is fasting really the best weight loss solution or is it just another hype? Another important to ponder on is fasting healthy for our bodies, and can fasting give people long lasting weight loss? Well, let me explain this fasting for weight loss solution, and you will be able to determine for yourself if it is the right choice for you.
Fasting Being Successful!
Clearly, fasting is an effective way to lose unnecessary body fat, but once the fat has melted away restoring a youthful physique, how do we keep it off? Fasting is an exhilarating way to begin a healthy diet, excess body fat quickly drops, bathroom mirror nodding approval, maybe for the first time in years.
Overeating or eating too fast, feeding cravings and emotions not hunger, eating calorie-concentrated foods with lack of physical activity, all lead to unwanted weight-gain. Fasting I believe in my experiences builds self-control, and that control gives you a life without worry, and gilt that comes with many eating disorders.
Fasting comes in many forms like juicing, herbs, cleansing, fruits, supplements, etc. but the most popular would have to be juicing and herbs.
Side Effects of Fasting!
Side effects from fasting are unless the fast is very short term; you can end up with low energy, weakness and lightheadedness, without any significant weight loss. Furthermore, the absence of carbohydrates may lead to ketosis - a dangerous build up of ketones that pressurizes the kidneys. This is unhealthy and can be dangerous.
If you fast, you may drop pounds, but some of that weight will be muscle, and most of it will be water. You need to eat protein foods such as lean meat, eggs, low-fat or fat-free milk, or legumes (beans and peas), or you'll be thin and flabby, not thin and shapely.
Don’t fast for long periods of time as you double the workload of your kidneys and you train your body to preferentially store fat. Fasting has it’s pro and cons like everything in this world but going to long without a balanced diet can lead to you losing valuable fat burning enzymes which keeps our bodies in balance.
If you still want to go on a fast, here are some tips that will help you succeed.
Here are a few tips:
1. Prepare yourself for a fast by gradually tapering off of acid-forming aka "junk foods and commence to consuming raw and cooked fruits and veggies to begin a milder cleansing process as these items are the best intestinal brooms for the colon.
2. Every now and again, 3 hours after supper and say an hour or so before retiring to sleep, drink an herbal tea laxative such as "Smooth Move Herbal Tea" during this preparatory stage.
3. Drink 1-2 quarts of unflavored lemonade in the mornings to balance the chemical reactions within the body and to restore it to an alkaline state.
4. Be mentally prepared for the task ahead of fasting.
5. Take things a little easier while fasting or on a mono-diet of fruit.
6. Avoid using microwaves at all costs
Fasting With Great Benefits
1. Adding in weight loss and healthy living as fasting rejuvenates your body naturally.
2. Fasting can remove 5 to 10 lbs of unwanted toxic waste in your body that build up from poor nutrition.
3. Regaining energy through fasting for active living.
4. Improve mental clarity and all your senses through fasting.
5. Fasting can enhance innate wisdom, spiritually, faith and kindness to others.
When fasting, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons and not just to give you the edge on weight loss and reversing the anti aging process as our bodies are not made for it. Fasting can benefit our bodies when done right and with the right mind set. Fast to improve your control over your diet, and not just to conquer your weight loss goals.
Here are several more tips just that you might want to take a look at for developing a healthy body.
Several Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Life…
Increase the percentage of raw food in diet
- The number one thing you can do to extend health and vibrant living
is to increase raw food. Living food for a living body.
Eat natural unprocessed food
- Eat natural unprocessed whole grain foods and unrefined oils.
- Educate yourself on what is truly natural and what is often a
marketing ploy. Read the ingredients; do not be fooled by labels.
Eat when hungry
- Overeating taxes the body, stores fat, creates excessive mucus.
- Eat slowly and enjoy. Chew food well to assist digestion
- Feed the body, starve the cravings, and don’t feed depression.
Fasting for spiritual and physical cleansing
- Regular periods of detoxification and cleansing through juice fasting
or a raw food diet.
- Fasting can be a launching board to dietary change.
- A tranquil time of spiritual refreshment.
Exercise for mental and physical well being
- Exercise builds confidence and discipline.
- Cleansing the lymphatic system, increase metabolism for weight
management. Better circulation, strengthened lungs and heart.
- Improved appetite and less fear of the occasional indulgence.
Have a great day and God bless!
About the Author
Jared Wash is an author with certifications by ACSM, NESTA, and ISSA in personal trainer, nutritionist, and online fitness coach weight loss. His mission with top weight loss site is to guide people away from false lies and myths in the fitness industry while focusing on true health and weight loss methods.
Dieting Basics – Weight Loss for Beginners
The word “diet” has become defined as a mean for eliminating or limiting a certain foods sources in conventional diets today. The real definition simplified by my own words of diet is, “a prescribed selection of foods.” I believe strongly that this simple definition says everything about what a diet is unlike conventional diets have defined it
Dieting is not starvation, tormenting, and in other words, a living hell! It can be as 1, 2, and 3.
As most people follow conventional diets, it is proven only 5% will actually lose weight and keep it off. But why only 5% succeed and other 95% fail? They did not follow these three steps.
1. Setting goals and methods of action.
Setting goals are not only for motivation but to give dieters a sense of direction on what they want to achieve. Some excellent question they should ask themselves and write on their goals sheet is what you want to accomplish, when do you want to reach these goals, how are you going to accomplish these goals, and why are they important?
Other question they should write down is why would they give up, what don’t you like about yourself, and when you reach your goals what we be different?
I recommend this to everyone that ask me to help them with some tips on how to stay motivated and the number one tips that does the best is taking pictures of yourself and putting them where you will see them every day.
No this is not a joke as a before and after picture are proven to keep people motivated and reaching for their goals.
In a nutshell, keep your goals sheet with your answers right by your pictures where you will see them every day to help keep you reaching for your goals.
2. Gain the knowledge needed.
Researching about healthy eating, weight loss, and exercise can become a struggle and risky with the health industry pointing you towards unnecessary weight loss supplement, diets, and exercise equipment.
Searching now for several years I have become fond of government site that give out a lot of free information, articles, and study’s that are trustworthy and I like to say, “the real thing.” I have made several weight loss websites available to you on my website for easy access to some of the best information online without having to research. Taking the time to learn about the basics of nutrition, exercise, and healthier living is the key towards success.
One of the best sources I believe and back up 100% is by Tom Venuto, “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle.” This e-book has become the best selling weight loss book online as its results speak for itself. I guarantee it is an excellent book.
3. Construct a exercise, eating, and daily planner.
When creating your exercise, eating, and daily planner you need to take several elements and into account. Some things you have to incorporate into your daily planner is the amount of time and money you have to delegate to your goals, fitness level, and schedule.
So let’s recall what the steps just where.
You wrote out your goals and what you want to achieve in how much time, with your questions and answers, and don’t forget about your before and after pictures where you will see them every day. Next, you seek the knowledge to take action correctly and to get maximum results with as less amount of time and money spent. Last, you created a daily planner that consist of your exercise and nutrition schedules and planners to keep track of what needs to be done to accomplish your desired results.
These three steps have been used over and over again with excellent results and I recommend you try it as well.
Thank you for taking the time to educate yourself on dieting and we hope you take advantage of my latest weight loss news, diets, and inspiration.
Good Luck and God Bless!
About the Author
Jared Wash is an author with certifications by ACSM, NESTA, and ISSA in personal trainer, nutritionist, and online fitness coach for weight loss. His mission with top weight loss site is to guide people away from false lies and myths in the fitness industry while focusing on true health and weight loss methods.
Body Building Supplements
Bodybuilding supplements are substances taken by athletes involved in weight training or other sport to aid in the building of muscle mass or aid fat loss. Bodybuilding supplements may also be used to improve sports performance and improve recovery from events and training.
Body building supplements are extremely important for athletes as they come to complete their carefully-chosen diet and do a lot of little wonders for their body. The market is rich in choices and many bodybuilders prefer them in order to charge their immune system and protect themselves from over-training.
Bodybuilders often take a powdered form of protein, the essential building blocks for muscle. Protein powder is generally consumed immediately after exercising, or in place of a meal. Increasing the intake of protein in the diet allows muscles to repair themselves and grow more readily.
Recent studies have shown that athletes who use body building supplements manage to gain muscular mass much easier and also burn fat at a higher level. These body building supplements are known to provide the body with additional substances that are assimilated quite easily by the body. They come to the aid of every process in ones body, protecting the organism and giving it the nutrition factors needed.
There are body building supplements based on Arginine, an amino acid that cannot be synthesised normally in our body. Arginine has a lot of advantages and is used more and more often. Specialists recognize that this amino acid is essential in order to remove toxins from ones body; also, they are known to decrease the cholesterol levels and modulate salt levels, thus preventing water retention.
Bodybuilders use body building supplements with Arginine for muscle growth and increased protein synthesis. Studies have proved that an athlete must include proteins in his/her daily diet in order to maintain their constitution. The most often used are protein powders, quickly absorbed by the organism and with great effects. Sometimes, they even replace a meal proving the athlete the necessary of protein in the diet.
Sports supplements come in a wide variety and it is important to choose the one that fits your body and helps you in the best way possible. Always be careful not to overdose as it can lead to serious consequences some of them irreversible. Check the label of sports supplements, follow the doses as given, and do not replace your meals entirely.
Remember that sports supplements are not made for normal people; they are made especially for athletes to help them with their performance and provide the extra drop of energy they need. Body builders need a lot of vitamins, minerals and much more substances in order to benefit from the muscle building process. The quality of sports supplements is highly important and experts recommend avoiding the ones with much sugar, as they have plenty of calories to offer and not in a good way.
A good athlete pays extreme attention to every detail when it comes to dedicating completely to his/her passion. As training and proper equipment are vital, so is a good organized diet. Body building supplements are ideal for a complete diet and one should never forget to include sports supplements with every meal.
About the Author
Roderick Corkern is an active fitness and exercise equipment expert with over 16 years of helping people overcome fitness issues and teaching them to integrate exercise into their life.
How to PUMP IT UP! Body Building 101
Bodybuilding is the process of developing muscle fibres through the combination of weight training, increased caloric intake, and rest. A person who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder.
As a sport, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their aesthetic appearance. Bodybuilding has contributed to the success of many public figures worldwide.
Few steps to accomplish body building goals
One of the keys to achieving great results from one’s bodybuilding program is to possess a strong motivation.
A strong motivation enables a person to be determined enough to follow the bodybuilding program regardless of any obstacles that may come along the way. It also enables a person to have the laser guided focus needed to achieve the desired bodybuilding goals.
1. Set realistic and measurable goals and attack them with the right mindset. Aim high but be realistic.
2. Select a training routine There are many factors to consider when choosing a training routine:
A) Training experience – How long you have been training for; are you a beginner, intermediate or advanced athlete?
B) Your training goals – Are you looking at fat loss with moderate muscle gain or are you looking to gain muscle exclusively? Or are you training for a bodybuilding competition?
C) The amount of time that you can devote to bodybuilding training – Can you train 3 days, 4 days, 5 days or 6 days? If the goal is bodybuilding competition, will you be able to train everyday?
Once you consider those factors, then you can feel free to select any of the routines down below and perhaps you can work on adapting them to your schedule
3. Select a nutrition program that is designed to support your goals. Your nutrition program has to be properly designed to support your bodybuilding goals. The important role of nutrition in building muscle and losing fat means bodybuilders may consume a wide variety of dietary supplements. Commonly used products include: protein powders; creatine; vitamin and mineral formulations; essential fatty acid; amino acids; glucosamine and/or chondroitin; MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) and thermogenics.
4. Use bodybuilding supplements to help you attain your goals. The amount of supplementation that used should depend mainly on your goals, as to how serious one is about the bodybuilding program and finally your budget.
5. Do not neglect the important aspect of rest and recovery. Although muscle stimulation occurs in the gym lifting weights, muscle growth occurs afterward during rest. Without adequate rest and sleep, muscles do not have an opportunity to recover and build. You need 7 - 9 hours of sleep each night in order for your body to run efficiently. Deprive your body of sleep and you'll have lousy fat loss. As a bonus, you also get muscle loss, which in turn lowers your metabolism.
About the Author
Roderick Corkern is an active fitness and exercise equipment expert with over 16 years of helping people overcome fitness issues and teaching them to integrate exercise into their life.
Fitness Tips-Great Ways to Get In Shape
Physical Fitness, ability of the human body to function with vigor and alertness, without undue fatigue, and with ample energy to engage in leisure activities, and to meet physical stresses. Muscular strength and endurance, cardio respiratory integrity, and general alertness are the overt signs of physical fitness.
Physical fitness is usually measured in relation to functional expectations—that is, typically, by periodic tests measuring strength, endurance, agility, coordination, and flexibility. In addition, stress testing, which ascertains the body's accommodation to powerful, sustained physical stimuli, is used to analyze fitness.
The level of physical fitness can be influenced by regular, systematic exercise. Moderate activity will maintain the individual at a level that is usually adequate to handle ordinary stress. If the fitness level is to be improved, however, it is necessary to participate in more intensive exercise that overloads the physiological systems and thus promotes change.
A few fitness tips
1. Exercise Every Day. Each day do some form of movement that elevates your heart rate and this can be as simple as walking to the corner market to buy a paper.
2. Eat More Plants. Eat more of fruits and vegetables which in turn will keep us healthy, and energized, which is mainly because plants, in their natural state, are loaded with nutrients and fibre.
3. Weight Train. As we age, our muscles atrophy more every year. Resistance training creates hypertrophy, the opposite of atrophy, which more or less keeps us young. The older you are, the more important weight training is to your quality of life.
4. Circuit Train. This is a type of weight training where you move continually from one exercise to the next. If you follow this practice, you heart rate will stay high throughout your entire workout and it will double as a cardio session.
5. Train Functionally. This means to incorporate movements into your exercise routine that mimic, or benefit, the movements that you practice in the real world. Sports are often a good way to functional train since they require your body to move in a way efficient for the activity. Functional training keeps your body in balance, and a balanced body is more resistant to injury and illness.
6. Stretch. Stretch once you are warmed up. Resistance training contracts your muscles, making them smaller and tighter. This is true for easy resistance training too, like all forms of cardio. While you want strong muscles, if they get too tight they become susceptible to injury. To offset this you need to stretch them out, which should be done once you finish exercising when your muscles are warm.
7. Hydrate. Our bodies are over 60% water and most of us are underhydrated most of the time. This is mainly because our most common beverages tend to dehydrate us. Coffee, tea, alcohol, and soda all offset the hydration process. Basically, we just need to drink more water.
We tend to tell ourselves that we can't exercise because of our job or our family. But if you're sick all the time you lose your job. And if you're dead, you can't be there for your family. Move exercise to the top of your priority list. Nothing is more important for you, those who depend on you, and those whom you love.
About the Author
Roderick Corkern is an active fitness and exercise equipment expert with over 16 years of helping people overcome fitness issues and teaching them to integrate exercise into their life.
Getting Heart Fit. The Importance of Aerobic Exercises.
Aerobic exercise is as important to the success of your aerobic fitness program as your heart is to living. Aerobic exercise programs or more correctly, cardio exercise programs, are the primary means of maintaining your heart health. Allow your heart and lungs to weaken through disuse and all of the activities in your daily life will be more difficult. Engage in a cardio exercise program in one or more of its many manifestations and your quality of life will soar. Whether you walk or run, swim or bicycle, hike or do aerobics, the physiological and psychological benefits to your body and mind are enormous. If you don't know how or where to begin your cardio exercise program, then why not choose aerobic workout programs to get you on the path to wellness. The first step is always the hardest, especially if you don't know where to put it. Whether you are headed for the pool or the gym, the bike path or your favorite trail, the aerobic exercise programs that we offer will get you started, guide you along the way and keep you going when the going gets tough. Few of us would embark on a trip to a destination where we had never been before without a road map. Use the aerobic exercise programs that best suits you as your road map to your ultimate destinations of heart health, healthy living and wellness.
Aerobic exercise uses large muscle groups rhythmically and continuously and elevates the heartrate and breathing for a sustained period. Common examples include walking, jogging/running, swimming, rowing, stairclimbing, bicycling, cross-country skiing, step and dance exercise classes, roller skating, and the more continuous forms of tennis, racquetball and squash.
Care and consideration should be used in selecting types (modes) of aerobic exercise. Depending on your goals, physical condition and injury/illness history, different types may prove to be preferential for your particular situation. However, in general, it is a good idea to "cross train". i.e., alternate between and among several appropriate exercises.
Although aerobic exercise is not technique or concentration intensive, proper technique is still very important to optimize your efficiency and prevent injuries. The way you observe everyone else performing an aerobic exercise may not be the right way (e.g., "straight arming" and leaning over on the stairclimbing machines). Obtain quality technique from an exercise physiologist/trainer.
How to start your aerobic training program:
1. Desire or motivation that is from who you are, not to get something.
2. Start thinking about eating better. Without good fuel it’s hard to get the energy to train.
3. Set your goals within yourself and make them realistic.
4. Make the time, create a flexible schedule with alternatives
5. Stick to it. Remember, consistency is more important than intensity.
6. Understand the basics of bio-mechanics, even for walking
7. Get your family to start with you. It’s always easier if your partner is doing a similar program with you.
8. If you smoke, start making an effort to cut down.
9. Just start eating less, and limit snacks to fruit.
10. Cut down on fats, sugar, liquor, canned food, etc..
11. Eat more of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole foods, grains, etc.
12. Drink more water, read more books, and have more fun in your life.
About the Author
Roderick Corkern is an active fitness and exercise equipment expert with over 16 years of helping people overcome fitness issues and teaching them to integrate exercise into their life.
Exercise Triggers for Sciatica
The sciatic nerve is not actually a single nerve, but a bundle of many nerves that leave the spine from the lower back and sacral regions. From here, the bundle moves towards the glutes then splits to various destinations on the legs. One nerve supplies the front of the thigh, one the back and another the lower shin. Irritation of any of these nerves may cause tingling, pain or numbness we call sciatica.
Individuals with mild to moderate sciatica are usually prescibed stretching and strengthening movements. Both are done to tolerance according to that days pain level. It is best to have a sciatica program designed by a Physical Therapist as few Personal Trainers have the knowledge to work with a special population like sciatica. The contraindictated movement for all strengthening and stretching is forward flexion as this could furthur irritate the condition.
Two more classic moves to avoid are toe touches and full sit ups. Toe touches involve full forward flexion and put all your body weight on your lower back. Full sit ups also stress the lower back. Instead of coming all the way up just do crunches with only your head and shoulders raising slightly off the ground.
Finally, many people will assume since they have a back problem they need to strengthen it. Not the case with sciatica. With sciatica you want to stretch your lower back and strengthen your abdominals. Performing back extensions which are a low back strengthener can worsen sciatica.
In summary, either have a Physical Therapist or a Chiropractor design your exercise program. The stretching and strengthening exercises will provide pain relief as well as a better level of overall fitness. Pay attention to the trigger exercises listed in this article to avoid injury, pain or relapse.
About the Author
Dr Lanny Schaffer an Exercise Physiologist is the President of The International Fitness Academy. For more cutting edge fitness information for healthy and special populations go to http://www.aerobic-exercise-coach.com
Common Sense Calisthenics
In performing daily life skills, your muscles work against the resistance of your body weight. It only makes sense to strength train using your body weight instead of those fancy weights and equipment in the gym:
1) Strengthen Your Foundation. Train Your Lower Body and Legs.
* Squats: With your feet shoulder-width apart, lower your body as if you were sitting back in a chair until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Keep your back straight and lean slighty forward at the waist. Keep your heels on the floor. Squats work the large muscles of the front and back of the leg as well as the buttocks.
* Alternating Lunges: Stand straight with your hands on your hips and your feet together. Take a long step forward with your right leg and bend your left knee down to the ground. Straighten up until your feet are together. Repeat leading with your left foot. Lunges work the same front, back and rear leg muscles as squats but they are a bit more difficult.
* Squat Jumps: Start squat jumps after you've been doing regular squats for a couple of weeks. The mechanics are the same as for regular squats. When you reach the lowered position simply jump up and repeat. They are more explosive and will give you more power as well as work your calf muscles.
2)Strengthen Your Core: Exercise The Area Between Your Shoulders and Your Groin.
* Crunches. Lie on your back with knees bent, back pressed to the floor. Place you fingertips behind your head for gentle support (do not pull). Slowly lift your head and shoulders with your head in a neutral position. This exercise works your upper abs.
* Oblique crunches. Lie on your back, knees bent, hands gently supporting your head. Place one foot on one knee. Gently twist the opposite side toward the knee with the foot on it. Be sure to do both sides. The oblique muscles are your side ab muscles.
* Reverse crunches. Lie on your back and raise your legs straight up with a slight knee bend. Leave your upper body on the floor. The motion is very small. Raise your rear about an inch up off the ground. Reverse crunches work your lower abs.
* Back extensions: Lie on your front with your arms straight down at your sides. Gently lift your head and shoulders up to work your lower back
Note: Once you have mastered these exercises on a flat surface you may want to try an unstable surface like a stability ball.
3)Strengthen Your Upper Body.
* Pushups:Lie face down on the ground. Place your hands a bit wider than shoulder width apart. Keep your feet slightly apart or together and your back straight. Lower yourself until you are almost touching the ground then push back up. Do not lock your elbows. If you have trouble start on your knees. Pushups are a super upper body exercise working your chest, shoulders, back of the arms and the upper, middle, and lower back. For variations change the hand placement from narrow to very wide.
*Dips. You can do these with one chair or table or two. For the easier version place both hands on the chair with both legs straight out front, feet on the floor. Bend the elbows and push back up without locking them out. For more resistance, place both hands on one surface and both feet on the other surface. Again bend the elbows. Dips are another super arm exercise. They work the back of the arms, shoulders and chest.
* Isometric back squeezes. It's difficult to work the back muscles without equipment. You may wish to purchase a set of dumbells just to perform upright rows and reverse flys. Isometric back squeezes will work the lower, middle and upper back. Stand shoulder width apart. Raise hands above head. Pull down very slowly squeezing as hard as you can. When you reach the bottom hold for ten seconds and repeat several times.
You can combine all these calisthenics in many ways. You may simply want to do three sets of ten for each exercise three times a week every other day. This is a strong stimulus load yet allows for enough recovery time. The above exercises are special because they mimic movements in everyday living. Further, they strengthen the body the way nature intended- with it's own body weight. Finally, with the few exceptions noted, the only equipment required is your own body and you don't need to go to a fancy gym to perform these calisthenics.
About the Author
Dr lanny Schaffer is an Exercise Physiologist and the President of The International Fitness Academy. For more cutting edge fitness ideas go to http://www.aerobic-exercise-coach.com
Motivation: Keys to Staying Active
You know you need to be physically active to reduce the risk of chronic disease, stress, body fat and improve your overall quality of life. Unfortunately, it's easy to get mixed up in the "how much", "how to" sort of thinking and take no action. Here's a few keys to get you into an active lifestyle:
* Set Goals. You will stay more motivated if you set goals. Identify what you want to accomplish and what steps you need take. Write them down and refer to them often. Choose both short term goals (increase exercise by five minutes each week) and long term goals (lose fifty lbs). Goals must be reasonable or you may set yourself up for failure which often results in quitting your fitness program.
*Create a Reward System. Some individuals stay motivated intrinsically but others benefit from external rewards. Don't be afraid to treat yourself if you had a great workout or lost a couple of lbs.
* Partner-up. Studies have shown that working out with a spouse, friend or group can increase commitment to exercise. Find friends who like to do the same things you do or join a group fitness class. Your dog can also be a great fitness companion for regular walks and jogs.
*Learn. The more you know about staying fit the more you will benefit and enjoy it. Do a little reading- the internet is full if free fitness sites- and use your brain cells to pump up your body.
* Inspiration. Music can add a little motivation to anyone's workout and it helps make the time go faster. Exercise videos can add variety to your program and introduce you to new types of exercise.
* Use the 90%/10% Rule. Don't try to be perfect. If you get your workouts done well 90% of the time that's good enough.
*Crosstrain. Crosstraining means performing a variety of activities. It's great for your overall fitness level and relieves boredom.
Most importantly, choose exercises you enjoy. There's a world of fitness adventure out there for everone. Find out what it is for you and once started, that's when the fun begins.
About the Author
Dr. Lanny Schaffer is an Exercise Physiologist and the President of The International Fitness Academy. For more cutting edge fitness information go to http://www.aerobic-exercise-coach.com
10 Fit12 Fitness Secrets to Slow the Aging Process
Right now medical science is discovering why and how the human body ages. Recent discoveries on the hormonal and genetic control of the aging process have brought about many new possibilities to "slow down the clock". One tried and true anti-aging method is exercise. Here are some tips on how to exercise and stay young:
* Resistance training such as weight lifting can increase lean muscle mass which normally declines as we age. More muscle means a stronger body and a higher metabolic rate. Resistance training can raise your metabolic rate more than any other type of exercise.
* As you age your metabolism slows down. A short interval training session (alternating periods of hard work followed by recovery work) or weight training will substantially boost your metabolic rate more than 24 hours after exercise.
* Heart function deteriorates with age so it's necessary to give your heart muscle a regular workout. Short interval training (12-20 minutes) is great for the average healthy adult. If you are a beginner or have certain degenerative diseases start at a slower intensity.
*Increasing your lung volume is also an anti-aging effect of exercise. Intense exercise where you use your lungs to their fullest extent will best increase lung volume. Again, beginners start less intensely.
* Intense exercise has a positive effect on several hormone levels. Most notable is human growth hormone. Growth hormone declines with age but regular intense exercise and good sleep can increase the level of growth hormone resulting in more lean muscle mass, a decrease in body fat, improved mood and memory, more energy, increased skin thickness, higher bone density and increased sex drive.
* Perspiring during exercise brings moisture, circulation and nutrients to the skin's surface keeping it more youthful. It also helps the skin slough dead cells naturally leaving fresh new skin to shine through.
* Provided you are not overtraining, exercise can also lower cortisol levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone which can contribute to anxiety and fat gain. While cortisol rises immediately post- exercise, it later declines to below pre-exercise levels as long as other stressors in your life are kept to a minimum.
* Exercise exerts a similar response on insulin, another fat storage hormone, and one that causes diabetes.
* As we age our susceptability to disease goes up. Most kinds of exercise have been shown to enhance the immune system to include increasing white blood cells which fight disease.
* Weightbearing and resistance exercise both increase bone density reducing osteoporosis that develops with age.
* Aerobic, interval and weight training modes of exercise all increase specific neurotransmittors in the brain whch elevate mood, decrease depression and alleviate anxiety.
* Millions of Americans suffer from insomnia. Regular exercise, especially if performed at the same time each day, can improve sleep quality. A full nights' rest is important for many reasons including the fact that most of your natural growth hormone is produced while you sleep.
As you can see, exercise is indeed the fountain of youth. The best news is you don't have spend hours a day to reap the benefits. New research has clearly shown that if the intensity is high enough as little as 15-20 minutes 4-5 times a week is all you need to do to look younger and feel younger.
About the Author
Dr. Lanny Schaffer is an Exercise Physiologist and the President of The International Fitness Academy. For more cutting edge fitness ideas go to http://www.aerobic-exercise-coach.com
The Importance of Improving Your Physical Life
The human body is a tremendous miracle. We are all given one free of charge. But when you receive a gift, you’re expected to take care of it, aren’t you? You’re expected to appreciate and treasure it. Yet most of us have abused our bodies in more ways than one, and we continue to do so.
Most of us consistently take for granted this invaluable possession we’ve been entrusted with. Eventually, neglecting our bodies will catch up to us in the form of poor health, which is will spoil any success we achieve.
Because of every day demands that our society puts on us, many people have destroyed their health by means of trying to achieve prosperity. Isn’t that ironic? Our health has been destroyed by trying to achieve prosperity. We’re not eating right, not exercising enough, and we’re too stressed, in other words, trying to achieve the so-called “good-life’ is bad for us.
Consider our diet most people don’t eat on the basis of nutrition: we eat on the basis of looks, taste, and convenience. For example, breakfast the average person might eat cereal (based on a television commercial or what is labeled on the box cover), or a breakfast sandwich (because it’s fast), and several cups of coffee with lots of cream and sugar.
For lunch the average person may have a greasy hamburger, fries, or a pizza, and then wash it down with 12 ounces of carbonated syrup. For dinner because both the husband and wife have had a busy workday they’ll just throw some frozen food in the microwave. Don’t forget, all day long people usually snack on things like potato chips, cookies, and candy. If that’s not enough many people top off the day with a little alcohol and cigarettes, making for the most abusive diet imaginable.
Possibly the biggest change in our physical lives in the past 60 years has been a marked reduction in exercise and a marked increase in stress. Achieving success has become synonymous with a lack of exertion. For example, when we get up in the morning, we’re usually so tired from the day before that instead of exercising we’ll just walk (usually with our eyes closed) into the bathroom, pull a knob and take a shower. We drive our cars to work and to save time use elevators and escalators to get around. All day long, we use one laborsaving device after another, just so we can save time and accomplish more.
The problem is we’re pampering ourselves to death. Without knowing it, we’ve become so lazy and so inactive that our bodies are wasting away. Yet we still tell ourselves that we’re doing it to achieve success and prosperity. We’re busy, but we’re not doing anything in terms of real exercise. We’re just filling all the extra time we save with decisions and demands that create harmful stress.
Subsequently, more and more people are ruining their health. Recent studies by the Harvard School of Public Health have shown that more than half of the American population is overweight, and even those who aren’t don’t eat right. The risk of cancer, heart attack, and diabetes has virtually skyrocketed in the last 60 years.
This means we’re doing something seriously wrong in our physical lives, and at the same time, we’re abusing a precious gift that we can’t replace. Rather than taking care of it, many people are systematically destroying their bodies, and they wouldn’t treat any other expensive item like that.
One need that we all have in the area of our physical self is a need to watch what we eat. Notice that I did not say to watch our diet, that’s because diet is a very negative term to most people. It’s like a root canal. It makes people jumpy. So forget dieting. Let’s talk about watching what we eat.
Statistics show that 95 percent of the people who go on a diet fail because changing your eating habits is a matter of conditioning. Bad habits are hard to break and new ones are hard to form. So forget about dieting, it just wastes a lot of time and money.
You’ll be more successful by simply watching what you eat instead of depriving yourself, because depriving yourself eventually backfires. So keep an eye on your food intake, and try to develop healthy eating habits over time. For example, instead of having two cups of coffee have just one. Instead of drinking a soda, have a glass of juice. Instead of eating potato chips eat some fruit.
This won’t be easy. Trying to break eating patterns is very difficult, but substituting water or juice for carbonated soft drinks or sandwiches for burgers or pizza can make a big difference over time. If you do this little by little, you can alter your eating patterns and make the changes you need to make.
Now let’s talk about the second need in our physical lives, exercise or burning some calories. Exercise doesn’t have to be hard and strenuous. In fact most studies show that all you really need is some activity that gets your pulse pounding for 20 minutes three times a week. It can be as simple as few free-hand exercises, aerobics, or even a brisk walk in the park.
Now, that doesn’t require much. Yet if you don’t find time to do some type of exercise for 20 minutes three times a week, over time the consequences can be disastrous. A continued lack of exercise can ruin your health completely. Exercise is a vital source of health and energy and it can extend your life. It is something you absolutely must make time to do it on a regular basis.
The third need we all have regarding our physical lives may be the most prevalent of all. It’s the need to relax. We all feel the pressure of today’s fast changing society. We live in a world that’s characterized by worry and hurry. It’s so rushed we have to run to keep up with it. To achieve success and financial freedom we’re constantly doing more things in less time, and our output is so high, it’s exhausting just to think about it.
Recent surveys have revealed that 87 percent of Americans suffer from too much stress in their life. The same surveys asked people to identify the greatest problems that they face in their life today and stress topped the list for most people. If you have trouble falling asleep at night, if your mind is racing, chances are you’re experiencing a noticeable amount of stress.
What exactly is stress? The term comes from the Latin word strictus, which means “to be drawn tight.” That gives us the image of a bow being bent back to shoot. If the bow is drawn too tightly, it will break and that is when it becomes dangerous to your health. Someone is getting on your nerves, you’re late for an appointment, or a report you’re working is not finished and the deadline is approaching.
Stress is part of life. You can’t escape it, but you can learn to do deal with it by learning to relax and making relaxation a new habit. A major part of being able to achieve success is being able to find relief so you can feel relaxed and in control again. Otherwise, it will ruin you physically.
You have to learn to weed out the things in your business and private life that are not necessary. Remember, human beings are limited; we can only do so many things and do them well. So learn to say no to things that may appear good so you can say yes to the things that are best. You need to learn to streamline by being efficient in a few things instead of being efficient in everything.
Giving yourself downtime is a great reliever of stress. This means setting aside time every day to rest and do nothing. As hard as it may be to set aside some time when things get busy, that’s when you need to do it the most. It’s even good for you productivity. When you take at least 30 minutes of quiet time to meditate, you’ll get more done in the remaining time than you would have if you’d worked straight through. So give yourself some downtime even if you can’t afford to, because you can’t afford not to.
Learning how to have fun is an important tool for combating stress. Remember, all work and no play makes you dull and that will not get you where you want to be. Successful people are not boring; they’re fun and nothing could be better for you health than having fun. People who are successful laugh a lot, they have a fresh perspective on things, and they enjoy life.
Constantly improving your physical life is a part of achieving success and financial freedom. You can improve your physical life significantly by watching what you eat, exercising on a regular basis, and setting aside time to relax each day. Your life is out there waiting for, but if you take too long, it will be gone.
About the Author
Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many businesses around the world on the subjects of leadership, achievement, goals, strategic business planning, and marketing. Joe is the author of three books, Starting Your Own Business, Finding Your Purpose In Life, and The Guerrilla Marketing Workbook.
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