Sorry guys, this week its going to be some health tips for women!!
For a woman to be fit and healthy all she needs to do is follow these general guidelines and believe in herself that she can do it!
Why not train with a buddy if you are conscious of training in the gym by yourself?
Or, if you lack the motivation don’t forgot that most gyms offer a wide variety of exercises classes for all different levels of fitness and personal tastes, from dancing to aerobics to spinning!
1) Exercise:
To maintain a healthy body all you need to do is take part in physical exercise three times a week for thirty minutes. Whether is be going for a walk in the park, taking part in an aerobics class or going for a swim in your local pool
2) Weights training:
No weights are NOT just for men! Resistance training has so many benefits! Many women are under the misconception they will ‘get too big’ or ‘they will hurt themselves’ or ‘look stupid’ by doing weights! The common phrase heard when a women mentions weights is ‘I just want to get toned’.
Well, here are a few ‘real truths’ on the benefits of resistance training:
• Your resting metabolic rate will be elevated
• You will continue to burn calories even after you have finished your workout
• It is very difficult for women to gain huge muscles mass- a women must have a high level of testosterone in her body to enable her to build muscle. Some women do- you will know if you are one of them!
• It will decrease your chances of developing arthritis and osteoporosis later in life
• It will improve your posture and increase your stamina
• Weight training will aid you in your chosen field whether it be running or cycling or swimming or playing a sport! As you
• Weight training can elevate your mood
• Weight training will bring your body fat percentage down more than just doing cardio alone
3) Eat Right:
Exercise alone won’t give you the perfect body! Diet plays a big part in achieving that dream body. On average a sedentary women should consume about 1800-2000 calories a day. Active women should consumer anywhere from 2000- 2500 calories depending on the amount of exercise being undertaken
Friday, 27 June 2008
Monday, 16 June 2008
Metabolism
A lot of people ask me about ‘metabolism’ and ask how it works and what it actually is…
Our bodies get the energy they need from food through metabolism, the chemical reactions in the body's cells that convert the fuel from food into the energy needed to do everything from moving to thinking to growing.
Some people have slow metabolisms meaning they burn off calories at a slower rate than others and people with fast metabolisms tend to burn off calories very easily…here are a few tips in which you can speed up the rate of your metabolism
1) Build Muscle
Increase the amount of muscle in your body. For every extra pound of muscle you put on, your body uses around 50 extra calories a day. In a recent study, researchers found that regular weight training boosts basal metabolic rate by about 15%. This is because muscle is ‘metabolically active’ and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you’re not moving.
Training with weights just 3 times a week for around 20 minutes is enough to build muscle. Not only will you be burning more calories, you’ll look better – whatever your weight.
2) Move More
Although the average person burns around 30% of calories through daily activity, many sedentary people only use around 15%. Simply being aware of this fact – and taking every opportunity to move can make quite a dramatic difference to the amount of calories you burn.
The trick is to keep the ‘keep moving’ message in mind. Write the word ‘move’ on post-it notes and put them in places you’ll notice them when you’re sitting still. Then, take every opportunity to move – here’s some ideas for burning calories:
• Stand up and stretch
• Move your head from side to side
• Change position
• Wriggle and fidget
• Pace up and down
• Don’t use the internal phone – go in person
• Use the upstairs loo
• Park in the furthest corner of the car park
• Stand up when you’re on the phone
• Clench and release your muscles
You’ll find lots of opportunities for burning more calories if you remember that you’re looking for them! Keep thinking ‘keep moving’.
3) Aerobic Exercise
As well as the actual amount of calories burned during exercise – studies have shown that sustained, high-intensity exercise makes you burn more calories for several hours afterwards.
Try 30 minute sessions of heart rate raising exercise, such as vigorous walking, step aerobics, jogging or swimming, 3-4 times a week.
4) Eat Little and Often
There is some evidence to suggest that eating small, regular meals will keep your metabolism going faster than larger, less frequent meals. There are two reasons why meal frequency may affect your metabolism. Firstly, levels of thyroid hormones begin to drop within hours of eating a meal, and metabolism slows. Secondly, it may be that the thermogenic effect of eating several small meals is slightly higher than eating the same amount of calories all at once.
Provided your small meals don’t degenerate into quick-fix, high fat, high sugar snacks, eating little and often can also help to control hunger and make you less likely binge!
Our bodies get the energy they need from food through metabolism, the chemical reactions in the body's cells that convert the fuel from food into the energy needed to do everything from moving to thinking to growing.
Some people have slow metabolisms meaning they burn off calories at a slower rate than others and people with fast metabolisms tend to burn off calories very easily…here are a few tips in which you can speed up the rate of your metabolism
1) Build Muscle
Increase the amount of muscle in your body. For every extra pound of muscle you put on, your body uses around 50 extra calories a day. In a recent study, researchers found that regular weight training boosts basal metabolic rate by about 15%. This is because muscle is ‘metabolically active’ and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you’re not moving.
Training with weights just 3 times a week for around 20 minutes is enough to build muscle. Not only will you be burning more calories, you’ll look better – whatever your weight.
2) Move More
Although the average person burns around 30% of calories through daily activity, many sedentary people only use around 15%. Simply being aware of this fact – and taking every opportunity to move can make quite a dramatic difference to the amount of calories you burn.
The trick is to keep the ‘keep moving’ message in mind. Write the word ‘move’ on post-it notes and put them in places you’ll notice them when you’re sitting still. Then, take every opportunity to move – here’s some ideas for burning calories:
• Stand up and stretch
• Move your head from side to side
• Change position
• Wriggle and fidget
• Pace up and down
• Don’t use the internal phone – go in person
• Use the upstairs loo
• Park in the furthest corner of the car park
• Stand up when you’re on the phone
• Clench and release your muscles
You’ll find lots of opportunities for burning more calories if you remember that you’re looking for them! Keep thinking ‘keep moving’.
3) Aerobic Exercise
As well as the actual amount of calories burned during exercise – studies have shown that sustained, high-intensity exercise makes you burn more calories for several hours afterwards.
Try 30 minute sessions of heart rate raising exercise, such as vigorous walking, step aerobics, jogging or swimming, 3-4 times a week.
4) Eat Little and Often
There is some evidence to suggest that eating small, regular meals will keep your metabolism going faster than larger, less frequent meals. There are two reasons why meal frequency may affect your metabolism. Firstly, levels of thyroid hormones begin to drop within hours of eating a meal, and metabolism slows. Secondly, it may be that the thermogenic effect of eating several small meals is slightly higher than eating the same amount of calories all at once.
Provided your small meals don’t degenerate into quick-fix, high fat, high sugar snacks, eating little and often can also help to control hunger and make you less likely binge!
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Over Training!
Following on from last week I decided to write about the symptoms of over training. Some people start exercising and then they begin to enjoy it so much that they just can’t stop!
There is such a thing as ‘exercise addiction’ which falls under the same category as other addictions such as smoking and chocolate and drinking!
Although it is not as harmful as the other addictions, exercise addiction usually begins when people start feeling guilty if they don’t train or if they don’t burn off a particular amount of calories each day/week!
Over training essentially occurs when the volume and intensity of your training sessions exceeds that of what your body is capable of. It is a common problem usually found in weight training where not enough rest is given between training days but is also found in runners and other athletes.
Symptoms of over training would include:
• your strength increases will start to decline or come to a plateau
• you will constantly feel fatigued
• depression
• unable to sleep
• constantly feel exhausted
• more likely to catch flu and colds
• loss of motivation
• decreased appetite
• muscles soreness remains longer than usual
• headaches and moodiness
• pain in muscles and joints
• lack of energy
So, if you begin to feel one ore more of these symptoms coming on it is your bodies way of telling you to rest!!
Once you feel rested and rearing to go you can return to the gym but remember to take it easy!
There is such a thing as ‘exercise addiction’ which falls under the same category as other addictions such as smoking and chocolate and drinking!
Although it is not as harmful as the other addictions, exercise addiction usually begins when people start feeling guilty if they don’t train or if they don’t burn off a particular amount of calories each day/week!
Over training essentially occurs when the volume and intensity of your training sessions exceeds that of what your body is capable of. It is a common problem usually found in weight training where not enough rest is given between training days but is also found in runners and other athletes.
Symptoms of over training would include:
• your strength increases will start to decline or come to a plateau
• you will constantly feel fatigued
• depression
• unable to sleep
• constantly feel exhausted
• more likely to catch flu and colds
• loss of motivation
• decreased appetite
• muscles soreness remains longer than usual
• headaches and moodiness
• pain in muscles and joints
• lack of energy
So, if you begin to feel one ore more of these symptoms coming on it is your bodies way of telling you to rest!!
Once you feel rested and rearing to go you can return to the gym but remember to take it easy!
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Rest Times!
I see so may people come into the gym day after day and train the exact same exercise on the exact same muscles day after day and then they come to me and ask ‘why am I not getting bigger?’ or ‘why am I not toning my muscles?’……
Well effectively when you train you are using your glycogen resources and depending on how fit you are or how severely you have trained you may well have depleted your glycogen reserves meaning you are going to feel slightly tender the next day.
In order to maximize your performance and results you need to rest the parts of your body which have been worked the day before hand. Say, for example, on the Tuesday you went to the gym and did a massive weights session on your legs and did squats, lunges, dead-lifts and so on….you will have severely depleted your glycogen meaning (again depending on your fitness levels and age) you will have to rest those muscles for at least 24-48 hours.
A symptom of training too hard or working a muscle so hard that you may have actually created a tiny tear in your muscle fiber is called DOMS – delayed muscles onset soreness. This is the pain or discomfort felt 24-72 hours after training.
Some people even state that the discomfort increases on the second day after training but by the third day has almost dissipated.
In other words, you need to give your body time to refuel itself before you go and slaughter it again on the weights!
So, to train efficiently as well as effectively you need to ensure you give your body ‘rest days’ between training. After working say, legs, one day, then it is fine to do upper body the next day! Cardio is generally OK most days depending on your current fitness levels!
Well effectively when you train you are using your glycogen resources and depending on how fit you are or how severely you have trained you may well have depleted your glycogen reserves meaning you are going to feel slightly tender the next day.
In order to maximize your performance and results you need to rest the parts of your body which have been worked the day before hand. Say, for example, on the Tuesday you went to the gym and did a massive weights session on your legs and did squats, lunges, dead-lifts and so on….you will have severely depleted your glycogen meaning (again depending on your fitness levels and age) you will have to rest those muscles for at least 24-48 hours.
A symptom of training too hard or working a muscle so hard that you may have actually created a tiny tear in your muscle fiber is called DOMS – delayed muscles onset soreness. This is the pain or discomfort felt 24-72 hours after training.
Some people even state that the discomfort increases on the second day after training but by the third day has almost dissipated.
In other words, you need to give your body time to refuel itself before you go and slaughter it again on the weights!
So, to train efficiently as well as effectively you need to ensure you give your body ‘rest days’ between training. After working say, legs, one day, then it is fine to do upper body the next day! Cardio is generally OK most days depending on your current fitness levels!
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