Best Gym Exercise Tips For Beginners

by | Jan 15, 2014 | Exercise | 0 comments

Fitness If you’re a beginner, the gym can be a terrifying place, fraught with its own social etiquette, not to mention the paranoia that everyone is looking at you, and wondering if you’re actually doing the exercises correctly.

HuffPost UK Lifestyle asked some of the UK’s top fitness experts and personal trainers to tell us what their tips were for starting out. It’s important to get it right so that you continue to keep going beyond January (and don’t subsequently regret that expensive membership).

Cathy Brown, ex-professional British boxer and personal trainer at one of London’s lushest gyms, The Third Space says:

1. Make sure you utilise the induction you get at the gym, all gyms should offer this when you join. It is basically an explanation and demonstration of the equipment and how to use it in the gym, but it also sets you a basic program to get you going.

2. At the beginning stick to machine weights rather than free weights until you feel comfortable in the gym and have better understanding of weights. You cant go too wrong with machine weights.

3. Invest in one personal training session every 6 weeks, they will give you a specific program to do individual to you that you can work on for 6 weeks and then if you get stuck with the program you have the reassurance that you have a trainer to ask.

4. All gyms should have a personal trainer or someone who is supervising the gym working all the time to help members, they are paid to help you so don’t feel you are putting them out by asking questions about equipment etc.

5. NEVER feel that you shouldn’t be in the weights area if you are working on a program or feel intimidated by anyone in the gym, you have every right to be there as much as any one else.

6. Don’t start weights too heavy, if you haven’t done weights before start light so you and your muscles get used to lifting weights, there will be less chance of injury and it will make you feel comfortable with the weights you are using.

7. Don’t let anyone around you influence what you are doing, there are too many people out there who want to give advice that they have only read in a magazine.

9. Do classes that the gym offer, they are free and will make you feel more comfortable in the gym.

10. If you don’t feel sure of anything never be afraid to ask in classes or the gym, no question is stupid.

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Get Fit: 5 Secrets to Exercising During Menopause

by | Jan 14, 2014 | Exercise, General Health, How Your Body Works | 0 comments

Lady If you’re like most women, your sneakers are probably collecting more dust bunnies than miles. But if you want to find hormone happiness during perimenopause and menopause, it’s due time to dust those babies off!

“All exercise, ranging from housework to running marathons, impacts menopause in a positive way,” In fact, exercise can help prevent the muscle and bone loss from which many postmenopausal women suffer, according to the American Council on Exercise. Also, arecent Penn State study found that menopausal women who exercise experience fewer hot flashes in the 24 hours following their workout. While a recent study from the MsFLASH Research Network found some conflicting information — that aerobic exercise isn’t significantly associated with reduced hot flashes — it did find that exercise does have positive effects on sleep quality, insomnia and depression in both perimenopausal and menopausal women. What’s more, exercise may be effective at treating menopausal depression, according to a recent review published in The Cochrane Library,” says Dr. Diana Bitner, MD, a North American Menopause Society Certified Menopause Practitioner & Physician and board-certified OB/GYN. “My patients who exercise on a regular basis have fewer menopause symptoms as well as improved body chemistry — lower cholesterol, better sugar control, less weight gain, and stronger bones. Women who exercise have better sleep, better mood and better quality of life.”

According to Dr. Bitner, body fat (which, of course, tends to increase after menopause) spurs hot flashes and night sweats, leads to poor sleep, saps energy, brings down moods and can wreck self-image. Put that all together, and that also means a torpedoed libido. “I talk to my patients about belly fat as a furnace that makes them hot and tired. As belly fat increases, energy decreases and hot flashes, night sweats and sleep disturbances increase. As belly fat increases, so does insulin resistance — and this can cause cravings for carbohydrates and more menopausal weight gain,” she says. “If a patient has a high BMI and body fat percentage, her risk of snoring and sleep apnea increases, adding another reason for poor sleep, low energy, and hot flashes.”

Ready to dust off those kicks? Here’s how to boost your body for good:

5 Things You Should Know About Stretching And Mobility

by | Jan 13, 2014 | Exercise | 0 comments

Exercise To stretch or not to stretch, that is the question. At least it has been lately with the science of stretching being called into question. Think touching those toes is the best way to prep for a run? It might be time to rethink that pre-workout ritual. New research suggests good old-fashioned stretching isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Instead, mobility might just be the key to unlocking our bodies’ true potential, bringing us closer to peak performance.

Stretching The Truth

It all started back in middle school phys ed. Somewhere amidst the countless games of dodge ball and awkward locker room moments was our first encounter with static stretching. Bend down, try to touch the floor, and count to 10. Easy enough. From there we’d round out the warm-up with some rudimentary calisthenics and voilà: no injuries or soreness!

Trouble is, there’s little evidence to support that scenario. That’s not to say that static stretching is a bad thing, just that it may not live up to the lofty claims. For instance, in an effort to better understand the link between stretching and soreness researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia reviewed 12 different studies completed in the past 25 years. They concluded that, “stretching does not produce important reductions in muscle soreness in the days following exercise.” Similarly, Robert D. Herbert, a researcher who participated in the review, also found static stretching wasn’t a safeguard against injury. According to Herbert, stretchers and non-stretchers experienced about the same number of sports-related injuries.

Maximizing Your Ability

While the great stretching debate rages on, there may be a better way to bulletproof our bodies. Kelly Starrett, a former elite-level athlete, hybrid coach, physical therapist, author and CrossFit instructor, believes that opting for mobility prep over stretching is the key to hacking the body’s mechanics. Therefore, instead of static stretching, Starrett favors a “movement-based integrated full-body approach, which addresses all the elements that limit movement and performance.”

In the course of working with thousands of athletes in the gym and in his physical therapy practice, Starrett learned that 98 percent of orthopedic injuries are preventable, he says. The root of these injuries was a lack of understanding about “simple mechanics and the tools to improve those mechanics.” Therefore, Starrett advocates at least 10 minutes of mobility work each day, no matter what, because “miss a day and you go backwards,” he says.

Get to work on your mobility with these five tips sure to maximize the way your body moves.

The Best Exercise for Strengthening Your Shoulders

by | Jan 9, 2014 | Exercise | 0 comments

Crossfit Pressing a barbell overhead has somehow acquired the reputation as a dangerous exercise for the shoulders. Doctors and physical therapists routinely advise against the exercise weightlifters refer to as simply The Press on the false assumption that an injury known as “shoulder impingement” is the inevitable result. Not only is the press perfectly safe for the shoulders — as evidenced by the fact that shoulder injuries are the least-common injuries for Olympic weightlifters who use the barbell overhead — but the correctly performed press is the best exercise for keeping shoulders strong. Here’s why.

1. Shoulder Impingement Is Misunderstood: Shoulder impingement occurs when the rotator cuff tendons get “pinched” between the head of the humerus and the AC joint, formed by the end of the collarbone and the bony knobs at the end of the shoulder blade.Impingement means an entrapment of soft tissue between two bones in the area of a joint. You can safely experience this entrapment feeling for yourself: sit or stand up straight and raise your arms from your sides to a position parallel to the floor, with the palms of your hands facing the floor and your elbows bent at 90 degrees. Now, raise them just a little more. The pressure you feel in your shoulders is the impingement of your cuff tendons against the AC.

Now, rotate your hands up so your palms face forward, elbows still at 90 degrees, and raise your hands up over your head. Then shrug your shoulders up at the top, like you’re trying to reach the ceiling with your hands and shoulders. Pressure’s gone, right? This is the lockout position of the press, and notice that at no time in this process did your shoulders feel impinged. This because the shrugging of the shoulders at the top pulls the AC knobs away from the head of the humerus, so that impingement is anatomically impossible in the correct press lockout position. The press simply cannot impinge your shoulders.

In fact, shoulder impingement injuries are common only in athletes that use their arms overhead without a shrug. Swimmers, volleyball players, and the racquet sports report most of the shoulder impingement injuries. They’d be far better off if they trained the press as a part of their sports preparation.

2. Why The Press Is the Best Exercise for Shoulder Strength: Since a correct press is done in a standing position, the exercise works all the muscles in the body. Everything between the bar in the hands and the feet balancing against the floor participates in the exercise. Legs, abs, and back muscles, as well as the obvious shoulder and arm muscles, all work together in a correctly performed press. Sixty years ago, the press was the primary weight room exercise for the upper body. For men who trained with weights, a bodyweight-on-the-bar press was considered a good starting point.

And back then, shoulder injuries were essentially unheard of because the press made the shoulders strong — the whole shoulder, not just the front of the shoulder like the bench press does. The takeover of upper-body training by the bench press was an unfortunate development. The bench allows the use of heavier weights, but at the expense of the involvement of more of the body, and more balanced shoulder strength, front-to-back. As a general rule, more muscle mass working at the same time all over the body is much better for strength training than isolation exercises. The coordinated use of all the muscles while standing on the floor with a barbell in your hands produces the most useful strength adaptation — one that actually applies to all natural human movements.

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How to Create a Consistent Workout Plan for Regular Exercise

by | Dec 30, 2013 | Exercise | 0 comments

One of the main reasons why so many people don’t have a consistent workout plan is that they feel they don’t have the time. With so many confusing statements about how long one should exercise, it becomes difficult to see how much is really enough. Many experts have said that forty-five minutes to an hour of exercise a day is best, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the best plan for your schedule. Finding a big block of free time may not be possible, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get fit anyway. Short spurts of activity work too. Here’s what you need to know.

Steps

Do anything to keep fit. Any fitness exercise counts. For many people who aren’t regularly exercising now, they might avoid exercising as it seems they need to be huffing and puffing in order to get any benefit. This is not true. Simply raising your heart rate and your breathing level a bit is an indication that you are working out to a reasonable level. You are stressing your body just a bit, causing it to become stronger and fitter. As a result, any activity which impacts the body in this way is beneficial. You might want to walk further from your car to your office to add some daily physical activity, for example. Or you might want to get off at an earlier bus stop to add a short walk to your day. Even cleaning around the house can be considered exercise if you are beginning to feel the burn.

Consider shorter fitness bursts. These are better for you than prolonged exercise anyway. Working out for ten minute or fifteen minute bursts will help you fit exercise in, while also making the most of the time you have. Since these are shorter periods of time, you will be able to work out harder than you might for a longer period of time. This is going to help you burn more calories and keep your fitness levels high. In addition, since you will be able to fit the fitness into your schedule more easily, you will have a greater chance of sticking to the plan for the long haul.

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5 Fun Ways to Exercise With Kids

by | Dec 23, 2013 | Exercise | 0 comments

Fitness With the holiday season in full swing, chances are you’ve already dug into your fair share of sweet treats and goodies… and who has time to burn them off? It’s no fun and not easy to pass on the delicious indulgences that beckon and test even the strongest of wills this time of year, but fear not, with an exercise plan in place you can treat yourself and check your guilt at the door. Don’t let the kids become your excuse not to work out. Instead, grab those babies and start burning some calories! Here’s how you can make time for exercise, even with the busiest of holiday schedules:

1. Rely on your wheels (not the ones on your car).

If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to become one with your stroller. It’s not just for getting your child from Point A to Point B. It’s your ticket to some serious calorie burning. Strap your little one in, keep her content with a snack, a favorite toy, book or an app or video loaded iPhone, and hit the streets, the park, or a local greenway for a run, jog or just a hearty walk. If you’d rather fight crowds than an icy wind, head to the mall for some indoor power walking. If you have an older child who has outgrown the stroller, have her ride alongside on a scooter or her bike. Self magazine offers a handy calculator for determining how many calories you burn while pushing a stroller. Check it out, remembering that you’ll burn more if you increase your intensity and the duration:

2. Find a Mommy (or Daddy) and Me Exercise Class

We can thank many industrious, entrepreneurial parents before us for creating countless ways to exercise with kids in an organized, structured environment. If you need the discipline, motivation and company that an exercise class provides, but can’t find time away from your kids to attend one, sign up for a parent and child fitness class. There are slews of offerings, especially for urban parents. For instance, in San Francisco you can try out parent and child yoga, such as classes at It’s Yoga Kids, and either take a class together at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco or drop the kids at the JCC childcare while you attend a class on your own. In NYC, try a Kids in Sports class or Karma Kids Yoga. There’s a great round-up of parent-child classes from New York Family, though they are not all fitness related and not all of them aim to provide true exercise for parents. No matter where you live, there’s likely a baby boot camp or Stroller Strides program offering a way for new parents to get together and work out in the company of their little ones.

3. Host an active play date with a friend and her child.

Get everyone in on the action by inviting another mom and child over to break a sweat. Go for a vigorous game of kickball in the backyard, doubles tennis at the local courts, even a relay race or a DIY obstacle course you create at home. If there’s snow outside, find a hill for sledding, a park for snowshoeing or a rink for skating. Too cold to go outside? Meet at a warm, indoor pool and burn some calories with the kickboard. Think of how thrilled your child will be when you suggest a game of street hockey instead of the usual afternoon video you watch together. And think how nice it will be to share a few Christmas cookies with a little less guilt.

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