Exercise

It is common to hear fitness professionals and medical doctors prescribe low to moderate intensity aerobic training (cardio) to people who are trying to prevent heart disease or lose weight. Most often, the recommendations constitute something along the lines of “perform 30-60 minutes of steady pace cardio 3-5 times per week maintaining your heart rate at a moderate level”. Before you just give in to this popular belief and become the “hamster on the wheel” doing endless hours of boring cardio, I’d like you to consider some recent scientific research that indicates that steady pace endurance cardio work may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

First, realize that our bodies are designed to perform physical activity in bursts of exertion followed by recovery, or stop-and-go movement instead of steady state movement. Recent research is suggesting that physical variability is one of the most important aspects to consider in your training. This tendency can be seen throughout nature as all animals demonstrate stop-and-go motion instead of steady state motion. In fact, humans are the only creatures in nature that attempt to do “endurance” type physical activities. Most competitive sports (with the exception of endurance running or cycling) are also based on stop-and-go movement or short bursts of exertion followed by recovery. To examine an example of the different effects of endurance or steady state training versus stop-and-go training, consider the physiques of marathoners versus sprinters. Most sprinters carry a physique that is very lean, muscular, and powerful looking, while the typical dedicated marathoner is more often emaciated and sickly looking. Now which would you rather resemble?

When I think back to when I was at school, my worst nightmare was running. I hated it, even more than football and rugy which I don’t like even today. So I never thought that I’d be any good at running… until I found out the trick that I’m about to share with you now.

I realised that running was an important part of my cardio-vascular exercise, and that I needed to find a way to make it a little bit easier for me. When I used the treadmill, I was getting way out of breath way too quickly (less than 10 minutes, and that included 3 minutes fast walk to warm up). And yet I could go on the rowing machine for 20 minutes and hardly even notice it.

So something was wrong with my running technique.

Not knowing what to try, I just varied everything I could: speed, incline, the length of my stride, the height of my stride, and so on.

And these are the three tricks to running that made the difference for me:

1. Don’t be afraid to INCREASE your speed!

What is Lance Armstrong doing that you can do to improve your results?

Most people exercise to lose weight, focusing solely on that one single goal. But wait, it is not only about looking aesthetically pleasing, getting in those tight jeans, or losing ten pounds. It is really about improving your health, and human performance.

Each day when you are huffing and puffing on the treadmill, focusing vigorously on keeping yourself lean, have you ever thought about what physically is occurring in your body besides burning a bunch of calories?

For improved results, more people need to stop focusing solely on calorie burn, and start thinking about improving such fitness values as VO2 Max, or maximum oxygen uptake.

What exactly is your VO2 Max? VO2 Max is defined as the highest rate at which oxygen can be taken in and used during high intensity dynamic exercise. When you are exercising aerobically on your treadmill, each and every muscle contraction requires oxygen to break down the fats, carbohydrates, and protein; thus, providing energy (ATP) needed to fuel the muscles in order for movement to occur.

How to start your aerobic training program:

Consider first setting your goals for sometime in the future; make sure they are realistic. Start easy, be kind to yourself. Many of us start out joining a gym and telling ourselves that now we will train every day! Six out of ten people going to gyms drop out in the first month. That’s a staggering 60% of the people. The numbers are just as high for those that buy exercise equipment and don’t use it. So you need several ingredients, not necessarily in order of importance, but because you want to be successful in your training.

1. Desire or motivation that is from who you are, not to get something.

2. Energy: This means you need to start thinking about eating better. No matter where you are with nutrition you can always improve (see nutrition for details). You need nutrients as well. Vitamins, power foods, high technology nutrition is available; you just need to make the effort. Without good fuel it’s hard to get the energy to train.

3. Set your goals within yourself and make them realistic. Remember, there is no cause and effect so you can’t cause health; you can only live it.

Over the years I have changed my exercise routine continuously. That wasn’t exactly planned, but it probably kept my interest up. I started with twice-a-week through Adult Education at the local junior high school. That was simple non-impact bending. That was too easy. Then I moved into Jazzercise, which was high impact. I began to really enjoy that. But it was only offered twice-a-week. My energy level blossomed. I now am up to six days per week, and sometimes even that isn’t enough!

I joined many health clubs over the years. After the high school routine, which got dull after a while, I needed to find something that would allow more days of exercising. It had to fit my schedule, since I’ve always worked full time. There’s no choice there! Adult Education classes are only offered during the week for the most part and usually only once or twice a week. That’s simply unacceptable for someone who needs to reduce stress, anxiety, nervous illness, depression and other problems.

A worldwide recall was announced by Guidant Corporation for nearly 50,000 of their heart defibrillators due to potential malfunctions in these devices.

Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not require Guidant to take this step, the FDA has stated that they completely support the decision due to the serious nature of the potential defect.

Specifically, the Guidant Corporation heart defibrillators have been shown to have a tendency toward short-circuiting. This means that it is possible for the device to not provide a shock to the heart when needed to regulate the heart rhythm. Reports indicate that at least 45 heart defibrillators have malfunctioned leading to at least 2 days since May 2005.

Models being recalled by Guidant Corporation include:

· PRIZM 2 DR, Model 1861, manufactured on or before April 16, 2002 · CONTAK RENEWAL, Model H135, manufactured on or before August 26, 2004 · CONTAK RENEWAL 2, Model H155, manufactured on or before August 26, 2004

In addition, the FDA announced that Guidant would also be recalling another group of heart defibrillators that have shown to have memory error problems. This group includes the models known as PRIZM AVT, VITALITY AVT, RENEWAL 3 AVT and RENEWAL 4 AVT.

Denver, Colorado/Las Vegas, Nevada-Sometimes as Freud once said, "A good cigar is just a smoke." A headache, on the other hand, occasionally can be a sign of something much more serious than just a headache.

This is particularly true if it is accompanied by facial pain, neck and shoulder pain, tinnitus or ringing in the ears and unexplained loose teeth. These symptoms, along with jaw pain, limited jaw movement or locking jaw, numbness in the fingers and arms, worn or cracked teeth and clicking or popping in the jaw joints can be signs that a person has the condition called temporomandibular joint syndrome or TMJ. The condition occurs when the teeth, facial muscles and temporomandibular joints are out of alignment.

Fortunately, neuromuscular dentistry can help alleviate symptoms such as headaches, neck and shoulder pain, jaw pain, clicking or popping in the jaw and tinnitus ? another name for ringing in the ears. A neuromuscular dentist may be able to help if you are suffering from any of the above symptoms or a number of other symptoms. In a number of cases, these symptoms can actually be attributed to TMJ, also referred to as TMD (temporomandibular joint disorder) or MPD (myofascial pain disorder).

Aerobic activity is any exercise that helps you use oxygen more efficiently. It gets your heart pumping faster, makes you sweat and quickens your breath. When you raise your heart rate your body begins to burn stored carbohydrates and fatty acids for energy.

Aerobic activity is very effective in controlling your weight and is an ideal way to burn calories. Research shows that a regular aerobic routine, combined with healthy eating habits is the best way to maintain a healthy body.

Did you know that the heart is a muscle? That means you can make your heart stronger and more efficient. A regular aerobic routine will give your heart the kind of workout that will help it do a better job of delivering oxygen to all your organs.

Exercise doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. Any activity that raises the heart rate and is maintained for at least 20 minutes is considered aerobic. It can be different types of exercise like jogging, biking, rowing, swimming, dancing or even brisk walking.

The real benefits of aerobic exercise are achieved by increasing your heart rate and breathing hard for an extended period of time. During this aerobic activity your body produces more energy and delivers more oxygen to your muscles. Your heart beats faster and increases the blood flow to your muscles and then back to your lungs.

Aerobic means “with oxygen” and your body’s aerobic system is your heart, lungs, blood vessels and muscles. The benefit of aerobic exercise is based on how well your body can deliver oxygen to your muscles and use it for energy. Regular aerobic workouts increase your ability to take in and transport that oxygen and improves your aerobic capacity.

A good aerobic exercise program can help you live a longer, healthier life and enhance your well being. You get a multitude of benefits if you do your aerobic workout on a regular basis even if the intensity is low or short in duration. It’s fun to keep a log of your workouts that track your progress to see how far you have come in your pursuit of fitness.

So you’ve decided to take up running? Maybe you are starting back up after putting it off for years. Here is a list of tips that I have found beneficial to the starting runner or even the seasoned pro.

1. STRETCH THOSE LEGS AND FEET ?BEFORE AND AFTER ? Stretching is the number one thing to remember in any running program. Keep your muscles flexible and relaxed, your joints mobile, and relieve tension and strain by doing a few gentle stretches before AND AFTER your run. I cannot stress enough how important it is to stretch after the run and to cool down. I have found most new runners miss this vital step in their exercise program.

You don’t want to start off doing too much too soon. Build your body up while you prepare yourself to meet the demands that you are about to ask from your body. Make sure to loosen up your hamstrings, quads, calves, iliotibial (IT) band, hips, buttocks and the plantar fascia (area at the bottom of your feet between the heel and ball of foot). Stretch until you feel tension but not pain. NEVER bounce because this can tear your muscles and cause more serious problems.