Correct Breathing During Exercise

Breathing correctly during exercise will ensure that oxygen is properly transported (torn your kings to your muscles The way you breathe during exercise involves much more than inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. Proper technique maximizes the benefits of every exercise

Oxygen by itself does not contain usable energy, however, it {days a major role in releasing the energy stored in previously ingested food. The energy demands of your contracting muscles increase during exercise, as does their need for oxygen Because the air you breathe consists of only 21 percent oxygen, you need to inhale an increased volume of air and oxygen to meet your body's needs. You will know if you are nor breathing correctly through each repetition because you will be out of breath by the end of the exercise.

To breathe correctly during exercise, do the following:

Exhale through your mouth in a controlled manner during the most strenuous part of the movement For example, when you are performing the biceps curt, exhale as you lift your arms to contract your muscles I * Inhale through your nose during the easier part of the exercise When working your biceps, inhale as you lengthen your muscles to return to the starting position. Be sure there is adequate ventilation during your workout Excessive yawning can result from the fresh air.

Your abdominal muscles are actually a group of six muscles that originate on the sternum and ribs and extend to areas of your pel­vis. They assist with your movement, breathing process, and posture. Your abdominal muscles shorten and your back muscles lengthen to move your shoulders forward toward your hips. The reverse action creates backward flexion. The muscles that are deeper and closer to your spine contribute the most structural

support.

While your abdominal muscles can't be separated (they all work together in each exercise), there are exercises that favor certain portions of the abs. It's helpful to be familiar with your core abdominal muscles so you can target them by picturing them in your mind's eye as you exercise.

How to Train your Pectoral Muscles and Deltoid Muscles

Men display their muscled chests as a sign of strength and vital­ity. Strong chest muscles are primarily associated with hard work—sometimes at the gym. For women, toned chest muscles add contour to the chest, as well as underlying support for the breasts. However, the most compelling reason to develop your pecs is to have increased upper-body strength to live your life with independence and youthful energy.

Your chest muscles, located between your breasts and ribs, connect your chest to your arms. There is no actual muscle in breast tissue, but your underlying pectoral muscles will put up a good front. Corny comments aside, the reality is that after about age forty, your skin becomes more lax (particularly with sun damage), your milk ducts shrink, and your body fat increases. Building up your pectoral muscles will add support but won't restore your breasts to their formerly firm, round contours. For that, you need a well-fitting bra or a certified plastic surgeon.

Strong pectoral muscles arc desirable—tight ones that pull the shoulder blades, collarbones, and arms forward obviously arc not. Most of us engage in activities (such as working at the computer or even cooking) that cause us to hunch forward. Poor posture is also to blame. Continuously being in this posi­tion without stretching to open your chest muscles eventually results in consequences such as limited arm movement. Here is an effective stretch you can perform anytime to lengthen your chest muscles. All you need is a doorway.

Stand in the middle of an open doorway, placing one foot in front of the other. Bend your elbows at right angles and position your forearms on each side of the doorway. Lean forward until you feel a stretch in your chest muscles. Hold for about fifteen seconds while you breathe normally. Relax and repeat several limes.

Broad shoulders have always been a metaphor for physical and emotional strength. Like Atlas, you may have carried the weight of the world on yours. The irony is that the ball-and-socket joints that form your shoulders are also the most unstable and prone to injury. One of the best ways to protect and support your shoulder joints is by strengthening the surrounding mus­cles—the deltoids and the rotator cuffs.

Your shoulder muscles, or deltoids, form a triangle of three "heads" (front, middle, and rear), which are the most movable joints in your body. They can be used together or separately to move your arms. Your rotator cuffs, which arc made up of four muscles and their tendons, stabilize your shoulders and assist in rotation and overhead movements. Athletes who play sports that use overhead motions (such as baseball, softball, swimming and tennis) benefit from their shoulders' wide range of motion but are plagued by overuse injuries that damage and inflame the muscles and tendons. And you don't have to be an athlete to be vulnerable. Any repetitive movement, such as house painting or window cleaning, can cause rotator cuff fatigue—the best excuse yet for not doing windows.

Toned, nicely rounded shoulders enhance your body's sym­metry by being in better balance with your hips. However, the most important reason to develop your deltoid muscles is for the added strength needed to perform everyday tasks, such as car­rying a tray if you're a waiter or stowing your carry-on luggage in the plane's overhead compartment when you travel.

It is very important that you maintain all the parts of your shoulders in good working order. Exercising with weights keeps your shoulders strong, and stretching aids in flexibility. A youthful body exudes fluid, flexible movements and toned muscles. Does age rob you of strength and grace? The answer is a resounding no! Your participation in the Body Electric weight- resistance exercises that follow will make all the difference.

Well-conditioned back muscles and ligaments provide sup­port for your spine. Your ligaments hold your bones together, allowing you to perform movements such as bending and twist­ing within a safe range of motion. Your muscles, like your liga­ments, can stretch, plus they have the added ability to contract to coordinate the movement of your bones. And if you need yet another reason to exercise your back muscles, the experts’ study confirms that stronger back muscles reduce spinal frac­tures in postmenopausal women.

The Skills for Warm up Exercises

Don't expect your body to go from zero to sixty when you work out. Even elite athletes have to do a thorough warm-up for optimal performance and injury preven­tion. Warming up prior to exorcise provides you with that much- needed transition from sedentary to active. It prepares your body and mind for the more strenuous activity to follow, and it minimizes the likelihood of injury—a most important twofer. The warm-up is so named because the movements slowly increase your body's core and muscle temperature, which effec­tively increases the elasticity of your muscles, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage. Your built-in temperature regulator, perspiration, helps to prevent your body from overheating.

A warmed muscle both contracts more intensely and relaxes more easily. Your muscles contract and relax as you continue to work them through their full range of motion. As your muscles warm up, you continue to increase the number of muscle fibers that can contract together, which places less stress on the individual fibers. A stronger and healthier muscle is less vulnerable to injury.

The warm-up exercises also allow time for your heart to adjust to the increased workload. Your blood vessels dilate to assist addi­tional blood flow to the muscles, carrying increased oxygen and nutrients, such as blood sugar and adrenaline. The endurance and performance of your muscles is further fueled by increases in your blood temperature. The warm-up exercises improve per­formance, but, more important, they help to prevent or reduce muscle soreness and the chance of injury.

Warming up becomes even more of a necessity because your tissues become less supple and your joints retain less fluid. By activating the fluids in your joints, you reduce wear and (ear caused by friction and increase your range of motion. It takes about four to five minutes to warm up your body, depending on how tight your muscles and joints feel on a par­ticular day. It also may take longer to loosen up on cooler days. Bear in mind that experimentation and experience with the workout will result in increased body awareness. Vary the warm-up from time to lime to find what works best for you. For instance, background music may be energizing on some days, while on others, Zen-like silence may be more conducive to increased concentration and body awareness.

Always begin your warm-up gradually and be aware that your cold muscles arc less elastic. More focused stretching is best done after your exercise session, when your muscles are warm and pliable with the increased blood flow. In the warm- up that follows, you will begin with gentle stretching of your head and neck and progress down your body, energizing each major muscle group. Then, with your chassis purring, you'll be revved up and ready to roll—so to speak.

How Far, Fast, and Frequently You Walk

To be effective, fitness walking has to be deliberate with regard to how far, fast, and frequently you walk. To continue to achieve ben­efits, you have to plan for a progressive overload. In other words, don't allow yourself to plateau at a comfortable level. Your goal is to continue to increase your pace, over time, and to improve your circulation by making your heart pump blood more effi­ciently throughout your body. Consistency is crucial so that your progress doesn't yo-yo. Your body will become conditioned to increased intensity over time but only through repeated efforts.

Walking farther, faster, or more frequently are variables; add­ing a hill or interspersing your normal pace with faster sprints can also up the challenge. But don't try to increase everything simultaneously—work on increasing haw far you walk in some sessions and how last you walk in others. While you arc build­ing speed, I suggest that you gauge your walks according to time rather than distance. If possible, begin with thirty-minute walks (fifteen minutes in each direction), the minimum goal for increasing cardiovascular health. As you become more conditioned, increase your pace to cover more distance in the allotted time.

A reasonable goal is to walk three miles in forty-five minutes, sometimes less and sometimes more. Adding a sixty-minute walk once or twice each week will definitely boost your body's fat-burning capability. Increasing your walking pace from three to four miles per hour can double the benefits. The surgeon gen­eral recommends that your thirty minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity can be accumulated, meaning you can do it in shorter bouts of ten or fifteen minutes throughout the day. And there is no law that says you have to begin each walk from your home or workplace. A brief car or bicycle ride can transport you to a variety of scenarios. One day you may enjoy a rural country setting, while another day you may prefer a walk around your neighborhood. I encourage you to get in your car and map out several three-mile routes, a mile and a half there and back.

Increased oxygen during aerobic exercise strengthens your heart and lungs. Aerobic literally means "in the presence of, or with, oxygen." Your body initially fuels the increased effort by burning excess carbohydrates. When your store of carbohy­drates has been depleted, after about twenty minutes, your body will begin to use fat for fuel—going first to the regular reserves and then the harder-to-reach places. Therefore, a longer walk will definitely burn fatter and continue to do for several hours post exercise! Carbohydrates, including sugar, that are not immediately used by your body for fuel arc converted to fat deposits for long-term storage. Excess fat is stored in areas where fat deposits are already located, such as your abdomen, hips, and thighs. Your body depends on its fat stores to keep you alive when food is scarce.

Begin and end your walk with five minutes of more casual stroll­ing, gradually increasing the intensity of your movements at the beginning and decreasing them at the end. If you choose, you can perform some gentle stretching at about five minutes into your walk. Save the more vigorous, range-of-motion stretching until your walk is completed. You may experience muscular aches and pains, particularly when you increase your goals. If you have discomfort, such as painful shin splints while walking, it is important to rest until the injury has healed. Continuing to exercise with an injury will just prolong the pain. Always respect an injury. Be sure to schedule one day of rest each week to prevent physical and psy­chological burnout. You will return to your walks with renewed vigor and conviction.

Proper Shoes for Walking

Wear appropriate, well-fitting walking shoes as this will encour­age vibrant walking and limit fatigue. Shop for shoes late in the day. When your feet are their maximum size, and try on sev­eral pairs before making your decision. Your shoes should be replaced about every 500 miles. If you walk six days per week at 3 miles per day, you will walk 18 miles per week, or 936 miles in a year. On that schedule, you will need to replace your walking shoes twice per year. I suggest, instead, that you purchase both pairs of shoes at the same time so you can alternate them to prevent potential foot irritation.

Choose shoes that provide an ade­quately roomy toe box for your toes to widen as you push off. There is nothing more annoying than sore toes caused by too short or too narrow shoes. Put your hand inside the shoe to check for protruding or rough inseams that may rub. I remem­ber when I first snow-skied with rental boots. If they didn't fit perfectly, they created hot spots on the first day that were both­ersome for the entire trip. I quickly learned that it made all the difference to own custom-fitted boots.

Choose breathable microfiber athletic socks that wick the moisture away to help your feet stay dry and blister-free. You can also use powder or petroleum jelly on your feel to mini­mize friction. In cold weather, add extra protection for your extremities.

When you're doing walking and other aerobic exercise, it's important, for maximum benefit, to keep your heart rate within a specified range. Your target heart rate zone is calculated by subtracting your age from 220 and multiplying by 50 to 80 percent. So, for example, if you're fifty years old, your target heart rate would be 102 to 136 beats per minute. A heart rate monitor allows you to measure your heart rate in real time. The monitor usually includes a chest strap transmitter and a wrist receiver that resembles a wrist watch. Some aerobic machines, such as treadmills, feature a built-in monitor that measures your heart's BPM (beats per minute) with a device that you squeeze manually. The heart rate monitor keeps you in touch with your target heart rate zone during aerobic activity and is a practical alternative to taking your pulse.

What Is the Best Exercise and which Types of Exercise Is the Most Appropriate for You

You should realize that there are several types of exercise and that each fills a individual need. It's also important to make out that while we all share the same minimum daily requirement for exercise; different "doses" of physical activity may best suit different individuals, and then should know which types of exercise is the most appropriate for you. Exercise physiologists classify exercise based on how your muscle fibers are put to work and how your heart and movement respond to that work. But physiology won't help you find your way through the maze of exercise programs that may point you to a gym, a track, or a yoga class. To get where you belong, consider five distinct types of exercise in more practical terms.

Strength training (also known as resistance exercise) builds muscle mass and power and increases bone calcium content and strength. Strength training uses free weights, resistance machines, calisthenics, or rubber tubes and metal springs to improve muscles and bones.

Flexibility training is an important complement to resistance training. As muscles grow stronger, they get staffer, tighter, and shorter. Age takes some of the spring from elastic tissue, making muscles, tendons, and ligaments stiff and tight. Stretching will help; it improves flexibility, thus reducing the risk of injury and improving performance and function during exercise and daily life.

Exercises for balance are often overlooked. Indeed, smooth and graceful young athletes have no need for activities devoted to building balance and improving coordination. But check in with them again in a few years. Age takes a toll on balance, but special exercises can help. Good balance and coordination will help you glide through exercise and sports participation and will substantially reduce your risk of falling.

Speed training doesn't have a chapter in this book. It's an important tool for competitive athletes who need to attain maximum acceleration and speed, but it can do more harm than good when it comes to health. Unless you are training for top-level competition, there is no reason for you to push your body to its oxygen-deprived anaerobic maximum. Still, we can learn an important lesson from the men and women who coach top athletes. They use a technique called interval training, whereby the athlete alternates periods of maximum effort (sprinting, for example) with periods of modest intensity (jogging or walking, for example). If you're like most of us, there is no need for you to sprint—but you can build your endurance by varying the intensity of your exercise, jacking it up for a time, and then throttling back to recover before repeating the cycle. You'll also benefit from varying you activities and by alternating longer or harder sessions with shorter or easier ones.

You need resistance training for your muscles and bones, flexibility training for your muscles and joints, and balance exercises for your coordination and equilibrium. But how about your heart and circulation, your metabolism, and your muscular endurance? To improve these vital functions, you need dynamic or endurance exercise. Until now, that's meant aerobic training. The doctrine of aerobics calls for you to put your large muscle groups to work continuously in a rhythmic, repetitive fashion for prolonged periods of time. The goal of these types of exercise is to push your heart toward its maximum without actually putting your pedal all the way to the floor. In practice, that means raising your heart rate to 70 to 85 percent of maximum and holding it there for twenty to sixty minutes. Long-distance running, swimming, and biking are prime examples of aerobic exercise, so aerobic training is the best way to improve cardiopulmonary fitness, and it's an excellent way to promote health. On a personal note, it's what helped me overcome a heritage of cardiovascular disease and premature death some thirty years ago, and it's been a boon to thousands of people who run for their lives. Without disputing the merits of aerobics, we should consider an alternative approach. These types of exercise are not as good at improving the cardiovascular fitness that athletes prize so highly, but it's a great way to improve health.

The Physical Benefits of Exercise in Protecting You from Diabetes and Obesity

Over eighteen million Americans have diabetes. They shouldn't. Although heredity plays a role in the disease, most patients with the general form of diabetes have themselves to blame, not their parents. Guilt is not the issue, but health is. Diabetes can lead to heart attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney failure, amputations, and early death. Various studies show that regular exercise cuts the risk of diabetes by 16 to 50 percent. Moderate exercise, such as walking, will give you lots of protection, but this is one area in which more exercise is even better. In the University of Pennsylvania College Alumni Study, for example, the risk of diabetes was reduced by 6 percent with every five hundred calories burned up in exercise per week.

You can find out if you have diabetes by taking a simple blood test, the fasting blood sugar. Values of 100 mg/dL or lower are normal, levels above 126 mg/dL indicate diabetes, and scores between 100 and 126 reflect increased risk. But even if your fasting blood sugar is normal, you should take steps to keep it that way—and exercise plays a crucial role. It promotes weight loss, but it can even help folks who remain overweight. But the most important physiologic benefit of exercise is to increase tissue sensitivity to insulin so more sugar enters cells even though the pancreas puts out less insulin. And this important metabolic asset persists for up to twenty-four hours after a single exercise session.

Obesity is a terrible health hazard, actually weight-loss therapy may be a more effective solution in the control of diabetes than the routine lifestyle change. As our waistlines expand, our wallets empty to purchase a bewildering variety of diet books, special foods, and unregulated diet pills and potions. Everyone who shells out for a quick fix is headed for disappointment. Don't fall for the weight-loss shell game. There is no quick fix. Instead, weight loss requires a long-term commitment to diet and exercise.

To lose weight, you need to burn up more calories than you take in. The math is unforgiving, the progress slow, and the lifestyle changes substantial. But it works. The National Weight Control Registry maintains a roster of people who have succeeded where so many fail. About four thousand Americans are on the list. On average, they have lost sixty-seven pounds each and have kept it off for more than five years. How did they win at the losing game? Their methods vary, but a few themes are common: adhering to low-fat, calorie-restricted menus; eating breakfast; weighing themselves regularly; and getting lots of exercise, typically by walking for an hour a day.

If you are one of the 30 percent of Americans who are overweight, one of the 30 percent who are obese, one of the 5 percent who are very obese, you'll consider three facts about exercise and body fat:

1.  Even without dieting, exercises can help. A 2000 Canadian study, for example, found that volunteers who participated in an exercise program without changing their diets lost an average of sixteen pounds in twelve weeks. That took about an hour of daily exercise. But you can do as well or better with half as much exercise if you also cut your calories.

2. Exercise is most effective at reducing abdominal fat. And when you reduce abdominal obesity with exercise (and diet), you'll earn the metabolic benefits that reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other illnesses.

3. When it comes to exercise for weight loss, more is better. It's just a case of the math: burn more calories, lose more weight. keep in mind though, that you will undo your gains if you eat more. Fortunately, exercise itself won't make that happen; if anything, physical activity is more likely to reduce your appetite than to stimulate it. Remember, people who perform steady, moderate exercise are more likely to lose weight than people who burn the same number of calories with briefer, more intense bursts of action.

The Physical Benefits of Exercise in Cancer Prevention

Cancer, the nation-wide’s next leading killer, is not only one illness. Exercise has clear benefit against some major malignancies and possible advantage against others, but it offers no defense against many cancers. About 1,373,000 Americans will be diagnosed with cancer every year, and some 570,000 will die from the disease. Physically active individuals have a lower overall risk of cancer than their sedentary peers. In part, this may be explained by the fact that active people tend to have healthy lifestyles; eating well, avoiding tobacco and excess alcohol, and getting regular preventive checkups all help fight cancer. But there are also biological explanations for the benefits of exercise.

Most important, exercise reduces body fat, and obesity is a major contributor to many malignancies. Exercise also appears to reduce the body's production of various growth factors, proteins that may promote the multiplication of malignant cells. Physical activity also lowers levels of insulin, another potential growth promoter. Other hormonal effects help explain how exercise reduces the risk of breast cancer and how it may protect against certain reproductive tract malignancies. Other possibilities include potential antioxidant and immune-enhancing properties of exercise, but these remain speculative.

The evidence is best for colon cancer. More than fifty studies from around the world show that physically active people are less likely to develop colon cancer than inactive individuals. The protection is substantial, amounting to a 30 to 40 percent reduction in risk. And as in the case of heart disease, moderate exercise will confer excellent benefits.

Breast cancer is the other big target of physical activity. More than sixty studies suggest that women who exercise regularly can expect a 20 to 30 percent reduction in the chance of getting breast cancer. Considering that about 213,000 Americans will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, that's a big benefit—and it applies about equally to pre- and postmenopausal women. And a 2005 Harvard study of 2,987 women with breast cancer linked moderate exercise, such as walking for twenty-five to forty-five minutes a day, to a substantial improvement in survival.

Exercise may help prevent breast cancer by reducing estrogen levels and/or decreasing tissue responsiveness to the female hormone. Moderate exercise will confer most of the benefit, but intensive exercise appears to add some additional protection. Like the breast, the female reproductive organs are estrogen-responsive, and several studies suggest that women who exercise may have a reduced risk of cancer of the uterus, but not the ovaries.

The prostate is also a hormone-responsive organ, but in this case, the driving force is testosterone, the major male sex hormone. Prostate cancer displays much more clinical variability than most other malignancies, and investigations of exercise and prostate cancer have produced widely varied results. Some suggest protection from modest exercise (such as walking), others indicate benefit only from very intense exercise, while still others cannot detect any link. More study is needed.

Incomplete evidence is also the watchword for lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, with several studies hinting that exercise can help. Lung cancer is common, pancreatic cancer uncommon—but since both are deadly, even a little protection would be welcome indeed. And although exercise may not prevent or treat other malignancies, cancer specialists have learned that appropriate levels of physical activity can help rehabilitate cancer patients, improving energy, self-confidence, and overall well-being.

The Physical Benefits of Exercise in Maintaining Your Nervous System and Mental Function

The brain and body are undividable parts of the human organism, and both benefits from exercise. Health is the vital principle of bliss. Regular work out fights hopelessness and dissipates anxiety, and improves the quality of sleep.  The repetitive routine of activities, such as walking, jogging, and swimming functions as muscular meditation, share some of the benefits of psychological meditation.

Although the data are less complete, sexual function also appears to benefit. The result is a better mood, improved performance at work and at home, and increased self-esteem. Scientists are still working to understand how exercise improves mental function. Part of the benefit may be purely psychological, the natural result of feeling more energetic and looking better. Hormones may also play a role, since exercise reduces stress hormones and boosts the production and release of endorphins,, the body's own pain-reducing hormones that have been linked to the so-called runner's high. And a small study suggests that exercise may also help nerves carry their messages to and from the brain faster. Research is also uncovering an additional neurological benefit of regular exercise: a reduced risk of cognitive decline (dementia), particularly in old age.

Exercise promotes emotional and psychological well-being by fighting depression, dissipating anxiety, and improving sleep. That should help mental function—and there is more. Animal studies show that exercise can increase blood flow to the brain and enhance communication between nerve cells by promoting new connections (synapses) between brain cells. A study of mice even found that running increased the production and survival of new nerve cells in the aging rodents' brains. More than forty thousand elderly Americans, Canadians, and Europeans have all linked regular physical activity with a reduced risk of cognitive decline in the "golden years." As compared with the least active people, those who got the most exercise were 15 to 50 percent less likely to suffer from mental impairment. In one study, for every mile a woman walked each day, her risk of cognitive decline dropped by 13 percent. In a study from Cleveland, regular exercise between the ages of twenty and sixty was linked to a nearly fourfold reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in old age. Researchers in Baltimore also reported that people who carry a gene that increases risk for Alzheimer's disease enjoy the most protection from exercise. So in case you've forgotten, the moral is simple: for your mind as well as your body, remember to exercise regularly. It's another case of new research confirming old insights; in this case the strength of mind is exercise, not rest.

The Physical Benefits of Exercise in Accelerating Your Metabolism

Exercise will speed up your metabolism, the harder you exercise, the more energy you use. Lying quietly in bed, a 150-pound person will burn about seventy-five calories an hour. even though the brain uses about 20 percent of the body's energy, mental work won't increase that significantly. So, alas, reading this book won't help you lose weight. In contrast, a top athlete can burn fourteen hundred calories in an hour of maximum exertion. Ordinary people, of course, may not work that hard, but reasonable exercise will increase your metabolic rate by four to six times, vigorous exercise by more. The most obvious metabolic benefit of usual exercise is weight control.

If you exercise regularly, you'll burn away body fat—but only if you use up more energy than you take in. The key to weight loss is a "C" word, but despite America's latest dietary fad, it's not carbs but calories. The math is simple but unyielding. To reduce, you must burn up more calories than you consume. In nearly every case, sustained weight control depends on eating less and exercising more. The more you exercise, the more wiggle room in your diet.

Exercise training will also improve your blood cholesterol profile. It will lower your LDL ("bad") cholesterol and boost your HDL ("good") cholesterol. Over time, walking just a mile a day will produce helpful gains, but the more you exercise, the more your HDL will rise. That's particularly important, since the marvelous statin drugs and most other medications that lower LDL levels are not very good at raising HDL levels. Most people can expect moderate exercise to boost their HDL levels by at least 5 percent, thus reducing the risk of heart attack by more than 15 percent. Exercise will also lower levels of triglycerides, a less dangerous but still important form of blood fat. A good diet and successful weight control will augment the beneficial effects of exercise. Healthy people should aim for an LDL level below 130 mg/dL, but people with other risk factors, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, should aim to get below 100 mg/dL, and people with active coronary artery disease should set their sights on 70 mg/dL or even less. The lower the better, but sharp reductions usually require medications in addition to diet and exercise. Men should try to boost their HDL levels above 40 mg/dL, women above 45 mg/dL, the higher mean the better.

Exercise also has positive effects on glucose (sugar) metabolism. It makes tissues more sensitive and responsive to insulin, the hormone that allows glucose to move from the blood into the body's cells, where it can be burned for energy. The result is a sharply lower risk of diabetes, a major health hazard that is rising at a worrisome rate in our sedentary, increasingly obese society. Pasting blood sugar levels of 100 mg/dL or less are considered normal, levels of 126 mg/dL or more indicate diabetes, and values between the two suggest an increased risk of developing diabetes.

The Physical Benefits of Exercise in Promoting Muscle Building, Strengthening Lung and Maintaining Muscle Health

Strong muscular function is the clearest requirement for exercise, and enhanced muscular ability is the most obvious benefit of regular exercise. Obvious or not, there is extra to your muscles than meets the eye.

Similar to all living tissue, muscle cells require oxygen; they get it from a rich network of tiny blood vessels called capillaries. They also need power which is produced by thousands of tiny factories called mitochondria. The mitochondria are packed with enzymes that convert glucose (sugar) from the blood into energy; they can also generate energy from glycogen (a starch) stored right in the muscles themselves, and they can burn fat.

Muscles improve with regular use, but the type of exercise you perform determines the type of improvement. Exercises such as walking or biking increase your muscles' blood supply, energy stores, and mitochondrial activity. The result is better oxygen uptake and a much more efficient metabolism; you'll recognize it as improved endurance. In contrast, exercises such as weight lifting increase the size and power of individual muscle cells, increasing the bulk and strength of your muscles. Whereas your circulation and metabolism will benefit when you use any part of your body, individual muscles improve only when they are put to work. In addition, as muscles become stronger, they get shorter and tighter. You can overcome both problems by planning a balanced program that includes regular stretching.

When you exercise, your breathing gets deeper and faster. If you push yourself to the limit, you'll be panting and gasping for air. As you get into shape, you'll be able to do much more exercise with less respiratory effort—you'll "get your wind." Surprisingly, though, your lungs don't deserve any of the credit. In fact, the lung is one of the few human organs that does not improve with exercise training. The reason: your lungs have such a large excess capacity that they do not have to improve to meet the demands of exercise. In fact, you could get along perfectly well with just one lung, even getting enough oxygen to permit vigorous exercise. Intense exercise produces breathlessness because tissues aren't getting enough oxygen and they are producing excessive amounts of carbon dioxide and acid. Regular exercise improves your wind without changing your lungs because it boosts your heart's ability to pump oxygen-rich blood and it enhances your muscles' ability to extract and use that oxygen.

Your bones are much more than passive supporting structures like the girders on a high-rise. Your body's 206 bones are metallically active living tissues. Even after you've stopped growing, your bones are constantly reconstructing themselves by resorbing old bone and forming new tissue. At any one time, about seven percent of your body's bone is being remodeled.

During youth, bone formation outpaces bone resorption— that's how we grow. In our twenties and thirties, the two processes are balanced and bones are at their strongest, containing about two and a half pounds of calcium in the average adult. But beyond age forty or so, bone tissue is removed faster than it is restored; in particular, menopause accelerates the net loss of bone calcium in women. In about thirty-four million Americans, the result is osteopenia (low bone calcium), and in another ten million, the result is osteoporosis, a potentially debilitating disorder which is characterized by thin, brittle bones that tend to fracture quite easily. You can help keep your bones strong by getting enough calcium and vitamin D in your diet and by staying away from tobacco and excessive amounts of alcohol. And exercise helps by slowing the rate of bone resorption. But to strengthen your bones, you'll need special types of exercises, weight-bearing and/or resistance exercise.

The Physical Benefits of Exercise in Making More Health and Longevity

Over the past fifty years, scientists have provided plenty of evidence that the benefits of exercise are important, even crucial, for good health. Although physical activity can reduce your risk of many illnesses, its most important impact is on cardiovascular disease. Even modest exercise, puts stress on nearly every part of your body, it shouldn't scare you away from exercise. In fact, if the stress of exercise is applied properly, nearly every part of your body will respond by growing stronger and healthier. The result is true fitness. It's not measured by how fast you can run, how much you can lift, or how big your biceps are. Instead, real fitness is measured by how well your body can withstand stress of all sorts: the stress of exercise, the stress of disease, the psychosocial stresses of twenty-first-century life, and even the stress of the aging process.

Exercise can make you fit and healthy. The trick is to know how to exercise properly and then to make it part of your daily life. And the way to start is by understanding how exercise affects your body. Even the most committed couch potato has sprinted to catch a bus or an elevator, and all of us can remember how it feels to exercise. Physical exertion makes your heart beat faster and harder. Your breathing also gets faster and deeper. If you're at it long enough, your skin will get flushed, warm, and damp with perspiration. Your muscles will be taut from effort, and they may ache and stiffen up for some time afterward. If you are really pushing yourself, you may notice some nausea, abdominal discomfort, or lightheadedness, and you might enjoy high spirits right after you come to a stop, only to feel tired, sleepy, or a bit grumpy later in the day.

You don't have to be an exercise physiologist to know that exercise makes your heart, lungs, and muscles work harder or that your metabolism speeds up, producing extra heat. But even though an occasional burst of exercise may enable you to catch a bus or enjoy a sporting afternoon with the kids, it won't do much for your health. For fitness and health, sporadic exercise won't do—but regular exercise will do very nicely indeed. The body responds to the stress of habitual exercise with a remarkable series of adaptations that are collectively known as the training effect. Hippocrates didn't have the benefit of modern exercise physiology, but the Father of Medicine seems to have predicted the training effect some twenty-four hundred years ago when he wrote "that which is used, develops; that which is not used, wastes away." Regular exercise will produce long-term changes in many of your body's organs and functions. But at the heart of your improvement is your heart itself.

Obviously everyone desires to live long, but no man would be old. The clock ticks for all living things, and with each tick, things change. Exercise can't stop the clock, much less turn back its hands—but it can slow the tick and keep people healthy and vigorous, with the physiological capacities of much younger individuals. Exercise should help keep you young for your age. But does it actually work? The researchers had tested the men before and after exercise, finding devastating changes that included faster resting heart rates, higher systolic blood pressures, a drop in the heart's maximum pumping capacity, a rise in body fat, and a fall in muscle strength.

Vigor and health are wonderful, wonderful things, but longevity doesn't hurt, either. Cicero again: "No one is so old that he does not think he could live another year. Regular exercise prolongs life, according to the calculations of scientist, each mile you walk as part of a regular exercise program will extend your life by twenty-one minutes; these data even tell us that you'll gain about two hours of life expectancy for each hour of regular exercise, even if you don't start until middle age.

Scientists have gathered facts by evaluating elderly men in Hawaii, Seventh-Day Adventists in California, male and female residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, Harvard alumni, elderly American women, British joggers, middle-aged Englishmen, retired Dutchmen, and residents of Copenhagen—among others. Although the details vary, the bottom line is remarkably uniform: regular exercise prolongs life and reduces the burden of disease and disability in old age. In reviewing the data, Dr. J. Michael McGinnis of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion concludes that regular physical activity appears to reduce the overall mortality rate by more than a quarter and to increase the life expectancy by more than two years compared with the sedentary population's average.

The Benefits and Operating Tips of Barefoot Running Technique

There have been great deals of questions over the years as to regardless of whether barefoot running poses а much better benefit or more risk to runners, some runners said that barefoot running technique is very helpful and less traumatic for the runner.

Actually barefoot running technique has been going on for centuries, back in the day shoes were not common. Those that are proponents of barefoot operating claim that the human body has evolved over thousands of years to run with out shoes. Because of this, humans run most efficiently and with the proper technique when barefoot. When operating barefoot, the strike of the foot consistently lands at the forefront and then works its way to the heel while working with muscles to ease the force. Since running is a remarkable sport, then again it requires healthy feet and a healthy musculoskeletal system. When using modern shoes the strike of each step is concentrated onto the heel which puts a lot of stress onto both the muscles and bones, most runners lose their natural foot function and natural operating method. Barefoot running technique does not have those risks given that it does not go against the natural strike of the foot.

A runner who is running barefoot usually has their stride underneath their body. This means the ball of the foot strikes the ground even with or slightly behind the rest of the body. This takes a fantastic deal of pressure off of each strike to the ground and stride looks highly natural and simple. Landing on your heel with a dead straight leg sends an impact weighing twice your body-weight appropriate through your ankle, knee, and hip into your lower back - there is no shock absorber other than the joints it travels by means of. When you land on your mid-foot, your knee is slightly bent to absorb some of the effect into our calves and quads and away from our joints. If you take your shoes off and try a couple of hundred meters barefoot, you will plenty of likely discover that you not surprisingly start to run mid foot.

Barefoot running technique is also being an option to injured runners or runners with chronic injuries as they realize that are able to run again. Most ailments are caused from the shock our feet have to absorb each and every time the heel hits the ground, which lead to injuries and chronic pain. Running barefoot puts the pressure on the ball of the foot where it was meant to be as opposed to the heel exactly where a majority of runners land when wearing shoes. The ball of the foot was meant to be used as natural shock absorber. Run barefoot for a couple of yards and see if you land on your heels. Changes are you won't. In many countries, barefoot running is nevertheless the norm. Studies show that barefoot running is related with decrease cases of ankle sprains and strains, knee injuries and a lower instance of chronic decrease leg injury including shin splints.

If you try to use barefoot running technique, you're going to obviously, nearly automatically, adopt a barefoot running approach to safeguard your heel by landing on the forefoot. As compared to landing on the heel, landing on the front of the foot creates a smoother cycle of effect without having 1st spike of pressure. Runners who use a pattern of forefoot planting - with its moderate effect forces - have a reduced incidence of particular running-related injuries, such as sprained ankles, plantar fasciitis, and shin splints.

Due to this interest in barefoot running technique of shoe producers are today coming out with new shoes that simulate running barefoot. The most popular of which is Vibram Five Fingers. These shoes have thin rubber bottoms to defend your feet from harmful objects for instance sticks, glass, and rocks. They at the same time are including toe socks in that they have a place for each toe. This business enterprise's sole purpose is to offer you shoes that simulate barefoot activity. Some other shoe manufacturers that are making barefoot design shoes are New Balance, Nike, and Saucony. New Balance came out with their Minimus collection which is highly very same to five fingers in that it has highly small cushioning. Saucony's Kinvara line has a dropped sole to try to steer clear of heel striking. Nike's cost-free line has a segment sole which allows the foot to move freely but in spite of this maintains the cushioning, among them Vibram Five Fingers is the closest to operating barefoot running technique, and it readily gives protection with the rubber bottom.

What Home Fitness Equipment Do You Need to Start the Workout?

Many physical exercises are that the workouts can be effectively accomplished at home with a minimum amount of home fitness equipment and facility, all of it inexpensive. Let’s discuss what kinds of home fitness equipment you need to start the workout in the following paragraphs.

1) Comfortable Workout Clothing

Workout clothing is most comfortable when it moves with you without constraint. You might choose clothing with a relaxed fit or, conversely, a form-fitting outfit that stretches when you move, such as fabric containing Lycra and spandex. Clothing that binds at the waist, hips, knees, or any where else will limit your range of motion. Also, you are encouraged to wear garments that inspire grace—performing the workout in your underwear or sleep-wear may not be the best choice!

2) Athletic Footwear

The Podiatry Network (podiatrynetwork.com) suggests the following guidelines when selecting an athletic shoe on the basis of the type of feet.

•Choose a comfortable athletic shoe, such as a cross-training shoe, that provides arch support and makes you feel that you're standing on a solid foundation.

•All shoes are constructed over a form called a last. The shape of the last can follow more or less of a straight line. Choose a last that follows the shape of your foot.

•Consider athletic shoes that arc relatively rigid in the heel portion as heel stability is of prime importance.

•Twist the shoe with both hands to be sure that it is fairly flexible, or "twisty" in the forefoot area. If the forefront portion of the shoe remains too rigid, your big toe will be unable to Ilex as the heel comes off the ground during walking and running. Adequate movement of the big toe joint is important for normal foot function.

•Your feet and the shoes you wear can have a major effect on your body mechanics. Place the shoe on a firm, flat surface and check to be sure that the back of the heel is relatively perpendicular to the surface. An angle in one direction or another could indicate a defect in the shoe.

•Put your hand inside the shoe and check for prominent seams or other irregularities that have the potential to cause irritation.

Wearing the same shoes every day will magnify a small problem. Rotating a couple pairs of shoes at a time can be helpful in prolonging the comfort of your feet and the life of your shoes.

Please note that you should explore nonsurgical options before considering corrective foot surgery, and your own physician will help you make that decision. In many cases, a properly designed intervention, such as an orthotic device, can eliminate pain and improve mobility without surgery and continue to regularly use orthotics in my shoes to improve my body mechanics. You may need a prescription for custom-made orthotics, or you may find that a less-expensive store-bought model works just fine.

3) Towel or Exercise Mat

A well-cushioned exercise mat is preferable so that you don't feel the floor during floor exercises. It is never a good idea to exercise on a hard surface without cushioning. You will create an unnecessary obstacle that prevents you from doing your best.

4) Dumbbells

Your strength and vitality will fluctuate from day to day. Therefore, having dumbbells available in varied weight increments allows you to customize dumbbell workouts. The physical exercises using relatively light weights with multiple repetitions to create muscle tone rather than bulk. Begin with sets of three-, five-, and eight-pound weights. If you have never exercised with resistance, you may want to begin without dumbbells, so that you may focus on practicing correct form. Keep your equipment in a conveniently accessible spot, perhaps an attractive basket in your living room.

Begin each dumbbell workouts with weights that provide a challenge while allowing you to maintain correct form. You can always switch to a lighter set if the fatigue compromises correct form. As you become stronger, you have the option to increase the resistance by combining weights. You can crisscross the dumbbells in your hand, but resist the urge to weave your fingers through the weights.

You can purchase dumbbells at sporting goods stores or at most discount-type stores. The physical trainers advise against improvising with water bottles, food cans, and the like, as they arc not ergonomically suited to the movements, and they will cause you to compromise your form and perhaps stress your joints through dumbbell workouts.

5) Small Rubber Ball

A small rubber ball is a useful tool to promote proper body alignment and add intensity to particular exercises. Please note it is not referring to a weighted ball (medicine ball) but rather a playground-type ball (seven to nine incites in diameter) that is available at most local sundry or discount stores.

6) Leg Weights

Leg weights are an option to add intensity to lower-body exercises. The physical trainers recommend that you purchase leg weights with a strap long enough for placement above the knee as well as at the ankle. Choose leg weights that arc variable, which means that you can add resistance as your endurance increases.

7) Water and All Sport Drink

The weight loss was due to decreased fluid rather than decreased body fat. Exercising in a hot, humid environment will make you naturally sweat more with greater losses of water and electrolytes. It is important to replace fluids as they are lost to prevent dehydration. Actually water makes up about 60 percent of your body's weight and is critical to carrying out the normal functions of every system in your body. Dehydration, or lack of water, indicates an insufficient amount of fluid in the body to transport nutrition and oxygen to the tissues.

It is clearly important to drink the right amount of the right fluids for peak performance and safety during exercise—before and after also count. The physical trainers suggest that it is preferable to drink plain water or fluids without sugar, caffeine, or alcohol, and drinking fluids cooler than air temperature encourages faster absorption, and if you arc not drinking pure water, you need to read labels. So-called energy drinks or all sport drink arc high in sugar and caffeine with the addition of exotic herbal ingredients such as guarana, taurine, ginseng, and ginkgo. Sports drinks fill a different niche in that they are formulated to replenish electrolytes and other nutrients lost during exercise lasting longer titan ninety minutes. Have plenty of water or all sport drink on hand before, during, and after each workout. Remember, once you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated, so the trick is to stay hydrated from within and drink water and all sport drink before you are thirsty. Eight cups of drinks daily is a general guideline.

Muscle Growth Exercises and How to Relieve Sore Muscles

Muscular strength exercises using resistance, gently overload the muscles. Your body's normal reaction to a challenging exertion results in increased muscle stamina and strength. On the other hand, the pull of the muscles on the bones creates stronger bones with increased density. Your muscles recover and build during periods of rest, with muscle soreness generally at its most intense within the first two days following your workout. This delayed reaction is referred to as delayed onset muscle soreness. Don't be concerned about this—it means your workout is working. If the soreness interferes with daily life, though, you probably overdid it and need to use lighter weights and pay more careful attention to form.

It is a good idea to alternate the muscle groups worked to ensure adequate time to allow for the tissue to repair. As a general rule, it is most productive to work a muscle every three days. For a Sore Muscle, rest is the best solution, you may exercise a muscle on successive days, provided that there is no soreness. However, a lack of soreness may indicate that you are not adequately challenging your muscles. This can be the result of using weights that are too light and/or exercising with incorrect form.

Respect an Injury there will be occasions when it is in your best interest not to exercise. Always respect an injury. Taking quick action—whether it is a soft tissue injury, such as a sprain or strain, or a bone injury—can reduce pain, swelling, and possibly longer-term complications, and the key steps are known for how to relieve sore muscles as below：

1) Rest. Rest the injured area for forty-eight hours.

2) Ice. Apply a cold pack (a bag of frozen vegetables also works well) to the injured area for twenty minutes at a time, four to eight times per day. Avoid having the ice in direct contact with your skin.

3) Compression. Bandage an injured ankle, knee, or wrist to reduce swelling.

4) Elevation. Elevate the injured area above the level of your heart.

Note that severe injuries, such as obvious fractures and dislocated joints, or prolonged swelling and/or severe pain require immediate professional medical care.

Exercise should be joyful and its own reward. However, if you are clearly ill and your body is saying no to exercise, listen to your natural instincts and learn to how to relieve sore muscles effectively in case of any serious injuries. The sports therapist suggest that you invoke the following rule: exercising for live minutes may be all that you need to become motivated. An additional bonus is the mood-elevating benefit that follows. Your pituitary gland releases substantial quantities of endorphins, which arc chemicals that can block sensations of pain and produce overall feelings of well-being just what the doctor ordered!