Friday, July 11, 2014

Easy fit makes you smart


Aerobic exercise: Why We Need To Get Physical


Regardless of age, weight or athletic ability, aerobic exercise is good for you. See why — then prepare yourself to get moving.
Regular aerobic activity such as walking, bicycling or swimming can help you live longer and healthier. Need motivation? See how aerobic exercise affects your heart, lungs and blood flow. Then get moving and start reaping the rewards.

How your body responds to aerobic exercise

During aerobic activity, you repeatedly move large muscles in your arms, legs and hips. You'll notice your body's responses quickly.
You'll breathe faster and more deeply. This maximizes the amount of oxygen in your blood. Your heart will beat faster, which increases blood flow to your muscles and back to your lungs.
Your small blood vessels (capillaries) will widen to deliver more oxygen to your muscles and carry away waste products, such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid.
Your body will even release endorphins, natural painkillers that promote an increased sense of well-being.

What aerobic exercise does for your health

Regardless of age, weight or athletic ability, aerobic activity is good for you. As your body adapts to regular aerobic exercise, you'll get stronger and fitter.
Consider the following 10 ways that aerobic activity can help you feel better and enjoy life to the fullest.
Aerobic activity can help you:

1. Keep excess pounds at bay
Combined with a healthy diet, aerobic exercise helps you lose weight and keep it off.

2. Increase your stamina
Aerobic exercise may make you tired in the short term. But over the long term, you'll enjoy increased stamina and reduced fatigue.

3. Ward off viral illnesses
Aerobic exercise may activate your immune system. This may leave you less susceptible to minor viral illnesses, such as colds and flu.

4. Reduce your health risks 
Aerobic exercise reduces the risk of many conditions, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, stroke and certain types of cancer.
Weight-bearing aerobic exercises, such as walking, reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

5. Manage chronic conditions
Aerobic exercise may help lower blood pressure and control blood sugar. If you have coronary artery disease, aerobic exercise may help you manage your condition.

6. Strengthen your heart
A stronger heart doesn't need to beat as fast. A stronger heart also pumps blood more efficiently, which improves blood flow to all parts of your body.

7. Keep your arteries clear
Aerobic exercise boosts your high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the "good," cholesterol, and lowers your low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad," cholesterol. This may result in less buildup of plaques in your arteries.

8. Boost your mood
Aerobic exercise may ease the gloominess of depression, reduce the tension associated with anxiety and promote relaxation.

9. Stay active and independent as you age
Aerobic exercise keeps your muscles strong, which can help you maintain mobility as you get older.
Aerobic exercise also keeps your mind sharp. At least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three days a week appears to reduce cognitive decline in older adults.

10. Live longer
Studies show that people who participate in regular aerobic exercise live longer than those who don't exercise regularly.

Take the first step

Ready to get more active? Great. Just remember to start with small steps. If you've been inactive for a long time or if you have a chronic health condition, get your doctor's OK before you start.
When you're ready to begin exercising, start slowly. You might walk five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening.
The next day, add a few minutes to each walking session. Pick up the pace a bit, too. Soon, you could be walking briskly for at least 30 minutes a day and reaping all the benefits of regular aerobic activity.
Other options for aerobic exercise could include cross-country skiing, aerobic dancing, swimming, stair climbing, bicycling, jogging, elliptical training or rowing.
If you have a condition that limits your ability to participate in aerobic activities, ask your doctor about alternatives. If you have arthritis, for example, aquatic exercises may give you the benefits of aerobic activity without stressing your joints.

Thank You...........


Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Aerobics

What is aerobic exercise?



Imagine that you're exercising. You're working up a sweat, you're breathing hard, your heart is thumping, blood is coursing through your vessels to deliver oxygen to the muscles to keep you moving, and you sustain the activity for more than just a few minutes. That's aerobic exercise (also known as "cardio" in gym lingo); any activity that you can sustain for more than just a few minutes while your heart, lungs, and muscles work overtime. In this article, I'll discuss the mechanisms of aerobic exercise: oxygen transport and consumption, the role of the heart and the muscles, the proven benefits of aerobic exercise, how much you need to do to reap the benefits, and more.

The beginning

It all starts with breathing. The average healthy adult inhales and exhales about 7 to 8 liters of air per minute. Once you fill your lungs, the oxygen in the air (air contains approximately 20% oxygen) is filtered through small branches of tubes (called bronchioles) until it reaches the alveoli. The alveoli are microscopic sacs where oxygen diffuses (enters) into the blood. From there, it's a beeline direct to the heart.

Getting to the heart of it



The heart has four chambers that fill with blood and pump blood (two atria and two ventricles) and some very active coronary arteries. Because of all this action, the heart needs a fresh supply of oxygen, and as you just learned, the lungs provide it. Once the heart uses what it needs, it pumps the blood, the oxygen, and other nutrients out through the large left ventricle and through the circulatory system to all the organs, muscles, and tissues that need it.

A whole lot of pumping going on

Your heart beats approximately 60-80 times per minute at rest, 100,000 times a day, more than 30 million times per year, and about 2.5 billion times in a 70-year lifetime! Every beat of your heart sends a volume of blood (called stroke volume -- more about that later), along with oxygen and many other life-sustaining nutrients, circulating through your body. The average healthy adult heart pumps about 5 liters of blood per minute.

Oxygen consumption and muscles




All that oxygen being pumped by the blood is important. You may be familiar with the term "oxygen consumption." In science, it's labeled VO2, or volume of oxygen consumed. It's the amount of oxygen the muscles extract, or consume from the blood, and it's expressed as ml/kg/minute (milliliters per kilogram of body weight). Muscles are like engines that run on fuel (just like an automobile that runs on fuel); only our muscles use fat and carbohydrates instead of gasoline. Oxygen is a key player because, once inside the muscle, it's used to burn fat and carbohydrate for fuel to keep our engines running. The more efficient our muscles are at consuming oxygen, the more fuel we can burn, the more fit we are, and the longer we can exercise.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

What is a Balanced Diet?


Eating a balanced diet means choosing a wide variety of foods and drinks from all the food groups. It also means eating certain things in moderation, namely saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, refined sugar, salt and alcohol. The goal is to take in nutrients you need for health at the recommended.











What About Calories?



Your balanced diet must be planned at your own calorie level, and portion size is key. You want to get the most nutrients for the calories by choosing food with a high-nutrient density. Nutrient-dense foods provide substantial amounts of vitamins and minerals and relatively few calories, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meat and fish, and whole grains and beans. Low-nutrient dense foods have few vitamins but lots of calories, such as candy bars, soda, donuts and onion rings.


Sample Meals

A high nutrient-dense lunch would look something like this:



2 slices whole wheat bread 
Deli turkey 
1 slice roasted red pepper 
romaine lettuce 
1 tsp mayonnaise 
baby carrots 
hummus 
8 oz non-fat milk




 A low nutrient-dense lunch would look something like this:


One ground beef hamburger patty 
Two hamburger buns 
Iceberg lettuce 
1 tbsp mayonnaise 
1 slice American cheese 
Order of French fries, fried in peanut oil 
Large regular soda 
Candy bar






Friday, June 27, 2014

A Guide For Gym Virgins- 8 Things to Consider When Choosing a Gym



1. Location, Location, Location


If you choose a gym on the other side of town, will you really make it there consistently to work out? Often, a gym located somewhere between your home and office (or school) is best. On days when you’re crunched for time, having a gym close by will make things easier on your hectic schedule. After all, a good workout is supposed to lower your stress level, not increase it.