Let’s Get Physical

Walking is a gentle low impact exercise that has many known health benefits. It’s a form of exercise that can ease you gradually into a higher level of health and fitness and its easily one of the most natural forms of exercise.

Benefits to walking.

There are a number of important health benefits from walking. For example:

•    Reduce your risk of a heart attack. Walking helps to keep your heart healthy by lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (aka the “bad” cholesterol) and raising high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (aka the “good” cholesterol). Walking regularly can also reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure, a contributing factor to heart disease.
•    Manage your blood pressure. If you already have high blood pressure, walking may help to reduce it.
•    Reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Regular exercise reduces your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. In particular in women who are overweight and at a high risk of diabetes, walking can improve the body’s ability to process sugar.
•    Manage your diabetes. If you already have type 2 diabetes, taking part in a regular walking program can improve your body’s ability to process sugar, lower your blood sugar, reduce your risk of heart disease and help you live longer.
•    Manage your weight. Walking burns calories, which can help you to manage your weight. For example, middle-aged women who walk more than 10,000 steps a day have lower levels of body fat than women who are less active.
•    Manage stress and boost your spirits. Going for a brisk walk is a great way to reduce stress. Regular walking also can reduce feelings of depression and anxiety.
•    Stay strong and active. As you get older, walking for physical fitness can prevent or reduce muscle wasting, which in turn will help to keep mobile and maintain independence.

When considering our physical health it’s not often that our eyes come to mind. However if you think for a minute, those of us who are fortunate to have our vision take it for granted. Many of us subject our eyes to abuse without realising or giving our eyes a second thought!

The average person can spend 35 hours a week just looking at a computer screen while at work. This in itself won’t damage your eyes (although it will tire and dry your eyes!) but it can highlight any issues your eyes might have.

This might be overcome by taking frequent breaks, adjust your screens to suit and check your immediate environment such as your lighting, screen reflection and position. But probably most important is keep blinking as this will help to hydrate your eyes.

It would be wise to have your eyes checked on a frequency confirmed by your optometrist. You may require the use of glasses or contact lenses to correct any visual impairment, depending on your preference or degree of correction required. However more and more people these days are turning towards laser eye surgery for its convenience unlike many years ago it’s much more affordable.

So the next time you choose to sit in poor light or out vanity purposely ‘forget’ your eye wear and strain your eyes to the point of a headache remember how important your eyes are to your overall health and put them first for a change!

For year’s athletes, bodybuilders and the regular gym goer have been looking at the various ways that they could get the maximum performance from their efforts and time in the gym or their athletic arena.

With stricter controls on what is and isn’t allowed as a supplement and better methods of testing there are still some supplements that are still available and considered safe to use. One such product known for its strength, muscle mass and overall performance gains is Creatine.

Creatine is produced in the body in relatively small quantities and in foods such as meat and fish but you would have to eat significant amounts of meat or fish to get the real benefits.

Creatine is only of real benefits to athletes competing in short distance or explosive events such as sprints or weight training as it only supports the explosive reactions required by the body.

As creatine is a natural component of the human diet consumed on a daily basis and there should be no harmful side effects. However there are some side effects to consuming creatine during a loading phase as too much too soon may result in cramps in some cases.

Overall creatine is a good supplement for athlete looking to increase strength and lean muscle mass but has only real performance benefits to those who exert powerful explosive burst in their chosen sport.

The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its fruits and vegetables site to reflect a campaign they are currently focusing on called ‘Fruits & Veggies-More Matters’ which is replacing their 5-a-day program. To visit their website for more of an insight go to http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/.  There you will find a wealth of information and useful tools designed to help you eat more fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.

To help the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH), have partnered with many other organizations to launch a new public health initiative Fruits & Veggies-More Matters.TM

Their new website offers the following:

•    A calculator to help to find out how many fruits and vegetables you need daily based on your daily calories needs
•    Tips on how to include fruits and vegetables in your daily diet
•    Information on exciting new fruits and vegetables to try
•    Delicious recipes and much more!

Core stability is probably the most important component for all sport activities and natural movement. It relates to having a good posture, a trim mid section and a strong back. For any athlete have a strong, stable core relates to strength and control in performing their chosen sport.

To achieve core stability you will need to consider a range of exercise which focuses on the abdominals and lower back. There are a lot of exercises to consider so there will always be a lot of variety.

There are a good selection of resistance based machines available that can work either the lower back or abs. It is recommended however that you try doing non machine based exercises which can be more effective and are more natural as the machines are usually more static.

To work the abs or lower back work on a mat or a Swiss (exercise) ball. Always as a personal trainer, gym instructor or any other fitness professional for advice on which exercise would best suit you and advice on the correct way to do the exercise to avoid any injury.

You may even want to consider trying Pilates. This is an exercise system base on the strengthening of the core muscles and a good way to improve overall muscle tone and posture.

If you are looking to get into shape and improve your health and fitness through exercise then it would do you good to know as much as possible about body care. Having more knowledge put you in the position to stay motivated and keep on with the good results.

It is always important to understand how it all works, how all the various components come together to give you the results. For instance we need to know that there are two basic muscle types: 1) Slow-twitch muscle and 2) Fast-twitch muscle. Slow-twitch muscle is for endurance i.e. like the muscle of the core and Fast-twitch muscle are for fast, more sudden movements. There is a higher concentration of this type of muscle in the arms.

To get a good balance in your body, you need to exercise in a way that stimulates both types of muscle. So try swimming lengths and running or jogging for endurance and weight training for strength and speed in the fast twitch muscles.  Most of these forms of exercise will also work to strengthen your heart and circulatory system.

One thing to note despite all efforts your overall shape is determined by your body type which can be one of 3;

1.    Ectomorph – slim frame with hips and shoulders approximately same width
2.    Mesomorph – wide shoulders and greater ability to build muscle
3.    Endomorph – more of a ‘pear’ shape with bigger hip to shoulder ratio and bigger body mass

Exercise and diet can change your body composition i.e. body fat to muscle ratio, but your basic body structure will remain the same.