Fitness Thrive

From some trainers 'No pain, no gain' really means 'you should feel some pain'. While mild discomfort is to be expected, especially for those just beginning a new fitness routine, pain is a natural warning sign. Pay attention to it.

A good workout routine will test you, but shouldn't damage you. As muscles get used, especially somewhat beyond their usual range, lactic acid, micro-tears and other physiological changes occur that result in muscles being built up stronger than before.

But if you are experiencing back pain, neck aches, knee joint soreness and other symptoms, you should consult with an expert. Your technique may be wrong, you may be trying to do too much, too soon, or you may have a medical problem that should be addressed.

Work up to any vigorous routine slowly. How slowly will vary from person to person, depending on age, experience, prior exercise routines and overall fitness. Get muscles warm and limber before cranking it up. Most strains and rips result from being too cold and not stretching, or extending more than you're ready for.

Warm-ups should take at least 15 minutes and include very gentle jogging in place or jumping jacks to get the cardio and lung systems working well. They should include some slow, gradual stretching to get joints lubricated and muscles relaxed and gently lengthened. Warm-ups that are too short can easily lead to stretched or torn cartilage that takes a long time to heal.

Don't let inexperienced trainers, or so-called 'friends' embarrass you into believing you have to get out and run five miles two weeks after an injury, surgery or other debilitating condition. Physical therapy and exercise sometimes requires that you work against discomfort, but you don't leap over tall buildings the first day out.

Every person committed to fitness will want to push him or herself to achieve excellence. But an attitude that leads to overdoing it is counter-productive to your goal. You're working to improve or maximize health and overall body tone and strength - not proving you are 'mentally tough'.

Before you begin a new routine that involves activities that are unfamiliar, get guidance from an expert. Next to bad warm-ups or overdoing it, incorrect technique is the leading cause of injury. If you don't know how to use a station at the weight machine correctly, don't be embarrassed to ask. No one is born with this knowledge. Anyone who mocks you for ignorance, isn't someone whose opinions you have reason to heed.

Be aware of your environment while you go through your routine. It's easy to get into a rhythm, get concentrated on your workout and end up crashing into a wall or a nearby person. Jogging especially requires that you pay attention to the surface you run on and the people and cars around you. No shoe in existence will keep you from slipping on a muddy patch. Only awareness and good reflexes can help.

Stay within your comfort zone as you gradually expand it. One of the foremost reasons people give up on workouts is injuries produced by working beyond their capacity. That makes working out no longer fun. Building up, while you build out, to increase your ability to do more, faster will keep you going for years to come.

Your health will thank you for exercising common sense, while you exercise your body.

You can enjoy all the benefits of gym membership - a wide variety of equipment and facilities, good advice from staff and other members and the incentive to work out by making the gym a destination. But, you can also enjoy having the ease of access and the absence of a commute by purchasing home gym equipment.

But what to buy?

If you're just getting into, or back into, a fitness routine, you should hold off purchasing anything. Using relatively new professional equipment, under the guidance of a knowledgeable instructor, will give you a good basis for comparison when shopping.

One of the first pieces of equipment anyone interested in weight training will want is, naturally, a set of weights.

Free weights can be purchased for very little money - a basic set is often under $50. You'll want a mixture of small, 10 lb (4.5 kg) and 20 lb (9 kg) hand-held dumbbells and a bar with larger, exchangeable weights. Just about any bar is as good as another, but weights can be either metal or plastic. Some people like the old-fashioned clink of metal, but plastic weights (usually composite or sand-filled) are marginally safer.

At some point, you'll want to 'graduate' to a weight machine. They offer the ability to focus on specific muscle groups - biceps, quadriceps, deltoids and others - in a much safer way than free weights can. Also, some muscle groups - calves or hamstrings, for example - are harder to work using free weights.

Once you're ready for a weight machine, be prepared to spend some serious cash. Costs and configurations vary. Some are just simple resistance machines, essentially composite rubber stretching straps that allow for some adjustment to the tension. These run a few hundred dollars. Others are multi-station, adjustable weight stacks, often costing from $1,800 to $5,000 or more.

Stair steppers are becoming increasingly popular. A very simple model can run anywhere from $80-$150. It offers you the ability to get a good cardiovascular workout in a small space at home with low joint impact, while you build thighs and calves. Beware anything that looks like too good a deal, though. Reliability is key here, otherwise you've spent $100 for nothing when it breaks two months after purchase.

Some stair steppers run as high as $1,700 or more. At this level you should be getting a lot more than just the ability to simulate walking up stairs. Apart from reliability and handrails, which should be rock solid for 5 years or more, you should be able to adjust resistance level, speed, angle, and distance between the pedals. You should also get a heart rate monitor and other digital readouts (speed, distance climbed, calories burned, etc) as part of the package.

Treadmills, too, are becoming a more common part of the home gym. Since they run anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $2,000 or more, you should expect to get a lot for your money.

Again, they should be completely smooth working, stable and reliable for several years. A good treadmill should have a great, non-slip surface and it should be able to go faster and offer more resistance than you could ever use as you build up.

Like stair steppers, it should come with an impressive panel of controls and digital gauges. Any treadmill that costs over $1,000 should have, at minimum, adjustments for and measurements of speed and distance 'walked'. It should include calories burned, with tailoring based on age, weight, etc. A heart rate monitor is a great plus.

Of course, if you plan to spend several thousand dollars to acquire home gym equipment, you should be prepared to dedicate yourself to a consistent, regular workout. Consider hiring a personal trainer to come to your home for several visits to help you work out a routine, show you how to keep track of your progress and then followup at regular intervals to motivate you to stick with your plan.

If you have a child of 6 to 8 years old that wants to start exercising and lifting weights, you may find yourself wondering what you should do. While some think it is perfectly fine for children to exercise, there are others that think differently.

The long and short of it is that yes, it is beneficial for your child to partake in exercise or a weight training regimen although there are a few things that you should keep in mind once this starts to happen.

No matter how you look at it, children aren't miniature adults and therefore you can't use the same methods with growing children that you can use with adults, as children are different from adults emotionally, anatomically, and physiologically.

All children have immature skeletons, as their bones don't mature until they get 14 - 22 years of age. With girls, exercise during childhood can have very critical effects on bone health that can last for their entire lives.

Children are often times vulnerable to growth related overuse injuries such as Osgood-Schlatter disease. Children have immature temperature regulation systems due to their having a large surface area compared to their muscle mass which will cause them to be more susceptible to injury when they aren't properly warmed up.

Children don't sweat as much as adults do, so they will be more susceptible to heat exhaustion as well as a heat stroke. Due to their low muscle mass and immature hormone system, it makes it harder for them to develop strength and speed. Their breathing and heart response during exercise are also different from an adults, which will affect their capacity for exercise.

On the other hand, young boys and girls can drastically improve their strength with weight training although opposed to adults, neurological factors instead of muscle growth factors are mostly responsible.

When you consider programs for children, first and foremost you should obtain a medical clearance. The first approach to designing a program is to establish a repetition range of 8 - 12 and keep the work load appropriate for the range.

You should ensure that workouts are spread out enough to have at least 1 - 2 full days of rest between workouts. The main focus when working out should be on the form of every exercise performed, and not on the amount of weight being lifted.

Before weight training, warm up and stretching should be done. Start your children off with light loads and then make adjustments accordingly. No more than 3 non consecutive exercise sessions should be done in a week. You should also see to it that they drink plenty of water before, during, and after exercise. Getting enough water is very important with exercise, as it is often times very easy to get dehydrated - especially with children.

Probably the most important exercise your children can get is playing outside, with friends and family. Playing games teaches children teamwork, critical thinking, coordination and good sportsmanship. It's important not only in terms of spending time with your children doing activities, but in teaching these critical milestones of becoming an adult.

The most common types of diabetes are known as Type 1 and Type 2. The Type 1 diabetes, which is also known as adolescent diabetes, differs from Type 2 in the sense that the body will stop producing insulin altogether. Type 2 diabetes is normally diagnosed in older adults and occurs as the body stops producing enough insulin or the individual becomes resistant to their own body insulin.

No matter what form of diabetes it is, you'll lose your ability to adequately utilize sugar. The blood sugar levels will increase due to the body's difficulty in transporting sugar into the cells and out of the blood stream. There are several ways to lower your blood sugar levels, including diet, exercise, and medication.

As a whole, exercise is a very important part of diabetic management for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. Those that have Type 1 will find regular exercise helps to maintain insulin sensitivity, helps to prevent the accumulation of excess weight, and also increases the use of glucose by muscles. Although there is really no way to prevent Type 1 diabetes, it is possible to prevent Type 2 diabetes.

The things to consider when you attempt to prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes are regular exercise supplementation with vitamins and herbs that will help to prevent insulin resistance and proper control of weight.

Not only with exercise help directly with diabetic management by lowering blood sugar levels and maintaining insulin sensitivity, but it will also help minimize several of the complications that can occur in a diabetic individual. Research has shown that walking 30 minutes each day can diminish the possibility of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Almost all diabetics tend to develop circulatory problems and exercise can help lower blood pressure and improve circulation throughout the body. Seeing as how people with diabetes tend to have poor blood flow to their lower areas and feet, better circulation is a great benefit. However, make certain if you are engaging in activities involving weightbearing that you protect your feet. Always wear clean socks and shoes and rotate your shoes so you are wearing a different pair every other day. Make certain the shoes fit adequately and have a generous toe box; lace-up shoes usually fit better than slip-ons. Always inspect your feet after you remove your shoes. If you have open wounds on your feet, find another way of maintaining activity, such as bicycling, an elliptical trainer or something that doesn't require you to put weight on your feet. If the problem persists, see a doctor.

Even though there are risks associated with exercise, the potential benefits will outweigh the risks. Exercise does indeed lower blood sugar levels, so those with diabetes should measure their blood sugar both before and after they exercise. Since your body uses more sugar while you exercise and makes you more sensitive to insulin, there is a risk of blood sugar becoming too low and causing hypoglycemia as a result.

Whenever you exercise, it is important to let others know that you are diabetic. They should also be informed about what they should do in case of hypoglycemia. To be on the safe side, you should always carry candy or fruit juice with you to treat low blood sugar when it occurs.

During and after exercise, you should pay very close attention about how you feel, since rapid heart beat, increased sweating, feeling shaky, or hunger can signal that your blood sugar levels are getting too low.

With diabetic management and treatment, exercise is very important. Exercise will help with blood sugar control when the muscles use more glucose and the body becomes more sensitive to insulin. Exercise will also help to prevent and minimize common diabetic complications which include heart problems, high blood pressure, and circulatory deficiencies.

If you are a diabetic, exercise should be part of your daily routine. You should always exercise at a slow pace and never overdo it. Also, you should be sure to exercise around people you know or at a gym, so there will always be people around you in case something goes wrong. Being a diabetic doesn't have to hinder your life or your performance, as exercise can help you get your life back on track and heading in the right direction - the healthy direction.

Something you need to keep in mind is that when you exercise, you are training for life. You still may spend an hour a day in the gym, although that will still leave another 23 hours or so for your muscles to function without using any fancy equipment.

Whenever you do any type of exercise, the movement of your body during the exercise is known as the range of motion. The more difficult the range of motion is, the more effective the exercise will be, because your body has to work twice as hard to perform the movement.

Take for the instance the classic dumbbell bicep curl. If you aren't familiar with the exercise, it is performed by standing up straight with your palms facing forward, and a pair of dumbbells held down by your sides. You'll contract your biceps to bring the dumbbells up to your shoulder height, then repeat the exercise as many times as you wish. Using that same movement for exercise on a bicep curl machine, you should sit down, brace your upper arms on a pad, grasp 2 handles that are in front of you, then perform the same movement as above to move the handles in an upward motion.

Now, looking at the muscle contractions in this exercise, you are contracting essentially your biceps if you are using the curl machine, and that is pretty much all you are doing. When you use the machine you are sitting down, which will limit just how much your shoulders give. The machine has several muscles used in this exercise limited to the biceps, as well as the muscles in your forearms and fingers.

Most of the time, when using machine weights, you will always be limited as to what type of exercise you can perform. You must always follow a strict procedure, which is pretty much the same with free weights. Unlike free weights, machine weights offer a certain degree of resistance.

There is a lot of discussion about whether free weights are superior to machine weights. Body builders seem to prefer free weights. They feel the less-restricted range of motion allows them greater liberty in building their bulky muscles. There is also a limitation in the amount of weight on a machine; generally, most machines go up to 250 pounds and most body builders and competitive weight lifters lift far more than that. For building strength and general fitness, however, machine weights are perfectly adequate.

In a nutshell, free weights will use more of your muscles than the machines do, which makes them more effective overall. This doesn't mean that the machines are a waste of use, as they offer some great advantages. In some cases, it is best to stabilize the muscles that are being used in a movement, which is where machines are the best to use.

In the past several years, resistance systems (such as Bowflex) have become very popular. Instead of weights, these use resistance to build muscle and can produce excellent results while taking up very little space. Like the machine weight home gyms, these aren't practical for body builders or competitive weight lifters, but they are a very good alternative for someone who just wants to get into shape and look good.

The decision on which to use for you should be based on what you hope to achieve with lifting weights and where you plan to use the equipment, such as home or at a gym. Both systems are great for your body, although the free weights are best to use if you want the best possible workout, and always ensure that your muscles are getting the right workouts they need.