Water And Exercise

The human body is made up of over 75% of water, and as we all know, we cannot live without water.  The fact is, we can only survive for a total of 3 days without water. Water has however, been replaced in most diets by soft drinks and other sugar sweetened refreshments. 

 

 Keep in mind that water is a healthier and necessary for leading yourself towards a better health and longevity.

Your own personal need for water can vary greatly due to exercise, weight, and temperature.  Research has proven that over 2/3 of adults don't get the water they need on a daily basis.  By drinking water on a regular basis you can replenish your body and keep it well hydrated and functioning as it should be.

A majority of us wait until we are thirsty before we drink water.  Keep in mind, this way isn't a
reliable gauge of the water needs for the body.  By the time you are thirsty you have already lost two
of more cups of the body's water supply.  Therefore, drinking water regularly is much better than simply waiting until you are thirsty.

It is very important that you don't substitute beverages with alcohol and caffeine for water.  The
reason behind this is that those types of beverages act as a diuretic and can cause you to lose more
weight through increased urination.  You may think and feel as if you are getting more water through
these beverages, although the fact is that you are letting it go almost as fast as you consume it.

Anytime you exercise, you need more water. Due to perspiration, your body will lose quite a bit of
water.  For each pound lost due to exercise, you need to drink 2 cups of water.  Even when you lay down to sleep, your body loses water.  By drinking a glass or more of water before you go to sleep, you can wake up with your body functioning as it should be.

 

 

It should become more obvious that when you are sick you'll need more water than any other tine.  When you get a cold or the flu, your body can become dehydrated quite quickly.  You can help to prevent this by drinking more water at times when you become sick.

There are several mixed opinions as to whether purified water will actually provide benefit.  This
is a subject you should explore yourself as you determine the best type of water for yourself. 

Always make it a habit to drink water on a daily basis.  You should keep a bottle of water with you
at all times and drink it throughout the day.  You should also teach yourself to drink water instead
of other beverages that don't replenish the nutrients your body needs.

Damian@FitnHealthy

4 Practical Tips On How to Run 5K Faster

You have been doing your regular 5K runs for quite some time and now you think that you need to step up your level and take the distance seriously. Running 5K is the most common racing distance but speeding up is still challenging no matter how fit you are. 

If you are up to beating your record by finishing a 5K run faster, there are some things you need to do in order to improve and run 5K faster.

 

1. Keep your pace at the start
How you start your race will determine the condition on how you’ll finish it. If you start too fast, you lungs will not be capable to take enough oxygen for the whole period and hurt you in the process. Starting too slow, however, can push you far back to other runners where catching up can be quite difficult. It is advisable to run at a comfortable pace where you are neither too fast nor too slow. You will know that you are at the right speed when you can still talk and breathe out using your nose for the first mile. When you are already breathing using your mouth at an early stage that means you have started too fast.

2. Train uphill
Running uphill is simply tiring and at times, punishing. When you run uphill, you are running against gravity which normally makes you slower. Doing a speed burst as you tackle this uphill will strengthen your legs and give you that desired speed. The good thing about consistently running uphill is you’ll be surprised that you’ll able to run 5K faster in an open, plain field without even knowing it. It will definitely give you pains at the start, but those hurt muscles will get used to it and will one day interpret it as an ordinary discomfort that you’ll be able to train uphill regularly. So incorporate uphill training if you really want to run 5K faster in the next race.

3. Take the needed breaks
Running 5K faster is quite tedious and tires your muscles faster. During your 5K course that incorporates uphill running, sprinting and walking, you will definitely need breaks in between. You have to let your body recover for a few minutes before gunning for another spring or uphill burst. A revitalized body will keep you more pumped up in your next sprint. It may initially take an hour or two in your first days of training, but giving yourself the needed breaks can free you up from injuries. Just listen more intently to your body. 

4. Sprint you way down the finish line
Burst through the finish line. If you are running the last 500 meters of your race, increase your speed. A lot of runners benefit from the sudden adrenaline rush nearing the finish line and you too will find it challenging as you push yourself to your limits. After all those training days, you can definitely change the pace halfway and sprint the last 500 meters. Just go for it!
Again, there will be birth pains to improve your speed in a 5K run. If you’re used to running 8min per kilometer, that’s 40 minutes for your 5K run. If you want to run 5K at a faster speed, gun for 5min per kilometer at an average. 

Depending on your age, agility and determination, you can still run 5K faster than your normal speed. Just keep on training!

 Damian@FitnHealthy

The Advantages, Disadvantages, and Exercises on a Fitness Ball

The Advantages, Disadvantages, and Exercises on a Fitness Ball

Most people dream of getting into shape, losing weight, and exercising more. It can mean signing up at local gyms. However, many fitness enthusiasts prefer to purchase home fitness equipment that can be effective for them. They can take the benefits of a total workout while at homes and within flexible times. 

One of the best options to consider is buying a fitness ball. It is the time for you to experience a unique workout at home. There are various reasons why this equipment has become very popular. In fact, it is utilized by most physical therapists to treat their patients from back pains.

A fitness ball having a diameter of about 55 to 85 centimeter is made of elastic rubber. It is utilized in exercise and physical therapy. There are various names for a fitness ball such as exercise ball, Pilate's ball, gym ball, therapy ball, balance ball, body ball, yoga ball, sports ball, and Swiss ball.

The major benefit of a fitness ball exercise is enabling the body to respond to the ball's instability while keeping the balance and engaging more muscles as well. Keep in mind that the muscles are strengthened upon struggling to maintain the balance. The core muscles of the body, back muscles, and abdominal muscles are the target of the fitness ball programs of exercises.

Exercises done on a fitness ball will never bore you. In fact it can challenge your stamina, patience, perseverance and, self-discipline. This is the true form of exercising, working the entire core muscles to achieve the best results.

A fitness ball is effective because of its rounded shape. It can create instability to induce your core body muscles to work. Compared to floor crunching, the muscles that are only working are the upper abs, but when you do the crunching on a fitness ball, the core muscles including abs muscles, back muscles, pelvic muscles, and hip muscles are working together in helping you stay on the ball.

Try doing a few pushups using a fitness ball, your hands on the floor and your feet on the fitness ball or vice versa. This exercise gives more stability when the feet are spread apart and tougher when the feet are put closely together.

Although a fitness ball provides many advantages, there are also some pitfalls especially if overused. Strength coaches revealed that it can cause injury and approximately 70 percent of fitness ball exercises are considered worthless.  Nevertheless, it is still prescribed by some therapists in treating patients with back pain.

Incorporating a fitness ball in your fitness program can mean surpassing all the difficult levels involved during the exercise. Each requires support from your stomach muscles and back to help in keeping the trunk muscles firm. More often, a fitness ball is good for people who have lower back pain. Other uses include developing overall strength and control of the body's core muscles, increasing the strength of back and abdominal muscles, learning proper posture and body mechanics when lifting objects, and increasing mobility of the lower back.

Damian@FitnHealthy

Does Your Heart Rate Really Matter?

 

  

How would you feel if I told you that I would give you $100, give or take $200?

For years, this is not unlike what we’ve done with heart-rate training. Measuring exercise intensity using heart rate has suffered from two major problems:

1. Using relatively inaccurate formulas to make specific exercise-intensity recommendations
2. Attaching discrete, seemingly all-or-nothing objectives to various heart-rate ranges

The overreaction to these problems has taken the form of proposing that heart-rate training doesn’t matter when it comes to measuring exercise intensity, especially with the rise in popularity of high-intensity interval training, where the directive is a straightforward “go as hard as you can.”

Not everyone needs to use heart rate to measure intensity, as their goals may not be that specific or their starting health status may not be questionable enough to warrant needing a definitive intensity range to ensure safety when starting an exercise program. However, most people will benefit from having some accurate gauge of exercise intensity to help direct exercise efforts.

Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number…Until It Becomes a Bad Number

Using any formula that starts with age is problematic and introduces huge error ranges that are potentially as large as the training zones we are using. Any formula including any version of 220 – Age for maximum heart rate calculation is going to be a mess for the same reason that selling a single shoe size to everyone is going to be a problem. Not every 50-year-old has the same fitness level, and maximum heart rate is determined by more than just the number of years you have been alive.

Today, instead of having to rely on formulas, we have field tests that measure specific points where the physiological response to exercise intensity shifts. A recent study illustrates the unacceptable level of error when using a formula now that we have the field tests. The formulas get it right for some people, but get it wrong for enough people that if a better option is available, it should be the preferred choice.

Out With the Inaccurate, In With the…More Accurate

The field tests directly measure two critical heart-rate points for each individual. The first ventilatory threshold (VT1) occurs when intensity reaches the point where the fuel for activity is coming in equal parts from carbohydrate and fat. The second ventilatory threshold (VT2) occurs when the rate of accumulation of lactate in the muscles begins to exceed the ability of the circulatory system to recycle it.

Any time an individual works above resting heart rate, he or she is improving fitness (if deconditioned), and at least maintaining fitness (if already well-conditioned.) Beyond that, the two intensity shifts at VT1 and VT2 can help define more personalized training progressions because they are based on field tests of the individual’s response and not formulas. (Details of the field tests and expanded details surrounding VT1 and VT2 can be found in the ACE Personal Trainer Manual, 5^th edition.)

Are You In the Zone?

Now for the second problem: Using heart ranges to define narrow training objectives like the “fat-burning zone,” or the “cardio training zone,” as if in one zone all you are doing is using fat exclusively and the other zone is the only place you find cardiovascular improvements.

Working above resting levels but below VT1 will improve fitness in deconditioned individuals and maintain it in those with an average baseline level of fitness. Working between VT1 and VT2 will maximize both caloric quality and caloric efficiency (explained in the next paragraph) in the interest of prioritizing a metabolic response during the exercise session. Working above VT2 will maximize increases in the ability to perform at a high level and prioritizes a metabolic response after the exercise session.

As many people now realize, the big problem with the fat-burning zone idea is that it emphasizes lower intensities because a higher proportion of the calories burned come from fat. But high-er doesn’t necessarily equal high. A large portion of a small number is still a small number. Working between VT1 and VT2 (which will be higher than the old fat-burning zones) maximizes caloric efficiency through intensity that is high enough to burn a relatively high number of calories, yet low enough to allow caloric quality, meaning a significant portion of calories come from fat. (Note: At VT1, the carb-fat mix for the fuel of activity is equal.) What does this mean? A significant amount of fat is burned during the exercise session and significant improvements in cardiovascular fitness are achieved.

Working above VT2 will generally result in shorter-duration workouts for those pursuing general fitness goals, as well as a higher portion of carbohydrates burned as the fuel source for exercise. However, at this intensity, the “after burn” effects begin to manifest and metabolism gets a slight boost while at rest, which is when the body shifts to using a higher portion of fat. Note that training above VT2 also requires a high degree of psychological commitment as well.

Surrounded by Fat-Burning Zones

As a result, both of these zones are really “fat-burning zones.” Between VT1 and VT2, you burn more fat during the exercise session. Above VT2, you burn more fat after the exercise session. Shortly after I first learned of these methods from an ACE exercise physiologist several years ago, I began using them with my clients and it enhanced my clients’ results by delivering more precise training-intensity recommendations, which yielded better results without an excessive investment of time for the clients.

Gone are the days where you need to know someone’s age to recommend heart-rate training intensities. This evolution of cardiovascular training intensity is a natural phenomenon in any field, as methods are altered as understanding grows.

 

Source Jonathan Ross | ACE 

Pull up workouts - The benefits of Pullup Exercises

Pullups and Chin ups are an extremely effective way of building both strength and endurance. They are very good for full body conditioning, particularly if you are an athlete or martial artist.

Pullups are one of the most beneficial overall muscle and strength developers. This exercise (also called a chin up) is a simple body weight exercise for building upper body, back and core strength. Unfortunately this exercise is often overlooked/neglected in favour of pumping iron or machine weights at the gym.

Why do PullUps?
 A pull-up is a compound, pull-type exercise which works a large number of muscles in your back, shoulders, and arms (biceps) at the same time. An added benefit is that it works the abs as well as burning fat. Bonus!

Standard exercise for special forces and elite organization fitness testing
Improves grip strength significantly
Develop a V-shaped back

If you are new to this exercise or are out of practice a weight assisted pull up machine at the gym will help your muscles adapt to this challenging exercise. Lat pull downs machines should also help prepare you for a non assisted pull up workout. Once you have mastered the basics there are various different types of pull up you can do including wide and close grip: 

As a much prefer time efficient home workouts (especially as i am a new father with a busy work schedule). Other pull up bar include door frame pull up bars, and pull up stations, however, i have not used these.

Pull up workouts can be made varied and challenging by integrating them into explosive cardio circuits. There is also scope to attach weights to yourself or use a weighted vest if you become very advanced at pull up workouts. I am currently working on the twenty pull up challenge, and have improved consistently since i first started. Following a structured training program, I have achieved positive results with good gains in my biceps, chest. triceps and shoulder muscles. Just need to work on my diet a bit more to get those abs. Good luck with your workouts.

Thank you for reading this article.

Damian@FitnHealthy

How to do Crossfit style Workouts at Home

The bottom line is these are all workouts that (when done properly) provide unbelievable results in a short period of time. And results are what I care about.. 

Step 1: List All The Equipment and Exercises You Have Access To.

Let's start with the most obvious and fundamental piece of equipment your bodyweight. Exercises like push ups, air squats, burpees, sit ups, lunges, planks, sprints, and longer runs are all incredibly simple and effective. 

You can even add more complex movements like push up variations, one-legged squats, or Ab variations like russian twists.

Next, look at other equipment that you may have around the house. My personal favorite, and the only real piece of workout equipment that I own, is a kettlebell. The versatility of a kettlebell allows me to do kettlebell swings, cleans, snatches, presses, sumo deadlift high pulls, turkish get ups, goblet squats, and much more. I also have a jump rope which allows me to add single jumps and double unders into the mix. 

(If you are looking to outfit your home gym, these are the two things I recommend buying first.)

I know a lot of people usually have an old set of dumbbells lying around that can be used for presses, thrusters, rows, or for adding weight to traditional body weight movements like squats and lunges.
Even without a gym membership you should have no problem doing exercises like pull ups and dips. If you don't have access to a pull up bar or dip station, then you just aren't trying hard enough. A playground, tree branch, or concrete ledge can be used in place of a traditional pull up bar and a set of chairs can be used for dips. Don't be afraid to think outside the box when you don't have access to a gym full of equipment. 

The ledge in my condo's stairwell makes for a perfect place for pull ups.

Just keep in mind that CrossFit (and all good training) should be built around functional movements so you want to avoid things like crunches, bicep curls, or calf raises. 

Stick to compound exercises that place a higher demand on your entire body.

Step 2: Get Creative and List Even More Exercises.
You thought doing pull ups in a stairwell or chair dips was creative?
Not even close. Now it's time to really think outside the box.
A nearby bench or wall can be used for box jumps and step ups.
A hill or bridge can be used for incline sprints. Buckets can be filled with water for farmers' walks.
Water jugs can be used in place of dumbbells. A wall can be used for handstand push ups or wall climbs. Sand bags can be used for cleans or taken along on runs.
 

Nothing is off-limits.

The equipment that you use will most likely be things that you would find in a Home Depot rather than a Sports Authority.
If there is an object in your house that's heavy and awkward, chances are you could add it to your workouts. Just stay away from expensive electronics. 

Step 3: Fill the Bingo Hopper.
It is time to take the lists of exercises that you created in 

Steps 1 and 2 and load them into the bingo hopper.
 

What is the bingo hopper?
It's a model CrossFit uses for creating workouts with as much variety and intensity as possible. Just as your traditional bingo hopper selects bingo numbers at random, you should select and combine exercises at random when designing your workouts.

It is this variety that CrossFit says will provide your body with a unique and powerful stimulus at every workout. A stimulus that forces your body to adapt and get stronger consistently over long periods of time.

CrossFit is built around the preparation for the unknown and unknowable and the bingo hopper is the perfect representation of this viewpoint. Now that the hopper is loaded and ready to go, let's see how this equates to actual workouts.

Step 4: Create Benchmark Workouts.
There's no reason to reinvent the wheel if you don't have to, so I would start by browsing the list of CrossFit benchmark workouts, and seeing which ones you can do with the equipment you already have. Benchmark Girls like €Angie€ and €Cindy€ come to mind right away, since they require little more than your own body weight to perform.

From there, you can take other benchmark workouts and alter them to include the exercises that you can execute at home. Here are a few examples:

Fran

 Pick two high-power exercises and perform 21 reps of each, 15 reps of each, and 9 reps of each as fast as you possibly can. Record total time.
Example: 21-15-9 dumbbell thrusters and chair dips

Fight Gone Bad

Perform 5 exercises for 1 minute each. That's 1 round. Complete 3-5 rounds with a minute rest between each round. Count total reps.
Example: 1 minute each of sumo deadlift high pulls, kettlebell cleans, dumbbell push presses, goblet squats, sit ups. 

Rest 1 minute then repeat 2 more times.

The Chipper

 Pick 5-10 exercises and do 50-100 reps of each exercise. Complete all reps of one exercise before moving on to the next exercise.
Example: 50 lunges, 50 double unders, 50 kettlebell swings, 50 one-legged squats, 50 push ups, 50 box jumps, 50 hanging knees-to-elbows.

Helen

 Do 2-3 exercises for 10-25 reps each and separate each round with a 400 meter run. Record total time.
Example: 3 rounds for time of 21 jumping air squats, 12 handstand push ups, 400 meter run.

Karen

Perform 150-200 reps of the same exercise as fast as you can.
Example: 150 burpees for Time

Tabata Intervals
Pick an exercise and do 4-8 straight rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. Do this for 4-5 exercises with no additional rest in between. Record total reps.
Example: Tabata Abs. 6 sets each of sit ups, Russian twists, knee tucks, and leg raises.

Step 5: Vary your Workouts, Record your Results, and Test Benchmark Workouts on a Regular Basis.
Just as the bingo hopper model suggests, rarely should you repeat the same workout within a few weeks or even months of each other. Continue to create and execute new workouts, and use the benchmark workouts that you created in Step 4 to test your progress a few times a month.
The secret sauce of CrossFit is measuring the variables of a workout so you can compete with yourself in every training session. 

Record every workout that you do, along with the weight that you used and the time it took you to finish. This evidence-based approach to fitness will show you how you are improving over time so you won't have to rely on faulty measuring tools like a scale or your memory to tell you if you are becoming more fit.

I would recommend adding 2-3 days of CrossFit/metabolic conditioning to the 2-3 days of compound strength training that you are (hopefully) already doing. This should give you the fastest results in the least amount of time and we like results.

 

 Damian@FitnHealthy

Become Healthier, Become Fitter

A look at why being fitter is better for you.

If truth be told most of us want to be a lot fitter then we are. It is something we should all be aiming for, a better level of fitness.

To be honest there will always be something out there that will help, or maybe you can take a little information from each one to build your own fitness regime.

Are there any benefits to being fitter? Guess what the answer is. Yes, fitter is better. Fitter equals less body fat as this is something that is burnt off during exercise and exercise is how to become fitter. You could just diet to become slimmer but your chances of loosing weight will be much greater if you exercise as well as diet.

A fitter person has a lower heart rate which improves your well being and as you will be breathing harder during exercise this will increase your lung function so you will enable your body to absorb more oxygen to feed your brain and muscles.

Being fitter can also have a positive effect on cholesterol levels, reducing LDL cholesterol, (which is good), yet helping to raise the HDL level, (which I understand is also good).

Greater fitness can also help your heart and lower the chance of having a stroke.

Your stamina and strength will increase greatly from working out and this is even more important to people as you get a little older.

A great way of developing a fitness regime is to seek help and your local gym should have a personal trainer, (or you can find your own).

These will advise you on the best way to become fitter and remember they are the experts. A personal trainer knows the things we don’t and it is sensible advice to listen to their advice.

They will not set up a fitness regime that is so strenuous that it will kill you on day one. A personal trainer will help you build up your strength and stamina by developing a sensible program of exercise.

To develop a sensible fitness program we need to consider 4 important areas.

Aerobic exercise is a form of exercise which is low in its intensity but lengthy in its duration. Put simply this means not too hard but goes on a long time such as walking, swimming and aerobics on your own or in aerobic workout classes.

Another way of getting fitter is to pull weights which is known as resistance training. My experience of this training is limited but to do it sensibly start with low weights and build up the weight as your fitness builds up. Remember, be sensible and don’t over do it as you can damage your body easily with unsupervised weight training.

You could take up a fitness regime involving flexibility exercises such as yoga. Remember though you still need to eat a properly balanced diet of sensible foods as part of your fitness program.

Getting fitter can be easy, just do easy exercises a little at a time and then do it properly and intensively. To get fit quick though, consider being advised by a specialist fitness trainer, either a personal one or one based in a gym.

They will help you find out what is best for you.

A personal trainer can, and will, do this. Another thing they can do, which is usually something I need, is they can help to motivate you in order that you can develop your own fitness regime. Becoming fitter takes time and time is something that many of up are short of in today’s modern world.

Damian@FitnHealthy