Top 10 Exercise Mistakes and How To Fix Them
May 26, 2008
This is a list of ten common mistakes made during exercise. Quite often the exerciser and even the personal trainer or coach is unaware of these mistakes, decreasing the effectiveness of the exercise and even risking injury. This list describes each "mistake" but follows with a suggested "correction". You may find this list helpful in grading yourself or even your personal trainer.
Ineffective warm up prior to a workout
The purpose of a warm-up is to gently prepare the body for the increased stress from the upcoming exercise session. A 5 ? 10 min bout of moderate intensity cycling, treadmill walking or elliptical work or even sports specific type movements to induce a mild, sustained stretch will be sufficient. These activities have the effect of increasing blood flow to the muscles (including the heart) and increasing the core muscle temperature for improved joint flexibility and range of motion, possibly helping reduce injury. Quite often exercisers go to the extreme when it concerns a warm up, they either do not perform one at all, or "prefatigue" by running at a high intensity for 15 ?20 minutes (or more) before their session. This has the effect of draining valuable muscle carbohydrate stores (glycogen) needed for the upcoming strength training/bodybuilding exercise session. If the goal of exercise is to lose weight, it is actually better to perform extended aerobic exercise or interval training at the end of an intense strength training session as the body will be likely to burn more fat as a fuel due to the decreased glycogen stores.
Four Powerful Tricks for Successful Lucid Dreaming
May 26, 2008
By definition, Lucid Dreaming means "conscious awareness during the dream state." But how can this be? Every book I’ve ever read on dreaming has described the dream state as being an entry into the unconscious, so how can you possibly be conscious during dreaming, and be able to enter your dreams. It’s an interesting theory, and I’ve discovered some very positive information that will help you in your Lucid dreaming attempts.
Can you be Conscious while Accessing the Subconscious?
According to Charles McPhee in his book "Stop Sleeping Through your Dreams," the answer to the question on consciousness during sleep is a resounding NO! "Our ability for consciousness-our ability to achieve reflectivity in our minds-is specifically denied us during dream sleep. Single-mindedness is a quality that defines dream experience." If you had the ability to reflect in a dream, you would recognize instantly that you were dreaming, and wake-up, and this is why it becomes difficult to judge and evaluate our dream experience.
Golf Core Exercises For More Power
May 25, 2008
Golf core exercises. You hear that phrase quite often on the television by the commentators referring to the area a lot of the touring pros focus on to improve their power output and prevent low back injuries.
Vijay Singh for example uses weighted medicine balls to work his golf core muscles throughout the whole week of the tournament. In fact his caddie is his rainier. How convenient! The best of both worlds!
But hearing the phrase golf core exercises and knowing what your core is are two different things entirely. As a fitness professional it’s easy for me to throw out that phrase often to impress would-be clients or customers to my golf fitness training products.
But that’s not the case. Understanding what your core is and how it plays a critical role in producing maximum power; injury prevention and even stability is very important. Once you know?you’ll soon realize this may be your missing link to a great game.
This area (core) starts roughly at your belly button and goes up to the bottom of your sternum. It is the engine of your body and awareness of your core affects golf the most. Think of it as the link in the chain that needs to be the strongest, not the weakest.
Elliptical Trainers and Burning Calories
May 25, 2008
One of the most frequently asked questions is do the use of elliptical trainers help me burn calories compared to other cardio machines?
With our busy schedules it is completely understandable that you want to get the most results for the time you spend working out.
As you may know how many calories burned during a workout will vary depending upon your weight. A 150 pound woman may only burn 387 calories while a 180 pound man may burn 500 calories on the same machine for the same length of time.
Many elliptical trainer companies say you can burn around 800 calories per hour of elliptical training workout. The following factors dictate how many calories you will actually burn during your workout:
- Workout Duration - This is simply how much time you spend on the specific workout. It is usually recommended that you do it for a half hour to an hour.
- Interval Training - Taking small breaks, followed by a cool down period is recommended for extended workouts.
- Elliptical Tension Settings - These tension settings help you control the intensity of the workout. Using a higher intensity can improve the effects of the workout.
What Do Trees Have to Do With Golf?
May 24, 2008
On our way back from a recent round of golf, Fritz and I were discussing the way most golfers evaluate golf courses. We’ve had this discussion before, and it inevitably gets around to my heartfelt conviction that trees do not enhance the “golfing experience”.
Most golfers in North America assume that golf is not golf without tree-lined fairways. If I am not mistaken, this is a bias created by a century of golf course design compliments of a relatively small number of trend-setting designers. In Canada, Stanley Thompson was the main man. His course designs can be found across the country, and inevitably they feature lush green (soft) fairways lined with majestic trees.
Of course there are many reasons for this, both practical and esthetic. For starters, eastern North America has lots of trees, and just as important, it is impossible to replicate the sandy turf of Scotland or Ireland in other parts of the world that do not share the same climate.
Nevertheless it struck me as a bit odd when on a recent trip to Saskatchewan we found the same type of fairways in that relatively dry prairie climate as we have here in our much more humid environment in southern Ontario.
Burn that Fat - The Most Efficient and Effective Exercise Yet Devised by Man!
May 24, 2008
Rebounding: Health and Fitness Benefits
As quoted by NASA, rebounding is "the most efficient and effective exercise yet devised by man". It is an excellent, non-impact, aerobic excercise gained by bouncing on a mini-trampoline.
The benefits of rebounding are astonishing and have been promoted significantly within the last decade.
It is a unique excercise in which a weightless state is achieved at the top of each jump and then land with twice the force of gravity on each bounce. This shift in gravity benefits every muscle and cell of the body and provides huge benefits to the lymph system.
On studying the benefits of rebounding, NASA found that a 150-pound individual spending one-hour on a rebounder will burn more calories than the same person jogging for an hour!
Benefits of Rebounding
- 68% more efficient than jogging (N.A.S.A., Journal of Applied Physiology 49(5): 881-887)
- Fights fatigue by strengthening the glandular system to increase the capabilities of the thyroid gland, the pituitary gland and the adrenals.
- Rebounding has a natural analgesic effect on the body which helps to relieve joints and pain in the neck, back, and head through the increase of circulation and oxygen flow.
Boost Your Anabolic Hormone Levels - Naturally!
May 23, 2008
Anabolic steroid use appears to be on the rise. With the great increase in modern recombinant DNA technology, steroids such as growth hormone, growth factors and testosterone-based analogs have become increasingly more available and affordable. Despite their renewed popularity however, anabolic steroids are illegal and have negative effects on health, reproductive status and even personality. In response, this article aims to provide some basic information on anabolic steroids and how to boost the body’s own production levels naturally, using exercise.
What is an anabolic hormone?
The definition of anabolic is "to build up"- therefore anabolic steroids are hormones that cause increases body and muscle size. Actually, not all "anabolic steroids" are steroids but they are all hormones. An example of an anabolic steroid hormone is testosterone and its analogs. An example of an anabolic polypeptide/non-steroid hormone is growth hormone. Basically, hormones are chemical messengers released from certain tissues into the blood in response to a stimulus. Their role is essentially to help the human body adapt and remain in a state of balance or "homeostasis". While the body is quite efficient at regulating its anabolic state on its own ? the temptation exists to use large quantities of anabolic hormones to magnify the results. As recently as 15-20 years ago, growth hormone had to be extracted form the pituitary glands of cadavers. Now however, modern science is able to manipulate the DNA of bacteria to produce large quantities of the hormone. Steroid use has always been rife in bodybuilding arena, but with peer pressure and ever-increasing expectations of sport performance, anabolic steroid use has become commonplace in sports too - even among high school age athletes.
Golf Driving Tip That Will Add Yards Quickly
May 23, 2008
A golf driving tip that can make the difference between being the shortest hitter in your foursome to the longest?consistently would interest you right? Well?the tip I’m going to discuss is not what you’d think, but you need to take notice and apply it?if you want to own your foursome off the tee!
When you think of a golf driving tip I’ll bet you think of swing mechanics. Am I correct? If so, has it worked? I mean?have you added 10,20 or even 30 yards to your swing taking this approach?
If most of you are being honest you’ll say no. For those of you who have accomplished the above with that approach?congratulations. You are a small percent of the golfing community that is successful.
So if a golf driving tip pertaining to swing mechanics isn’t it?what else is left? Well?you’re looking at it if you look in a mirror. It is your physical make-up. What your body is capable of doing at this moment.
All the swing thoughts and golfing tips in the world won’t help if your body can’t physical perform them. And no matter how hard you try?you won’t be successful.
Better Cardio Workouts
May 22, 2008
The Cardio King
Change it up
One of the most important aspects to a cardio workout is changing it. Most people get bored with exercise simply because they pop these DVD’s in and do the same thing everyday. Imagine if you had to read the same book everday, would that be fun. No way, so why would you do the same workout everyday. Most people don’t realize what they are doing. You have to make it fun in order for it to work.
Try to have at least 4-6 different exercises.
Intensify
Make sure the you are reaching your target heartrate. If you don’t you are not getting the most out of it. Why do something just to do it. Your goal is to burn fat and it is real difficult to do that without reaching your target zone.
Take it outside
Don’t just stay in the gym. Change it up and take it on the run. Try doing some intense walking or some bike riding. Play some basketball in the park. Make it fun and interesting, that’s the only way you will keep it up.
The Best Martial Art
May 22, 2008
It is a very difficult task to determine which martial art is the best so first of all let’s take a look what a martial art exactly is and what not.
The word "martial art" consists of 2 parts ; "martial" and "art" both of them are very important as you will see in the following lines in the determination of what a martial art exactly is.
According to the dictionary the word martial means:
1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of war.
2. Relating to or connected with the armed forces or the profession of arms.
3. Characteristic of or befitting a warrior. As you can see, martial has everything to do with war and the ways of the warrior.
The word "Art" on the other hand gives the following definition:
1. Human effort to imitate, supplements, alters, or counteracts the work of nature.
2.
a. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.
b. The study of these activities.
