12 February, 2010

The Right Way to Skip

Filed under: Working Out — Joanne @ 2:48 pm

You see boxers and professional athletes skipping all the time. It’s an essential part of their fitness training routine. Want to know why?

Get rid of the idea that it’s just for little girls with pigtails playing outside – skipping is a great way to boost cardiovascular fitness, helping to trim and tone the body. It increases endurance and helps improves speed, positively affecting your ability in any sport that requires such qualities, including martial arts, basketball, and badminton. If you’ve got to stay light on your feet, then adding a skipping component to your exercise regimen is ideal.

Remember to do the following:
bend at the wrist only, keeping the arms soft
stick to little jumps to maintain speed
only skip on a padded floor, since concrete floors can be damaging to the joints

It’s not as easy as you think, you know! There are many people out there who don’t know how to skip, or to skip more than a few seconds.

Need more info? Watch the video – it may help. And don’t be surprised if your personal trainer asks you to do a few minutes of skipping.

2 February, 2010

Anabolic and Catabolic States

Filed under: Muscle — Joanne @ 10:52 pm

muscleman

The title may not sound interesting to you, but if you’re concerned about building muscle, read on.

Anabolic and catabolic refer to states the human body is in at any given time, in relation to the muscles. Basically, if you’re in an anabolic state, your muscles are building and growing. If you’re in a catabolic state, your muscles are breaking down and shrinking.

Anabolic State
Obviously, it’s the state preferred by most of us who want to maintain or increase muscle mass. While it may sound like you have to constantly pump iron to remain in an anabolic state, this couldn’t be further from the truth. All you really have to do is this:

1. Eat a balanced diet (that includes carbs and low-fat protein), preferably consisting of smaller portions several times throughout the day, including right after you work out. You want to aim for protein and carb “mini-meals” every couple of hours. This provides your body with a consistent stream of food to convert into energy. When you don’t have enough food, your body will just steal muscle tissue to convert into energy (dieters beware: this means you shouldn’t under eat either). And don’t forget the most important meal of the day: breakfast!

2. Did you know that your muscle grows when you’re actually not working on it? That means you need to give your body time to let it build up, which is why you have to take a day or two off to rest before you work on an area again when strength training. How long you rest is just as important as how long you work out.

lateralweights

3. Don’t overtrain. Doing countless reps and sets simply overexerts your body and can easily damage muscles, actually forcing it into the catabolic state. It’s best to do reps and sets in a number that suitably achieves your desired outcome. For example, if you’re muscle building (hypertrophy), you may need to do moderately heavier weight with a higher number of reps and sets. For this reason, talking to a personal trainer in Toronto will help you determine the most suitable exercise regimen for you – something that isn’t counterproductive and will maximize the time your body remains in an anabolic state.

There’s no way we can stop our bodies from entering the catabolic state, since it would be abnormal if we did. But these tips can help you avoid it as much as possible.