18 June, 2010

Tips to Help You Avoid Injury While Exercising

Filed under: Working Out — Joanne @ 2:04 pm

You’re committed to getting fit, so you throw yourself into an exercise regimen that’ll improve your strength and endurance, hoping that it’ll help you lose the flab and get toned.

Such enthusiasm is fantastic, but our Personal Trainers have found that sometimes too much enthusiasm can be a bad thing, especially for people who want to fast track their way to improved fitness.

If you want to prevent injury, remember to do the following:

Before and after every exercise session, warm up. This involves gentle stretching and something to get the blood pumping a bit faster prior to the session and more intense stretching and a cool down afterward.

Drink a glass of water before you work out and drink more at intervals throughout (some experts believe about 2 ounces every 15 minutes is ideal).

If you’re just starting your exercise program, start off easy and increase intensity gradually. To keep things challenging, aim to do a couple of more reps or a heavier weight every week, or increase the length or intensity of your cardio segment.

Don’t workout on an empty or full stomach. Have a banana or something light (preferably rich in protein) in you haven’t eaten, or wait at least 2 hours if you have.

Your body needs time to heal after strength training, and this can take one day or more. Weightlifting can only effectively tone and build muscle if you allow your body to repair the targeted muscles, and this can only be optimally done when you’re not using them and resting. Many people find strength training every other day achieves the best results. On those off days, try doing something else like cardio.

Pay attention to your body. If you feel pain while you’re doing an exercise, stop and adjust your position. If that doesn’t help, tell your Personal Trainer about it or skip the exercise and do something else. This is incredibly important since ignoring pain can cause damage to your body, particularly your joints. Stop exercising if you feel dizzy or have pain in the chest, neck, shoulder or arm. This may be indication of a more serious health problem.

3 June, 2010

Why Limiting Carb Intake Helps Weight Loss

Filed under: Weight Control and Dieting — Joanne @ 10:41 pm

As a woman, I love my carbs. I thrive on bread, pasta, and rice, and often fill up on those while ignoring protein. But for someone who’s also trying to lose weight, eating so many carbs on a daily basis and eating insufficient amounts of protein may actually be hindering my weight loss efforts. Here’s why:

Your body doesn’t heal as quickly, so your muscles can’t repair themselves after a workout as effectively. The amino acids that protein provides are vital in repairing tissue, so you need to eat protein if you’re toning or increasing muscle mass through strength training.

Eating insufficient amounts of protein can cause health problems in the long term. These problems include decreased immunity, kwashiorokor and even death. When it comes to weight loss, insufficient protein consumption will make you lose muscle mass, which is a huge problem if you’re on a diet. Muscle tends to burn more calories, even when resting, and loss of muscle mass means that you may find it harder to lose weight.

The body processes protein at a slower rate than carbs. Protein goes through the stomach and intestine slowly, allowing you to feel satiated for a longer period of time, preventing that spike in blood sugar levels so you don’t rise and crash and, finally, makes your body use up more energy to process the protein.

The results of clinical trials have proven that low-carb and high-protein diets were more successful than high-carb and low-fat diets.

So if you’re trying to lose weight, you may want to find a happy balance between carbs and protein. Consider limiting your carb intake to a healthy amount and boost protein consumption to about .8 grams per every kilo you weigh (this is recommended by the Institute of Medicine). Meat, fish, dairy, beans and nuts are great sources of protein while whole grains are a great source of carbs.