Monday, 21 November 2011
How Not To Get Injured...
Everyone gets injured at some point within their life, its a matter of fact. But there are ways in which people can minimize the chances of getting injured, through some simple steps.
1. Minimize strength imbalances: Muscle imbalances are scientifically proven to cause injury, it is said that an athelet is 2.6 times more likely to have an injury if an imbalance in hip flexibility is more than 15%, so for example if you only ever squat without ever thinking of your hamstrings, this can cause major problems. Always try and achieve equal strength in opposing muscles.
2.Do Not Skip Over The Warm Up: A warm up using just the bar is not a very useful warmup ! gradually reach the weight you are trying to use, as this will get the muscles warmed up, plus it will get your body a bit more used to the weight, and wont be such a shock to your body.
3.Think... Flexibility: Flexibility is always overlooked, when people warm up, they always just use a lighter weight, or casually walk on the running machine before going for a run. Look into specific stretches and set aside a specific amount of time to stretch. This will help in the long term, as one of the major reasons behind loss of strength is lack of suppleness in the muscles.
4. Do Not Forget The Little Muscles: There are lot more muscles that are working hard when your at the gym, than just the big ones, for example when doing chest workouts, one of the most common forms of injury is a rotator cuff injury, and always make sure that these little workouts, are warmed up.
5.If Injured, Do Not Rush Into Heavy Workouts! People think that if there is no pain after a major injury, that it should be able to handle the weight that it could before you got injured. This is a big problem, as all this achieves is more injury. Take your time getting back into it, and listen to your body, if it doesnt feel right stop !
Heres a little video, just showing some rotator cuff excercises
1. Minimize strength imbalances: Muscle imbalances are scientifically proven to cause injury, it is said that an athelet is 2.6 times more likely to have an injury if an imbalance in hip flexibility is more than 15%, so for example if you only ever squat without ever thinking of your hamstrings, this can cause major problems. Always try and achieve equal strength in opposing muscles.
2.Do Not Skip Over The Warm Up: A warm up using just the bar is not a very useful warmup ! gradually reach the weight you are trying to use, as this will get the muscles warmed up, plus it will get your body a bit more used to the weight, and wont be such a shock to your body.
3.Think... Flexibility: Flexibility is always overlooked, when people warm up, they always just use a lighter weight, or casually walk on the running machine before going for a run. Look into specific stretches and set aside a specific amount of time to stretch. This will help in the long term, as one of the major reasons behind loss of strength is lack of suppleness in the muscles.
4. Do Not Forget The Little Muscles: There are lot more muscles that are working hard when your at the gym, than just the big ones, for example when doing chest workouts, one of the most common forms of injury is a rotator cuff injury, and always make sure that these little workouts, are warmed up.
5.If Injured, Do Not Rush Into Heavy Workouts! People think that if there is no pain after a major injury, that it should be able to handle the weight that it could before you got injured. This is a big problem, as all this achieves is more injury. Take your time getting back into it, and listen to your body, if it doesnt feel right stop !
Heres a little video, just showing some rotator cuff excercises
A few ways on how to keep yourself motivated and enjoy going to the gym..
Everyone struggles to keep motivated whilst going to the gym.. it could be everything from too much going on at home, or you might be stuck in a bit of hole with your workout. Here are a few tips to keep your motivation and stay fit and healthy.
1. Always mix up your routines; Never stick with the same routine, as sooner or later you will either get bored, or you will stop noticing any gains. A good thing is to always keep your body guessing, and always try and learn new routines or new techniques. For example if you are doing a cardio workout, maybe one time do a long stint on the treadmill, then net workout do interval training.
2.Train with someone: FIND A TRAINING PARTNER!!! Training partners make working out a lot more fun ! Working out with someone if its your best friend or a personal trainer, helps you in several ways. Firstly they push you to limits that many people will not reach on their own, whether its keeping up with your friend whos a lot better at running than you, or your personal trainer getting one more rep out of you. Secondly its a lot safer to train with a partner as they are able to spot you.
3. Try and incorporate training into your daily routine: If going to the gym is part of your daily routine, then you will not struggle to lose motivation to keep going, as it will be weird not to go. To fit it into your daily routine, try going at the same time every week, or making sure you fit a workout of some kind into your day on specific days.
4. Research into fitness: When I first started, I found researching into new training techniques on websites such as www.bodybuilding.com, menshealth.com etc as it always kept my training new and interesting. There are a lot of sites, that will help you learn new workout routines and excercises, so keep looking !!
1. Always mix up your routines; Never stick with the same routine, as sooner or later you will either get bored, or you will stop noticing any gains. A good thing is to always keep your body guessing, and always try and learn new routines or new techniques. For example if you are doing a cardio workout, maybe one time do a long stint on the treadmill, then net workout do interval training.
2.Train with someone: FIND A TRAINING PARTNER!!! Training partners make working out a lot more fun ! Working out with someone if its your best friend or a personal trainer, helps you in several ways. Firstly they push you to limits that many people will not reach on their own, whether its keeping up with your friend whos a lot better at running than you, or your personal trainer getting one more rep out of you. Secondly its a lot safer to train with a partner as they are able to spot you.
3. Try and incorporate training into your daily routine: If going to the gym is part of your daily routine, then you will not struggle to lose motivation to keep going, as it will be weird not to go. To fit it into your daily routine, try going at the same time every week, or making sure you fit a workout of some kind into your day on specific days.
4. Research into fitness: When I first started, I found researching into new training techniques on websites such as www.bodybuilding.com, menshealth.com etc as it always kept my training new and interesting. There are a lot of sites, that will help you learn new workout routines and excercises, so keep looking !!
Sunday, 20 November 2011
A few tips on how to keep trim at Christmas !
Christmas is probably the hardest time, to keep in shape, all those mince pies, all that chocolate....all those Christmas parties. They can all add on the pounds. Here are a few tips on how to keep the weight off while enjoying yourself at Christmas !
1. Keep an eye on the alcohol: Now I am not saying do not drink at christmas, as lets be honest about 90% of us will have a few too many in the festive period. A good idea though is to choose the correct drink! for example a double vodka and diet coke is roughly about 100 calories, while a pint or a cider is well over 200 !!
2. Keep up the excercise: OK, a lot happens in the festive period ... parties, xmas shopping, good tv etc. But try and keep up the excercise, especially as you will probably consume more calories over xmas so excercise and gym is more important than ever !!
3.Watch your portion sizes: Eat what ever you like, but the trick is keeping an eye on the size of the portions, as its too easy to have that extra few mince pies at the buffett, and eat that extra chocolate bar from your selection box.
4. Swap Fizzy drinks to diet fizzy drinks: A normal coke is about 100 calories, while a diet coke is about 1 calorie, that is a major difference ! while not trying to avoid those fizzy drinks.
5.Try and keep a lid on the sugar: Watch the amount of chocolate and sweets you eat, and maybe limit yourself to a specific amount a day.
1. Keep an eye on the alcohol: Now I am not saying do not drink at christmas, as lets be honest about 90% of us will have a few too many in the festive period. A good idea though is to choose the correct drink! for example a double vodka and diet coke is roughly about 100 calories, while a pint or a cider is well over 200 !!
2. Keep up the excercise: OK, a lot happens in the festive period ... parties, xmas shopping, good tv etc. But try and keep up the excercise, especially as you will probably consume more calories over xmas so excercise and gym is more important than ever !!
3.Watch your portion sizes: Eat what ever you like, but the trick is keeping an eye on the size of the portions, as its too easy to have that extra few mince pies at the buffett, and eat that extra chocolate bar from your selection box.
4. Swap Fizzy drinks to diet fizzy drinks: A normal coke is about 100 calories, while a diet coke is about 1 calorie, that is a major difference ! while not trying to avoid those fizzy drinks.
5.Try and keep a lid on the sugar: Watch the amount of chocolate and sweets you eat, and maybe limit yourself to a specific amount a day.
Benefits of Learning Olympic Lifting...
Personally I think olympic lifting is one of the best weightlifting exercises around. They not only give you a cardio workout as they involve so many different muscles, but they provide incredible strength advances, and it allows you to develop explosive power.
What annoys me, is that why do so many gyms not have the facility's to perform these exercises correctly. I walked into a very popular commercial gym, which had an Olympic lifting platform. The only problem was, that they didn't have any Olympic rubber plates!, now this mentality I do not get, why have an olympic lifting platform, without the correct weights ?
Another thing that doesnt annoy me as such, but I do not understand why these personal trainers that go around these very commercial gyms, do not have the knowledge to perform these excercises. If they learnt the proper technique, then they would be able to provide their customers with workouts that are challenging, as well as very rewarding.
Heres a nice little tutorial that will help you learn how to clean and jerk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpXqVba1mFo
What annoys me, is that why do so many gyms not have the facility's to perform these exercises correctly. I walked into a very popular commercial gym, which had an Olympic lifting platform. The only problem was, that they didn't have any Olympic rubber plates!, now this mentality I do not get, why have an olympic lifting platform, without the correct weights ?
Another thing that doesnt annoy me as such, but I do not understand why these personal trainers that go around these very commercial gyms, do not have the knowledge to perform these excercises. If they learnt the proper technique, then they would be able to provide their customers with workouts that are challenging, as well as very rewarding.
Heres a nice little tutorial that will help you learn how to clean and jerk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpXqVba1mFo
Welcome
Hello I am a fitness enthusiast that offers online personal training at www.myonlinegymbuddy.com. I will be blogging about fitness,nutrition strength training and anything revolving around fitness.
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