Archive for the ‘Health & Fitness’ Category
Fitness Results Are Earned
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
Your fitness results are the sum total of the number of workouts you do and the number of balanced, healthy meals you eat per week, per month, per year. You must adhere to the minimum workouts you schedule each week.
Be patient. Results are earned. Controlling your schedule, workouts and diet as well as being consistent WILL yield results.
Be honest and open about your goals. Be willing to make changes to your food, liquids and exercise levels so you get the best possible results.
Be willing to record your progress; use a food and exercise diary as a key tool to stay on track.
How long does it take to achieve your goals? That depends on many factors: genetics, your age, any past or present injuries, current physical condition and so on. Your diligence and commitment plays a big role in your results.
Commit to at least 6 months to reach your goals.
Always consult your physician before beginning a new exercise or nutritional program.
Get a fitness workbook like Fit Lean Healthy, 8 Simple Steps to walk you through step-by-step and keep you on track and focused.
Rudi Marashlian www.gofitnow.com
Author of Fit Lean Healthy, 8 Simple Steps
Better Than BMI?
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
BMI, or body mass index, is so well known by most people as the measure of the health of the body that most people don’t question its authority. It is used by doctors, personal trainers, dietitians and life insurance companies to determine whether or not a person is overweight, healthy or obese.
The problem is that when they first introduced BMI as the standard in 1985, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said they never intended BMI to be used by individuals as a diagnosis of whether or not their weight is healthy. Interestingly, this is how it is used today—individuals are encouraged to easily diagnose their own BMI via the NIH website BMI calculator. The man who came up with the formula, Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet, warned that the calculation was only meant to be used for large diagnostic studies on general populations and was not accurate for individuals.
BMI doesn’t actually tell you how much body fat you have on you—and it’s body fat levels that are the risk factor for all kinds of diseases like Type 2 diabetes and various cardiovascular diseases. For example, most male bodybuilders will have a BMI that indicates they are “overweight” and yet they carry less than 10% body fat in many cases. This is because they have large muscle mass and muscle weighs three times more than the same volume of fat.
Another very simple method (and more indicative of actual health risk) for determining whether you are at risk for cardiovascular disease (and are “out of shape”) is the waist to hip ratio. What’s healthy? For men, anything below 0.95. For women, below 0.86 per the American College of Sports Medicine.
Here’s how you find your waist to hip ratio (WHR):
- Measure the circumference of your waist just above your belly button
- Measure the circumference of your hips around the buttocks (widest point)
- You can measure in inches or centimeters
- Divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement
- WHR = waist circumference/hip circumference
And remember, exercise is a key factor in looking and feeling great as well as reducing the risks for diseases like Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. So, stay active!
Six Steps To a Healthier Life
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
Being sedentary is, as we know now, very detrimental to our health. The reduction in muscle and increase in fat (under the skin, around the organs and throughout muscle) that can occur with a sedentary lifestyle can lead to all kinds of nasty and life-threatening diseases – type 2 diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, osteoporosis and so on. Not to mention feeling lethargic, having back pain, being unable to move quickly when needed, feeling out of breath and the list goes on.
One of the easiest and healthiest things you can do for your body is to get it active, the other is to eat a nutritious diet. The problem for a lot of people who have been sedentary for a while is, how to get started. Below are six simple things you can do to get you started on the right track:
- Join a gym or a group (such as a walking group) in your local area. The easier it is to get there, the more likely you are to go. If you’re lucky enough to live up the road from a gym or other activity, you can warm up by walking there instead of driving.
- Schedule time to exercise; actually write it in your calendar (the one you use regularly). You might have to take some time to plan when would work best for you and it’s a good idea to schedule it for before you sit down to watch TV in the evenings.
- Make your own food for work or school instead of buying it. This way you can control the type of food you’re eating and the quantity and you won’t run into the situation of having to eat a high-calorie, nutritionally deficient muffin because you’re in a hurry.
- Drink more water. Start with a couple of glasses when you wake up in the morning. If nothing else, you’ll have to get up regularly to go to the bathroom, which will get some more activity into your life. Try for at least 8 glasses each day.
- Remove high sugar, artificially sweetened products and processed foods from your pantry and your life. Not only are these items lacking in nutrients, they often don’t require much digestion because they are already in a form that can be absorbed by the body quickly. Digestion, when you eat healthy, unprocessed foods, actually takes a lot of work and your body is designed to do this work, so let it do its job properly by feeding it right.
- Get educated. Buy a good book, like FIT LEAN HEALTHY, 8 SIMPLE STEPS to give you plenty of useful and high-quality information and a plan for getting active and healthy.
Tracey Thatcher
Writer for gofitnow.com
Why Work Out?
Monday, January 16th, 2012
The benefits of exercising are plentiful and scientifically acknowledged. Here are some for you to think about: (more…)
Get More Out of Your Workout
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Probably the busiest place in the gym is the cardio room where you can see people sweating it out all hours of the day on treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bikes sometimes for 30 minutes or more at a time. For many, this IS their workout with maybe a few stretches thrown in somewhere in the session. While it’s definitely better than doing nothing at all, a gym membership can offer much, much more. (more…)
