A healthy lifestyle is right at your fingertips
Below is a quick list of helpful and knowledgeable information to help you get started on the path to personal wellness
Resistance Training
Some benefits of resistance training on your health include: raised metabolism, your muscle tissues require more calories to maintain, helps prevent osteoporosis,reshapes and tones your body, and many more.
Benefits of Resistance Training
- Raise your metabolism
- Muscle tissues require more calories to maintain
- Think of muscle tissue as bricks and fat as cotton balls
- Help prevent osteoporosis
- Maintain joint stability and muscle tone
- Increases strength and endurance
- Reshapes and tones your body
- Improves posture
- Decreases back pain
Office Exercises
- Stretches for the wrist and arms
- Leg Extension, Hip Flexion, & Inner Thigh
- Chair Squat
- Front Raise
- Overhead Press
- Abs
Cardiovascular Training
Some benefits of cardiovascular training on your health include: weight management, lowered blood pressure, raised HDL’S (the good cholesterol), reduction of the risk of coronary heart disease, help in preventing some cancers, and many more.
Benefits of Aerobic Exericise
- Weight management
- Lower blood pressure
- Raise HDL’S the good cholesterol
- Reduces the risk of coronary heart disease
- Helps prevent some cancers
- Boasts the immune system
- Helps prevent type – 2 diabetes
- Helps prevent osteoporosis
- Helps control Stress
- Fights depression
- Functional fitness
- Increases endurance
Do Not Forget Your Exercise
- Walk on Breaks.
- Intermittent Walking has many health benefits.
- Four ten minutes brisk walks burns as many calories as a forty minute walk at the same pace
- Always take the stairs
- Stretching at your desk.
- Strengthening exercises
30 Minutes a Day = 3 More Years
- A recent research study from the Framingham Heart Study, a long term study of Boston residents, indicated that moderate or brisk walking for 30 minutes three or more days per week brought about improvements in cardiovascular fitness. Fast paced walking on most days of the week, however, also had a positive effect on cholesterol levels.
Nutrition & Water
While it is extremely important to pay close attention to your fitness regimen-proper cardiovascular workout, strength training, and stretching, it is equally important to pay attention to your diet. Putting the wrong nutrients in your body can ultimately affect the overall fitness benefits of an active lifestyle. Putting too many calories (good and bad nutrients) can and will lead to weight gain. Nutrition is important for fitness and so is proper hydration. Water is by far the most important nutrient for the athlete. For optimal performance, fluids must be replaced before, during, and after exercise. For more information on this topic.
Anti-Aging Techniques
- Put your body in a healthy environment
- Exercise regularly
- Eat healthy, supplements are needed
- Proper Hydration
- Get needed rest
- Take charge of your health, educate yourself on the new technologies that are available
Nutrition & You
- Weight Management – A matter of Banking
- Portion control
- Food Diary
- Drink your Water
- 70%-30% rule
- Moderation
Food Nutrient Classifications
Practically all foods contain a mixture of the three energy nutrients, although they are sometimes classified by the predominant nutrient. A protein-rich food like beef actually contains a lot of fat as well as protein. A carbohydrate-rich food like corn also contains fat (corn oil) and protein. Thus it is incorrect to say we are eating a protein when we eat meat; we are actually eating a protein-rich food that also contains other nutrients, such as fat. Only a few foods are exceptions to this rule, the common ones being sugar (almost pure carbohydrate) and oil (almost pure fat).
Portion Control
- Be a good manager of your calories
- Eliminate empty calories
- Eat high fiber foods
- Do not skip meals especially breakfast
Water
Water is such an integral part of us, yet we seldom are aware of its importance–deprived of it, the body can survive only a few days. The body fluids, made up mostly of water, bring to each system all the exact ingredients required and also carry away the body’s by-products. Water is also an important, active participant in many chemical reactions in the body. It can act as a lubricant around joints and also protect sensitive tissues and organs from shock.
Water Monitoring Needs
Water is by far the most important nutrient for the athlete. For optimal performance, fluids must be replaced before, during, and after exercise. Most people rely on thirst as an indicator of how much water is lost. Unfortunately, thirst is not an accurate indicator of how much fluid the body has lost. Water losses can and must be monitored by one of two methods:
- Weigh in before and after a workout. For each pound of body weight lost, two cups of fluid must be consumed.
- Check the color of your urine. A dark gold color means you are dehydrated. A pale or no color means that you are headed toward a state of hydration.
Water is Essential to Good Health
- Blood is approx. 90% water, dehydration will cause the body to pull water from the blood, making blood thick and easier to clot and harder to pump through your system
- Water carries toxins and waste out of the body
- Aids chemical reactions in the body
- Lubricates the joints
- Protects sensitive tissues and organs from shock
- Suppresses appetite and aids in weight management
- Improves reaction time
- Deprived of water our bodies can only survive a few days
What’s a Body to do?
- Improved HDL cholesterol is clearly related to a regular aerobic exercise program. You need at least 20-30 minutes 4-5 days per week.
- Avoid Saturated fat. They are found mostly in meats and dairy products and seldom in foods of plant origin.
- Foods that contain trans fatty acids, hydrogenated fat, or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil should be avoided.
6 Nutrient Categories
| Nutrient | Functions |
|---|---|
| Protein | Builds and Repairs Body Tissue |
| Carbohydrates | Provide Energy for the Body |
| Fat | Necessary part of every cell; protects internal organs — carries fat soluable vitamins |
| Vitamins & Minerals | Regulate Body Process |
| Water | Important for the many chemical reactions in the body |
Energy Nutrients
The energy nutrients-carbohydrates (CHO), protein, and fat-all contain calories. Their energy can be used by the body in several ways: for heat, to build its structures, to move its parts, or to be stored as body-fat. The energy values of these nutrients are:
- 1 gram carbohydrate = 4 calories
- 1 gram fat = 9 calories
- 1 gram protein = 4 calories
Flexibility & Core Training
Building a Fitter Workplace
- Protecting your back at work
- Sitting down on the job
- Talking on the phone can be a pain in the neck
- Finding time to exercise
Protecting Your Back at Work
Back pain is experienced by eighty percent of the population. The cause can often be traced to poor posture and body mechanics in the workplace. Correct posture is a must. Use stretching techniques to stretch the tight muscles in the chest and upper back. Strengthening exercises for the upper back is also important.
Sitting down on the job
Use a rolled towel, small pillow or a specially designed seat support.
Remove every half hour for five minutes to give your lower back a change of position.
Your head should be positioned so that your ear is in line with your shoulder and your chin is parallel with the floor.
Avoid leaning to one side with you are sitting, and avoid overstuffed furniture as it does no offer adequate support.
Use a swivel chair to enable you to work without twisting your back.
Get up and move every 45 — 50 minutes
Do Not Forget Your Exercise
Walk on Breaks.
Intermittent Walking has many health benefits.
Four ten minutes brisk walks burns as many calories as a forty minute walk at the same pace
Always take the stairs
Stretching at your desk
Strengthening exercises
Flexibility Defined
Flexibility is defined as the ability of a joint to move freely through its full range of motion.
Stretching is defined as moving the joints beyond the accustomed range of motion.
Benefits of Flexibility
Increased physical efficiency and performance. A flexible joint has the ability to move farther in its range and requires less energy to do so.
Decreased risk of injury. Although there is insufficient data to support this conclusion, most professionals agree that increasing ROM (Range Of Motion) decreases the resistance in various tissues, and one is therefore less likely to incur injury by exceeding tissue extensibility, or maximum range of tissues, during activity.
Increased blood supply and nutrients to joint structures. Flexibility training increases tissue temperature, which in turn increases circulation and nutrient transport, thus allowing greater elasticity of surrounding tissues.
Increased quality and quantity of joint synovial fluid. Increasing the quantity and decreasing the viscosity, or thickness, of synovial fluid enables more nutrients to be transported to the joint articular cartilage. This allows more freedom of movement and has a tendency to decelerate joint degeneration processes.
Increased neuromuscular coordination. Studies have shown that nerve impulse velocity (the time it takes an impulse to travel to the brain and return) is enhanced with flexibility training. In attuning the central nervous system (CNS) to the physical demands placed upon it, opposing muscle groups work in a more synergistic or coordinated fashion.
Reduced muscular soreness. There is still controversy over why muscle soreness occurs and the role of flexibility in soreness. However, recent studies have indicated that slow, static stretching is extremely effective in reducing localized delayed muscular soreness after exercise.
Improved muscular balance and postural awareness. Flexibility helps realign soft tissue structures which may have adapted poorly to the effects of gravity and postural habits. Realignment consequently reduces the effort it takes to achieve and maintain good posture in activities of daily living.
Benefits of a Regular Stretching Program
- Increases resistance to muscle injury and soreness
- Prevents low back and spinal column problems.
- Improves good postural alignment
- Decreases the aches and pains caused by psychological stress and physical stress
- Contributes to a decrease in anxiety
- Can help decrease blood pressure
Factors Affecting Flexibility
- Joint structure, ligaments and tendons
- Body temperature
- Age
- Gender
- Previous injuries
- Adipose tissue (fat)
Significant Contributors to Lower Flexibility Levels
- Sedentary living
- Lack of physical activity
- Injury to muscle tissue
Type of Stretching
Ballistic Stretching – exercises are done with jerky rapid and bouncy movements
Slow-Sustained Stretching – muscles are lengthened gradually through a joint’s complete range of motion, and the final position is held for a few seconds.
PNF stretching – this technique is based on a contract and relax method. It requires the assistance of another person.
When to Stretch
Many people do not differentiate a warm-up from stretching. Warming up means starting a workout slowly with walking, cycling or mimicking the exercise to come at a lower intensity.
Stretching is best done after a warm up when body temperature is raised and blood is circulating through the muscles.
Higher body temperatures in itself helps to increase the joints’ range of motion.
Never Force a Stretch or Stretch a Cold Muscle
- Perform the exercises slow and controlled
- Never force a muscle to the point of pain
- earn to distinguish between tightness and pain
- A muscle is tight because it is shortened.
- Concentrate on lengthening the muscle being stretched
