Guidelines for Stretching Routine Program to Improve Flexibility

The following guidelines and precautions should be incorporated into a sound stretching routine program to improve flexibility :

1) Warm up using a slow jog or fast walk before stretching vigorously.

2) To improve flexibility, the muscle must be overloaded or stretched beyond its normal range but not to the point of pain.

3) Stretch only to the point where you feel tightness or resistance to stretch or perhaps some discomfort, but all types of stretching should not be painful.

4) Increases in range of motion will be specific to whatever joint is being stretched.

5) Exercise caution when stretching muscles that surround painful joints. Pain is an indication that something is wrong and should not be ignored.

6) Avoid overstretching the ligaments and Capsules that surround joints.

7) Exercise caution when stretching the low back and neck, spine stretches and exercises that compress their disks may cause damage.

8) The types of stretching from a seated position rather than a standing position takes stress off the low back and decreases the chances of back injury.

9) Stretch those muscles that are tight and inflexible, then strengthen and condition those muscles that are weak and loose, and always stretch slowly and with control.

10) Be sure to continue normal breathing during the types of stretching, and do not hold your breath.

11) Static and PNF stretching techniques are most often recommended for individuals who want to improve the flexibility of their range of motion, and Ballistic stretching techniques should be done only by those who are already flexible or are accustomed to the types of stretching and done only after static stretching.

12) Stretching should be done at least three times per week to improve flexibility. It is recommended that you stretch five or six times per week to see maximum results.

The Benefits of Aerobic Exercise and Always Stick the Calorie Burning Exercises

Somebody maybe want to know what is aerobic exercises and which type of aerobic exercises do they need.  Aerobic exercises, such as running training program, bike riding, swimming, aerobic dance classes, brisk walking and similar types of aerobic exercise requiring steady, intense effort — are super calorie burning exercises. The sports therapist of American says that significant loss of body fat requires aerobic exercises at least 20 minutes per day, three days a week, with sufficient intensity and duration to burn 300 calories per session, obviously aerobic exercises fit this bill the best. The benefits of aerobic exercise also help you relax, and since stress is a common cause of overeating, relieving it is a step in the right direction.

Serious runners are renowned for their slender physiques and body type, thanks to the hundreds of calories a good run eats up with such intense calorie burning exercises. If you’re a beginner, you’ll need to build up your muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance slowly, and start from a beginner running program, actually simply walk a block or two, then run a block, then walk again. Slowly increase your distance, about 10-15 percent a week. Three times a week over a period of several weeks, try to run longer distances and walk less. You may start out feeling like a sorry heap of potatoes, but you'll probably be surprised at how quickly you can progress.

For example, maybe your friend of a physical trainer spent a good year hounding you to try a running training program, but you couldn’t imagine dragging your poor body down the street, then you are really eager to lose 15 pounds and enjoy the benefits of aerobic exercise, so you should try to go out one day early in the morning, walk a half mile, then ran a block, then walked home. The next day, you could ran a little farther, and the next day farther still. Before long, you must can running for 30 minutes straight, which then continue to do three times a week. Maybe you never run a marathon, but first you will feel great, and you will lose 15-20 pounds finally through these good calorie burning exercises.

A one-year follow-up study looked at a group of eight women who had lost weight in a supervised medical program by the sports therapist. During the program, they had exercised at least 9 minutes per day, including a 25 to 45 minutes run. A year after the program, no longer dieting but eating an average of about 1600 calories a day and continuing to exercise in the form of running or other types of aerobic exercise, they maintained their weight loss. They also maintained progressive cardiovascular endurance and normal cholesterol levels through above calorie burning exercises.

However, the body fat you lose through aerobic exercises and diet can be easily regained if you interrupt your calorie burning exercises, even if you keep dieting. So do your best to stick to your good exercises program. After you’ve lost all you want to and have quit dieting, continuing to play different types of aerobic exercise, sports therapist's research already shows, helps maintain your weight loss. 

How to Launch Extensive Fitness Programs for the Old People

Contrary to old-fangled notions, your level of fitness can continue to grow throughout your lifetime. One weight-training program for men in their 60s and 70s showed that they were able to increase their muscle size by an average of 11 percent and their strength by 170 percent — after just 12 weeks.

Taking a walk somewhere peaceful is one of the world’s best antidotes to everyday woes. Heavy with worry though your mind may sometimes be, things naturally start to lighten up when you’re stepping through a pretty park, along a meandering river’s edge, or strolling down a quiet, tree-lined street. And relieving stress helps avoid the urge to overeat, even with two specially designed poles in your hands, you can get Nordic walking in a cheap way. Actually the better way is to walk with a pal. As part of their hospital exercise program, a group of men were assigned to walk every day. A study following their progress after they left the hospital found that the men who walked with their wives were twice as likely to continue their program for a year as those men who walked alone.

However，exercising on gym or health club equipment, rather than walking or running on your own, tends to give you a harder workout. Treadmills, rowing machines and equipment like the Stair-Master get more of your body involved. What’s more, many people find that the sight of other people sweating it out at a gym pumps up their own energy levels.

Riding a bike provides an excellent aerobic workout. Ride indoors on a stationary bike or go outside and enjoy the scenery. Start your routine slowly, spending 5 to 10 minutes warming up your muscles and getting your heart in gear. Then speed up for 10 to 20 minutes and finally slow down for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Most stationary bikes help you clock your pace. Set the bike to an easy resistance level and pedal about 40 rpms (revolutions per minute) to start. Then increase your pace to 6. 0 rpms and hold it steady for about 20 minutes. Finally, slow down to 40 rpms or less for about five minutes. Afterward, walk around the room for a few minutes to let your heart re-adjust to a non-exercise pace. And don’t jump into the shower right away — that could seriously stress your heart.

You can also play with your pet just around your house; every dog owner knows that Poochie isn’t happy with a walk around the block only once a day. Pet experts say that a minimum of 30 minutes of daily exercise is ideal for your dog, giving him a good stretch, improving his health and keeping him lean. Enjoy these benefits yourself by making Poochie your walking or running partner.

Cat people, whose pets’ favorite activities tend toward eating and sleeping, won’t find their feline friends as eager to engage in organized sports. Nevertheless, you can and should play games with them to perk them up. Throwing a ball or catnip toy around a room and fetching it is good for both of you.

Having a great relationship with a pet is also good for your mental health, studies show. And best of all, sharing good times and bad with your pet will make you less likely to turn to food to feel good.

How to Keep Exercise Up When you Fell Very Boring

Any exercise is better than no exercise, Sports medicine experts usually claim that a person needs to exercise for some minimum period of time, usually a half-hour a day, three or four days a week. But this puts a lot of people off, and they end up not exercising at all. Do you feel like taking a five-minute walk this afternoon? Or maybe a bike rides around the block tomorrow? These activities are small but definite steps toward losing weight. And who knows? You may feel more ambitious further down the line.

Actually people enjoy exercising more when they engage in more than one activity, a variety of exercises gives your body a better all-around workout and stretches your easily bored mind. Sometimes a simple stretch is all you need. At other times, you want to go for the burn in an aerobics dance class. Another day you may decide to lift weights or go for a long bike ride. The key to keeping up a regular program of exercise is to choose activities that you like. If you can’t swim, don’t jump into the pool. If the only thing about jogging that you like is stopping, hang up your running shoes. And if you enjoy an activity, don’t ruin it by overdoing it. Know your limits.

During the exercising, you could latch onto a high-powered pal, the energetic exercise buddies will give your a wakeup call every morning for your daily hike, if you’re a person who likes keeping pace with someone else, find a companion and go for it, or you can join a gym or health club for the discipline it offers you, then make it a social occasion if you are simply incapable of exercising by yourself. Certainly, before you join a club, shop around. Consider cleanliness, convenience, types and quality of equipment, types of classes, qualifications of the instructors and, last but not least, price. Rather than commit to a long contract, try to arrange a short-term trial run of a month or two to see if it works for you.

Psychologists say it takes about 12 weeks for a person to form a new habit. In the initial stages of undertaking an exercise program, you may find yourself gritting your teeth and forcing yourself to “just do it”, as the commercial puts it. Keep at it and be patient. Force of habit will eventually take over, after which you will struggle less and enjoy your activity more. 

Instituting a regular program of exercise is a difficult discipline. Lapses are perfectly normal. Don’t beat yourself up if you skipped a day,or even a week. Just pick yourself up and start fresh today.

Keep Away From the Swim If You Want to Lose Weight

One of the best all-around exercises, swimming increases both cardiovascular and muscle strength. There is hardly any stress on your body’s joints, because water turns you into a kind of weightless underwater astronaut, making your every movement an easy, flowing one. But water also offers resistance that helps you build muscle strength and tone.

Doing laps in a pool — no matter what the stroke — is excellent exercise. You can also “take a walk” underwater or perform calisthenics like leg lifts or arm circles. Research shows that water actually offers an equal aerobic workout in less time than one on dry land. A half-hour of walking in water equals the energy output of a two-hour walk in the woods, one study showed. Make sure you’re about chest deep (to benefit from the resistance) and simply go for a stroll.

However，there’s something you should know: Swimming isn’t the greatest exercise for losing actual pounds, according to at least one study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Researchers followed the progress of a group of moderately obese but otherwise healthy young women who were trying to lose weight by exercising without changing their diets. The women were divided into three exercise groups. Group one rode stationary bicycles, group two took brisk walks and group three swam laps in a pool. All of them slowly but steadily increased their daily exercise period to 6. 0 minutes. After about six months, the bike-riders had lost 12 percent of their initial weight and the walkers lost 10 percent, but swimmers lost none, and then,keep in mind that swimming has been proven effective in improving muscle tone, and firm muscles contribute significantly to losing inches, if not pounds.

A Brisk Walking Has Similar Benefits Equal to Jogging

A research study looked at 332 middle-aged, overweight men who needed to lose weight and lower their blood pressure and cholesterol levels. A direct correlation existed between the daily number of steps taken, weight loss, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The more steps taken, the more weight was lost. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels dropped, too. A brisk 10,000 steps, a mile or two depending on the length of your stride, made for optimal benefits.

You’ve been using a significant amount of energy ever since that first tottering step you took as a child. Walking is an easy, painless and powerful form of exercise. Studies show that you burn about 100 calories for every mile you walk. This may not sound like much, but it quickly adds up.

The ideal walking program consists of a minimum of a 20-minute walk at least three times a week. To enjoy maximum benefits, don’t just drag your feet along the sidewalk but get your whole body involved. Bend your elbows, flex your hips and torso, relax your chest and shoulders and take brisk steps at a comfortable but challenging stride.

A brisk hike to your job (if that’s realistic) has benefits equal to jogging the same distance, minus all the sweat. Peter Arnold, manager of a busy sales department, swears by his twice-a-day two-mile trek to work, which he started after successfully losing weight on a diet. “Walking gets oxygen to my brain, loosens up my joints and gets me ready for the day. Why set aside a special hour or join a health club when I have to get to work anyway?”

The faster you walk, the faster you burn calories. If you’re already a walker, add some action with speedwalking. In the middle of your regular walk, walk as fast as you can for a minute or so. When you get comfortable with that, add another minute or two. Bend your elbows and pump your arms to add momentum. Be sure not to strain yourself. You’ll know you are if your legs turn into knots. If that happens, slow down!

In the long run, try to cover a mile as fast as you can. Making a mile in 15 minutes is great, and twice that is an ideal workout. Remember, when you’re speedwalking, do a slower walk for 10 or 15 minutes as a warm-up and again afterward as a cool-down.

Easy Ways to Stay Health for Life

You can improve your fitness level through moderate, everyday physical activities.

The Surgeon General's report defines fitness as "the ability to carry out daily tasks with vigor and alertness, without undue fatigue and with ample energy." Even after years of a sedentary lifestyle, people can achieve this level of fitness if they perform regular, moderate physical activity. Spending more time on less vigorous activity provides health benefits similar to shorter, more intense workouts. Everyone can accumulate the daily equivalent of 30 minutes' moderate exercise. Briskly walking 15 minutes from the bus stop home, then gardening for 20 minutes or riding a bike for another quarter hour will do the trick, and the experts urges people to "think daily and think moderation" when it comes to exercise, ''Choose something you like and stick with it, "

It's true that Americans can optimize their fitness by taking up more vigorous sports such as swimming or jogging. But it’s not necessary to disrupt your hectic daily schedule by rushing off to a gym, swimming pool or jogging track.

Moderate physical activity brings important health benefits.

More than 60 percent of adults do not perform a minimum 30 minutes of moderate physical activity daily. Worse, 25 percent are completely inactive. This sedentary life-style increases as we grow older and is even more common among women than men. The report makes clear that this widespread inactivity contributes to "premature death and unnecessary illness" for millions of Americans each year. Moderate exercise, however, can help shield us from many diseases:

Cardiovascular Disease

Dozens of studies suggest that exercise increases the level of "good" HDL cholesterol in the blood, which acts like a scavenger of "bad" LDL cholesterol, the main component of arterial plaque, by transporting it to the liver for elimination in bile. People who are physically active can maintain an improved HDL-LDL ratio for several days after exercise.

Regular exercise also lowers high blood pressure by relaxing the vascular system. Even better, exercise increases the capacity of the heart's coronary arteries and may help develop small new capillaries and arterioles to branch from the main coronary arteries and provide increased blood flow to the heart. Exercise also enhances blood enzymes that break down dangerous clots, which can cause heart attacks.

The American scientist evaluated almost 1 0,000 American men ages 20 to 82 for cardiovascular fitness at an interval of five years. Those who improved their fitness through exercise had a 64 percent reduction in death from cardiovascular disease compared with those who remained unfit.

Colon Cancer

Several major studies worldwide have shown that regular physical activity significantly reduces the risk of colon cancer. It has been theorized that exercise helps to prevent this dreaded disease just, behind the death rate of prostate cancer in men and breast, cancer in women by increasing the production of a chemical compound called prostaglandin F2 alpha. This may accelerate intestinal activity, which decreases the time potential carcinogens are in contact with our digestive tract.

Adult-onset Diabetes

As many as 16 million Americans are afflicted with adult onset diabetes, which is most prevalent in sedentary obese people. Almost 170,000 die each year of complications of the disease,In diabetes, the metabolic balance between glucose and insulin is disrupted, leading to dangerous blood-sugar levels and organ damage. Regular exercise contracts the skeletal muscles, which enhances glucose metabolism in our cells. Exercise also helps reduce abdominal fat, which many experts believe is a major risk factor for diabetes.

Osteoporosis

Weight-bearing exercise such as walking and dancing helps prevent the crippling bone loss of osteoporosis. Bone cells respond to weigh, bearing by proliferating to build stronger bones. Elderly people who exercise moderately have far fewer fractures and fall less often than their sedentary peers.

Depression and Anxiety

Regular moderate to vigorous exercise can reduce depression and anxiety, perhaps by increasing the metabolism of brain chemicals called monoamines, which elevate mood. The raised body temperature from exercise also decreases muscle tension, which may contribute to an improved sense of well-being. Studies of adults suffering from mild to moderate depression showed that at least 30 minutes of exercise, three or more days a week, greatly improved their mood.

It's never too late to start becoming physically active.

Middle age is when many people slide into inactivity, then they were exhausted halfway up a small hill and they're in terrible shape.

If people added moderate exercise to their daily lives, their fitness steadily improved, in their mid-50s they could take brisk walks and bike rides, and regularly camp and hike in the Cascade mountains. They will be fit and healthy, and can't imagine going back to being a couch potato. "

Older people can benefit as well. Maryland resident Mois Zople was 75 when he was told he had heart disease. In one year he underwent three balloon angioplasties to clear a clogged coronary artery. His physical therapists recommended moderate exercise to help keep her arteries open. Mois was reluctant to walk, however, due to a painful arthritic knee. His lifelong fear of water eliminated swimming. There’s not much I can do, he thought.

Then one day in 2002, he decided to regain control of her life. Instead of taking the elevator to his fifth-floor condominium, he began slowly climbing the stairs. He also began a regular program of water walking. Since then he has also taken swimming lessons and swims a quarter-mile three times a week. He hasn't suffered chest pains for three years. "I feel better than I did ten years ago." he said shortly before his recent 80th birthday.

At present, the challenge facing us is motivating all Americans toward a level of physical activity that can benefit their health and well-being, actually you always find some ways to stay health for your life.