Ease into exercise slowly with caution after injury

Of the patients suffering from neck pain, back pain and other injuries, I would say that at least 50% of them ask, “what can I do for myself to make sure that this doesn’t happen again?” This question served as the inspiration for this article and I will address in this post.

To begin with, neck pain and back pain are great motivators.

When people are in pain they take a proactive approach to their health. People often inquire about what kind of stretches or exercises that they can start right away. Unfortunately, the best thing that you can do while your injury is new is to apply ice packs to the injured area and rest. I indicated that this is unfortunate because when injuries are new, motivation for proactive behavior such as exercising is high - later on, when the pain has decreased, so does the motivation.

Over my 15 plus years in practice I have seen a large percentage of enthusiastic patients ignore this advice and end up giving their conditions a major set back. The time to start exercising and stretching your back for most of us is when you are out of the acute stage of pain.

My biggest struggles in practice have been dealing with my patients exercise and diet habits. Exercise is one of the few things that a patient can do at home, outside of chiropractic care, to help prevent or diminish the chances of developing back pain in the future.

After an injury, you should approach exercise cautiously - almost to a point where the exercise that you are performing feels like it is doing nothing. If you can get through a few low intensity exercise sessions like this without aggravating your condition, you should slowly add resistance, repetitions or time to your workouts, allowing you to build confidence and strength at the same time.

You have to remember to incorporate a sensible approach to exercising after a back injury. Be sure to exercise and stretch under the advise of a health care professional. Strong and flexible muscles add strength and support to your spine and will provide much needed stability.

I have always tried to help the patients of my San Diego Chiropractic office with their neck pain and back by encouraging stretches and exercises. The combination of chiropractic care with stretches and exercise allows for quicker, more complete healing with decreased chances of pain in the future.

Dr. Steve Jones is a practicing chiropractor in San Diego California. He was licensed in 1991 and received his degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic - West. Dr. Jones has focused on the study and implimentation of ergonomics in the work place and holds a certification as a specialist in health ergonomics. Dr. Jones can be contacted through his websites at http://www.JonesPainRelief.com and http://www.ErgoNav.com

How often should you workout?

One of the age old questions, that has been asked throughout gyms for as long as anyone can remember has been, how many days a week should I workout? Too complicate things further comes the follow up question, how should I split my workouts? In either case, what essentially is coming into question is an individual’s training frequency. As it pertains to exercise, frequency is the rate at which workout sessions are occurring.

In my opinion this is the most overrated and over exaggerated fundamental principle of exercise. By that I mean this is the variable that people most heavily focus their attention on. It’s amazing how many individuals are caught up in having to be at the gym on a daily basis. As if missing a workout or even two or three is going to result in losing everything they have gained. This mind set often has negative consequences and can severely hinder your development. There are of course those at the other end of the spectrum who do not exercise nearly enough which as we know also has negative consequences. However much of our discussion here will focus on those individuals we first mentioned–the exercise addicts.

The reason why we go to the gym is to help us get in shape and look better, right? Wrong! The real reason for going to the gym or, working out in general, is to start a chain of events that will eventually result in us improving our level of health and fitness as well as looking better. Take a moment to read that statement again or as many times as is needed for it to completely sink in. The reason why it is so important to see exercise this way is because many people have a distorted view of exercise and how it works to make us more fit.

Many trainees believe that if they simply show up at the gym and perform the workouts, they will accomplish all they’ve set out to achieve. More often than not any results that are achieved through this mechanism are usually very small and/or short lived and the individual never fully realizes his/her potential. Very often people fail to change the way their bodies look even though they frequent the gym 5, 6 sometimes 7 times a week! Despite not achieving the physical changes they desire or further improving their level of fitness they not only continue to train frequently but may also increase the amount of exercise they perform in those workouts, ala the more is better mentality. Predictably this does not work either and their level of frustration grows with each passing week. But do not assume that based on these statements that anyone who has the same or similar profile to the one I described, can in no way see results. Some people achieve fitness success despite a ‘less than ideal’ training regimen. This however is usually because the person possesses superior genetic ability which will always be the ultimate determinant of one’s success.

For some trainees this amount of exercise may not be much of a detriment because their lack of activity outside of the gym (i.e. sedentary job) or because the demands of their daily workouts are so insignificant (in which case they will not see results no matter how many days a week they workout). But for the majority-the genetically average-an excessive amount of exercise can and will have negative consequences.

There exists a special relationship among all the components of exercise, but the success of your training program depends primarily on the relationship between 3 components in particular. They are intensity, volume, and of course frequency. When these three components are applied and balanced properly though training, performance and physical development will improve dramatically. When frequency is not properly balanced in conjunction with intensity and volume the demands of the training program will exceed what you can tolerate, resulting in a decrease in exercise performance, muscle loss, slowing of fat loss, decreased strength and endurance, and overall physical regression.

Ideally you should strive to exercise frequently enough to ensure that you are not overtraining (or undertraining), the consequences of which are mentioned above.

The overall goal of any exercise program should be to perform the least amount of exercise necessary to produce an optimum response.

Exercise should be intense, brief and infrequent. As stated in The Nautilus Book, by Ellington Darden, “You can perform brief and infrequent high intensity exercise or long and frequent low intensity workouts. But you cannot perform long and frequent exercise involving a high intensity of work. That will result only in total exhaustion.” (p. 76) As we’ve already covered, anything above what is necessary is superfluous and will ultimately result in diminishing returns. In layman’s terms this would translate to working out harder, working out longer, working out more, and having little or nothing to show for it. Training frequency should be reflective of what is an ideal period of rest following a bout of exercise, as per your individual needs.

For some this may be training 3 times a week, every other day, for others it may be training once every 46 days, for others it might mean keeping to their current schedule but lowering the overall demands. The options and combinations are infinite, but it is up to you to discover the appropriate training frequency based upon your training intensity and volume, goals, needs, rate of recovery, and preferences. Never forget, exercise is a means of starting a chain of events that will eventually result in you improving your health and fitness as well as looking better, so make smart choices about what you do and how often you do it.

Fat Loss: Time Efficient Workouts lead to lasting success

If you are fitness minded, you probably read the magazines or watch the latest infomercials and follow the trends. Well, some trends are good and others are just a waste of time and money. Yet maximum results with minimal time and expenditure is what most of us are looking for.

If you are new to weight training or fitness enhancement, getting a personal trainer is always a good place to start. They will show you the ropes, give you a program for success, and make sure you know how and why you are doing things.

But be cautious and do some research on the qualifications and philosophy of the trainer you may hire. While there are certainly great benefits to using personal trainers, having one is no guarantee for success. Some are not up on the latest studies and methods, relying on the same old stuff. But a good trainer will use circuit training and cross training for maximum results. Here’s how.

How to Maximize

Many trainers and fitness buffs will lift heavy weights then take long rests between sets. The theory is that the heavier the weight, the more muscle bulk will develop. And the longer the rest, the more repair has occurred to muscle tissue, which allows you to lift more in the next few sets. These extra reps and sets are thought to help burn more calories. Sounds good.

The problem is that this old-school method of weight training does not help cardiovascular health. There is very little benefit to lung and heart power. So now you will have to run the treadmill for those results. And this wastes time. And time is money, especially when paying a trainer!

Quality personal trainers will put into practice cutting edge methods of combining cardio, strength and flexibility training into single sessions while keeping the heart rate at optimal levels. I recommend wearing a heart rate monitor during the entire session, even when lifting weights. Why?

Because the best way to maximize time, energy and results is to work muscles, heart rate and lung capacity at the same time. In this way, you are not just resting for a few minutes to be able to do an additional rep of a weight set. On the contrary, it is your personal heart rate that dictates when to rest and when to begin again. And that time changes as your fitness level changes.

The goal of the workout is to give individual muscles a chance to rest while maintaining a consistently high heart rate. You will rest when your heart rate reaches 160 and then start up again when your heart rate drops to 130. (This varies per individual but is a good rule of thumb). This way your heart pumps more blood, you burn more calories through intensity, develop more endurance and leaner muscles.

A Streamlined Approach

When training a client, I will warm them up for 10 minutes on the elliptical cross trainer or stair master. To maximize time (to save them money and get the most out of each minute), I will review their personal nutritional journal with them during this period. We discuss diet, food combining, and ways to streamline their food habits for better results.

Next, I work them out for 45 minutes. To maximize results by controlling time, I pair up a machine and a manual exercise, like leg presses and dumbbell bicep curls. This method allows them to remain close to the machine and not “lose it” when the gym is crowded. I usually will have clients do three sets of each exercise and then move on to something else, like crunches and shoulder presses or leg curls and triceps extensions. In this way, one muscle rests while the other works. More importantly, the one thing that stays consistent during the exercise “switch” is the client’s heart rate!

The workout is 55 minutes long. With a heart rate elevated for that period of time through resistance training, you receive cardiovascular benefit, strength, muscular endurance, toning and sculpting. It’s also the biggest bang for your buck for anyone paying $65 or more per hour for a trainer.

The last 15 minutes of the session focuses on cooling down while stretching. Keeping muscles lean and limber is a huge part of health and wellness that is often neglected. It shouldn’t be.

Equipment Matters

Personal training often happens at the gym or in the home. And as a general rule, free weights offer better results than using weight machines. Really, the weight machines are for beginners or those too weak to use anything else. They are like training wheels and hold and guide proper position, without fear of the weights falling on you. But free weights not only increase the strength of the muscle being “worked,” they also train other muscles that are used to stabilize the weights while also increasing overall balance and whole-body coordination. Free weights maximize time, effort and results.

For home fitness, the now popular fitness balls and bands can be used. The balls are perfect for strengthening the core muscles, which include the abdominals, obliques, lower back and hips. The bands are good for chest, back and arms. While these strength bands are great for women, they don’t generally provide enough resistance for men. Free weights are the best options for men. For women, a small investment in Balls and Bands for home training can reap huge benefits.

Cross Training Is Key

Aside from circuit training, cross training is essential for overall fitness. I generally advise clients not to do the same type of exercise two days in a row, and to always mix things up.

I suggest things like weights and body-weight resistance training one day, biking or running the next day, and Bikram hot yoga or Pilates on another day. The idea is to keep the body guessing by putting the primary strain on different muscles in different ways each training day. These different strains place different emphasis and requirements on the heart, lungs and muscle fibers, as isometric yoga training is different than range of motion weight lifting or martial art training.

In the end, the objective of any fitness program is to maximize effort and results while keeping a lid on time and money. The way to do this is by using a heart rate monitor, not resting between sets, using circuit training and mixing things up with cross training. Good luck

Dennys Passeto has been a certified Personal Trainer and owner of Achieve Fitness since 1998. Achieve Fitness services clients in Maryland, DC and Virginia in their home, work, gym and outdoors. They are the only company who guarantee results. Visit them at http://www.achieve-fitness.com for a FREE personal training session.

One of the worst feelings you can have on your program is over-sleeping. You wake up and realize that you don’t have enough time to workout before work. You feel empty and dejected. You have a jam-packed day with meetings in the evening.

What can you do?

You can chalk it up to a missed day or you can get creative.

This scenario happened to me recently and instead of blowing off my workout all together, I did something about it. I was able to carve out 25 minutes at work to get away and do a cardio session. It wasn’t the best exercise ever, but it was much better than doing nothing.

How creative can you be? If you work at an office, maybe you can run up and down the stairs for 15-20 minutes. You can go for an extended walk at lunch. If you really want to jack up your heart rate you can do a quick circuit of 10 Push-ups followed by 15 Body Squats. Do 3 circuits of those and your blood will be pumping, I can guarantee that. These are just a few things you can do.

The bottom line is you can give in to waking up late or you can do something about it. You can continue to believe your excuses or not make them.

“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” - Jim Rohn

So, if you wake up late one day, don’t panic. Get in a resourceful state and figure out what else you can do. Better yet, you can PLAN BEFORE this happens. Have a few “make-up” workouts at your disposal, so if you find yourself in this position you can do something about it. Don’t fall victim.

Take control.

-Tim

Two week update:
Lost 6 pounds
Lost 1 inch off my chest
Lost 1/2 inch off belly
Lost 1/4 inch off waist

Getting up and going to the gym is getting easier, I look forward to it more, because I can already see results.

My clothes are fitting better and my energy is increasing daily. I am in a “healthy” routine and am enjoying the progress day by day. The great thing about a routine is, after it is established, it is automatic! You don’t have to think about it.

I know it is important to keep track of what I am eating and what kind of workouts I am doing, so this week I started a Twitter account to track all of my meals and workouts. This has increased the accountability (again) and at the same time has created a network of supportive people. So, not only am I using it to track my progress, but I am also getting support. Support is an important vehicle as you continue on your mission for fat-loss.

In 2 short weeks I have improved my body and created a network of like minded individuals. I am ready for the weeks to come!

Whether or not you take the stairs or not today might seem inconsequential at a glance, however, our habits are what make and keep us healthy, or cause us to add extra weight. When a person gains weight, they did not gain it overnight. It did not pile on in one catostrophic day, it was gained bite by bite, meal by meal, day by day and decisions accumulated over time.

Those small decisions add up into the results you are now currently experiencing.

The great news is that by becoming conscious of those dozens of small decisions we make hour by hour each day, we can also change our results.

Small decisions when accumulated create your destiny.

What small changes can you make today?

Create a Metabolism Breakthrough for Faster Weight Loss

Key #1: H2OOO!

The processes of the metabolism can be complex and require a lot of energy. Water helps the metabolism to metabolize energy more effectively and also nourishes your cells so that they are performing well.

You can also try drinking good quality, unsweetened green tea to meet your daily hydration needs, which is loaded with antioxidants and is known to have a metabolism boosting effect.
How much water should I drink?

Typical numbers suggest that you should drink 6 - 8 8 ounce glasses of water per day but this is difficult to measure because everyone is so different with their body demands. The best way to really know that you are getting enough water is to drink a lot! You should drink pure, filtered, mineral-rich water as often as possible throughout the day and your pee should be clear and without odour.

Key #2: Good Breakfast
You should never skip the most important meal of the day. Eating a nutritious breakfast every day helps your metabolism keep itself in check. Without this vital meal, your body starts to think that you are starving because it has been so long since your last meal and so your metabolism slows down and you start storing more fat.

Key #3: Eating More Regularly
By eating smaller meals more often throughout the day (5 - 6 meals), your metabolism learns to work faster and your body is very aware that you are able to meet nutritional survival needs so it sees no need for storing fat. Your body will then start to build lean muscle mass in preference to fat storage.

Key #4: Don’t Starve Yourself!
Your metabolism is really just your body’s inherent energy system which chooses “the best” places to put energy that it receives from food justified by what it thinks is happening in your world. For example, if you have too much fatty foods and your body can’t deal with it all because it is slow and sluggish, you will start to store energy as fat and put on some weight. However, if you don’t meet your most basic energy requirements throughout the day, your body will think that you are starving and begin emergency procedures to strip your energy storage from your lean muscle mass and other protein storage and re-store that energy as fat.

Key #5: Don’t Eat Food Within 3 - 4 Hours Before Bedtime
Eating close to bed time puts an enormous energy demand on your whole system and thus you will not get a sleep which is as healthy and replenishing as it could be. It also means that your body can literally spend more of its focus on burning calories while you are aware and awake during the day and then revitalize and burn fat while you sleep.

Key #6: Do Moderate Intensity Exercise Every Day
Exercise has massive health benefits and most people just simply don’t put in the effort to dedicate some of their time to the most important, non-urgent daily tasks. You should become a dedicated exercise person who has a regular routine each day spending at least 30 minutes each day doing moderate intensity exercise. This could be a jog, a ride on your bike or even a brisk walk each day.

Key #7: Do Some Strength Building Exercises Each Week
Muscle mass helps your metabolism to run faster and more efficiently. By doing strength exercises in the right way, you are actively promoting the replacement of fat storage with muscle storage which in turn, helps you to boost your metabolism dramatically.
Putting these seven keys together into your life is essential in building a healthy, effective body with a high-speed metabolism that burns fat for you while you sleep.

http://www.sexyabslab.com

If you expect to experience success in creating a healthy lifestyle, it is so very important to have deeply personal and compelling reasons for why you are embarking on this program (or any program).

After all, you are most likely going to be changing some things about your life, like your eating habits, your menu options, your schedule and even your exercise routines. You may be making small changes or you may have made a major committment to making drastic changes all the way around.

Good habits are easy to create when you have big enough reasons.

Either way, the more clear you are with why you are pursuing this new and healthier lifestyle, the easier it will be to stay on track or pick yourself up when you’re feeling down.

Here are some examples of deeply personal compelling reasons a person may have for creating healthy habits:

So I have more energy for myself
So I can be a better example to my kids
So I can feel sexy and attractive
So I can be a better lover to my spouse
So I can have more energy for my kids
So I feel happy when I look in the mirror
So I fit in fashionable clothes
So I can wear a bathing suit on the beach with pride
So I am happy when I look at pictures of myself
So I will live a long life and see my grandkids grow up
Better mental clarity
To manage my stress levels
To get off blood pressure meds
To reduce my blood sugar
So I can run up the stairs and not be out of breath
So I can run a marathon
Disease prevention
To inspire others (friends, siblings, parents, strangers)

As you can see, if these were some of your reasons, you would easily get your mind right if you had a rare moment of discouragement or setback. All you would have to do (or all your coach or buddy would have to do) is remind you of your whys and point you back in a positive direction.

Listen, life is full of ups and downs, some days we don’t feel we are going fast enough, other days, we drift off track, but it’s what we do about it that will absolutely make or break your success.

So make a written list of your whys and put it someplace you will see it everyday. Read it aloud several times a day.

Jill
http://www.WeightLossInfo.com

There are many ways to create incentives to reach your specific Goals, in weight loss as well as any area of your life.

One of my favorites is to wear a Goal Band. A Goal Band is a colored wristband you wear and do not take off until you achieve your Goal. It serves as a constant reminder to you and the people around you that you are striving towards a desired result.

Tim is harnessing the power of a Goal Band, but he has taken creative incentives a step further with his ‘weight loss beard.’

Tim does not want a beard. He doesn’t like it.

So to give himself a little extra incentive, he made a personal (and very public) commitment:

“I will not shave my beard or get a haircut until I am under 220 pounds.”

He created something that is uncomfortable and made it fun. When he reaches one of his smaller Goals of weighing under 220, he gets to celebrate by shaving off the beard as a reward!

It is important to recognize the smaller Goals and victories, that when accumulated, add up to the ultimate vision you are trying to achieve.

What creative incentives can you come up with to motivate yourself?

Let us know!

Jill and Tim

Hello. My name is Tim Wambach and last week I was talking to The Goal Guru, Jill Koenig,  about getting back into shape.

I told her that I had a lot of BIG GOALS this year and I knew that regaining my health would help me achieve all of my goals. She offered to coach me to help me reach my fitness goals as well as my other goals. Right then and there, I decided to go on a journey. A weight loss journey. I am going to document what I do and track my progress for everyone to see. I am doing this because I have struggled with my weight my entire adult life. Constantly yo-yoing and see-sawing up and down the scale.

The only time I ever truly succeeded was when I made a public commitment 4 years ago. I announced that I would be running from Orlando to Chicago for charity. During that process and months after I was a lean, mean, energy machine!

But I fell back into old habits and ultimately out of shape. I started living life like someone who did not care what his next meal was. I was not eating for energy or nourishment, but eating for pleasure. That is not a recipe for success and my before pictures reveal that! So,with winter slowly coming to end (Thank God!) and summer right around the corner, when better to start on getting back into the BEST SHAPE POSSIBLE??? NOW!!! Why this format?

Not only am I doing this for me, but I am also doing this for anyone who has ever struggled with losing weight and keeping it off. I want people to join me on the journey and take back the body of their dreams. Whether you are 18 or 80 or anywhere in between - you can join me, watch me, or support me. My hope is that you will join me, so we can support each other. Anytime you make a public commitment you are putting yourself out there. You are inviting the public to watch you. Questions creep in, “What if  I fail?” “What if I don’t do good enough?” You can fall victim to these questions or rise above them. I look forward to what the journey has in store for us.

The cool thing about this program is what you put into it, is YOURS! and that can’t be taken away from you. However, what you fail to put into it is lost forever. So, let us share in the journey.

Enjoy the ride! I know I will!!!

-Tim