Healthy Lifesyle
A safer way to do Lat Pull-downs
Strive for 100 Steps per Minute'
Can Pills really help us lose weight?
Coreball Basics
Hamstring Curls
The most challenging exercise, hamstring roll-out, this one is will give you sculpted hamstrings and help you develop an ability to balance with movement.
Preparation
Lay on your back with your feet flexed on top of the ball. Pull in your stomach muscles and lengthen your neck.
Execution
Tuck your pelvis and lift your hips off the floor, then roll the ball away from you until your legs are straight. Bend your knees and roll the ball in to the starting position. Repeat until you reach fatigue in the back of your legs, then slowly lower your spine back to the floor.
Primary body parts - Thighs
Secondary body parts - Lower Legs
Muscle groups - Biceps femoris, Semimembranosus, Semitendinosus, Erector spinae, Gastrocnemius, Soleus
TIP: Concentrate on using your hamstrings to do this exercise, keeping the hips high and stationary.
Push Ups
Great for your chest, back of arms, abs, and shoulders.
Preparation
Start on your knees with the ball in front of you. Lay down on the ball and walk forward one hand at a time until your thighs are on top of the ball and feet are off the floor. Keep your legs together and your hands directly under your shoulders.
Execution
Lower yourself towards the floor then press your arms straight again. Keep your back straight, stomach pulled in and your legs together.
Primary body parts - Chest
Secondary body parts - Abdominals Arms Shoulders
Muscle groups - Pectoralis major and minor, Anterior deltoids, Triceps brachii, Transversus abdominals
TIP: Keep your head and spine in neutral alignment (straight) as you lower your torso.
Crunch
This is a basic crunch with the added contraction of the lower abs to target the deep abdominal muscles as well.
Preparation
Lay on the floor with your feet on the ball and knees bent 90 degrees. Place your hands behind your head to support your neck.
Execution
Pull your navel towards your back to engage your abs. Lift your head and shoulders off the floor as you curl your hips off the floor, then lower them at the same time.
Primary body parts - Abdominals
Muscle groups - Rectus abdominis, External and internal obliques
TIP: Keep your chin pulled in, away from your chest and your elbows open so that you do not strain your neck.
For more information on Coreball or any other activity we hold at Bluecoat Sports please speak to one of the fitness staff or call 01403 247572.
Weight Loss
When it comes to losing weight, exercise alone usually
doesn't cut it. Most people need a COMBINED approach that addresses both diet
and exercise. Weight loss is a simple equation of calories entering the body
and calories leaving the body. If more calories are coming into the body then
weight goes on. If the consumed calories are reduced and there is an increase
in calories expended the weight should reduce.
It seems that many people expect exercise alone to make up for habitual overeating.
They also overestimate how many calories their workouts really burn. A typical
aerobics class, for instance, may
burn about 300 calories or so (Varies according to exercise intensity and other
factors) not nearly enough if you need to reduce your intake by 600 a day.
This isn't to knock exercise; it's absolutely crucial to well-being, and it
certainly contributes to the weight-loss process. Regular aerobic exercise does
burn some calories; it also strengthens your heart, improves your mental well-being,
and much more. Strength-training contributes significantly to weight loss by
increasing your resting metabolic rate.
Going on a crash diet may help you lose weight immediately,
but will certainly not do any good for your body, your nutrition, your
metabolism, your health or your hunger. It can actually lead to weight gain.
Crash diets cause yo-yo weight loss. Yo-yo dieting slows metabolic rate. Your
body will store energy instead of burning it and you will actually gain weight.
Instead, change your habits. Remember that metabolism is actually a workout in
itself. Feed your body healthier foods and give it a digestive workout! Then
get the rest of your body moving with regular exercise.
A Safer Way to Do Lat Pull-downs
Do
you use the lat pull-down machine in your weight-training workouts? If so, you
may want to check/update your technique.
"Lat" refers to the latissimus dorsi, the large muscles in the middle
of your back. In lat pull-downs, you are sitting down and pulling a horizontal
bar from above your head down toward your body.
For safe lat pull-downs: bring the bar down in front of your face and down to
your chest. The old method of performing this exercise is to bringing the bar down
behind your head. Pulling the bar down in front of the face is a bio
mechanically safer alternative.
REASON 1
Lat pulldown behind the neck can and will cause damage to the cervical vertebrae. When you bend the neck forward under a load you are placing stress and strain on the spine and surrounding ligaments, tendons, and muscles. The result can be muscle strain, ligament damage, disc injury, or even nerve impingement!
REASON 2
Pulling the bar down behind the neck requires you to forcefully draw the arms backwards and fully rotate your arms under moderate to extreme loads. This position places the shoulder joints under extreme loads. The result is that ligaments are lengthened or damaged; resulting in instability of the shoulder joints.
SAFER OPTION - Pull the bar down to the front (between chin and chest height).
• Seated, hands just over shoulder width apart on the bar, arms straight (but not locked).
• Slowly bring the bar down in front of your face (avoid leaning back), and push your chest forward to meet the bar as it lowers. Try and pull your shoulder blades together.
• Lower the bar down in a slow controlled manner, to between chin and chest height; then slowly return the bar by straightening the arms.
Performing the pulldown to the front of the body works exactly the same muscles as pulling the bar down behind the neck.
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Fitness Industry Association (FIA)
Bluecoat Sports is helping the nation get fitter and healthier as part of a new Government social-marketing campaign to increase the public’s awareness of the benefits of regular physical activity and an active lifestyle.
The campaign is called change4life, and is a national initiative run by the Department of Health with support from the Fitness Industry Association. change4life aims to motivate people to eat well, move more, and live longer and thousands of fitness facilities in the UK are linking with their local communities to help achieve this goal.
Inactivity and obesity-related illness cost the UK economy nearly £16 billion last year, and is likely to cost £50 billion by 2050. Becoming more active (the Government recommends 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times per week) would significantly decrease early mortality rates in the UK and save tax payers billions.
In order to maintain a healthy weight, we need to both eat well and move more. Many families are making changes that will help them live healthier and longer. Visit www.nhs.uk/change4life.com or call 0300 123
Strive for 100 Steps per Minute' Strive for '100 steps per minute' |
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A US team reached the figure after measuring the body's oxygen demand in some 100 people walking on a treadmill. They wrote in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that a pedometer alone was not enough to gauge exercise as it gave no data on intensity.  A useful starting point is to try to accumulate 1000 steps in 10 minutes, before building up to 3000 steps in 30 minutes  US and UK guidelines urge half an hour of moderate exercise five days a week. But there is often confusion as to what constitutes moderate exercise, and the amount of gardening, housework or walking needed to confer Simon Marshall
San Diego State University health benefits.
Researchers at the San Diego State University based their conclusions on exercise tests given to 97 healthy adults who had an average age of 32. In general, men needed to walk at a pace of 92 to 102 steps per minute to achieve a moderately intense workout for their hearts. The range for women was between 91 and 115 steps per minute. "Because health benefits can be achieved with bouts of exercise lasting at least 10 minutes, a useful starting point is to try to accumulate 1000 steps in 10 minutes, before building up to 3000 steps in 30 minutes," said Simon Marshall, lead researcher. A pedometer was not useless, but should be used in conjunction with a wristwatch to work out how many steps were being taken. Gary O'Donovan, lecturer in sport and exercise medicine at the University of Exeter said: "Regular physical activity is important for health and well-being and brisk walking is a great way to start. "Most pedometers don't provide a measure of intensity, but Dr Marshall's team has identified a simple and effective method to ensure that every step counts." Ken Fox, professor of exercise and health science at Bristol University, warned however that while 100 steps per minute was a good target for healthy walkers, it would be "dangerous to make this an across the board recommendation. "We should note that the study was conducted on healthy young adults. People who are overweight or obese - which is the majority of middle to older adults - are working harder in order to carry their weight for any walking speed. They will need to down grade their speeds accordingly."
Article taken from www.bbc.co.uk website
Can pills really help us lose weight?
The first over-the-counter weight loss drug has arrived in chemists. But there is doubt that tablets can ever help us shed the extra pounds. Laura Martin reports
The launch in pharmacies of the slimming drug Alli in the UK has led to a rise in people convinced a pill could be the answer to their weight issues. The drug works by preventing absorption of fat by the body, and the makers claim it can boost weight loss for those dieting by an extra 50 per cent. Users, though, are already reporting some unpleasant side effects – the drug causes wind and diarrhoea in those who eat to much fat. While this may encourage users to eat less fat, it means they're also likely simply to stop taking the drug.
But with many overweight people looking for a more natural way to shift the weight easily, just how effective are the alternatives on offer? Professor Nick Finer, consultant endocrinologist at University College London, is blunt in his opinion of non-licensed "weight loss pills": "I think they're a waste of money as there's no high level evidence that they are effective."
Zotrim Its makers claim it is a "natural alternative" to chemical slimming pills. Made from stimulating and invigorating ingredients yerba mate, guarana and damiana, the pills need to be taken before each meal to make users feel fuller more quickly and have more energy, thus burning off more calories. A test involving 47 overweight subjects showed that when they took Zotrim they lost an average of 5.1 kg over 45 days, the manufacturers say. Professor Finer comments: "As far as I'm aware, there have been no convincing, controlled trials that show that the very small amount of these chemical compounds which derive from herbal products have any effect at all."
Appesat This is another product on the market that takes its active ingredient from a "natural" source – seaweed. Its makers say the ingredients work as a natural appetite suppressant, stimulating sensors in the stomach wall that indicate to the brain that the stomach is full. Professor Finer says: "There's no such thing as a 'natural' drug – they're all chemicals. If anybody is producing something that's natural, herbal, chemical, mystical or magical and if it is being positioned as a treatment for overweight or obesity then it has to have a license, otherwise it isn't a treatment."
Adios The "UK's number one selling slimming tablet", according to its website – is a herbal formula made up of fucus dry extract (otherwise known as Bladder Wrack seaweed) boldo dry extract (a Chilean tree leaf) and butternut (a white walnut tree). The makers say it speeds up the body's metabolic rate and stimulates fat metabolism. "Products like this contain very small amounts of compounds which, in much larger doses, can have effects on metabolic rate and appetite, but are unlikely to do so in lower doses," comments Professor Finer.
This article was taken from www.independent.co.uk To see the original article or for further articles click on the link.
Control Your Hunger Are you trying to shift a few pounds? BBC Good Food Guide Nutritionist Fiona Hunter suggests 10 ways to ease the hunger.
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You should be taking 100 steps each minute for half an hour a day if you want to achieve "moderate" exercise by walking, a study shows.