Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts

Friday, 12 October 2012

Exercise Guidelines For Workplace



                                 
To effectively and properly exercise at the workplace, there are certain exercise guidelines to be followed. This will help you stay focused and direct your energy and time properly.

Follow these exercise guidelines for work place to maximize the benefits of workplace exercise 

1.      Know Your Fitness Level

The purpose of this is to know your physical condition. It is strongly advised that you consult a doctor to confirm your health condition and fitness level before starting any exercise program.

2.      Regularly Change Posture

Leave your seat once a while, do some stretching exercises. Choose exercises that will help you relieve tension as well as relax your mind and tired muscles. Make sure you do not maintain the same posture for a long time. 

3.      Safety First

The best place to exercise is a safe and well ventilated environment and under a normal temperature. Choose an exercise you can comfortably do with the cloths you are wearing and remove high-heeled shoes before doing any exercise. This is one of the best office exercise guidelines.

4.      Move Slowly

You should move slowly to avoid injuries and discomfort. Do not move too fast especially during stretching exercises. Avoid bouncing and jerky movements especially for the back and neck movements. Synchronizing mobility exercise and your breathing will help you become more relaxed. Mobility exercise should be done prior to stretching exercise and then taking a few deep breaths to end the exercise session. 

Be health conscious enough, remember to stop any exercise activity whenever you feel any discomfort or pain. Consult your physician if the pain persists.

 Following these exercise guidelines for work place will help you stay healthy mentally and physically, full of energy, focused, cope with office stress, relaxed and be able give your best at the office any time any day.

Monday, 8 October 2012

The Importance Of Exercise In The WorkPlace



           
About one third of our time is spent in the workplace daily. During this period we maintain prolonged sitting posture using a computer and writing. This brings about symptoms like fatigue, stress, muscle stiffness and tightness. When these symptoms appear, work efficiency is affected negatively. To deal with such situation is why we will discuss the importance of exercise in the work place.

When we maintain an improper posture for a long time, it may lead to occupational disease. This can be physical pains, bad posture, and lose of working ability. These changes can hardly be compensated by any financial gains. Research have shown that people who sit a long time in the office are at a high risk to suffer from health issues related to neck, shoulder, back, wrists and fingers. These workplace problems are inevitable be you a boss or an employee.

Some of the recommended office exercises to perform in the work place include;

1.       Mobility Exercises

If you sit for long hours working in the office then your work is sedimentary in nature. You will benefit a lot from mobility exercises as they improve the mobility of the joints and increase blood flow to working muscles thereby preparing you for physical activities. Synchronizing exercise with your breathing will help to reduce mental stress. 

2.      Stretching Exercises      
                                 
Stretching exercise on the other hand helps reduce the risk of muscle soreness and pains, improve muscle relaxation, enhance the motion of joints and relax the mind. 

It is important to engage in workplace exercises to enhance your productivity and efficiency at work, as well as to promote good health. You can only get the best out of an employee who is physically and mentally fit.
Employers should encourage their employees to engage in exercises at the office and at home so as to get the best from the employees and maximize profit.


Thursday, 19 July 2012

Walking For Exercise…how to get started




We use walking every day for our basic movements. We can gain health benefits from walking if we walk up to the recommended 10,000 steps and above each day for exercise. This requires discipline and planning. Follow the tips below to start walking for exercise.

Set reasonable progress expectations

Start your walking exercise slow, aiming for shorter distances. You can increase the distance and intensity as you progress and as your fitness level increases. Writing down your goals and success may serve as motivation to help you achieve your aim and monitor your success.

Find a good location to walk

The best places to walk should have a minimal traffic aside having a flat terrain and smooth surface. You can start within your neighborhood but if it is not convenient you may look for another location. You can use the high school nearest to you, go to sports centers and the beach. If you prefer indoors you can use exercise equipment like a treadmill set to a slow speed to walk.

Set a reasonable time

Deciding on how many minutes you walk will help you keep your focus. Don’t bother about how short the time and distance is at first because they will definitely increase as you gain fitness and your motivation increases. Do not break, keep moving until you reach your set time.

Walking is fun

You can make walking fun by listening to music while you walk. Listen to music that motivates you. Walking should be a way to have fun and unwind. However be careful not to get carried away and lose focus.

Increase your time, speed and intensity

After walking for some time now, it is time for you to increase your walking time, speed, distance and intensity for a greater achievement. Your fitness and stamina levels must have increased by now and you expect to be going higher. It is noteworthy that at times you cannot meet up to what you did the previous day, so do not lose sleep over it. Set the goal and keep to it and you will be surprised how fast you will reach your goal. After reaching your first set time, keep increasing your time slowly. Keep alternating between low and high speed, reducing your rest period for higher and better achievement. Remember you must exercise patience.

Your mental attitude matters

Walking is a mild exercise that does not require vigorous physical exertion. This means that you will likely be cable physically to walk for long hours without tiring out, because you will not get the same fatigue that results from a more vigorous exercise. Therefore don’t expect to get a quick result from walking. You should develop the slow and steady wins the race mental attitude.





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Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Strength Training: A Must For All


 
                                                                                                                                                                              
Have you been shying away from strength training? Do you think you are too old to start a strength training program? Reverse that thought because strength training is what your body needs to combat the loss of strength, muscle and bone mass that comes as you age.

No matter how young or old you are, you should engage in regular strength training exercise. This you can do in the gym or at home making use of little equipment. Hand weights, dumbbells, resistance band and even your own body weight can be used as resistance during strength training program.
Here are some ways strength training can make a difference in and add more quality to your life.

Helps Increase Calories Burn

Strength training increases the metabolic rate of the body, causing it to burn more calories throughout the day. This aids weight loss significantly.

Improves Your Balance And Stability

This decreases your risk of fall accidents because the more resilient and stronger your muscles are the sturdier your balance.

Increases Your Ability To Carry Out Your Day To Day Activities

The stronger your muscles, the easier for you to carry heavy loads, move things around and many more.

It Helps To Build Muscle Strength

From research, adults lose between five to seven pounds of muscles every decade after age 20. This you can prevent by strength training. You can also rebuild lost muscles by engaging in strength training.

It Decrease Your Risk Of Osteoporosis

Studies have shown that consistent strength training can increase bone density as well as prevent osteoporosis, which is a disease that affects inactive and aging people as there bone density reduces causing brittleness.

Strength training can help you feel younger each day. Start with one set of each exercise of about 10 to 15 repetitions and increase to 2 and then 3 sets as you improve. Taking it slow and steady, have about 30 second to one minute rest in between each exercise.
Always warm up and stretch before embarking on the main exercise. You also stretch after each exercise. Use weights that are heavy enough for you to feel the muscle working and the difficulty increases as you get to the last repetition. The weight should equally be light enough for you to do the last repetition without pain or breaking proper form. Stop whenever you experience pain.

Your age, work or schedule must not stand between you and strength training because of the benefits you derive from it. Always remember to consult your doctor before engaging in any form of exercise program.






                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   











Friday, 8 June 2012

Benefits Of Exercise To Heart-Health

Research has shown that exercise improves heart-health and body health generally. It is also a proven fact that you don’t need to exercise all day to reap the health benefits of exercise. Heart-healthy benefits of exercise can really make so much difference in your life.
The following are some of the benefits of exercise to your heart health.

Lowering Of Blood Pressure
According to a study by The National Institute of Health of America, a regular exercise of about 30 minutes of moderate activity for five days a week can reduce blood pressure (with approximately 10mmHg). The blood pressure lowering effects of exercise can be observed between one to three hours after a single 30 – 45 minutes workout according to The American College of Sports Medicine.

Improvement Of Cholesterol Level
Regular exercise help improve cholesterol level. It increases HDL which is good cholesterol and decreases LDL which is bad cholesterol. Studies have shown that improvement in cholesterol levels are related to the amount of exercise activity and not the intensity of exercise. This means that the more time you exercise per week the more your cholesterol level will improve.

Strengthening Of The Heart
Exercise strengths the heart allowing it to beat more efficiently, thereby helping in the prevention and treatment of high blood pressure.

Prevention Of Type II Diabetes
A recent study shows that the combination of physical activity and weight loss has a very powerful effect on preventing the onset of type II diabetes in high-risk individuals.

You may be wondering how long and at what intensity you will workout to achieve these heart-health benefits of exercise. You can achieve most of these health benefits of exercise through a moderate intensity of physical activities. According to experts, a minimum of 30 minutes, five (5) days a week physical activities are recommended. Maintaining a healthy heart should be one of your top most priorities if you want to stay active and healthy.


                                                                                                                                                                                         

Thursday, 17 May 2012

Exercise At Home Or Gym



Making the decision of where you will go to exercise is a very important step in reaching your fitness goal.  A lot of factors will be considered before taking this decision of whether you will exercise at home or gym, and each one of these factors should be evaluated very well before you start exercising.  Once you have made a decision on where to workout, you can move on to deciding your best workout plan.

Exercising at home has many advantages.  One of the advantages is savings. You will save money on fuel and transportation by choosing to exercise at home.
Memberships fees to a gym can often be quite expensive and may include other things that you don't need such as child care or swimming pools.  You also won't need to be concerned about the latest trends of exercise gear as you most likely will be exercising by yourself at home.

Keep in mind that working out at home does require a bit of financial obligation.  If you plan to go jogging or running, it is very important that you have high quality running shoes and exercise clothes.  This also applies to any type of equipment you may purchase to use at home.  If buy cheap equipment, you will probably end up getting hurt or getting frustrated because you are not getting the expected result.

Along with financial gains, exercising at home may also help those who don't like working out in public.  If you are worried about how you look in gym clothes, it is very comforting to know that the only person who has to be with you when you exercise at home is you.  Also, when you workout at home, you don't need to worry about time as no one will be waiting to use the equipment next.

For those who are motivated by being with people you know or come to know while working out away from home, a gym may be a better idea than working out at home.  At the gym, you will also have a variety of equipment to choose from as well, far more than you will have at home.

If you need other services than just weights and equipment, the gym may have just what you need. If you plan to swim, you will find the swimming pool at the gym to be just what you need to prepare yourself.  Swimming is also a great exercise for your body and cardio, as it involves working out all muscle groups in your body that you probably didn't even know you had.

Gyms will also offer you classes that you may find very motivating.  If you attend class on a regular basis, you may be motivated enough to continue. You can also meet new people in class, or just help others along if you choose.

All in all, making the choice of exercising at home or at the gym is a choice you should make based on your goals and personal preference.  The most important decision you will need to make is to determine what type of environment you want to be in and how you want to accomplish your fitness goals.

Once you have given it some thought and weighed out the pros and cons, you will have no problem making the choice to exercise at home or gym.  Always keep in mind that once you have made your choice, you can always switch if you are not getting the required result with the choice you made.


Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Exercise As Power Source



This day and age it can be very difficult indeed to go to the gym due to so many factors.  Life is very hectic and busy, which has created a serious challenge for remaining consistent with exercise each day.  Exercise is however, one of the major things we all need to reduce stress, and give the body the extra energy it needs to carry out normal living.

The best results of exercise are achieved through the use of refined techniques, functional exercises, cardio, the right nutrition, variety, awareness, consistency, and motivation over a period of time.

The refined techniques mean correct form to isolate muscles or to target areas of the body.  Efficiency is needed to ensure stimulation of the muscles.  With weight lift training, which is also known as resistance training, you'll need to eliminate any type of momentum.  

It is also important to move the weight about using a full range of motion.  Full range of motion causes the muscle to contract for the right amount of time and help to ensure the right length of the tendons.  The goal here is to strengthen the joints of your body by stimulating the muscles.

Cadence is also helpful, as it is a term that refers to the rate in which the resistance or the weight moves.  The best results with cadence are gained by slow movements which will cause the muscle to contract for a longer period of time.  You can mix in a series of fast and slow cadence, which is very beneficial with sports type training.

Using the correct angles will achieve muscle isolation in target areas and help to decrease the risk of injuries, which is great for those using heavy weights. 

Functional type exercise is a popular technique that will stimulate the core and torso of your body while you work on another muscle group at the same time.  As an example, when you perform a dumbbell press while lying on an exercise ball.

Your abdominal muscles and the core muscles will contract to hold your body into this position, while your chest and triceps muscles will push the dumbbells up.  This type of exercise and challenge will cause maximum stimulation to your body and keep the workout interesting and refreshing.

Cardio is another exercise that is great for the heart and lungs.  The total number of calories you burn is very important along with maintaining the right heart rate.   Cardio will help detoxify the body and also help to strengthen the immune system along with other benefits.  The muscles will contract and pass the lymph along, which will allow the immune system to clear away dead cells and bring new ones in.

Anytime you exercise, warming up is very important, as it will prepare your body for the more demanding workout of cardio.  You should always allow 15 - 30 minutes prior to weight lifting and 10 - 15 minutes prior to cardio exercises.  You should also stretch as well, as this will help get the blood flowing through your muscles and get them limber as well.

An ideal schedule for working out is to warm up then follow with cardio.  Even though you may think your schedule is simply too busy to maintain a schedule for working out, you will find that adding exercise will actually add more time, as you will have a lot more energy in your normal everyday life.  You can think of exercise as the batteries that will help to give your life power.