weight training Archives

Weekend Warriors Increase Performance

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Shelli Thompson

race for the cure 2009 028 — Weekend Warriors Racing for The Cure

Are you a weekend warrior? Training for marathons, playing basketball with friends or just doing wild and crazy things. You won’t be able to do those things if you don’t take care of your body. Your performance can be increased for more fun, less tiredness and more competition. It’s not hard to do and many of the things we do on the weekend can be enhanced in much the same ways.

I’ve worked with a lot of weekend warriors, and there is one thing I tell all of them: you won’t get the best performance out of your body or have the most fun you could have if you limit your exercise to your weekly activity. by only exercising on the weekend you actually increases your chances of injury.

Here are some simple tips that I’ve found work for pretty much everyone. These tips will allow you to improve your performance and stay in the best possible shape for your weekend-warrior adventures.

Stretching.

No matter what sport you’re into, your body will perform better if you continue to have your full range of motion. Supple muscles simply work better. I’ll be happy to give you advice on stretching exercises to enhance your performance at your chosen sport, or else you can look up Yoga stretches online. Just be sure to follow this simple rule: do not continue stretching into pain. Pain means you’re doing damage, and that won’t help your performance at all.

Weight training.

Weight training improves our bodies’ overall performance by making us stronger and increasing our endurance. Even if your sport depends on speed – like competitive running or swimming – you need strong muscles to make that speed happen. Weight training also improves our bone density and keeps our bones strong.

Cardio work.

Cardio work is the ultimate means of improving your performance by increasing your endurance. There are a lot of possible cardio exercises you can try, from dancing to kickboxing. The point here is that you can’t expect your body to perform its best on weekends if you’re not working on your cardio fitness at least one or two times a week in between competitions. Strengthening your heart is a great way to increase your performance.

I know that these tips may sound as though I’m trying to take your weekend fun and turn it into a chore and we don’t like chores. But that’s not the case! Any of these activities that you can do during the week will improve your weekend performance and make your weekend activities more fun for you.

You don’t have to decide to devote your life to fitness to achieve improved performance. Even if you spend a total of three hours a week on some combination of stretching, cardio, and weights, you’re going to see a measurable improvement in your ability to enjoy your weekend activity. You will also feel better and more fit and there is nothing better than that.

Now, if you do want to go all-out – for example, if you want to improve to the point you’re running 10ks instead of 5, or you’ve decided that, just once, you’re going to be able to dunk that basketball – of course you’re going to need to work harder. The more effort you put into anything, the more you’re going to improve.

But if you just want to enjoy what you’re doing on the weekends more and perform a bit better, just scale the exercise tips I’ve given you to a level that will help you meet that goal. You can improve performance and your health with any additional amount of exercise than what you are doing right now. Continuing to exercise during the week can be a challenge with work, family and a million other things that can get in the way.

Battle Brittle Bones

Posted on February 24, 2010July 5, 2010 by Shelli Thompson

skeleton — Click image for more information

Our bones are alive, in fact, your bones are continually remolding. The way you eat and exercise has a lot to do with the way your bones remold.

Collagen is a glue like substance made up of vitamin c and water and this makes up the structure of our body such as skin, bones, teeth, blood vessels, cartilage, tendons and ligaments so that includes all connective tissue in our body.

Calcium is a mineral that is stored in the bones so that it can be used whenever it is needed for many of our body’s vital functions. Our bones are made up of a combination of these two substances, Collagen and Calcium.

Our bones give off calcium and as they do that new bones are molded. The body always needs calcium so it will take it from your bones if the supply is low. This determines how the bones are remolded. Bones remolded with less calcium will tend to be brittle so eating a diet high in calcium is you first order of business.

As we get older bone production slows down. Our bones start loosing the ability to reshape new bones, over time the bones become less dense, brittle and more at danger of getting a fracture.

We have all hear of osteoporosis, that is the disease that accelerates the loss of bone tissue but natural aging is a culprit as well. Osteoporosis is most noticed by a humping over in the back, it can be slight or it can be quite severe.

The good news is that the rate of bone loss can be minimized by regular strength training. Lifting weights and Yes, that includes Pilates. During a mat work out you utilized your body weight for resistance and the equipment utilizes springs to allow for resistance.

Find out about resistance training, click here

The discipline of Pilates gives you the same benefits of a weight training. In addition to exercise make sure you get good amounts of calcium.

Study after study shows that you can slow the rate of bone loss just by walking and adding a resistance training to your exercise program along with good nutrition. Nobody wants to walk around with a stooped back or be susceptible to fractures.

The best thing to do is to build the bone density in your 20’s, 30’s and 40’s with exercise and good nutrition.

Did Joseph Pilates create the fountain of youth? You can be the judge of that but he did live a healthy life well into his 80’s. You too could grow old with Pilates, as us boomers get older it is more fashionable to grow old gracefully.

Find out more about Pilates by clicking here

Importance of Weight Training

Posted on February 24, 2010June 24, 2010 by Shelli Thompson

weights — click picture to go to Health Pulse Magazine-Weight training

Many Americans under estimate the importance of weight training.

Many Americans under estimate the importance of weight training. Not only that but they have a misconception about what weight work can mean for them. Many times when I ask someone if they do any type of resistance training they say, “oh, I hate weight work but I do it anyways.” Or,” I don’t” and they leave it at that. Many women say that they don’t want their bodies to look like a man. So there is the misconception.

Weight work need not include the “bulk up”. Some women like that on them self but it is hard to maintain for women especially (who aren’t made to look that way). It includes many hours at the gym and most likely a trainer.

What People need to understand is that first off, muscle weighs more than fat but it takes up less room. Muscle burns more calories than fat to maintain. Resistance work also increases the density of bones. This is a crucial factor for women because we tend to decrease our density as we grow older and sometimes our diets aren’t very helpful.

What is helpful for women is to lower the weight way down and do more repetitions. The reason that you do this is because with smaller weight you will not bulk up at all, you will just tone and give shape to what you already have.

You will strengthen your muscle in a different way, a way that will increase the endurance of the muscles. This will allow you to continue doing your favorite activities for longer periods of time without being tired.

The most recent testing on the human body concluded that weight training burned more calories and fat than aerobic training. That does NOT mean to discontinue your aerobics because that is exercising your heart. A strong heart is an important key in keeping your blood pressure down.

If you don’t belong to a gym, you can do simple weight training exercises at home with simple house hold items. Be aware of what the weight is and go for it.

Read our article here about weight training