How important is breathing while exercising?

Breathing right is one important aspect people forget to do during exercises. Do not hold your breath. Holding the breath while exercising (while applying force) causes Valsalva maneuver. Valsalva maneuver is performed by forcible exhalation against a closed airway, usually done by closing one's mouth and pinching one's nose shut. This causes increase in blood pressure, strains blood vessels and many other health issues. Breathing is very important. During exercise there is a high demand for oxygen by the exercising muscles and if we hold our breath we are halting the natural process of the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide gases that takes place in our bodies. This causes depletion of oxygen to the muscles and brain and causes fatigue.

Our natural tendency is to hold our breath while engaging in activities like lifting, pushing, pulling etc. We are so used to doing this that we also do our exercises in the same manner. And because of this we cannot finish our exercise bout effectively.

There is a proper technique of breathing while exercising. During weight training one should make sure to exhale during exertion. For e.g. if you are doing a biceps curls, you should breathe out while curling up (flexing) and breathe in while coming back to the starting position. It’s simple, just remember exhale on positive contraction and inhale on negative contraction. E.g. in a biceps curl the positive is up movement and negative is down movement.

That’s about breathing the right way during weight training. What about during aerobic or cardiovascular training? It’s simple, do not over exert yourself, and reduce the intensity on the first sign of hyperventilation (rapid breathing which causes abnormal loss of carbon dioxide). Taking slow and deep breaths will help you recuperate if you are breathing heavy.

Don’t forget to breathe during abdominal exercises and stretching. During abdominal exercises for e.g. while doing abdominal crunches, remember to apply the same technique; breathe out on crunching movement and breathe in on down movement.

So remember, whatever exercise you are engaged in, whether its weight training, aerobic training, abdominal exercises or stretching, do not hold your breath. In order to get this breathing technique right, one has to practice it and in no time will do it without thinking.

Now that you learnt how to breathe right go and put it to practice and do a big favor to your heart, muscles and the brain that want that big dose of oxygen during exercise.

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Weight loss pills/products; do they really work?

Everyday hundreds and thousands of calories are stored as fats in an individual who indulge in excessive eating. And everyday there are many individuals who realize the risk of being overweight and are thinking of losing weight. And everyday there are various companies launching weight loss products, targeting this section of people. When these individuals see an easy way to lose weight, they buy the product but unfortunately nothing happens and the companies make big cash. While these companies have been giving false claims about their products for years, people are still falling prey to their gimmicks.

Till date there is no such product that can help reduce fat weight the healthy way. Only a combination of a well balanced diet and a well designed exercise program is the healthy route to weight loss.

Those who are interested in losing fat weight should educate themselves about calorie intake and calorie expenditure and not think about the weight loss powders, pills, creams, belts etc because they will only make a hole in your pocket.

A dietician will help you plan a healthy diet. If you are planning or have already started your weight loss program, just stick to your regimen and you will surely see results. If you have any queries please feel free to ask.

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Starting a weightloss program? Follow these simple steps to reach your goals. Please go to the link below...

http://macedonio-fitnesscoach.blogspot.com/2010/08/starting-weight-loss-program-follow.html

Exercise Guidelines For Asthmatics.

First things first, if you are an asthmatic, do not participate in exercises until and unless your physician tells you to, because only those with stable asthma should exercise.

Asthma is one of the most common respiratory disorders affecting both adults and children. While asthmatics will benefit from an exercise program, there is a fear of getting an asthma attack during exercise which is called exercise-induced asthma (EIA).

There is not much of an explanation on the exact cause of EIA. However it is believed to be caused when the airways become dry as moisture is absorbed from the air as it passes from the nose to the lungs. EIA causes little obstruction in the airway and are not life threatening. Those with controlled asthma who take part in regular exercises will be able to participate in their daily activities with fewer asthma attacks as their ventilatory requirement for various tasks will be reduced. Studies have shown that those exercising regularly have reduced EIA.

While participating in an exercise routine is beneficial, it is important to work along with your physician who will develop an appropriative exercise program and provide parameters to your personal trainers.

A few exercise guidelines:-

• Keep your bronchodilator with you at all times. Using your bronchodilator several minutes before exercising may reduce the possibility of an EIA.
• Use bronchodilator on first sign of wheezing.
• Breathe through your nose while exercising.
• Avoid rigorous exercise by keeping the intensity low and gradually progress.
• Asthmatics often respond best to exercise in the mid to late morning.
• Drink lots of water during exercises.

While these guidelines will help you adhere to your exercise regimen, remember only a person with stable asthma should participate in exercises. Your physician will tell you whether you can exercise or not and he will also give you many more guidelines to follow.

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Is the Knee Pain keeping you away from working out?

Knee pain has been a common injury that causes most exercisers to stop or take a break from exercising. While it very important to discontinue any form of exercise when there is pain, it is also important to know how to avoid these kind of injuries in the first place. Remember; do not apply the proverb “No Pain No Gain” to your exercise routines. What is important in any kind of exercise is “Proper Technique”.

Knee injuries are most of the time the result of overuse. Those doing cardio training walk, jog, run on treadmills every day. All these exercises are weight bearing because all our body weight is on our knees while we are engaged in these exercises.

While treadmills are a great cardio workout, doing it every day will cause pain in the knees. The best way to go along with your cardio workout without any discomfort and breaks due to pain and injury, indulge in working out also on a stationary bike, elliptical machine, rowing machine and stair climber. All these are great cardio machines. While stationary bike is the best among all the machines because it is non weight bearing i.e. while doing this exercise the weight is not on the knees, the best thing you can do is choose to workout on a different machine each day or distribute you workout time on all machines. For e.g. if you’re doing a 45 mins cardio workout on a treadmill most of the days, what you could do is 15 mins treadmill, 15 mins cycle and 15 mins elliptical. This kind of approach is the best to avoid overuse injury to your knee.

If you have read this post and made changes to your workout and your knees felt better, which I am sure will be the case; please don’t forget to let me know.

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Too Flexible? It could lead to an injury.

There are evidences that an excessive level of flexibility can result in a decreased degree of joint stability. There is a trade-off between flexibility and stability. This decrease in joint stability is particularly evident when the flexibility increase is the result of lengthening the connective tissue structures that stabilize a particular joint.

For example, Deep knee bends, may increase the range of motion of the knee joint to the point where the knee becomes more susceptible to chronic or acute instability.

As such, an individual's range of motion for each joint should be determined by the demands of the individual.

It should be noted that an excessive range of motion for a given joint could result in decreased stability and a greater potential for injury.

I have noticed a few trainers trying to stretch the clients joints by forcefully stretching even after knowing that they are too flexible. This kind of forceful stretching for an already flexible person does not aid, rather it will make your joints more susceptible to injury.

Strength training is the best way to deal with this problem. By doing strength training your ligaments (tissue that connects bone to bone) will become stronger and increase stability and thereby making the joint less susceptible to injury.

Remember flexibility is necessary but that does not mean you should try to touch you head to your feet.

Stay Healthy!