Check out reach physio’s blog for the biggest fitness trends of 2010. Very interesting.
Fitness trends
Reply
Tag Archives: Balance
Deep Breathing
Deep Breathing Exercises
Deep breathing is a relaxation technique that can be self-taught. Deep breathing releases tension from the body and clear the mind, improving both physical and mental wellness.
We tend to breathe shallowly or even hold our hold our breath when we are feeling anxious. Sometimes we are not even aware of it. Shallow breathing limits your oxygen intake and adds further stress to your body, creating a vicious cycle. Breathing exercises can break this cycle.
The importance of good posture cannot be overstated. While sitting, we tend to slouch, which compresses the diaphragm and other organs, resulting in shallow breathing. Slouching also strains muscles in the neck and back. It is helpful to sit in a chair with good back support to avoid fatigue that leads to slouching.
How to do Deep Breathing Exercises:
Sit up straight. (Do not arch your back) First exhale completely through your mouth. Place your hands on your stomach, just above your waist. Breathe in slowly through your nose, pushing your hands out with your stomach. This ensures that you are breathing deeply. Imagine that you are filling your body with air from the bottom up.
Hold your breath to a count of two to five, or whatever you can handle. It is easier to hold your breath if you continue to hold out your stomach. Slowly and steadily breathe out through your mouth, feeling your hands move back in as you slowly contract your stomach, until most of the air is out. Exhalation is a little longer than inhalation.
After you get some experience you don’t need to use your hands to check your breathing.
You can also do the above breathing exercise lying on your back. Deep breathing exercises can help you to relax before you go to sleep for the night, or fall back asleep if you awaken in the middle of the night.
You can also practice deep breathing exercises standing – e.g. while sitting in traffic, or standing in a lineup at the grocery store. If you are really tense and feel as if you are holding your breath, simply concentrate on slowly breathing in and out.
Training the fundamentals
Interesting blog post from fitness anywhere:
Trainees want workouts to be challenging, and with the TRX, it’s easy to provide that challenge. Anyone can push trainees to go harder, faster and for longer. But “good” training should do much more than just provide an intense conditioning challenge. It should help trainees to build sound movement patterns before moving on to strength, power and metabolic components.
This was a detail entry, rewrote it twice… computers though amazing cam some times be so frustrating! More to come later.
Exciting announcement!
This is the first time this year I have gone so long without writing my blog, time to get back at it! I do have a very exciting reason why I have been absent recently…. I am opening a fitness and wellness studio in May!!! Get ready for something unlike anything else is Squamish! I will post more information as the big day approaches.
Stay active!
Body Awareness
As you progress along healthy lifestyle changes you can not help learning more about your body and build body awareness. Body awareness is not only proprioception (knowing where where your body is in relation to itself in space), emotional state, and frame of mind. This is a useful full tool for many reasons; firstly being body aware in an exercise context will award you greater in gains in stability and proper form. From an emotional standpoint the ability to identify where feelings arise can assist in navigated them more proactively.
A great body awarenss building exercise is as follows:
Sitting on your chair eyes closed, bring attention to your breathing, do not controll it, just observe.
Switch your focus to your buttocks in the seat, feel the chair support you. Feel your cloths on your back, the fabric, the weight of your clothing.
Bring your attention to your heartbeat, feel it pulse through your body, nourishing it.
Choosing a relaxed and peaceful emotional state slowly bring your attention back to your breathing. Count back from 10 and slowly open your eyes.
Remember awareness is what is fostered in meditation, so take some time to tune and and find a moment of inner peace…. every day.
Latest research
Exciting news for those of you trying to reduce your waistlines…
Obesity is a prevalent public health problem associated with a number of severe health effects and those over 40 are at increased risk of being overweight. This risk may be due to a decrease in energy expenditure, reduced energy requirements, or an increased susceptibility to excess energy consumption in this stage of life. Increasing daily water consumption is widely recognized as a weight loss strategy, yet there is actually little data to support this. From studies that are available, it has been shown that:
- Energy intake (EI) is significantly lower in water drinkers than non-water drinkers (1),
- substituting water for energy-containing beverages decreases self-reported EI (2)
- increasing self-reported daily water consumption by 1 litre or more in overweight women is associated with increased weight loss (3), and
- water consumption with a meal reduces ratings of hunger and increases ratings of satiety (4,5).
The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that pre-meal water consumption would lead to greater weight loss in older overweight and obese individuals consuming a hypocaloric diet. The secondary objective was to determine if water intake before a meal to reduce meal EI is sustained after a 12-week period of increased water consumption in older overweight and obese adults.
- Both groups (with and without water prior to eating) experienced significant weight loss but a greater decline in weight (44% greater) was found for the water group.
- The decline in total fat mass was greater for the water group.
- Mean daily EI, energy and ED (energy density) from food, and beverage ED declined similarly in both groups.
- Total dietary ED from food and beverage declined more in the water group as compared to the non-water group.
- The water group participants demonstrated greater increases in water and total fluid consumption than the non-water group participants.
- There were no differences between groups for all other outcome measures.
- No gender differences were found for measures in the groups.
A little note from the universe
Check out a neat little addition to my website; daily notes on my meditation page… for daily inspiration.
Special offer
To introduce some of the new techniques I learn while away at my course I am offering a special promotion. The first 4 people to email me who are in the Sqamish area will get a complementary functional muscular and motor pattern imbalance assessment this Saturday.
To find out what that it click here.
violetquartzwellness@gmail.com
Intention
Here are a few excerpts from an article on intention
It’s time to change the way we think and speak about our dreams. Transforming a conversation, just like manifesting a dream, begins by setting an intention. Your intentions will assist you in taking greater control of your life.
A working definition for intention is: “to have in mind a purpose or plan, to direct the mind, to aim.” Lacking intention, we sometimes stray without meaning or direction. But with it, all the forces of the universe can align to make even the most impossible, possible. My intention is to transform the conversation around dreams from fear and doubt, to hope and possibility, followed by action and results.
For example:
- Before you get out of bed, you can intend to have a fun or productive day.
- Before you leave the house, you can intend to have quality time with your family or roommate.
- Before you start your car, you can intend to have a safe ride to work.
- Before you enter your workplace, you can intend to learn something new or be helpful.
- Before the meeting begins, you can intend to be brilliant or calm.
First Steps:
1. Get clear about something you want and write it down.
2. Share your intention with someone in a way that will supportively hold you accountable to taking action.
3. Do something today to demonstrate your commitment to your intention.
4. Acknowledge that you did what you said you would and then, take the next step.
By setting an intention, you make it clear to yourself and others, just what you plan to do. Set an intention to redefine what it means to be serious about your dreams.
What comprises core strength
Your core is more than just your abdominal muscles. Indeed your abdominal makes up the majority of the core; with the rectus abdominus, external and internal obliques and the transverse abdominus. Your lower back and glutes; maximus, medius and minimus also contribute to your core stability. DO not forget that the top of your quads and hamstrings also play a part.
There is a difference between core exercises and ab exercises. The former works these muscles in unison strengthening them as they work together (more functionally driven strength), the latter works the ab muscles itself, which is necessary to be able to maintain form in core exercises. Both are important in overall stability and strength.
And example of a core exercises is a plank, where as an ab exercise is a crunch.