Cardio

How Do you chose your Cardio?  Here are some examples to help find something that you will stick to. if you are an outdoors person then Walking or Hiking, Biking, and/or Rollerblading. Now if you like going to the gym then you have a the treadmill, elliptical,  stationary bike and recumbent bike. As long as you work in your Target Heart Rate Zone you can to almost anything for Cardio.
What is your  Target Heart Rate Zone?  (click on link to find out your Target Heart Rate Zone)
Once you've gotten used to exercise (and are up to 30 minutes of continuous movement) you can start working on your intensity. How hard you work is a crucial factor in your workout because: interval training so that you work harder for shorter periods of time. this perceived exertion scale). The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) often recommends this level of intensity in its exercise guidelines. This is the level you typically want to shoot for during your workouts.
How hard you work is directly related to how many calories you burn

• Raising intensity is the best way to burn more calories when you're short on time.
• It's an easy part of your workout to change--all you do is work harder
• It's easy to monitor with a heart rate monitor or perceived exertion scale

So how hard should you work? That depends on several factors including your fitness level and your goals. There are three different levels of intensity you can focus on during your workouts, and you can even incorporate all of these levels into the same workout:

• High Intensity Cardio
• Moderate Intensity Cardio: This level falls between about 60-70% of your MHR (a level 4 to 6 on
• Low Intensity Cardio
: This type of exercise is considered to be below about 50-55% of your MHR, or about a level 3 to 5 on this perceived exertion scale. This is a good level to work at during your warm ups or when you're squeezing in other activities, like walking, throughout the day. : This falls between about 75-85% of your maximum heart rate (MHR) if you're using heart rate zones, or a 7 to 8 on this perceived exertion scale. What this translates to is exercise at a level that feels challenging and leaves you too breathless to talk much. If you're a beginner, you may want to work up to this level or try

Learn more about how to monitor your intensity and how much exercise you really need.
Keep in mind that your target heart rate calculation isn't 100% accurate so you might want to use a combination of perceived exertion and your heart rate to find a range that works for you.  For the full article you can go to http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/a/cardio101.htm 

I Recommend getting a Heart Rate Monitor. Polar is the best out there You can Find them at DICKS SPORTING GOODS Just click on the add it will take you straight to their website.

video

I was cleaning out my work email and I found this video that I wanted to share with everyone. I hope you get something from it as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM5A1K6TxxM 

 

 

Stretching

I was reading this article on stretching. I wanted to know if stretching before a work out is a good or bad thing. My ex-boss taught me that stretch before exercise is bad in that your muscles are relexed so you dont have power in them. The article I read was on the same lines. Here is the where you can find the article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2646962/pdf/main.pdf if you wanted to read if for yourself. this is the part of the article I found Interesting "There are interesting studies in the literature pertaining to the effectiveness and efficacy of stretching. Some research demonstrates that stretching does increase joint range of motion and increases the speed of reaction of muscles (5). It is also seen to be superior to warming up and massage for increasing joint flexibility(6). One stretching technique studied in the literature is contract-relax stretching. Contract-relax stretching involves a passive stretch immediately following an isometric contraction of the same muscle. This has demonstrated to significantly increase strength and flexibility (7). This is different than static stretching, where in 1 study static stretching of the calf did not reduce resistance of the ankle joint (8). Contract-relax has also demonstrated to be significantly more effective than ballistic stretching (9,10). In another interesting study, stretching of the neck muscles increased range of motion of the lower limbs (11). In my opinion, this is caused by decreased tension of the spinal cord and interconnecting muscles and fascia and may be an explanation for why we treat the whole body and not just an isolated area of injury. Insight into how much someone should stretch may also be provided in the literature. One study demonstrated that there is equal effectiveness for stretching once a day when compared to stretching 3 times a day and that holding a stretch for 30 seconds is as effective holding 1 for 60 seconds (12). It has also been revealed that stretching muscles of the lower extremity had a resulting increase in flexibility for 90 minutes (13). Some evidence does not support the idea that stretching can help prevent injury. Pope and colleagues conducted a study involving 1538 male army recruits to investigate the effects of stretching. Recruits were allocated to a stretching or control group and both groups first performed an active warm up. The stretching group then utilized 20 second static stretching for 12 weeks. The subjects performed stretches to the gastrocnemius, soleus, hamstring, quadriceps, hip adductor and hip flexor muscles. The control group did not stretch. Within the 12-week period, both groups participated in 40 sessions totaling 50 hours of physical training. The activities included marching, running, obstacle courses, circuit training, swimming and battle training. All injuries were reported to medical personnel and all lower extremity injuries were assessed. The study indicated that pre-exercise stretching did not reduce the rate of injury. They did, however, find that the level of fitness did reduce the rate of injury (14)." 

So I challange you do try this: If you are person that stretches before your work out try not stretching until after your work out and see how you feel. Now if you stretch after you work out try stretching out after 5 mins of warm up and see how you feel. In both sceiro try it for about 4 to 6 weeks.

My Goals

Hello everyone, I just want to thank you for taking the time to read my blog. My goal for this blog is educate, inspire, and help everyone that need it. I would encourage everyone to post a comment to let me know if you find it helpful or useful in your daily life. I also encourage any question you may have for me as I like to be changed.