Weight loss surgery is becoming increasingly popular all over the world, and for a very good reason. It offers a solution to a problem that plagues millions of people worldwide. However, determining whether weight loss surgery is right for you can be difficult. There are many benefits to these surgical procedures, but there are downsides as well. It’s important to understand this issue from both sides to decide what’s right for you.
Pro: Guaranteed Weight Loss
If you’re like many people in the world today, you’ve had a hard time trying to lose your excess weight. Some people try everything under the sun in an effort to shed pounds, yet they still find themselves unable to achieve their weight loss goals. Surgical procedures like gastric bypass and gastric banding offer guaranteed results. Liposuction can get rid of excess fat instantly. Those who seek a guaranteed solution to their weight loss problems can find that solution with weight loss surgery.
We all know that it’s important to get eight glasses of water each day in order to ensure that our bodies are properly hydrated and that waste and toxins are flushed out of our systems.
When you engage in intense exercise, a lot of fluids can be lost to through sweat, increasing the need for not only water, but also essential electrolytes that allow your body to retain the life-giving fluids you drink.
While you might not think that pumping iron is as intense as running a marathon or swimming laps, the truth is that lifting weights can make you sweat.
That said, there are other reasons why staying hydrated before, during, and after your weight lifting regimen is important. In case you didn’t know it can have a dramatic effect on the results of your workout, as well as your overall state of health.
Here are just a few reasons why you should definitely strive for optimum hydration.
Shoulder Rehab Chronic Shoulder Instability and Impingement Syndrome are the most common types of shoulder injury. Chronic Shoulder Instabilityoccurs when the ‘head’ of the upper arm bone moves out of the shoulder socket. This results in a shoulder joint dislocation and causes great pain. On the other hand, impingement syndromeisprompted by friction occurring between the shoulder blade and rotator cuff. The friction from the rotator cuff and the shoulder blade may be caused by inflammation in a tendon or muscle.
Preparations to Rehab an Injured Shoulder
It’s important to remember that any injury needs to be checked and treated by an accredited physician. They may recommend medication and several rehabilitation techniques to encourage the shoulder to heal and function as soon as possible. The Physician will also be able to see the specifics of your injury that may alter they way you would treat it. Here are some tips to consider when preparing an injured shoulder for rehabilitation. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is another excellent fitness article for pregnant women. At Project Swole we care about everyone.
Exercising During Pregnancy
Many women are concerned about exercising during pregnancy, but the fact is that the right kind of workouts during the natal period can be tremendously beneficial. The rewards of exercising while pregnant include fewer childbirth complications, reduced incidence of aches and discomfort, higher energy levels, and better blood circulation.
Benefits like these make both the pregnancy period and the birthing process much easier and promote an overall sense of well-being. Weight training is especially good for pregnant women, as pregnancy tends to bring on extra body weight while muscles shrink due to inactivity.
Be Considerate of Exercise Technique
Of course, the body of a pregnant mom-to-be is in a delicate state, and this should be a cause for concern when exercise is being considered. Any exercise that involves a face-down posture should be avoided to reduce pressure on the abdomen, and the muscle groups focused upon should be those that need extra strength during pregnancy.
CrossFit is one the fastest growing fitness programs in the United States, but why has it been so successful?
High intensity interval training, weight lifting, Olympic weight lifting, gymnastics, and rowing have all been around for a long time. However, CrossFit utilizes all of these movements and creates a complete program that takes the best of all the different disciplines.
This might seem overwhelming at first, but many CrossFit gyms allow scaling down to what you’re comfortable with, a trainer always watching you, and usually a two to three week starter program. This allows anyone of any age or fitness level to take advantage of CrossFit.
If there’s one part of a bodybuilder’s lifestyle that’s more important than the workouts, it’s got to be nutrition. If you’re not giving your body the fuel it needs to build muscle, all your efforts are going to go to waste as you burn out and lose both your energy and your muscle mass.
Traveling makes it even more difficult to stay on top of your nutrition, especially when you’re mostly limited to the offerings of airlines, terminal food courts, and restaurants. To keep your fitness routine up while you travel, it’s important to keep training and eating clean all the while.
Get acquainted with sludge.
It may not sound like the most appetizing food in the world, and it might be a bit tough to stomach at first, but it’s the traveling bodybuilder’s best friend. Most builders make their sludge by mixing whey protein and peanut butter or almond butter with with water until it reaches a pudding-like consistency.
Since you can’t bring liquids through airport security, pack enough pre-measured bags of whey and almonds to last through your flight, and a Tupperware container for mixing. Either buy bottled water in the airport, or take advantage of courtesy cups on the plane. Use a little less liquid than you would normally, and you can make your own protein-rich sludge anywhere.
If you are expecting a child, it is important to know that doctors and specialists don’t discourage physical fitness and weight training like they used to do in the old days – they actually encourage it.
Physicians used to believe that any kind of rigorous exercise for a mother to be could potentially cause harm to the fetus, either due to miscarriage or a premature birth, but now it is widely believed that a routine fitness regiment during pregnancy can have a number of benefits, like lowering stress levels and increasing general well being.
Moreover, regular weight training is both risk-free and can have many benefits for a woman during her pregnancy, in all trimesters.
Here are 5 benefits of weight training during pregnancy.
Whether you’re bulking, cutting, or straight-up losing weight, you have no doubt developed a targeted diet meant to enhance your exercise regimen in order to help you meet your goals.
Restrictive or specific diets can leave you feeling unsatisfied or craving your favorite foods, and if you’re not smart about how you get your daily caloric intake you can find your tummy grumbling before you go to bed, or even waking you up in the middle of the night, just begging for a midnight snack that is definitely not diet-approved.
However, there are plenty of ways that you can keep yourself satisfied and full on nearly any diet plan so that you can stave off cravings for midnight munchies.
For many of us the hardest part about working out is motivation. This could be due to the fact that you haven’t made fitness a priority; when you’ve always got something more important on your plate it’s all too easy to put your health on the back burner.
Or maybe you’ve been exercising diligently and you’re simply not seeing the results you want, a situation that can be frustrating and discouraging.
It could even be that you simply don’t find your exercise routine particularly challenging or fun.
Whatever your reasons for skipping the workout day after day, the truth is that you need to find ways to get motivated, and interval training can provide you with several benefits that might just move you to get your butt off the couch and into gear.
There’s nothing like pushing yourself to your physical limits and leaving it all on the field, so to speak, when you exercise. Not only does it make you feel like you accomplished something, but it also gets you one step closer to meeting your fitness goals, whether you’re shooting for 20-inch biceps, you want to bench press your own body weight, or you’re training for a marathon, just for example.
A good workout can boost endorphins, making you feel energized and amazing throughout the day, and it can also help you to sleep better at night. Unfortunately, it might have just the opposite effect, making you feel fatigued but amped up at the same time. If this is the case, you might be looking for a few good ways to recover and relax after an intense workout.
Heading off to the mountains for some winter sports fun is a great way to give your entire body a workout and get out of the gym and into the great outdoors. Winter sports are a great way to exercise and will strengthen your leg muscles as well as your core muscles, as long as you can avoid injuries skiing and snowboarding.
We know we are already past the holidays, but you can use these tips in-season as well, to try to build up your lower body and core strength and healthy throughout the season.
If you are weight training to build muscle, your biggest goal is to keep your body mass index in check. Body builders around the world will tell you that having the perfect, sculpted body is also about staying lean and keeping your body fat at a minimum.
To be pure muscle and no fat you have to find creative ways to exercise, but you also have to eat the right food. In order to sculpt your muscles, you need food with enough protein to keep you energized, but also food that helps burn fat – you also want to suppress those unwanted cravings.
Here are 5 great foods for burning fat and building muscle.
Oatmeal.
Oatmeal is the secret weapon for a lot of body builders that want to sculpt the perfect body. Eating oatmeal 1 to 2 hours before an exercise or weight lifting session will give you an adequate amount of sustained energy, which will allow you to work out longer. Oatmeal is also great at regulating your blood sugar levels, which can stave off cravings. It is also a great source of fiber, which can prevent your body from storing excess fat.
On some level, we all know that caffeine is not exactly good for us, at least not in large doses and certainly not when it comes from sugary sodas or coffee drinks loaded up with cream and sugar (Starbucks: proudly serving 10% coffee in every coffee drink!). But whether you’re a soda hound or you drink black coffee throughout the day, you’ve likely experienced side effects like the jittery high that keeps you working like mad for an hour followed by the comatose state that leaves you craving more.
Then there are the headaches that plague truly devoted caffeine enthusiasts who don’t get their fix in a timely manner. I haven’t personally experienced this, but I have no less than 5 friends or aquaintances that do.
However, imbibing a moderate amount of caffeine can actually have some benefits for the casual drinker. Aside from giving you that extra boost of energy and focus, it can also have healthy effects for those who have the proper enzymes to break it down efficiently, potentially reducing the risk for heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and even some forms of cancer, according to various studies.
It can also have an impact on your weight training routine.
I get plenty of questions in various comments throughout the website, but I also get comments and questions via the Project Swole Contact Form.
Generally I address those questions through e-mail, but often I do not have the time to reply to each and every question personally.
From now on I want to take a more proactive approach to answering Your Health Questions by posting them separately in the blog. This way we can be sure that everyone benefits from the Q & A.
Gillian Finnick wrote:
“Hi Steve. I know you don’t normally answer questions like this, but I’ve seen you address some female topics before, sometimes with female guest bloggers. Do you have any recommendations for taking care of my hair during a workout? I’m sick of getting my hair done then turning into a ball of frizz after just one workout. Please help!”
Response:
You are right Gillian, I don’t normally answer these types of questions, and in fact I can’t answer it right now. However, I have consulted with my fitness friend Heather who also happens to also be a hair dresser, and asked her to whip up a guest post with some tips. That being said, here you go!
How to Care for Fitness Hair
Whether or not you put a lot of time and effort into your daily beauty routine, the last thing you want to do is add to your regimen needlessly. And the truth is that intense exercise can leave your hair oily, frizzy, or worse, both. For women who spend a lot of money at the salon for a particular coif, this can be a deal-breaker. But what good is perfect hair if the body it rests on is less than ideal?
Looking and feeling your best and attending to your overall health is more important than your hair, but it’s funny sometimes how our priorities get jumbled up. In any case, you don’t have to pick one or the other. You can find ways to keep your locks looking sleek even when you exercise. Here are just a few tips and tricks that will help you to stave off the frizzies and avoid the oily mess that might otherwise be the result of intense activity.
Hitting a plateau can drive you insane. Some people take months just to bump their bench press up by five pounds. A plateau is a good indicator that there’s something about your routine that just isn’t working for you anymore, and it means that it’s time for a change. Adding barbell complexes to your routine is a great technique for breaking plateaus. Barbell complexes are difficult, requiring you to perform several barbell exercises in a row as one set with no rest in between sets.
Benefits of Barbell Complexes
As a form of cardio, barbell complexes have several benefits over traditional cardio workouts. Barbell complexes burn a ton of calories but do not release cortisol the same way traditional cardio does. Cortisol is a stress hormone partly responsible for inducing fat storage in the body. However, barbell complexes release anabolic hormones that help you cut fat, making barbell complexes a great tool for cutting fat while you get out of your plateau.
The time required for traditional cardio can also be a bit of a drag, clocking in at thirty minutes or more. Barbell complexes are very fast-paced, and depending on how many sets you do, you may finish in ten to fifteen minutes – half the time of traditional cardio.
Posted February 27, 2013 in Fitness Tips, Healthy LifestyleComments Off on 5 MORE Ways to Burn MORE Belly Fat During Exercise
One of the first places the average adult body stores spare fat is around the belly, and this can be a real nightmare for anyone trying to trim down their midsection.
You might think that you’re doing everything right when it comes to your diet and exercise regimen, and yet, for some reason you just can seem to shed the unsightly padding around your abdominals.
If this is the case, you could find that doing everything right is actually all wrong. Your lifestyle might be sabotaging everything.
Here are just a few tips and tricks that could help you to finally melt away the belly fat that’s been plaguing you for years. Sure, they say diet is responsible for 75% of your progress, but if you are doing everything else wrong, your lifestyle could derail 90% of your progress.
There’s something you might not know about type 2 diabetes: anyone can get it. The onset of this form of the disease need not be related to heredity, although instances in your family may raise your risk for developing diabetes. However, you should also know that the condition is not unavoidable, even if you do have a family medical history to contend with.
What is Diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes develops when there is too much sugar in your blood, a condition known as hyperglycemia. Normally, your body creates insulin that breaks down sugar so that it can be stored in cells and burned off as energy. But over time, excess fat in the body can reduce levels of insulin being produced and create an insulin resistance in cells.
While the main cause of type 2 diabetes onset is thought to be obesity, the truth is that you can have a slim physique with a high percentage of body fat. The point is that even people who don’t necessarily look like they’ll develop diabetes may be prone to the disorder. And lifting weights can definitely help to lower your risk.
How to Prevent Injuries that Will Derail Your Progress
Adding weight lifting to your workout routine on a weekly basis can offer the average fitness buff a world of benefits.
For one thing, it can make you stronger, as expected, helping you to overcome obstacles in other types of exercise (running faster, throwing farther, jumping higher, etc.). But it can also help you to create the physique you’ve been trying for (whether it’s bulking you crave or simply a frame that features better muscle tone) and even lose weight if that’s what you want (muscle burns more calories than fat). And that’s just the beginning.
Weight lifting, when done improperly, can also result in a slew of injuries, most of which can be easily avoided by warming up and cooling down, building up to greater weights or more reps over time, using proper form, listening to your body, and asking for help from a spotter.
Here are just a few common weight lifting injuries that are best avoided:
Gaining weight and gaining lean muscle are two entirely different things. While increasing the amount you eat will almost certainly lead to you putting on weight, it will not automatically ensure that you gain lean, aesthetically pleasing muscle mass.
In order to effectively build muscle, you need to combine the right physical exercise with the right fuel for that physical exercise. It is, therefore, vitally important to pay attention to the nutrients you put into your body and to understand the role that carbohydrates play in the muscle building process.
Physical Activity and the Role of Carbohydrates
In order to build the lean muscle you desire, you need to engage in resistance training which specifically targets the major muscle groups in the body. Examples of these types of exercises include barbell curls, bench presses and squats. It is best to avoid working the same muscle groups in consecutive days and working out three to four times a week is ideal.
In order to perform efficiently, you also need to provide your body with the right kind of energy. Although proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals all combine to provide different things, carbohydrates in particular play a large role in muscle building.
You may have heard about the many benefits of adding weight training to your current workout routine, or perhaps you’ve done your homework and debunked some of myths that were holding you back. Either way, you are about to embark on a new mission – to get PUMPED UP! Or ripped. Or shredded.
In any case, you are probably keen to start trying out weight machines at your gym and pumping iron with free weights and barbells. But before you begin your sojourn into the wide world of weight training it’s not a bad idea to cover the basics so that you don’t end up injuring yourself or others.
Here are just a few common mistakes that you’ll definitely want to avoid:
Weight loss surgery is becoming increasingly popular all over the world, and for a very good reason. It offers a solution to a problem that plagues millions of people worldwide. However, determining whether weight loss surgery is right for you can be difficult. There are many benefits to these surgical procedures, but there are downsides as well. It’s important to understand this issue from both sides to decide what’s right for you.
