Health News From Yahoo Health - Healthy Heart From Exercise

 

What do I need to know about exercise and coronary artery disease?

The American Heart Association recommends that if you want to exceed a moderate level of fitness, you need to exercise 3 to 4 times a week for 30 to 60 minutes. 2 You may need a day of rest between sessions. Exercise programs usually include:
Stretching for 10 to 15 minutes, to help warm up muscles before exercising to avoid straining muscles and other injuries. It will also help gradually increase your heart rate. Beginning yoga or tai chi exercises might help increase your flexibility.
Walking, cycling on a stationary bike, using a treadmill, low- or no-impact aerobics, or swimming—all of which strengthen your muscles, help you keep your balance, and improve your conditioning.
Strength-building exercises using light weights, to help increase the tone and strength of your muscles.
A cool-down period.

Why do I need a regular exercise program?

Exercising 3 or 4 times a week consistently is important because it takes only a short period of inactivity to weaken your muscles and cardiovascular system.

 

How can I get started on an exercise program?
To get started:
Have a thorough physical examination before beginning any exercise program. Your doctor may do an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a test that measures the electrical signals that control the rhythm of your heartbeat, and possibly an exercise stress test to assess what level of activity your heart can handle.

Calculating your heart rate

One of the best ways to measure your exercise intensity is to take your pulse and calculate your beats per minute or heart rate. See taking a pulse.

 

Calculating your rating of perceived exertion (RPE)

A rating of perceived exertion, or how hard you think your body is working, is a fairly accurate way to tell how much strain is put on your body during exercise. The original Borg scale can be used (6 to 20 levels) to approximate the HR values from rest to maximum, or a revised 0 to 10 scale may be easier to use. For more information, see monitoring the rate of perceived exertion (RPE).

 

How often should I exercise?

How often you should exercise depends on several factors. Many exercise programs recommend exercising a minimum of 3 to 5 times a week. However, the best number of days for you may depend upon your time availability, exercise intensity, the duration of each session, and of course, your overall goals. If you exercise at a lower intensity level, you may want to exercise more frequently. Studies have shown that no significant differences in aerobic capacity are found whether these are consecutive or alternate days. If you are trying to lose weight, regular daily exercise is encouraged.

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Building Better Abs

It’s a common mistake in most people who want visible abs to do abdominal exercise only. Sure, you develop abdominal muscle but it’s only hidden under a layer of fat. In fact, you may find your ab getting bigger as a result of the increased muscle mass.

Here are ideas for losing belly fat effectively and permanently.

1. Nutrition

Eat 5-6 small meals a day to keep your energy levels stable. Choose wholesome, natural foods, preferably organic, and avoid processed foods. Avoid refined and simple carbs that contain white flour and white sugar. Your main sources of carbohydrates are fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and to speed up fat loss.

2. Interval training

If you don’t have long hours to spare in the gym, interval workouts enable you to achieve the most fat loss in the least amount of time. Some examples of interval workouts are wind sprints, hill sprints, swimming sprints and speed rope jumping. You can also do intervals on a treadmill, stationary bicycle, stairclimber, rower and elliptical machines.

3. Resistance training

Resistance training not only sculpts your body but is important for building muscles. Like interval training, it raises your post workout metabolism so your body continues to burn calories even when you are doing nothing.

Aim for low rep resistance training, i.e. 8 reps per exercise, as it has been shown to boost metabolism after the workout.

4. Reduce stress

Stress has been associated with belly fat. In stressful situations, your body releases a stress hormone called cortisol. Excess cortisol production leads to build up of belly fat. A fat belly is more than ugly looking. Accumulated fat in the abdomen increases your risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

The good news is that you can attain a set of lean or six pack abs through a healthy diet plan and effective training program that promote fat loss.

A lot of programs out there are just scams so take care you don’t fall for one of them. You can take a look at this link if you want to know about sean nalewanyj scam or vince delmonte scam.

Better Chest Growth Exercises - I

Chest development may be comparatively easy, but it still takes a concerted effort. Don’t allow that effort to be in vain. Give this routine a try and you’ll soon be on your way towards an armor plated chest.

There’s an old expression: "Do you want it fast — or do you want it good?" Luckily, when it comes to chest training, you can have both.

 

1) Parallel Bar Dips

This is the very best exercise for developing the chest muscles. Not only is it a compound exercise, but it has the added benefit of requiring the body itself to move through space. Any exercise of this type is usually superior to an exercise that requires the pushing or pulling of a bar. It’s the reason squatting is so much more effective than the leg press. Whenever the body moves through space, more muscle fibers are activated.

In order to put the most emphasis on the chest muscles when performing dips, keep your chin on your chest, round your back, lean forward slightly, and hold the feet forward under your face. Dip downwards as low as you can without discomfort and raise upwards into the straight arm position. Keep a steady tempo. This exercise really brings out the "sweep" of the lower pecs. Ten reps should be relatively easy for a conditioned athlete. But here’s the kicker. Rest only 30 seconds and repeat the set, again going for 10 reps. If this is too easy, use a weighted belt to add resistance. Do 3 sets to failure , each with only 30 seconds of rest between sets.

Not so tough now, are ya headset boy?

Although lifting heavy is the way to go, don’t be tempted to take longer breaks in an attempt to simply lift heavier poundages. The goal is to build muscle, not to impress the guy (or most likely the girl) working out next to you. Besides, another advantage of working out quickly is that it induces the natural secretion of growth hormone. Any strain that continues beyond an hour’s time will not release further growth hormone. Get in. Get to work. Get out.

Why Should Anyone Exercise?

If you’re like most Americans, you work in a profession that requires little vigorous physical activity. You drive to & from work, & at home you engage in leisure activities like watching TV. The comforts & conveniences of modern society are lulling people into complacency. & it isn’t healthy. Despite the overwhelming evidence that exercise will make you healthier, more than 60 percent of U.S. adults do not engage in the recommended amount of activity. & 25 percent of adults don’t exercise at all.

Putting things in motion.

Here’s a few good reasons to exercise. Regular physical activity can give you more energy, improve your looks & your self-image. It helps you counter anxiety & depression, helps you cope with stress & even sleep better. Exercise can also help you burn calories so you can lose extra pounds, tone your muscles & help control your appetite.

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Three Powerful Hormones That Make Your Muscle Building Program A Success Or Failure

Hormones are gatekeepers of body functions & regulate most of the body processes. Excess or deficiency of any hormone can have a lot of impact on your body. Any imbalance in hormones results in a side effect. e.g. acne is widely attributed to hormonal imbalances.

Muscle building is no exception. Here too hormones act as gatekeepers. Your muscle building success depends a lot on how you manage these hormones. Below is a list three of the critical hormones and the role they play in muscle building. There are hormones that simulate muscle growth while some other simulate breakage of muscle tissues.

1) Cortisol

This hormone has following two important functions

1) Increasing abdominal fat storage

2) Stimulates the breakdown of muscle tissue.

This hormone is released if you are workout time is extended beyond the one hour mark or if you are not taking proper rest. This hormone results in breaking up of muscle tissues. So, don’t extend your workouts beyond the one hour mark. It will not bring any benefit.

2) Testosterone

This is the hormone found in most steroids under different variants. Increased quantity of this hormone results in more muscle growth. If you are following a bodybuilding program than make sure that all the while you have higher testosterone. Higher levels of testesterone will result in more muscle development. Again, improper rest or incomplete sleep decreases the testosterone levels in your body.

3) Growth Hormones

The name itself indicates the functions of growth hormones. They regenerate the body and play a vital role in muscle development. The body increases the production of growth hormones during rest and sleep.

One important conclusion from the above is the need of proper rest. All the above hormones are controlled or produced by your body while you sleep. So while depriving yourself of sleep may result in more production of cortisol that will increase the muscle breakage, taking proper sleep will result in more production of testosterone and growth hormones that bring in the necessary muscle gain.

These ideas are the basics of any bodybuilding program and are critical to your success or failure. The two most recommended muscle building programs are muscle gain truth and the musclehead. If you want more information on muscle building programs you can read this review of muscle building programs.

Instantly Increase Your Strength On Every Back Exercise- Sean Nalewanyj

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sean_Nalewanyj]Sean Nalewanyj Do you want a quick, simple and instant way to increase the amount of weight you can lift on virtually every back exercise you perform? Sound too good to be true? I speak the truth, my friend, and the reality is that if you aren’t utilizing this basic piece of gym equipment you’re missing out on some serious muscle size and strength gains. What tool am I talking about?

A pair of lifting straps!

This is such a basic and highly effective piece of equipment yet so many people neglect to use them. For those of you who are unaware, these are basically a set of thick straps made of extremely strong material that are placed around your wrists and then wrapped around the barbell, dumbbell or cable attachment. The purpose of lifting straps is to “eliminate” your grip from the equation by forming a secure connection between your wrist and the weight. If you use these straps properly you can basically hold onto the bar and perform your exercises while expending almost no energy from your forearms. Why is this so valuable? Picture this scenario…You’re performing a set of deadlifts (arguably the most powerful muscle-building exercise known to man) with the goal of performing 8 reps. You psych yourself up, grip the weight and clear the bar from the ground. The set is going well, but by the time you reach rep number 5, the strain on your grip is so great that you can no longer hold onto the bar. You’re forced to stop the set because your forearms reached muscular failure. What exactly happened here? Well, you gave yourself an amazing forearm workout! Congratulations! Unfortunately you severely limited the amount of muscle stimulation you could achieve on your back, shoulders, legs, and just about every other muscle in your body that the deadlift targets in the process. This is not a good thing! Lifting straps completely eliminate this problem by making sure that you reach muscular failure in the major muscle groups that you are intending to target rather than on your forearms and grip. They can be used effectively for almost every back exercise or any other lift where the grip is of concern. The main argument against lifting straps is the idea that they are a “crutch” and will negatively affect the development of grip strength and forearm size. Let’s get real here. What would you prefer, greater muscle mass and strength in your lats and upper back (and just about every other muscle group on your body) or greater ability to crack open a jar of pickles? Take your pick. The positive effect that lifting straps will have on your overall muscle mass and strength gains will far outweigh any negative effect that they have on your forearms and grip. Besides, you can easily incorporate specific forearm movements into your routine to develop your grip strength and forearm size. If you aren’t using lifting straps already, get on it! You can find them at almost any store that sells sports or fitness equipment or you can order them online. They sell for about 10 or 15 bucks and are well worth the price! Sean Nalewanyj is a bodybuilding expert, fitness author and writer of top-selling Internet Bodybuilding E-Book: The Truth About Building Muscle. You can learn more by visiting his website: http://www.MuscleGainTruth.com/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Nalewanyj http://EzineArticles.com/?Instantly-Increase-Your-Strength-On-Every-Back-Exercise&id=209446

Warming Down for Bodybuilders

Warming Down for Bodybuilders

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Shareen_Aguilar]Shareen Aguilar

Doing a an executable routine of warm-up is how should a bodybuilder start his bodybuilding training and exercises. There should always be adequate form of warm up exercises for each set of muscles. The main reason why bodybuilders should always do proper warm-ups before the main training is to prevent him from any type of injury.

Joints and muscles that haven’t been properly lubricated and stretched are going to be the main root of injuries. Nobody wants to be injured especially if what he does is all with good intentions. Now you know why it is important to do warm-ups during each and every bodybuilding training, another important set of exercise shouldn’t also be neglected.

If there is a way up, there is always a way down. The same thing is applied to bodybuilding training. Warming up prior to any strenuous activities is done to prevent the body from any type of injury. Whereas warming down exercises are light stretching exercises that are done to properly cool down the body. Though this may be the last stage to completing a bodybuilding training, it is as important as the set of reps done during the training proper.

The reason? You really don’t want to wake up the next morning with sore muscles and aching body, do you? Not only that, an abrupt halt from heavy exercises deprives the body from going back to its normal heart rate, pulse and body temperature. This makes it difficult for the muscles to adjust and relax as well and results to the tightening of muscles and joints.

Distribute light stretching exercises to your hamstring, biceps and quadriceps. Each set of light stretching should be done equally. Try to move in the same pace when shifting from an area of the body to the next.vince del monte

Allow your body to work its way from fast and heavy exercises to slow and smoothing stretches to ensure you of a sore-free body afterward.

Shareen Aguilar is a writer for [http://www.body-building-book.com]Bodybuilding Training Program which has information on Bodybuilding and other fitness topics.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shareen_Aguilar http://EzineArticles.com/?Warming-Down-for-Bodybuilders&id=759850

Online BodyBuilding Program is the Practical Choice

You may be surprised to find that things like free online weight training program webpages are in existence. Why would anyone want to offer this sort of information for free? A lot of people want to lose weight. There are some people who want to gain weight, but they, too, would gladly pay for a good personal trainer who could help them get to their weight objectives. A good weight

On the other hand, there’s more to gaining weight than simply eating more. Some people have overactive metabolisms, or even physical ailments, which ensure that they do not gain weight despite their best efforts. In such cases, weight training for bulking up certain muscles would be called for.

 

There are a few things that you can do to try to gain more muscle and I believe that if you have a plan even the toughest of hardgainers can still gain a few pounds in a couple of months. As you know most bodybuilders not on roids can only gain about two pounds a month but if you make radical changes then you can gain weight rather quickly for a short amount of time.

 

1. The key to gaining muscle is to conserve your energy in an almost slothlike style. When as a hardgainer you are doing your workout try to get the most muscle fibers working in the least number of sets and reps.

2. Skip the cardio. Even though you know that you are trying to get yourself in better shape you still want to keep the cardio out of your workout. As you do cardio workouts your hard earned muscle is going to disappear as you lose your fat…but you do not have any fat to speak of do you?

 

 

The Nerve of those Muscle Cells

Perhaps the most likely explanation of muscle memory involves the neurons (nerve cells) that stimulate your muscles. These neurons tell all the muscle fibers (muscle cells) they innervate to contract. But, depending on the amount of weight being lifted, only a small percentage of neurons innervating a particular muscle may be recruited to stimulate their fibers. More weight on the bar – more neurons involved and more fibers stimulated. Simple enough, right?

Here’s something really interesting. Even during maximal voluntary contraction (attempting your max on any lift), you’re still not recruiting all the muscle fibers in your working muscles. In fact, it is this discrepancy between the percentage of fibers we normally recruit and what we theoretically can recruit (100%) that may account for those rare, but documented feats of superhuman strength.

What has that got to do with muscle memory? Well, one way your muscles may adapt to the stresses of consistent training is to increase over the long run the total percentage of fibers recruited during maximal and near-maximal lifts. Here’s the possible scenario:

 

Another possible explanation of muscle memory concerns certain changes in your muscles that regular training may produce. Your muscles may adapt in two ways that could translate into faster gains during retraining. Also, you might remove the waste products of repeated muscular work and energy production (lactic acid, heat hydrogen ions, etc.) at a faster rate. Since these waste products can limit performance, with the increased capillary bed, you would be in a position to train harder and longer.

 

So which workout is best for size? Close-Grip Bench Press, Dips, and Lying Tricep Extensions. They all let you move heavy weights. My #1 pick is the close-grip bench press because I can feel it the most on my triceps. The Close-Grip is also excellent in building strength. For close-grip bench press, put your hands 6-7 inches apart on the barbell so it focuses on your triceps. For lying tricep extension, use an EZ bar, and hold the bar using the closer grip. Pick 2 out of the 3 workouts to do for bulking up your triceps. Doing all 3 will most likely lead to overtraining, which is very bad for muscle development.

 

sean nalewanyj. Another good program that has a lot related stuff is the vince delmonte

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Common Bodybuilding exercises and all about about abs, symmetry, muscles and exercises.

The most common body building exercises people perform are compound exercises. When you are performing compound body building exercises you are primarily working on mass. That is, compound exercises mean that more than one body part is used to lift the weight. Bench presses, while generally considered chest exercises, also provide secondary stress to the biceps, triceps and shoulders. So, these other muscles grow as well as the chest although not to the same degree. Other common body building exercises that perform compound exercises include squats and military presses. Now, these exercises are not necessarily designed to make the person’s muscle mass huge (although they certainly can be used for this purpose) these exercises can be used in a lesser capacity so as not to massively pack on muscle.

The second type of body building exercises that are employed are those exercises that are isolation exercises. These exercises do not involve more than one muscle group and are designed to specially develop the muscles of a particular area. These exercises can be employed with high repetitions to burn fat and usually follow a cycle of mass building so as to create the definition that mass requires for aesthetic looks. Please note, contrary to popular belief these exercises cannot spot reduce fat in a particular area. Yes, fat will be burned, but it will be burned evenly throughout the body as opposed to any specific or particular area.

So if your "big 3" are lacking how do you improve them? In order to get them to the level that you need them to be, you need more than an exercise chart and a ’simple demonstration’ from someone who has never taken their lifts to a decent weight. This is because whilst the lifts are basic on the surface, there are many subtle aspects to them that only become apparent on the journey towards decent weights. These include many equipment set-ups, mental factors and small technique refinements that can only be passed on from someone who has done it all before.

The ripped look is something most body builders and even average people strive for. It is a particularly attractive look but to exercise the abs is the wrong direction. Let me explain. The abdominals are the center piece of a ripped muscular body. No two ways about it. If a guy or gal has a nice developed body but their belly has a pouch or is distended in the case of a pot belly, the muscular body some how loses it’s legitimacy. It’s just a fat guy or girl with nice arms or shoulders or whatever. The reason for that can be found in the science of aesthetics.

First and foremost, you must realize what you want. There seems to be a lot of confusion about the abdominal body part. The confusion lays in working them. It seems logical, that if we want better looking abs we should work them and grow them. This fact is responsible for more people quitting and never bothering again. The confusion is understandable, but you should approach this intelligently and you will get the results you are after without too much work.

Getting a good set of hard abs is about presentation and not the muscles themselves. Its about a visual balance and aesthetics. Working your abs for hours and hours a week actually has the opposite effect, hence this is why most people give up. Their muscles grow around the waist as a response to their diligent work outs. Then they despair as they notice something strange. They dont look good!

If you have a layer of fat across your abs, and you do the work outs that make the abs grow too, you are actually making your torso look bigger. But wait? Isn’t that the point? Ummm…no. Heres why. A set of neat tight abs on a muscular body make a great center piece. All muscular bodies are not complete without the familiar six pack. But….when the eye looks at a muscular body it focuses on the six pack because it is a natural resting place. The eye follows the V shape, the wide shoulders and rests at the point of the V the bottom of it, the abdominals. The eye searches for this natural shape, the V or a triangle and is naturally more satisfied with a smaller V The wider the top, the more tapered the bottom, the more satisfying it is to look at.