Health & Fitness
Archive for May, 2009
Exercise, Exercise Equipment
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What You Should Know About Wheelchair Exercise and Fitness for the Disabled
May 29th
Sitting in a wheelchair for long periods of time can cause annoying restlessness and be quite uncomfortable for those persons who are disabled. It’s important to keep the body moving and make exercise in your wheelchair a daily part of your fitness program, regardless of your disability.
Wheelchair exercise will help increase strength, flexibility, improve mobility, strengthen the heart and lungs, and help control weight.
Before any exercise session, it’s always a good idea to warm up, stretch and cool down for about ten minutes before and after workouts. Start slowly and work up to more weight and then to more challenging exercises. An upper body workout would include exercises for the arms, torso, neck, and shoulders.
Everyone, depending on the disability, has a unique situation, so consult with your doctor first to determine which exercises are better for you.
There are two basic types of wheelchair exercise that will be important to know for your workout — resistance training and strength training.
The first type of wheelchair exercise is resistance training. It uses large, stretchy rubber bands called resistance bands. Wrap the bands securely around a door, pole, arm of your wheelchair, or other stable object. Now pull the bands towards you or away from you to work your muscles. You can use the bands to do arm and leg extensions, shoulder rotations and pull downs.
The second type of wheelchair exercise is strength training. This is done by lifting free weights or dumbbells. If you don’t have free weights or dumbbells you can use cans of food. Look around. Weigh them if you can. Start with 1-2 pound weights and work up slowly Lift while you are watching TV if you like.
The benefits of strength training include the ability to perform daily activities, like pushing wheelchairs, carrying items and transferring. Many wheelchair users have an inefficient ‘push’ and strengthening the muscles involved will greatly help.
If resistance training or strength training is impossible for some reason or if you would like to supplement it, get a video or DVD that is especially for keeping fit and exercising while one is in a sitting position.
Remember to always keep a positive attitude. Use discipline to get into a regular exercise and fitness program you’ve created for yourself and continue to do it. Set goals and rewards for yourself. Don’t do anything you know you shouldn’t. Start slowly. Keep your eye on the end result. A good fitness and wheelchair exercise program, regardless of the disability, can significantly improve your health and increase mobility for you and others who are disabled.
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Helen Hecker
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/what-you-should-know-about-wheelchair-exercise-and-fitness-for-the-disabled-95442.html
Blast Away Fat and Get Your Abs, Chest, Shoulders, Back, And Arms in Their Best Shape Ever Using Multi-joint Exercises
May 29th
Let’s face it, we all want to be in shape and catch someone’s eye. None of us like putting on our clothes and seeing our tummy hang over our jeans or our arms looking like a set of bat wings. With multi-joint exercises, you’ll be able to blast away fat at record speed, as well as get your chest, abs, shoulders, back and arms into the best shape they’ve ever been in your life.
When you want to find a way to build strength and fire up your metabolism to burn away all that fat, it is best that you concentrate your exercise routine on including exercises that deal with many joints at the same time. With a perfect foundation, you’ll be able to add lean muscle as well as burn fat. To do this, it is very important to know many single-joint and multi-joint exercises.
What exactly is the difference between single-joint and multi-joint exercises?
Single-joint exercises usually work and engage muscles that surround and focus on one moving joint. An example of this would be a bicep curl because it only moves the elbow joint. Multi-joint exercises are those that engage in rotation around many joints. Multi-joint exercises are said to stimulate how our body both works and plays. Many of our daily movements require multi-joint exercises.
This is precisely why we need to use multi-joint exercises, simply because they determine how our body works and moves. With daily activities, our bodies don’t just use one muscle or one joint at a time. Something as simple as walking is a multi-joint activity. Though walking isn’t complicated, it involves every joint and muscle in our lower extremities.
Why are multi-joint exercises important in a regular exercise routine?
1. Time efficiency. Multi-joint exercises are able to save you time that you have to spend in the gym working out. Because these exercises are able to allow you to engage in many muscles and joints all in the same exercise, you are able to work more of your body, decreasing the amount of time you have to spend.
2. High metabolic cost. That’s right! Doctors have even been able to prove that multi-joint exercises get our metabolism working 30 to 40 percent higher. As you work more muscles at the same time, you are able to burn more calories while your metabolism rates are high and pumping.
3. Helps to train our neuromuscular system. Having a steady and healthy neuromuscular system is able to improve our balance. Whether you plan on walking across the tightrope in the circus or just walking down the street, balance is important. Because multi-joint exercises use many muscles and joints at the same time, your body learns how to work together with the many parts that makes it.
4. They’re more fun. Who said working out couldn’t be fun? With multi-joint exercises, you are able to tone and shape your body while having fun with it. You don’t have to stick to the boring sit-ups or crunches. With multi-joint exercises, you can take pleasure in doing simple exercises while adding a little spice to them.
5. Variety, variety, variety. We all want to be able to have some sort of change in our lives. Start with your exercise program! If you incorporate multi-joint exercises into your routine, you are able to do many different types of exercises each day. Change and variety is good, especially if you want to have fun while getting into shape.
Here are some effective multi-joint exercises:
Squats: Squats, as dreaded and boring as they may be, help to build powerful and strong thighs and hips as well as toned a toned back, shoulders, arms, and chest.
Deadlifts: This exercise uses joints throughout the whole body. They are able to work both your lower and upper body muscles.
Leg Presses: These exercises are used to work the hamstrings, quads, and your glutes. With these, you’ll be able to have toned legs and a firm butt!
Front, Side or Reverse Lunges and Stepups: These exercises are able to work each and every leg muscle. These can get quite boring, so try doing all three types of lunges. A lunge requires you to drop your knee 90 degrees to the ground.
Bench Presses, Dips and Pushups: All of these exercises add muscle to the shoulders, back, and chest as well as the triceps. They are able to work most of your upper body muscles.
Overhead Presses: These exercises are great for working out your triceps and shoulders.
Pulldowns, Pullups, Barbell Rows, and Dumbbell Rows: As you do these exercises, your back and bicep muscles will grow. You are able to work out your back as well as your arms.
Upright Rows: Upright rows are great for exercising the shoulders as well as the upper back.
So when you really want to blast away fat and get your abs, chest, shoulders, back, and arms in their best shape ever then consider using multi-joint exercises.
Steve Hochman
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/blast-away-fat-and-get-your-abs-chest-shoulders-back-and-arms-in-their-best-shape-ever-using-multijoint-exercises-464294.html
