Showing posts with label Muscle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Muscle. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Magnesium is Vital to Great Health
Magnesium is an extremely important and valuable mineral,whose value for good health is just being recognized by conventional physicians. Magnesium is the 12th element on the Periodic Table, the lightest among the metals for structural application. Magnesium is a muscle relaxant, while calcium is a muscle constrictor. Magnesium is known to play a central role in the secretion and action of insulin. Magnesium is a vital component of a healthy human diet, yet many Americans are magnesium deficient. Magnesium is important to keep muscles and bones strong and to maintain nerve functions, because it helps the immune system to function normally.
Magnesium deficiency symptoms involving the peripheral nervous system include numbness,tingling, and other abnormal sensations, such as twings, twangs and vibrating sensations. Magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every organ system of the body. Magnesium protects against heart disease and heart attacks, high blood pressure and stroke, type II diabetes and much more.
Magnesium supplementation has been shown to be an extremely effective therapy or adjunct measure in many common conditions, especially cardiovascular disease. Magnesium is not limited to treating heart disease after a heart attack. Magnesium supplementation has also been shown to be helpful in angina due to either a spasm of the coronary artery or atherosclerosis. Magnesium cannot be added to tap water because it would erode piping. Magnesium increases the solubility of calcium in the urine. Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. Magnesium exists in the body either as active ions or as inactive complexes bound to proteins or other substances.
Magnesium is the single most important mineral for maintaining proper electrical balance and facilitating smooth metabolism in the cells. Magnesium is one of the key minerals that we need in relatively large quantities. Muscle soreness, tension, spasms, and cramps are likewise caused by a lack of magnesium.
Calcium excites nerves while magnesium calms them down. Calcium basically promotes this process while magnesium inhibits it. Calcium and magnesium are opposites in their effects on our body structure. Calcium is needed for blood clotting but magnesium keeps the blood flowing freely. Calcium requires magnesium to assimilate into the system.
Magnesium is a critical co factor in more than 300 enzymatic reactions in the human body. Magnesium is a natural calcium blocker, but this goes unrecognized by most physicians. Magnesium is an essential element for all living things. Magnesium is necessary for muscles to relax. Magnesium is crucial to increasing bone mass.
Magnesium is found in a wide variety of healthy, inexpensive foods (broccoli,almonds). Magnesium is required for the body to produce and store energy. Magnesium is a particularly crucial element for mediating the vital functions of the nervous and endocrine systems and it helps maintain normal muscle and nerve functions, keeps heart rhythm steady, supports a healthy immune system, and keeps bones strong. Magnesium is necessary for the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and amino acids.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
7 Fat Loss Strategies For Busy MomsBy line Holly Rigsby, CPTRL:
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By Holly Rigsby, CPT http://www.fityummymummy.com/cbae/?a=bzmgXlzbvw
Would you like to "jump start" your metabolism and lose your ‘mommy belly' once and for all? If so, the following seven tips are exactly what you need to improve your workouts and ignite your metabolism. Try some or all of these tips, but beware, the result may be a number of admiring second glances and the need to pull your ‘skinny jeans' out of the closet.1. The majority of your workouts should be composed of free-weight, bodyweight or cable exercises.Compared to machines, free-weight, bodyweight and cable movements often require more skill, create muscular balance, and have a greater metabolic cost. For example, it is more difficult to balance the weights, and to coordinate muscles when performing free-weight exercises. Although this may sound like a disadvantage, it is actually a benefit. By balancing and stabilizing free-weights or cables you are working more muscles through a greater range of motion resulting in more muscles developed and more calories burned.2. Use exercises that work more than one muscle at a time.When focusing on fat loss, you can't worry about "shaping" exercises, instead you should use exercises that'll get you the biggest bang for your buck and work as many muscles as possible. Isolation exercises can be used at the end of a workout to work on a specific target area, but they just serve to supplement your core movements.Virtually every savvy fitness professional is privy to the fact that compound exercises recruit the most muscle groups for any given body part.If you seek lean, toned muscles and the increase in metabolism that comes with them, you must choose exercises that work as many different muscles as possible. One of the main reasons why squats are superior to leg extensions for improving your body is that they also work your butt, hamstrings and inner thighs in addition to toning your quadriceps while leg extensions focus on just the front of your thigh and don't really offer any other benefit. That same rationale hold true for arm exercises too. That's why dumbell presses and dips will are more valuable for your arms than triceps kickbacks and pushdowns.A good rule of thumb is to use movements that will allow you to use the most weight. These will have a systemic effect on your body that'll help maintain or increase your lean muscle, and in turn ignite your metabolism.3. Pair exercises.Pair your exercises together so that you alternate between upper-body exercises and lower-body exercises or between exercises that target opposing muscle groups (e.g. chest and back).This type of approach will keep your workouts short and efficient by eliminating much of the downtime that comes between sets of a single exercise since you are working on one movement while resting from another. This approach can also yield huge benefits in your mission to burn fat. Since you'll constantly be moving and keeping your heart rate elevated, you'll be burning far more calories than you would during a typical workout.4. Keep your reps between 8 and 12.Through research, it has been determined that the best range for building lean muscle is roughly between 8-12 reps. Since the main focus of your resistance training efforts is to gain lean body mass and stimulate your metabolism, this rep range fills the bill perfectly. "High reps for tone and fat loss" is one of the biggest (and most unproductive) training myths! Somehow the aerobics, yoga and Pilates' community have convinced us that when we perform bodyweight exercises or light resistance training for high reps, our muscles magically take on a beautiful shape without growing or bulging. On the other hand, if you challenge yourself with moderately heavy weights, your body will take on a bulky, unflattering appearance. If you believe this, you probably still believe in the Tooth Fairy!5. Rest only 30 to 60 seconds between sets.When you keep the rest periods under one minute, it's easier to stay focused on the task at hand and keeps your heart rate elevated. In addition, it forces your muscles to recover more quickly between sets, along with keeping your nervous system revved up.If your first movement in an upper/lower body pair is squats, you might want to rest 60 seconds before attempting your second movement. However, if your first exercise is a fairly "easy" exercise, like lat pull downs, you might only wish to wait 30 seconds before doing the second part of the pair.6. Perform total body workouts.You must drop the notion that muscle groups work independently of one another. Muscles work together and should be trained that way. Besides, not only does this approach mean less time in the gym, but by working the whole body three times per week, you'll be maximizing the fat burning effect of your program.7. Cardio is not the cure-all for fat loss.Cardiovascular exercise aids in the creation of a caloric deficit, but the caloric expenditure during cardio is temporary. Strength training addresses the core of the problem by permanently increasing the rate at which the body burns calories by adding muscle. The best programs will include both strength training and cardiovascular training, but the core or the programs effectiveness is resistance training.Take these strategies and incorporate them into your workout routine. Not only will you save a lot of time, but you'll also soon see a leaner and more toned body. Not to mention a few more turned heads and the re-emergence of your skinny jeans.
About the Author
Holly Rigsby is a nationally recognized women’s fitness coach, certified personal trainer (CPT) and the author of the internationally popular e-book – Fit Yummy Mummy - Burn Your Baby Fat & Get Your Body Back. Go tohttp://www.fityummymummy.com/cbae/?a=bzmgXlzbvw to get your FREE copy of her special report: "The Five Ways To Boost Your Metabolism."
Labels:
Fitness,
health,
Muscle,
Strength training,
Weight training
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Weight loss workout for Busy People
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Okay, here's the first thing you need. About a 8x8 open area. And your bodyweight. That's it. Don't rest between any of these exercises.
First exercise: Prisoner Squat
Place your hands behind your head, keep your elbows back, and squat down halfway to the ground. Keep your shoulder blades together to work your upper back and push your hips back as you squat to work your back of your legs.
Do that 10-20 times depending on your strength levels.
Second exercise: Push-up Plus
Do a regular pushup, but at the top, add a little extra push to round your upper back and make your shoulder blades move away from one another. Do 4-12 reps depending on your strength.
Third exercise: Plank
Support yourself on your forearms and toes and keep your body in a straight line from ankles to shoulders. You'll be "hovering" just above the ground. Keep your abs braced and hold for 10-60 seconds depending on your endurance.
Fourth exercise: Split squat
Stand with one foot 2 feet in front of your body and the other foot 1 foot behind your body. This is a stationary lunge position. Bend your back knee and drop your hips to the floor. Then push up using the muscles of the lead leg. Use a wall for balance or support if needed. Do 5-12 reps per side depending on strength.
Rest 1 minute then repeat the circuit up to 4 times.
Have fun, and burn fat,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MSAuthor, Turbulence Training
About the AuthorCraig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training
Labels:
Fitness,
health,
Muscle,
Physical exercise,
weight loss
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