| By Torri Tompson
If you are thinking about what you can do to get in shape and lose weight, you should consider walking on treadmills. Many people have walked their way to fitness and weight loss-and away from bad health-using treadmills. Treadmills are great machines for someone who is new to exercise because they are made to accommodate any person's fitness condition and they grow with you.
One of the main reasons that people opt for walking on a treadmill, instead of going somewhere to walk or walking outside, is having your own treadmill takes away exercise excuses. You can't blame Mother Nature for not working out, and you can't say you are too tired to travel to your walking destination, when a treadmill is in your home. Another reason many people purchase their own personal treadmills is they can workout when it's convenient to them-day or night.
One question that many people who start walking on a treadmill have is how much time they should walk. The answer to this question is purely individual based upon your fitness condition. Professionals say that a person should try to walk at least a half hour to an hour at a pace that is at 50-70 percent of their maximum heart rate.
To get your approximate maximum heart rate you simply have to apply the formula of 220 minus your age. Let's say you are 35 years old, then you would take 220 minus 35 and you would get 185. Fifty to seventy percent of that is 93-130. According to the expert guidelines, your goal should be to keep your heart rate between 93-130 beats per minute throughout your workout.
However, don't let this scare you. Go at your own pace. If you need to, chop up these minutes into two or three segments throughout the day. Just try to exercise as many days of the week as you can and be sure to maintain a heart rate between 50-70 percent of your maximum heart rate during your workout.
The great news about walking on treadmills is that it doesn't take long to see results. Before you know it your exercise program will start to become easier and easier. When it does, that's the sign to step it up a notch because your maximum heart rate has increased. Keeping your heart rate within 60 to 70 percent of your new maximum heart rate will keep your cardiovascular system and fitness level increasing, too.
Whether you haven't exercised in weeks, months or ever-it's never too late to start treadmill walking for fitness and weight loss success. Today's treadmills are much like personal trainers because they can monitor your heart rate, calories burned, walking speed, distance and more. Whether you walk, jog or run, treadmills can accommodate anyone and help you reach your goals!
About the Author:
Treadmill walking is a terrific method to lose weight and get fit. You can learn about the best treadmills for walking here.
Posted by Setyo Wicaksono at Saturday, June 21, 2008 0 comments
Gym Injuries, How To Avoid Them
By Ricardo d Argence
While training hard and heavy may be awesome for your muscles, it can be trouble for the health of your joints and connective tissue. This is simply the reality of intense weight training, and while there are no guarantees that you will be able to completely avoid getting injured, you can certainly take specific steps to lessen the chance.
An injury is the absolute last thing you could ever hope for, as it will stop you dead in your muscle-building tracks. Down below I'm going to outline my "5 golden rules" when it comes to minimizing the risk of injury. If you can honestly say that you implement all 5 of these into your training program, then your risk of getting hurt will be much lower than someone who does not.
1) Always perform a thorough warmup. A proper warmup is the single best thing you can do to minimize your risk of injury. This simple 15-20 minute process will prepare your mind and body for the hard work to come by increasing blood flow into the surrounding connective tissue and by lubricating your joints. I would recommend that you perform 5 minutes of light cardiovascular exercise before each workout followed by 4-5 warmup sets for your first major exercise of the routine.
2) Make sure that you are doing it right. Ask someone if you don't know the right technique for a proper bench press or any other form of workout. Besides, if you're doing the exercise wrong, you'll probably end up stressing your joints making you more vulnerable to injuries. For example, when you are lifting up the dumbbells, you should never lower them with a jerk, since that easily result in tearing of the ligaments.
3) Compete only with yourself. There may be a lot of huge guys in your gym. If you try to compete with them, if you want to train in the same way that them...it's a sure thing that you'll get an injurie. There'll be a time when you'll be able to do that, until that time, the record you have to beat is your own record.
4) Always know when to quit. If you cannot complete another rep of an exercise using proper form, the set is over, plain and simple. Put the weight down and rest up for your next set. If you start using huge amounts of momentum and jerky body motions to crank out a couple of extra reps, you'll be on the sidelines before you know it.
5) Watch out for a probable sign of a forthcoming injury. You must stop if you feel pain after your workout. Take som rest for some couple of days, or the time it takes for the pain to disappear.
You can learn even more details about keeping your joints and connective tissues healthy for years to come by visiting my website using the link below. Also, you'll learn about the importance of a proper warmup process.
http://heart-brain.blogspot.com | |
