Kettlebell Safety Tips

Kettlebell Safety Tips

By   décembre 16, 2018

Kettlebell workouts are pretty awesome. They engage multiple muscle groups and burn a lot of calories. But in order to make the most of your workouts, there are some key safety tips to keep in mind.

Choose the right kettlebell
The first step to using kettlebells safely is picking the right one, and there are a few things to keep in mind are you start browsing. Firstly, you need to pick the right weight for you. To do so, we recommend going to your local fitness store so that you can get a feel for each weight and get the advice of a sales associate. As a rule of thumb, men tend to go too heavy and women tend to go too light. Remember: you want to push yourself, but not hurt yourself!

You'll also want to get a kettlebell that is the right size for you. The handle should be wide enough so that you can grip it with both hands without having them overlap.

The worst thing that can happen in buying the wrong kettlebell is that you'll hurt yourself. The second worst thing is that your kettlebell goes flying across the room during a swing and hurts someone else. To avoid this kind of catastrophe, buy a kettlebell that is moulded from one continuous piece of material. Some kettlebells are two pieces: the ball and the handle. Steer clear of those ones. You don't want your kettlebell to break apart mid-workout!

Make sure your back is in the right position
During a kettlebell workout, your hips, not your back, should absorb the force of the kettlebell. To do so, your back should be in a neutral spine position. Dummies.com has the following tips for getting into the neutral spine position so that you protect your precious back:

1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your arms down at your sides; focus your eye gaze on a point about six feet in front of you on the floor to keep your neck and head position neutral.

2. Reach your hips back as if you're reaching back for a chair, and let your arms follow your hips back.

3. If you're in the right position, you look like you're getting ready to take a vertical leap in the air.

4. Look in the mirror; if you achieved neutral spine, you have a nice, natural S curve in your spine (in other words, your back isn't rounded).

Learn proper breathing
Proper breath work is essential for using a kettlebell safely. As I said above, it's important to minimize the amount of force that you exert on your spine. To protect your spine, you need to use your breath to tighten your abdominal muscles, a technique called abdominal bracing. To master this technique, take some time to practice breathing in and out with your hands on your abdomen. Get a sense of how you can tighten your abdominals as you breathe out. This might be a little different from what you're used to doing, but you'll get the hang of it quickly!

Read More

Important Information - on Workout Accessories

Important Information - on Workout Accessories

By   décembre 16, 2018

Exercising is an efficient way of keeping your body fit and toned up. With the right amount of exercises, you will stay healthy and have a better lifestyle. Using the right amount of accessories can improve your exercising routine and give you better results in a short span of time. However, using the wrong tools or equipment's can lead to equally devastating consequences. Therefore it is essential to use the right types of equipment while exercising.

What are the crucial aspects of exercising tools?

What should be the most important aspects to look for while using assisting equipment while exercising? Firstly, the equipment must not stain your body. They should provide a little amount of resistance so that you can shed a few more inches in a quick time frame. Secondly, the workout accessories should be strong enough to hold your body. Thirdly, they must provide some amount of comfort while exercising. Uncomfortable tools or equipment can cause severe health damage.

List of important accessories:

After discussing the necessary aspects of workout accessories, you must have understood that this equipment must be selected very carefully. Here is the list of some standard accessories that you can use safely in your home gym.

· Punching Bag:

Punching bags are some of the most commonly found accessories in a gym. A session of around fifteen to twenty minutes on a punching bag can burn up to 150 calories. A good workout on this equipment relieves the stress and works as a good cardiovascular training session. You can start your exercises on the punching bag with a session of 60 seconds workout and a 30 seconds rest period. Later on, you can gradually increase the exercise period to two minutes with the rest time of a minute.

· Using Kettle Bells:

These heavy balls of mass can burn a lot of calories leading to super toned muscles. Also, an exercising session with these Kettle Bells can improve the core strength of the body. You can find this equipment in several weight measurements. You should select the ones that you can lift with little difficulties. Choosing a more substantial set of Kettle Bells, during a workout can lead to sore muscles. In extreme cases, the problem of muscle tear might come up.

· Pull up stand:

Using a pull-up stand while exercising, can help you in building strong muscles. While applying on this tool, you can strengthen a different set of muscles. It gives you full body training and stronger core muscles. For example, if you are regularly performing widespread grip chin-ups, the latissimus dorsi muscles on your body have a full workout. Also, the rear deltoids muscle gets in better shape.

Using the right equipment helps in making the exercise session more fruitful and engaging. Your body works an extra mile because of it leading to quicker results. But before engaging an add-on tool for exercising, check if it's suitable for you and your body type. Some of the standard equipment, while exercising is a punching bag, kettlebells, and pull-up stand.

Read More

5 Great Reasons --- to Use Resistance Bands

5 Great Reasons --- to Use Resistance Bands

By   décembre 16, 2018

5 Great Reasons to use Resistance Bands

In the world of sport and exercise, you soon realize that success in these areas starts with consistency. If you want to see results from the exercises that you do or the sport you play you have to be consistent. That means not skipping out on training. With the jet-set lifestyle, we live nowadays it makes it hard to keep to any training plan. We can't carry our gym equipment around with us when travelling and there isn't always a gym available in some cases. That brings us to the first great reason for using them.

Reason #1:

Resistance bands are lightweight and can easily be pushed into a travel bag or even hand luggage. This means we can carry them when travelling. They are also very flexible and can be squeezed into any free space, so long as there are no sharp items to damage them.

Reason #2:

The intensity of a training session with resistance bands is limited only to your imagination. If it feels too easy you can increase the number of resistance bands you use. Almost every exercise that is performed and the way you set the resistance bands will cause you to engage your core muscles which will strengthen them.

Reason #3:

When using weights, you are always aware of gravity. The more weight that is lifted increases the risk in gravity winning that rep. When fatigue sets in and the weights are in an elevated position, gravity wins again. To work safely with weights it is a good practice to have a spotter. With resistance bands, gravity is far less a factor. If the resistance of the band is too great you can stop without gravity winning. A spotter is not a requirement when using this item.

Reason #4:

The environment that is needed has very little limits. The limit would be that you need somewhere to attach the bands on to something secure. This isn't for all exercises but there are many that you do need to attach one end of the band to a secure anchor. If there is a doorway with a door that closes your problem is solved. Another item you can attach the band to is a pole. The resistance band is extremely versatile. In almost any environment you can do; warm-up exercises, muscle resistance training, plyometric exercises, and cardio.

Reason #5:

They are comparatively inexpensive compared to weights. When using weights, if you want to increase the resistance, more weight must be purchased. With resistance bands, you can use a number of ways to increase the resistance. It's more economical to buy an extra band than to buy an extra weight. With a band, you can shorten the band to increase resistance or stand further away from the anchor point. Once again you are only limited by your own imagination.

These are 5 great reasons for trying resistance bands out. The versatility of this item makes it very popular for professionals and beginners in the sporting and exercise fields.

Read More

3 Tips To Reaching Your Health and Fitness Goals With A Busy Lifestyle

3 Tips To Reaching Your Health and Fitness Goals With A Busy Lifestyle

By   décembre 16, 2018

Life has this sneaky way of creeping in and throwing curve balls left and right. Life will always happen. There will always be a busy day at work or family problems or relationship highs and lows or sick children. Once a conflict arises, it seems like health and fitness routines go haywire. We seek comfort food or we just don't feel like moving. These are the things that help us stay clear and balanced in both body and mind though! So what do we do when conflict smacks us in the face (and it happens to everyone so if you're reading this - you're not alone)? Avoiding the conflict is not reasonable because we can't always control what comes at us. Figuring out how to navigate through any issues is what needs to happen to stay on track.

I think so many times we approach health and fitness goals with an "all or nothing" mindset. For example, you might think your day is ruined because you veered off of your diet with an unhealthy meal or snack. Or, you decided not to workout today because you couldn't do the allotted 60 minutes that you had planned for. Instead of doing something, you may have chosen nothing at all. You gave up on day two of 30 days of clean eating. Do any of those sound familiar? It doesn't have to be all or nothing and something is better than nothing. My tips below might give you some perspective on how to reach your health and fitness goals even when life throws you a curve ball.

My philosophy is to nourish, movement, mindset. If we can work on nourishing our bodies, moving them mindfully and maintaining a healthy attitude, we can function a little better day by day, week by week, month by month and eventually get into the healthy habits on a regular basis that we need to achieve total body balance.

1. Nourish.
Focus on one small thing at a time. Start simple and work from there. Don't expect to change your eating habits overnight. Small changes executed day after day, week after week and so on can lead to a really big change. So pick one small nutrition action and practice it for one to two weeks before adding in a new change.

Examples: Work on portion control (without regard to food quality), add one colorful food in at each meal, take 15 minutes to meal prep tomorrow's healthy food or omit your sugary after dinner snack (swap it out with a healthy alternative). You could eat slowly and chew your food completely or focus on balancing your meals so that you have protein, carbohydrate, and fat at each meal. Omitting processed foods at one to two meals per day is also another great option. These are just some examples but it's up to you to figure out which little step you can take to improve your nutrition.

2. Movement.
Take advantage of the time that you DO have. Carve out space in the small pockets of your time. We get fixated on time so often that we don't realize that a little is always better than nothing. For example, it's so easy to think that you have to do a workout for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Wouldn't 15 minutes of that workout be better than nothing though? The answer is yes! So squeeze in what you can, when you can.

Get unconventional. Maybe you don't have time to get in a "workout". Do what you can with what you've got. Maybe you take the stairs that day instead of the elevator. Park in the parking space furthest away from the building (gasp!) to get some extra steps in. Stand up from your desk and walk around for a minute every 15 or 20 minutes. Run around at the playground with your kids. The movement doesn't always have to be in the form of a straight up 30 minute HIIT workout. It can be moving and active - outside or inside. What are the ways that you could get in some more movement?

Move mindfully. Pay close attention to your body and what it's trying to tell you. Your body and energy levels will fluctuate day by day to take advantage of more vigorous workouts when you can and also add in active recovery, lighter workouts or even yoga or stretching when necessary.

3. Mindset.
Don't give up. Don't throw in the towel on eating right and moving your body. It seems easy to take the "all or nothing" approach but that's not necessary. Something is always better than nothing. Don't beat yourself up! Life ebbs and flows for everyone. Take a look at where you're at right now and what you can make work right now.

The most important thing is to honor where you're at. Only you know what you're capable of at this point in your life. Make sure the small steps you take are 100% doable for you and your lifestyle. Small steps over time can add up to big change.

Read More