Tag: Fitness

With kids in the house and priorities everywhere I decided that this year the only way that I would be able to get workouts in would be to keep them short and increase the intensity. Here were my thoughts on the perfect workout for me.

I am not 20 anymore so I knew that I had to be realistic about my goals

I need a quick workout

I wanted to do my whole body in one day

I wanted to be able to recover from workouts but still be able to do cardio on a lot of the exercise days of the week

My Mini Weight Workout

I ended up coming up with a quick 25 minute workout that would be as hard as I could and feel a little wiped for an hour or so but still have my evenings free to spend with my wife and kids.

So here is what I came up with: Circuit training with weights in about 20 minutes.

Warmup, 5 minutes of cardio, either a bike with some lightweights or the elliptical machine

1. Warmup set of really light bench press, shoulder press, and one armed bent over rows across my bench.

2. A long set of the following

• 10 reps Bench press
• 10 reps each of alternating front laterals (front of shoulders), side laterals (side of shoulders) and bent over rear laterals (back of shoulders)
• 10 reps one armed bent over row across bench for each arm
• 10 bicep curls
• 10 tricep extensions
• 10 squats
• 25 each of crunches and leg lifts

This is one long set that takes about 7 or 8 minutes and each exercise is done to exhaustion. I am really winded at the end and it took a bit to figure out how much each exercise should use so that I was done at 10 reps or so

3. Repeat step two – Maybe twice. This means that I am doing two or three circuits in total

4. Stretch a bit, and I am done

This workout has worked really well for me, it is quick and hits every muscle group, actually each muscle group is really hit hard and I am pretty shaky by the end of the workout.

I do this workout three times a week on alternating days and it does not really cut into my schedule much.

Of course this is only one kind of workout, you would want to change things up exercise and rep-wise and probably change to a longer workout at times during the year to really shock the muscles on a regular basis.

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Breads and Vegetables? What do these have in common? Not much. The reason that we want to consider these two staples of a diet is for opposite reasons.

Are All Carbohydrates bad?

Breads are a nightmare for many people trying to cut down on the carbs in their diet. There is good reason to cut the carbs as most people are taking in to many carbs in the first place.

In saying that cutting down carbs is good I am not writing about a zero carb policy like with the Atkins diet but instead just talking about cutting a quarter or half of your carbs out and not replacing them and thus you will have cut your calorie intake quite substantially.

Bread as any diabetic can tell you is a very addictive food.

To most people the cutting of bread from their diet is one of the biggest sacrifices they can make and once it is out of your diet for a week or two you will feel better and will not have those cravings anymore.

I know this from experience as I have a bagel every morning (equivalent to 5 slices of bread) and for a week I went without and felt badly in the morning but by the next week I was not missing it at all.

Vegetables are a great Carbohydrate

Vegetables are also carbs but are much better for you and in the typical North American diet most of us would be very short of the six or so servings that we should have. The advantages to increasing your vegetables are threefold.

1. First vegetables are fairly high in Water and fiber which helps your body to keep everything running smooth.
2. Secondly vegetables are a great source for most of your vitamins and minerals and..
3. Thirdly vegetables are filling and will keep you from getting up after your meal to grab something sweet.

So when you are trying to figure out what the differences are between carbohydrates, and you certainly aren’t alone in this, every diet seems to day either high or low carbs and sometimes diets are not clear on differentiating between carbs.

You can also think about the living or non living test. If you were to bury a loaf of bread in the ground there is no way it would grow (well maybe seeds on top if there are any) the bread would just rot.

If you were to put a vegetable in the ground you would think that there is a chance that it would re-root itself – think of carrots and celery. So this is a great method to think about the idea of living an non living foods

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Back pain is often temporary. You pull a muscle, exercise improperly, suffer from poor posture or in some other way cause stress and strain on your back.

The pain may last for a few hours, and then go away entirely. But studies have shown that over time, repeated back pain, even very mild in nature, can lead to chronic and debilitating back problems later in life.

Once you hit your 40s and 50s, your body is not as strong as it was when you were younger.

This means that chronic back problems can have a bigger negative impact on your life and your body than when you were healthier.

How to Prevent Back Pain Later in Life

How to avoid back pain

Practice the following 5 tips for a healthy and strong back now, and you limit your chances of suffering from back pain later in life.

Stop Smoking

I am sure you understand how unhealthy smoking is. But did you know it actually has been linked to higher instances of back pain than those who do not smoke?

Scientists are not even sure exactly how smoking causes problems in your back.

They believe it may have something to do with restricting the flow of blood which contains healthy nutrients.

This leads to problems in your spinal discs, and a higher incidence rate of back pain in smokers.

Stop Sleeping on Your Stomach

Sleeping face down puts a lot of pressure on your back. Years of sleeping in this position can consistently and slowly damage your spinal alignment over time, causing serious back problems later on in life.

When sleeping on your back, place a pillow under your knees. This cuts the amount of pressure on your spinal cord by half.

Lose Weight

If you can stay within about 10 pounds of your natural weight, you can drastically reduce your chances of suffering from back pain.

Get more exercise and change your eating habits, and you can drop those extra pounds which cause back pain now and chronic pain as you age.

Stop Stressing Out

Stress, anxiety and depression can cause short and long-term back pain.

Any type of stress causes you to flex and tense your muscles. Constant worrying means that you are putting extra stress on your back all day long.

Take up yoga or meditation, tai chi or deep breathing exercises to learn to handle stress better.

Watch Your Posture

Adopt proper posture, especially if you work in a sitting position all day

Proper posture is so important for a multitude of health reasons. When you slouch over in your chair or on the couch, you put incredible pressure on your lower back and pelvis.

Texting, which you probably do dozens of times a day, also causes bad posture.

Back pain is more prevalent among office workers and those who make a living sitting in front of the computer for several hours each day, so stand instead of sitting whenever you can.

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