How to Make the Most of Your Aerobic Sessions

Aerobics is a fantastic form of exercise for strengthening the muscles, improving circulation and the respiratory system, and building stamina. A typical class lasts around 30 to 60 minutes and usually begins with a warm-up, and ends with a cool-down section. There are several different forms of this exercise, including step aerobics, kickboxing and Tae Bo. Step aerobics is a great platform for strength training, and involves quite literally stepping up onto and down from a portable platform whilst performing the exercises.

 

Kickboxing is a sporting martial art form which is similar to boxing and uses the feet as well as the hands for striking movements. A session of kickboxing involves abdominal crunches, jumping jacks, leg lifts and punching for a total body workout. Tae Bo is a programme which combines Tae kwon do and boxing, as well as aspects of dance, to provide a really effective workout. The name stands for Total, Awareness, Excellence, Body and Obedience. With step aerobics, the fitness level of the person is determined by the height of the step, the leg length, stepping skill and coordination. To begin with, individuals should begin on the lowest step so that they can stay within an appropriate aerobic training zone of 60 to 75 percent of their maximum heart rate. They usually start off with a four-inch step, and as this becomes easier the height of the step can be increased to a maximum of 10 inches. With kickboxing, gloves may be added to the workout for additional resistance and protection. However, once you add gloves to your workout you need to reduce the duration of punches – continual punching for longer than ten or 15 seconds isn’t recommended with the same arm.

 

Regular exercise can have a wonderful effect on your health and wellbeing, and can reduce your risk of developing certain health problems. For example, obesity can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Exercising is one of the best ways of maintaining a healthy weight, so it can help to keep you healthy in a number of ways. It can also build and maintain a healthy skeletal and muscular system, can prevent premature death and lowers the risk of developing depression and anxiety. If you’re new to exercise, taking it slow is important to avoid damaging the muscles or joints, or risking injury. In fact, most trainers or fitness experts would agree that it’s best to consult your GP before undertaking any exercise or embarking on a programme so that you can check that it’s safe for you. This is particularly the case for people with pre-diagnosed health problems, such as heart disease or diabetes, as exercising too strenuously could make the problem worse.

 

Physical exercise can lead to dehydration, so it’s vital that you drink plenty of water before, during and after you exercise. If you’re exercising on a step aerobics programme, the ‘loaded’ knee should never flex beyond a 90 degree angle. This refers to the lead leg that lifts onto the step. Your hip joint should always be a few inches higher than the knee. Even if you’re fit, kickboxing carries a lot of injury risks so you should be wary of these. Overextended kicks, locked joints and exercising when you’re fatigued all increase the risk of damage to the body so it’s advised you train with a professional at least until you’ve learnt how to perform the moves in the correct way. The same risks are attributed to Tae Bo, so seek the advice of a trainer to begin with.

Categories: Aerobic Exercise, aerobics, exercise, fitness, health, health problems, heart disease, kickboxing, risk, step, step aerobics, tae bo

Can Exercise Help Ease The Pain Of Fibromyalgia?

For any sufferer of Fibromyalgia, every painful muscle may cringe at the concept of exercise for fears that it may worsen the condition.

Fibromyalgia symptoms are one of the grey areas of muscular disorders, with very few doctors able to tell who has it or whether it is “all in the mind”. Painfully misunderstood, the disorder causes joint pains, depression, tenderness and severe sleep disorders. The harsh reality of Fibromyalgia is that often, sufferers are treated like mental cases, rather than genuine sufferers of a debilitating illness.

If diagnosed at all, the treatment can be just as severe as the disorder, with drugs such as Co-Codamol bearing some severe side-effects – of which also have to be combated by a further amount of drugs. With no known cure and no universal reason as to why it happens in the first place, sufferers are faced with an uphill struggle where everything and anything can cause a painful disturbance for their bodies. It’s natural that as a result, their physical activity would hit a low.

As such, the concept of exercise can become something of a morbid joke – but what if exercise was the answer?

At first, many sufferers of Fibromyalgia may flinch at the idea of vigorous exercise – the concept is daunting because, understandably, they don’t want to suffer pain.

Depending on their current fitness levels, it has been suggested that Fibromylalgia sufferers can benefit from a “prescription” of aerobics, which can last between twice-weekly 10 minute to four-times weekly, 30 minute sessions. The intensity isn’t high-level, but low to medium, which means that whilst earning a 60% maximum heart-rate, the body can still benefit without causing too much agony.

Vigorous exercise means that the body benefits in the long-run. Starting off too harshly will cause more pain, but starting low and gradually building up is key to muscular improvement. In doing so, it is noted that pain doesn’t increase, but that there were positive changes in symptoms that could suggest a lessening of a pain-killing cocktail of drugs.

Can Exercise Help Ease The Pain Of Fibromyalgia?

Categories: aerobics, fibromyalgia, fitness