Fitness News Articles

Salt and the effects on your health

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:03:54 +0000

Salt, or more specifically sodium, is required by the body in small amounts to manage fluid balance and blood volume. Too much sodium however, causes the body to retain fluid, and causes the heart to have to work harder to push a greater volume of blood through the arteries. This extra work can contribute to high blood pressure, a condition that increases a person’s risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

Salt is used abundantly in packaged foods, not only for taste, but also as a preservative and to assist in chemical processes involved in making some foods. Many people do not realise that this is the main source of salt in our diet.

When using the nutrition information panel on packaged foods to compare sodium content, look to the per 100g column. Products with over 500mg/100g are considered high in salt, under 400mg/100g are considered moderate, and under 120mg/100g are considered low in salt.

Choosing foods with less than 400mg/100g is recommended for anyone aiming to reduce salt in their diet.

Written by Dietitian/Exercise Physiologist from the Macarthur Division of General Practice Ph: 1300 933 397

The Dukan Diet: Putting fat cells on a weight-loss plan

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:36:21 +0000

How is it that the French can devour as much cheese, crème, chocolate, bread and wine as they like and still maintain their slim fashion-fit figures? The trick to it is having only one day of protein — affectionately called "Protein Thursdays", says Dr Pierre Dukan, the French nutritionist behind the Dukan diet.

For the past 10 years the Dukan diet has successfully helped people in France manage their weight, says the author. It promises fast weight loss and allows you to eat what you like except on a protein-fuelled day, the UK's Daily Mail reported.

Dr Dukan says a person's size is determined by the number of fat cells they are born with and if you are born with a large number of fat cells you have a greater capacity to gain weight.

Not surprisingly, eating unhealthy or too much food leads to weight gain, and eventually the fat cells reach the limit of their elasticity. When that happens, fat cells can divide into two "daughter" cells, doubling the body's fat storage capacity.

To combat this, Dr Dukan says you need a diet where you introduce pure protein days as well as days where proteins are mixed with vegetables, called "alternative proteins" day.

The problem is, when you eat badly or too much and gain weight, your adipocytes put on weight too, becoming distended. If this continues, the adipocytes 'hypertrophy', or enlarge, and eventually reach the limit of their elasticity.

At this critical moment, if you continue to live unhealthily, each adipocyte cell will divide into two daughter cells, doubling your body's capacity to make and store fat.

It also makes dieting much harder because although you may be able to reduce the size of your adipocytes, the daughter cells will never become a single mother cell again.

Having worked with tens of thousands of patients, Dr Dukan believes the crisis point happens when your body mass index (BMI) reaches 28, making managing and controlling your weight more complicated.

But after ten years of widespread use in France, the Dukan Diet has been proven to help the obese as well as those with only a few pounds to lose.

The Dukan diet consists of four stages Source: Daily Mail

1. Attack Eating protein exclusively for up to 10 days, including meat, fish and non-fat dairy products.

2. Cruise You can have unlimited vegetables during this period, where you alternate protein-only days with vegetable and protein days.

3. Consolidation During the consolidation period, eat protein and vegetables every day. Add one piece of fruit, two slices of bread and a serving of cheese each day. Have a couple of starchy meals (such as pasta or risotto) each week as well as a couple of celebration meals where you eat what you like.

4. Stabilisation There's one rule during stabilisation: only eat protein on Thursdays. Everything else can be eaten without restriction.

The Dukan Diet by Dr Pierre Dukan will be published by Hodder & Stoughton in May, 2010.

For more information,

French Womens' diet secret

The Dukan Diet: Put your fat cells on a revolutionary weight-loss plan

4 Phases for a durable weight loss, with natural proteins

What Commercial Fitness Equipment Is Best for My Gym?

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:43:03 +0000

Time and again I receive emails from colleges, clubs, and even businesses looking to
add a gym to their space. While the questions and answers vary from one message to
the next, one of the most commonly asked questions I receive is from people who are
wondering what types of commercial fitness equipment might be best to put in a space.
The answer of course depends on the amount of space you have as well as your basic
goals, but the number of times I have heard this question has led me to believe that
there are many people seeking the answer.
When you are putting a gym or exercise area into a space, you need to first question
your goals. More and more frequently I am seeing standard offices looking to create a
space that allows employees to exercise. First and foremost, I applaud the effort, as it
is certainly proven that office jobs are leading more and more people to sedentary and
unhealthy lifestyles. For office owners asking these questions, the typical answer is to
put in machines that are low impact and easy to use while providing an effective cardio
workout. Treadmills, ellipticals, and exercise bikes are ideal for offices.
When building a gym for a school, athletic club, or other similar business, the goals are
a bit different. With these gyms, the goal is often to improve not only cardio health and
metabolism, but strength and endurance as well. While weight benches were once a
staple in every locker room in the world, home gyms are increasing in popularity. They
are safer, easier to use, and can work out virtually every muscle in the body. When
coupled with treadmills and bikes for cardio, they can create an ideal workout setting for
almost any purpose.
Commercial fitness equipment is certainly perfect for businesses of many types. These
machines are durable and are built to stand up to repeated heavy use and hard
workouts. While commercial equipment is often costlier than standard exercise
equipment, the durability of these machines makes them a far superior investment. It
makes me happy to see the number of different businesses looking to implement
commercial equipment for employee, student, and member use. Knowing that people
are becoming aware of increasingly unhealthy lifestyles and seeking to do something
about it certainly offers a sense of satisfaction for everyone in the health and fitness
industries.

The Benefits Of Working Out With Treadmills

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:41:43 +0000

Treadmill exercise is one of the most common forms of exercise. It is highly beneficial
and can provide exercises for people with a wide range of fitness goals. I find that I am
asked frequently whether a treadmill might be useful for this purpose or that, and my
answer is almost always a certain yes. The simple truth about treadmills is that they are
made for everyone. As humans, we are designed to walk and run, but our increasingly
sedentary lifestyles and modern conveniences such as elevators and escalators prevent
us from doing as much of it as we should.
When trying to explain the benefits of treadmills to new people or to those just starting
to develop an exercise regimen, I find it rather easy to promote them. These machines
work by using the natural motions of the body. While other equipment involves patterns
of specific movements, a treadmill requires only that you move exactly as you do
normally. Natural patterns of walking are all that is required, yet the body can see
significant benefit.
When you walk on the treadmill, you will find that it can help set the pace for you. If you
naturally walk quickly, you will find that your treadmill can move to help keep you at a
set pace. For those who prefer to run, but manual and electronic treadmills can be set
to help produce a steady run. The faster you go on a treadmill, the more cardiovascular
benefits you will see. Ideally, you will want to spend at least thirty minutes a day
running at a pace that elevates the heart and gets the blood flowing. This will help to
strengthen heart muscles, boost metabolism, and increase circulation. Another benefit
to regular treadmill use is that it will increase your energy levels, enabling you to get
through the day with greater ease.
Treadmills also offer numerous other benefits. They are excellent for strengthening
skeletal muscles and for providing a comprehensive workout in a short amount of time.
Providing moderate impact through running is also shown to help prevent osteoporosis.
Treadmills are used by NASA with all astronauts in order to help prevent the bone loss
that occurs in space, and the benefits are equally good for people at risk of
osteoporosis. Simply put, there are many reasons why I recommend treadmills, but at
the end of the day the answer can be summed up to say that they are simply too good
for the body not to use.

Finding an Elliptical Cross Trainer That Suits Your Budget and Your Lifestyle

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:38:21 +0000

There is little doubt that elliptical cross training machines are among the most effective
pieces of exercise equipment on the market today. These machines offer a low impact
workout that can help work the entire body at once. The problem for most users comes
when they are looking to purchase an elliptical for their homes. These machines can
range in price by thousands of dollars, and each offers a unique array of features. With
so many choices available, how do you find the machine that is right for you?

Build Mass and Muscle Endurance with Home Gyms

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:36:42 +0000

When you are looking to go beyond simple cardiovascular exercise to help build muscle
mass, strength, and endurance, you will need to look beyond standard machines. While
ellipticals and treadmills are an important part of a good cardiovascular workout and
weight benches can help you work on arm and chest muscles, the key to building
muscle mass is a total body strength workout. In order to truly build strength, mass, and
endurance in your muscles, you simply need to own a home gym.
A home gym is exactly what the name implies, a full body gym that you can use at
home. These machines use resistance to create exercises that can work every muscle
group within the body, helping you to create mass that is proportionate and helping you
work all muscles so that you can reduce your risk of injury. Time and again I see
bodybuilders who have been severely injured from lifting weights simply because their
joints and ligaments were too weak to support their growing arm or leg strength. An
important part of bodybuilding is strengthening the ligaments and muscles that support
your extremities, such as the hips, shoulders, and torso. Without this, you have a very
high risk of serious injury.
Home gyms make it easy to fit a proper workout into your busy schedule. If you are
tired of going to the gym before work every morning only to find that the machine you
need is already in use, then these machines offer an excellent solution. A home gym
can be set to the resistances that you prefer for each body group, ensuring that when
you are ready to go your machine is ready as well. There are many benefits to
purchasing your own machine, and the lessened risk of injury that comes with using a
machine you know is only one of them.
When you are seeking to increase the strength and size of your entire body, the workout
you choose will be the biggest factor. Home gyms allow you to create a workout that is
tailored around your needs. Forget about the machine limits and time restrictions you
find at the gym; with a home gym your machine is always ready to go. When building
your body and improving your health become priorities in your life, a home gym offers
you the perfect way to devote your time and energy to achieving all of your fitness and
body goals.

Rowing Machines Provide Safe and Effective Workouts

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:34:55 +0000

One of the biggest concerns that I hear from customers and friends alike is the risk of
injury that accompanies exercise. While for some this might just be a way to avoid the
dreaded E, for others it is a very valid and legitimate concern. While most workout
equipment is highly safe when used as intended, people who have never used exercise
equipment before may just find themselves moving improperly and receiving an injury.
For people seeking a safe way to get a very effective workout, a rowing machine is
ideal.
Recently I have noticed that rowing machines are becoming exceptionally popular. Part
of the reason for this is a growing realization that these machines work all of the body’s
major muscle groups. As you row the oars of the machine, you work your pelvis, thighs,
abdomen, back, torso, shoulders, and arms. Sliding back allows you to always work
your legs, hips, and torso. Exercisers also find that the motion works out muscles that
are often hard to exercise, such as the backs of the arms, the butt, and the shoulders.
This helps to create a remarkably complete workout that can be done in a small amount
of time each day.
One of the biggest benefits I see with rowing machines is that the movement is very
fluid and low impact. Rowing is very easy on all of the joints and doesn’t require impact,
joint locking, or hyperextension of joints. It also serves to offer many benefits to the
organs as well. Exercising using a rowing machine helps to expand and exercise the
lungs, helps the heart pump more efficiently, increases blood flow and energy levels,
and boosts the metabolism. These are the goals of almost all workout equipment, and
rowing machines make them fun and easy to achieve.
In truth, the rowing machine is certainly one of the safest and most effective ways to
achieve a total body workout. When you use a rower to help get into shape, you have
virtually no risk of joint damage. Because the machines are so simple to use, there is
also little risk of injury from improper usage. These days everyone seems to be seeking
the easy way to lose weight or to simply achieve better health. While there is no
exercise free solution to achieving this, rowing machines certainly make it fun and help
to make it much simpler.

Why Are Vibration Machines All the Rage?

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:37:54 +0000

While it always seems that there is some new fitness craze sweeping the land at any
given minute, the one that I have perhaps been asked the most about is the vibration
machine. These machines are surprisingly effective, and their no impact workouts have
led many to purchase them. Others are skeptical, however, and I frequently find myself
defending the popularity of a machine that, effectively, vibrates the user into better
health.
While it can be easy to dismiss the notion of vibration machines being able to improve
health, it is important to look into them. A far cry from the vibrating belts that became an
exercise craze in the 1950’s, these machine work to increase circulation, reduce muscle
loss, and improve strength. Moreover, they can help users rebuild healthy and strong
muscle tissue without the need for strenuous exercise. Recent studies also show that
these machines help release endorphins, which are able to reduce depression and
anxiety, increase energy, and boost concentration.
People using these machines for the first time often tell me that they are surprised at the
amount of benefit that can be seen almost immediately. While weight loss and fitness
are goals that take a great deal of time to achieve, vibration machines are able to help
alleviate aches and pains and improve the mood. Long term benefits include faster
injury recovery, increased stamina and strength, increased bone density, and reduced
cellulite appearance. These machines can also help stimulate the production of
collagen, which helps reduce the physical signs of aging.
Users who are seeking a more comprehensive workout will certainly be pleased to know
that vibration machines can become an integral part of many workouts. These
platforms are designed to offer vibration not only while standing still, but while enjoying
yoga or Pilates. Using the machine while you are dumbbell training can also help make
your workout more comprehensive and effective.
There are numerous reasons why vibration machines are so popular. They are enjoyed
by numerous celebrities and have become a staple in some of the most high tech and
classiest gyms around the world. The notion of vibrating one’s way to health might
sound too good to be true, but these machines are backed by years of research and
science. There are numerous benefits to people with a variety of needs and conditions.
As these machines increase in popularity, I expect to receive more and more messages
from users who are simply astonished at the many things a simple machine can
accomplish.

Boxing Equipment Helps You Get Ready to Rumble from Home

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:00:42 +0000

Sports are among some of the best ways in the world to get into shape. Offering high
endurance excitement and training regimens as well as the chance to expend energy
while doing something that you love, sports are simply perfect for people who otherwise
do not enjoy exercise. If you are looking for a sport that offers high energy excitement
as well as a way to work out your body and boost your metabolism and heart rate,
boxing is an excellent choice. Boxing equipment is inexpensive and easy to use and
can allow you to get a great workout without ever leaving your home.
When looking to purchase boxing equipment to help you get into shape, there are many
options for you. Boxing gloves are a must in order to help keep your hands protected
during practice and while throwing punches. For many people a heavy bag is a favored
item, as it allows the perfect item for practicing punches, kicks, and other attacks
without risk of injury. People seeking a way to train for close combat or people who are
unable to hang a heavy bag in their home will also find that there are wall bags. These
bags are as soft as the heavy bags to allow for easy practice throwing punches.
Boxing is a great way to work out the entire body. The sport requires fast movement
and excellent endurance, and the constant movement required can provide a significant
cardiovascular workout. Speed bags are a common piece of boxing equipment that
offer the ability to work on timing, coordination, and speed. If you have someone who is
willing to train with you, you may also wish to purchase kick shields to help you practice
kicking as well as helmets and pads to help protect everyone during sparring.
Boxing equipment can help you create a fun and fast paced workout. When I
recommend boxers to people who have all but given up on being able to stick to an
exercise regimen, I continue to be surprised by the results I see. The sport offers
excellent stress relief, a full body workout, improved endurance, and most of all the
realization that exercise can be a great deal of fun. Boxing is certainly not for those who
are afraid of a little bit of sweat, but if you want a comprehensive workout that can
improve your mind, body, and soul, it just might be the perfect exercise program for you.

Top Treadmills Benefits

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:16:27 +0000

padded surface that is easy on the joints
a visual display which will allow you to see all of your results instantly. Seeing all of this data can serve as a great motivation
no tripping or falling over pebbles or having your ankle twisted on un even ground
set the speed at which you'll exercise level best meets
enable you to face the TV helping the time fly by faster making your workout more enjoyable
you can adjust the incline simulating a hill outdoors
allows you to keep an eye on what's going on in your home such as with your children
working out on the treadmill allows you to lose weight at a rate that is safe and healthy for your body
relatively affordable, and almost anyone can own one.