Tai Chi Online For Your Health

Before you decide to enrol on a Tai Chi Online exercise course I would like to give you something to think about as personally I do not believe this is the best way to go about looking after your health.

The instructors of the online courses will tell you that you will get exactly the same benefits as if you were going to a local Club in your town, if I was that instructor with an online course I may tell you that same very thing. Seen as I am not and actually teach Tai Chi exercise from a local club I would like to inform of what I think, although I believe starting a Tai Chi online course will be beneficial to your health I do not believe you will get the same benefits as you would belonging to your local club.

Tai Chi Online vs a Local Club

When any body enrols on a tai chi online course they will be missing certain elements that they would not be by training and exercising in a local club, please see my list below from an instructor's perspective.

My first and main concern would be that I can not see my student so how do I know they are doing the exercises properly and as they have been shown. Many students are unaware that the body form they possess when shown and when copying an exercise from an instructor will not be quite like it has been shown. With Tai Chi online how does the instructor know when this is the case and how will the student ever know if the instructor can not see you. The form of your body and how you extend it from your major joints is a very important element in Tai Chi for your health.

Secondly you will be missing out on class interaction which in my mind is a very important part of developing in your Tai Chi training, we learn about ourselves through our interaction with other people. You will miss making friends with like minded individuals, the group encouragement and support and how will you compare or know about your advancements if you do not belong to a group.

With instructors that have made this exercise system a life time of learning you may find they offer what is called closed door Instruction offered only to those people that have shown dedication and the correct advancements in their training.

If you are a member of a local club with an authentic instructor that offers you this closed door training jump in with both feet because the possibilities of what you will learn of yourself and Tai Chi has many Doctors, Scientists, Psychologists, Physiologists, Para and Meta psychologists completely baffled to this very day. They will tell you your advancements are all in your mind. And, so is the day you experience isn't it?

Tai Chi Online Who and What is it Good For

Although I have stated a couple of reasons why tai chi online is no substitute for a real life and local club I would like to tell you my thoughts to why it is ok to enrol on one and who it might be for.

If you are thinking of looking after your health and there are no exercise clubs, martial arts, tai chi or otherwise close to you because you live in some hard to reach far out place then my first option to suggest to you would be Tai Chi online supposed to any other online exercise system.

The biggest reason for suggesting this is because it is perhaps the best exercise known to man and woman and offers slow continuing movements which do not put any undue pressure on the body, joints or ligaments. It will be perfectly safe and an exercise system that any body of any age can take up, there is a good 95% chance you will never pull a muscle by training in this ancient exercise unlike systems like yoga, Pilates etc.

Tai Chi online is a good place to start for an introduction to this exercise system for your health and a great resource for those that already belong to a local club as it will offer you motivation and encouragement to make this exercise system part of your daily routine.

This article has been provided by Lee May Octaver a writer and instructor in a number of subjects to introduce taichiswordshop.com Tai Chi Online as a way to start to look after yourhealthandmind.com Your Health.

Top Tips to Keep You Running Fit During an Injury

Ask most runners what they consider to be the downside to our great sport and i'll bet most of them will use one word - INJURIES!

Whether we are young, senior athletes or seasoned veterans we nearly all follow the same cycle of running. We train, see an improvement. So we train a little harder and see more improvement. We convince ourselves that we need to train even harder and eventually we break down and get injured.

It seems that just like taxes and death, injuries are an inevitable part of running. I train with a group of five athletes, all of different age groups on most Tuesday evenings. Of the group there always seems to be one of us either carrying an injury or unable to train due to being injured.

When you do get injured it is important to go and see a sports injury specialist and agree on a plan of action to get you back running again. There are a number of options available to help keep you running fit without aggravating your injury.

Yoga and/or Pilates classes. Although these two are not going to do a great deal for your cardiovascular fitness they will greatly enhance two areas often overlooked by runners. Core strength and flexibility are two key areas. Improved posture and flexibility will make you a more efficient and less injury-prone runner.

Aqua-running. Using a flotation belt to enable you to run in deep water. Although a little tedious and somewhat boring it is a tremendous way to keep you running fit without incurring any impact on the injury.

Find a gym. Another alternative is to find a gym. After an assessment you will be put on a training programme aimed to get you running fit. One particular piece of equipment that you can use is the elliptical cross trainer. This can give you a hard workout without the stress of impact that occurs with running.

For an extra tip to help keep you running fit during an injury please visit running-fit.blogspot.com http:running-fit.blogspot.com

Derek Donaghy has been a runner for over 30 years. He has decided to share his running expertise with other likeminded runners or anyone who has an interest in this great sport. Further information can be found at his blog running-fit.blogspot.com running-fit.blogspot.com

Essential Clothing While Doing Yoga Exercises

Yoga is an exercise. It may not as strenuous or vigorous as a full throttled acrobatic one but it is an exercise none the least. Yoga involves a lot of stretching, spreading and opening up of all the muscle groups along with mind and soul. Yoga requires you to meditate and be at one with yourself. You will require at all times to be comfortable with your body and feel good about yourself. You cannot keep feeling conscious and deficient. Yoga requires you to give your all to the practice. You require training your mind and body in that direction so that you do not end up doing something that was not expected of you. You will need to better yourself at yoga. It is an everyday process. One cannot master yoga within one day of doing it. It is a consistent effort and has to be a deliberate one. Yoga exercises not only the body but also the mind and psyche!

The effects or benefits of yoga are terrific. You can cure almost all life styles related ailments by including this into your daily schedule. It is best to begin your day at sun rise with a glass of Luke warm water and an hour of devoted yoga. You must begin with the surya namaskara. This is an offer of devotion and prayer to the sun. People believe that the first rays of the sun carry along with it all the energy and wellness that the sun has to give and the best way of absolving this energy to maintain good health and mental well being is by performing this exercise. The surya namskara has 12 positions that require to be done in an interval of a minute of each other.

After having done this you can move onto other asanas depending on the type of yoga schedule you follow.

Yoga as mentioned before involves a lot of stretching. So it is essential that you wear the right types of clothes while doing the different asanas. Do not wear extremely tight clothes. It is ok if you do not look attractive and doll like while performing yoga. The importance is laid on the act not on how you look. Make sure you are wearing a correct pair of underclothes with a tight grip, which holds you well together. Do not wear badly under clothing which does not fit you well. It may affect your posture. Preferably wear slacks and a loose fitting tee shirt. Wear comfortable shoes if you decide to wear any. Do not wear heavy and stiff material such as denim. Stay away for synthetic material so that your skin is allowed to breathe. Wear stretchable clothes so that they don't hamper your stretch and you maintain a good posture. Clothes with Lycra are recommended for the job!

Remember that you will be sweating while performing the ct. at such times keeps a towel ready nearby. Also use cotton clothing with Lycra so that your skin is not suffocated!

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Fitness Training - Discover How This Effective Exercise Will Make You Super Fit

Probably the most simple and effective exercise that will increase your strength, stamina and endurance is circuits or circuit training. It is used by many athletes from runners, football players to boxers to improve their fitness levels. Even the military base their basic training on a form of circuit training.

Doing circuits will give you an all over body workout by targeting your legs, arms, buttocks and cardiovascular system. They are also easy to do and they will not cost you anything. You do not have to worry about any expensive gym fees with circuits. All they consist of is a number of separate stations set in circle. Each station represents a separate exercise routine. Each station is separated by a distance of 10 to 20 metres. This can be lengthened or shortened depending on the available space. However, you want enough space to have a good sprint.

Each exercise must be completed within a set time for example, between 1 and 3 minutes. When the time is up you then sprint to the next station and start the countdown clock. Do not stop until you hear the alarm and then sprint to the next one. You continue to do this until you have completed each station. If you have to stop do it only for water. After completing a set of circuits you will definitely know that you have had a really good workout. Overtime and if you consistently do your circuit training you will feel a real difference in your fitness, strength and energy levels.

The following is a great exercise that you can include in your own circuit training:

Sit -ups

The sit-ups are one of the classics. They are simple (not easy) to do and they are effective. These will strengthen your core muscles which are located around your stomach and lower back area. To do a sit-up place a yoga mat and lie with your back flat down on the mat and bend your knees together. Place your arms in a criss-cross fashion on the front of your chest. Keep your back straight, tighten your stomach and pull your upper body gradually to an upright position. Gently lower yourself back down and repeat. If you are not use to doing sit-ups then do 10 reps to begin with. The key is to get the technique right first the numbers of reps will come when you build more strength.

Always seek a doctor's advice if you have a medical condition before doing any form of new exercise

With over 3 years writing experience, Tim Bose writes about topics that fascinate him. Currently he has a new site that discusses tips on using contemporarymirrors.org contemporary mirrors and a contemporarymirrors.org/illuminated-bathroom-mirror.html backlit bathroom mirror to enhance any modern interior design.

Is Clinical Research Management the Most Sought After Course For Science Graduates?

As the Healthcare Industry is booming in India and this sector is turning into more corporate from mom and pop operations, the organizations have realized the need for patient data analysis and management as the most critical factor for the long-success. Besides, the regulator bodies are also mandating organizations to manage the clinical data records to check against malpractices of some bogus medical healthcare companies. Also, the pharmaceutical companies demanding the clinical data from the Healthcare service providers to check the performance of their drugs and using this data internally for further enhancements and future trials.

The demand for Clinical Research associates in India has become a blessing in disguise for Science and pharmacy graduates who are dreaming to get cushy jobs in leading MNC's like Accenture, Keane, InfoSys, and IBM. Lot of finishing schools have come up in India with foreign collaboration and offering shot-term to Diploma courses for these fresh graduates to become full fledged Clinical Data Management (CDM) professionals. Also, more and more medical colleges, Nursing colleges, and Healthcare service providers offering this as a finishing school Medical Courses for freshers. Some Banks are also willing to provide loans since there is much demand for CDM professionals.

The demand for CDM professionals is further fuelled by Foreign MNC who have set up their operations to provide the Clinical Research Analysis and consulting for Healthcare providers overseas.

If you are interested in enrolling for CDM course, you can visit SKILLS4U.COM - India's No. Training listing site and browse Medical Courses classifieds to find everything from simple Medical Transcription Training classes to advanced CDM courses offered by leading institutes based on your search criteria. You can search for Medical Courses Training in all the major metros like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. Within the city, you can search the Medical Courses Training by Zip code as well. Once you find the Medical Courses Training provider of your choice, click on 'send enquiry' to request information regarding a specific Training or 'contact Provider' for any information. The system will prompt you to enter required information and send message to your selected Medical Courses Training provider. Once the Provider receives the message, you will get a response regarding further steps to register for the Medical Courses Training.

The members enjoy benefits such as exclusive discounts, instant messaging/ contact with providers, and information sharing with friends and family members.

You can browse and search the information without being registered but to send enquiry for seeking information from the skills4u.com/training/selectFromHome/Medical_Courses Medical Courses Training providers.

Spiritual - Holding Absolutely Nothing Back

Man's genuine interest is to have confidence in something higher than the self. This is true throughout all cultures, a core of the development of most traditions, where human connections and laws are based, and where the center of morality is founded on. True there are individuals who deny belief in someone higher than the self, in someone who is far more powerful and far more magnificent. It's ironic that individuals who do not believe in powers higher than they can be go to lengths at showing something that they do not believe in. To battle, to wrestle, and argue around something that don't really exist without offering powerful truths is madness. After all ethnicities and countries that believe less in spirits and religious supports tend to be countries that have the highest committing suicide rates.

We've got the right to end up being happy. Our constitution guarantees that, our elders shielded all of us because of that, all our strengths direct us to accomplish that. The "hole" that we sink into as all of us journey through life is the idea that joy is promoted by acquiring much more than we need. The more expensive the label price, the happier we are meant to be. A gleaming auto, winning the lottery, a huge house in the ideal spot, popularity, name it, all things have been tried out. Yet even when these have been proven time and again to be the fall of us, the work is still to acquire and bank happiness on which is temporary. As the melody goes, 'when will we ever learn'? To many people, this can be a load of garbage. However look deep and this is true.

The contention of individuals who do not believe in spirituality, higher spirits, as well as us as eternal creatures is that battles, depression, suffering, pathos were due to religious and spiritual conflicts. This really is half truths. The cause of unhappiness and conflicts is actually greed, not religion, not spirituality. It is the desire to top one another to obtain the upper hand, to control, to implement the will that causes suffering and clashes. More than anything else, it's the love of the self while anything else is extra, if not dispensable. Are leaders of battles supposed to be above this? They may be, supposedly. Overtime, avarice as well as acquisition penetrates in and then the cycle moves otherwise, it is because issues had been started on the idea of obtaining more, and of righting a perceived wrong that was accomplished mythical or otherwise, correct or not.

Man's only purpose is to be. Often, without having exemption, to be is to be innovative. We're the only creation that is imaginative and thus tend to be co-creators. We're not completely alive until we create favorably. To make positively is to proceed outside of the self. Notice those who delivered a lot and offered a lot gained a lot and is remembered best. They're the guideposts of all that is certainly good as well as everything we secretly aim for. The simple truth is we are created from good and will never be pleased if we don't would like for what is good.

The best thing that the exact same Creator who created you and I, who keeps on providing for us, and the origin of happiness, would like absolutely nothing back. This same God, regardless of whether denied or otherwise, believed or not, will keep on caring even while being blasphemed.

Spiritual growth has always been integral to an individual's sense of well-being. And to some people, this can be achieved with the practice of yogafit.com yoga. By attending yogafit.com/CTGY/MBF.shtml yoga conference and trainings, one can truly improve his quality of life. With Yogafit, you'll definitely have all the information you need to start on your quest.

Yoga Can Help Ease the Pain and Discomfort of Arthritis

The condition, which hinders movement in the joints of the body and the connecting tissues of the muscles, can cause pain and stiffness in those who are afflicted. Arthritis can affect job performance, relaxation and the overall quality of life.

The Center for Disease Control reports that arthritis has been diagnosed in more than 46 million people in the U.S., affecting people of all race and ethnic categories. The risk of arthritis increases as we get older and affects more women than men.

All of us probably know someone who suffers from a form of arthritis, or you may suffer from it yourself. But according to research, there may be an easy way to ease the discomfort and pain connected with arthritis: yoga.

Although testing in this area is not extensive, yoga has still been found to have some positive effects, both psychological and physical, for the sufferers of arthritis. A report by the John Hopkins University Arthritis Center states that while research is minimal regarding yoga and its effect on rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, the research that has been conducted is "promising" and shows "improvement in joint health, physical functioning and mental/emotional well being...Perhaps most importantly, yoga has an important positive effect on quality of life. People with arthritis may also enjoy yoga more than traditional forms of exercise...." The John Hopkins Arthritis Center goes on to say more than 75 scientific studies have been published on the effects of yoga, with all of them showing that yoga is a "safe and effective" way to increase muscle strength and improve flexibility, two areas that that should be of great interest to anyone suffering from arthritis.

Regular physical activity, doctors agree, is an important part of the treatment of arthritis and may promote joint health. However, demanding exercise such as weight training and running, which put a great deal of stress on joints and muscles, may actually make the condition worse. Which makes an activity such as yoga the perfect solution to the quest for a physical exercise that is beneficial but not stressful to the body. Reports also state that arthritis patients who take up yoga quite often keep practicing it far longer than other forms of exercise, which is important to note when you consider studies that show approximately 50 percent of people who begin an exercise program drop out within the first six months.

Physicians also point to the mental benefits of practicing yoga with regards to arthritis. Faced with a condition that can greatly decrease mobility and activity, people afflicted with arthritis, particularly younger people, can develop feelings of depression. For people suffering from depression associated with the condition, doctors say, yoga can help them mentally as well as physically.

Doctors report that yoga can give arthritis sufferers a mental clarity that can help them to develop positive energy and keep feelings of depression low. Yoga has also been proven to aid the immune system as well, which is a great benefit since some types of arthritis can affect the immune as well. Yoga, the doctors conclude, has a positive effect on the overall quality of a patient's life.

Doctors and yoga instructors point out that there are certain poses and movements that arthritis sufferers should avoid. Arthritis patients should restrict backbends to small movements and be mindful not to hyperextend their neck by keeping their head in line with their spinal column. Arthritis sufferers should use caution when performing hip-related poses (hip openers), including those poses that call for extreme external rotation of the hips. In short, doctors and yoga instructors recommend that if you are experiencing pain, stop. Those who suffer from arthritis should use restraint during their first yoga session and be aware of any pain or discomfort they may feel the next day; it's not uncommon to not feel pain until the day after a yoga session. If an arthritis patient feels no pain after their first yoga session, they may choose to slowly increase the depth and intensity of the movement.

If you are an arthritis sufferer, consult with your doctor about how yoga can benefit you in alleviating the pain and discomfort of your condition.

Lindaa Adams likes all things health and fitness related.

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Svadhyaya - Niyama of Self-Study

Svadhyaya (self- inquiry) requires that we be honest with ourselves, concentrate, and be present for Yoga practice. This is a lot to ask from the average multi-tasking Yoga student, who visits Yoga classes once, or twice, per week.

How could he or she learn to quiet the mind long enough for self-study and possibly, self-realization to occur? Is meditation the obvious answer? Will Japa help us suppress the noise of many voices within our minds?

The answer is: Yes and No. People often engage in activities such as reading, walking, gardening, painting, or playing music, which also allow the mind to focus in the present moment. Each person has an activity such as this, which relaxes the mind, but the mind is still focused. So, this is an individual approach toward calming the mind and beginning the practice of self-inquiry.

This is an easier way for a Yoga student to indulge in self inquiry without feeling like he or she is in a battle with the "monkey mind." If a person cannot settle the mind, there are many methods to choose from.

From a personal perspective, the study of sacred texts, scriptures, or holy books, is very rewarding, but it is not for everyone. If reading sacred texts brings a feeling of frustration into the mind of the practitioner, then this is a lesson in futility.

This same person will likely be able to focus his or her mind by performing a physical activity. If it is Asana, Pranayama, Sun Salutations, walking, or knitting, who are we to criticize? We do not all have the same outlook on life. So, the solution is to find the specific activity, which focuses the mind to be honest with itself, concentrate, and be present for the practice.

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, has written many books on the subject of Yoga. He is a co-owner and the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at: Aura Wellness Center, in Attleboro, MA. riyoga.com riyoga.com He has been a certified Master Yoga Teacher since 1995. To receive a Free Yoga e-Book: "Yoga in Practice," and a Free Yoga Newsletter, please visit: yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html

? Copyright 2007 ? Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Managing Stress with Hatha Yoga

With its combination of exercise postures, also called asanas, meditation and breathing, yoga is a great way to help reduce and manage the stress in your life. While traditional yoga originating in India is very much a lifestyle and not simply a fitness program, there is one type of yoga that can be of great benefit to busy, stressed out people. Hatha yoga combines breathing techniques, meditation and yoga postures, and is perfect for anyone looking for help coping with the stress in their daily lives.

You can learn how to do yoga from a book, video, TV program or you can attend a yoga class. It is recommended that you try a yoga class first, so that you can learn the basics of how to do the postures, breath properly and also meditate. When learning on your own through a book or video, without having someone trained in yoga there, you may be at risk of hurting yourself by doing the postures incorrectly. It's great to start off with a yoga class and then move on to practicing yoga at home on your own.

A typical Hatha yoga session will include a dozen or more poses. Many classes will start beginners off with the corpse pose, which is a simple lying on the floor, completely relaxed pose. The corpse, done properly, is most excellent for calming your mind.

Another important part of yoga is learning how to properly breath. Not just during the postures but while you are meditating. Typically, the yoga instructor will ask you to focus on your breathing, really paying attention to how you are doing it. One breathing technique will include breathing through just one nostril, which slows your breathing.

Hatha yoga can also involve the use of mental imagery while doing your postures and while meditating. One breathing technique includes imagining the air filling your lungs while you are taking a slow, deep breath. During meditation, you'll probably be given images to focus on, like the sun or the ocean.

Breathing exercises, mental imagery, meditation and postures are all effective in and of themselves for reducing stress, but combined together into a customized program for your needs, they are incredibly effective for managing and reducing your stress.

Effects Of Yoga

The positive health effects of yoga include reduced heart rate and blood pressure, anxiety reduction, better physical strength, improved flexibility, reduced muscle tension, greater peace and calmness, better ability to handle stressful situations, better and deeper sleep, slower aging, spiritual awareness and growth and even a greater overall sense of well being. There are many more benefits to yoga practice, reducing and managing stress is just one of them.

If you have a problem with stress in your life, and who doesn't, why not look into beginning yoga? It can improve your life as a whole.

Lydia Quinn writes for Attapinya, offering the finest quality in yoga bags, yoga jewelry and yoga accessories made using fair trade practices by talented artisans in Thailand. Visit us at: attapinya.com attapinya.com

Flexibility Training - What You Probably Don't Know

Flexibility is defined as your body's ability to move through a full range of motion. Flexibility training is an integral part of any conditioning program. While athletes stand most to benefit from flexibility stretching exercises, anyone seeking to keep their bodies flexible or those seeking to improve their posture will also stand to gain from a flexibility training program. This is primarily due to the fact that the stretching exercises serve to balance muscle groups that have been overused in any exercise or physical activity or have become overused as a result of bad posture or bad work habits like slouching while typing in front of the computer.

Flexibility training offers many immense benefits. It does not only make your joints more supple and your movements more refined, it also plays a role in improving various body functions. The benefits of a sensible flexibility training program are outlined below:

First off, it improves physical performance in virtually any activity or sport. The more flexible your body is, the easier it is to move through a wide range of motion. Everyday activities from simple walking to lifting heavy objects are done with ease and require less energy.

Moreover, flexible people have a reduced risk of injuries. This is because regular stretching exercises results in decreased resistance in tissue structures. This results to a decrease in your chances of being injured since the limb is able to move further before it gives in to any injury. Flexibility training exercises, especially dynamic stretches usually done before any workout loosens muscles and addresses the problem of muscle tightness which has long been associated with increased risk of muscle tears.

Another benefit that can be gained from a flexibility training program is reduced muscle soreness. Stretching exercises, especially static stretches that are done after any workout regimen, significantly reduces muscle soreness you experience post-workout. Static stretches are performed by slowly and gradually controlling muscle elongation for about 30 seconds for as far and long as you comfortably can.

Another benefit of a flexibility training program is improved posture. Stretches aid in the realignment of soft tissue structures to balance the muscles and improve how you carry your body. With constant practice, proper posture becomes a natural part of movement and comes with no effort.

Flexibility training promotes increased blood circulation so that nutrients are transported to the muscles and tissues. When circulation is enhanced and nutrients well-distributed, tissues become more elastic and able to do movements more efficiently. Yoga, a well known exercise that involves a lot of stretching, has proven time and again that increased circulation immensely benefits a person's respiratory, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal functions. Yoga practitioners report greater immunity from common diseases and even other grave illnesses such as stroke and certain cancers. Aside from benefiting these systems, it has also been shown to have a positive effect on the psychological aspect of a personality that Yoga has been recommended as a form of adjunct therapy for those who are suffering depression and other forms of mood disorders.

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Exercise After Liposuction-10 Exercises to Improve Your Liposuction Resullts

The perception of appearance depends on the concept of proportion and symmetry. There is even a mathematical formula, the phi ratio, which proves this. Your ultimate beauty depends on how the various parts fit together. While it is usually felt that plastic surgery and exercise are mutually exclusive, I feel the reverse is the case. There is a true symbiosis between them.

Dissatisfaction with certain areas of your body led you to undergo liposuction. You had these stubborn areas of fat that the procedure removed. Of course you look better but do you look as good as you can? Does the body as a whole have its ultimate look or can some spots be refined with the proper exercises to bring the whole package into ideal aesthetic proportion and symmetry?

The liposuction set the stage to allow the results of the proper exercises to be more appreciated. However, all exercise regimens are different in what they accomplish in respect to sculpting the body. The exercises that follow are the ones which are specifically designed to contour and define the torso and the limbs.

Too many people assume that preferred method of exercise is aerobics. While this does reduce your overall body fat percentage, it merely leaves you as a smaller version of how you started. A large pear becomes a small pear.

Others, caught up in the catch word of the day, concentrate on core training as is emphasized with yoga and Pilates. Again, you definitely gain in fitness but both yoga Pilates lack the ability to spot enhance to ideally proportion the body.

Training with machines is like using stencils. They seem simple to use but keep you locked in directions that may not be ideal for your anatomy.

Following liposuction, the need is to re-proportion the body to match the surgically improved areas as well as maintaining these improvements. The abdomen, hips, thighs and buttocks can now be further tightened. The arms, shoulders and legs can be sculpted and defined. Here are the ten exercises to improve your liposuction results.

I’m sure everyone wants a firmer, shapelier derriere.

Wide stance or sumo dumbbell squat

Hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing in, hanging down. Keep your head up, eyes looking directly in front of you, back straight and your feet spaced as wide as comfortable. Either hold a dumbbell in each had or a vertically oriented heavier dumbbell with both hands between your thighs. Inhale and squat down until your upper thighs are parallel with the floor. Keep your back straight and knees wide apart. Return to the starting position and exhale. The descent should be slow and controlled. The ascent should be accelerated. Repeat.

Dumbbell front lunge

Hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing in, hanging down. Keep your head up, eyes looking directly in front of you, back straight and your feet about a foot apart. Inhale and step forward with your right leg as far as possible until your right thigh is parallel to the floor. Your left leg should be held as straight as possible, not bending at the knee any more than is necessary. Step back to starting position. Do the required number of repetitions and repeat with the other leg.

Dumbbell stiff legged dead lift

Using a foot stance slightly narrower than shoulder width, hold a dumbbell in each hand. Keeping your legs straight, back straight and head up inhale and lower the weights until you feel a stretch in the back of the legs. Then keeping the legs straight and back straight, return to the upright position while exhaling.

Now we have what I call the spaghetti strap exercises.

Bent over two dumbbell rowing- elbows forward

Using a close foot stance, place a dumbbell on each side of your feet. Bend forward at the waist and grasp the dumbbells in both hands with your knees slightly bent to take the pressure off your lower back. Turn your palms to face your legs. Pull the dumbbells directly up to the sides of your chest keeping your elbows out and your upper arms perpendicular to your body. Hold momentarily and then slowly lower the dumbbells under control. Exhale as you lift and inhale as you lower. Keep the back straight and the head up.

Hand on bench one arm dumbbell rowing-palm facing in

Place a dumbbell on the floor along side a flat bench. Place the right knee and your right palm on the bench with your back straight and parallel to the bench. Grasp the dumbbell in your left hand with the palm facing the bench and extend your left leg back. Keeping the elbow close to the body, pull the dumbbell straight up to your chest. Hold a moment and then lower slowly under control. Perform the desired number of repetitions and then reverse position with your left knee and left palm on the bench, your right leg back and the dumbbell in your right hand. Remember to keep the elbow in close to the body as you lift the dumbbell.

To firm, define and reduce the jiggling of the arms, we have the following trio.

Rotating lateral-front raise

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Grasp a dumbbell in each hand hanging at arms length with your palms facing your thighs. Keeping the arms straight, raise the dumbbells to a little above shoulder height, keeping the arms parallel to the ground rotate the dumbbells forward to touch in front of your chest. Keeping the dumbbells together, with the palms facing down, lower the dumbbells to the front of the thighs with the palms facing the thighs. Maintaining the dumbbells in front of you, lift them in a semicircular path to in front of your face with the arms parallel to the ground. Keeping the arms parallel to the ground, rotate the dumbbells laterally and lower to the sides. The motion is raising to the side, lowering to the front, then raising to the front and lowering to the sides. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Alternating hammer curls

Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand erect with the feet about shoulder width apart. Keep your back straight. Bend the knees slightly to relieve pressure on the lower back. The dumbbells are hanging at arm’s length at your sides with the palms facing in. Curl the dumbbell in your right hand, maintaining the position of the palm facing in to the level of the right shoulder. Lower under control with the palm facing inward until the dumbbell is in the original position. Now do the same motion with the left hand as the right hand remains by your side. Alternate the two hands.

Lying supine two dumbbell triceps press

Lie on a flat bench. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with palms facing one another and lift them to arms length keeping them in line with your shoulders. Inhale and lower both dumbbells straight down in a semicircular motion by bending your elbows but keeping your upper arms vertical and elbows pointed to the ceiling throughout the movement. The dumbbells should be lowered until the forearms and biceps touch. Lift the dumbbells back to the starting position using the same path as your exhale.

To get that tight, flat abdomen, try these.

Crunch

Lie on the floor with your knees bent at a 45 degree angle. Cross your arms over your chest. Inhale and contract your abdominal muscles to lift your shoulders off the floor. Squeeze the abdominal muscle and hold for a moment. Return to the starting position and exhale. Once you can do 15 repetitions, hold a 15 pound dumbbell on your chest. Progress to heavier weights as you can complete 15 repetitions.

Reverse crunch

Lie on your back with your legs straight up in the air. Steadying yourself with your arms, lift your buttocks up and hold, pushing your toes toward the ceiling. Lower slowly and repeat until failure.

The proper exercise training can greatly enhance the results of liposuction. Why settle for less?

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ARF-MC - The Life Performance Model

Remember that acronym! Sounds a little dorky but this information is 20 years in the making. I challenge anybody to go against it. Think of all the great accomplishments that you have had and you will find this model within all of them! Guaranteed!

1. Attitude

Your body reflects your attitude. Every unwanted pound is an unwanted thought that you must shed. Think you are lean and you will be. Love your body and you will attract more people, places, and things that will lead to you loving your body more such as: health, wealth, and healthy people. If you are disgusted by your body, you will attract people, places, and things that will help support that thought such as: sickness, poverty, and unhealthy people.

A healthy attitude is what leads to the success of a training program; not the training program itself!

Just as a sprouting flower will reflect what is being fed at its roots, your body reflects your attitude. Right now your body is the sum total of all the thoughts and decisions you have made up until now. If you have anxiety and worry, your body reflects an attitude that is anxious and worried. There is no way that the attitude cannot change without the body following. Therefore your mental outlook on your life must be the first thing to change; not your cardio program!

2.Recovery

If your body is too tired, it cannot perform at its peak. Massage therapy is an overall treatment that harmonizes the whole body. It can help treat chronic headaches, spinal and nerve problems, PMS, chronic fatigue syndrome, and countless other symptoms of dis-ease. Hydro-therapy is one of the fastest ways to recover. Jacuzzi, pool, and ice are all examples of hydrotherapy. They are one of the most used components in the rehabilitation centers. Our body is 75% water; so it is no wonder why water is our main source of power. Myo-facial therapy is a technique designed to get all the knots out of the muscles to help the body's postural deviations and overall movement. If you are injured you do not get into the game. Recovery helps prevent injury.

When you train your body too hard without allowing the proper time for recovery it will rebel against you with injury and mental burnout. The recovery component is the most looked over component in all of training. The old school train of thought is no pain no gain. But the new school train of thought is more pain equals more pain! Don't let pride get in the way of your results. Listen to your body and strategically plan out your workout program with your days off planned ahead of time. You also want to plan how you take some of those days off. Whether it be a splash in the ocean water which is great for your body or a massage, recover your body! It will thank you for it with results.

3. Fuel

Water content regulates all the functions of the body. Shortages of this natural body lubricant will manifest varying symptoms, signals, and complications now labeled as dis-eases. It is the natural health medication for a variety of health conditions such as: arthritis pain, low back pain, headaches, constipation, asthma, and allergies. It is also great for losing weight. Many people overeat because they are unknowingly trying to quench their thirst.

Many times people strain and tear muscles and the first thing they think is they did not stretch enough. However, the body can signal drought in certain areas by causing different pains and injuries in certain areas of the body. Back pain, arthritis pain, and headaches are just a few symptoms of dehydration.

Rarely will a physician question your hydration when you walk in complaining of joint pain. They say rest, ice, and purchase their drug that is being pushed by a high-powered pharmaceutical company. They do not question how well your body is hydrated; they treat the symptom of dehydration. Over time, this symptom turns into something else that more drugs or surgery are prescribed for. The medical industry is capitalizing off of our body's thirst for water and we do not even know it. Think of your body as a car. If a car were low on oil, it would slowly breakdown the engine or some other area that needs lubrication. Our body is the same way.

The less water you drink, the more sore your joints are going to be. So when your body hurts do not reach for a pill, reach for the water. You want to drink at least half of your body weight in ounces. For example, I weigh 225 pounds, so I want to drink at least 113 ounces of water a day or a little under a gallon. We cannot go by the traditional 8 cups a day because not everyone is the same size. A college offensive lineman cannot drink the same amount of water as a 125 pound woman!

Food keeps your metabolism burning throughout the day. Think of your metabolism like a wood burning fire. The fire will burn the fastest and hottest when you feed it small pieces of wood throughout the day. It will burn slow if you put one huge chunk of wood once or twice a day. The goal is to eat five or six times a day and keep your fire burning fast. 75% of your success will be determined by how thorough you are with the food log. It can take a few weeks to adjust to eating periodically throughout the day; especially if you have only been eating 1 to 2 times a day for 10 to 20 years. Be patient with yourself and know that you will make mistakes because you are human.

Much of the food we consume is soaked with pesticides, chemicals, and hormones that affect your mind like any other drug. A fruit and a vegetable is, in essence, a sponge that picks up all the nutrients or chemicals from the ground. It is no wonder we have a society with unexplained pains and illnesses. Our animals are full of hormones that affect our bodies when we eat them. The best way to go is to eat all organic fruits and vegetables and un-caged and hormone free animal products. It will definitely have an effect on your mind and body. Most importantly, it will improve your life performance.

Multivitamins are designed to give you any of the nutrients that your regular diet is not. It is highly unlikely to eat a perfect diet in a time condensed, cell phone and Internet society and have no need for a multivitamin. A Multivitamin has as much nutrients as 5000 calories of food!

4. Movement

Power is a combination of strength, agility, and speed. You want to be strong, fast, and agile whether you are a pro athlete or a cubicle queen. The weaker, slower, and uncoordinated you are, the faster your body ages and the more out of shape you look! Men traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and died trying to find the fountain of youth; but you can create the best machine possible by training to have a powerful body. Your capabilities depend on your lifestyle, and time constraints. The human body is the best machine ever designed. The earth does not do the same thing every single day. It is not sunny every single day and it does not rain every single day either. Your workouts should reflect life. You can run, walk, swim, bike ride, lift weights, do Pilates or yoga. Just do something!

Medium to high intensity cardio burns more calories than the old school low intensity cardio. Medium to high intensity cardio has an after burn that lasts much longer than low intensity cardio. Lifting weights is even more beneficial because it helps keep the metabolism higher in the body for 2 to 3 days. Cardio burns down your muscle so you cannot just do cardio. The after burn from weights last for days as opposed to only a few hours with cardio. We aim at doing a higher intensity workouts to create more of an after burn and to keep the mental and physical aspects of our training challenged. Sprinting helps the body release the human growth hormone that helps greatly with adding muscle and speeding up the metabolism. It also prepares for emergency situations that do happen in life. We are not always going to be able to walk at our own pace; sometimes you might have to sprint across a street for your dog, your child, or your life!

5. Coaching

There has never been a successful person who did not have a coach or a mentor. Where are you getting your information for your health and fitness? Is it a knowledgeable and experienced source? Certifications can be thrown out the door when it compared to experience. We say this because we have both. Most all health and fitness information begins in the trenches and makes its way to the ink. We know that we do not have all the answers. We know some concepts that we are following today might be disproved tomorrow. If we do not have the answer to a problem we will seek and find someone that does rather than just tell someone something that we have no clue about. We recommend to all of our clients to do their own research so they feel confident with the knowledge that they have.

Knowledge controls how far we can move in life. It creates divisions in people, money, and most importantly, your health. We must always be in search for more knowledge and try to bring ourselves to perfection knowing we will never get there. It is the fastest way to get to your next goal. You can never have enough knowledge. Do not get locked into one style of training. The Body Blast workout is only one style of training. There is an infinite number of training methods. Your workout methods should be like water, constantly changing. This is a law of life. Your body will only respond to the laws of life.

ARF-MC! Remember that acronym! I went through 20 years of mistakes, injuries, losses, championship teams, and awesome athletic achievements which earned me national recognition amongst many other things to design this model. Take a short cut and learn these 5 simple letters now! You will have great accomplishments in your health and fitness as well as the rest of your life. Guaranteed!

I leave you with this quote of motivation by Anthony Robbins to find what truly inspires you to be your best.

"People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals-that is, goals that do not inspire them." -Anthony Robbins

Jaiya Figueras is a gifted athlete who enjoys working with regular people intent on achieving optimal fitness. As a University of Oregon football player, Figueras was All Pac 10 Defensive Back of 1997. Jaiya trained to overcome significant injuries, ultimately making critical plays that helped his team reach the Rose Bowl. In addition to his degree in history from the University of Oregon, Jaiya holds accreditations from the International Sports Sciences Association and the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He has been associated with coaching and working with athletes for over 20 years. An experienced coach and careful observer, Jaiya's superior approach is clear from the first workout as he can calibrate every segment of the session to challenge your needs.

Does Doing Yoga Help You Grow Taller? You Can Grow Taller After Puberty Ages

A Google search can easily provide you with large quantities of information stating that Yoga can increase the human height. The truth is that this statement is true and false depending on how you define growing taller.

If you consider that increasing height means the increase of height propelled by the lengthening of bones, then Yoga will not help you grow taller because Yoga cannot elongate the bones by itself. The bones will stop growing after reaching their adulthood.

On the other hand, Yoga can help you grow taller if your definition of growing taller is the increasing of your vertical height without lengthening of bones. This is because Yoga can correct your posture by straightening your spine. That is to say, your figure is turned to a straight line from a certain curvature. I still would like to call it height increase even though the dimension may not have changed because you are actually higher vertically than before.

Doing Yoga help you grow taller also because it can help to generate your human growth hormone. Without this hormone, it would be impossible for humans to grow at all. Adults' bones may not grow any more. However, growth hormone will help kids to experience their growth spurts time and time again.

As you can see from the above mentioned points, doing Yoga frequently can help with your posture and eventually help you grow in your height. However, you need to do Yoga under the proper guidance from a well-trained teacher or a well designed compact disk. If possible, you should do it with your family or friends being present, protecting you whenever possible because some of the Yoga poises are difficult to do properly and could make you fall while performing them.

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High Intensity Exercise for Health and Weight Loss

Increasing research is touting the benefit of interval training and high intensity workouts. There is no question the harder you exercise the more calories you burn. The high intensity workout encourages more muscle fiber formation which provides greater strength and conditioning while increasing the metabolism to burn more calories in the form of carbohydrates and fat. However it is not for everyone. People who have been sedentary or struggle with chronic health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, asthma, emphysema need to use a great deal of caution before trying this type of exercise. Consultation with your health care provider before starting any exercise program is prudent to avoid injury or serious side effects.

Interval training is not new among serious athletes. Coaches have long understood the beneficial effects of changing workouts in an alternating fashion to incorporate different training styles not only to prevent boredom but because of the beneficial outcomes. Cross-training between aerobic activities, strength training, and flexibility typically provides a more balanced approach for virtually any sport or recreational activity. It also makes a great deal of sense for the average person trying to maintain weight and a healthy lifestyle.

A recently published study of high intensity training has even gone as far as demonstrating the benefit of this type of intense exercise for as little as six minutes a week. They studied "all-out" intense exercise periods of 1-2 minutes rotated three times with brief breaks in between. The amount of energy burned and positive stimulus to muscle building was as great as much longer workouts. These short workouts for even six minutes a week produced increased endurance, strength, and weight loss. Keep in mind that most exercise studies are carried out with young healthy adults and often elite athletes. So some perspective and word of caution is appropriate before deciding to take the leap of faith yourself. High intensity workouts may increase risk of injury and may not be good idea for people who have been sedentary and are just starting an exercise routine. Moreover, underlying chronic conditions like heart disease, arthritis, lung problems or diabetes should be carefully considered before starting a program of exercise regardless of intensity. Consulting your health care provider and determining a plan that is both safe and efficient for you is of utmost importance. What we can learn from the increasing body of information is that there may be ways to modify exercise programs so they are more efficient and accessible to everyone.

Small amounts of exercise have been shown to benefit everyone at any age or gender. Although there are differences in metabolism between men and women largely due to the effects of estrogen, both men and women can benefit from interval training as long as it is sensible and appropriate for their personal level of conditioning. Working out too much, too fast in an attempt to make up for lost time will not only be unsustainable, but risk injury. A good rule for intensity is to calculate your target heart rate while staying in a safe zone. The maximum heart rate is subtracting your age from 220. Staying in a safe zone for exercise would mean staying at 60 to 75% of the max. heart rate. If you are 40 years old: 220-40 = 180. Taking 60 to 75% of 180 means you need to keep your heart rate between 108 and 135 beats per minute.

This is an estimate of how vigorously to exercise. Other individual considerations may be physical ailments or chronic illness that limits your ability to move reasonably. For a generally healthy adult these estimates work well. Exercise routines that are low impact also are preferable. High impact sports or running may be too traumatic to joints for even healthy individuals to engage in high intensity exercises frequently. Swimming, cycling, or use of an elliptical trainer is more suitable for interval training and safer. If training several times a week, alternating between hard days and easy days, provides time for recovery and healing while recruiting more muscle fiber production. Remember to alternate type of activities as well which requires use of different muscles groups. A sensible dynamic warm up to warm muscles and increase circulation prior to exercise is helpful. Stretching with focus on maintaining range of motion and flexibility is also an important part of conditioning program. Yoga is an excellent discipline for strength and mobility while focusing the mind.

There is no single formula for workouts. The message is varying the intensity and type of activity is beneficial. In addition short interval workouts of greater intensity can provide both short and long term health benefits. A more efficient exercise program may be accessible that enables people to exercise more frequently for shorter periods of time, while achieving healthy benefits. Exercises must be tailored to the individual needs of each person. Your general condition and medical background should be evaluated by a health care provider prior to starting any exercise program.

As a physician with over thirty years of diverse clinical experience, Dr Kaler recently published the Owners Manual for Injury Prevention by Bruce Kaler M.D. It is a user friendly guide to understanding prevention and injury care. He also authored a mystery novel Turnabout by Bruce Kaler M.D. an engaging medical thriller and must read for all mystery buffs. Both are available through Amazon.com, Smashwords.com and many other retail outlets. Visit his website seattledoc.com seattledoc.com.

Make Yoga Part of Your Fitness Plan

A basic fitness plan consists of a combination of strength, or resistance training, along with heart-pumping cardiovascular workouts. The fitness industry is increasingly accepting yoga as an integral part of an all-around fitness plan, counting endurance, flexibility, and balance among the benefits regular yoga participants report experiencing.

What exactly is yoga and where did it come from?

Archeological evidence dating as far back as 3300 BC depicts humans engaged in yoga poses. The oldest evidence is found in the Indus Valley in India. This suggests that yoga was practiced as a ritual discipline and concentration. Drawings and ancient texts suggest yoga was practiced by both humans and deities.

Yoga originated in India but did not arrive in the Western world until the 20th Century. It was discovered by hippies in the 1960s as a way to spiritual enlightenment that did not involve the psychoactive drugs popular at the time. Yoga enjoyed increasing popularity in the last half of the 20th Century and continues to be popular in the early 21st Century.

Essentially, yoga is a slow, concentrated workout consisting of a series of poses and slow movements while practicing deep, cleansing breaths. It focuses on proper relaxation, breathing, thinking, and meditation, along with proper diet and exercise.

There are many different styles and approaches to yoga. Some types have existed since ancient times but new styles have emerged in the last 50 years. Many of these are simply a modern interpretation of an ancient discipline. Others styles have reinvented a particular style of yoga, updated for today's yogis.

Physical benefits of yoga include better sleep patterns and decreased blood pressure. It also promotes overall cardio and circulatory health. Yoga can improve your respiratory system and balance your metabolism. Participants report they have more energy and vitality, as well as increased flexibility. It can also relieve pain and prevent illness, not to mention help you look and feel younger.

Psychological benefits of yoga include an elevated mood and an increased ability to effectively deal with and release stress. It also encourages positive thinking and a better memory.

In Hindu the word "yoga" means "spiritual discipline." The underlying goal with any style of yoga workout is finding and embracing the inner self. Whether the primary focus is on meditation and turning your focus inward, or on synchronizing breathing with postures and body movements, yoga participants report an increased awareness of their inner self and their oneness with the universe.

Copyright Sharon Sweeny, 2011

Sharon Sweeny is a writer trying to get into better physical shape by doing a daily workout 365 days in a row. Follow her progress daily on her blog at edailyworkout.com edailyworkout.com.

How Yoga Has Helped My Marathon Training

It's hard for me to believe that I am almost on the down side of 50. I ran my first full marathon one day short of 51 and my second and final one when I was 53. I ran in a couple of 1/2 marathons and am presently training for one that will fall on my birthday, early next year. Nothing is different about how I am training except that this year, I am fully participating in my yoga practice- breathing, meditation and yoga exercises- and I am on a gluten free diet.

For years, my running practice consisted of running 10-15 miles per week, regular massages and adjustments and some stretching. I had aches in my hips, back, feet, knees and neck and always attributed them to stress and not enough stretching. I would try to stretch more and, yes, the intensity of the discomfort would lessen but it would not abate. Since I have been paying more attention to my yoga practice, I have found that, without doing anything else, it is easier for me to follow a training schedule, I look forward to my morning runs and my strength and stamina have increased. I also seem to be running consistently faster and I have not experienced the discomfort that was common in the past. I told an old running partner that if I were able to do only one thing to train for this 1/2 marathon, I'd be inclined to pick yoga!

In the past, I also found that as the training intensified, so would my appetite. This is usual as activity increases but I could not satisfy my appetite and I was experiencing a lot of gut distress. About a year ago, I was diagnosed as gluten intolerant. Gluten is a complex protein found in wheat, rye, barley and some oats. Statistics show that about 1 in 7 persons suffers from some sort of sensitivity to gluten. Symptoms range from an occasional tummy ache to life threatening malnutrition. Fatigue and depression are common symptoms and as my training would intensify, I would feel as if I had no energy reserve. Although treatments for gluten problems can differ greatly depending on the severity of the disease, the one consistency in all treatments is to remove gluten from the diet. When I started to look at foods contain gluten, the task of removing it from my diet appeared daunting. I am lucky, however, because my partner shows his love through cooking. As soon as I was diagnosed, he read up on gluten free diets and we've been eating gluten free ever since! Another thing that helped me was the meditation part of yoga. It gave me a way to focus on today's meals rather than focusing on never being able to eat gluten again.

How can this help you? Well, I believe that we are all on this path together and the more we share with each other, the more we can help and be helped. When I decided to actually train and participate in marathon running, I was half a century old. I actually never thought I'd be able to finish. I was so focused on completing every aspect of the training that I missed out on a lot of the fun. Now, I realize it's more about the process. I see myself running the course the night before a run. I find myself smiling when I run, thinking happy, positive thoughts. I can miss a couple of runs, change my schedule around, listen to my body more and I'll probably finish. Even if I don't, it's (almost) OK. One of the ways I find balance, peace and harmony is through running. Adding yoga and getting my diet right has exponentially helped me fell better physically, mentally and spiritually. Are there any changes you can make?

Restorative Yoga - A Low Impact Solution For Middle-Aged Spread

Does Yoga have solutions for middle-aged spread? Are your knees, back, hips and shoulders begging for mercy? Restorative Yoga is a complete health maintenance system, and a low impact form of cross training, that will not cause premature wear in your joints.

Let's be honest, have you noticed a spare tire around your mid-section? You could justify it by looking at teenagers. After all, it took you nearly 50 years to become overweight. Then, one day, you saw that spare tire in the mirror or a photograph.

Walking is a wonderful form of cross training, but if you carry a pedometer, you know that 10,000 steps per day is a "mission." If your knees, ankles, plantar fascia, and Achilles tendons are fine, then an aggressive walking program will probably suit your body.

We have to do something, but this is not the time to abuse body parts. Walking is still a great form of exercise, but not to the point of pain. Luckily, Restorative Yoga is great for aches and pains. This is not a pass to abuse oneself with high impact exercise or over do it with excessive amounts of low impact exercise.

At middle age and beyond, everything is about moderation. In fact, moderation is a lifestyle for longevity. Restorative Yoga, walking, and a moderate diet are good additions for a complete health maintenance program.

"I don't eat that much," you say to yourself. The truth is - most people in middle age, often eat less than they ever did because we are much more aware of what we eat. An additional factor is that over eating is very uncomfortable.

Granted, there is always the exception to the rule. For instance: The "skinny guy," who could always eat because of a quick burning metabolism, never seems to gain weight. The vast majority of us will notice our metabolism has slowed down.

According to Madelyn H. Fernstrom, Ph.D., the director of the Weight Management Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, "Your metabolism slows by 5 percent each decade. Compared to age 25, you'll burn about 100 fewer calories a day at 35, and 200 fewer at 45. Do nothing and you could gain eight to 12 pounds a year."

For most of us, this is a "warning bell." We have to burn additional calories, but our joints must be treated like gold. Again, a gentle and restorative form of Yoga is a logical solution.

In general, everyone burns calories at a different rate from an identical activity. The most common reason cited for the difference in calories burned is body weight, but there are many factors to be considered, such as metabolism and body fat.

For the sake of comparison, let's look at a gentle Restorative Yoga session and the calories burned over the course of one hour. You could do this, without breaking a sweat, on your living room floor - about an hour or two before bedtime. You could also walk to a local Yoga studio depending on its location.

A person who is 150 pounds would burn an average of 178 calories in one hour of Restorative Yoga practice. A larger person, who is 200 pounds, would burn an average of 238 calories in one hour. Generally speaking, the larger you are, the more calories burned. Lastly, keep in mind - this is a very gentle style of Yoga.

© Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, has written many books on the subject of Yoga. He is a co-owner and the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at: Aura Wellness Center, in Attleboro, MA. aurawellnesscenter.com aurawellnesscenter.com He has been a certified Master Yoga Teacher since 1995. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html

How To Select The Right Weight Loss Exercise

It is a well known fact that exercise, when properly used, will be of tremendous benefit to your weight loss efforts. Indeed, most weight loss systems worth their salt - i.e. those that want to see you succeed - will give a place of honour to exercise, as they have come to realize that no weight loss system can truly be successful without the incorporation of at least some exercise.

The type of exercise you chose as part of your weight loss efforts has to be completely adapted not only to your goals, but also to your current physical condition. For example, it will do you no good to sign up for a martial arts class if you are so out of shape that you have trouble climbing the 20 steps needed to get to the class! You have to be realistic, as well as optimistic.

Like most things in life, the results of exercise are not visible overnight - although some are. They are long term benefits that accordingly take some time before being visible. If you are very much overweight, then the first thing to do is to reduce your weight up to the point that you can start doing exercise you enjoy; everything will take care of itself after that.

Going to the gym is the way most people go when they decide to finally do so exercise and lose some weight. Going to the gym is great, both for weight training and cardiovascular exercise, but the main problem is always to stay motivated. If possible, have a friend sign up at the same time and do your exercise together. It will be of great benefit to you both, and knowing that someone will expect you is a great motivator.

Many gyms and community centers, such as the YMCA, also offer a great number of classes, from spinning, yoga, Tai Chi, all sorts of dances, to serious and genuine martial arts. In my opinion, you will have more success with group classes than with individual activities, as the motivating factor is built-in to group activities.

It is completely normal that not all activities will be suited to you, either for age reasons, level of fitness, or even personal taste. But the fact is that incorporating a regular dose of exercise in your life, whatever it is, will prove a boon to your health, both mental and physical, for years to come.

Moreover, did you know that exercise is addictive? That's the best part! Exercise will stimulate the release of endorphins in your brain, which you will unconsciously crave, making you enjoy the strain and effort of exercise! That's a topic for another article entirely, but the fact is that your mind and body will learn to love your daily or weekly exercise regimen, making it easier and more pleasant as you progress.

As always, it is crucial to visit a doctor or health care professional before embarking on a new diet or exercise regimen. You should also know that your weight will be best managed with a combination of diet, exercise, and in some cases, natural weight loss supplements. While all three could individually offer some results, taking in combination they are a powerful solution to your weight loss issues.

Cecil D. Murphy is a professional writer specializing in the health and wellness fields. He currently writes about the new all-natural buy-best-diet-pills.com Slim9 diet pill. Visit his website to learn more about the buy-best-diet-pills.com/diet-pills-reviews/slim9-review best weight loss pills, and about diet pills side effects.

Eye Yoga

One of the best benefits of exercise is that it reduces stress. Our bodies react to stress the same today as our ancestors did thousands of years ago, by releasing chemicals that get us to move, to fight or run away. For people with poor vision, those options actually create additional stress.

These people don't like exercise, they get additional stress from not moving, and a vicious cycle begins. Their health suffers, they gain weight and their bodies deteriorate, but this cycle can be reversed.Unfortunately most people never train vision; they don't realize they can improve it.

We are born blind. We must learn to see; therefore vision is a skill, and all skills are trainable. The first step to improving vision is to begin working with the muscles that move our eyes. There are two types:

1. Extra-occular muscles move our eyes around in our head; we can move our eyes up, down, left, right, and in a circle without moving our head. These muscles can get tight or stiff just like any other muscle, so we can loosen them up with massage before consciously moving them around.

2. Internal eye muscles changes the shape of the eye to allow us to focus on objects at different distances. These muscles also get tight by maintaining a close focal length for long periods of time such as during reading or working on a computer.

Eye Muscle Exercises (if you wear glasses take them off):

1. Eye Massage: with your fingertips lightly press on the eyes, gently feeling for tightness around the orbital bones.

2. Eye Muscle Activation 1: move your eyes from a neutral position to an upward position, then back to neutral; do this 3-5 times. Repeat towards the left, right and down.

3. Eye Muscle Activation 2: hold your thumb out in front of you at arms length, without moving your head follow the tip of your thumb with your eyes as your thumb traces a large circle in the air.

4. Focal Accommodation: pick 2 objects, one near (within 6 inches) and one far (6-500 feet away) quickly shift your focus from near to far. As soon as the far object is in focus, focus back on the near, perform 10-20 jumps.

Practice these drills once a day for 2 weeks and notice the change in your overall stress level.

Lou McGovern
Z-Health Master Trainer
essentialstrength.com essentialstrength.com
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The Bodyweight Exercise Revolution

Age-Old Wisdom Meets Modern Ingenuity

 

Beautiful bodies are not exclusive to the era of pec decks and treadmills.  Age-old traditions of physical culture have been delivering vibrant health and functional physiques for centuries, and much of this was done exclusively with bodyweight resistance.

Ancient and modern physical cultures use bodyweight for impressive results

 

The Pahlavani, an ancient wrestling art in Iran, made extensive use of bodyweight conditioning methods in its training.  It's said that one famous wrestler, Pahlavan-e Bozorg Razaz, performed 1,000 Shena (a form of push-up) per day as part of his conditioning regimen.

As early as the 5th century BC, the physical culture surrounding the wrestling traditions of the Indian Peninsula were based largely around body weight exercise.  Some examples which have been revived by modern fitness professionals include the Bethak (Hindu Squat) and the Dand (a form of swooping "push-up").  As with the Pahlavani training methods, these ancient body weight exercises (/ancient-bodyweight-exercises) were traditionally performed using very high repetitions without added resistance.

 

Modern fitness enthusiasts might be surprised to learn that the training methods of these rugged Indian wrestlers intersected fully with the practice of yoga in its more ancient and rigorous form.  Our imported, westernized version of yoga tends to emphasize the yielding side of the discipline.  But that is only half the equation.  The Yogi of old were able to yield and overcome with incredible strength and grace.  As my coach and mentor Scott Sonnon, founder of the Circular Strength Training system, is fond of saying, "Yoga was never meant to be a thumb and a blanket, but rather a hurricane and an earthquake."  If you dig past the softer side of yoga and apply a little imagination, you'll discover that old school yoga can be an incredible source of inspiration for body weight only exercise options

Today's Icons Of Body Weight Training

 

Today, we need look no further than the physique of the male gymnast to recognize the power of resisting the pull of gravity on our own bodies.  Moving deliberately through space in three dimensions, with awe-inspiring control, results in unbelievable physical development.

 

According to renowned gymnastics coach, Christopher Sommer, the overwhelming majority of a gymnast's training is done using only the resistance of his or her own body weight.  Sommer attributes much of the impressive gymnast's physique to straight arm manipulation of the body, the plyometric nature of many of the exercises, and a lot of jumping and single leg exercise for the lower body.

It's all relative

 

Complete mastery over how your body moves in space is almost magical.  How well you handle your own body weight is known as your relative strength.  It's dependent upon how strong you are, how heavy you are, and how skilled you are at moving your body.  When you can master your own movement, it appears as though you can actually defy gravity.

But beyond show-stopping tricks, in essence relative strength is all about how well you can apply your strength.  If you can squat or bench huge numbers, but you don't have the skill to transfer that strength into performance on the sports field or in the arena of life, then it's not necessarily useful strength.  Bodyweight exercise is a great way to integrate strength into more sophisticated movement patterns. Being able to manipulate the way your body moves in space also has the potential to reduce your risk of injury and to increase your performance in life and sport.

 

When you slip on a patch of ice, your body must react instantly in order to keep you upright.  This righting reflex is automatic, but the way your body responds, and which movement patterns are recruited to do the job, can be trained by moving your body through all of its potential degrees of freedom.  This must be done in a mechanically efficient way to ensure that correct movement patterns are trained.  Anyone who has watched an accomplished martial artist take fall after fall, effortlessly and soundlessly, has seen one example of the end result of such training.  

 

What do I mean by "movement patterns"? This refers to the way our bodies are put together and how they generate force. A very smart fellow named Thomas Myers popularized a concept called anatomytrains.com Anatomy Trains, which essentially refers to slings of muscle and connective tissue that traverse and criss-cross the body.  These "trains" are lines of tension or pull that are activated to elicit movement-that is, if everything is firing correctly.  Activities like sitting at a desk all day, or performing only two-dimensional strength training and conditioning, can cause our bodies to forget how to move naturally, a phenomenon referred to as Sensory Motor Amnesia. Over time, those misfirings become habitual movement patterns. Using bodyweight exercises to take your body through its full movement potential allows you to solicit all those little muscles that should be part of a given Anatomy Train, but which may have become disconnected through disuse.  

 

One of the most frequent comments I hear from new clients who already have an extensive training history is, "Wow, I discovered some new muscles after our training session."  My clients are often strong, fit people, but by taking their bodies through more complete and complex patterns of movement using only their body weight, I'm able to connect the dots and get all their muscles firing in concert along the various chains of tension.

 

This same idea of coordinating strength has implications for the athlete as well.  For example, a football lineman may have a high level of isolated strength in pressing with the legs alone (as in a squat), or with the arms alone (as in a bench press), but tying that strength together into a coordinated effort should also be part of a complete training program.  In the heat of the action, the player is both driving with his legs and pushing with his arms.  One interesting example of a bodyweight exercise that can tie these two actions together is the Quad Squat, which we'll explore later.

Moving Through 6 Degrees of Freedom

In talking about relative strength and your ability to respond in a functional way to situations both in day-to-day life and in athletic pursuits, I mentioned the importance of moving the body through all its potential degrees of freedom.  This concept was pioneered by the Circular Strength Training® system.  The idea of describing spatial movement through the convention of 6 Degrees of Freedom has been in use in the field of aeronautics for a very long time.  But CST founder Scott Sonnon recognized the genius of applying this concept to human movement, taking us beyond three dimensions and into six degrees.

 

Essentially, you can think of the three axes we already know and understand from three dimensional movement models, but now imagine moving both along and around each axis.  This gives you the 6 Degrees of Freedom:

Heaving: Moving up and down the vertical axis

Surging: Moving along the front-to-back axis

Swaying: Moving along the side-to-side axis

Yawing: Moving around the vertical axis

Rolling: Moving around the front-to-back axis

Pitching: Moving around the side-to-side axis

If we imagine our customary sagital plane, we can both surge along it and pitch through it. We sway along the frontal plane and roll on it. And finally we heave along the axis of the transverse plane and we yaw around it. The most interesting thing about this way of looking at movement is that we can apply it individually to each joint, even when spatial orientation changes. Although you can take the body through the 6 Degrees of Freedom using many different tools, the most versatile and natural tool for this is the weight of the trainee's own body.  This is a powerful mechanism for creating vast pools of bodyweight exercises which address the degrees of freedom most important for a given sport, activity or client.

 

Variety

 

The greatest problem with conventional bodyweight exercise programs is lack of variation. You can only do so many push-ups, sit-ups and jumping jacks before boredom drives you away.  But the reality is, the sky's the limit when it comes to creating innovative exercise variations and designing effective bodyweight-only conditioning programs.  

 

Sources of inspiration include age-old physical cultures like yoga and the martial arts, gymnastics, tumbling and of course all of the old standards we know from conventional strength and conditioning sources.  I consider the Circular Strength Training® (squidoo.com/cst squidoo.com/cst) system (CST) to be the undisputed leader in absorbing and re-expressing all these sources into a comprehensive and captivating approach.  Most of my own vocabulary of body weight exercise either comes from or is inspired by CST.

 

Incremental Sophistication

 

One of the hallmarks of CST is a concept called Incremental Sophistication.  Essentially, this means continually increasing the quality of movement along with the quantity.  We don't just lift heavier, longer and more often, we move in increasingly sophisticated patterns as well.  Movement sophistication is also the key to creating variety in bodyweight exercise programs.  As you, or your clients, progress in a program, you have the option of moving to a more sophisticated level of the same exercise rather than simply adding repetitions, sets or time under tension.

 

The most eloquent expression of the idea of Incremental Sophistication that I have seen is Scott Sonnon's FlowFit® program.  On the surface, it's a very simple circuit of seven bodyweight exercises chained together to form a flow.  But if you dig a little deeper, you'll discover that FlowFit® is a well thought out and complete full-body exercise routine.  The flow is specifically designed to take you through all 6 Degrees of Freedom.  Beyond that, each individual exercise is presented in four progressively sophisticating versions.

 

With each version of an exercise, the brute effort required may not be more demanding, but the finesse of execution becomes more sophisticated and the resultant training effect is increased.  More complex movement patterns mean more sophisticated neuromuscular recruitment.  The sum of the parts equates not just to more work, but to better quality of work and greater potential for carryover to life and sport.  Along with load, volume and frequency, sophistication can provide a valuable tool in exercise progression.

A powerful tool in its own right

I hope you've come to see that with a little imagination you can use principles like the 6 Degrees of Freedom and Incremental Sophistication to create almost limitless examples of bodyweight exercises.  I've used them both exclusively and integrated with equipment based training to provide impressive results for clients ranging from weekend athletes looking for an edge to stay-at-home moms interested in fat loss.

Get your in-depth report on Adam's choice for bettersbetter.com/body-weight-exercise best bodyweight exercise the Quad Squat. Just sign up for the free Kick-Start package to get your report and a whole slew of other goodies. Adam Steer is co-author of the highly acclaimed bodyweightexerciserevolution.com Bodyweight Exercise Revolution. He's also a member of the Head Coaching Staff of the Circular Strength Training? system and has delivered CST workshops in Singapore, Australia, Washington State, Philadelphia and New York City. He works as a trainer with in-home and gym based clients through his Quebec City company, Momentum Training. When not actively training, Adam is passionately spreading the word about CST and other health-first fitness leaders through his Better Is Better blog.

Beginning Yoga Breathing Exercises

 Breathing is the single most important activity we do every second of our lives but it is also perhaps the activity we pay the least attention to because it does not need any overt effort on our part. It happens automatically and unconsciously and we tend to take it for granted. By its very purpose, breathing is central to life. What we may not realize is that if controlled, the act of breathing can supply us with far more than oxygen. It can calm our frenetic minds, pump energy into our tired bodies, make us more clear headed in our thinking and reflective in our outlook. This is something that has been mastered thousands of years ago and practiced by millions continuously since them. The materially advanced West is finding out in the modern stressful world that the simple science of breath control-or pranayama as it is known in India-gives us the potential to rapidly change our lives for the positive.

The most basic level of pranayama teaches us to consciously guide air in a long, slow breath through our nostrils and into our abdomen, feeling it fill with positive life force and energy. Then we hold our breath for a few seconds letting the positive energy charge every cell in our body from head to toe and then release the breath as slowly as we took it in. The breath should be natural but controlled and under no circumstances should it be forced either when inhaling, holding or exhaling.

This simple exercise has the potential to change our lives for the positive almost immediately if it is done daily for a few minutes. What we are doing is consciously cleansing our lungs of the impurities that lie deep within it and that have lain there until we decided to clean them out. We are also consciously aligning our inner selves with the outer reality and the cosmic energy that permeates the whole universe. This cosmic energy is called prana in Sanskrit. For many, this simple pranayama exercise is all they will need to transform their lives. Learning to breathe consciously is really only the beginning however and many other will be drawn to explore it further.

Another surprise for many is to find out that the way we have learned from habit to breathe since birth is not the most efficient way! Here is how we should breathe to derive maximum advantage:

* Inhale through the nose. This allows us to naturally filter as many of the pollutants in the air as possible before reaching the lungs. For this reason, breathing in through the mouth is unhealthy. We need to train ourselves to breathe in through our nostrils and it will become second nature soon.

* Let the stomach expand followed by the chest as inhale. Feel the prana go into your abdomen first, not your chest. This allows the prana to energize the whole body. Again, many of us tend to breathe into our chests and this needs to be corrected.

* Calmly observe and be aware of the oxygen and prana entering and exiting your body as it gives life to our body and minds. This awareness attunes our bodies and minds to the life-giving force that permeates the universe and gives us better understanding and a deeper, more fulfilled life.

These are merely the ABCs in the sophisticated science of breathing known as pranayama. But as mentioned before, this is really all that most of us will need to know and if we make these techniques second nature by regular practice, we are sure to see a very noticeable and positive change in our lives in a very short time.

Jayan has spent a couple of decades in the investment industry and is now an "early retiree" partly by choice and partly by circumstance. He is enjoying his retirement and spends his time doing his favorite thing--playing with computers and the Internet.

Please check out his latest efforts at staying busy at unfinishedbookcases.org Unfinished Bookcases and unfinishedbookcases.org/unfinished-pine-bookcases.html Unfinished Pine Bookcases.

If you happen to also be in the market for unfinished wood bookcases, chances are you'll find what you're looking for.

The Priceless Jewel of Breath Awareness Meditation

When writing the Yoga Sutras, Maharishi Patanjali makes it obvious, that states of meditation, are of extreme value. The ancient Yogis, who practiced and documented the value of meditation, understood the significance of a regular daily practice.

At this time, it is easy for us to make excuses to avoid anything that may help our mental and emotional health. The most common excuse is: "I don't have time to meditate." It is amazing, when we cannot find five minutes out of a day for our mental health.

One of the best excuses is: "What if I lose my mind and become a disciple of the devil?" Meditation teaches us to control and train the mind. Leaders from every religion meditate. According to the King James version of The Holy Bible, Psalm 1:2 - "But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night."

To go further on this, in Genesis 24:63, it is stated: "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field, in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming." Meditation is mentioned more than a few times in the Holy Bible. It has also been said that the Prophet Mohammed meditated in a cave on Mount Hira in 610 AD, during the month of Ramadan, and the angel, Gabriel, came to him.

For those who believe that you will lose your mind by training it - this theory has no logical foundation. For those who sincerely believe that you will find the devil by practicing meditation: Do not meditate if your mind is focused on the devil and negative thoughts.

Why do I say this? Meditation is an instrument of extreme mental focus. Therefore, it is wise to focus on good things. Many people meditate on God, goodness, and Holy Scriptures. If a person's focus, in life, is filled with the devil and negative energy, then professional counseling should be sought.

For the vast majority of us, our lives are fairly balanced, so it should not be too difficult to focus on the most basic of life's functions. Your breath is a basic body function and it is good because it makes life possible. Here are some streamlined directions for breath awareness meditation.

1. Sit up straight. Whether you sit on the floor or in a chair, your spine should be as straight as possible.

2. Choose a comfortable position (asana) that feels natural for you.

3. Your hand position (mudra) should also be comfortable. Choose a mudra that feels natural for you. Dhyana mudra and Guyan Mudra are just two of many choices.

4. Close your eyes. There are many forms of meditation with the eyes open, but this is not one of them. The eyes are the gateway to your mind. To focus your mind on your breath, please close your eyes and relax.

5. Now that your physical activity is slowing down, you will notice the constant internal chattering, which we call the "Monkey Mind." Let go of self-criticism, worries, problems, and fleeting thoughts.

6. Observe your breath. Do not try to control your breathing - just let it happen.

7. Ultimately, we strive to focus more toward the observation of breath and less toward random thoughts.

Breath awareness meditation is a simple exercise in mind training, which leads to less stress and a healthier lifestyle. This one technique can improve your life exponentially, if you invest a minimum of five minutes per day.

© Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, has written many books on the subject of Yoga. He is a co-owner and the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at: Aura Wellness Center, in Attleboro, MA. aurawellnesscenter.com aurawellnesscenter.com

He has been a certified Master Yoga Teacher since 1995. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html

How to Become a Yoga Instructor - The Inside Story

The type of yoga you prefer to practice will guide you in choosing your training and the particular instructor certification process. Bikram yoga, vinyasa yoga, and hatha yoga, all take you down different training paths. Be cautious of training programs at your local yoga studio that require you to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to become a yoga teacher. Shop around until you find a program you like at a reasonable price. Many studios require at least a 200 hour certified yoga teacher (CYT) credential to teach classes.

If you want to become a yoga instructor, gather as much information as possible on the subject. Look for books about teaching yoga online, at local book stores, and at your local library. Also, ask a current yoga instructor for their advice on the subject. They can help you find the facts you need to choose a preparatory program. They may even offer to be your mentor.

Teaching yoga is one of the most fulfilling jobs available. Not only do you get to enhance your own personal sense of joy and well-being, you also get to share your happiness with others. However you choose to prepare for this wonderful vocation, be sure to enjoy your training and development.

In the United States, the Yoga Alliance is a nationally recognized organization that sets the standards for Registered Yoga Teachers. There are different levels of registration from the Yoga Alliance. For example: There is the 200 hour and the 500 hour teacher level. Their names refer to the length of the programs. Once you have completed your Yoga Alliance training, you can use the letters RYT after your name, which stand for Registered Yoga Teacher.

© Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, has written many books on the subject of Yoga. He is a co-owner and the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at: Aura Wellness Center, in Attleboro, MA. aurawellnesscenter.com aurawellnesscenter.com He has been a certified Master Yoga Teacher since 1995. To receive a Free Yoga e-Book: "Yoga in Practice," and a Free Yoga Newsletter, please visit: yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html