Exercise and Fitness Archives

Exercise and Fitness

17th August 2022By DZ TeamHolistic Health

Exercise and fitness should be incorporated into your life if you wish to improve your health, longevity, and energy level! So, make this a part of your lifestyle today!

It has numerous benefits that are hard to ignore: exercise and fitness can make your skin look fresh, elevate your mood, increase muscle mass, improve bone density, and much more!

The good thing is that exercise benefits are for all. No matter what your age or sex is, you can enjoy these benefits throughout your life.

Want to learn how exactly exercise can help you? Read on to find out!

Why exercise and fitness are important in life

A regular gym workout routine can benefit you in the following ways.

Lose and maintain weight

Experts believe that inactivity is one of the major factors that lead to obesity or an increase in weight. In contrast, becoming physically more active can be very effective in losing and maintaining your weight naturally.

Studies show that exercise and fitness boost our metabolic rate, which in turn speeds up the calorie-burning process. When you control your calorie intake and complement it with some simple aerobic exercises, you not only lose weight but also keep it off while maintaining your muscle mass.

Fight off serious health issues

Being inactive increases your risk of developing serious health conditions such as heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity due to the accumulation of belly fat and other similar reasons.

Becoming active can improve your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (good cholesterol) levels and decrease the levels of “bad cholesterol”, which reduces the risk of heart stroke and high blood pressure. Exercise and fitness can also increase your insulin sensitivity and improve body composition.

Sleep better at night

Going to the gym regularly (or working out at home) and maintaining a healthy workout routine, can help you sleep better and fall asleep faster.

Your energy levels drop after a workout session, which helps in stimulating the natural healing process during sleep. In addition, the body temperature, which rises during exercise, makes it easier for the body to reduce the temperature during sleep. This ensures quality sleep.

Studies even claim that exercise and fitness can help older people manage their sleep disorders well. Therefore, make regular exercise a part of your life and enjoy its long-term benefits for years to come!

Keep your muscles and bones strong

Do you want to maintain muscle and bone health? Exercise and fitness can help you achieve that goal.

A regular workout session can increase your bone mass density. It can also prevent osteoporosis, a common bone issue among older people, particularly women.

When you exercise, your body secretes more essential hormones. These hormones work together to perform different tasks such as reducing muscle fiber breakdown, increasing amino acid absorption in muscles, etc. This, in turn, stimulates muscle mass increase. You can speed up this process by taking more proteins.

Boost energy and elevate mood

Exercise and fitness are also linked to mood and energy improvement. They promote the production of certain hormones that regulate stress and help you cope with depression. It does not matter what the intensity level of your exercise is; doing it regularly alone can make a significant difference in your mood and energy.

Regular workout sessions can also improve your endurance. Exercise increases blood circulation, meaning your lungs and heart get plenty of oxygen and nutrients. As a result, their performance improves, and you have more energy to perform daily tasks.

Improve skin health and hold back the signs of ageing

Oxidative stress can damage your skin cells and cause the appearance of ageing signs. It occurs when your body’s level of damaging free radicals increases and the level of protective antioxidants decreases.

Studies prove that exercise and fitness can boost the synthesis of antioxidants which can then reduce the number of free radicals and oxidative stress. It can help you maintain healthy skin and delay signs of ageing.

Daily workout sessions also improve blood circulation in the skin. Your skin gets all the nutrients and oxygen that it needs to maintain its function and development. It further helps in reducing the appearance of ageing signs.

Protect your brain as you age

Are you worried that your memory may not be as good in old age as it is today? Well exercise can help with that too!

Exercise and fitness stimulate the production of hormones that control brain cell growth. Experts believe that exercise can also increase the size of the hippocampus (a part of the brain that is involved in learning and memory storage). It may help older people improve their memory.

You can also delay age-related changes to the structure and function of the brain by working out regularly. You do not have to perform intense exercises to achieve this goal. Low to moderate level exercises can also be equally effective.

What type of exercise and fitness is best for me?

The following are the recommended types of exercise and fitness for you.

Personal Trainers

Working with a personal trainer can help you achieve your fitness goals in less time. A personal trainer will design a fitness plan that meets your individual fitness needs so that you can improve and maintain your overall health.

Pilates

Pilates is another form of exercise that works on your core muscles and helps you make them stronger and more stabilized. It is a collection of a series of movements.

Tai Chi

Tai chi is actually a Chinese martial arts technique, but today it is more commonly used for health and fitness purposes. It promotes serenity through a series of physical exercises and stretches.

The bottom line

Going to a gym regularly can be very effective in improving your mood, boosting energy levels, enhancing productivity and, above all, increasing your life expectancy.

If you are a beginner, start slow and increase workout intensity gradually. Keep in mind that consistency is the key to achieving a healthy mind and body.

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Personal Trainers

17th August 2022By DZ TeamHolistic Health

Personal trainers are fitness professionals who exclusively design effective workout plans and fitness programs tailored to the client’s body type, needs and goals. They educate, instruct, assist and motivate clients to achieve their health and fitness goals within a set time period.

A fitness trainer is equipped with the knowledge of different training techniques that helps the client ‘safely’ perform each workout and achieve their fitness goals in limited time. They track the progress, motivate you to keep going, celebrate your wins with you and buck you up after setbacks.

Your personal trainer can create weekly workout plans and keep you motivated to achieve them.

Why Should I Hire A Personal Trainer?

A fitness trainer may work with clients in groups or individually to blend routine with fun + attainable fitness goals.

By hiring a personal trainer, you can benefit from the following services:

Have a personalized workout plan tailored to your body’s needs, fitness goals and any medical conditions. A trainer can modify workouts in case of injuries to prevent any stress on afflicted muscle or joints.

Set ‘realistic’ and ‘attainable’ fitness goals and create a visual roadmap to achieve them.

Teach you proper form for each exercise and correct any posture or technique issues. It reduces the chance of injury.

Keep you motivated by celebrating your achievements and helping you move past setbacks.

If you fail to stay committed, motivated and disciplined in chasing your goal, a personal trainer can kick you in the pants to get started.

Modifies and varies your workouts to prevent boredom. They’ll teach you a variety of exercises on the machines, or by using free weights, props, resistance bands, and straps.

Keeps increasing the challenge for your body to achieve quick results.

Above all, getting back in shape will make you the happiest person. And it’s And a trainer makes it achievable.

What to Expect from a Personal Trainer?

When you hire a personal fitness trainer, you can expect to:

Have a customized fitness program
Learn correct exercise techniques
Perform at your optimum
Have greater motivation and commitment
To minimize injuries and target right muscle group
Learn a variety of exercises with and without equipment
To achieve fitness goals in time

What to Expect During My First Training Session?

A certified personal trainer will first administer a couple of assessments before he/she can design a customized training program for you. Assessments gauge your fitness level, medical health, and fitness needs and goals. So, initial sessions are more centered on warm up exercises and assessment of your unique body type and your weight-loss or fitness goals.

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Tai Chi

17th August 2022By DZ TeamHolistic Health

Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese practice that involves a series of slow, focused movements paired with meditation and deep breathing. It involves gentle form of physical exercises and stretches, each movement smoothly flowing into the next keeping your body in constant motion. These moves are aimed at aligning the energy of your mind, body and spirit to restore the Qi (energy flow) of the body.

Inspired from ancient martial arts, the practice is now used for improving physical and mental wellbeing, and rehabilitation. The mindful moves help you fight anxiety and stress as well as improve flexibility and balance.

Benefits of Tai Chi

Whether you have signed up for YouTube Tai Chi or a physical class, when each move is learnt correctly, it has a profound effect on your physical and psychological wellbeing. The benefits include:

Reduced anxiety, stress, and depression

Improved mood, energy levels and stamina

Better balance, mobility and flexibility

Increased lung capacity

Increase in muscle strength

Better focus and consistency

Inculcation of mindfulness in life

Reduced risk of trips and falls in older people (backed by research)

Several studies have found that Tai Chi has incredible health benefits, such as:

Better sleep quality

Improved brain functions

Reduced blood pressure level

Improved immunity

Improved cardiac health and reduced risk of heart failure

Regularized sleep patterns and less fatigue in fibromyalgia patients

Improved chronic joint pain and stiffness in case of knee osteoarthritis

Can You Learn Tai Chi At Any Age?

Tai Chi movements are low-impact, gentle moves that people of any age can easily perform. However, you must seek medical advice before participating, especially if you:

Are pregnant
Experience back ache
Have a joint problem like osteoporosis
Older

What to Expect From a Session

In your first session, you will be introduced to meditation, visualization, deep breathing, and gentle repetitive exercises.

Unlike other physical training classes, there is no music backdrop in a Tai Chi class. It’s conducted in a quiet environment to help each participant connect with their inner self, find their own balance, and gain better awareness of their body.

For your first class:

Copy your instructor precisely
Do not push your body too far—flexibility builds over time
Whenever the instructor demonstrates a new move, follow it carefully alongside other people.

As for the class attire, you should wear loose-fitted, breathable and comfortable clothing and flat shoes.

An average session is about 45-60 minutes long; and for the elderly people, the time is gradually increased from 30-60 minutes.

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Pilates

17th August 2022By DZ TeamHolistic Health

Pilates is a series of low-impact focused, controlled movements aimed at strengthening muscles by improving mobility and postural alignment. This century-old practice helps improve core strength, flexibility and posture!

It involves steady, precise movements with focused breathing to strengthen the core and tone muscles. ‘Core’ refers to abdomen, hips, thighs and the back.

Created in 1920s by Joseph Pilates for rehabilitation of soldiers and dancers, and the movements are inspired from gymnastics, yoga, and boxing. These are focused on the activation of core through different Pilates exercises such as abdominal curls, leg lifts, swan dive, etc.

Above all, it has no age-restriction as trained professionals can modify the moves to your body type (based on your injuries, weaknesses, and strengths).

What are the Benefits of Pilates?

If you are looking for Pilates near me, you must know the benefits first. Primarily, it emphasizes on core strength which leads to several health benefits:

Abdominal muscles support your spine. If your abdominal muscles are weak, your back needs support from other body parts for stability that causes lower back pain. So, it focuses on abdominal strength to support your back and improve posture.

You will experience improved flexibility. The stretches in slowly strengthen, open and elongate your muscles for mobility.

The practice does not build muscles but tones and sculpts them.

Your body posture and body alignment is greatly improved.

The mindful practice rehabilitates and prevents musculoskeletal injuries due to weak muscular strength.

As it’s not age-restricted, it improves joint health of the elderly.

Due to deep breathing, your lung capacity is enhanced as well as overall blood circulation is increased.

Above all, it boosts focus, promotes relaxation, and reduces stress.

What Should I Expect From A Pilates Session?

Are you looking for a Joseph Pilates near me class? Here’s what you should expect from your session:

Beginner Pilates classes may be performed on a mat without equipment using your bodyweight. Initial sessions are more focused on small yet correct movements with controlled breathing. Later, modifications are done to challenge your body.

Pilates involves floor mats or specific equipment depending upon your core strength and joint health. However, it’s better to start with mat exercises at first.

You can expect to experience a nice burn of targeted muscle groups during and after the session.

It is recommended to wear yoga attire to your Pilates class. An average session is 45-60 minutes long.

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Exercise and Fitness