10 Exercise Safety Tips

Before you grab the gear, hit the gym, or pump some iron, you better put on that thinking cap and think about safety first. Exercise can turn into a few weeks laid up with an injury if you are not careful. Or worse, death can result from foolish mistakes or avoidable catastrophes. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in 2008, over 300,000 emergency room visits were due to a baby-boomer getting hurt while exercising, condition called "boomeritis". Here are some tips to help you avoid being a statistic.


1. Get your doctor's approval: Those of you who participated in sports in school know that a sports physical was required before you could join a team. In fact, sports physicals are known to save lives of those who were unaware of a sinister heart murmur or irregularity. Everyone should get a physical before starting a new exercise routine or beginning a new sporting activity. This exercise safety tip could save your life.



2. Familiarize with Exercise Machines: Exercise equipment is getting more and more complicated with electronics, pulley systems, and mechanisms. Being unfamiliar with the equipment is an injury waiting to happen. Instead of taking the risk, ask someone who knows the equipment, like a friend, a personal trainer, or a salesperson, how to use the machine first. Besides, you will look like a fool if you don't know what you are doing.



3. Use Safety Equipment: Some sports do not require machines, but do require safety equipment like helmets, wrist guards, knee pads, shin guards, mouth guards, and pads. Safety equipment is not just for sissies. Safety equipment is for everyone with half a brain.



4. Drink Plenty of Water: Whether the environment is hot or cold, water is essential for life. How much water is enough? My favorite rules of hydration that I learned when I fought fire are: if you are not peeing, then you are not drinking enough; if your urine is dark, then you are not drinking enough; if you feel thirsty, then you are already dehydrated; if you are not sweating or feel light headed, then you need to stop, cool down, and drink. This safety tip is important and too often ignored which can lead to deadly consequences.



5. Warm-up and Stretch: A preliminary, prerequisite warm-up helps the body prepare for exercise. The muscles need to turn-on and become flexible. The heart rate needs to get up to speed. The blood needs to be recruited to the areas that need it the most. If you do not know a good preliminary routine for your particular activity, I recommend a time-tested book called: Stretching by Bob Anderson. The routines are sport specific and easy to follow. For those who wish to avoid "boomeritis", a warm-up is not to be skipped.



6. Provide a Good Base of Support: Exercise is safer when the body is well supported. Support can be found in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes your only point of contact with the ground is through your feet, like tires on a car. Thus, good supportive shoes are essential for many forms of exercise. Additionally, good biomechanics, like standing with your feet shoulder width apart, provide the body a base of support. And strong muscles, especially the leg and butt muscles, are pillars of strength for the entire body. Falls, strains, and sprains can all prevented by having a good base of support.

10:44 PM | 1 komentar | Read More

Fasting Tips: Safety And The Truth About Dry Fasting

Fasting is a great way to lose fat and improve your health. Sadly, education about the benefits of fasting is still in it's infancy so most people think that fasting is dangerous

On the other side of the issue, some people say that fasting is safe but only truly beneficial if it's dry, meaning that no food OR fluid is ingested during the fast.

First, let's address the safety issue.

There's an unfortunate misconception that long-term fasting and short-term fasting have the same effect on the body. For some mysterious reason, critics don't read the many well-conducted (and NOT funded by industry and therefore less biased) research on short-term fasts.

Short-term fasting is often referred to as 'intermittent fasting'. Study after study has shown that intermittent fasting is safe and effective for fat loss and other biomarkers of health.

The critics quote data from studies on *long-term* fasting. Long-term fasting is indeed dangerous and unwise, leading to many serious health consequences such as malnourishment, muscle wasting and eventually death.

Short-term fasting usually means going 16-36 hours without food or drinks that contain calories. Studies show that it's safe AND has health benefits that are similar to exercise, including boosting human growth hormone levels.

As long as weight-bearing exercise is done weekly, there is no loss of muscle tissue during a short-term fast.

There doesn't seem to be a risk of hypoglycaemia. Blood sugar levels remain in the normal range unless the individual has been medically diagnosed as hypoglycaemic *before* attempting fasting. This surprises people who experience light- headedness when they don't eat for a few hours. What they're actually experiencing is a drop in blood sugar levels, but not a dangerous one. They may also be feeling the shift the body goes through when it starts to burn body fat for fuel instead of food. Sometimes discomfort may be due to withdrawal from caffeine or other foods that they are actually sensitive to.

On the other side of the fasting debate are people who claim that 'dry fasting' is the superior way to do an intermittent fast. Dry fasting means that you avoid food AND fluid during a fast. This means no water. Advocates believe that avoiding fluid, including water, helps the body cleanse itself of toxins and therefore it's the only way that a person can get the full 'healing' effect of fasting.

So far there isn't credible evidence that dry fasting is superior or even wise. People's hydration levels differ so one person might do fine going a day without water, another might suffer from headaches and other ailments related to dehydration. The humidity of the air, exercise levels, and other factors will influence hydration beyond fluid intake.

Often dry fasting advocates suggest going more than a day without fluid which can, at the very least, be uncomfortable, and at the very most, will be dangerous and even life threatening. People who feel bad during a dry fast are said to be 'detoxifying' more than those who don't feel as poorly. Outside of anecdotal reports, there isn't enough data to support this claim. Until more research is done on dry fasting, it's best to stick with methods that have been properly studied, as intermittent fasting has.

If you'd like a fast and safe way to lose fat and improve other aspects of your health, a short-term fast done once or twice a week is worth a try, but until proper studies are conducted with dry fasting, it's best to avoid food, not water, on your fasting days.

10:43 PM | 0 komentar | Read More