BenchFit Tips
March 29, 2007
Regal posture and attention to breath control are two vital tips to help you feel your best. A king or queen sits erect, confidant. A yogi controls breath during movements, and to engage deep relaxation and rejuvenation.In our response to stress, posture hunches foreward ready for fight or flight, and breathing becomes shallow, restricted.Slumped posture and shallow breathing cause muscle tension and pain to build. Many people are not aware of their postural tension and restricted breathing, they just know that they hurt.To feel your best, every few hours during the day:1. Sit tall, breast bone up (the king or queen ). 2. Take a deep breath. 3. Release muscle tension as you slowly exhale. Engage an awareness of posture and breath as you go throughout the day. Place a reminder on your computer or at your desk to check your posture and breathing regularly during the day.
Do you have a favorite postural stretch or routine that you perform? Let us know!
With thanks, Maureen
BenchFit Kegels : Core Activation
March 29, 2007
The term “the core” is frequently used now days, and it’s not just about tightening the abdominals during a workout! Medical researchers study muscle activation patterns during motions, and there is a basic trio of muscles that works together for optimum function to transmit force through the body.We develop our core muscles as babies with all the squirming and moving we do in preparation for walking.
The “core” includes the deep back (lumbar) , kegel (pelvic) muscles, and the deep abdominals. Knowing how to turn these muscles “on” and hold the stabilizing posture they promote is the subject of hours of Physical Therapy and Personal Training. Breath holding, overworking the abdominals in deep crunches, and lifting weights which cause posture to sway, all can counteract core training and force the body to use surface muscles that do not stabilize.
Here are some ABCs on Core Activation
Alignment: Sitting: Sit tall, posture erect, and take a relaxed breath deep into your abdomen. Your back can be positioned straight, or with a slight arch, whichever is comfortable for you.
Breathing: As you exhale, lightly tense your kegel muscles as if you are “stopping the flow” from your bladder, and also tense your deep abdominals by drawing your belly button (navel) into your spine as you exhale. It can be a lot to coordinate, and most people breath hold when it gets to the abdominals tensing. What’s the back doing during this exercise?If you maintain a tall, erect posture (no slouching !) your deep lumbar muscles are working to hold your spine in position.
Core Activation occurs when these three muscles brace and hold, and BenchFit teaches a light ball squeeze between the knees to help turn on the deep core muscles.The kegels are often the weakest link in the group, and require a concentration to recruit; the ball squeeze activates the inner thigh muscles which attatch adjacent to the kegels, and help the nerves fire to energize the kegels. Lifting, pushing, pulling, walking, and sports participation all require core bracing, and with training it can be learned and become automatic.
Diane Lee is a phenomenal Canadian Physical Therapist who has devoted her career to studying the core; for more detailed scientific information on the core, the pelvis, and the function of muscles during motion, visit http://dianelee.ca/articles/articles.
Does anyone have a core training experience to share? Women often need core training exercises more than men, due to looser pelvic ligaments, pregnancy, childbirth, and hormone changes, all of which can “turn off” the core.
BenchFit Working Out : Sculpting
March 29, 2007
How many calories do you “burn” with a workout? It depends on your exertion level, and total exercise time. During free weight lifting at a moderate intensity, such as the 20 exercises in the BenchFit workout, intermediate level, the following calories burns are estimated, by body weight, for women: A 120 pound woman burns 6.6 calories per minute, or for 30 minutes, 198 calories. At 140 pounds, there is a 7.6 burn/min, and 228 per thirty minutes. At 160 pounds, 8.7cal/min are burned, totalling 261 per session, and an 180 pound woman burns 9.8 cal/min, totalling 288 per session.Add cardio to a workout, and perform this from a few, to several times per week, and your body will sculpt towards an hourglass shape as you burn fat and build muscles.And of course, consume an optimal calorie count to reach your sculpting goals.There is a current trend for women to embrace weight lifting; lets hear from you, do you lift, and what routine do you use? Thanks for checking in with us!
Calorie Tips : your needs
March 22, 2007
What is your total daily amount of calories that you need? As our population shifts towards thicker waists and increasing levels of diabetes, it is vital to know what you need to “intake” for your calories, and rather then consuming by habit, develop a smart focus for eating.
Nutritionist’s suggest the following calorie ranges for women: Sedentary women need approximately 1600 calories a day. Moderately active women require approximately 1800 to 2000 calories a day, and those who are exercising and /or working at a heavy level per day may need up to 3000 calories. More specific, individual calorie prescriptions are based on your height weight, age, and activity level. Tracking caloric intake in a log or journal is the only real way to know your intake, and develop a sense for portion sizes and healthy food choices.
Motivation and discipline are the keys to smart calorie consumption, and if you are not on track, set a weight goal and begin to add healthy calorie consumption to your routine. What have you found works for you? There are many calorie tracking programs out there; lets find out who is using a successful format! Check out webmd for more information, www.webmd.com/diet/guide/estimate-calorie-requirement
thank you for checking in with us, and share your trials and successes on this topic ,
BenchFit Sculpt
March 21, 2007
BenchFit Sculpt: Vital Facts
Just about everywhere you look, you see offers to slenderize, tone, and whittle your body down to a leaner machine. And remarkably, these adds offer results in a few weeks, such as 20 pound weight losses, several inches “melted” from the abdomen, and of course a new clothing size, a few sizes smaller than your starting size. The reality is, these programs don’t work. Rapid behavior change with exercise and dieting does not lead to long-term success, but rather sets up a yo-yo cycle of weight gain and loss. Here is an outline of medically proven tactics to “sculpt”, identifying workout tactics and calorie basics. When you gradually add more exercise to your life, and make healthier food choices more often, your fat cells shrink, boobs, bellies and buns included! Having a more slender waist reduces your risk for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cancer…but if you become too thin (models!) you will get osteoporosis! The key is to increase your powerful lean mass (muscle) and reduce your fat mass (adipose), with calorie-savvy eating, and exercising regularly in an activity that you enjoy.
Workout Tactics: Vital Facts
1.Divide and conquer. If you do not have thirty minutes or more in a day to exercise, break it up into smaller sessions, such as three ten minute sessions, or, two fifteen minute sessions.
2.Combine cardio with strengthening. Walking, running, biking, elliptical trainers, and step programs all are tops on the favorites list, and for variety you could alternate ten minutes bike with ten minutes treadmill, then ten minutes elliptical. Strengthening can be performed sandwiched in between cardio workouts, or performed before or after, with machines or free weights. (Of course warm up for a few minutes before working out).
3. Work up to a greater intensity level with exercise per your tolerance level; the more intense the exercise, the more calories you will burn. For example, you could lift light weights for an hour, or lift medium to heavy weights for half an hour and accomplish the same calorie burn. It can take months to safely build up to a moderate to heavy weight lifting level, so follow a personal training outline for safety. (See FITT Formulas on Benchfit.com)
4. Add intervals to our cardio workout; rather than plodding along at a steady state, push the envelope to a little more exertion for thirty to sixty seconds several times during the workout. Ideally, you are burning 300 calories or more per workout with at least a half hour program of cardio exercise. Workout for one hour and burn 600 calories or more, depending on your height, weight, and exercise intensity.
5.Make it easy to exercise by keeping sneakers in your car to be able to take a spontaneous fitness walk or run, keep an exercise (Swiss) ball in your living room or bedroom to workout with, and keep weights near where you watch TV.
6. Choose your exercise style that you enjoy, perhaps outdoor hiking and calisthenics, or a power yoga routine, or country line dancing, or active gardening.
7. Outline a plan with goals, such as walking the dog thirty minutes three times a week, and weight lifting and performing tai chi, each two times a week. Journal your reflections on your experiences. A plan, goals, and logging workouts and your personal reflections will help you to keep on track. Plodding along without a plan and goals is like taking a trip without a destination, or a map.
8. Engage a family member or workout partner to exercise with you. Share your goals, and hold each other accountable for those goals.
9. Try a new DVD, Class, or Exercise instruction book to offer you new ideas, stimulate your body, and enliven your life.
10. Recruit an experienced personal trainer to help you perform and advance safely through a workout series.
Nutrition: Vital Facts
Calories are scientifically identified as units of energy, or more specifically, the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. Food has a caloric value based on the amount of energy or heat it will take to “burn”, and have you heard the expression “A MOMENT ON THE LIPS, FOREVER ON THE HIPS?” High calorie food intake results in “stored” energy in our bodies if we exceed what we need to burn on a daily basis.
Calorie basics: Calories consumed with food and beverages, and calories burned with exercise, create either a nice balance point where we are happy with our weight, or we may be out of balance and struggle to lose pounds and tone our body. To “lose” a pound, we have to have a deficit or reduction of calories on a weekly basis, totaling 3500 calories. There are 3500 calories in a pound. The BEST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT is to combine smart eating (calories in) with calories burned (calories out) with exercise.
Here is a sample plan as to the calorie deficit required to “lose” 1/2 pound a week, or
1 pound a week. Yearly totals lost would be 28 pounds, up to 56 pounds!
To lose 1/2 pound a week;
burn 125 calories a day with exercise, and reduce intake by 125 calories a day.
(slow and relatively easy method).
To lose 1 pound a week;
burn 250 calories a day with exercise, and reduce intake by 250 calories a day.
(faster method requiring a greater commitment to calorie counting and exercise)
Tracking calories consumed with food and beverages is the only way to identify total intake, and here are some free calculators to help you on this journey. Consult the ace fit facts to see how many calories you burn with exercise. Power on, Energize!
To track Calories consumed, and obtain free nutrition tips and guidelines:
www.mypyramid.gov
To track your calorie needs for your height and weight: see fitness calculators, nutrition
www.ipushfitness.com
To see how many calories you burn with various exercises: log into Fit facts, nutrition, and calorie burners: activities that turn up the heat
www.acefitness.org
Do you have a question on calorie burning with exercise, or a success with body sculpting that you would like to share? Let us know!With thanks, Maureen
