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Tuesday

Aug172010

10 Tips to Remain Injury Free

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 07:39PM

Don’t Let Injury Stop you from reaching your Fitness Goals!

1. Avoid training when you are over-tired. Tired muscles provide inadequate support for your tendons, ligaments and bones. As a general rule of thumb allow 12-24 hours of rest between cardiovascular workouts and 24-48 hours between resistance training sessions.

2. Gradually increase your training load to allow your body to adapt to the new demands. For example, each week add an extra 5 minutes to your run. Initially focus on building a good base and then start to add more speed and hill intervals to your workouts. In the gym, once you can achieve 3 sets of 15 comfortably, add more weight while decreasing the repetitions and for body weight exercises aim to do more reps in a given amount of time, or try a more challenging position.

3. Get on a good sweat, but don’t overdo it! You will become fitter by pushing yourself, but make sure to listen to your body. It is normal for muscle soreness to last for up to 48 hours, but anything longer than that means you have overdone it.

4. Take care of yourself. Ensure that you are fueling your body for the activities you are doing. Even if weight loss is your exercise goal, it is important that your muscles have adequate carbohydrates to use during exercise, so your body doesn’t break down precious muscle tissue instead. If you are exercising on consecutive days, try to get a snack in 20 minutes after your workout. Optimal post-workout snacks should be 4 parts carbohydrates to 1 part protein. Fruit yogurt with nuts is a good example.

5. If you experience pain (other than the good kind!) during your workout, stop or modify the activity. If the pain persists for more than 2 workouts seek advice from your health professional such as your doctor, chiropractor, or athletic therapist. Treat any minor injuries right away with the time-honoured acronym R.I.C.E.: Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.

6. Stretch on a regular basis. A tight muscle is a weak muscle and is not able to function optimally and can predispose you to an injury. Try to spend 5-15 minutes most days stretching major muscle groups. Tools like the foam roller, a stretching strap and/or a golf ball can really help get into those tight spots.

7. The single biggest predictor of injury is your past history of injury. If you have been injured before, ensure that you take steps to prevent if from reoccurring again by strengthening weak muscle groups and stretching tight ones, working on proper biomechanics and ensuring that you are in the right shoes.

8. REST! Take at least one day a week with no purposeful exercise. Incorporate an 'easy' week every 3-4 weeks as part of your training plan where you decrease the volume by 30-50%. As your training volume increases make sure that you are getting more sleep at night.

9. Treat your feet. Poor footwear is a major contributing factor to overuse injuries. Go to a quality running shoe store where the staff is knowledgeable in shoe fitting. A good store will let you buy the shoes and try them out inside to make sure they are right for you.

10. Have Fun! Find pleasure in your activities, the people you do it with, your surroundings and take pride in your healthy body.

Cara Obee |

S E R E N D I P I T Y

Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 11:46PM

Serendipity.... a word until recently I had no idea what it meant, but loved the way it rolled off my tongue. Try it.... ser-en-dip-it-ee....... But for some reason serendipity and good fortune has been showing its face in my daily interactions with increasing frequency, so I decided I really needed to find out exactly what this word means. My only association is with the movie "Serendipity" where John Cusack and Kate Beckinsdale leave love to a matter of fate and reunite after a brief encounter several years earlier.

Wanting to build on my vague understanding of SERENDIPITY I looked further to find the meaning.

noun

a seeming gift for finding something good accidentally
luck, or good fortune, in finding something good accidentally
an instance of this

The word SERENDIPITY was first coined by the English author Horace Walpole in 1974 based on an old name for Sri Lanka, Serendip. He explained that this name was part of the title of "a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip:as their highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest.

Palermo, Buenos Aires by Jocelyn Mandryk www.jocelynmandryk.com

People who seem to be unusually gifted at the art of SERENDIPITY are different from those who seem to have no luck and share certain qualities with other serendipitous souls. "Lucky" people tend to be more open-minded to life's different paths and when opportunity presents itself they have the confidence to seize the chance. These people tend to have a much more relaxed approach to life and have broader life goals, rather than specific achievements they are working towards. Lucky people tend to have a large support network and cultivate large groups of friends, all of whom open the door to more opportunity.

I have always felt that one of my assets is that I am a very conscientious person, but according to lady luck, this is not the case. Someone who is consceintious always does the "right" thing and sticks to the plan. By definition SERENDIPTIY is virtually the opposite of this; a fortunate accidental encounter, which if you always adhere to the task at hand you may miss potential opportunity because you are afraid to follow something off the beaten path. When you are faced with a choice and feel a sense of uncertainty, ask yourself "what is the worst thing that will happen?" There may be a short-term cost, but it is paid off with long term benefits. Sometimes seizing the moment can turn out badly, but at least you tried, stepped out of your comfort zone and tried something new. As another ferry always docks, there will always be another serendipitous moment for you to grasp.

Is "luck" a skill that one can develop by working at it? Or is it simply a trait that some possess and others don't? By approaching life with a flexible and open mind-set you are creating the potential for SERENDIPITY and happiness in day to day living. Next time you have an opportunity to follow a slightly different path, think twice before saying "No", ask yourself "what is the worst that will happen if I say YES?" It may not feel completely right, and you may experience failure, but you have opened yourself up to following a new path, one that will perhaps change the course of your life.

So next time you are writing a resume, be sure to include SERENDIPITOUS as a desirable trait and all that it encompasses.

Cara Obee |

2 Comments |

Motivation

Monday

Jul122010

How Much Protein Is Enough?

Monday, July 12, 2010 at 03:51PM

Low carb, high fat, low fat, high protein..... with nutrition trends seeming to change as frequently as the weather in Victoria, it can be hard to figure out how much protein, carbs, and fats you should be consuming. There is no set formula, but rather it depends on you and your body, how old you are and what type of physical training you do. But one thing we do know for certain is that too much protein will either be used for fuel or stored as fat. Science has yet to define exactly how much protein the body needs but under normal circumstances the human body can only use 0.8 g of protein per kg of body weight. To put that in to perspective a tin of tuna has 25 grams of protein and 1 cup of milk has 8 grams of protein. Lack of protein is generally not an issue for most people unless someone has a severely restrictive diet. Most studies do show that certain groups of people, in particular athletes, require more protein to repair small amounts of muscle damage and to support muscle tissue growth.

Endurance athletes and others doing intense exercise require 1.2-1.6 g/kg of body weight
Dieters consuming too few calories as they need protein to be used for energy due to low glucose levels.
Growing teenage athletes require 1.5-2.0 g/kg of body weight to support bone and muscle development
Untrained people starting an exercise program need extra protein to build muscles.

Too much protein will not be stored miraculously as muscle, but rather it will get used as fuel in the case of people with a restrictive diet or endurance athletes or if not used simply stored as fat. In fact too much protein can leave you feeling sluggish and have other non-desirable effects such as frequent urination to eliminate urea a byproduct of protein metabolism, lack of carbohydrates for fuel and too much fat in the diet if the protein sources aren't selected with care.

To figure out how much protein you should be consuming daily determine the range of grams of protein per kilogram of body weight that is recommended for your activity level (see table below) and multiply that by your weight.

Protein Recommendations (Grams of protein per body kilogram of body weight)

Sedentary Adult 0.8

Recreational Exerciser 1.0-1.5

Endurance Athlete 1.2-1.6

Growing Teenage Athlete 1.5-2.0

Adult building muscle mass 1.5-1.7

Upper limit for adults 2.0

Complete proteins come from animal sources like eggs, chicken, fish, beef and dairy products. Vegetarians can still easily meet his or her protein requirements, but must combine proteins to make a complete protein containing all the essential amino acids. Generally you can make a complete protein by combining nuts and grains (e.g. peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread) and beans/legumes with a grain.

Cara Obee |