Improve Your Mood with Better Posture

Improving posture for better movement, reducing pain, and avoiding injuries are all well addressed, but what about improving posture to improve mood? Depression statistics continue to climb affecting adults and children. To a great extent depression treatment has centered on medication or behavioral therapy without much focus given to movement, or more specifically to posture, but that is beginning to change.

One study evaluated energy levels, a proposed indicator of depression, on body posture. University students were asked to rate their general depression and subjective energy levels, and were then randomly divided into two groups. One group was required to walk in a slouched position, the other to skip with a swinging cross-arm action. After their initial activity, they each ranked their subjective energy level, then switched activities, and once again ranked their energy level. Not surprising, skipping significantly increased their energy level and the slouched walking decreased energy levels . Imagine yourself skipping, swinging your arms, head up – did your energy level change just thinking about skipping? These students reported that skipping not only made them feel more energetic, but happier, more positive, and even evoked happy childhood memories, whereas the slouched walking made them feel sad, lonely, isolated, sleepy, or even “zombie-like”.

Positive thoughts and feelings are easier to create in an upright position. Even evaluating the mood of a stick figure can be impacted by its posture. A straight, upright figure is judged as having the most positive mood while a figure displaying a bent over position with forward head and shoulders is rated as having the most negative emotions. With our overall decrease in physical activity and increased amount of time spent sitting hunched over our computers or personal devices, this “depressed” posture is where we spend so much of our time.

So “keep your chin up”, it is not only a sign of good posture, it might just improve your mood.

http://IanBowen.automaticbody.com

#goodmood#goodposture#exercise#health#wellness#fitness#automaticbody#depression

Sports injury? 6 tips to get you back to fitness

Is it ever okay to workout if you’re injured? Are you frustrated because you have a fitness or sports injury and can’t wait to get back into your regular fitness routine? Or, are you constantly hearing conflicting advice on how to handle your fitness injury?





Here are some helpful tips to avoid common injury mistakes. I can assure you that you are not alone in wanting to rush back into your fitness plan. Athletes, weekend warriors and fitness fanatics all want to get back into action as soon as possible after an injury because they don’t want their hard work to go to waste. If you have been on a weight loss journey and sustain an injury it can be especially frustrating because the last thing you want to do is slow down your momentum.

Almost all athletes and fitness enthusiasts have an injury story from times they have pushed their body too hard. I’ve spent many evenings sitting around comparing “injury war stories” in the gym and know many people fall into the trap of coming back to exercise too soon after getting hurt.

Top six tips to get you back in shape after an injury

You can avoid pain and emotional distress that come with common fitness/sports injuries by working through these simple pieces of fitness advice.

Sports injury tip 1:  See a doctor

Get help from a doctor and don’t self-diagnose an injury. It’s very common for us to play doctor for ourselves, or worse; offer advice to your gym partner or colleague! Self–diagnosing your injuries is a bad idea. I believe that it’s important to let the pro’s assess your individual injury because so many fitness injuries have similar symptoms.

Sports injury tip 2: Don’t cover it up

Avoid masking an injury by using over-the-counter medications, splints, supports or wraps without instruction from a health professional. Using supports can cause muscular imbalance if used improperly and pain is your body’s way of letting you know something is wrong. If you are masking your body’s natural defenses, you risk worsening your condition, which may keep you on the sidelines for longer.

Sports injury tip 3: Be patient

Follow your doctor’s prescribed treatment plan and try not to let frustration or added worry of losing form/gaining weight convince you do too much too soon. The body sometimes takes time to heal itself. Exercising before you are healed is never a good idea.

Sports injury tip 4: Don’t make assumptions or take unnecessary risks

Ask your health professional questions. If you twist your ankle and assume you can still do your usual upper body routine, you may have to think again. We refer to our muscles as individual entities but the truth is that our body is one complete unit connected by fascia and complex connective tissues.

-  Certain lower body injuries may not affect your ability to do upper-body exercises but there is a chance that placing stress on your body may cause a chain reaction of imbalances that could, in turn, cause other injuries.
-  When you visit a health professional take a list of important questions with you. Here are a few questions to keep in mind:

• How long should I rest?
• What exercises are safe for me to perform?
• Should I see you again before resuming my previous activities?
• Do you have a set plan I can follow to help speed up the healing process?
• What supplements or diet plan do you suggest to help me with the recovery process?

Sports injury tip 5: Train smart

Be aware of the fact that your body loses conditioning quickly when you stop exercising. Understanding that you can’t just start back at the same intensity as when you stopped is very important. Follow a stepped and slow approach to getting your fitness level back.
A great way to come back after an injury is to focus on exercise duration and not intensity for the first few weeks, try to choose low-impact moves before attempting more stressful high-impact versions.

Sports injury tip 6: Stay positive

Try to keep a positive outlook and don’t let a minor setback derail your healthy active, lifestyle. If you start to feel low, try to find other activities that will help boost your mood until your injury heals. A physical rest may allow you to finally read that book or catch up with friends.  Finally, be sure to keep your healthy eating plan in place and adjust your calorie intake to take account for your lack of physical activity.

The best way to keep training? Avoid injury!

I believe in the old saying that an “ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” so always take care and pay attention when you are exercising or playing sports.  You may be able to avoid some common fitness injuries if you always use correct form, lift weights that are suitable for your current fitness level and follow a balanced workout plan that includes plenty of stretching.
If injury strikes, take your time before returning to fitness, always listen to your body and especially listen to your doctor’s advice. We only have one body and it has to last us a lifetime, so please take care of it!

The Effects of Exercise on Self-Esteem

How often do we hear, “Get a workout, it will make you feel better.”?

Exercise is a very broad spectrum of activities; it can be walking, hiking, bicycling, running or any one of a number of sports.  It can also be moving along to a video that has choreographed moves geared toward a traditional exercise routine, or dancing, or Yoga and Pilates.  It could also be going to a gym and lifting weights or using the cardio equipment.

People often say you always feel better after a workout, or, if you can get some exercise in, you would feel so much better.  Is this truly the case?  How can causing your muscles to work and be sore actually help you emotionally?  Some studies that support a connection between exercise and positive self-esteem are: Physical Fitness and Enhanced Psychological Health; Associations Between Physical Activity and Reduced Rates of Hopelessness, Depression and Suicidal Behavior Among College Students; and The Relationships Among Self-Esteem, Exercise and Self-Rated Health in Older Women.

Each study shows slightly different statistics, but come to a similar conclusion.  This would be that physical activity does help a person have an increase in self-esteem, be it through the lessening of depression symptoms, or having the ability to perceive one’s self as healthy and high functioning in older age or simply by an elevation in a person’s mood, which gives that person the chance to understand that things are better than they seemed an hour ago.  All of these things apply to a person’s self-esteem in one way or another and these studies show that exercise helps to put a positive spin on each of them.

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Use Stage Training To Increase Your Cardio

Of the different components that make up a total physical fitness program, cardiorespiratory endurance is probably the most misunderstood and underrated.  Many people incorrectly assume that cardiorespiratory training is synonymous with aerobic training; such as jogging or cycling at a moderate pace for extended periods of time. This misunderstanding can delay or even prevent individuals from achieving attainable fitness-related or sport-specific goals.

The most common goals of performing cardiorespiratory training are the following.

• To improve performance. A primary purpose of training is to delay the onset of fatigue during competition; no matter if it’s a pick-up game of basketball, 10k race, or completing a marathon.
• To reduce mental anxiety. With fatigue comes a loss of concentration and confidence, critical components to performance.
• Weight management. Proper cardio can help with the goal of weight loss and weight maintenance.

If the goal is to improve stamina and muscular endurance, then overloading is necessary. The body must be presented with a workload that challenges its current fitness state. This increased workload will cause fatigue and, with the proper recovery, will eventually yield cardiorespiratory improvements. If the workloads are of the right magnitude (i.e., slightly more than the body’s current capabilities), then the body must adapt to be prepared for the next time such a demand is placed on the body. With this in mind is it easy to understand that cardiorespiratory training is much more than jogging at a moderate pace for extended periods. 

Stage Training

There are many  methods for introducing overload into a training program to improve cardiorespiratory fitness such as  circuit training and interval training. No matter which method is used, you should always keep your physical capabilities in mind to ensure your safety.

Stage I

If you are new to cardiorespiratory exercise you will need to develop a baseline level of aerobic fitness to avoid overtraining and exhaustion. You should start slowly and gradually work up to 30 to 60 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise. Once you can maintain a stage I intensity for at least 30 minutes two to three times per week  you should  be ready for more intense cardiorespiratory exercise such as interval training.

Stage II

Stage II is for individuals with low-to-moderate cardiorespiratory fitness levels who are ready to begin training at higher intensity levels. Stage II is the introduction to interval training in which intensities are varied throughout the workout.Stage II differs from high-intensity anaerobic interval training in that it uses more moderate to challenging work intervals (i.e., running, not sprinting) with varying lower-intensity recovery periods (i.e. light jogging). As a general rule, intervals should start out relatively brief with a work-to-rest (hard-to-easy) ratio of 1:3 (i.e., 1-minute interval followed by a 3-minute recovery). 

Stage III

This stage is for the individual who has a moderately high cardiorespiratory fitness level base. Stage III is a form of high-intensity interval training involving short, intense bouts of exercise (i.e. sprinting), interspersed with active bouts of recovery (i.e., light jogging). You should take the necessary time to build cardiorespiratory efficiency through stage I and II training before progressing to stage III training. 

Using an approach such as the three-stage cardio training model will help individuals achieve optimal levels of stamina necessary to achieve their fitness and sport-specific training goals in a safe and efficient fashion.

By Brian Sutton MS, MA, PES, CES, NASM-CPT 

When the number on your scale won’t budge.

If losing fat were easy then we'd all look like fitness models, right?

Unfortunately, the fat loss game is more frustrating than most care to admit. The scale quickly becomes a dreaded enemy—a constant bearer of bad news.

If the number on your scale won't budge then read on for an explanation:

Possibility #1: You're Not Eating Enough Calories
This only happens in cases of severe calorie restriction, so don't take it as a license to eat whatever you'd like. When you're trying to drop a few pounds by eating next to nothing, it actually counteracts your efforts.

There's a base number of calories that you should be eating in order to maintain your proper bodily functions, including fat loss, so check with a doctor or nutritionist to make sure that you're eating enough.

Possibility #2: You're Eating Too Many Carbs
Processed carbs will promote fat storage quicker than you can say the alphabet backwards. Blood sugar and insulin levels always respond the same to processed carbs – whether those carbs are in the form of a FiberOne bar or a Twinkie.

You're fooling yourself, but not your scale, if you think processed carbs should be included in your fat loss diet.

Possibility #3: You're Doing Too Much Cardio If you're doing hours of steady-state cardio, it's gonna end up working against your fat loss efforts. All that cardio promotes the release of stress hormones in your body, which counteracts your ability to lose fat.


Possibility #4: You're Not Getting Enough Sleep
You may not see the connection between your sleep patterns and the number on your scale, but it's there. Sleep patterns have an impact on your hormone levels, and hormones are a huge factor when it comes to losing fat.

Be sure to get a full eight hours of sleep each night to boost your fitness results.

Possibility #5: Your Snacks Have No Protein
Small, whole foods snacks throughout the day can help maintain your metabolism and encourage fat loss, but it all depends on what you're snacking on. Fruit-only snacks quickly break down to sugar, which causes insulin to be released and potential fat storage to occur, much like when you eat processed carbs. Sure, the fruit will make less of an impact than a candy bar, but you could be snacking smarter.

Only eat snacks that contain more protein than carbs, and also some fat. This will help to stabilize your blood sugar levels while also keeping hunger at bay longer.

Possibility #6: You Eat Diet Foods
I get it, you have a fat loss goal so it's tempting to fall into the trap of purchasing foods that claim to help dieters. The problem lies in the fact that these ‘diet' products have been highly processed and contain potentially harmful chemicals and artificial sweeteners that will confuse your hormones and promote fat storage.

The best diet strategy, when working towards a fitness goal, is to stick with real, fresh, whole foods. Steer clear of anything fake or processed.

The Stress Factor

I didn't forget about the elephant in the room...your stress levels.

Sure, life can be overwhelming and stressful, but understand that mismanaged stress will have a negative impact on your hormones, which can promote fat storage.

Find ways to relax every day, in order to give your body a break from 'fight of flight' mode. Your scale will thank you!

From the Desk of John Hall Studios

How to Stay Fit on Vacation

Leaving town for a summer get-away? If you're not careful your trip will quickly turn into a weight gain trap. We don't want your fitness results to disappear before you return home. 

There are plenty of strategies and techniques out there for staying fit on vacation, but most are fairly complicated. I'm not going to give you a list of 27 things to remember in order to avoid those vacation pounds – you are getting away to relax, after all! I'll keep this simple and effective.

The following 2 steps are all that you need to take with you on your vacation to ensure that you come back looking and feeling amazing.

Step #1: The 1/3 Rule
Most vacation pounds are gained as a result of constant indulgence. Each meal becomes an opportunity to eat your heart out to the tune of "I'm on vacation!"

Look, I get that you're on vacation and want to enjoy the richer tastes of life, but doing so at every meal is going to do a lot of damage to your waistline.

Rather than indulging constantly, I want you to adopt the 1/3 Rule. This means that only 1/3 of your meals ought to be eaten with the mindset of "I'm on vacation." At this one meal each day you are allowed to eat things that are normally off-limits. Enjoy your favorites and do so with no guilt.

At your other 2 meals each day you'll keep things lean and green. Fill up on lots of greens, veggies, and lean proteins. Pass on the breads, grains, potatoes and anything with sugar. Drink water, and avoid beverages that contain calories.

Step #2: The Exercise Rule
This step is just as important as the first one, so don't drop the ball on this one: Each and every day you must do some form of exercise.

Notice I said some form of exercise. I didn't say that you had to go to a weight room to do a traditional workout. While on vacation, exercise should be diverse and exciting.

Your vacation activities can become your workout. Take a hike, go exploring on foot, swim in the ocean or bike through a foreign town. If you aren't able to fit a vigorous activity into your day then start by doing this body weight routine:

• 20 push ups
• 30 seconds of jump squats
• 20 walking lunges
• 30 seconds of plank hold
• 30 seconds of rest
• Repeat from the top 3 times

Not Just Diet

Have you ever tried to reduce body fat by dieting alone? It's frustrating isn't it? Exercise has been proven to increase your metabolism for hours on end. Regular exercise also builds muscle, which increases your resting metabolism, making you leaner. Dieting alone could never do that for you.

From the Desk of John Hall Studios