Fitness Minutes

The CNY festivities have just ended and for some of us, it has been more than a month since our New Year’s resolution to exercise or to do so more regularly. Given the countless benefits you stand to gain, I hope your resolve is holding strong.
But chances are, you are starting to struggle. It is common knowledge that about 80 percent of those who make New Year’s resolutions fall off the wagon by February.

"I have no time!"

Sticking to a regular exercise schedule isn’t easy, and coming up with excuses not to exercise is so easy: I’m too tired. I can’t afford a gym membership. It’s too hot in Singapore and the number one “reason”, I have no time! Well if No Time is your excuse, here are three practical tips for you:

•  Choose an activity that doesn’t require you to drive somewhere or change clothing, like walking or stair-climbing.
•  Break your activity into smaller spurts. For example, ten minutes a few times a day can be just as effective as a 30-minute workout.
•  Be creative! Increase “incidental activities” into your day: Park a few blocks away and walk to the office or hawker centre. Use stairs instead of the elevator. Choose to walk instead of sit while talking on your handphone.

Exercise Creates Time...

If the above is still not enough for you to sustain your resolve to stay fit, always remind yourself that regular exercise creates time, Yes! You heard me right. Exercise creates time. By investing twenty minutes a day in physical activity, you are going to get back more hours of time in return and here’s why…

•  Your quality of sleep improves. You need to sleep less and also spend less time in the day feeling tired and unproductive! Net result=More time!
•  Your health improves and you spend less time falling sick. Net result=More time!
•  Our thoughts and minds become less cluttered after exercise allowing room for more creativity and innovation. Better and more efficient ideas to complete tasks translate to less time spent on work! Net result=More time!
•  Exercise is a great stress buster! A regular 20-minute run will add extra years to your life! Trying to beat stress through unhealthy activities like smoking and drinking not only helps you to spend more time being a patient, it also causes you to become even more stressed. Net result=More time!

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Health and Energy
 
Hansen Bay

Business Development
Vitage Fitness Pte Ltd
www.vitagefitness.com
www.activo.sg

Time for a little fitness trivia!

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the words "health" and "medicine" were synonymous. The so-called "Four Horseman of Fitness" were the dumbell, the Indian club, the wand and the medicine ball. This is where the beginnings of the modern medicine ball -Wikipedia

Also, the earliest medicine balls used 3000 years ago by Persian athlete were actually animal bladders stuffed with sand! Despite using the medicine ball for the past twenty years, I did not realise that it has such a long history! Compared to the whiffy leather balls used during my school days, the medicine ball today comes in a huge variety of designs, weights and textures.

Why use a Medicine Ball?

Training with the medicine ball has numerous advantages and it is little wonder why it still  remains as popular today with sportsmen as well as fitness enthusiasts.

Most sportsmen use it to strengthen their trunk and specific muscles used in sports by imitating actions such as the baseball swing, overhand throw or even the chest pass in basketball. For general fitness, the ball can add a whole new dimension to your training when combined with bodyweight exercises. Unlike regular exercise machines, the medicine ball takes you through all planes of motions. This type of training translates well into how we really move out in the real world. Using a medicine ball can help you train those trunk muscles the way they work during daily activities.

What to do with a Medicine Ball

Do note that using a medicine ball requires a lot of work from your abs and back, so choose a weight you can handle, usually between 2 to 5kgs. Most movement begins at the core and without strong muscles, you risk injury.
For those of you who have no idea how to get started or want to find out the vast variety of medicine ball exercises that you can add to your fitness routine, you can download this free training article with easy to follow images or view the latest exercise video using the medicine ball for a total body workout!

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Health and Energy
 
Hansen Bay
Director (Business Development)
Vitage Fitness Pte Ltd
www.vitagefitness.com
www.activo.sg
 

It is common knowledge these days that better fitness translates to higher energy levels, which could help us be more effective at both work and play. In fact, there are many benefits for maintaining an adequate level of fitness such as clearer thinking, reduced stress and more endurance to cope with demanding work and hours

Since there are so many benefits from regular exercise, does that mean that I will reap more benefits by exercising more? Well, not neccessarily, in fact, in recent times, there is an increasing trend of "Business Athletes" who suffer from burn out, not due to too much work but because of too much exercise!

Go for Activity, not Intensity

Debra is a partner of an accounting firm and after learning about how regular exercise can help her be more effective, decided to put the concept into practice. She joined a running group that ran three times a week.

During the first month, she felt more energized at work and also felt great about herself. In the second month, she began to put herself through a more demanding exercise regime. Not only did she run faster and harder, she also started lifting weights and attended high intensity circuit training classes at a gym near her office.

By the third month, Debra was skipping training sessions as she felt increasingly fatigued both physically and emotionally. Mid way through the month, she also sustained an injury to her lower back. A week later, she gave up exercising altogether.

Debra lost sight of her original goal and allowed her natural achievement motivation to take over. She moved rapidly from active rejuvenation to burning out. A lot of us fall into the trap of believing that because some exercise is good, then twice as much must be twice as good! We are not full time athletes, thus our goal should be the activity itself rather than wanting to reach Olympic levels of fitness.

Give some thought to your current level of health and fitness and always be reminded of your objective for exercising regularly.

Exercise does not necessarily mean “training till you drop”. At Vitage Fitness, we view exercise simply as activities that help protect and care for our bodies so that we can use it in a way that maximizes our potential and to do what we need to do. 
 
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Join Us!

1. Free racewalking sessions clinics are held every Sunday morning at Marina Bay. More details about this weekly sessions can be found on www.racewalk.sg

2. Skip, Perform & Impress! The SkipFit Level 1 Workshop is back! Priority will be given to those who have missed out on the workshop in July. Registration is based on a first come first serve basis. More details for this workshop can be found here.

Click here for the past issues of Fitness Minutes
 
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Health and Energy
 
Hansen Bay
Director (Business Development)
Vitage Fitness Pte Ltd
www.vitagefitness.com
www.activo.sg

Is there any real benefit to stretching? Do I need to stretch before exercising? As a schoolboy, I was advised to stretch to prevent injury and when I was teaching phys ed, we were told that stretching, in particularly static stretching does nothing to help injury prevention. These days, even the military does not advocate static stretching during warm-up. However, if you speak to some fitness professionals in particularly yoga teachers, they would still encourage stretching.

Why is there so much confusion over stretching? I reckon one of the reasons is due to the lack of information about the different types of stretching. Yes, there are different types of stretching and it would be necessary for you to understand them if you are serious about fitness and exercise.

Static Stretching

This is the type of stretching that most people are familiar with. It involves the elongation of a muscle while holding it for 10 to 30 seconds. An example of a static stretch would be to put your heel up on a table and let your hamstrings relax and elongate for 30 seconds.

Dynamic Stretching

This involves using movement, most often activity specific movements to warm the body up and make it more elastic before an activity. Examples include circling of arms, hip rotation, jogging on the spot. Sport specific stretches could include shadow boxing for boxers and high knee-ups for sprinters.

Active Stretching/ PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation)

I often refer to this as Isometric stretching.You can perform this stretch on your own but some of the muscles groups requires assistance from another person. In this technique, the tight muscle is the antagonist, hence the agonist contracts (provided that the agonist is strong enough). You will need to isometrically contract the agonist for around 6 seconds before it gets moved further into range.

I still perform all three types of stretches depending on what I am doing. For example, I no longer do static stretches before exercise and although some professionals claim there is no benefit from static stretching even after exercise, I still do it as I find it relaxing. For activities such as running, I simply start off with a walk, progressing on to a jog and run before slowing down and ending off with static stretching. For more dynamic activities such as boxing or resistance training, I will definitely start off with dynamic stretching. I would use active stretching to relief muscular soreness and 'tightness'.

These are three different ways to stretch and my personal take on them. Give them all a try and let me know what works best for you!
 

P.S. The upcoming SkipFit Level 1 Workshop has been fully subscribed. Thanks for your support and do look out the the next one in September.

Click here for the past issues of Fitness Minutes
 
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Health and Energy
 
Hansen Bay
Director (Business Development)
Vitage Fitness Pte Ltd
www.vitagefitness.com
www.activo.sg

Here’s the remaining 10 lifestyle adjustments and tips that you can adopt for sustainable weight loss!

11.FIND A GOOD EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW
When constructing a weight-loss plan, find someone who has accomplished approximately what you want to, and emulate their methods. There is little sense in asking someone who lost 5 kilos how to help you lose 15 or 20 kilos.
 

12.EXPECT FLUCTUATIONS
Even when you do all of the right things, exercise, eating right, all of it, your weight is influenced by many involuntary metabolic processes that work in cycles. Sometimes, these processes lead to water or fluid retention that will make you a pound or two heavier than you should be, but don't be discouraged. A day later you'll be back to where you should be.
 

13.TAKE NOTE YOUR EXERCISE DURATION
Along with keeping a log of the exercises you perform, keep track of how long you exercise for, as well. Remember, 30 minutes a day five days a week is a good baseline, but to be effective, you need to exceed this amount.
 

14.BULK UP TO SLIM DOWN
Weight training is a great way to tone up and slim down, to get your body into proportion, to decrease your stress levels and to raise the rate at which you burn calories when you are at rest. Though you may initially “gain” weight when you begin weight training, realize that this weight is muscle, not fat.
 

15. H.I.T. FIRES UP YOUR METABOLISM
Though it is a good baseline to perform at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week, think of exercise as a balance of two things: duration versus intensity. If you increase the duration, the level of intensity diminishes, and vice versa. Studies show that short H.I.T.s (High Intensity Training) provides the same benefits as long, less intense workouts.
 

16.SHAKE UP YOUR ROUTINE
Never be afraid to shake up your routine. Remember that your body is a wonderful machine capable of adapting in its quest to maintain its sense of equilibrium. After about six weeks of any weight-loss plan, your body will grow to adapt and you will see diminishing gains. Shake up your routine by reversing your exercise order or altering your meal times by an hour.
 

17. EAT FAT TO BURN FAT
Contrary to popular belief, eating fat itself will not make you fat. Excess sugar and carbohydrates are what pack on the pounds to your waistline. Devoting a portion of your daily intake to essential fats will help keep your body healthy and stave off cravings.
 

18.PORTION YOUR MEALS
To balance your meals, portion them like this: one-third of your plate should be meat/protein, one third should be vegetables, and the remaining third should be low-glycemic carbohydrates and fats.
 

19.REWARD YOURSELF ONCE IN A WHILE
Remember, think of dieting not as a sprint, but as a marathon. It's going to take time to get to the finish line. As such, do not deny yourself a treat every once in awhile. Zero-tolerance often lends added stress that only hinders your success.
 

20.INCREASE YOUR FIBER INTAKE
Fiber helps keep your metabolism regular, making sure that you process and expel waste efficiently. Increase your fiber intake through whole-wheat bread, certain types of cereal or through concentrated supplements.

On a final note,make these adjustments progressively and allow yourself to gradually ease into a healthier lifestyle, permanently!

Click here for the past issues of Fitness Minutes
 
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Health and Energy
 
Hansen Bay
Director (Business Development)
Vitage Fitness Pte Ltd
www.vitagefitness.com
www.activo.sg