Types Of Exercise
What is the most common fitness mistake?
The biggest mistake that I've seen again and again, year after year, is that people indulge in exercise because they have a specific task - "It's my 1 year reunion, my 2 year reunion, I have a wedding to go to, I'm going on a cruise" - and they get all excited and they say "I have to get in shape for this, I have to look good." That's not fitness, that's not what it's about; that's overindulging in an activity to attain an aesthetic difference. That may be important to them; however, in the grand scheme of things it's not that important. It's about understanding how to live a lifestyle to where you have an enhanced state of being everyday because you've done the right thing: you've slept right, you've eaten correctly, and you've exercised right. And everything comes together and you just live a higher state of self. Until someone gets there they have no idea how far they can go.
What is a personal trainer?
A personal trainer is not someone who just counts reps for you. It is someone who is there to guide you, to motivate you. It is someone who has to appropriate formal education, as well as practical experience to ensure that you get the results that you desire, according to what's important to you, in a safe and expeditious manner. It's not someone who's just going to be a cheerleader for you because it takes science, and it takes the ability to transfer the knowledge of that science, so that you understand it as the individual.
What is the difference between fitness and physical activity?
The difference between fitness and physical activity? That's a great question, and I would say it lies in structure. Physical activity is not sitting on the couch. Fitness is not sitting on the couch and having a specific intent, a specific purpose. What is it that you want to accomplish? Is it training for a sport or activity? Is it to lose a given number of fat pounds? A fitness regimen is something that is structured with purpose or intent, and likely very consistent as well, where a physical activity might just be, "Hey, once in a while on Saturday, we'll do a pickup basketball game, and I'm going to do some stretching in front of my couch while I watch American Idol." That's the difference.
Why is exercise so important?
Exercise is important because our bodies were meant to move. They were not meant to sit behind the desk and sit behind the steering wheel on a busy freeway. They were meant to move, and not only front-and-back and up-and-down, but in rotational patterns as well, and that's why functional training, for example, is so important. Our bodies were designed to move, and because of all these modern conveniences we have, we've stopped moving the way we were intended to move. Obviously it is detrimental - look at what's happened to our society in the last thirty years.
How will exercise improve my quality of life?
Exercise improves quality of life for many reasons. One, if your body moves better, then you're going to be able to do everything you do in life better. If you wake up in the morning and you feel outstanding, then you're going to start your day off strong, mentally and physically. Also, it's what we were designed to do, and we've gotten away from that; that's the challenge. We need to get back to moving every day, where we're physically active. Our bodies desire that. You'll know, on some days you feel as though “I need to move today. I need to get out.” Even if it's for a walk. Your body will tell you. The challenge is if you don't listen to your body; that's when you get into trouble, and it becomes habitual. Then, that becomes the disease process over time.
What is "aerobic" exercise?
Aerobic exercise is not dance exercise, contrary to some popular belief. “Aerobic” literally means “with oxygen,” so aerobic exercise is doing exercise when oxygen is the primary source of energy. You may go in and out of other sources of energy. However, oxygen is the primary source. Aerobic exercise uses large muscle groups for an extended period of time: twenty to thirty minutes; even an hour or more.
What is "anaerobic exercise"?
Anaerobic exercise is simply the opposite of aerobic exercise. It's producing energy without oxygen. Anaerobic means without oxygen. An example is a very explosive jump, or a leap or a forty-yard dash or a weight lifting. Due to the way your body works with that form of energy production, it doesn't utilize oxygen but it can produce incredible speed and power; however it fatigues very quickly. So we need both aerobic and anaerobic exercise to balance out our fitness regimen regardless of what type of activity we do; sports or activity, it doesn't matter.
What is "isometric exercise"?
Isometric simply means that the muscle is contracting but no movement takes place. If I flex my arms but the joint stays in one spot, then that's isometric. Isometric excercise not necessarily a good idea for a lot of people simply because it can raise blood pressure and the interesting thing is your body will only be strong at that one point of flexion or extension. So, if I sit and do this and then I extend my arm out, stretch it further, I am not going to be stronger here if I have been only doing my isometric contractions at this point. Therefore it's not necessarily a good thing. So, isometric is something that is generally not done in traditional exercise programming, with a few exceptions.
What is "postural training"?
Postural training exercises have really gotten a lot of attention lately. Finally people are starting to understand that we can't just exercise the big muscles; the beach muscles, your chest, your biceps, and maybe your back. There are smaller stabiliser muscles that need to be activated first. When these stabiliser muscles are activated they help hold your body in the proper alignment while you're doing the other larger movements (what are called your gross movements) over multiple axes and planes of motion. So, if we don't use the stabilizer muscles or initiate them and train them, our posture may not be as good as it should be. Also through trauma, accident, and habitual behaviour, our posture becomes distorted over time. Everyone has postural discrepancies whether they think they do or not. By doing these exercises you create a neutral pelvis, your chin won't jut front and back, and your shoulder won't be elevated or depressed. When you do these things everything else becomes better. Think of it like this: you wouldn't build a house on a shaky foundation or one that is built unevenly, so why should we work on heavy strength training exercises if our foundation is not in place?
What are "balance exercises"?
Balance exercises are incredibly important for all individuals regardless of what they do and they should be done near the beginning of a workout regimen. So, let me go back just a moment. There are postural movements that you should do and that helps stabilise your body. After someone has done postural exercises to stabilise their body, they can then do balance movements like reaching, leaning, twisting, reaching out for a ball, or whatever it is. There are many different types of balance movements. If you're an athlete, you have to know how to balance because if you're just strong but you don't have good balance, then that strength or power means nothing because it's hard to transfer. If you're a senior, you'd want to do balance training so you can help prevent falls and hip fractures, which oftentimes then actually leads to pneumonia and even death in seniors. So, simply by doing balance training, we can actually decrease the likelihood of death among seniors. It's a shorter correlation than people think. So, everyone can benefit from balance training, and I encourage you to do so.
What is "eccentric" training?
Eccentric means "elongation of the muscle" or "elongation of the joint." Using the example of the bicep curl: if my arm's extended and I'm curling in, that's concentric. So eccentric is the elongation phase of the muscular contraction. In general terms, most of the muscular development takes place in the eccentric phase, so that's why it's always so important that you control the weight, both up and back, regardless of what the movement is.
What is "concentric" training?
Concentric training means shortening of the joint angle by contracting the muscle. I will use the example of the bicep curl because everyone is familiar with that. So if your arm is extended and you shorten it, you are shortening this angle here by flexing this muscle, that's a concentric contraction, and this type of action happens during concentric training. By contrast, eccentric is the elongation and the opening up of the joint space.
What is strength training?
Strength training can include weight lifting; that's one mode of strength training. It also can be bands and ball exercises, tubes, cables and things of that sort as well. So, strength training is anything that places a load on the working muscles - the skeletal muscles - to increase their strength and performance, and potentially hypertrophy, which is growth of the muscle.
What is "Yoga"?
Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word "yoke," or "to unite," "to bring together," and that's why it has the mind, the body, the soul, and the spirit application to it. It's breathing, it's visualization, and it's the physical postures, the asanas. It's everything put together. Yoga really has a unique interpretation to each person who practices it. For some, it's a really strenuous exercise, and for others, it's very passive.
What are the different forms of Yoga?
There are many styles of yoga that you can enjoy: Hatha yoga is a general term used for just a wide variety of the physical yoga. Iyengar is the most popular type of yoga in the United States. It's where you hold the poses for a longer period of time to really understand the subtleties that take place in your body while doing the exercises. Bikram yoga or hot yoga is done in a room that is about 95 to 100 degrees and it facilitates cleansing of your body. Ashtanga yoga is also referred to as power yoga and it can be quite a bit more challenging. The poses are held for a short period of time and it's done in a very ritualistic, faster manner. Vinyasa yoga or Vinyasa flow yoga is where the movements, the asanas, are seamlessly put together in a sequence that really flows nicely from one to the other.
What is "Pilates"?
Pilates is a form of exercise, originally developed by Joseph H. Pilates many, many years ago. It was because of his illness as a boy that he wanted to gain wellness for himself. He did a lot of research and developed these series of movements and apparatuses that are now used in the pilates method. There is traditional pilates, and then there's a more integrated approach to pilates as well, where they are using it for therapy; pre- and post-natal, rehabilitation, and so forth.The benefits of pilates are really wide ranging. The focus is on the core, the midsection of your body: the abdomen, the low back, the spinal stabilizer muscles, and even the pelvic floor. Once you learn to stabilize that, all the other movements that you do in the pilates class, and throughout life, become easier. The benefits are a decrease in back pain, increased sports performance, to some degree weight loss, and just an overall better sense of wellbeing.
What are "calisthenics"?
Callisthenics are kind of a general term for full-body exercises that don't use weights. For example, running in place, jogging in place, high knees, jumping jacks, big arm circles; different things like that, leg lifts while you're lying on the ground doing different activities. It's an older term. Now it could be incorporated in some yoga programs, some pilates programs, some strength programs, some exercise ball programs, ans the suchlike. Really, callisthenics are non-machine, full-body, general movement exercises. That's under the umbrella of callisthenics.
What is "flexibility"?
Flexibility is the motion or movement of ones own body. There are many types of flexibility movements; for sports, work, or just plain everyday activites. The benifits from flexibility are better circulation of the blood, less injuries, and more movent in the body.
Why are some people more flexible than others?
Some people may be more flexible than other individuals for a few different reasons. For example, in females during pregnancy the elastin hormone is released to allow the body to take on the shape that's necessary to accommodate the foetus, and so the elasticity or the flexibility of the body will change during that gestation period. Sometimes people's bone structure just allows them to be more flexible, simply because of the way that the joints and the connective tissue align and connect to the bones themselves. Sometimes people just work at it more; they start at a very young age and their body adapts, and then they can still carry forward some of that flexibility for a number of years, even despite reduced activity and flexibility training.
