Weight Loss and Fitness - Facts not Fiction by Martin Harshberger

Weight Loss and Fitness - Facts not Fiction
Weight Loss And Fitness
The world of weight loss and fitness is certainly vast, and the American consumer can absolutely get lost in the thousands of easy effortless and ostly useless ads if not careful. With my books and research I want to clear the air about the various myths and false statements regarding our health and fitness that have clearly muddied the waters for many Americans.
What I want to stress in particular is that there is no magic answer, potion, or diet pill that is going to make everything better. The ad on TV where the pretty lady says "it's easy. you'll love it", is appealing to our need for instant gratification with no effort. We don't want to hear the facts so we continue to look for the instant solution. If there was a magic diet pill, or diet plan, over 60% of Americans wouldn't be overweight, in spite of spending over $35 billion annually on diet products.
Achieving weight loss and fitness requires a commitment on your part to strive for a healthier you. What you will get in return for all of your hard work and dedication is a fit body, a renewed clarity of mind, better quality sleep, and perhaps even a pronounced increase in your libido. I have found that through the positive changes I have made in my own life regarding weight loss and fitness, all areas of my life are exponentially better. I wake up energized, I feel excited about my day and my interactions with people, my body feels strong and capable, and my entire outlook on life has improved significantly.
The Weight Loss and Fitness Commitment show that claims that teach you shortcuts on how to drop 30 pounds in 30 days are improbable at best and unhelathy at worst.
That claim is water loss pure and simple. You do the math: 1 pound of fat = about 3500 calories 30 pounds of fat = 105,000 calories. To lose 30 pounds of fat in 30 days you would need to reduce caloric intake by about 105,000 calories or about 3500 per day. If you are eating 3,000 calories a day now, that might be tough. OK you say I'll exercise it off. 1 hour on a stationary bicycle running at an average over 20 miles an hour burns about 400 calories. Meaning to burn 3,500 calories a day on the bike, you'd need to ride it for about 9 hours.
If you are looking for a quick fix, you will continue to be frustrated about health and fitness.
However, if you are tired of feeling fatigued and know for sure that you are ready to make a solid commitment to your own health and mind, Living to Be Younger can act as a guide. It is my hope that you will read each page with an open mind and a willingness to make some changes that will enable you to break out of your rut.
First, lose the idea that there is a magic diet pill or supplement that will transform your body to a svelte shape. Losing weight requires that you expend more calories than you ingest--plain and simple. This means that you must get up and moving at least three to five days per week, for at least 30 minutes each session. If you were considerably overweight, it would be ideal to aim for at least five workout sessions per week. Always consult with your physician before embarking on any new exercise plan. Second, take a good look at what you are putting in your mouth on a daily basis. Aim for natural foods that are high in vitamins and minerals, fiber, protein, and complex carbohydrates. Limit your intake of foods high in saturated fats, sodium, refined sugars, and preservatives. When you take the Living to Be Younger Challenge, you will find that your zest for life isn't gone--it's just been hiding. Congratulations on taking this first step towards a healthier you.
http://www.distribuidoromnilife.com/a1_word_directory_internet.htm
About the Author
Real nutrition, fitness and weight loss information for real people. Learn how our everyday living environment impacts our health and wellness. Click on the link to learn more: http:www.livingtobeyounger.com http://www.distribuidoromnilife.com/a1_word_directory_internet.htm


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Webmasters comments: There are loads of fitness fads, diets etc out there and you have to be careful otherwise you'll waste a lot of time. Fitness programs are usually the best method, used over time and can produce some amazing results, here is my personal favourite: Fitness Program

Making Time for Exercise by Anna Fleet

As a certified personal trainer and editor of a popular fitness site, FitnessGear101.com, I’ve heard every excuse in the book when it comes to why people don’t exercise. However, the one that takes the, pardon-my-pun, “fitness cake” is lack of time. A day doesn’t go by without one of my clients professing that they simply don’t have time for exercise. Well, I’ve seen people who want to loose weight badly enough. They will restrict their diets, exercise rigorously for an hour a day and even swear off alcohol – gasp – and chocolate – double gasp! So, don’t give me that bull! People shy away from exercise because they think they’ll have to spend hours in a gym. To maintain good health all you need is a healthy diet and a daily walk that can be broken up into increments throughout the day. Still don’t believe me? I’ll show you how easy it is to fit brief walks into your day:1) Is Sex and the City a rerun again? It breaks my heart when that happens. Why not go for a 30-minute walk. If it’s a new episode that you simply can’t miss, jump rope during commercials or run on the spot.
2) Does carting the kids to hockey or baseball cut into your exercise time? Take some inspiration from Jr. and stay on your feet during the game. You’ll get kudos for being the team’s best cheer leader, and your butt won’t expand to the size of the soccer field.
3) Are you dying to get your hands on the next best-seller? Buy it as a book-on-tape and take it walking with you. It might have you extending your stroll to finish a chapter.
4) Instead of a sumptuous brunch with the girls, try a brisk 30-minute walk with your BFF. Catching up on all the latest gossip can be just as delicious during a walk – plus it won’t tempt you to cheat on your healthy eating plan.
5) Remember when people used to “run” errands? Well many of us still take that term literally. The next time you need a quart of milk, walk to the local grocer.
6) Use your lunch break as an exercise break. I go work out and then eat lunch at my desk. A brisk walk around the block will leave you more refueled for the afternoon than that third cup of coffee.
7) Do you complain about how slow your apartment elevator is? Take the faster route – the stairs. You’ll burn calories in the process.
8) It’s always ironic that those who circle the parking lot looking for the closest spot are often the most overweight. Park farther away where there are spots o’ plenty. You’ll burn extra calories lugging your groceries back to the car.
9) Have you ever heard the phrase “hurry up and wait!”? Well it’s not just a humorous observation it’s a great way to stay moving. The next time you’re waiting in a long lineup don’t take a chair, pace the floor or do a little stretching.
10) If you have no time to exercise, chances are you don’t have time to clean the house either. Housework – such as dusting, vacuuming, shoveling and raking – is multitasking because it counts as exercise.
Free Articles and Content by ContentDesk.com
Anna Fleet is a certified fitness instructor, and the face and voice behind fitnessgear101.com – an awesome website with extensive information about workout routines, fitness tools, stupid fitness ideas and more.



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Webmasters Comments: there should always be time to fit exercise into your day, exercise is neccessary to remain in tip top shape! So get out and get running!

Run a Marathon Help

Fitness Programs by Eddie Tobey

Fitness is a state of the human body that allows it to function up to its full potential. It is the ability to do regular jobs without any strain, while being alert and energetic enough to endure any stressful activities. It is basically a condition wherein, all the major parts of the body, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, bones and muscles are in proper working condition. There are four aspects related to physical fitness: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, and muscular endurance and flexibility. Fitness programs are the path to having a healthy body. They are the perfect way to incorporate exercise into the daily routine. Fitness programs, when followed religiously, are a remarkable way to counter several diseases, even in old age. Fitness programs need a lot of commitment and hard work.
There are several stages in incorporating a fitness program into your daily routine. The first thing is to check your present health condition to determine what kind of a program would suit you. This requires a basic health check up of blood pressure, diabetes-check, and a full work over for any suspected diseases, and past injuries. Also, consider your family history. Are you prone to heart attacks, strokes, arthritis, and other ailments? A major aspect in physical fitness is the body's composition, which indicates the makeup of the body in terms of the ratio of lean mass to fat mass. Lean mass is comprised of muscle, bone, vital tissue and organs. Fat is fat.
Fitness programs take all these physical conditions of the person into account. The ideal exercise regime for a person will suit his/her body type. This is also contingent upon one's objective be it weight loss, physical strength, or others. Fitness programs are composed of several kinds of activities such as: aerobics, aquatic exercises, golf, walking, skipping, jogging, swimming, bicycling, running, skiing, or playing sports like tennis and squash.
Fitness program should be chosen to suit your fitness level. They should be enjoyable, with realistic goals, and should fit well with your lifestyle. Some people may not see immediate results. Depending on the program as well as their body type results may vary. However, patience is very important. Choosing more than one type of exercise would also make it interesting. You can opt for an instructor for special kinds of fitness programs or for group fitness programs. People with disabilities need to follow fitness programs consistently.
There are many professional fitness centers that have sophisticated equipment to suit all kinds of people and their fitness needs. These centers have professionals and medical specialists who would be able to offer advice about the best kind of fitness program to take up. They provide customized workout routines, nutrition plans, personal trainers, and expert guidance to make the results last.
About the Author
Fitness Programs provides detailed information on Fitness Programs, Fitness Training Programs, Golf Fitness Programs, Kid Fitness Programs and more. Fitness Programs is affliated with Gym Equipment.

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Webmasters comments:
There are loads of fitness programs out there, my persoanl favourite is this one: Lightning Speed Fitness Program

Train Properly with a Heart Rate Monitor By Jacquie Cattanach

Using a Heart Rate Monitor takes the guesswork out of your runs. A heart rate monitor not only gives you permission to run slower but also tells you when you are not running hard enough. Runners - it’s time to banish that old belief “training faster is better”, get rid of the guilt when your training run was not quite as fast as what you would have liked. What we now know is that to reach your running goals you must train at the right intensity. To enable us to train at the right intensity, we need to know what our heart rate is and follow a proper training program with a mix of speed or interval workouts, tempo runs, recovery runs and longer runs all done in your target heart rate zone. How do we know what our target heart rate zone is? Well since it is directly related to your maximum heart rate, first, we need to have a look at determining your maximum heart rate.
The first, most important piece of the puzzle, is finding your maximum heart rate. There are many schools of thought on this one and probably the one that we hear about most and that has been around for years is:
Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) = 220 – “your age” (for a 40 year old this would be 220 – 40 = 180, making 180 beats per minute your MHR)
However, Runner’s World has developed a more reliable method, which seems to be more accurate for most runners. It is:
For runners under 40: MHR = 208 – (.7 x your age)
For runners 40 and over MHR = 205 – (.5 x your age)
You could also use the field test which is probably the most accurate indication of your MHR. Wearing a heart rate monitor, and making sure that you are well hydrated, first do a proper warm up run. Then at a track or a fairly steep hill run hard for 2-3 minutes. Repeat this 2 more times trying to push yourself harder each time. On the third and last repeat, push yourself like you are going for the gold. Immediately after the last repeat, check your heart rate and this number should be a good indication of your maximum heart rate.
With this information, you can now figure out what your target heart rate should be for your desired workout. The heart rate zones that you want to run in will be dependent of the intensity of the workout that you are trying to achieve. Familiar workouts and their target heart rate zones are:
Recovery, Long or Easy Runs.. .......................................65%-75% Tempo runs....................... .........................................87%-92% Interval Repeats (shorter bursts of speed during your run)..95%-100%
These are percentages of your MHR. You could also construct different target zones depending on the workout that you are trying to achieve.
A measurable advantage of training with a heart rate monitor is the ability to track your improvement. If you consistently run a 9 minute mile with an average heart rate of 145 beats per minute, as you improve your heart rate will lower for that same 9 minute mile. So instead of training at a pace of 9 minutes per mile, instead you train at an average of 145 beats per minute. You will then constantly be working your aerobic ability and will eventually be training at a faster pace then a 9 minute mile
Another useful piece of information that your heart rate monitor can provide is your resting heart rate (RHR). This is much easier to figure out than your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR). All you need to do is remember to leave your heart monitor on your night stand before you go to bed and then first thing in the morning, without moving around too much, put it on and alas you have your RHR. Do this for a week or so to get a good indication of your true RHR. As you monitor your RHR, you will probably see days that your heart rate is higher than normal. This can be a result of many things, one of which is over-training. This is useful information because then you would know to back off your workout and take a rest day or workout in your recovery zone instead of doing intervals or pushing yourself too hard.
For those that are new to heart monitors, it is a good idea to have an observation period, where you just monitor your runs, how you feel and what your heart rate is, also taking into consideration what your RHR was that morning. Pay attention to your body, set realistic goals and heart rate monitors can be the greatest asset to any athletes training schedule.
Jacquie Barry has enjoyed running and triathlons for the past 20 years and finds her heart rate monitor an integral part of her training. Jacquie provides tips and advice for runners on topics such as running shoes, and running apparel.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jacquie_Cattanach

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Webmasters comments: I myself wear a heart rate monitor and find it a very useful piece of equipment, helping you to get a better understanding of pacing yourself etc. On the other hand there are several runners who I also run with who do not like heart rate monitors, so you will have to experiment and decide for yourself!

Here is a fitness program that will help you get into your best possible shape:

Lightning Fitness Program

The Most Important Stretches for Runners By Dominique De Rooij

You as a runner know, or should know, the importance of a warming-up before, and a cooling-down after your workout.First you do your easy running and then your stretches. A bit of calf stretching here, reaching the toes there, a few strides and your done.You think.What a shame.You just forgot two very important stretches. Maybe the two most important ones for runners. These two stretches will keep nasty injuries like shin splints and achilles tendonitis out of the door. So please take your time to learn about them.Shin Splints Shin splints are lower leg pains either to the inside of the lower leg (medial shin splints) or to the front outside part(anterior shin splints).They happen to runners who are new to the sport and push themselves too much, runners who suddenly increase their mileage too excessive and runners who change their running terrain to harder or steeper grounds.It is not so strange we runners develop shin splints. Our lower legs take the impact of two to three times our body weight every time we take a step while running. Each leg does about eighty to ninety steps a minute. That’s a lot of impact on your lower legs ! Achilles Tendonitis Achilles tendonitis is another one of those pains to the lower legs many runners come across in their running career. It is caused by too much stress on the achilles, for instance due to excessive increases in mileage, too much hill work and too much speed work.Do you see the similarities with shin splints?Those lower legs need some extra muscle to fight against our urges to do crazy stuff ! Your Two Most Important Stretches So what we need to do is strengthen our lower legs. Not just now and then. I advise to do the following two stretches after every workout. So incorporate them into your running schedule and do them every cooling-down again.Heel dropsThis stretch is so important to prevent achilles tendonitis. Stand on a curb with your front foot. Drop your heels. Slowly count to five and lift again. Repeat 10 times. Calf raisesThis one is very important for preventing achilles tendonitis as well. But also for preventing and/or battling shin splints. Stand on the floor and lift your heels. Slowly count to five and drop again. Repeat ten times. That's it.That's all.It is almost too easy.And it is such a shame that not every runner out there is doing these simple stretches. I certainly hope you will incorporate these stretches in your running program. And hey, tell your running buddies about them too !
Dominique de Rooij is an avid runner. He is also the founder of Best-Running-Tips.com.Best Running Tips is the website for running tips on training, apparel and gear.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dominique_De_Rooij

How to Run Injury Free by Gary D Smith

Let's face it...too many runners are injured every year.
Of the millions of people in the United States who run either recreationally or competitively, over 50% will suffer some sort of running injury just this year alone!
The types of injuries most runners suffer from include shin splints, knee pains, lower back pains, Iliotibial Band Syndrome, Plantar Fasciitis, Neuroma, Iliopsoas, pulled hamstrings, and Piriformis Syndrome.
I won't even go into the detailed descriptions of all of these because it hurts to even think about them.
But if you follow some simple running tips, then you can avoid most if not all of these injuries.
I have run consistently between 10-30 miles a week for the last four years, run 6 marathons, and numerous 10K's, without having one injury by following these simple running tips.
Tip #1: Give your Body Rest
After doing any kind of hard run, you must rest for 48 hours in orderto give your muscles time to rebuild. Running is an impact sport and creates micro-tears in your muscles, ligaments, and tendons.
In order to rebuild, your muscles need time away from running. I personally never run the day after a hard run. Bodybuilders are religious about resting to build muscles, and you should be too.
I have run with far too many runners who ran every day in their younger years and now cannot run at all because they blew out their knees. Our president, George Bush, ran four miles every day and now can only mountain bike because of his bad knees.
Tip#2: Run in new Running Shoes
The last time I suffered shin splints, I was running cross country in high school. in my father's old running shoes. Hmm, I wonder why I got shin splints?
The fact is the support in running shoes breaks down significantly after 500 miles. Then you take a lot of impact on your whole body.
So replace your shoes after 500 miles or three months, whichever comes faster. Your knees are worth it.
Tip #3: Do long slow runs on the weekends
Long slow runs build your aerobic capacity in your legs. This means your body learns to produce more energy and clean out the waste, lactic acid, more efficiently. So running becomes more comfortable and you don't have to work so hard in order to get a good running workout in.
Plus slow runs produce less impact on your joints, which means less injuries. I do a long run every weekend for years. This is especially necessary for marathon training.
Tip #4: Go see a doctor if you do have any strange aches or pains
My brother thought he was suffering from heel pains. He spoke to a doctor and found it was actually Plantar Fasciitis, inflammed tissue in the foot. Now he can start the proper treatment which clearly involves rest from running. After this he can go back to running.
Far too many runners continue running with pain in their bodies. If you feel any pain, then you need to see a doctor. You might need to see a specialist. Do what it takes to learn why you have pains. Running should not be painful rather it should be joyful.
Tip#5: Run on natural surfaces
I met a guy a month ago who has run over 150 marathons. I asked him how he has done all that running injury free and he told me "by running on natural surfaces". He told me he does most of his runs on grass, trails, or soft surfaces. This creates less impact obviously than running on concrete or asphalt or treadmills.
So find a trail and go run on it. Not only is it better for your legs but you will be running with plants, trees, birds, and the glory of nature. Sure beats dodging traffic.
So try some of these tips and they will allow you a lifetime practice of running. While running the Catalina Marathon a month ago, I ran by a couple both 90 years old. I told them, "I want to do what you're doing when I am your age."
You too, can run to your later years if you follow some basic principles.
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Gary Smith coaches runners to run injury free and joyfully. Improve your running this year by signing up for his free newsletter at: http://www.runwithjoy.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_D_Smith

Interval Training By Molly Setnick

Are you in an exercise rut? Do you want to kick your fitness level up a notch and increase your endurance? Would you like to add more intensity to you workout? Interval training is a good way to achieve all of these goals in a safe and systematic manner.

Interval training is simply a matter of alternating high intensity exercise and low intensity exercise. It allows one to get the benefits of the high intensity work while giving the body some rest time. It allows one to extend a workout time period and build endurance gradually.

Running on a flat surface burns calories and gives your heart and lungs a great cardiovascular workout. Running up hill challenges your muscles, heart, and lungs, burning more calories and providing additional toning. But taking a 30 minute run up hill or on a steeply inclined treadmill would quickly exhaust most of us, or likely force us to stop early. However, running up hill then back down, or up hill then on flat ground would allow for high intensity work counter balanced by intervals of slower periods of active recovery. Interval training burns more calories and pumps more blood than continuous lower intensity exercise because it includes intervals of energy and oxygen-hungry work.

Because interval training burns a lot of calories and provides good muscle work, it may help you save time. A pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of bricks. Likewise, running one mile burns the same number of calories as walking one mile. But walking one mile takes a lot more time. If your goal is calorie burning and toning, and you are short on time, then interval training does more, faster. Just remember that improving cardiovascular health requires aerobic exercise of 30 – 60 minutes, so don’t make all of your workouts quickies, save those for when you’re in a rush.
Interval training can also be helpful if your goal is to move yourself up to the next level of endurance and fitness. Maybe you have been trying to start a running program, but can’t seem to maintain such a demanding exercise. Interval training is, in fact, one of the most effective ways to train the body. Marathoners commonly use this method to train for an up-coming race. A good program is to run for 4 minutes then walk at a good clip for 1 minute, or do a 3/2 interval. Your body will work hard then rest (while remaining active), work hard then rest. Your heart, lungs and muscles will make the transition to running, running farther, or running faster in a safe and productive manner.

There are a lot of ways to add intervals to your workout. If you are already a runner add hills or speed segments. If aerobics classes are your genre, add explosive moves like jumps or sprints. Include segments of speed walking in your normal walking routine or take the incline of your treadmill up a little higher at timed intervals.

Interval training is productive and can add excitement to your ho-hum exercise routine. Doing interval work in place of your normal routine, once a month, once a week, or once a day, is a good and effective plan. E-mail me if you need suggestions on how to intensify, endure and enjoy. You’ll be glad you did.

Molly Setnick graduated from Baylor University with a BS in Health/Fitness Studies. She is certified as a Physical Fitness Specialist through The Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, Texas and is AFAA certified to teach aerobics. She co-writes a weekly column for the Texas Jewish Post with Jessica Setnick, MS, RD/LD called “Making Fitness Fit”. She can be reached at www.FitInFitness.com

Copyright © 2004 Molly Setnick. Permission is granted to reprint this article in non-commercial publications so long as the bio paragraph and this notice is included. All other rights reserved. Inquiries may be made at www.FitInFitness.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Molly_Setnick

Monitor your Progress in just 12 minutes!

Here is a great little method, firstly for measuring your cardiovascular fitness at a high intensity, then in the future as a monitor for seeing how you have progressed! Are your ready, here goes! Okay, start off by having a good thorough warm up, then the test is this: run as far as you can in a 12 minute period, this is recommended round a track to keep measurements accurate! As you run remember how many laps you have completed, when your alarm goes off after 12 minutes, stop where you are and work out the distance you have travelled, this distance is used to measure your fitness!
Less than 1,750 metres is poor.
1,750-2,250 is average.
2,250-2,750 is slightly above average.
2,750-3,500 is good!
Anything over 3,500 is excellent!

Do this monthly and see how your fitness improves! This is a good measure of how you've improved!

24 Reasons to Do Your Workout Today

Need a little extra motivation to get moving today? Here's a quick list of the ways that today's workout will boost your mind, body, and soul.

Exercise:

· Improves the quality of your sleep.

· Burns fat.

· Boosts your metabolism.

· Charges your immune system for one to three hours after each workout.

· Increases your circulation.

· Eliminates toxins through the sweat glands and lymph system.

· Regulates blood sugar levels.

· Lowers blood pressure.

· Lowers cholesterol.

· Lowers your risk of stroke. Even low-intensity workouts, such as walking and biking, can lower this risk by 23 percent, the American Heart Association reports. A job entailing physical activity can lower it by 49 percent.

· Increases muscle mass.

· Strengthens your heart and lungs.

· Reduces your risk of various kinds of cancer, including breast cancer.

· Slashes your risk of developing coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Burning 2,000 calories per week in your workout and daily activities reduces your risk of heart disease by 40 percent.

· Helps you control anxiety.

· Provides an appropriate outlet for aggression and tension.

· Helps you lose weight. Exercise is critical to any weight loss strategy, and it may be an even more significant factor than diet. A study in Great Britain involved researchers tracking 1,000 female twins. Researchers considered all factors that might influence the women's weight, including smoking, hormone therapy, diet, and physical exercise. Physical activity had the most profound effect on weight. Even the women whose physical activity consisted of relatively low intensity exercises, such as golf and bowling, had less body fat--particularly dangerous abdominal fat.

· Helps keep your body looking great. Your clothes fit better and your posture improves.

· Improves your self-esteem.

· Improves your sex life. One study reports that physically active women are more likely to describe themselves as assertive, sexy, and physically strong. A majority of them also said exercise helped to boost their career, relationships, self-esteem, and sex life.

· Enhances your mood and relaxes your body by increasing blood flow to the brain and triggering the release of endorphins.

· Increases creativity and alertness.

· Reduces stress.

· Energizes you like nothing else. The energy boost from cardiovascular exercise is instantaneous and lasts for hours.

Susie Cortright is the founder of Momscape.com. Read her reviews of behavior modification programs, including programs designed to help you eat for health and enjoy exercising - or read more articles by Susie Cortright at Free-Article-Bank.com, featuring free, quality articles for your website or ezine.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Susie_Cortright

Cramp!

Okay, when you're running, probably one of the most annoying things you can suffer from is cramp! Most runners have probably experienced cramp of some sort during their life time and know what I'm referring to!

Today's tip is an easy way to avoid suffering! Cramp and dehydration go hand in hand, so today's tip is to keep hydrated while running, especially on long runs where fatigue will take its toll! So take some water when you go out running, if you don't want to carry a water bottle while you run, then drop a bottle off half way round your route, then drink it when you reach half way, then pick it up again upon completion on your way home! Other options include hydro packs and other similar products which I personally find very effective during endurance runs! By keeping hydrated you will fight off cramp for a much longer time, but, if you do happen to get cramp, my top tip to get rid of it, is to stretch the muscle in question out, this will help relieve the cramp!

Injury help

Okay, so you've picked up an injury while running. Here is my guide to getting yourself back fighting fit and running again.
So you've got an injury, all you need to remember is R.I.C.E.
The R stands for Rest, often the best cure for any injury is rest, this gives your injury the time it needs to recover without further damaging yourself!
I stands for Ice, ice helps reduce the inflammation from the injury! Ice for 10 minutes every 2 hours!
C stands for Compression, by compressing the injury (e.g. with a bandage), it will help prevent swelling.
E stands for Elevation, by rasing you injury above the level of the heart, it helps reduce the blood flow to the injured body part!

This method should be applied for all injuries, and after a couple of days the injury should start to heal. If the problem is still there after a week, contact your loccal physio for further treatment.

Top Training tip

Today's running tip is an easy and simple tip, rather than just running and running every week, do a new activity as an alternative e.g. biking/swimming. This is known as cross training, for example replace one run a week with cycling!

This reduces boredom of doing the same old routines, encourages you to learn and develop new skills and hobbies, allows muscle groups and certain body parts (e.g. knees) to be rested which usually get pounded when running and work other muscle groups that are usually ignored, this leads to improved overall conditioning! Furthermore as your usual muscles for running are being rested, it reduces the chance of injury as it gives those muscles much needed recovery time!

Happy running!!

Treadmill Running

Here is a running tip that all gym runners should be aware of! When running on tread mills you should always put the incline to 1 degree! Otherwise when you’re running on the treadmill it is actually easier than running in reality as the ground is moving under you, and so distorts your times/distances covered on the mill, if you were to run on the flat at the same intensity, you would be a lot slower. By setting a slight incline this makes it as if running on flat ground and therefore gives you times that are comparable to outdoors!

Happy Running!

Todays Top Tip

Today’s tip is a simple tip, and very easy to implement, basically, it is to vary your running surface.
By running on softer surfaces such as grass, sand, gravel or dirt, you have to work a lot harder than you do if you just run on the treadmill or roads. It also encourages you to explore the countryside and try different runs and locations as well as burning more calories for the same length run!
Running on soft sand has been shown to burn up to 50% more calories than running on hard concrete! Furthermore it also puts less stress on your knees as an added benefit!

So go venture into the countryside and burn those calories while giving your knees a well earned break!
So go venture into the countryside and burn those calories while giving your knees a well earned break!

Running tips and advice

Hi everybody, welcome to my blog, my name is Victor Lensora and have been running for many years, from my years of experience, through this blog and its associates, I will provide you with running tips, running articles and links to recommended sites that will help improve your speed, strength and performance, taking seconds or even minutes off your p.b's! Each day I shall update it, offering a new running tip, piece of advice or article which I have specially selected as I think it really works!

So today it starts:
My first tip of advice is aimed more at the beginners out there, but can also be applied to more experienced runners. Set yourself realistic and achievable goals, both long term and short, write these goals down, for short term goals, plan how many miles you would like to do that week, if your an experienced runner, it may be as high as 60/70 miles including 2 runs on one day, whereas for a beginner, it may just be a gentle 2 mile jog 3 times a week. For long term goals, for more advanced runners, pick a race that you'd like to enter in a few months time and set a realistic target time e.g. 34 minutes in a 10km race. For beginners, it may just be to complete the race. I advise you keep a diary of your runs, this allows you to analyze how you have improved over the past months of training and you will find it helps keep you motivated and gives you pleasure as you see your improvements!

If you set yourself realistic goals in the short term and the long term, it will help you keep motivated and will surely lead to success, the secret is slowly building up, if you set yourself goals that will push you too hard, and increase's intensity and distance too quickly, then your on a fast track for injury!

In conclusion, set yourself realistic goals, this gives you motivation and also allows you to keep a record of your improvement as you achieve your goals and continue to set higher and higher goals till you reach your pinnacle!

Good luck everybody, happy running!