Finding a workout that you love to find your way to a healthier, more enjoyable lifestyle.

A Solid Mix of Satisfaction and Routine

By Jim Rollince

From past experience, I’ve noticed extremely better fitness results from learning to love what it is that you do. For some people, this could mean simple written/routine free-weight exercises, starting with chest and ending the week with arms. For others, it’s about hopping on that bike and/or treadmill and running 5 miles a day.

Learning to love however, is different from naturally engaging in something that’s enjoyable. Routines can be easy, and not very strenuous; but after all, they are just routines. So it’s with my dear advice that as practitioners of exercise and fitness we teach ourselves new things, while also teaching our body the same. This is inherently true with things like dance. More specifically, Zumba is an excellent example of something different, fun, and unique. The ability to genuinely enhance cardiovascular function and endurance, while practicing muscle memory routines effectively exercises the whole body. And simply put, it’s fun.

The most practical and enjoyable way to stay in shape undoubtedly is by playing sports. Joining a soccer league on Sundays or perhaps playing something as simple as intramural dodge ball or kickball can successfully burn thousands of calories in just one day. The sheer competitive nature of these athletic activities drives the body further and beyond, and although strenuous at times, people crave the struggle and willingness to become better. There comes a certain rush that comes with fast paced activities, which brings me to my next point.

Things like mountain climbing, biking, quad-racing, fishing, golfing, etc… – These are all great ways to actively stay in shape, and they’re quite enjoyable as well! A sudden increase in endorphins will surely make anybody’s day brighter. Also, almost all of these activities take place outdoors, which captures much needed vitamins from the sun, further enhancing the overall experience. Keep in mind however, it is important to get your heart rate up every now and then, so switching on and off amongst these and cardiovascular exercises (i.e. – treadmills) will keep your body guessing while enhancing overall fitness.

Sports and Dance are both a leisurely and/or competitive practice, but can also be the most effective way to exercise. Treadmills and Ellipticals will shed weight and enhance muscle strength/endurance, but will never capture the soul and rhythm that dance makes so enjoyable. Meanwhile, the competitive nature and drive that comes with playing sports will always be an important part of everybody’s lives. But again, it’s important to diversify your fitness, and be able to incorporate pleasure and strain. Attempt to pull one’s self away from everyday fitness equipment and home gyms; pick up a class of zumba and/or sign up for an intramural softball league and you’ll be on your way to a healthier, more enjoyable lifestyle.

Jim Rollince works for Gym Source, one of the leading distributors of all brand name home gym and exercise equipment.

How can busy people find time for exercise? Workout at work! Here are 14 ways to fit in some exercise without adding any more time to your “too busy” life.

14 Easy Ways To Workout At Work

by Craig Watkins

If you asked 10 people their main reason for not working out, 9 out of 10 of them would most likely say, “I’m way too busy to workout.”

This might be slightly exaggerated, but the world we live in today moves so fast and it is very easy to let all of the day’s responsibilities and obligations take over the things we want to or “should” do. Work, home family… the list can get pretty long.

Working out is no exception. Without regular exercise, our bodies can very easily become seething volcanoes just waiting to blow.

Following are 14 tips that will help you to sneak in small workouts without adding more time to your already too-busy day at the office!

#1 – Park further from the office and walk.

#2 – Ride a bike to work instead of driving if you have the option. Good for you, good for the environment!

#3 - If you use public transportation, get off a stop earlier and walk if you can.

#4 – Take something to your car before 5:00 just for the exercise!

#5 – Take a walk at lunch and eat a healthy meal at your desk.

#6 – Buy a hand gripper and use it while you are reading, waiting for files to download, etc. Using a hand gripper is a great workout for your forearms and better strengthens your hands to deal with repetitive motion like typing or clicking your mouse.

#7 – Keep small dumbbells or exercise bands in your desk drawer and do arm exercises with them throughout the day.

#8 – Take a break and stretch your muscles every hour or so.

#9 – Take the stairs instead of the elevator when possible.

#10 – If you carry a briefcase, keep a couple of heavy books inside. As you are walking in to work you will get an arm workout. Remember to switch arms.

#11 – Use your briefcase for some arm curls at your desk (when no none is looking!).

#12 - When sitting at your desk, occasionally lift your legs off the floor and hold them out straight for 15 seconds. This will activate your core muscles.

#13 – Tone up your butt by flexing for 20 pulses while sitting in your chair! Repeat this 4 or 5 times throughout the day.

#14 – Only fill your water bottle up half way at the water cooler. That way, you will have to get up and walk more often.

You have just read 14 easy (and inexpensive!) ways you can workout at work without adding a single minute to your day! You have to be there anyway, so why not make it worth your while and get the benefits of exercise at the same time!

No more “I’m way too busy to workout” excuses!

Craig Watkins is the owner and operator of FitnessForBusyBodies.com.

When you’re ready to lose any weight over 5 pounds, your mentality should be on changing your lifestyle and dropping the weight gradually – not doing everything you can to lose weight in a short time span. This approach increases the likelihood of keeping the weight off. While getting your body accustomed to a healthier you, chart your progress in a weight loss blog. Even though you might not be able to see the fruit of your labor early on, by blogging on your progress and changes made, you can start to see results and feel the momentum.

Before tackling any of the steadfast and true methods of losing weight, change simple things about your diet and exercise. For one, replace soda and any other high sugar, high calorie drinks with water. (You may want to still have some fruit juice). A water replacement will automatically slash your daily calories and you’ll hardly even miss the other drinks. After all, you’ll still be able to eat what you want.

The next weight loss tip is to stop eating two and a half to three hours before you go to bed. The logic behind this is you are burning very few calories while asleep so any calories you consume prior to bed time are going to convert into fat and added weight.

While you implement the two strategies above, blog each day about the changes you have made. At the end of every 5 days, go ahead and track your progress. This can include weighing yourself, checking for inches lost around your waist, hips, arms, and thighs, and adding up your potential calories saved. You may not see any results in the beginning, but as you continue to change your lifestyle for the healthier, you will experience success.

After making the two small changes above, phase yourself into two more easy fixes..

First, make a commitment to walking just 15 minutes a day. This small amount of time can make a world of difference in your number of calories burned. Add these calories to the ones you saved above and you’re really cooking.

Another alteration comes from your diet. Try switching one unhealthy or lacking meal a day to a well balanced, nutritious meal. For example, if you are going to eat pizza for dinner, switch to boiled chicken, spinach, and fruit for desert with skim milk to drink.

By continually converting your way of living into a healthier one with small alterations along the way, you will get in shape and lose the weight. Make sure to chart your progress along the way so you can see how far you’ve come.

3 Tips for busy people to stay in shape by Ace, Affa, Acsm, Nasm, Certified Trainer Heather Rider.

3 Tips For Busy People From A Professional Trainer

by Heather Rider
Ace, Affa, Acsm, Nasm, Certified

One of the biggest populations that I encounter as a trainer is the “I have kids, a job, and no extra time to work out” population. I am always amazed by people who have all of these things going on and still get to the gym. There are so many things that we have going on in life these days, its hard to make exercise one of the priorities. However, if you really want to enjoy your job, your kids, your family and your life, for a long time, you have to stay healthy and that means staying active. I have given many of my clients little ways to get their work outs in when they cant see me and now I am going to share them with you!

1) It’s The Little Things:

These days many of us go for the all or nothing way if thinking, If we cant do a full workout that takes at least 45 minutes, we don’t see the point of doing it at all. Well it doesn’t have to be that way at all. Somewhere in the day if we really try we can find at least 10, maybe even 20 minutes to just move. If that means walking around the office and down the hallways or up and down the stairs, or getting a breath of fresh air, even marching in place at your desk, ANYTHING to get the body moving you are a step ahead. Remember the body will do what it is trained to do. When you are at rest that is what it knows. Teach your body to move again even if its in little places throughout the day. 10 minutes in the morning and ten at night is just fine. Its also a good way to reconnect with a loved one, a child or a pet. Walk!

2) Zip Ups

Many of my clients spend a lot of time worrying about their abdominals and back, as they should. This part of your body better known to many as the core, needs to stay strong and is vulnerable to injury if not. If you cant find the time to do some abdominal work what I call the zip up. Simply take an activity that you do every day, or close. Something like driving in your car, sitting at your computer, shopping at a supermarket. Take five minutes to perform a zip up as you work, drive, shop, whatever. Here is how to do it. Simply pull in your abdominals as if you have just entered a very cold body of water. At the same time bring your shoulders back so you have good posture. Try to see how long you can hold that, and then repeat. This will help to keep your core strong.

3) Leg Lift Up

I have one client who worked out diligently 3-5 days a week for years. Then he fell in love and while that is a wonderful thing, his workouts dwindled to once a week. I begged him to at least walk and do the leg lift up exercise. He didn’t. Its been a year now and he recently injured his knee running for a cab. When he saw the DR this exercise is the first one that my client was told to do. When he told me, head bowed in shame, he said “ imagine how much money I would have saved, not to mention pain of surgery if only I had listened to you” Oh well. Now you can learn from his mistake! This exercise takes less than 5 minutes. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you and your hands off the floor, if you have back issues or you feel back pain when doing this, sit up against a wall, but try to do it without. Slowly, and I mean slowly counting to 4, lift your right leg up and then just as slowly lower it without touching the floor. Repeat this on the same leg 10 -20 times. Then switch. You should feel this in your upper leg, which is your quadriceps. The knee is a joint and the only way to strengthen a joint is to keep the muscles around it strong. Remember to do this slow. No cheating!

Exercise can be a great way to give your confidence and energy level a boost. Treat yourself to a few minutes a day and you will see the rewards in mind and body!

www.heatherrider.com

Heather Rider holds a Masters degree in psychology with an emphasis on eating disorders and mind-body fitness. Heather was a Reebok University Master Trainer, and certified by ACE, AFAA, NASM-CPT, ACSM. Heather has appeared in numerous TV and video series including VH-1’s “Getting Brittany Abs”, Crunch on ESPN2, Body By Jake and the syndicated infomercial for AbRoller. She has taught at some of the hottest clubs in New York and Los Angeles, including Crunch, New York Health & Racquet Club, Voight By The Sea, Gold’s and corporate fitness centres located at the United Nations, The American Stock Exchange, Sony and NBC. Heather has also presented at the annual Cory Everson’s Fit Camp for three years.

Interested in playing mind games? Try these little tricks next time you hit the gym.

Going to the gym should be fun! Are you stuck in a rut? Try a few of these psychological mind games and enjoy the confusion of everyone around you. It’s just like facing the wrong way in an elevator and looking at the other people instead of the ceiling or wall.

1. Fill an old vodka bottle with water and use it during a workout. People will wonder if that’s “your secret weapon” to great results!

2. Wear a helmet. I think you’ll find that people will give you a lot more room when you’re lifting when you walk in with head protection (especially when you do overhead exercises!).

3. Pick up the 2-pound nose-itcher dumbells and proceed to lift them like you’re doing the hardest set in your life. Scream and strain like you’re pushing it to the limit. The larger you are, the more effective this one will be.

4. Load a tremendous amount of weight onto the bench press bar, e.g. 500 to 600 pounds. Make a big production with your preparation, lie back on the bench, then, just as you are about to lift the bar off the rack, your watch alarm (previously set by you, of course) should go off. Look at your watch, shake your head, unload the bar then move onto your next exercise. The smaller you are, the more effective this one will be!

5. Do actual squats in the squat rack. You may have to wait for a few people to finish their barbell curls but the strange looks you get when you start squatting in the squat rack will be well worth it.

6. Wear an electric ab-training belt with an extension cord duct-taped to it. Plug yourself in just before each set.

7. Have your workout partner bring an old remote control from home. When he presses a button, do a rep. When hits “fast forward” go faster. When he hits “pause” hold the weight where it is. Just make sure he doesn’t hit the “eject” button, especially after a hard set!

8. Count your reps out loud starting from 100, e.g. your first rep, say “101″, then “102″, etc.

9. Bring a suitcase to the gym instead of a duffel bag. The little rolling ones with the pop-up handles are good. Also, a really huge one that you can fit a person comfortably in will work.

10. Do a set of Rolling Dumbell One-Arm Handstand Push-Ups. Or Turkish Get-Ups. Or Triceps Extensions on the Leg Press Machine.

11. Use sandwich bags instead of workout gloves.

And when you walk into the gym pulling a huge suitcase, carrying a liquor bottle in your hand, with a helmet on your head, two sandwich bags instead of gloves, and an extension cord hanging from your waist, you’ll know that you’ve probably taken this article a little too seriously…

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” all available at Fitness e-Books.com – Muscle Building, Fat Loss, Strength and more!. He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

5 simple things everyone can do to combat the effects of bad body image.

Your Body Image, Your Life

by Heather Rider
Ace,Affa,Acsm,Nasm,Certified

Today I was training someone in the gym, a gym where there are mirrors everywhere. Yesterday I felt like I could see my muscles, I had tons of energy and I felt like I was good at my job, today not so much. What is the difference between today and yesterday?

NOTHING, except the little flurries of negative thoughts about my body gently falling and settling in my brain. Suddenly in the span of 24 hours, I have gone from feeling great, energetic and knowledgeable, to feeling depressed, lethargic and a total sham of a trainer.

I notice my clients have on and off days too. Sometimes I am asked to stand in front of the mirror when they work out so they cant see themselves.

I have many clients with kids. Some  tell me that they are worried because their child is a little heavy. The interesting thing is that the ones who voice their feelings to their kids, inevitably come to me a year later asking for a therapist referral because their child now has an eating disorder.

The ones who say nothing seem to end up with pretty confident kids. I would rather my kid be a little heavy (although not in a way that would endanger their health) and confident than super skinny and always worried about gaining a pound.

Funny, maybe that same rule should go for adults. As a woman who has battled every eating disorder there is (and maybe a few new ones) I am the first to admit that on a “bad body day” EVERYTHING is bad. The traffic seems worse, friends talk too much or too loudly and the lines at the store seem twice as long. So what can a person do?

Sometimes there is no truth or correlation between how we feel and what we really look like, but does that even matter? If I eat  salad all day but I still hate the way I look, what’s the difference? So are we doomed to be miserable? NO! There are a few simple things everyone can do to combat the effects of bad body image:

1 – Beware of toxins!

I am not talking about pollution, I am talking about  people, conversations and media that can contribute to causing you to feel bad about your self. Lets face it, some people thrive on obsessing about their weight and what they eat and some people have a healthy outlook and are able to enjoy life. Which do you want to be? Surround yourself with people who are health minded like you and not stuck in the bad body image trap. If it means spending less time with family or friends who tend to be “toxic” so be it! Maybe they will come on up to your level but don’t let anyone bring you down!

2 – Stay away from the word “fat”

In my classes there are two words I do not allow. Fat and can’t. I don’t see the need for either. If you don’t give them your voice you might be able to make them slowly disappear from your thoughts. The brain is a funny thing, it will take you where you train it to. Take out the word from your vocabulary and you will have an extra tool of defense against feeling it.

3 – Exercise!

For many of my clients, exercise has been key to a better body image. Exercise, done in a healthy way of course, can shift  your mind from trying to be “skinny” to being healthy. If you can do a pull up, 20 push ups, punch a punching bag hard, in other words feel strong, you feel empowered. When you feel empowered and strong you stop focusing so much on the negative.

3a- Meditate

Mediating is all about training the mind. You’ve been telling yourself the same story for a long time about who you are and what you can or cannot do. Meditating and freeing the mind a bit can help you see that most of what we tell ourselves are stories we create and its just as easy to say “I feel great” as it is to say “I cant do it”.

4 – Eat clean and still have fun!

When you eat healthy you feel healthy. Sure everyone should indulge once in a while. But if you have cookies and chips everyday it takes away from the fun of having a special treat, not to mention you have more reason to put yourself down.

5 – Do not weigh yourself more than once a week if at all

This is a touchy one. Many people are very reluctant to give up the scale. As a trainer I will not weigh my clients ever. The reason? I don’t want them to focus on the weight. When its low, it’s a great day and when its not everything is awful. So release yourself from the scale cycle and just trust yourself. Eat right, exercise and stay healthy and most important of all be happy. Its not easy, but its possible.

www.heatherrider.com

Heather Rider holds a Masters degree in psychology with an emphasis on eating disorders and mind-body fitness. Heather was a Reebok University Master Trainer, and certified by ACE, AFAA, NASM-CPT, ACSM. Heather has appeared in numerous TV and video series including VH-1’s “Getting Brittany Abs”, Crunch on ESPN2, Body By Jake and the syndicated infomercial for AbRoller. She has taught at some of the hottest clubs in New York and Los Angeles, including Crunch, New York Health & Racquet Club, Voight By The Sea, Gold’s and corporate fitness centres located at the United Nations, The American Stock Exchange, Sony and NBC. Heather has also presented at the annual Cory Everson’s Fit Camp for three years.

Stamping out the ‘Buts’

by Sonia Devine

Wouldn’t it be great if losing weight was as simple as just wanting it to ‘happen’? Unfortunately it’s not as simple as wanting it to happen. If you want to maintain a healthy weight, you need do a bit more than just want it. You must want it bad enough to do something about it. Throughout the years I have had many conversations with people about hypnotherapy and how it can help people. Since many people associate hypnotherapy with losing weight and smoking, these conversations produce some very interesting insights.

For example, some people say to me: ‘Oh Sonia, believe me; I really WANT to lose this weight…I have tried absolutely everything in the past’. It is usually at this point the ‘buts’ come into the conversation. ‘But’ language is insidious; it says ‘I do not have a choice. I am not in control’. When you use ‘but’ language, you are giving away all of your personal power. So how do you know when you have a case of the ‘buts’? Here are some really common signs:

* ‘I want to lose weight but I have no willpower’;

* ‘I want to lose weight but I don’t have time to exercise’;

* ‘I want to lose weight but I can’t seem to walk past the chocolate aisle in the supermarket’;

….and so the list goes on. And no, I don’t always jump to the conclusion that these ‘buts’ are just excuses. I genuinely believe that the people I talk to actually feel they are powerless. I also know something that these people probably don’t know: they are slaves to their own negative beliefs. That is, they have not yet been show how to use their minds to create what they want. They continue to focus on what they don’t want and as a result, they get more of the same; more disempowerment; more disappointment; more ‘blah’.

But what they don’t know is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Do YOU have a case of the ‘buts’? If so, write them down on a piece of paper. This is probably the most constructive thing you could do for yourself, because as you do this, you will reveal to yourself your own negative beliefs; that is the beliefs that have created your current circumstances; the beliefs that have created your current weight!

It is only necessary to want to do something and to know how to do it in order to be able to do it. So maintaining a healthy weight is about wanting it badly enough; wanting it enough to make time for physical exercise; wanting it enough to pass by the chocolate aisle at the supermarket. If you are having trouble losing weight, ask yourself: ‘How badly do I want this?’ Perhaps you don’t really want it at all. Perhaps someone else wants it for you and you don’t really want it yourself. Or maybe you’re so terrified of failing you simply can’t get started.

But getting started so very important! On the other hand if doing it all at once is too overwhelming for you, why not start small? Take an apple into work for morning tea rather than buying a donut. Have a skinny cappuccino instead of a full-fat one. Every little bit counts. ‘Anna’ did exactly this. She was so morbidly obese that making huge changes was far to overwhelming for her. So she started small. She had half a donut with morning tea instead of a whole donut. She ate fresh vegetables with her meal instead of rice or pasta. That way, she didn’t feel as though she was depriving herself; and yes, she DID lose weight!

One of my clients said to me: ‘Sonia, I have been skinny all my life. I just want to lose a couple of kilos off my stomach. Why is this so difficult for me this time?’ After we reviewed his existing diet we found lots of little ways for him to cut down on his calorie intake. We started off with the cups of coffee. When we added it up we discovered that ‘Laurie’ was consuming 6 cups of coffee each day, each with a whopping 3 teaspoons of sugar!!! Can you imagine how thrilled he was to find that by making a few adjustments here and there he was able to shift the weight within a month despite having tried and failed for the past two years? ‘Laurie’ took control, and he did it by starting small.

If you want to lose weight and keep it off, start small and build up your ‘success muscles’. The most important thing is to do something different; anything different. As you do this, you begin to say ‘no more ifs or buts’; you will surprise yourself at how successful you can be. So congratulations in advance!

Sonia Devine is one of Australia’s leading experts in weight loss hypnotherapy. Want to learn more about how to achieve permanent weight loss? Claim your FREE Weight Loss E-book here => http://loveyourselfslim.com.au/free_stuff
Article Source: Physical Fitness Articles|Free Fitness Articles|Health and Fitness Articles|Conditioning|Diet

Back Pain At The Office

by Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS

It’s getting to be so bad that by Monday afternoon, you’re already tired of being at the office. You’re not even thinking as far ahead as Friday. Just getting to hump day is going to be challenge enough.

In reality, it’s not the folks you work with who are getting you down—they’re tolerable, mostly, although there is that one guy in accounting. Where do they find these people?

It’s not even your boss, who, if he knew even half as much as you do, WOULD be a shoo-in for Executive of the Year.

No, the biggest pain in your neck is actually located a bit lower. And it’s really what’s making working where you do seem a lot worse than it actually is.

Face it. It’s your aching back that’s sucking the joy out of your nine-to-five existence and making you feel 10 years older to boot.

Sure, you’ve learned to tolerate the bad coffee, pointless meetings, and lame jokes in the course of your day. But you just can’t tough it out when it comes to back pain, which can range from dull, nagging aches to those unexpected twinges that feel like you’ve been hit with a taser gun.

If it’s any consolation, you’re not alone. More than 31 million Americans have low back pain at any given time. The bad news about back pain is that it not only lives with you all day at the office but it also comes home with you at night. It may even dog your weekends.

How do you develop pain?

If you are experiencing back pain at the office, you may think that it is coming from all the sitting, standing, and lifting that you have to do. And, indirectly, it does. But it is actually more about how the body has to adapt to all the sitting, standing, and lifting than the activity itself. Let’s take sitting as an example.

Because of the amount of time you spend sitting, your body must gradually adapt itself to that position. This happens in a number of ways. The first thing it must adapt to is how the weight goes through your hips and pelvis. Then, there is the way you sit—upright, slouching, or something in between. Most importantly, it’s what happens to the muscles while you’re sitting. For example, your hip flexors will get tight from being in a shortened position and your butt will get weak and flabby from being in a relaxed state.

That simple combination of tight hip flexors and weak glutes is called a “muscle imbalance.” The result of these muscle imbalances will be postural dysfunctions of your pelvis and spine. These imbalances send both your spine and pelvis into abnormal positions, the combination of which can be devastating to a person with a healthy back and catastrophic for a person suffering from any form of back pain.

What can you do about it?

What you must also understand is that your imbalances are the result of what you do in your everyday life—your workouts, sitting, the activities of your job, and your own personal habits. I’m not going to tell you to stop going to work. But what if you changed the way you present yourself at your desk?

• Instead of sitting at your desk, try kneeling. I kneel at least 30 percent of the time I spend at my desk. I have a small foam pad that puts me just high enough to type and see the monitor.

• I sit on a therapy ball—and guess what? I don’t sit still like my momma told me to. I move my hips in every direction, which means I’m working on my core balance all day long.

Action steps to take

Because you have to work and because the quality of your life depends on your career, you need to be able to make the most of your situation. Let me give you just a few tips to help you through the day:

Sitting

When I sit, I sit with my legs in all different positions—sometimes bent, sometimes behind me, other times stretched out in front or even to the side of me, keep the legs moving.

Every 10 minutes or so, I will work my body in some way—and, yes, that includes walking away from my desk. But more than that, I make it a habit to stand up when the phone rings. I also stand when I have to read something or when I’m rearranging the stack of stuff on my desk for greater productivity.

Standing

If your job requires you to stand all day long, be sure you have quality footwear and a neutral shoe insert. Our body mechanics start when our feet hit the ground. It is best if your feet are in the most neutral position possible.

One negative body pattern that many people fall into is to continually shift their weight from one foot to the other. The problem with this is that most people find eventually decide that one leg will be more comfortable than the other, and then that leg will get most of the weight most of the time. This will wreak havoc on the pelvis and spine. Better to put equal on each foot as much as you can, and learn to correct when you catch yourself shifting your weight or leaning on one leg too much.

Lifting

A third obstacle on the job can be situations where you have to lift anything over 10 pounds repeatedly. Again, it’s not the activity itself that puts you in jeopardy; it’s your body’s inability to tolerate the stress of the weight. In other words, you should be able to lift anything you want to and not have any difficulty doing it. The problem occurs when your body is suffering from the muscle imbalances and postural dysfunctions that we talked about earlier—and you don’t even know it.

So, when you lift that object and you get injured, think of it as the straw that broke the camels’ back. Your body was already in a compromised state, and it just needed that last bit of stress to send you in to a painful condition.

Stress

It’s an unavoidable fact of life at the office, and it can also play a role by causing your muscles to tense up, which makes you more prone to injury. Stress also lowers your tolerance for pain. In some cases, minimizing stress on the job can be a daunting task, but deep-breathing exercises, walking around the block, or even talking about your frustrations with a trusted friend can help.

In closing, I want to leave you with this message: Even though the workplace can be a hazard to your health, if you do find yourself having back pain, remember that your thoughts and your beliefs about your situation will have a direct impact on your ability to recover and how fast you recover. That’s why it’s critical to learn all you can about your condition and take action as soon as you can…

If you enjoyed this article, and would like more information in alternative back pain treatments sign up for our Back Pain Advisory and you will join the nearly 1 million people that have received this life changing information. Please visit our new web site at http://www.losethebackpain.com/ for more free informative articles, videos and open forums

Article Source: Physical Fitness Articles|Free Fitness Articles|Health and Fitness Articles|Conditioning|Diet

Most of you have tried diets and have failed for one reason or another. Most people try to follow fad diets that work at first, but then the results slowly fade away and you are back to your old eating habits. Well, here are a couple of changes you can make to your everyday life, that will not only help you reach your goals, but will help you continue to maintain that goal you have reached. You don’t have to make drastic changes or drastically restrict the amount of food you eat. By following these simple tips, I am sure you will start down the right path to a healthier you.

1. Eat less calories and burn more fuel!

You have to create a calorie or energy deficiency to stimulate the body to burn off body fat.

That means eating less and burning more, either by eating less fats, carbs, or a combo of the two.

2. 3500 calories = 1 pound of body fat!

To lose 1 pound of body fat you have to burn off an extra 3500 calories.

Do this over a course of a week. 3500 divided by 7 = 500. So try to take in about 500 less calories per day.

If you exercise, then your caloric intake may not be so drastically reduced because of the extra calories you are burning through exercise.

3. Take in more protein while dieting

Cut calories from carbs and fats, while keeping or upping your protien intake.

This will cause your body to supply protien to your muscles while exercises on a diet and more importantly will cause you to feel fuller at meals.

4. Disrupt your diet habits

Over time your body adapts to your schedules and daily rituals.

When your diet stops working or the results have slowed down, don’t abandoned your diet.

Instead vary your habits.

Come of your diet and eat within reason on foods you don’t typically eat on your diet.

This switch will ramp up your hormones that tend to plummit when dieting, then after a day or two go back on your diet and fat burning will continue.

5. Eat plenty of fiber

Fiber will help you feel fuller between meals and help strafe off any hunger pains.

Also, high fiber carbs (oatmeal, whole grained bread, beans, brown rice) help to slow down digestion and cause the body to work harder to digest food.

More work = more calories burned. When more calories are burned less calories are stored as body fat.

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Identifying Stress in your Life

Many people go through their days not aware of the stress in their lives. They might think, “Well, how serious can it be if I don’t even know it exists?”

Regardless of how little or how much stress you have in your life, being able to identify it will be a big help to you. Once you are able to identify the stress in your life for what it is, you can then go about the business of dealing with it more effectively.

Make no mistake about it – if there is stress in your life, chances are you are reacting negatively to at least some of it.

Keep a Stress Diary

When you commit to keeping a Stress Diary, you gain important insight into how you react to stress. This allows you to better channel your energy into performing as you choose to and not as the result of the unidentified stress that has a foothold in your life.

You will begin by recording, each day, information about the stresses you are experiencing. Your goal will be to analyze these stresses and then better manage them.

Here is an example of a day one entry:

. Woke up late (alarm did not go off)
. Got the kids off to school in an awful rush, very cranky
. Arrived to work without any breakfast, feeling like a zombie
. Short-tempered with co-workers all day
. Picked up kids from school and nearly bit their heads off
. Locked myself in my room.
. Stayed in room entire night, sleeping and watching TV, had a bath

Your Stress Diary will better help you to understand:

• What causes your stress in more detail?
• Level of stress that you operate at most efficiently
• How do you react to stress? Are your reactions appropriate and useful?

When you write your Stress Diary each day, you will gain valuable insight that will help you to manage stress more proactively.

So that you can best analyze your stress, include the following information:

• Date and time of each entry

• How do you feel right now? On a scale of 1 – 10 with 1 being miserable and 10 being ecstatic

•Record your mood on a scale of 1 – 10 with 1 being low and 10 being very happy

• Record how effective you feel you are on a scale of 1 – 10 with 1 being very ineffective and 10 being highly effective

• How stressed out do you feel? On a scale of 1 – 10 with 1 being in a Zen state and 10 feeling like you are crawling out of your skin

• What stress symptom do you feel?

• How did you handle the stress?

Analyze your Stress Diary

Commit to making daily entries into your diary over a reasonable period of time. After a period of about 4 weeks, you should be able to start to see patterns.

Some of your behaviors which are provoked by stress will be repeated on a regular basis. Make a list of those behaviors that you see most often. These will be the stressors in your daily life you will want to learn to control first.

Next, look at the causes of these obvious stressors. Also, look at how well you managed them on a day-by-day basis. When you can identify areas where you can learn to manage your stress responses better, list those.

List all of the every day events of your life that cause you stress and list how these events made you feel.

By now you can see the contrast in what events cause you the most stress compared to what events cause you the least. You can now see at what stress level you can function best. Your goal now will be to lessen the stress in your life by managing how you deal with stressful situations and you can do this by responding to the stress in your life in a more proactive/positive manner.