Treadmills.me

July 22, 2009

6 Ways You Can Tell You Are Moving Towards Your Fitness Goal

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , , — mamta @ 8:01 am

Hi. It’s a Wednesday and day for fitness notes again. Quite so often, I notice gym-goers and outdoor exercisers doing their thing and not gauging their times or monitoring their vitals. I often wonder if it is just laziness or ignorance. Newbies especially, take a couple of weeks before tuning in to their body signals and reading up enough to know how to go about their routines.

Newbie or not, many of us are not sure if we are getting closer to our goals. I am assuming we set ourselves to fitness programs because we have a goal, whatever that may be – to lose fat, to tone our abs, to get better definition on our arms and legs, to condition our heart, to lead a healthy life etc.

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July 15, 2009

Hamstring Injuries – Part 2 (Treatment)

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — mamta @ 8:01 am

Hi. Continuing from last week’s health post, let us take a look at what we can do if and when we experience a hamstring injury. As always, consult your doctor. There is never a replacement for medical consultation and a doctor’s advice. Hamstring injuries generally take anywhere between 3 to 6 weeks to heal completely, depending on the severity of the damage. However, till the time you get an appointment with your health care provider, there are some things you can do at your end to ease the discomfort and prevent further damage.

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July 9, 2009

Hamstring Injuries – Part 1 (Causes)

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , , — mamta @ 8:11 am

Hi, today we will take a look at one sport injury that often afflicts treadmill runners – hamstring injuries. The hamstring is a group of 3 muscles located at the back of the thigh. Injuries to the hamstring may occur due to a whole range of reasons. Typical symptoms of hamstring injuries include pain, swelling, spasm, or restricted movement etc of the hamstring. I have outlined some things you should take a look into, if you are experiencing hamstring injuries.

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June 24, 2009

5 Sure Shot Ways To Quick Recovery After Long Runs (10 -12 miles)

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , — mamta @ 8:01 am

I have often been asked by treadmill runners of ways to speed up recovery after a long run. I have always found myself at loss for moments because there is not an only method. There are loads of ways in which one can recover from a long treadmill or outdoor run and each one has our favourite one that works best for us. I generally give out my personal favourites, cover a few others, and hope that they will soon discover their own success. Here is an outline of what works with most of us for runs that max 10 – 12 miles. Post-run recovery should be and is very different for marathon runners.

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June 17, 2009

Plantar Fasciitis/Dog’s Heel and How You Can Overcome It

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , — mamta @ 8:01 am

Hi. Today I am going to cover a condition that often afflicts treadmill runners, trail and runners of every terrain – the plantar fasciitis aka a dog’s heel. I would have come across it in due course of study and would have left it at that, but I experienced this first hand. The plantar fascia is located in our heels. The Wikipedia Commons image below exhibits it clearly:

File:PF-PainAreas.jpg

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May 6, 2009

The Why of Muscle Soreness and How to Tackle It

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: — mamta @ 1:01 am

We have all experienced pains and aches the day after a hard and immensely satisfying workout at the gym or home. Though it is often a good indication that we have worked our muscles and maybe even pushed to stress the muscle groups more than our usual workout average, it may also be indicative of lactic acid build-up or torn micro-ligaments or muscle tissues from overuse.

Each of us has a lactate threshold. It simply means the level of exercise intensity when our body produces lactic acid. Thus, if we have a low lactic threshold, our body will produce lactic acid at low levels of exercise intensity. You may wonder how this connects. Here is how:

During any exercise or workout, energy is released by burning fuel (glucose) by our bodies. During this process of energy creation and release through metabolization of carbohydrates and proteins, a by-product compound called pyruvate is formed among others. If the system does not have sufficient oxygen to remove this compound, it converts to lactic acid.

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April 29, 2009

Water Intake Levels

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , — mamta @ 1:01 am

Hi on this Wednesday morning! I have just put down the newspaper and have come across the water issue in it’s health pages and thought that this makes an ideal post for today. We have often heard of 6-8 glasses of water (equivalent to 2 litres of water) a day theory. However, this is only a rough and ready figure for average daily activities. In real, water and fluid consumption is a function of our activity levels and type of activities (load), intensity of activity, weather conditions etc. So how much water is really enough for somebody who incorporates physically exertive exercises in their daily schedules?

From time to time, experts have reviewed their take on fluid consumption pre, post and during workouts. It is difficult to give an exact estimate of how much water is enough, however, it is important to drink water before workout as well as during the workout. Though water has no energy value of it’s own, it helps in the production of energy through better metabolization of carbohydrates and proteins in the body. If we drink less, we are actually having the body operate at sub-optimal energy levels. Scientific studies have shown that up to 10- 30 % less than individual optima of energy are reached with lower levels of fluid/water intake pre and during workouts. It is best to be tunes in to your body and chalk drinking levels as per your activity schedule for the day.

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April 22, 2009

Top 7 Ways to Recover Fast After a Workout

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: — mamta @ 1:01 am

Hi again! Today we take a look at what we could do to speed-up our recovery after a full workout session. We must remember that though workouts make us more fit, it is the recovery phase that follows that makes us stronger. Here’s what you can do facilitate recovery:

1. Cool Down: Cooling down is essential. I have extolled the benefits of cool down in my post last month. Abruptly stopping a workout session could lead us into the Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS) due to lactic acid build-up. Stopping abruptly also causes our increased heart rate, temperature and blood pressure to drop suddenly and this is dangerous. So, taper off your session by doing the same activity you had as the main workout but at slow speed and at lower intensity levels.

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April 15, 2009

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and Exercises

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , — mamta @ 1:01 am

It’s Wednesday and time for fitness notes again. Today we will see how the oft-talked Basal Metabolic Rate (or BMR) is affected by workouts. But before we begin, let us do a quick touch on what BMR is. BMR is the minimum amount of energy that a body requires at the state of rest and which is just sufficient for the functioning the vital organs such as heart, brain, liver, nervous system etc.

A person’s BMR is affected by a number of factors and exercise is only one of those factors. The other factors are age, weight, level of fitness, genetics, temperature, stress levels, previous meal, glands and body surface area etc. In this post, we will concern ourselves with exercises.  BMR is closely related to lean body mass. If you have less lean body mass, or are endowed with more fat mass, you have a lower BMR. Alternatively, increasing the lean muscle mass (not fat), increases BMR.

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April 8, 2009

Top 8 Ways To Tackle Back Pain

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , — mamta @ 1:01 am

Hi again. Backaches can be really nagging. They can start with pulling a ligament or muscle in any area of the back during any activity. I say any because, I have heard fairly active people pull and injure their back while bending to pick something at home. It could arise from out of treadmill activity (wrong posture, foot pronation or strained lower limb muscles etc) or from strength training (wrong techniques or over-training) or evening a stretch gone wrong. The pain just stays on and prevents them from living fully for weeks. In some cases, the pain returns on doing something strenuous. However, the good news is, you can do a lot if you ever experience this condition. Here are a few good tips:

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