Methods of Pilates

There are usually two forms of Pilates.  There are the mat bases ones and equipment based Pilate’s exercises.  With Pilates, the quality of exercises is the main goal.

Exercises should be performed through a slow sustained type of movement using abdominal control and the proper breathing methods.  There are many books and videos that are on the market to help the consumer but it is important to see good instruction from a qualified Pilate’s teacher to get the right results.

The mat based Pilates exercises are usually the most popular type.  This is a series of exercises that are done on the floor using gravity and your bodies own weight to make resistance. 

The general goal of mat based Pilates is to condition the deeper supporting muscles of the body and to improve the posture and the balance of coordination.

Equipment based Pilates are for the more serious Pilates person. This form of Pilates will include specific equipment and some form of equipment based items.

Pilates also has free weights like dumbbells that will also offer resistance to the muscles.  The equipment can be expensive if it is not properly used it could make it hard for the body to make muscles and tone right.

It is important that the equipment is used correctly and most people who practice the equipment based Pilates do so with the right Pilate’s trainer. 

Pilates is very low impact and it is important to know the general precautions before beginning Pilates.

Many people should talk to their doctor first before taking it on.  Women that are pregnant should ask their doctor first.

People that are over the age of 40 with any preexisting medical condition or muscle problems, or that are obese should speak with their doctor first.

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How to Get Started with Pilates

One of the best parts about Pilates is that it is good for just about anyone no matter I you are someone that likes to sit around or if you are a health nut. 

In fact Pilates has gained a lot of attention these days and there are new classes available. 

You can find that many of the YMCA’s and fitness centers offer Pilates and most are done with the mat.

There are some Pilates instructors that offer private classes.  They may be bought either one class at a time or in blocks. 

These classes may be combined with mat and machine work.  If your health club has Pilates machines there for your use, make certain that you get supervision from a qualified Pilates instructor.

Just like anything, there are good and bad ways of doing things.  Pilates has to be done the right way. 

The fact is that Pilates is very popular today and classes are coming available all the time.  You may be getting the wrong type of instructions if you are not using a good source.

With any type of exercise, you can hurt yourself especially if you have a health condition or do not know the right way to do something.

Some gyms think that if they send their personal trainer to a weekend course, they are qualified to begin teaching Pilates.  This is not true and can lead to injuries.

You want to have an instructor that is certified by a group that approves of rigorous training.  This type of program needs to consist of several hundred hours of being instructed in Pilates only.

They have to have the education to modify the exercises so that a new person can teach them well and not hurt themselves.

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An Equation For Staying Healthy

There are many tips and ways to stay healthy. From the television, to magazine advertisements there are several reminders to tell us how to stay healthy. However, there is an even easier tip to constantly remind us how to stay healthy. Though it would not completely answer and deliver to all the health issues we may have, we could apply this as a paradigm of simple measures. An equation for staying healthy could be as easy to remember as one, plus two, plus three, equals 6.

One

We have to start an equation for staying healthy with the first thing to remember: our life. We only have one body to take care of, so it should not be that hard to monitor and maintain. Furthermore, we only have one mind to think for ourselves. We cannot depend on others to tell us how to stay healthy or be healthy. We have to look for the appropriate information ourselves and apply those learning by ourselves as well.

Another thing about “One” is that we only have one shot in this life to do this. Of course we may be able to rectify certain health practices when we stumble, but how sure are we that we would still have that second chance of living a normal life if the damage has already been done?

Therefore, the “One” that is pertained to in this equation is our self. We only have one to boot and therefore we should focus on this.

Plus Two

“Two” in this context means that there are only two paths that we can choose, the right and the wrong path. The same analogy goes to a beneficial or a destructive outcome of our bodies. In whatever life choice that we take every single time, we are bringing the self either closer to wellness or sickness. Think of it as this way: we are the flag tied at the center of a rope in a tug of war. One end leads to sickness and eventually death, the other to wellness and eventually longevity. Each moment that we do something, each food choice that we make, or even each day that we do our lifestyle routines, we have to think “To what side are we going then?”

Plus Three

“Three” is relatively simple, as it would pertain to three parts of the day: morning, afternoon, and evening. In relation to this, a person has to plan out the activities in their appropriate time. There are activities that are suitable in the morning, or maybe until the afternoon, and there are also some personal activities that are suitable for the evening. Any unplanned schedule and adherence therefore would result to added stress, and therefore be detrimental to the self.

Examples of activities that are good in the morning are exercise, early morning sunshine, a time to reflect and plan other activities for the rest of the day, and breakfast. As for the afternoon, continued work from the morning, a little bit of recreation perhaps, and an eagerness to get home and rest. Evenings are good for a cool down walk in the neighborhood, spend time with the family, watch a little television, and definitely sleep.

The exact activities that are placed into these three different times throughout the day differ from each person’s career and work schedule. Nevertheless, it is always safe to assume one of these times as resting and sleeping schedule.

Equals Six

“Six” pertains to the number of meals that one has to eat everyday. Recent studies have shown that the average daily caloric requirement needed per day is best digested and assimilated if they were distributed into six small meals instead of three large ones as considered before. This allows the body to digest the food at a constant rate without oversupplying and causing the body to store excess nutrients into fat.

The one, plus two, plus three, equals six paradigm is an equation for staying healthy which can be applied to almost anyone, even those who are recuperating from sickness, and those who haven’t experienced any major illness yet.

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3 Ways Yoga Can Benefit The Businessperson

The lot of a modern businessman is a stressful one and there is always so much to do.  It would take a pretty compelling set of reasons to convince a successful businessman (or even an unsuccessful one) to add something else to an already packed schedule, so why would he even think about regular Yoga classes.  In this article we examine the three main benefits of Yoga and how they apply to the busy businessperson.

Benefit Number One:  Physical Health

All business-mans ultimate goal is to become wealthy isn’t it?  Have you ever heard the saying that your health is your wealth?  Believe me it is true.  No matter how much money you have you cannot benefit from it if you are dead and personal health is often neglected in today’s busy corporate world.  But the question is not whether one can afford the time for exercise to become healthy; it is whether they can afford not to.  Health is a shifting scale – you are not either healthy or dead.  It’s important to think about how much your level of health affects your work.  A healthy body will allow you to concentrate more, work harder and increase the time you spend productively.
Yoga is the perfect way for a businessman to look after their physical wellbeing.  Because the exercises are so incredibly low impact they can be performed even by the most out of shape person, and the more regularly they are performed the better that person’s health will become.  Yoga is a very efficient method of releasing tension and stress.  During a workday certain blockages develop around the body and many of our vital organs do not get the full amount of oxygen and nutrients that they need to function at peak efficiency.  Yoga stretches different muscles groups in certain ways that will lead to these blockages being released and the blood flow bringing the bodies organs all the oxygen and nutrients they need.

Yoga’s health benefits are both immediate and long term.  In the short term blood flow is increased and the body functions better because it is achieving the nutrients it requires.  Tension is also released from muscles and the bodies lymphatic system is able to more effectively deal with waste products.  In the longer term these will be ongoing benefits and the digestive system will also function more efficiently, which has innumerable health benefits.  The general balance, co-ordination and flexibility will also be greatly enhanced.

Benefit Number Two:  Mental Health

Have you ever considered the importance of a breath?  We know that when someone stops breathing they die, and even this simplistic understanding should tell us how important it is to breath.  But breathing properly is often ignored.  It is vital not only for the numerous health benefits, but also for the strong mental advantages it allows us.

Yoga sessions will usually begin with a standing, breathing exercise.  The simple process of taking in a deep breath and releasing it slowly is incredibly calming and the basis of the breathing exercises that are a vital backbone to the Yoga discipline.  The key to this breathing is that it draws our attention to the one simple action of breathing.  We become very aware of the life giving benefit of a deep and controlled breathing cycle and are able to achieve a level of calmness that we often don’t seek out in our everyday lives.  That calmness itself is a stepping-stone to achieving focus.

The ability to focus is probably the single most important primary skill in a work environment.  There is always so much going on around us and so much that needs to be done that it is difficult to focus on the single task we are doing because of the multitude of things ‘in the back of our mind’.  Regular Yoga teaches techniques to quickly clear the mind of all these other distractions and then focus our mental efforts on a single task.  It is also a great provider of personal discipline.  The self-discipline that is learned from focusing on the body and becoming master of oneself is a key benefit of Yoga.

Benefit Number Three:  Happiness

Happiness is a goal that is often sacrificed in the short term in exchange for some mystical point in the future when everything will come together and be okay.  Yoga doesn’t move you any closer to that mystical time, but because you develop such a strong sense of self and connection with yourself, it is common to become more content with your current situation.  You will find that the more you practice Yoga the more you will be comfortable spending time alone as well as amongst other people.  Your sense of self worth will increase and you will perform better in social situations.  This is perhaps the most important gift that Yoga will give to you.

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ABC’s Of Staying Healthy

Staying healthy requires a lot of thinking and self reflection to be successful. With a longer life expectancy of human beings as compared to pre-modern age, people have been ore vigilant to think about and create ways to even extend the lives of everyone existing. Numerous mnemonics and acronyms have been developed as well by nutritionists and scientists to help people have a guide on how to stay healthy. One of these would be the ABC’s of staying healthy, a very simple, yet effective way of adding to the long list of patterns to keep healthy.

A Is For Abstinence

“A” stands for abstinence. Most probably many would already be thinking that this seems like the same ABC tip for responsible sex. Though the keywords used in the ABC’s of staying healthy are similar except for the last one, the ideas are completely in a different context as this would specifically target more of a person’s lifestyle in everyday living.

Abstinence should be practiced by the person in declining the things that would not make him healthy in the process. Unless it is required such as a career that would limit the choice to either quit the job or to counter the effects with good health practices, abstinence on a great level is required of the person should he wish to start staying healthy and maintain being healthy. Abstinence should be the basis of any individual to serve as a disciplinary concept. Without the discipline to know when to say no, it would prove difficult to stay away from the things that people have learned to love.

B Is For Be Faithful

“B” stands for “Be Faithful”. Being faithful is being able to hold out and maintain focus on your objective of staying healthy. It does not mean that you totally become a no-nonsense robot who only distinguishes a black from white, but being lenient is a risky thing to inculcate. Though it is not really to bend the rules from time to time because of valid reasons, it may develop into a nasty habit of having an excuse for every single choice that should have been for staying healthy.

C Is For Calisthenics

Calisthenics or exercise is and has always been part of any healthy program designed for health conscious and health seekers alike. Calisthenics does not necessarily mean the rigorous training that one sees in advertisements and magazines. Those are for bodybuilders who would want to reshape their bodies into hard sculptured specimens of humanity.
Calisthenics are simple activities which would allow one’s self to move about and permit the proper flow of blood to the different parts of the body for optimal oxygenation of the cells.

Calisthenics should be done everyday for at least thirty to forty-five minutes which includes mainly aerobic exercise. Not only does daily calisthenics improve the cardiovascular flow of the body, it also adds up to the amount of calories to be burned for the day to maintain the desired body weight and fitness level.

The ABC’s of staying healthy is a very elementary concept for anyone to grasp should they wish to seek a better health state or maintain an already good one. It is a personal choice as it is a personal endeavor. The extent of its success lies on the amount of effort that the individual puts in each letter of this simple mnemonic.

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