Blog 44 3rd April 2017
Exercise part 2:
As I said last week there are different types of fitness, endurance, strength and cardio fitness. All these are in cross fit. You have weight lifters but they generally have no cardio fitness. (What I have found as a naturopath when I did urine analysis is that their heart was the weakness point of their body.) Often runners don’t have upper body strength unless they are tri athletes – where they swim, run and cycle. All is covered in the different types of fitness.
It’s important for the body to par take in different sports or activities. To try to get an all round fitness, that’s what our ancestors did. No desk sitting for close to forty hours a week and the 2-3 hours sitting an evening watching television.
From my observations I notice that women often don’t have good upper strength and men don’t have true core strength. As a yoga teacher for many years I have had beautifully shaped men to do yoga and when we get to a plank they often start shaking relatively quickly whereas the ladies who have been consistently doing yoga don’t shake nearly so quickly. The plank does many things but not cardio fit of course. It is considered a morning exercise as it awakens all the meridians in the body and stimulates the system. It also strengthens the shoulders, wrists, arms, buttocks (glutes), quads and ankles. If done correctly the core is also engaged and the many layers throughout the torso are held and thus strengthened. (could try it when waiting for the kettle to boil?!) Pilates is great as it can also help the heart get fit by repetition of the exercises. They use machines that can pin point and engage certain muscles and help them get strong to maintain the correct posture for the most optimum efficiency of the body.
Sometimes if a sports person has had an injury and they don’t give the body time to heal with rest and rehabilitation then starting out to early back in the sport can have adverse effects. If still not 100% then the body over compensates and a weakness somewhere else in the body arrives. Then another injury happens and this can take even longer if not sorted correctly or the career is over.
I have also noticed that a lot of runners when they get older turn to bicycles. This is often because all the running and pounding the pavement have taken its toll. The joints of the ankles, knees and hips eventually wear out. The ideal way of running is hitting the ground with the ball of the foot then the calf muscle and quad are taking the shock of the ground. If however you strike the ground with the heel then the joints and bones become the shock absorber. Hence turning to bicycles. Running on hard-ish sand in bare feet is ideal and even though the run feels hard the recovery in the legs are far quicker. Or another way to work the thighs and glutes is wading thigh high into the sea and walk as quickly as possible. This also burns a lot more calories. Go back to nature. It’s good for stress too.
Have a good week.
Exercise part 2:
As I said last week there are different types of fitness, endurance, strength and cardio fitness. All these are in cross fit. You have weight lifters but they generally have no cardio fitness. (What I have found as a naturopath when I did urine analysis is that their heart was the weakness point of their body.) Often runners don’t have upper body strength unless they are tri athletes – where they swim, run and cycle. All is covered in the different types of fitness.
It’s important for the body to par take in different sports or activities. To try to get an all round fitness, that’s what our ancestors did. No desk sitting for close to forty hours a week and the 2-3 hours sitting an evening watching television.
From my observations I notice that women often don’t have good upper strength and men don’t have true core strength. As a yoga teacher for many years I have had beautifully shaped men to do yoga and when we get to a plank they often start shaking relatively quickly whereas the ladies who have been consistently doing yoga don’t shake nearly so quickly. The plank does many things but not cardio fit of course. It is considered a morning exercise as it awakens all the meridians in the body and stimulates the system. It also strengthens the shoulders, wrists, arms, buttocks (glutes), quads and ankles. If done correctly the core is also engaged and the many layers throughout the torso are held and thus strengthened. (could try it when waiting for the kettle to boil?!) Pilates is great as it can also help the heart get fit by repetition of the exercises. They use machines that can pin point and engage certain muscles and help them get strong to maintain the correct posture for the most optimum efficiency of the body.
Sometimes if a sports person has had an injury and they don’t give the body time to heal with rest and rehabilitation then starting out to early back in the sport can have adverse effects. If still not 100% then the body over compensates and a weakness somewhere else in the body arrives. Then another injury happens and this can take even longer if not sorted correctly or the career is over.
I have also noticed that a lot of runners when they get older turn to bicycles. This is often because all the running and pounding the pavement have taken its toll. The joints of the ankles, knees and hips eventually wear out. The ideal way of running is hitting the ground with the ball of the foot then the calf muscle and quad are taking the shock of the ground. If however you strike the ground with the heel then the joints and bones become the shock absorber. Hence turning to bicycles. Running on hard-ish sand in bare feet is ideal and even though the run feels hard the recovery in the legs are far quicker. Or another way to work the thighs and glutes is wading thigh high into the sea and walk as quickly as possible. This also burns a lot more calories. Go back to nature. It’s good for stress too.
Have a good week.
thanks for sharing your good yoga experience with us.