Health Articles for Bodybuilding

Why Yoga?

The sole purpose behind Yoga is to make the body healthier by manipulating it into a variety of poses or positions that have established health benefits for the body. Yoga can increase circulation, get your heart pumping, clear your mind to help with your mental state, and help to improve your breathing among a variety of other different benefits.


People who are just getting into practicing Yoga should make sure that they do not push themselves too hard in the beginning but instead ease into the pattern of trying harder and harder positions as you body allows you to advance. Typically more difficult Yoga positions have alternative poses that are not as physically demanding but still offer some of the same benefits.

There are tons of resources online that can help you to correctly attempt each of the poses that will be discussed here. This article is solely to discuss some of the benefits you can gain from attempting various Yoga poses. Make sure that you know how to correctly attempt each pose before trying it at home since an incorrect posture when trying a position can potentially lead to a serious injury, otherwise you just will not be getting the benefits of the pose.

Pose Suggestions

One of the basic Yoga poses is the Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana. This pose requires the individual to lie on the floor stomach down the using the arms to prop the body up while arching the back. The point of this pose is to increase flexibility of the spine. It can be beneficial for people who have to sit a lot during the day and get minor back pain. Yoga poses may come with a mild burning sensation as the muscles are stretched but should never, for any reason, be painful. If you experience back pain as a result of this pose then you should stop immediately and check with a professional to see if something more serious is going on with your spine.

Another common pose is Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana. This pose is meant to stretch and strengthen the entire body and can help to increase circulation when this pose is used as one pose in a series of poses. This is another position that can help with back pain. Once you are in the pose you can slowly straighten out the knees and try to get your heels to touch the ground, which will slowly increase your body’s flexibility and strength as you perform the pose more often.

A more difficult pose that should only be attempted by advanced Yoga practitioners is the Crow Pose or Bakasana, which requires the individual to balance the entire body’s weigh on your hands. The main benefit of this pose is to increase overall balance throughout the body; it can help the individual become more in tune with how his or her body feels when in perfect balance. The pose also strengthens the wrist and forearms while also working the abdominal muscles.

Continue On Your Own

There are hundreds of other poses that offer endless amounts of benefits for the individuals attempting them. If you have an issue with your body or notice an area that you would like to work on then you can undoubtedly find a Yoga pose that will help you achieve whatever you are looking for.

Yoga is effective for weight loss by many different means.  Yoga can not only help you reduce your weight by burning calories, it can give you the self discipline you need to avoid emotional eating and put you in tune with your own body.  You will find that you are not only stronger physically but mentally after practicing yoga routinely.  One of the greatest benefits with any style of yoga is that you will find that you are getting in tune with your own body.

How to Lose Weight with Yoga – Strength and Flexibility

Yoga postures help you to improve the strength of your body, working your muscles and toning them.  As you acquire each pose and hold it you are burning calories.  Flexibility improves as you proceed.  When first beginning you may need to do some modified poses, a yoga instructor can help you modify and progress to the full pose as necessary.  There are various styles of yoga, some burn more calories than others but all of them will help you with weight loss and increase your strength and your flexibility.

How to Lose Weight with Yoga – Physical Benefits

Because yoga involves physical movement you are burning calories in a gentle and relaxing way.  By practicing yoga techniques you will achieve better tone in your muscles, your posture will improve as will your breathing.  These benefits all work together for a trimmer, toner and slimmer result.

The postures demonstrated in yoga and the holding of these postures stimulate the thyroid to produce hormones which increase your metabolism for fat burning. The deep breathing techniques cause your body’s internal temperature to rise assisting in the flushing of toxins and water from your body; they also give a boost to the lymphatic system.

How to Lose Weight with Yoga – Emotional and Mental Discipline

Yoga is designed to not only improve your physical well-being but also your mental well-being.  You will learn relaxation techniques relieving stress and anxiety as you go through your yoga workout.  Less stress and better relaxation can help you avoid emotional eating and increase your ability to not only resist cravings but to determine if you are simply craving a food or if you need nourishment.

You will find that after practicing yoga you will feel stronger, healthier and happier in your daily life and will make better choices for healthier living.

Sex is an important part of any romantic relationship, and hopefully, you and your partner have sex on a regular basis. What many people wonder is if sex is a substitute for exercise. If you have sex can you skip the gym? If you and your partner are planning an evening of romance, can you skip your aerobics class?

Sex is Exercise

Because sex gets your heart beating hard, and it requires the use of so many different muscle groups, most people actually do consider sex to be exercise. Because of this, and for other reasons, they make it a point to have sexual intercourse several times a week. While it may be the most enjoyable type of exercise you ever do – unfortunately, it usually is not enough exercise to count.

Sex is Not Enough Exercise

While sex may seem like exercise, and it actually is a bit of exercise to an extent, it usually is not enough exercise. This is because it does not last long enough to be viewed as exercise. Proper aerobic exercise is defined as anything that keeps the heart rate up by a certain amount for a period of time not less than twenty minutes – and preferably for at least thirty minutes.

Unless you and your partner can keep the sexual activity up for a long enough period of time, sex will not be enough exercise to skip a workout in most cases. This is especially true if one partner is doing way more in terms of activity than the other, or in cases where the lovemaking is extremely slow in pace.

Can You Turn Sex Into Exercise

Sexual encounters with your partner could be turned into exercise – depending on how creative you want to get. You both have to be willing and able to keep your heart rates up for approximately thirty minutes, however, for it to actually count as exercise.

Naturally, you can also use sex as the opportunity to do interval exercises, but this will take the cooperation of both partners in order for it to be successful, enjoyable, and to actually count as exercise. Naturally, if you and your partner set out to make sexual activity an actual workout, this is entirely possible as well, and in this case, if you are successful in your intentions, you will find that sex is a substitute for aerobic exercise or interval exercises.

Believe it or not, many people do not workout regularly, yet they still enjoy great health. This is because they have replaced routine workouts with routine sports. Sport is a form of exercise, but because it is fun, few people associate the two.

Sport vs. Exercise

Sport is exercise. It requires the use of your muscles. Sport gets your heart rate up to healthy levels. It allows you to sweat. It gets you moving. While sports substitute for what we traditionally consider exercise, there is a definitive drawback.

Often, through exercise, we have the ability to work specific areas of the body, in an attempt to improve the condition of that specific body area. In sports, however, it isn’t always possible to target certain areas of the body. Instead, sports should be used in place of aerobic exercise, but strength training, for some areas of the body, can also be considered.

Top 5 Sports for Ultimate Health Benefits to Consider

1. Squash – Squash is not only fun, it provides participants with the best cardiovascular and respiratory workout possible. Try to play for at least thirty minutes three times each week.
2. Rock Climbing – Rock climbing is actually good for strength training, as well as anaerobic activity. It does not, however, provide proper aerobic exercise, and should be combined with other aerobic type sports.
3. Rowing – Rowing builds strength and endurance. Depending on the speed at which you row, this can also provide some level of aerobic activity as well.
4. Skiing – If you desire a full body workout, without an actual workout, you should consider cross-country skiing. Through cross country skiing, you can raise the metabolism, build muscle, burn calories, and strengthen the heart.
5. Swimming – Swimming offers the most natural of resistance, which is great for strength training. The action itself also constitutes aerobic exercise.

Top 5 Sports for Ultimate Health Benefits Preparation

Before you start playing any sport, or participating in any form of exercise, it is vital that you visit your doctor, and let him or her know of your plans. This way, your doctor has the ability to check you out, physically, to make sure that you are in the correct physical condition for that sport or activity.

Without this examination, you are opening yourself up to greater possibilities of injury. Many sport injuries are easily avoided with a complete physical, and with an awareness of your physical abilities, as well as knowledge concerning the potential for injury for each type of sport.

Sports are a great deal of fun, and they are great exercise. You should participate in sports that you enjoy as often as possible. One thing that you must be aware of, however, is how to prevent blisters during sport. When a blister occurs, the sport no longer becomes much fun, and it may be a while before you can participate again.

What Causes Blisters?

Simply put, friction causes blisters to form. Blisters form near the surface of the skin, and they are filled with fluid. They become more painful when they burst, exposing deeper layers of very tender skin.

When shoes rub against the heel or the sides of the foot, gloves rub against the wrists or hands, or objects that you are holding rub against the hand, a blister is likely to form. Obviously, the way to prevent blisters is to prevent any friction.

Blisters on the Hands

Naturally, gloves can prevent objects from causing blisters on your hands, but in some cases, the gloves can cause the blisters. Choose gloves that can be adjusted for the perfect fit.

The glove should fit snuggly, and you need to be certain that the material that is around the wrist fits snuggly, as this is the most likely place that a glove could rub a blister on you.

An alternative to a glove to prevent blisters on the hand is tape. Tape your hands well, but make sure that the tape fits firmly against the shape of the hand and the wrist to prevent friction. Sports tape works best, and you will want to shave the area before applying the tape.

Blisters on the Feet

The only way to prevent blisters on the feet is to first wear cushioned, well fitting socks, and then add well fitting shoes. Most of us these days purchase our shoes in discount stores to save money, but sports shoes are best purchased from good old fashioned shoe stores, where the staff is knowledgeable about how the shoe should actually conform to the foot.

Just as you can tape the hands and wrists, you can also use a good sports tape on the feet. This may require purchasing a shoe in a larger size, to accommodate for the tape. Make sure that you tape the areas where the shoe is most likely to rub your skin.

Regardless of where the blister occurs, or what is causing it, as soon as you realize that a blister is forming, you need to stop the friction that is causing it. If the friction continues the blister can actually form even deeper, which takes longer to heal and is a great deal more painful. Deeper blisters will also scar, and run the risk of getting infected.

If you are active in any physical sport, you are at greater risk for physical injuries. The injuries that you are at greater risk for, however, are considered to be sport related injuries. Because you need to prevent injuries, and be on the lookout for the warning signs of injury, you need to know about the 10 most common sport injuries.

Prevention and Treatment for 10 Common Sport Injuries

Different sport injuries have different treatment options, but when it comes to prevention, they all have one thing in common. If you stretch and warm your muscles before participating in any sport or exercise, your chance of injury decreases. If you take the time to cool the muscles properly after sport or injury, you decrease the chance of injury even more.

The stretching that you need to do depends solely on the type of sport that you will be doing, but experts agree that warming and stretching all of the muscles in the body reduces the chance of injury the greatest.

In terms of treatment, one of the biggest mistakes that an athlete can make is to not get treatment soon enough for the injury. The second mistake is to not allow enough time to pass, so that the injury can truly heal, before becoming active in the sport again. Both of these issues will work against you, and in the long run, you will be doing yourself more harm than good. The harm that you do from lack of treatment or from lack of enough treatment could result in permanent damage.

The 10 Most Common Sport Injuries to Be Aware of

1. Pulled Muscles – Pulled muscles happen often in sports, and the cause is usually due to overuse of the muscle, or to falling. Warming up can help to prevent this, but it can happen even when the muscles are properly warmed.
2. Cramped Muscles – These are also known as charley horses, and they are very painful. These cramps usually occur in the calf of the leg. They are usually caused by dehydration, or from a lack of potassium.
3. Back Strain – This is a common problem for people who lift weights, or who must move their bodies in unnatural ways during their sport. This can be avoided by warming up properly, and by keeping an eye on your posture during sports.
4. Tennis Elbow – Tennis elbow can occur even if you don’t play tennis. This condition causes the muscles and tendons in the forearm to become inflamed. This occurs when those muscles and tendons are overused.
5. Shin Splints – If you are an active person, and your shin bones start to hurt, you probably have shin splints. Shin splints are caused by running on hard surfaces, but they can also be caused from overuse of the legs. Jumping on hard surfaces can also be the cause.
6. Runner’s Knee – Nobody is really sure why this happens, but Runner’s Knee occurs when the kneecap becomes misaligned and essentially rubs against the cartilage wrong. This condition is indicated by pain and swelling in the knee.
7. Achilles Tendonitis – This tendon is in the back of the ankle, and it is the biggest tendon in the human body. When this area becomes painful or inflamed, it is essentially tendonitis, and it is caused by overuse or overstretching of that tendon.
8. Sprains and Broken Bones – Wrist, knee, ankle, foot, and shoulder sprains are not uncommon in sports, and neither are broken bones. This can happen regardless of how well you warm up the muscles and tendons, and this usually happens due to a misstep or a fall.
9. Frozen Shoulder – If your sport requires constant use of your shoulders, or requires you to hold your hands up over your head for long periods of time, you are at greater risk of developing Frozen Shoulder – a condition that makes it hard and painful to move the arms, at the shoulder.
10. Foot Problems – Many different problems can occur with the feet if you are involved in sports. The two most common foot conditions include athlete’s foot and foot arch strain.

Educate Yourself Concerning Common Injuries for Your Sport

It is important that you have a clear understanding as to the potential injuries that are associated with the sports that you participate in specifically, as well as potential injuries that are associated with sports in general. When you have this information, you will be better equipped to prevent these problems, and be more aware of what is going on when they occur, so that you can seek proper treatment in a timely manner.

Sport injuries may seem like minor inconveniences, but they are more than that. They can be very serious, and can alter your physical state for the rest of your life if they are not properly attended to.

You exercise and exercise at the gym and still don’t get the results that you want. You’ve attended aerobics classes religiously, without good results. What are you doing wrong? You are most likely doing the wrong exercises. There are easy home exercises for rock hard abs that you can do, without any fancy equipment or a gym.

Sit Ups or Crunches?

The jury is in, and experts agree, crunches are healthier for you than sit ups. Crunches are more effective when it comes to toning the abdominal muscles, and they are simply better for your back. Get help from an expert to learn the proper way to do crunches, and make sure that you do them for a few minutes each and every day.

One of the best things about crunches is that they are free, and they do not take up a great deal of your time. You can do them on the floor at home, or even in your office. You don’t have to do hundreds of crunches at a time to get the results that you want – but you do have to do them daily.

Use the Legs to Build the Abdomen Muscles

Legs weight more than you realize, regardless of how light or how heavy you are. Use your legs to build your abdomen muscles. Lie on the floor, on your back, and lift your legs off the floor a few inches. Hold this position for several seconds, and notice that you are actually using your lower abdominal muscles for this activity.

An alternative to this exercise is to lie on the floor, on your back, lift your legs off the floor, bend your knees, and bring your knees up to your chest. Hold the position, and then reverse it. This isn’t as effective as the first method, but there are benefits to it.

Non-exercises to Build the Abdominal Muscles

Believe it or not, there are some things that you can do that will build these muscles that are not actually considered to be exercise. Learn to pull yourself up straight and to hold your stomach in. This activity actually builds the muscle, and it also makes you look slimmer and taller.

Even if you never purchase any exercise equipment or walk into a gym, you can still have rock hard abs. It’s just a matter of taking the time to exercise those muscles each day with some simple crunches and leg lifts. Even if you only exercise for fifteen or twenty minutes each day in this manner, you will be amazed at the results that you get.

If you really want to build muscle, there are numerous things that you can do.

Building muscle starts with the right foods and the right exercises – in the right amounts. Building muscle can also include the use of various supplements. If you want to use these, you need to have a clear understanding of 5 supplements to assist with muscle building.

Protein and Creatine Supplements for Muscle Building

Protein is the essential ingredient in muscle building. Without protein, you cannot build muscle at all, and in fact, you will lose a great deal of muscle. You should be consuming about two grams of protein for every pound that you weight. If you weight 160 pounds, you need 320 grams of protein each day. Protein comes in a variety of forms, including shakes, bars, and capsules.

Along with protein, you need creatine. This product increases the mass of your muscles, and it occurs naturally in the body already – but you need to increase it. Creatine comes in a variety of forms as well, including powder and capsules.

Glutamine and HMB Supplements for Muscle Building

Glutamine, also known as L-Glutamine, is a very important amino acid that is naturally found in muscle tissue. In fact, this important amino acid actually helps to protect the muscle from wasting away, and helps the muscle to recover after workouts or injuries. It is important to note that while you can use both glutamine and creatine, you should not use them together at the same time.

HMB is another important amino acid, but it is a newer supplement that is available today. HMB has been proven to build muscle as it helps the muscles to burn fat.

HGH Supplements for Muscle Building

HGH is the Human Growth Hormone. This hormone is naturally produced by the body, from the anterior pituitary gland. It has been proven that once you hit the age of 30, your body practically stops producing this hormone. HGH can be found in a number of different supplemental products, and you should definitely choose a supplement that contains this essential muscle building hormone.

It’s also vital that you understand that while supplements are essential to building muscle, you must exercise those muscles properly as well, and eat a well-balanced diet that is designed for muscle building. Without those two essentials, the supplements that you take won’t do you a lot of good, and you need to make sure that you are eating about six times each day.