Top 12 Yoga tips to remember

1. The best time for practicing Yoga is in the morning. It is the only time when the mind is calm, and fresh and the body movements can be performed with considerable ease and vigor.
2. Never attempt to practice yoga while under the influence of alcohol or drugs (including prescribed drugs) which may alter your ability to stay alert to your physical capacities and could result in injury.
3. To practice Yoga you must choose a place which is calm, quiet, ventilated, dust free, moisture free and distraction free.
4. Before starting Yoga, you must clear your bowels and bladder; clean your nostrils and throat of all mucus. You must also drink a glass of lukewarm water.
5. Like all other work outs you must begin with easy poses, thereafter you can advance to the tough ones. Be systematic.
6. Listen to your body, and if you feel burning sensations or otherwise injury, stop. Don't wait for the teacher's instructions.
7. Yoga must energize and not cause weariness and depression.
8. You must take breaks in between if a particular step or exercise proves tiring.
9. Your diet should be a balanced and you should eat after an interval of 4 hours. The quantity of food should be such that it satisfies your appetite. Over eating and fasting should be avoided.
10. Yoga clothing should be loose and as comfortable as possible. Form-fitting cotton/Lycra pants and shirts are the best.
11. While performing Yoga your breathing should be long and deep. You must remember to keep your mouth close and inhale and exhale only through the nose.
12. You should always keep a Yoga mat made of some comfortable materials.

Motivate to Exercise

We all know how frustrating it is when we go to the gym, but don’t see our body changing. It can be discouraging to do all that hard work and not see any physical change. Just remember these points to motivate yourself and get the results you are looking for....

You won't see results when (during) you work out because the change in your body comes when you're resting which is why it's so important to factor recovery time in to your training. So give rest to your body by alternately exercising them.

A good combination of cardio and weights/resistance training will bring about the results you are looking for. Many people make the mistake of doing cardio alone or weights alone. When combined, the cardio will burn the fat and the weights build the muscle.

If you're eating sensibly and exercising you'll see results eventually. Exercise is good for your body on many levels, but even if you exercise moderately and eat right, you should still see results of fat loss.

The diet hold back 90% of the people from seeing the results that they desire. going to the gym is easy, eating healthy meals day in and day out is not. The healthier the diet and the more whole foods it contains the greater the positive effect there will be on your system. So try to eat healthy food as much as you can.

I think we need to remember that for the average person, this is a long slow process; but this really is good way to lose fat and build muscle.

For Seeing results you require determination to improve ones long-term health. Most people give up so easily, Getting real results takes time, especially if you are not used to an active life style. When you first start to diet and exercise regularly, your body has to adjust to this new lifestyle. But if you are persistent and you keep up with eating well and exercising, eventually you will see results. Exercise is all about determination.

Stretching - Introduction

I have seen many people stretching during workouts just for the sake of it, They twist their arm and legs quickly in some weird manner and start with their exercise. They forget that stretching is as important as the main exercise. One thing you should remember that stretching is not same as warm up! It is very important that you perform the general warmup before you stretch. A warmup exercise helps in increasing your core body temperature by one to two degrees. It is not a good idea to attempt to stretch before your muscles are warm.

In the next few posts i will show you how stretch your important muscles in the most effective manner. I will discuss stretching techniques, effects and its implication to fitness by dividing the body in three parts Upper limbs, lower limbs and the trunk. But lets first start with explaining stretching and why every one keeps talking about it.

Stretching is a general term used to describe any maneuver designed to increase the mobility of the soft tissues and increase the ROM (Range of motion) of the joints by lengthening the soft tissues (muscles,tendon,ligaments etc)

Benefits:
-reduced muscular tension,
-increased range of motion of joints,
-enhanced flexibility,
-improves coordination,
-increases body temperature and heart rate,
-increased blood flow to muscles,
-increased levels of glucose in the blood.

All this helps in making the body ready for the upcoming intensive exercise and prevents muscle injury or soreness.

Types:
The two commonest types of stretching are Static and Ballistic. In stretching the muscle and the soft tissues are just stressed to the point where there is a mild stretch of the muscle and it is kept stretched for few seconds. whereas in Ballistic method a rapid, forceful and bouncing stretch is applied . It is not recommended by experts so we will not talk about this.

Duration and Time:
As stated above stretching should be only done when the muscles are well warmed up. Another frequently debated point is how long one should stretch a muscle. From the various source material available, it seems to be anything from ten to sixty seconds (or even several minutes). Many researchers recommend thirty to sixty seconds. A compromise would seem to be about twenty seconds, however children and people whose bones are still growing should take care.

Contraindication:
-If a bone blocks motion.
-One has had a recent fracture of a bone.
-An infectious process in or around a joint is suspected or known.
-There is sharp, acute pain with joint movement or muscle elongation.
-One has had had a recent sprain or strain.
-There is a loss of function resulting in a decrease of range of motion of joints.
-Osteoporosis.

Remember proper breathing control is important for a successful stretch. Proper breathing helps to relax the body, increases blood flow throughout the body, and helps to mechanically remove by-products of exercise.

Keep reading for more posts on stretching.....

Fitness and Diet

The first thing which a person often tries to control while following a fitness regimen or is trying to loose weight is controlling his diet. Fitness is very much related to a sound body and mind. Diet and fitness go hand in hand, you can not leave out proper diet to achieve a required level of fitness. According to Dr David Bull, a medical specialist on the BBC's Watchdog Healthcheck programme...

Regardless of how much training you do or how dedicated you are, unless you give your body essential nutrients, you will not perform to the best of your ability.

So fitness is required for a healthy living and to achieve this you should have a proper diet and exercise.

A good diet should provides all the nutrients to the body like carbohydrate,protein, vitamins, minerals and yes fat also. If the person is involved in activities which require endurance such as football,tennis etc carbohydrate should form the basis of the diet for that person. on the other hand if the person is into activities which require strength or is into bodybuilding protein should be the main source of nutrient.Your diet should also contain a good mix of all the vitamins and small quantities of fats and minerals too.

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