Posts Tagged ‘ muscles ’

The present day trend speaks of becoming slim, shapely and possess a toned body with beautifully toned abs and arms. This seems to be the only aim of most of the people exercising at gyms.

People love and do not hesitate to spend any amount of money on the most recent pill for weight loss or some exotic supplement claiming to help you lose weight by reducing your cravings and increasing your metabolism. Less number of people stop and think about the potential side effects that these pills might have or the ingredients of these supplements.

The fact is that while some people might actually gain some results with such efforts, the results do not last for long. The reason is that when you try to take a short cut for weight loss, you generally are not dealing with the root causes such as emotional problems or bad eating habits and these root causes will eventually cause you to gain the weight that you had lost.

Many so-called fitness experts as well as body builders tend to wear down too prematurely because if you blow up your muscles with some unnatural substances then you can expect them to deflate fast enough.

It is important to be healthy on the inside and let it show on the outside, rather than looking the part and yet not being healthy on the inside because this will crumble down eventually.

Therefore, if you are seeking health then you should give lots of thought to what you eat and make sure that you are eating the proper diet. You should make sure you include lots of vegetables and fruits in your diet.

Your diet should be able to provide you with enough alkaline reserves so that you can balance the chemical metabolism that is going on in your body.

You should be cleansing your digestive as well as excretory tract. Vegetables and fruits are vital in this area. They behave like a broom and sweep clean these pipes. This way they will be able to function well to cleanse and nourish your body.

The fruits and veggies will keep you fit and will supply your body with enough nutrients and vitamins so that you will keep in shape and that too without any undesirable side effects of supplements or pills.

You simply cannot rely on quick-fixes because while these quick-fixes can offer you a quick solution, the solution they offer is generally short-term. Unless you wake up and understand your responsibility towards your body and rectify your unhealthy habits, you will not be able to enjoy good health and a good body.

Many people assume that swimming is a just a fun activity and are unaware of the potential health benefits of swimming.

Learning how to swim and going for regular swimming work outs can reduce your risk of developing health problems that arise from being overweight – things like diabetes, hypertension and stroke among others – because swimming is a very effective fat loss program, which can in the long run lead to healthy weight loss. The way it works is that swimming tends to aid in the conversion of fat to muscle because while swimming, your whole body finds itself having to exercise to overcoming the resistance posed by the water you happen to be swimming in. Now overcoming this resistance results in the build up of muscles which in the short term might manifest as a weight gain rather than a weight loss. Well developed muscles, however, turn out to be your best weight loss allies in the long run because the kind of tissue that makes up muscle actually burns fat even when you are not doing much. Exercise which build up muscles – and swimming is a very good example of it – is therefore best seen as a weight loss investment because the muscles so built can then help the person who has developed them to lose weight almost on ‘autopilot’.

People who suffer from diseases that are characterized by inflammation like arthritis and who are overweight at the same time are yet another group that can benefit from swimming. This is because swimming offers them the opportunity to lose weight without causing too much pain in their joints, which they would have to do on most exercises on dry land.

The kind of breathing required while swimming, too, can really strengthen one’s heart as well as the lungs – keeping one from the health troubles they would have had from these vital organs.

Learning to swim and then going swimming regularly can also lead to better mental health because swimming, like any form of exercise leads to the release of ‘feel good’ chemical in the brain – resulting in good mental health. Furthermore, as a good weight loss exercise, swimming can help a person who is overweight to attain a better body shape, in turn leading to a better body image and higher self esteem, which is the foundation of good mental health and happiness. The very activity of flapping of arms and legs in water involved in swimming together with the continued soothing feel of water against the skin is itself also very therapeutic.

Of course swimming is an activity that is usually carried out in groups and in this way, it gives the person undertaking it to really go out and meet other people – fellow swimmers, swimming instructors and lifeguards at the swimming site for instance – meaning that they have an opportunity to get outside themselves. This can be a great boost to mental and emotional health, seeing that most mental and emotional health problems have loneliness and self-confinement as their root cause.