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Is Your Instructor Qualified?

With the emergence of fitness in pop culture, many new health studios have cropped up, giving fitness savvy people too many options to choose from. While it seems to a boon on the outside, there are more cons to it than the pros. First it is imperative for a fitness centre to have ample ventilation and a design that is conducive for a group workout. At any cost, studios in the basement or without proper air exhaust mechanisms should be avoided. Second and the paramount, is to know if your instructor is well equipped, or in simpler words qualified enough to be your trainer. Our joints and muscles are meant to move and function in a certain way, the study of which is known as the physiology of the anatomy. Any range of motion other than the permissible limit for a particular joint may result in an injury or even disc herniation (spine) in worst cases. Similarly, putting too much pressure on a muscle while stretching or lifting a weight may cause rupture of a tendon/cartilage. An amateur or an uneducated instructor may cause more harm than good to your body. Simply put, our bodies respond to progressive overload of muscles, which means you start from a basic load to your muscles and work it up as your endurance and strength increases. Also, the trainer must be able to gauge if you have any postural imbalances that may hamper doing some exercises. For e.g. anyone with a protruding disc (most common these days due to improper posture) should not bend forward for the first few weeks of the workout until its rehabilitation exercises are complete, so that it returns to its stock position.

Now comes the important question, how to know if your instructor is qualified or not? There are a glut of certifications that have cropped up today owing to the boom in fitness industry. But only a handful of them are worthy enough like ACE (American Council on Exercise), ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), NASM(National Academy of Sports Medicine), MDNIY(Morarji Desai National Institute Of Yoga).Furthermore a simpler way is to ask pertinent questions about your injuries/weaknesses to your instructor, his/her response will be enough to know if he knows his/her trade or not. For the same reason it is advisable to be a bit more knowledgeable about the functionality of the body as well, not just blindly following any trainer.

Any good fitness centre should boast of fitness professionals that are accredited with the aforesaid certifications and motivate you to shed the extra kilos and become leaner, meaner & fitter in the healthiest of ways.

Different types of Exercise

In quest for fitness, we often blindly follow what our instructor says. Though there are undoubtedly many good trainers present these days, we must perform our due diligence and know what the different types of exercises are. Often we dominate a form of exercise and neglect the others, an anomaly that hinders the overall well-being and that results into imbalances and certain health risks. Below is list of different types of exercises and their importance.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise, which speeds up the heart rate and breathing, is important for many body functions. It gives your heart and lungs a workout and increases endurance. Aerobic exercise also helps relax blood vessel walls, lower blood pressure, burn body fat, lower blood sugar levels, reduce inflammation, boost mood, and raise "good" HDL cholesterol. Combined with weight loss, it can lower "bad" LDL cholesterol levels, too. Over the long term, aerobic exercise reduces your risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast and colon cancer, depression, and falls. Types of aerobic exercise:

1. Steady State
   This type of cardio refers to the pace of your workout and can involve any level of intensity. As the name suggests, the aim is to maintain a steady pace and intensity for the entire duration of your preferred workout.
2. Low and moderate Intensity
   Low-intensity exercise can be measured as any exercise that keeps your heart rate below 50% of your MHR (maximum heart rate) — think a casual stroll or leisurely bike ride. Moderate-intensity workouts push your heart rate between 50%-70% of your MHR. In moderate intensity, you should be able to carry on a conversation properly. Activities such as running, hiking, biking, swimming, step-aerobic classes, should have you hitting the moderate-intensity bracket.

Strength training

Aging results in a loss of muscle mass. Strength training restores it. Strengthening your muscles not only makes you stronger, but also stimulates bone growth, lowers blood sugar, assists with weight control, improves balance and posture, and reduces stress and pain in the lower back and joints. An instructor can design a strength training program that you can do two to three times a week at a gym, at home, or at work. It will likely include body weight exercises like squats, push-ups, and lunges, and exercises involving resistance from a weight, a band, or a weight machine. Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is an important sign of an effective workout, in which the muscles involved in the workout usually start aching after 24-36 hours of the workout.

Stretching

Stretching helps maintain flexibility. Aging leads to a loss of flexibility in the muscles and tendons. Muscles shorten and don't function properly. That increases the risk for muscle cramps and pain, muscle damage, strains, joint pain, and falling, and it also makes it tough to get through daily activities. Stretching the muscles routinely makes them longer and more flexible, which increases your range of motion and reduces pain and the risk for injury. Every stretch can be either static or dynamic and passive or active. Dynamic and active stretches are more helpful for improving functional movements used in everyday life and sports.

1. (a) Static Stretching is isometric (developing muscular tension without contraction of the muscle), holding a challenging position for at least 20-30 seconds.
2. (b) Dynamic stretching is a stretch performed by moving through a challenging but comfortable range of motion repeatedly.
3. (c) Passive stretching uses external “assistance” to stretch. It’s a technique where you relax into a stretch while an external force (someone or something) intensifies the stretch further.
4. (d) Active stretching applies motion, so relax the muscle you’re trying to stretch and rely on the opposing muscle to initiate the stretch.
5. (e) PNF is a contract-stretch-hold technique repeated 10-12 times, and research says it may be the most effective stretching technique for increasing range of motion.

Yoga Hatha, Ashtanga, Iyengar, hot yoga, vinyasa flow, Kundalini and yin are a few of the most commonly known forms of Yoga. What all these practices have in common is the integration of body and breath through stretching, isometric bodyweight exercises, and moving meditation. Regular practice will help mobilize joints, stretch ligaments and strengthen muscles.

Balance exercises

Improving your balance makes you feel steadier on your feet and helps prevent falls. It's especially important as we get older, when the systems that help us maintain balance—our vision, our inner ear, and our leg muscles and joints tend to break down. Typical balance exercises include standing on one foot or walking heel to toe, with your eyes open or closed. The instructor may also have you focus on joint flexibility, walking on uneven surfaces, and strengthening leg muscles with exercises such as squats and leg lifts. Get the proper training before attempting any of these exercises at home.

Benefits of Ketones

Ketones are the by-products of the breakdown of fatty acids. Research has proven their medical benefits, some of them are as follows:

Ketones are anti-inflammatory

The standard diets in the world include a lot of carbohydrates and hence a lot of insulin to control the blood sugar levels, which can lead to inflammation, e.g. Alzheimer’s etc. Nutritional ketosis over time is a strategy to lower inflammation systemically and lower inflammation in the brain to lower diabetic conditions.

Anti-Cancer

Anti-Cancer Ketones act as Hdac inhibitors in the body, which alters the way your genes function. The cancer patients have higher levels of expression of certain genes (oncogenes) which develop cancer. Ketones suppress the activation of these oncogenes and can turn them off.

Muscle and Protein sparing

If someone is on a low protein diet because of any reason such as high uric acid, vegan diet etc. Then ketones can help prevent the muscle wasting caused by low protein intake. This is because muscle cells can run on ketones and hence the lean tissue is not destroyed when protein intake is below the maintenance level.