Bodybuilding Can Help you Look and Feel Young Again

If you are 40 years of age or older and don’t exercise, you stand a good chance of developing a variety of ailments that could plague you the rest of your life: cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. But the good news is that a simple workout routine and a good nutritional program can prevent – even halt – some of these health crises. Even walking and other everyday activities like yard work can be lifesavers.

By the time you reach 40, you become more concerned about living longer. You don’t drive as fast, and you worry about health insurance. You try to avoid fights, and your contempt for your expanding midsection increases. At 40, a man or woman with no history of exercise may begin displaying the telltale signs of premature aging.

For the unexercised body, the erosion of muscle sets off a chain reaction that undermines physical abilities and functions that many take for granted. Suddenly, a flight of stairs makes your heart race; you cramp when you run; three push ups are your limit; your blood pressure rises and metabolic rate falls; your heart works harder because the blood vessel muscles lack the necessary tone to pump your blood; your bone mass declines; your flexibility diminishes causing injuries to sneak up on you; and you need reading glasses (eyes have muscles too).

If you are crossing that threshold into middle age and have never worked out, you are on your way to becoming a patient. You need an exercise and diet program. See your physician to get the go ahead for a fitness regimen. A basic physical examination might uncover symptoms or illnesses that could have an impact on your exercise program.

You might need an electrocardiogram or an exercise stress test, but usually there is no need to have a stress test if your heart isn’t acting up. By age 40, you may have non-specific changes in your electrocardiogram. Any evidence of a slight enlargement of the heart may triple the risk of a heart attack. In healthy people, the test produces too many false positives, indications that something is amiss when its not. If someone in your family has died of heart disease before age 55, or you have diabetes, hypertension, or are 30% or more overweight, a stress test is advisable. Barring a serious abnormality, you will more than likely get the okay to exercise from your doctor.

Overweight

The fatter you are, the greater the load on your circulatory system. And with extra weight, you increase the risks of such added health dangers as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and strokes. Being fat and 40 compounds the threat. Being 30% over weight can chop years off your life expectancy. On the brighter side, returning to a normal body weight any time after 40 – and maintaining it – puts you back on track for a normal lifespan.

Getting Started

When starting your exercise program, avoid working out in a very hot or very cold environment. The body’s ability to regulate temperature decreases with age, increasing the possibility of heat exhaustion or low body core temperature. Over time, exercise helps to restore the body’s ability to regulate temperature. Also, the sense of thirst decrease with age. Avoid dehydration by drinking water before, during and after a workout.

The initial conditioning should last about six weeks. You may need your physician’s continued emotional support as you make the transition from couch potato to an active lifestyle. As a bodybuilding beginner, you may want the aid of an experienced instructor, or a licensed private trainer if you can afford it. Don’t flounder around in a health club that doesn’t offer consistent guidance for novices.

After some time as a beginner, you’ll enter the improvement phase. Here, all the major physiological adaptations to exercise occur. If you continue with your steady workouts, it won’t be long before you reach a satisfactory level of muscularity, strength, cardio-respiratory fitness and decreased body weight. Both strength and aerobic training should be part of the program to provide optimum benefits.

Along with exercise, you should follow a virtually fat free diet. Although nutritionists and health professionals recommend reducing fat intake to 30% of daily calories, even less is better. You’ll have to replace those pizzas and dinners at fancy French restaurants with a natural food regimen. Purge your house of offending snacks, everything high in fat, salt, sugar and caffeine. The craving for junk food will soon disappear.

It has been proven time and time again that even if you’re over 40 and out of shape, a world of muscle, health and fitness can be yours. It requires a change of lifestyle, but over time, the only thing you’ll miss is bypass surgery.

Author: Sandra Prior

Everlasting Youth - Everlasting Happiness

All of us wish to hold on to youth and the energy and zing associated with it. We all crave for it. But are we doing enough except applying a brighter make-up and dyeing grey hair? Maybe not. Don’t you think you should get moving?
Here are a few ways with the help of which we can stay young for a long, long time to come!

Know Your Body
Before we start exercising to shed flab, we should find out the root cause of the problem so that we can win the battle of the bulge. The excess flab may be due to poor metabolism. Our appetite is controlled by hormones produced by our body and certain chemicals produced by our brains. We should strive to balance our hormones and consume omegas, pumpkin oil, hemp oil, flaxseed oil as they help reduce fat.

Check Inflammation
Inflammation is our body’s natural reaction to injury or infection. Inflammation may sometimes lead to weight gain, which gives rise to lethargy, high blood sugar levels and hormonal imbalances. This can be checked by consuming naturally processed grape seed extract (an excellent antioxidant), green tea extract and mineral extracts.

Combat Oxidative Stress
Oxidative stress can occur either due to a decrease in antioxidant level or due to an excess of free radicals or both. If the living condition surrounding us is polluted or unhygienic, we are working in stressful conditions and not drinking enough water, we might be victims of oxidative stress. It can cause cellular damage, thus accelerating wrinkling and hair loss and might also result in diabetes and weight gain. To combat this, we should increase intake of colorful plant food, green tea and herbal tea to fight it.

Watch your Thyroid
Thyroid is the master metabolic regulator. Its malfunctioning leads to a gamut of problems like depression, anxiety, infertility, pregnancy complications, dry skin and hair, high cholesterol, heart trouble, joint pain and menstrual irregularities. Consume cabbage, sweet potato, corn and pearl millet to boost thyroid functioning.

Liver and Blood
To detoxify our liver, we should consume soy protein, whey water, broccoli, pomegranate, phytonutrients and grape seed extract.

Watch What You Eat
Keeping a watch on what exactly we are eating is extremely important to our overall well being. We should ban processed food from our diet and go for natural foods. Organic extracts should be consumed on a regular basis. Consume all plant food colors possible in a balanced manner.

No Ill Feelings
Hatred or ill feelings towards others reflects on our face. If we delete the bad memories, we would regain a childlike state of happiness.

Keep the Child in You Alive
Never get into the comfort zone. Never think that there is nothing else to do. We should keep the child in us alive by constantly indulging in meaningful activities that makes us happy. Keep on developing new hobbies.

Focus on De-Stressing
Stress can arise from three factors.
Genetic Disposition: We may be prone to certain genetic disorders like diabetes and hypertension. We should be very cautious about such problems and be aware of every minute change that our body displays. If our family history confirms such genetic tendencies, we should be very regular with our check-ups.
Lifestyle: Lifestyle disorders arise from negative habits like smoking, consumption of alcohol, watching too much TV and not eating on time. These result in stress. We should abhor these habits and focus on being physically active which would help in burning calories and staying fit.
Environment: Our offices, our homes, the pollution, our relationships etc. creates our environment. We should try to find out what exactly is pulling us down and then try to find a solution by talking to our peers and well wishers. Always try to look at the brighter side of things.
When under stress, the adrenal gland in our body produces cortisol, a hormone that increases our blood sugar and insulin levels and slows down the burning of fat. Stress increases inflammation which causes weight gain around the waist. We should fight stress by trying to keep our mind free from negatives.

Friends
Friends who really care, are life long assets of an individual. They have the ability to make things better for you just by their physical presence beside you. Just by taking a look at their smiling faces, you would have a feeling that your worries are fading away.

Chuck the Routine
Life is not just about getting up in the morning, doing the same old stuff all day and then going off to sleep. Instead, listen to some heart warming music, watch a dance performance or go for a drive. Set aside time for daily exercise and relaxation. Do some stretching initially followed by deep breathing for five minutes and then meditation. This goes a long way in relieving mental stress.

Sleep Tight
Lack of sleep reflects on our face. It makes us age faster. We should try to sleep for at least six hours every night. And don’t forget to dream big!

All the Best.






Author: Vaishali Parekh