Sunday, June 24, 2007

Using Circular or Octagonal Weights

You can use the circular or octagonal weights for several exercises. Here are some:

1. Abdomen : Place a 25- or 45-pound weight on your abdomen as you do abdominal crunches. Do four sets of ten repetitions.

2. Chest: Find a weight that will give you a good workout but will not fatigue you. Hold the weight by the holes or handles a chest level. Extend your arms. Do no lock your elbows. Bring the weight within one inch from your chest. Exhale when you extend your arms and inhale when you bend your elbows. Do five sets of ten repetitions.

3. Chest, obliques, and latissimus dorsi: From your waist, extend the weight over your left shoulder. Do not lock your elbows. Bring the weight back to your waist., and continue to your right hip. This works you chest, right triceps, right oblique and right latissimus dorsi muscle. Do four sets of ten repetitions. Now reverse. Bring the weight from yourwaist to over your right shoulder. Do not extend your elbows. Bring the weight back to your waist. Then extend to your left hip. Do four sets of ten repetitions.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Trampoline Leg Exercises

Another leg exercise on the trampoline is to keep extending out one leg at a time, without locking your knees. This targets your quadriceps, like the leg extension machine does.

You can jump while extending out one leg at a time. This targets your adductor muscles.

One simple, great trampoline leg exercise to do is to run in place. If you focus on keeping steady and not bouncing too much, you will work extra hard to bring your legs back up in a greater range of motion. Try not to let the increased momentum of the jump be what keeps you going.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.

Trampoline Abdominal Exercises

I glanced at the aerobics room at the gym today while doing cardiovascular work and saw a trampoline aerobics class. I loved all of the variety of exercises you can do on the trampoline. It is another way to get off the plateau, and can be used for interval training.

Abdominal exercises that can be done on a trampoline include crunches and leg lifts.

Crunches for upper abdominal muscles:

Lie down on the trampoline with your gluteus maximus on the edge of the inner circular part of the trampoline. Keep your feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart. Put your hands behind your head with your elbows facing out, and proceed with abdominal crunches according to the first abdominal muscle blog. Keep your neck straight. Exhale when you come up and inhale coming down, up to an inch or two above the trampoline. Do five sets of ten repetitions.

Legs lifts for lower abdominal muscles:

Lie down in the same way. You can hold on to the sides of the trampoline for support. Straighten your legs without locking your knees. Lift your legs to about 90 degrees. Exhale when you lift your legs, and inhale when you lower them. Do five sets of ten repetitions.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Body Wedge Leg Exercises

1. Adductor Muscles - Lie down on your left side with your head at the thickest part of the wedge. You can use your arms for stability. Raise and lower your right leg slowly. Exhale when you raise it and inhale when you bring it down to an inch or two above the wedge. Do four sets of ten repetitions. Repeat with the other leg.

2. Hamstrings. Lie down on your stomach with your head at the thick part of the wedge. You can use your arms for stability. Raise and lower one leg at at time. Exhale when you raise it and inhale when you bring it down to an inch or two above the wedge.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.

Body Wedge Abdominal Exercises

1. Lie down with your head at the thinner body wedge part. Do four sets of ten repetitions of abdominal crunches. See the first abdominal exercise blog.

2. Lie down with your head on the thicker part of the body wedge. Keep your head and back against the body wedge, with a space between the natural curve of your back and the body wedge. Raise your legs slowly, and then bring them back down to one or two inches above the body wedge. Inhale when you bring them up and exhale when you bring them down. You can hold the sides of the body wedge for support. Do four sets of ten repetitions.

3. For your obliques, lie down on one side. You may want to keep one leg in front of the other for support. Put your hands behind your head. Bend up sideways.Exhale when you go up, and inhale coming back down. Do four sets of ten repetitions on each side.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.

Body Wedge Chest Exercises

1. Lie down with your head at the big part of the wedge. Grab free weights that are light yet heavy enough to give you a workout. Have your arms straight to your sides, but do not lock your elbows. Exhale as you bring the free weights close together over your chest and inhale as you bring them to starting position. This is the butterfly or fly exercise. Do five sets of ten repetitions.

2. Repeat [1.] with your palms facing away from you.

3. Repeat [1.] starting with your elbows bent and straightening your arms up at each repetition without locking your elbows.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

What Else to Do With a Medicine Ball

1. Chest - Throw

Play watch and throw the ball with a partner. Keep the ball chest-level. Exhale when you throw the medicine ball and inhale when you catch the medicine ball.

2. Chest - Out and In

Hold the medicine ball at chest level. "Push" out with out locking your elbows and bring back one inch from your chest. Exhale when you push out and inhale when you bring it back.

3. Rotator Cuff

You can do rotator cuff exercises (see the previous rotator cuff section) with a small medicine ball that has a place to grip it.

4. Shoulders and legs: Put your legs shoulder-width apart. Lift the ball high with your arms straight. Do not lock your elbows. Bring it slowly to your waist, then lower it almost to the floor between your legs. Keep your back as straight as you can keep it, and make sure your knees do not extend beyond your toes. Exhale when you lift the medicine ball. Inhale when you bring the medicine ball down, and exhale when you bring it all the way down to an inch on top of the floor.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com/.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Vitamins

Most people, with the exception of some infants, children, sick individuals, the poor or malnourished, pregnant women, and elderly, get more than enough vitamins in their daily diet. Vitamins A, D, E and K are stored in fat so that if we do not get a daily allowance of one in a given day, our bodies obtain those vitamin molecules from fat. Other vitamins, like Vitamin C, are passed out in urine. This means that if we drink three glasses of orange juice a day, it will not make any difference; we will get the required vitamin C and get rid of the rest when we urinate. (That may p-off those of you who spend a lot of money buying vitamin pills that contain water-soluble vitamins like Vitamin C. I could not resist. ha ha ha)

Unless one eats potato chips for three meals a day, they should be getting the correct amount of vitamins. Even a bowl of cereal (depending on the cereal) can have nearly all the vitamins and minerals you need for the day. Consult your physician and do your own research. You may want to try some pills once in a while like omega-3 fish fat pills, flax seed pills, and the like. But for most of the time, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"!

An article in today's AMNY newspaper (page 23) wrote about a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial that concluded that too much folic acid (an artificial version of folate or water-soluble vitamin B9) can be harmful. It may not prevent precancerous colon polyps, and may even increase the risk of developing them. The journal article "Folic Acid for the Prevention of Colorectal Adenomas" by Bernard F. Cole et al published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)can be read at http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/297/21/2351#AUTHINFO .

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com,/ http://www.amazon.com/, and http://www.bn.com/. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com/.