Dr. Curtis McElroy

Tag: fitness

  • The Benefits Of Exercise

    The Benefits Of Exercise

    The Benefits Of Exercising: 10 Reasons Why You Should Make Fitness Your New Year’s Resolution

    We all know about certain benefits of exercising – above all, that it’s good for us. But this isn’t always enough to get us motivated into actually doing it. If you’re looking for a little inspiration to get started on your new year’s resolution then here are 10 reasons why exercise can improve your life.

    1) More Energy: Although exercise in itself may be tiring, one of the major benefits of exercising is the fact that it’ll ultimately leave you feeling more energized. Studies have shown that regular exercise helps to reduce fatigue.

    2) Increase Your Mood: Every time you exercise your body will release endorphins that help to make you feel good. Exercise really will give you a natural high!

    3) Improve Your Health: There are so many health benefits of losing weight that it’s impossible to list them all here! By getting fit you’ll reduce the risk of diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and much more.

    4) Improve Your Appearance: If being overweight or not being toned leaves you feeling unhappy about yourself then losing weight can help you to look and feel better.

    5) Play With Your Kids: It takes a lot of energy to keep up with your kids. By losing weight and getting fit, you’ll be able to run around with them without constantly getting out of breath. This can be one of the most rewarding benefits of exercising: it helps you to enjoy life more.

    6) Sleep Better: When you exercise more you’ll start to find it easier to get a good night’s rest. This adds to the energy boost that you’ll get from exercise in the long term.

    7) Increase Your Strength and Stamina: Do you find it hard to go on long walks, even though you want to? Or maybe even carrying shopping bags up the stairs is a struggle? Exercise more and you’ll eventually be able to handle these activities with ease.

    8) Reduce Stress: Exercise can hugely reduce stress levels. If you regularly suffer from stress – or even mental heath issues such as depression and anxiety – regular exercise can help to reduce your symptoms.

    9) A Sense Of Achievement: When you start to exercise and see the improvements you’re making week on week, you’ll really get the feeling that you’ve achieved something worthwhile!

    10) Keep Your Independence Later In Life: The more you can exercise now, while you’re still able, the more you can reduce the impact of certain health problems later in life. In short, keeping fit and healthy will help you to keep your independence as late into life as possible.

    So how much will you need to work out to feel these benefits of exercising?

    That all depends on your current fitness levels.

    The good news is that just 30 minutes of exercise a day is enough to improve your health drastically.

    So what are you waiting for?!

  • How to Get a Good Workout in 10 Minutes

    10 minute workout
    Time Your Workouts

    How to Get a Good Workout in 10 Minutes

    While many busy individuals cannot find the time to do a 30 to 40 minute workout, or at least that is the excuse they use, almost everyone including you, can find 10 minutes in each day to squeeze in a quick workout. But because you are limited on time, you have to maximize the other variable – intensity, which is the rate at which you work out.

    Try Circuit Training

    Some people try to get a full body workout in their short amount of time while others use routines that target a specific muscle group or body area. For example, your workout might consist of a variety of exercises that target the lower body, upper body and abdominal core. Each exercise is performed until the muscle is exhausted and can no longer perform that exercise – called muscle failure. With minimal rest, you move onto the next exercise and totally work a different muscle group to failure, etc.

    Target Specific Muscle Groups

    Or your 10 minute workout could consist of a series of two minute exercises that target a specific muscle group, such as upper, or lower, or abdominal core. Your next workout would target a different large muscle group. With targeting, you don’t want to work a muscle group to failure with one exercise, but through a series of timed two-minute exercises.

    Sample Routine Without Equipment

    So just what can you do in 10 minutes without using any equipment? Well, in 5 minutes you can do 100 pushups, 100 knees raises and 50 jumping jacks. Take a very short rest, drink some water after the first set, and then do another 5-minute set, or do one 5-minute set in the morning and another one in the evening.

    Increasing Intensity

    In the previous paragraph, we discussed a routine that doesn’t require any equipment, however, if you want to take your 10-minute workout to the next level, you can increase the intensity by doing exercises with light dumbbells (3 to 5 lbs.) or resistance bands.  The additional work your muscles have to do to overcome the additional weight or resistance burns even more calories than doing exercises without weights or bands.

    High intensity 10 minute workouts have a lasting effect on your metabolism too. Your body will continue to burn calories at a faster rate for a longer period of time after this type of workout than it would otherwise with a lower intensity, but longer workout.

  • What Is Your BMI

    Understanding BMI And How To Calculate Yours

    If you’ve ever wondered whether your weight is healthy, then you may have stumbled upon the term BMI. You may have heard about it from your doctor or colleague, and that it could be an indicator that you need to lose or gain weight. If you want to know what it is all about and how to calculate your own BMI, then read on.

    What Is BMI

    BMI stands for Body Mass Index, which is a number that you calculate from your height and weight. This number takes into consideration the ratio of your weight to your height, to roughly calculate the percentage of body fat that you have. A high BMI suggests that you have a higher percentage of fat in your body. Experts have come up with a method of calculating one’s BMI together with a BMI chart that represents one’s body fat content. However, it’s far easier to use an online calculator such as this one: http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

    Men and women generally carry different amounts of body fat and therefore cannot refer to the same chart when calculating their BMI. Women naturally tend to have more subcutaneous fat than men do, so they may have a higher BMI than men. To obtain the best results when calculating your BMI, you should refer to a chart designed for your gender.

    Calculating Your BMI

    Calculating your BMI is quite a simple process. To calculate it by yourself, you first need to measure your height and weight (both in inches and pounds). You then calculate the square of your height (multiply your height with itself). Now divide your weight by your this number, and multiply that value by 703. The number you have now is your BMI. Alternatively, you can also use meters and kilograms to calculate your BMI. The method is exactly the same but you do not need to multiply the number by 703 in the end.

    A BMI of below 18.5 suggests that you are underweight; whereas a value of 25 and above suggests that you are overweight. You should try to adjust your weight so your BMI is always within the normal range which is 18.5 to 24.9. If your BMI is above 30, you are then considered obese. If this is the case, then you may need to work at losing weight.

    Remember, however, that the BMI measure is just a starting point. If you are very muscular, you may have a higher than average BMI but actually still be healthy. And, those with a good BMI are not always healthy. To get a better measure of body fat, you can use tools such as calipers. However, as an easy to calculate starting point, your BMI is a good place to begin.

Copyright @ 2017 DrCurtisMcElroy