Most people (except for Fitness Professionals) may not know what is the term or definition of 'Fitness Component'... or will feel that this is too much 'theory' to know or absorb... However, a good understanding of the types of Fitness Components will help you to appreciate and plan your lifestyle to be more healthy and fit. Before we even go to the definition, let's understand the most common word; Fitness... We all heard about Fitness this and that... Fitness Instructors... Cardio-respiratory fitness... Just exactly what is fitness?? Lemme enlighten you with the below:
Fitness - the ability to meet daily requirements without undue fatigue (with surplus left for leisure pursuits and emergencies)
Perhaps, an easier definition is to have the ability to live our normal life without getting constantly tired, and with enough energy for leisure and play, as well as to handle any sudden emergencies.
And with this, different types of fitness components started to come out; some of you might have heard of things like Cardio-Respiratory Fitness, muscular strength/endurance, Sports performance, Agility, Flexibility, Balance...etc
Yes, to help you understand even better, let's just imagine the ingredients for a cake - eggs, flour, milk, flavouring, sugar, yeast, water, cream etc. And therefore, you can visualize Fitness components just like this... A cake baked with the right amount of ingredients will definitely taste good; similarly our fitness will improve thus making us feel good and live a good quality of life if we take care of our bodies with the right amount of 'ingredients'...
There are many types of such 'ingredients' that will improve our fitness; and these are some of the ingredients: Cardio-respiratory Fitness, Muscular Strength, Muscular Endurance, Flexibility, Body composition, Agility, Maximum Power, Speed, Coordination, Balance....
For today's article, I will talk about the following 'ingredients' which I believe are the main ones affecting fitness; Cardio-Respiratory Fitness, Muscular Strength/Muscular Endurance (I've decided to lump these two together), Flexibility... Don't be mistaken about the rest like body composition, muscular power balance... they are also important... but typing so many things is really not easy.. so lemme just concentrate the mentioned 3 fitness components ('ingredients')... Btw, I will also be talking about Body Composition soon... so stay tune...
Cardio-Respiratory Fitness
This is perhaps considered the main fitness component, since it has got to do with one of the most important organ in our body - Heart. Do note; cardio, cardiac etc.... as long as you see these words, you know its got something related to the heart. In simple definition, it refers to the ability of our heart to pump deliver oxygen throughout our bodies to produce and sustain energy. We need to have proper heart function and ability to deliver oxygen to our bodies so that we can continue moving. Walking, running, swimming, aerobics, cycling are common exercises that helps to improve cardio-respiratory fitness. Do note also these 'cardio' exercises not just help to improve your heart ability to pump oxygen throughout the body for energy production, it also helps your body to consume calories; which is why this explains most people when talking about burning calories will automatically link to cardio related exercises.
Muscular Strength/Endurance
Lemme temporarily breakdown out for muscular strength and endurance; Muscular strength refers to the ability of your muscle to exert maximum force to overcome resistance; muscular endurance refers to the muscle's ability to exert this force repeatedly. In our everyday life, we are always exerting muscular strength and muscular endurance. For eg. when someone's car breakdown, and you are the Good Samaritan helping to push the car, you are exerting strength from your body's major muscles (Eg. Muscles from the legs, shoulder and arms) to help push the car; this is an example of Muscular strength. For Muscular endurance example, imagine yourself being a carpenter using a saw to saw off a piece of wood; that repeated work of sawing have to utilise the muscular endurance of your arm and back muscles to repeatedly saw the wood.
Improvement to muscular strength and endurance can be done by doing resistance exercises. This is very common in the gym where we see exercisers performing bench press, squats, lats pull down, and also body weight exercises like push ups, pull ups etc. You may also wish to note that proper resistance training can bring lots of benefits ; Eg. improve your posture, improve metabolism (thru the gain of lean muscle mass), preventing injuries etc
Flexibility
Flexibility refers to our body being able to move the joint thru a range of motion, without causing any discomfort. To help you understand flexibility, think of an example that you need to reach a top shelve to get something. You lift up your arm to reach the top shelf, halfway you realized the item you wanna get is located more towards the extreme corner of the shelf, and thus you have to lift your arm higher up towards the corner to get the item. In this case, you need to bend your trunk slightly towards the corner, and therefore stretching the side of the trunk. That stretching of the trunk automatically will cause the trunk to lengthen the muscle. Therefore, flexibility will involve the effect of lengthening the muscles.
The importance of flexibility comes to more attention as we grow older; as we age, our body lose the flexibility ability. This is even more important as muscles are connected to the joints, and if muscles lose the flexibility function, the tight muscles pulls on to the joints and we get pain when the joints are not in the proper normal alignment. This is why many cases of low back pain are actually related to the worsening of flexibility in major muscles (eg. the back, hamstrings and hip flexors of the legs and hips).
Flexibility can be improved by performing stretching exercises.
Guidelines for Fitness Components
Having understand cardio-respiratory fitness, muscular strength/endurance and flexibility, it is important to note that we strive for a balance among them. Very often I have come across the following situations:
1 - Women tend to spend more time performing cardio related exercises, because of the need to burn more calories to achieve a slimmer body, yet do not take any effort to perform resistance exercises to improve muscular strength and endurance. This is the due to the common misconception that they will build up bulky muscles that look like bodybuilders. If you are one of these women, do note that your body do not possess sufficient hormones to achieve that bodybuilder bulk muscles (although it is still possible, especially if you plan your exercise training emphasis more towards hypertrophy). In fact, resistance training will hep you in your pursuit of a slim lean body when you started to achieve a fair amount of lean muscle mass to improve your metabolism.
2 - Men tend to spend more time in the gym to do resistance training in an effort to bulk up or shape the muscles. However most of them will rather not spend extra time to do stretching, and some even purposely skip cardio exercises). Firstly, when you spend too much time performing resistance training, your muscles tend to get shorten, and if you do not do something to lengthen the muscles, the tight shortened muscles will pull on to the joints; then one day you notice pain in your knees (probably due to tight quads, IT band), lower back (probably due to tightness in the back, hamstrings, hip flexors), shoulders (probably due to tightness in shoulders and chest) etc.
3 - Men or women who do not even spend time doing any exercises (frankly, nothing much I can comment about this situation; either you make time to exercise or not).
Therefore for anyone of you who happen to fall into the above mentioned situations of 1 and 2, I hope you can understand this importance: Balance. Spending time and making effort to achieve a balance of cardio-respiratory fitness, muscular strength/endurance, and flexibility will help you to achieve a 'whole-rounded' fitness. Just like the cake that I have mentioned; with the right amount of ingredients, you can bake a nice good cake; so is the right amount of effort for cardio-respiratory fitness, muscular strength/endurance and flexibility.
With this, you may wish to see below for the guidelines in each of the fitness components:
Cardio-Respiratory Fitness:
Frequency: 3 - 5 times a week of 20 - 60 mins
Intensity: 60% to 90% of Maximum heart rate (or use the talk test here as a guideline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF_nQ90Mn9g)
Muscular Strength
Frequency: at least 2 times per week with 1 day rest in between, 20 mins to 60mins, with exercises targeting the major muscle groups (take note that you can also target different muscle groups daily; Eg. Chest and shoulders on Mon, Back and legs on Tue)
Intensity: moderate to heavy weight (sufficient to fatigue within 8 - 12 reps per set)
Muscular Endurance
Frequency: at least 2 times per week, 20 to 60 minutes
Intensity: Light - moderate weight (sufficient to fatigue within 12 - 15 reps)
Flexibility
Frequency: can be done daily
Intensity: Stretch gently to point of discomfort
(As you can see, this is something you can do everyday, so do strive to stretch everyday... Do refer to some of my previous post on stretching...)
Wednesday 29 July 2015
Monday 20 July 2015
DIY Massage
While I have been actively promoting Sports massage to help relieve stressed muscles, I do understand that this is not something affordable. Check out any of the Sports Clinics and your eyes will open wide at the range of prices from $100 - $150 for an hour Sports massage. Freelance Sports Massage therapist on another hand normally charge slightly cheaper (about $60 - $80; some even go as low as $50).
What can you do if you can't afford $100 just to ease off that stressed up muscle.... This is where I recommend using DIY equipment, just like what you see below:
In fact, I personally use some of the items almost on a daily basis in an effort to 'soften' tight muscle/soft tissue areas (Eg. Quads, Calf, IT band, Piriformis, back, shoulders, wrist flexor etc)...Take note however, even though I do it almost daily, I don't do on the same muscle area everyday, (In fact I also don't recommend doing sports massage everyday). However, do take note that you should know the proper technique of using such DIY items to self massage on your own, as you can hurt yourself if you do it wrongly. In fact, it will also be good to attend some course to learn how to use the DIY items. The trigger ball which I got from Functional Training Institute is a good one that I have been using, after I have gone thru the workshop (Dual Zone Myofascial Release technique); see sample on working to release tightness on the hamstrings and calf area here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcxvx7heg4c
Some of the self massage techniques also on another hand have to depend on your 'core strength' to execute; for eg. When you lie in front to massage your quads, you need to keep that trunk area straight to and engage core strength to move the foam roller. This is perhaps also an effort to train your 'core'... I do however have to comment if you already have issues (eg. back/spinal pain), you should not attempt it. Do consult with a proper medical specialist first. See below the vid for quad self massage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukk_LNN_uPc
You can also try self massage using only your own hands; see vid for self IT band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvRy3JDkZi4
So these are some DIY self massage. On another hand, I will still recommend periodic Sports massage if it is still in your affordable range. Nothing works better than a skilled pair of hands for sports massage; also some soft tissue areas can only be reached by the hands as compared to using DIY items.You don't have to do sports massage often, though if you do a lot of sports and workout a lot, then it is recommended more frequency for sports massage. For my own case, I arranged at least for one (or two) per month, but will also couple those mentioned DIY self massage activity on my own.
What can you do if you can't afford $100 just to ease off that stressed up muscle.... This is where I recommend using DIY equipment, just like what you see below:
In fact, I personally use some of the items almost on a daily basis in an effort to 'soften' tight muscle/soft tissue areas (Eg. Quads, Calf, IT band, Piriformis, back, shoulders, wrist flexor etc)...Take note however, even though I do it almost daily, I don't do on the same muscle area everyday, (In fact I also don't recommend doing sports massage everyday). However, do take note that you should know the proper technique of using such DIY items to self massage on your own, as you can hurt yourself if you do it wrongly. In fact, it will also be good to attend some course to learn how to use the DIY items. The trigger ball which I got from Functional Training Institute is a good one that I have been using, after I have gone thru the workshop (Dual Zone Myofascial Release technique); see sample on working to release tightness on the hamstrings and calf area here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcxvx7heg4c
Some of the self massage techniques also on another hand have to depend on your 'core strength' to execute; for eg. When you lie in front to massage your quads, you need to keep that trunk area straight to and engage core strength to move the foam roller. This is perhaps also an effort to train your 'core'... I do however have to comment if you already have issues (eg. back/spinal pain), you should not attempt it. Do consult with a proper medical specialist first. See below the vid for quad self massage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukk_LNN_uPc
You can also try self massage using only your own hands; see vid for self IT band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvRy3JDkZi4
So these are some DIY self massage. On another hand, I will still recommend periodic Sports massage if it is still in your affordable range. Nothing works better than a skilled pair of hands for sports massage; also some soft tissue areas can only be reached by the hands as compared to using DIY items.You don't have to do sports massage often, though if you do a lot of sports and workout a lot, then it is recommended more frequency for sports massage. For my own case, I arranged at least for one (or two) per month, but will also couple those mentioned DIY self massage activity on my own.
Sunday 12 July 2015
Soleus - your lower calf
Today I shall talk a bit about this (another neglected) muscle which I believe is very common for Group Ex aerobics instructors like me who is on the feet a lot (and also some other sports type ppl - Eg. Running)...
To spare you from all these anatomical terms which most commoners might not understand (as well as not knowing what is muscle origin and insertion meanings), I shall simply refer the Soleus as the lower portion of your calf... or simply lower calf...
I shall start off from this common pain (I myself also experienced before) that is felt on the bottom of your foot, or around the heel area... A few of my fellow group ex instructor friends have experienced this before... One of them approached me, and I decide to massage her lower calf instead, and surprisingly it eased the pain.. Most people thought that when there is a pain felt at the heel, they relate it to Plantar Fasciitis; a type of heel pain due to tightness in the foot heel... What they probably might not suspect that it could be the connecting muscle on top (Soleus) could be the culprit.. Simply put it this way; your lower calf (Soleus) muscle is connected to your heel... When the muscle is tight, it will pull and affect the connecting bottom of your foot, and thus causing pain when you walk or move around on foot.
To relieve this tightness, you can get a good sports or deep tissue massage on the lower calf area, or you can also DIY using these methods:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xPLnDiGfAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8gtVsuN2to
Also, don't forget to do daily stretching.. Soleus stretch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aWiCZLzRF8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCEBa9MFckI
On a last point, don't overlook on the importance of this lower calf (Soleus) area... tightness here can cause back pain! This is because the tightness will cause you to habitually shift your body centre of gravity position and thus resulting in you over activating your back muscles.
To spare you from all these anatomical terms which most commoners might not understand (as well as not knowing what is muscle origin and insertion meanings), I shall simply refer the Soleus as the lower portion of your calf... or simply lower calf...
I shall start off from this common pain (I myself also experienced before) that is felt on the bottom of your foot, or around the heel area... A few of my fellow group ex instructor friends have experienced this before... One of them approached me, and I decide to massage her lower calf instead, and surprisingly it eased the pain.. Most people thought that when there is a pain felt at the heel, they relate it to Plantar Fasciitis; a type of heel pain due to tightness in the foot heel... What they probably might not suspect that it could be the connecting muscle on top (Soleus) could be the culprit.. Simply put it this way; your lower calf (Soleus) muscle is connected to your heel... When the muscle is tight, it will pull and affect the connecting bottom of your foot, and thus causing pain when you walk or move around on foot.
To relieve this tightness, you can get a good sports or deep tissue massage on the lower calf area, or you can also DIY using these methods:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xPLnDiGfAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8gtVsuN2to
Also, don't forget to do daily stretching.. Soleus stretch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aWiCZLzRF8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCEBa9MFckI
On a last point, don't overlook on the importance of this lower calf (Soleus) area... tightness here can cause back pain! This is because the tightness will cause you to habitually shift your body centre of gravity position and thus resulting in you over activating your back muscles.
Monday 6 July 2015
Stretching - Most Overlooked Exercise - Part 2
Previously I have mentioned about stretching... Today let's talk about stretching and back health... To kick-start this topic, I shall focus on the few muscles that are quite important for good back health; Hip Flexors, Hamstrings, Piriformis...
You must be surprised .... These mentioned muscles here are from the legs and hip... What relationship do they have with the back.... Well, they are definitely important and connected. Let's say for example the hip flexors (see pic)
Anatomically, the hip flexor made primarily of the Psoas and illacus does the function of bringing the hip up front (Eg. Knee up, or front kicking). Because of its linkage with the spine, when this muscle area gets tight, it will also result in pulling on to the spine. This is why many times the cause of back pain is due to the tightness mainly in the hip and leg areas.
So you can see the importance to prevent back pain. I strongly recommend stretching as an important exercise for everyone. In addition to that, stretching can be done everyday (as compared to strength training exercises which recommend 48 - 72 hours rest before).
Since I have touched on the hip flexor, let's see some of my recommended stretching exercises here (youtube vid) for the hip flexor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41A7Mr-txro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwToKziL5A4
You must be surprised .... These mentioned muscles here are from the legs and hip... What relationship do they have with the back.... Well, they are definitely important and connected. Let's say for example the hip flexors (see pic)
Anatomically, the hip flexor made primarily of the Psoas and illacus does the function of bringing the hip up front (Eg. Knee up, or front kicking). Because of its linkage with the spine, when this muscle area gets tight, it will also result in pulling on to the spine. This is why many times the cause of back pain is due to the tightness mainly in the hip and leg areas.
So you can see the importance to prevent back pain. I strongly recommend stretching as an important exercise for everyone. In addition to that, stretching can be done everyday (as compared to strength training exercises which recommend 48 - 72 hours rest before).
Since I have touched on the hip flexor, let's see some of my recommended stretching exercises here (youtube vid) for the hip flexor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41A7Mr-txro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwToKziL5A4
Friday 3 July 2015
Ziklag Fitness for Sports/Fitness Injury Rehab
Wednesday 1 July 2015
Stretching; the most overlooked exercise
I have always wanted to blog abut stretching... a particular exercise which I find people tend to overlook, and do not pay much attention to the importance of Flexibility... Actually it is understandable... including myself, cos in my early days when I started working out and doing sports, I also didn't do stretching; or shall I put it this way, I find it boring and a waste of time, or I don't think I wanna fit in time to do stretching..... until I got my back sciatica pain....
Anyway, I will share more details about my back sciatica in later part... But let's just talk about stretching.... Most people will rather gym and carry heavy weights to build muscle and strength, or will go for a good run and cardio workout to improve their 2,4run (oops, now no more 2.4 for ippt) or race... All for the sake of either looking good with all the good muscles, or for the sake of sports performance... Naturally, stretching is not fixed in peoples' mind to be important since it doesn't help you to put muscle to look good..
Well, you'll be in for trouble just like my back sciatica... But seriously, stretching is equally important. All that hard intense workout that you put in effort in the gym will cause the muscles to shorten... and if you don't do something to lengthen it back, you'll be heading for trouble. And since muscle tissues are attached to our the joints, regular shortening and tension will cause it to pull and pull and pull on to the joints... until the worst thing that happens; your joints 'give way'! Yes!!! Just think of the common knee joint.... And let's say running for example... Constant pounding on the pavement and tracks lead to tightness in the surrounding muscles like calf, quads, hams, and commonly the IT band... and these muscles connect to the joint... the tightness when not relieved will pull on to the joint, and the next thing that will happen will be misalignment of the knee patella... and tada... why is there a nagging pain in my knee??? (** my next later blog will be about massage effects for tight muscles)
The next point; as we grow older, our flexibility ability will not be as good as young... you will find it hard to even do simple stuff like reaching forward to grab something... If you don't do any stretching to at least maintain your flexibility capability, you will definitely find it even harder to do such simple mundane task...
Not enough to convince you about stretching... my next blog will emphasize about back health and my sciatica experience, why stretching is important for back health... and a bit on massage effects on the muscles..
Anyway, I will share more details about my back sciatica in later part... But let's just talk about stretching.... Most people will rather gym and carry heavy weights to build muscle and strength, or will go for a good run and cardio workout to improve their 2,4run (oops, now no more 2.4 for ippt) or race... All for the sake of either looking good with all the good muscles, or for the sake of sports performance... Naturally, stretching is not fixed in peoples' mind to be important since it doesn't help you to put muscle to look good..
Well, you'll be in for trouble just like my back sciatica... But seriously, stretching is equally important. All that hard intense workout that you put in effort in the gym will cause the muscles to shorten... and if you don't do something to lengthen it back, you'll be heading for trouble. And since muscle tissues are attached to our the joints, regular shortening and tension will cause it to pull and pull and pull on to the joints... until the worst thing that happens; your joints 'give way'! Yes!!! Just think of the common knee joint.... And let's say running for example... Constant pounding on the pavement and tracks lead to tightness in the surrounding muscles like calf, quads, hams, and commonly the IT band... and these muscles connect to the joint... the tightness when not relieved will pull on to the joint, and the next thing that will happen will be misalignment of the knee patella... and tada... why is there a nagging pain in my knee??? (** my next later blog will be about massage effects for tight muscles)
The next point; as we grow older, our flexibility ability will not be as good as young... you will find it hard to even do simple stuff like reaching forward to grab something... If you don't do any stretching to at least maintain your flexibility capability, you will definitely find it even harder to do such simple mundane task...
Not enough to convince you about stretching... my next blog will emphasize about back health and my sciatica experience, why stretching is important for back health... and a bit on massage effects on the muscles..
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