It is important to make sure you have correct running form before you start a running routine. Especially for beginners, if you start off with the correct form you will help yourself physically by avoiding injury, plus you will maximize your results so you can get the most out of your running workout. And that is what we want! We want to be healthy, we want to stay injury free, and we want to make sure that we are not cheating ourselves out of our desired results. So if you are thinking of starting a running routine, make sure you know the correct posture to run in.
It all starts with your head, if your head is correct it is easier for your body to fall into position. So make sure you are not looking down. I blame treadmills for the bad habit of looking down, because when people run on a treadmill they always tend to look down at the clock, their distance, or maybe they are looking to see how many calories they have burned. For whatever reason it is, it is teaching bad habits. There are even certain treadmills that have TV’s installed that help people get in the bad habit of looking down. We need to look ahead, face forward, look to the horizon. When you keep your eyes ahead it will align your head with your spine, and you will help your body to last longer during the workout.
Run tall, this particular saying means to keep your torso straight and long. It is important not to slouch when you run, you are not a caveman or a hunchback! Slouching normally happens when we get tired, we start off all high and mighty, but as the run hits its low, so does our torso. When we slouch, it not only hurts our backs but it also prohibits us to breath correctly. So by focusing on keeping our torsos high and tall, we can breathe correctly and run without our backs wanting to die.
An important key to keeping your torso tall, is the shoulders. The shoulders should always feel relaxed and should never be up by your ears. A head that is looking forward and shoulders that are relaxed, should help your torso straighten up. So if you feel like your shoulders are getting tight, try shaking them loose.
The last part of your upper body that is important to have correct form in is the arms. This includes your hands and your elbows. You want to run with a 90-degree angle at your elbows and never have tight fists. Just like your shoulders needing to be relaxed, so do your hands. Tight hands will cause your forearms to stiffen, which will cause upper body tension. Your arms work with your stride and help propel you forward, but you should never run with your arms swinging across your body, your arms should always swing back and forth.
Part 2 will have the correct running form for your lower half. Correct Running Form: Lower Body
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! Just click below on the “Ask The Fitness Dude A Question” and submit the form.
You cannot target fat loss to one specific area on your body, it is very important to do abdominal workouts (which we will talk about), but it cannot be the only thing you do. You need to incorporate cardiovascular training, weight lifting, and interval training. You need to turn your body into a fat burning machine, and you do that by raising your lean muscle mass, because muscles burns fat. You also need to have a healthy diet, there are certain foods that can help you get your sexy flat abs, like foods with protein, and foods that are either whole grain or whole wheat. But let get to some of the reasons why strong flat abs are important, other than just looking good.
Yes, great looking abs go further than just skin deep, it’s not all about looking good. There are many health benefits to strengthening your core that will help you live a long and healthy life. If you are experiencing back pain, most the time it is because of the baggage you are carrying up front. Your back is supporting all that weight called your belly, or beer belly. Strengthening your abs will also help you with everyday activities. Just think about all the movements we do, twisting, bending, pushing, and pulling, we engage our core far more than we realize, and if we had a strong core than we would be less likely to injure ourselves. Belly fat has also been related to heart disease, the fat that surrounds our midsections is said to be the most dangerous fat for our hearts.
So now you have no excuse on why you should ever make these mistakes again! Now you know, and like the old G.I. Joe public announcements used to say “Knowing is half the battle.”
Lets say you have a cold, you might have a mild sore throat, a stuffy or runny nose, maybe even some sneezing. You will probably be okay to workout. Now, you might not be able to exercise hard like you usually do, but you will be able to do some moderate workouts. Working out when you have the common cold might actually give you some temporary relief, because your nasal passage can open up, and help you breathe. If you do decide to workout with a congested nose, be careful when taking any mucus relief medication, because you might feel queasy in the middle of your workout and possibly vomit. Another thing to keep in mind, if you feel like your cold could be contagious, you should stay home and workout instead of going to the gym in the risk of causing other people to get sick. But you should be fine to exercise.
These are just five more reasons why we need to have healthy sleep; our lives could be at stake. What are some of the reasons why people are not getting enough sleep? Unless you have a physical condition, most people do not get healthy sleep because they are stress or have a lot on the mind. Its kind of a catch 22, because your day is filled with stress from your job, paying bills, sitting in traffic, your mother in law, which are causing you to not get any sleep. But at the same time the lack of sleep is causing your stress to elevate. So it is important to settle yourself down before you head off to bed, maybe do an activity to get your mind off of the daily grind.
The two biggest bones are connected at the knee, the femur (thigh) and the tibia (shin). These bones meet up a hinge, and that hinge is made up of Ligaments, Cartilage, fluid, and bone. All of this makes of your knee joint. Let’s break these parts down one by one.
The First Phase – You pretty much eat normal size portions of food, but you will eliminate all carbohydrates. This will probably be the toughest phase, to get through, because a lot of your really good foods have carbohydrates in them. This strict first phase lasts for two weeks, and in this two weeks, you will eat lean meats. Turkey, chicken, shellfish are all accepted in this first stage, some selected vegetables, nuts and low fat cheese are also accepted in this first phase of the South Beach Diet.
So does the Atkins Diet work? Yes, it actually does work. But if the Atkins Diet works, why is there so much controversy over it? Let me tell you why I do not like the Atkins Diet. The Atkins Diet is great for short-term weight loss, but bad for a lifetime of health. By eliminating foods with carbohydrates, you are limiting yourself to all the wonderful nutrients that help your body. With the Atkins Diet you pretty much only eat foods with protein, which includes steak, chicken, eggs, bacon, and turkey, and even though this sounds great, they are also high in saturated fat. So even though you might lose 20 to 30 pounds, you will actually be doing damage to yourself in the long run.
Flaxseed has many health ingredients, but it is most known for being rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, that’s good fat! Omega-3 fatty acids have actually been known to improve the health of your heart. Flaxseed also has fiber, which most of us need more of in our diets. Another key ingredient that flaxseed contains is called Lignans. Lignans have antioxidants and plan estrogen.
