Best Training Strategies

If you ever been to a doctor, the first thing they do is convince you to do low to moderate intensity aerobic training. This is also referred to as cardio. They suggest you do about 30-60 minutes of steady pace cardio for about 3-5 times in a week. They claim this helps maintain your heart rate at a moderate level.

Before you get involved in such a routine, consider some recent scientific research that gives concrete facts to prove such cardio workouts may not work that well after all.

Our bodies were designed to perform physical activity in bursts of exertion followed by recovery. According to the research study, physical variety is a key variable in your training. If you examine most sports, you will find that most of them go with this burst of exertion, or stop-and-go movement, as it is also called.

Another factor to keep in mind when it comes to varying your physical workouts is the effects to your body internally. Scientists have known for years that any excessive steady state endurance exercise that is anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour, only trains the heart rate at a specific level. You don’t get the heart fully involved.

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How to get better grades

Study better & have fun too! Yes it is possible to get better grades even if ones is of average IQ. In fact getting better grades has got do very little with your intelligence & IQ score.

This article may not help you immensely if you are reading this just a day prior to exam. “How to get better grades at school” is an ebook that may help you in that case. Here are friendly-tips to help any student get better grades at college & school:

3 tips on how to get better grades & have fun

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Walking & Jogging are the most basic forms to lose weight & if consistently done will surely reap untold benefits.   Internet is littered with debate on benefits on Jogging vs walking. All this started after a study conducted in1994 suggested that one burns more calories by walking.  This is not entirely true; Jogging will undoubtedly burn more calories if done for same amount of time as walking. This does not mean that jogging is a better for weight loss. One area when walking wins hands down is, less chance of injury. If one is on the heavier side or older side walking is a much safer alternative. One should also realize that walking can be as beneficial as jogging if done for extended period of time. (Calories burnt in a 30 minute jog may be similar to calories burnt in a one hour walk)

Click here to read the latest research paper on jogging & walking…

Let’s look at some benefits of walking:

• Weight loss. (I say that walking & weight loss are directly proportional)
• Increased muscle mass
• Lower risk of cancer diabetes, cancer & stroke
• Improved cholesterol levels
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One of the causes of back pain is weak bones, which initially leads to osteopenia & later to osteoporosis.  Osteoporosis is usually detected very late. Some times a lower  back pain or a nagging  upper  back pain reveals that we have osteoporosis. According to international osteoporosis foundation, one in three women & one in every three men in India suffer from osteoporosis. It’s sad because most of these can be prevented by proper nutrition.

The old theory of drinking lots of milk & eating soya daily may not be enough! Americans are known to eat a lot of calcium rich diet, despite this osteoporosis & the resulting back pain is a major health problem there.

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Healthy Breakfast is the secret to burning double the fat in a regular day. Simple tweaks to the daily recipe can change regular breakfast recipes into healthy recipes. The secret here is to change the type of carbohydrates one consumes during the breakfast. Not all carbohydrates are bad. In fact unrefined carbohydrates are good for us. Unrefined cards like fruits, whole grains & certain lentils are rich in fiber & thus digest slowly. This will also make us eat right during the day as one is less likely to feel hungry.

I am a big fan of Indian breakfast. Most popular Indian breakfast items are a combination of cereals & pulses. This combination provides carbohydrates & protein; both of which are important at the start of the day. To top this, these breakfast items are fermented too. Fermentation coverts carbohydrates & sugar into beneficial acids, thereby increasing the nutritive value of these breakfast items.

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“Preventive maintenance is better than breakdown maintenance” – any good management school will teach you that. The statement is true for living healthy too. The good news here is that we can be our own maintenance engineer! Let’s look at some healthy living tip !

One just needs to monitor these 4 elements daily to be in the pink of health. I call it the “4 F’s”

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Beware of liquid calories !

I was shocked when the learned Guru told the audience “We normally confuse Thirst with hunger.” Here I was sitting to gain some insights on meditation & life skills but was given the weight loss secret in one simple line.

I confused thirst with hunger too. Now, whenever a craving for snack occurs, I check if I am really hungry or just thirsty. In most cases a glass of water is all it takes to control the craving.

We need a little more information before following this advice to the tee. If not monitored, even liquid diet can add up to a lot of empty calories! The best beverage to lose weight is water.  Water is a zero calorie diet that flushes toxins & helps in weight reduction. Drinking water during a meal may dilute the digestive juices, but drinking a glass of water 30 minutes before the meal ensures that we do not overeat. In fact most of us over eat a litter at every meal! More tips on water & weight reduction can be found by clicking here.

Most sweetened beverages have too much of calories. Even the fruit juice that we drink may be loaded with calories. Here are some terminologies that  packed drinks use to denote sugar in the pack:

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Arranged marriages are still very prevalent in India.  When the bride meets the groom for the first time lots of gifts are exchanged within the family. They keep exchanging gifts till they wed & then surprisingly this trend stops. Gift giving is considered an expression of love in our culture & is still seen in the same way in many cultures.

If love strengthens family bonds it is equally true that gifts strengthen bonds too. One of the biggest marketing gimmicks is the fanfare associated with Valentine’s Day-The day you dedicate to please your loved ones. Why cannot everyday be a valentine’s day? Doesn’t valentine’s year sound sweeter?

Dr. Gary Chapman, author of 5 Love languages says that gift is a major love language among many of us. Female readers of this blog are sure to nod in agreement.  I am in no way suggesting spending every day on gifts. Gifts can be free or cheap too. Thamas a Kempis wisely says “A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.”

Here are some friendly tips on inexpensive gifts:

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If you have read part I & part II of this post & still not recovered from procrastination, you really need this article. It could also be possible that you have procrastinated reading the previous two articles, In that case you desperately need this article!

In either of the above mentioned scenario, you classify to be called ‘Master Procrastinator’. I know that feeling because I was there too.

Here are certain power packed tablets just for people like you & me.

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‘Antacids’ have become a common over the counter drug today. Many carry it in their bags, almost expecting to get the ulcer pain somewhere during the day.

The causes of stomach ulcers are well known. Bad lifestyle habits like smoking, heavy drinking & long periods of starving releases excess acids into the system, thus causing ulcer. Scientifically speaking, when bacteria Helicobacter pylori infects the intestinal track, we suffer from ulcer. Uninhibited use of drugs like aspirin & other pain killers too are major causes of ulcer.

Here are some tips that will help the gradual healing of ulcer sores which have already penetrated the muscles.

• Drinking Aloe Vera juice three times a day is a simple home remedy for peptic ulcer ( Ulcer in stomach).
• “How you eat is more important than what you eat.” Eat several moderate sized meals at regular intervals. Avoid large portions of food & late night eating.
• Avoid or limit very spicy or excessively oily food. It is also advisable to limit caffeine intake. These foods create more acids in our body & slow the healing process.
• If you have any symptoms of acidity, QUIT SMOKING NOW !
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