Category: Fitness

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Fitness Wellness

The Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Athletes

Athletes push their bodies to the limit on a regular basis, and it’s no surprise that they are prone to injuries. While rest and physical therapy are important for recovery, chiropractic care can also play a crucial role in helping athletes heal and perform at their best.

First, let’s define chiropractic care. Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of neuromuscular disorders. It involves the use of spinal adjustments and manipulations to restore proper function to the body.

So, how can chiropractic care help athletes?

Improved Performance

Chiropractic care can help athletes improve their performance by optimizing the function of the nervous system. The spine is the home of the central nervous system, which controls all functions of the body. When the spine is misaligned, it can cause nerve interference and disrupt the body’s ability to perform at its best. Chiropractic adjustments can help correct misalignments and restore proper communication between the brain and the rest of the body.

Pain Relief

Athletes are no strangers to pain, whether it’s due to a specific injury or the wear and tear of training. Chiropractic care can help relieve pain by addressing the root cause of the problem. For example, if an athlete is experiencing back pain, a chiropractor may focus on correcting misalignments in the spine that could be causing the pain. In addition to addressing the cause of the pain, chiropractic adjustments can also help to reduce inflammation and improve blood flow, both of which can help with pain management.

Faster Recovery

When an athlete is injured, the goal is to get them back on the field or court as soon as possible. Chiropractic care can help speed up recovery by reducing inflammation, improving range of motion, and promoting the healing of tissues. Chiropractic care can also help prevent future injuries by improving the function of the body as a whole.

Increased Flexibility and Range of Motion

Chiropractic care can help athletes improve their flexibility and range of motion by addressing misalignments in the spine and other joints. When the body is functioning optimally, the muscles and joints can move more freely, which can lead to improved performance and reduced risk of injury.

Reduced Risk of Injury

Proper alignment of the spine and joints is crucial for optimal body function. When the body is misaligned, it can lead to an increased risk of injury. Chiropractic care can help athletes maintain proper alignment and reduce their risk of injury. In addition, regular chiropractic care can help athletes identify and correct any imbalances or weaknesses in the body that could lead to injury.

In conclusion, chiropractic care can be a valuable tool for athletes looking to improve their performance, relieve pain, recover from injuries, and reduce their risk of future injuries. Whether you’re a professional athlete or a weekend warrior, consider incorporating chiropractic care into your training routine to help you perform at your best.

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Fitness

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Everyone knows that losing weight is not easy to achieve. Countless health books and magazines suggest different tips and tricks on how to lose weight, but sometimes everything is still a matter of trial and error. While people focused on what and what not to eat, when to eat was often overlooked. However, with the popularity of intermittent fasting, losing weight becomes a different ball game.

Intermittent fasting strictly allows you to eat during a particular time. The catch is, some kinds of intermittent fasting allows people to eat normally on some days but extremely cut down on their calories for the next few days. Another one allows people to eat for some hours in a day, but completely fast for the remaining hours.

You may wonder, how does it work or is this diet trend safe? According to neuroscientist Mark Mattson, Ph.D, when the body is not able to absorb food for hours, it uses up sugar stores and burns fats. Intermittent fasting extends the period of time it burns the calories from your last meal, resulting in weight loss. Consequently, it offers other health benefits including lowering risks of type 2 diabetes and reducing inflammation in the body. This is probably because of the fact that when your cells are under mild stress because of fasting, its ability to fight such circumstances is strengthened and becomes ideal in combating diseases.

The two most popular intermittent fasting plans are 16/8 and 5:2. The 16/8 fasting is easier to follow and remember because it is basically eating for eight hours and skipping meals for the next 16 hours. On the other hand, the 5:2 approach gives you the freedom to eat regularly for five days and limits you to a quarter of your normal calories in a day for two days. That means you need to watch your calories up until 500-600 only. The best way to identify which schedule would work for you is by consulting with an expert in IF.

Intermittent fasting might be strict on when you should eat, but it is still necessary to pick the right kinds of food on the days or hours you can eat regularly. Everyone is still encouraged to choose healthy foods, and avoid desserts and processed foods.

It is also important to drink plenty of water during intermittent fasting to avoid dehydration. On days intermittent fasting can be really difficult to follow, water, tea, or coffee can help ease your feeling of hunger. With discipline and determination, intermittent fasting can guarantee you the result you want to achieve.

As a health & wellness expert I believe knowledge gives you options. The more you know about diet & nutrition the more you can experiment with your food. I’m not a huge fan of diets like this as they are not sustainable. I believe in becoming educated about nutrition & applying that knowledge to your life. I believe in balance, & stick with the 90/10 rule. I eat healthy 90% of the time.

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Fitness

Keto Diet: Is it good for you?

Since 2016, the curiosity of people about ketogenic diet has been evident through different media platforms including Google Trends. Hundreds of Facebook pages about ketogenic diet are also available for anyone. Even celebrities have a huge contribution in disseminating information about its wonders. The now popular diet is often associated with ways how people can lose weight, but its effectiveness is often challenged by other health experts.

Does the ketogenic diet really work? Is it safe?

The human body needs food as its main source of energy to work on its daily activities. It uses the glucose from carbohydrate foods like rice, fruits, starchy vegetables, and more. In times when the body lacks intake of these foods, it burns fats as substitute and produces molecules called ketones. The process is called ketosis.

In the medical field, ketogenic diet or keto diet is initially for treatment of children with epilepsy, as it has been found to lessen the occurrence of seizures. Keto diet aims to use high-protein and high fat foods instead of carbohydrates as the body’s source of energy. However, it attracted more people when mainstream media widely considered it as a weight loss regimen. In order to make it work for people who want to lose weight, the Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD) suggests 70-75% fat, 20% protein and 5-10% carbs. Among the biggest keto myths is that it has totally zero carbs. On the contrary, keto diet still has carbs, but sugar and starches are replaced with low glycemic carbs coming from vegetables. Carbohydrates are really effective in making anyone gain weight, hence cutting them from your diet can really make the difference.

Keto diet is a strict low-carb diet. It is important that people who want to try it know the right food to jumpstart their journey. These foods include high-fat meats, fish, oils, nuts, high-fat dairy, and low-carb vegetables. Among the foods you need to avoid are bread, pasta, rice, and most conventional baked goods. The best drinks to pair your diet with are water and unsweetened coffee or tea.

Despite its many benefits, keto diet is still not advisable to everyone, especially to diabetics and other people who have management problems with blood sugar. People with kidney problems are also discouraged from following the diet.

As a health & wellness expert I believe knowledge gives you options. The more you know about diet & nutrition the more you can experiment with your food. I’m not a huge fan of diets like this as they are not sustainable. I believe in becoming educated about nutrition & applying that knowledge to your life. I believe in balance, & stick with the 90/10 rule. I eat healthy 90% of the time.

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Fitness

Stuck at home? Try these 7 effective exercises now!

Since the enhanced community quarantine has been implemented in March, many people have drastically adjusted their lifestyle to minimize contact with other people. It also means that there have been fewer interactions and physical activities for everyone.

Staying at home prompted people to sit more and move less, which can be threatening to their health. According to ​MayoClinic.org​, an analysis shows that people who sit for more than 8 hours have chances of dying the same way as obese people and smokers.​ Centers for Disease, Control, and Prevention​ has also enumerated the harmful effects of not getting enough physical activity, which are heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

Although gyms have reopened under certain safety protocols, floors are still limited to a number of gym-goers, and group classes are not open for all yet. Going to the gym is still at your own risk. Other coaches also suggest not to prioritize going to the gyms and instead advise people to start working out at home.

In my book titled ​Doc Rob’s Guide to Better Health and Wellness​, I listed down 7 sample exercises to keep you moving at home:

Air squat ​- The best way to work out without the use of any equipment is by using your bodyweight. Air squats strengthen the muscles in the buttocks, thighs, hamstrings, and quadriceps by bending the knees and squatting without the help of a machine.

Plank​ – Another bodyweight exercise is doing the plank. It strengthens the core and may reduce back pain by holding a pushup position with the elbows at 90 degrees.

Situps​ – Situps are great abdominal exercises that not only strengthen the stomach but also increase flexibility and improve posture. It is done by repeatedly moving from a lying to a sitting position.

Pushups​ – Pushups also make an excellent home workout to strengthen your arms and chest muscles. The popular exercise includes raising the body on the floor by extending the arms with the body straight and then lowering the body back down.

Burpees​ – By squatting, kicking the feet back to reach the pushup position, and jumping, the burpee routine strengthens the legs, chest, thighs, hamstrings, deltoids, arms, and abs.

Wall sits​ – The simple wall sit workout strengthens the quadriceps muscles by holding a sitting position with the back against the wall.

Walking Lunges ​- Walking lunges strengthen the quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and core by stepping a leg forward and lowering the body to 90 degrees, and then returning to the standing position.

These home exercises are ideal for everyone to keep the body healthy and moving despite the limited outdoor activities. Even after the lockdown, creating your routine based on these exercises can benefit your body in many ways. There will be no more excuses for you to skip working out. Just do not forget to have fun along the way!