Friday, September 29, 2017

Maintaining a Steady Blood Sugar Level is Important in Your Effort to Lose Weight

Maintaining a steady blood sugar level is not only important for your health, it's also a critical component in your effort to lose weight. While your body breaks down all digestible carbohydrates into blood sugar, some are converted into blood sugar faster than others. Thus, some carbohydrates cause a spike in your blood sugar level causing you to feel hungry faster and to crave more sugary foods. Other carbohydrates are converted into blood sugar more slowly, leveling out your blood sugar and resulting in less hunger and food cravings.

For this reason, the Glycemic Index (GI) was developed to classify how quickly
your body converts carbohydrates into blood sugar as opposed to pure glucose. Glucose has a GI of 100, and all other carbohydrate-based foods are ranked against it. Foods with a score of 70 or more are considered to as have a high GI, while those with a score of 55 or less are considered low. Please click here to see entire post...

Friday, September 22, 2017

Over 40 Beginner's Strength Training Program

Whether you are 40 or 90 it’s never too late to begin strength training program  People in their nineties can still build muscle and become stronger.  My oldest client started working out at age 90.  Here is a perfect strength training program to start building muscle and getting stronger.

In this strength training program, you will work all the major muscle in your body.  This routine is designed for you to do every third day.  For example do this program Monday, Thursday, and Sunday etc…  Spacing out this routine is important to give your body a chance to recuperate between workout sessions.  Strength training tears down muscle fibers, so your body needs the proper recovery time to rebuild those fibers stronger.

You should do each exercise for two sets of 10 repetitions with at least one minute but no more that two minutes between each set.  For each exercise select a resistance with which the last three repetitions are difficult to complete.  Do this routine for two months.  Click here to see the entire post

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Two of My Favorite Exercises for Strengthening and Developing Your Chest

No other muscle is as prominent in a youthful and fit appearance as a strong and developed chest.  What most people consider as the chest is composed of two muscles, the pectoralis major, and the pectoralis minor.  Below is a brief description of these muscles and their primary purpose.

The pectoralis major is a large, substantial, fan-shaped muscle that makes up the majority of the chest muscle mass. It originates at your clavicle, ribs, and sternum, and inserts into the upper portion of your humerus (upper arm bone from elbow to shoulder.)  The pectoralis major helps flex the shoulder joint, and moves your arm toward and across your chest. This is the muscle that gives the chest that strong and fit appearance in a front and side profile.

The pectoralis minor is a thin, triangular muscle that is found underneath the pectoralis major. It attaches at the 3rd, 4th and 5th rib, and it reaches to the scapula (shoulder blade.).  It is not a very large muscle but is gives the pectoralis major more prominence when it is developed and strong. Its job is to help pull the shoulder forward and down.

When exercising the chest I like to use a heavy movement to develop the pectoralis major followed by a lighter shaping exercise to target the pectoralis minor.  Thus, combining an exercise to build mass with a movement to shape and define the chest.  Below is a video of two of my favorite exercises to accomplish this task. Click here to see video