DOS
1. Do vary your workouts. We recommend you alternate among light workouts, moderate workouts and heavy workouts. Sometimes women use very light weights because of the fear of getting too muscular. In reality, most women don't have the hormones to get the type of muscles that men can develop, but they will lose fat just under the skin and have more definition of their muscles.
You just can't go in and lift heavy weights everyday, either, because they body gets used to it and you won't progress. Lifting heavy weights can also increase the potential for muscle pulls and strains. Through the use of what we call periodized schedules, where you have variations, either from workout to workout, or over two- to four-week cycles, you can expose the body to different types of workouts that will stimulate optimal development of bone, muscle and other tissues.
One key way to vary your workouts is to include power exercises, which have a speed or time component. For example, throwing a medicine ball, which is a weighted ball, or doing a jump into the air are explosive movements that involve multiple joints. A study done at the University of Michigan showed if you only do a circuit of machine exercises and you don't do multi-joint exercises, such squats, where you're standing and lifting weight, your balance gets worse. You increase each of the muscle segments, but you don't know how to coordinate them with total body movement. The speed component also enhances the ability of the muscles to react quickly.
Also, if you don't vary your workouts, exercise becomes boring and you quit.
2. Do include resistance training in your workout if you want to lose weight.Strength training is good for caloric control for two reasons. Number one, you may be able to increase the amount of lean tissue mass, and with more lean tissue, you'll burn a few more calories at rest. There can also be caloric burn after the workout. After a good workout, someone can burn calories over the next one hour to 24 hours.
3. Do learn the principles of strength training.Sometimes people don't want to learn anything about strength training. It's human nature to say, "I don't know if I want to read about my car unless I'm really interested in my car. I just want somebody to fix it." Many times we have to spend a little bit of time understanding the basic weight training principles and what it all means, so that we can understand what we're trying to accomplish. Good personal trainers or good gyms include an educational component in their programs.
4. Do get an OK from your doctor.It's always prudent to check with your physician and let him or her know that you're going to start an exercise program, especially as you get older. Your physician is the best one to say if you need any type of preliminary workups or how exercise is going to affect your medications.
The other thing is have good musculoskeletal exam to make sure that your joints and your muscles are functioning well and that you're ready to start applying a physical stress to your body. For example, in older women, you want to make sure you don't have a preexisting form of osteopenia or osteoporosis that could lead to fractures.
If you have any medical condition, you want to make sure that you have the right type of supervision. Many hospital programs or physical therapy and sports medicine clinics have therapeutic training sessions. If you have a medical condition and you just go to the gym on your own, you got to make sure you have qualified, competent personnel working with you.
Don'ts 1. Don't get an unqualified personal trainer.Individuals beginning strength training need to find instruction from a qualified personal trainer. There are over a hundred certifications out there, so sometimes you don't know who's qualified and who's not qualified. Some gyms hire people who are just a hard body without any expertise.
Find out if the trainer has an undergraduate degree in kinesiology or exercise science. Do they offer individualized programs to their clients? Are they certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, which is the major organization for strength training? You can locate a personal trainer who is certified on their website or call them for advice.
2. Don't do too much at once.
Especially for middle-aged people, if you're starting off without any training, sometimes you have to get in shape in order to strength train. There is going to be a period of time where you have got to do base programming to get going and then your workouts become more specific. The base program is usually about eight exercises, such as an exercise for your chest, your upper back, your shoulders, your abdominal muscles, your lower back, your thighs, your hamstrings and your whole leg.
3. Don't expect results right away.Many times marketing people say, "In six weeks, you'll change your whole appearance." A study coming out in the Journal of Strength Conditioning Research looked at that question and found out it's not true. We've got to separate the truth from the hype from marketing strategies and infomercials.
Every person's different, but typically you will start to see your strength improve in the first few weeks because the neuromuscular system responds very quickly. In other words, the motor neurons in your brain that recruit the muscle fibers needed to lift weight will quickly learn to recruit more muscle fibers. Then you'll hit a grey zone while you wait for the muscle to develop. If you have a proper diet, you will see fat and muscle changes in the first four to six months. Bone takes the longest to respond, but significant and measurable changes in bone density can be seen within six to 12 months.
4. Don't have an asymmetrical workout. Some people, particularly men, just do bench presses and other upper body exercises but don't do any lower-body exercises. Or, some women will use only light weights on certain muscles; they basically pick and choose what muscles they want to work out rather than try to develop muscles across their body. One needs a symmetrical workout for proper balance in strength between the front and back of the joints. This is important in terms of size, as one would not want big biceps and small triceps, for example, and in terms of injury prevention. If one only develops one side of the joint then the other side can be easily injured during exercise.
5. Don't overdo it.
Overtraining is probably most common in the younger populations who are very aggressive, especially young males. Our rule of thumb is that, if you work out and you're excessively sore, you've probably done too much, too soon. If it takes a crane to get you out of the bed the next morning, you probably need to back off your workout.
exercises for cervical spondylitis patients
Do's • Do regular exercise to maintain neck strength, flexibility and range of motion.
• Use firm mattress, thin pillow.
• Do turn to one side while getting up from lying down position.
• Wear a cervical collar during the day.
• Regularly walk or engage in low-impact aerobic activity.
• In order to avoid holding the head in the same position for long periods, take break while driving, watching TV or working on a computer.
• Use a seat belt when in a car and use firm collar while traveling.
• When in acute pain take rest, immobilize the neck, and take medications as directed.
Don'ts • Avoid sitting for prolonged period of time in stressful postures.
• Avoid running and high-impact aerobics, if you have any neck pain.
• Do not lift heavy weights on head or back.
• Avoid bad roads, if traveling by two or four wheelers.
• Do not drive for long hours; take breaks.
• Avoid habit of holding the telephone on one shoulder and leaning at it for long time.
• Do not take many pillows below the neck and shoulder while sleeping.
• Do not lie flat on your stomach.
• In order to turn around, do not twist your neck or the body; instead turn around by moving your feet first.
• Do not undergo spinal manipulations if you are experiencing acute pain.
What are the bad postures that can worsen cervical spondylitis? 1. The head held forward from normal position
2. The shoulders held up and forward
3. The chest bent and rounded
4. The pelvic area tilted backwards
5. The hips, knees and ankles bent