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When to Invest in a Personal Trainer

July 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Personal trainer showing a client how to exerc...

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Sports require dedication and a certain level of fitness in order to achieve your goals. Through training and drills, you learn the skills needed for your particular sport. However, training alone does not condition your body for the necessary endurance and strength needed to play sports.

As per conducted surveys (through online survey software), there are three primary areas of fitness: muscle strengthening, core training, and aerobics. No matter what type of sport you play, whether it be gymnastics, track, or football, all three areas are essential to keeping your body in shape. Aerobics help build your overall activity endurance and help strengthen the heart and lungs. Muscle strengthening exercises help build muscle mass and stretch the body to increase flexibility. Core exercises encompass the strengthening of your back, hips, and stomach. A strong core is imperative for proper posture in sports and helps prevent sports-related injuries.

Taking these factors into consideration, it may seem daunting at first to know exactly what to do and how far you can reasonably push yourself while reaching your fitness goals. The key to increasing your fitness level is to gradually push your limits without over doing it. If you are not comfortable doing this on your own, or desire ways to maximize your fitness sessions in little time, you might consider hiring a personal trainer. You can find a local personal trainer by visiting http://www.411.ca.

Personal trainers can also help you customize your exercises based on the type of sports you play. For example, if you are a runner, you will need strong legs to help push you through to the next level. A trainer also keeps you accountable for all workouts. When you exercise alone, it is easy to skip out on a few minutes of exercise or reps. More importantly, a trainer will teach you proper techniques to avoid injuries. If you feel that a trainer can help assist you in meeting your sports and overall fitness goals, it is worth the investment.

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Filed Under: Equipment, Individual Sports, Training Tagged With: , ,

How to Properly Stretch Before Your Game

December 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Stretching

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Athletes have to be very careful to properly prep themselves before a practice or a game. Without giving your muscles a chance to wake up, you could risk serious injury. By setting up a stretch routine for warming up before practices and games, you’ll ensure that your muscles are properly prepared for the vigorous workout you’re about to give them.  These stretches and more can be found on the Internet by using your laptops.

First do a pre-warm up by walking in place or lightly jogging. This will warm up your muscles. When you’re ready to start stretching, you’ll want to stretch in a particular order, performing small, circular movements with each area. You can work your way from your fingers to your toes in the following order:

-fingers and knuckles
-wrists
-elbows
-shoulders
-neck
-trunk/waist
-hips
-legs
-knees
-ankles
-toes

When you’ve completed all of the muscle groups, start with your toes again, and work your way back through to your fingers and knuckles. Move slowly to avoid overstretching. Begin slowly. You don’t have to touch your toes the first few times you start to stretch. You want to slowly build up your stretching routine like you would with any other exercise program.

While performing each stretch, hold the stretch in place for a count of ten. Breathe slowly, in and out, during your count, and then release the stretch slowly. Repeat, trying to push the stretch a little further, for another count of ten. Repeat this with each of the muscle groups going forward and backwards. You’ll want to take your time, and not rush through your stretch routine. The idea is to let all of your muscles wake up before revving them into high gear.

When starting your stretching routine, there are some things you should remember. Don’t bounce while you’re stretching. The idea is to wake your muscles up before you use them. Stretch both sides of your body in equal order. You can stretch each side of your body individually, or go back-and-forth with each muscle group. Consult your coach or trainer for additional advice and assistance.

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Filed Under: Sports, Training Tagged With: , ,

Strength Training and Sports

December 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

One crucial element in sports training is strength training. Strength training provides so many benefits for an athlete who’s in training, including conditioning your body, improving endurance, improving performance, and maximizing strength. These days we’re having online degree programs, for strength and sports training, one can join then if you have no time to go to a special trainer. There are several elements that you need to include in your strength training routine.

Hypertrophy is the increase in muscle bulk and size, and is an element that should be included in your program if you’re training for contact sports that require you to withstand aggressive body impact, such as football and wrestling. Other athletes could actually find this a hindrance, and will not want to focus a lot of their strength training on this element. One thing you should consider when working on hypertrophy is that a large muscle is not necessarily a strong muscle.

Maximal strength is the highest level of force that you can generate. Its importance also varies among sports. However, the decision is not whether it should be included in your routine or not, but rather how long you concentrate on it during your training period. It can improve your endurance performance, but does not lead to an increase in muscle hypertrophy.

Explosive power is a singular maximal effort you can put behind an action, such as lifting a certain amount of weight. Again, this is not so important in all sports, but can lay the foundation to increase your potential in power development.

Strength endurance is the amount of strength your muscles can hold, and again is less likely to be an important factor in most sports. By including some brief strength endurance exercises into your routine, you can, however, help improve the amount of strength you can maintain over a long period of time.

Periodization is the concept of dividing your overall training plan into brief phases or periods, each of which is supposed to have a specific outcome. It allows your sport-specific strength to peak at its proper time, while minimizing your risk of over-training.

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Filed Under: Equipment, Sports, Training Tagged With: ,

Proper Attire for Athletes

December 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A pair of ASICS running shoes, model GEL-Kinsei

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Sports equipment is not the only items needed by an athlete for training or performing. They also need to have the proper attire.  Much like anything from wearing the right work attire to having the best jewelry you purchased from JRDunn.com for a formal dinner event with the President, attire for athletes is also important.  However, for them it is much more of a performance issue.  In order to move properly, help keep their body temperature at the proper level, and to keep their muscles warm; what athletes wear during training and events is just as important with how well trained they are for the event.

If athletes’ muscles don’t stay warm enough, they’ll be tenser and have a lower blood supply than an athlete whose muscles are warmed well enough. They will also be more prone to injury. Athletes’ clothing should also let air through, and allow proper breathing so that heat can’t accumulate. Because heat is set free during exercise, it must be removed. At the same time, the clothing must absorb activated perspiration to regulate body heat.

While keeping the muscles warm enough and letting heat and perspiration exit, the athletes’ attire must also provide proper movement. This means finding a well-balanced uniform of light and comfortable, as well as warm or cool enough. Track suites are a good combination of both, and can even be worn while working out at home. If a track suite is not available, a pair of trousers and a sweater or a simple pair of sweats will work. Layering clothes, such as wearing light cotton shorts and a t-shirt under sweats, will help make transitioning from sitting on the bench to going out to the field and performing easier.

Once the proper attire is acquired, adding the proper accessories is the next important step. The proper foot attire is just as important as the proper clothing. There are different athletic shoes for different types of sports, and athletes should check with their trainers or footwear experts to find a pair that’s right for them. Once the right type is selected, athletes need to make sure the shoes fit properly. They shouldn’t be too loose or too tight.

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Filed Under: Equipment, Sports Tagged With: ,

Avoid Stupid Ligament Tear Injuries – Stretch Properly Before Your Exercise

December 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Do you know how to stretch properly? How many times have you seen an inconvenient ligament tear or hamstring injury hampering the performance of your team? Nine times out of ten, the root lies in the improper stretching habits of the team members.

What is the purpose of stretching? Why don’t you take a rubber band and stretch it to its maximum elasticity in a single jerk? Chances are high that three out of five rubber bands will snap immediately. Only two will withstand the immense load. On the other hand, if you stretch in a graded manner, you will find that all the rubber bands get stretched to their maximum elasticity.

This is exactly how the human body works. The level of physical exertion placed on the body should proceed in a graded manner. Of course, you cannot request your opponents to run slowly to ensure your body warms up, can you? That is the reason why one should carry out stretching exercise before the match.

Another significant advantage of stretching exercises is that it ensures proper flow of blood to various parts of the body. Improper blood flow can lead to cramps. It can also affect performance as rate of deterioration of muscles is higher when supply of oxygen is not proper.

Just as you take your vehicle from the first gear to the fourth in a graded manner to ensure adequate supply of fuel, you should stretch repeatedly to make sure that your body is well prepared for the immense burst that you need to put to win the match.

Stretching is essential for not just preparing the body to work hard but also to help the body relax properly. That is the reason why you see teams stretching themselves even after the match as ended. This helps avoid wear and tear for the future.

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Filed Under: Nutrition, Sports, Training Tagged With: , ,

Why Increasing Protein May Not Help Your Game

December 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Protein is an essential building block for muscles, organs, and skin. Protein is naturally available in your bloodstream as well. Your blood helps carry amino acids in protein from your diet to muscles and major organs. Eating lean protein is a way to stay healthy. However, some athletes increase the amount of protein they eat on a daily basis in order to gain more muscle and perform better at their sport.

Generally, an athlete requires somewhere between 50 and 70 g of protein per day. The more and longer you train, the more protein you might need. This is especially true if you do a lot of weight-bearing exercises. The more you use your muscles the more that protein is broken down within them. Therefore, it is important that you eat the necessary amounts of protein to prevent catabolism.

Consuming a vast amount of protein will not do any good. It will not necessarily harm you, unless you trade in carbohydrates for protein. Unlike protein, carbohydrates are necessary to help energize you throughout the day, and are imperative if you are extremely active to prevent fatigue. Extra protein does not directly build muscle; it only helps you build muscle naturally through exercise.

Some complete sources of protein include lean meats, low-fat dairy products, and eggs. Be careful not to eat too many eggs, as they are high in cholesterol. Limit to one a day. If you have heart problems, you may want to avoid eggs or eat them occasionally. Also avoid fatty sources of protein such as high-fat beef and pork. Vegetables and grains also have some protein, but you need to eat several servings.

There are also protein supplements available that are advertised to help athletes build muscle and function better during workouts. Protein bars and shakes are not beneficial unless you do not gain enough protein from your regular diet.

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