Cooling down after an exercise session is as important as warming up before the workout.

Your warm up helps get your body and mind prepared for the forthcoming physical exertion while the cooling down brings the body and brain activity back to normality.

During the workout, the heart and breathing increase and the body produces lactic acid as the muscles increase their normal work load while the blood flow is concentrating on the working muscles. Correctly carried out a cooling down routine, immediately after a strenuous workout, will allow the body to flush out excess lactic acid build up in the muscles together with other natural toxins and waste products that have become abnormally present as a result of exercise.

As the blood circulation and heart rate return to normality those parts of the body, organs, muscles, tendons and ligaments, not directly involved in the exercise routines will get the oxygen and nutrients that they may have been starved of during the workout and which they require for growth and repair.

It is more beneficial to the body if this return to normality is gradual via the cooling down routine than a transition from high activity to body rest without a pause.

Not only does a correctly executed cooling down routine help the gradual removal of waste products arising from the workout but will also reduce the risk of painful muscle strain and soreness occurring, most frequently the following day after the workout.

It is important to understand the effect that can happen to the body if after a strenuous exercise work out you do not carry out a cooling down routine. Lactic acid, a chemical produced due to muscle fatigue, remains in the muscles along with other waste and can become a cause of acute pain.

Blood vessels that have expanded during the workout have filled and caused swelling known as “blood pooling” as the heart rapidly slows down. Dizziness, even passing out can happen if a gradual cooling down is ignored.

The most vulnerable to these symptoms are those who work out the hardest, to or near the limits of their endurance and are at their peak of physical fitness. This is because their heart rates are already slow and their veins have a bigger capacity to pool blood particularly in the legs.

There is a counter argument to cooling down in the case of the majority of those who regularly carry out a modest level of physical training. In most instances it is unlikely that when the workout is finished there will be a period of total inactivity.

Walking to the changing room or your car, having a shower, just standing around chatting will give the benefit of cooling down. Just a point of view but taking the trouble to cool down after any exercise workout is a case of “better safe than sorry” and for most of us just five minutes will do the trick.

Carrying out a warm up before any physical activity above the norm is important as it triggers the heart to gradually pump increased oxygen rich blood to the muscles.

In this way your body becomes safely prepared for the strenuous demands that your exercise routines should put upon it.

The effect is to warm up the muscles so that they are better able to cope with the impact, shocks, stretches and possible injuries that may occur during your workout.

On another level a good warm up will bring to your attention any minor injury or illness that you may have previously experienced and ignored as likely to be inconsequential during your workout. While warming up these problems should become more apparent and any longer term injury or sickness can be avoided before it is too late.

A Proper Warm Up will :

• Send increased oxygen and nutrients to muscles.

• Muscles become more relaxed and prepared for stretching due to the increase in blood flow through the tissues.

• The heart is gradually prepared for the increase in its work rate which will happen when you start your physical workout. This will slow down the onset of breathlessness and allow you to get more benefits from a longer exercise routine.

• Any increase in blood pressure will be slowed down.

• Can sharpen up your reaction times and coordination.

• Helps focus you mentally and physically in preparation for your workout.

If you are exercising at home you will need to use some simple pieces of exercise equipment to get maximum input and  boost your workout routines.

Fortunately it does not cost very much to set yourself up with some simple pieces that can be put away in a cupboard out of sight. No longer do you need to buy those huge pieces of equipment that can take over your living space.

Exercise Mat

Everybody’s first on the list home exercise kit purchase should be a good exercise mat.

This will cushion your spine when you are doing floor exercises and reduce the possibility that you may slip while carrying out yoga and pilates routines.

It is also hygienic as it will protect your floor covering from sweat and undue wear.

Dumbells

The most traditional piece of kit for home exercise is a set of dumbbells. Begin with a pair weighing 5-10 lbs and graduate to 15- 25 lbs. Better still buy a set of weights that attach to the dumbbells so that you can gradually increase your resistance work.

Always make sure you warm up before you exercise and cool down afterwards.

Kettlebells

Kettlebells have been used in exercise routines for over 300 years. Think of an old fashioned cannonball with a handle attached. Swinging a kettlebell is a great workout for your core muscles and your heart.

A word of warning, it is a good idea to get down to your local gym for classes on how to use the kettlebell safely to avoid self injury and possible muscle damage. Having a good technique with this piece of kit will work wonders with your stamina and strength. Start with a kettlebell weighing around 10-15 lbs.

Steps

Check that the step is stable and strongly built before purchase. Even the best will not set you back much money. It is easy to carry out step routines at any time without having to change into gym gear. A step is great for cardio workouts and calorie burning.

Medicine Ball

A favourite found in every gym is a medicine ball. Usually a little larger than a basketball and weighing between six and twenty lbs. On your own it is used for weight lifting and a variety of routines such as lunging.

If you have a partner to exercise with you can perform a number of exercises throwing the ball to each other from different positions.

Swiss Ball

The Swiss ball is our personal favourite. This is a large inflated plastic ball that seems to have a mind of its own when you sit or lie on it to perform various routines. There are three sizes so choose a size best suited to your height.

Resistance Band

An elastic resistance band is the least expensive piece of specialised exercise kit you can buy. One advantage is that it can be carried anywhere as it is very light so there is no excuse for not exercising if you are away from home overnight or longer.

Routines with the band build muscle tone instead of weights and add variety to your workouts. They come in different strengths to suit.

Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

Chair

Finally any household chair is a useful addition to the home exercise kit as it can be used for a number of beneficial postures such as squats, twists and other muscle building routines.

Also as every dwelling has a chair there is no excuse for missing a workout because there is no kit!

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BMI (Body Mass Index) is a measurement of the fatness or thinness of a human body. BMI came into popular use around 1972 as an easy to calculate measurement of the amount of fat relative to the height and weight of an individual in order to assist in medical diagnosis.

The introduction of BMI as an aid to assessing a medical condition of the human body came about as Western society became more affluent with a rise in obesity as a consequence.

What Is BMI?

BMI is calculated by dividing a persons’ weight by the square of their height to give a reading that ideally should be between 20 – 25.

Why Check Your BMI

Above 25 suggests overweight, above 30 can mean obesity and over 40 becomes dangerous, life threatening obesity. Under 20 indicates underweight, possibly due to malnourishment or disease.

However, it must be emphasised that the Body Mass Index is only a guide to the amount of body fat in the human frame, it is not an accurate fat measurement tool nor should it be considered in isolation in any medical diagnosis where obesity or underweight may be a factor.

Despite this some medical practitioners and others tend to rely in their judgements on the index. For example taller people may give a high BMI despite being obviously slim, in such a case it is due to a mathematical aberration involving the BMI’s inverse proportion to the square of the height. (too complicated to discuss here).

Age, gender and ethnic origin all play a part.  Asians with a BMI of over twenty three are considered to be in overweight territory.

You may come across BMI Prime, this is a simple change to measuring a body’s BMI against BMI 25 (i.e. upper limit of good fat level) to give a reading above or below an optimum fat level of 0.99.

Those with a BMI Prime of 1% or over are overweight, between 0.74% – 0.99% have no fat problem, and below 0.74% are underweight.

How To Check Your BMI

It is easy to calculate your BMI as long as you know your weight and height.  Download this tool to calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI) and give you an indication of your fitness. It saves the results in a file, so you can through the program look at the file, and compare your results from day to day, which gives you an overview of your weight development over time.

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The average weight of an adult human head is around ten and a half pounds (4.5 – 5 kg) when measured from the third vertebrae. This heavy weight is supported by the neck muscles constantly working hard during waking hours.

As a result many of us suffer from painful and strained muscles in the neck area, known as the cervical spine, caused by a variety of reasons.

These may involve tendonitis where the tendons have become torn, muscle and ligament problems, nerves or cartilage injuries.

As the neck contains a large number of muscles to allow the head a great deal of movement at the expense of stability so it is not surprising that neck pain, strains and sprains occur and and reoccur with some frequency amongst the vulnerable.

Amongst the more common initial causes are whiplash where the head is flung backward or forward or sharply twisted. A heavy impact on top of the head can cause the neck to compress and also damage the muscles. In such cases ongoing problems will often reoccur despite initially successful treatment alleviating the neck pain.

Other major causes are bad posture when either awake or asleep, sitting at a computer with a badly adjusted monitor or for simply too long without a break, and any job or workplace requiring lengthy repetitive or lengthy neck stretching. Even stress can be a factor in the onset of an aching neck.

If you suffer from any neck pain or strain it is recommended that you see your medical advisor before carrying out any exercises that may relieve the pain just in case there is a serious underlying problem that may be seriously aggravated by such unsupervised activity.

The chances are that you will be given some pain relievers and the all clear to carry out exercises that can give relief from aches and pain and prevent further neck strains.

Here are some yoga poses that can reduce and alleviate the discomfort of neck pain, strains and sprains.

It takes dedication to lose a large amount of weight, but losing too much too quickly can leave the body with loose skin that just never seems to go even with targeted exercise.

Areas that are noticeably difficult are the tummy and underarms.

Loose Tummy Skin

As for the skin on your tummy, you should know that it differs from skin elsewhere on your body as it contains subcutaneous tissue whose purpose is to store fat.

It is recommended that weight loss should be restricted to well under 3 lbs a week to give time for your stomach skin to adjust.

Aiming for just 1 lb a week is preferable.

However here are a couple of exercises that may help your stomach problem :

• Lie flat on the floor facing down, legs extended and feet about two feet apart .
• With your palms placed beneath your shoulders, lift your body from the knees upwards until your arms are fully extended. Your lower legs and arms will be taking your weight.
• Arch your back and lift your head so that you are looking up as high as you can and hold for a count of ten, relax back to the floor and repeat after a further ten count.

You may find that it will take time before you can fully carry out this exercise. If so, you can start with your elbows bent or not fully arching your body and over a period gradually, and without over straining, you should get the maximum benefit from this routine.

• Adopt the same position as above. This time when you extend your arms, keep your legs straight and fully extended so that your knees are raised and your weight is taken on your feet tops.
• Arch your back and look towards the ceiling and, as in exercise 1, take a ten count, relax to the floor and repeat.

This is important! If you have any back problems you should not attempt these exercises without first getting fully qualified medical advice. Also be carefull not to overdo the work out, just gradually work up to about twenty minutes a day and stop if you feel any discomfort in your lower back.

Loose Underarm Skin

Tightening the skin under your arms is a more difficult problem.

While there are a number of techniques that may work, we have no personal experience or access to anybody who has had success in curing the problem or can recommend a proven remedy,  unless you opt for surgery. Exercising the arms is likely to build up muscle that will begin to fill out the skin but is not likely to significantly reduce the excess skin look.

If you are young your skin is still elastic so you can try increasing the circulation by stroking, buffing, manipulating etc., the flabby skin to get the blood flowing. This will encourage new skin cells to grow and become thicker which can make the skin look firmer.

You can buy firming creams that contain collagen, an essential group of naturally occurring proteins. Massaging the loose skin with these creams may help to plump up the skinand give it a firmer look.

Keep your body well hydrated by drinking plenty of water at all times. This helps keep your skin cells moisturized so averting any tendency for them to shrink and look flabby.

Drinking green tea is said to help rid the body of flab as it produces metabolic rises in the body both during exercise and resting periods. If you dont like the taste you can try peach, raspberry or   tropical.  This, in turn, may help to det rid of the loose tummy and underarm skin.

There has been no let up in peoples’ need to look young and stay fit, just a change of emphasis away from expensive exercise machines and gym memberships.

Simplicity is becoming the new watchword amongst keep fit enthusiasts.

Proven Workouts

Home based exercise workouts combining any of jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, power walking, sprints and other tried and tested exercises are proven to provide a complete upper and lower body workout improving muscle mass, strength and stamina.

Monitoring progress via simple core exercises is immediate and easy, for example performing additional push ups, running that extra mile, or improving the time taken to sprint or power walking over a distance.

More Calming Routines

Current thinking has passed over previously popular intense aerobic workouts that could often cause joint problems due to high impact to more calming routines demanding concentration of the mind as well as body.

This holistic approach allows people to improve their ability to perform everyday functions, keep their weight under control, stay fit and not risk looking like over muscled professional body builders.

That the current economic climate has also had its effect on the recent changes to the pattern of exercising is undeniable, but there has been an exception.

Exercise routines via video games are rapidly gaining in popularity with an ever increasing variety of games that can involve the whole family in competitive, enjoyable work out regimes.

Hopefully this new trend for simple home based exercise will help tackle the obesity and other fitness problems that have been growing in this couch potato computer age, particularly amongst the young., for whom exercising is so important.

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