Skip to main content

Featured post

Menstruation; Whats happening to my body?

Contents [ hide ] Introduction Actually, what you are experiencing is a normal physiological process that begins once a girl reaches puberty. The first menstruation in a woman’s life is referred to as menarche , this could happen between the ages of 10 to 15 with most (the average) girls having theirs around age 12. It involves bleeding from the uterus at regular intervals. The end of menstruation is termed menopause , this usually happens between the ages of 45 to 55. Menstruation is therefore defined as the cyclical or monthly flow of blood and shedding of endometrium including mucus, some enzymes and unfertilized ovum. So, what really happens? Well in simple terms, it all begins with changes in hormones in the body. You can think of hormones as messengers that are sent by some organs of your body to tell other cells to do something. In this particular case, an organ called hypothalamus which is found in your brain begins the process. [Fast forward] The ovaries release f...

Too busy to workout? Get a great workout in less than 11 minutes.

I bet the first thing you imagine when you hear the word "workout" is someone hitting the gym and playing around with some fancy gadgets for over an hour. Just like the image below.

Image by Strong Fitness Magazine

So if you do not have that amount of time to spare, you might want to exclude working out from your schedule altogether. In this write up, we'll discuss how you can get many of the health benefits exercising gives while spending about 10 to 20 minutes on workout.

How is it possible?

It is because of the existence of High-intensity interval training (HIIT). The truth here is, you could have this sort of training from 4 to 30 minutes but 20 minutes is usually the ideal. This doesn't mean you don't get anything for working less. You simply increase the intensity of your training if you decide to workout in less than the usual.

With HIIT, the basic concept is to exercise for a relatively very short amount of time (e.g. 30 seconds) and the rest for the same amount of time or half of the time, repeating this in cycles for your desired number of minutes. For example, you could push up intensely for 30 seconds, then rest for 30 or 15 seconds.

While resting, you could stop the exercise completely or simply reduce the intensity to a lesser rate. Using this technique offer some benefits such as slowing down aging on a cellular level, reducing blood pressure, and regulating glucose level and improving your metabolism. What's more? Due to the intensity of HIIT workouts, there is an increased demand for oxygen during and even after your exercise. This is known as the after-burn effect where you burn energy at an elevated rate. This ensures that metabolism continues for up to 48hours after the exercise.

Image by Rejuvage

HIIT training can be done with any type of exercise including push-up, sit-up, squat, jumping jack, reverse lunge, etc. The interesting part is that, you can even use free fitness apps as a guide. An example is Home Workout - No Equipment

Comments

Popular Posts