The daily ten-minute stretching routine will ensure that your muscles becomes more and more elastic and supple and joints more mobile. The increased suppleness will improve your posture and help prevent stiffness and injury.

Let’s start with the stretching exercises now.

I. Front Of Thighs (Stretching exercise for upper legs)

• Holding onto the wall or a chair, you need to lift your right knee in front of you. Meanwhile soften the knee that is supporting your weight.
• Take hold of your right ankle with your right hand and allow your knee to lower until the thigh is vertical and your knees are side by side, and continue to hold the stretch. This may cause some pain in the beginning and may look like impossibility but will be easy as you regularly practice.
• Repeat on the left.

Note: Make it a point to pull in your abdominal muscles and tilt your pelvis forward as you ease your foot up.

II. Back Stretch (Stretching exercise for the lower spine)

• Get on your hands and knees on the floor, with your hands placed in line with your shoulders, fingers pointing forward and your knees should be hip width apart.
• Pull your abdomen up towards your spine and curve your back. Hold up for up too 10 seconds and then relax your back.

Note: During first step when you take your position, keep your head aligned with your spine and look at the floor. Also tilt your pelvis as you curve your back and lastly try keeping your hands under your shoulder.

III. Back of the Thighs (Stretching exercise for the upper legs)

• Sitting on the edge of a chair, place one foot flat on the floor. Now, extend the other leg in front of you, with your heel on the floor.
• Placing your hands on your thigh, lean forward from the hips and you will feel the stretch in the back of the thigh on the straight leg. Repeat this stretch on other side now.

Note: Keep your spine straight and your shoulder square.

IV. Front of Chest (Stretching Exercise for your chest and shoulders)

Sitting upright on the chair, place your hands on your lower back. Squeeze your elbows towards each other behind you while lifting your chest up and forwards. You will feel the stretch in the chest and front of the shoulders.

V. Calf Stretch (Stretching exercise for the lower legs)

Stand with your feet under your hips. Take a step back with a left leg, placing the foot flat on the floor. Bend your right knee over the toe. Then place your hands on the right thigh for support. Make sure your left foot faces forwards and the leg remains straight. Repeat the same way on the other side.

Note: You will feel the stretch in your calf muscle of the leg that is in front.

VI. Neck Stretch (stretching exercise for the neck and shoulders)

Sit very comfortably on an upright chair. Reach your left hand behind you and grasp the back of the chair seat, right behind your left buttock. Slowly tilt your head towards the right shoulder. You will feel the stretch on the left side of your neck. Repeat the same way on the other side.

Note: This is a very easy and effective stretching exercise. Adopt a balanced and solid sitting position.

VII. Arm Stretch (Stretching exercise for the upper arms and shoulders)

Sitting upright on the chair, imagine you have an itch between your shoulder blades and attempt to reach it with your right hand by lifting your arm above your head and bending the elbow. Use your left hand apply gentle pressure to the upper part of your right arm. Repeat the exercise on other side now.

VIII. Inner Thigh Stretch (Stretching exercise for the upper legs)

Sitting upwards towards the edge of a chair, position your thighs as far as apart as they will comfortably go. Hold on to the inside of the thighs and ease the knees apart from each other further. You will feel the stretch on the groin and on inside of your thighs.

Note: Try keeping your feet flat on the floor.

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It is advised that you should always do a thorough warm-up before starting with stretching exercise. Also, move into each stretch position slowly and gently until you reach a point of mild tension. Breathe out as you start the stretch but breathe normally as you hold it.

Your suppleness changes from one day to next, depending on various factors such as mood, motivation, physical tension, warm-up routine, emotional tension, temperature and muscle fatigue and soreness. So even if you have done a particular stretching movement before, never force it if it seems difficult. Stop at once if you feel any pain.

You can even alternate some of the strength building exercise with these stretches in order to give your muscles time to recover and ease tension that might otherwise build up in the muscles. Please note that all the stretches should be held for approximately 10-15 seconds only.

Lastly, if at any stage you feel any difficulty, it is advisable that you contact your trainer for physical assistance. Till then take care and have a Healthy Body and a Healthy Mind

Muscle-toning exercises won’t turn you into a mean looking body builder. Instead they will ensure that your muscles stay in good shape and can work more efficiently so that you can do everyday tasks for longer.

To avoid developing imbalanced muscles, you need to do a range of muscle-toning exercises. These can be included with the aerobic and other exercise as a part of a general fitness routine. If you are a bit new to exercising, do a few of each muscle toning exercise and slowly build up the number. Always do a warm-up routine before you start and a cool-down at the end to reduce the risk of injury and post exercise aches and pains. To refresh your muscles, march on the spot between exercises to help prevent a build-up of lactic acid.

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Do you really have to pick up huge and heavy weights in order to build your strength? I guess not. Have a look at these alternatives.

1) Dumbbells: Dumbbells are simple to use, safe and very effective. They can be used to provide extra resistance when doing standard exercises, or in exercises designed specifically for dumbbells. Dumbbells can be used singly or in pairs. They may be obtained as fixed sizes, available in a range of weights, or adjustable types to which extra weights can be added.

2) Barbell: A barbells consists of a bar to which weights are attached at the either ends. Barbells are very effective because they strengthen the support muscles, which help maintain posture and stability, as well as the main muscle groups. However their use requires a good instructions and proper training from an experienced fitness instructor.

3) Elastic Training Band: You can use elastic training bands in many different ways. For example, while sitting on a chair, loop a band around one of your foot and hold the two ends by your hip. Straightening that leg against the resistance of the band strengthens the muscles in front of your thigh. Similarly for the upper body, take the band in your hands, either in front of your chest or behind your back, and stretch it to strengthen arms and shoulders.

4)Ankle and Wrist Weights: These weights can be tied on your ankles or wrists. Ankle and Wrist weights will increase the amount of resistance involved when doing standard strength exercises such as push ups and heel raising exercises.

5) Gymnasium Machines: Resistance machines are easy to use and a bit simple to adjust especially when you want to increase the effort involved. Most of the machines target individual muscles or perhaps a group of muscles, so you have to take care not to overwork these areas of the body or you can end up getting imbalanced muscles. There are multi-purpose gyms available though. They include a range of different machines that can be worked through systematically. These useful devices are designed to improve all-round muscle strength and endurance.

You do not have to join a gym or go to the pool regularly to develop and maintain good muscle tone. Effective training can be done in the comfort of your own home using your body weight as resistance, particularly in exercise such as push-ups and abdominal curls. Other method includes the use of some elastic exercise bands or weights for hands, wrists and ankle, which all are easily available in the market.

Apart from deliberate, specific exercises, the best way to ensure your muscles remain strong and with good endurance capacity is to use them on a regular basis. Performing tasks all by you, rather than the labor saving gadgets, or other people, is the best guarantee of muscle tone.

Try new activities, such as ice skating or ballroom dancing, so as to exercise more muscles. Every single time you use a muscle in a different way, you help your body remain healthy and strong.

Ideally, activities to improve strength and endurance should increase the muscles normal workload moderately. First increase the number of repetitions you do, and then up the weight; raise both steadily rather than attempt big increase too soon.

Also Take Care that when doing resistance exercises, don’t hold your breath or keep still for more than few seconds. That will only raise your blood pressure and we don’t want that. Instead, steadily breathe out when exerting maximum effort and breathe in as you relax the effort. It is advised that if you have a high blood pressure, it is necessary to consult a doctor before you start resistance exercises. Take Care

Always aim to alternate resistance exercises with aerobic or the stamina building exercises. This will give your muscle a chance to recover from the build of the lactic acid in your body, which is a common side effect of high intensity activities such as weight lifting or sprinting. In these anaerobic activities, oxygen cannot be delivered to the muscles in time to assist with the breakdown of glycogen (the form in which glucose is stored as energy in muscles). If there is no presence of oxygen, then these glycogens breakdown produces lactic acid. It is build of this lactic acid in the muscles that causes a burning sensation in your body after you do an intense activity.

The pain eventually builds up to the point where you must rest. As soon as you stop, muscles start to use oxygen to break down the lactic acid. The more lactic acid that is built up, the more the oxygen required to break it down. This is called the oxygen debt’ and this why you pant for breath after sprinting. By alternating aerobic exercises with resistance activities you enable the muscles to disperse the lactic acid rather than accumulating it. You will then not have to stop doing strength exercises prematurely because if either fatigue or a muscle pain.

You can also train yourself to improve your recovery rate by timing each stop to allow yourself just enough time to breathe evenly and deeply before repeating the exercise. With practice this will enable you and your body to recover faster and therefore improving your stamina.

It is very important that exercise is sustained because of the time that is taken before the energy in the body switches from the initial anaerobic energy production systems to the aerobic system. However if you can manage only 10 minutes at a time before tiring, simply try doing it two times a day. There is no point trying to step up the pace before you are ready. No doubt you need to push your body to get fitter, but attempting anything unrealistic can result in injury or discourage you from continuing.

It’s better to start off by walking for 20-30 minutes at a fast pace with which you feel comfortable. Ideally, walking fast would make you breathe harder but still enable you to talk out loud. Unless you know how to monitor your pulse, it would be hard for you to judge the effort you are putting in. You can make a good estimation by gauging the ease with which you talk. Exercise to build stamina needs to be challenging if they are to be effective. Once your current level of activity seems easy, you should start to raise the effort involved. For example, first you increase the distance you usually walk, then you can step up the pace and later perhaps you can include a slight incline in that route. A treadmill can be very helpful in achieving it. Over a period of time, let’s say 10-20 weeks), you may feel fit enough to jog part of the way.

Level 1:
You can talk and exercise at this level indefinitely. Aim to improve it.

Level 2:
You can exercise and still talk in a breathy way. This is the lower level.

Level 3:
You are more breathless but can still talk at this level. This is top level.

Level 4:
You are uncomfortable talking at this level of exercise. You should avoid until you get really fit.

Level 5:
You find it impossible to talk. Only trained athletes should attempt this level.

Over a time, as you get fitter you will find that you perceive your level of exertion as moderate (Level 2 or 3 as mentioned above) even though if you now exercise harder. This shows that your heart, lungs, blood circulation and muscles are actually adapting to the exercise you do, by becoming stronger and more effective. Perhaps surprisingly, you will find that you also perspire more freely. However this is natural. It actually shows that your body’s temperature regulating system is working more effectively and efficiently to dissipate the heat you generate when you are exercising.

You can make walking and jogging more enjoyable by choosing a right place to perform your activities. Parks, gardens are not only good for health but also are attractive thus motivating to perform well. Also try encouraging a friend or a partner to come with you. Exercising with a friend has the added advantage of providing mutual support.

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Stamina building activities are sometimes also referred to as aerobic exercise. Here aerobic literally means “with oxygen”. It refers to all forms of sustained, moderate exercise including walking, cycling and jogging, not just aerobic step and aerobic dance classes.

We usually tend to think that all activities or exercise we do involves oxygen. However this is not the fact. The physical activities such as weight lifting and sprinting are actually the anaerobic exercises, literally meaning “without oxygen”. This is because it takes several minutes for the heart and lungs to circulate blood to the muscles along with oxygen. If the physical activity is very intense, then there is not much time available for the oxygen to be produced and the muscle have to perform without it. In other words they perform anaerobically. Instead they draw upon energy from the existing carbohydrate supplies in the muscles through a chemical transformation process. Muscles cannot work for very long this way. If you are able to sustain any specific exercise for let’s say a period of 20 minutes, it is evident from it that muscles are working aerobically. Similarly to aerobic exercise, regular anaerobic exercise increases the body’s ability to access and utilize energy.

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Your body makes various physiological adaptations if you perform regular stamina-building exercise. The heart muscle becomes stronger and the pumping capacity of the heart also increases. This allows more blood to be pumped around your body per heart beat. Now because of the fact that heart beats more effectively and efficiently, it beats less often. All those people who start a programme of regular exercise in their daily routine will notice that their pulse becomes slower even when they are resting and the pulse gets back to normal rate more quickly after they exercise.

Check your condition by measuring your resting pulse rate early in the morning, before getting out of the bed. If it is above 100 for a woman or above 90 for a man, it’s time to see your doctor before starting your regular stamina exercises. The doctor may advise against certain activities.

Regular stamina-building exercise also increases and expands the lung capacity. Thus, allowing more oxygen in and removing waste carbon dioxide more rapidly, so that you do not get out of breath as quickly. Blood flow also improves through the lungs and around the body. It thus enables more freshly oxygenated blood to reach the muscles, organs and tissues throughout the body.

To achieve the benefits, the heart, lungs and circulation must work harder, little by little, over a period of weeks and months until they, and you, are healthier and fitter than when you started out. Physical activity exercise sessions that can be sustained for at least 20 minutes (ideally a little longer) and done at a moderate level are the key components. Health and fitness experts generally recommend a minimum of 30 minutes of sustained, moderate physical activity at least three times a week.

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Having the determination to achieve your aim is one of the keys to a happy and successful life. Keep on your toes and be prepared for all that life throws at you by building up your physical stamina.

Studies show that more than 50 percent of adults in Western countries do little regular stamina-building exercise, and 25 percent are not physically active in any way. The more sedentary you become in your daily life, the less stamina you have, and this has serious implications on your health.

Stamina ensures, for instance, that you can climb a large flight of stairs without puffing or pausing for breath half-way up or probably run down the road for a bus if you are late for an appointment. There are other names for this ability, including endurance, cardiovascular fitness and aerobic capacity, but they all mean the same thing - that the heart, lungs and circulation are working effectively and efficiently.

While all aspects of fitness are important, improving stamina will have the most immediate and dramatic effects on your health.

“A Harvard University study demonstrated that people who expend 6300 kilojoules (1500 calories) a week through the stamina building activities, such as long distance walking, running or cycling, live the longest.”

Sustained, moderate stamina-building exercises burn fat and so help you to shed that extra weight when combined with a weight reduction diet.

However, if you have been inactive for a while, then check your condition by measuring your resting pulse rate early in the morning, before getting out of the bed. If it is above 100 for a woman or above 90 for a man, it’s time to see your doctor before starting your regular stamina exercises. The doctor may advise against certain activities.

As far as choice for exercise is concerned, Walking and jogging are not the only kinds of stamina building exercises. Cycling, swimming, dancing and step aerobics are also effective, provided they are sustained for 20 minutes or until mild fatigue sets in. Skipping is another simple form of exercise with major aerobic benefits. You can also combine a range of aerobic exercises, such as step-ups and star jumps, into a 20 minute routine to do at home.

Lastly, try to have a companion join you in your workouts. Exercising with friends is fun and keeps you motivated and enthusiastic.

If you’re new to exercise, start slow and steady and build up the required intensity gradually. The benefits of exercise starts from the word go. So in no case would you ever require to push yourself. A healthy level of exercise can make you breathless but still you’ll be able to talk. Try chatting with your friends while performing if you exercise with your friends. And if you don’t have anyone to talk to, then sing a song or count to ten, loud and clear. Exercising will never leave you gasping for air.

If you have some medical condition, such as heart or lung disorder, high blood pressure, diabetes, infections or even a spine or joint ailment, then it is advisable to seek your doctor advice before starting regular exercise. Also, seek an advice from your qualified fitness instructor, to adjust your exercise sessions as per your personal needs.

No matter what exercise you plan to do, it is necessary that you always start with a gentle warm up routine and finish with a cool-down session. The amount of time you need on warming up actually depends on the activity you are preparing for. In general, a warm up exercise should last for 10 minutes and should normally include some aerobic exercises to raise the heart and breathing rate, and then also include stretching out your body so as to increase the suppleness of the joints and muscle flexibility.

A cooling down routine involves activities similar to that of warm up exercises, except for the fact that it lasts for half the time as in warm up exercise. During the cool-down exercise, you gradually reduce the intensity. It allows your breathing rate and heartbeat to slow down gently and prevents the blood from pooling into the veins, which if not done, can cause dizziness. The warm up and cooling down exercises also prevents any post exercising aches, stiffness or soreness, which particularly happens to those who are new to regular exercise.

The main reason for warm up and cool-down exercise is to prepare your body for more activities. But if you don’t find much time for long exercising sessions, even then warm up exercises are worth doing for their own sakes. They will get your heart and lungs working harder and limber up the joints and muscle so that you feel livelier and fitter. These exercises, when done in routine, also reduce the risk of injury, such as strained joint or muscles. So as I mentioned before, Play It Safe!!!!