Posts in category: Fitness

Functional Movement for Everyday Life

If you want to get in shape to make the rest of your life better, your workouts should support all the functional movements you do in your everyday life.

One recent study found that functional movements and regular exercise cut the risk for disability by 40% as you age.

• Lifting a box
• Carrying groceries
• Moving furniture
• Picking up a child
• Working the yard

Using compound movements to exercise will help you reach your health and fitness goals, and lower your chances for falls and injuries. Here’s a good example of a compound lift: you’re in the middle of moving. You pack some books into a box. It’s heavy.

• You squat down, bending at the knee.
• You put your hands under the box.
• You keep your back straight.
• Then you lift the box off the ground using the muscles in your arms, back, core and legs.

Sweet! You just picked up a box. That’s a functional movement. In the gym, the compound lift that looks a lot like this is called a deadlift.

3 Exercises to Improve Your Health

In weight training, the big three compound lifts that can help you get in shape faster than traditional workouts include the:⁵

• Bench Press (strengthens the chest and arms)
• Deadlift (strengthens the legs and back)
• Squat (strengthens the legs and core)

There’s a couple ways you can do these compound lifts:

• Use barbells
• Use dumbbells
• Do at-home exercises

Before you begin: you’ll need a basic understanding of how to do each of these exercises. There’s lots of video tutorials online that can show you how to bench press, deadlift and squat. You can also ask a personal trainer. Or ask a friend or someone at the gym who’s familiar with working out. A few more tips…

• Use lighter weights to start
• Practice good form and technique for each compound lift to protect your back, joints and muscles.
• A “spotter” can help make sure you’re using good form and assist you if the weight becomes too heavy.

Ready to get started? Here’s a quick guide on how to do each of these exercises:

Bench Press

Lie flat on your back on a bench. Keep your feet flat on the floor on either side of the bench.

• Barbell: grab the barbell a little wider than shoulder width. Lift the weight off the rack. Slowly lower it to your chest. Then push the bar back up.
  • The first several times you do this exercise, use only the barbell, and don’t add any extra plates. This will help you to learn the movement and improve your form.
• Dumbbells: lying on your back, push the dumbbells up, until your arms are extended. Slowly lower the dumbbells to your chest. Repeat.
• At home: if you don’t have barbells or dumbbells at home, do push-ups.

Deadlift

At its most basic, a deadlift is just picking something up from the floor and raising it to around hip level. Remember the moving box example?

Start with your feet about shoulder-width apart, and the weight on the ground by your feet. Your toes should be pointed straight ahead.

• Barbell: use an overhand grip to grab the barbell. Bend at the hip and knee. Keep your back straight. Then slowly stand and lift with your legs, until the weight reaches the upper thigh.
• Dumbbells: grab each dumbbell with an overhand grip. Bend at the hip and knee. Keep your back straight. Then slowly stand and lift with your legs until the dumbbells are touching your thighs.
• At home: if you don’t have barbells or dumbbells at home, you can use another piece of exercise equipment like a kettlebell or a medicine ball. You could also use a gallon jug filled with water, or even practice with something like a box of books.

Squats

Want to get in shape? Training your legs by doing squats is one of the best exercises you can do. Why? Squats engage multiple muscle groups. Every time you complete a single rep, you’re building muscle strength and endurance. You’re burning calories, too.

• Use a squat rack. Step under the bar. Rest it on the back of your shoulders, slightly below the neck. Use an overhand grip to grab the bar, wider than shoulder width. Point your toes straight ahead. Lift the barbell off the rack. Keeping your back straight, slowly squat down like you’re going to sit in a chair. Once you’re almost in a sitting stance, push the weight back up to standing.
• Hold one dumbbell in front of you with both hands. Keep it close to your chest. Squat down to about sitting stance. Then stand up.
• At home. Use a piece of exercise equipment like a medicine ball or kettlebell. A milk jug could work too. Then follow the steps to do a dumbbell squat. If you don’t have a weighted object, do bodyweight squats.

Note: When you’re just getting started, use lighter weights. Do 8 to 12 repetitions per exercise. Complete 2–3 sets per exercise. Practice good form and technique for each lift. Using proper form is critical to protecting your back, joints and muscles. Increase the weight as you get stronger.

Before you start an exercise program, you should always check with your doctor. Compound lifts can help you get in shape faster than typical cardio workouts. You’ll also burn calories, get stronger, improve balance and your overall health.

Get in Shape to Improve Your Health

Strength training and other forms of exercise will improve your health and make you stronger. But that doesn’t mean you’re invincible. If you want to stay healthy and live longer, schedule an annual check-up and see a doctor if you’re not feeling well or you’re dealing with an injury.

Don’t have health insurance? No problem. At Antares, our licensed health insurance agents can help you find a plan that suits your needs and budget. Call us Now at (818) 8057113 or get a quote online.

Here are 5 ways to prevent and treat hand calluses.

1. Wear gloves to protect your hands

If you’re in the gym, gardening, or working with your hands and forcing your digits to do a lot of work, wear gloves. Why? When you’re lifting, pulling, digging, or anything else that requires a lot of grip strength and creates friction, your hands can take a beating.

Over time, the skin toughens up, and you can develop calluses. That’s normal. But wearing gloves can help lessen friction, protect your hands, and prevent calluses from developing.

Note: Gloves may impact your grip strength a little. But it’s a smart way to protect your hands and prevent calluses.

2. Use chalk to keep hands dry during workouts

When you lift weights using barbells, dumbbells or machines, your hands experience a lot of friction, especially as you sweat. But you can prevent this. How? Use chalk powder.

“Chalk or magnesium carbonate is an important training provision,” according to U.S.A. Weightlifting. “Athletes use it to create a thin coating on the hands…which helps the athletes to maintain a firm grip on the bar.”

3. Adjust your grip

Push the lawn mower. Rake leaves. Chop wood. If you’re not used to using your hands for this type of work, you could easily develop blisters and calluses. The same is true for lifting weights or different types of sports and physical labor. Here’s another way to protect your hands: Adjust your grip.

For weight lifting (pulling and pushing movements)…

• Keep the bar gripped between your mid-palm and the base of your fingers.
• Try keeping the bar in the crease between your fingers and palms.
• Or use a slightly lower grip in the mid-palm, especially if you already have calluses.

For other activities:

• Adjust your grip to prevent skin pinching and folding between your fingers and palm that causes pain and calluses.

4. File down calluses

If you workout a lot or have a physically demanding job, chances are pretty good you’ll develop calluses. And you’ll need to take care of them. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends:

• Soaking calluses in warm water. Fill the sink or a bowl with enough warm water to submerge your hand. Soak for 5 to 10 minutes.
• File calluses with a pumice stone. Use a pumice stone to file down the hardened skin. Glide over skin gently, and avoid removing too much skin.
• Use moisturizer. Once you’re done treating hand calluses with soaking and filing, apply moisturizer, which will help soften the skin and calluses.

5. Treat torn calluses right away

If you notice a hand callus beginning to rip or tear, don’t ignore it. Treat it right away. Here’s how:

• Cut away dead skin around the callus that’s easy to remove. Leaving flaps of skin only increases the chance of tearing and ripping again.
• Treat blister if necessary. If you’ve developed a blister, in addition to a hand callus, drain the blister. Clean the area, and let it dry. Then cover it with a bandage. If you can, take a break from workouts and activities that require major grip strength and cause friction to give your hands time to heal.

If you like lifting weights and working out, playing certain sports, working in the yard, or have a physically demanding job, your hands are critical. With all your hard work, you may even develop hand calluses. That’s normal. But if you want to keep your hands happy, follow these steps to treat and prevent hand calluses.