Ashwinkumar Rahate, Author at GOQii

March 2, 2015 By Ashwinkumar Rahate 1 Comment

TRADITIONAL FITNESS TRAINING VS FUNCTIONAL FITNESS TRAINING

Given today’s monotonous and fast paced life, if one is not thinking about being fit and healthy then there is something drastically wrong. Fitness and Health is essential for today’s life. Daily we should have a fitness regime to be healthy. Some prefer to go to the gym and exercise and some prefer the outdoors. Either way it’s a good thing

But, the bigger question I am always posed with is between traditional fitness training (TFT)and functional fitness training (FFT) , which is better?

Let me explain to you what the two methods of exercise are. In traditional fitness training we train to improve our muscular fitness as well as flexibility which brings about many positive changes in us such as muscles build up, improvement in bone density, lowering of fat percentage in the body and many more benefits.

But, this fitness regime will not help in our day to day activities such as standing walking, lifting etc. because TFT involves doing only one type of exercise at a time. Also in weight training you concentrate and target one major muscle at a time. In TFT we do not do the exercises that are used in day to day life- for example Dumbbells Curl is a great exercise for the Biceps but, it is not part of our daily routine.

Functional Fitness Training (FFT) involves the movements we use in our day to day life such as sitting, walking, lifting object etc. For example exercise like Squats, Lunges which are useful in day to day activities.

FFT is more effective as its benefits are many. For instance it focuses on body stabilisation because it consists of exercises like squats, lunges, push ups etc. At a time we can focus on multiple muscle groups, it helps to improve our body posture and finally also helps to prevent injury..

According to me we need to balance between TFT and FFT which will eventually give us the desired results of being fit and healthy.

January 19, 2015 By Ashwinkumar Rahate Leave a Comment

Squats and its benefits

squats

Human’s have been doing squats since time in memorial. Squat is a natural movement that humans have been doing since they existed. The great ‘ Gama’ became a world champion wrestler in 1910 using the Squat routine.

It is one of the important exercise and known as the ‘King of all exercises’. Squat is a compound full body exercise as more than one joint are involved during the squats. It works your whole body from head to toe.

You squat by bending through your hips and knees wit weight on your upper back until your hips come over your knees.

Squats targets Quadriceps, Gluteus ( hip0 muscle) maxims and hamstrings primarily and Gluteus medias, Gluteus minimus, Adductors , Gastrocnemius , soleus , Erector spine secondary muscles. Squats helps in gaining overall strength and muscles.

Even if you do not do aggressive workouts or gymming , doing squats daily is a good form exercise. There are several benefits of doing squats. Lets look at each of them

Benefits of Squats:

Burn More Calories
As I have mentioned above, Squats exercise is multi joints or compound movement as it targets maximum muscles. Once maximum muscles are targeted it helps to burn more calories.

Burn Fats
Squat targets multiple muscles at a time as a result of which testosterone level increases which in turn helps to burn more fats.

Build balance and Posture
The Squats exercise enables to build balance as well as good posture.

Makes knee and hip joint strong and flexible
Contrary to the popular belief that squats aren’t bad for your knees and lower back. In fact, if done properly under proper guidance you will strengthen the muscles surrounding your knees and lower back. Squats helps to make knee and hip joint stronger and flexible.

Improve blood circulation
Squat exercise helps to improve blood circulation to the entire body due to which the muscles get more oxygen and essential nutrients.

Squat exercise increases core strength
Squats with the proper posture will help to improve core strength.

How to perform basic squats

Stand with your feet, hip, back straight and shoulders apart. Move your hip back and bend your knees. Knee joint and hip joints should be moved at the same time. For better balance you can raise your arms in the front till shoulder level. Then return to the standing position. This should be repeated 10 times and 3 sessions of 10 each should be done.

Breathing during the Squats

Breathing is very important in any exercise. Inhale while going down and exhale while coming up.

To make this exercise more intense you can use dumbbells or barbells .

Who should avoid squats

The persons suffering from already existent knee injury and sleep disk (lower back pain) should avoid squats

Disclaimer: Before starting any form of exercise please take your physician and trainer’s advise

December 19, 2014 By Ashwinkumar Rahate 1 Comment

Track your Physical Activities and improve your performance

Each and every person young or old should be involved in some form of physical activity or exercise programme on a daily basis. It’s not about just being physically active it is also important to track your activity.

Most who exercise do not track their activity on a daily basis which according to me is so wrong. No matter which activity you are doing? Weight Training, Cardio Vascular or sports specific training tracking it is important.

How can you track? For tracking you can use workout diary. Even you can track activities manually offline in computer by using excel programme. You can also use apps for tracking purpose.

To make it easy for you I have divided the tracking activity in two parts. This should make it easy for you to track your activities

Monthy, half-monthly and weekly tracking
Daily Tracking
Monthly Tracking: Here you can track various aspects such as your Body weight, BCA (Body Composition Analysis), Fitness Test Records, workout schedules etc. For better result you can track the above every fortnight or every week.
Daily Tracking

You can track your daily activities by maintaining a workout diary and food habits by maintaining a nutritional diary.

Workout or Exercise Diary:

In a Workout or Exercise Diary you can update various things which includes

Write down you Fitness Goals.
Date and Time
Exercises
Number of sets and receptions
Rest Intervals between the sets
In cardiovascular activities you can monitor your heart rate
Record as much as you can.

Updating your fitness activity records enables you to know where you stand currently and what you need to do to improve your performance. As I mentioned above it is a benchmark for you.

For example: “If you are training for a marathon or a long distance trail walk you will know how much distance you will cover in particular time. Based on your previous record you can estimate and set a target accordingly which will help you improve your performance. Continuous progress is possible when you track your fitness regularly. When you do that you know where you stand currently.

So if you have not started tracking your activities please do so and improve your performance.

September 30, 2014 By Ashwinkumar Rahate 1 Comment

Drop down your Hypertension without medication

Hypertension is one of the major diseases that one develops because of a sedentary lifestyle. Hypertension refers to the increase in the blood pressure level. When the doctor says you are suffering from blood pressure (BP) or that you are Hypertensive, the next step is medication. Medication is considered the only means to bring down the blood pressure levels or hypertension. I would say, no to medication. There are other ways to bring down the BP levels.

Before that we need to know the causes for the Hypertension.

The major cause of Hypertension is a sedentary lifestyle or no physical activities at all.
Overweight and obesity also result in Hypertension
Having excessive amount of salt results in high blood pressure.
If the stress level is higher it also leads to Hypertension.
Aging or getting older is also cause for hypertension.
High level of alcohol consumption as well as smoking result in hypertension.
High intakes of tea or caffeine result in Hypertension.
Dehydration also causes hypertension
Lack of sleep results in increase in Blood pressure levels.

Following are the ways to reduce Hypertension

Do exercise or indulge in physical activity of a kind regularly. Regular exercise will help to drop down blood pressure. The exercise must consist of targeting more cardiovascular and strength training activities. Isometric contractions (Contracting holding movements) must be avoided in strength training.
Healthy food habit. Eating healthy food will result in dropping your hypertension levels. The whole day in take consists of targeting all macronutrients (Protein, Carbs and Fats) and micronutrients (Vitamins, Minerals).
Increase in water intake will also result in bringing down Hypertension. Minimum ten to twelve glass of water are recommended daily
Cut down on your Tea and Caffeine intake which will help to reduce blood pressure. Instead of tea or coffee go for green tea
Stop smoking as well as tobacco consumption. It help to reduce blood pressure
Avoid consuming alcohol
Cut down on your salt intake if you are consuming excessively.
Reduce your bodyweight in fats. If you have more fat chances of hypertension is higher. Therefore it is important to maintain your BMI and fat percentage in normal range.
Avoid taking excessive stress. Reduce your stress by meditating daily for few minutes

In a short, it all boils down to your food habits, physical activity, and stress levels and rest. If we are living a healthy lifestyle there is absolutely no need to take medications for Hypertension.