Parwage Alam, Author at GOQii

A state level Athletic and Pole Vault champion, Parwange Alam encourages and motivates people to be healthy. While pursuing his graduation at the Punjabi University of Patiala, he also doubled up as a coach training students in running. His mission is to help people improve their lifestyle and lead them towards a healthier future with his acquired knowledge in fitness and experience. Apart from a sporting career he is also an artist and likes to express his feelings through painting. Parwage believes that every individual has a sportsman spirit within them and if coached well it can unveil that sportsman in the individual.

February 18, 2015 By Parwage Alam 5 Comments

Stay Fit While Traveling

Do you live out of your suit case? Does your job demand that you be travelling atleast 15 days in a month? And is too much of travelling your excuse to skip a workout?

Well if all of the above is true then it should not be so. There can be no excuse to skip workout unless of course you are ill or injured. Otherwise travelling regularly out of the city should not hamper your workouts. I believe that if you are travelling, you have more options to workout and be active. Whether you travel for work or want to see the world, jumping from one hotel room to the next, indulging in breakfast buffets and lounging in front of a TV while you raid the mini fridge are not the best ways to stay fit.

With regards to the Healthy Eating you can go through the following blogs written by my fellow coach Satish Kurapaty :

https://goqii.com/blog/eating-right-even-while-partying/

https://goqii.com/blog/healthy-indian-street-foods/

More often than not excessive travelling does hamper normal routines. For instance if you have been working out in a gym, suddenly you might not have access to any equipment, if you have been running in your neighborhood there could be a situation where you no longer have a familiar path to follow and friends to accompany for a run and if you’re used to a good night’s sleep, suddenly you’re sleeping at odd hours in different time zones.

We are creatures of habit hence we are bound to follow our daily routine as per our habit which we have set for ourself (wake up at a particular time that we have set, eat all meals on time, work out on time and go to sleep at the same time). However, while travelling our whole routing gets hampered. We might not be able to do everything at the said time that you have been following back home.

But, nothing is impossible. Theer is a solution to every problem.

Here are some helpful tips to work out while travelling:

Use the Airport: Airport is a huge area to walk, utilize it and if you have time to board – try to walk as much as possible within the airport premises instead of sitting around and reading a book or listening to music or watching a movie.

Use the Hotel Room: You can work out in your Hotel room. Try to use TABATA as a workout. It will take only 4 min to compensate your GYM session. To get more information on TABATA you can ready the following
Blog: https://goqii.com/blog/just-4-minutes-of-tabata-for-a-healthy-life/

Site Seeing: Go for a walk – try walking EVERYWHERE. In a big city? If it’s nice out walk instead of taking a cab! Go for a jog around your new surroundings…just stay active.

Beach Holidays: If you are planning a beach holiday, you have lots of options to do a workout. You can go for beach running, water sports. Water sports is a healthy sporting option that one can engage in. In water, you are forced to work harder and you are face to face with a wide range of challenges, which can present many more opportunities to boost your fitness regimen. Indeed, there are many water sport health benefits – no matter if you are kayaking, white river rafting, or even swimming.

Too many people take holidays knowing they will get fat, become overweight, and lose a level of their fitness, yet they do nothing to combat it.

So my advise to you would be that whether you have a gym or not, there is always something you can do to stay active. So follow some golden rules and you can enjoy your travelling be it for work or for a holiday without any guilt.

February 9, 2015 By Parwage Alam Leave a Comment

Exercising Too Much – Think Twice

Is too much exercise bad for you?

Many once have got on to the fitness path think that if they do too much of exercise they will achieve their goals faster. Is this true let’s find out?

It is always said that too much of good is also not very nice, including exercise. Too much of exercising is actually damaging.

Everyone believes that “Exercising is good for him/her, and that more exercising is considered better…”, this is a myth. The fact is that too much exercise could actually harm you rather than benefit you. In the excitement of doing too much exercise one does not realize they can harm themselves. You will end up facing problems related to physical and emotional conditions such as injuries, bone loss, muscle loss and sometimes even heart failure.

Adequate amount of exercise helps you to build good muscles. Then you become an “exercise freak”, same like the eating disorder. And, eventually you get devastating results.

You lose weight, yes, but not the way you should– your body goes into starvation mode and releases cortisol (Cortisol is produced by the adrenal glands in your body when you are under stress. Cortisol will increase production of a neurotransmitter called neuropeptide Y, which can increase cravings for sweet or starchy foods – bad for health and fitness).

Increased cortisol inhibits any fat metabolism and breaks your muscle mass — your body basically starts eating itself. So instead of becoming a lean, mean fitness machine, you find you’ve less strength and also a weakened immune system.

Make no mistake about it, regular exercise is probably is the biggest factor in living a long and healthy life (not discounting healthy eating).

Here are several ways to tell that you’re working out too hard or Effect of too much Exercise can lead to:

Dizziness
Trouble breathing or maintaining a conversation
Disorientation, foggy mental processing
Rapid heart beat
Dehydration
Injuries
Loss of lean muscle mass
Heart failure in the absence of proper nutrition. Your heart is a muscle and over exercising could weaken it, leading to potential failure
Weakened immune system
Cessation of menstrual cycles, a condition known as amenorrhea
Research shows that many female athletes who over train begin to experience bone loss that apparently can’t be reversed if the amenorrhea persists long enough.
Sleep disorder
Eating disorder such as anorexia
Irritability, depression and low self esteem

Here is a checklist which will help you judge on your own if you are doing too much exercise:

Make up for one missed workout by doubling it the next session
You will force yourself even when you don’t want to
When you over eat, you prefer to exercise to burn all extra calories
You set the intensity of your exercise based on your food intake
You might feel guilty when you miss your exercise session
You become very upset if you miss a workout
You always have a fear that you’ll gain weight if you miss the exercise session for a day
You will miss the pleasure during exercise
You can’t bring yourself to take a day off from exercise

So the next time you go to exercise stop worrying. Just have fun and enjoy your workout.

December 31, 2014 By Parwage Alam 1 Comment

Geriatric Health Maintenance-A Systematic Approach

I recently participated in the 100 km OxfamTrail walk and the one thing that I was overwhelmed about is the number of senior citizens who were participating in this challenge. It’s nice to see senior people fitter than many youngsters. One fine example was that of Milind Soman’s mother who at 76 years old looked fit and completed the 100 km trail walk in 40 hours along with her daughters. That was commendable.

Growing old is great but along with that maintaining your health is equally important. At some point in our life many of us have faced and dealt with an old parent’s illness. And therefore I feel that staying healthy as a senior citizen is very important.

Your mental and physical health plays a crucial role in the latter years of your life. Staying healthy means eating nutritious foods, exercising, and getting regular medical check-ups. Prevention and early detection are the best defense against illness and disease.

As people get older, physiological changes occur in their body as a natural part of aging.Due to aging mostly all organs are affected and some diseases and co morbid conditions become more prominent in the elderly.

Psychological issues can also play a role in physical and mental health of older adults. At senior stage a balanced diet and regular exercise are strongly linked to better health outcomes. Regular medical checkup and important preventive measures at home help to improve the safety and health of seniors.

As health needs change with age, one thing remains the same: healthy living (healthy lifestyle), one of the best way to avoid disease (related to Skin, Bones, joints, and muscles, mobility and balance, body shape, face, teeth and gums, Hair and nail, memory, immunity, hearing, vision and sleep).

Living a longer, healthier life can be made easier with these simple steps.

Healthy Eating Habits: Always try to have natural foods, avoid the artificial source and opt for fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fiber-rich foods—bean, spinach, and romaine lettuce, for example—lean cuts of meat, fresh fish, and poultry instead. Processed food usually filled with unhealthy things like high-fructose corn syrup that leads to overconsumption. Secondly, contains lot of artificial Ingredients. Most processed foods are Low in Nutrients.

It requires less energy and time to digest processed foods. Processed foods contain MSG (Monosodium glutamate – to enhance flavor), it also contains lots of sodium and typically all the wrong heart-clogging oils. Therefore it is always good to go with natural food available, if possible go with homemade food.

Activities:Physical activity is vital for developing the strong bones and muscles. This would help in avoiding falls or accidental injuries. Exercise is add on as part of overall healthy lifestyle and to avoid obesity, which is the root cause of other diseases. So if you have not started your activity, please get and include some physical activities into your routine before it gets too late.

Stop Smoking, tobacco:Dump the cigarette/tobacco habit before this dumps you. And stay away from those who do smoke, as second-hand smoking is more dangerous than direct smoking.

Meditation: I personally believe in meditation, as it really help to avoid stress because like obesity – stress is also a main cause of 70% diseases. So Meditation really helps you in terms of Psychological&Physiological. To get more information about Meditation you can also check my blog at:

https://goqii.com/blog/myths-and-health-benefits-of-meditation/

So what are you waiting for get up and change your lifestyle from sedentary to Active and live healthy long life.

October 15, 2014 By Parwage Alam 13 Comments

THE BEST WAYS TO TREAT A MINOR SPORTS INJURY

In my childhood I have often had minor injuries while playing sometime or the other. And, getting hurt was just natural while playing a sport or otherwise with friends. My mother used to come up with home remedies in some cases where the injury was not too big. Mother’s remedies also helped my injuries to heal and recover quickly.

Now, I am a professional physical trainer and have studied and gained professional knowledge about how to treat minor sport injuries. Treatments for a sports injury depends on how severe the injury is and which part of the body is affected.

If your injury does not require medical treatment /Minor Sports injuries – for example, a mild sprain or strain – you can treat it at home using PRICE therapy.

PRICE stands for protection, rest, ice, compression, and elevation.

Protection – protect the affected area from further injury – for example, by using a support.

Rest: Rest is vital to protect the injured muscle, tendon, ligament or other tissue from further injury. If injured, stop playing and protect the injured part from further damage. Avoid putting weight on the injured part, get help moving to a safe area off the field. Resting the injured part is important to promote effective healing.

Ice – Cold will reduce pain and swelling. Apply an ice or cold pack right away to provide short-term pain relief and also limits swelling by reducing blood flow to the injured area. When icing injuries, never apply ice directly to the skin (unless it is moving as in ice massage) and apply the ice or cold pack for 10 to 20 minutes, 3 or more times a day. After 48 to 72 hours, longer exposure can damage your skin and even result in frostbite.

Compression – Compression refers to the application of pressure to keep the swelling down. Compression helps limit and reduce swelling, which may delay healing. Some people also experience pain relief from compression. An easy way to compress the area of the injury is to wrap an ACE bandage around the swollen part. If you feel throbbing, or if the wrap just feels too tight, remove the bandage and re-wrap the area so the bandage is a little looser.

Elevation – Elevating an injury help control swelling. For example, if you injure an ankle, try lying on your bed with your foot propped on one or two pillows.

After 48 hours of PRICE therapy, stop compression and try moving the injured area. If, after this time, your symptoms are worse, visit your doctor. PRICE therapy can be useful for any sports injury, but some injuries may require additional treatment.

Once the healing process has begun, light massage may reduce the formation of scar tissue, and improve tissue healing.

Gentle stretching can be begun after all swelling has subsided. Try to work the entire range of motion of the injured joint or muscle, but be extremely careful not to force a stretch, or you risk re-injury to the area. Keep in mind that a stretch should never cause pain.