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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

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Protein importance for muscles strength

protein-foods

Sometimes we wonder how to build up protein, one very important thing that crops up in every human’s mind in terms of muscle development is “weight training” which is in a way correct, weight training is very important to build those muscles but diet is equally important. Wight training — creates microscopic tears in your muscles.

The nutrients you eat determine how well your muscles repair these tears and, in turn, how much strength you gain. Apart from eating healthful food, you must get enough sleep and eat frequent meals for the greatest muscular strength. Do you know that your fitness is 70% of your diet and 30% of your workouts?

For an example you have your vehicle, a car but you don’t have its key… Will you be able to drive the car? Absolutely not… Similarly, here the weight training is the car, and the key is your diet, a perfect amount of protein is very necessary for your muscle development. The most important nutrient in muscle repair, which allows your muscles to become stronger, is protein.

The Amount of protein for a sedentary person would be Approx 0.5 to 0.8 Grams, and for a active person who do rigorous activities, he needs at least 1.5 to 1 gram of protein for 1Kg. Protein is a macro nutrient necessary for the proper growth and function of the human body.. Any excess protein is turned into energy by the body. A deficiency in protein leads to muscle atrophy, and impaired functioning of the human body in general.

Ideal sources for building strength are complete protein sources, rather than incomplete proteins, states the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Complete proteins contain each of the nine essential amino acids. Sources include milk, yogurt, eggs, cheese, soy products, poultry, fish and meat. For the best benefit to your strength, consume a source of complete protein within 30 minutes of finishing your workout

Some of the good protein options are:-

1-Turkey and chicken breast

2-Fish ( tuna, salmon, halibut )

3-Cheese ( Non-fat mozzarella )

4-Lean beef ( Low fat )

5-Tofu

6-Beans ( Mature soy  beans )

7-Eggs ( Egg whites specially )

8-Yougurt, milk and soy milk

9-Nuts and seeds (Pumpkin and watermelon seeds, peanuts and almond )

So the next time you are going to prepare for your muscle build up, try to keep these things in mind. And keeping these things on track doesn’t mean that you avoid the other nutrients. They are equally important.

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5 Lessons learnt from 100 km Trail walk

trail-walker

What has been more precious to me than completing the 100km Oxfam Mumbai Trail walk, 2014, in 37 hours? 

In the cool winter evening of 6 th December 2014, I along with a team of 3, completed the 4 th toughest Oxfam Trailwalk in the world, in 37 Hours. We had embarked on the trail at 6 am on the 5 th of December, 2014, and barring 3 hours of sleep between 3.30 am to 6.30 am on Saturday, 6 th December, kept trudging along. We trudged along mountains, fields and lakesides, in the blazing afternoon sun, through treacherous climbs and tricky descents.

But that’s not what this piece is all about, this is more about the lessons I learnt while on this mission. These lessons are going to stand by me as I get on to my work, in a competitive, challenging, at times unreasonable and unfair landscape that the Asset Management firm operates in, and I am sure it will resonate with each one of us in our work area.  

  1. Past Failures make for uncomfortable memories, but they also energise you to keep trying

I had attempted the trail walk in 2013. The daunting trail took me by surprise; it was less of trail and more of treks. Every little injury and exhaustion seemed to be the perfect excuse to give up and that’s what I did, with just about 30km completed. Even signing up for the 2014 Trail walk was a debate with self, fearing failure, questioning the rationale for putting myself through the gruelling ordeal again. Am glad I overcame those doubts, and triumphed at the end of it.

  1. The Temptation to Quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed

At the end of 33km, my feet had busted, my toes were puffing up, the heat had exhausted me completely, and I declared I wanted to quit. My husband, who was my support crew for the trek, reminded me that it was the same place where I had quit the last year, and prodded me to be better than the last year. I decided to step along, and that was the last time I ever contemplated quitting the trail.

  1. It is good to be adequately resourced, but your hunger to succeed dwarfs all resource constraints

The trail demanded customised gear to navigate the tricky terrain. My kit bag had Merrell trekking shoes and Nike Pegasus shoes as a backup. I couldn’t think of not having the right shoes to support me through the 100 km. It so turned out my toes started blistering and swelling from 30km onwards, and I couldn’t fit into either of my shoes. Out came my bald Reebok floaters to the rescue, with absolutely no grip to speak of, looking like they were ill suited even for concrete road walk, let alone a daunting trek/trail path. With a bit of trepidation, but a burning resolve to hit the final check point, I completed the remaining 70 km in those Reebok floaters. It is something of a historic feat that I completed 70km of the 100 km in a nondescript floater.  

  1. You attract your victories, and the Universe conspires to deliver to you what your mind resolves to get

The ghost of the previous year, an exhausted body at 30km, a nagging stomach infection over the last 2 years, just the wrong days of the month biologically, just a month’s practice over the weekends before the event,  and yet, once I overcame the ‘WALL’ at 30 km, a calm prescience set over me, that all would be well, that nothing would come in the way between me and the final Check Point, that the body was just a willing ally, taking the mind’s orders to carry on, to shut out the aches, and reach the goal.

  1. The team consists of people of all shapes and sizes, but the team is ONE

As a team of 4, we were all very different. There was a trained mountaineer amongst us, an avid Himalayan explorer, part of the various rescue crews in the Uttarakhand and Kashmir natural disasters. There was a marathoner, with unending energy and enthusiasm, and there were the 2 of us, moms of 2 kids each, fitness conscious women, with the right intent, but maybe not as evolved in fitness as the rest of the two.  What could have been a 24 hour effort for the mountaineer or a 30 hour effort for the marathoner, turned out to be a 37 hour effort for our team. A trail of 100 km sheds the façade and brings out the best and worst of each of us, and it is commendable that the team walked as one, alert and sensitive to each of us, and a full team completion of the trail is by itself a commendable feat. Not many full teams complete the trail.

This has been a personality altering, life changing experience for me, and has been a means to prove to myself that someone who had nothing to do with fitness /physical activity as a child can end up being called an Ultra Marathoner if you want it badly enough.

The next Oxfam Trail walker is a year away, ample time for all of us to prepare and conquer, any takers ?

Mother of two kids, Vandana Trivedi is a GOQii player and full time professional heading sales at IDFC AMC. 2 years ago she got into the fitness mode and outdoor physical activities   and since then has been a regular trekker in the sahyadris

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Nutritional benefits of Indian Gooseberry-‘Amla’

amla

Do you know what is ‘Phyllanthus emblica’? Actually, we all know it by its Indian name ‘Amla’ also called the Indian gooseberry as most of us have eaten it in its various forms of chutney, pickles, jams and the likes. It is most eaten during the winters. Amla is tangy in taste, which is not very appealing; however it has endless benefits, and hence is often referred to as the “Wonder Fruit”.

Amla also known as Amlakka or Amlakkai in Hindi, which means the “sustainers” or the fruit where the “goddess of prosperity presides”

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 184 kJ (44 kcal)
Carbohydrates 10.18 g
Dietary fiber 4.3 g
Fat 0.58 g
Protein 0.88 g
Vitamins
Vitamin A equiv. (2%)15 μg
Thiamine (B1) (3%)0.04 mg
Riboflavin (B2) (3%)0.03 mg
Niacin (B3) (2%)0.3 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5) (6%)0.286 mg
Vitamin B6 (6%)0.08 mg
Folate (B9) (2%)6 μg
Vitamin C (33%)27.7 mg
Vitamin E (2%)0.37 mg
Trace metals
Calcium (3%)25 mg
Iron (2%)0.31 mg
Magnesium (3%)10 mg
Manganese (7%)0.144 mg
Phosphorus (4%)27 mg
Potassium (4%)198 mg
Sodium (0%)1 mg
Zinc (1%)0.12 mg
Other constituents
Water 87.87 g

Some benefits of Amla are listed below:

  • It is a rich source of Vitamin C
  • Heals mouth ulcers
  • Cures sore throat and cold
  • Reduces constipation when eaten in its whole form
  • Reduces Arthritis pain
  • Reduces Sleeping disorders
  • Improves eyesight
  • Removes toxins and free radicals.
  • Regulates pH in the stomach.
  • Improves metabolism
  • Boosts Immunity
  • Improves haemoglobin production and purifies the blood
  • Reduces blood cholesterol levels
  • Lowers risk of gall stones
  • Improves insulin sensitivity
  • Reduces ill effects of smoking
  • Delays premature ageing
  • Reduces wrinkles
  • Reverses greying hair
  • Reduces skin pigmentation
  • Treats hair loss, dandruff and lice

Here are some ways to incorporate Amla in our daily diet

Sprinkle some salt on Amla before you bite into them and believe me it will really cut down the sourness of the Amla and make it easy to eat.

Amla Powder is available in many grocery shops make it really easy to add Amla in our daily diets. You can have Amla Powder in small amount (1 tsp) before each meal to improve digestion.

Amla juice is the most easy and quick way to add Amla in your daily diet.

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