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Exercise Is Good For You, But Exercise SMART!

exercise smartIn our zeal to get fit, sculpt an attractive body or lose weight, we may tend to overdo it when it comes to the exercise we choose. When you find yourself struggling to get the body results you want, one enrolls themselves for more complex and intensive training, longer hours in the gym, fad diets and crazy supplements.

What we need to remember, like everything else, is that our body parts and organs have a life. There will be natural wear and tear as we age and that principle remains the same for all of us. It’s true that the right amount of exercise can delay this and keep degeneration at bay and that’s what ensures us a better quality life as we age. A life free of knee, back and/or joint pain.

The media including Hollywood and Bollywood have blown the whole concept of exercise way out of proportion. Everyone wants to read about diets or exercise regimes of these super stars. Spending 2 hours in a gym or working out thrice a day is apparently what you need to get a model like a body or that of your favorite actor.

Extensive spinning, extremely heavy weights, running more than a marathon in a year, MMA mixed with weight training, kickboxing integrated with weights, etc. all require special nutrition plans if you are really into all of this.

These are great forms of exercise and we would all like to think of ourselves as long distance runners but, is your body prepared for it? Are your knees ready to take the massive stress? Is your back strong enough to brace impact and support you for the rest of your years without giving way?

Getting involved in intensive exercise is not your solution or compensation for binge eating over the weekend.

Your knee has a fluid (synovial) that runs around it and as this dries up due to stress (exercise) improper sleep (recovery) and poor nutrition, you will be left with excruciating pain that will severely alter your lifestyle.

Exercise Smart Is The Way Forward!

Short but productive workouts. 1 hour is a number. Break away from it. The best workouts get over in 25-30 minutes, saving you valuable 30 minutes of your day to use it for things that are meaningful to you. Tough to break from it if you have always been a “1-hour” gym person but, try.

After 45 minutes of exercise, your body generates ‘cortisol’, a stress hormone, that tells your body to ‘STORE FAT’. This becomes counterproductive to your whole goal or working out. Body builders and athletes have longer training schedules because they have supporting sports nutrition plans and they sleep over 8 hours for recovery.

Exercising smart is:- 

  • Keeping a day of recovery between intensive workouts or allowing for enough muscle recovery time
  • Doing max sets with minimum rest between sets (depend on your fitness goal)
  • You should be maxed out post 30 minutes and you should feel energetic
  • Warm up and cool down will allow you to be more productive

Break away from traditional exercise methods. Mix it up, challenge and push your body. Consistent walking, is one of the best exercises ever, something that works beautifully with a balanced nutrition plan and great sleep. You can lose fat and tone up if you exercise smart!

Remember that consistency is key! 

Meeting and exceeding the 10,000 steps daily is one of the best benchmarks when it comes to your walks. Re-evaluate your exercise schedule and how you feel after each workout. Don’t just think ‘ NOW’, consider the future years as well.

We hope this article helps you exercise smart for great results! For more on fitness and home workouts, check out Healthy Reads or ask an expert by subscribing for GOQii’s personalized health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce 

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5 Tips To Stay Active During Winter

stay active during winter

It’s tough to stay active in winter when you’re nice and cozy under a warm blanket. Binge eating and browsing through some series seems so much more appealing. It can be tough to get motivated when the weather blows in, but don’t give up all thoughts of staying active. A little planning can help you stay active during winter. 

Tips To Stay Active During Winter 

  1. Team up with a partner: Sometimes, the hardest part of staying active is getting motivated. Consider exercising with a partner. It will keep you accountable and could give you the extra push you need. There’s the additional benefit of making friends and hanging out with like-minded people.
  2. Exercise during your lunch break: It seems to be frustrating when it’s dark in the morning and dark when you come home from work. The solution is to workout in the middle of the day, during peak light hours. Take a long, brisk walk during lunch hours. This provides the additional benefit of getting Vitamin D from sunlight.
  3. Indoor activities: Even if the weather is nasty, there are dozens of indoor activities to keep you moving during winter. Aside from taking stairs, we all can opt for dancing, mall walking, active housework like sweeping & vacuuming, bowling and yoga. Have some fun and stay active at the same time. Alternatively, you can join LIVE sessions by experts by subscribing for a GOQii PRO class within the GOQii App. 
  4. Take the stairs: Make small changes to your daily habits to stay active during winter. A perfect choice is taking the stairs instead of opting for an elevator or escalator. The extra movement will keep your muscles working and will help you burn fat.
  5. Create a home gym: The moment when you don’t feel like going out for exercise, then you can easily set up a great workout area in your living room and basement. Buy some inexpensive equipment like stretch bands, stability balls and hand weights. You can also wear a heavy backpack to add intensity to your workout or do bodyweight exercises like push-ups, lunges and squats.

We hope this article helps and motivates you to stay active during winter! Do leave your thoughts in the comments below. For more on exercise and fitness, check out Healthy Reads or ask a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

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Reimagining Corporate Wellness after COVID-19

corporate wellnessThe impact of COVID-19 and the measures taken by organizations to contain it were unprecedented. Work from home, following guidelines, and a hybrid working model were few of the changes that we saw in our work life. With offices slowly opening up, additional measures need to be taken to ensure that employees are safe and healthy. 

Reimagining Corporate Wellness 

Here are some measures corporations can take to ensure that their employees are happy and healthy! 

  1. Access to On and Off-site Fitness: After spending over a year working from home, everyone needs to move! The couch potato lifestyle doesn’t cut it. Having an effective program or access to activities that incentivise movement in the form of walking, yoga and exercise can greatly benefit the health of everyone in the organization. 
  2. Challenges: There’s no better way to improve team spirit and camaraderie than issuing challenges that help employees bond after spending months working in isolation. 
  3. Promoting Healthy Eating: Proper nutrition plays a big role in building immunity. Good health begins from the gut. Knowing what to eat, the timing, portion sizes, healthy snacking options, etc. can go a long way in improving health and avoiding unwanted sickness. 
  4. Focus On Mental Health: Introducing meditation techniques can help employees beat stress, anxiety and help them clear their heads and focus better on their assigned tasks. Given the stress of work and the looming pandemic, mindfulness practices like deep breathing can help a person relax and be more present. 

How Can The GOQii Corporate Challenge Help? 

The GOQii Corporate Challenge, a 60 day inter-corporate challenge, where corporations can get their employees to participate on an individual, team and corporate level, can significantly improve employee health, engagement, team spirit and performance at work! 

The challenge consists of a 30 day steps challenge, daily social media spot challenges and also includes daily fitness sessions starting with yoga, health talks and workout sessions that can help improve the overall health of an individual.

What’s In It For A Corporation? 

  • Remote Fitness: As places are still not completely open, it can be difficult to take your employees off-site for team building activities. More so, the cost to the company reduces as you might have to hire external trainers, book a venue, et al. GOQii has the tech and resources to take this entire module from on-site to online where your employees can train with certified experts, take guidance for nutrition, sleep, stress management and more in real time. 
  • Incentivizing Participation: By participating in the GOQii Corporate Challenge, 1 in 4 players stands a chance to win exciting prizes such as hotel stays, luxury watches, smart phones, gadgets and exclusive merchandise that can incentivize employee engagement. 
  • Healthy Employees: With various activities that promote healthy habits, you can be sure that your employees will be healthier. It increases individual accountability which in turn reflects on their work and productivity.  

You can register your corporation and get on board starting 13th December. Let’s improve and reimagine corporate wellness together! For more information and to sign up, check: https://gcc.goqii.com/ 

#BeTheForce 

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Why Does Sweat Smell Bad After Certain Activities?

sweat

We all sweat. Sometimes, your sweat has a horrific stench post-workout as compared to your sweat during normal hours. Have you ever experienced this and wondered why? Truth be told, your sweat has no smell. So where does the smell come from? Well, there is a scientific reason behind it!

The horrific stench after a workout comes from bacteria that live on your skin. These bacteria break down the components of sweat resulting in smell.

What is the Smell About?

Your sweat comprises of water in large amounts along with trace minerals, fatty acids and skin cells that your body sheds. Your bacteria break these down further causing odour.

There is an endorphin (This is a hormone which is produced during exercise to ease your pain and make you calm and happy!) rush when you exercise which leads to a lot of perspiration or sweating. When you work out, your body produces cortisol along with endorphins which are hormones that affect the sweat glands on our skin.

There are two types of sweat glands which are eccrine glands and apocrine glands. Sweat glands in the armpits, groin and other smelly areas are called apocrine glands which produces a pheromone-like substance that provides energy for skin bacteria and leads to the horrific stench. Whereas eccrine glands are all over the body and don’t cause extreme sweating as compared to apocrine glands.

Why Does Everybody Sweat Differently?

You might have noticed that sweating levels are different for everybody. Why does this happen?

Factors which affect the rate of sweating:

  1. Environment/Weather/Climate: Our body needs to maintain the normal temperature irrespective of climatic conditions. Body, has its own thermostat and how much you sweat completely depends on how your body is trying to cope with the weather change.
  2. Your Fitness Levels Matter: The more you workout, the more you sweat. Your body tries to cool your body temperature so that you are ready to make the workout more intense!
  3. Genes: Apart from the temperature regulation, some people tend to sweat more than others due to their genetics (somethings cannot be changed).
  4. Could be a Medical Condition: Hyperhidrosis is a medical condition in which a person sweats excessively. Body tends to work hard to maintain the usual thermostat

5 Ways to Deal with Smelly Sweat: 

  1. Maintain Hygiene: It is important to wash the smelly areas frequently especially post-exercise. Washing these areas will help you in removing the dead cells from the skin, keep the skin healthy and reduce the smell eventually.
  2. Use deodorants and antiperspirants to keep underarms stench free!
  3. Wear Proper Clothes During Workout: Prefer sweat-absorbing workout clothes. Go for material which lets the body breathe rather than trapping the sweat instead leading to excessive sweat
  4. If the sweating is excessive, see a dermatologist.
  5. Work on your Diet: Certain food items are responsible for smelly sweat. Onions, garlic, cauliflower, alcohol, and coffee can lead to excessive sweating. Cutting back on these can help you with the reduced smell from the sweat

Home Remedies to Manage Smelly Sweat 

  1. Wheatgrass Juice: It works as an excellent detoxifier. Try 1 tbsp of wheatgrass juice with water early in the morning on an empty stomach for 2 weeks and then once every alternate day for 3 months.
  2. Baking Soda: It works as a natural water-absorbing agent. Mix 2 tbsp of baking soda with water and apply it on the underarms for 30 minutes. Please do not keep it beyond 30 mins. It might act as an irritant for your skin. Wash it with ice cold water and apply 2 drops of glycerin as a natural toner.
  3. Potato/Potato Juice: It acts as a quick water-absorbing agent which works as an antiperspirant. Cut Potato into thin slices, keep it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes and rub it on armpits. This will work as a quick antiperspirant.
  4. Apple Cider Vinegar: It has astringent properties. If you suffer from excessive sweating, take 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar with mother culture early in the morning on an empty stomach.
  5. Lemon: Citrus fruits work as natural deodorants. You can apply fresh lemon juice on your armpits and wash it after 45 minutes. You can try doing this every day to get best results.
  6. Black Cohosh: Research has shown that supplementing your diet with 80mg of Black Cohosh helps in reducing overall excessive sweating and hot flashes.

Now that you know everything you need to about sweat and body odour, you can take the necessary measures and be odour-free!

Was this article helpful? Would you like to know more? Let us know in the comments below! For more articles like this, check out Healthy Reads or get advice from certified GOQii experts by subscribing for personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

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