Fitness Mat & Leather Weightlifting Gloves

Greetings readers! I feel quite bored during this 3 weeks long of trimester break so i decided to go out somewhere to free my mind from the boredom last Monday morning. I went to Jusco Bandaraya Malacca just for a window shopping but surprisingly, i end up bought a fitness mat and leather weightlifting gloves there. Well, it is been quite awhile i planned to buy the fitness mat and the leather weightlifting gloves but never had the chance to get them. I wanted to use it for my push-up, sit ups and other exercises in which i think best fit to use it.

As i went from shop to shop and see anything that may caught my interests, i was then reached Fitness Concept Store located at 3rd floor, which is just a few stores away from the Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) counter. Unfortunately, not so many choices available there. 

There are only 3 types of fitness mat. 1 with cushion type and the other 2 were quite similar in appearance but different brands. I did not had the chance to snap photo of those fitness mats and leather weightlifting gloves available since it is not allowed. 

So, i decided to just bought the one with reasonable price, well at least i have one for my own use for the time being. I bought 1 fitness mat with the price of RM 65.00 and 1 pair of leather weightlifting gloves with the price of RM 39.50.

Maintaining Good Eye Health

Maybe a lot of people out there ever heard that carrots as well as other orange-coloured fruits and vegetables promote eye health and protect vision right? Well, this is true indeed because beta-carotene which is a type of vitamin A that makes these foods their orange hue helps the retina and other parts of the eyes to function smoothly. So meaning that by consuming these foods regularly will helps your eyes to work at it's best and avoid eye problem too! 

As been mentioned above, beta-carotene can benefit the eyes but please be informed that eating your way to good eyesight is not only about beta-carotene. There are several types more of other vitamins and minerals which are essentials for healthy eyes. So, this is what i am going to write today. 

Make known to the other five foods and list them in your diet in order to keep your eyesight in a tiptop condition! 

Leafy Green 

Leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale and collards packed with lutein and zeaxantine; which is the antioxidants that lower the risk of developing macular degeneration and cataracts. 

Eggs 

The yolk is a prime source of lutein, zeaxantine and also zinc which also helps reduce the risk of macular degeneration. 

Citrus and Berries 

Citrus and berries are fruits that rich in vitamin C; which is effective indeed to reduce the risk of developing macular degeneration and cataracts. Oranges is best to consume in order to obtain vitamin C. 

Almonds 

Almonds contains vitamin E which is good to slows the macular degeneration. 

Fatty Fish 

Fatty fish like tuna, mackerel, salmon, anchovies and trout are rich in Docosahexaenoic Acids (DHA). DHA is actually a fatty acid that can be found in the retina in which if the level of DHA becomes low, may result to dry eye syndrome. 

And kindly remember that eating these regularly can benefit your eye health indeed. But however, there are also several other practices you can do to maintain your eye health. 

Simply put, if you are smoker, you should stop smoking at once. This is because smoking can lead your eyes to get cataracts, optic nerve damage and also macular degeneration. So, prevention is better than cure right? Act wise now to avoid unwanted problems to your eyes. 

Apart from that, do not forget to use sunglasses when you are outdoor. And do remember to use the right sunglasses and choose the type that can protect your eyes from the harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. In addition, if you are involve in sports, it is wise to use safety eyewear to protect your eyes. 

If you are type of person who loves to be i front of your computer especially for  along period of time, i suggests you take rest when you feel eye sore and pain at certain part of your body. Well, rest is the best answer to "heal" it anyway. Staring at computer screen for a long period of time can cause eyestrain, blurry vision, difficulty focusing at a distance, dry eyes, headache and even make your neck, back and shoulders feel painful. So, if you notice the symptoms already, it is wise to rest. I suggests you to look away from your computer, take rest by looking 20 feet away fro 30 seconds. And if possible, take considerable time for your eyes to rest in order for it to heal itself. 

And last but certainly not least, do remember to visit your doctor regularly to check your eyes. This is essential to know your eyes health and examine the possible problems that may occur to your eyes.

Plank Exercise

The plank exercise is actually an isometric core strength exercise that involves maintaining a difficult position of the body for the extended periods of time. The plank position also called a front hold, hover or abdominal bridge and the most common plank is the front plank which is held in a push up position with the body's weight borne on the forearms, elbows and also the toes.

The are many variations of plank exercise exist such as side plank and reverse plank. This plank exercise is commonly practiced in pilates, yoga, in training for boxing and also other sports. This exercise best to consider for strengthening the abdominals, the back and also shoulders. And now, lets move to the muscle parts that involved when doing front and side plank exercise.

The muscle parts that involved in the front plank includes : 

Primary 

• Erector spinae 
• Rectus Abdominis (abs)
• Transverse abdominus

Secondary 

• Trapezius (traps) 
• Rhomboids 
• Rotator cuff 
• The anterior 
• Medial 
• Posterior deltoid muscles (delts)
• Pectorals (pecs)
• Serratus anterior 
• Gluteus maximus (glutes)
• Quadriceps (quads)
• Gastrocnemius 

The muscle parts that involved in the side plank includes : 

Primary 

• Transverse abdominus 
• Gluteus medius and gluteus minimus muscles (abductors)
• The adductor muscles of the hip 
• The internal and external obliques 

Secondary 

• Gluteus maximus (glutes)
• Quadriceps (quads)
• Hamstrings 

I also did this plank exercise myself after done with my push up. So, if you want to try it, you also can do it too! Just start off with 50 push ups and right after you done with that, straight away do a plank for approximate 1 minute and keep repeat the process for 5 sets or more as you wish. Good luck!

How To Do Proper Push Up

A basic push up exercise is an effective way to strengthen the chest and arm muscles. And guess what? The most simple and basic push up exercise require no other equipment other than your own body weight and your arms. In fact, this particular exercise can be done anywhere you want like at home, office or at recreational park. 

So, you don't even have to go to the gym since it is very convenient for you to do it at any place you want with no cost involved at all. For this entry, i will explain on how you can do proper push up exercise. Now, let us get started! 

Step 1

Get yourself into the push up position. This means you need to be in a face-down position on the floor. During this time, you need to keep your feet together and your weight should be on your chest. 

Step 2 

After done with step 1, you then need to position your hands palm-down on the floor and it must be shoulder width apart. In other words, your hands should be placed next to your shoulders with your elbows pointed towards your toes. 

Step 3

You now need to curl your toes in upward position in which means the toes need to be pointed towards your head and the balls of your feet should touch the ground. 

Step 4

Raise yourself using arms. During this period, your weight should be supported by your hands and the balls of your feet. And remember to keep the "plank" position; meaning you need to keep your body in a rigid straight line from your head to your heels. As the push-up started at this stage, you need to keep raising and lowering your body at a considerable timing depends on your target set.

Keep your head down and breathe in as you raise and breathe out as you lower down your body. And do not drop your hips, keep the flat and rigid plank position as you do this exercise. 

Mind the hands position too as it can effect certain muscles part when you implementing push up while in the plank position. Please be informed that the closer you put your hand together, the more you will engage your triceps and the wider apart they are, the more you will engage your chest. So, be wise to know and choose which style that you really need to work on.

Best Practices to Get Fit at Home

Greetings my fellow readers! What a bright day in Malacca today. And today, i feel i want to write something useful to many people out there who do not have time to go to the gym for workout. Well, it is understandable since everybody has their own matter to attend to and this may cause time constraint for them to visit gym and do workout. In meeting this issue, so i try to search for few articles that correlated and find solutions for these group of people. And i come out with the best solution which is on how people out there who does not have enough time to go to the gym can get fit even at own home. 

As experts stated that we also can get fit at home without having to go to the gym to meet our workout needs and the result still visible and absolute but of course with discipline, passion and determination as well. There are mere 5 elements that we need to observe in order to get fit at home. And yes, i can mentioned here that certain gym is quite expensive and the cost can come to worse if you join health club out there. So, why don't you try some of the workout that best to be practiced at home and you still can get the result you wish. 

The 5 elements to get fit at home are as follows : 

• Warmup 
• Cardiovascular workout 
• Resistance exercise 
• Flexibility moves 
• Cooldown 

Lets start with a warmup first. Each and everytime you want to get started to exercise, it is very important for you to warm yourself up as the first step before you go intense in your exercise or workout. This is actually to avoid muscles cramps during the workout since you need to "activate"your muscles and be active for the intense exercise later on. You may start you warmup with easy walk outside or you can also do it on a treadmill as well, on which you comfortable with. Just feel enjoy doing this and you will automatically get motivated at the same time. 

After done with the warmup, you can start doing cardiovascular workout already. For cardiovascular portion, you can either walk faster, pedal faster, do aerobic steps or do a jump rope. And remember, this cardiovascular workout is very important as you need to gets your heart rate up and this will benefits both of your health and your body at the same time, simultaneously! 

For the resistance exercise, you can do a repetitive squats and push-ups. Squats actually works the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus and also calves whereas push-ups involves the pectorals, deltoids, biceps, triceps and even the abdominals and the upper back. Even with this simple exercises, you also can get the benefits from doing it. Just challenge yourself of how many squats and push-ups you can do within time set and you can assess yet improve your strength capabilities over time. 

Now we move to flexibility moves. For this portion, you can do some floor stretch or yoga poses. For some of people out there may find this not quite an option for them but if possible, you can try them it once. There is no harm trying right? So, just try to stretch yourself and see what you can do. 

After done with all the workouts and exercises, you need to cool yourself down. Meaning here, you need to rest but do remember, if your heart rate or beats fast, just relax and keep standing up and let the heart rate or beats turn to its normal rate. Do not directly sits down or lying down on the floor to rest. There are cases happen where someone passed out after resting merely after done with workouts and exercises. 

Getting started!

If you are a beginner, just be sure to aim for 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercises at least 3 times a week and focus on 30 minutes of strength workouts 3 times a week. In fact, while implementing this suggested portion of exercises and workouts, be sure that all the exercises and workouts done covers all the major parts such as upper body, lower body, abdominals and also the back. 

It is totally understandable that everyone want a fast and visible result of their workout but then end up overdone their workout in a wrong way. This should be avoided actually since we do not want all the efforts gone to waste. To me personally, it is better for us to do it slowly and then gradually increase the workout time and intensity in order to prevent injuries and what more important, all the efforts made is worthy enough as the result is also visible and better yet, we do it correctly and in a safe way too!

How To Do Proper Sit Ups

Sit up exercise is an abdominal strength training exercise which commonly performed in order to strengthen the abdominal muscles. If you are the beginner, i suggests you to start off with the most basic one and the try it with some modifications to the traditional sit up practices when you get stronger. There are several types of sit ups available but for this entry, i will explain how you can implement the most basic one only and will update the other types of sit up soon.

Sit up begin with lying with the back on the floor, typically with your arms across your chest. Sometimes you also can put your hands behind your head but it is not advisable because it can strain your neck muscles during the sit up process. So, let me explain the steps to do proper sit up. 

Step 1 

Lying your body on hard surface and have your knees bent. The balls of your feet and also heels should be placed flat on the ground as well. 

Step 2

You must place your hands on opposing shoulders so that your arms are crossed over your chest. You can also put your hands behind your head but it is not advisable because it can strain your neck musles. 

Step 3

After that, you must tighten you abdominal muscles gently by drawing in your belly button to your spine. 

Step 4 

While keeping your heels and your toes flat to the ground, slowly and gently lift your head first then followed by your shoulders blades. Keep focusing your eyes on your bent knees and gently contracting the abdominal muscles. During this stage, you must pull yourself up from the floor until you are at ninety-degree angle, or when your elbows are on or past the knees. 

Step 5 

When you done with the previous steps, hold the position for a few seconds and then slowly bring the torso back to the floor but do remember to keep it slightly, yet relaxed, arch. 

Sit up is a quick way to get stronger abdominal muscles indeed. Like what i had mentioned earlier, beginner are advisable to do the most basic one first and the proceed with the other types which are more challenging types after they get stronger. 

But however, those who diagnosed with osteoporosis should avoid doing this sit up exercise. This is because bending your spine in the sit up position increases the stress on your bones and can put you at risk for a stress fracture. So, better be safe than sorry; know your ability first and then you can assess whether this sit up exercise is suitable for you to do or not. Cheers!