Posts Tagged ‘Exercise’

Cat Health: Exercise, Toys, and Playtime

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

How Much Playtime Do Cats Need? Cats needs at least 10-15 minutes of exercise three to four times a day. The exact amount varies with age, breed, health and physical condition.


Indoor cats need to play 3 to 4 times as much as outdoor cats to satisfy their needs for exercise. One hour of playful exercise increases your cat’s lifespan by 4 hours.


TIP: If your cat is neutered he is twice as likely to get chubby, so decrease his calories by one third and play more. Be creative think up games that stimulate your cat’s natural instincts.


Exercise Is Fun With Felines!


Exercise is integral to life. Not only is it essential for optimal health, it also improves circulation, stimulates vital organs, facilitates digestion and helps eliminate harmful toxins from the body. Exercise provides aerobic activity that stimulates your cat mentally and physically. Playful exercise is fun too. The more you play with your cat the more trusting and alert he’ll become. It is a great way to bond, and it is as good for you as it is for your cat. Most owners end up looking forward to this “special time” as much as their cats do.


Cats have different types of personalities, just like people. Figure out what kind of cat you have-shy, curious, sedate or wild. Adapt the type of play you choose to the personality of your cat.


Cat nip is a perfectly safe herb that many cats enjoy. Once a week, sprinkle the fresh herb on the floor or on a couple favorite toys. Cats generally play, roll and frolic. Your cat will have fun and so will you.


Exercise Goals


Exercise promotes confidence, self-esteem and well being. If you make the commitment to eat right and playfully exercise at least 10 minutes four times a day, you and your cat will look good and feel great! Exercise enhances your health, your looks and your life.


If you and your cat can’t exercise, feline massage is an alternative. It’s therapeutic and stimulates vital tissues. It’s also fun and feels great.


Cats love a ritual-especially before a good meal. Set play sessions for the same time each day and soon your cat will be there eagerly waiting for you.


The love you bestow on your cat and the relationship you share will become a source of continued happiness in your life.


TOYS


Toys provide a positive outlet for cats of all ages. Many are educational, some are interactive, and others are just plain fun. In additional to physical benefits,

they stimulate cats mentally; help prevent boredom, destruction and anxiety. Some toys are also a form of exercise like laser mice and many can be stuffed or rubbed with treats like catnip. Get a variety of toys and rotate them every few days.


GREAT SAFE CAT TOYS:


* Crumpled Paper Balls

* Peacock Feathers

* Empty Paper Bags

* Card Board Boxes

* Pieces of real fur (2 cm X 5 cm)

* Pinecones

* Ping Pong Balls

* A pile of shredded paper

* Empty 35MM film containers (or filled 1/3 with raw lentils)

* The occasional full toilet paper roll (for shredding)


Anything dangling from a fishing line makes a good toy:

Frozen green beans, Walnut shells, Sea-shells,

Plastic lids from bottled water, Leaves at the top of a Celery Stalk, Pipe Cleaners twisted up like Butterflies


TOYS


Cats judge toys based on their size, texture, sound and smell. Small, light weight items like crocheted mice, fish and birds especially with unpredictable, erratic movements are favorites for many felines.


WHAT YOU CAN DO


CREATE INTERACTIVE GAMES FOR YOUR CAT:


Kitty Hockey: throw a couple plastic rings from a milk jug on a smooth floor — your feline will fly for the puck


Create snakelike toys: then sneak & slither them over chairs and up & down stairs


Make a kitty racquetball court: put a ping pong ball in a small box and cut a small paw sized hole in one end


Create a feline obstacle course: place several boxes upside down or paper bags on their side and cut holes in each to enter & exit


Improve balance & coordination with a multi-leveled cat tree: entice your cat to jump from 1 perch to the next during interactive play sessions


Encourage scratching and stretching with a few sturdy scratching posts covered with hemp or the rough backing of a piece of carpet


INTERACTIVE GAMES


Wiggle a fishing line with feathers on one end over

perches, playgrounds and obstacle courses to get your cat to stretch and keep his muscles toned


FACT: Play is soothing to the soul-yours and your cats.

Table Tennis Can be an Exercise Activity

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

The need for regular physical activity has never been higher than it is now. The alarming rates of heart disease and obesity are increasing, and much of this is due to the fact that physical activity is at a low point for humans today. We simply do not need to stand up and move around as much as we used to. The technology has stepped in and relieved us of the need to constantly do ourselves, and the need to actively seek business was born. Unfortunately, most people do ask activity in the form of hard physical exercise underway at a gym, jogging, or other similar things. These are all wonderful for the body, but they require a lot of dedication, effort and discipline and, hence, they can be difficult to keep. What we need are forms of exercise that are fun and a little less difficult for us to actively assist and losing these books. Here are four great ideas.

Ping-pong or table tennis as it is officially known is a great sport to become active. As a reduction of the version of tennis, ping-pong is a fun sport with a rapid pace, but is not so physically demanding that his counterpart greater. It can be picked up by anyone, and your body movement, build your reflexes and your heart pumping. Its a great source of exercise that you can burn many calories without leave you winded and emptied of its energy. The rules are very simple and can be learned in minutes and as long as you have a table it can at any time played. It is also a sport very pleasant, and when you play with a friend You’ll find you stay with him for much longer than you had originally planned.

Badminton is a great sport for the year. Although slightly more demanding physically and table tennis, badminton can really be played at any pace. The specially designed birdie lofts in the air much slower than a tennis ball, so you can enjoy this sport to a pleasant level, or further and play harder and really your body of work. Anyway You’ll be burning calories and do the exercise you need, but You’ll have great pleasure to do so. While badminton is normally played on a big court, you can play in your own garden with just one birdie and two rackets. Because of its different levels of physical effort and the ability to play anywhere badminton is a sport very versatile.

No exercise is also beneficial for your cardiovascular system as swimming. Your heart has to work hard to move your bodys weight in water, and having to hold your breath and control it exercises your lungs and make them more capable of supplying oxygen to your blood. Swimming is also one of the highest assessment forms of exercise to burn calories in a relatively short period of time. The biggest advantage to swimming is that most people like to do so. You do not have to make towers and swimming as an athlete to get the benefits of swimming. Leisure swimming, diving and treading water are all thats needed. It is easy to do for long periods of time, help your body to burn unwanted fat. Better still, when you’re ready to call it quits, all you have to do is pull on a float, kick back and enjoy some rays.

Finally, we have a form of exercise that is truly unique video game console on the Nintendo Wii. The Wii is placed on the market as the first video game system that promotes physical activity, and Nintendo has actually developed several games that focus on movement and exercise. Never before a person has been able to burn calories because they play a video game, but now you can easily do it from your own home. Besides the lifting of games, there are also several sports games that you travel and competition. The beauty is that none of these games that are physically demanding that sports they represent, but you moving and burning energy and exert oneself. You can also get easily taken in competition with your friends, play for hours that you burn calories and to establish the strength of your heart.

While it is true that Americans are less exercise than ever before, a new trend of practice, the exercise occasionally May methods very well change that. You do not need expensive gyms or intense exercise routines that are difficult to stick to lose weight or get in better shape, just find something you like you do on your feet. If you like, do you feel that you have to commit to anything, and You’ll spend much more time on it. There are many ways to burn calories and tone your body, then do what suits you best!

5 Ways To Prevent Body Pain Resulting From Exercise

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

Many articles and experts speak about how to reduce pain and inflammation after it has occurred. In this article I would like to tell you how to prevent body pain that happens as a result of exercise. You see, many of the aches and body pains that people experience as a result of exercise can actually be prevented by following these 5 simple rules.

Rule 1 -  Warm Up the Body – Before engaging in any physical activity, the body must be warmed up. Basic things like jumping jacks, waist twists or light bouncing will do the trick. The warm up is used to get the blood moving, warm up the muscles, break the synovial capsules to release their joint fluid and to prevent injury. Simple range-of-motion movements will elevate respiration enough to make a difference before you start.

Rule 2 – Stretch Before and After – Once the body is warm, the muscles are ready to be stretched. You do not necessarily need to do intensive full body stretches before playing ping pong, but loosening the major muscles you will use in your activity is a must. As long as the muscle stretches are held within normal range of motion, and until tension is released, they will be effective. The important point is this: Stretch to feel good, not to be flexible. With that in mind, you won’t overstretch and cause injury.

Rule 3 – Target Weak Muscles – If you are doing strength training, be sure to vary your routine and target the weaker muscles. The larger muscles do in fact depend on the weaker and smaller ones to hold the body frame in place. Yet most people forget about the small guys in favor of making the big guys even bigger. Needless to say, they feel pain from muscle imbalances. So avoid this exercise pain by targeting the smaller and weaker muscles as part of your ongoing routine.

Rule 4 – Reduce Pain and Inflammation – Injuries like strains, tears and inflammation hamper exercise progress and overall health. It is therefore important to begin the healing process as soon as possible. If an injury is acute, it is best to apply cold within the first 5 minutes to reduce swelling. Ice packs, ice cubes, a frozen bag of peas or cold gels can be applied. On for 20 minutes, off for 20 minutes, continue as necessary. When swelling is down and the pain cycle is broken, stop the cold and apply heat. This will bring oxygen and nutrient rich blood to the area to relax muscles, remove waste products and promote healing. Additionally, supplements containing both a natural anti-inflammatory herbal extract and natural acid that increases flexibility and relieves joint pain can be taken.

Rule 5 – Rest When Injured – Regardless of injury type it is best to rest before engaging the body again. If the injury is not too serious, a day or two off and then easing back into exercise will do the trick. But for more serious injuries, a week or more of rest will be necessary to give your body a chance to reduce inflammation and repair damaged tissue. If you do not rest long enough, lack of rest can be a cause of further injury.

I hope these five simple rules will help you prevent injuries that arise from exercise. Simply warm up, stretch, strengthen weak muscles, reduce inflammation and rest … and you can enjoy your workouts injury free.

Fun Ways to Exercise That You Haven’t Considered

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

No doubt you come up with some excuse to avoid going to the gym and it’s got to be a good one so you don’t feel guilty.  For most of us it’s usually the last thing you want to do after a day at work. You may feel bad about it, but it’s really quite normal. The smelly gym is just full of lots of people anyway, so what’s so attractive about it?

Start a great program today in the peace of your own home.


The people in there just look so great in their gym wear, so many beautiful bodies it really can be off-putting and can make you want to go to the nearest junk food outlet for a piece of chocolate cake.


Is this you?  Now would be a good time to refocus and consider giving the gym a break in favor of an exercise that you will enjoy. Thinking imaginatively will mean that the body will follow along and that’s the trick. The greatest exercise is the one you don’t even know you’re doing. Many activities won’t burn as many calories, hour for hour as the rowing machine at the gym, but activities that you enjoy doing are going to be so much better as you’ll be less likely to quit after a couple of months.


Here are four fun ways to exercise to get you underway.


Firstly Martial Arts.


No doubt you think martial arts is how you see it in the movies a group of guys making loud noises and kicking a lot.  In real life it’s very different. There are many different people who practice martial arts from all ages and with lots of different body types and backgrounds.


The best things about martial arts is that it has such a great selection that you can pick from. Three of the many different styles that you can pick are Karate, Kickboxing and Judo.  Probably you will have heard of all of them.  Judo is more about throwing and wrestling whereas the other two focus on kicks and punches, let me add here that kickboxing is the most physical.


Second is. – Yoga.


It’s a lovely way to encourage the body’s awareness which means increased weight loss in every day life.  Now it doesn’t doesn’t burn up the calories like more physical exercising but it is much easier on the body. Don’t worry you’ll find all sorts of different people in yoga classes from little to big, healthy to out of shape and from young to old. All walks of life is encompassed in the activity of yoga. Tai Chi is an alternative to Yoga. This is like yoga and is an all ages, for different shapes and everyone benefits.

Dancing is the third one.


Were you aware that professional ballet dancers are a lot more fitter than professional swimmers? Both endurance and strength can be developed from the superb exercise of dancing. Also it’s an exercise that’s enjoyable as well as being motivational. To begin with you could take a friend with you especially if you’re a bit nervous . Try jazz, hip-hop or latin as the faster dances are usually the better for weight loss. If a dancing class doesn’t do it for you, then put on a good cd, crank up the stereo at home. Maybe you could grab your i-pod and go into spare room where you can dance on your own.


I’m making Table Tennis as number four.


The little bats, the ping-pong balls and the ’swish-pock-swish’ of a great rally, I mean, what’s not to like about table tennis?   It’s fun and burns as many calories as a brisk walk. Now wouldn’t you prefer to play great, fun game of table tennis with a friend than do 30 minutes on the stepper at the gym?  Of course the one who doesn’t win makes dinner!  If you don’t know of a table to play on – they’re not expensive to purchase and will definately see much more use than the latest piece of gym equipment from the Home Shopping channel.

Start a great program today


These are just four ways to exercise and no doubt you can think of many more. Think about something you would wish to do entailing movement, something that you consider would be fun ways to exercise.

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