Your exercise tip – Higher impact exercise at home for bones of steel.
To help increase bone mineral density, to burn off plenty of calories and to help reduce the risk of falls, adding a mix of simple impact exercises into your exercise routine can be of great benefit.
Resistance training is one tool used to help increase bone density. It will place continual low levels of pressure on the skeleton via strong muscles, ligaments and tendons. Research is now finding that incorporating lower levels of impact into an exercise routine can increase the benefit, especially for those undergoing cancer treatment or those with Osteoporosis.
A few examples of exercises you can utilise are the jump squat, jump lunge or one we call skiing squats. Start with intervals of 30 seconds (three or four in your routine) three times per week. Slowly build up to a mix, aiming for 60 second sets.
Your health tip – The dangers of trans fat (trans fatty acids)
As we covered in our last newsletter, there are a few fats we need to be cautious of, especially Trans fats. These are fats that raise the bad cholesterol in our blood called low density lipoproteins (LDL). They are processes vegetable oils that have a hydrogen molecule added to their chemical structure, which makes them solid at room temperature and increases their shelf life.
They are thought to raise our LDL levels by triggering a biochemical switch in the liver, causing a series of events leading to higher production of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) which is a precursor to the LDL.
In Australia we are lucky as the levels in foods are quite low in comparison to other developed nations. To reduce your levels, choose fresher foods, reduce the amount of fast foods you eat and try not to consume large quantities of foods that contain high levels of animal fats.
Exercise of the week – Jump Lunges
This week we are looking at an impact exercise called jump lunges. These are a great cardiovascular exercise, are good for impact through the bones and will also help improve dynamic balance. It can be good for the body’s ability to handle forces of varying kind. Tips for jump lunges are:
- Start with a skipping action at first, aiming to have confidence with your ability to jump and changes legs. As you improve, increase the depth at which you go down to and jump up from.
- Jump slowly at first, getting the body used to the action, trying to keep the body as stable as possible through the whole movement. As you become stronger, emphasise the jump upwards.
- If it hurts stop.
Your life tip
Believe in your strength and your abilities. That little bit of faith can take you a long way.
This week’s wise words
The meaning of life is to find you ‘gift’. The purpose of life is giving it generously
Anonymous
Have a great week and keep healthy in 2017. David.