Attitude Check

Target Heart Rate Training is a systematic method of improving your cardiovascular fitness. By exercising at sufficiently intense levels, you can overload your cardiovascular system. During rest, your body adapts to strengthen the cardiovascular system. Over time, your heart becomes more efficient at delivering the oxygen and fuel required by the muscles to maintain this higher level of performance. The skeletal muscles also become better at extracting oxygen from the bloodstream. With continued consistent exercise, the cardiovascular system continues to consistently improve.

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Strength Training Tips 

• It isn’t always what you do but how well you do it.
• Drinking water while working out will prevent dehydration and facilitate a faster recovery.
• Always challenge yourself.  Take it to the next level.
• If you are a beginner start with a two day per week work out to acclimate your body to your exercise program.
• Always exercise with caution to prevent injury.
• Using slow movements can increase your muscle tone when exercising.  Always do 5 – 10 minutes of warm up and cool down before and after your workout.
• Never perform any exercise with ballistic movements.  All exercises should be performed smoothly.
• Start with full body exercises then move to individual muscle groups.
• Full body exercises can minimize your work time while maximizing your benefits.
• Inhale while lifting (muscles shortened) and exhale while lowering (muscles lengthened).

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When engaged in any fitness training program there are several universally accepted scientific training principles that must be followed in order to improve conditioning and performance. These principles are:

The Principle of Individual Differences

Because we are all different people we will respond differently to exercises. A proper training program should be modified to take individual differences into account.

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Researchers at Children’s Hospital in Seattle said yes. “Children are raised not only at homes but also in their communities” said Dr. H. Mollie Greves Grow, MD MPH, of Seattle Children’s Hospital  in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Grow noted that, disadvantaged neighborhoods may present many obstacles for children’s weight, such as less access to healthy foods and more to unhealthy fast-food outlets. She added. “A disadvantaged environment can set families up for ill health, and it’s unfair to blame them for not taking enough ‘personal responsibility’ to manage their weight. We don’t yet know all of the factors that may create disadvantages, but we know it is present and associated with higher obesity.”

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Today the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced it is organizing game jams in at least six major U.S. cities on the weekend of May 21 to harness the creative and technical capabilities of video game developers in support of the Apps for Healthy Kids competition.  Announced by First Lady Michelle Obama on March 10, 2010, as part of her Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity, the Apps for Healthy Kids competition challenges software developers, game designers, students and other innovators to develop innovative, fun, and engaging tools and games that help kids and their parents to eat better and be more physically active. Prizes totaling $60,000 will be awarded to the entries that are voted the best by a panel of expert judges.

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