Monday, December 27, 2010

Best Weight Loss Exercise

Best Weight Loss Exercise

If you have a healthy body weight, then aerobic exercise is vital for maintaining it. Aerobic exercise also helps to prevent the gain in weight after you stop a particular weight loss diet. Just three hours of walking each week is enough.

It is generally believed that aerobic exercises are good for weight loss. But contrary to this, anaerobic exercis is best for weight loss.

Anaerobic exercise is ideal for losing fat and weight. The aim should be to increase muscle mass. A pound of fat only needs about 14 calories per week to survive, while a pound of muscle uses 350 to 500 calories per week. Muscles therefore burn fat even when you are sleeping, because your metabolism is higher.

Anaerobic exercises burn more fat than aerobic exercises. The important point to note is that the fat continues to burn even after the exercise has finished!

To increase the muscle mass, you should do weight resistance or strength training exercises or muscle building exercise such as lifting weights, at least twice a week.

There is a misconception that the resistance training will make you bigger like a weight-lifter and so it is not for females. Actually, resistance training is not about increasing the size of the body but its strength. The resistance training exercies basically build the muscles to give the body a better look.

Resistance training involves activities that use weights, machines and even body weight to work out the muscles properly. It builds muscles by expanding tremendous amount of energy from the fat deposits in your body.

You should drink lots of water (8-10 glasses daily) if you want to have more muscle mass as muscles are primarily composed of water. Water helps proper muscle contraction so that the working muscle is properly exhausted.

Advantages of Anaerobic Exercise

Consult your Doctor or Physiotherapist before starting any resistance training or any exercise, especially for people who have medical conditions. You should never do any exercise which causes pain and discomfort.

The exercises should be done correctly on a regular basis, otherwise you may injure yourself.

The exercise plan should involve the following steps:

1. Warm up by brisk walk for 15 minutes

2. Stretching for 5 minutes

3. Resistance training or weight training exercises

These days yoga for weight loss exercises are becoming popular and these some considered as best exercises for weight control.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Benefits Of Playing Chess

Playing Chess:

  • improves concentration ~ Be more focused, as you keep a tab on your moves and your opponent's.
  • improves memory ~ You have to use your past experiences to make better plays, and even remember the tendencies of your opponents. As you strive to beat your opponents, you memory will improve.
  • improves decision making skills ~ When playing, you will be faced with a number of possible good plays, and after a time you will increase in speed and accuracy of choosing the 'best of the best' plays.
  • improves efficiency in working under stress ~ The time factor, and the threat of your king being kept in check, may cause good mental stress. You will have to keep your cool and think things through.
  • encourages competitiveness ~ It's healthy to have goodhearted competition, as it can be a motivating factor to excel as a better player and beat that good player in your tracks.
  • improves logical reasoning ~ Chess requires you to think things through step by step, i.e. in a logical fashion. You will beat good players as you develop this crucial mental ability.
  • improves mathematical skills ~ As your logical thinking improves, so will your mathematical skills. You will be able to 'see' computations much more clearly, and your speed of doing them will increase.
  • encourages creative thinking ~ You will need to think 'out of the box' to make fantastic moves to bring your kingdom to victory. The creative part of your brain will be stimulated, and you will be surprised at plays that you make over time.
  • encourages independent thinking ~ Build your confidence as a powerful independent thinker who makes good decisions, and this will be expressed in how you play.
  • encourages discipline ~ Your patience and self-control will be tested and stretched as you spend time thinking, observing and making plays. Your overall discipline will certainly increase.