Peak Fitness

By Steve Hill

Do you suffer with one of the many health problems out there? Are you getting fed up with the traditional forms of health treatment? Are you looking into the different forms of alternative health therapy that are available? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, this article may be of interest to you. In the article, I am going to write about some of these alternative therapy treatments which I, my family and friends have tried in the past. I hope you enjoy the read.

My wife has had many problems with her own health and also suffers from regular bouts of depression. She is quite a stressful person and at times finds life to be fairly tough. A couple of years ago she decided to find a different approach to ones she had previously tried. The first option she tried was reflexology. She was not entirely sure if she really wanted a stranger messing about with her feet but was more than pleased with the experience on her return. She could not believe how relaxed and chilled out it made her feel.

I have also found myself struggling to cope with the pressures of every day life. I now have turned my hand to meditation. This is not I am sure for everyone but it has certainly helped me to think in a more positive and clearer way. It took me quite a long to meditate in what would be known as the correct way as I originally could not seem to concentrate or relax enough.

My mother prefers to go to a womens wellness centre rather than to the doctors. She has not spoken too much about this to me but it obviously helps her as she has now been going there for years.

Tai chi is a very popular form of alternative therapy for many people. Tai chi is also very good at reducing peoples stress levels and is something I also considered before I took up meditation.

A friend of mine always raves on about yoga and the many health benefits that this has bought her. To me it all seems like a lot of hard work, however she insists that it isn’t. In a way these things are like horses for courses. Some people prefer to do one thing and others prefer to do something entirely different.

My brother who also finds it hard to relax, it must run in my family I suppose, has found hypnotherapy to be very useful. He has been a smoker for many years and two years ago decided it was time to quit. He was very determined, which helps of course but by attending hypnotherapy sessions, also gave him that extra edge. He, from what he tells me has not smoked even one cigarette for the past eighteen months.

These are just a small number of the many alternative health treatments out there. It is worth pointing out that even though they have been successful in helping the above people, they may not work for everyone. In my opinion it is worth giving different things a try as it may just change your life.

Stephen Hill helps to promote a number of websites including:

herbal health therapy

phobias and fears

quality aviation cleaning products

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By Roy Palmer

Total fitness is an ideal we all aspire to reach. But how do we define it? How do we know if we are going in the right direction? To be fit means being able to do what you need to do and to do it well. A swimmer may not be fit to run a marathon; a squash player could struggle to at the 100m hurdles. They are fit for their own sport because that is what they train for.

If you want to be fit, ask yourself fit for what?

Fitness is relative. Relative to the demands you place on your body. The ultimate goal, in my view, is the ability to meet the challenges that life throws at you. Not just your sport, but your career, your family and your leisure pursuits. If you can successfully handle life and not let your health suffer then this is approaching the ideal.

We hear about the 3s’, that is, strength, stamina and suppleness as attributes that determine your level of fitness, I would like to add two more, the first is synchronisation (coordination as we know it but it does begin with S). You may have strength but if the appropriate muscles are not firing at the right time, their strength will work against you. This may be resistance to a movement adding to the effort required, or worse still injury.

The other is judgement  (okay I know this one doesn’t begin with S!). Your 4s’ are not worth much if you cannot make the right decision at the appropriate time. This may be during the course of play or about when you train or what sort of training you do.

Injuries can occur when wrong decisions are made. What if you decide to train too soon after a big event? You may have chosen a fitness program that is unsuitable for your sport. You may judge a shot to be possible but injury yourself if you have misjudged the distance. From a performance view, you may miss your chance to take the lead if you choose the wrong moment to up your pace. Can your read the game and make appropriate decisions? Are these qualities people consider when training for total fitness?

So your fitness to perform in your sport and away from it relies heavily on your ability to assess a situation and to act upon what you see. Your actions will be based upon your previous experiences, but are these reliable?

One obstacle you will have to face is habit. Habit is the hidden element in your pursuit of total fitness. It determines the way you move, what you feel and how you react. Are you aware of how much habit influences your performance?

You may be surprised at how habits may be limiting your performance. Your reliance on habit will also affect your judgement because you will react without allowing yourself to think - some call it a knee jerk reaction. So in addition to training your 4s’(your sport will dictate the requirements), you also need to practice your ability to stop and think. Athletes refer to this as being in the moment or the here and now. You will not usually find techniques to train this ability in most fitness programs.

The Alexander Technique is not a method that many sports people consider when looking to enhance performance, yet this radical movement system can add a whole new dimension to your thinking and training. Learning the technique will help to develop focus and awareness skills that are crucial to peak performance. If you keep doing the same things you will get the same results, so why not try something different, learn to use The Alexander Technique and challenge yourself in an entirely new way on your road to total fitness.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique and has studied performance enhancement in sport for the last 10 years. In 2001 he published a book called ‘The Performance Paradox: Challenging the conventional methods of sports training and exercise’ and is currently working on a new project about The Zone. More information about his unique approach to training can be found at http://www.fitness-programs-for-life.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roy_Palmer

Sanjay Johari

Aromatherapy is an established practice which can be used as one of the treatments to achieve peak fitness. It has been a part of human history for centuries past and dates back to the Egyptian times when essential oils where extracted from plants by soaking them for a while and then filtering out the oils through a linen bag. Some records have it that the procedure now known as aromatherapy was used by Hippocrates and other historic Egyptian physicians. But it did not become genera knowledge until late in the 1920s when the French scientist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse first used the procedure in treating the wounded in World War I. The term ‘Aromatherapy’ was coined by this scientist. After continuous researching, he discovered that certain essential oils have different healing properties. He went ahead to classify these plant essential oils into groups like antiseptic, stimulating, calming, antitoxic, etc based on their healing properties.

But aromatherapy has come along way from that starting point. Interests have been increasing in this area of holistic healing with several users claiming that aromatherapy encourages stress relief and self-healing. One, therefore wonders, how does aromatherapy works and how far can it realistically go with self-healing and emotional/mental uplifting.

Basically, with aromatherapy, aroma-rich oils are extracted from specific plants. These oils are mixed with other materials like alcohol, oils, lotions etc to give the desired effects on the body. These formulated oils are then applied to the body by either massaging it to the skin, inhaling it though air disbursement or poured into bath water for a soothing and calming effect on the body.

When massaged to the skin, it is believed that the oils are absorbed into the body through the pores on the skin and then directly into the blood stream. The oils are believed to be lipophilic in nature, making it easy to get entrance into body cells to exert their healing effect on body cells. Oils in the bath water seem to follow this pattern too, except that the effect of the oil water mixture tend to add an extra soothing and relaxing feeling to the body. This would be understood better if you think about what a cool shower does to a tired body on a hot afternoon.

When inhaled, the aroma of the oils is believed to activate cells in the nose, sending sensory signals to the limbic system of the brain. This is the part of the brain that takes care of higher sensory functions like emotion, thinking and intelligence.

This would give you a clue into how aromatherapy works. It is believed by practitioners that it can be used emotionally to invigorate, calm and relieve stress and physically to help treat or alleviate certain diseased condition by stimulating the body’s immune system, the nervous system or the circulatory system.

Although, not much scientific evidence is available to support the claims, aromatherapy practitioners believe that aromatherapy can be applied for a wide array of therapeutic treatments including physical and mental conditions, burns, infections, depression, sleep deprivation and high blood pressure.

The best advice is that, aromatherapy should be seen as an adjunct to the normal body healing system. It should be used to complement the body’s immune function, but not as a replacement for professional medical attention especially in people with evident sign and symptom of a medical condition. Aromatherapy could be well effective in uplifting moods, relieving stress and perhaps invigorating the mind, but the therapeutic powers of these plant oils should probably not be over stretched beyond limits.

Aromatherapy should be used to complement any other practices you may be doing to attain peak fitness. It should be remembered that it is by itself not a complete health treatment.

MUST SEE for Rapid Weight Loss

Sanjay Johari

The word “YOGA” is derived from Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language. The literal meaning of Yoga is addition, or joining or combining. The practice of Yoga involves a set of routines and carefully controlled lifestyle which help in realizing inner potential, attaining higher consciousness level and aligning or becoming one with the all pervading consciousness or energy level. While attempting to reach the goal, there is tremendous improvement in physical, mental and emotional health.

Yogic postures, called Yogasanas, form one component of Yogic practices. By themselves these postures can bring about awesome benefits in overall fitness. There are prescribed methods of doing these exercises. Basically one has to form the body in a particular posture, hold the body in that posture for sometime and then slowly come back to what we can call the posture of rest. These exercises are characterized by absence of jerks and slow body movements.

To understand these exercises better let us compare them with dynamic exercises with which we are more familiar, such as acrobatics, gymnastics, jogging etc. These exercises are effective on muscular, circulatory and respiratory systems. There are dynamic Yogic exercises (different from Yogic posture exercises) which also stimulate nervous and glandular system. All these exercises involve speed and dynamic body movements resulting in expenditure of energy and perspiration.

On the other hand, in Yogic posture exercises there is deep relaxation and energy conservation resulting in freshness. This is basically a nerve culture as it relaxes the nerves. The exercise starts from the posture of rest. First lie down in this posture, calm down your breathing, calm down your nerves and calm down your thoughts. Then form the posture you have in mind with slow body movement without jerk of any kind. Many postures are accompanied by prescribed breathing pattern. This posture is maintained for prescribed length of time which may be several seconds to few minutes. Then come back slowly to the posture of rest. After remaining in rest for 30 seconds to few minutes, the next posture exercise is done. This pattern is repeated for as long as you wish to do the exercise. Normally exercise for 30 minutes in a day is good enough for an average person to remain in peak fitness.

Doing these exercises regularly gives remarkable benefits. Generally circulation of body fluids improves and metabolic activities become more efficient. Better blood circulation ensures more thorough distribution of oxygen in the body and more complete removal of toxins. Additionally each posture benefits particular set of organs and muscles. Depending upon the need and condition of health, tailor-made set of exercises can be designed.

Many people believe that life-force flows in our nerves. When the flow of life-force is unregulated and uncoordinated it provides conditions for development of body disorders or ailments from within the body. Yogic posture exercises work very well in this area and prevent ailments. The overall body vigor and freshness are maintained. There is a balance of metabolic activities and unnecessary growths in the body are avoided.

If you are looking for general well being, life free from diseases and peak fitness, regular Yogic posture exercises can help you. Though these exercises can be combined with other work-outs, they can by themselves provide all the exercise you need for maintaining a good health.

By fitness the pictures that come to mind are bulging muscles, extraordinary strength, athletic built. However as I see it, fitness has more to do with the resistance of the body and stamina. When these faculties are at the peak you are at peak fitness. Now you will probably agree to my view that there is no age limit for achieving peak fitness.

Fitness is closely associated with lifetime commitment to follow good habits. There is nothing scary about these good habits, they are simple age-old rules that help to regulate your body properly. Following good eating habits is one of them.

The importance of a good digestive system cannot be over-emphasized in maintaining a good health. In normal circumstances our body is sufficiently capable of taking good care of our digestive system. The problem comes when we start abusing our own systems.

In our modern day lifestyle we take recourse to abusing our bodies in many ways. Some of these are – intake of patented health food and beverages, new diet which promise to restore and preserve youth and vitality and so on. In fact they may be doing more harm than good.

It is common knowledge that to maintain body weight at certain level you should keep a balance of quantity of calories coming in and quantity being used by body movement. A bar of chocolate will give about the same calories as five apples. But one bar of chocolate will hardly give the feeling of fullness which five apples can provide. To get about the same amount of fullness you can imagine how many chocolate bars will have to be consumed. The chocolate will not give fiber or roughage which is provided by apple. Fiber is necessary for good bowel movement and good digestion.

Sufficient roughage is present in foods such as wholewheat flour, unpolished rice, fruits, vegetables, pulses etc. People who are on high fiber diet are seldom obese. This is because intake of excess calories is avoided in high fiber diet. It gives a feeling of fullness so overeating is avoided. In addition it provides the nutrition which is naturally present in these foods.

If you wish to have peak fitness there is no way you can avoid high fiber diet. They say – take care of stomach and it will take care of your body. Eating high fiber diet is a part of good eating habits. And good eating habits are just one part of commitment you need to maintain for lifetime fitness.

There is plenty of wisdom in this age-old rule – have regular dose of fruits and vegetables. If you observe any aboriginal tribes which are closer to nature, you will invariably find high fiber food in their regular diet. We need to watch out as we go further and further away from our natural habits.

Here’s wishing you peak fitness for the rest of your life.

Sanjay Johari

When is the time or age to have your fitness at your peak? If you ask me, it is now. Whatever your age or circumstances in your life now, you can attain fitness better than you ever had - the peak fitness. As you continue this process it gets better and better - your peak fitness improves.

Is it difficult? Not if you commit to following simple steps to improve and maintain your health. You are already aware of those steps I am sure, only thing missing may be the commitment part. Just add that element and you will be in your peak fitness sooner than you realize. I leave you here now to think over it.

With best wishes
Sanjay Johari