Category: Uncategorized

If I stop working out, my muscles will turn to fat! Right? Wrong!

This will not be the case unless you’re an alchemist or a genetic mutant. Here’s a basic anatomy lesson: “Muscle is muscle and fat is fat”. You can’t turn the one into the other. Oooh, if only we could….

So what really happened 15 years ago when you stopped working out? We hear people say:”I always used to be in such good condition, and now a couple of years later I have lost it all.  I have constant back aches and just jogging down the garage way makes me tired already!” The answer is very simple, your caloric demand decreased dramatically since the day you stopped training  BUT your caloric intake did not change a thing. In fact it probably increased with all the other perks of having a good life! When training the athlete can consume huge amounts of calories, even when the food is healthy, still they need energy to fulfill their demands. Not only is eating perfectly all right, but it’s necessary to fuel the performance efforts we demand from our bodies. Remember, “food is fuel”… and we need full tanks to go a long way. The problem with abandoning activity that make all this food intake necessary is that the body no longer requires as many calories. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to adjust eating habits to accommodate this diminished need. Often, it’s not the athlete’s fault. It just happens so slowly and unnoticed.

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Dr Mercola describe Active Isolated stretching as a “cutting edge technique” in his practise

Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) — is a cutting edge technique of flexibility and Myofascial release that allows the body greatly increased suppleness, circulation, and enhanced utilization of nutrients, as well as maintenance of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints.

To see more on who Dr Mercola is please visit:

http://www.mercola.com/forms/background.htm

StretchingSA is the ONLY registered Active Isolated stretching therapy office of its kind in South Africa.(http://www.stretchingusa.com/practitioners/search?query=Pretoria+South+Africa)  Don’t hesitate, become the lateral thinker in your health issues and visit us for treatment on all muscle and joint pains.

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Myth…Inflammation of muscles and joints can be healed completely with anti-inflammatory medications and bracing, right? WRONG!!

Aspirin and nonsteroidal ant-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen do serve a couple of purposes. Taken properly, they can reduce pain and inflammation in joints and soft tissues, such as muscle and ligaments by blocking the production of prostaglandins (Chemicals that cause inflammation and trigger transmission of the pain signal to the brain). But, in order to start the healing process, it’s up to you to take advantage of the comfort levels afforded to you by painkilling. When you are in pain, you tense up to protect the injury from further harm; your whole body forms a “splint” of sorts. Protection takes enormous energy and causes imbalances and tension everywhere. Additionally you don’t sleep well when you are hurting. And, as your rest is disturbed, your ability to cope with the injury and make good decisions is diminished. Feeling better may allow you to move the injured joint or flex that injured muscle just a little, so that you have less need to protect yourself. You’ll be more relaxed; you’ll sleep better, allowing your body to rejuvenate more quickly. And most important, when you feel comfortable, you will be able to move, increase the range of motion and pump blood to the injury to promote healing. It is not advisable to use NSAIDS without doing anything else about your injury. As mentioned earlier, the medication will only mask your pain and it will not necessarily remove the cause and nature of the injury. Get regular treatment with Active Isolated Stretching and Active isolated strengthening at Stretch therapy SA in conjunction with NSAIDS.

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The older I get, the less flexible I’ll become, right? WRONG!!

As you grow older, there is no need to grunt and groan when you get out of the chair or shuffle when you walk or turn your whole body to look at what’s going on next to you. Although, there is an acknowledged biological decrease in natural flexibility as a person ages, there is increasing evidence that the decreases in physical function we commonly associate with aging are not entirely related to advanced years, but rather to sedentary lifestyles. When aging is accompanied by increasingly sedentary lifestyles, muscle atrophy is almost always the result. And once this happens, it is difficult to regain that muscle mass with strength training and regain flexibility with stretching. But it can be done.

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Myth… when exercising I should only drink when I am thirsty, right? WRONG

With the summer right upon us, you should take great care in hydrating your body regularly.  If you wait to drink until you feel thirsty, it’s too late. Thirst is a symptom of dehydration. Dehydration decreases plasma volume. With less blood getting to the skin, the systems that control heat dissipation fail. Once this happens, an athlete overheats even more quickly. Performance levels drop. And things can get dangerous. Symptoms of dehydration include muscle cramping, excessive sweating, dark urine or infrequent urination, weakness, nausea, rapid heart rate, headache, light-headedness, increased body core temperature, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. In extreme cases, the consequences of dehydration can be fatal. It makes no difference if you are working out in cold or hot weather, inside or outside, in arid or humid climates, on a ski slope or in a swimming pool – hydration is vitally important.

You should plan to hydrate before, during and after your workout. Plain water is good, but some athletes prefer sports drinks that hydrate as well as replace electrolytes lost in sweating and carbohydrates such as glucose, sucrose, fructose and glucose polymers. Although it is worth to mention that with a proper and balanced diet, expensive electrolyte drinks is not a absolute necessity, and allot of times it is even a waste of money. Some experts believe it is best to drink water before your workout to hydrate your body, and sports drinks later during your workout when your body needs the carbohydrates and is prepared to handle and use the sugars you’re taking in. There’s a wide variety of sugar drinks on the market, but no matter what you drink, if you drink it cold, it will absorb more quickly in your body.

Happy training, see all this and more at www.stretchingsa.co.za