Achooo.....

Hello everyone,

Well it's that time of the year again... The wind is blowing, temperatures are dropping, and that annoying little bug is floating around more than ever.  Yes I am talking about the cold bug.  Now normally I would post about some sort of exercise or sport but because it is winter and because I am sick as well, I think that I will dedicate this blog on how to avoid the common cold and how to treat yourself if you catch it.

Picture of a Rhinovirus (Common Cold) in Microscopic Form

The common cold is not a bacterial infection.  It is a viral infection that can really only be treated with time.  Symptoms can include coughing, sore throat, runny nose, and congested nose.  The best way to not catch a cold is to stay away from people or places that have been infected.  Also washing your hands with soap (regular or anti-bacterial does not matter since it is a virus) is also recommended.  The most common thing that you should do (especially now that it is winter) is to dress warmly.

Areas Infected by a Common Cold

If however you could not have prevented catching the cold and feel horrible (like I currently do), there are ways to make yourself feel more comfortable for the duration of your sickness such as sleeping a lot, drinking a lot of water, and gargling salt water.  You can use vapor rub on your chest to relieve coughing and congestion.  To help my sore throat, I like to drink warm tea with honey in it.  It relaxes my throat and it makes me feel better overall.  Warm tea will also help keep you warm throughout the winter. 

A lot of other helpful home remedies can also be found using the internet.  Here are just a few I found that might be useful: here and here.  It is times like these that I am glad new media is around. Hope this has been helpful!

Willy

Football FTW

In honor of the Green Bay Packers winning the Superbowl this past weekend, I will be blogging about football today.  Football is a high physical contact sport.  The main muscle groups it uses are the calves, thighs, triceps, biceps, and lower back.  The lower back, calves, and thighs give you the explosive power needed to tackle your opponent.  Your legs are also very necessary when you run.  The stronger the calves and thighs, the faster you run.  The triceps and biceps are needed in order to block and shove your opponent away.  Football is a high endurance sport as well.  With the field this large and the players running around back and forth giving all their effort, football is also a great sport for a cardiovascular workout.  This sport, like snowboarding, will strengthen your heart and help you lose weight.

Although football is fun, I think that it is still one of the most dangerous sports even with all the gear that players wear.  Many football players not only gain muscle and strength in certain areas to perform better but also gain muscle in order to take a hit.  When a three hundred pound lineman is hurtling toward you, it is reassuring to know that since you have muscle you will not shatter right when he takes you out.  Football is not uncommon to injuries.  In fact, there are so many injuries during football that it would take a while for me to list them all.  Some common ones are concussions, sprains, and pulled muscles.  There is a more detailed list if you follow this link.

                                 Chart of common injuries in football during preseason and the regular season

My advice to avoid unnecessary injuries would be to always wear protective gear, no matter how strong you think you are.  This way nothing will surprise you and you will still be able to play. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Willy 

Blog Roll

Here are some blogs I found that are related to what I am writing about:

Fitness Program

Gym for Year

Set Goals and Get Fit

10 Great Health Related Apps for you Phone

Fit in 15 Minutes

Bench Warmers

Hello everyone,

Instead of blogging about a certain sport, today I will be blogging about one of my weight lifting routines.  I perform this routine every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and I focus on using only the "bench and barbell" exercises.  The four exercise I use in this routine are the flat barbell bench press, incline barbell bench press, decline barbell bench press, and seated military barbell press.  There is no real order that these exercises need to be done in but just remember that you will be able to lift more with the exercises that you start with.  People do tend to get tired around the fourth exercise.  In this routine, you will be doing three sets of eight repetitions each.  This means that in one set you will lift the weight up and down eight times.  You will also be increasing the weight by 5 to 10 pounds every set.  I have included some videos below that show you how to bench properly.

Flat barbell bench press

 
Incline barbell bench press

Decline barbell bench press








Seated military barbell bench press









The main muscle groups that this routine focuses on are the chest (pectorals), shoulder (deltoids), and arms (mainly the triceps).  The forearm muscles and the latissimus dorsi (lower side back) are also used in these exercises but mainly for support and balance.

I recommend you start with a weight that is fairly easy to do and build up from there.  Do not start with your maximum weight since you will not be able to increase the weights any more.  It is also safer if you find out what range your strength is before attempting really heavy weights.  Doing light weights and gradually going up is better than injuring yourself and not being able to lift at all.  Also always remember to have someone spot you and make sure you do not drop the weight on yourself, especially since you are adding more weight every time.  Hope this has been helpful and remember safety first when lifting!

Willy

Snowboarding is fun and good for you!

Today I am going to talk about my favorite sport of all time: snowboarding!  I think that snowboarding is a very fun yet hard sport.  It not only strengthens your core, foot/ankle, upper leg, hip, and gluteus muscles but it is also a very good cardiovascular exercise.  This means that while you are working out all those muscles I listed above, you are also burning calories, losing weight, and keeping your heart healthy.  The reason I enjoy snowboarding so much is because the mountain does wonders for my stress and I can get into shape while having a lot of fun.  Most people do not enjoy their first time snowboarding but I think that you should stick with it since its gets a lot more fun as you get better.

A common mistake that many beginners make while snowboarding is that they do not drink enough water.  Like I mentioned above, snowboarding is both a strength building workout as well as a cardiovascular workout.  Because of this, people tend to sweat a lot without realizing it.  When you sweat too much, you lose a lot of water and become very dehydrated.  If you get dehydrated, you are likely to get very dizzy and nauseas.  This could end up cause a lot of discomfort and health issues if you do not hydrate right away.  This is why you should always carry a water bottle with you while snowboarding. Hope that this blog has been a bit helpful to everyone who wants to try snowboarding!

Willy

Kayaking...in Winter?!?

Today I went kayaking at La Jolla Shores.  The weather was perfect (for winter at least) and I went with a bunch of friends so I had a lot of fun.  After I came back I realized that I was a lot more sore than I usually would be after a workout.  I was curious to see what muscle groups kayaking worked on so I looked it up.  Not only did I find what muscle groups it worked out but I also found out that kayaking has a lot of health benefits.

The muscle groups that are worked during kayaking are your back, chest, stomach, and arms.  Since there is so much repetition in kayaking, doing this often not only strengthens your muscles but tones them as well.  For a sport, kayaking works many parts of the body all at once.  Most rowing sports (such as dragon boating and crew) are also full body workouts.  One health benefit that come with kayaking is stress reduction. Even though you are working pretty hard when you are kayaking, if you stop and take a break once in a while it is very calm.  Sitting in the middle of the ocean with the sun in your face and a clear blue sky to look at makes one feel at ease.  On top of that, kayaking helps you burn calories and lose weight.   I was actually kind of surprised when I read how many calories you burn every hour.  I found out that every hour you are pushing out about 1500 strokes and burning around 400 calories.  Today I went kayaking for two hours so it turns out I burned almost 800 calories!  I would call that a great accomplishment for the day.

Today was my second time every kayaking.  The first time I tried was when I was still young.  I do not quite remember what happened during then but after today I have confirmed my love for another sport.  I think that kayaking is a great way to look good and feel good while still having a lot of fun.  It is pretty safe and it is not that expensive.  The place we rented the kayak from only cost $20 bucks for two hours.  If you get really into it, I recommend that you buy your own kayak because it is pretty addicting and it can add up if you go often.  The type of kayak we used was a sea kayak shown in the picture below.  Here is also an quick instructional video on how to kayak.

Even after writing this blog however, I feel that a lot of people still won't give kayaking a shot.  It kind of pains me to say it but I think people take sports in general (not just kayaking) for granted now that we have things such as the internet.  Since the creation of youtube, it seems like as soon as someone sees something bad (and highly unlikely) happen in a sport, no one wants to give it a try anymore.  People get scared and never get to experience things.  The internet has made us lazy and unwilling to try new things as well.  People passively experience these fun things such as kayaking by watching TV and not actually trying it themselves. 

Still after today, I believe that I have found my new favorite water sport.  I do not wish to rely on the internet for everything.  The fast paced world today is getting too wrapped up in New Media that people are beginning to rely on technology too much.  I want to experience everything myself in real life, not through some computer screen or television set.  This being said, I think the next sport I wish to experience on my list is surfing.  It is however winter so I'll most likely be going back to winter sports and exercises.

Willy

Purpose of my Blog

It has been almost 8 years since I wrote my last blog so it'll probably take a while for me to get used to this again but here we go.  I would like to start off by saying that the blogs I will be posting will mainly be focused on everyday health.  By this I mean that I will be looking at different kinds of exercises, workouts, sports, and maybe even diets in order to stay fit.  I will also blog about stuff that affects health such as stress and mentality.  I am not saying that I am an expert on fitness but I do find the subject matter to be very interesting.  I enjoy exercising a lot so researching this subject matter will be fun for me as well.  I will also try to post interesting facts and data on health and fitness as well as experiment with the exercises and sports before actually blogging about them.  Hopefully these blogs will end up being helpful to people.