Pilates Exercise - The Hundred

Pilates flattens and firms the tummy and gives you a tighter bottom. It helps improve posture and strengthens your spine. At the same time, your muscles gain strength but not bulk. The Hundred is a classic exercise that starts off a pilates workout. Here's how it is done. The first exercises you would do in a pilates workout is The Hundred. It strengthens your abs and increases your circulation and prepares you for the other mat exercises. It is an excellent exercise for reducing that belly. Done correctly, you should feel the strain in your abdominal muscles, not your back. If your back hurts, then you're not doing it right. Lie on your back, straighten your arms and bend your knees at right angles with your calves parallel to the floor and your arms by your sides. Straighten your legs and point the ceiling with your feet. Your heels should be together while your toes stay apart so that your feet form a v-shape Lift your head off the ground. Lift and lower your arms in a pumping motion, 5 times while you inhale, 5 times while you exhale for one set. Do ten sets continuously, so you will pump your arms a total of 100 times, hence the name The Hundred A few points to take note of. Pull in your stomach throughout the exercise. Imagine your are pulling your navel to your spine. When you exhale, try to squeeze out all the air from your lungs Relax your neck and throat when you do this exercise. Watch this video on pilates sample exercises to see exactly how The Hundred and a few other classic pliates exercises are done. The first time you try The Hundred, if your abdominal muscles aren't strong enough, you might not be able to do it. To make it easier, you can rest your feet against the wall until you get the hang of it.

Taking Heart Healthy Supplements, Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs for Overall Good Health

Dietary supplements recommended for heart disease typically include Gingko Biloba, Sam-E and Co-enzyme Q-10, but there are numerous vitamins and minerals, as well as other botanicals that may be helpful, as well. These are components found in food, but not present in the standard American diet, which is sometimes referred to simply as SAD. The best heart healthy supplements, vitamins and botanical compounds should contain ingredients that address the major controllable risk factors of developing heart disease, which include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, stress and physical inactivity. It is doubtless that there are products on the market that may provide no benefit whatsoever, but other products have been designed by nutritionists and researchers to naturally lower cholesterol levels, blood pressure levels, reduce stress and increase energy levels throughout the day to encourage increased physical activity. Some heart healthy supplements, vitamins, minerals and botanicals that increase energy levels and help to stabilize them throughout the day include Green Tea, folic acid, magnesium, vitamin C and the B vitamins. These nutrients serve many unique functions in the body, but all are necessary for energy levels adequate to improve physical activity levels. Short-term stress is in our lives is unavoidable. Chronic or long term stress caused by frustrating jobs, money problems and/or troubled personal relationships may also be unavoidable. Often it is impossible to change these situations, but it is possible to change the way you respond to them. Chronic stress can also lead to depression, which often accompanies heart disease. This is one reason that dietary supplements recommended for heart disease patients include Sam-E, a natural anti-depressant. Gingko Biloba, when combined with ginger, has been shown to reduce anxiety, caused by chronic stress. Those people under chronic stress also need additional vitamin C. Stress quickly depletes the level of vitamin C in the blood stream, which serves many essential roles in the human body. A lack of vitamin C leads to low energy levels, visual problems, bleeding from the mucus membranes and eventually scurvy and death. Taking heart healthy supplements, vitamins and minerals can reduce the effects of long-term stress on the body, particularly when combined with increased physical activity, meditation and other stress reduction techniques. You may have seen news articles and information from alternative health care providers and other researchers maintaining that unhealthy cholesterol levels can be controlled naturally. Prescription medications (statin drugs) designed to inhibit the production of cholesterol within the body can also inhibit the production of Coenzyme Q-10. This enzyme can be created by the human body when overall nutritional levels are good, but when production is inhibited, muscle death (including death of the heart muscle) can occur. When statin drugs were originally patented, the designers recommended adding CO Q-10 to the mixture, but the manufacturers never followed through with this recommendation. They simply added the warning that muscle pain, particularly in the legs, should be reported to your doctor. It is the opinion of many health care professionals, including this writer, that once deep muscle pain is felt, there could already be a problem. Along with regular exercise and dietary changes, taking heart healthy supplements, vitamins and botanicals that contain rutin, policosanol, inositol and vitamin C can lower levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol naturally. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of these again and again. If you are currently taking a statin drug, you should also be taking a CO Q-10 supplement. You can safely take supplements that naturally lower cholesterol, increase your physical activity, and watch your diet, as well. Eventually your doctor may be able to take you off of the statin drugs and you can avoid the health risks associated with them. High blood pressure can also be controlled naturally, with proper diet, exercise, stress reduction techniques and heart healthy supplements, vitamins and botanicals that contain grape seed extract.