Massage utilized within the sport and exercise field can basically be split into two types of treatment, Recovery and Remedial Massage.

Recovery Massage as the name suggests aids recovery from training. The goal being that the individual is able to return to sport and exercise sooner than normal through the alleviation of Delayed Onset Muscular Soreness (DOMS) and removal of Residual Muscular Tone.

DOMS resulting from micro damage to muscle fibers becomes progressively worse for up to four days following prolonged periods of physical exertion.

It is also common for the primary muscle groups involved to retain increased levels of tone. Due to over exertion and fatigue of muscle fibers they will remain partially contracted at rest.

Techniques most beneficial for treating soreness and fatigue are effleurage and soft tissue mobilization. These are long or circular gliding strokes applied rhythmically with medium pressure, combined with gentle rubbing and squeezing of individual muscle bellies.

When applying this type of massage the therapist must be mindful of muscular tenderness. Following intense training muscles will be sensitive and painful to touch. The objective is to “flush” the damaged tissue (increasing blood flow to fibers requiring repair while removing metabolic waste) and to “sooth” fatigued muscular tissue encouraging relaxation.

Remedial Massage, on the other hand is corrective in regards to joint movement and posture. It is focused primarily on the release of soft tissue around stiff, immobile joints. To initiate change in an area laden with fibrotic connective tissue, commonly the result of years of muscular imbalance, one must apply deep pressure to release and stretch the target tissue. To release these tissues it is necessary to challenge the Proprioceptors (specialized cells that control and maintain movement and posture) present in soft tissue around the joint.

Unfortunately to effectively influence proprioceptive function with a massage, while creating tissue change and returning joints to their original neutral positions, you must also affect other receptors in soft tissue including Nocioceptors (Pain Receptors).

Remedial massage techniques include sustained pressure to a specific area (Trigger Points), blocking then stretching segments of tissue (Myofascial Realease) and deep friction.

In a nutshell, Recovery Massage aims to alleviate the pain and discomfort of soreness and aching produced within the contractile fibers of your Muscle Tissue (red stuff on muscle charts). Remedial Massage is most likely to cause a degree of pain while attempting to remove Connective Tissue (white stuff on muscle charts) tightness that restricts joint movement and compromises optimal posture.

Even though these massage techniques have a completely different focus in terms of outcome. They are used interchangeably within the course of a massage treatment.

Intense training often results in a combination of muscular soreness and connective tissue tightness. The goal then is to work with your masseur / masseuse to insure that the appropriate techniques are applied at the correct times (in regards to training programs), in the correct way (most relevant being the amount of pressure used) and to the correct areas (differentiate the pain of irritation from that of tissue release).

Ingredients:

• 6 egg whites
• 2 egg yolks
• 4 serves of chocolate PROTEIN powder
• 100g of almond meal
• 2 and ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon of splenda
• 2 table spoons of cocoa
• 1 pinch of sea salt
• 1 pinch of cinnamon
•  ½ cup boiling water
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla essence (or imitation vanilla)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Separate egg whites and keep two of the egg yolks in a separate bowl. Beat egg whites until stiff.
3. Combine the baking powder, protein powder, almond meal, splenda, salt, cocoa and cinnamon in a large bowl. Make well in centre and add the egg yolks, oil, vanilla and boiling water. Beat until smooth.
4. Fold mixture into the stiff egg whites.
5. Pour mixture into muffin tin and bake at 180°C for 20 mins. Let cool before serving.

Infrared saunas are a revolutionary step in sauna technology. The infrared heater, which operates quite differently from a traditional sauna heater, has added a completely new dimension to the sauna experience and paved the way for many more people to become sauna enthusiasts.

How do Infrared Saunas Work?

Infrared saunas work using infrared heaters to convert light directly to heat. This heat has the effect of warming nearby objects without raising the air temperature in others words, a bather in an infrared sauna absorbs heat but the surrounding air does not. Far-infrared radiant (FIR) heat is often confused with ultraviolet (UV) radiation because both types of energy are present in the sun’s rays. However, FIR does not damage the skin the way UV does while still providing many of the benefits of natural sunlight.
In infrared saunas, heat penetrates deep into body tissues in a way that a traditional sauna cannot. This deep tissue warmth is great for sore muscles, stiffness, and joint pain, especially the kind of chronic pain that comes from arthritis.
The infrared sauna heater warms up and is ready for use much more quickly than a traditional sauna’s heater (usually in 10 to 20 minutes, compared to at least an hour) and it uses much less energy. And because the air itself does not get hot in infrared saunas, they are suitable for people with respiratory issues who find it uncomfortable or even risky to go in a traditional sauna. Bathers in infrared saunas also can enjoy the benefits of the sauna at a much lower temperature than in a traditional sauna
Health Benefits
Detoxification
The quicker metabolic rate causes extra toxic waste products to be purged from the body through the skin, during perspiration. The skin is often referred to as the 3rd kidney, because it is believed to be responsible for eliminating 30% of the body’s waste.
What is a detox?
Detox can be used as a tool to help relieve symptoms AND as a preventative tool to increase overall health, vitality, and resistance to disease.
Detox is a widely used treatment and concept in alternative medicine. The leading detox principle is that illness can be caused by the buildup of toxic substances – of toxins in the body.
Weight loss
Studies have shown that a 30 min infrared sauna can burn up to 200-600 calories. As the body works to cool itself while using a far infrared sauna, there is a substantial increase in heart rate, cardiac output and metabolic rate.
Relaxation and stress reduction 
Relax in comfort with an invigorating deep tissue sweat that will have you feeling mesmerized with each sauna session!
Relaxation is more important to your health than most people realize. According to New York Times best-selling author and fitness expert Jorge Cruise – and many other health professionals, the more stressed you are, the more cortisol your body will produce. Cortisol is a “fight or flight” hormone made in the adrenal glands that raises heart rate, blood pressure, and encourages the deposit of any excess calories into the midsection. Scientific evidence shows that far infrared therapy helps the body maintain healthy levels of cortisol. While cortisol levels stay the same or rise slightly during a sauna session, they drop afterwards.
Better Circulation and Increased Energy
The sauna emits FIR energy that is absorbed by human cells, causing a physical phenomenon called “resonance”. Thus the cellular activities are instantly invigorated, resulting in a better blood circulation and an overall improved metabolism.
Cardiovascular Health 
The FIR Sauna increases heart rate and blood circulation, crucial to maintaining one’s health. The heart rate increases as more blood flow is diverted from the inner organs towards the extremities of the skin, without heightening blood pressure.
Speed Recovery from Injuries 
For injuries, FIR generated heat stimulates vasodilatation of peripheral blood vessels, bringing oxygen to joints and extremities, speeding the healing of sprains and strains, thus relieving pain and reducing the time it takes the human body to recover from an injury.
Skin Beautification
For that sought after healthy glow, FIR Sauna heat therapy allows increased blood circulation to carry great amounts of nutrients to the skin, thus promoting healthy tone and texture. A FIR Sauna heat bath also provides a mild cleansing of the skin.
Improved Immune System
By creating an “Artificial Fever”, FIR heat has a positive effect on the immune system. Often misunderstood, fever is a natural healing response of the body. The function of the immune system is increased naturally during a fever, while virus and bacterial growth is slowed, weakening its hold. This helps the body ward off invading organisms. A FIR heat treatment in the early stages of a cold or flu has been known to stop the disease before the symptoms occur.
You will be amazed by the effects infrared will have on your health!!

Increasing Food Awareness

Since we eat every day of our lives, food becomes something we often do not give much thought until hungry.  Then it is easy to whip together a meat loaded sandwich, grab that bag of chips, or buy an item out of the vending machine without bothering to add up the calories.  Of course, going out to eat provides the ideal situation for indulging, because the tempting descriptions are hard to resist.

After a while eating patterns develop and you don’t even think twice about eating favorite foods or even overeating until you realize its time for weight Loss in Teneriffe.  In addition, many times people are overeating and don’t know it, because they have never bothered to count the calories and determine how that count relates to their activity levels.

The first sign something is out of balance is through weight gain.  When it is time to change eating patterns, the first step is identifying the patterns of behavior leading to overeating and poor nutritional choices.  The best way to document this information for weight Loss in Teneriffe is through a food journal and diary.

Getting Ready to Make Changes

You can certainly diet without keeping a food journal, but the chances are you will continue to allow extra calories to slip into your daily eating routine.  This can slow down weight loss.  It can also cause confusion, because you think you are following a strict diet, when in fact your diet is riddled with calories that are not getting burned through exercise. 

A private trainer can show you how to keep a food journal and diary so you can identify when you eat, what you eat, and even why you eat certain foods at certain times.  For example, you may not realize you are eating a high amount of extra calories every night as you unwind in front of the television.  It is just a habit that has been developed that is making it more difficult to achieve weight Loss in Teneriffe.

The purpose of the food journal is to help you examine all of your food choices and poor eating habits.   The food journal and diary can also help you set reasonable dietary guidelines that fit your particular lifestyle.   The diary documents the time you ate, where you were when you ate, the kind of food or drink involved, and the amount or number of servings you ate. 

You use the information to count calories and to spot food and behavior associations. The total calories are compared to the calories you burn on a daily basis.  The personal trainer can help you develop a diary or journal and will assist you in identifying ways you can reduce your calorie intake below your calorie expenditure.

The food diary and journal will also let you find out just how many poor nutritional choices you are making.  With this knowledge comes the ability to take control of your eating patterns and achieve weight Loss in Teneriffe.

What is a Crash Diet and Why is it Bad?

Crash diets are famous for promising unbelievable results with minimum effort in a short period of time, but what do they entail exactly? Most crash diets have a poor diet and questionable supplements in common. They usually involve drastically cutting back on the number of calories you consume during the day, and sometimes have complementary supplements which are nothing but diuretics. While practitioners may notice rapid weight loss at the beginning of such a diet, often the weight lost is nothing but water weight and, if continued, will result in muscle loss as well.

When you follow an extremely low calorie diet, the first thing that happens is that your body uses up its stores of carbohydrate, also known as glycogen, as well as the water that is stored with it, in the liver and muscles. This is what prompts the weight loss in the beginning. Once these carbohydrates are used up, the body starts using proteins in the muscles for energy, which can leave you feeling tired and irritable.

Soon, the metabolism slows down, putting your body into a kind of starvation mode, because it doesn’t know when it will start receiving healthy nutrients again. Then, when you go back to your previous eating habits, you’re likely to not only put back on the weight you’ve lost, but add more pounds as well, because the metabolism is still too slow to keep up with the new intake of food.

Worst Case Scenarios

Those that put themselves of a constant cycle of crash dieting and eating poorly are doing a lot of damage to their bodies which could result in potentially life threatening illnesses. Due to their restrictive natures, crash diets could prevent you from eating healthy foods with nutrients that your body needs to function properly, such as iron, B12, potassium or sodium. These could lead to deficiencies that can cause other problems, like nerve and muscle functions and heart attacks. They also cause a great deal of problems for organs like the liver and kidneys, because without the proper nutrients, the organs can’t function properly. Finally, not getting enough calcium in the diet can lead to the development of osteoporosis, which makes bones brittle and more prone to fractures.

Eat a Balanced Diet for Better Results

If you’re trying for weight loss in Brisbane, resist the temptation to follow a crash diet and look for healthier alternatives instead. Gradually change your eating habits and your proportion sizes so your metabolism won’t drop too quickly, and pair your new eating habits with a fitness routine, and you’ll be losing weight in no time. Think of your new good habits as a lifestyle change instead of a temporary diet.

You may not lose weight as quickly as a crash diet can promise, but you’ll be doing it in a much safer way and the weight is more likely to stay off.  For safe and effective weight loss in Brisbane consider hiring a personal trainer.  Personal trainers ensure that you will achieve your long term goals by changing up your routines and keeping you motivated!

What stress does to the body

Our bodies react to stress in a variety of ways, including fatigue, headaches or other aches and pains, insomnia and other emotional disorders like anxiety or depression. Others might experience gastrointestinal problems like ulcers, cramps or irritable bowel syndrome. Stress can also play a part in cardiovascular health, prompting high blood pressure, heart palpitations, hearts attacks or strokes.

Stress can also adversely affect women and the health of their reproductive systems. Women under stress may experience an absence of a menstrual cycle or abnormal menstrual bleeding. The hormone imbalance that stress creates escalated symptoms of fibroid tumors or endometriosis. Stress can even make getting pregnant difficult for those couples experiencing problems with infertility.

Another way that stress can affect people of both genders is that it quite frequently opens the door to illness. Too much stress can cause our immune systems to falter, making us more susceptible to catching colds or the flu. Stress can even have a negative impact on our skin, causing itchy skin, hives or rashes.

Why exercise can help

While exercise has the obvious benefits of improving overall health and helping you live longer, it can also greatly reduce the amount of stress your body is under. Fitness in New Farm helps relax tense muscles and promotes better sleeping patterns, plus a wide range of benefits that aren’t so obvious. Exercise promotes better blood flow, including in the brain, which can help combat that feeling of having your head stuffed with cotton.

It also releases endorphins that can provide a happy, healthy feeling after a good work out. There is a lot of evidence that people that work out on a regular basis and are in good health are better able to handle the long term affects of stress. Stress will always be a part of our lives, but combating it with fitness in New Farm can certainly help minimize the negative effects.

Get help in the fight against stress

Getting on the right path to better fitness in New Farm can be difficult and confusing in the beginning, and you may not see the beneficial effects right away, so it’s easy to quit. Consulting an expert in health and fitness in New Farm is a great way to get going and keep you motivated. Not only can a personal trainer assess your present health and design a work out routine to help you combat stress, but he’ll also be there every step of the way to encourage you.

Cardio Training

Cardio training is often considered to be the cornerstone of any balanced workout. Any movement that gets our hearts pumping can be considered cardio training, from riding a bicycle to doing aerobics. The benefits of cardio is that they make the heart stronger, help burn fat and raise the metabolism so that you’re better able to burn up calories. Experts vary in their opinions of how often we should have cardio training, but most agree that about thirty minutes most days of the week is excellent, even if it’s cut up in ten minute increments. The most important part is getting the heart beating at your target heart rate for extended periods of time.

Strength Training

Strength training is an equally important part of a balanced fitness routine. Remember how cardio training helps raise the metabolism? Well, strength training can help in this area by keeping your muscle mass at a healthy rate. And if your goal is to lose weight, strength training in conjunction with cardio training is the best way to go, because the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll burn over the course of a day. Not only will you be improving your muscles, but also your bones and joints.

Flexibility Training

Flexibility is also an important part of a balanced fitness in Teneriffe program, whether it is simply a stretching routine at the beginning or end of a workout or a fuller experience such as yoga. Tired muscles are usually tight and restricted, and stretching can help to increase their flexibility and relieve tension. The benefits of including flexibility training in your fitness program are many, including better posture, protecting the joints and possibly avoiding injury, and even helping to prevent lower back pain.

How To Achieve Fitness in Teneriffe

Newcomers to exercise might be scratching their heads and saying to themselves, “Okay, I know these things are important, but how do I find the right balance for me?” It’s true, everyone is different and your needs might be drastically different from someone else’s. A great place to start is to consult a professional of fitness in Teneriffe. If you are looking for fitness in Teneriffe, a personal trainer is ideal for newcomers and experts alike, because they are able to do a full assessment of your needs, medical concerns and goals and help you reach them in a balanced, safe way.

Free Weights

We often think of free weights as dumbbells, but free weights can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from small hand held weights to medicine balls. Free weights help in strength training and can also help improve balance, as all the muscles in the body are needed to maintain balance while lifting. However, concentrating on specific muscles can be a challenge with free weights. While it is true that there are those that prefer to use free weights in their workouts as opposed to strength training machines, these types of machines have their advantages as well. 

Strength Training Machines

Weight machines typically have a stack of weights attached to a pulley, which then can be lifted by pushing or pulling. Strength training machines are generally considered to be safer and easier to use than free weights and are great for those just starting on their fitness program. Because machines typically only work on one specific part of the body at a time, they are also ideal for those that are recovering from injury and need to build up strength. Machines also make sure that the correct movements are used, as opposed to the cheating that can occur with free weights, such as using momentum instead of muscle to lift weights. Your fitness in Brisbane program can and should include free weights and strength training machines to maximize results.

Cardio Machines

Cardiovascular machines are used to increase the heart rate, which can help improve the health of the heart and burn fat. These machines can mimic the motions of walking, running, bicycling, climbing stairs as well as other disciplines. It can be argued that actually doing these actions instead of relying on machines is better, but the machines do have clear advantages, such as being able to easily monitor your progress. Most cardio machines feature a display screen that can monitor the heart rate, “distance” traveled, or calories burned. Another advantage is that your fitness in Brisbane program can always continue, even if it’s raining or snowing.

Vary Your Routine for Better Results

The best fitness in Brisbane programs will incorporate both cardio and strength training to maximize their advantages and result in better fitness for the whole body. While cardio machines are excellent for burning fat and getting the heart pumping, the strength training will help maintain all the benefits of the cardio workout. When designing your fitness routine, be sure to incorporate both cardio and strength training, which will help you realize your fitness goals in a faster and healthier way.