Free Weights: The best exercises, the Squat!
This is the first article of many about exercises, I am going to cover the basics, something that is most often left out by anyone trying to sell you some sort of magic routine that will do something that no other training method can, if you buy their fancy gizmo and follow their secret plan. Do yourself a favor, ignore those gimmicky junk pedlers, the only one that can benefit from it is them, they get your cash!
In today’s fitness crazed world, where everything is bad for you and you can’t eat anything but rabbit food, always remember the basics, where did these new age gurus come from? How old are they and who taught them what they know?
This article is about the Squat, the most loved and hated exercise ever. Why is it hated? It hurts! Why is it loved? It works! In fact, if you only have 10 minutes, three days a week, you can get a full body workout, with just three exercises, the Squat, Bench-Press, and Dead-Lift, all the other exercises only add to what you can get from the basic three.
The squat is the best exercise, period, regardless of what your training goals are, because it uses every muscle in your body, yes, even your eye muscles are involved, when done properly. I found a great article about the squat, at NerdFitness, and that is where I found the image below.
The main Thing that I need to point out, is the eyes, see how the guy in this pic has them fixed on an invisible object, that only he can see? This is very important, once you learn the proper form, by fixing your eyes, you keep your posture and you body’s position straight, if you look around the room, or up and down, your body will do the same, and this can get you hurt.
The positioning and angle of the feet is also important, you can vary the angle of your feet to put more or less emphasis on different parts of your legs, but that is an issue for those that have a lot of experience, for the beginner, or the old and injured like me, keep the feet almost straight, but slightly pointed outward, you’ll see, find the most comfortable for you.
Keep your back straight, remember the eyes, find a point on the wall in front of you and keep your eyes on it, this helps.
What makes the Squat so special? When you have an injury, you tend to favor that, be it an ankle, hip, knee, whatever, and long after this injury is healed up, it still influences your posture, by doing squats, you re-train your body to be straight, and you work every muscle together, all at the same time, thus strengthening your entire body. When you do something that trains your various body parts to work together, even the little muscles that only help stabilize are put to use, this makes your overall conditioning and even your appearance more balanced.
I know, you are saying, “but I have a bad back”, I do too, I cannot stand for more than a few minutes. My problem is basically arthritis, and bone spurs, I have spikes growing out of my spine that start a chain reaction of problems, and walking, or standing make this worse, but, squats make it feel better! Of course, talk to your doctor before doing squats if you have a back problem, but, if they tell you exercise is ok, squats should be number one on your list, it can help you.
Where do the images come from?
I want to let everybody know, the most all of the images you will find on this site come from various sources, just found doing an image search with Google, should anyone find a picture offensive, or maybe it is a copyrighted image that we have unknowingly found and used, just use the contact form and let us know, and it will either be removed, or the appropriate copyright information will be added, whichever is the appropriate way to go.
As for the images like this one.
These images are created at an interesting website that I found, Wordl.net, there, you can create images like this of your own. I have to admit, before I found this site, I tried to manually create them myself, but they just never came out right, so, take a look at the site, you may come up with something special!
Sick Call:The Sick, Lame, and the Lazy!
January 22, 2010 by CarpetGuy · 2 Comments
Do you remember what sick call was like? For me, it was a nightmare that I lived through too many times. In Basic Training, the Drill Sargent would always refer to anyone that was hurt or sick, and went on sick call, as the Sick, Lame and the Lazy, and now, society still looks at it that way, if you miss a day of work, get hurt, or anything else, everyone still talks about you.
As much as I hate to, I have to say it, there are a lot of people who do fit in the Lazy group, and, it is probably the same in the VA, but as of yet, I don’t think I have met anyone like that. Military people in general are the hardest working, most team oriented people in the country, but yes, we do tend to party a bit too much, and that has added to our problems later in life, but, if anyone can overcome it, we can.
Anyone that thinks the government should control health Care in this country, needs to go ask a veteran at the VA how it is working for them, the one asking would quickly change their minds, but, I do not blame the doctors, nurses, or most of the people who work there, it is simply the size of the bureaucracy, the red tape, rules and regulations. I know that I appreciate what I get, even if it takes a long time, I am unable to work, have no income, but do not qualify for, nor would I accept, Medicaid, being able to go to the VA is something every veteran has earned, we bought and paid for it by giving our time, and for many, our body parts in service to our country.
Now that I am older, and in the VA system, I see first hand how many of us there must be, that have gotten old and out of shape, but I believe than almost anyone can get healthier with better eating habits, and some form of excersize, even if it is just moving a few feet at a time, yes, age, and health conditions do prohibit many from any serious activity, myself included, but, we can get better. Getting fit, does not mean that you have to pass a PT test, but, losing body fat will help anyone that is “over weight”, I hate that term, because weight is not what matters, it is that we are “over fat”! Remember that, lose fat, which is actually very light in actual weight compared to muscle, but, it adds weight in places that cause our posture to get bad, which by itself can cause injuries to feel worse than they actually are, I am hoping that is the case for me and that by losing fat, and exercising, I will once again be able to walk and stand for extended periods of time, which will add even more fat burning power to what I am able to do now.
If you are considering starting any type of activity, and you have health concerns, always talk to your doctor first, and if you experience any physical problems during exercise, go back and tell your doctor, he or she may be able to give you information that can help prevent injury, so just be safe, but get off your butts and move something!