There is no question that some amount of cardio exercise is beneficial for your health. Decades of medical research has shown us that cardio exercise is helpful for reducing obesity and all the problems that come with it. Cardio exercise helps to tone muscles and can help to strengthen your bones and ligaments, benefits that will become more important as you get older. However, as with all good things there are certain downsides. Did you know that too much cardio exercise can cause serious health problems? Well, it can. Before you get too excited, no one is saying that that you should throw out your running shoes and spend your days on the couch; however, there are some risk factors to cardio. Before you start your regimen, you should consider the potential problems and work to minimize them.

Joint Damage and Other Orthopedic Injuries

Any high impact activity presents a high risk of joint problems. Anything that involves running or jumping can result in injuries like plantar fasciitis, shin splints and hip bursitis. Even people who only do limited amounts of cardio face some risk of injury; an excessive amount of exercise elevates that risk. The knees and hips are the joints that are most vulnerable to injury, especially in aging individuals. Your best bet is to involve yourself in low impact activities that place little or no stress on the joints. Options for this include using an exercise cycle, an elliptical machine or swimming. However, even with those safer options you may still face the risk of health issues if you do too much; it is a good idea to limit your cardio time to no more than 45 minutes per day.

Heart Issues

Yes, cardio exercise is beneficial to your heart but only if it is done in moderation. If you overdo it, you actually increase your risk of having a heart attack. Consider the fact that a study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings journal showed that overdoing exercise can pose a threat to heart health. According to the study, more than an hour of daily exercise provides “diminishing returns” and can result in adverse cardiovascular effects. Atrial fibrillation and enlargement of the heart are two potential side effects of excessive cardio exercise; atrial fibrillation is also known as an “irregular heartbeat” and is problem that increases an individual’s risk of stroke. Another study presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress states that overly long sessions of exercise caused the risk of heart problems to be increased by a factor of seven.

Insomnia

If you find yourself lacking in energy, cardio exercise is one way to change that. However, excessive cardio exercise can actually leave you with too much energy. A workout can raise your levels of adrenaline and leave you too amped up to go to sleep at night. This is especially so if you do your cardio later in the evenings. The solution to this is to arrange your schedule so that you do your workout in the mornings or earlier in the evenings. This allows you enough time to wind down before going to bed. Limiting the duration of your cardio exercise will also help with insomnia.

Increased Appetite

An increase in your appetite can result from cardio exercise and may cause you to take in more calories. Eating more food is a side effect of cardio exercise for many people. The exertion causes their bodies to produce hormones that increase appetite with the net effect being that they start to consume more calories than they burn off. Their cardio exercise results in them gaining weight instead of losing it. A study published in the American Journal of Physiology shows that women who burned more calories than they consumed in a workout saw increased blood-concentrations of energy regulating hormones. Those are the hormones that signal the body’s desire for food. In other words, their bodies were telling them to eat to recover the calories they just lost. These effects are not limited to women as some men also have increased appetites after a cardio workout.

Oxidative Stress

This is when your body produces unstable molecules called free radicals; these molecules can damage your cells, which results in more of these free radicals being produced. Excessive exercise causes too much oxidative stress for your body to fight. The result of all this is that you develop an increased risk of heart disease and cancer. It is important to note that pretty much every type of exercise causes some amount of oxidative stress, and researchers think that some amount of it is necessary, just not too much. Moderate amounts of oxidative stress actually help to make your body stronger.

Elevated Levels of Cortisol

More than an hour or so of cardio exercise can stimulate the release of a hormone called “cortisol,” otherwise called the “stress hormone.” The purpose of this hormone is to change your metabolism in a way that enables you to better deal with stress. It provides you with increased energy for “fight or flight.” In the right amounts, cortisol can have health benefits in the form of muscle growth and improved heart health. The problem with excessive cardio exercise is that it can cause the hormone to accumulate in your system. Prolonged stress and high cortisol levels result in fat being retained and muscles being broken down. Elevated cortisol levels have been shown to result in the gain and retention of belly fat. Additionally, your immune system may be made weaker by higher levels of the hormone.

Reproductive Problems

One study in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology showed that oxidative stress from excessive cardio exercise has negative effects on the male reproductive system. After four weeks of excessive strenuous cardio exercise, researchers found a decrease in the size of reproductive organs of men participating in the study; this was accompanied by reduced levels of testosterone. A similar study using rats found oxidative stress and sexual dysfunction.

None of this should be taken as a criticism of exercising. You need to exercise. Moreover, even with all of the health risks, the fact remains that people who do some cardio exercise are better off than people who do none. However, how much they do has a significant effect on how much benefit they get from it.

Age is a major factor in how your body handles cardio exercise and the issues it can cause. Older individual’s should be particularly careful as bodies are not as resilient past a certain age; if you are over 40, you may face a longer recovery period when compared to someone in their 20s.

The best natural remedy for erectile dysfunctions is an ED Diet. Unfortunately, most men resort to colorful ED pills to treat their symptoms. However, with more and more ED medication side effects, there are more men using their diet and remedies to treat their problem.

In this article, you will learn some helpful tips to start your ED Diet and eventually cure your erectile dysfunction.

Natural Remedy for ED

If you have studied erectile dysfunctions and male impotence, you know that this disease is most often the result of physical conditions. In other words, the main reason why you suffer from this is because of a poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, poor lifestyle habits or poor circulation.

Fortunately, your diet can help with a majority of these problems. Here are some dieting tips you should remember.

1. Drinking water can help flush your system but also flush cholesterol that may clog penile arteries. You should drink 100 ounces per day.

2. Avoid caffeinated beverages that may cause higher levels of stress.

3. Eating vegetables is extremely important for the vitamins, minerals and especially the fiber. The fiber will help flush the body.

4. Eating fruits is important but should be lessened because of too much sugar. High levels of sugar is associated with male impotence.

5. Keep your dairy products to a minimum because of the high levels of cholesterol.

6. You should eat lean meat and seafood. Avoid red meats which can clog arteries.

7. Eat smaller meals (about the size of your fist). You should eat about 5-6 meals daily.

8. Bran cereal is great in the morning for fiber.

9. Supplement foods with high levels of zinc. Zinc deficiency is common in ED sufferers. You can get plenty of zinc with whole grain cereals, chicken, turkey, brown rice, beans and low fat yogurt.

Keeping on a weight loss plan can be difficult for everyone, however for a hard-working working mom it can be even more difficult. A demanding family and work life can make it out of the question to organize your meals beforehand, get to the gym, or even remembering to pack a lunch for work every day.

Being in a haste can make it very hard to stick to a weight loss plan whilst it’s so effortless to grab something on the go. Below are a few tips from other active moms that ought to help you remain on your weight loss plan regardless of the daily distractions of life and help you be successful.

First, merely cook what will be eaten. Forget about all those articles that advocate that you cook for tomorrow to help save time. Just cook one portion per person at every meal. That way you can circumvent the temptation to polish off the leftovers – and teach your children healthy eating behaviors.

Next, make sure you wake up early enough to have a healthy breakfast. The morning dash to get ready might make it tempting to grab a quick bite on your way to the office, or worse, miss breakfast completely. If you can’t eat at home, make certain you bring simple breakfast foods with you, like fruit, a container of yogurt and a slice of whole wheat toast.

For the most part, fat loss programs advise that you consume around eight 8 ounce glasses (or a half gallon) of water each day. If the notion of drinking this much water makes you green around the gills, try these ideas on for size: Make sure you have flavored bottled water at work, and at home, slice up some lemon and lime wedges in a pitcher of ice cold water. There’s no additional calories, and it makes a gigantic difference in the presentation and taste!

Lastly, leverage the buddy system as much as possible. Making a deal with a supporter to exercise at the same time makes it easier to stick to your vow. Instead of going out for lunch, take a stimulating walk either with friends or by yourself.

Remember that a healthy, vigorous lifestyle combined with a nutritious fat loss plan are the right keys to losing fat forever. By opting for a weight loss plan that compliments your lifestyle, will make it easier to shed ugly fat, and keep it off permanently.

If you are one of the senior men, it is a great news for you. You can build muscles from now with full confidence and therefore do not have to remain scared of the possible outcome. This has come out from a recent survey and hence you should start from this moment. This is a great way that will make you retain your own vitality and hence you will look younger than your contemporaries. Isn’t this great? On the other hand you will remain healthy and also more confident than ever before. So try to follow a healthy workout always.

Now one may enquire any form of special training for senior men. This is the answer for them. There is no type of training that should be practiced only by the seniors. On the contrary one should follow the general techniques but with verve. You must have the vigor and also patience since development of muscles due to strength training takes time. What is more it can take more time due to the reason of age. But never lose hope since it is bound to happen. Well, it is always better for you to check your own level of endurance. This is important since for the full-blown age you may suffer from several heart related diseases. For this it is necessary to go the doctor beforehand. If you are proved fit, then you should contact the trainer in the gymnasium at the earliest. The trainer is the best person to enrich you with the priceless advices.

From the very beginning you must attend on the aspect of achieving muscle failure. Are you hearing this for the first time? For this you shall have to lift a good amount of weight and with sufficient strength. This effort of raising more weight will teat and make your muscles ineffective. But when they will be cured you will find them as more strong. This is the fundamental principle. Well, you can also go for the other forms of strength training on condition that you are advised by your trainer. You should use dumbbells if you are over 40. To the experts the dumbbells seems to be best since it enables one to work on different muscles of the body and at the same time. This means you do not have to concentrate on only one part of the body at each time.

Not only on exercises but your concentration should be also on diets. This is essential and the perfect combination of these two assists you to gain more muscles. If you eat 2 heavy meals on each day make it 5 from now. These new forms of meals should be small in quantities but rich in qualities. You should concentrate in the intake of more fresh fruits, green vegetables and also animal foods loaded with protein. They help you to retain your fitness and also nourish your body.

They do provide the support whenever the muscles break down due to exercises and also recover them. But never overstrain yourself. It is detrimental to health.

What is the role of cardio in muscle building?

Any old time stalwart, when asked, will tell you that cardio is a waste of time. However, this is not true.

There are two important roles played by cardio in muscle building.

1) Muscle building cardio warm-up.

The best way to warm up before lifting weights is a five-minute light cardio session. In addition to increasing your body’s core temperature, it also warms up your arms and legs so that they are ready to take on the onslaught of pumping iron without being prone to injury.

Running, spot jogging, using a stair climber or elliptical trainer, or cycling are some of the forms of cardio that you can do. Cardio prepares your body for the weight training session by raising your heart rate, ensuring that adequate blood is pumped throughout your entire body.

2) Muscle building cardio for definition.

Cardio only plays a role during the warm up session of your exercise, and not otherwise, if your goal is only to increase strength and build muscle volume. However, a combination of high intensity cardio and weight training is required if you want to get ripped muscles and six pack abs.

I’ve seen this so many times in gyms around the country. People start going to a gym because they want to get the ripped physique of their favorite movie star. While they pump iron for months and get bigger and stronger, the definition that they are looking for continues to elude them. You need to include muscle building cardio in your workout if you want well-defined muscles. So would you choose muscle building cardio that comprises of a long, leisurely run through that park or 45-minutes on the treadmill every alternate day?

None of them.

High intensity, low interval cardio is the only one form of muscle building cardio that can get you serious definition with a ripped look and washboard abs.

That’s right; running on the treadmill for hours is not what you need to do. Muscle building cardio, just like weight training, needs to be brutally intense and short for it to be truly effective.

Now that we know the type of cardio that you need to do, let’s move on to how often and when.

A high intensity cardio soon after a weight training session can help to burn maximum fat, as shown by studies. Not having to schedule time for exercises on your off days is another advantage of doing cardio just after your weight training session.

In fact, by adding some standalone muscle building cardio on your off days, you can even maximize your fat loss. It is a good idea to start slow if you’ve previously never done high intensity muscle building cardio. Slow does not mean you reduce the intensity; it means that you need to reduce the number of days in a week that you do this.

Trust me, high intensity muscle building cardio is not the easiest of things to do. Your muscles will burn, your eyes will water, and it will leave you panting for breath. But be persistent, and you will eventually start to see the muscles beneath as the fat dissolves.

Visit the website below for additional information on muscle building cardio training….

Many among us dream of having firm and good-looking abs so we seek for belly fat loss tips all over the Internet. All we have to do is to follow the tips according to which fit their case. The following are some of the things that could help you achieve your goal.

1. Set a regular exercise pattern.

Cardio exercises or aerobics could help you burn fats easily if you do it for at least 30 to 45 minutes in every session. However, doing it under time will make it less effective because your glycogen supply decreases as you work out more. Not only that, the more exercise routines you do, the better strength and endurance you build.

2. Ensure good eating habits.

Getting rid of your belly fat does not mean starving yourself. As you do tip number one, executing cardio exercises makes your body lose energy as well. So having a good and healthy diet is a plus. Your nutrition and workout must be equally proportioned. You have to bear in mind that even if you have the perfect workout program but you take in a lot of calories, all of these will still go to your belly!

3. Breakfast starts your day right.

After a long night of sleep leaving you with an empty stomach, you definitely need something to wake you up and jumpstart your day. A heavenly breakfast is just right for you to get the right energy you need for your workout. One more thing, you would not do your workout successfully if you feel lazy, sluggish, or lifeless so you better not skip breakfast!

4. Salt is definitely out.

Salt actually absorbs water fast and more water in your body means more belly fat. Choose food and snacks that are low or even zero in salt. Not only could you avoid having a flabby belly, you also avoid having urinary tract infection.

If you have been fat ever since, do not lose hope. Although it is a little difficult than those who are not really fat, a good self-disciplined attitude in following these belly fat loss tips will bring you success.

However, be forewarned that you must be extra careful when lifting some weights since it can potentially harm you. Aside from that, you must not lift some weights during your first ever body building session. Your lean, weak, and fragile body might not yet be able to fully support the heavy weights that you are going to lift and it may only lead to injury.

Hence, it is imperative to first start with light and less intensive exercises in order to warm up your body and gradually develop some muscles, while strengthen the existing ones, so that you can eventually start lifting some weights. In this case, you can start by doing some jogging, push ups, bench press, isometrics, and stretching exercises at first to warm your body. These workouts will also help develop some muscles necessary for you to lift weights on the later stage of the program.

Once you have already done the necessary initial workouts then you can build muscle mass fast by start doing weight lifting. At first, you should start with some lesser weights; doing several sets per session. If you want to fast track the building of muscle mass then you can increase your number of set per session and gradually increase the weights on the succeeding session in the gym.

Obviously, the faster you increase the weights that you are going to lift, the more you are going to build muscle mass fast. It is also recommended to use dumbbells for much better results; since dumbbells can help you form solid muscles on various muscle groups.

Apart from workouts, you must also observe proper diet and sufficient amount of sleep. Diet is very important for growth and development of muscles. Foods rich in protein are highly favoured in this case since protein promotes muscle growth.

Similarly important is plenty of sleep and rests; you must not deprive your body of sufficient sleep since this is the only time that muscles grow and develop. Ideally, do not go lower than 8 hours of daily sleep for optimum results. Take note of these tips; they can significantly help you build muscle mass fast

As advanced bodybuilders approach a bodybuilding competition, cardio becomes more and more important. While there are always those blessed with spectacular genetics that don’t need to do any cardio, they are few and far between. The rest of us require 30 to 90 minutes, 5 or 6 days per week, in order to shed enough body fat for our muscles to look their best onstage. Calories can only be dropped so far if you wish to retain muscle mass. Supplements such as ECA (ephedrine/caffeine/aspirin stacks) help as well. But when it comes down to it, cardio is what sheds the body fat.

Cardio should be completed first thing in the morning, for up to 45 minutes. Doing it BEFORE eating any food will ensure the body uses stored body fat, not food in the body, for energy. Cardio should be performed at a moderate rate, limited to 70% heart rate capacity at the very highest. The bodybuilders should do up to 45 minutes of cardio maximum. After that, the body begins using muscle stores for energy, and the exercise quickly becomes very counterproductive. Remember – when the clock hits 45 minutes, walk away from the machine!

For those with slower metabolisms and higher bodyweights, a second round of cardio training might be required in the afternoon or evening, directly following training. This cardio session can last up to one hour. As it is done upon the completion of weight training, the body has likely utilized any food present during the weight training session. At this point, as no food is available, the body will use stored body fat for energy during this cardio session.

Advanced bodybuilders often engage in split weight training session as well. For example, the bodybuilder will train chest in the AM, then triceps in the PM. This kind of training allows the athlete to better isolate body parts and give each body part a better workout. At the same time, however, it does interfere with multiple cardio sessions. It’s very hard for the body to recover from two weight sessions and two cardio sessions in the same day. Bodybuilders in pre-contest mode would be best served by limiting weight-training sessions to one daily, when engaging in multiple daily cardio sessions.

While supplements might be a great complement to building muscle, before you go spend your hard earned cash on nutrition bodybuilding supplements you really should take a serious look at your diet first. Often getting your diet in line with your training and bodily requirement may remove the need to use any supplements at all.

If you really think about it people where building great physiques well before the supplement came along and took the industry by storm. Supplements themselves are relatively new compared to body building itself. Do you really think that Eugene Sandow (often dubbed as the father of modern day body building) used them?

To be honest with you as a personal trainer, I’d never recommend a supplement if someones diet isn’t in check. As a rough guide for diet you really should be aiming for 30% – 50% in protein based foods, 30% – 50% in carbohydrate based foods and 20%-40% with healthy fat based foods.

Now I’m not totally against supplements as I think that they could be a great part of a strong muscle building nutrition and exercise plan. But just remember that they complement your diet and training plan and not the other way around.

If you where to use them don’t be fooled for the hyped up marketing there is for nutrition bodybuilding supplements around. Most of the more expensive brands will have the sole aim to just sell to you and really they are no better than the cheaper brands. Sometimes it’s best to go and ask your local personal trainer or fitness freak in person for the best supplements as reviews on the Internet or in magazines can often be biased and have financial interest.

In closing I just want to bring it home that good nutrition bodybuilding supplements should only be necessary and complementary when you have the training and diet aspects right. Unless you are consuming a healthy muscle building diet that includes the essential nutrients and required calories, no supplement on the market will ever work for you.

These days there is an array of muscle building exercises that have flooded the market of body building. What is common about these exercises is the fact that they are targeted to a particular muscle group and are also derived from one or more of the basic body building techniques. It has therefore become quite difficult to select the most effective of all these. You must ensure that you only try out those muscle building exercises that have been proven over the years to help your muscles grow stronger.

Indeed one of the muscle building exercises that has stood the test of time is the compound exercises. These exercises will greatly help in increasing your muscular strength and also put a lot of muscles on your feet. While they may not be that exciting, they are one of the basic free weight exercises that are very effective.

Another one is the pull-ups that are sure going to make your upper body very strong especially the shoulders. Apart from the fact that this exercise builds the shoulders, it also stimulates some other parts of the body and some of the joints. It therefore helps in inducing muscle growth in more than one muscle group.

Up next, another thing you have to note about these muscle building exercises is the fact that for whichever one that you decide to do, it should be totally based on your goals. This is because what may have worked out for a friend may not be that effective for you. Therefore take time to choose the best one that will suit your muscle growing needs and get to work at it.

Some of the basic muscle building exercises include among others alternating Dumbbell curls, barbell curls, weighted step ups, lying triceps press, barbell squat, lunges, barbell shrugs as well as bench press. Others will include stiff legged dead lift, barbell rows, and pull-ups, incline press, standing barbell shoulder press, seated DB shoulder press in addition to overhead triceps extensions.

The good thing about these exercises is that you could combine them to get the maximum results out of it in an effective manner. However, it is also possible to do them in isolation in which case they should be done with the heaviest weight possible. If in case the exercise restrains you from intense motion, then it will really not allow you to train heavy enough.