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What is Sports Therapy and can it benefit me?

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Sports Therapy is a type of health care that specifically focuses on the prevention of injury and the rehabilitation of the patient back to optimum levels of functional, occupational and sports specific fitness. Sports therapy treatments should be tailored to meet the needs of each individual.

So what are the Benefits?

  • Functional Testing

This is where we get the client to mimic the skills and movements necessary for their specific sport. While completing the various routines and exercises, the therapist will watch closely, looking for anything that indicates areas of weakness or pain. From these results we will use it to build their client’s unique treatment plan.

     2. Unique Treatment Plan

By implementing sports-specific exercises (as well as position-specific) into their client’s routine, the therapist can better monitor the client’s progress and determine when he/she can resume the sport as soon as possible. We know that each client will be eager to return to their sport as quick as they can.

 3. Massage Therapy

Massages after intense training or game prevent the delayed soreness of muscles by encouraging proper blood flow throughout the body and preventing muscle fatigue. Not only can a proper and regularly scheduled massage reduce pain, but it can also provide athletes with physiological and psychological benefits, such as stress management.

  4. Prevention Is Key

Prevention is almost as important as the cure. As well as helping our clients recover from their injury, but we also want to provide you with a set of tools and exercises that focus on maintaining muscle strength and endurance to prevent any future problems.

How Does Your Body Burn Fat?

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Whether you want to lose weight for health benefits or to look slimmer, you must burn fat to achieve your goals. Your body loses fat when you begin a calorie deficit diet in which your body turns to fat for fuel. When a cell needs energy, a complex chemical process releases the fat from fat cells and converts it to usable fuel. As a result, you’ll look slimmer and become much healthier.

Now for the science bit! Your body stores fat in adipose tissue which is made up of fat cells as triglycerides. This form of fat isn’t immediately usable for energy use yet. When your body senses an energy deficit, your adipose cells react. An enzyme inside them called hormone-sensitive lipase helps break down the triglycerides, releasing fatty acids and glycerol into the bloodstream. Cells requiring energy take in these compounds and transform them into usable fuel plus carbon dioxide and water.

This explains why you can’t reduce fat to a specific area. Fat cells all over your body respond to an energy deficit, not just the ones located in your problem spots. So doing 100’s of crunches will not reduce body fat in your stomach area it will disappear gradually doing all over exercises.

To help prevent your body from using muscle for energy to fuel your brain and central nervous system, lift weights as you reduce calories. This sends a message to your body that muscle is necessary for basic function. Aim for at least two workouts per week that address all the major muscle groups.

Your body needs some carbohydrates in your diet to completely break down fat too. You may cut back on carbohydrates slightly when reducing calories, but don’t eliminate them altogether. Whole grains, vegetables and fruits are healthy sources.

Why Women Should Weight Train

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Women often shy away from lifting weights for a number of reasons, from fear of bulking up to thinking they’re not strong enough. The fact is, weight training is an ultra-effective way for women and men to get in great shape. Here are some of the benefits for why women should be lifting weights.

  • Gain muscle and burn fat.

Through weight training, your body will become more efficient at burning fat. For every single pound of muscle gained, your body burns 30 to 50 more calories just to maintain it and this even happens hours after you have finished. Don’t worry about becoming bulky as it takes a long time of training intensely with the help of supplements and strict diet plans.

    2. You will get much stronger.

Heavy weight training leads to a stronger body that’s less susceptible to injury, which means taking on daily activities that require any form of lifting a lot easier.

      3. It speeds up your metabolism

Weight training speeds up your metabolism, and this heightened “afterburn” effect can continue for more than 24 hours after you finish your workout. Weight lifting will turn your body into a fat-burning machine.

  4. Watch your confidence grow as well as your muscle.

A strong mind and body go hand in hand. As you see your body transform, weight training gives you so many reasons to feel good about yourself. These all add to an increased sense of self-worth, which will have a positive impact on other areas of your life outside the gym.

  5. Say goodbye to the boring treadmill.

If you can’t stand running on a treadmill or using the cross-trainers weight training provides cardiovascular benefits and will help you develop a better, stronger, more athletic physique that you work so hard for.

These are some of the huge amounts of benefits that come with weight lifting. So what are you waiting for? Get lifting!

Get Heart Healthy by Lifting Weights

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When it comes to exercise, aerobic activity is traditionally recommended for a healthy heart, while resistance training is prescribed for gaining muscle. Many understand the importance of an exercise routine that combines both aerobic and resistance circuits, but a new study from an American University finds that resistance exercise (like weight lifting) also packs some cardiovascular health benefits.

“Resistance training is more beneficial than many believe,” says lead researcher, Dr. Scott R. Collier. The resistance exercises produced a different pattern of blood vessel responses than the aerobic exercise, suggesting that the former may have important and unique benefits for cardiovascular health. The resistance exercise produced greater increases in blood flow to the limbs – even though it also caused small increases in central arterial stiffness. Resistance exercise also led to a longer-lasting drop in blood pressure (as much as 20 percent) after exercise, compared to aerobic exercise. “The key is to educate cardio-only individuals to become aware that they will not look like Arnold Schwarzenegger when they wake up!” Collier adds that resistance training may also improve running, swimming and cycling times.

We have shown that using typical resistance machines that can be found in most local gyms for three days a week at a moderate intensity (65 percent of your 10-repetition maximum) for three sets and 10 repetitions can lead to heart benefits. You should complete reps at a slow rate to get the most effective workout from the equipment to increase blood flow which in turn leads to a healthier heart.