Just because you are in a wheelchair does not mean you will have to let yourself go. On the contrary, having a fit and strong upper body will help you to stay self sufficient, confident and also to have a better quality of life. If you are a senior man in wheelchair, there are a number of senior fitness exercises for wheelchair patients that you can practice to help you have a healthier and more fulfilling life.

Wheelchair exercises can help you in a number of ways, including increasing your strength, flexibility, muscle and other body functions like digestion, weight control and so on. Life in a wheelchair can be painful. However, the right wheelchair exercises will help to cure the shoulder, neck and back strain that you might get when you use the wheelchair for too long.

Important to note before you begin senior fitness exercises

DO NOT start your senior fitness exercises without consulting doctor, if you are in a wheelchair. The doctor will help you determine if it is safe for you to perform wheelchair exercises and he will also tell you what exercises you are capable of. Taking the help of a certified personal trainer can help improve the quality of the senior fitness exercises that you perform. He can help you with the proper use of the fitness equipments, the transfer of gym equipments and so on.

There are two major types of wheelchair exercise for wheelchair patients – strength training and resistance training.

Resistance training for wheelchair patients – In case of resistance training for senior people in wheelchairs, resistance bands are used that are secured to a pole, hook, arm of the wheelchair or a door handle (whatever is more convenient). These large, stretchable bands are then used to pull towards or away from you, thus helping you to work your muscles. Shoulder and trunk rotations, elbow and leg extensions, shoulder and neck pull downs – all of these movements and exercises are possible with the help of resistance exercise. These resistance bands usually come in low, high or medium resistance power.

The resistance training is a great option for seniors who may resent the presence of a trainer. In addition, this wheelchair exercise does not require any elaborate equipment, which may sometimes prove to be a hindrance.

Strength training for wheelchair patients – If you find that you are responding well to resistance training, you can graduate to strength training. This is also known as weight training. The best senior fitness exercises with weight can be performed with small weights and dumbbells for lifting. These can be a great way of stretching and moving the muscles, after they have been used in one position for long.

Weights will help you to achieve a higher muscle mass. This in turn will increase your metabolic rate and will consequently keep you fit. It will help you to avoid gaining weight, in spite of being confined to the wheelchair.

Exercises for osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that gives the patient an increased risk of fractures. Since the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced in this condition, there is a greater chance of fracture. Senior men and women are more susceptible to this condition. So, senior fitness exercises, especially those who are on wheelchair, should include both strength training and resistance training, as this can help you to achieve a better BMD, and thereby reduce the risk of fractures and falls.

Always remember that wheelchair exercises can help to improve the quality of your life manifold. So if you want to lead a happy and healthy life, senior fitness exercises for wheelchair patients is a must for you!

Being pregnant is a special time in your life when you can see your body change physically. You are now responsible for taking care of yourself as well as your unborn baby. As such, it is important that you stay fit and take care of your health. Though it might come as a surprise to many, exercise for pregnant women during this period can be very rewarding – helping you to stay on the top of your health.

While performing any exercises while pregnant, you should remember to take certain precautions while working out. Not all exercises are good exercises for pregnant women. As a rule of thumb, you should take care that your heart rate never goes above 130-140 beats per minute. In case you feel that this is the case (you will feel too hot and uncomfortable), you should allow your body to cool down. Remember that heating up can be very harmful for both you and your baby – so you need to be careful.

Another thing you should remember is that, bad exercises for pregnant woman will make you hold your breath. But this should not be the case. If you find that you have to hold the breath while carrying out an exercise, you must realize that you are overexerting yourself and must stop immediately.

Practicing safe exercises for pregnant women

Here are a few pointers that you should take note of while you are pregnant, and after you bring your new baby home.

It is a good practice to exercise regularly – three times a week is a good habit. Always ask your trainer about the safe exercises for pregnant women and how often you should do them. If you are in doubt, always make it a point to ask someone who can guide you in the right direction.

If you have been using weights as well as doing aerobics before you got pregnant, you can still keep them up in moderation. However, it is also very important to note that if you were exercising before, you should not begin a new program now. You can however use some light weights and walk a bit, if your doctor recommends it.

Remember that as a pregnant woman, you need even more fluids, and so does your baby. As such, you should drink plenty of water during, after and before the exercise routine. Also remember that you should not perform any exercise that requires you to be on your back, as these are not safe exercises for pregnant women who are in their second and third trimester.

Avoid jerky movements during pregnancy and also make sure that you never perform squats as this can cause the separation of the placenta from the uterus.

Safe exercises for pregnant women

Important exercise for pregnant women includes curl ups – these are modified sit ups that can me done to a maximum of 45 degrees from the floor and the knee should be bent and weight should be on the floor. However, remember that this exercise may be very dangerous after the first trimester.

Kegel exercises will help you to strengthen the pelvic muscles and thereby safeguard you from a number of prospective complicacies during pregnancy, including stress incontinence or urine leakage.

Some stretching exercises are great for your hamstrings and your back and will help you to stay fit during your term. Performing some light yoga during this period is also a great idea.

Finally, remember that just because you are pregnant, does not mean that you will have to let yourself go. On the contrary, staying fit and healthy during this period is even more important. So working out and performing the best exercises for pregnant women can help you to have a healthy life and a healthy baby.

Have you ever wanted to develop more muscles but found it took way to long? Are you tired of putting in way too much effort for very little gain? Well, I finally have an easy solution for you to get big fast – follow these four easy steps to get bigger, leaner and stronger than ever before – and in no time flat! If you educate yourself on ‘what’ exercises to do, and ‘when’ you will develop huge muscles very fast.

Over the years, I’ve spent countless hours in a gym trying different exercises/routines and talking to many different people (trainers, body builders, heath fanatics, etc.) trying to find the answer to one of my burning questions: “How can I get bigger, in the shortest time possible”.  After talking to many people I’ve gathered the right answer to this question. Here we go:

1.  Lift big to get big.

In order to see results, you need lift heavier weights. I know it seems pretty obvious, but most people don’t realize what I’m talking about here. You need to lift a weight that is 80% of your one rep maximum. Quite simply, take any exercise, say Bench Press, and take 80 percent of the heaviest weight you could bench press once. For example, if you could bench press 200lbs once (and only once) then you take 80 percent of 200 to give you 160lbs. This is the weight to use for this exercise. You could probably do this exercise eight times before you felt completely spent. Now, you are on the right track!

Realistically, if you are doing three or four sets of exercise with eight to ten reps in each, you probably aren’t using a weight that’s at least 80 percent of your one rep max. Once you start using 80 percent of your max for three of four sets, you will feel it – you probably won’t be able to do 8 or 10 reps,  you are more likely to squeeze out five or six repetitions in your set. Your muscles will be tired – and this is what you want!

2. Lift fast to grow big.

Be careful with this one. Every trainer will tell you that you are supposed to lift weights slowly and under control. This is 100% true. In order to avoid injury, you need to have a controlled lift – but it doesn’t have to be slow. It is a well studied fact, that the faster you lift, the better your results. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to lose weight or gain muscle the principle is the same. If you’re trying to increase the size of your muscles (i.e. get big), fast lifts activate more of the muscle fibers that have the most potential to grow. If you’re trying to become leaner, fast lifts do more to jump start your heart rate and your metabolism which will increase your weight loss.

I can’t stress enough that the most important part about lifting fast is control. You still need to maintain perfect form to prevent injury – so if you can’t lift using perfect form, then you need to either slow down or lower the weight (or both). The rule is, you need to control the weight – don’t let it control you.

3. Quit once your muscles are tired.

When you start to lift heavier weights and when you lift them fast – your muscles will really be working. They will work harder than they have before and they will tire out on you (usually in 15 seconds or less). Once you muscles have quit on you, you’re left to struggle with the weight and the remaining reps using muscle fibers that aren’t up to the task. Your body will tell you when this has happened in one of two ways:  1. Your repetitions will be much slower and 2. Your form changes – either you will shorten your range of motion or have to cheat to accomplish the full range.

4. Don’t freak out if you don’t finish the set.

Most people I talk to get worried or discouraged when they can’t finish their set. Especially when they are lifting heavier weights at a faster pace (Steps 1 and 2). But the truth is, it doesn’t matter. As long as your muscles are exhausted, you are doing your job.  Instead of focusing on how man reps you do during one set, focus instead on total reps for each exercise. For example, let’s say you’re doing a workout that specifies five sets of six reps -that’s 30 reps total. What you should focus on is getting to a total of 30 reps regardless of how many you do in a set. Maybe you can only do 5 reps (instead of 6) – well then, if that’s the case, just do a sixth set of 5 reps to bring your total up to 30 total reps. It really doesn’t matter that you can’t do six reps in that one set – as long as you get to 30 total reps (in this example), that’s all that matters.