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| Drink: It's good for you
muscles |
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Should
you warm up before lifting weights? is cardio more effective before,
or after a weight session? Can crunches give you a trimmer waist?
Gym-goers, especially beginners, flood my inbox with questions
such as these. So this instalment of Treadmill will attempt to
list some essentials aimed at helping you work out sensibly.
Pre-workout warm-ups. Warming up helps circulate
blood to your muscles and thus prevents injuries or pain during
the actual workout. A good pre-workout warm-up is 5-10 minutes
of light intensity cardio like jogging or cycling.
Be hydrated. Seventy-five per cent of your
body is composed of water and as you perspire during workouts
you lose water. Not only does drinking water during workouts replenish
this loss but it also enhances your performance.
Eat something. If you're lifting moderate
to heavy in the gym, make sure you don't exercise on an empty
stomach. Grab an energy bar or even a banana or other carbohydrate-rich
snack to give you a burst of energy to make your workout worthwhile.
Watch your form. Bad posture during workouts
can lead to serious injuries so it's essential to get a spotter
(someone who supervises your form) especially if you are a beginner.
Crunch safely. It's common to see people
craning their necks forward while doing abdominal crunches. To
be effective, crunches must exert the mid-section of your body
and not your neck. Craning your neck forward during crunches could
result in injuries to the cervical part of the spine.
Ignore Tarzan. Don't worry about how much
the hulk next to you is lifting. If he's bench-pressing 200 lbs
it doesn't mean you have to show off and try to lift the same.
Always lift what you can and not what you think will impress others.
Get the right angle. If you like doing your
cardio on the treadmill, remember to set it at an incline of 1.5
to 2.0. That gradient is what simulates natural road or turf surface.
Level 0 is akin to running downhill.
Don't trust the trainer. Well, not completely.
There are few well-qualified trainers at most Indian gyms. So
it's better to read up a bit before you work out. Fortunately,
a wide range of books on working out or weight training is available
in Indian bookshops, plus there are quality websites.
Avoid overtraining. A common mistake that
many beginners commit is to overtrain or exert more than what
is necessarily beneficial. Remember that muscles need rest to
recuperate and grow stronger after each exercise session. Don't
train the same group of muscles without an interval of at least
48 hours.
Surprise your muscles. If you do the same
set of exercises over and over again, your body will get used
to the routine and your muscles will adapt themselves to it like
a chore. Change your schedule every 6-8 weeks to see better results.
-Muscles
Mani
write to musclesmani@intoday.com
Caveat: The physical exercises described
in Treadmill are not recommendations. Readers should exercise
caution and consult a physician before attempting to follow any
of these.
COPING
WITH HEADACHES
Headaches
are among the most common medical complaints, but are actually
quite easily kept at bay.
What Is It: Any pain that occurs in
one or more areas of the head, face, mouth, or neck can be categorised
as a headache. Primary headaches-arising from tension or migraine-account
for about 90 per cent of all headaches.
Symptoms: Says Dr S.K. Choudhary,
Neurology Consultant, Batra Hospital, New Delhi: "Pain is
often felt in the generalised area or one side of the head and
neck. In migraine, pain may be dull or severe and often begins
in the morning and intensifies gradually. Headaches make a person
sensitive to loud noises and light and can be accompanied by nausea,
vomiting, vertigo-like feeling and visual disturbances.
Causes: These fall into two general
categories:
Tension headaches: It is the most
common form of headache. "The possible causes of tension
headaches are stress, fatigue, poor posture, eye strain and tobacco
and alcohol use," says Dr Choudhary.
Migraine headaches: This occurs when
blood vessels of the head and neck constrict, resulting in lower
blood flows. It is known to affect women more than men and is
often chronic. Family history of migraine is also a possible cause
for it.
Treatment: "Numerous over-the-counter
painkillers (e.g., aspirin, paracetamol and ibuprofen) are available
to treat and prevent headaches. In addition, lifestyle changes
may be enough to resolve some headaches," says Dr Choudhary.
-Manu Kaushik
PRINTED
CIRCUIT
Shootout
BT photographers put
two of the world's best digital cameras through their paces in
Delhi.
CANON EOS30D
 The
Canon EOS 30D delivered very good results during the two days
that I used it. The large 2.5" screen makes viewing easy,
and its large range of ultrasonic lenses ensure sharp images even
in low light. The auto focus system is superb and the CMOS sensor
gives crisp colour rendition. Will suit serious amateurs and professionals
alike.
Price: Rs 84,995 (body only) Resolution: 8.2 megapixel
-Vivan Mehra
 FUJI
FINEPIX S3 PRO
The Fujifilm FinePix
S3Pro has a fast autofocus system which ensures sharp pictures.
There is minimal shutter vibration and the short shutter timelag
(time taken for the shutter to shut) makes it a good camera to
capture live action with. Its only drawback is its low buffer
memory. Overall, a good camera for the serious amateur.
Price: Rs 1.47 lakh (body only) Resolution: 12.3 megapixel (interpolated)
-Saptarshi Biswas
FLOTSAM
Social Networking In
The Virtual World
It's a useful tool,
but comes with massive baggage of downsides.
By Kushan Mitra
 Are
you Orkutting?" a person asked me some time ago. "What?"
I responded a little befuddled. But a couple of months down the
line, I have been 'Orkutting' and I'm one of hundreds of thousands
of people doing that. 'Orkut' is an online social networking site
owned by Google.
But what is 'online social-networking'?
The answer is a bit funny. People have always
used the online medium as a means of staying in touch. It was
there even during Web 1.0. There was a site called sixdegrees.com
which worked on the hypothesis that everybody on this planet could
be linked to everyone else through six people (the concept and
the name can be traced back to a 1929 short story by Hungarian
writer Frigyes Karinthy). The site was quite a hit; your contacts
knew other people, who knew other people, and the site basically
tried to take advantage of the "it's a small world"
phenomenon online. Even though sixdegrees.com shut down in 2000,
the idea lived on. Sites like Orkut, MySpace, FaceBook and other
such 'social networking' sites now connect people with shared
interests or backgrounds.
Social networking online is not very different
from social networking in the real world, but the barriers that
the physical world imposes are non-existent in the virtual one.
All you need to join Orkut is a Gmail address; in MySpace, not
even that. Simply put, anyone can connect with you at any time.
While this freedom is great for some people, its very nature leads
to problems.
The News Corporation-owned MySpace, which
is very popular in North America, is currently in the news because
its flexibility and freedom allowed alleged adult sexual predators
to target young children who used the site. Even though the site
has now taken safeguards against such instances, the system is
still reportedly not completely secure. Orkut, which is extremely
popular in India, is, according to some recent news reports, being
used for similar purposes.
Another problem with all such social networking
sites is that each and every one of them depends on the user to
be truthful. Unlike a physical club which can check your antecedents,
online network sites are full of people who make some rather dubious
claims. It is strange how many people on such sites put their
relationship status as 'single'. A simple browse through Indian
Orkut users will convince you that the concept of marriage is
dead and buried. Not surprisingly, some people actually use such
sites to prey on the unwary.
But do you really want to be in touch with
everybody? Sometimes there are people you knew once upon a time
and would rather avoid today, but when they make you a 'friend
request', it's difficult to avoid adding them to your list-unless
you want to be rude.
So, unfortunately, despite the obvious benefits
of online social networking, unless something is done to remove
the minuses, it will remain a mixed blessing.
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