What is a calorie? The definition of a calorie is “the amount of energy, or heat it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius”. A calorie is a unit of energy that is associated with food and drink and is a measure of the energy, or heat, that food produces as your body uses it as fuel.
The first step in counting calories for your personal weight loss is to calculate how many calories you burn in a day (your total daily energy expenditure), this is the total number of calories that your body expends in 24 hours, including all activities. This is known as your maintenance level and will be the reference point (number of calories) from which to start your dieting.
The average calorie maintenance level for women in the United States is approx 2000 per day and the average for men is approx 2500 per day. These are only basic averages and are usually much higher for athletes or active individuals.
A quick and easy method to find out how many calories you require per day for weight loss and maintenance is to calculate a calorie value with a multiplier as set out below.
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Are you using potentially dangerous exercises in your workout? You have to be very careful with strength training equipment because it may not be the most effective or functional available. How do you know that the exercises you are performing are safe? Found below are some potentially dangerous exercises with suggestions on how they should be done correctly or avoided completely.
Sit-up
Traditional abdominal exercises such as the sit-up, incline sit-up and hip-raises are exercises that are used to train the obliques and the upper and lower abdominals.
They are performed by first anchoring the feet on an abdominal board which prevents you from sliding back then raising your shoulders up towards your feet, tensing your abs at the top of the movement. Slowly lowering your shoulders back down and then completing the movement again.
The dangers of performing this movement are the shearing forces on the vertebrae and spinal discs when you have a flexed and rounded spine. In this position, the pressure is mostly placed on a very small area of the disc area, which can cause small ruptures. The safest and most productive way to train the abs is to use the brace and hollow technique. This is a basic isometric exercise that helps strengthen the abs and the muscular girdle around your waist.
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