Swimming Strokes

swimming strokes – Everything you need to know

Jan

25

Swimming – Breaststroke – 4-Stroke Free Breast

By admin

Getting into the groove of a flowing breaststroke isnt always the easiest thing to do. Mixing up the strokes sometimes gives you an advantage toward this, if only for a few strokes.

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Jan

23

After Treatment For The Achilles Tendon Injury – What Next?

By admin

So what happens after the first 48 to 72 hours of your Achilles tendon injury? Let’s first take a quick look at how damaged tendons repair themselves.

When any damage occurs to the soft tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments), the body immediately goes into a process of repair. Where the individual fibres rupture, or tear, the body begins to bind the damaged fibres together using a fibrous protein called collagen. Or, as it’s more commonly known, scar tissue!

When a tendon is torn or strained, you would expect that the body would repair that damage with new tendon. In reality, this doesn’t happen. The tear or rupture, repairs itself with scar tissue.

Now this might not sound like a big deal, but if you have ever suffered an Achilles tendon injury, (or any soft tissue injury) you’ll know how annoying it is to keep re-injuring that same old injury, over and over again.

Very brittle, inflexible fibrous material makes up scar tissue. This fibrous material binds itself to the damaged tendon in an effort to draw the damaged fibres back together. What results is a bulky mass of fibrous scar tissue surrounding the injury site. In some cases, it’s even possible to see and feel this bulky mass under the skin.

When scar tissue forms around an injury site, it is never as strong as the tissue it replaces. It also has a tendency to contract and deform the surrounding tissues, so not only does this diminish the strength of the tissue, but compromises flexibility of the tissue.

So, how do we get rid of that annoying formation of scar tissue associated with an Achilles tendon injury or any other type of soft tissue injury?

Firstly, you must keep active! Don’t listen to anyone who tells you to do nothing. Now is the time to start active rehabilitation. Most of the swelling will have subsided after the first 48 to 72 hours and you are now ready to start light activity.

Light activity will not only promote blood circulation, but also activates the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system plays a vital role in clearing the body of toxins and waste products, which accumulate in the body following a sports injury. Activity is the only way to activate the lymphatic system.

Before we move on, a quick word of warning. Never, Never, Never do any activity that hurts the injured area. Of course you may feel some discomfort, but NEVER, NEVER push yourself to the point where you’re feeling pain. Listen to your body. Don’t over do it at this stage of the recovery, you’ve come too far to blow it now.

Achilles Tendon Injury Post Treatment: Removing Scar Tissue

To remove most of the unwanted scar tissue, you now need to start two vital treatments. The first is commonly used by physical therapists (or physiotherapists), and primarily involves increasing the blood supply to the injured area. The aim is to increase the amount of oxygen and nutrients to the damaged tissues.

You see, the Achilles tendon receives very little blood supply, as compared to a muscle for example. So it’s vitally important to increase the blood flow to the injured area. This helps supply the tendon with the oxygen and nutrients needed for a speedy recovery.

Physical Therapists accomplish this aim using a number of activities to stimulate the injured area. The most common methods used are ultrasound and heat.

Ultrasound, or TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) simply uses a light electrical pulse to stimulate the affected area. While heat, in the form of a ray lamp or hot water bottle, is very effective in stimulating blood flow to the damaged tissues.

Secondly, to remove the unwanted scar tissue it is vital that you start to massage the injured tendon and connecting muscles. While ultrasound and heat will help the injured area, they will not remove the scar tissue. Only massage will be able to do that.

To start with, the Achilles tendon may be quite tender. So start with a light stroke and gradually increase the pressure until you’re able to use firm strokes.

Concentrate your effort at the direct point of injury, and use your thumbs to get in as deep as possible to break down the scar tissue.

Just a few final points before we move on. Be sure to drink plenty of fluid during your injury rehabilitation. The extra fluid will help to flush a lot of the waste products from your body.

Also, I recommend you purchase a special ointment to use for your massage called “Arnica”. This special ointment is extremely effective in treating soft tissue injuries, like sprains and tears. You can purchase this ointment at most health food shops and pharmacies.

As usual, I’ve gone on way too long, and I’m not finished with this topic yet. I still need to cover the rehabilitation and conditioning exercises needed to get your Achilles tendon back to 100%. This final part of the rehabilitation process for an Achilles tendon injury is vitally important, and I will discuss it over the next couple of topics.

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Jan

17

How Many Calories Do You Burn by Swimming?

By admin

How many calories you burn while swimming depends on your stroke, effort, speed, distance, duration, gender, weight and skill. Because most people swim a mix of strokes at various intensities, computing your exact calorie count is difficult.

For example, a 150 pound athlete burns about 272 calories by swimming 1500 yards in 30 minutes; swimming butterfly for 30 minutes burns 38 percent more calories, breaststroke burns 25 percent more and backstroke 12 percent less. Compare that with a 120 pound athlete who burns only 218 calories swimming the same 1500 yard workout (60 lengths in a 25 yard pool).

Generally, the faster an athlete swims, the more calories he burns in an hour. For example, if the 150 pound swimmer above swims one more length per minute, he burns 102 more calories in the same 30 minute period, but it works out to nearly half a calorie LESS per length. This anomaly occurs because he swims more efficiently.

The table below lists the approximate calories burned per hour for a person weighing 150 pounds:

Swimming moderate effort 272 calories

Swimming ocean, river, lake 408 calories

Swimming none-lap, leisure 408 calories

Swimming laps, moderate to light effort 476 calories

Swimming backstroke 476 calories

Swimming crawl/freestyle, 50 yards per minute 544 calories

Swimming sidestroke 544 calories

Swimming synchronized 544 calories

Swimming fast, vigorous effort 680 calories

Swimming breaststroke 680 calories

Swimming butterfly 748 calories

Swimming crawl/freestyle, vigorous effort, fast 748 calories

Your weight affects the number of calories burned, with heavier people expending more than lighter ones when doing the same exercise. For example, a 100 pound person burns 1/3 fewer calories, so multiply the above numbers by 0.7; a 200-pound person burns 1/3 more so multiply by 1.3.

Because most people are unable to do butterfly continuously, crawl or freestyle is the most effective swim stroke, burning between 540 and 750 calories per hour.

Inexplicably, elite swimmers have an average of 5% more body fat than their equivalent running counterparts, despite burning the same and sometimes even more calories with their high intensity interval training which the steadier pace of distance running lacks.

Interestingly too, women, regardless of their skill level and weight, typically use fewer calories per mile than men because of their higher body fat percentage. They naturally stay afloat without having to burn calories doing so.

Swimming nonstop for half an hour is realistic for a beginner but strive for an hour. Vary your strokes. For example, warm up by doing 4 lengths freestyle, 4 lengths breast stroke, then get your heart rate up by swimming 4-6 lengths freestyle at a faster pace. When you feel tired or out of breath, switch to breast stroke or back stroke or even use the kicker board, and when you catch your breath, go back to freestyle.

If you can, incorporate butterfly. Flip turns too; they ensure a continuous workout without you needing to pause between lengths.

If swimming appeals to you but you are not strong enough to swim for an hour, consider using flippers together with the kicker board which you hold out in front of you. Because your head is above water the entire time, breathing is not an issue; while your legs and butt get a fabulous workout.

Despite being surrounded by water, you sweat when you swim. Be sure to stave off dehydration by drinking water before and after your session, even if you do not feel thirsty.

Swimming is an excellent aerobic workout, using a large number of muscle groups and burning as many calories per hour as running or cycling at the same intensity. It increases your heart rate for the full duration, you breathe harder and work your entire body.

Swimming strengthens your heart muscles thereby improving the delivery of oxygen to all parts of your body, it improves your physique, flexibility, stamina and balance. If you do other exercise, swimming serves as a great cross-trainer, lengthening and strengthening your muscles.

Mentally it relaxes you and frees you of tension; socially you can enjoy it with friends and family to develop a spirit of competitive camaraderie.

Swimming poses no strain on connective tissue or joints, so is safe for the overweight, elderly, people with lower back and leg problems, and those whose joints cannot handle high-impact sports. Because water supports the body, swimming is recommended as a rehabilitation exercise.

Ideal for pregnant women, swimming strengthens both abdominal and back muscles, enabling them to better carry their extra weight. High blood pressure, joint stiffness and discomfort commonly associated with pregnancy can all be eased by exercising gently in water, although you may want to consult with your doctor beforehand.

Whether you splash around burning 400 calories an hour, or expend 748 calories per hour perfecting your butterfly stroke for hard-core competition, any swimming burns calories. In fact which ever sport you enjoy is the one which will burn the most calories for you in the long run.

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Jan

12

Freestyle Swimming Techniques : How to Flutterkick with Head in the Water

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Flutterkicking with your head underwater, holding your breath. Learn how to swim the freestyle stroke in this free swimming video. Expert: Peter Elizondo Bio: Peter Elizondo is a lifeguard of three years who swam for the junior varsity and varsity teams at Nikki Rowe High School. Filmmaker: Devin Boddie

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Jan

7

Exercise and Yoga for Hypothyroidism

By admin

Hypothyroidism is the disease that affects metabolism and so the entire bodily systems. This is because the hormone called thyroxin plays major role in metabolism of the body and this hormone is secreted, stored and released in the body by the gland called thyroid.

As the name suggest, hypothyroidism means underactive thyroid as hypo means low, less, under or little. In this condition, the thyroid gland produces less thyroxin hormone that is not sufficient to the body’s requirement and therefore, the body lacks the hormone and ends up into metabolism complications.

However, hypothyroidism is well treated and controlled by the supplementation of thyroxin hormone but there are certain methods that can help you to live with the disease very happily and without any complications. Exercise and Yoga are two of the best techniques by which, one can easily keep thyroid gland in its normal state.

Light exercises like brisk walking, treadmill and aerobics are very useful. They improve the blood circulation in your body and therefore very helpful in thyroid hormone production. Here one should remember that heavy exercises like weight lifting, dumbles and other muscle-developing exercises are not required. You should better do not do that. All you need is light exercises on the regular basis with proper timing.

You can include various sports instead. Sports are both; fun and exercise. Since hypothyroidism brings weight gaining also, sports that burns the calories will be the preferred one. You can go for playing squash as it is one of the highest calorie burning sports. Other sports include lawn tennis, basketball, football and simply running.

Swimming is another best way to keep your body fit and to keep you hormones in level. You need not go for different kinds of strokes in swimming like butterfly etc. but you should swim at least for ½ – 1 hour early in the morning with the water that does not contain any chlorine. Some of the naturopaths suggest taking bath in natural spring will be excellent idea to keep your body fit and to boost your metabolism that has come down.

Yoga like Hatha Yoga, Pranayama (the breathing techniques), Shavasana (the dead posture), simhasana (the lion posture) and kapalbhanti (another type of breathing technique) help not only keeping thyroid healthy, but they also boost your health keeping you hale and hearty. Latest researches also support Yoga and breathing technique (Pranayama) to be two of the best methods to control your any type of diseases.

Some of the Yoga gurus suggest that meditation plays an important role in keeping your hormonal level normal. We know very well that hormones get disturbed during various human emotions such as anger and love. Meditation helps controlling brain chemicals and neurotransmission. There are various types of meditations and you can perform any of one that gives you peace of mind. Meditation along with Yoga brings stability in the mind, body and soul.

These techniques are off the main treatment for hypothyroidism and should not be considered as first line treatment.

Related Article:

Holistic treatment for hypothyroidism with yoga

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