Category: Fitness Equipment

Submitted by: Jackson Fyre

Regardless of your age, all soldiers in the Active Army, Army Reserve, and the Army National Guard have to take the Army Physical Fitness Test, also known as the “APFT.” The Army Physical Fitness Test is a three-part event that will access your physical ability and test your endurance and cardio fitness. The APFT will put your major muscle groups and respiratory system through the ringer to see how you effectively move and maneuver. How you perform in the testing is linked to a soldier’s ability to perform tasks that have some fitness element to them. There are alternate APFT events for soldiers who have permanent profiles or for soldiers who have temporary profiles equaling greater than three-month duration.

Here are the three events that you will perform in the Army Physical Fitness Test. The events are listed in the required order.

-Push-ups

-Sit-ups

-2-mile run

You perform the events in the order listed above, and you will have to take at least 10 minutes to recover and no more than 20 minutes to recover before moving on to the next event.

Push-up event (2 minutes) – This event will test the endurance of your chest, shoulder, and triceps muscles. Depending on your age, there is a specific standard of push-ups you will need to perform in two minutes.

Sit-up event (2 minutes) – Sit-ups will test the endurance of your hip-flexors and abdominal muscles. Again, depending on your age, there is a standard amount of sit-ups you will need to do in that two-minute time frame.

2-mile event – This cardio event will challenge the endurance of your respiratory system and legs, and of course there is a time limit depending on your age.

There are many different exercises you can do to get yourself ready for these fitness tests. Make sure that you continue to do push-ups and sit-ups a few times a week, and always push yourself to the limit when do these workouts. Another great workout to do to get your upper body ready for the push-up test is chin-ups. Begin to do chin-ups and pull-ups, which will build your biceps and back. You can also do some free weight lifting to get your upper body ready for that push-up test.

To train for your sit-ups, you will definitely want to do as many sit-ups as possible, get used to the motion. Start involving extra weight when doing your sit-ups, and make sure that you are timing yourself too. Do not take this event lightly, because you might find it extremely difficult to reach your required amount if you do not prepare.

When preparing for your 2 mile run, make sure you time yourself so you know what pace you will need to run at during the actually testing. Besides running, you can also do interval training and stairs to get your lungs nice and strong. Swimming is another great way to build strength for your lungs, but make sure you get out and run as much as possible.

About the Author: Jackson has been involved with helping people get into shape for about 5 years. If there is a question you have Jackson can answer it. He can help you with fitness related questions like,

How to train for a marathon

? or

certified personal trainer

questions.

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

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By Bethany Thomas

The use of foam rollers amongst health enthusiasts and athletes has grown over the years. As more and more people are continuously discovering the many health benefits of foam rolling exercises, it is expected we will see a lot more of these foam rollers in gyms, parks, homes and just about anywhere as long as exercise exists.

What is a foam roller?

A foam roller is a tubular piece of foam utilized to offer a soothing stretch and a kneading massage to the body. Its basic principle is to use the body’s weight to provide pressure while rolling over the foam. Foam rollers are effective in taking out pain, tightness and tissue adhesions. In addition, they also supply a unique way of stretching and various balancing exercises for the athlete.

Foam rollers can be bought in various colors, styles and designs. They also come in different sizes and densities to facilitate better exercise routines for the whole body. You can find foam rollers that are smooth, ridged or with knobs to provide a deeper and more effective massage. They can be used by both men and women of all ages.

Foam Rolling Exercises to Achieve Optimum Athletic Performance

The benefits of using the different foam rolling exercises promote the body’s overall muscular and physical ability. It will make and keep you at your top condition as you prepare for any athletic or sport tournament.

Benefits of Foam Rolling Exercises

With foam rollers, you can choose to exercise every body tissue that needs kneading or gliding. You have power over the specific areas because you use your own weight to provide pressure as you roll over the foam. Focusing on your problematic areas will ease and alleviate pain brought about by too much or from lack of exercise.

-Foam rollers are perfect for stretching. Stretching is when you pull or lengthen your body parts. Foam rollers can target even the parts that are impossible or hard to stretch like the outer thighs. As an individual ages, the joints and the muscles lose elasticity and flexibility. Therefore, a restricted range of motion may develop. This occurrence will make simple daily activities difficult. Stretching can eliminate the tightening of the muscles and the joints and provide a good exercise to lessen muscle tension, augment energy and blood circulation, improve muscle coordination and boosts the joints’ range of motion.

-Foam Rolling Exercises help in the body’s rehabilitation especially after an injury. It provides a higher potential of eliminating injury or acquiring further injury while recuperating. Moreover, it also alleviates pain, soreness and muscle tension while breaking down scar tissues or myofascial adhesions. Scar tissue buildups as the muscles in the body incur injuries from our day-to-day activities including workouts and training programs. Myofascial adhesions are painful and in most cases, you don’t know that you have them. These adhesions restrict your movements and reduce your ability to carry out muscle activities to the optimum level.

-Foam rolling exercises are a recommended way of warming up or cooling down before or after a strength training or any workout program to reduce adhesions and muscle injuries. It also increases the ability of the muscles to recover easily and quickly.

-Foam rolling can also provide an invigorating deep tissue massage. It relaxes the muscles after training or workout. Foam rolling exercises can effortlessly target every part of the body that needs stretching. These muscles include the calves, illiotibial bands, hamstrings, gluteal muscles and the quadriceps. Foam rollers also promote optimal lengthening and range of motion to the spine and its surrounding muscles and tissues.

Foam rollers are Effective Therapeutic Tools

Foam rollers improve blood circulation in the muscles, tissues, skin, tendons, fascia and the ligaments. By allowing a good flow of blood to these vital areas, a perfect amount of nutrients and oxygen can nourish these parts to protect and offer rejuvenation and treatment. The excretion of waste from the different cellular and tissue levels will also provide higher chances of eliminating muscle and joint illness and injuries. Exercises with the use of foam rollers can also provide soft tissue therapies in a short span of time.

Foam rollers are efficient pain killing tools to reduce stiffness of the knees, hips and the spinal joints. Many result to acupuncture, surgical procedures, chiropractic adjustments and other medical or homeopathic treatments to treat pain caused by adhesions and inflexibility. It is time to let them know that a simple, inexpensive way is through the regular use of an efficient therapeutic tool – a foam roller!

About the Author: B Thomas is an avid exerciser and also a Beachbody coach who has discovered the amazing benefits of adding foam rolling stretches and exercises to her daily exercise routine. For more information on the benefits of foam rolling exercises go to

foamrollingexercises.com

Source:

isnare.com

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