How To Avoid Injuries When Working Out

To exercise or to follow a fitness routine is almost always a positive experience. We say “almost” because there can be occasions when something goes wrong, and the most common issue that can arise when people exercise is that they injure themselves. It is “injure themselves” to differentiate from contact sports where an opponent might hurt you.

Returning to scenarios when the injury is self-inflicted, the truth is that most of those injuries could be avoided. Invariably, the reason the injury has occurred is something the individual has forgotten or chosen not to do that would otherwise ensure that they exercise safely.

Avoiding injuries is so important because they can prevent you from exercising correctly, in the best-case scenario, for a few days, and in the worst cases, for several months. All that time you are not exercising, whilst your health may not necessarily be suffering, your overall fitness is declining. So, here are some ways to ensure that you avoid injury when exercising and working out.

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7 Awesome Features Of Virtual Darts That Make It A Must-Play Game

Virtual darts, or augmented darts as some call them, are yet another way in which modern state-of-the-art technology is combined with what is otherwise a simple game and turned into a fun activity that people love to participate in. It works by displaying a real dart board but instead of throwing a dart with a metal point and then going up to the board to see what you have scored, you throw a virtual dart, and the system displays your score.

What this has created is an additional way in which sports and leisure centres can enhance how their patrons can enjoy themselves. This includes families, friends, and even corporate bonding events. Regardless of who or why it is being played, virtual darts have several awesome features, and here are seven of the best ones.

#1 – Multiple Game Options

The first awesome feature of virtual darts is that it has a versatile array of different games that can be played. These games will differ depending on what venue you are playing but wherever that is, it makes it far more interesting than having to play to normal darts rules. The variety of games is likely to be increasing as virtual darts become even more popular.

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How Aerobic Exercise Could Prevent Alzheimer’s

Looking after your health, particularly as you age, is going to offer all kinds of benefits. You’re going to look at your best, feel at your best, and have more energy to carry on doing the things you love. However, did you know that aerobic exercises could aid the memory part of your brain and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s or dementia? What is Alzheimer’s Disease? Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that’s both progressive and irreversible. It destroys your ability to think and even erases your memories. It also makes it challenging to carry out simple tasks. Out of all dementia types, Alzheimer’s is the most common. What Do We Know About Exercise and Alzheimer’s? What we know so far is that exercise and focusing on fitness can have an impact on your Alzheimer’s risk. A Rush University Medical Center study, among many others, showed that remaining fit and active allowed people to keep more of their cognitive functions, than those who didn’t partake in regular exercise. Even if those people had biomarkers of dementia, they showed signs of better memory and cognitive skills, as well. What About Aerobic Exercise? According to the latest research in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, aerobic exercise can slow down the shrinkage of the memory part of the brain known as the hippocampus.

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What Group Fitness Does for Your Motivation

How often do you egg yourself on, motivating yourself to run faster, walk a little further, or do a few more press-ups? If the answer is “not very often,” then it’s similar to many other people trying to get fit and healthy on their own as well. Motivation is hard to find if you aren’t involved in a group fitness class. But, what does motivation mean, and what does having it do for you?

Helps You Lose Weight

If you are looking to not only get fit but lose weight, then putting your training shoes on and being a part of a group fitness session can help. While running around the block and eating healthy on your own will also be beneficial, group fitness classes such as spin cycles, track running, BodyBalance and BodyAttack can accelerate the process. You are surrounded by others on the same journey as you, so you’re able to be motivated by their progress to get the same results for yourself.

Stay on The Bandwagon

If sweet treats and deep-fried food is your downfall, then you may struggle to keep your hands off it. However, that small voice in the back of your mind often tells you “you just went for that big run, you deserve that custard square”. In reality, you are undoing all that hard work. If you are a part of a group fitness class, however, you want others to see your success, and you don’t want to fall behind in your weight loss and fitness goals. You are more likely to stay on the bandwagon as a result.

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Common Misconceptions About Laser Eye Surgery

If you have ever thought about laser eye surgery from insighteye.com.au, you may have stumbled across some information on the internet that scared you. It might have even scared you to the point of not wanting to consider the surgery anymore!

However, not everything you read on the internet is accurate. We’re here to debunk some of the more common misconceptions about laser eye surgery.

Laser Eye Surgery Hurts

It doesn’t. Most people who undertake any form of laser eye surgery say they either feel nothing or just minor pressure. Before the procedure, you may also be given numbing eye drops to ensure the entire procedure is as painless as possible.

Healing From Laser Eye Surgery Takes Ages

You will never be 100 percent after any surgery, but the recovery period for laser surgery is remarkably quick. Within 24 hours, you can almost be back to your regular daily routine. 

Your eye specialist will advise you about any short-term changes you may need to make, such as not driving for 24 hours and not reading or watching TV immediately after the procedure. 

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I’m sick! What’s the best vitamin C for me?

Vitamin C has long been the go-to to prevent colds and flu and support your immune system. Consuming foods rich in vitamin C will go a long way to boosting your immunity through the winter months. The best forms of vitamin C are found in oranges, red and green capsicum, kale, brussel sprouts, broccoli, guava and kiwi fruit. However, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) the average Australian is not consuming adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables with only 49.8% aged 18 years and over meeting the guidelines for recommended daily serves of fruit (2 or more) and vegetables (5 or more). Taking vitamin C supplements may support you in times when you are not eating enough fruit and vegetables.

Vitamin C is known as ascorbic acid. There are also two other types of ascorbic acids called mineral ascorbates: sodium ascorbate and calcium ascorbate. These mineral salts are less acidic than vitamin C and can be good to use if you are prone to stomach upsets which are exacerbated by vitamin C. Caution should be taken when using these mineral ascorbates so check with your general practitioner if the recommended dietary intakes of sodium ascorbate or calcium ascorbate are right for you.

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7 Best Practices For The Design Of Your Personal Fitness Website

If it is time for your personal fitness business to have a new website then there are many factors that you need to consider if it has any chance of being a success in  growing your business online. If we were to list them all they would fill the page, however, the website design specialists at www.slinkywebdesign.com.au advise that if you follow these 7 core best practices of website design then it is almost certain to be a website that achieves its aims.

Keep The Design As Simple As Possible

The last thing you want in the mind of any visitors to your website is confusion so the aim should be to make your website clean and simple. This should still allow you to have the design matching your branding, however, making pages over-complicated with excessive graphics, too much text, unnecessary links, and too many calls to action, must be avoided.

Ensure The Website Is Easy To Navigate

Your website may have many pages, and just as you want clear directions if you are in a strange city, the same principle applies to anyone who visits your website. You should have a menu bar on each page so visitors can easily move from one page to the next and back again if they wish to, and a ‘Home’ button should be visible at all times.

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Classic Australian Dishes for Guests

Entertaining friends and family can be quite exciting. You get to read different recipes, stock up on wine, and get creative with food. What better way to spend your free time?

The problem is, coming up with classic dishes that everyone loves is not always easy. However, when it comes to traditional Australian dishes, some stand out from the crowd. Some of these options below are bound to be favourites with all your guests.

Meat Pies

If you’re not that creative in the kitchen, but need to feed a lot of people, then you can’t go wrong with meat pies. It’s true that in Australia, meat pies are small pies you pick up from your local bakery or service station. In saying that, you can create family-sized ones with a twist.

Add vegetables, a delicious homemade gravy, and a delectable puff pastry. Meat pies also have a lot of room for error, so even if you don’t make it perfect, it’s still bound to be a crowd favourite.

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Why Using Ball Stop Netting Should Be One Of Your Sporting Goals

We are sure many of you reading this participate in one or more sports, and maybe if you are young enough, still dream of becoming a sporting superstar. Even if you are at an age where that possibility has passed you by, you may still wish to practice your skills in the garden, and this is where ball stop netting can become invaluable.

Sports nets are often the forgotten piece of equipment but if you think about it, they are often essential. They may not cause the same debate as to which golf clubs hit the longest, which cricket bat is the easiest to hit sixes, or which soccer boot provides the best surface to control a shot, but sports netting does warrant special attention.

Obviously, at certain levels of sport, the net is part and parcel of the game. In tennis, many an Australian Open title has been won when an opponent has hit a return into the net, and for football fans there can be no better feeling than when your team’s star forward  hits the ball into the back of the net. However, not all sports netting is used at elite levels.

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Five Tips for Dealing With the Mental Health Impacts of Unlawful Termination

Working through an unlawful termination or any similar experience can be a very emotional, draining experience. In most cases, legal action will be required to resolve such issues. Although this might seem like a daunting task, it’s one that’s nearly always worth pursuing.

But before you throw yourself off the deep end, make sure that you’re equipped with the appropriate strategies to maintain a positive state of mind. To help you out, we’ve put together the following list of our top five tips for dealing with the mental health impacts of unlawful termination. These include:

  1. Look After Your Body

Physical and mental health are very closely linked, and neglecting one can have huge impacts on the other. It’s therefore extremely important to look after your body and stay healthy when you’re working through a mentally difficult situation.

  • Make sure you eat well.
  • Avoid sugary and other junk foods.
  • Drink enough water every day.
  • Stop or minimise your cigarette and alcohol consumption.
  • Get plenty of sleep.

As you can probably imagine, your body will thank you as well if you start taking care of your physical health.

  1. Take Up a Hobby

Creative outlets are a great way to get rid of built-up stress and anxiety. If you find yourself overthinking things, worrying too much and simply getting worked up over nothing, it could be time to take a step back and relax for a while.

One of the best ways to do this is to take up a new hobby. Consider something like art, music, swimming or anything else which could free your mind, even if only for a few hours.

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