How to Regulate Posture

 Posture is the position in which you hold your body upright against gravity while standing. What is proper posture? Proper posture is being able to stand, sit, walk or lie in positions where the least strain is put on supporting muscles and ligaments during weight-bearing movements. Proper posture prevents back ache and pain, prevents the spine from being fixed in abnormal positions, decreases stress in ligaments,  and most importantly keeps bones and joints in the correct alignment so that muscles are being used properly.

Proper posture requirements: good muscle flexibility, normal motion in the joints, and strong postural muscles 

What contributes to bad posture?

-obesity, pregnancy. weak muscles, inflexibility, poor sitting/standing habits.  Bad posture can lead to back ache/pain and occasionally cause permanent damage. 

Young Minds, Fast Times

In response to "Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner". This article is great! The writer is very educated on how the schooling system works at every level, from the early years of kindergarten all the way to a masters degree at a university.  Students are "herded into classrooms" and told what to and how to do it - and tested on it.  But in reality that is not really how it should be.  The writer uses a great example of the corporate business world. Business' do it right, they invest millions of dollars into their company personnel to find out what customer's really want and how to satisfy them, that is true education.

Education is becoming a premeditated lifestyle.  A large percentage of students are being put through schooling systems doing "work" that elders believe is effective and educational, but allowing the students no input on their own education. I know that personally I learn a lot more effectively and efficiently than I do based on others agenda's.  I think that educational systems should seek out a new path of learning with a more hands-on, more involving method of education.  I think that this way, students will be more apt to want to learn and do well in school. 

Engaging students into classroom criteria has potential to be a simple fix.  Many teachers use the "innovative Power Point" with all of the cool backgrounds and such, but it is just as lame as writing on a chalkboard, just using electricity. I'm trying to think back at a few of my 100 level classes, and how many students either a.) did not show up to class or b.) slept for approximately 90% of the class due to boredom.  This is a prime example of bad teaching.

NASM Certification

The NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) personal trainer certification is one of the most premier certifications for not yet having a bachelors degree.  A NASM certification allows you to personal train at any level.  The starting salary for personal trainers is well above $30/hr.  I will be taking the test this summer and in hopes to get certified asap so that I can get some experience under my belt!

Podcasts

I've been searching the wed for podcasts, it is quite hard to find ones based on exercise or fitness.  Most of the podcasts are music or MP3 based for "fitness and exercise" search.  I did end up finding one great website that you can view podcasts through it is www.idiotvox.com.  On the other hand, does anyone know of any exercise related podcast sites...? thanks!

Why hire a trainer when all of the information is in a book or online?

While perusing the web-based exercise blogs, I stumbled upon a great blog about exercising based on a book, internet source, or magazine article.  A personal trainer and owner of a gym (Larry) tells it how it is, not how most see it.  Many people base their exercise programs on magazines and books, while you get some from this you don't get everything.  Like he puts it, its like dancing, tennis, skiing, and other sports.  Who knows if you're doing the exercise correctly, at the right pace, breathing, rest, repetition, even weight load.  Most who succeed at these have or have had some a coach/trainer to learn correct technique, no professional exceed based on books or the internet, it is the trainers.  It is essential to have someone show you how to do certain lifts and teach by example.  I thought that this was a very interesting blog from this guy Larry, he gives a great example of how the internet is taking over even the physical aspects of life, exercising. 

Web URL - http://www.betzmethod.wordpress.com/2008/10/01

Human VS Cheetah?

A few days ago I stumbled upon an interesting article about marathon record holing runner Usain Bolt.  Many questioned how many more sprinters will it take to break a sub 2 hour marathon time?  Conclusions led to possibly one of the most bizarre comparisons in exercise science today, sprinting limits between humans and cheetah's.  According to experts, humans have quite a bit of room for possible improvement.

Scientific expert Peter Weyand of Rice University explains that humans could possibly run a 100 meter as fast as a cheetah.  Humans have the same muscles, tendons, and bone structure as do cheetah's.  The only debatable information now is that humans run upright and have 2 legs, opposed to cheetah's who have 4 legs and run more parallel to the ground. 

I thought that this was a very interesting article for all of the KPE students, here is the link 

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/06/cheetah-vs-humans-sprinting-limits.html

20 Tech Habits to Improve Your Life

After reading "20 Tech Habits to Improve Your Life" I found a few of these habits to sound a little silly, but catching myself doing others.  One of my favorites is using the CRTL-C (copy), CRTL-V (paste), CRTL-A (select all), or for MAC users use the apple button, etc... I think that using these commands makes the whole process a lot more efficient, sounds silly but it works great if you teach yourself to use these commands.  Also another that I find useful and innovative is keeping track of your diet, eating habits and exercise logs online.  Some of these programs allow you to enter your caloric intake for example and log how many calories, fat content, carbohydrates, etc.. in one week, day or month.  This could be a very helpful way for individuals to lose or maintain weight and stay healthy following a balanced diet.

Most of these are very innovative and interesting.  I think that #6 (get your cables under control) sounds a little silly. I don't see labeling your cords and surge protectors to be necessarily a habit? but maybe...