Workouts to Do During Quarantine
How To: Stretching and Jogging
Staying Healthy During Quarantining
I hope everyone is staying healthy and active during this time. It has been a difficult transition with COVID-19 and its negative impact. With this quarantine, I think it would be important to talk today about how to keep healthy mentally and physically during this time.
First off, I believe overall that everyone should stay informed about COVID-19. I recommend watching the news and listening to what the CDC is saying in order to keep up to date with any changes, requirements, or expectations during this time. They typically have the most relevant and most recent information that is important in knowing in order to keep ourselves protected. The only way to stay healthy is to take in this information and use it as required. With all the news outlets trying to obtain views and spread information, it’s important to acknowledge where you are receiving your information from and if it’s a reliable source!
Second, the most important way to stay healthy during quarantine is to do some type of physical activity. Physical activity will be more important now than it has ever been before. Hopefully it will help will make you feel good and help relieve the feelings of depression, anxiety, and stir-craziness that may come from this pandemic. Working out at home is a great and easy way to get some exercise in. You can even follow a program while at home like P90X or watch a YouTube video with information that is easy to follow and at your fingertips. P90X may be an old workout program but something related to this that keeps your attention and makes you move is extremely important. I also recommend doing activities outside, especially since it is now Spring, and the weather is getting warmer. Going to the park is a great activity to do and which is allowed by most state governments at this time. Small and frequent walks have shown to be helpful for people to get out and to explore their environment without being around a large amount of people. It’s just important to keep in mind the six-feet rule when passing people in public.
Another way to stay healthy is to eat foods that are nutritional. I know it’s hard to eat healthy in times like this, but it is more than likely possible if you have healthy foods and some time on your hands. It’s scary going to the grocery store to get food but if you take the proper precautions such as wearing a mask, having a bottle of hand sanitizer on you, spraying and wiping things down before they enter your car and home, and making sure that you keep a 6-foot distance from others, your odds of contracting COVID-19 significantly drop. A factor that should be strongly considered before leaving the house is if it’s essential for you to do so and that it’s an absolute need at the time and that you are not going out for just one item. If you are uncomfortable with going to the grocery store than you can always order food to your house. Many companies are delivering food and produce to people and those services are available in a lot of areas. Once you receive these items, it’s important to wipe down everything you receive and to soak every bit of food that you receive! Many people have not been cleaning their fruits and vegetables which opens you to a lot of exposure and potential to contract COVID-19 if they were touched by someone with the virus. On the brighter note, this free time of being stuck at home can be used as a time to practice your cooking at home and create meals you may not have had time to beforehand. Learning recipes and trying new foods can be a good way to keep your mind focused on something while feeding yourself.
Take my advice into consideration if you’d like, as being in quarantine sucks, but most of us are lucky enough to not have the virus currently. Eventually and hopefully, things will be back to normal soon. Take this time to enjoy things with your family that you may not have been able to before and learn about those you live with on a deeper level!
Process of Aging
Aging is a part of life that will always occur and cannot be stopped. Although, it is possible for aging to be slowed down or sped up depending on 7 different aspects. The aspects of aging are physiological, psychological, biological, social, occupation, chronological, and geographical. Some of these aspects are controllable and some are not. Biological and Chronological are the aspects that are uncontrollable. You cannot change your genes or change your family health issues. Also, regardless of how you respond to these aspects of life, you still can’t live forever. Time will eventually catch up to you, but you can still try to prolong the time on this earth by controlling aspects of aging. For example, your behavior will determine how you age. If you don’t drink or smoke, you have a better chance of aging better. The possibility of contracting diseases like cancer and other chronic diseases are lowered if you do not drink or smoke, as your behavior is extremely important to your health. If you’re active and you eat healthily foods, you are less likely to become ill. Socially, if you stay socially active with your community it could help you mentally. Not being social has a negative effect on your mind which could lead to loneliness, which could also increase the rate of aging in an individual. The environment that you are in could have a positive or negative effect on aging. For example, if you live in the city you have more of a chance of becoming sick due to coming in contact with other people and germs. People living in rural areas are not introduced to all these germs that people in the city are, which helps them avoid sicknesses and other diseases which could be terminal. An additional thing with the environment you live in, is where you work your occupation is located. An example of this is if you work at a coal mine you are more likely to contract lung disease than a person working in an office, or if a person is working at a desk all day they are more likely to have back problems or to become obese. Your occupation has a strong effect on your aging especially since you are more than likely working 40 years or more within your lifetime. All these aspects go in to how you age. If you do take care of your body, you will more than likely have a healthier and longer life. Personally, being active is in my opinion the best way to influence your aging in a positive direction. Being active influences most of the aspects of aging in a positive way and will more than likely help with the aging process in a way that further allows a longer, healthier life.
Why There is an Obesity Epidemic?
Why is there an obesity epidemic? Well there are a few components that add to the obesity epidemic. I am going to share with you what I think as a negative impact on the obesity rates. First off, the obesity rates in America are constantly rising. There are about double the number of obese children now than there was in the 20th century. The problem keeps getting worse by the day.
The first component that negatively impacts obesity in America is the serving size. The serving sizes in America is way bigger than other countries and their serving sizes. A lot of countries only have two meals a day while America has three meals a day. Most European countries don’t have breakfast. Most people will have a cup of coffee and that is it. Also, in America we have way more fast food restaurants which most of them do not have nutritious foods. People rather go to a fast food restaurant than make their own foods in our American society, as this has become the standard alternative to having food quickly and easily.
Another component to the obesity rates in America is food deserts. Food Deserts are places where there are only poor nutritional foods available. It is a place where it is usually hard to find nutritional and organic foods. Normally these food deserts are found in poor communities, where they only have the money for unhealthy foods, and the environment they are around only typically offer these kinds of foods as they are cheap and easy to sell to the population. The obesity rates are at the cost of nutritional foods. The cost of organic foods is more expensive than other types of food. It makes it hard for poor Americans to buy these things due to the cost of these items, which contributes to the increase in obesity rates. A large factor to the obesity rates is the amount of sugary drinks and foods that are in America. In America, it is a norm for people to drink sodas and candy on a regular basis. Which is terrible for the human body, especially in large quantities and the sizes that they are served in. There are many chronic diseases you can get from sugary drinks and foods. You are more at risk of contracting diabetes, heart disease and cardiovascular problems, but there a lot more disease you can get from sugary foods and drinks.
These are just some of the components that impact the obesity rates, and of course there are other factors that contribute to obesity rates. Obesity is a big issue in America, and something needs to be done to reverse these rates. There should not be more obese children than adults, or as many as obese children as there is today. Due to the consumption of sugary drinks and fast food, people are contracting diseases that could have easily been prevented. I hope that people share this information and start to create a change in the obesity epidemic.
The Physical Activity Guidelines: An Explanation
What are the Physical Activity Guidelines? These are guidelines designed to maintain or create healthy Americans through physical activity. They are a great way to manage being healthy! The guidelines are meant to help people maintain a good level of physical activity in order to be considered healthy. It is a great place to start for unhealthy people on the road to becoming healthy. The Physical Activity Guidelines includes moderate activity, resistance training, and vigorous activity.
Physical Activity Guidelines
| Moderate Activity | Resistance Training | Vigorous Activity |
| 150 Minutes per week 30 Minutes for 5 days 21 Minutes for 7 days Heart Rate 100-120 Bpm | 2 Times per week Target large muscles 1-3 sets of 12 to 15 reps Do on non-consecutive days | 75 per week 15 Minutes for 5 days Heart Rate 120-160 Bpm |
Children 3 years or older need to play 60 minutes per day
Moderate activity is the easiest portion of the guidelines. There are more moderate activities that you can do than to other portions within the guidelines. For moderate activity the intensity you should be doing is between 10 and 67 percent of what you can physically do. Things you could do for moderate activity is go on a walk, a jog, a hike, ride a bike, or some sport like golf.
The resistance training portion of the guidelines requires you to do any variety of a workout. A gym is the best place to conduct resistance training. The guidelines suggest hitting large muscles when you plan on doing resistance training. Examples of resistance training to hit large muscles are arms, legs, back, shoulders, and chest. You would do these workouts by targeting only one major muscle group. Another workout you can do is a push and pull, which targets two main muscle groups. The best workouts to do to target these large muscles for resistance training is Olympic lifts which target multiple muscle groups at a time. Examples of Olympic lifts are squats, bench, and deadlifts.
Vigorous activity is the most demanding portion of the physical activity guidelines. The intensity that is required to perform vigorous activity is 80 percent to your max ability. These activities require high levels of energy in a short period of time. Things that you can do for vigorous activity are 1-rep max workouts, which require you to use most if not all your energy to perform. Another activity you can perform, which are quite popular, are sprints.
These activities are the minimum that an adult needs to do in the United States to be considered healthy physically. Majority of people can do more than what is required and are recommended to do so especially if they are trying to become healthy. I recommend attempting the physical activity guidelines to follow when starting a physical health journey. The guidelines are not created in a way that it difficult to achieve, as a person could use a few minutes of each day a couple of times a day in order to be physically healthy.
Meal Prepping
Meal prepping is a great way for people the be healthy and to eliminate the need to cook all the time. Anyone can meal prep, it is not only for athletes. It is also great for college students, people who work a lot, or anyone that just does not have time to make three meals a day. Meal prepping is very simple depending on what you decide to make. When you have a day free you can cook enough meals to last you a week or two. You do not want to cook food for more than two weeks. The food could go bad or lose the nutrients that were in the food beforehand. Then once you finish cooking the food you place the food in containers and put them in the fridge or freezer. I recommend putting the food you are going to eat first in the fridge and the food you are going to eat later in the week in the freezer. The freezer will help to preserve the nutrients in the food. When you are ready to eat, you then can enjoy the food until you run out and need to meal prep again.
When I meal prep I try to meet the dietary guidelines in order to make sure that I can getting in a variety of nutrients so that I feel healthy. Typically, for dinners I chose chicken breast as my protein, rice as my carbohydrate, and a variety of vegetables in addition to this. Examples of vegetables I typically use are: broccoli, asparagus, spinach, green beans, carrots, peas, and corn.
For lunches I usually try to get in fruit, nuts, and any additional carbs that I can burn off throughout the day. An example of my lunches day-to-day are strawberries, blueberries, almonds, pecans, sandwiches (with particular breads and meats), and carrots with hummus.
Although I am not a typical breakfast eater, I tend to do a variety of things in the morning when I have the time. Meal prepping is a good way that I typically create a meal that I can build upon as things that I eat in the morning do not taste as good when they are premade. To make my mornings easier, I precut fruit and plan ahead for meals that may take 5-10 minutes to make. My breakfast typically looks like strawberries, blueberries, eggs, toast, and a meat for the day. I like to have my “heavier” foods in the morning so that I can burn these off. Although these foods are not as easy to meal prep, they are typically easier to make in the mornings.
Overall, meal prepping is an easy way for a person to eat healthier on the go. Having the mindset of setting aside 3-5 hours a week to prepare meals for a week or two, in addition to preparing foods for the person to snack on or to make later that week makes it easier for them to have healthier meals and also spend less time focusing on making food then eating it on a day-to-day basis. It is important to acknowledge that meal prepping isn’t for everyone, but it can be adjusted to fit anyone’s needs and there is not a correct or incorrect way to do it as everyone is different.
Podcast: Why My Friends Don’t Go To The Gym
Hi there! I hope you guys will like my first Podcast post! I am going to try and do more podcast on my Blog Page! Enjoy!!!!
Introduction: Austin Hericks
My name is Austin Hericks and I am currently a junior at Radford University. I am majoring in strength and conditioning. I have created this blog to talk about issues and information about the health field. I have a few years of background on the topic of health. I have been going to the gym consistently for 4 years and have worked at a gym for a summer internship surrounding myself with many health professionals. I have learned a lot about the industry of the health business. Through the years I have been going to Radford University I have taken countless courses in health and nutrition. Health is one of my largest passions and I hope to share some of the information I have learned through this blog. I hope that through creating these blog posts that I create a sense of passion and fire about health and the gym like I have for it.
The main topic of this blog will be the topic of health, but I plan to approach it through combatting different aspects of the health and nutrition field as well as hopefully debunking some standards myths that still exist today. The great thing about the health field is that there is still so much to learn and there is new information to discover every day. With new and developing research and information, I will use my platform to explore the topics and if they contrast with past research and how it could impact us. To lighten up the content I will discuss popular and famous fitness trainers and popular trends that occur through social media and whether they are beneficial or not. Through the discussion of trends, I will discuss different issues involving the gym and ways to get motivated to go and keep it consistent. Overall, I would just like to motivate people to get involved in their mental and physical health and be passionate about their desire to be healthy.
The Nutrition side of my blog is going to discuss why nutrition is important. I will cover how to become nutritious in a way that is sustainable. I will also discuss the problems that comes with having malnutrition. I am going to give some tips on being nutritious and show meals that will be beneficial to your health.
My blogs will be a variation of articles, podcast, and videos. I am also going to have a few guests in the videos and podcast. So, there will be a variety of perspectives of health and not just mine. The blogs will be factual with a combination of opinions. Hopefully my blog won’t be as dull as many others in the health field. My main objective is to bring content that my audience will enjoy. I would like to be criticized because this blog is for my audience and I want to give them the best content I can give. I hope that my audience can take the information I give them and be able to use it. I appreciate my future followers and hope you enjoy my future content!
Austin's Health Blog 