FAQ

Yoga
Fitness
Aerobics
Body Building
Flexibility

What is Yoga?

The word Yoga, from the Sanskrit word yuj means to yoke or bind and is often interpreted as “union” or a method of discipline. A male who practices Yoga is called a yogi, a female practitioner, a yogini.

The Indian sage Patanjali is believed to have collated the practice of Yoga into the Yoga Sutra an estimated 2,000 years ago.

The Sutra is a collection of 195 statements that serves as a philosophical guidebook for most of the Yoga that is practiced today. It also outlines eight limbs of yoga: the yamas (restraints), niyamas (observances), asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), pratyahara (withdrawal of senses), dharana (concentration), dhyani (meditation), and samadhi (absorption).

As we explore these eight limbs, we begin by refining our behavior in the outer world, and then we focus inwardly until we reach samadhi (liberation, enlightenment).

Today most people practicing Yoga are engaged in the third limb, asana, which is a program of physical postures designed to purify the body and provide the physical strength and stamina required for long periods of meditation.

Do I have to be vegetarian to practice Yoga?

The first principle of Yoga philosophy is ahimsa, which means non harming to self and others. Some people interpret this to include not eating animal products.

There is debate about this in the Yoga community—I believe that it is a personal decision that everyone has to make for themselves.

If you are considering becoming a vegetarian, be sure to take into account your personal health issues as well how your choices will affect those with whom you live.

Being a vegetarian should not be something that you impose on others—that kind of aggressive action in itself is not an expression of ahimsa.

How many times per week should I practice?

Yoga is amazing—even if you only practice for one hour a week, you will experience the benefits of the practice.

If you can do more than that, you will certainly experience more benefits. I suggest starting with two or three times a week, for an hour or an hour and a half each time.

If you can only do 20 minutes per session, that’s fine too. Don’t let time constraints or unrealistic goals be an obstacle—do what you can and don’t worry about it. You will likely find that after awhile your desire to practice expands naturally and you will find yourself doing more and more.

Can I lose fat and build muscle at the same time?

The ability to gain muscle while losing fat is dependent on the relationship between your fatness and muscularity.

An overly-fat and under-trained person will be able to achieve simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain.

A very lean person near his/her limit for muscle growth will not. As one moves away from the overly-fat, under-trained status towards a leaner, more muscular body this ability is diminished.

At some point, the vast majority of people will see better/quicker results by choosing to do one or the other (gain muscle, lose fat - often referred to as 'bulking' and 'cutting', respectively) at a time.

How fast can I lose fat without losing muscle?

There is a theoretical maximum amount of fat loss your body can endure, before it starts losing muscle. That amount is 31 calories/day/lb of fat (Note that the author revised this number from 31 to 22 cal an email exchange with Redditor, Chr0me).

Be aware, though, that this data comes from the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, and uses subjects under severe dietary restriction that did not strength train. So the information should be taken with a grain of salt. See Lyle McDonald's take on this study for more.

How can I get motivated to start or to stick with a healthy lifestyle?

The best thing you can do is to stop thinking that "motivation" is going to be what gets you results.

Trying to sustain going to the gym or changing your diet with motivation is like trying to warm your house with a firecracker.

It'll give you a short burst of energy and then nothing. Motivation is something you use to push through that last rep you're struggling with, not for sticking with a new practice. Thinking of this in terms of motivation is why you have failed in the past.

What is Step Aerobics?

Step aerobics is a form of aerobic activity which is performed on a platform that usually ranges from 4" to 10" in height. Step training was developed to provide a low-impact activity that is both challenging and interesting.

People who may not like certain aspects of aerobic dance find that step is a very good alternative. Each participant works within his or her own space. There is no traveling across a room. When done properly, step training is an efficient means of improving aerobic fitness.

To achieve this, it would be necessary to have uniform grammar, pronunciation and more common words. If several languages coalesce, the grammar of the resulting language is more simple and regular than that of the individual languages. The new common language will be more simple and regular than the existing European languages.

It will be as simple as Occidental; in fact, it will be Occidental.

What is proper stepping technique?

Your body should remain in good alignment. Your head should be up, shoulders down and back, chest up, abdominals and buttocks tight. When stepping up, lean from the ankles and not the waist to avoid placing excessive stress on the lumbar spine. Contact the platform with the entire foot.

To avoid Achilles tendon injury, make sure your heel is down, and your foot is in the center of the platform. When stepping down, step close to the platform and allow the heels to contact the floor to help absorb the shock. (toe, ball, heel). When doing lunges or repeater steps, however, the heel should be up, and the weight should be on the forefoot of the working leg. You should not use hand or leg weights when you are stepping as the risk of injury outweighs any added benefit you might get from using weights. It is important to note, that anyone with a history of knee problems should consult a physician before beginning step training.

How high should my step be?

Step height depends on several things - fitness level, current stepping skill, and the degree of knee flexion when the knee is fully loaded while stepping up. At no time should the knee joint of the first leg to step up flex beyond a 90% angle. Reebok is now saying that 60% is even better. Deconditioned individuals or beginners should begin on a 4" platform. As you improve, you may add risers to increase the step height making sure not to exceed the 90 degrees of knee flexion. The most popular step heights are 6" and 8".

Everyone realizes why a new common language would be desirable: one could refuse to pay expensive translators. To achieve this, it would be necessary to have uniform grammar, pronunciation and more common words. If several languages coalesce, the grammar of the resulting language is more simple and regular than that of the individual languages. The new common language will be more simple and regular than the existing European languages.

How can I increase intensity?

There are several ways to increase intensity. Increase your step height, use longer lever arms or add propulsion moves (where both feet are off the step at the same time). If you are going to add propulsion, or power as it is known today, make sure not to do these moves for more than one minute at a time as these moves result in higher vertical impact. All power moves should be done as you go up onto the platform. Always step down without power. Power moves are considered advanced, and should not be attempted by beginners.

How many meals should I be eating per day?

First of all let's eliminate the name "meals". From experience, my client's interpretation of a meal is more like a feast. My advice to them from the start is to increase the number of meals to five everyday, then they look at me feeling sick at the thought of eating so much so often. What they don't realize is that healthy fat loss foods aren't as calorie dense and not as filling as other meals. Quantity is also decreased, so from here on we'll call meals "snacks" or "grazing intervals"

From today I want you to increase your number of snacks to 5 per day - at least. This will kick-start a sluggish metabolism. I know it's hard to grasp that eating more food will reduce body fat so allow me first explain a complicated little fellow called your "metabolism."

Can drinking water help me lose body fat?

It sure can and lots of it. It's widely known that drinking room temperature to warm water can hydrate you more efficiently than ice cold water. But did you know that by drinking ice cold water you can actually burn more calories.

Before you start reaching for the fridge you must adhere to this rule of making sure your body is always internally saturated with water. Remember warm water will hydrate you better but providing you have plenty of ice cold water (3 liters of water per day at least) you will stay just as well hydrated.

If you have ever read any fat burning product labels, you can see many of them work by raising the body's internal temperature (these are called thermogenics) above the normal 37 degrees. By drinking ice cold water you are practicing the same procedure only this time you are raising your body's internal temperature from below the normal to normal body temperature.

How should I space my snacks and supplementation?

Because it is our aim to prevent muscle atrophy (shrinkage) and burn body fat it is essential that we keep our snacks within a three hour time frame to keep our metabolism high enough to burn excess calories.

Before you throw your hands up in the air because you believe it is impossible for you to eat every three hours, I have a solution. It's called supplements. There are hundreds of different supplements brands which can be daunting and confusing so let me shed a little light on what you should be looking for. It would be a good idea to have a good quality multi-vitamin/mineral, anti-oxidant formula.

How long should you hold a Stretch for flexibility improvement?

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM 2006) recommends holding a Stretch from 15 to 30 seconds.

What is the optimal number of times to repeat a Stretch?

According to ACSM (2006), 2–4 repetitions is optimal, as further repetitions do not elicit additional benefits.

How many days per week should someone Stretch?

Each person differs, but ACSM (2006) suggests 2–3 days per week as a minimum, although 5–7 days per week of some type of Stretching routine would be ideal for most persons.

For science, music, sport, etc, Europe uses the same vocabulary. The languages only differ in their grammar, their pronunciation and their most common words. Everyone realizes why a new common language would be desirable: one could refuse to pay expensive translators. To achieve this, it would be necessary to have uniform grammar, pronunciation and more common words.

If several languages coalesce, the grammar of the resulting language is more simple and regular than that of the individual languages. The new common language will be more simple and regular than the existing European languages. It will be as simple as Occidental; in fact, it will be Occidental. To an English person, it will seem like simplified English, as a skeptical Cambridge friend of mine told me what Occidental is.