Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, says at home you can do bodyweight, squats and push-ups. “You can do a lot of single leg stuff if you get to that level, a lot of core stuff at home. If you get a pull-up bar, very inexpensive, put that on the doorframe and workout,” he points out.
Brian Betancourt, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, highlights a small home gym is a very inexpensive thing, you can buy suspension trainer, bands for suspension trains and rings that you can hook up to a door. Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, says for having a complete and balanced workout program you need to be able to hit every body part in a healthy way, and be able to have your joints, your back, your glutes healthy, because they are where you see a lot of injuries and hamstrings as well.
Brian Betancourt, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, says you can work out the whole body in a day or doing split routines just to keep it safe. Is the age an important factor when we talk about sports injuries? Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains what is the difference with athletes and young athletes in terms of injuries. Throwing and pitching put stress on the joints. Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains the pitching mechanics and what to do to avoid injuries. Do you know what type of exercises you can do to improve your health? Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, shows you with a video the proper way to do back and core exercises. It is important to be careful with your workout routine. Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains what factors determine how your routine is going to be, and how outdated is the “no pain, no gain” way of thinking. Treadmills, exercise bikes, and elliptical machines can be helpful to know how many calories you are burning, but are they accurate? Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains how these machines work to give you a number of burnt calories. How weight loss is related to lifestyle? Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains the importance of healthy eating and having a healthy lifestyle in order to accomplish weight loss. In baseball, most of the injuries are related to overuse or fatigue. Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains how pitchers deal with overuse injuries with a MLB season of 162 games, not including the preseason nor the postseason. Are you too old to start exercising? Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains how age is related to exercise and how you can start doing something that you like to start a physical activity routine. Do you know what to choose between a strength and conditioning specialist and an exercise physiologist? Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains the differences between both of them and what are the characteristics of the clients each one can deal with. There is a variety of exercises in order to maintain yourself healthy. Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, talks about five basic movement patterns, such as hip hinge, vertical push, vertical pull, horizontal push, and horizontal pull. How is the shoulder from the inside of the body? Marcelo Miranda, Supervisor of Rehabilitation and Clinical Services with Doctors Hospital, and Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explain everything about the bones, the socket joint, and the humorous of the shoulder. Is there such a thing as too much exercise? Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, answers this question, gives you healthy exercise tips, and points out the importance of resting for your health. Are compound exercises better than isolation exercises? Felix Flores, Strength and Conditioning Specialist with DBC Fitness, and Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explain the differences between these types of exercises and what you need to know to choose one of them, according to the goals you have in mind for your body. The American Heart Association designed Life’s Simple 7 to give people steps they can take to live a long and productive life. Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains the steps: stop smoking, eat better, get active, and lose weight, among others. Brian Betancourt, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, says CrossFit is gymnastics, weightlifting, and conditioning to create an exercise program. He highlights it is not regulated, and to get a certification in CrossFit you only need a weekend.
Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, says it is a sport and you have to understand it has different rules, specific lifts and timing. Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, says doing squats in the wrong way puts you at a higher risk for an ACL tear, meniscus tear, or any damage in the knee structure.
He recommends keeping the core nice and tight and be sure you are not using more of your lower back instead of having a nice tight core. He says you could have many issues if the joints are in the wrong angle. Brian Betancourt, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains if you have gotten to the point where you have pain in any range of motion, that is a sign that you took the training too far and you possibly have a strain. He recommends if the pain lasts for a few days, going to a primary care physician.
Carlos Fernandez, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, says you do not want to push through the pain while working out, because pain is your body telling you are doing something is wrong. He suggest not keeping pushing through pain or you will hurt yourself further. Thinking of your fitness goals, eating well and getting proper nutrition, and doing both cardiovascular and strength training are some tips to achieve your goals.
Brian Betancourt, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, says abs are made in the kitchen and it is important to have the proper nutrition to recover from each hour of exercise. He points out you have to do both cardiovascular and strength training. “If your heart’s not in shape to lift weight, it doesn’t matter how much, don’t do it, because at the end of the day your heart is the most important part of your body.” Brian Betancourt, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, recommends if you do not have any health issues, you just work out to whatever is going to best fit your schedule, but if you have a pre-existing condition, like type-2 diabetes or diabetes in general, try not to exercise late evenings to avoid any hypoglycemia when you sleep.
About how many days a week and how long your workout should be, he says the minimum in terms of resistance training is 2 to 3 days per week. To prevent injuries when you exercise, Brian Betancourt, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, recommends if you are using free weights, learn how to rack and unrack the weights. “When you’re unwrapping the weights make sure that you’re not in a hunched over position over the dumbbell rack and you’re not pulling anything with your back, you’re going to be setting yourself in a position where you can use your legs to help you lift.”
He also says if you have never lifted weights you shouldn’t be trying to pick up 70, 80 pound, 60 pound dumbbells. It is better to start with the 10, the 5-pound dumbbells, because you can always go up. Dancing, sports, yoga, Pilates, and rock climbing are alternative ways to stay fit. Brian Betancourt, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, recommends doing something you can take your family with. He also says rock climbing is very safe, because they make you take a course; you have to become certified before you can climb on your own.
He also points out when you have a shoulder issue, you should not be doing anything completely overhead. It is better to do the exercises that are in an angle to keep the back safe. Brian Betancourt, Exercise Physiologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains the American College of Sports Medicine developed the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire as a guideline prior to exercise, just to avoid sudden cardiac death during exercise. “It’s very rare but some people go and exercise, get a heart attack then they pass.”
He also says the PAR-Q plus is a three-page questionnaire with questions like do you have lower back pain, do you have a heart condition, and have you ever had a heart attack. If you answered no to all of them, it will tell you are good to exercise on moderate and low intensity physical activity and then you can build your way up to a vigorous program.
