ACHIEVING WELLNESS - Research Paper Example

? Achieving My Body Fitness Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 31st March, Achieving My Body Fitness Dimensions of health According to Vivian H. Heyward (2003), for an individual to be considered healthy, there are other aspects that are considered apart from just eating well and having exercises. This involves balancing the various dimensions of health without overlooking any of them. The following dimensions of health are therefore essential for one to be healthy. Physical dimension of health basically involves the individual’s health of the body. This means that for the body to be considered healthy, respiration, musculoskeletal, digestion and elimination among other systems need to be functioning optimally. This is achieved through maintaining proper nutrition and exercising regularly. The other aspect that is essential in the physical dimension of health is recognition and dealing with disease and search of appropriate medical care. Emotional dimension on the other hand involves the individual’s perception of him or herself. An individual who is considered to be emotional healthy is one who possesses self-acceptance, self-control and self-reliance. Such an individual is able to develop healthy relationships and is also able to share his or her feelings which encourage the individual’s sense of optimism and trust in other people. Emotional wellness enables the individual to adapt to change in various environments. Spiritual dimension focuses on beliefs upon which an individual bases his or her life. The faith or philosophy foundation of an individual gives meaning and purpose to life. It is through this dimension that an individual acquires some virtues such as love, compassion and ability to forgive others among others. The social dimension of health focuses on the importance of human relationships. This is through the ability to communicate and develop an understanding that no one can live totally independent of others. It also emphasizes that these relationships cannot develop effectively without emotional and physical connections. The environmental dimension focuses on attainment of an environment that promotes the health of an individual. The health of an individual requires enough clean water and air, safe and nutritious foods in order to maintain an individual’s overall wellness. This wellness however, can be threatened by what the environment produces. To avoid this, people should practice environmentally responsible behaviors which include conservation and reuse of resources. Right from the beginning, I had an objective of increasing my body fitness and toning up. As an individual I decided to concentrate on push ups in an attempt to achieve wholesome health wellness. This is after realizing that push ups are one of the methods of attaining perfect total body exercises. The exercises involve lying prone on a surface with hands wider than the shoulder width. The individual then raises the body up off the floor by extending arms with body while maintain the straightness (Nindl, B.C., Harman, et al, 2000). This is done repeatedly where the body must remain straight. Push ups have been known to achieve physical dimension of health. This is particularly due to its ability to build the upper body and increase the individual’s core strength. This is seen in the ability to exercise muscles of the chest, shoulders, back, legs among other areas of the body. For a long time individuals have not understood the many benefits of pushups in maintaining their bodies form (Guinness World Records 2010, 2009). As a result, most undertake this exercise as just an extra exercise without knowing that this form of exercise can be used as a strategy of increasing their growth hormones and muscle growth. It can therefore, become a primary exercise if an individual takes it seriously. When individuals undertake push ups as a team, one is able to develop socially as their interactions increase chances of social growth. This is particularly when they are challenging each other on the number of push ups one can undertake before resting. Push ups are exercises that have no environmental hazards. This is because unlike other exercises, push ups can be done anywhere and requires no equipment at all (Bruce Lee and John R. Little 1998). As a result, any individual having the intentions of toning up his or her body can always use this method as it cheap and healthy. I chose this exercise after realizing that push ups were the best for the chest workouts. In addition since I wanted to increase my muscle size and tone, I realized that push ups were the best for me having in mind that besides achieving this, there were other benefits. This include; improving the circulation of blood and general cardiovascular health (Patenaude Frederic, 2010), The other benefit of this exercise is that an individual does not need to purchase expensive equipment or even visit a gym since less space is required for the exercise. The first stage in my desire to tone up my body through push ups involved simple exercises for a beginner. This included; holding the appropriate form and position for sometime. After doing this for sometime and realizing that the challenge was bearable, I then began with a few push up workouts. My first target was managing just twenty pushups (Brett and McKay Kate, 2009). At the beginning, this was proving a bit difficult especially because I was not used to flexing and stretching. I made sure that all the muscles were involved. This was achieved by stretching the abdominal muscles and giving my legs some workout in order to create an appropriate form for the quadriceps. There were various barriers in the process of achieving my objectives of body toning and achieving the fitness. Firstly, my attempts to loose fats from specific parts which seemed to be my area of focus was harder than I thought (West Richard, 2006).This was particularly on the chest, belly and even on my lower back. The fats in these areas seemed to burn at a very slow rate. In addition, the more I increased the number of pushups targeting these areas; I tended to loose fats on other areas first than my areas of focus (Nindl, B.C.et al, 1996). Evaluation I began recording the number of push ups I undertook everyday on my journal as I note the changes that my body was undergoing. According to my objectives, this would help me to observe my muscular fitness through improving on my muscular strength and endurance. In addition, I had set a target of achieving muscular contractions (Streetdirectory, 2012). Push ups being the best exercise for this as it would assist me to handle my weight through incorporation of the various methods of muscular contractions. During the first two weeks of my pushups work out, I began with the easy exercises which did not require much a lot of strain. I would do these exercises twice a day for about thirty minutes The second two weeks of my schedule involved alternating the low-intensity activities with the high-intensity ones (Viklund Andreas, 2008). I would do this by beginning slowly and later increasing the intensity of the exercise. During the final two weeks, I concentrated on specific parts of the body where I needed to increase the speed of fitness in order to achieve my desired toning. By the end of six weeks, most of my objectives had been met as I was able to tone up my body as well as achieve wholesome body fitness. However, I learnt that achieving this wellness required more than just one instant exercise. This means that my exercises needed to be regular and my diet also needed to be appropriate. Reference list Brett and McKay Kate, (2009). The Ultimate Push-up Guide: 35+ Push-up Exercises. Retrieved from: http://artofmanliness.com/2009/07/21/push-ups-exercises/ Bruce Lee and John R. Little (1998). The Art of Expressing the Human Body. Tuttle Publishing. pg 58. Guinness World Records 2010 (2009). Guinness World Records. ISBN 1-904-99450-4. Nindl, B.C., Harman, et al,(2000). Regional body composition changes in women after 6 months of periodized physical training. Journal of Applied Physiology, 88, 2251-2259 Nindl, B.C.et al, (1996). Regional fat placement in physically fit males and changes with weight loss. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise,28, 786-793 Patenaude Frederic (2010), The Top 5 Best Exercises, Secret Weapons to Get Stunningly Fit. Retrieved from: http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/articles/5bestexercises.html Streetdirectory, (2012). Health Benefits of Doing a Push Up. Retrieved from: http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/45651/bodybuilding/health_benefits_of_do ng_a_push_up.html Viklund Andreas, (2008). The hundred push ups training program. Retrieved from: http://hundredpushups.com/ Vivian H. Heyward (2003). Advanced fitness assessment & exercise prescription. Human Kinetics.  pg 125. West Richard, (2006).The Benefits of Doing Pushups. Retrieved from: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Benefits-of-Doing-Pushups&id=393316 Read More