Garry Y. Itkin

The immense benefits of getting into boxing

Boxing can be one of the best workout routines for you. For today’s blog, Garry Y. Itkin looks at some of the immense benefits you can reap by taking on boxing as part of your fitness regimen.

First, boxing will help you burn up many calories. How? When you box, you’re not just trading punches with your opponent; you’ll be bouncing around the ring while keeping yourself in tip-top shape.

Because of all that energy expenditure, it will lead to burning up some extra calories. This means, if paired with the right diet plan, boxing can help you lose some weight, as well as sculpt your body’s muscles.

But of course, there are those times you can’t drop by the gym and go all-out boxing with a trainer. That’s where exercising at home comes in handy. What you’ll need is a punching bag or a heavy bag. These tools usually weigh around 100 pounds, but they may vary, so be sure to check the weight before purchasing.

You’ll also want to invest in some boxing gloves unless you don’t mind using wraps on your hands instead. A good pair of boxing gloves should last you for a while, but if they start to wear out, it’s time for a new pair.

When you’re ready to start, Garry Y. Itkin recommends finding an open space in your home and putting the bag up. You don’t have to hang it from the ceiling; just put it in a spot where you have enough room to move around. Now, go slow at first, then gradually build up your intensity.

Aging strong: Workout tips for seniors

Garry Y. Itkin reminds everyone that we all have to stay healthy, no matter what our age. However, as we get older, our bodies tend to respond differently to workouts. In today’s blog, Garry Y. Itkin shares some important points that seniors have to remember when exercising.

• Be sure to warm-up. Just because you’re a senior doesn’t mean that your bones and muscles are immune to injury. Make sure to stretch before working out, both during the warm-up and after workout routines.

• Don’t forget about strength training even though your muscles may be weaker as you age. You can build muscle by exercising your arms, legs, back, and stomach muscles. Make sure to work out with weights that are appropriate for you or use one of the many machines at the gym.

• Don’t over-exercise if you are feeling tired. Listen to your body’s signals. Overdoing things could make you burn out or, worse, you could end up injuring yourself before you even reach your fitness goals.

• Drink the appropriate amount of water and eat the right food. Your body needs the right fuel if it is going to be able to handle strenuous exercise sessions.

• Be sure that you get enough rest, especially at night. Your body needs time to recover and rejuvenate itself at the end of a workout session.

• It is important to use the right fitness equipment or else it can cause injury or delay in reaching your goals. For example, Garry Y. Itkin mentions that dumbbells need to be at an appropriate weight, if not, it could result in injury.

Some ways to develop your defense in basketball

Being a biology major, Garry Y. Itkin can attest to the fact that student life can be very challenging. One has to be smart about surviving college, especially in having a well-balanced lifestyle during this crucial stage in life. Because he wants to keep himself fit, Garry plays basketball quite regularly. In this blog entry, he shares how to improve defense in basketball.

1. Speed up

Image source: online-basketball-drills.com

Defense is all about getting ahead of your counterpart. Great defensive basketball is always mindful of the offensive player’s moves. This is why it’s more physically demanding to play defense compared to playing offense. Naturally, the faster you are, the more difficult it will be for the offensive player. Lose weight and do much sprinting, advises Garry Y. Itkin. This will surely improve your chances of making life difficult for the offensive person.

2. Develop anticipation

The offensive person sticks to a certain behavior, and you should be very aware of this. This will give you some clues on your opponent’s next move. For example, mannerisms like shrugging shoulders before taking a shot can give you a split-second to go up for a block. In addition, the offensive person may use his eyes to communicate with teammates, so you should be conscious of this as well. Anticipation is something that you don’t learn overnight, but when you do, you’ll become a smarter player, notes Garry Y. Itkin.

3. Read the offense

This is quite related to the previous point. However, reading the offense requires you to be aware of the offensive team’s play rather than the individual’s. Offensive sets follow a certain pattern, which can be predictable if you know where to look. If you can see where the ball is going right before it heads there, you have a chance to adjust your defense and even communicate this to your own team.

How to get better at doing pushups

As a freshman biology student, Garry Y. Itkin has tried to find ways to survive his life as a student through creative and affordable ways that he can think of. He has also been able to keep himself fit with some simple exercises in his dorm. Today, he shares some suggestions on how to get better at doing pushups.

If you have not been doing pushups regularly, there’s a good chance that you have an extraordinarily difficult time doing them when you try again. Perhaps at best, you may be able to do only a few of them in succession, and this becomes a reason for you not to try any further at all, says Garry Y. Itkin.

This is the story of many frustrated people who have experienced firsthand what it means to halt one’s progress out of initial discomfort. The truth is, you can gradually train yourself to do pushups methodically so that you still realize your objective, albeit at a slower, more manageable pace.

You can always start by doing pushups on an incline. This does not give you the kind of heavy resistance that stops you on your tracks. However, it provides you with enough of a challenge to prepare you for more complex stages along your way to mastery. Garry Y. Itkin suggests that when you feel that you have become stronger, work your way up to a more level stance.

For some people, doing pushups on their knees as a starting point has been a good enough way to start. This eliminates the strain on your torso, which is really what makes doing pushups quite difficult. Like in the previous point, you can progress into the standard pushup when you become stronger. Always challenge yourself to do things harder than you did the day before.

A few helpful insights on weight loss.

Today, Garry Y. Itkin addresses one of the most common and most pressing issues for people on their fitness journey – weight loss, or more accurately, the lack thereof.

People work as hard and as much as they can in the gym, but the weight’s not changing, or worse, they’re getting heavier. There might be a few explanations as to why this is happening.

They’re not sticking to the diet.

People exercise seven days a week, but they eat anything they want when they get home, including high amounts of carbs and sugar.

People try to justify their diet by working out, but it just doesn’t work that way. Weight loss (and weight gain) is 30% exercise and 70% diet. Remember, nobody can exercise their way out of a bad diet.

They’re not eating enough.

Garry Y. Itkin mentions that it might sound counterintuitive, but yes, it’s true. Eating too much will mess with the weight loss ambitions, and so will eating too little. When people eat too little, the body lacks the energy to burn whatever needs to be burned. It also keeps the body from functioning the way it should when they work out.

Eat the right proportions. It will help with metabolism.

They’re gaining muscle.

Muscle gain is one of the reasons why people are not losing weight. The computation is that five pounds of fat are equal to a pound of muscle.

So, if they find their clothes getting loose, the pants slipping off, and inches vanishing off several parts of the body, but the weight has plateaued, then odds are they’re gaining muscle.

The importance of running in maintaining mental health.

According to Garry Y. Itkin, millions of Americans of all ages suffer from clinical depression. According to the World Health Organization, the disease could be more widespread than believed due to the social stigma still attached to the illness. This has caused many people to suffer in ignorance or shame. Still, those who are diagnosed face the challenge of finding the correct treatment plan for their condition.

A variety of factors, usually a blend of biological, social, and physical reasons, results in depression, which in turn affects the way depression is treated. Many mental health professionals recommend a multifaceted approach, including medication, therapy, and alternative forms of healing.

One of the most highly promoted treatments is running. Garry Y. Itkin recommends running as well. This type of exercise is ideal because there is not much investment needed other than determination. There are many free places people can run; the only gear required is a good pair of running shoes.

Unlike other exercises, running involves constant movement. The repetitive motion can be soothing and, when combined with relaxing music, the activity can temper negative thoughts and feelings.

Running, just like any other exercise also produces endorphins, which help stabilize mood and alleviate anxiety.

People can run either alone or with a group. One should decide what suits him or her best. Garry Y. Itkin suggests though that first-timers begin with at least a partner. This way, the person is properly encouraged and supported through this difficult period.

Having said this, Garry Y. Itkin reminds everyone that while running is good for a person’s mental well-being, it is not a replacement for therapy and treatment of depression. Those should still be continued.

Exploring parkour, the cheapest way to get high-intensity exercise.

Biology student Garry Y. Itkin is quite fond of looking for ways to live healthy the cheap way. In this blog post, he helps you explore parkour as a means to keep strong and healthy, without you having to spend at all.

The name “parkour” is derived from the French term “parcours,” which means “the way through” or “the path.”

By definition, the sport of parkour is all about getting from one point to another by using the obstacles in your path to increase your efficiency. However, the way that it is practiced in reality is that as one intends to reach his destination, he does so by choosing the shortest way to get there, but not necessarily the easiest, says Garry Y. Itkin.

This makes the sport interesting because it encourages many jumping through obstacles, which adds an undeniable amount of danger. Typically, you might see a group of people doing tricks at the park-like leaping on tables and benches, climbing along poles, and diving into the ground headfirst.

In parkour, people hardly take the stairs the normal way if they find that it’s doable to leap a full flight. Needless to say, parkour is not for the faint of heart because with it comes the adrenaline rush, which many participants truly enjoy.

Healthwise, parkour keeps you fit, flexible, and quick. According to Garry Y. Itkin, if you do it right and regularly, you’re sure to have an improved physique in no time, you will feel lighter as you move, and you will feel more energized.

If you parkour your way through your regular commute, you might even save on your travel expenses, too, which isn’t bad at all for those who are trying to survive school life on a budget.

Get those firm abs before the summer starts!

Retired physical educator Garry Y. Itkin has written several articles emphasizing the importance of the core muscles. He notes that much of a person’s strength and power come from their core. Core muscles are made up of both the abdominals and lower back muscles. All the physically strong individuals in the world, such as athletes, bodybuilders, soldiers, powerlifters, and the like, have powerful cores.

To help people get those firm abs before the summer starts, Garry Y. Itkin shares two more basic exercises that are sure to strengthen the core.

Crunches

Garry Y. Itkin explains that crunches are basically half-sit-ups. This exercise strengthens the upper and middle abdominals without hurting the lower back, which full sit-ups may do.

All a person needs to do is lie down on their back with their legs bent at their knees at a 90-degree angle. They then lift their upper body up to perform a sit-up but stop with the back of their shoulders six to eight inches off the floor. They can modify this by holding this position for two to three seconds before lowering themselves and repeating the motion. The slower the motion, the more tension the core feels, thus the more effective the exercise.

Leg Raises

The leg raise is a great exercise that focuses on the lower abdominals.

A person should lie on their back with their feet together and straight out to execute this correctly. Then they raise both legs until they form a 90-degree angle with the body. Ayden Hector notes that the back should stay straight and not arch. To help with this, a person can put both palms underneath their buttocks. Again, the slower the motion, the better, Garry Y. Itkin adds.

How to balance studying and staying fit.

When school assignments take up more time, staying fit could be next to impossible. But according to Garry Y. Itkin, there are studies linking exercise with better school performance. How then can academic tasks mix up with physical fitness? Here are a few tips to add more flexibility to your schedule.

Planning and Goal-setting

There’s no better way than to sit down and study the timeline of what’s ahead. There should be no room for procrastination here, reminds Garry Y. Itkin. Setting your goals will be much easier when you have everything mapped out already. However, goals should be realistic, recognizing the amount of time dedicated to school and social life. For instance, you can set the number of times you may go to the gym, say every other day or at least three days a week for an entire semester, or doing a 5k run in less than 30 minutes.

Priorities and motivation

As always, schoolwork should always be a top priority. Garry Y. Itkin adds that good grades should motivate you to add exercise to your routine. Studies show that exercise can be a stress-reliever and boosts brain function and memory. Isn’t that a great deal?

Time and scheduling

Regardless of the busy academic schedule, a small amount of time will always be there for exercise to fit in. Garry Y. Itkin advises students to keep a planner to monitor their schedule. See if you have at least a few hours to hit the treadmill.

Hit the gym Or just exercise. After all that has been said, there is nothing else to do but seize the moment once exercise time comes in. Sooner or later, you will gradually adjust to the new schedule, assures Garry Y. Itkin. With consistency, the benefits will come in. Just stick to it, and you will be more attractive, both physically and mentally.

Train like a boxer and reap the rewards.

According to Garry Y. Itkin, a lot of sports-centric training can do wonders for the human body. However, very few can hold a candle to boxing. Boxing has multiple benefits that can boost the health of people of all ages and, if done regularly, can carry them on their fitness journey towards their goals. If you still need convincing, check out the training boxers do, their physiques, and how strong and well-conditioned they’ve become.

Boxing essentially turbocharges the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Its training regimen is one of the best workouts for the hearts and lungs known to man. People will need to be constantly on the move, and will be utilizing a series of movements that require effort. From jump rope to running to actual boxing with proper footwork, the effort people put in will strengthen their cardiovascular and respiratory systems like no other workout.

Furthermore, boxing strengthens the muscles and the bones of people through repeated high intensity training, making them physically stronger and fitter. Boxing also sculpts the body, as seen with the physiques of many pro boxers.

Finally, people who are stressed out in life can head to a boxing gym and blow off some steam by working on the focus mitts, speedbags, heavy bags, and more. And boy, does boxing let people blow off some steam. And as Garry Y. Itkin has always emphasized in the past, part of a healthy body is a healthy mind.