Upper Body Strength Training for Beginners


This workout focuses on endurance, muscle awareness, and very basic muscle strengthening for the arms, chest, back, and shoulders. With the use of light dumbbells, this program is designed to aim at each of these important muscles.  Even beginners who have never tried lifting weight can follow this easily and benefit greatly.

With regards to muscle training, many people choose to focus on the abdomen, legs, and buttocks. But for day-to-day life, it will greatly help, especially for women, to tone the upper body as well.

When lifting weights, it's crucial to concentrate on the specific muscle movement: steady tension must be produced by conscious contraction the muscle during the exercise. This may not be the most efficient or fastest strength-building method; if that is your aim, graduating to heavier weights and, in some cases, specific position should be done during exercise. Every time you learn a new movement, whether a biceps curl or a dance step, your brain must first learn which muscles to stimulate for the action to be done correctly. An significant part of strength training is the use of the muscles specified to do the work. Fresh movements form neural pathways through the brain and spinal cord to the muscle. These nerve pathways dictate which muscles to fire, or contract. This is called "neuromuscular facilitation."

With the use of light weights, you can focus on using the proper muscles. Although the neural pathways will be different as you begin this weight program at home or at the gym, this exercise may be a much more enjoyable introduction to the program. You could go through the primary learning process lifting a three-pound weight rather than a heavier barbell.

As you adjust to the movements and progress to heavier weights or machines, you will use your muscles variedly and build new neuromuscular pathways. For example, when you do the cable row in the gym, a resistance is formed by the cable in front of you. Your back and upper arm muscles will then work against the resistance while you draw the cable. In a standing stance, carry two dumbbells and pull them back in similar motion, the greatest resistance will come from the gravity pulling downward on the dumbbells, a resistance that requires the muscles on the front of the shoulder a lot more than the muscles at the back. Your back muscles will work primarily to stabilize your arm position. You can intensify your muscle awareness by also bringing in tension in these muscles while executing the movement.

You'll have a great starting point on building the muscles that are essential to your posture and your lifestyle by using the basics of strength training for the upper body. Enjoy the experience of feeling stronger.  Later, you will be more aware of muscles that you never knew existed.

© Athena Goodlight




Steps in Administering an Insulin Injection


image via Wikipedia

Control with Insulin— the Techniques

There is nothing quite complicated about an insulin injection. A patient typically learns how to administer it from the doctor or nurse. Moreover, the whole process is presented through pictures in various pamphlets which can be obtained free of charge from the American Diabetes Association, Eli Lilly & Co. or from E R. Squibb and Sons.

Still, the process is so important that it is worth reviewing:
1. The syringe and needle should be sterilized by boiling in water for about five minutes or by steady immersion in alcohol in a "Steritube" or similar case. In the event such a case is employed, then it, the syringe and needle should be sterilized by boiling at least once every two weeks. Because hard water tends to cake the syringe and needle, be sure soft water is used. If necessary, use distilled water or a commercial water softener. Hard water can normally be detected by a whitish residue it leaves as it boils away.
2. Be sure the insulin to be used is totally mixed in the vial. Only globin, regular, and crystal-line-zinc insulins require no mixing. If a mixture of insulins is done in the syringe, make sure they're well mixed.
3. Be mindful to eject any water or alcohol from the syringe.
4. Wash the site of the injection using soap and water, then apply alcohol with a cotton dab. Injections must be made in the arms, legs, or abdomen, and a different site in another area must be used every time.
5. Wipe the rubber stopper in the insulin vial with another piece of cotton wet with alcohol. Don't ever remove the stopper.
6. Set the plunger of your syringe at the mark indicating your dose.
7. Stick the needle through the rubber stopper of the vial and push the plunger completely in. This should force air into the vial.
8. Turn the vial gradually upside down several times, then with the vial upside down, pull the plunger back to the mark showing your dose. When there are any air bubbles in the syringe, push the plunger in slowly then pull it back to your proper dosage mark again. Be utterly sure your proper dose is in the syringe before you pull away the needle from the vial.
9. As opposed to most instructions, there is no need to pinch the skin. Hold it steady and stick the needle into the site of the injection promptly and deeply with the needle going straight in, never at an angle. Push the plunger in slowly as far as it would go.
10. Hold the piece of cotton wet with alcohol-lightly over the patch where the needle enters the skin. Then extract the needle, continuing to hold the cotton on the skin for a couple of seconds. Don't rub the injection site. Just continue pressing.
11. Take the syringe apart and rinse using clear water or, if a Steritube or Vim case is being used, place it back to the tube.

These are the steps in administering an insulin injection. It is significant to observe them carefully to prevent contaminating the insulin, as well as the danger of injecting too much or not enough insulin. The process is not at all complex once it is practiced a few times. Child diabetics, no more than four years of age, have been instructed to give themselves their own injections.

The Development and Symptoms of Diabetes



The definite symptoms of diabetes are quite obviously impossible to ignore. However, many people are unaware of the signs or refuse to recognize what they are. As a result, in four known cases of diabetes, about three are undetected and untreated. 

 These are common symptoms of diabetes in the approximate order shown: frequent urination, excessive thirst, rapid weight loss, extreme hunger, over-all weakness, drowsiness and fatigue, itching in genitals, visual disturbances, blurred vision, etc., skin diseases such as boils, carbuncles, and other infections.