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October 26, 2022August 31, 2023

Top 3 exercises with UGI ball for best results!

One of the hot favorites in the world of fitness is the UGI Ball. It is a great buddy for workout as it does not restrict us to exercise only in the gym. We can work out with it at home or carry to a hotel or beach while on vacation!

Since it is a hybrid of a medicine ball and stability ball, we can kneel on it, stand on it, and do our planks or crunches. However the trick is, the softness of the ball makes the surface unstable and thus our body has to work harder. In the process it helps to lose more!

It is a 30-minute full body workout routine but it makes workouts fun. Using UGI is awesome to work on our body balance, to build our core strength and also helps to strengthen and stabilize our muscles. It is recommended by various fitness trainers or personal trainers as well to their clients who look forward to achieve that dream body but in a fun way.

This UGI Ball can be used variously for various exercises like –

1. Dips

Dips with UGI Ball — Dips are great to get our upper body toned!

Dips are a very good workout if our target is to tone Upper Body. We should start in a bridge position, keeping our hands on the ball and feet should be flat on the floor. One thing very important here is that we should keep our lower back close to the UGI Ball. Now all we need to do is to bend our elbows in order to lower our butt without touching the floor. After this we need to extend our elbows to return to the starting position. Now repeat.

2. Right & Left Leg Lifts

This Right and Left leg lifts are good when we target to lose fat and tone our Lower Body. It is quite easy too. All we need to do is to balance our right/left knee on the UGI ball. Now we need to extend our other leg straight out with toes pointed to the side. We must remember to keep our leg straight and toes pointed and then raise our extended leg up and down. Throughout the workout we must focus to keep our Abs tight and maintain a flat back. Now we have switch sides and repeat the same on the other leg.

3. Plank Mountain Climbers

Girl doing mountain climbers on UGI ball — Plank Mountain Climbers using the UGI Ball

Another great way to use this ball is to do Plank Mountain Climbers. This is a great Cardio workout that helps to get our heart rate up. We should always begin in a plank position keeping our forearms resting on the ball. We need to keep our legs straight and feet on floor. After this position is set all we have to do is to alternately drive our knees towards chest. Our back should be flat throughout the exercise.

The UGI Ball enables us with so many various forms of exercises UGI Caterpillar, Toss and catch UGI, UGI Swing, Side Lunge Jumps with UGI, V-Ups, Reverse Lunges with Shoulder lifts, UGI Push ups to Jump Squats etc.

This great exercise ball helps us to workout with versatility and thereby enables us with cardio, strength training and core training. UGI Ball thus helps us with a full-body workout.

So without any further delay, let’s get our own UGI Ball and start working out today with a personal trainer to guide us with the correct postures!!

October 26, 2022August 31, 2023

The 7 Best Types Of Yoga & Their Benefits!

The origin of the discipline “Yoga” is in India. It is not only a physical but also a spiritual practice that helps us to reduce our body weight and also stabilize our mind. Modern forms of yoga encourage exercising, focusing on our strength, physical and mental well-being and flexibility.

There are so many variations of Yoga like – Hatha yoga, Iyengar yoga, Yin yoga, Yogalates, Power yoga, Yogasthenics etc. Our fitness level determines the type of yoga class is best suited for us. So it is best to consult a doctor and have a personal yoga instructor to guide us with the right techniques.

1. Ashtanga Yoga

It is based on ancient yoga teachings. It synchronizes our breathing and movement in the asanas. Amongst many other benefits this asana helps to improve our blood circulation, removes toxins from our body and betters the joint pains.

2. Bikram Yoga –

This yoga is held in an artificially heated room of 105 degrees! This form of yoga helps to stretch our body, relieve stress, tone and detoxify our body. It also helps to heal pains like arthritis, knee pains or even back problems.

3. Iyengar Yoga

This form tries to find correct alignment in each posture by using different props like blocks, straps, blankets etc.

4. Kundalini Yoga

It is a form of yoga where we meditate to release kundalini energy. Kundalini yoga class starts with chanting and ends with singing along with meditation and pranayama.

5. Hatha Yoga

Traditionally, Hatha yoga brings peace to the mind and body thereby preparing it for deeper spiritual practices. This style is more gentle and slow. It is great for beginners.

6. Jivamukti Yoga

It traditionally means “liberation while living”. According to David and Sharon, ‘there are too many positive physical benefits to list but the main thing is “you build up a body of light” and feel more comfortable with who you are’. Jivamukti yoga, includes, meditation, chanting, pranayama etc.

7. Prenatal yoga

These are yoga for the pregnant people. This yoga is designed to help pregnant woman in all stages of her pregnancy. Moreover, it also helps to get back to shape post pregnancy faster.

The above mentioned forms are only a few of the varied typologies of Yoga. The list is really a never ending one!

Major Benefits of doing Yoga

Increases our physical strength, balance and flexibility – From ages Yoga has been a major inspiration for many across the globe. It is a safe and very effective workout style which helps to increase our physical strength, balance and flexibility.
Prevents the elderly from sudden falls and injuries – Injuries due to accidental falls amongst older people are very common and a global health concern. Yoga helps to improve our body balance and thus prevents the elderly from sudden falls.
Yoga is very good during and post pregnancy – It is even advised to pregnant women to go for yoga classes as it helps to experience fewer problems in pregnancy and labor.
Anxiety and depression – Yoga is a powerful treatment for depression and anxiety.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease – This disease also called as GERD is greatly benefited with Yoga practice. Regular practice of Yoga like Kapalbhati and Agnisar kriya improves GERD to a great level.
Yoga is like a treatment – Doing yoga is good for people suffering from Arthritis and Asthma. It is also beneficial for people with bipolar disorder. It also works significantly for patients suffering with Migraine.
It reduces cancer related fatigue and breast cancer cognitive problems – Survivors of cancer often report cognitive problems, yoga can effectively reduce cognitive problems in survivors of breast cancer.
Yoga improves chronic neck pain and chronic heart failure – Studies revealed that regular yoga practice improves chronic neck pain or any neck-related disabilities or problems. Yoga has also significant positive effects on cardiac function. People under cardiac rehabilitation Yoga programs have had markedly stable health impacts.
Flexibility- Yogacan make our body more flexible. Yoga has positions that act upon the whole body which in turn stretches the muscles as well as the joints.

However it also true that Yoga is challenging for beginners. Moreover if the postures are incorrect it will not help on the contrary we might injure ourselves. Therefore it is always suggested that we should take the help of a Yoga master or Yoga trainer to learn it properly to yield maximum benefits from it.

October 26, 2022August 31, 2023

Top Benefits Of Stretching Exercise You Need to Know!

In fitness world, all fitness trainers are big advocates of stretching. It is important when we look at being fit. Stretching helps us in lot many ways. It makes our muscles stronger, flexible, improves our range of motion, improves our posture and also helps to calm our mind. Stretching loosens up the tightness of our muscles which in turn reduces our joint pains too!

Top 5 types of Stretching

1. Active stretching –

Active Stretching is also called as static-active stretching. It helps to increase flexibility and strengthens our muscles. Here, we use our agonist muscles. We assume a position and then hold it there using the strength of our agonist muscles only. Thus in this type of stretching, our muscles are under the load of body weight in gravity.

Active Stretching-helps to increase flexibility and strengthens our muscles. — Active Stretching for Legs and Hips

2. Ballistic stretching

This type of stretching involves uncontrolled movements that involve momentum and bouncing.

3. Dynamic stretching

Dynamic stretching warms up the muscles and increases the blood flow and thus prepares them for a workout. Unlike ballistic stretching, dynamic stretching involves controlled movement with a defined range of motion.

4. Passive stretching

In this form of stretching, our muscles are at rest while it is being stretched. This is also referred to as relaxed stretching.

5. Static stretching

It is a very common form of stretching. In this form of stretching, we hold on to a challenging but comfortable position for some time. Static stretching helps to improve our flexibility.

girl doing static stretching — Static stretching for strengthening muscles and improving balance

Some of the Benefits of Stretching are as follows :

Helps us to do other physical activities at ease – It is often seen that doing some basic stretching before any type of physical activities like for example, any type of sports helps to perform well. This is why even personal trainers do stretching on their clients before and after their workout sessions.
Can calm our mind – Stretching helps to calm our mind. This further helps us to complete many other activities which need focus and calmness.
Helps to increase our flexibility – Stretching means becoming more Flexible! Being flexible is the key to be able to perform many daily activities with ease.
Helps to heal back pain – Stretching helps to strengthen our back muscles and this in turn helps to cure muscle strains and any existing back injuries too.
Stretching gives us relieve from headaches – We often get headaches from stress or tension in life. Stretching helps to relax our mind and this in turn helps to reduce our headaches from tension.

However, it is very important to stretch correctly. It is the best idea to train under professionals like a personal trainer or a certified trainer, who can help us to get the most out of it. It is true, that sometimes we get into the dilemma as to whom to hire as our own trainer; what if he is not good or it doesn’t work for us.

NOT TO WORRY!

STRINGSSG HAS COME UP WITH ANSWERS TO ALL YOUR WORRIES AND CONCERNS!

Stretching under the guidance of a personal trainer. — A personal trainer can help us with the correct forms and postures of Stretching.

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October 17, 2018December 8, 2023

Handyman or a Contractor – whom to hire ?

We are often in a dilemma when it comes to hiring a handyman or a contractor for our household or office work. Both have their own positive sides to look at. However, today, many prefer a handyman over a contractor.

Following are some of the benefits to hire a Handyman –

It is often found that Handymen charges daily or hourly basis. Hence, many times they are cheaper than a contractor.
The size of the project does not really matter to a handyman but a contractor does consider the size of the project being offered. On the contrary, handymen are always willing to undertake even the smallest project or tasks which a contractor, might not take up.
We can very easily find a handyman through word of mouth, advertisements, phone books, fliers etc.
Most of the times, Handymen have all the required tools for the project. So hiring a handyman means we do not have to worry about arranging for the right tools for the particular work.

A handyman does variety of work. So we can get one man to do multiple tasks.
When we hire a handyman, we can save money on different types of home improvement projects. It is so because, hiring a handyman means multiple suppliers and contractors are no longer required.
All we want is stress-free completion of any project. Handyman provides a competent service and we can stay relaxed about the accurate completion of the project.

When it comes to small tasks, Handymen are very well-versed. This is so as they don’t differentiate between tasks and as a result, they gain lot of experience in a variety of jobs – be it small or big. Since they are exposed to many different minor challenges while working on different tasks, they also learn to handle such challenging situations in the process.
Hiring a Handyman means we are also eliminating the overhead costs. These men do almost all task all by themselves and hence, they do not need to pay to extra employees. This in turn enables them to give us discounts too!

At StringsSG you will find best Handyman services at your convenience. Click here to get your Handyman Service in just 2 mins!

October 10, 2018February 28, 2024

Should we invest on a Condominium or an HDB?

When it comes to buying a property, Singapore is one of the most expensive countries in the world. Nevertheless, everyone desires to be the owner of a property. In this regard, there is another concern of the residents of Singapore. People here are always in the dilemma between buying an HDB (Public Housing Apartments) and a Condominium.

Various factors controls our decision whether to choose an HDB or a Condo. These factors include our eligibility, our lifestyle, legal matters etc.

The following are some of the reasons to choose a Condominium over an HDB.

Better facilities – A condo is well planned for its resident’s comfort. It comes not only with comfortable latest design interiors but pool, gym, barbeque, play stations for children, badminton courts, community halls etc. All these facilities help us to decide on taking a condo. The convenience of having all these facilities at our doorstep is a big advantage for sure.

Singapore's property market — Singapore’s property market – most likely to slow down in 2019.

Condominiums are open to all types of buyers including the foreigners –There are no restrictions on foreign ownership when it comes to buying a condominium.
No restrictions on ownership of other properties – When we own a condominium, we can still go ahead and purchase other properties at the same time.
Condominiums give us privacy – Singapore is a high-density city. If you are a person who prefers privacy then living in a condo is all what you would want. Privacy that comes along with a condo is something you do not get in an HDB.
If we go for a condominium, then we can opt for a progressive payment scheme as well.
Condominiums are more pet-friendly- In HDBs, usually certain breeds of dogs and cats are restricted from ownership. However, this is not the case in a condo.

The following are some of the reasons to choose an HDB (Public Housing Apartments) over a Condominium.

It’s safe – Though HDBs are public housings, but it is quite safe for the residents even at late night. People do not encounter any problems.
Prices of HDBs are made affordable for the public – Keeping commoners in mind, prices of HDBs have been made quite affordable and decent which helps us to decide to buy HDBs.

HDBs have good resale value – When we think of re sale, HDBs have good re-sale value.
HDB conservancy fees are lesser than even condo maintenance fees.

However whether it is a Condominium or an HDB, we always need a property agent to help us find the perfect house. In this context it is also worthy of mention that sometimes it gets a bit difficult and tiring to get a good agent.

No need to stress out anymore!

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October 1, 2018December 8, 2023

Landlord vs. Tenant Responsibilities and Maintenance

Property agents - solution to issues between landlords and tenants

In case of house renting, both the parties the Landlord and the Tenant are always in question that who is responsible for what work. That is why, a well done rental agreement with the help of a property agent is very important so that there can be proper understanding of each one’s contractual obligation to maintain the property.

Landlord and Tenant facing issues regarding maintenance of the property. — Landlord and Tenant arguing over contractual obligations

The following are some of the Tenant’s Maintenance Responsibilities –

Tenants in general are expected to keep the property clean and avoid any damages to the property deliberately.
As per contract, the Tenants might need to replace batteries of smoke detectors and fire alarms in order to make sure they are working properly.
Disposing the trash is a very important daily work of the Tenants.
When it comes to Pest control, it is tenant’s responsibility to properly maintain the sanitation of the house so that there are no insecticides or infestation. If the tenant does not keep a clean home, the landlord may deduct some amount from the tenant’s security deposit as per the lease.
Waste management is a very important matter for good hygiene. It definitely falls under tenant’s responsibility to properly dispose of any garbage which otherwise could contribute to pest infestations and diseases.
When it comes to plumbing or air conditioning, it is Tenant’s responsibility to use these fixtures properly. He should keep the pipes clear and replace the air filters too. He should report any issues to the landlord quickly to prevent further damages without any delay so that the landlord can take care of the issue accordingly.
At the time of the signing of contract, if Landscaping maintenance is already mentioned as a clause, then the tenant has to take care of it accordingly as otherwise, he can be fined for violating the contract.
Tenant should return the property in the same condition as it was at the time of the lease term. If there are any damages then the tenant needs to fix it before the handover or the landlord has the right to deduct the expenses from the tenant’s security deposit.

Rental Agreement — Rental agreement between the Landlord and the Tenant – for proper understanding of each one’s contractual obligation to maintain the property.

The following are some of the Landlord’s Maintenance Responsibilities –

When it comes to plumbing or air conditioning, it is the landlord’s responsibility to keep these systems in working condition and fixing any kind of problems with regards to these.
It is owner’s responsibility to do the pest control if there is an infestation.
The common areas like the elevators and other common-use areas also fall under landlord’s responsibility to keep them properly safe and clean.
It is the landlord’s responsibility to keep the premises of the house in a reasonable state and in compliance with the safety laws.
All the mentioned appliances, in the contract should be kept in working order by the landlord.
The landlord is responsible for most of the repairs of the home like the interior and exterior of the house, doors and windows, stairs, roof, electrical wiring, chimneys, pipes and drains, gas appliances etc

Intervention of the Property Agents –

Throughout the period of the tenancy, either parties of the contract, i.e. the landlord and tenant might face some issues that are difficult to resolve alone all by themselves. In such cases, both the parties look for a third party to mediate and resolve the problem. Here comes in the role of one of the property agents who handled the rental transaction. In many cases the respective agent steps into the matter and tries to bring a solution to the problem.

However, it is true that it is not a mandatory responsibility of the Agent to resolve such issues but some agents does step in to help and solve landlord-tenant problems simply out of goodwill. Again in some cases, the parties formally engage their agent to manage their property.

Property Agents are professionals with adequate knowledge in their field and hence can easily resolve difficult issues. Hence it is always better to bring in our Agents so that the solution can be surfaced at ease.

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