Benefits of Dog Walking

 

Dog Walking
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Concurrently serving World Financial Group as a financial entrepreneur and Thatcher McGee’s Restaurant and Bar as head of security, Gettysburg College graduate Derek Weigel is an active member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity Gettysburg chapter. When not working, Derek Weigel loves to hike with his dogs.

Regular dog walking helps improve bone and muscle strength and cardiovascular health while lowering blood cholesterol and stress. In addition to health benefits, dog walking provides social benefits to owners, according to research conducted by the University of Western Australia. The study revealed dog owners who hike with their pet are more likely to meet new people and socialize with others on the street.

Walking can help dogs prevent obesity, which is associated with other health complications, such as cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, insulin resistance, and liver disease. A few minutes out of the house also helps develop the dog’s social behavior and alleviates boredom.

Weightlifting Tips to Avoid Injury

Weightlifting
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A graduate of Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Derek Weigel has worked as a financial entrepreneur with World Financial Group since 2016. In his free time, Derek Weigel stays active by hiking, playing sports, and lifting weights.

Whether your goal is to build muscle mass or simply increase your strength, it’s important to take the proper steps to avoid injury while weightlifting. An injury can seriously hamper your fitness goals and even lead to long-term problems if it is severe enough. Stay on track for a healthy workout with these three tips:

1. Be Sure to Warm Up

Warming up before hitting the weights is very important because it gives your muscles, ligaments, and tendons a chance to stretch. Warming up also gets blood flowing through the muscles, which promotes flexibility and mobility. A good warmup routine may include jogging, riding a stationary bike, or high-rep weight training with ultralight weights.

2. Always Use the Proper Technique

A proper warm-up won’t do much good if you don’t use the proper lifting techniques during your training. Using incorrect form can lead to muscle tears and even serious joint injuries. To ensure that you have proper form while lifting, you can consult with a trainer or ask a friend to watch or record your training routine. You should also learn how to safely bail out of a rep when you can feel that your form is off.

3. Don’t Lift Beyond Your Ability

If you want to avoid injury while you steadily improve in the gym, you need to respect your limits. Lifting too much is a sure-fire way to hurt yourself or your gym partner. You’ll know you’re lifting too much if you have to jerk or heave a weight to lift it. An inability to keep proper form or control a weight also signals that you’re lifting beyond your ability.

Tips for Safe Hiking with Your Dog

 

Hiking with Your Dog
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Derek Weigel, head of security at Thatcher McGhee’s Restaurant and Bar in Denville, New Jersey, holds a bachelor of arts in philosophy from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. Beyond his professional activities and studies at Gettysburg College, Derek Weigel enjoys hiking with his dogs.

There are a number of safety precautions an individual must taking when hiking with a dog. Many safety measures can be addressed by keeping a dog on leash for the duration of a hike. In many locations, including National Parks, it is unlawful to hike with an animal off leash. Whether it is legal to allow a dog off leash or not, hikers must consider the various risks associated with off leash hiking.

Other dogs and wild animals likely rank as the top concern for hikers when it comes to off leash hiking. Regardless of how well trained a dog is, there is no accounting for the behavior of another hiker’s dog or, more troubling, the behavior of a skunk or coyote. A much more common occurrence, however, involves a dog drinking from a contaminated stream or eating unsafe food found along the trail. All these situations can be avoided by simply keeping the dog on leash.

Of course, there are other aspects of safe hiking with a companion animal. For example, it is not advisable to hike with a dog in extreme weather conditions, particularly excessive heat. Hikers must remember to pack food and water for their animal companion and, if necessary, dress dogs for certain hikes. Finally, hikers must remember to monitor the animal’s energy levels: most dogs can hike further and longer than their owner, but there is no point in pushing an animal friend to their physical limits.