Archive for February, 2010

Autumn’s The Best Time To Get Fit

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Autumn FitAutumn, with its cool temperatures and beautiful outdoor scenery is one of the best seasons to begin a fitness program.

Going for walks in the park during autumn is a person’s chance to commune with Mother Nature while improving his overall health.

Walking is an aerobic exercise that has a low impact on joints in the lower extremities.

Thirty minutes of walking per day (or ten thousand steps) can add years to a person’s life and lessen the risk for medical conditions to develop.

Areas like New England offer a lovely, colorful backdrop to enjoy while hiking or riding a bicycle. Gathering the falling leaves also provides an opportunity to get out of the house and work those muscles.

The cooler temperatures and colorful scenery are also conducive to other activities, such as rowing a boat on a lake. Rowing is a low-impact activity that works out all major muscle groups, such as core muscles (abdominal), upper body muscles (biceps, triceps), back muscles (lats), and lower body muscles (gluteus and quadriceps).

Rowing is also a good cardiovascular exercise.  Caution must be exercised, as with all fitness programs; rowing can be strenuous on knee joints, spine and tendons in the forearm.

Bicycle riding is also very enjoyable during autumn. Biking or cycling provides the rider an aerobic exercise opportunity with a very efficient mode of transportation.

Cycling is a good exercise for people with arthritis of the lower limbs because there is virtually no impact on the knees and other lower joints. Cycling also tones the leg muscles.

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Autumn’s The Best Time To Get Fit

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Autumn FitAutumn, with its cool temperatures and beautiful outdoor scenery is one of the best seasons to begin a fitness program.

Going for walks in the park during autumn is a person’s chance to commune with Mother Nature while improving his overall health.

Walking is an aerobic exercise that has a low impact on joints in the lower extremities.

Thirty minutes of walking per day (or ten thousand steps) can add years to a person’s life and lessen the risk for medical conditions to develop.

Areas like New England offer a lovely, colorful backdrop to enjoy while hiking or riding a bicycle. Gathering the falling leaves also provides an opportunity to get out of the house and work those muscles.

The cooler temperatures and colorful scenery are also conducive to other activities, such as rowing a boat on a lake. Rowing is a low-impact activity that works out all major muscle groups, such as core muscles (abdominal), upper body muscles (biceps, triceps), back muscles (lats), and lower body muscles (gluteus and quadriceps).

Rowing is also a good cardiovascular exercise.  Caution must be exercised, as with all fitness programs; rowing can be strenuous on knee joints, spine and tendons in the forearm.

Bicycle riding is also very enjoyable during autumn. Biking or cycling provides the rider an aerobic exercise opportunity with a very efficient mode of transportation.

Cycling is a good exercise for people with arthritis of the lower limbs because there is virtually no impact on the knees and other lower joints. Cycling also tones the leg muscles.

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Practical And Fun Flexibility Exercises

Friday, February 26th, 2010

If you envy the flexible bodies of gymnasts and ballet dancers, you should try doing flexibility exercises.

Flexibility starts with having flexible muscles which allow your joints to move effortlessly regardless of any movement.

In order to avoid muscle tension and injuries, you should perform flexibility exercises.  Not only would they help improve your fitness but flexibility exercises are also proven to be beneficial for daily activities.

Flexibility exercises do not function similarly with aerobics exercises. They are designed to stretch your increments that will enable you to easily reach and extend your muscles.

They are also important in helping you maintain balance and agility. Doing regular flexibility exercises will definitely make it easier for you to do other more complicated and rigorous exercises.

Flexibility exercises

1. Stretching

There are many flexibility exercises out there but none is more popular than stretching. It is oftentimes overlooked by others but stretching serves as a warm up before you engage your body in more serious exercises.

Moreover, stretching must be done after a workout too. Never bounce when you perform static stretches. Simply hold a comfortable position and stretch. You will feel a gentle pull on your muscles.

Hold the position for about 15 to 30 seconds. Further, you can do simple stretches especially at work by moving your shoulders, legs, and neck to ease muscle tension.

2. Pelvic Presses

Flexibility exercises usually target areas of concentration just like the pelvic. Perform this exercise by lying on your back on a flat surface.

Raise your knees up while keeping both of your feet on the ground. Push your back to the floor. Maintain the same position for a few seconds.

Intensify these flexibility exercises by using variations. Accompany it with feet movement and pushing your back while your feet are slightly apart from each other.

3. Dog stretch

Get down on the floor like a standing dog. Raise your head, lower your arms, then arch your back and hold the position for a couple of seconds. This simple exercise will have tension brewing on your lower back as well as your neck.

4. Toe touch

Stand up with your feet slightly apart. Stretch both of your arms up. Then, carefully reach down for your toes. For effective results, avoid bending your knees while reaching for your toes.

Toe touch might appear simple but it would be hard especially if you haven’t had any stretching activities in a while. Do not rush or push yourself too hard into this exercise. Unlike with other flexibility exercises, it may take you weeks to eventually reach your toes.

5. Knee to chest exercises

Lie on your back and pull one of your thighs towards you. Clasp your hands on this thigh. Then, slowly pull it up to your chest.

Make sure that the other leg stays flat on the floor and hold this position for at least 10 seconds. Repeat the procedure on your other leg. For best results, do ten repetitions for each leg.

6. Yoga

Flexibility exercises need not only focus on releasing muscle tension but should also offer other benefits.

Yoga is an exercise that improves flexibility, endurance, and balance. It is a training of the mind and body. In addition, yoga is an effective means of relaxing and relieving the body from stress.

Flexibility exercises are sometimes mistaken as mere stretching exercises. However, you should bear in mind that these kinds of exercises can greatly prepare you for more strenuous activities.

Like oil to common machines, flexibility exercises function to aid the muscles in different activities. Doing these exercises regularly will provide you with a lot of rewarding benefits.

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4 Common Excuses To Not Get Fit

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

fit“I had a hard week at work”, “yes, ok, but after watching this cool movie”, “… and I’m tired”.

Are these sentences familiar? If they are, congratulations, here is the membership card of “finding perfect excuses for not getting fit”’ club!

In today’s fast and tiring lifestyle, people find it hard to spare some time to exercising.

No, exercising does not include carrying the child’s bag as a heavy lift or walking from bathroom to study room as jogging.

So, the ultimate question is why do people avoid exercising that much bother to make excuses about not doing them?

  1. First excuse may be the time issue. “I don’t have time” is an easy sentence to say, however, for exercising one should “make” time. There is always time for something, it is important to use it wisely for the best beneficial activities.
  2. The other excuse is that the fitness gear is too expensive, and going to a gym is not free at all. If the need is to do an overall body workout, then it is necessary to go to a gym but if only cardio exercises will make the body fit, then a pair of running shoes and a nice tracksuit are the only necessities.

Depending on the weather, cycling, jogging or running can be the cheapest ways to exercise.

  1. Time is ok, a gym membership is done, but all these fitness equipments are too boring, right? Sometimes it may be boring to do the same moves in order to work specific parts of the body. To get rid of this excuse, mp3 players are highly recommended. With the favorite music, no exercise can get any boring. Or if the fitness gear is at home, doing sports while watching a good movie in front of TV might be also a good idea.
  2. The last favorite excuse is being a coach potato. One of the laziest excuses is postponing the start-day of exercise. “I will do it next day/week/month …” is the favorite sentence used for this excuse. To stop this habit, do not wait for a date such as 01.01 and start immediately. Put a mark on the schedule that shows the “day 1” being now.

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A New Routine Too Hard? It’s Not!

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

new routineThis post and video speaks about a round booty work out and for sure the exercises look to be effective for achieving a bootilicious result; but more importantly, the post speaks about finding the time and the motivation for starting a new routine.

We all have several issues about how to find the time and how to fit into a busy schedule any kind of workout.

When you think about it, it all really boils down to giving up half an hour of sleep or TV or some other dispensable activity  for fitting in a work out. It depends upon priorities really.

When you prioritize things, do you want that half hour of sleep in the early morning more than a fit, toned healthy body with more energy and get up and go? It could be something as simple as getting up just half an hour early, doing about 5 minutes of warm up, followed by 20 minutes of working out, and then end with some stretches.

The rest of the day can follow as usual, and one is sure to find a marked increase in energy levels and a feeling of strength and vitality; a vast improvement upon before!

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15 Minutes Workout For A Healthy Heart

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

15 Minutes WorkoutIn a classical city-living day, people have difficulties to spare some time to work out.

They are torn apart between having to look for themselves or to look for their daily duties. Thus, they mostly choose not to spare time exercising.

In order to prevent this situation, a 15-minutes workout includes the daily exercising routines, squashes them and gets them the chance for a healthier heart condition.

Researchers found out that several times a week, it is important to raise the heartbeat about 20-30 minutes. However, for those who have limited time, a 15-minutes increased heartbeat will also affect the heart in a positive way compared to a non-exercised heart.

The exercises contain 5-minutes of cardio, 5-minutes of weights and 5-minutes of stretching. It is highly recommended not to start with weight lifting before increasing the heart beat properly by cardio exercises. So let’s give an example.

The session starts with cardio exercises to increase the heart rate, warm up the body and eventually sweat the body. It is important to sweat, in order to understand the effort is being made and the heart is working during the process.

The exercises that can be done during cardio are jumping a rope, dancing, bouncing on trampoline and practicing power yoga. Or if the routine can be done outdoors, running would be a good cardio exercise with benefits to heart, legs and thighs.

After cardio, weight lifting time comes. The weight exercises enable the balance to be active and engage the muscles in abdomens and back, which can be considered as the core parts of the body.

During these moves, be sure to feel the squeeze feeling of the muscles in order to understand that they work and answer to the moves.

The weight exercises are doing push-ups against the walls, holding a 3-5-pound weight in each hand and do choreography with both arms and legs.

The last exercise which closes the session is stretching. The moves aim to release the tension and increase circulation. Taking these moves as meditation with right breathing techniques will make the relaxing period more efficient.

These exercises include stretching body legs and arms in proper ways. They can be searched through websites or special stretching books and guides.

To be healthy, it is a must to make time for working out the body. For people who do not have enough time to do this, the 15-minutes exercise routine helps to remain fit and aware of their physical state.

So, now it is recommended to stop finding excuses for not exercising and make this 15-minutes daily workout a routine for a healthier being.

(5 minute for arms, 5 minutes for legs, 5 minutes for abdomen)

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Get Fit With The Help Of Your Child

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

fitnessMost women gain weight after a pregnancy. This extra fat is hard to shake off, as most new mothers hardly find the time to take care of themselves.

There is hardly enough time to exercise and the excuse of breast-feeding the baby, is enough not to diet.

Most women carry their child at around 12-18 months of age. That’s the time the child has learnt to balance and walk independently. This could be the perfect time to lose weight. In fact your child could help you get back into shape.

Surprised? Well you needn’t be. Your child is learning to explore the world on his two feet. Join him in his new adventure and lose some weight in the bargain.

The mere act of playing with your child and running around with them can help you burn calories. Take you child out to the community park and become a child with him.

Teach your child to run and jump in the park. Run and jump with him. Teach him to become an airplane with his arms spread wide and zoom around the park.

Have fun with your child. Roll around on the soft grass, play, jump, and hop and run around with your child. Your child will love you for being a child like he is and also learn these gross motor skills.

A balanced diet and good eating habits along with all the physical activity that you do with your child can help you burn plenty of calories and lose some weight too.

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Slow Burn Pilates? What Is That?

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

pilates Slow burn Pilates is a nice and steady movements that are more effective and yield quicker fitness results than do Pilates otherwise.

This fitness class involves massaging one’s back by lying on foam rollers and doing bicep curls using flex bands, just performing all the movements slower and more steadily.

Slow burn Pilates is as effective as regular Pilates in strengthening, toning and sculpting the body, except that the emphasis here is on slow and steady movements.

Connie English, proponent of Slow Pilates suggests that going slower rather than faster yields better results. Less is more she says. Slow Pilates stresses on safety rather than speed and also seeks to make a qualitative effort as opposed to quantitative ones.

The practitioners of this variety of Pilates concentrate on balancing correctly and in more controlled, conscious moves.  For instance flex bands that are used for bicep curls slow down the movement, but at the same time add resistance and therefore intensity to the workout. Increased physical coordination and flexibility is achieved through proper form used with deliberation.

A program that stresses on ‘Slow’ in a fast paced world may take some getting used to, but it is seen to work; the trick is to find out what works for each individual and what does not.

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Get Hooked With These Popular Exercise Machines

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Exercise machines are your best friends if you want to lose weight, stay fit, and maintain that awesome body. They are your ultimate key to better health and longer life.

With exercise machines, you will stay motivated and challenged to continue working on your exercise regimen even if you already lost those unwanted pounds.

There are so many exercise machines in the market today. You can choose to buy one so you can exercise at the comfort of your own home anytime you want.

Another option is to pay for gym membership fees where you can have access to different exercise machines. The gym is also an ideal place to workout since there are instructors to assist you or friends who can always join you.

So what are the most popular exercise machines? Here are the most common exercise machines you will often find in the gym and at home.

Treadmills

Treadmills are by far the most popular exercise machines. If you lack the time to go out and take a walk or jog, they are your best options. Treadmills allow you to run, walk, or jog anytime of the day regardless whether it is raining or sunny outside. Quality models are those with solid frames, wide belts, steady pace, and incline settings.

Exercise bikes

Do you enjoy biking but don’t have enough time in your hands to bike around the neighborhood? Exercise bikes are exercise machines that can help you strengthen and tone your legs and buttocks muscles. Moreover, they are perfect for those who are overweight or just starting to exercise.

Rowing machines

Rowing is a very tiring but rewarding exercise. With rowing machines, you no longer have to ride on a boat and row down a body of water since they offer the same benefits.

These exercise machines provide you a whole body workout since you have to use your lower and upper bodies when rowing. However, you have to be careful and must perform the exercise correctly to avoid back strain.

Cross country ski machines

If you want a very challenging workout, you should consider on buying or using cross country ski machines. These exercise machines aim to develop your stamina and balance.

In addition, they guarantee to improve your stamina as well as your cardiovascular endurance. Ski machines are a little tricky at first especially if you haven’t tried skiing before. However, you will be able to get the hang of it after much practice.

Elliptical trainers

Elliptical trainers are among the most favorites of exercise enthusiasts. They are referred to as one of the most comfortable exercise machines ever. Anybody can use them since they are easy and practical. You may also adjust the intensity of your workout according to your liking.

Exercise balls

Your workout should include balance exercises as well to improve your body coordination, flexibility, and agility. Exercise balls like stability balls can help you work on your balance and develop good posture. Other exercise balls include fitness, toning, and medicine balls.

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World’s First Compact Personal Oxygen Supply For Your Workout

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

A new gadget that claims to up the intensity, efficacy and duration of your workout is here. This is your own personal portable oxygen supply that you can carry with you wherever you go in the form of a backpack.

oxyfit

The claim is that whereas the air that you breathe in has about 20% oxygen, that proportion of oxygen can be elevated to 30%. As a result one is supposed to be able to run farther and for longer.

Since better oxygen supply also hastens the body’s metabolic process, this is supposed to facilitate weight loss as well. In addition to all this, the gadget which runs for one and a half hours and weighs one and half Kg, will stimulate the brain (creating nootropic effects) and increase skin moisture and therefore has anti aging effects as well the manufacturers claim.

The product now retails for the very substantial sum of $2681 plus shipping so one is definitely likely to pause to see whether it makes any sense to buy. After all there is not enough data to substantiate all the various claims that the manufacturers are making, and one would wonder if it isn’t better to simply learn some deep breathing techniques and have done with it!

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