Archive for May, 2010

Hotel Workout Tips – Don’t Let Travel Interrupt Your Fitness Regime (Part 2)

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

You can use hotel furniture and other odds and ends to fashion an effective workout for when you are out of town and in some cases use nothing more than the weight of your own body to give yourself an effective workout:

  • If into weights, one can use a couple of bottles or bottled water as dumbbells for a weights workout.
  • Pushups and stomach crunches are possible anywhere using nothing more than the weight of one’s body. Additionally, hotel chairs can be used to try and work out a different angle of pushups.
  • Squats as well, you can do anywhere, and to add intensity to the action, one can use the bottles of water while doing those. You can also do one leg squats using the hotel bed to rest your other foot and alternating between the two.
  • You can also fashion a workout lying on the hotel bed or the carpet by doing a sort of towel leg press. You can also do stationary cycling lying on the back and working the legs in a circular cycling motion.

So when you are out of town, this does not necessarily mean that your fitness regime should grind to a halt; with a little time and some creativity, you can ensure that there is no real break in your fitness routine while traveling.

Simple Exercises For Women’s Fitness

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Women are very conscious about their health especially with the way they look in the outside.

In order to maintain women’s fitness and overall wellness, they go on a strict diet, exercise regularly, and provide themselves with enough rest and relaxation.

Women are exposed to so many activities especially now that modern society calls for empowered women.

Gone were the days when they will just sit around the house, take care of the kids, do household chores and serve their husbands.

Today, they also have regular jobs to keep together with their other responsibilities. Because of these, they become more prone to health problems as they pay less attention to their fitness.

Obesity, stress, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and many other diseases act as a threat to women’s fitness and health.

One of the most effective ways on how women can arm themselves against these health threats is to exercise. Regular women’s fitness exercises have many benefits.

First, it can help you lose weight naturally. It can also improve blood circulation and boost the immune system. Moreover, it helps relieve stress and other negative energies. It is the best way to stay fit and healthy without costing you a fortune.

Today, women are always on the go and they don’t even have enough time to hit the gym anymore. Fortunately, there are many simple exercises for women’s fitness which they can now perform anytime and anywhere they want.

Below are some of these simple yet effective women’s fitness exercises:

1. Walking

Walking is good for the heart. It is a practical way of getting into shape. You can walk your way to your office or take the stairs in going to the next floor. You can always take your dog out for a walk in the park after office hours.

2. Jogging

Women’s fitness exercises will not be complete without a little jog. Jogging is also a very good exercise. Before leaving for work in the morning, just spend 30 minutes jogging around the neighborhood. The fresh morning air and the silence will do you good. It can boost your stamina and burn those unwanted calories.

3. Swimming

If you have your own pool, take advantage of it by swimming regularly. Swimming is considered one of the best exercises around since it involves movements of all parts of the body.

You can also head to the beach and swim especially during weekends. Sometimes, women’s fitness can enhance with a change of environment.

4. Aerobics

You don’t need to go the gym just to do aerobics exercises. There are many women’s fitness exercise videos available in the market. You can grab your own copy and watch it at home. Simply follow the instructions and you’re good to go.

5. Yoga

Yoga is an exercise of the body and mind with many benefits. It can help you stretch your body while at the same time work on your balance and endurance. It is also an effective means of relieving stress.

Women’s fitness exercises need not be too burdensome. You can have a beautiful and healthy body with these simple exercises designed to help improve women’s fitness and wellness.

You should start taking care of your body by performing any of these exercises regularly and by having a balanced diet.

high blood pressure

Strength Training Without Weights

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Most of us who are into fitness in any small way have probably realized over the years that strength training is where it’s all at. It protects against disease, builds lean muscle and is really able to keep weight off.

It improves bone strength, joint health and balance and flexibility as well. However, for a number of reasons some people may be reluctant to do weights.

Either for reasons of cost of equipment or because they (read a lot of women) think that weights lead to bulking up and are not keen to get ‘that’ look, weights may be viewed with some ambivalence.

The truth however is that you can use your own body weight very effectively to get an excellent resistance or strength workout.

Here are some easy to implement strength training exercises that use no weights, require no expensive purchases and need no gym memberships:

Jumping rope: For the price of a few dollars, you buy this length of rope or even fashion it at home if you want. If you have done skipping or have jumped rope as a child or as an adult you know what a strenuous workout this can give you. So long as there are no knee problems or medical reasons to prevent you, you can get an excellent workout from jumping rope.

Pushups: This is of course the classic method of using the body’s weight to get an excellent work out and it isn’t just for the Marine either. Pick the right kind of pushup for you and your level of fitness by taking the pushup fitness test and go for it!

Chin Ups: This one of course is not for the beginners among us, and doing chin ups is quite frankly difficult. One would of course also need to find a suitable bar or high platform around the house in order to be able to do this at home.

Jumping Jacks and Side Jumps: The Jumping jack requires you to really get moving, with the arms and the legs in motion and offering a great workout! The side jumps, performed with your feet together are also good and help strengthen thigh muscles.

Squats: You can do one legged squats or the regular ones. You can add resistance by holding a couple of large water bottles. If you are not used to one legged squats, make sure to do them next to a wall when you start out, this way you won’t lose your balance and tip over.

Take the stairs: Climbing stairs is another great but underrated exercise that can use the body’s own weight for getting a workout.

Anti Aging Supplements Best Taken During Middle Age, Says Study

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

If you are planning to halt the march of time with some anti aging supplements, start while you are still middle aged; don’t wait until your 60s, a new study has suggested. The study was conducted upon rats at the University of Florida’s Institute on aging, which found that older rats did not receive as much improvement in physical ability as did middle aged rats.

antiaging supplementsAccording to study scientist Jinze Xu there may be a window during which the compounds may work. If that time widow passes, the intervention may not work as well or at all.

In this study, a supplement for treating chronic fatigue was examined.

The supplement has the active ingredients such as antioxidant coenzyme Q10, creatine and ginseng.

These ingredients are seen to protect against muscle aging, help in muscle performance and also combat free radicals which damage cell mitochondria and interfere with proper performance.

The study seems to suggest that if you want anti aging supplements to really work you have to arrest the damage or rather prevent the damage from happening rather than trying to reverse damage at a later date. And it does make a lot of sense that one ought not to wait until any major functional and other age related declines set in.

10 Ways To Lose 100 Calories

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

exercise ball in officeHere are 10 easy ways to lose 100 Calories:

  1. Walk a Mile. For Each mile you walk you burn 100 calories. The faster you walk (or run) the faster you burn off the calories.
  2. Use an exercise ball rather than an office chair and burn an extra 50 calorie per hour just sitting there!
  3. 15 minutes at the gym: 5 minutes of uphill walking on the treadmill, 2 minutes of weights, and 5 minutes interval training.
  4. Drink ice cold water, for a metabolic boost of about 25 calories per glass.
  5. Stimulate your nervous system by having a hot drink. Three cups of green tea can help to burn up to 106 calories a day.
  6. Don’t sit still, tap foot, pace, shake a leg, and remain active through the day.
  7. Dishwashing, vacuuming, mopping, cooking, ironing and grocery shopping can all help to burn calories.
  8. Just 10 minute of jumping rope can burn 100 calories
  9. Just 20 minutes of vigorous dancing will burn 100 calories.
  10. Play with your kids: Frisbee, rollerblading, swimming, Wii boxing, even carrying around your infant can help to burn the calories!

The Feldenkrais Method – Fitness For The Body And Mind

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Moshé Feldenkrais was a physicist, engineer and Judo master who memorably said, “What I am after is more flexible minds, not just more flexible bodies”.

In his quest to start walking normally, Feldenkrais developed a system to integrate the mind and the body to achieve fitness, and physical as well as mental ability. He believed in using self education for the development of the mind as well as the body.

The Feldenkrais method is meant to be a way to achieve efficiency of movement while eliminating inefficient movement, poor muscular coordination and consequent internal stress.

The method aims at and is able to solve problems such as poor balance, bad posture, muscular and skeletal pain etc. While it can solve problems such as RSI (repetitive strain injury), incorporating the principles of this method into life can result in improved sporting performance or skills. Feldenkrais can help you with fitness related issues such as:

Improved Posture: Over time or because we never paid any attention to it, posture can deteriorate causing musculoskeletal problems, and aches and pains.

Sitting at a desk all day can also cause this to happen. Using principles of Feldenkrais one can improve posture, which can not only help with a number of different problems, it can make you appear more attractive and mean a fitter, healthier body.

Decrease in aches and pains: Because one is becoming more self aware and better physically coordinated, one is learning efficiency of motion.

Consequently, there is less stress where earlier stress would result in various aches and pains. Becoming proficient in the Feldenkrais method, people have reported a lessening of pain in the neck region as the body learns how to balance the head better.

Lower back pain is also associated with poor posture and other stressors, which can be considerably lowered with this method.

Better body awareness and ability to focus: Many people who enroll for classes, report in finding a difference right from the first class. As one learns to marshal their physical resources while cutting out on inefficient movement; the awareness of the body, its motions and its abilities increases.

What also improves is the ability to focus, which results in improved performance. Changes may be subtle or unnoticeable to begin with; but people have reported things like improved muscle performances even by using the Feldenkrais method.

Healthy, Tasty And Affordable – The Health Magazine Guide

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

lean cuisine thai style noodlesOne of the excuses trotted out for not eating healthy is that it is not affordable or that one does not have the time to make elaborate healthy meals.

However, according to Health.com it is still possible to buy convenience foods that they call the “healthiest, tastiest and most affordable edibles.”Here is a sample:

  • Lean Cuisine’s Thai-Style Noodles with Chicken costs 3.49 dollars. This is a frozen entree with just 310 calories and 7 grams of fat. Look for it when you go grocery shopping next.
  • Amy’s Teriyaki Wrap is 2.79 dollars. It is 310 calories, and has brown rice, tofu and organic veggies so can be obtained from health food stores as well as the grocery store.
  • Uncle Ben’s Ready Whole Grain Medley Roasted Garlic is 2.29 dollars. This is a quick meal, one serving has 200 calories and 3 grams of fat can make a good side dish.
  • La Tortilla Factory Hand Made Style Chipotle Corn Tortillas are 2.49 dollars for 8 and can substitute unhealthy white bread. Plus the authentic flavor, with 5 grams of protein and 90 calories each make them a good buy.

And if you still think that healthy eating is expensive, try and calculate what unhealthy eating is going to cost in the long run: think of lifestyle related disease, health care costs and related expenses!

What Are The Exercises That Could Help Prevent Hernia?

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

There are various different kinds of hernia, which could be debilitating and disrupting of a normal healthy life.

However, making sure that our fitness levels are high and that the body is as strong and flexible as you are able to make it can go a long way to actually decrease your chances of getting a hernia.

Except those hernias that are a result of injury, others are caused by weakness of the muscles.

The following tips can help prevent hernia:

  • Doing abdominal exercises to tone and strengthen the abdominal wall. This will help the stomach muscles offer better support and prevent the hernia from protruding outward through the muscular wall.
  • Exercises like brisk walking or jogging, cycling, stair climbing and horseback riding are good for preventing hernias.
  • A good posture should be maintained while sleeping, sitting, standing and walking which can also help guard against hernia.
  • It has been seen that there are more chances of a hernia occurring among those that have extra fat deposits in the abdomen area and those that have an over loaded alimentary canal which can put pressure on the abdominal wall and cause it to rupture because of the deposits of fat and flab there.

Some Questions And Answers For Summer Fitness – Part 2

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

knee injuryWe spoke about some fitness facts earlier in a question and answer form; here are some more summer fitness questions and answers for you:

Q 4. How do overuse injuries result from outdoor activities?

A 4. For professional athletes, it is common that injuries result from overuse of certain muscles or muscle groups.

Arm or wrist injuries for a pitcher for instance or knee injury for a marathon runner may be par for the course, but these injuries are not common among regular exercisers. They are more likely to happen because of

  • If you take on too much too soon
  • Due to a lack of cross training

Q 5. What is the best fuel for workouts? Power bars? Gel Packs?

A 5. Most of us need nothing more than water for our workout. If it’s endurance athletes you’re talking about, perhaps gel packs are useful to aid recovery. For the rest of us, no power bars or gel packs are needed because there is no significant glucose depletion.

Q6. When you just want to quit, what should you do?

A 6. Get mental and physical rest by switching activities. Or get a workout partner. These options can keep you interested and boredom at bay.

Inexpensive And Practical Workouts For Women

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Whoever says you need to go to the gym in order to have the body you want is obviously mistaken.

The secret behind a healthy body lies in the kinds of food you eat, your lifestyle, and the right exercise.

Women want to have a slender and fit body which they can be proud of.

In order to achieve it, they have to perform workouts for women.

Everything is expensive nowadays. Gym membership fees are getting higher and exercise machines can cost you a fortune.

Even dietary supplements have prices higher than usual. With these in mind, it already seems impossible for women to do workouts and still get your desired results.

However, you must bear in mind that workouts for women do not need to be expensive or require state of the art exercise equipment.

After all, the effectiveness of a workout does not lie on the machines used but on how consistent you are in your routine and whether or not you are doing the exercises correctly. Below are some inexpensive and practical workouts for women:

Brisk walking

All you need is the right pair of shoes and comfortable clothes and you are set to go.

Brisk walking is one of the most effective workouts for women which guarantee to trim you down and improve your body’s circulatory and respiratory functions. Brisk walk for around thirty minutes a day and watch those excess fats disappear.

Jogging

No other workouts for women can be more refreshing than jogging every morning when the sun is still low and the cool breeze fans your face.

Jog around the neighborhood or in the park for thirty minutes everyday. Jogging can strengthen your leg muscles and improve your stamina and endurance. It is also an excellent way to get rid of stress.

Weight training

Do you want to have well toned arm muscles? If yes, include weight training in your workouts for women regimen.

Start with light weights and proceed to heavier ones once your body starts to adjust. Weight training can help you build your muscles and at the same time strengthens your arm and shoulders.

Abdominal exercises

Workouts for women also aim to flatten your tummy since it is one of the most visible parts of the body especially if you are wearing something sexy and tight.

Perform sit-ups and crunches to make your stomach muscles defined and toned. Squats and dead lifts can also do wonders to your wobbly tummy.

Biking

Biking is also one of the most inexpensive workouts for women. All you need is a nice bike and the right biking gear to protect you. You can bike for several miles during weekends or bike shorter distances during weekdays.

Biking can help improve your cardiovascular function, strengthen legs and thigh muscles, and improve your body coordination too.

You also get to unwind just by looking at the beautiful sceneries you happen to pass by. Moreover, you can even invite friends to go biking with you.