Posted by admin | Posted in Fitness | Posted on 07-03-2010
If you are thinking about doing some fitness training but don’t want to waste money and space in your home with big equipment purchases, you can look for ways to exercise around your home and outside. By finding items that you already own or by using the great outdoors, you can be more “green” when you’re exercising too.
Any personal trainer will tell you that you don’t need a bunch of fancy equipment in order to do some fitness training and get in shape. First of all, take a look around your house – you can use canned food as weights, towels as exercise mats, a stack of books as a stair, some spare rope as a jumping rope and even a chair can help you exercise at home.
Why not take your items outside? It’s much easier to jump rope (an excellent cardio workout) when you have lots of space. For any of your fitness training, being outside is better and will make you feel better – fresh air and plenty of it will increase the workout you’re getting.
When you’re outside, you can take your fitness training to a whole new level. Go for a brisk walk (or even a slow one) or a run and increase your workout all the more. Even if running isn’t your thing, you can still walk or hike around your local area on trails or just the side walk. Take your bike to work instead of your car or just head out on a leisurely bike ride.
It’s always best to team up with someone, even a personal trainer, to stick with your fitness training plan. It helps keep you accountable for your goals and your daily routines. Another green and great idea for your fitness training is to join a team for your favorite sport, such as volley ball, tennis, soccer, basket ball or any sport that you enjoy doing.
If you really want to get serious with your fitness training plan, you might eventually need some equipment. However, that doesn’t mean that you need to break the bank and buy all new equipment. Check out the Internet for used equipment or local sporting goods stores for second hand goods – many cities and towns have a “bargain finder” newspaper or portion of the daily newspaper where people can sell or give away items. However, you can make do with water jugs, a chair and a stepping stool. Your fitness plan doesn’t have to include a bunch of expensive equipment.
Posted by admin | Posted in Women's Health | Posted on 24-12-2009
In days gone by everyone was told to do slow cardio workouts for better health. It was said that quick fat loss would occur if you did 20 minutes of cardio a day and then did strength training. However, this is not always the case anymore because cardio is usually done at a slow pace.
Today the fastest way to lose weight seems to be to use interval cardio training. This is a method of doing short intense bursts of cardio training followed by a slower paced exercise in order to burn fat by increasing your metabolism. More women are finding that this is a fantastic way for them to lose the belly fat they need without getting bulky like a bodybuilder.
This method is working for many women and men and it is helpful because it is an overall body workout that works much better than trying to focus in on the area that you want to change. As an example, if you want to burn belly fat quickly, this is the best method because it works all of the body instead of just concentrating on the abs like you would if you only did crunches. Besides, many women would rather do a full workout then to concentrate on crunches because they don’t want to necessarily enhance their abs.
What Interval cardio training does is give you a way to do the same amount of work that you might do in a regular workout in a much shorter time. The way this works is instead of going at a slow pace you increase the intensity of your workout so that you get more benefit in a shorter time. You can change the types of training you do whenever you want since there is no magic formula for how it works.
Although some women may be squeamish about this at first, they see quick results when they apply the principles. The nice thing about this type of training is you don’t have to worry about changing what you are already doing because it works with any cardio activity. For example, say you run as part of your regular fitness routine.
If so, you could do a brisk walk of 3-4 minutes and then go into a light jog or, if your fitness level isn’t where it needs to be yet, you could walk faster. If you use a treadmill, you could add sprints to a daily run instead of only running. Any of these methods would work to move you towards quick fat loss.
The point is that when you are using interval cardio training you can tweak it however you want. There are many plans on the Internet that you can use that are geared to have you lose the fat within an 8 week period or less.
After you have done this several times you will know when it is time to increase the levels. Most women will see that this is the fastest way to lose weight especially when they are trying to fit into a special outfit or prepare for a wedding. This can be the way to make that rapid fat loss.
There are a lot of benefits to this type of training. You can burn belly fat quickly because you take less time to burn more calories, it improves your cardio endurance, it improves the elasticity of your arteries and it reduces boredom in your regular cardio routines. So, overall, you can’t top this process.
The next time you step into the gym to do cardio, remember to alter your cardio training to include interval cardio training and you will see the results for quick fat loss.
Posted by admin | Posted in Weight Loss | Posted on 28-11-2009
Walking contains all of the necessary qualities that you need to lose weight and become healthier. It exercises the major muscles and gets your heart rate up, which can, in turn, boost your metabolism and help you lose weight.
Starting a walking program is easy, no matter what your age or current level of fitness. Some consider walking to be the perfect exercise because it is low impact and you can increase your level of exercise as your strength grows. All you need to get started is a good pair of walking shoes and some determination.
If you haven’t exercised in a while, it’s best to start slow. Most people find that a 15-minute brisk walk is enough to get their heart rate up and their muscles moving. Even though you’ll want to walk for longer periods of time in the future, this can be enough to get you started with a walking plan.
Once you’ve done 15 minutes per day for a week to ten days, you can start increasing your distance and your time. Stretch yourself further each day until you’ve built up to 30 minutes of walking time. After the first five minutes of walking, your body moves out of the warm-up phase, and then you can move into calorie burning territory. When you walk for 30 minutes, you’ll have plenty of calorie-burning time in your workout to make it worthwhile.
While you are walking for weight loss, it’s important that you keep up the proper intensity level. One good rule of thumb: you should be exercising at an intensity that allows you to carry on a conversation, but if you are able to speak comfortably for long periods of time without taking a break or if you are able to comfortably sing a song, ramp up your intensity a bit. You should break a sweat during your 30-minute walk and you should keep the same pace until you do a 5 minute slow down at the end of the walking.
Once you’ve started your walking program it’s important that you keep going. After the first week, you’re bound to see a remarkable difference in your energy level, which will help you to keep going.
To stay motivated, mark a date on your calendar three weeks from when you begin and make a deal with yourself. If you keep walking each day until that date, reward yourself with something special. To stick to your weight loss goals, make sure to reward yourself with a non-food item, such as a shopping trip or some new music to work out to.
Walking can be an effective way to lose weight and to improve your health at the same time. Because it’s accessible to everyone and easy to do, it’s the perfect way to start exercising. With persistence and determination, you can make walking a part of your life.