Posts Tagged ‘ Fitness ’

Wheels for Weight Loss: Bikes, Skateboards and Rollerblades

November 10, 2011
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Weight loss should not be a chore. In fact, as personal trainers will tell you, exercise activities should be fun.  And your healthy lifestyle should not end the second you leave a fitness camp.  You can and should continue to incorporate the fitness activities you learned at camp into your work and daily life.

Consider, for instance, the morning and evening commute to the office or your weekend trips to the mall. Driving a car or taking a cab, train or a bus leaves most of your muscles idle from one car seat to the next. They also require you to spend gas money or to pay fares. Your carbon footprint does not get reduced either.

Short trips within the city can be more fun, more fit, more economical and more environmentally friendly by biking, skateboarding or rollerblading. The price of these rides is very minimal compared to the price of a car. They also do not require constant refills of gas or electricity. Remember to check the quality of your equipment before buying, though. Test how they handle your weight as they will be carrying you every day.

These three ways of getting around town are good cardio workouts. The speed and adrenaline that your legs and arms create gets your blood pumping and increases your heart rate to healthy levels.

To add to this, these holistic exercises require your body to work for balance and to resist gravity. This strengthens your bones.

In terms of sweating off the fat, an hour on a bike, skateboard or rollerblades will make you burn almost 300 calories. And this is at a light pace on smooth terrain without the tricks. Imagine how many calories you can burn off as you go faster at 12 miles per hour on terrains like unpaved roads. (You can use an odometer to measure your speed and distance. Imagine the muscle strength you will develop as you try tricks like pirouettes.

In as short as a week, you will notice that you can do activities longer without feeling short of breath. In a month, your hips, thighs and buttocks will become more toned. The fact that you have to keep your head up and your eyes forward while you bike, skateboard or rollerblade will also force your body into a straight posture. Such a posture while working out will tone your back and torso. You can also add arm and wrist movements to even out the strain, especially when on rollerblades or a skateboard.

Remember to practice safety also. Wear a helmet and knee pads. Wear comfortable clothes and shoes that let you move and stretch. (You can carry your work clothes in a backpack.) Wear gloves to protect your hands from friction when you bike. Know the traffic laws in your city and keep yourself in bike lanes, white lines or sidewalks. Bring a bottle of water. Warm up by riding at a light pace for the first 10 minutes, and you’re off.

 

FitFarms are fitness / fat camps based in the UK and the Middle East. The UK Weight Loss Camp have been awarded No. 1 by Virgin.

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Fitness Equipment: When to Workout

November 7, 2011
By

HCG Ultra

Getting up in the morning and doing your workout routine is your best bet on getting into a habit with your workouts. Once you can get into a habit of working out it makes it almost easy to lose weight and get in shape. Most people quit their workouts after a few weeks. Most don’t make it past the first month of workouts. The results have shown that if you can workout on a normal workout routine for three months than you will continue working out after that. I think its because you have made it into a habit and you also have done it long enough to feel the effects of your workouts and know how much better you feel now. By three months have past you are either in shape by now or you are pretty close to reaching your weight loss goals.

Fitness equipment can play a big part of reaching your weight loss goals. There are plenty of fitness equipment machines to help you, the total gym is a great machine that I use three times a week for fifteen minutes and it really helps me to workout those areas that I can’t really workout on my own with. The pull up bar is another machine that I really like. If you get one get one for your home. You can hang it right above a door frame in your house. I have one in my hallway and I make sure whenever I walk past I do a couple of reps on it. If you can do that than pretty soon you are going to be strong in your upper body. There are more machines like these that can help you, you should look at these first and if you don’t like them than try to find something different. You don’t necessarily need fitness equipment for your lower body. I would just run or bike to get all the cardio you need.

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Exercise Variety Is The Key To Being Super Fit

October 11, 2011
By

P90X

Exercise is the way that we get fit, improve our stamina and develop a healthy looking body, however when we look at sports stars they often look ‘super fit’ mainly because of the intense workout routines they undergo during their training regimes but also due to the variety they have in their regimes.

Most sports require you to have a decent level of physical fitness and stamina to be able to play them effectively such as football, boxing, tennis etc. One of the most common ways to get your cardio and stamina levels up is to engage in long distance running, though this is often viewed as a dull and repetitive task for many people which is why many simply people do not do it.

Getting ‘super fit’ does not have to be about long runs and can actually be very fun; but only if you let it. Most sports stars use many different training methods and incorporate a wide variety of stamina building techniques in their training regimes because different muscle groups are used in different sports.

Using this knowledge and approach is the key to getting super fit in an enjoyable way. For this to work well for you there needs to be a commitment on your part to try new things and you also will need engage in sports that you never thought you would. (See Below)

Sports Training Is Key

A great way to get fit is to start a sport that needs a good amount of cardio fitness to do it such as boxing or football. By doing a sport like this you will straight away improve your fitness and also improve muscles strength in muscles you have not used in years. To take your fitness to the next level you should have 3 sports you play each week, as the more sports you play the more muscles you utilise as each sport uses different muscle groups. Playing multiple sports is a superb alternative to going to the gym which many people find quite mundane and repetitive.

Example:

Nearly every town in the UK has football clubs that people can join, where they train once a week and play a match on a Sunday. This is perfect chance to get out socialising while also improving your stamina, speed, agility and also general football skills.

As football only takes up a short amount of time you can also join a local boxing club, karate club or some sort of martial arts club. The reason this is such a good idea is because it teaches you skills that many people have always wanted to learn such as self defence skills, furthermore these types of combat sports do amazing things for your confidence, flexibility, stamina and strength.

The third sport should be something you enjoy doing which can be anything such as tennis, squash, badminton, 5 a-side football, golf etc. The idea here is to do something you have a passion for so that you are at least doing one sport within you comfort zone each week. If you don’t have another sport in mind then get down the gym and do a class such as swimming, yoga or a spinner’s class which will again help you socialise and also improve muscles you don’t normally use.

Remember the more variety you have in your workout regime each week, the more you can get out of your body by using new muscle groups and also improving your own skills set.

Jonathan works on behlaf of Soccerbox who specialise in retailing football kits and football shirt ranges such as manchester united kits, Arsenal kits, Chelsea kits and many other quality football shirts and football merchandise.

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Low-Impact Exercises for Health and Fun

September 29, 2011
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Whether you want to lose weight or improve your overall fitness, sometimes starting with low-impact exercises eases your muscles, joints and even your mind into fitness routines and reduces stress and pain. Instead of pounding the pavement in a five-mile run, try a few of these low-impact exercises that are good short-term introductions or long-term favorites.

First, let’s understand what a low-impact exercise is. In a nutshell, it’s an exercise that eases stress on joints, ligaments, bones, tendons and muscles, including your heart. Low-impact exercises provide muscle toning and development while avoiding the main causes of injury—strain and impact forces.

Some low-impact exercises include

1: Aqua Running. Yes, that’s running or jogging in enough water to help keep you buoyant. Don’t try in a wading pool or a jacuzzi. The water is usually waist-high when you start your routine, and as your muscles, bones, joints and other body parts become stronger, you simply use a shallower part of the pool until you can comfortably exercise on a solid surface.

2: Swimming: You don’t have to aspire to Olympic competition preparation to get fit and healthy by swimming. Even leisurely laps swum regularly can vastly improve your fitness level, flexibility and stamina. Using flotation devices can enhance water safety will little detriment to an exercise routine. Styrofoam “boogy boards” that are like a half-surf board can support the upper body while using just leg kicks to propel you can tone and strengthen every muscle from your upper back down to your toes. Using it to support your torso as you let your legs drag behind you and use your arms to propel yourself aids your hands, arms, shoulders and neck. Swimming also helps your cardiovascular system.

3: Walking: Even when done at a leisurely pace to start and over short distances, walking is one of the healthiest low-impact exercises you can enjoy. As you build your strength and stamina, alternate between faster speeds and longer distances for a full work-out for your skeletal muscles and your heart muscle. It also improves circulation. Take your pet along for company, though allow the animal ample time for relieving itself before you start your “speed” walks.

4: Bike Riding: Make sure your bicycle seat is properly positioned for both safety and comfort. If it’s too high, you will stress your knees joints unduly. If it’s too high, you could overstretch the backs of your knees—a painful injury that can take weeks to fully heal. Slow rides lead to faster speeds, but you don’t have to race to get a good work-out. As with walking, intersperse speed and distance for best results. Be sure to wear proper safety equipment, however. Never sacrifice safety for fitness.

5: Stretching: Yes, stretching is good exercise. You isolate muscle groups and individual muscles in a thorough stretching routine, and holding the tension in those muscles aid in toning. Just relax the muscles when you complete the stretch; occasionally “shaking” the muscle out can prevent inadvertent cramping as well.

Combining any or all of these exercises into a varied and regular routine promote fitness while reducing chances of injury. The key is to strengthen while avoiding injury. Adapt your normal, day-to-day routine motions into your own low-impact exercises to expand your repertoire.

This post was written by Sara Woods, who writes for Coupon Croc. Grab at discount code at couponcroc.co.uk and save on health products, fitness essentials and more.

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Can Kettlebell Training Help You Meet Your Fitness Goals?

September 12, 2011
By

Get 6 Free VitaTops

Kettlebell training has a lot of positive benefits, if you learn how to use them correctly. Kettlebells are perfect for a wide range of people, from “elite” fitness pros to the sedentary individual wanting to safely improve their health. They do not take a lot of space, and a set of them are not expensive.  This makes kettlebell training accessible for everyone. Unlike other forms of training the Kettlebell works on a total body fitness and works out all the major muscle groups at the same time. Spend some time with an expert, learning how to select the correct weight for you and how to properly do the moves and then enjoy the following benefits to your workout.

 

One compact, portable, item is all you need to get a combination of benefits on every workout.  This includes cardiovascular, functional strength, and flexibility. The workouts are fun and varied and never need to be boring in the least. As implied the kettlebell is one of the few items that marries cardiovascular workouts with strength training. This will provide you with real life benefits and the ability to preform well in real situations where you need both strength and endurance. Because it combines the two forms of exercise it works great for those with limited time to devote to exercise.

 

Another benefit to this is that while you can do the workouts anywhere, even in your bedroom, you will still see increased metabolic action and burn more fat off. Fat loss requires removal and burning of fat deposits over your entire body.  Kettlebell provides a full body workout. Plus a kettlebell is not your typical dumbbell or barbell. The way a kettlebell moves and works actually makes more muscles come into play thus making the workout even more intense.

 

The full body nature of the movements combined with how the kettlebell acts as you go through them strengthens the entire body.  The movements themselves are designed to work like real life chore type movements and this creates superior muscle tone and overall strength, not just of the muscles but also the tendons and ligaments.  It actually makes one less prone to injuries of the joints.  It is not body building or isolated muscle groups that are being targeted, rather the workout is about the movements themselves. The type of muscle created is lean and sleek, the kind of muscle that looks great no matter what gender you are.

Not only is a kettlebell a cheap alternative to a gym membership, many people find that the wide range of movements possible with a single kettlebell to be extremely fun to do. As one becomes more proficient different types of exercise moves can be included to create new routines. Plus the kettlebell goes with you, to the park, on your trips, where ever and when ever, you can do the exercises and know it won’t take you a long time to do the entire thing.  The moves can be as simple or as complex as your skill allows, and are easy to learn.

Please visit The Personal Development Company To learn more about Enter the Kettlebell: Strength Secret of the Soviet Supermen by Pavel Tsatsouline

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How to Overcome Fitness Obstacles

March 31, 2011
By

P90X

Many people are overwhelmed with their quest o be in good shape and to lose weight. Reaching health and fitness goals are made harder by the different obstacles that present themselves along the way. Some people are hampered by health issues. Many by there busy schedules. Then there are those who are prone to procrastination and laziness.

These are just some of the great hurdles that hinder people from doing the things needed to become healthy and fit. These obstacles don’t just present themselves to newcomers but to those who have been working out for a long time already. Indeed, a new batch of obstacles seems to appear every time you’ve successfully hurdled old ones. The question in many people’s minds is how to deal with these blocks.

This article provides useful tips on how to overcome fitness obstacles.

Change of Perspective

One of the things that people need to realize about obstacles is that they are often just as big or as small as how we perceive them to be. This is the reason why people regard certain kinds of obstacles differently. Thus, we hear of stories of a paralyzed man who is leading a very active life and on the other hand hear reports about perfectly healthy young individuals who don’t even want to walk for 20 minutes a day.

The key is to discover how you view obstacles. Many view obstacles as blocks and that’s why they never attempt to go through it. Then there are people who see obstacles as challenges. It excites them and that feeling of excitement motivates them to move forward.

Just Do It

The underlying feeling when people don’t want to go through obstacles is fear. Basically, they are afraid to fail or they are afraid to get hurt. But the productive way to act when faced with fear is just to just do what needs to be done. If you are hampered because of a busy schedule, just try to stick to your routine or make some necessary changes just don’t drop it altogether. If you simply can’t spend 30 minutes on a treadmill then get yourself a Needak rebounder and just do rebounding exercises for 10 to 15 minutes a day.

Don’t worry that you won’t be able to keep up with your crazy schedule. When you stick to your routine long enough, you may notice your schedule easing up a bit. Obstacles have a way of disappearing when met with courage and action. Nike said it best: Just do it!

Your Intuition is Your Friend

In trying to get through obstacles, always remember that you have an ally, your intuition or what is otherwise known as the little voice in your head. Probably the best way to know what our intuition is telling us is through our feelings. If you are feeling guilty, for example, of not spending time on exercise then maybe it’s your intuition letting you know how important exercise really is.

When you start a fitness routine, you will surely be met by many obstacles. How you will deal with these obstacles is up to you.

http://www.needakusa.com/rebounding-dvds.html

 

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