Just Get Started

One of the hardest parts of any fitness program is getting started.
It is so easy to just sit around doing nothing and it takes some degree of motivation to get started exercising.

Many people find that joining a gym gives them the motivation they need to get started and follow through with regular workouts.
The reality is that most of the people who join gyms never complete their membership.
Gyms actually base their costing on the fact that the majority of people will never use their membership regularly.

Why is this so?

There are many reasons why people don't exercise regularly and that can range from inconvenience to boredom.

When you are deciding what to do to lift your level of fitness it is wise to honestly think about your personality and where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
If you are a person who can motivate yourself then a home gym might be the best solution as it will offer the convenience of allowing you to train whenever you like and you won't need others to motivate you.

If, on the other hand, you find it difficult to motivate yourself then a membership at a gym might be a better solution.

Paying for the membership might be all that is needed to ensure that you will attend classes and often we can get motivated by those around us and challenge ourselves to improve and compete with others in the gym. I don't really recommend this, however. Too many purchase the memberships and then just don't go.

Alternatively, you might be a person who prefers to go for a run or a walk rather than lift weights.

No matter what you are capable of doing, there is only one action that you need to take however small that might be initially and that it to get started with some form of fitness training sooner rather than later.

Fitness will add to your overall well-being and the more exercise you do the fitter you will become and the more likely you will be to continue with a fitness program.

There is never a better time to get started than right now.

Top Exercise Advice & Exercise Videos

Cardio Exercise

Everyone has wondered at some point in time which
cardio exercise is better. To put it in simple
terms, both low and high intensity exercises will
help you to burn off body fat. The question here
is which is the most effective to burn off more
body fat.

When scientists first discovered that during
intensive exercises, your body burns glycogen, which
is a form of stored carbohydrates that are stored
in your liver and muscles for energy. During low
intensity exercises, your body will burn a lot of
fat.

If your wondering whether or not it works, the
answer is no because there are so many obese people
still around. Even though they are working out
with low intensity routines, it still makes you
wonder how it can be.

The scientists were right when they said the human
body burns more body fat during low intensity
exercises like walking or swimming. During a
high intensity exercise such as running, the body
will burn a lot more calories. Even if some of
the calories burnt are from glycogen, there are
still many fat calories burned as well.

To put the icing on the cake, when your store of
glycogen gets low, the carbohydrates from your
food you eat will later get converted into
glycogen to fill up the store and won't be
converted to body fat when they are left unused
for energy.

High intensity cardio exercise will juice up your
metabolism even after you have completed your
workout. What this means, is that your body will
continue to burn body fat hours after you have
left the gym. This effect is nearly non existent
in low intensity cardio or aerobic workout.

Accumulatively, your body will burn up more and
more calories during and after you have finished a
high intensity cardio exercise that it will with
low intensity.

You can inject high intensity exercises into your
cardio workout by introducing some interval
training. You can walk for 5 minutes or so, then
break into some jogging for another 5 minutes or
so. Then, walk briskly again until you have
caught your breath and then sprint for a minute
before you walk again. From this point, simply
alternate your running and walking for the
next 15 minutes until you are finished.

One of the best things about cardio is the more
you do it, the more energy you'll have. Cardio
will help you to burn calories, although its more
useful for keeping your energy levels high.

If you've never tried cardio before, you should
give it a shot. If you like to exercise, you'll
find cardio the best way to boost your energy and
keep in top shape. If you are just starting out,
you'll want to go slow and keep your cardio
exercise in track - as it is very easy to over
exert yourself.

Weight Loss Digest Blog

Are Your Workouts Intense Enough?

Exercise Intensity Indicator
Ask yourself these questions after each exercise.

Were you able to complete two sets of ten repetitions in good form?
No: Reduce the weight to an amount that you can lift ten times in good form; rest for one or two minutes, then repeat for a second set.
Yes: Please continue to question two.

After completing ten repetitions, do you need to rest because the weight is too heavy to complete more repetitions in good form?
Yes: You are working at the proper intensity and should not increase weight.
No: Please continue to questions three and four to determine how to safely increase the intensity of your workout.

Could you have done a few more repetitions in good form without a break?
Yes: If you can do only a few more repetitions (not the entire next set of ten without a break), then at your next workout you should do the first set of repetitions with your current weight and your second set with the next weight up.

For example, if you're currently using one-pound dumbbells, use two- or three-pound dumbbells for your second set.

Could you have done all twenty repetitions at one time, without a break?
Yes: At your next session, use heavier dumbbells for both sets of repetitions.

At Least Do Something!

Exercise does not have to be strenuous to be beneficial. And some studies show that short sessions of exercise several times a day are just as effective at burning calories and improving health as one long session.

To lose weight and to maintain a healthy weight after weight loss, many adults will likely need to do more than 30 minutes of moderate to intensive physical activity daily.

Take an Exercise Break?

Ditch the Pot Belly

Mountain Climbers

Mountain Climbers

1. Start by getting on your hands and feet in a prone position.
   
2. Keeping your body parallel to ground drive your knees up towards your chest alternating back and forth.
   
3. Repeat this movement for the required number of seconds.

High Intensity Training

Next time you go out for your aerobic training, add some intensity (Make certain you visit your doctor first to see if you are physically fit enough to do so)

If you walk or jog, walk or jog as usual for a period and then throw in a sprint of 20 seconds (more or less depending on what you are capable of). Return to your regular pace and recover. Recovery time varies but should become less as you increase your fitness level.

Do it again. Try to work up to about 8 sprinting sessions. Feel free to vary the length of time you sprint and also the number of times you so so.

During recovery periods your heart will continue to beat at a high rate, giving you an extraordinary benefit.

It has been proven you will lose more weight doing this high intensity exercise and your workouts will be shorter. Heck of a benefit, huh?!

Forearm Isometric Exercise

Here is a good isometric exercise you can do anywhere for your forearms.

*Sit in a chair and reach down and grab the sides of the chair.
*Pull up as hard as you can, like you are trying to lift the seat while you are sitting in it.
*Hold this for about 30 seconds.
*Slowly release.

If done correctly, and it's hard not to do this exercise correctly, you should feel it in your forearms and your hands and wrist.

Try This Abdominal Exercise

Lie down on your back, arms fully extended so you form a T. Lift your legs off the ground and bring them to a 90 degree angle from the floor.

Keep your feet together and slowly lower your legs to the left, holding for a count of 2. You are rotating the waist and concentrating on the downward motion, keeping the abs tight throughout the movement. Your shoulders should stay as tight against the floor as possible. Your goal is to bring your legs as close to the floor as possible while keeping your shoulders on the mat.

Keeping the abs tight, bring the legs to the starting position and continue to the opposite side. When you now return to the starting position, count that as 1 rep. See how many you can do.

Click on the title of this post to go to more ab training tips.

Working Out the Arms

Everyone who ever lifted a weight wants bigger arms. You hit the gym and focus on bicep and tricep training. Then, as an after-thought, you workout the chest, shoulders and the rest of the body.

That's a no no. The arms should be worked last. You are using your arms in all other exercises so it's important not to overwork them at the beginning of the workout. Your other exercises will suffer.

Unless you split workouts or do seperate body parts on different days, something most of us cannot fit into our schedule, you are most likely doing all your lifting in one workout 2 - 3 times a week. Save the bicep and tricep movements until the end.

Great Core Muscle Workout

Two Leg Pike
Rollout on the ball until your shins are on the ball and you are forming a bridge.
Keeping this position roll your knees in towards your chest.
Return to the starting position and repeat.

Dancing for Exercise

Dancing is one of the most fun ways to exercise. I'm talking fast paced dancing that keeps your heart and lungs in shape, as well as strengthens your legs.

Doing a dance like the old fashioned twist really exercises the stomach muscles as you continually twist your abdominals.

Exercise with a Medicine Ball

Here is an excellent overall medicine ball exercise that particularly targets the abs.
Hold medicine ball with your arms extended overhead.

In one continuous motion bring the ball down in a circular motion.

Squat down so that the ball is just off of the ground during the bottom portion of the circle.

Repeat for prescribed repetitions and then reverse the circle.

More Medicine Ball Exercises

Situps

If you haven't stopped doing situps yet, today is a good day to stop.

Situps are hard on the back and simply do not work out the abs like you might think. Doing crunches and planks is much more effective and a lot easier on the back.

When you do the crunch, try this to make it more effective and to ease the back strain. Simply try to push your belly button to the floor. Sounds crazy but thst's a good way to think of it. This helps keep your lower back flat to the floor.

More Reasons to Exercise

Here are a few really good reasons to start exercising:

- Exercise can be a great mood enhancer, depression buster, and stress manager: do your workouts in nature, and enjoy the benefits of fresh air and sunlight.

- Sleep well after a good workout: of course, don’t exercise too late in the evening, as that can backfire on your, giving you extra energy.

- Exercise lowers the bad cholesterol, as well as your blood pressure, helping prevent heart conditions.

- Reduce back pain when you strengthen your back muscles, by improving flexibility with regular exercising.

- Systematic exercise enhances your immune system.

- Exercise also helps slow the aging process, because of increased blood flow to all the organs, as well as muscles.

Make Your Biceps Scream for Mercy!!!

I hate this exercise - when I'm doing it.

I love this exercise, after I finish.

It's easy. You need a chinup bar or a tree branch - whatever. Grab the bar about shoulder width apart with your palms facing you. Pull yourself up until your eyes are about level with the bar.

Ready? Hold that position as long as you can. Fight it as your body starts to lower, but be careful you don't drop to the ground and lose your balance.

Sure, you can do more than 1 set if you want. I never do. :-)

Afterwords your arm muscles are going to feel like they are bursting thru your skin.

Pilates on a Exercise Ball

Pilates Exercise

Spine Twist with Stability Ball

Classification:
Pilates

Instructions:

1. Sit in an upright position on a stability ball with your feet flat on the floor.
2. Hold your arms out to the side and slowly rotate your shoulders and trunk to the left side and then back to the right.
3. Your trunk and shoulders should stay together as one unit. Repeat according to prescribed repetitions.

Burpees

I'm going to make this short today. Go to this month's Tudefitness Presents newsletter at TudeFitness Presents and read all about burpees.

It's a heck of a workout!

Bodyweight Lunge

Bodyweight Forward Lunge
1. Start by standing with your feet shoulder width apart.
2. Step foward with one foot and bend your knees into a lunged position. Your back knee should come close to touching the ground and your front leg should be bent to about 90 degrees at the knee.
3. Maintain your upright posture throughout the movement.
4. Return to the starting position and repeat. Once repetitions are completed then repeat with the other leg.

Tips to Follow When Working Abs

Tchhnique is very important when training the abs. Remember these points

• Don't pull on the neck during the movements.
  
• Keep the chin a fist's distance from your chest when doing crunches.
  
• Start with the arms across the chest; as yourabdominals become stronger, extend the arms behind the head.
  
• Don't throw the body, or use jerking motions to complete the movements.
  
• Keep it slow and con-trolled.
  
• When doing crunch type abdominal exercises, keep the abdominals pulled in by visualizing your navel pressing down toward the floor and always keep your back pressed to the floor.
  
• Always exhale as you contract and inhale as you release.

Awesome Push-Ups

Here's a unique twist you can add to your pushups to make them more effective.

Get into position and start to lower your body to the floor but, instead of going the whole way to the floor, stop about halfway and hold for 2 seconds.

Now continue down until your chest is just above the floor, and once again hold for 2 seconds.

Start to push yourself back to the starting position but again pause halfway up and hold for 2 seconds. Return to the starting position. That's 1 rep.

Try to do as many as you can do. If you want to make it even more effective, try to do this using the swiss ball. Whoa!

Mix It Up for Effectiveness

Variety is the spice of life. It's also a good rule of thumb when setting up an exercise program.

OK - Your aerobics consists of running. You like to run. That's good but you can still mix it up. Throw in some semi-sprints. Kick it up a notch. Run at near sprint pace for as long as you can, then slow it down as you recover. This is exercise for the heart and it helps build the heart muscle but . . . . .

you better be trained first and you should have your doctor give you a physical.

Strength training - mix it up. After 4 weeks of doing a set of specific exercises, switch. Add some new ones. Shake up your body. Your body learns to adjust - so the benefits become less once it adjusts to specific exercise and weight. Add on poundage to shock it into working harder.

Change an exercise to hit the arm muscles in a different way.

It keeps your routine from going stale and the results in strength and fitness gains will improve greatly.

Pilates on a Exercise Ball

Pilates Exercise

Spine Twist with Stability Ball

Classification:
Pilates

Instructions:

1. Sit in an upright position on a stability ball with your feet flat on the floor.
2. Hold your arms out to the side and slowly rotate your shoulders and trunk to the left side and then back to the right.
3. Your trunk and shoulders should stay together as one unit. Repeat according to prescribed repetitions.

Exercise Classifications

Exercises are generally grouped into three types, based on the overall effect they have on the human body:

• Flexibility exercises, such as stretching, improve the range of motion of muscles and joints.
  
• Aerobic exercise, like walking and running, focus on increasing cardiovascular endurance.
  
• Anaerobic exercises, on the order of weight training, functional training or sprinting, increase short-term muscle strength.

A combination of these exercises should be included in a well balanced exercise program.