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Archive for the ‘Fitness’ Category
I continuously offer advice to you on how to get firm flat abs. So I thought I would put them in a list for a quick review. (Drum roll please…)
- Nutrition- It is imperative to watch what you eat! The other day I mentioned to restrict processed foods. Limit the amount of saturated fat, sugar, and sodium that you consume. Eat healthy fresh veggies, fruits, fish, nuts, lean meat, and whole grains.
- Cardiovascular Exercise- One of the main reasons we don’t see our firm flat abs, is because of the adipose tissue (fat) that covers them. The only way to get rid of this tissue is with cardiovascular exercise. At least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise most days of the week. This with proper nutrition will expose the ab muscles..
- Breathing- Concentrate on the abdominal movement and your breathing at the same time. As you contract the abdominal muscles, you need to exhale as you pull the navel to your spine. Inhale as you release or prepare for the next repetition.
- Changing Your Abdominal Workouts- Add variety to the way in which you exercise your abdomen. That is, don’t always do the same abdominal exercises. Train the upper, middle and lower ranges of the abdominal muscle group with different types of ab exercises, tempo, and equipment.
- Over Training- As with any other muscle group, the abdominal muscles need time for rest and recovery. Allow them the recovery time they need which is usually 24 hours.
Now that you can see these 5 Tips for Firm Flat Abs, I wish you great success on your 6-pack abs!
If you are looking for some serious fat burning workouts, look no further than “Insanity”. It is a comprehensive cardiovascular workout which includes, abdominal exercises, strength training, and major cardiovascular training. It is a 60 day program with various levels of fat burning workouts that you follow along with at home. Every day is a different exercise plan. It works for any fitness level.
There are always modifications that can be done with fat burning workouts to accommodate your fitness level. You can take a rest and hop right back into burning fat. As with any fat burning workouts, watching your nutrition is important. Check out one of the hottest fat burning workouts to do at home…”Insanity!”
Circuit and interval training are not only great fat burning workouts but also afford you excellent resistance and endurance training. Not only that, but they can reduce the amount of time you spend in the gym.
There is a difference between the 2 types of training. Circuit training does more with resistance, because you use the apparatus in the gym. Set a weight for yourself , set the number of reps, and do 3-4 sets without rest between sets. When you work the circuit, you’ll address the major muscle groups and without rest, your heart rate will increase and should maintain its rate. This makes it a fat burning workout. Large opposing muscle groups are worked first, followed by the smaller body parts.
Interval training offers a bit more fat burning workouts because you are exercising on cardio machines or walking. After your warm up, you’d increase your exertion for a finite period of time, 30 second-1 minute (to start off with) and then recover for the same amount of time. The basis for interval training is to get your heart rate up within your target range, and lowering the rate of exertion.
Both fat burning workouts accomplish a fitness goal. If fat loss is your goal, circuit and interval training could be right for you!
Money is getting tighter and tighter for all of us and that’s why one of the hottest fitness trends is to do your workout at home. It may be more cost effective to pay a one time fee for DVDs that offer you in-home workouts with variety that include cardio, strength and endurance training. It’s also beneficial when the DVDs come with a money back guarantee and you can see your results.
There are new fitness applications for your itouch, Droid, or Blackberry phone. This is one of the newest fitness trends that can assist you with your in-home workout. These applications use scheduling tools, tracks your fitness progress, offers muscle specific exercises and can even help with meal planning.
The lack of time and getting the most out of a workout with strength and cardio training is a fitness trend that we see more and more. Get in/Get out/Get moving! Dancing seems to be more
and more popular too, giving a variety to your fitness routine.
Stay with an exercise program that’s right for you. If you are looking for some fabulous DVD sets for an in-home workout, check out P90X and it’s companion One on One with Tony Horton. The One on One delivers a new workout routine once a month. Which is cool, because just when it’s time to change your routine…BAM…a new DVD is at your door.
Another crazy, all-inclusive, workout DVD is “Insanity” from BeachBody. There are always modifications offered for different fitness levels in all of the DVDs mentioned. If you want results, check out these DVDs, as they are a part of the current fitness trends!
Yesterday I told you I would give you ways to increase your metabolism to help avoid weight gain as we age. One of the most important things you can do is…increase the amount of muscle you have with weight training. Men always want to increase their muscle size. Women tend to shy away from weight training or strength training for fear of “bulking up”. Testosterone is the hormone that bulks you up and women just don’t have the amount of it to bulk up.
A full body weight training routine can increase your calorie burn which will increase your metabolism. If you gained just 5 pounds of muscle, you will burn an extra 600 calories/hour during your weight training workout. When picking out a strength/weight training workout you can use exercise machines/free weights or a combination of the two. There are pros and cons for both, so make the correct choice for you!
The body uses more energy at rest when there is a higher amount of muscle than fat within our bodies. Go ahead and find the right weight training program for yourself and add some muscle to increase your metabolism!
Kettlebell exercises combined together can produce comprehensive fat burning workouts! Here is a Weekend Workout you can try with 3 kettlebell exercises, that will increase your heart rate, tone your muscles and produce a fat burning workout.
The combination in this fat burning workout includes:
- 10 Snatches on 5 with each arm
- 10 Kettlebell Burpees
- 10 Swings
You would do each of these exercises:
- 30 seconds
- 15 seconds of rest between exercises
- 3-5 rounds of the combo
There are ways to make the Burpees more intense, by using 2 kettlebells and doing a pushup between jumping back and forth. Then, when you jump forward, pick up the kettlebells and jump up holding them.
There also options with the Swing. You can do single hand swings, hand to hand swings, 2 hand
swings, or flips. The intensity gradually increases.
I’ve called this the “Weekend Workout”, but obviously, it can be done during the week, in addition to other fat burning workouts.
Kettlebell Burpees, how fun!! Here are some add on kettlebell exercises to add to the basic kettlebell burpee. First of all, the kettlebell burpee is a good warm up exercise, because it gets the blood flowing, the heart pumping and the muscles ready to work.
The basic Burpee:
- Get 2 of the same weight kettlebells and place them on the floor next to your legs.
- Stand up tall then squat down to pick up the kettlebells.
- Stand back up with the kettlebells.
- Squat and place the kettlebells on the floor.
- Still holding on to the kettlebells, jump your feet back.
- Jump the feet forward and stand tall without the kettlebells.
- Start all over again.
You can add-on to this kettlebell exercise, by adding in a push up, when your legs are back. There is another add-on which intensifies this exercise, and that is after your push up, still holding on to the kettlebells jump the feet forward and jump up with the kettlebells!
There, you have 3 different kettlebell exercises to warm up your muscles and burn some fat as an added bonus!
Everyone is outdoors enjoying the pool in one way or the other. Perhaps your community pool offers water aerobics. If not, here is one of the many water aerobics routines you can try on your own. I compare this water aerobics routine to deep water running workouts that are offered at some gyms. The only tool you will need is a noodle. Deep water running requires a specific belt around your waist.
- Sit on the noodle like it is a horse.
- Take your feet off the floor and suspend your legs, or go to the deeper end of the pool (feet still off the floor).
- Get used to being suspended and move your legs like a bicycle.
- You can use your hands if you want, and see if you can travel forward.
- Go ahead and try different water aerobics moves on your noodle, like a cross country ski or jumping jacks. Get the full extension of your muscles, by really stretching out your limbs.
- You can vary your speed to increase your heart rate.
- Bring your arms out to the side and do arm circles and different moves with the arms in the water to keep the heart rate in your targeted zone.
- Perhaps you want to just use the arms to travel forward.
- Or just use one leg to travel forward.
These types of suspended water aerobics routines are very joint friendly, fun and can be very intense. Perhaps, you could practice this routine during adult swim. Give it a try!
Fat burning workouts can be very personalized. Studies show that when people do fat burning workouts that interest them, they are more likely to stick to a program. For instance, if swimming laps is your fat burning workout, it may not be of interest to me. However, I love my Step Aerobics classes, but you may hate them. That my friend, is what makes the world go around, we all have different interests!
My advice to you, is to move! Get your heart rate to its target point to help increase your metabolism. Find fat burning workouts you like and start moving TODAY!!
Since the weather is warmer and it’s almost officially summer, I thought I would talk to you about water aerobics. Water aerobics is a great way to get a cardiovascular workout. Some community pools may offer water aerobics classes during the summer months. If they do go for it!
There is deep water aerobics, where you usually wear a belt around your waist, some weights around your ankles, and suspend in the deep water while exercising. This is a fabulous workout, because there is no stress on any of your joints and can be done by everyone.
There is regular water aerobics, where you are in more shallow water, feet on the pool floor. The proper depth is usually gauged, between the navel and the nipple. Anything higher than the nipple there is too much flotation, and anything lower than the navel there is too much stress on the joints.
There are noodles, dumbbells, kick boards and yes, there can even be Step Water
Aerobics. All of these devices can elevate the heart rate, and keep it in your targeted heart rate zone, plus it’s a great way to tone your muscles.
So go ahead and give water aerobics a try, now is the perfect time!!