Tag Archives: beginners workout tips

Guest Post: 10 Reasons to Start Body Training

10 Reasons to Start Body Training

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For some people, the best form of exercise is the one which you can keep on repeating over a long time. With bodyweight exercises, there are no barriers to maintaining your efforts. All you need to do is consider a routine and choose some favorite workouts then find the most convenient place and time to make your exercise a sustainable solution.

Each year, the American College of Sports Medicine surveys the prevailing fitness market to make some prediction of the coming year’s largest exercise trends. Last year, the number 1 fitness trend predicted for 2015 was a hands down winner: Bodyweight Training.

What is Bodyweight Training?

Bodyweight training is simply what the name sounds like – using the bodyweight for resistance in performing your exercise. You don’t use free weights which means you are not supposed to use any type of equipment or machine. It includes all the numerous exercises from your old gym sessions like squats, push-ups, crunches, and lunges.

These classic exercises started the fitness era which is now making a dramatic comeback into modern 21st century gyms and apparently for good reason. Bodyweight training provide results that are totally essential for health.

10 Reasons to Start Bodyweight Training

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1. It is an Efficient Workout

Research declares high-output, bodyweight exercises yield awesome fitness results in short durations. Since no equipment is involved, bodyweight workouts allow easy transition from one form of exercise to the next even with very little rest.

2. It develops core strength

At least 29 muscles comprise the trunk of your body, and not surprisingly, a lot of bodyweight movements may be used to move and engage them all. These exercises do not just give you tightly packed abs, you will also relieve lower back pain and stress, gain better posture, and improve your overall performance.

3. It can burn fat easily

Bodyweight circuit training even for only a few minutes can already do wonders for one’s metabolism because of the so called “after burn effect.” This means that your body remains fully revved up and continuously burning calories for a few more hours. It’s right up there with cardio workouts in terms of calories being spent.

4. It Can Be Enjoyed with Endless Variety

You can adapt bodyweight exercises in a variety of ways to the rewards and challenge high. If push-ups are difficult for you, then do them less stressfully from the knees. Or if you think they lack challenge, then try the inverted push-ups. You’ll find no other form of exercise that gives you wider alternative and freedom to change, adjust, perfect, and adapt.

5. It can increase your flexibility

Performing bodyweight exercises that cover a wide range of motion ensures the free movement of your joints. It also prevents certain exercise related injuries and improves your posture. Yoga is actually a favorite example for many of using bodyweight training to improve flexibility and strength.

6. It’s free

Experts admit that the rising popularity of bodyweight training is largely due to its being without cost, meaning, it’s free. It is always available. This goes without saying that bodyweight training is available anytime and anywhere.

7. You’ll see results

Bodyweight training includes “compound movements which involve several muscles and joints in each exercise. Because of this, bodyweight exercises get results easily and immediately.

8. It Prevents Injuries

Bodyweight exercises just use normal workout positions and bodily movements without added strain hence preventing untoward incidents like injuries. Bodyweight training is generally safe for everybody notwithstanding his or her age, fitness level, or experience.

9. You’ll never get bored

If you usually work out on exercise bikes and treadmills, or perform the same set of exercises at the gym whenever you go there, the tendency is to get bored easily. But with bodyweight exercises, countless variations are available. With this, you don’t only overcome boredom, you also get to ignore your dreaded plateaus easily.

10. You’ll achieve better balance

In this balanced training you also improve your balance. If you try to swap a squat or push-up for a pistol squat (single leg squat) you can improve your balance by increasing control and body awareness.

Arguably, of the 10 reasons to start bodyweight training, more particularly important is that bodyweight exercises deliver all the goodness and benefits of resistance training like the traditional weight lifting.

In addition, bodyweight training is incredibly accessible, simple, and versatile. Bodyweight training is also unique in a way that its exercises are multi-functional, because they practically help your body regularly function in ordinary day-to-day life.

It supports and strengthens the body movements you use when playing sport, at work, or at home. They provide the strongest resistance against any type of physical decline.

About the author: Jane McCafferty is a personal trainer and fitness fanatic. In her free time, she blogs over at Jane’s Best Fitness.






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…Guest Post: Why You Should Choose HIIT Over Steady State Cardio…

This guest post is something that i know that i personally practice! I do a lot more HIIT than steady state cardio (steady state cardio is hopping on the treadmill, elliptical, or other machine and just going along for 30…40…50+ minutes).

Why You Should Choose HIIT Over Steady State Cardio

Step into any gym up and down the country and you will probably see lots of people on the exercise bikes, treadmills and steppers gently puffing along while hardly breaking a sweat.

Most will be glued to the latest reality TV show, lots will be deep in conversation with the person on the machine next to them, and some will be nonchalantly flicking through the pages of a celebrity magazine.

Why? Because they were told by someone years ago that hours of steady state cardio is an effective way to burn fat.

Well I’m here to tell you that this approach to losing weight is outdated, extremely ineffective and a colossal waste of your time.

Instead, you should be swapping those leisurely hours on the treadmill for bursts of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), which will be much more effective in the long-term – and will also save you hours of time.

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Push it harder!

Ultimately, if you want to lose fat quickly and effectively, and get that cover model physique you’ve been dreaming of, then you need to step up the intensity NOW!

Fear not, this doesn’t mean giving it everything you’ve got for hours on end – unless you are a world-class athlete, this is a completely unrealistic target.

Instead, we’re just going to need your max effort for a few minutes.

Indeed, studies show that 5 x 30 seconds of super high intensity work followed by 4 minutes recovery are just as effective as 90 minutes of constant, low intensity cardio.

So, for the same gains, you can either workout for 90 mins or 22.5 mins.

Which one would you rather choose?

This is one of the beauties of HIIT – you can easily fit in an effective workout around a busy schedule.

However, be warned, these intensive bursts will be tough – we’re talking sick buckets at the ready tough!

Example workouts

These following workouts should give you a good idea of what HIIT involves – that is, high intensity intervals followed by rest periods.

1)      Squatting Carnage

Warm up and then rack up the barbell with a light weight. Squat 1 minute for reps. Rest 1 minute. Repeat 10 times.

2)      Hill Sprints

Run 1 mile to a hill as a warm up. Sprint 30 seconds up the hill and then jog back down. Repeat 10 times.

3)      ‘The Destroyer’

Warm up. Squat for 1 minute, 1 minute rest; Deadlift for 1 minute, 1 minute rest; Bench Press for 1 minute, 1 minute rest, Pull Ups for 1 minute, 1 minute rest. Repeat 2 times.

When attempting these workouts, there is one important caveat which you should bear in mind.

That is, the high intensity intervals should be max effort – in other words, give it everything you’ve got!

Wrapping it up

Importantly, steady state cardio still has its place when training for endurance events, and don’t get me wrong I still really enjoy the occasional 5 mile run – there’s nothing better when it comes to clearing my head and getting away from it all.

However, if you’re training exclusively for fat loss, you need to cast aside that low intensity work for good, as it’s not really achieving anything.

Ultimately, 3 bits of fruit, a Special K bar and low intensity cardio is not going to lead to fat loss anytime soon; getting down and dirty at the squat rack, hill sprints, and hard work will.

Good luck!

If you have any thoughts or questions on this topic, I’d love to hear from you – just leave me a comment below and I’ll get back to you!

About the author

Henry is a fitness junkie with a passion for heavy squats, strength training and martial arts. You can find him blogging over at GymTalk.

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…Fitness Newbie Tips…

I have been getting some request from some “Fitness Newbies” who wanted some general tips to help them out with some of their fitness goals.

Well instead of writing out some long post (because i honestly have TONS of tips for newbies) I decided to share some YouTube videos that I thought would be a little more helpful.

I will also be sure to make more post in the future on some great fitness tips to help those out who are needing the help and advice.

Warm Ups:

I have said this MANY times…it is wise to warm up/stretch before your workout.  You can create your own warm up…but i can see how that would be hard for those who have never had to do this before…so here is a suggestion…

Push Ups:

It is SO important to learn the CORRECT way to do these from the start! If not…you will do them wrong until someone sees you and corrects you! And, you also need to do them correctly in order to get the best results out of this exercise

Non-Gym Workouts:

I know that some people are on a tight budget and just can not afford to purchase a gym membership.  THAT IS OK!  There are so many things you can do IN YOUR HOME that will still allow you to get an amazing workout!

Yoga:

There have been some request for some Yoga tips…to be honest I bought an amazing DVD that I watch and follow.  I got into yoga because a college friend of mine taught the classes here in town.  She moved away so I had to find other alternatives (until she makes a DVD :-)  )

 

I hope these videos explain and show you some things better than I can explain them by writing them down in this blog. Please keep sending me your questions…comments…and suggestions! I am here to help YOU GUYS! So please take advantage of the advice you can receive!






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…Two Week Kick Start Plan…

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Want to get back on track but you just don’t know how to start?

Starting is the HARDEST part!
First you have to pick a day.  Pick a day that you want to start living and eating healthier.

On this day start first thing in the morning when you wake up.

The best thing to do is to start fresh at the beginning of the week (like Sunday or Monday).

Here are some day-by-day things you can do to help you get on track:

Day One:

Today try to drink at least 1.5 liters or water.  Try to substitute your favorite afternoon sugar drink with a glass of water.  Or have your favorite drink BUT also have the extra glass of water.  The key is to start incorporating more water into your diet

Day Two:

Make a healthy snack choice.  Instead of having chips with your sandwich at lunch try some veggies or a piece of fruit.  You want to start making healthier food choices for your meals and snacks

Day Three:

Go for a brisk walk.  You want to walk at a pace that is faster than a casual walk and you want to keep up that faster pace for about 30 minutes.  You want to get your heart rate up but you also do not want to push yourself too hard starting out.

Day Four:

Regulate your meal choices.  You want to try to eat several small meals throughout the day.  You want your first meal to be within two hours of you first waking up.  Once you have breakfast try to have more small meals (around 400 calories each) every 2-3 hours.  This will help kick-start your metabolism and allow you to fuel your body as you are going through the day.

Day Five:

Create your own stretching routine.  This routine should be done before AND after you workout.  It does not have to be a long drawn out routine, just something that will stretch your major muscle groups and allow you to stretch your muscles.

Day Six:

Try to drink 2 liters of water!  If it helps try to get a large water bottle or container that you can monitor how much you are consuming to help you keep track.

Day Seven:

Go through your cabinet and collect all of your unhealthy foods.  If you still have some food that is unopened donate it to a local food pantry or other type of food service.  You will not be as tempted to eat bad foods if you do not buy them or have them at home.

Day Eight:

Go for another brisk walk.  This time make sure to stretch BEFORE and AFTER your walk.  Do not forget to keep up the fast brisk pace for at least 30 minutes.  You want to keep your heart rate up to help you start to burn those extra calories.

Day Nine:

Go one full day without eating anything “unhealthy”.  This means cutting out carbonated beverages, candy bars, greasy foods, chips, or anything else that you know is unhealthy.  If you even have a doubt if it is unhealthy or not, do not eat it! Stick to simple things like chicken, fish, beef, turkey, veggies, fruit, whole wheat pasta or bread, etc.  This will allow you to dedicate one full day to fueling your body with healthy low processed foods.

Day Ten:

Today try to do more physical activities.  These following exercises do them for a minute and record how many you can do.  A month from now do them all again and see how many more you were able to do in that minute.  That should help show you how much you are progressing!  Try these exercises: jumping jacks, sit ups, push ups, lunges, air squats, and mountain climbers (if you do not know what these exercises are you can type them into Google or YouTube and see how to do them!)

Day Eleven:

Today try to combine several of the things listed above.  Try drinking the 2 liters or water and eating healthy for a full day.  Or try the brisk walk and drinking 2 liters of water.  Whatever you choose, try to do at least two of the items listed above.

Day Twelve:

Start a health and fitness journal!  Write down what you have been doing and how you feel.  You can write down how much you weigh now and also keep track of the exercises you have been doing.  There are some great online fitness journals (like myfitnesspal.com) or you can buy a regular journal to write in.  Writing down what you do will help you to keep track of what you are doing and will hopefully hold you accountable for the healthy choices that you should/want to make each day.

Day Thirteen:

Today you should drink 2 liters of water, walk briskly for thirty minutes (and do not forget to stretch!!), and lastly you should also have a regulated day of eating every few hours.

Day Fourteen:  

By this day you should have already started some healthy habits!  Today will be the toughest day!  Today you should make sure to drink 2 liters of water, eat healthy ALL day, have regulated eating (every 2-3 hours), go for a brisk walk (with your stretching), and keep track of all of this in your fitness journal.

This is just a sample of some things that you can do to get you stated on living healthier.  Most people ask me “where do I start” or “what are some good things to start doing”.  These are all some great things that allow you to make your own wise choices.  The key is to not completely jump into things head first.  You want to gradually start to make positive habits so the will become a good habit and you will stick with them.  Try this for fourteen days and then see how ready you are to start living healthier!

 






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