Aerobics For Fitness

Home Pole Dancing Classes

In summary, the home pole dancing course is designed to guarantee you perfect health and fitness from the comfort of your home through pole dancing. The creator of this course is Amber Starr. The course aims to keep you fit and enable you to move your body more confidently within a short period. The idea here is to use the moves and techniques adopted from pole dancing to achieve fitness. One key advantage of using this particular course is that you can do it from the comfort of your home. Therefore, you can save on the much-needed time and money associated with travel and booking sessions in traditional dancing schools. The course consists of over one hundred videos which are six-hour-long sessions to enable you to learn the various dance moves and techniques effectively. Additionally, the sessions are broken down into parts to grant you a step-by-step procedure and learn in a much easier way. This particular course is not tied to beginners only; seasoned dancers who seek to refresh their dancing styles and even learn new techniques can also participate. The videos are in an easy-to-follow format so that you can expect a fun and engaging dance session. Read more...

Home Pole Dancing Classes Summary

Rating: 4.6 stars out of 11 votes

Contents: Home Pole Dancing Course
Author: Amber Starr
Official Website: www.poledancingcourses.com
Price: $47.00

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Home Pole Dancing Classes Review

Highly Recommended

All of the information that the author discovered has been compiled into a downloadable pdf so that purchasers of Home Pole Dancing Classes can begin putting the methods it teaches to use as soon as possible.

This ebook does what it says, and you can read all the claims at his official website. I highly recommend getting this book.

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The American Fitness and Aerobics Association AFAA

The American Fitness and Aerobics Association has certified over 145,000 members since its inception in 1983. It offers a variety of certification workshops for group exercise instructors and personal trainers, all of which involve traditional and hands-on instruction, followed by written and practical exams. Requirements generally include current CPR certification, successful completion of the exams, and some experience teaching group exercise. AFAA offers standard benefits to those who achieve certification. They include membership in the association, a subscription to its magazine, and discounts on liability insurance, supplies, and clothing. Certifications include basic, kickboxing, step aerobics, personal training, emergency response, and weight training.

The Russian Ballet Leg Thrust

Russian Ballet Leg Thrust

Russian ballet dancers and gymnasts favor the drill I am about to describe because it trains the abs to stabilize their spines against their powerful hip flexors. This exercise also overloads the interspinales, deep muscles of the back, important for spinal health. In the process you will develop corrugated abs you will be proud of. Inhale, squeeze your butt, and slowly lower your leg. Keep your toes pointed, and go down as low as you can while keeping your lumbar spine flat. Stop short of creating any discomfort in the small of your back. (Fig. 19) It is easy to let your back go concave without you realizing it. Initially, when you are learning the Russian Ballet Leg Thrust, have somebody try to slide a pen under your back. They should not be able to.

Anaerobic vs Aerobic Conditioning

Aerobic exercise is classified as low to moderate intensity activities, performed for extended periods of time. Distance running is a perfect example of aerobic exercise. There is a distinct difference between anaerobic and aerobic conditioning. I will not make this a science class but it is important that you understand these concepts if you wish to maximize your performance.

Physiology of Aerobic Training

Aerobic exercise uses oxygen to produce most of the body's energy needs. It also brings into play a fairly complex set of physiological events. Correctly performed aerobic exercise, over time, causes positive changes in the body's CR system. These changes allow the heart and vascular systems to deliver more oxygen-rich blood to the working muscles during exercise. Also, those muscles regularly used during aerobic exercise undergo positive changes. By using more oxygen, these changes let the muscles make and use more energy during exercise and, as a result, the muscles can work longer and harder. During maximum aerobic exercise, the trained person has an in-creased.maximum oxygen consumption (V02max). He is better able to process oxygen and fuel and can therefore provide more energy to the working muscles. Aerobic exercise is the best type of activity for In the presence of oxygen, muscle cells produce energy by breaking down carbohydrates and fats.

Section 2 Aerobics and the precontest bodybuilder

Aerobic exercise should not be necessary early in the contest diet except on Sunday after the carb-up to help reestablish ketosis. Reducing calories to maintenance levels or a slight deficit coupled with weight training should be sufficient to cause fat loss in the early stages of the diet. Only when fat loss slows should small amounts of aerobic exercise be added. A maximum of four to five sessions of 20 to 40' is about the most a natural bodybuilder should perform although this will vary with the individual. Assuming that a bodybuilder has followed the rules presented above, much more than this should not be needed. The only exception is the one hour of low-intensity aerobics after the carb-up. The purpose of this workout is to deplete liver glycogen and establish ketosis as quickly as possible and should be done from the beginning of the contest diet. Ideally, this workout should be done before breakfast on Sunday to ensure depletion of any remaining liver glycogen.

How Many Calories Are You Burning in Your Aerobic Class?

In reaction to last week's column on whether the calories burned while using cardiovascular machines like treadmills and steppers are accurate, a reader wanted to know how many calories are burned while doing aerobic classes. This is an important question since many women (and some men) do aerobics as a way of controlling their weight. Most of us don't have the time to spend hours in the gym so it is to our benefit that we make our aerobic classes as time- and calorie-efficient as possible to get more value out of them. Exactly how many calories you actually burn doing aerobics depends on how much you weigh, the speed of the music, the quality of your movement and the kind of movement. Let's take a look at how these factors affect the three most common types of aerobics classes --step, high-low impact, and kickboxing. How much you weigh. It takes more energy to move a heavier mass than it does to move a lighter one. That is one of the laws of physics.

Avoiding Injuries in Step Aerobics

The three most common types of aerobic classes (step, kickboxing and high low impact) have unique safety guidelines that all exercisers should know. According to Idea (International Association of Fitness Professionals), the foot, ankle, Achilles tendon, and knee joint are the most vulnerable in step aerobics. Excessive pounding on both the step and the floor. Step lightly and with control instead of pounding as you go up and down. Step aerobics is a low-, not high-impact activity. Excessive pounding can lead to stress fractures in the bones of your forefoot. Improper shoes. Aerobic and cross-training shoes are best for step aerobics because they have cushioning in the forefoot area, a wider heel for more foot stability, and an adequate lift in the heels to take the stress off the Achilles tendon and calf. Running, jazz, tennis and casual rubber shoes can lead to injuries. Class is too advanced.

Aerobics Through the Decades

Think aerobics and the name Jane Fonda comes to mind. Her 1982 video made workout and go for the burn household terms. It remains the best-selling exercise video of all time. However, Fonda did not invent aerobics, as many people believe. In 1968, Dr. Kenneth Cooper published his book Aerobics , which described fitness programs he had created for the U.S. Air Force. In it, he laid down the scientific guidelines that are still being used today for increasing aerobic endurance through activities like walking, running, cycling, and swimming. There may also have been a grandmother of aerobics. In the 50's, physical education teacher Sheila Cluff took her ice skating routine and set it to piano music to motivate her high school students. She called her class cardiovascular dance . Cooper and Sorensen could not have foreseen how popular aerobics would become. In 1987, more than 19 million people were doing it in the U.S. alone. For that, Fonda can take a bow.

What should be done first: Aerobics or Weights

From a reader While working out at my gym, I overheard one of the fitness trainers telling a client that doing aerobics should always be the first activity, and that weight training should only be done after aerobics. He went on to say that if you do weights first, then follow it up with aerobics, all the jumping around in aerobics will just negate the benefits of the resistance training you did earlier. Is that true Is there indeed a sequence in which these exercises (resistance training and aerobics) should be done in order to maximize the benefits This is my concern because, due to time constraints, I try to work around the scheduled aerobics classes. Hence, should my desired aerobics class be a little later in the morning, I do weights first. I would really like to know the facts on this, lest I be wasting both my time and energy doing things the wrong way. Depends on fitness goals. The sequence of activity, whether aerobics or weights first, depends on your fitness goals.

Bar Method - Combination of Yoga, Pilates and Ballet

If you find free weights intimidating or the typical class is too boring, you may want to try Bar Method. When I read about Bar Method, on the first glance, I saw similarities between Bar Method and Yoga or Pilates and even ballet because of its focus in stretching and strengthening of the core muscles. But, after doing more reading and watching some video clips, I agree that Bar Method has its own unique features which may be loved by many women. If you haven't heard about the Bar Method and want to get in shape, read on.

Will You Allow Your Kids To Joing Pole Dancing Class?

Pole dancing is getting popular in the US, Europe as well as Australia. Some marketing gurus have called pole dancing class as fitness with a vertical pole to get rid of the negative public's perception towards the class. Similar with yoga classes, some studios are targeting parents to send their kids to pole dancing class for kids. The interesting question here is If you have daughters, will you allow them to join the class, even the instructors insist that no sexual moves are taught I am not a parent yet, so it may be unfair for me to say that parents who stop kids from joining pole dancing are bad. It is sometimes important to set a boundary. Let's admit that kids are inquisitive. They are curious about new things. They may explore more. Kids like to play. Kids like to dance too. Be it ballet, belly dance or even pole dancing.

Mental Aerobics

Neurobics Neurobiology professor Lawrence Katz coined the term neurobics to describe his mental aerobics program. It is based on the idea that brain cells learn by making new connections with other brain cells and that a large part of the brain is used to analyze sensory stimulus from the outside world.

Gender Differences in fuel metabolism

There are differences between men and women in terms of the physiological response to aerobic exercise. While the exact implication of these differences are unclear, they have one major consequence with regards to the ketogenic diet, especially the CKD. At any aerobic intensity, women use more fat and less carbohydrate and protein during exercise (42-45). Studies also show that women do not respond to carb loading the same as men do, most likely because they deplete less muscle glycogen less during aerobic exercise (42). This has two important ramifications for women wishing to follow a ketogenic diet. First and foremost, less dietary protein is required during the week as less protein is used during exercise and at rest (43). As discussed in chapter 9, if ketosis can not be established and all other facets of the diet are in order, protein should be reduced gradually until trace ketosis is established.

Matt Mclaughlin Bodybuilder

Bodybuilders Barbarian Brothers

In the bodybuilder's dictionary, the word tension can be found between supersets and Vanadyl, and is defined as the degree to which individual muscle fibers are voluntarily activated. Increasing muscle tension requires hard work and the discipline to tolerate discomfort, thereby giving support to the axiom, No Pain, No Gain. And judging by the physiques of aerobics instructors who strength train with unisex plastic dumbbells and oversized rubber bands, it's primarily the quality, not the quantity, of muscle tension that determines how big and strong you can become.

Peripheral adaptations

How did aerobics catch on We now know that aerobics is a low-intensity form of physical activity that allows the mitochondria to do their work at a submaximal pace, with the upshot that only one aspect of metabolism the aerobic system is emphasized. Over several decades, all sorts of positive health benefits became associated with this specific metabolic adaptation. Soon, it became a foregone conclusion that aerobic conditioning was cardiovascular conditioning and that the two were interchangeable. What never seemed to have been pointed out is that the heart and blood vessels support the entire functioning of the cell, not just the mitochondria. Every component of metabolism is supported by the cardiovascular system. Strength training is actually the best way to train the cardiovascular system precisely because, unlike what we refer to as aerobics, strength training actually involves and stimulates all of the components of metabolism.

Womans Training with Rachel Cosgrove wwwAlwyn Cosgrovecom

In the forthcoming issues of The Unnatural Athlete, we will be including a column to specifically address issues for female trainees. In order to do this effectively, we have enlisted the services of Rachel Cosgrove one of the country's top female conditioning coaches. Good female trainers coaches are hard to find as historically there has been a tendency for females to follow the aerobics instructor route but hopefully this newsletter will change all that. RC I have always been active growing up. I danced (tap, jazz, ballet) competitively for many years. I never had a skinny, waif like body like all of the other dancers. I was always more of a mesomorph and growing up I would always compare myself to the other dancers. I started going to the gym with my dad when I was about 15 and I loved seeing my body change. That was when I realized that being a mesomorph was actually a good thing and how great muscle looked.

The cardiovascular continuum

Cardiovascular Continuum

Cardiovascular exercise is frequently referred to as cardio or aerobics. Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the physician who introduced the concept of aerobics to the world with his book of the same title, wrote a follow-up tome entitled The New Aerobics. In it, he recounted his experience with two individuals who came to him for a personal fitness assessment, which he conducted at his institute in Texas. Both clients had followed his prescription of performing a two-mile run five times a week, so he expected both individuals to be in similar condition. He was shocked to learn that one individual was in good shape and the other was not. Why the difference he wondered. He recounted Cooper started off the notion of aerobics as being synonymous with cardiovascular by attempting to produce a form of exercise that isolated the aerobic metabolic system. He believed that doing so would produce health benefits that were transferred to the cardiovascular system, and in a large measure, he was right.

Lift Weights to Change a Pear-Shaped Body

From my own personal experience (I am pear-shaped due to my Spanish heritage) and the experiences of many of my pear-shaped clients, I can attest to this peculiar fat loss pattern. If you are pear-shaped and you try to lose weight simply by dieting or by dieting and aerobic exercise alone, your hips do become somewhat smaller but so does your upper body, including your face. You end up becoming a smaller haggard-looking pear.

The Difference between Circuit, Interval, and Cross Training

Interval training incorporates periods of high intensity exercise (called the work interval) alternating with periods of lower intensity (called the rest or relief interval). One work interval and one rest interval equals one cycle. There are usually eight to ten cycles in one workout session. The ratio of work to rest intervals depends on you. A ratio of 1 is to 3 or 1 3 means the recovery is three times as long as the work. For example, 30 seconds sprint, 90 seconds walking. An example of a 1 2 ratio would be 60 seconds run and 120 seconds jog. 1 1 could be three minutes high intensity aerobic dance and three minutes low-intensity aerobic dance. A very popular interval training format is three minutes high intensity aerobics (running, stepping, aerobic dance) and one minute weight training exercise. Interval training trains both the aerobic and anaerobic systems.

Lack of Sleep Can Ruin Your Health

An exercise prescription for better sleep would be to do some kind of moderate aerobic activity twenty to thirty minutes at least five times a week. However, you shouldn't work out one or two hours before your bedtime because it will keep you awake. One reason could be that the nervous system is over-stimulated and takes some time to calm down. Another reason is that your body temperature stays elevated for a longer time and by the time it drops enough for you to get sleepy the rooster is already crowing.

How Music Affects Your Workout

There is a saying among aerobics instructors that music is the master , meaning it controls the motivation, speed, and intensity of the class. If the music is uplifting, invigorating and catchy, students will be inspired and motivated to workout. If it's lousy, no matter how skilled the instructor, the class will be affected. Science is affirming these observations with experiments on how music can influence - positively or negatively - our workouts, whether aerobic classes, lifting weights, running or walking. Wrong music speed can cause injury. Music's speed is important enough to influence the intensity and safety of endurance workouts since the body automatically tries to keep in sync with the music's rhythm and tempo. Aerobics instructors make the common mistake of using faster music, meant for traditional high-impact classes, during a step aerobics workout class.

Why Women Gain Weight Faster Than Men

My sister and I were laughing over a cartoon that illustrated the different methods men and women use to lose weight. In the cartoon, the man ate one steak instead of his usual two, drank two beers instead of five, played a couple of rounds of tennis, and promptly lost eight pounds. The woman did aerobic classes for a month until she dropped from exhaustion, ate next to nothing, and only lost half a pound. The cartoon, of course, was exaggerated because in real life, both men and women have a hard time losing weight but it did point out the truth that women have a much tougher time in the weight loss arena. In order to lose fat, it must be transported from a fat cell to a muscle cell. The muscle cell contains important structures called mitochondria that burn fat. The more aerobic exercise you do, the more mitochondria the muscle cell produces, and the more efficiently you burn fat during exercise.

Slimming Down "Big" Legs

Five readers wrote asking advice about how to slim down their big legs. All of them expressed their frustration at achieving this goal. Seventeen year old J.T. wrote that her legs bring embarrassment to her and cause her to lose her self-confidence. A reader who signed her letter an overweight fourteen year old called herself a fat girl loser who has legs like an upside down ice cream cone (she even drew a picture). M.T. wrote that her problems with her legs were stressing her out. Aside from their desperation, the readers were also confused about why their legs had gotten bigger. J.T.'s friends told her that walking long distances made her legs fat. A. B. blamed her ballet classes. M.T. thought that maybe step aerobics classes were the culprit. Ballet can make the leg muscles bigger because the legs have to get stronger to carry the entire body through jumps and leaps and yet, not all ballerinas have large thigh and calf muscles.

How to Start Exercising

The simplest and most practical form of cardiovascular exercise is walking. Other forms are jogging, running, swimming, cycling, dancing, aerobic classes, rowing, etc. Basically, it is any exercise that uses the large muscles of the body (arms and legs) in a rhythmic, continuous manner for at least fifteen to twenty minutes at a moderate intensity (you are breathing somewhat hard but you can still talk). Fitting exercise in to your schedule. Really determined and imaginative people who lead very busy lives manage to squeeze exercise into their hectic schedules by doing what they can at odd moments of the day. Follow their example and do ten-minute segments of aerobic exercise throughout the day (for example, ten minutes of walking in the morning, ten minutes of stair climbing in the afternoon, ten minutes of walking in the evening). Spread out your strength and flexibility exercises also. Do some in the bathroom as you get ready for work.

How NOT To Get Results from Your Gym Workout

Choose a lengthy, complicated workout You want results and you want them quickly. So choose a really advanced workout. Ladies, why waste your time on the beginner aerobics class That's for wimps who are out of shape. Go for that killer aero class that is jam-packed with people who all look like they could work out for hours. So what if you almost sprain your ankle and you are exhausted the whole day. Remember, the motto for success is no pain, no gain .

How to Get Fit With Workout Videos

If you enjoy aerobic classes but you don't have the time or budget to join a fitness center, your next best option is to do a video workout at home. Exercise videos are also convenient to bring along when you go on vacation. They don't weigh much or take up a lot of space in your suitcase. Pop one into a VHS and you've got an instant aerobic class wherever you are in the world. Aerobics aren't the only types of exercise videos you can choose from. Today, you can find almost anything including yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, ballet, belly dancing, hip hop, and latin. There are all kinds of ball workouts - medicine ball, mini-ball, and stability ball. There are videos for seniors, pregnant women, and athletes as well as for people with special conditions like lower back problems. The best floor for aerobics is a wooden suspended floor. Marble, parquet tiles, and vinyl flooring are will do for low impact aerobics but not for high impact aerobics with jumping.

How to Combine Yoga and Weight Training

If Sarah wants to add more muscle mass than what yoga can offer, my advice would be to try and gain ten pounds by eating more and adding a weights program to her exercise routine. She can still do her other exercise activities (yoga, badminton, boxing, running) but she may have to sacrifice the frequency and duration at which she does them. Badminton, boxing, and running are all primarily cardiovascular and aerobic forms of exercise. She can do each of them once a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She can do her yoga and weights on Tuesday and Thursday, with an additional weights session on Saturday. The reason I am suggesting to put the weight training on the same days as the yoga is because both exercise formats develop strength and her body can rest on the days in between while she does her aerobic training. Of course, this is just one example of how someone with Sarah's goals can arrange their workout schedule.

Scientific Look at Abdominal Exercises

Abdominal exercises can partly help you attain a flatter stomach and smaller waist by strengthening and firming up flabby muscles. To reduce the overlying fat, you have to lose total body fat by doing aerobic exercise and resistance training, eating a sensible diet, and living an active lifestyle.

How to Choose a Fitness Instructor

Kinds of instructors A group exercise instructor is anyone who teaches physical activity to a group of people doing the same thing at the same time. This can be aerobics, yoga, tai chi, military-style calisthenics, dance, etc. Gym instructors also teach a number of people at the same time but the people are all doing something different. Personal trainers teach one-on-one either at the gym or at home.

How Exercise Affects Fertility

I am 34 years old and have been attending aerobics classes in the gym. I am planning to get pregnant this year and I am concerned that the strenuous exercise will minimize my chance of getting pregnant. I also want to trim down my body fat (especially in the abdomen) but I know I have to increase my exercise and or lessen my food intake. I hope you can feature an article regarding this.

Keep Your Hands on Your Dumbbells, Not Your Cell Phone

Using your cell phone in the gym will not only distract you and the others around you while working out, you can also get hurt. We had a hardheaded client who would not only text during her aerobics class but would also answer or make calls. Amazingly, in spite of repeated announcements from the teacher not to use a cell phone during class, she would be overheard telling whomever she was talking with to speak louder because it is so noisy here . Well, the teacher and the rest of the class eventually had the last laugh because one day the lady was texting while doing step aerobics and she fell off her bench. Luckily, she didn't get hurt but she could have twisted an ankle or hit her head on another bench. After the initial shock, the teacher and class quietly snickered and prayed that she had finally learned her lesson. She did.

Ten Big Fat Loss Lies - Part Two

He says that most people will lose fat simply (there is that word again) by adding aerobic exercise to their schedule and by cleaning up their diets. By cleaning up , he means that you have to master all the nutritional basics like eating small frequent meals, controlling portion sizes, cutting down on saturated fat, avoiding sugar and junk foods, etc. Fat Loss Lie 9 If you eat the right diet, you can lose fat permanently without exercise. Venuto says that trying to lose fat without exercising is like trying to sit on a chair without four legs. If one leg is missing, your chair is going to fall over. An effective fat burning program must have four crucial components Aerobic exercise, a nutritious diet with mild caloric deficit, weight training, goal setting and motivation.

Circuit, Interval, and Cross Training

It is a time-efficient workout that trains both the aerobic and anaerobic systems. Aerobics is steady and continuous (walking or jogging) while anaerobic exercise is short quick bursts of power and speed (running as fast as you can for 30 seconds). A marathon is aerobic while the 100-meter dash is anaerobic.

Making Fitness Fun for Kids and Teenagers

There were two main things I liked about their thesis project. First, I liked the way they focused on the other things that physical activity can do for young people like building self-esteem and confidence. Second, I liked that fact that they gave equal importance to modern exercises (Taebo, Pilates, aerobics, spinning, yoga) and recreations (camping, mountain climbing, and scuba diving) as well as sports.

Basic Lower Back Pain Prevention Tips Part One

In fact, it's a good idea to be strong and flexible everywhere because strong arms and legs will take the load off the spine. Aerobic exercise also helps indirectly because it increases circulation and that, in turn, keeps the spinal discs healthy. Being a couch potato is a good way to end up with a painful back.

How Accurate Are The Calories You Burn On Cardio Machines?

The Tufts University article mentions a study done in the early 90s, when step aerobics and stepping machines first became popular. People in the study were burning an average of 8.5 calories per minute (based on an 8-inch step height). Seven years later when the study was repeated, the researchers found that people were now burning 7.5 calories per minute. The head of the research team claimed that this could make a big difference over time. At the rate of several exercise sessions a week, it could add up to enough calories to account for three to four pounds in a year . So if you are new at using cardio machines, you are probably burning what the machines says you are but as you become fitter and more coordinated, you will probably be burning a little less.

Bed Rest Not the Best for Lower Back Pain

Keep on moving A study published in Spine wanted to find out which exercise program was best for the lower back. The participants were divided into three formats done twice a week for 12 weeks Physical therapy exercises, muscle conditioning exercises, and low impact aerobics.

Comparing Yoga and Pilates

AerobicsAerobic or cardiovascular exercise is any exercise that is done continuously for 15 to 60 minutes or more while using the arms and legs in a rhythmic fashion. The goal of aerobic exercise is to increase the amount of blood pumped per beat to improve the efficiency and stamina of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels. Examples are walking, running, swimming, dancing, etc. Unless you are doing Ashtanga yoga, which moves rapidly from one position to another, yoga and Pilates do not qualify as cardiovascular or aerobic exercise. Thus, if you want a complete exercise program, you have to supplement your yoga and or Pilates classes with some form of aerobic exercise. Weight loss versus inch loss.All this talk about calories leads to a common question Can yoga or Pilates help you lose weight Definitely it can as part of a total program of watching what you eat and doing cardio exercise. For weight loss, you want to burn 1,000 to 2,000 calories a week through exercise.

More of the Best Exercises for Strong Bones - Part Two

Aerobic Dance Women who did a 45-minute step aerobics class three times a week for six months experienced a 3 increase in bone density in their spines, legs, and heels. Researchers at Texas A&M university say that step aerobics adds the extra challenge of changes in direction and speed, which stimulate the bones even better than skipping rope and jogging that offer only impact. A British study found that high-impact aerobics (aerobics with hops, skips, and jumps) improved the hipbone density of postmenopausal women and men over 50.

What Exercise Can Do For Menopausal Women

Osteoporosis Menopausal women are at high risk for osteoporosis because lowered estrogen levels hasten the loss of bone minerals. Although the best time to build strong bones is before the age of 35, weight-bearing exercise (walking, running, yoga, aerobic classes) and resistance training (weight lifting) prevent further bone mineral loss from happening. Resistance exercise or weight lifting is the best way to rebuild muscle that you have lost. Aerobic exercise helps to keep the weight down because of the calories burned during the workout and cellular changes that make you a more efficient calorie burner.

Firm Up Your Rear End

The aerobic activity you choose can also firm up what was once high and tight and is now low and loose. Step aerobics, a step machine, an elliptical trainer, a recumbent stationary bike, walking uphill, fencing and roller-blading are some cardiovascular exercises that are good for your heart and your gluteus maximus (aptly named because it is the largest muscle in the body).

Physical Exercise Can Keep You Mentally Fit

How to Exercise A meta-analysis (an analysis of many studies) found that for older adults, exercise programs that combined aerobic exercise and strength training produced better results in improving mental fitness than aerobics or strength training alone. This may not be true for younger individuals. Phillip Tomporowski, an exercise scientist at the University of Georgia reviewed 43 studies and found that steady-paced aerobic exercise (as compared to high intensity interval type exercise) worked the best. This is not to say that strength training and stretching are not good for you but that aerobic exercise seems to be the type of exercise that is most beneficial for boosting brain-power.

Take the Interval Training Challenge

Interval training trains both the aerobic and anaerobic systems. Aerobics is steady and continuous while anaerobic exercise is short quick bursts of power and speed. Walking or jogging at a pace that you can comfortably continue for fifteen to twenty minutes is aerobic exercise and running or sprinting as fast as you can for 30 seconds to three minutes is anaerobic exercise. Interval training is not better than continuous aerobics. Just like a hammer is not better than a screwdriver because they have different functions, both types of workout have a place in your exercise program. Most experts recommend doing high-intensity interval training only two to three times a week at most because it is very strenuous and taxing. Fill in the rest of your program with low to moderate intensity continuous exercise to avoid burnout and overuse injury.

Advice for Group Exercise Tyros

GROUP exercise is the new term for aerobics, the dance-type workout Jane Fonda did. The term is more appropriate because today's aerobic classes have more variety. Despite variations, three types of group exercises remain popular Step aerobics, high-low impact and kickboxing or Taebo.

How to do Kickboxing Safely

There are two types of kickboxing classes that are done to music. One is the Taebo-type where you are boxing and kicking an imaginary opponent. The other is known as punch bag aerobics . Participants wear boxing gloves and have their own punch bag to hit during the class. This article is about kickboxing without equipment, which is the most common type of class taught. Cross-trainers and aerobics shoes are probably the best to be able to do pivots and lateral movements safely. Avoid running shoes because these can catch on the floor when you do a pivot. The worst combination is a carpeted floor with running shoes because you can sprain your ankle as you turn or do a sideways movement.

To Lose Weight, Exercise is Not Enough

Take note of this study that was published in the International Journal of Obesity. Scientists analysed twenty-five years worth of weight loss research (over 493 studies) to find out the best method to lose weight Diet alone, exercise alone or a combination of diet and exercise. The method of dieting used was caloric restriction. The exercise involved was aerobic exercise (walking, cycling, etc.) and not resistance training (lifting weights). You might be saying to yourself, if dieting alone makes me lose the same amount of weight as dieting and exercise, why should I bother exercising Well, because the diet alone group lost more lean body mass (translation muscle) than the diet and exercise group. The diet alone group lost 25 of their lean body mass, while the diet and exercise group lost 2 of their lean mass. This is because only aerobic exercise was used. If resistance training were also included, there would have been an increase in lean mass as well as a loss of fat.

Are You Fit to Tee Off?

Endurance According to Wayne Wescott, Research Fitness Director of the YMCA, Golf is far from a huffing and puffing activity so cardiovascular conditioning has little practical application for improving golf performance''. However, he points out that aerobic exercise can be beneficial with respect to heart health and may help reduce fatigue during the last hour of play . Stamina during the last couple of holes of the last day of an important tournament may make all the difference between winning and losing. Ideal golf fitness program. The ideal program would include aerobic exercise, strength training, flexibility exercises, and core exercises that improve rotation, balance and coordination. Twenty minutes of aerobic exercise is enough to improve stamina and heart health unless weight loss is also desired (forty to sixty minutes would be more appropriate).

Pride Goes Before an Exercise Injury

Having a competitive streak might win you medals in sports but when it comes to plain old exercise, all you will gain is an injury. When I lived in Singapore for a short while, I thought my aerobics teacher was stuck-up and I felt she was challenging me to compete with her. Being young and foolish at that time, I fought fire with fire and almost sprained my ankle during one of her classes. Thank goodness nothing happened. I would have hurt myself because of some silly woman whose name I hardly even remember now. Some people would rather die than admit that they are no longer as fit or as young as they used to be. That's why you hear stories about men tearing their knees to pieces because they tried to play a fast game of basketball even though they hadn't stepped foot on a court for ten years. Aerobic teachers will tell you that women who haven't done aerobics in years will insist on joining the advanced classes because they are used to doing aerobics .

How Much Exercise Do You Need For Health Benefits?

Aerobic exercise was the type of exercise that was used in most of the studies. Aerobic means walking, running, cycling, swimming, dancing any continuous activity that rhythmically uses the arms and legs. This doesn't mean that resistance exercise (weight lifting) or stretching don't have any health benefits. It simply means that aerobic exercise was the method that was most studied in this particular scientific review. Another thing pointed out by La Forge is that when it comes to health benefits, one type of aerobic activity is not better than another. With very few exceptions, it is the number of calories you burn per session, per week, and per month that seems to make the difference.

Exercising For Your Body Type and Shape

Endomorphs Since male and female endomorphs put on fat easily, they need to add more cardiovascular or aerobics workouts to their exercise routine to keep the fat at bay. Male endomorphs usually have no problem achieving muscle mass, so once they do, their weights programs should have more repetitions (15 to 20) and lighter poundage if they want to achieve a more chiseled and defined look. Female endomorphs may or may not be naturally prone to big muscles. If they are, the lighter weights more reps program will work for them too. However, many female endomorphs have a double whammy against them not much muscle with a tendency to get fat quickly. In this case, moderate to heavy poundage with less repetitions (8 to 12) will help the battle of the bulge because more muscle mass means more calories burned even while the body is at rest.

Exercise: Love it or Hate it

Your attitude towards exercise is built partly from past experience. An uncle may have made a comment that women who lift weights are not feminine. You may have had a traumatic experience in P.E Your attitude will affect not only the kind of activity you choose to do in the future (if you decide to even do anything at all) but also where you will do that activity. If as a kid you felt ungraceful in ballet, an aerobics class will probably be the last kind of exercise you will choose. On the other hand, you may be willing to do aerobics by following a video in the safety of your own bedroom where no one will see you.

Why Your Body Resists Weight Loss

The Association of Fitness Professionals of the Philippines will hold a seminar on Sept. 21 at the Bahay ng Alumni, UP Diliman. Topics for gym instructors are Exercise and Infection, Preventing Foot and Ankle Injuries, All About Cellulite and Why Women Gain Weight. Topics for aerobics instructors are Kickboxing, Stretch and Tone, High-Low Impact and Latin Aerobics.

No-Sweat Ways to Burn More Calories

This was proven in a study that analyzed the daily movements of ten lean and ten obese subjects. The major difference between the two groups was that the obese group sat for 150 minutes more per day than the lean people. This meant that the lean people were burning 350 calories more per day than their fatter peers. That is like doing one hour's worth of aerobic exercise everyday. By taking the stairs instead of the elevator, you burn 8 calories a minute. If you live in a multi-level house or work in a building, take advantage and use the stairs as often as possible. Not only will you have stronger and firmer leg muscles, you can burn as many calories as doing a 30-minute step aerobics or kickboxing class.

Why Yoga Injuries Are on the Rise

What Jane Fonda did for aerobics, Madonna did first for women lifting weights and, now, for yoga. Thus, what used to be an exotic fitness specialty has become a full-blown mainstream trend with 18 million participants in the US alone. For the most part, this has been a positive development because people are now giving flexibility training the respect and importance it deserves. This saddens me because I don't want to see yoga go the way of kickboxing, which is on a decline because of the high rate of injuries. Step aerobics also lost a lot of enthusiasts due to knee injuries. Just like the injuries sustained from these two forms of group exercise, yoga-related injuries are usually due to three main reasons poorly trained instructors, competitive students and overcrowded classes.

How to Make Your Home Workout Time- Efficient

Set a specific time to exercise You will be more successful if you block off a specific time for exercise. If you don't, so many things can get in the way that days can pass and you still will not have found the time to work out. This is especially true if you are a homemaker or you have a home office because you become complacent about your exercise time since you are home all day. Exercising in the morning is the most practical because you can get it out of the way before your day really starts but whatever time you choose, make an effort to stick to it. Tell everyone that your exercise time is sacred to you. Make sure that you believe this too because you can be your worst enemy. I know someone who would still be in her workout gear at the end of the day but she had not done a minute of exercise because she kept putting it off. It was ironic because she would have two-week periods when she would not exercise but she looked like she was an aerobics instructor.

Strategies to Prevent Badminton Injuries

Get fit and stay fit In an ideal world, an out-of-shape person wanting to make badminton his or her main form of exercise should undergo at least six weeks of a basic conditioning program composed of aerobic exercise (walking and jogging are good examples), strength training (with free weights, machines or rubber bands) and stretching exercises. Eventually, the playing sessions can replace the aerobic exercise component of the fitness program, but the strength and flexibility exercises should continue. As the player becomes fitter, anaerobic SAQ or speed, agility and quickness drills can be added to enhance performance.

Avoid Boredom and Injury with Cross Training

Start slowly when learning a new activity. This is the biggest mistake made in cross training. People assume that being fit for one kind of exercise means they are also fit for other kinds. You might be a runner but that doesn't mean you can do an advanced step aerobics class immediately. Even though both are aerobic activities, they use the muscles in a different way. Running is a linear activity while step aerobics not only requires you to go up, down, and all around a bench in different directions to the beat of the music but you also have to use your arms.

To Stay Young, Lift Weights

According to the Harvard Health Letter, Many older people who are inactive but want to get moving may think that a pair of walking shoes is a wiser investment than a set of weights but the opposite may actually be true. People who have been sedentary for long periods are at high risk for falls because their muscle tone is weak, flexibility is often limited, and balance may be precarious. To reduce the risk of falls and injury, people over sixty who haven't recently been active should begin by strengthening their legs, arms, and trunk muscles with three to four weeks of weight training (two to three times a week) before walking long distances or engaging in other aerobic exercise. Other forms of strength training Lifting weights or pumping iron is not the only form of strength training that senior citizens can do. Rubber resistance or exercise rubber bands are just as effective.

Why You Don't Get Results From Your Workout

However, this doesn't have to be the case. It is possible to get 100 percent results from one's gym or aerobic workout, but many don't, because they make the following mistakes. For example, the aerobics portion of an exercise class will increase stamina, improve efficiency of the heart, and burn a large amount of calories but will not significantly shape and sculpt the muscles. Pay close attention to proper exercise form whether on cardiovascular machines like treadmills, bikes and steppers, during aerobic classes, lifting weights or stretching. If you are doing a cardiovascular workout on a treadmill, you may want to include some sessions on the stationary bike or stepper or even join some aerobic classes.

Exercise Breathing Techniques - Part One

Breathing through the mouth allows you to take in larger than normal volumes of air. This can be helpful when you need a lot of oxygen quickly during vigorous aerobic exercise. But mouth breathing can also lead to mild hyperventilation if you release carbon dioxide faster than is necessary. Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth is a common technique in aerobics classes and other forms of cardiovascular exercise like walking, running, cycling and swimming. Some people like using two-way mouth breathing when the exercise intensity climbs and going back to nose-mouth breathing when the intensity is reduced.

The P.R.I.C.E. is Right for Exercise Injuries

Pain is the body's number one warning that something is wrong. It is most often caused by inflammation and swelling at the site of injury. This can happen suddenly like the rapid pain and swelling of a sprained ankle or it can take place gradually over a period. An example would be feeling slight pain in the knees the day after doing step aerobics or spinning, then feeling the pain right after the workout, then feeling it during the exercise session, and eventually your knees are painful even when you are not working out.

How Exercise Can Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease

In today's column, I will concentrate on how exercise, specifically aerobic exercise, can help to lower your risk of heart disease. Of course, exercise is only part of an over-all program to keep your heart healthy. The other components are diet, stress reduction, and the appropriate medication when necessary. Aerobic exercise The word aerobics has become synonymous with Jane Fonda who popularized aerobic dancing in the early Eighties. But it was actually Dr. Kenneth Cooper who first used the term in conjunction with exercise. Aerobic exercise is any exercise that uses the large muscles of the body (arms and legs) in a continuous rhythmic fashion for at least fifteen to twenty minutes. Examples are walking, jogging, running, dancing, cycling, etc. Sports like tennis, badminton, soccer, and basketball are usually a combination of aerobic and anaerobic (short spurts of activity) exercise but can be considered as part of the aerobic conditioning component of an exercise program.

Anti-cellulite treatments: Surgery, diet, exercise

Aerobic exercise (walking, running, swimming, dancing, etc.) will help to make your fat layer smaller but it won't do much to change the structure of your connective tissue. Resistance exercise (lifting weights, rubber bands, body weight exercise like yoga, etc.) is helpful in slightly improving the appearance of cellulite because a firm leg and buttocks' muscles make the skin smoother and tauter. Two years ago, Dr. Wayne Westcott proved this scientifically. In his experiment, 16 women, ages 26-66, were put on a 20-minute, three times a week program of aerobic exercise, resistance exercise and stretching for two months. The women lost an average of one inch in their hips. Seventy percent of the women reported much less cellulite on their legs. Ultrasound measurements showed a 1-millimeter reduction of fat in the superficial layer where cellulite is found and a 1-mm increase in the muscle layer, which accounted for the look of smoother firmer thighs.

When is the Best Time to Exercise?

Shelley Tworoger of the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that menopausal women between the ages of 50 and 75 years old did better with aerobic exercise at 10 30 a.m. compared to 6 00 p.m. Study participants who did a stretching routine had fewer sleep improvements than the aerobic exercise group but it did not matter whether they did their workout in the morning or evening. Meanwhile, the Stanford University School of Medicine found that sedentary insomniacs between the ages of 55 to 75 experienced improvements in sleep by doing aerobic exercise in the afternoon. They were able to increase their sleep time by one hour and they reduced by half the time required to fall asleep.

What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Exercising

They discovered it was the opposite for people with low to moderate levels of aerobic fitness. These people showed little changes in stamina in the first three weeks but quickly reversed back to their original pre-exercise levels after additional weeks. In the area of aerobic fitness, scientists recommend doing half your usual frequency and duration of workouts but at the same intensity to prevent stamina loss. For example, in a study of distance runners who reduced their training volume (frequency per week and length of workout) but not the intensity for a three-week period, researchers found that the runners experienced no change in their 5-K race performance.

Group Exercise: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

When Jackie Sorensen created the first aerobics class in 1969, she had no idea just how big a phenomenon it would become. Fast-forward thirty-plus years and aerobics is still alive and well, not in its original Jane Fonda form but in its current incarnation as group exercise .

Ephedra and Caffeine: A Dangerous Fat Burning Combination

Patient 1 was a healthy 35-year-old woman who had been taking aerobic classes for several years. After taking one capsule of herbal diet pills three times a day for one week, she collapsed during an aerobic class. Her classmates noticed that her arms and legs were twitching. Her cardiologist and neurologist found that she suffered a small heart attack and bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke). Her doctors thought that the ephedrine in the diet pill induced these conditions. Laboratory analysis found that each capsule contained 12 mg (less than the 15 mg claimed on the label).

Why You Can Gain Weight Even if You Exercise

Eating mistakes People believe that whatever excess calories they eat today, they will be able to burn tomorrow by doing more exercise than normal. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Here's a real-life example from a reader's true confession' of a midnight splurge Four slices of thin-crust pepperoni pizza, a 12-ounce soft drink, one scoop of ice cream, and a bag of potato chips. That is approximately 2,000 calories. To burn that many calories, you would have to do about two and a half hours of high intensity aerobic exercise (around 400 calories per 30-minut session). What do you think actually happens the next day Not all the calories from the binge are burned because it is unrealistic to exercise that long at that intensity and, therefore, the excess calories are stored as fat.

How to Change Your Bad Habits into Good Ones

Years before I became a fitness professional, I used to prepare my workout clothes and shoes at night to psyche myself into exercising first thing in the morning. Since I was not a morning person , I needed to see my exercise clothes for that extra motivational push. I still drag myself out of bed but I have permanently manipulated my environment to make sure I exercise early in the day. I did this by teaching the undesirable (time-wise) 7 00 a.m. aerobics or group exercise class. I have no choice but to get out of bed because I cannot let my students down by being late for my class.

How to Choose the Right Workout for Your Personality

Groupie If working out during the peak time in a gym or in a full aerobic class seems to give you more energy, you are a groupie . You find it more exciting and motivating when you are surrounded by a crowd of fellow exercisers. Exercising alone or with a few people is very lonely and demotivating for you. Choose large gyms or high-traffic neighborhood recreation centers. Artistic Dance-based workouts like jazz or ballet are good suggestions if you are the artistic type. If you aren't coordinated, play inspiring music that touches your soul while you do something mundane like lifting weights.

The Total Approach to Flat Abs

To lose the fat in your tummy, you need to burn off the energy that is stored there as well as limit the amount of calories coming in. The best way to do that is through total body movement like aerobic exercise or weight lifting and sensible eating habits. Abdominal exercises alone just don't burn enough calories to make much of a dent in reducing your stomach bulges. Lower body aerobic exercise like walking, running or cycling will make a big tummy smaller even though it is the leg muscles that are working and not the abdominals. However, if you want to put extra emphasis on working the abdominal muscles as well as burn a substantial amount of calories, try boxing, kayaking, tennis, rowing, hula hooping, hawaiian, latin or belly dancing. Shoveling dirt is also very effective at working the waistline while you burn calories and, one day, some enterprising fitness instructor will choreograph it to music and make a lot of money

Battling Middle Age Spread

However, estrogen does affect where a woman stores her fat. In her younger days, when her estrogen levels are high, a woman tends to store fat in her hips and thighs. However, when estrogen levels decline because of the start of menopause, fat storage shifts to the male pattern around and above the waist. What kind of exercise prevents muscle loss While aerobic exercise (examples are walking, jogging, aero classes, and cycling) is great for burning calories and increasing the efficiency of the heart, it doesn't do much for building muscle mass. The best workout is a combination. Please don't get me wrong and think that lifting weights is better than aerobic exercise. Just like a hammer isn't better than a screwdriver, (they just have different functions), lifting weights should not replace your aerobic workouts. The best exercise program for a middle-aged person is a combination of aerobic exercise, lifting weights and stretching.

Weight Loss Mistakes I Have Made - Part One

I used exercise as an excuse to overeat When I hear people complain that they have been exercising religiously and still can't lose weight, I always have to wonder if they have changed the way they eat. I was guilty of this for the longest time. I would have second or third servings of everything with the comforting thought at the back of my mind, or so I thought, that I could burn it all away with my exercise. The result was frustration at having to exercise so much and seeing no results with the tape measure or the scale. Don't think exercise alone will make you lose weight. It only takes about fifteen minutes to wolf down two slices of chocolate cake (approximately 600 calories) but it will take an hour or more of intense aerobic exercise to burn it off.

Is Swimming Effective for Weight Loss? - Part Two

Swimming and aqua aerobics Swimming should not be confused with aqua aerobics or erect water exercise . The goal in swimming is to reduce the drag or resistance of water and make the swimmer more hydrodynamic. In aqua aerobics, the exercises and equipment are purposely designed to go against the resistance of the water to build muscular strength and cardiovascular stamina. Swimming requires considerable skill while aqua aerobics can be performed even by people who are uncoordinated or non-athletic. Water walking If you have joint problems that make walking or running out of the question but you are not a good swimmer and you cannot find an aqua aerobics class near you, consider taking up water walking . According to the Tufts University Newsletter, water walking done at a brisk pace for at least 20 minutes in chest-deep water while swinging the arms works the heart as well as burning as many calories per minute as walking.

Exercise Can Either Strengthen or Weaken You

The terms moderate exercise and extreme can mean different things to different people. An hour of exercise a day may be moderate to a group exercise (aerobics) instructor used to teaching two to three classes daily while it may seem extreme to a couch potato who runs out of breath after climbing two flights of stairs. While there are no hard and fast rules, Neiman says that 30-90 minutes a day of aerobic exercise is considered moderate. For the average exerciser, Neiman recommends limiting aerobic exercise sessions to not more than 90 minutes per session because he discovered that after a three-hour run, cortisol levels stay high the whole day.

Too Much Exercising and Dieting Detrimental to Weight Loss

Patricia recently expressed to me her feelings of frustration with her weight loss efforts. She was doing aerobics, weights, and karate classes every week. Not only that, she was also doing three hour ballroom dancing sessions three times a week. Additionally, she was also doing the Three Day Diet (something I do not recommend, by the way, but let's save that for another article) at regular intervals. She lost five pounds in the beginning of this grueling routine and then - nothing. Other professionals I talk to who work in the fitness and weight-loss industries can testify to the mystery of a client who exercises like a maniac and eats like the proverbial bird and still doesn't lose weight.

Stretching During The Warm-Up May Not Prevent Injury

Watch a group of athletes warm-up for a game and you are sure to see them do a series of stretching exercises, specifically static stretches, wherein one stays still for ten to twenty seconds while holding the stretch. The same goes for aerobic class or gym participants. And why shouldn't they After all, fitness, medical and athletic professionals recommend doing motionless or static stretching during the warm-up to prepare the muscles for the upcoming activity and to prevent injury. For aerobic classes, do low intensity versions (translation considerably slower music) of going up and down on a step bench, going through the motions of cardio kickboxing or high- low impact, etc.

Ballroom Dance Your Way To Fitness

How can ballroom dancing keep me fit Ballroom dancing fulfills all the requirements of aerobic exercise - it is rhythmic, it uses the large muscles of the body (the arms and the legs) continuously for at least 20 minutes at 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. It is a low impact type of aerobic workout. It also improves muscular endurance of the legs and arms. It doesn't do much to improve muscular strength or increase flexibility but very few exercise modes incorporate all aspects of fitness anyway, so two out of four isn't bad at all. If ballroom dancing is your main form of keeping fit, you may want to add specific exercises and stretches for different muscle groups (like abdominal crunches, squats, etc.) to your regimen to be totally fit.

Secrets of 2,000 people who lost weight

Very few of the participants used crash or fad diets. This confirms the results of other reliable studies that indicate that crash fad diets have a very poor success rate. Another interesting point is that only four percent of the participants used weight-loss medication. The research of Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the father of aerobics, has shown that it is very difficult to manage your weight without exercise. The participants agree. On the average, they burn 2,800 calories a week. This is equivalent to walking 45 kilometers a week, or about five to six kilometers a day. Walking is not the only form of exercise they engage in. Other participants burn their weekly calories by running, bicycling, aerobics, weight lifting, or stair climbing.

Fat Burning Misconceptions - Part One

You need to do aerobics for twenty minutes to start burning fat. Before that, you are only burning sugar. Walking is better than running because walking burns fat, running does not. It started about ten years ago when exercise scientists discovered that the higher the intensity of the exercise, the less fat you burned. This led to a slew of exercise videos touting fat-burning workouts at very low intensities. Aerobic instructors started to tell their clients that they weren't burning any fat during the first twenty minutes of aerobics. Super-fit individuals who, previously, were happy doing high intensity workouts were now doubtful about whether they were burning fat or not. During high intensity exercise, you can feel your heart thumping, you are breathing hard and you can talk but only in very short sentences. Running, an advanced aerobics class, or a singles tennis match would be a good example.

Fat Burning Misconceptions - Part Two

Is it true that the fitter I am, the more I can burn fat Yes, your body adapts to aerobic training by increasing your stamina, the capacity of your lungs to take in more oxygen and the efficiency of your muscles to use that oxygen to burn more fat. Fitter individuals will also challenge themselves by exercising harder, thus taking in more oxygen, and burning more calories. Some studies show that a fit individual will burn more calories from fat at rest than a sedentary individual. My aerobics instructor told me that I only start to burn fat after 20 minutes. Is this true As we mentioned last week, the body is constantly burning a combination of fat and carbohydrates. For every calorie you burn at rest, approximately 50 of that calorie comes from fat and the other 50 from carbohydrates. We are continually burning both nutrients throughout the day but at different percentages depending on the intensity of our activity.

Top Ten Mistakes People Make in the Gym

Flexible muscles are less prone to injury, according to fitness experts. Yet, many people neglect to stretch their muscles properly after they workout. They are either misinformed about the benefits of being flexible or they just don't think it's important enough. If you feel that stretching takes too much time to fit into your weights workout, try stretching a specific muscle after you finish your required number of sets. You could, for example, stretch your chest after you finish your bench press. Using this timesaving technique will ensure that you are properly stretched out by the time you finish all your exercises. If you are doing an aerobic workout, stretch after you cool down and your heart rate has returned to normal. Not warming up before aerobic activity. You can't just hop onto a treadmill and start running at full speed. Your heart and muscles need time to adjust. Your heart rate can zoom rapidly to near maximum without a warm-up.

Why Some People Burn Calories Better Than Others

ADL has the potential to burn a significant amount of calories. It all depends on a person's lifestyle habits. Some people seem to go out of their way to avoid any unnecessary physical movement. These individuals fight for the closest parking space on their way to their killer aerobic class. Or the people who seem to be walking under the moonlight on their way to work. On the other extreme are the people who seem to be constantly on the move. They don't just walk as they shop, they race. PIf you are a laid back sort of person, you can burn more calories if you purposely plan to become more physically active throughout the day. Here are some examples you can put into action. If your office is on the third floor, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park your car at the farthest part of the parking lot. If you are taking public transportation, get dropped one or two blocks away from your destination. Walk up the escalator instead of just standing there.

How Much Exercise Do You Need?

Three days a week of moderate to high intensity aerobic activity done for 30 to 60 minutes will improve cardiovascular fitness (also known as aerobic capacity or stamina). Weight loss. Thirty to sixty minutes of moderate-to-high intensity aerobic activity done three to six days a week will maximize calorie burning. Low intensity aerobic exercise done for a longer duration is safer for unfit obese individuals. Weight gain. Twenty minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity done three times a week is sufficient for maintaining a healthy heart and stamina without burning too many calories. Elderly Low intensity aerobic exercise like walking for 15 to 60 minutes, three to five times a week.

Top Ten Exercise Excuses

No one is too old to exercise. My 71 year old mother-in-law does an intermediate level aerobics class three times a week. The beginner classes were too boring for her Another woman I know, in her sixties, scuba dives, snow skis, rollerblades, and plays tennis. Excuse No. 8 Exercise bores me. There are so many different forms of exercise. Find the one that you enjoy and stick to it. Are you a loner Then walking, running, swimming or cycling will appeal to you. Like company and enjoy music Aerobics classes, ballroom dancing, jazz or modern dance will do the trick for you. The competitive type Look for a sport like tennis, badminton, squash, and basketball. There is an exercise program for every personality type.

Active Exercise Still Better Than Passive Exercise

Porcari of the Wisconsin study as saying that Any potential strength benefits are likely to be isometric and, therefore, probably have little practical significance or carryover benefit in the real world. People need to realize these units are going to provide very little health benefits as compared to aerobic exercise or a regular resistance training program .

The Fidget Factor in Weight Control

Someone in my aerobics class can eat whatever she wants and not gain weight. She exercises religiously like all her gym friends but the difference is she can eat high-calorie food all day long while her classmates, myself included, have to watch what they eat. If she weren't so darn nice, we would all hate her. By taking the stairs instead of the elevator, you burn 8 calories a minute. If you live in a multilevel house or work in a building, take advantage and use the stairs as often as possible. You can burn as many calories as doing a 30-minute step aerobics or kickboxing class.

The Myth of Spot Reduction

To see a significant change in your appearance, you have to burn a considerable number of calories (3,500 calories for one pound of fat), and spot exercises alone are not going to do it. Spot exercises should be part of a total program to reduce body fat-aerobic exercise, resistance training, a sensible diet and an active daily lifestyle. Aerobic exercise is any kind of exercise that uses large muscles of the body in a continuous rhythmic manner like walking, running, cycling or aerobic classes. Resistance training is exercise using some kind of resistance like weights, rubber bands or body weight. Examples of body weight exercises are those done in yoga and Pilates. To lose fat in a particular part of the body, say the abdomen or the thighs, overall body fat must be reduced.

Lift Weights to Lose Weight

I believe that an effective weight loss program is like a three-legged stool. The three legs are diet (the right amount of calories), aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, etc.), and weight lifting (also known as strength training or resistance training). Most people are familiar with dieting and aerobics but don't consider weight lifting a weight loss tool because they think it is only for huge muscled bodybuilders. Yet, lifting weights can do what dieting and aerobics cannot. It can make you burn more calories throughout the day, not just during the workout.

How to Squeeze Exercise into a Busy Schedule

A complete exercise program will include exercises for your heart, lungs and blood vessels (cardiovascular or aerobic exercise), muscles (strength training) and joints (stretching). Examples of cardiovascular exercise are walking, running, cycling, dancing, and swimming. This type of exercise is also the one that burns the most amounts of calories because you are using your whole body simultaneously. Strength training is exercise that makes your muscles harder, firmer and stronger. Examples are lifting weights or using gym machines. Other ways are doing exercises with long strips of rubberbands that you can buy in hardware stores or using your own body weight like when you do an abdominal crunch or push-up. For muscles to become stronger, they have to be challenged by some kind of resistance.

Exercise Can Help You Quit Smoking

Because nicotine revs up the metabolism, smokers burn an extra 100 to 200 calories a day. Aerobic exercise (walking, cycling, dancing, swimming) for 30 minutes a day at a low-intensity will easily take care of this problem. You will burn even more calories when you get fitter and you can increase the intensity and duration of your exercise. Cardiovascular or aerobic exercise will burn the greatest number of calories in a short period of time and will release brain chemicals that make you feel high . Start with whatever you can handle (walking is the easiest), even if it's just for five to ten minutes. Gradually increase duration but keep your intensity low (you should easily be able to talk as you exercise). When you can comfortably do thirty to forty minutes, increase the intensity (you will be breathing hard but can still say a few words at a time).

How to Exercise if You Have High Blood Pressure

Aerobic exercise Cardiovascular or aerobic exercise (walking, cycling, dancing, swimming, etc) is the cornerstone of any exercise program designed to reduce high blood pressure. Low to moderate intensity aerobic exercise can lower systolic blood pressure by 5 to 25 points and lower diastolic blood pressure by 3 to 15 points. If you have high blood pressure, it is good to know that lowering your systolic blood pressure by just 2 mm Hg (millimeters mercury) will lower your risk of death by heart disease by four percent. However, the exercise should only be of low to moderate intensity because these types of exercise only cause a modest rise in systolic blood pressure during the exercise session (the diastolic should go down or stay the same). High intensity aerobic exercise can cause blood pressure to rise dangerously high in people who have hypertension. Take note that fit people with normal blood pressure have nothing to fear by doing high intensity aerobic exercise.

You Can be S, M, L or XL and Still be Healthy

Many people have a misconception that being thin automatically equals being fit and that a person cannot possibly be fit and fat at the same time. I learned early on in my life that it was possible because my very first role models in fitness, my ballet teacher and Slimnastics teacher, were both overweight. These ladies were stronger, more flexible, had more stamina, and were even more graceful and light-footed than I was. I don't know why my ballet teacher was overweight, but I suspect she just had a stocky build. My Slimnastics teacher openly admitted that she loved to eat. I never felt they were mediocre teachers because they did not have the stereotypical figure that we expected instructors to have. On the contrary, they were excellent teachers with a large following.

Muscles are not Heavier than Fat

That's why most weight loss experts recommend resistance or strength training as part of a holistic plan to lose weight (the other components are sensible eating and aerobic exercise). You burn the most amounts of calories during aerobic exercise (walking, running, cycling, dancing, etc). You don't burn as many calories during your resistance training sessions (unless you lift very heavy amounts of weight) but every pound of muscle you gain goes a long way in helping you to lose weight. It's sort of a long-term solution to weight management.

How to Choose and Use Exercise Videos

If you don't have the time, money or inclination to work out at a fitness center, you can still get adequate fitness instruction right in the privacy of your own home. Technology, in the form of exercise videos, can solve your problems. There is an exercise video available for almost any kind of workout you can imagine. You can find videos on aerobics, muscle toning, stretching, and specialty workouts (boxing, skip rope, dance, yoga, Pilates, senior citizens, pregnancy, tai chi, etc.).

Taking the Pain Out of Exercise

Pride is one of the greatest causes of injury in exercise. In the gym, ego makes a man want to lift more than he normally can just because he wants to show off to the other guys. In an aerobics class, women push themselves because they don't want to be left behind by the rest of their classmates. Swallow your pride, know your limits and stick to them. If your goal is to go beyond those limits, do it gradually. You should also consider the type of gym you go to. Are the instructors concerned for your safety Are they attentive to your exercise technique Do you feel like a sardine in your aerobic class An instructor cannot safely watch an overcrowded room. Invest in a good quality gym where your safety is their first priority.

Exercise and Muscle Soreness

It is unrealistic to expect absolutely no delayed muscle soreness but, at least, keep the soreness to a minimum by gradually introducing a new activity. Make conservative increases in the frequency, duration or intensity. When starting a walking program, start off with fifteen minutes and add five minutes at a time until you get to the desired duration. If starting an aerobics class, choose the beginner version. Many people get deadly muscle soreness (the type where they cannot get out of bed the next day) with cardio kickboxing because they jump right into advanced classes. If you have never lifted weights before, start with light poundage and do only one set of one exercise per muscle group. It is when you do too much, too soon, too fast that delayed muscle soreness occurs. Always remember that muscles become sore when they do something they are not used to. In other words, it doesn't just happen to unfit people who are starting an exercise program.

Fitness Myths That Refuse to Die - Part One

Abdominal exercises (or other specific toning exercises for that matter) are great for making your muscles harder and firmer but they don't burn enough calories to make a big difference in reducing your fat layer. You need to burn 3,500 calories to get rid of a pound of fat. Aerobic exercise like walking, cycling, and dancing are more appropriate activities to make the belly smaller because they burn significantly more calories. Weight lifting helps too because the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn every day.

Ease Stress and Anxiety with Exercise

I teach an aerobics class at seven o'clock in the morning five days a week. Immediately after, I do an hour of weights three times a week. People ask me how I can keep to this schedule year after year and not feel burned-out with exercise. They ask, What about the days when you just don't feel like working out They say I must be a morning-type of person. Actually, I'm not. I don't wake up all bright-eyed and chirpy and, yes, there are days when I don't feel like getting out of bed. What keeps me going (aside from my loyal students waiting for me) is that I know from experience that exercise makes me feel good. It makes me feel like a brand-new woman every day. When I am stressed out from all my work obligations, I know that a good workout will put me back on an even keel again. I consider my exercise time to be one of the gifts from God to help me deal with the stress and anxiety in my life.

Fitness Myths That Refuse to Die - Part Two

Exercise and weight loss Many people work out in the belief that they will get thin. It is true that exercise is a big help in shedding unwanted pounds but it is not the end all and be all in becoming slim (I use the word slim to mean normal weight for your particular build I do not mean skinny ). What people forget or don't want to hear is that if the calories coming in are greater than the calories going out, it is possible to exercise regularly and still be plump. It is a myth that exercise will make you thin. Since many local and foreign celebrities are doing kickboxing, yoga or Pilates, people are always asking me if these kinds of exercise will make them lose weight. My answer It all depends on how much you are eating. It may seem hard to believe, but I have seen overweight kickboxing teachers. I have also seen plump Pilates and yoga instructors. There are many aerobics instructors who teach several classes a day but are still overweight.

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