Interval Training Workouts – Burn Fat, Boost Metabolism

by Weight Loss - March 14, 2012

Interval Training Workouts

Do you want to burn fat and lose weight as fast as possible?

Interval training workouts can be great way to do it, especially if you can only devote limited amounts of time to exercise.

It’s a great way to boost your metabolism and improve your body’s endurance levels due to the intense production of lactic acid during interval training.

Additionally, the time needed to recover between workouts is greatly reduced.

What Is Interval Training?

Interval training requires bursts of activity in between periods of rest.

Imagine running, then walking, then running, then walking, that is interval training.

Workouts can vary, using a variety of activities and mixing things up will avoid reaching plateaus common to other repetitive workouts.

Use a personal trainer if you want a program written for you.

You can also find downloadable interval training workouts online that will generate suggested workouts.

A few good examples of interval training workouts are listed below.

Interval Training Workouts – Examples

Note: It’s important to start every workout routine with a warm up period and to end with cooling down stretches.

Hydration is also imperative!

Use a stationary bike for interval training workouts. Consider 1 minute of fast peddling and then 5 minutes of slow to moderate peddling.

Alternate between jogging and running fast. (Tip: use a timer two minutes at a time).

Try high intensity workouts to build endurance but do this after you’ve spent some time becoming physically fit. High intensity interval training workouts aren’t ideal for beginners.

Experiment with various interval training workouts to keep things interesting. Some options to try could include stair climbing, cycling, walking, boot camp style workouts, speed drills, and plyometric training.

Varying your interval training will not only increase your metabolism and help you burn fat while building endurance but it will keep things interesting as well.

Thigh Workout Exercises – 3 Great Examples

by Weight Loss - March 9, 2012

3 Great Thigh Workout Exercises

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Want to work out your thighs and get toned and smaller thighs? Here are some thigh workout exercises that will help you with that, as well as some important advice..

1. Squats

Squats are a great thigh workout that can be done any time and just about anywhere. They will help with your thighs and your glutes. Squats are a versatile exercise and to do a squat, simply pretend you are about to sit but don’t sit right down. Hold it. You’ll feel it in the back of your thighs and in your butt.

Deeper squats will equal more intense results and you can find a variety of exercise aids to help you intensify it, such as exercise balls and weights. Plyometric squats (jumping into a squat) can be good, too, once you’re proficient at squats. An exercise ball can stabilize you by being put between the small of your back and the wall.

2. Lunges

Any type of lunge can help you with your thigh muscles. Adding weights into the mix can increase the intensity. To do a lunge, stand with your feet slightly apart and then step forward with one foot. As your foot comes to a stop, lean forward resulting in the back knee bending.

The deeper you go and the closer your back knee gets to the ground, the more intense the lunge. Walking lunges across a large area could be great, alternating which leg will bend.

3. Pilates

Various Pilates thigh workout exercises can help tone the thigh and lengthen them so they’re long and lean. Single and double leg circles are great workouts for your legs and aren’t very difficult to do and help with your thighs, glutes, and your core midsection. Pilates is great as a beginner workout and are great for advanced fitness buffs as well.

To do this exercise, simply lie on your back and point your big toe at the ceiling. One leg will be straight up and you’ll draw circles in the air with your toe while keeping your hips on the floor. Rotate clockwise, several revolutions and the counter clockwise, several resolutions. Then switch legs. As you do each Pilates exercise, stabilise your core muscles by sucking in your belly button toward your spine for a count of five while breathing in and then exhale for a count of five.

Tips for Thigh Workouts

Make sure you do adequate stretching to warm up and stretching to cool down after your thigh workout (or any other workout for that matter). This reduces injury dramatically!
Too many lunges and squats could be bad for your knees. Be sure to mix up your exercise regimen so you don’t work too intensely on any one specific muscle group, increasing chances of injury and pain. All over exercises such as cardio will also help you burn calories and this will be evident in your thighs as well.

In conclusion, These Thigh Workout Exercises are great examples on how to get results fast.

Water Aerobics for Fitness and Weight Loss

by Weight Loss - March 7, 2012

Water Aerobics for Fitness and Weight Loss

First of all there are significant benefits to water aerobics. It can be an ideal exercise option for people of various health, fitness, and wellness levels.

These are a low impact but high result way to exercise and it offers several benefits, such as:

Less impact on your body’s joints than many other exercises.
These exercises can really increase flexibility.
Water aerobics can be great for improving your balance.
Water aerobics are fun.
This is a low cost workout.
There is a low risk of injury (make sure a lifeguard is on hand, of course).
This is quite forgiving in terms of accuracy – which is great for beginners.

Working out in the water doesn’t feel nearly as much like exercise and hard work as land-based workouts do. Therefore it is easier to do and provides great results. Most people feel an increase in energy after this type of workout as well as an increase in overall wellness and fitness.

With every movement in the water you’ll be toning your body, doing strength and resistance training, working your cardiovascular system, and burning calories for weight loss. But it won’t feel like it.

Water aerobics are fun and it’s not as hard as some other aerobics exercise classes. You don’t have to worry about missteps or awkwardness like in many other types of aerobic because even if you’re in a class, no one can really see whether or not you’ve accomplished a specific maneuver or not.

Classes can be designed for beginners, for experts, for senior citizens, for pregnant women, for people with joint issues, for people who are very obese, etc. They sometimes include extra equipment, such as a pool noodle or pool dumb bells. You can do this on your own by following water aerobics tips and routines or you could take a class, which is often a great way to get into this fitness.

Shallow Water Aerobics Exercises include..

Water jogging
Jumping Jacks
Knee Lifts
Jumping

Deeper Water Aerobics Exercises include..

Cycling
Scissoring your legs
Flutter Kicks
Rowing

Water aerobics can be a fun class to take and help you learn more moves.

Tips for Successful Water Aerobics:

Do warm up exercises, such as stretches before starting
Don’t forget to tighten your core muscles for extra mid-section toning
Consider starting with a beginner class and then move to a more advanced class.
Make sure a lifeguard is present (or that the instructor is qualified with CPR and first aid).
If doing it in an outdoor pool, don’t forget the sunscreen!

Letiha / Pixabay

In conclusion, take advantage of Water Aerobics, they work!

Exercise Diary Why Keep One

by Weight Loss - March 6, 2012

Exercise Diary Why Should You Keep One

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To begin with, keeping an exercise diary / workout log can have many benefits for people who want to lose weight or achieve a fitness goal. Read on to learn about benefits of using an exercise diary as well as some extra tips to help you use one in order to help you meet your weight loss and / or fitness goals..

Benefits Of Keeping An Exercise Diary

• It creates accountability. Something about keeping a list helps many people stick to a goal. By seeing a diary of what you’ve done and having a list of what you plan to do, you can see your progress and you have continuous reminders of what your goals are. There are also options where you can sign up with friends to online diaries that can be shared. This can be helpful if working out with an accountability buddy.

• You can track your progress. An exercise diary can help you determine how many calories you’re burning and can help you track your goals. Some people track weight and measurements so they can track kg or lbs lost as well as track inches lost. Seeing progress will help you stay on track to reach your goals.

• It’s smart to track days where you’ll do rest, cardio exercises, cardio and strength training, etc. It’s wise to take a rest day between strength training days but some people forget what they did on their last workout day when they’ve had a day off. Diaries help you keep track of what you’ve done and what you’re planning on doing. You can also track number of reps or weight lifted, too, and see how you’re progressing.

• An exercise diary helps you mix things up. By tracking exercises, you can avoid plateauing by switching things up often enough.

• Some fitness diaries can even recommend exercise regimens to you as well, keeping things interesting and keeping you engaged through continuous new exercise suggestions.

Therefore, there are a number of reasons why people track their exercise with a diary. How do you get started?

You can simply keep a log with an exercise diary template that you find online (or create yourself), you can sign up for a website that offers free or paid memberships, and you can find downloadable smartphone applications that let you track exercise via a diary you can access on the go.

Especially relevant, some exercise diary software and applications also incorporate food diaries as well. These can help you track nutrients, track your ratio of carbs / protein / fat and they can help you see if your combination of food taken in and calories burned off puts you in an ideal range for your body type and weight loss goals.

In conclusion, an Exercise Diary will keep you focused with your goals on target. Try it!

Leg Exercises For Women – Try Them

by Weight Loss - March 5, 2012

Leg Exercises For Women

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Men and women don’t always look for the same leg exercises to do. Many people think they need a gender specific set of exercises for their legs because they have different goals. Men and women don’t necessarily have the same goals for their desired outcome for their legs.. and leg exercises for women tend to be in an effort to tone the legs, hips, and butt as well as lower abs. Men often look for bulk and muscle while women look for leaner, tight (and maybe even sexy) legs.

Consequently, if you’re a woman who is worried you will do generic leg exercises and wind up with legs like Conan the Barbarian, this is very unlikely to happen. Most exercises for men’s legs can be used as leg exercises for women, too, probably with less weight or resistance.

Tone and Strengthen

Leg Exercises for Legs Strength training is the fastest way to get toned legs as strength training exercises can help you burn fat fast. A woman’s body composition is such that it would take a heck of a lot of serious training for her legs to look anything like a muscular man’s legs.

Therefore, doing leg exercises, for women and for men will result in toning, building of muscle, and burning of fat. You can do leg exercises with and without weights but don’t be afraid to use weights, even if you are female and want to have a small and slender build.

Walking Lunges and Squats with Dumbbells

Lunges are great leg exercises for women. Squats are great leg exercises for women, too. Add dumbbells and you’ll intensify the workout. Starting with 1 pound weights is a great start.

Kick Boxing

If you want a cardio workout for your legs with a “kick”, Kick boxing benefits for women are numerous. This total body workout does great things for toning your legs. Taking a kick boxing class could be great for building power in your legs and your whole body as well as for increasing your flexibility and range of motion.

Heel Raises

Heel raises really strengthen and tone your legs, especially your calves. All you have to do is raise up onto your tiptoes. Hold for a few seconds and then flatten your feet. Repeat. When you’re ready to take heel raises to the next level, do it on the stairs. Stand backwards on the stairs and back up so the ball of your foot is on the edge and your heel is hanging off the edge of the step. Do heel raises on the steps and you’ll really start to feel it in your legs!

Treadmill on an Incline

Walk on your treadmill on an incline. Try going higher on the scale every few minutes and vary your workout intensity for intervals of higher speeds and inclines, balanced with lower speeds, too. This will keep things more interesting on the treadmill and help you see faster results in your legs.

Walk Uphill

Get off the treadmill and walk uphill. Try walking backwards (being wary of traffic of course) for great leg results, especially in the buns

Leg Exercises for women will result and better looks and conditioning. Try doing it!

Love Handle Exercises that Yield Results

by Weight Loss - March 2, 2012

Love Handle Exercises

anaterate / Pixabay

If you are wanting to get rid of your love handles, it can certainly be done by implementing a great exercise regimen.

Here are some simple and effective love handle exercises to add into your exercise repertoire.

Cardio

Add walking, running, cycling, aerobics exercises, and so on. The best way to burn fat is to do cardio on a regular basis.

Pilates

Various Pilates love handle exercises are great for working the obliques and tone your muscles. Making your sides look better and smaller.

One simple but effective love handles Pilates exercise involves sitting on the floor with your feet wide apart and doing a seated twist.

Hold your arms straight out at your sides with palms down and slowly twist as far as you can one way so that your one arm moves to your front and then twist slowly the other way, too so that the other arm moves to the front. You’ll feel the twisting motion in your sides.

Crunches

Regular crunches do good things for your abs but some crunches are especially helpful for love handles. Elbow to knee crunches are great love handle exercises and they work the obliques. You can use a stability ball for many love handle exercises, too.

Side Bends

Side bridge bends can be an effective love handles exercise but are difficult on their own. Using a stability ball makes it a bit easier.

Tip: Use hand weights while doing side bends to help with the intensity of the love handles exercises.

Swimming

Swimming is an invigorating workout that works great for the whole body. Laps can work well, the side stroke as well and many people find that aqua fit classes help them tone up all over.

Leg Flutters

This exercise involves a sort-of dry land swimming and involves lying on your tummy and lifting your arms and legs up off the floor.

This helps strengthen your stomach and your back therefore, it and can help you eliminate excess fat around your midsection.

Weight Lifting

It might sound like weight lifting builds muscles in your arms more than anything, but strength training exercises can do great things for your whole body.

Hence, it is a great way to burn fat anywhere and everywhere you’ve got extra.. such as those stubborn love handles.

Consider counting calories and ensuring that you work out regularly and you’ll lose inches all over. Love handle exercises can help as that midsection might be stubborn. Do your best to eliminate stress, reduce salt, and increase your water intake and you will enhance results.

Finally, with regular work, Love Handle Exercises will reduce your waistline.

Aerobics Exercises A Fun Way To Lose Weight

by Weight Loss - March 1, 2012

Aerobics Exercises – A Fun Way To Lose Weight

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Aerobics exercises help you oxygenate and this type of exercise is a versatile way to lose weight and get fit. To start with, there are so many different options. Take a class with other women and do aerobics together. Or exercise from the privacy of your home with aerobics exercise videos or home exercise equipment. Join the gym and use their equipment, or simply start getting active in your own neighborhood. You could also do a little bit of all of the above.

Choose from many different aerobics exercises so you will not get bored. Aerobics exercises offer you a great way to work out doing different routines, keeping you interested and motivated.

Since many workouts can be boring and repetitive after a few times. The variety of aerobics exercise options however, offer many different methods to lose weight.

In addition to get your heart pumping, help you burn calories, and tone muscles. Other added benefits are, reducing risk of heart disease, lowering your blood pressure, better managing blood sugar issues, helping improve digestive function, and more.

Examples of exercises that might be in your aerobic routines:

Aerobics Exercises – A Fun Way To Lose Weight

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Walking, hiking, running
Swimming, water aerobics
Aerobics classes
Boxing and kick boxing
Rowing
Jumping jacks
Jumping with a jump rope
Skiing
Plyometric Training
Dancing

It’s clear that there are many options to choose from and not all of them are for beginners but even if you start off with low impact and a small amount of aerobics exercises several times a week, you’ll be doing great things for your health.

Whether you take a class for aerobics exercises or just strive to get moving every day. You’ll start to see a difference in the number on the scale, how well your clothing fits, and in your endurance levels. Start off with low impact activity and find that within a few weeks of working out a few times a week, you’ve got more stamina and more energy.

Don’t start off planning to run a marathon. If you’ve got health issues, you probably will want to speak with your doctor before embarking on an aggressive workout plan. Start off small with ten minute intervals of exercise.

Finally, keep looking at different options to keep aerobics exercises as diverse as possible and you’ll soon see and feel the difference.

How To Tone Your Thighs for Great Looks

by Weight Loss - February 29, 2012

How To Tone Your Thighs

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Want to know how to tone your thighs? Thighs are one of those areas of the body that seem to stubbornly hang onto excess unwanted mass. Here are some tips to help you tone up your thighs..

Count Your Steps

Are you walking regularly? Set a daily goal that is progressive so you can increase your walking. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk at your lunch hour, take the dog for a walk, etc. If you can walk daily for 30+ minutes you’ll soon see a difference in your thighs. It’s especially helpful if you can hike with mixed terrain, such as a bit of uphill walking and downhill walking, too.

Cycling

Take a spin class, buy a stationary bike, or ride your bike outdoors. This is a great leg toning exercise that will show up in your thighs.

Join A Gym

How To Tone Your Thighs Join a gym and talk to a trainer who can set up an exercise regimen that focuses on areas you want to reduce. Any trainer will tell you it’s almost impossible to spot reduce but if there is an area that’s giving you a particularly hard time, chances are that a fitness trainer will have good ideas to change up your routine enough to jump start results.

As you get fitter and healthier, you will start to see a difference in stubborn places such as your thighs and belly. There are some great machines in a gym that help you use weights and resistance that will help you in your quest for finding ways to get fitter and for learning how to tone your thighs.

Stretching

Stretching exercises, such as Yoga and Pilates are both very helpful for those of you who want to know how to tone your thighs. And Yoga is easy to do just about anywhere. Yoga can help tone the body all over and improve your balance and stability, making you better able to succeed at your thigh toning efforts. Many people who take up Yoga comment that it’s also a great stress reliever.

Squats And Lunges

Squats and lunges are ideal for those wanting to know how to tone thighs. Do these exercises regularly.

Whichever exercises you choose to help you focus on things, don’t forget to track your progress. It’s not just the number on the bathroom scale that will tell you that you are doing a good job of getting in better shape; use a measuring tape, too, and see how many inches you are around the thighs. Measure weekly and you’ll start to see progress. Remember, just like it’s not only about the scale number, it’s also not only about inches lost, too. It’s also about toning and improving the shape of your thighs, too. It will happen if you keep at it and you’ll see great results with your overall shape.

Learning How To Tone Your Thighs will lead to increased fitness and better looks.

Home Exercise Equipment Suggestions

by Weight Loss - February 25, 2012

Home Exercise Equipment For Effective Workouts

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The best home exercise equipment is the gear that you will actually use regularly.

Home Exercise Equipment It will also depend on your price range and available space. There are many equipment pieces that can provide a good workout routine.

You have to do your part however and actually use them!.

First determine what your fitness goals are and then choose the equipment you need in order to achieve those goals.

Limited Space And Money

An exercise ball, dumbbells and resistance bands are excellent fitness tools at an inexpensive price.

Plus, you can store the ball in a closet or unoccupied corner while the dumbbells and resistance bands easily will fit under a bed, in a closet or even an unused drawer. Home Exercise Equipment

Taking it a little further, you could choose adjustable dumbbells so you can add more weight as you improve. The best home exercise equipment doesn’t have to expensive.

Options For Bigger Space And Budget

If you have a little discretionary money and space, consider a cardio machine or a machine that allows you to add resistance through pulleys and weights.

Treadmills, stationary bikes and elliptical machines are the most popular for cardio exercises. Determine which one best suits your preferences and lifestyle.

Resistance exercise equipment can greatly help build muscle and strengthen bones.

If your goal is toning your muscles and growing stronger, this type of equipment is a good investment.

While some can fold down for storage in tight spaces, others do take up space and would require a dedicated area.

Exercise Tools That Enhance A Workout

A number of exercise equipment options may not be necessary but can enhance a workout, particularly if you are tired of the same old exercises.

For instance, abdominal crunches can become tedious so investing in fitness machine that works just the abs might be worth it to you.

A jump rope is a cheap, effective cardio tool as is a weighted hula hoop.

An aerobic step can boost intensity in a workout just as gliding disks can too.

Of course, there is exercise equipment you use to track your progress that can be just as important as the workout itself.

You might want to invest in a heart monitor to monitor the intensity of your workout.

There are phone applications you can purchase to track the calories in your eating plan as well as the calories you expend during exercise.

Finally the best home exercise equipment is what you deem important to reach your overall fitness goals.

Using Home Exercise Equipment as part of your daily routine is a great idea, Try it now!

Cardio Exercises You Can Do At Home

by Weight Loss - February 15, 2012

Cardio Exercises You Can Do At Home

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To begin with there are a number of reasons why people prefer to exercise at home. Whether it is lack of time or you feel more comfortable exercising in your own home. You’ve got a number of options for doing cardio exercises at home.

Exercise Bike

An exercise bike is a great way to do cardio exercises at home. Similar to a treadmill, they display distance, speed and calories burnt.

Treadmill

Cardio Excerises At Home A treadmill is a versatile piece of cardio training equipment. It can be used for beginner exercises as well as those who are very active.

Treadmills are available in a variety of styles and sizes and there are space saver models that fold up as well.

Hence one of the great things about an electronic treadmill is that it will tell you how you’re doing with your cardio exercises at home.

You can see distance and calories burnt and some models will track your heart rate as well.

Stair Climber

If you’ve got a lot of stairs in your house, this can provide for cardio exercises at home.

Probably you don’t have enough stairs to make for an intense enough workout.

Stair climbers provide this type of cardio for you but in a small amount of space. This type of exercise can be great for raising your heart rate and for burning calories.

Elliptical

An elliptical machine is a bit like a cross between a bicycle and a stair climber with a bit of a ski machine thrown in for good measure as you get to move your arms as well as your legs.

Like the above cardio exercise machines, you can get information on how much of a workout you’re doing.

Rebounder

An option for a non-electronic exercise equipment for cardio is a rebounder. This is a miniature trampoline and while it takes up only a small amount of space, it can result in a great workout.

Actually jumping and other exercises done on it aren’t as hard on your joints as many other cardio exercises that you do but the calorie boosting power is extraordinary.

Cardio Exercises At Home Without Gym Equipment

Other types of cardio exercises at home that don’t involve expensive or space consuming equipment include: jumping rope, aerobics, jumping jacks, and jogging on the spot.

You can also buy a game console and purchase some of the video games that help you with cardio exercises such as: Kick Boxing, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Sports Active, Biggest Loser, and others.

In conclusion you have many options to do cardio Exercises at home. All you need is willpower.