Exercise Bikes vs. Treadmills
decided you want to exercise at home. There are hundreds of pieces of home cardio equipment available. The most popular are treadmills and exercise bikes. In deciding between the two, you should compare long-term sustainability, the effectiveness of the workouts, and safety.
Overcoming Boredom
The biggest obstacle to a home exercise routine is sticking with it. You don’t have to drive to a gym, so your home fitness equipment is more convenient. The problem is that other distractions are just as convenient at home. The key is to make your routine fun. You want to look forward to your daily workout. You have to be realistic. Playing with the heart rate monitor or watching the calorie counter go up will only be fun the first couple of times you exercise.
o Treadmill vs. Boredom
On a treadmill, you walk. Walking isn’t that fun. You can walk at different speeds, but that isn’t really much more fun. If you get a treadmill that offers an incline, that keeps it a bit more interesting. Walking uphill isn’t exactly fun, but it’s different. It presents a challenge.
You can’t really read on a treadmill because you are bouncing up and down. You can’t keep your eyes on the same sentence, and you usually end up with a headache. Basically, the only thing fun to do on a treadmill is watch television or movies. If you are really into TV or movies and are able to put your treadmill in front of a television, you can probably keep your treadmill workout from becoming too boring. Problems consist of commercials, the noise coming from the machine, and again, the bouncing.
o Exercise Bikes vs. Boredom
Exercise bikes are unique in that many of them come programmed with various biking routines. You simulate different courses that require you to sprint, pedal uphill, and perform at different levels within one workout without having to keep pressing buttons and changing everything. You can even select random programs so you don’t know what’s coming, which really keeps you on your toes. Some exercise bikes can even be plugged into televisions and video games to let you interactively pedal through visual courses.
On upright exercise bikes, you run into some of the same problems as treadmills as far as reading is concerned. Recumbent bikes, however, allow your hands to be free to hold a book or magazine, video game controller, or phone. Multi-tasking during an exercise bike workout keeps it from becoming boring and allows your workout to more easily fit into a busy schedule.
Defeating boredom to successfully keep up a long-term exercise routine is much easier with an exercise bike than a treadmill.
The Calorie Factor
In a study conducted by Nordic Track, young, healthy people used various exercise machines and did cardio workouts. Although they felt they used the same intensity on all machines, they burned the most calories on treadmills and ski machines.
On average, most people burn about 750 calories per hour on a treadmill. The same people are likely to burn about 550 calories per hour on an exercise bike. So it’s a no-brainer, right? You should get a treadmill because they burn more calories.
Well, not exactly. You can’t get so caught up in which machine burns the most calories. You have to take a lot of other factors into consideration. How likely are you to sustain a treadmill routine as opposed to an exercise bike routine?
Because exercise bikes are usually more fun than treadmills, you are much more likely to stick with it long-term. This means that even though you can burn more calories on a treadmill, you are also more likely to stop using it altogether.
You might also find it difficult to use it long enough per workout session to get the full benefits. Most people find it easier to workout for 20 minutes on an exercise bike than 20 minutes on a treadmill. You have to think about that. If you are likely to only do 10 minutes on a treadmill but can easily do 20 minutes on an exercise bike, you will burn more calories per session on an exercise bike.
So just going strictly by the numbers, treadmills burn more calories. If you easily get bored or have tried and failed to stick with exercise routines in the past, you might want to consider burning less calories per hour in favor of a sustainable long-term exercise bike regimen.
Your Safety
The biggest difference between exercise bikes and treadmills is overall safety to your body.
The first case of safety is the most basic. You can fall off of a treadmill. It’s very difficult, however, to fall off of an exercise bike. In fact, you would probably have to try to fall when riding an exercise bike. While you might be thinking you’d have to be pretty clumsy to fall while walking, it happens more than you’d think. People get involved with watching television or the beat of music. One wrong step and you can seriously injure yourself. It’s also possible to spill water or sweat on the treadmill track, causing a safety hazard you might not notice until after you’ve slipped.
Another safety hazard is injury from the activity itself. A treadmill puts quite a bit of stress on your joints, especially your knees and ankles. Even if you invest in a treadmill with some degree of shock absorption, when you eventually get to a jogging or running point, you can put severe orthopedic stress on your body, even up to three times your body weight. People with existing conditions such as arthritis will find a treadmill painful at times due to this stress. Otherwise healthy individuals can sustain injury and possible long-term damage over time.
Exercise bikes put much less stress on your joints. A properly positioned exercise bike supports your weight and still allows you to receive the benefits of a higher impact cardio workout. Upright bikes can sometimes stress your back in the way you have to bend to reach the handlebars. Recumbent exercise bikes, however, can actually improve existing back pain by forcing proper posture and giving support as you exercise. On any exercise bike properly used, your knees and ankles are not stressed as they are on a treadmill.
The less you stress joints, the less likely you are to sustain an injury during your workout. You are also less likely to be sore afterwards. Most importantly, a non-workout injury doesn’t always have to halt your exercise routine on an exercise bike. If you hurt your back or neck, you will find the support of a recumbent exercise bike will keep you from having to stop your exercise regimen altogether. Let’s face it - if you have to stop, you are less likely to start again.
An Exercise Bike is Better for Your Health than a Treadmill
As you can see, both pieces of home fitness equipment have advantages. While the treadmill continues to be the most popular piece of home gym equipment, most people are more likely to faithfully use an exercise bike. This means you’re more likely to have to dust a treadmill until it gets the garage sale sticker.
"how to Love Exercise Trick" Will Lead to a Healthy Lifestyle!
The New Year is here and already two weeks has passed you by. You swore to yourself that this year would be different. You even got a gym membership and everything. So, why are you still procrastinating? For most people, it is the thought of sweating away all their time on a treadmill that keeps them from starting. What makes the difference for people who can not seem to get enough exercise to achieve a Heallthy Lifestyle?
In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, you have to have a love for exercise. Or, at least a like for it. If exercise is not in your heart, trick yourself so that it is! You can not move toward your goals without a willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve them…and getting started is the most difficult task to overcome. You may not want to do it, but nine times out of ten when a person just gets going, they want to continue.
Here are 4 proven ways to trick yourself into thinking exercise is something you love.
How To Love Exercise Trick #1: Get The Right Nutrition
How is this going to trick myself, you ask? Well, what happens when you provide your body with the right nutrition? You feel healthier and more energetic. This energy usually calls out to you to hit the gym, or even a simple walk around the block without you even knowing it. When you eat poorly, you feel like sitting on the couch and eating even more junk food.
Proper nutrition for me is a soy-based protein drink every morning along with a cup of hot green tea. This gives me nutrition and energy I need to get me through the day without ever even thinking about taking a nap. What’s even better is that green tea has been known to increase metabolism, so the more I drink the more I shrink. (width wise, not length!)
How To Love Exercise Trick #2: Baby Steps
Ease into exercise. Do not start out with a bang or you will burn out just as fast as you started. Take a laid back approach to exercise at first. Make small goals and achieve them every single day. If you have never been a runner but would like to begin, do not try to run 5 miles a day. Start with a half mile and increase it by a half mile each week.
So many people quit exercising after only a week because they over exert themselves and drain too much energy in too little time. Stretch properly to avoid muscle soreness and by all means drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated. This little trick of taking baby steps into an exercise program will allow you to enjoy the journey you are taking to good health.
How To Love Exercise Trick #3: Join A Class
Being around others who want to achieve the same goals as yourself will take the edge off your worries about exercise being too much work and not enough fun. Exercise is what you make of it. If you want it fun, make it fun. Think beyond the treadmill and stationary bicycle, and do not worry about the abilities of others. Focus on improving only yourself.
There are many classes that offer activities other than typical exercise that will give you the same benefits. You do not have to run like a hamster for an hour to get a great workout. Remember dancing? How about karate? Even joining a bowling league is more active that sitting on the couch. Just remember to choose a lane far away from the vending machine!
How To Love Exercise Trick #4: Listen To Music Or Watch TV
If you are the type of person who likes to exercise alone but can not seem to get yourself motivated to do so, purchase an IPOD shuffle and download your favorite music to accompany you. There is no better driving force than keeping yourself entertained while you exercise. Your mind will not be focused on the “work” of your work-out, and you will trick yourself into passing the time enjoying yourself without the boredom of silence.
If you can not tear yourself away from your television set, there is no reason you can not exercise during prime time. Gyms are equipped with TV sets, and they will usually let you choose the station you want. Set yourself up for a half hour of treadmill walking or stationary bike riding. The trick here is that you will be so into your tv show you will probably forget you are exercising.
The more you exercise, the less it will become a chore and the more you will love it. Exercise is the only proven “healthy habit,” meaning that is can become addictive so that you will never want to miss a day without it. In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, you must develop the mindset of a person who thinks this way. For some people it comes naturally. If you are someone who sonsiders exercise too much work and not enough play, follow the steps listed about to trick yourself into changing your way of thinking.
In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, you have to have a love for exercise. Or, at least a like for it. If exercise is not in your heart, trick yourself so that it is! You can not move toward your goals without a willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve them…and getting started is the most difficult task to overcome. You may not want to do it, but nine times out of ten when a person just gets going, they want to continue.
Here are 4 proven ways to trick yourself into thinking exercise is something you love.
How To Love Exercise Trick #1: Get The Right Nutrition
How is this going to trick myself, you ask? Well, what happens when you provide your body with the right nutrition? You feel healthier and more energetic. This energy usually calls out to you to hit the gym, or even a simple walk around the block without you even knowing it. When you eat poorly, you feel like sitting on the couch and eating even more junk food.
Proper nutrition for me is a soy-based protein drink every morning along with a cup of hot green tea. This gives me nutrition and energy I need to get me through the day without ever even thinking about taking a nap. What’s even better is that green tea has been known to increase metabolism, so the more I drink the more I shrink. (width wise, not length!)
How To Love Exercise Trick #2: Baby Steps
Ease into exercise. Do not start out with a bang or you will burn out just as fast as you started. Take a laid back approach to exercise at first. Make small goals and achieve them every single day. If you have never been a runner but would like to begin, do not try to run 5 miles a day. Start with a half mile and increase it by a half mile each week.
So many people quit exercising after only a week because they over exert themselves and drain too much energy in too little time. Stretch properly to avoid muscle soreness and by all means drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated. This little trick of taking baby steps into an exercise program will allow you to enjoy the journey you are taking to good health.
How To Love Exercise Trick #3: Join A Class
Being around others who want to achieve the same goals as yourself will take the edge off your worries about exercise being too much work and not enough fun. Exercise is what you make of it. If you want it fun, make it fun. Think beyond the treadmill and stationary bicycle, and do not worry about the abilities of others. Focus on improving only yourself.
There are many classes that offer activities other than typical exercise that will give you the same benefits. You do not have to run like a hamster for an hour to get a great workout. Remember dancing? How about karate? Even joining a bowling league is more active that sitting on the couch. Just remember to choose a lane far away from the vending machine!
How To Love Exercise Trick #4: Listen To Music Or Watch TV
If you are the type of person who likes to exercise alone but can not seem to get yourself motivated to do so, purchase an IPOD shuffle and download your favorite music to accompany you. There is no better driving force than keeping yourself entertained while you exercise. Your mind will not be focused on the “work” of your work-out, and you will trick yourself into passing the time enjoying yourself without the boredom of silence.
If you can not tear yourself away from your television set, there is no reason you can not exercise during prime time. Gyms are equipped with TV sets, and they will usually let you choose the station you want. Set yourself up for a half hour of treadmill walking or stationary bike riding. The trick here is that you will be so into your tv show you will probably forget you are exercising.
The more you exercise, the less it will become a chore and the more you will love it. Exercise is the only proven “healthy habit,” meaning that is can become addictive so that you will never want to miss a day without it. In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, you must develop the mindset of a person who thinks this way. For some people it comes naturally. If you are someone who sonsiders exercise too much work and not enough play, follow the steps listed about to trick yourself into changing your way of thinking.
Why Exercise?
I wish I could tell you that I love exercising. Truthfully, I don’t. I didn’t pack on 147 excess pounds because I liked exercising. What I do love is the weight that I now maintain, the health that I feel, and the clarity in my thinking. All of these are possible because of healthy habits that lead to a happier, healthier life.
I’ve struggled with maintaining an exercise routine. My thinking is that for only 30 to 45 minutes a day a few days per week, I get to maintain my weight loss, feel stronger physically, mentally and emotionally. Circumstances don’t hit me and make me feel like a victim of life just waiting. My weight loss has given me that! By exercising for a few minutes out of the 24 hours per day that you are given is a very small investment for the gigantic payoff of a happy life. If only the stock market and our economy would pay off in a big way for such a small investment!
To continue exercising, I need motivation. Through coaching, I was able to come to the realization that 30 to 45 minutes per day a few days a week gives me a happier, healthier life for the 23-1/2 hours in the rest of my day. Now, that’s a major payoff. That’s my motivation. Through coaching, you can find yours too.
Motivation is generated or dismissed in your head. So, here’s some ways to convince your head to get fit, stay fit, and invest in yourself through exercise:
1. Exercise out of the gym. All activity and movement equals exercise. Exercise is a mindset. Rather than drive around for 10 minutes looking for the closest parking space, park in the last row where there are virtually no other cars and walk to your store. You’ll get there quicker, burn less gas and burn more calories. While others are mindlessly standing on the escalator or wasting minutes waiting for the elevator, climb the stairs. Again, you’ll be there while the others are wasting their time and hanging on to calories they could have burned. Look for opportunities to be active. Exercise doesn’t count as exercise if it is within the walls of a gym. Think of exercise as all ways that you move your body.
2. Set an exercise goal. Decide that you’d like to participate in a walk/run event, train for a long distance walk, work with a personal trainer, increase your frequency or duration by a certain time. Give yourself rewards for reaching your exercise goals.
3. Ban boredom. Who wants to exercise if you are bored? Mix it up. One of the most popular television shows is celebrities that are learning ballroom dancing. Many of them have toned and lost impressive amounts of weight. Take dancing lessons to have fun and count as exercise. Other fun forms of exercise can include bowling, snowboarding, Zumba, swimming, water aerobics, walking your dog, or even laser tag. Rather than think of exercise, think about exercise combined with fun. Actual physical activity isn’t boring at all. How you do it though can be. Reframe exercise as exercise combined with fun.
4. Exercise Multi-Tasking. While you’re exercising, watch your favorite recorded television shows or dvd. Listen to audiobooks only while you’re exercising. Load up your iPod or MP3 player with your favorite motivational songs. Listen to those tunes only while you’re exercising. There are video games that you can dance to that definitely work up your heart rate as exercise. You’ll forget your movement counts as exercise because you’ll be having so much fun.
5. The more the merrier - bring a friend. Exercise with a friend, coach or personal trainer. Anyone to make it fun, share the companionship of exercising together plus the bonus of accountability.
6. Turn challenges into successes. Does your vacation give you an excuse to put your exercise routine on hold? Do projects at work derail your workout time? Does weather put the freeze on your regular activity? Deepen your commitment to yourself and exercise routine by looking for opportunities to move. Look for ways to incorporate activity into your vacation, set limits for your work projects, bring your exercise and activities indoors. You’ll strengthen your commitment and exercise muscle into a no-give dedication to your health.
7. Exercise Stars. After you’ve worked out and felt great, write it down. Start a journal or log with your thoughts after a work out. Use images of past successful exercise experiences to remind yourself how great you feel. When motivation is questionable, pull out your notes of past exercise sessions to remind you of those powerful positive feelings.
I can’t say that I’m in love with exercise. I’ve made friends with it and I like it. What I am in love with is my life following weight loss, maintaining my weight, feeling happier, stronger and healthier than ever before in my life. All of that for a mere 30-45 minutes per day? Now, that’s an investment and dividend payoff that gives and gives the other 23-1/2 hours in your day. Exercise is the investment that keeps on giving all through your day. An investment in yourself is the best one of all.
I’ve struggled with maintaining an exercise routine. My thinking is that for only 30 to 45 minutes a day a few days per week, I get to maintain my weight loss, feel stronger physically, mentally and emotionally. Circumstances don’t hit me and make me feel like a victim of life just waiting. My weight loss has given me that! By exercising for a few minutes out of the 24 hours per day that you are given is a very small investment for the gigantic payoff of a happy life. If only the stock market and our economy would pay off in a big way for such a small investment!
To continue exercising, I need motivation. Through coaching, I was able to come to the realization that 30 to 45 minutes per day a few days a week gives me a happier, healthier life for the 23-1/2 hours in the rest of my day. Now, that’s a major payoff. That’s my motivation. Through coaching, you can find yours too.
Motivation is generated or dismissed in your head. So, here’s some ways to convince your head to get fit, stay fit, and invest in yourself through exercise:
1. Exercise out of the gym. All activity and movement equals exercise. Exercise is a mindset. Rather than drive around for 10 minutes looking for the closest parking space, park in the last row where there are virtually no other cars and walk to your store. You’ll get there quicker, burn less gas and burn more calories. While others are mindlessly standing on the escalator or wasting minutes waiting for the elevator, climb the stairs. Again, you’ll be there while the others are wasting their time and hanging on to calories they could have burned. Look for opportunities to be active. Exercise doesn’t count as exercise if it is within the walls of a gym. Think of exercise as all ways that you move your body.
2. Set an exercise goal. Decide that you’d like to participate in a walk/run event, train for a long distance walk, work with a personal trainer, increase your frequency or duration by a certain time. Give yourself rewards for reaching your exercise goals.
3. Ban boredom. Who wants to exercise if you are bored? Mix it up. One of the most popular television shows is celebrities that are learning ballroom dancing. Many of them have toned and lost impressive amounts of weight. Take dancing lessons to have fun and count as exercise. Other fun forms of exercise can include bowling, snowboarding, Zumba, swimming, water aerobics, walking your dog, or even laser tag. Rather than think of exercise, think about exercise combined with fun. Actual physical activity isn’t boring at all. How you do it though can be. Reframe exercise as exercise combined with fun.
4. Exercise Multi-Tasking. While you’re exercising, watch your favorite recorded television shows or dvd. Listen to audiobooks only while you’re exercising. Load up your iPod or MP3 player with your favorite motivational songs. Listen to those tunes only while you’re exercising. There are video games that you can dance to that definitely work up your heart rate as exercise. You’ll forget your movement counts as exercise because you’ll be having so much fun.
5. The more the merrier - bring a friend. Exercise with a friend, coach or personal trainer. Anyone to make it fun, share the companionship of exercising together plus the bonus of accountability.
6. Turn challenges into successes. Does your vacation give you an excuse to put your exercise routine on hold? Do projects at work derail your workout time? Does weather put the freeze on your regular activity? Deepen your commitment to yourself and exercise routine by looking for opportunities to move. Look for ways to incorporate activity into your vacation, set limits for your work projects, bring your exercise and activities indoors. You’ll strengthen your commitment and exercise muscle into a no-give dedication to your health.
7. Exercise Stars. After you’ve worked out and felt great, write it down. Start a journal or log with your thoughts after a work out. Use images of past successful exercise experiences to remind yourself how great you feel. When motivation is questionable, pull out your notes of past exercise sessions to remind you of those powerful positive feelings.
I can’t say that I’m in love with exercise. I’ve made friends with it and I like it. What I am in love with is my life following weight loss, maintaining my weight, feeling happier, stronger and healthier than ever before in my life. All of that for a mere 30-45 minutes per day? Now, that’s an investment and dividend payoff that gives and gives the other 23-1/2 hours in your day. Exercise is the investment that keeps on giving all through your day. An investment in yourself is the best one of all.
Exercise Plans - How to Create the One for You!
Do you have an exercise plan? Do you own any exercise equipment? Perhaps a treadmill, an exercise bike, or any of the gazillion exercise machines advertised on infomercials over the last 10 or 20 years? I think we’ve all been sold at one time or another on something to make exercising easier… or so we thought. And that’s good! Having the desire to look better, feel better and implementing a good exercise plan can help us to reach those goals and also help us to keep our weight under control. And those are just a few of the benefits of exercise. When we perform an exercise routine regularly we begin to not only look and feel better… we even sleep better. When you get right down to it I think we all know that a good exercise plan is part of a healthy lifestyle.
I often hear people ask “What is the best exercise?” And the answer to that question is the one you like the most. Why? Because that’s the one your more likely to do! For many people, just one exercise would not be enough because although we all want to be in good shape and the proper weight, we all have different fitness goals… but for others, one exercise performed consistently and regularly provides all the benefits mentioned above and then some!
So… how many exercise plans do you need to receive all of the exercise benefits described above? One! That’s right… just one! And how many exercises do you need to do? That will depend on your particular fitness goals… your likes and dislikes… but the first question I encourage you to ask yourself is “What one exercise do I like the most? That answer will get you started on a good exercise plan.
Now…
Did you know that how often you exercise is the single most important factor in whether you: • reach your weight loss goals • will be satisfied with your results • will feel good about your progress
You could own every piece of exercise equipment ever advertised on an infomercial, from an exercise bike to an exercise ball and every exercise machine in between, but if you’re not going to use them, then your exercise plan will never succeed. Now I’m not saying that you need to own exercise equipment to be in shape. There are many people who are in excellent condition who own nothing more then a pair of Nikes. If you get just one thing from reading this, understand that your fitness level is directly related to the frequency in which you exercise.
It doesn’t matter if you know how to do every imaginable abdominal exercise, dumbbell exercise, aerobic exercise, tricep, deltoid or backside exercise. The important thing is how often you do them!
I challenge you right now to base your exercise plan on frequency, and I promise you will be much more successful. Whether your exercise plan consists of 20 different exercises or one… please remember this.
Now I don’t want you to get carried away. There’s more to life than just exercising… much more. All I’m saying is when you set about creating an exercise plan, the frequency of exercise is crucial. So as you create your exercise plan answer these two questions: 1) What one exercise do I enjoy the most? Even if you currently hate all exercise… there must be one that you like or hate less than the others. 2) And secondly, how often can I sincerely do this?
Answer those two questions and your exercise plan will be off to a great start!
I often hear people ask “What is the best exercise?” And the answer to that question is the one you like the most. Why? Because that’s the one your more likely to do! For many people, just one exercise would not be enough because although we all want to be in good shape and the proper weight, we all have different fitness goals… but for others, one exercise performed consistently and regularly provides all the benefits mentioned above and then some!
So… how many exercise plans do you need to receive all of the exercise benefits described above? One! That’s right… just one! And how many exercises do you need to do? That will depend on your particular fitness goals… your likes and dislikes… but the first question I encourage you to ask yourself is “What one exercise do I like the most? That answer will get you started on a good exercise plan.
Now…
Did you know that how often you exercise is the single most important factor in whether you: • reach your weight loss goals • will be satisfied with your results • will feel good about your progress
You could own every piece of exercise equipment ever advertised on an infomercial, from an exercise bike to an exercise ball and every exercise machine in between, but if you’re not going to use them, then your exercise plan will never succeed. Now I’m not saying that you need to own exercise equipment to be in shape. There are many people who are in excellent condition who own nothing more then a pair of Nikes. If you get just one thing from reading this, understand that your fitness level is directly related to the frequency in which you exercise.
It doesn’t matter if you know how to do every imaginable abdominal exercise, dumbbell exercise, aerobic exercise, tricep, deltoid or backside exercise. The important thing is how often you do them!
I challenge you right now to base your exercise plan on frequency, and I promise you will be much more successful. Whether your exercise plan consists of 20 different exercises or one… please remember this.
Now I don’t want you to get carried away. There’s more to life than just exercising… much more. All I’m saying is when you set about creating an exercise plan, the frequency of exercise is crucial. So as you create your exercise plan answer these two questions: 1) What one exercise do I enjoy the most? Even if you currently hate all exercise… there must be one that you like or hate less than the others. 2) And secondly, how often can I sincerely do this?
Answer those two questions and your exercise plan will be off to a great start!
Get Started Exercising Now
So you’re overweight, “fat”–to be honest–and you want to start exercising. Before you take off like an overlarge airplane and start preparing for the Olympics trials, stop right there.
You may have it all figured out by now, after checking with your friends, the media and finally that fickle fiend known as the bathroom mirror, that a regular exercise program is the only way to fly when it comes to permanent weight loss. That entails working out or otherwise flexing your physical and psychological muscles on a regular basis, perhaps three times a week, or maybe even once per day.
But therein lies the rub. How do you get started? How often do you exercise? Most importantly, if you’ve been very sedate or at least somewhat off your feet for awhile, what’s the safest way to begin an effective, weight-loss centered exercise program?
Beginning a Righteous Program - Realistically
First of all, follow the old saw about consulting with your doctor. Don’t start thinking you can just begin running around the block. That’s why the medical profession exists, to advise and keep you safe. Your doctor will recommend specific types of exercise tailored to fit your own individual lifestyle, personal health needs and concerns. But you don’t need to make it entirely clinical when you begin an exercise program.
Most importantly, you need to pick something you’re going to stick with. What do you like in the way of sports? If you’re people-oriented, you should look into joining a team sports program of some kind in your area, one created for adult participation. You can look for a local softball league, take a beginning aerobics class at a fitness center, or play regular games of basketball at a gym with your buddies. And then there’s golf, the perennial favorite of people who want to perform fun and interesting mild exercise. All you have to do is motivate yourself and perhaps some friends to get started. Or if you’re a loner, you can take up an individualized sport such as bicycle touring, which can also be done in small groups, or laps swimming at your community pool.
And if you like to be around a humungous amount of people, how about mall-walking, one of the latest in adult and family mild fitness trends, or the more traditional act of partner dancing, which you can do at all kinds of gathering places such as local taverns, senior centers, community halls and social clubs. There’s an almost infinite number of places you can go and groups you can join. Just pick one, and remember to start out with a breezy, fun and easygoing attitude. You’re not punishing yourself; you’re picking up on a lifelong habit of moving your body for health purposes. You’ll feel better, look fitter and maybe meet new people while you’re dropping those needless extra pounds.
But be realistic, and work with your doctor. You want to aim for something fun that you’ll keep committing to doing regularly. If it’s something you hate, perhaps such as running on a track, climbing stairs or using what seems to you to be boring exercise equipment, forget it! Don’t spend all your money on something you can’t keep doing because you feel guilty, or think you have to punish yourself into exercising. Be sure you like what you’re going to do before you get started. Simply walking around the block is a very inexpensive and potentially fun way to go from a sedentary state to a beginning new level of much better health and fitness. You must start with something easy and simple if you haven’t been exercising for decades, and you should gradually increase your level of activity as you feel comfortable with it. Move by inches, not by miles.
Are you a morning or an evening person? If you’re the former, plan to work out in the morning, and if you wake up later in the day, do your routine more near twilight. Also, as your doctor will tell you, start with a small window of time, perhaps only fifteen minutes at first, and slowly increase it every other day or so. In order to achieve a higher level of fitness and to lose weight, you must perform whatever exercise you choose at least three to four times a week. This is better at first than every day, as a rest may be needed between workouts to give your aching muscles a chance to soothe themselves and heal before you bravely saunter forth again or head back merrily to the gym.
Eventually, you can try exercising every single day, anywhere from twenty minutes to a full hour. But especially at first–and that may be for several months–don’t push yourself too hard. Don’t go all out, and get frustrated because you can’t keep it up. You don’t have to be a college athlete, and you can seriously hurt your heart by pushing too hard or overdoing it. Remember, you’re doing this for fun, for health reasons and to feel good about yourself. Don’t try to become an “athlete” unless you think that will be something you’ll want to commit to on a much more rigorous schedule. Later!
Easy Exercise Comes - Naturally
Americans tend to think of exercise as more their duty than as a part of their culture, or “way of life.” But it’s a true lifestyle preference. Throughout the world, many forms of regular exercise are taking hold of whole general populations. Take walking, for example. In Europe, people are flocking to their local well-developed public hiking trails, and there’s quite a few of those spread across the USA as well. Walking of a moderate type is called Volkssport in Europe, and it’s really been around for many centuries.
Easy-going exercise such as walking continues to stave off heart disease, osteoporosis, high cholesterol and many types of cancer, as well as taking care of most of your belly flab. It doesn’t sound like much, but it will really tighten your whole body up. Your legs will especially benefit, and your buns will automatically grow firmer as you stroll. Not to mention that the worst investment you need to make is a pair of comfy, sturdy sensible shoes, preferably made of leather or canvas with rubber soles.
You may think that yoga is some uncomfortable form of Eastern self-punishment and mysticism, but it’s not. Yoga is great for toning your body, as it’s extremely gentle when done correctly. It combines traditional breathing and relaxation techniques with simple stretching. It’s good to use yoga during a weight-loss program when you’re sedentary, as it’s very easy on your body, you don’t have to repeat the same exercises every day, and it requires a minimal time commitment.
Yoga can be used in conjunction with a more rigorous exercise program to help maintain your overall state of fitness. “Yoga doesn’t take over your life, it enhances it,” says Alice Cristensen, founder and executive director of the American Yoga Association.
Continuing Your Program - Goals and Motivation
Okay, so you’ve gotten started, but what does all this have to do with watching your weight? To keep on schedule with this as your original goal, you also have to keep that commitment to lose enough poundage to be a healthy, happy and physically fit person.
First of all, you have to figure out exactly what you’re expecting to accomplish. Are you looking for optimal health, or do you really want to fit into slinky clothes better? Either way, you’re going to have to set goals and try to attain them as you go. It helps to clearly keep in mind what you’re aiming for, and it helps to visualize yourself at your ideal weight several times a day. This image impresses itself upon your subconscious and inwardly motivates you to continue your program with a bulldog’s sheer tenacity and motivation. You want that; whatever happens, you don’t want to stress out and quit. Try looking at old photographs of yourself at your ideal weight and picturing realistically what you’ll look like when you’re back there again. Don’t expect the Fountain of Youth, but you’d be shocked how close you can get to your mental picture, and how good you’re going to feel as you move your body, eat less liberally and become fit and not fat.
Also, you should make a brief list of the five major reasons you’re embarking on an exercise and weight-loss program. Do you want to bring down your blood pressure? Does being fat make you feel too old? Do you want to attract someone new in your life? When you sit in your car, does your stomach practically turn the steering wheel? Make it a point to carry this list with you wherever you go, and when you get in the mood to quit and give up, whip it out and read it aloud, saying to yourself that this is what you really want.
You must also remember to keep it simple when you’re losing weight. In most cases, burning more calories than you ingest is the biggest concern. You have to expend approximately 3,500 calories to lose one pound of adipose fat tissue. Water weight doesn’t count, and that’s what a lot of people lose at first. Also, the important thing about exercise is that you can eat almost normally and still lose the weight at a healthy and reasonable pace. If you don’t exercise and try to lose weight, you’ll be tempted to embark on a starvation diet. This has been shown to make you lose lean muscle mass instead of fat in most cases, and although you’ll drop some pounds, they may be the wrongest ones. Chances are that if you’re unfit while you’re losing weight, you’ll get physically tired, sleep less, become overly emotional, and stress out and become extremely irritable. It simply isn’t healthy to do it that way, so you need at least a moderate exercise program.
Try keeping a journal of your progress every day, and consult with it when you want to know how far along you’ve come. You can also use it to gauge how you’re doing, and whether or not you’re losing weight at a reasonable pace. Congratulate yourself every time you ate the right thing, kept to your walking schedule, or didn’t give in to temptation that day by making a brief note about it. Read the journal to inspire you about what you’re doing whenever you feel the urge to let go.
Meanwhile, as you chart your progress, take the time to reward yourself for everything you’re doing right. Ignore occasional slipups, and don’t let them bother you. Move on and motivate yourself by going to a movie, taking a break from work, going to the beach or whatever floats your boat. Don’t reward yourself with food, ever! Find other methods of loving life and use them. Treating yourself manifests your brain’s reward system and keeps you striving toward your goals.
Don’t forget to share any successes or failures with your friends and family. Tell them all about how proud you are of the new lifestyle choices you’re making, and share in their enthusiasm. They want you to be healthy and go on living, and so do you. But some of them may worry that you’re starving yourself or are in a state of denial. Reassure them, and proceed carefully with your healthy diet and exercise plans, while always knowing that it’s exactly what you need to do to look better, feel stronger and live longer.
Easy Dieting Tips to Live By - Starting Now
• Never eat after 7 pm. Studies prove that your body’s metabolism begins to shut down in the early evening. It needed fuel to function earlier, but at night you’re getting yourself ready to fall asleep. Eat the bulk of your daily food intake around noon–that’s when you’re burning the most calories. But if you work nights, do it the other way around, of course. It’s not the time of day that’s important; it’s the fact that your body is well-adjusted to a cycle where it doesn’t burn many calories before and during bedtime.
• Americans are used to eating super-sized meals, so learn to limit your portion size. Eat smaller meals five or six times a day instead of the standard three huge ones, and grab healthy snacks like vegetables, fruits and yogurt in-between. You want to prevent any binging or “pigging out” that could occur. Eat modestly, but often, and be sure to drink plenty of healthy fluids–mostly, pure cool water.
• Limit your intake of saturated fats, sugars and any other substances in food proven to add empty calories to your daily diet. Don’t drink any pop or sodas at all as they’re very bad for you generally, being full of chemicals. Diet sodas tempt you into drinking the sugary ones, and all soda pop robs water from your system and makes you thirstier. That can lead to eating more food.
• Eat lots of vegetables and fruits. You might want to go easy on some of the higher-calorie fruits such as starchy bananas, and don’t eat lots of high-fat avocados. But in general veggies are a dieter’s best friend. You might want to always eat your veggies with some meat protein to curb any histamines that might ravage your system and make it harder for you to breathe. Also, eating plenty of veggies kills the hunger signals from your brain, due to their sheer bulk and fiber. And the nutrients in fruits and veggies will increase your physical strength. Eat your spinach!
• Also eat lots of whole grains, which provide antioxidants that fight cancer and help you feel satisfied in a manner similar to that of eating veggies. But whole grains are even more filling, and help you digest your food. You want to eat plenty of fibrous foods, plus drinking lots of water, to flush toxins left over in your body from the dieting completely out of your system.
• Take a healthy multivitamin. Don’t go overboard and try to take everything, because some of the substances we need interact non-positively and can cause chemical imbalances. Consult with your doctor and see what’s recommended nowadays. One good wholistic multivitamin and mineral supplement–not a megadose of potentially harmful chemicals–can improve your skin, hair, overall appearance in general, and also your chances of managing on a little bit less food.
Lastly - Remember This
Please remain consistently aware of one thing: these are radical, life-changing choices that you’re making each day and night, and you’ve got to stick with them. Not everyone else in the world is going to live this way, but many people are and it’s a sensational start! Think that you really have no choice, if you want to go on living for many long years and be vibrant, strong and healthy. Realize that your loved ones truly need you, and that the right thing to do is to take the best possible care of yourself. Tell yourself that with honest compassion, every single waking moment of your entire life.
SIDEBARS
First sidebar: Please Make Your Kids Exercise!
America’s children are routinely both terribly inactive and physically unfit, which means the USA will face ever-increasing health care costs, reduced workplace productivity and a more restricted and undesirable quality of life.
Nowadays, TV, computers and their accompanying video games are replacing the physical sports and activities children used to play that enabled them to frequently exercise. Obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes are becoming hideously prevalent among today’s modern kids. Fitness has become an anachronism for many of us, and we must continuously strive to get our children moving, running and laughing with each other before they succumb completely to unhealthy lifestyle patterns.
Researchers have found an existing relationship between the amount of TV watched and a child’s accumulated body fat. A healthy diet and vigorous exercise are needed as much by our nation’s children as they are by their sedentary and underactive parents. You should know exactly what’s appropriate for your child and how to instill the fun and repetitive behaviors that create a lifetime of pleasure and good health. And you must become a lasting, visible role model by demonstrating these capabilities outwardly, or they won’t take hold with your child.
There are basically two types of exercise the experts want you to consider. Aerobic exercise burns fat, and it can be very fun and involving for all ages. It causes rapid increases in your child’s breathing and heart rates, and must be performed over at least a twenty-minute time period. It takes that long for your child’s body to start burning its stored fat reserves. Aerobic exercise includes most team sports such as basketball, soccer, hockey, rowing, swimming, and running. It also includes individual sports such as bicycling, cross-country skiing, jogging, karate, rollerblading, tennis, and fast walking. (Continued on next page)
Second sidebar: Please Make Your Kids Exercise! (Continued)
Anaerobic exercise causes a short burst of exertion followed by a brief rest, and tends to develop stronger muscles. It complements the fat-burning aerobic exercise. This includes weight training and strength training, such as that done with free weights or standing equipment, and standard “training” exercises like pushups, crunches, pull-ups and other such floor exercises.
Most healthy children have little trouble working out on a twenty to thirty minutes, three to four times a week basis. But if your child is overweight and sedentary, he or she needs to begin on a similar schedule to that of a sedentary adult. You mustn’t let your child overdo it, either! Use the talk-sing rule. If while exercising, your child cannot sing but can still talk, he or she is moving around at a proper rate of pace.
Children need to imitate their parents and older siblings, and that means you must personally take on physical activities in front of them. Use family participation to stress the rules of active fitness, stressing variety, freedom and joy. Avoid overly regimented and competitive activities, and show your kids that being active is fun. Plan outings that involve long walks, such as going to the zoo or a national park, and encourage them to play extended outdoor games and easygoing supervised organized sports.
Our children are the blue-ribbon prizes of a well-lived existence, and need to be taught a lifelong appreciation of good diet and physical fitness. How can we idly sit by and take no action when the quality and decency of their lives is what’s truly at stake?
You may have it all figured out by now, after checking with your friends, the media and finally that fickle fiend known as the bathroom mirror, that a regular exercise program is the only way to fly when it comes to permanent weight loss. That entails working out or otherwise flexing your physical and psychological muscles on a regular basis, perhaps three times a week, or maybe even once per day.
But therein lies the rub. How do you get started? How often do you exercise? Most importantly, if you’ve been very sedate or at least somewhat off your feet for awhile, what’s the safest way to begin an effective, weight-loss centered exercise program?
Beginning a Righteous Program - Realistically
First of all, follow the old saw about consulting with your doctor. Don’t start thinking you can just begin running around the block. That’s why the medical profession exists, to advise and keep you safe. Your doctor will recommend specific types of exercise tailored to fit your own individual lifestyle, personal health needs and concerns. But you don’t need to make it entirely clinical when you begin an exercise program.
Most importantly, you need to pick something you’re going to stick with. What do you like in the way of sports? If you’re people-oriented, you should look into joining a team sports program of some kind in your area, one created for adult participation. You can look for a local softball league, take a beginning aerobics class at a fitness center, or play regular games of basketball at a gym with your buddies. And then there’s golf, the perennial favorite of people who want to perform fun and interesting mild exercise. All you have to do is motivate yourself and perhaps some friends to get started. Or if you’re a loner, you can take up an individualized sport such as bicycle touring, which can also be done in small groups, or laps swimming at your community pool.
And if you like to be around a humungous amount of people, how about mall-walking, one of the latest in adult and family mild fitness trends, or the more traditional act of partner dancing, which you can do at all kinds of gathering places such as local taverns, senior centers, community halls and social clubs. There’s an almost infinite number of places you can go and groups you can join. Just pick one, and remember to start out with a breezy, fun and easygoing attitude. You’re not punishing yourself; you’re picking up on a lifelong habit of moving your body for health purposes. You’ll feel better, look fitter and maybe meet new people while you’re dropping those needless extra pounds.
But be realistic, and work with your doctor. You want to aim for something fun that you’ll keep committing to doing regularly. If it’s something you hate, perhaps such as running on a track, climbing stairs or using what seems to you to be boring exercise equipment, forget it! Don’t spend all your money on something you can’t keep doing because you feel guilty, or think you have to punish yourself into exercising. Be sure you like what you’re going to do before you get started. Simply walking around the block is a very inexpensive and potentially fun way to go from a sedentary state to a beginning new level of much better health and fitness. You must start with something easy and simple if you haven’t been exercising for decades, and you should gradually increase your level of activity as you feel comfortable with it. Move by inches, not by miles.
Are you a morning or an evening person? If you’re the former, plan to work out in the morning, and if you wake up later in the day, do your routine more near twilight. Also, as your doctor will tell you, start with a small window of time, perhaps only fifteen minutes at first, and slowly increase it every other day or so. In order to achieve a higher level of fitness and to lose weight, you must perform whatever exercise you choose at least three to four times a week. This is better at first than every day, as a rest may be needed between workouts to give your aching muscles a chance to soothe themselves and heal before you bravely saunter forth again or head back merrily to the gym.
Eventually, you can try exercising every single day, anywhere from twenty minutes to a full hour. But especially at first–and that may be for several months–don’t push yourself too hard. Don’t go all out, and get frustrated because you can’t keep it up. You don’t have to be a college athlete, and you can seriously hurt your heart by pushing too hard or overdoing it. Remember, you’re doing this for fun, for health reasons and to feel good about yourself. Don’t try to become an “athlete” unless you think that will be something you’ll want to commit to on a much more rigorous schedule. Later!
Easy Exercise Comes - Naturally
Americans tend to think of exercise as more their duty than as a part of their culture, or “way of life.” But it’s a true lifestyle preference. Throughout the world, many forms of regular exercise are taking hold of whole general populations. Take walking, for example. In Europe, people are flocking to their local well-developed public hiking trails, and there’s quite a few of those spread across the USA as well. Walking of a moderate type is called Volkssport in Europe, and it’s really been around for many centuries.
Easy-going exercise such as walking continues to stave off heart disease, osteoporosis, high cholesterol and many types of cancer, as well as taking care of most of your belly flab. It doesn’t sound like much, but it will really tighten your whole body up. Your legs will especially benefit, and your buns will automatically grow firmer as you stroll. Not to mention that the worst investment you need to make is a pair of comfy, sturdy sensible shoes, preferably made of leather or canvas with rubber soles.
You may think that yoga is some uncomfortable form of Eastern self-punishment and mysticism, but it’s not. Yoga is great for toning your body, as it’s extremely gentle when done correctly. It combines traditional breathing and relaxation techniques with simple stretching. It’s good to use yoga during a weight-loss program when you’re sedentary, as it’s very easy on your body, you don’t have to repeat the same exercises every day, and it requires a minimal time commitment.
Yoga can be used in conjunction with a more rigorous exercise program to help maintain your overall state of fitness. “Yoga doesn’t take over your life, it enhances it,” says Alice Cristensen, founder and executive director of the American Yoga Association.
Continuing Your Program - Goals and Motivation
Okay, so you’ve gotten started, but what does all this have to do with watching your weight? To keep on schedule with this as your original goal, you also have to keep that commitment to lose enough poundage to be a healthy, happy and physically fit person.
First of all, you have to figure out exactly what you’re expecting to accomplish. Are you looking for optimal health, or do you really want to fit into slinky clothes better? Either way, you’re going to have to set goals and try to attain them as you go. It helps to clearly keep in mind what you’re aiming for, and it helps to visualize yourself at your ideal weight several times a day. This image impresses itself upon your subconscious and inwardly motivates you to continue your program with a bulldog’s sheer tenacity and motivation. You want that; whatever happens, you don’t want to stress out and quit. Try looking at old photographs of yourself at your ideal weight and picturing realistically what you’ll look like when you’re back there again. Don’t expect the Fountain of Youth, but you’d be shocked how close you can get to your mental picture, and how good you’re going to feel as you move your body, eat less liberally and become fit and not fat.
Also, you should make a brief list of the five major reasons you’re embarking on an exercise and weight-loss program. Do you want to bring down your blood pressure? Does being fat make you feel too old? Do you want to attract someone new in your life? When you sit in your car, does your stomach practically turn the steering wheel? Make it a point to carry this list with you wherever you go, and when you get in the mood to quit and give up, whip it out and read it aloud, saying to yourself that this is what you really want.
You must also remember to keep it simple when you’re losing weight. In most cases, burning more calories than you ingest is the biggest concern. You have to expend approximately 3,500 calories to lose one pound of adipose fat tissue. Water weight doesn’t count, and that’s what a lot of people lose at first. Also, the important thing about exercise is that you can eat almost normally and still lose the weight at a healthy and reasonable pace. If you don’t exercise and try to lose weight, you’ll be tempted to embark on a starvation diet. This has been shown to make you lose lean muscle mass instead of fat in most cases, and although you’ll drop some pounds, they may be the wrongest ones. Chances are that if you’re unfit while you’re losing weight, you’ll get physically tired, sleep less, become overly emotional, and stress out and become extremely irritable. It simply isn’t healthy to do it that way, so you need at least a moderate exercise program.
Try keeping a journal of your progress every day, and consult with it when you want to know how far along you’ve come. You can also use it to gauge how you’re doing, and whether or not you’re losing weight at a reasonable pace. Congratulate yourself every time you ate the right thing, kept to your walking schedule, or didn’t give in to temptation that day by making a brief note about it. Read the journal to inspire you about what you’re doing whenever you feel the urge to let go.
Meanwhile, as you chart your progress, take the time to reward yourself for everything you’re doing right. Ignore occasional slipups, and don’t let them bother you. Move on and motivate yourself by going to a movie, taking a break from work, going to the beach or whatever floats your boat. Don’t reward yourself with food, ever! Find other methods of loving life and use them. Treating yourself manifests your brain’s reward system and keeps you striving toward your goals.
Don’t forget to share any successes or failures with your friends and family. Tell them all about how proud you are of the new lifestyle choices you’re making, and share in their enthusiasm. They want you to be healthy and go on living, and so do you. But some of them may worry that you’re starving yourself or are in a state of denial. Reassure them, and proceed carefully with your healthy diet and exercise plans, while always knowing that it’s exactly what you need to do to look better, feel stronger and live longer.
Easy Dieting Tips to Live By - Starting Now
• Never eat after 7 pm. Studies prove that your body’s metabolism begins to shut down in the early evening. It needed fuel to function earlier, but at night you’re getting yourself ready to fall asleep. Eat the bulk of your daily food intake around noon–that’s when you’re burning the most calories. But if you work nights, do it the other way around, of course. It’s not the time of day that’s important; it’s the fact that your body is well-adjusted to a cycle where it doesn’t burn many calories before and during bedtime.
• Americans are used to eating super-sized meals, so learn to limit your portion size. Eat smaller meals five or six times a day instead of the standard three huge ones, and grab healthy snacks like vegetables, fruits and yogurt in-between. You want to prevent any binging or “pigging out” that could occur. Eat modestly, but often, and be sure to drink plenty of healthy fluids–mostly, pure cool water.
• Limit your intake of saturated fats, sugars and any other substances in food proven to add empty calories to your daily diet. Don’t drink any pop or sodas at all as they’re very bad for you generally, being full of chemicals. Diet sodas tempt you into drinking the sugary ones, and all soda pop robs water from your system and makes you thirstier. That can lead to eating more food.
• Eat lots of vegetables and fruits. You might want to go easy on some of the higher-calorie fruits such as starchy bananas, and don’t eat lots of high-fat avocados. But in general veggies are a dieter’s best friend. You might want to always eat your veggies with some meat protein to curb any histamines that might ravage your system and make it harder for you to breathe. Also, eating plenty of veggies kills the hunger signals from your brain, due to their sheer bulk and fiber. And the nutrients in fruits and veggies will increase your physical strength. Eat your spinach!
• Also eat lots of whole grains, which provide antioxidants that fight cancer and help you feel satisfied in a manner similar to that of eating veggies. But whole grains are even more filling, and help you digest your food. You want to eat plenty of fibrous foods, plus drinking lots of water, to flush toxins left over in your body from the dieting completely out of your system.
• Take a healthy multivitamin. Don’t go overboard and try to take everything, because some of the substances we need interact non-positively and can cause chemical imbalances. Consult with your doctor and see what’s recommended nowadays. One good wholistic multivitamin and mineral supplement–not a megadose of potentially harmful chemicals–can improve your skin, hair, overall appearance in general, and also your chances of managing on a little bit less food.
Lastly - Remember This
Please remain consistently aware of one thing: these are radical, life-changing choices that you’re making each day and night, and you’ve got to stick with them. Not everyone else in the world is going to live this way, but many people are and it’s a sensational start! Think that you really have no choice, if you want to go on living for many long years and be vibrant, strong and healthy. Realize that your loved ones truly need you, and that the right thing to do is to take the best possible care of yourself. Tell yourself that with honest compassion, every single waking moment of your entire life.
SIDEBARS
First sidebar: Please Make Your Kids Exercise!
America’s children are routinely both terribly inactive and physically unfit, which means the USA will face ever-increasing health care costs, reduced workplace productivity and a more restricted and undesirable quality of life.
Nowadays, TV, computers and their accompanying video games are replacing the physical sports and activities children used to play that enabled them to frequently exercise. Obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes are becoming hideously prevalent among today’s modern kids. Fitness has become an anachronism for many of us, and we must continuously strive to get our children moving, running and laughing with each other before they succumb completely to unhealthy lifestyle patterns.
Researchers have found an existing relationship between the amount of TV watched and a child’s accumulated body fat. A healthy diet and vigorous exercise are needed as much by our nation’s children as they are by their sedentary and underactive parents. You should know exactly what’s appropriate for your child and how to instill the fun and repetitive behaviors that create a lifetime of pleasure and good health. And you must become a lasting, visible role model by demonstrating these capabilities outwardly, or they won’t take hold with your child.
There are basically two types of exercise the experts want you to consider. Aerobic exercise burns fat, and it can be very fun and involving for all ages. It causes rapid increases in your child’s breathing and heart rates, and must be performed over at least a twenty-minute time period. It takes that long for your child’s body to start burning its stored fat reserves. Aerobic exercise includes most team sports such as basketball, soccer, hockey, rowing, swimming, and running. It also includes individual sports such as bicycling, cross-country skiing, jogging, karate, rollerblading, tennis, and fast walking. (Continued on next page)
Second sidebar: Please Make Your Kids Exercise! (Continued)
Anaerobic exercise causes a short burst of exertion followed by a brief rest, and tends to develop stronger muscles. It complements the fat-burning aerobic exercise. This includes weight training and strength training, such as that done with free weights or standing equipment, and standard “training” exercises like pushups, crunches, pull-ups and other such floor exercises.
Most healthy children have little trouble working out on a twenty to thirty minutes, three to four times a week basis. But if your child is overweight and sedentary, he or she needs to begin on a similar schedule to that of a sedentary adult. You mustn’t let your child overdo it, either! Use the talk-sing rule. If while exercising, your child cannot sing but can still talk, he or she is moving around at a proper rate of pace.
Children need to imitate their parents and older siblings, and that means you must personally take on physical activities in front of them. Use family participation to stress the rules of active fitness, stressing variety, freedom and joy. Avoid overly regimented and competitive activities, and show your kids that being active is fun. Plan outings that involve long walks, such as going to the zoo or a national park, and encourage them to play extended outdoor games and easygoing supervised organized sports.
Our children are the blue-ribbon prizes of a well-lived existence, and need to be taught a lifelong appreciation of good diet and physical fitness. How can we idly sit by and take no action when the quality and decency of their lives is what’s truly at stake?
Regular Exercise - Enjoy The Rich Benefits Of It
Which do you prefer, aerobic or anaerobic exercises? Do you know the difference? Does it make a difference? Not really. The words aerobic and anaerobic represent different ways the body gets energy for exercise.
In aerobic, meaning with oxygen, exercise involves or uses oxygen to fuel metabolism, and the main fuel comes from burning fat. This type of exercise involves relatively less muscle fatigue. Aerobic exercise is of moderate intensity. Anaerobic, or without oxygen, exercise is higher-intensity exercise where the muscles rely on fuels other than oxygen. Anaerobic exercise burns sugar as the main source of fuel. Either way, you still burn fat.
Light exercise cleans out lactic acid (a waste product) and stimulates cell regeneration. To burn fat, rather than sugar, there are several things to remember:
- Breathe deeply. Use your diaphragm to draw in air, through your nose, and hold the breath for a few seconds. Then exhale through your mouth.
- Exercise at a comfortable level. If 10 is extreme exertion, exercise at a 7. You should still be able to carry on a normal conversation while you work out. Doing this for 45 minutes a day will restore energy and make you feel great!
You may think you don’t have time to exercise, but you should make time. The benefits to your health and well-being far outweigh the cost in time. Since proper exercise increases energy, you won’t need to sleep as much as you have in the past. So, take a little of your nighttime sleep to exercise. You’ll be better for it.
Or use your lunch break to exercise instead of having a heavy lunch that adds fat. Your productivity will increase. You’ll be more alert and energetic. And the time you save in added productivity can be applied to those other important tasks you aren’t willing to trade for exercise.
Rebounding (also known as cellularise) is a great way to get aerobic exercise. A rebounder is a mini-trampoline that provides excellent, non-impact exercise through bouncing. If you have access to this type of equipment, try it! It’s a fun exercise for all ages and types, and it’s less expensive than other types of exercise equipment.
Whether you have access to a rebounder or not, use any break or time out to get in some movement and deep breathing. Any type of exercise will have great benefits. It will improve your heart, making it stronger and larger. Deep breathing will make your lungs stronger, too. The movements you use to exercise promote proper blood flow to your joints as well as to your muscles, so you reduce possible joint pain by engaging in regular exercise. And research suggests positive links between exercise and overall health - preventing almost every type of disease.
Many of us spend most of our days sitting crouched at our desk, typing away at our computer, focused on the job at hand. And while we do this, our bodies get stiff, tired, and full of natural toxins. Proper exercise flushes the system and stimulates internal organs, including the brain. It restores energy and improves attitude.
Your investment in just a little moderate exercise will repay your effort with benefits that last a lifetime. You’ll live better, live longer, and enjoy life more when you commit to and follow through on a regular program of exercise.
In aerobic, meaning with oxygen, exercise involves or uses oxygen to fuel metabolism, and the main fuel comes from burning fat. This type of exercise involves relatively less muscle fatigue. Aerobic exercise is of moderate intensity. Anaerobic, or without oxygen, exercise is higher-intensity exercise where the muscles rely on fuels other than oxygen. Anaerobic exercise burns sugar as the main source of fuel. Either way, you still burn fat.
Light exercise cleans out lactic acid (a waste product) and stimulates cell regeneration. To burn fat, rather than sugar, there are several things to remember:
- Breathe deeply. Use your diaphragm to draw in air, through your nose, and hold the breath for a few seconds. Then exhale through your mouth.
- Exercise at a comfortable level. If 10 is extreme exertion, exercise at a 7. You should still be able to carry on a normal conversation while you work out. Doing this for 45 minutes a day will restore energy and make you feel great!
You may think you don’t have time to exercise, but you should make time. The benefits to your health and well-being far outweigh the cost in time. Since proper exercise increases energy, you won’t need to sleep as much as you have in the past. So, take a little of your nighttime sleep to exercise. You’ll be better for it.
Or use your lunch break to exercise instead of having a heavy lunch that adds fat. Your productivity will increase. You’ll be more alert and energetic. And the time you save in added productivity can be applied to those other important tasks you aren’t willing to trade for exercise.
Rebounding (also known as cellularise) is a great way to get aerobic exercise. A rebounder is a mini-trampoline that provides excellent, non-impact exercise through bouncing. If you have access to this type of equipment, try it! It’s a fun exercise for all ages and types, and it’s less expensive than other types of exercise equipment.
Whether you have access to a rebounder or not, use any break or time out to get in some movement and deep breathing. Any type of exercise will have great benefits. It will improve your heart, making it stronger and larger. Deep breathing will make your lungs stronger, too. The movements you use to exercise promote proper blood flow to your joints as well as to your muscles, so you reduce possible joint pain by engaging in regular exercise. And research suggests positive links between exercise and overall health - preventing almost every type of disease.
Many of us spend most of our days sitting crouched at our desk, typing away at our computer, focused on the job at hand. And while we do this, our bodies get stiff, tired, and full of natural toxins. Proper exercise flushes the system and stimulates internal organs, including the brain. It restores energy and improves attitude.
Your investment in just a little moderate exercise will repay your effort with benefits that last a lifetime. You’ll live better, live longer, and enjoy life more when you commit to and follow through on a regular program of exercise.
The Gripstik Regimen and Wrist Exerciser Benefits
Who would think that 4 minutes a day a few days a week would make such a difference but the Gripstik Regimen only requires that. Specific movements using the gripstik can lead to vast improvements in strength and flexibility. Go to http://www.gripstik.com for details on the exact workouts.
Adjustable tension control allows you to tailor your strength training routine to achieve your desired goals. Whether you want to increase grip strength, speed up rehab, relieve stress caused by repetitive motion or loosen up just before the next big event, Gripstik forearm exerciser can help. No whirring sounds. No batteries. No magnets. No herbal remedies. Just your willingness to focus four minutes a day several times a week will help you achieve your personal goals.
Some of Gripstik Grip Strength training benefits include:
Isometric tension of all the forearm exercises increases grip strength, reduces stress, tones and sculpts targeted muscles, reduces the onset of arm pump when used as a stretching aid prior to activity and reduces discomfort caused by repetitive motion disorders.
Here is a list of some satisfied customers who use the Gripstik Wrist Exerciser:
-Bill Collins: 5 time World Arm Wrestling Champion and Captain of TEAM USA Arm Wrestling
Read up on Bill’s tips to Arm Wrestling Training at http://www.gripstik.com/arm-wrestling.html.
-Brandi Profitt: Nationally Ranked Professional Rock Climber
Read Brandi’s review of Gripstik at http://www.gripstik.com/rock-climbing.html
- Larry Eastman: MN State Racquetball champion in Singles and Doubles
Read Larry’s Top 10 Racquetball Training Tips at http://www.gripstik.com/racquetball-equipment.html
-Joe Day and Curtis Brown: NHL Players
Read Frank Burggraf’s (Burggraf Skating and Skills On and Off Ice Training Centers) Article on Training for Hockey Success at http://www.gripstik.com/ice-hockey-training-equipment.html
- Joe Stansberry: USGA Champion and PGA Champions Tour Player
Read Joe’s review on how the gripstik helped him when he was ailing from carpal tunnel syndrome at http://www.gripstik.com/therapy-carpal-tunnel.html
For more reviews and testimonials go to http://www.gripstik.com/Strength_Training_Home_Exercise_Equipment_testimonials.html
Adjustable tension control allows you to tailor your strength training routine to achieve your desired goals. Whether you want to increase grip strength, speed up rehab, relieve stress caused by repetitive motion or loosen up just before the next big event, Gripstik forearm exerciser can help. No whirring sounds. No batteries. No magnets. No herbal remedies. Just your willingness to focus four minutes a day several times a week will help you achieve your personal goals.
Some of Gripstik Grip Strength training benefits include:
Isometric tension of all the forearm exercises increases grip strength, reduces stress, tones and sculpts targeted muscles, reduces the onset of arm pump when used as a stretching aid prior to activity and reduces discomfort caused by repetitive motion disorders.
Here is a list of some satisfied customers who use the Gripstik Wrist Exerciser:
-Bill Collins: 5 time World Arm Wrestling Champion and Captain of TEAM USA Arm Wrestling
Read up on Bill’s tips to Arm Wrestling Training at http://www.gripstik.com/arm-wrestling.html.
-Brandi Profitt: Nationally Ranked Professional Rock Climber
Read Brandi’s review of Gripstik at http://www.gripstik.com/rock-climbing.html
- Larry Eastman: MN State Racquetball champion in Singles and Doubles
Read Larry’s Top 10 Racquetball Training Tips at http://www.gripstik.com/racquetball-equipment.html
-Joe Day and Curtis Brown: NHL Players
Read Frank Burggraf’s (Burggraf Skating and Skills On and Off Ice Training Centers) Article on Training for Hockey Success at http://www.gripstik.com/ice-hockey-training-equipment.html
- Joe Stansberry: USGA Champion and PGA Champions Tour Player
Read Joe’s review on how the gripstik helped him when he was ailing from carpal tunnel syndrome at http://www.gripstik.com/therapy-carpal-tunnel.html
For more reviews and testimonials go to http://www.gripstik.com/Strength_Training_Home_Exercise_Equipment_testimonials.html
Golf Fitness Exercises for Women Golfers
Golf fitness exercises can be beneficial for the woman golfer in terms of improving the foundation of the swing, rotation in the backswing, speed development in the downswing, and a consistent finish position. Learn how golf fitness exercises can benefit the woman golfer. Lowering golf scores and making the game more enjoyable.
It is well known in professional golf how integral golf fitness exercises are for success at the highest level of golf. Men on the PGA Tour and women on the LPGA Tour understand the benefits of golf fitness exercises in achieving success. Outside the circles of professional golf many questions exist about golf fitness exercises. Questions such as; what are the best exercises to improve golf fitness levels, are flexibility exercises and stretches better than other forms of golf fitness exercises, and what are the benefits of golf fitness exercises for the woman golfer?
These and many questions surround the topic of golf fitness. This article is to provide some answers for you on the topic of golf fitness exercises for woman. It has been well documented in magazines and television how LPGA women such as Annika Sorenstam utilize golf fitness programs to benefit their play on the golf course. Is there a difference between the LPGA player and the amateur woman golfer in relation to golf fitness training? The answer is no. Yes, the women on the LPGA Tour are the best women golfers in the world, but the physiology of the LPGA player and amateur are the same. The skeletal, muscular, and neural systems are the same. The professional golfer has the same number of muscles in their bodies as the amateur. The woman’s professional golfer has the same skeletal structure as the female amateur, and nervous system as well. Granted the LPGA player has more refined and efficient swing mechanics, but the body is the same.
As a result of the body being the same, the principles and structure of a golf fitness program for any woman is similar. Before discussing the specifics of a golf fitness program for women it is necessary to understand a few important principles. The first principle to understand about a golf fitness program is sports specific. Sports specific is a term describing the type of training utilized in a golf fitness program. Sport specific training simply states the program utilized by the woman athlete is geared towards improving them in their chosen sport.
A second principle closely related to sports specific training is cross specificity training. Cross specificity training is the utilization of exercises to develop the woman golfer in the positions, movements, and actions incorporated in the golf swing. The goal of cross specificity training is a transfer of training effect to the field of competition. Simply stated, a transfer of training effect is the ability of exercises utilized to train the female golfer having a direct benefit on their performance during a round of golf.
For example, golf fitness flexibility exercises will attempt to improve the flexibility within the woman golfer. As the woman golfer improves her flexibility parameters in relation to the golf swing. She may be able to create a bigger shoulder turn, which may increase the distance of her drives. This benefit is an example of a transfer of training effect onto the golf course. In summary, the three principles that assist in the development of a golf fitness program for women are; sports specific, cross specificity training, and transfer of training effect. Many additional principles exist that are used as guidelines in the development of a golf fitness program, but these are three essential ones.
Outside of the guidelines governing the development of a golf fitness program for woman. Specific physical components within the body are needed within the body to execute the golf swing correctly. Remember, it is the body performing the biomechanics of the golf swing. In order for the golf swing to be executed correctly and efficiently certain levels of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power are required. These are the actual physical components within the woman golfer a golf specific fitness program looks to develop and enhance in relation to the golf swing.
The golf swing requires the body to move through a long range of motion for an efficient movement to occur. Much of this is contingent upon the ability of the core to coil and uncoil during the swing. In order for these two biomechanical actions to occur efficiently, the development of proper flexibility in the core is necessary.
We utilize flexibility exercises that are cross-specific to the movements in the golf swing to develop flexibility. The majority of these flexibility exercises are rotational and dynamic.
The golf swing is a dynamic movement, indicating that the body is in constant motion. It is crucial to develop a range of motion for the swing in a dynamic rather than a static (not moving) method. The goal of these exercises is to create a range of motion in the core for the golf swing. Flexibility is the first physical component requiring development within the woman golfer.
One needs to maintain, dynamically, a stable body throughout the entire swing. We have all hit balls at the range and know what happens when we do not stay balanced during the swing. Improving the balance and stabilization capabilities of the core translates into a better golf swing. Better Balance equals a Better Swing. Even subtle movements are consistency killers; thus we need to develop and maintain balance for a consistent swing.
Balance is connected to the efficiency of the nervous system and strength of the muscular system working together. The development of greater balance in the core and swing is the result of two types of specific exercise. The first challenges the nervous system creating greater efficiency. The second are exercises that create increased strength in the core. The combination of these two types of exercises permit for the body to maintain posture, promote efficient weight transfer, and create power in the swing. The result is a more consistent, accurate, and powerful swing. This is the second component included with a golf fitness program for women
Remember that the golf swing is a repetitive movement. The mechanics of the swing repeat with each stroke. This process can be repeated hundreds of times in a round of golf. Ever go to the range and hit two buckets of balls? At some point the body starts to tire, and shots scatter.
Proper endurance training enables us to repeat a sound swing. We produce this through a series of exercises developing endurance in the entire body. This nets us a consistent swing through eighteen holes. Increasing endurance leads to lower scores. This is the third physical component of the golf fitness program for women.
Club head speed is a function of power. The more power generated by the body, the greater speed at which a club head impacts the ball. More power to the ball equals longer drives. Developing higher levels of power within the muscular system of the body is achieved through the implementation of power exercises. These types of exercise assist in creating higher power outputs of the muscles involved in the golf swing. Power training is the final component found in a golf fitness program for women.
In summary a golf fitness program for the LPGA or amateur woman golfer is relatively the same. Golf fitness exercises for the woman golfer are sports specific. The exercises contained within the golf fitness program are cross-specific to the movements, positions, and requirements of the golf swing. The exercises within a woman’s golf fitness program induce a transfer of training effect onto the golf course. The golf swing requires certain levels of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power to execute correctly. A golf fitness program for women will look to enhance these physical components of the body. The end result is an improved golf swing equating to lower scores and more enjoyment on the golf course.
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly working with professional golfers, most notably Masters and PGA Champion Phil Mickelson. To learn more about Sean and his golf fitness programs go to http://www.seancochran.com
It is well known in professional golf how integral golf fitness exercises are for success at the highest level of golf. Men on the PGA Tour and women on the LPGA Tour understand the benefits of golf fitness exercises in achieving success. Outside the circles of professional golf many questions exist about golf fitness exercises. Questions such as; what are the best exercises to improve golf fitness levels, are flexibility exercises and stretches better than other forms of golf fitness exercises, and what are the benefits of golf fitness exercises for the woman golfer?
These and many questions surround the topic of golf fitness. This article is to provide some answers for you on the topic of golf fitness exercises for woman. It has been well documented in magazines and television how LPGA women such as Annika Sorenstam utilize golf fitness programs to benefit their play on the golf course. Is there a difference between the LPGA player and the amateur woman golfer in relation to golf fitness training? The answer is no. Yes, the women on the LPGA Tour are the best women golfers in the world, but the physiology of the LPGA player and amateur are the same. The skeletal, muscular, and neural systems are the same. The professional golfer has the same number of muscles in their bodies as the amateur. The woman’s professional golfer has the same skeletal structure as the female amateur, and nervous system as well. Granted the LPGA player has more refined and efficient swing mechanics, but the body is the same.
As a result of the body being the same, the principles and structure of a golf fitness program for any woman is similar. Before discussing the specifics of a golf fitness program for women it is necessary to understand a few important principles. The first principle to understand about a golf fitness program is sports specific. Sports specific is a term describing the type of training utilized in a golf fitness program. Sport specific training simply states the program utilized by the woman athlete is geared towards improving them in their chosen sport.
A second principle closely related to sports specific training is cross specificity training. Cross specificity training is the utilization of exercises to develop the woman golfer in the positions, movements, and actions incorporated in the golf swing. The goal of cross specificity training is a transfer of training effect to the field of competition. Simply stated, a transfer of training effect is the ability of exercises utilized to train the female golfer having a direct benefit on their performance during a round of golf.
For example, golf fitness flexibility exercises will attempt to improve the flexibility within the woman golfer. As the woman golfer improves her flexibility parameters in relation to the golf swing. She may be able to create a bigger shoulder turn, which may increase the distance of her drives. This benefit is an example of a transfer of training effect onto the golf course. In summary, the three principles that assist in the development of a golf fitness program for women are; sports specific, cross specificity training, and transfer of training effect. Many additional principles exist that are used as guidelines in the development of a golf fitness program, but these are three essential ones.
Outside of the guidelines governing the development of a golf fitness program for woman. Specific physical components within the body are needed within the body to execute the golf swing correctly. Remember, it is the body performing the biomechanics of the golf swing. In order for the golf swing to be executed correctly and efficiently certain levels of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power are required. These are the actual physical components within the woman golfer a golf specific fitness program looks to develop and enhance in relation to the golf swing.
The golf swing requires the body to move through a long range of motion for an efficient movement to occur. Much of this is contingent upon the ability of the core to coil and uncoil during the swing. In order for these two biomechanical actions to occur efficiently, the development of proper flexibility in the core is necessary.
We utilize flexibility exercises that are cross-specific to the movements in the golf swing to develop flexibility. The majority of these flexibility exercises are rotational and dynamic.
The golf swing is a dynamic movement, indicating that the body is in constant motion. It is crucial to develop a range of motion for the swing in a dynamic rather than a static (not moving) method. The goal of these exercises is to create a range of motion in the core for the golf swing. Flexibility is the first physical component requiring development within the woman golfer.
One needs to maintain, dynamically, a stable body throughout the entire swing. We have all hit balls at the range and know what happens when we do not stay balanced during the swing. Improving the balance and stabilization capabilities of the core translates into a better golf swing. Better Balance equals a Better Swing. Even subtle movements are consistency killers; thus we need to develop and maintain balance for a consistent swing.
Balance is connected to the efficiency of the nervous system and strength of the muscular system working together. The development of greater balance in the core and swing is the result of two types of specific exercise. The first challenges the nervous system creating greater efficiency. The second are exercises that create increased strength in the core. The combination of these two types of exercises permit for the body to maintain posture, promote efficient weight transfer, and create power in the swing. The result is a more consistent, accurate, and powerful swing. This is the second component included with a golf fitness program for women
Remember that the golf swing is a repetitive movement. The mechanics of the swing repeat with each stroke. This process can be repeated hundreds of times in a round of golf. Ever go to the range and hit two buckets of balls? At some point the body starts to tire, and shots scatter.
Proper endurance training enables us to repeat a sound swing. We produce this through a series of exercises developing endurance in the entire body. This nets us a consistent swing through eighteen holes. Increasing endurance leads to lower scores. This is the third physical component of the golf fitness program for women.
Club head speed is a function of power. The more power generated by the body, the greater speed at which a club head impacts the ball. More power to the ball equals longer drives. Developing higher levels of power within the muscular system of the body is achieved through the implementation of power exercises. These types of exercise assist in creating higher power outputs of the muscles involved in the golf swing. Power training is the final component found in a golf fitness program for women.
In summary a golf fitness program for the LPGA or amateur woman golfer is relatively the same. Golf fitness exercises for the woman golfer are sports specific. The exercises contained within the golf fitness program are cross-specific to the movements, positions, and requirements of the golf swing. The exercises within a woman’s golf fitness program induce a transfer of training effect onto the golf course. The golf swing requires certain levels of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power to execute correctly. A golf fitness program for women will look to enhance these physical components of the body. The end result is an improved golf swing equating to lower scores and more enjoyment on the golf course.
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly working with professional golfers, most notably Masters and PGA Champion Phil Mickelson. To learn more about Sean and his golf fitness programs go to http://www.seancochran.com
Pregnancy Exercise Video Types - Tips To Pick The Best One For You
It is very beneficial for baby and mother to exercise during pregnancy. You should choose a good pregnancy exercise video as wrong exercise can harm you and your baby. A specifically designed pregnancy exercise video should be used that has various effective and safe exercises for pregnant woman. This would help you stay fit when you are expecting or is pregnant. It would ensure your health and fitness during pregnancy. Such pregnancy exercise videos may have exercises based upon yoga to massage or workouts.
Regular exercise would improve the birth weight and height of your baby. If you continue this pregnancy fitness programme even after the child birth then you would easily lose that extra body weight gained during pregnancy and tone up your tummy to its shape.
There are various types of workout videos available in the market or on internet. You can get videos for pregnancy exercises and also on the ways to get into pre-pregnancy shape after your delivery. Other choice is for yoga, pilates or aerobics; so that you can choose an exercise of your type. Such exercises would help you gain good energy level. It would also help you to improve your stamina, ease birth process, circulation and posture although you may not like exercising at that time.
You would develop safe movement and posture as these pregnancy exercise videos guide you for ways to recover from caesarean sections. In most of the cases, it has been observed that an average woman gain around 2lbs during her pregnancy. This increases chances of back ache and many other problems. All such problems can be easily overcomed with the help of exercises described in pregnancy exercise videos. It would strengthen your muscles and improves your posture to ease your back ache.
You can choose intense exercises once you expertise in simple and gradual exercises for startup. Therefore, these pregnancy exercise videos has gradual exercises for start up and once you are fit to go towards intense exercises you can. You should consult your healthcare provider about the type of exercises that you would be carrying out. It is necessary as you may be suffering from some or the other medical ailment for which that exercise is not advised. Research has proven that fit and healthy mothers who follow fitness programme has healthier babies in comparison to those woman who do not undertake such activities.
In yoga pregnancy exercise videos, different postures are included in various trimesters to help you in preparation for birth experience. You need great flexibility and strength for child birth during labor. Yoga helps you achieve that easily with a completely relaxed and supple body.
Pilate’s pregnancy exercise videos helps you prepare both mind and body for your new baby by its useful breathing exercises that are included in the exercise schedule. Although it is advised that you should start doing Pilate’s exercises before you conceive but you can start it during your pregnancy also if you are under some guidance or supervision.
Regular exercise would improve the birth weight and height of your baby. If you continue this pregnancy fitness programme even after the child birth then you would easily lose that extra body weight gained during pregnancy and tone up your tummy to its shape.
There are various types of workout videos available in the market or on internet. You can get videos for pregnancy exercises and also on the ways to get into pre-pregnancy shape after your delivery. Other choice is for yoga, pilates or aerobics; so that you can choose an exercise of your type. Such exercises would help you gain good energy level. It would also help you to improve your stamina, ease birth process, circulation and posture although you may not like exercising at that time.
You would develop safe movement and posture as these pregnancy exercise videos guide you for ways to recover from caesarean sections. In most of the cases, it has been observed that an average woman gain around 2lbs during her pregnancy. This increases chances of back ache and many other problems. All such problems can be easily overcomed with the help of exercises described in pregnancy exercise videos. It would strengthen your muscles and improves your posture to ease your back ache.
You can choose intense exercises once you expertise in simple and gradual exercises for startup. Therefore, these pregnancy exercise videos has gradual exercises for start up and once you are fit to go towards intense exercises you can. You should consult your healthcare provider about the type of exercises that you would be carrying out. It is necessary as you may be suffering from some or the other medical ailment for which that exercise is not advised. Research has proven that fit and healthy mothers who follow fitness programme has healthier babies in comparison to those woman who do not undertake such activities.
In yoga pregnancy exercise videos, different postures are included in various trimesters to help you in preparation for birth experience. You need great flexibility and strength for child birth during labor. Yoga helps you achieve that easily with a completely relaxed and supple body.
Pilate’s pregnancy exercise videos helps you prepare both mind and body for your new baby by its useful breathing exercises that are included in the exercise schedule. Although it is advised that you should start doing Pilate’s exercises before you conceive but you can start it during your pregnancy also if you are under some guidance or supervision.
Golf Fitness Exercises for Women Golfers
Golf fitness exercises can be beneficial for the woman golfer in terms of improving the foundation of the swing, rotation in the backswing, speed development in the downswing, and a consistent finish position. Learn how golf fitness exercises can benefit the woman golfer. Lowering scores and making the game more enjoyable.
It is well known in professional golf how integral golf fitness exercises are for success at the highest levels. Men on the PGA Tour and women on the LPGA Tour understand the benefits of golf fitness exercises in achieving success. Outside the circles of professional players many questions exist about golf fitness exercises. Questions such as; what are the best exercises to improve golf fitness levels, are flexibility exercises and stretches better than other forms of golf fitness exercises, and what are the benefits of golf fitness exercises for the woman golfer?
These and many questions surround the topic of golf fitness. This article is to provide some answers for you on the topic of golf fitness exercises for woman. It has been well documented in magazines and television how LPGA women such as Annika Sorenstam utilize fitness programs to benefit their play on the course. Is there a difference between the LPGA player and the amateur woman in relation to golf fitness training? The answer is no. Yes, the women on the LPGA Tour are the best women golfers in the world, but the physiology of the LPGA player and amateur are the same. The skeletal, muscular, and neural systems are the same. The professional player has the same number of muscles in their bodies as the amateur. The woman’s professional player has the same skeletal structure as the female amateur, and nervous system as well. Granted the LPGA player has more refined and efficient swing mechanics, but the body is the same.
As a result of the body being the same, the principles and structure of a golf fitness program for any woman is similar. Before discussing the specifics of a program for women it is necessary to understand a few important principles. The first principle to understand about a fitness program is sports specific. Sports specific is a term describing the type of training utilized in a golf fitness program. Sport specific training simply states the program utilized by the woman athlete is geared towards improving them in their chosen sport.
A second principle closely related to sports specific training is cross specificity training. Cross specificity training is the utilization of exercises to develop the woman golfer in the positions, movements, and actions incorporated in the golf swing. The goal of cross specificity training is a transfer of training effect to the field of competition. Simply stated, a transfer of training effect is the ability of exercises utilized to train the female golfer having a direct benefit on their performance on the course.
For example, golf flexibility exercises will attempt to improve the flexibility within the player. As the player improves their flexibility parameters in relation to the swing. She may be able to create a bigger shoulder turn, which may increase the distance of her drives. This benefit is an example of a transfer of training effect onto the golf course. In summary, the three principles that assist in the development of a golf fitness program for women are; sports specific, cross specificity training, and transfer of training effect. Many additional principles exist that are used as guidelines in the development of a fitness program, but these are three essential ones.
Outside of the guidelines governing the development of a golf fitness program for woman. Specific physical components within the body are needed within the body to execute the golf swing correctly. Remember, it is the body performing the biomechanics of the swing. In order for the swing to be executed correctly and efficiently certain levels of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power are required. These are the actual physical components within the golfer a fitness program looks to develop and enhance in relation to the golf swing.
The swing requires the body to move through a long range of motion for an efficient movement to occur. Much of this is contingent upon the ability of the core to coil and uncoil during the swing. In order for these two biomechanical actions to occur efficiently, the development of proper flexibility in the core is necessary.
We utilize flexibility exercises that are cross-specific to the movements in the swing to develop flexibility. The majority of these flexibility exercises are rotational and dynamic.
The swing is a dynamic movement, indicating that the body is in constant motion. It is crucial to develop a range of motion in a dynamic rather than a static (not moving) method. The goal of these exercises is to create a range of motion in the core for the golf swing. Flexibility is the first physical component requiring development within the woman golfer.
One needs to maintain, dynamically, a stable body throughout the entire swing. We have all hit balls at the range and know what happens when we do not stay balanced during the swing. Improving the balance and stabilization capabilities of the core translates into a better golf swing. Better Balance equals a Better Swing. Even subtle movements are consistency killers; thus we need to develop and maintain balance for a consistent swing.
Balance is connected to the efficiency of the nervous system and strength of the muscular system working together. The development of greater balance in the core and swing is the result of two types of specific exercise. The first challenges the nervous system creating greater efficiency. The second are exercises that create increased strength in the core. The combination of these two types of exercises permit for the body to maintain posture, promote efficient weight transfer, and create power in the swing. The result is a more consistent, accurate, and powerful swing. This is the second component included with a golf fitness program.
Remember that the golf swing is a repetitive movement. The mechanics of the swing repeat with each stroke. This process can be repeated hundreds of times in a round of golf. Ever go to the range and hit two buckets of balls? At some point the body starts to tire, and shots scatter.
Proper endurance training enables us to repeat a sound swing. We produce this through a series of exercises developing endurance in the entire body. This nets us a consistent swing through eighteen holes. Increasing endurance leads to lower scores. This is the third physical component of the golf fitness program for women.
Club head speed is a function of power. The more power generated by the body, the greater speed at which a club head impacts the ball. More power to the ball equals longer drives. Developing higher levels of power within the muscular system of the body is achieved through the implementation of power exercises. These types of exercise assist in creating higher power outputs of the muscles involved in the golf swing. Power training is the final component found in a golf fitness program for women.
In summary a golf fitness program for the LPGA or amateur woman golfer is relatively the same. Golf exercises for the woman golfer are sports specific. The exercises are cross-specific to the movements, positions, and requirements of the swing. The exercises within a woman’s golf fitness program induce a transfer of training effect onto the course. The swing requires certain levels of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power to execute correctly. A golf fitness program for women will look to enhance these physical components of the body. The end result is an improved swing equating to lower scores and more enjoyment on the course.
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly working with professional golfers, most notably Masters and PGA Champion Phil Mickelson. To learn more about Sean and his golf fitness programs go to http://www.seancochran.com
It is well known in professional golf how integral golf fitness exercises are for success at the highest levels. Men on the PGA Tour and women on the LPGA Tour understand the benefits of golf fitness exercises in achieving success. Outside the circles of professional players many questions exist about golf fitness exercises. Questions such as; what are the best exercises to improve golf fitness levels, are flexibility exercises and stretches better than other forms of golf fitness exercises, and what are the benefits of golf fitness exercises for the woman golfer?
These and many questions surround the topic of golf fitness. This article is to provide some answers for you on the topic of golf fitness exercises for woman. It has been well documented in magazines and television how LPGA women such as Annika Sorenstam utilize fitness programs to benefit their play on the course. Is there a difference between the LPGA player and the amateur woman in relation to golf fitness training? The answer is no. Yes, the women on the LPGA Tour are the best women golfers in the world, but the physiology of the LPGA player and amateur are the same. The skeletal, muscular, and neural systems are the same. The professional player has the same number of muscles in their bodies as the amateur. The woman’s professional player has the same skeletal structure as the female amateur, and nervous system as well. Granted the LPGA player has more refined and efficient swing mechanics, but the body is the same.
As a result of the body being the same, the principles and structure of a golf fitness program for any woman is similar. Before discussing the specifics of a program for women it is necessary to understand a few important principles. The first principle to understand about a fitness program is sports specific. Sports specific is a term describing the type of training utilized in a golf fitness program. Sport specific training simply states the program utilized by the woman athlete is geared towards improving them in their chosen sport.
A second principle closely related to sports specific training is cross specificity training. Cross specificity training is the utilization of exercises to develop the woman golfer in the positions, movements, and actions incorporated in the golf swing. The goal of cross specificity training is a transfer of training effect to the field of competition. Simply stated, a transfer of training effect is the ability of exercises utilized to train the female golfer having a direct benefit on their performance on the course.
For example, golf flexibility exercises will attempt to improve the flexibility within the player. As the player improves their flexibility parameters in relation to the swing. She may be able to create a bigger shoulder turn, which may increase the distance of her drives. This benefit is an example of a transfer of training effect onto the golf course. In summary, the three principles that assist in the development of a golf fitness program for women are; sports specific, cross specificity training, and transfer of training effect. Many additional principles exist that are used as guidelines in the development of a fitness program, but these are three essential ones.
Outside of the guidelines governing the development of a golf fitness program for woman. Specific physical components within the body are needed within the body to execute the golf swing correctly. Remember, it is the body performing the biomechanics of the swing. In order for the swing to be executed correctly and efficiently certain levels of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power are required. These are the actual physical components within the golfer a fitness program looks to develop and enhance in relation to the golf swing.
The swing requires the body to move through a long range of motion for an efficient movement to occur. Much of this is contingent upon the ability of the core to coil and uncoil during the swing. In order for these two biomechanical actions to occur efficiently, the development of proper flexibility in the core is necessary.
We utilize flexibility exercises that are cross-specific to the movements in the swing to develop flexibility. The majority of these flexibility exercises are rotational and dynamic.
The swing is a dynamic movement, indicating that the body is in constant motion. It is crucial to develop a range of motion in a dynamic rather than a static (not moving) method. The goal of these exercises is to create a range of motion in the core for the golf swing. Flexibility is the first physical component requiring development within the woman golfer.
One needs to maintain, dynamically, a stable body throughout the entire swing. We have all hit balls at the range and know what happens when we do not stay balanced during the swing. Improving the balance and stabilization capabilities of the core translates into a better golf swing. Better Balance equals a Better Swing. Even subtle movements are consistency killers; thus we need to develop and maintain balance for a consistent swing.
Balance is connected to the efficiency of the nervous system and strength of the muscular system working together. The development of greater balance in the core and swing is the result of two types of specific exercise. The first challenges the nervous system creating greater efficiency. The second are exercises that create increased strength in the core. The combination of these two types of exercises permit for the body to maintain posture, promote efficient weight transfer, and create power in the swing. The result is a more consistent, accurate, and powerful swing. This is the second component included with a golf fitness program.
Remember that the golf swing is a repetitive movement. The mechanics of the swing repeat with each stroke. This process can be repeated hundreds of times in a round of golf. Ever go to the range and hit two buckets of balls? At some point the body starts to tire, and shots scatter.
Proper endurance training enables us to repeat a sound swing. We produce this through a series of exercises developing endurance in the entire body. This nets us a consistent swing through eighteen holes. Increasing endurance leads to lower scores. This is the third physical component of the golf fitness program for women.
Club head speed is a function of power. The more power generated by the body, the greater speed at which a club head impacts the ball. More power to the ball equals longer drives. Developing higher levels of power within the muscular system of the body is achieved through the implementation of power exercises. These types of exercise assist in creating higher power outputs of the muscles involved in the golf swing. Power training is the final component found in a golf fitness program for women.
In summary a golf fitness program for the LPGA or amateur woman golfer is relatively the same. Golf exercises for the woman golfer are sports specific. The exercises are cross-specific to the movements, positions, and requirements of the swing. The exercises within a woman’s golf fitness program induce a transfer of training effect onto the course. The swing requires certain levels of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power to execute correctly. A golf fitness program for women will look to enhance these physical components of the body. The end result is an improved swing equating to lower scores and more enjoyment on the course.
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly working with professional golfers, most notably Masters and PGA Champion Phil Mickelson. To learn more about Sean and his golf fitness programs go to http://www.seancochran.com