Body Fitness and Health Tips

If you want to boost your metabolism, lose weight faster and keep the weight off, you need to maximize your weight loss program and calorie burning to get rid of obesity, meaning stored fat. Weight loss diets are not the only solution to lose weight, neither exercise alone. An effective weight loss program includes the combination of a postive attitude, a balanced diet, weight lifting, aerobic exercise, and having the right nutritional supplements. Exercises will help you to keep your body toned and avoid excessive stretch marks for losing weight.

Let me clarify a myth about weight lifting that helps you burn more calories. There is a myth that weightlifting will make you develop big muscles. This is not true. To develop or build big muscles, you would need to have a detailed weight lifting body building program. However, practicing basic weight lifting, including dumbbells, will help you maximize your calories burning mode and tone your body, not make you look big.

Weightlifting, meaning using weights between 5-50 pounds approximately, will help you keep lean muscles, improve strength, muscle definition, flexibility and coordination to help you lose fat.

Lifting weights actually help you reduce body fat not only because you burn more calories during the workout, but also because you continue burning after training.

Hence, an effective way to maximize your weight loss program and calorie burning is to combine weight lifting and aerobic exercise. You can do this based on your needs. For example, when I started my weight loss program at 230 pounds, I did cardio exercise every day. I started with 10 minutes and gradually increasing to 60 minutes.

I added weight lifting later because like many, I believed the myth that I was going to look very masculine by doing weights. It was only after carefully reading and experiencing with a basic weightlifting program that I realized how wrong I was.

In fact, I started seeing better results with my weight loss program when I combined all five ingredients: diet, aerobic exercise, weight lifting, positive attitude and my supplements. Most of all, my skin was tighter, and I was not getting excessive stretch marks as others who were losing great amount of weight.

Body Nutrients

The other aspect to maximize your calorie burning besides doing your weights and aerobics is to consume between 15 -30 gr. of protein within 30 minutes after your workout for muscle recovery. A good example will be to have a whey protein shake. Also, drink water throughout your exercise routine to replenish lost body fluids.

Protein helps you boost your weight loss, increase loss of body fat while reducing the loss of muscle tissue. Since protein requires more energy to digest, it burns more calories and helps your weight loss process.

For example, if your body does not get daily protein and the essential amino acids on a daily basis, it will steal it from your existing muscle tissue. Moreover, protein helps you slow down the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. In addition, it reduces hunger because it reduces insulin levels, making it easier for your body to burn fat. Plus, it promotes satiety, making you feel full, hence, having less cravings.

However, prior to your workout, make sure you consume enough carbs to use as body fuel and not feel weak by following an extreme low carb menu. For instance, if you love pasta like me, then, this will be the right time to have your pasta dish. Ideally, have your starchy carbs (pasta, rice, potatoes) before 3 p.m. Cardio exercise will help you burn stored fat.

Bottom line, you must combine all key aspects for a successful weight loss program; nutritional supplements alone are not the solution. They work as supplements to help you accomplish your weight loss goal faster while providing you with nutrients.

Another great way to boost your metabolism and set it for maximum calorie burning will be to drink green tea. Get your cup of green tea first thing in the morning, mid morning, and prior to workout. Besides, it will help you get rid of toxins.

Just do not forget that it is important to consult with your physician before starting any weight loss program.

Basic Weight Loss Exercise Routine

1. Aerobic exercise 3 times a week (30-60 minutes)

2. Weightlifting every 2 days

However, if you do not resist a 30 minute cardio, start with 5 or 10 minute session. Most important thing is to start doing your exercise. Enjoy it; do not condition yourself thinking exercising is a burden. Prepare positively, visualize the results, how exercising will help you burn that stored fat, develop that trimmed abs, toned arms, tight buttocks, and toned legs.

Same with your weightlifting program, start with 2 or 5 pounds dumbbells, try to set 20 minutes for your dumbbells or if running out of time, you can do your dumbbells while watching tv or taking a break from work. Bottom line, it is always better to do some exercise than none.

Hence, based on my experience and research studies, one can drop body fat by adding free weight exercises and practicing at least 3 times a week cardio exercises. Some of the basic exercise using free weights includes lunges, standing dumbbell shoulder press, standing dumbbell curl, standing triceps overhead extension, which is great to eliminate those flabby under arms.

Until next time, have a successful balanced weight loss program and say bye bye to obesity! Welcome the NEW YOU with a big smile and new wardrobe. In a nutshell, your obesity solution is not having a fast weight loss diet to gain all the weight back. Remember, your main goal is to lose weight and to keep it off. Now, give me a BIG FIVE! You can do it. I am here to help you! Therefore, cheers to your successful weight loss plan and maximization of calorie burning!

PS: You can read the following articles for specific exercises

1. Simple Steps to Get Flat Abs – Bye Bye Belly Fat! http://www.officialoverweightnomore.com/get_flat_abs.html

2. 15 Minutes to Firm Arms – No More Jelly Beans Arms

http://www.officialoverweightnomore.com/15_minutes_to_ firm_arms.html

Before starting any nutritional program, exercise or diet program, we advise you to consult with your physician.

NOTE: This article may be freely reprinted in your ezines, ebooks, off-line publications, or on your websites. We only require that the entire article – including the links, and the resource box “about the author” at the bottom of each article remain unchanged.



By: Anna Overweight No More

About the Author:

I used to own one of those big pulley system weight machines. It cost me a couple of thousand dollars and was really good quality. I sold it on Ebay for $150 last year.

Now I use low cost equipment and get heaps better results. I can go outside and train, or I can train in front of the television. I can train in the living room and watch the kids at the same time. Or I can pack it all up and take it to the park and train with friends and clients in a different setting. No longer am I stuck in the study. And as I said, the results have been amazing. So what do I use?

First off I would recommend a good set of adjustable dumbbells. You know the ones where you can add or remove weight plates as required. I actually have a couple of sets. One I keep quite heavy for use with leg exercises and one set that I change around a lot more depending on what exercises I am doing. These will probably be your most expensive purchase, but you will use them over and over. There are so many different ways to use them and you can easily work your whole body in any number of ways. Almost any exercise can be done with a set of dumbbells.

Another piece of fitness equipment I use a lot are my medicine balls. There are so many different ways to use medicine balls too. You can get them quite cheap at large sporting goods stores or from the internet. I use a 4kg one and a 6 kg one. I use these in every session with my Personal Training clients and Bootcamps too. They are great to use on your own or for partner work.

One of my most used pieces of equipment is a step. I had a friend build me one from some timber he had laying around. It is about 12 inches high and wide and about 4 foot long. Clients can get on either end of it and step up and down together. It is amazing how much harder they can go with someone else to keep up with. The step combines well with the dumbbells or the medicine ball for step ups, step downs, sideways step ups, lungeing off the box or onto the box or even dips off the side. You can also jump on and off the box or even use it to do push ups with. Put your hands on it to make them easier, or your feet to make it harder. Clients that find it hard to get up and down from the floor, can even do ab exercises on it and it doubles as a bench as well. To improve fitness, a step is invaluable.

Another cheap piece of fitness equipment is the humble skipping rope. Uses are obvious and you will be surprised how hard it is if you haven’t tried it lately. If you persist though, you will improve your fitness really quickly with regular jump rope sessions and they are great for weight loss too.

There are many other inexpensive items to include in your home gym set up. These can include resistance bands which are great to take on holidays and yoga type mats which come in real handy when training outside on hard surfaces. Kettlebells are a great item to have, but they can be quite expensive so search around for them. There are many suppliers on the net. I use them a lot in my training sessions and my clients love them too. There are many kettlebell exercises for either strength development, endurance improvement or fat burning, and they work really, really well.

These are just some of the inexpensive ways to equip your home gym. Don’t be fooled into thinking you need an expensive pinloaded weight machine. All of my clients, not to mention myself, have fantastic results without them.



By: Joanne Butler

About the Author:

Pilates fitness equipment is essential to make the most of your pilates workout. This article will introduce you to some of the most important basic pilates exercise equipment as well as talk about the more advanced pilates machines.

The perfect starting point is the Pilates floor mat as it should be the first addition to you pilates home equipment collection. Its important to test the thickness of the cushion as well as the durability of the mat material as your pilates mat will be the most used piece of equipment in your workout. You want to make sure that it will last through a 1000+ workouts while providing a consistent cushion from the floor. This allows you to focus on the core ground exercises and not any discomfort in your spine.

Next, we have the Pilates exercise ball. Your exercise ball is another inexpensive must have addition to your pilates home equipment. With the pilates exercise ball you are able to raise some of the core exercises off the ground and add an element of balance into the workout. The addition of a balancing act while completing the pilates workout targets the smaller, hard to reach core muscles and dramatically increases your overall fitness improvements from pilates.

The Pilates Magic Circle is a toning tool that allows you to work the muscles beyond the basic core. Made of a soft rubber ring, the magic circle helps you to reshape your body through plyometric movements. While not as essential as the mat and ball, the pilates magic circle is a welcome addition to your pilates home equipment because it brings resistance training into your workout and allows you to work muscles in different directions than without equipment.

Pilates Reformer equipment is for those who want to take the average workout and turn it into an intense full body pilates workout. When you first see reformer equipment, you might think you a looking at some form of rowing machine, but the pilates reformer machine is designed to target torso stability. This creates the effect of improving the posture and extending the core muscles used in pilates. Reformer workouts are great for the body because they are a no impact workout that goes easy on your joints and spine, while giving you an intense pilates workout. Reformer equipment achieves this through the gliding motion of the machine, which allows for a smooth yet difficult workout.

Pilates fitness equipment is essential for getting the full benefit of your pilates workout. This introduction has been meant as a primer for those beginner pilates enthusiasts and those ready to take their workout to an advanced level. I hope it has given you some insight into how to get your best pilates workout and will help you to achieve your goals in fitness.



By: James Steele

About the Author:

Health is the greatest treasure a man can have.

There are several factors that influence our health. Among them we find the pollution, stress, inadequate nutrition. All these factors are hurtful to our body.

Did you know that in a whole year we consume over four kilos and a half to five kilos of poisonous substances present in our food?

If not eliminated, these substances create a chaotic movement of our body cells and generate a favorable ground for the action of free radicals. These free radicals generate a great diversity of cancer forms.

Health depends on an adequate diet too. “Scientific evidence in support of the health benefits of nutritional supplements has grown dramatically in recent years,” said Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston. “We must now work to translate this knowledge to health care providers, policy makers and consumers so the simple actions people can take to promote their health and prevent disease can be more fully realized. The impact of a rational use of dietary supplements can also help reduce health care costs which escalate every year as our population grows older.

Symptoms

Many problems such as : lack of energy, insomnia, headaches, depression, mood swings, anxiety, easy bruising, bleeding gums, slow wound healing etc. can be traced directly to deficiencies in specific vitamins and minerals.

Circumstances

Because of the methods applied nowadays in agriculture, which destroy the natural mineral substances, we cannot be sure that the agricultural products ensure us the necessary vitamins and minerals. Although all people should try to have healthy and balanced diet, few in reality do.

Nutritional Supplements to bridge your nutrition gaps

More and more people try the nutritional supplements as a way to combat the nutritional deficiencies and to ensure the necessary of vital nutrients for maintaining the quality of their life. Before you start taking nutritional supplements you must know a few things about them.

Nutritional supplements represent a support to our body. The nutritional supplements clean the human body and restore the deficiencies present inside. While taken constantly, nutritional supplements promote good health and help prevent disease. Nutritional supplements represent a good thing that we need . Here are a few things that you might consider before taking nutritional supplements:

1. Everybody can consume nutritional supplement and mostly if is diagnosed with a nutritional deficiency.

2. You must find out if you have a nutritional deficiency.

3. Ask your physician if it is safe for you to take nutritional supplements.

4. Does this supplement interacts with any drug or food you are consuming?

5. If you want to know more you can read about it or you can find more information at nutritional supplements guide from the Internet.

Quality

Regarding their quality, the nutritional supplements must be natural, easy to assimilate, must have a high nutritional value, must come from ecologically non-polluted areas and must be certified.

On the market are thousands of dietary supplements. Great companies fight for a place on the market. Each of them offers a diversity of products. These products seem to bring the same benefits to our body but they are in fact very different one from another. The difference is obvious when you read the label and you see the ingredients. The ingredients are the ones which make the products so valuable.

Research

The nutritional supplements are usually obtained after a period of research.

The research services work hard in order to offer us good products having great and rapid effects. It would be good for you when you choose to take nutritional supplements to inform upon the company which produces the products. If it is a world leadership or if it is among the greatest in the world than you may decide to consume the products it proposes to you. They are first tested over and over again and are only then offered to the public.

So we must be very careful when choosing nutritional supplements and do not forget to consult your physician!



By: Tan Kim Kia

About the Author:

A daily exercise regime is as important for our body as a well balanced diet is. But for people with a busy schedule, it is extremely hard to consistently keep up with one. Then there are people who do not like jostling in crowded gyms or waiting for their turn to get access to a particular piece of equipment. A home gym promises you the most convenient mode of working out in the privacy and quiet of your home. In your own home, according to your convenience, at the time of your choice, the working out session becomes a matter of enjoyment in the absence of any worry relating to time. Thus working out in a home gym yields better results than working out in a traditional gym. The reason is simple, you feel more relaxed in your home than in a gym where you have to work out in the middle of a bunch of strangers. At home you can create the right ambience and work out with the equipment of your choice for a time that is decided only by you, not the other members waiting in a queue.

The success of creating a well equipped home gym depends on how well you know your mind, that is, how clear you are in your expectations from a home gym. First take out a piece of paper and list out your expectations as to what is your final goal? Losing weight or just to gain in energy? Build some extra muscles or simply maintain cardiovascular health. The types of equipment you will select to create an efficient work station depends on the answer to these questions.

At the time of shopping for your home gym, keep in mind that your home gym is going to be the replacement of a traditional gym. So buy the equipment that helps you to do an all round work out. For that reason, any one piece of equipment will not complete the work station in your home. To make it versatile, you have to invest in some basic equipment that helps on the one hand with aerobic and cardiovascular exercises, and on the other with power training and endurance.

In creating a personal home gym, ambience has a crucial role to play. In your home, it is you and your family who are using the equipment. So use your imagination to decorate your gym room in a way that always looks warm and inviting. So create the home gym in that corner of your home where it usually remains quiet. The room should be well lit as well as well ventilated. Place the workstation before the window and it will be great if the window opens onto a lawn or swimming pool. Adorn the walls with pictures of beautiful men and women whom you adore. Place some fresh indoor plants in one corner of the room, keep the floor and the mat clean. The total ambience will only strengthen your determination.

You can consider seeking professional help in setting up a well equipped home gym. The gym should commensurate your unique expectations and requirements, the size of your budget and the interior of your home and lifestyle. There are countless benefits of having a gym in your own home, but it should be created in a way so that it helps you to realize your dreams.



By: Nazima Golamaully

About the Author: