I found this article with tips from trainers on how to stay fit and healthy. It was really good. So good I think you all should read it.
Here is the link:
50 Fitness Trips from Trainers
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
My friend decided a few months ago that she was going to actively try to maintain a healthy weight. She is not fat, mind you, far from it. She looks great, but she wanted to look better.
She tried a diet, one of those meal delivery services, but she loves food, going out, being social way too much and it didn't last long. So she decided to try an exercise routine. She started by doing cardio for 30 minutes on the elliptical machine a few times a week. Eventually, she was up to 45 minutes on the elliptical machine five times a week, but the scale didn't budge! She wasn't losing any weight! "I'm working out almost every day", she complained to me. "Why am I not losing any weight?"
First of all, to lose weight you have to maintain a healthy, well balanced diet AND a regular exercise routine. You CANNOT choose one, you must do both. Although, when you are starting out I do recommend picking one and focusing on that before implementing the other. If dieting is easier for you start with that or if exercising is easier start with that. Then gradually introduce the other into your life once you are comfortable you have gotten a handle on the first one.
Second of all, the key to burning fat and losing weight through exercise is HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING, also known as HIIT. Now I know most of you have heard this term or a similar one before. But for some reason, most of you are scared of it.
Oh no I couldn't do that that's too hard!
Only athletes do HIIT!
Only really physically fit people can incorporate HIIT into their exercise routine!
Well I am here to dispel all those myths and to let you know that EVERYONE CAN AND SHOULD incorporate HIIT into their exercise routine....Yes! Even beginners!
So what exactly is HIIT? Let me first begin by telling you what it is not. HIIT is not sprinting 100 yards in 5.5 seconds 30 times when you have never so much as jogged in your life. HIIT is not bench pressing 200lbs when you have never lifted a single weight in your life. HIIT does not mean you have to train the way athletes do!
You simply have to get your heart rate up. HIIT is doing something, whether it is jogging, running, sprinting, jumping, lifting weights, climbing stairs, or any type of physical exertion until your heart is beating so fast it wants to burst out of your chest. Until you are breathing so hard you can't speak. Until your body is screaming for you to stop. I know it doesn't sound that pleasant....It's not! But luckily, it doesn't last very long! HIIT is incorporating these bursts of very high intense physical exertions into your regular routine. You want to push yourself to the max, get your heart beating as fast as it possibly can go, get your muscles working as hard as they possibly can, and then you let yourself recover for a period of time WITHOUT cooling down, and do it all over again. This is the key to burning fat, this is the key to losing weight.
For some people, simply jogging for five minutes or bench pressing the bar can get them to this point, others have to work harder. It doesn't matter, all that matters is how your workout makes you feel. And the best part about HIIT is that it makes your workout go by so much faster, you don't have to work out as long to get the same results, and it adds a lot of variety to your workout routine because there are so many ways to increase the intensity of your workouts.
I saw this article on Yahoo about a new way to find the obesity epidemic. A guy named James Levine came up with a treadmill desk and claims that walking at a very leisurely pace of 2 miles an hour can burn up to 150 calories per hour! I think this is a great idea, however one of these baby's is going to run you about $4000!!!
Read the full article here.
Do you think employers should give their employees the option of a treadmill desk at work?
Would you use one of these at work?
I have four simple rules that I live by:
1. I make fruits and vegetables the star of every meal. My breakfast usually consists of fruit with a little cereal, oatmeal, or yogurt. My lunch usually consists of fruits and/or vegetables with a little grain and protein, and my dinners usually consist of vegetables with a little pasta, or meat, or rice. I always try to make at least half of every meal fruit or vegetables.
2. I try not to drink anything with calories in it. I usually stick with water. And I drink TONS of water. If I feel like something else it is usually coffee with a touch of cream, tea, or diet soda. I rarely ever drink fruit juice, or regular soda. I don't drink milk either, but that is more because I don't really like plain milk.
3. I eat at regular intervals. I have a routine. I have breakfast at 8:30am, lunch at 12pm, a snack at 3pm, and dinner around 7pm. This regulates my blood sugar and appetite. I rarely get hungry and I try to never eat to the point that I'm full. I am always simply satisfied.
4. Exercise for me is NOT an option, it is a requirement. I do not exercise WHEN I have time, I MAKE time. Exercise is a priority for me. I do not exercise every day, only three days a week. But I make sure that I carve out time for myself to exercise those three days and rarely do I miss a workout. I also try to make my workouts worth it. I run or do the spin bike and some weights. I do sprints or jump rope. I make sure my workouts are high intensity and hard. When I'm done I feel good and I never feel like it is a waste of time. I also try to make sure my workouts are varied and something that is fun for me. I love running outside or putting my ipod on and zoning out on the spin bike. I HATE weights, or running on a treadmill, so I do these things less often.
How do you keep yourself healthy and fit?
My husband Eddie and I went for a run the other day. Half way through my husband was complaining of an awful pain running up and down his shins. He had shin splints so bad that he had to stop running and walk the rest of the way. Since shin splints are such a common injury among runners, I decided I would do some research and write a blog about what they are and how to treat them.
According to the MayoClinic,
"The term "shin splints" refers to pain along the shinbone (tibia) — the large bone in the front of your lower leg. The pain is the result of an overload on the shinbone and the connective tissues that attach your muscles to the bone."
At first, you will only feel pain in your shin while running or jogging. If you do not take care of it, eventually, you will start to feel pain all the time and you might even experience some swelling.
If treated properly and taken care of, shin splints are no reason to give up working out (sorry babe!). As soon as you start to feel pain in your shin during running or any type of aerobic exercise, treat it immediately:
- Rest- do not run every day, take a day off in between to rest your legs. If you have to work out every day, do the bike, swim, or do some weights every other day to allow your shins to heal. Cross-training, is a very good way to prevent overuse injuries!
- Ice your shins after you workout for at least twenty minutes- this will ease the swelling and pain.
- Take some Advil- this will not only help ease the pain, but will also help ease the inflammation. Just be careful and don't over-do it or take Advil to try to "run through the pain"
- Never ever ever ever run through the pain! If it hurts when you are running, stop and rest. Do not just deal with the pain and keep going. This will almost certainly lead to a much more serious injury that will have you taking a much longer break from working out than every other day!
- Where proper shoes- make sure you invest in good quality running shoes, they can make a huge difference in the amount of pain you feel when running! Go to a running store and ask the salesperson for a gait analysis, this will help determine exactly the type of shoe that is right for you.
- Invest in some generic arch supports or talk to your doctor about getting customized arch supports. These can reduce the stress that running has on your shin bones.
- If none of the above work, go see a doctor and stop running for the time being.
These tips are not only helpful for curing shin splints, but also for preventing them in the first place. If you are doing all of the above, you should never have to worry about developing shin splints and your chances of injury will be lessened greatly. Do yourself a favor, never give yourself an excuse to stop working out. Take care of yourself, prevent injury, and enjoy a long and fruitful life of running and working out!
Here are some useful web sites to learn more about shin splints
I use RPE to judge how hard I am working out all the time. There are several ways to measure your output including V02 max (oxygen uptake by your cells) and Heart Rate. Both rise as the intensity of your workout increases. But my favorite way to measure intensity is using the RPE scale. It's easy and requires absolutely no equipment. RPE is basically how hard you "feel" like you are working. It is a scale from 1-6, 1 being not working hard at all and 6 being working as hard as you can. I have broken down the scale with descriptions of how you should be feeling. I refer to this scale a lot when I design workouts.
Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)
- Lying Down: you can do this forever, you will never get tired. Your breathing is slow and shallow, you can talk, scream, sing, and laugh.
- Walking at a slow pace: you can do this for a really long time without getting tired. Your breathing is still pretty slow and shallow, you can talk, scream, sing, and laugh, although with not quite as much ease as at level 0.
- Walking briskly: you can keep this up without getting tired for longer than an hour. Your breathing is picking up a bit, you can hold a conversation but screaming or singing becomes more difficult.
- Jogging: you can keep this up for at least thirty minutes. Your breathing is becoming more labored. You can talk but only short sentences before you start to get out of breath. You can no longer scream, sing, or laugh without becoming exausted.
- Running: you can keep this up for five to ten minutes. Your breathing is labored. You can say one word answers (yes, no, maybe), but that is it. You cannot hold a conversation.
- Sprinting: you can't keep this up longer than thirty seconds to a minute. You are having a very hard time breathing. You cannot talk at all because all your focus is one trying to get as much oxygen as possible.
One of the biggest excuses I hear from people about why they do not workout is that they cannot get motivated to get to the gym. Well then do not go to the gym! Workout outside or at home! Here is my list of the must have items to turn your cozy home into a gym! I picked these items because they are the items I keep at home. They are cheap and do not take up any room because they can all be stored in your closet!
I swear by this watch. I love this watch. I use it every time I workout. It's great because it has two timers, an interval timer, a chronological timer, and three alarms. So you can do intervals, or time how long it takes you to get up that flight of stairs, or time each lap in the pool. I love this watch because it's versatile and pretty inexpensive. It's under $50!
Now if you want to get serious about your workouts you should invest in a heart rate monitor. A Heart Rate monitor is great for doing really high intense workouts. I really like Polar. They have all different kinds of heart rate monitors that range anywhere from $50 to $300 and do anything from just take your Heart Rate to counting calories, estimating distance traveled, even connecting to your computer and graphing distance, altitude gained, average speed etc!. I prefer the cheapest one, it's easy to read and only has all the main features, heart rate and calories burned... what more do you really need to know?
2. The Jump Rope
This is a great workout tool to keep at home. It will whip you into shape like nothing else. Talk about some high intense cardio! I use this all the time for my warm up. I'll do three sets of one minute or I'll do a minute in between my weight sets to add some high intense cardio into my workout. I found this great jump rope tool online called the Jump Snap. It is a little pricey at almost $60 but it is a jump rope without the rope, so you can get a great high intense workout without worrying about tripping, or having to stop because the rope got caught, or breaking your favorite crystal vase because you accidentally whacked it while trying to jump rope inside! I have never tried this tool, I prefer a normal jump rope, so I am just warning you I have no idea whether it is as effective as an actual jump rope or not! But it seems cool! Alternatively you can just pick up a $5 jump rope at your local fitness store like I did.
3. Weights
Weights add intensity to any exercise you are doing whether it is jumping jacks, or punching in the air, or cardio kickboxing, or speed walking. Adding intensity means kicking up the calorie burn! I keep a pair of 8lb and 10lb weights around but I recommend keeping weights that you can use comfortably and a pair of weights one step up from that. So if you are comfortable with 10lb weights get a pair of 10lbs and a pair of 12lbs. If you are comfortable with 5lb weights get a pair of 5lbs and a pair of 8lbs. If you are really serious with weight training and want to take your at home gym to the next level, purchase a pair of PowerBlocks, they are adjustable weights that can adjust from 5lbs to 40lbs! and they are compact and small so they are perfect for home! Watch out though! These babies will run you up almost $300! So only purchase them if you have used and know you will continue to use weights at home!
4. A stability ball
Good bye Flab! Good bye back problems! Hello flat stomach! This is a great tool! Not only does it help you attain those rock hard abs you have always wanted, but it is a savior for those with back problems! It helps release tension and strengthen your back! There are so many ways you can use this tool there are entire books written about it! And the best part is the stability ball can double as a chair for you home office desk! It's super comfortable and great for posture! Just make sure you get one that correlates with your weight and height! They usually have charts that will tell you which size ball is right for you. You can find them online or at any fitness store.
5. Yoga Mat
Do you really want your sweat all over your carpet or floor? Do you really want the grime that has settled in your carpet or floor all over your body? I didn't think so! So get a yoga mat! Not just great for yoga but great for stretching, strength training, and using the stability ball! And they are sticky so you won't slip and slide everywhere! And they role up nice and tight so you can store in virtually anywhere! And if you do decide you want to take up yoga you don't have to buy a mat! When I'm working out at home, I always make sure I have my yoga mat stretched out somewhere so that I can do my strength training, core workout, and stretching on it.
6. Foam Roller
I found out about this wonderful tool at the physical therapists office after I pulled my IT band running. The foam roller is a way to stretch and massage your muscles when they are sore to decrease soreness, increase flexibility, and minimize the chance of injury. If you have back problems or you sit at a desk all day you have to invest in one of these! I always use it after I workout, especially on my back and IT band! If you are going to purchase one make sure you get the black foam one, it is much tougher and sturdier and will last you a lot longer than any of the other ones!
Here is an example workout:
3x 1minute intervals on Jump rope
10 pushups on yoga mat
10 bicycle crunches on yoga mat
1 minute punching using dumbbell weights
10 chest fly on stability ball using dumbbell weights
10 back extensions on stability ball holding a dumbbell weight
1 minute running in place or jumping jacks holding dumbbell weights
20 lunges holding dumbbell weights
Repeat set 3 times
Finish with a 10-20 minute run in your neighborhood
Stretch then use the foam roller to role out your IT band (from your hip down to the side of your knee), then place it vertically along your spine and roll side to side, then place it horizontally along your back and roll up and down.
The key to working out at home using these tools is doing a lot of short intervals of cardio separated by weight training or core strengthening.
Make up your own workout using these tools! Post it in my comments section!
What is your favorite workout tool at home? Post it in my comments!
I have been in a serious exercise slump lately. I used to exercise every single day! And now....I can barely get myself motivated to workout once a week! Why? A lot of reasons. Partly because I have a full time job and who wants to either get up at a god awful time of the morning to hyperventilate and sweat or run to the gym after a full day of work? NOT ME! I am also married now and have responsibilities, I have to take care of my husband, dog, and cat. This leaves little time for myself, and when I do get time to myself the last thing I want to do is spend it exercising. Sound familiar to you? I know a lot of people who feel the same way. So I decided to write a list of tem ways to get yourself motivated to get to that gym, or go for that run because in the end, your body, health, and those you love will thank you!
1. Remember something is ALWAYS better than nothing!
I always try to start the day off on a great foot and tell myself I'm going to go to the gym after work and run 4 miles at record speed. Of course, after work is over what I really want to do is go home and sit on my couch, order pizza, and watch TV all night. So I try to tell myself to just go to the gym and get on that treadmill. Even if I don't feel like running, walking is better than nothing. If I can just get myself to the gym, I usually end up having pretty good workout. Don't think about the workout....just get yourself to the gym, or outside, or in that pool and feel good about the fact that you were able to get yourself there!
2. Set Goals!
This is a great way to keep yourself motivated, but only if you make your goals reasonable. I like to use SMART goals. These are goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Be specific, do not just say my goal is learn how to run. How far do you want to run? How long do you want to take to run that distance? Your goal must be measurable, how can you feel like your making progress if there is no way to measure it? Your goal must be attainable, do not set a goal of running a marathon if you have never run in your life! Start smaller, eventually you will be able to run that marathon but do not make that your first goal! Make sure your goals can be achieved in a timely manner. Reassess your goals on a weekly basis!
3. Make plans with a friend!
Working out with a friend is a million times more fun than working out by yourself. And then, you are accountable to someone and are much more likely to stick to your plan. Get each other excited about working out!
4. Keep your gym bag packed!
That way when you are ready to work out, all you have to do is grab your bag and go. No thinking, no time to change your mind!
5. Work out first thing in the morning or right after work.
These are the two best times to go workout. First thing in the morning is great because you get it over with and don't have to worry about it for the rest of the day. Wake up and go, don't think about it just go! If you can't get yourself to get up early enough in the morning to go, then go right after work. Bring your gym bag to work so you don't even need to go home. Yes I know most of us are hungry in the morning or after work so bring an energy bar. If you eat a full meal you will lose all motivation to work out!
6. Give yourself a break!
It is much better to work out hard three days a week then do a half ass workout every day. I try to go to the gym three days a week, and when I do I make sure I sweat and work hard. I make sure I get my heart rate way up there! It feels good, and then I have a few days to recover before I have to do it again. I never burn myself out so I'm less likely to quit my exercise routine. Now does that mean you can sit on your butt those other days? NO! Try to stay active, go for a walk, play with your kids. Just don't make it feel like a workout.
7. Treat yourself!
Let yourself have that piece of chocolate cake or ice cream every once in a while. And don't feel guilty! You've been working hard for it!
8. Make sure to keep it fun!
Do what will keep you interested and wanting more. If you absolutely despise running...then don't do it! Take a dance class, go for a hike, ride a bike, play a game of tennis, do what is fun for you because in the end that is what will keep you doing it!
I have met so many people that are deathly afraid of this little machine. Why? They picture people sweating like crazy, faces screwed up, looking like they are in excruciating pain, and they think "there is no way I'm putting myself through that!"
Now I'm not going to say that spinning is not a kick ass workout out...it is! That's why I love it. You will definitely get results with a spin bike and it takes a lot of self control and ability to push yourself beyond your comfort level. But the great thing about the spin bike and spinning classes are that you can go at your own pace! No one is driving the bike but yourself. Yes, the instructor might say "speed up" or "add resistance" but it doesn't mean you have to do it! You control how hard you push yourself.
I always tell beginners that have never taken a spin class before or even used a spin bike, to set it at a pace that is comfortable and keep it there for the whole class. Do not increase the resistance or your speed during your first class. Just get used to the bike, how it feels to ride it. Take it slow, that is how you will learn to love this tool the way I do.
Spin classes are offered at pretty much every single gym, so check one out at your nearest gym. Don't belong to a gym? Find a friend that does and accompany her as a guest.
Just not comfortable enough to take an entire class? Borrow one of the spin bikes during a time when they are not using them for classes and practice on your own. My favorite thing to do is to put on my headphones, listen to my ipod, and just ride the bike. I usually do intervals of high and low resistance, or short sprints but if you have never used it before, just ride it, get used to it.
If you want to see results, if you want to lose weight, you have to be able to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and get your heart rate way up. The spin bike is a great way to do that! Good luck and remember to have fun!
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