March 2009

March 29, 2009

Belly Fat Exercises - Say Goodbye To That Embarassing Buldge!  

So you're looking for some “belly fat exercises” to trim your waste line and improve the quality of pretty much every aspect of your life. Just think about it - you’ll look better, you’ll feel better, you’ll have more energy and you’ll be more confident than ever. If only it was that easy. If only there was a couple “belly fat exercises” that you could do to rid your stomach region of the excess fat forever. Well, unfortunately, their isn’t.

As a certified personal trainer with over a decade of experience under my belt, there’s nothing more irritating than seeing hopeful, yet unknowing people basically being lied to in countless magazines ads and late night infomercials. There’s no magic pills that will give you a six pack and there’s no “belly fat exercises” that will trim your mid-section on their own - no matter what the equipment manufacturers are telling you.

Sure, performing “belly fat exercises” will help strengthen the abdominals but from an aesthetic standpoint, what good are strong abs if you still have a big layer of fat covering them? “Belly fat exercises” are not the solution to long term fat loss. So, rather than relying on “belly fat exercises” as your be-all, end all solution to weight loss, here’s what you need to do to lose the weight and more importantly, keep it off.

Create a calorie deficit - this can be accomplished through proper eating habits and a sound exercise program. By a “sound exercise program”, I'm referring to implementing multi-joint/compound movements that build lean muscle tissue while burning a lot of calories in the process. You can’t just perform a couple “belly fat exercises” and think that will be enough to rid your body of its “spare tire” and “love handles”.

You also need to eat small portions of food frequently throughout the day. Doing so will keep your metabolism revved up so you’ll burn more calories - all while getting the important nutrients your body needs to function properly. Adding lean muscle is also important as each pound of lean tissue on your frame will increase your metabolic rate by 50-100 calories. So theoretically, the muscle you have on your legs and arms will help burn the fat off your stomach.

Remember, there’s no such thing as “spot reducing”. Once again, you can’t just perform a few “belly fat exercises” and expect to lose your stomach fat. Performing “belly fat exercises” will help you burn calories (all workouts burn calories) and sure, "belly fat exercises" will help strengthen the abdominal region so when you end up losing the weight via more effective methods, all those “belly fat exercises" that you did will leave you with some nice definition in your mid-section. However, keep in mind that your main priority should be on eating right and following a well designed exercise program.

As a certified personal trainer with over a decade of industry experience, Bill has created The Fitness Blueprint to help people better achieve their goals.

Want to read another fat loss article by Bill?

Love handles fat - learn how to make it a thing of the past.

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March 28, 2009

4 Simple Exercise Tips That Can Help you Lose Belly Fat

Author: Benjamin Wise

Not only will you need to eat right if you want to lose belly fat and get a six pack, but you are going to have to do some exercising as well. Of course while all exercising is great, there are some targeted exercises that you may want to do to make your stomach look better. The following are some exercise tips that can help you lose that belly fat and get the six pack you want.

Tip #1 - Do Cardio Exercise - One of the first things to remember when you are trying to get rid of belly fat by exercising is to get plenty of cardio exercise. While cardio does not just focus on the abdominal muscles, it is great for all over fitness, which is important if you want to get rid of belly fat.

Tip #2 - Lift Weights to Build Muscle - Lifting weights is also important if you want to get rid of belly fat and get a six pack as well. The more muscle you have the more calories you will burn, which is why having plenty of muscle will help you get rid of that abdominal fat.

Tip #3 - Focus on Abdominal Exercises like Crunches and Leg Lifts - There are some specific abdominal exercises that can help you lose belly fat and focus on building the muscles that make you have a six pack. Crunches are one exercise to try, since it works specifically on the muscles in your abdomen. Doing leg lifts can also work on the muscles that you don’t work as much with sit ups and crunches.

Tip #4 - Use a Stability Ball - A stability ball is a great way that you can build up your core muscles. You can use the ball to do your crunches on as well as other exercises that will build up the muscles in your abdomen.

If you add together a great diet with exercise that is targeted towards your abs, no doubt you will soon be losing that belly fat and on your way to that six pack.

Select one of the links below to get a Free Bonus ebook - Training & Nutrition Insider Secrets for a Lean-Body.

About the Author:

Finally The Right Way To Lose Belly Fat. - starting today! You can also learn how to get Six Pack Abs.
http://www.lfdab.com/Lose-Stomach-Fat.php

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/4-simple-exercise-tips-that-can-help-you-lose-belly-fat-290153.html

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March 27, 2009

A Few Valuable Weight Loss Tips

Author: Tisha Diaz

In our modern fast-paced life, who doesn’t want to lose weight? We are so pressed for time that we barely have the time available to think about eating nutritious food. Most people’s dinner table is the drive through. Here are a few valuable weight loss tips that will help you either lose weight or manage your weight in this crazy world we live in.

The first thing that will help you lose weight is you understanding how your body loses weight.

Your body loses weight by burning fat cells and converting that fat into energy.

When does your body need to convert fat into energy?

Your body only does that when your organs and muscles demand more energy than what is contained in the food that you eat on a daily basis.

That means, as long as you feed your body more calories than what it needs to burn, you will never lose weight, regardless of what you do.

There are two ways to create a situation where your energy intake is less than the energy that your body needs.

The first way is to reduce your food intake.

Now, you can only reduce your food intake that much before you enter starvation mode. Going into starvation mode is a really bad for your body so you don’t want to do that.

The second way is to increase your body’s energy demands.

You do this by either giving your existing muscles more exercise or by building a bigger muscle mass that demands more energy.

Muscles are the biggest energy consumers in your body. The more your exercise them or the more muscles you have, the more energy you body consumes.

Now, there are limits as to how much you can exercise during the day and how much muscle mass you can put on your body.

The best weight loss tip is to find the optimal balance between reducing your food intake and increasing your exercise level.

With balance between these two elements you can accurately control your weight loss.

Think of food intake and exercise level as two sliders that you can move up and down.

Need to lose more weight? Slide the exercise level up and slide the food intake down. Lost enough weight? Slide the food intake up and slide the exercise level down.

These tips can help you lose weight naturally and control your weight so that you can maintain your ideal weight and not fret about it any longer.

About the Author:
Tisha Diaz recommends this fat loss and weight control program that will help you get rid of those excess pounds and make you slim and trim.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/a-few-valuable-weight-loss-tips-125268.html

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Pilates is great for your abs

If normal ab exercises aren’t really doing it for you, then there is an alternative that’s very much in fashion at the moment. You've no doubt heard the name, even if you’re not really sure what it is. It's Pilates.

Pilates was invented by Joseph Pilates when he was imprisoned on the Isle of Man during World War I. While he was there, there was a flu epidemic, and Pilates came up with an exercise system to help flu victims get back to health more quickly. After the war, he moved to America and started training boxers in these new exercises, attracting widespread interest.

The key to Pilates is that instead of doing simple, repetitive exercises over and over again, it encourages you to learn more complicated, exact exercises, which you then do only a few times. The idea is to use your own body as a weight to lift. Once you master Pilates, you can exercise quickly, precisely, and effectively.

Many people are into Pilates for the same reason they like Yoga: the relief it can give for back pain. We're interested in Pilates, though, because of the effect it can have on your abs. It is designed to strengthen your abdominal muscles, together with your back and your behind, as all these muscles being able to move freely gives you the feeling of real physical fitness.

However, one word of warning is that while Pilates will get your abs fit, it won’t necessarily make them look muscular � toned, yes, but not ripped. This is because Pilates isn’t about lifting really heavy weights and building large amounts of muscle mass � it’s more simply about physical wellbeing.

If you want to learn more about Pilates, you could just go along to a class � although, unfortunately, many classes that advertise themselves as Pilates use few of the original methods. If you can’t find a good instructor in your area, consider teaching yourself from a book instead, as there is nothing about it that you can’t teach yourself, at least with a little effort.

John Gibb is the owner of , For more information on ab exercises check out http://www.ab-exercise-guidance.info

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March 25, 2009

7 Tips to Increase Your Metabolism For Weight Loss

In our quest to lose weight, we are often quick to place the blame on our metabolism. While we might not have control over factors such as sex, age and heredity problems that affect our metabolism, we do have control over our mental ability and what we eat.

Here are 7 tips you can begin implementing in your weight loss plan to increase your metabolism.

1. Start Eating Breakfast
You might avoid eating breakfast thinking that it will reduce the amount of calories you eat in a day, thus losing weight. But by not eating breakfast, you are actually depriving your body of the necessary energy needed throughout your morning. Start your morning right with a healthy breakfast high in complex carbohydrates and vitamins. That means changing out your coffee for tea or fruit drinks and your donuts for fruits or vegetables.

2. Eat Small Meals Throughout The Day
Rather than eating 2-3 big meals a day, eat 4-6 smaller meals a day every 3-4 hours. What this does is that it keeps your blood sugars at a constant level while giving you consistent energy throughout the day.

3. Drink Plenty of Water
Be sure that you are drinking plenty of water (about 6 - 8 cups) in order to ensure that your body is flushing out toxins that accumulate in your body when you burn fat. As with food, if you deprive your body of water it will cause it to store the water rather than burn it.

4. Get Rid of Stress
When your body feels stress, it releases a hormone called cortisol which has been shown to slow down metabolism. If you are constantly in a stressful environment, consider putting yourself in situations with less stress or maybe enroll in stress management courses. Having a loved one can help a great deal when it comes to relieving any anxiety or stress problems.

5. Eat Enough Calories
The trick in increasing your metabolism is by slowly cutting down your caloric intake but not so much that your body enters in a starvation mode. In fact, if you cut your caloric intake too much you run the risk of having your body actually slow down its metabolic rate in order to compensate for the decreased food intake. Ensure a healthy diet by consuming healthy foods high in complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and fiber.

6. Exercise Daily
The more you exercise, the more calories you burn thus keeping your weight under control. Exercise also combats chronic disease that plagues many people such as heart disease and stroke. Set aside 20-30 minutes a day for daily activity such as running, walking or playing sports.

7. Increase Your Muscle Mass
By working on weight training exercises, you increase the muscle mass in your body. Muscle burns more calories than fat does so the benefit to gaining muscle is that every muscle cell you gain constantly burns calories for you, even while you sleep. Remember to start slow with weight training exercises and never stress your body.

These 7 tips highlight the ways you can take to begin boosting your metabolism. As always, take small steps towards a healthy weight loss plan but always have a long term plan in mind as you begin implementing these steps to slowly-but surely-increase your metabolism rate while losing weight.


Still not sure which weight loss diet is for you? We reviewed the best weight loss programs available to get you on the right track today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hann_Wang

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5 Keys To Yoga - The Yogic Balance

Author: Koz Huseyin

Many people in the west will have heard about Yoga and Yoga meditation now, some will hold it in taboo, while others believe Yoga is simply about stretching. There is a lot more to Yoga. To get the full benefits of Yoga, you will need to get the balance.

There are 5 keys to Yoga, these are:
* Key #1 - Proper Breathing
* Key #2 - Relaxation
* Key #3 - Diet
* Key #4 - Exercise
* Key #5 - Positive Thinking And Meditation

* Key #1 - Proper Breathing
Proper breathing does miracles in the body. Proper breathing keeps the heart, lungs, circulation, and other parts of the body in balance. Breathing also moves energy.

The way we breathe can make a positive or negative impact on the body. Heavy breaths cause more energy to flow through you, both physically and metaphysically. The metaphysical energy is called Prana. Prana is same as Chi energy. It is simply energy.

This energy can become stuck, and with Yoga breathing techniques, you can release this energy. This provides immense benefits to the body. Yoga breathing techniques also help in meditation, and also aid in allowing the mind to focus on a point.

* Key #2 - Relaxation
Relaxation is vital; it calms the body, and makes the body release stress. With the proper Yoga breathing techniques, this becomes more possible, and goes hand in hand for effective Yoga meditation.

* Key #3 - Diet
You diet is another important consideration. Many people into Yoga and other new age systems decide to become vegetarians or vegans. Though this is not essential to get the full benefits of Yoga, it does have its benefits.

You are what you eat, and nothing more is literally true. Eating the wrong foods or one type of food excessively and regularly can cause the body stress, fatigue and imbalance.

To counteract this, it is crucial to find the balance. Generally this is eating more alkaline based foods rather than acidic foods such as meat products. The balanced diet can also benefit you by allowing you to have a better physique and flexibility. You will find doing the Yoga exercises much more easily.

* Key #4 - Exercise
An important key in Yoga is exercise. Though many people in the west may think that Yoga simply is moving your body like an elastic band, there are these other keys to Yoga, which all go hand in hand to make Yoga what it is meant to be.

Yoga is practical, and doing these exercises is essential in the moving of the energy around your body. Yoga exercises also give your body many benefits. You will find much better health in you, and will be more balanced.

* Key #5 - Positive Thinking And Meditation
Yoga meditation is an essential element to Yoga. Because Yoga is dedicated to bringing balance with mind, body, and soul, Yoga meditation becomes a part of bringing balance in the mind.

About the Author:

Here are some yoga and new age information that can help you in your quest:
* Find yoga classes
* Discover Yoga Meditation
* Read more articles at USA Today Articles

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/yoga-articles/5-keys-to-yoga-the-yogic-balance-446823.html

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March 24, 2009

5 Ways To Recover From A Tough Workout!

Author: Steve Hochman

You know the feeling, that sore sluggish feeling post workout. We have all been there. There is something you can do right away that when performed right after your workout will speed up recovery and motivate you to move forward.

All five of these not only speed recovery, they also increase your muscle growth and strength. Its time to get excited about pill popping, sleeping late, and cold showers!

Trick #1: The Right Supplements

Cayenne: This magic little pill will speed up healing and reduces inflammation by up to 50%. You can take it continually or only post workout. It doesn’t need to be cycled off to improve its efficacy. Other pluses include increased blood flow, decrease susceptibility to colds and viruses, and warmer muscle pre-workout.

Fish oil & Flax Oil: These both speed up muscle healing, give muscles the good kind of fat to fuel the workout and reduce inflammation. This means that you can fight soreness both during your work out and after your workout. You could eat the real thing, but you would have to eat a lot of it to get the same benefits as popping a few pills every day.

Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium & Zinc: These all reduce soreness and muscle fatigue both during and after your workout. You can take them in pill form or in a drink form. Or you could eat a lot of potatoes and bananas and a few lozenges. Taken regularly they help keep the muscles, heart, and blood vessels in good condition.

Vitamin C, B, & a Multi: These all increase your energy levels, help fight fatigue, help build stronger muscles, and strengthen your immune system and cardio vascular system. Taken daily they will reduce recovery time and increase your energy and healing.

Trick #2: Don’t Work Out to Failure

While it might be a good idea to do this once in a while, say once or twice per month, routinely hitting your wall will slow down your efforts. When done regularly, this will deplete your protein and carbohydrate reserves. You will also damage your body’s ability to use your strongest muscle fibers. Cut your work out reps just one set short of hitting your wall and sometimes don’t even go that far. Give your muscles a break and they will reward you!

Trick #3: The Post Workout Shake

Every workout you should drink up a mix of nutritionally dense, high glycemic carbs and protein. Doing so immediate post workout will stop the damage from the work out and induce your muscles to instantly begin repairing themselves. You will induce bigger gains and higher energy levels with less fatigue. Look for something fruit based with a one protein to two-carb ratio. Aim for something whey based and add fruits such as berries or high antioxidant berry powder. Always add Bananas and a little ground flax seed couldn't hurt either.

Trick #4: Your Post Workout Shower

Shower immediately after you chug that shake down. Start out with icy cold water to reduce the post work out inflammation. Then immediately turn the water as hot as you can go for a few minutes to increase circulation. Alternate this a few times. The contrasting temperatures will induce blood flow and increase recovery time.

Trick #5: Sleep!

During sleep, your body performs a complete overhaul of all its systems. It checks for injuries it goes to work healing itself and it does something called muscle memory. This is where it inputs into your brain what you did during the day and if you used more muscles in a particular area your brain sends out a signal to increase muscle and nerve building and recovery in that area.

Your body also releases growth hormone during this time. This coupled with the muscle memory will induce bigger muscle growth and repair. Make sure you go to bed at a reasonable hour and sleep at least eight to ten hours. Also, take in a nap or two whenever possible during the day.

By all means, don’t limit yourself to just these five tricks to increase healing, there are more out there. These are some of the best. Tried and true tested.

Don’t forget to drink at least two liters of water on your work out days and at least one liter on your off days. This will flush your muscles and keep your body well hydrated and clean. And that is good for keeping you form fatiguing quickly and for helping speed recovery time. So when it comes to purified water, drink up and follow a sensible eating plan to keep your body well nourished and hydrated!

About the Author:

Steve Hochman is the founder and CEO of Next Level Fitness. O.C.’s fastest way for you to get fit.
Personal Trainer Orange County Ca, Irvine Personal Training, Weight Loss
Personal Trainer Orange County Ca, Irvine Personal Training, Boot Camp

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/muscle-building-articles/5-ways-to-recover-from-a-tough-workout-586885.html

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