Take Five!

If you think about it we already take 5 many times a day at the work place. Many of us get up from our desk and walk to the restroom, the water cooler, go outside for a cigarette or just go and talk to someone else in the office. We just need a mental break from work to break up the day and give our bodies a rest from that oh so often bad posture.

Instead of doing something that is often unproductive with that five minutes you might want to think about taking a five minute walk. Simply walk around the perimeter of your building or walk a few flights of stair. Doing this 3 to 4 times a day can burn a substantial amount of calories in the long term. Not only will you drop a couple of pounds of weight but you help strengthen your heart and lungs. Get going!

FitnessProgramsPlus.com

Quote

“Without resistance, there is no reason for progress.”

– Author Unknown

New Plan….New Results!

Have you ever seen that person at the local gym who works out religiously but never gets any results? Hopefully that person is not you. Unfortunately this does happen to most of us along the way. If you are lucky you have not quick working out altogether. Who wants to put in all that work and not get any results?

So what do we do? It’s simple. May some simple change and get new results. The first rule you should workout with is to create an unaccustomed stimulus. These simple means you should try and do different exercises. Keep on working out the same muscle groups, just do different exercises. This will create what is called an adaptation period. Adaptation periods spark progression. Progression equals results.

There are hundreds of exercises you can do for a single muscle group. Visit FitnessProgramsPlus.com for over 170 different printable workouts that can be performed wherever you workout. Whether you are at the gym, at home or on the road, this website has an exercise program for you.

Created by some of the industries leading fitness professionals Fitness Programs Plus offers a number of different tools for the fitness enthusiast to use when trying to reach their fitness goals.

Check out some sample workouts at: http://www.fitnessprogramsplus.com/public/department46.cfm

Quote…

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.  Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”

—Author unknown

Maximize Your Fitness Program!

If you are looking to really take your fitness results to the next level you should take a good look at you nutrition. I often tell clients their nutrition is like the gas you put in your car. It doesn’t matter how good of a car you have if the gas you put in it is poor in quality. Both your car and your body will only perform as well as the fuel you put in it. Without going into great detail there are 4 rules of nutrition one should follow when trying achieve maximum fitness results.

Rule#1: Total caloric intake. In order for your body to reduce body fat you must simply consume less calories then you burn in the course aof a day. This will create a caloric deficite.

Rule#2: Frequency of food. You may have heard nutrition professionals say, “Eat more meals but smaller meals”. This is a very true statement. Your body can only burn through a certain amout of fuel over a certian amout of time. Most people have a gas tank that lasts about 3-4 hours. Spread out your meals to allow your body to utilize the fuel more efficiently.

Rule#3: Food quality. The quality of your food is vital to the results it will give you. I lkie to say you food is like your workers that you put in your factory (your body). If you have good workers working in your factory, the factory will produce a goood product. Your product in this case is your body. On the flip side poor workers equals poor results.

Rule#4: Balance of nutrients. All 3 macro-nutrients (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) are all very important to the body and have important jobs to do. If you have too much of any of these 3 types of calories you will give your body more energy then it will use and it will be coverted into fat store. Yes!!!, even protein can be converted into fat!

In addition to sound nutrition one should focus on conditioning their muscle through resisistance train, burning additional calories through aerobic exercise and maximizing their nutritional intake by supplementing a whole food supplement like Juice Plus.

Visit Fitness Programs Plus for an in depth explaination and 100’s of fitness / exercise programs. Article: Diet Advice About: Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats

We’re Gettin’ the Band Back Together!

For anyone that travels allot or is looking for a quick and effective way of working out this entry should be music to your ears. If you have never worked out with exercise bands (tubing) before you should give it a try. Not only are bands easy to pack in your suit case but they are extremely effective when it comes to conditioning the body. You can create a number of different full body workouts with just one band. As you extend a band the resistance increases as your contraction increases. This makes for an effective exercise. You should also remember that doing unaccustomed exercises will stimulate the muscles and create a progression in conditioning. Check out this sample printable “Band” fitness program and visit FitnessProgramsPlus.com for over 150 different printable exercise programs and much, much more.

You must go the 1st mile before going the extra mile!

When planning a fitness goal it is best to come up with a practical and attainable goal. If your goal is fairly large then maybe it might be a good idea to break it up into 2 to 4 smaller goals that together equal your primary goal. Once you have your plan of action you should write it down. Read it aloud to yourself once in the morning when you are getting ready for the day and once in the evening when you are getting ready for bed. If you really want to succeed you can even write your goal or goals on an index card and read many times throughout the day. Live it! Anyone can come up with a goal. The hard part is how you plan to achieve it. Write down your game plan along with your goals. Whatever goals you may have, there is always a number of things you will need to accomplish in order to attain it. If your goal is broken up into 4 smaller goals you must achieve goals 1 through 3 in order to achieve the 4th final goal. The smaller goals (1 to3) represent the 1st mile and the 4th and final goal and beyond represent the extra mile. Stay focussed. Successful people tend to stay on the same course of action and make minor changes if any changes at all. Changing your course of action is simply a way to give up.

Water It Down!

Water is the plentiful substance in the body and has many benefits to your health. It is involved directly or indirectly in almost every function of the body and is a key component in the weight loss equation.
Studies have shown that consuming adequate amounts of water can help the body metabolized fat stores, while a decrease in water can actually can cause fat deposits to increase.

How does this happen? The kidneys are unable to work at full capacity if they are not getting enough water which can cause the liver to take on some of the load. One of the liver’s primary functions is to metabolize fat into a usable energy. If the liver is helping with kidney function it is unable to work at its full capacity therefore resulting in less metabolized fat stores. Less metabolized fat means more fat that stays stored in the body. Drink more water!

During the weight loss process the body tends to produce more waste. An increase in water intake can help relieve constipation and return normal bowel function while flushing additional waste. Drink more water! 

Many people also retain water do to a lack of water consumption or increased salt intake. If the body does not get enough water it responds by retaining as much water as it can. Water is stored in the body outside of the cell (extracellular space) which makes the body appear swollen or bloated and often shows up in the feet, legs and hands. The best way to overcome this is to simply drink plenty of water. It will essentially flush out the water your body is retaining. If you are retaining water do to an increased salt intake simply consume less salt and…………”drink more water”! 

Water also has many benefits for the skin. Water has a perfect PH (around 7.5 acid vs. alkaline) which help leave the skin clear, healthy and resilient.  

Drink about 8 glasses (2 quarts) of water per day and add a glass for every 25 pounds of excess weight you are trying to lose. Spread out your water intake over the course of the day. Increase your intake on hot days or times increased activity.

One last thing!  DRINK MORE WATER……………!

Edison’s Medicine

 “Run out of things that don’t work and that will leave you with what does work.” Thomas A. Edison

 Thomas Edison failed over 10,000 times before successfully creating the incandescent lamp (light bulb).

Insanity!

Have you ever heard someone give the definition of the word insanity? You know the definition, “Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.” Well, you can go to any local gym and find plenty of insanity. People working out, doing the same workouts week after week and seeing little to no result. Usually frustration sets in and the amount of work compared to the results is just not worth it anymore. You stop going to the gym.

Just rewind and read that definition of insanity and you can vastly improve your results at the gym or wherever you workout. Simply choose different exercises for each muscle group each time you workout. Their are literally hundreds of exercises and variations for each muscle group. By performing different exercises each time you work a particular muscle group the body is forced to go through an adaptation period which in return raises its conditioning to a new level. It will also make your workouts far more exciting. So, as that wacky infomercial said back in the 80’s, “Stop the Insanity!”  Start enjoying your workouts and the results that come along with them. Try some new exercises.

Fitness Programs Plus offers over 125 printable workouts for all walks of life.  1000’s of exercises.