Every now and then, we have to give the body a break from excessive pounding (read: running, dance classes, and contact sports). Luckily low-impact workouts are typically easier on the body, especially our joints, and can be a great way to get in a heart-pumping workout while reducing the risk of injury. Plus, it’s a no-brainer that exercise is great for keeping the heart healthy and lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease—something that’s never too early to start thinking about. Most trainers define low-impact exercises as motions where one foot stays on the ground at all times. But rather than doing single-leg deadlifts until keeling over, we figured it’d be best to round up 21 low- (or no!) impact exercises to keep things varied and full o’ fun. They’re perfect for when you’re just getting started, dealing with an injury, or just want to try something new! To read more click here!
Month: September 2014
The Easiest Way For Busy People to Stay Fit
WorkoutLabs Exercise Cards
Sometimes just walking in to a weight room can be intimidating, much less to actually start strength training without any guidance. We find ourselves questioning everything: What exercises should I be doing? How many reps and sets are best? Should I feel this in my lower back? (For the record, the answer to that last one is almost always no.) And then we discovered an incredibly simple and convenient solution: WorkoutLabs Exercise Cards, a complete deck of 40 body weight exercises, 10 stretches, and six quick (but intense!) workouts adaptable to any fitness level. Our favorite is the Turbo Charged Morning Workout, a combination of jumping jacks, pushups, mountain climbers, planks, crunches, and squats that had us seriously sweating after just six minutes. Good thing the cards are waterproof! The beautifully-designed cards come in decks for men and women and feature clean illustrations on one side and easy-to-follow instructions on the other. They also tell you which muscles each exercise targets, though if you do any of their suggested circuits, you’ll feel the burn. To read more click here!
How to Make Fitness Fun
“I practice yoga.” As a personal trainer, I hear people express (or accept) this popular concept without a second thought. But if you said “I practice working out,” people would be very confused. There is something about yoga that allows us to approach it as a lifelong practice; we somehow know we can continue to improve ourselves through yoga forever, without reaching an end or conclusion. I think this has something to do with yoga’s origins of Eastern tradition. Yoga’s ancient spiritual roots seem to make people more forgiving of some of its less tangible aspects. For example, if a yoga instructor tells us that we store a lot of emotion in our hips, it may not occur to us to ask what that means or how anyone could know that. By contrast however, if a Western medical doctor shared some of the physiological specifics of running intervals or doing deadlifts, you might be tempted to ask for evidence—like solid research—that backs the claim. I propose we start thinking about our workouts the way we think about yoga. Why? I’m glad you asked. To read more click here!
What Style of Yoga Is Best For You?
The benefits of yoga have been well documented: it can boost mood, reduce stress and anxiety, and improve overall health—not to mention give you a yoga butt. But where to begin? Looking at the seemingly endless types of classes (Music Flow 2/3? Ying & Yang? Forrest Yoga?) can feel like opening a box of chocolates, without the helpful little chart. Are those ones with the squiggles salted caramels or raspberry creams? And heading to the wrong class can leave you feeling bored and antsy—or like you stumbled into Olympic gymnastic tryouts. Eeep! Take our quiz to see what kind of yoga might fit your style. Note: We cover six of the most common styles of yoga here, but many other variations exist. To read more click here!
The Burn Fat Faster Work Out
Some people love cardio, long distance runs, and spending big blocks of time on the elliptical. The rest of us just want to burn body fat as quickly as possible. If that sounds like you, there’s a solution: Metabolic conditioning complexes. “MetCon” will send your heart rate soaring and have you breathing like a freight train, all while preserving lean body mass, improving core stability, and blow torching body fat. And the best part? It’s over in minutes, not hours. To read more click more!
The Ultimate Guide To Weight Lifting
If you could peer inside the heads of most people at the gym, you’d probably see that their minds were doing one of the three things during their workout—stewing about work, singing along with the lyrics coming through their headphones, or counting to eight, 10, or 12. Set after set after set.
I may listen to Eminem or let my mind wander, but I can tell you one thing I don’t do: Stress about my reps.
The reason is simple: Strictly structured workouts – such as doing 3 sets of 10 reps because a piece of paper says so —is an archaic way of training. I’m not saying it doesn’t work; I’m just saying that you’ll make more out of your time in the gym if you forget the must-hit-a-number doctrine and learn to lift by more feel –and to suit your personality.
The old school of thought was that performing three to four sets of 6-10 reps was good for muscle gain. If you wanted to burn fat, you’d do more reps with a lighter weight, and move quicker. But the fact is that life’s more complicated than a strict program. Your kids get sick, your boss makes you pull a double-shift, or your homework takes several hours more than you thought it would. There are simply some days when you’re not firing on all cylinders. On those days when you come to the gym stressed, ill, or exhausted, pushing for 10 reps for three straight sets may actually be counterproductive in the long run.
To read more click here!
10 Surprising Flat Belly Foods
Do you want to go from a FAT belly to a FLAT belly? Abdominal bloating or carrying unwanted weight around your midsection is often uncomfortable and embarrassing. To differentiate between the two, bloating is temporary abdominal distention that can be caused by a reaction to certain foods, lifestyle factors or a medical condition, such as liver or heart disease. Belly bloat is really intestinal gas, not excess fat. However, if you are overweight and want to flatten your belly for the long term, the only solution is to lose weight. Whether it’s gas or excess weight causing you tummy trouble, what you choose to put on your fork can help or hinder your goal of getting a flat belly. Read on to learn about 10 flat-belly foods to get you those lean abs you crave. To read more click here!
4 Yoga Poses For Sexy Arms
If you’re working on developing long lean muscles to flaunt at the beach, it’s time to learn yoga arm balances. Arm balances are an incredible way to achieve ridiculous definition in your upper limbs. From the inside out, they activate the deeper large muscles closer to the bone, as well as the tiny superficial muscles on top. Although weights are great for toned arms, yoga postures work especially well because they require isometric contraction of the muscles, which is key for contour. When muscles contract isometrically, they don’t push or pull, bend or extend, but simply squeeze inward towards the bone. To build strength before you dive into your arm balances, I recommend you master the following poses: To read more click here!
A Personal Trainer Shares Her Secret For Sharing A Great Butt
After more than 10 years of working with personal training clients, there is one simple move that I’ve witnessed transform the strength, tone and appearance of countless clients and that I now include it in my own daily workout. Put me in a gym with the most high-tech equipment, nifty proprioception devices, vibrating platforms or any other incredible gizmos and you will find me off in the corner doing this simple move from exercise 101. Hands down, no question, the absolutely most effective move that I include in my workout is the lunge. Prehistoric? Maybe. But the results are undeniable. Whether you desire to lift your tush, slim down your thighs, strengthen your core or whittle your waistline, l say … lunge, baby, lunge. To read more click here!
Running Just 5 Minutes A Day Add Years To Your Life
Do you love to run? Even just for 10 minutes at a time? Well keep it up, because for any type of runner (from the most recreational jogger to the ultra-endurance athlete) it could be adding years to your life. In new study published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers reviewed 15 years of data from more than 55,000 adults, ages 18 to 100. What they found was truly amazing: runners were a whopping 45% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease. And they were at 30% reduced risk for any cause of death. Runners were also found to live three years longer than non-runners on average. What’s even more amazing is that these benefits seemed to hold true even for those who only were running 51 minutes a week (or roughly five to 10 minutes a day). In fact, those running only an hour a week experienced the same health benefits as those running three times as much. And the running benefits seemed to exist even when other health factors, such as age, sex, weight, smoking and alcohol use were taken into account. So when it comes to running, no matter what you’re eating, how much you drink, and how old you are: just getting out there for five minutes a day could make a huge difference to your health. So keep it up, and don’t sweat making it through a marathon! To read more click here
10 Rules For A Leaner Body & Glowing Skin
Although no standard set of rules is perfect for everyone, these guidelines can help people of every shape and background get on the path toward vitality. Following these principles 80 to 85% of the time will give you more energy, better sleep, a leaner body, glowing skin and much better digestion … and who doesn’t want all that? To read more click here!
The 10 Commandments For Natural Weight Loss
Losing weight can be challenging at the best of times, especially when there’s so much conflicting information all too readily available about the most effective ways to do it. Personally I believe that every body is different, so what works for one person may not necessarily work for another. That said, I do believe in some fundamentals when it comes to weight loss, which I have outlined below. Some of these may work for you, and some may not. That’s OK! You must always remember to do what’s best for your own body — no one knows it better than you, after all! To read more click here!