Thursday, 23 April 2009

Ab Exercises to Lose Belly Fat

Many times, the best ab exercises aren’t the type of exercise you’d expect, nor are they always performed lying on your back. Are you ready for 3 of the top abs exercises that’d you’d never expect? Here goes:


1) High Dumbell Squats

2) Cradle Stiff Leg Deadlifts

3) Dumbbell Shadow Boxer

High Dumbell Squats- The purpose of this exercise is to use fairly heavy dumbbells and old them at shoulder height. The dumbbells serve 2 purposes: 1) to through off stabilization during the squat 2) engage your abs and obliques to work extra in order to provide balance. If you use a nice heavy dumbbell, this will activate your abs like no other exercise. Once you have the dumbbells at shoulder height, perform a regular squat.


Cradle Stiff Leg Deadlift – This exercise is much like a regular stiff leg dead lift, except you will be “cradling” the bar in front of your body within the creases of your elbows. Make sure you keep your back straight, knees slightly bent, and your abs tight at all times. Begin with a moderate weight and increase the poundage as necessary. This is a Killer ab exercise.


Shadow Boxer – This is very similar to shadow boxing, except you will be holding a dumbbell in each hand. Use a moderately light weight as it is very taxing on your arms. Aim for a point directly in front of your nose, and begin “boxing” by alternating each arm. Try to keep your hips locked squarely facing forward.


The rep schemes for the High Dumbell squats should be in the 8-12 range. I’d recommend doing this particular exercise as a stand alone, while the other 2 can be grouped together with other abs exercises.


For the Cradle Leg Deadlift, keep the reps around 8-10, and the Shadow Boxer, you should perform for time intervals of 20-45 seconds. Make sure you use a light weight to ensure you’re able to isolate your abs during this exercise.


After finishing each exercise, you can move immediately into the next, or rest for 20-30 seconds and repeat for 3-4 sets total.


This will give you one of the best ab workouts there is without having to get on the floor. You can use these as your main program, or throw them in with your current ab routine to spice things up!

Saturday, 11 April 2009

Exercise Lose Weight-What is the Best Exercise For Weight Loss?

The worst thing that a person can do when losing weight is to have a low calorie diet. In fact studies have shown that such diets can be detrimental to the body as well as ineffective. The body responds to this low calorie diets is to lower the metabolic rate in order to burn less calories and minimize weight loss. And just when you thought that you already gained the desired weight, your body still has a slow metabolic rate. This is in reaction when you have starved the body of vital nutrients and vitamins, its survival mechanism allows the body to take in as much as it can and at the end you regain weight rapidly. Also in this type of diet you only lose muscles not the stored fat in your body. So if you want to burn that extra fat in your body you should exercise to lose weight.


The American Dietetic Association recommends exercise to lose weight gradually because it is unlikely that you will gain it back. Exercise will help increase the metabolic rate of the body so that it can burn calories faster. And by increasing the metabolic rate of the body through exercise the body is able to burn off calories even at rest. And also, the general idea of exercise is to increase your heart rate and improve breathing so that there is proper blood circulation in the body.


These are among various exercises to lose weight fast without jeopardizing your health.


1. Climbing the stairs – stair climbing can burn a lot of calories. 10 minutes of this exercise can burn 100 calories.


2. Swimming - is one of the best exercise to lose weight, it works all your muscle groups and burns tons of fat.


3. Rowing – is a quick way to shed those calories because you are utilizing the large muscle of the back.


4. Jumping jacks – are the easiest activity you could do at no extra cost. It can be done anywhere during your spare time. It uses your quads muscle for maximum calorie burn.


5. Walking – is also a best exercise to lose weight, you can either do it outside if the weather is fine or you can actually do it in the mall.


6. Strength training and weight training – these kinds of exercises helps develop muscles in the targeted areas of the body. If the muscles is strengthening and build it will help you in burning more calories. Because muscles require nutrients that are healthy to function properly this needs to be distributed throughout the body. In relation the muscles cells keeps on working to repair and build muscle fibers so even if you are through exercising., the muscles cells keeps on working to repair and build muscle mass. The more these muscles are build the more it needs energy to function properly to deliver the right nutrients needed for build and repair. So it is able to burn off stored fats even while you are at rest.

At the end there is no certain one type of exercise that will help you exercise to lose weight, you just have to find one that you like to do and that you are sure to stick to it. It is the most important consideration to keep in mind, in attaining your goal to shed those extra pounds. Finding what you love to do and enjoying the activity as you go along.

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

Tips For Finding The Best Abdominal Exercise That Works

With our often sedentary lifestyles, it is no wonder that many of us have just a tad too much fat in the abdominal area. Maybe you have just had a baby, and baby stretched that tummy out good! Perhaps you have recently lost a lot of weight, but find that stubborn belly fat just will not go away.


Do not feel discouraged. Abdominal exercise will melt that fat away with just a half hour of effort on your part each day. You don not need special equipment and all can be accomplished while listening to music or watching TV.


The first recommended abdominal exercise is the old fashioned sit up. You may remember doing this in school in gym class. Sit ups work. If it has been a while, you may want to start with the sissy sit ups. This easier sit up starts with lying on your back on the floor, with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Clasp your hands together, behind your neck with elbows facing out.


Keeping your feet flat on the floor, pull your upper body up, bringing your elbows forward in front of your face and touch your knees with your elbows. Return to the lying down position and repeat. When beginning your program, start with 25 sit ups, increasing the number by 5 every other day. When you can do 50 easily, you are ready for the harder style of sit ups.


The harder type of sit up goes like this. Lie down on the floor on your back, legs extended and heels touching the floor. Your arms should be extended behind you with the backs of your hands touching the floor. Placing your hands together, pull yourself up and extend your hands until they touch your toes.


Yikes, that is hard! Persevere. Shoot for 25 of these sit-ups per session. Increase by 5 every other day, progressing to 50 as you get stronger. By this time, you will be seeing real results. The sit up is the abdominal exercise without equal.


Another good abdominal exercise is the toe touch. Stand with your feet together and arms at your sides. Bend from the waist and touch your toes, repeating 25 times. As you progress, try to touch the palms of your hands to the floor in front of your feet. You can eventually progress to 50 per session.


Yet another abdominal exercise to quickly trim belly fat is this: begin in a standing position with your arms at your sides and back straight. Raise your right arm over your head while sliding your left arm straight down your left leg. Reach with your right arm, extending your right hand over your head as though trying to touch your left shoulder. Use a bouncing motion, trying three times to touch your left shoulder, all the while keeping your back straight. Reverse arms and repeat.


Begin with 15 repetitions and work up to 25. If you do these abdominal exercises faithfully, you will be looking good in a months time.

Wednesday, 1 April 2009

Can Fat Turn Into Muscle Or Muscle Into Fat?

Can muscle turn into fat or fat turn into muscle? How many time have you heard this hilarious fats and muscles myth?


Yes, this is one fats and muscles myth that will never go away. Get this straight. Fat will never turn into muscle and muscle will never turn into fat.


The reason is simple. Your body fats and muscles are made up of completely different cell structure and they are so different that they cannot be converted to each other. Your muscle is very much alive and work very hard whereas fat just sits there doing nothing and just plain looking ugly. How can they be the same or can be converted to each other?


How did this fitness myth come about then? Well, let me offer some suggestions.

When a fat person train with weights, he will build muscles and then for his muscle definition to show, he will have to lose fat. He will do cardio exercises and eat healthily to achieve a healthy fat loss. When that is accomplished, he will revealed a lean muscular body because he has already
packed on some muscle mass and have lost a substantial amount of body fat from his lose fats and build muscles program.


So when people see his new found lean muscular body and noticed that his body fat is now gone, some will comment that his fats has turned into muscles. Isn't that a nonsensical comment? Not just nonsensical, it is downright
hilarious.


Now, just say that this same guy has lost his motivation to train for whatever reasons and because he no longer wants to maintain his lean muscular body, he naturally will lay off exercises and start to eat unhealthily. Gradually, he will put on body fat because of his unhealthy diet and the fact that he no longer exercise to burn calories. Then as he put on more fat, the fat begins to cover up his muscles and his muscles are no longer noticeable.


Ahhhh....these same people who do not know the biology of muscle and fat will proclaim that his muscles has turned into body fat. Well, these chaps must be magicians or how else can muscle turn into fat or fat turn into muscle?


Why am I exposing this fat and muscle myth? Because it is funny? Well perhaps that too. But the main reason is that this fat and muscle myth has put alot of people away from exercising to build muscles and continue to indulge in unhealthy eating habits by proclaiming that there is no point building muscles because once they stop, they will get fat. Again, this is rubbish because most of them are fat to begin with anyway. It is just a lazy excuse not to exercise and eat healthily.


So if you have friends who tout this fat and muscle myth to you, send them this article. You may be doing them a great favor when they realised the truth and head for the gym to build some muscles and lose some body fat.


Then what about you? Are now convinced that muscle will never turn into fat and fat into muscle? If not, write to me and tell me why.
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