Showing posts with label get in shape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label get in shape. Show all posts

Wednesday, 29 April 2020

How to Get Energized Fast When You Need It The Most

It's been a long day at the office, or maybe even a weekend filled with way too many errands. You are feeling like you are running on empty but you still need to get things done. Here are some tips to help you get energized fast.
Drink a Tall Glass of Water
Often when we are busy and stressed we tend to get dehydrated. A dehydrated body tends to make you feel lethargic. Drinking water and staying hydrated will keep your energy up.
Go Out and Get Some Sunshine
Sunlight in moderate amounts can increase two hormones that are known to boost your mood and focus. Serotonin and dopamine both work on the brain to help you feel calm and lighthearted. When you feel happier, you also tend to feel like you have more energy.
Turn on Your Favorite Tune
Listening to upbeat music has been shown to increase a person's heartrate and move the blood through the body quicker. This action, in turn, speeds oxygen throughout the body and brain, giving you that energy boost.
Call Someone You Love
Interacting with others that you care about has long been known to improve mood and reduce stress. Reaching out to love ones or socializing has been shown to increase levels of the hormone Oxytocin. Oxytocin reduces anxiety levels and makes you feel less stressed. Less stress in turn translates into feeling more energetic.
Avoid Sugary Treats
Feeling a little tired? You probably think a bit of candy or a Sprite will give you the much needed pick me up you need. Well it's true, these sugary items will spike your blood glucose and give you a burst of energy. However, the energy boost will be short-lived. Eating and drinking super sweet foods and drinks wreak havoc on your metabolism. They increase blood sugar levels rapidly, but also make your glucose level come crashing down just as quickly.
Take A Nap
If all else fails, and you have a little time and space, take a nap. The power nap is a real thing. However, the experts at Sleep.org don't recommend napping for hours. Prolonged napping puts you in rem sleep and can actually make you feel more tired. It seems the perfect amount of time for napping is around 20 minutes. During this time period, you will experience non-rem sleep, and wake up feeling refreshed.
So the next time you are feeling a little low on energy, refer to these quick tips and get bright-eyed and focused in no time at all.
Leslie Smith is a lifestyle strategist and coach. For more tips on self-care for success, check out her website, The You Room at TheYouRoom.org


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10248629

Tuesday, 28 April 2020

Exercises to Lose Leg Fat

In my many years working as a fitness trainer so many people ask questions like "What are the best exercises to lose leg fat or the best exercises to lose back fat?" That's an easy answer to express but a lot of times people are really surprised that the answer is nothing that they expected. Let me get into exactly what the best method is for fat loss over time and explain the science behind it.
Many people don't expect to hear this but you can't direct fat loss into specific parts of the body. A lot of individuals are under the impression that if they work on strengthening the muscles in their abdominals then they'll lose fat in their stomach as a result. That merely isn't the case. But I have great news. Every single strength training exercise is an exercise to lose leg fat.
I'll explain - the most useful exercise philosophy for fat loss centers around building more muscle mass. You see, for every one pound of muscle that we add to our body we are able to burn an extra 37.5 calories per day at a resting state. When I added the 9 pounds of muscle to my body I was able to increase my resting metabolism to burn 337 calories every day while I simply am resting. That is powerful!
That's why I have all my clients focus on strength training in the safest way possible to get the best results in the long term. See, whenever we do any kind of aerobic activity like jogging we are only getting the benefits while we are doing the activity. But strength training increases the metabolism consistently to change your baseline at a resting state. I'll also say that 60-80 percent of runners get injured every year, so I advocate staying as safe as possible. All strength training exercises are great exercises to lose leg fat.
My best advice is this - twice a week work with a strength training regime to bring all of your major muscles groups to full fatigue and you'll begin to notice the difference in any target area you're looking to lose fat. We all are made very different so we all have different areas that we may carry our body fat. For maximum results, strengthening your muscle groups everywhere in your body will allow you to burn the most amount of calories at simply a resting state. This allows your metabolism to be always burning.
In summary, full body strength training and muscle development hold the keys to being the best exercises to lose leg fat. I will also give the advice to stay as safe as possible, that is my specialty, safe fitness training. I hope you'll take a look at the Super Slow fitness program, it's changed my family's lives and it can yours too!
Jonathan Gentry works with the safest and most effective life changing fitness method available. He offers a whole website full of free information and techniques to jump starting your exercise plan at his website Safe Fitness Training.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10263338

Sunday, 26 April 2020

Three Benefits of High Intensity Interval Training

If you are looking for a new workout regime, or are just looking for some new challenges, high intensity interval training (HIIT) might be for you. It's an interval style training featuring quick, intense bursts, followed by short recovery periods. You give it your all during the short bursts, take a quick rest, and then repeat the cycle. Don't be fooled by the short nature of the intervals, if you do it right, these short bursts will leave you sucking wind. This training technique that has caught a lot of attention in recent years, and for good reason. Here are three great benefits of HIIT workouts.
More efficient
First and foremost, high intensity interval training is much more efficient than a typical workout routine. This holds especially true for people who have limited time to workout. 20-30 minutes is a sufficient amount of time for a HIIT workout. Even though you may not be spending as much time in the gym, the intense bursts will make up for it compared to steady state workout, such as a long run.
Better cardiovascular fitness
Subjecting yourself to high intensity interval training works wonders for your metabolism because your body burns calories during the workout and for hours afterwards. This leads to more fat loss if you are trying to lose weight or if you are justing toning up. Additionally, high intensity interval training is great for your cardiovascular health as you are cycling between your peak heart rate and then back down to a normal heart rate. Over time, your cardio system will become much more efficient at lowering your heart rate immediately following an intense burst. You'll start to notice yourself being in better shape to handle the HIIT workouts, and your cardio will be in better shape too. This leads to improving your endurance as an athlete. If you are training for a marathon, mixing in HIIT workouts with your regular training will help you build your endurance faster.
It grows with you
This is often overlooked, but high intensity interval training grows with you. Most other workout regimens cause the participant to plateau once they've reached a certain level. This is seen by people who train the same way over and over again - their bodies have adapted to that level of workout, and it isn't challenging enough for them to see great improvements. This is not the case with HIIT, as it grows with you. You're all in for the intense bursts. 100%. Maximum effort. As your endurance and athletic abilities increase, what once was 100% for you may now be only 70%. As you improve, so does your peak. This means that you'll break through plateaus and get in better shape fast, and improve faster, compared to standard workouts.
HIIT offers many advantages compared with normal workout regimens. They are very time efficient, greatly improve your cardiovascular health, and allow you to achieve new levels of fitness due to its inherent nature of growing with you. Now that you know a little more about the benefits of high intensity interval training, it's time to get out and the start bursting!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9483761

Friday, 24 April 2020

Fitness Myths - Separating Fact From Fiction

Whether you are looking to drop 10-15 pounds of fat or add 10-15 pounds of lean muscle mass, it's important to first come to grips with some of the biggest lies/myths in the fitness industry. Otherwise you may end up wasting your valuable time and could even damage your long-term health.
For starters, the myth/belief that muscle turns to fat is totally erroneous.
Myth 1:
Muscle never turns to fat.
They are two totally, separate types of tissue. Just as your heart is different from your liver and you wouldn't worry that it could become your liver, your muscle cannot turn into fat. It would be like watching an apple convert to an orange right before your eyes. Not going to happen.
So, what does happen to someone who was once very muscular and fit but stops working out? If muscle does not turn to fat as many believe, then why does their once fit and trim body now appear fat, flabby and unhealthy?
The reality is much worse than turning to fat. Muscle is not being converted to fat, it is being lost. It is literally, wasting away.
Because the body uses a lot of energy maintaining lean muscle mass (which is why having more muscle is great for preventing fat gain), when the body believes it no longer needs to maintain muscle mass, it eliminates it. Whatever muscle mass is not being stressed (used), starts catabolizing (breaking down).
Muscles shrink from non-use and fat pockets grow bigger. Soon, what was once an attractive, trim, fit body now appears flabby and fat. It is really that simple.
Because muscle burns more calories than fat, whenever workout habits change or slow down, changes in diet must follow. If diets are not adjusted to align with a less active lifestyle, if food intake remains the same but total calorie expenditure decreases, guess what? The excess surplus of calories (that are no longer being burned through activity) gets converted into body fat.
It's pretty simple science - when you exercise less, you burn fewer calories and therefore, you must eat less.
The good news is, it only takes about 60 minutes of strength training weekly at the gym (or your preferred strength training workout) to maintain muscle once it's built. It takes far less effort to maintain muscle once it's built than it did to build it in the first place.
Myth 2:
Exercising daily is optimal. Wrong.
Many people believe that if they fail to see the progress they are after, it's because they are not training hard (or long) enough so they immediately start pushing their body harder which is the exact opposite of what should be happening.
Every time you train your muscles hard (at the gym or elsewhere), you are creating micro damage to the muscle tissue and time is needed for this to be rebuilt to withstand the same level of force once again. If the time and energy needed to do this is not provided, muscles won't get stronger and in fact can cause loss of valuable muscle mass.
Reality - when actively working out, the body requires and needs rest days in a well-planned protocol to have the time needed to get stronger than it was before. Ideally, one day off a week should be allowed, if not two. But, even that is not hard science. Some people require more. In fact, three to four days rest for beginner trainees or those who do intense training is not at all uncommon.
Remember, as the intensity of your workouts go up, your total rest required to recover from that workout will also increase.
It's very important to recognize when it's time to work harder and when it's time to rest. Understanding the difference and giving your body exactly what it needs is what gets you to that end goal.
Honor your workout, but balance it with rest.
Myth 3:
Cardio is a great way to get thinner - False.
Cardio - (referencing steady state cardio sessions) - the workouts that people dread yet do daily after hitting the gym. Jumping on a piece of cardio equipment and going at one pace for 20-60 minutes.
These workouts do very little for anyone. What these extended cardio workouts achieve is to increase the appetite, causing us to eat more. In fact, many people, who are classic "cardio bunnies," report ravenous appetites that just won't go away.
Cardio training can even cause loss of lean muscle mass. When the body knows it must go for long periods of time at a moderate intensity pace, it does what it can to be more efficient. Since muscle tissue is energy-intensive to maintain, it is better for your body if you have less of it.
Couple this with the fact that many are on a lower calorie diet while doing cardio and now you have a body ready and willing to drop lean muscle. So, fat is not really being lost in the process, but rather, lean muscle.
The body may appear smaller after months of cardio workouts because of lost weight, but, unfortunately, it is due to an unhealthy, change in body composition. The body now contains more fat mass in proportion to lean muscle mass and the result is not pretty. The look is soft, jiggly, and anything but fit.
If you're looking to create a fit, lean, firm body, cardio training is not the way to get there. Strength training is the only thing empowered to reverse unhealthy, muscle loss.
"I help clients take charge of their health before circumstance removes the option. If your quest for a life of true physical and mental well-being is a journey I'll put you in the driver's seat."
For tools and resources to achieve this, visit:
"http://CarolynHansenFitness.com
Carolyn Hansen Fitness
For free downloadable resources visit:
"https://HealthyLifeGifts.com
HealthyLifeGifts


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10260998