Monday, January 31, 2011

Genetics and Fitness: Making The Most Of What You Have

Not all mean are created physically equal. Each of us have our own unique genetic makeup. These genetic variables dictate our fitness, fat loss, muscle development and athletic ability. There is nothing much we can do about genetics but genetics is only the raw material. Everybody has the integral ability to maximize fitness, fat loss as well as muscle and athletic potential. Just like a raw diamond, your body has the capacity to be great. Cut and polished to perfection, a diamond dazzles. Your body is also capable of doing the same once it has reached its full potential.

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy needed to maintain basic body processes. Compared to some people, others may have faster basal metabolic rates. null It is because muscles require a higher amount of calories to keep functioning. Genetics determine the number of fat cells in one's body. Generally, women have more fat cells than men. Fat cells can only be reduced in size; liposuction is needed to reduce it in number. However, it is possible to increase the number of fat cells by having a high fat diet. Exercise and a sensible nutrition plan though can decrease fat cells' size dramatically.

Symmetry and body proportion are certainly hereditary. There are people who naturally have long limbs while there are those with short ones. Proportion and symmetry is dependent on how each body part relates to each other. Working on your weak parts to make it your body appear proportional is achievable. There are people with large, medium, or small bones. Big boned people complain that they appear overweight but this has nothing to do with how you lose fat. Muscles insert onto the same bones in humans but the exact point varies. This affects leverage and therefore, strength.

Muscle fibers like fat cells are also genetically predetermined. People with more muscle fibers naturally have more potential to grow bigger. There are two types of muscle fibers; the fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers. Endurance activities like running use slow twitch muscles while strength is dictated by the amount of fast twitch muscles. You have more fast twitch muscles if you are into weight training. Food tolerance problems like allergies, insulin response and carbohydrate sensitivity affect one's relationship with food. Digestive capacity also differs in terms of absorption and utilization of nutrients. Some people even have longer digestive tracts than others.

If you feel that you've been dealt a rotten hand genetically, don't despair. Genetics does not have sole control of how your body turns out. Fat loss is determined more by factors that you can control. Success comes when you make the most of what you have.

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Stamina Ab Hyper Bench

How To Assess Daily Caloric Requirements

There are six major factors that basically affect calorie requirements. Weight, basal metabolic rate, age, gender, weight, lean body mass and daily activities comprise these 6 factors. You will have a clear idea of what your daily calorie needs are by determining the factors that affect your caloric intake. Your can approximate yopur daily caloric intake with generic charts that take age, gender, activity levels and weight. These things are helpful nonetheless, it would be more accurate to include basal metabolic rate and lean body mass.

The BMR or the basal metabolic rate is the term used to describe the total energy used for bodily functions. This is actually exclusive of physical activities such as working out. This is the one responsible for circulation, digestion, respiration, temperature regulation, cell construction and the other body processes. Two thirds of the sixty percent of total daily caloric intake is comprised of the BMR. The total calories you need to stay alive is mainly comprised of the BMR. BMR varies and it is influenced by the genes. Some people are lucky enough to have high BMR while others don't. It is at its lowest when a person is sleeping. This is when your body is not digesting anything.

You should consider your physical activities when you are computing daily caloric needs. Second to BMR, physical activites are the most important determinant of daily caloric allowance. All the other activities that make up your day along with exercise are included. There will be fewer caloric allowance for physical activities for those with sedentary lifestyle. A higher caloric expenditure will accompany a lot of activities. Weight is another considerable factor. A heavier weight means more cells to feed and therefore requires more calorie intake. This is also the reason why people who are heavier expend more calories during exercise than those whose weights are lower.

The more accurate way of determining your caloric needs is the lean body mass or LBM. A high LBM means a high BMR. Determining your lean body mass is simply separating your lean body parts from fat. Muscles are active tissue and require more calories to function properly. Age and gender affect metabolic rate and therefore, affects daily caloric intake. Males have more muscles and require a higher amount of calories. Older people have a slower metabolic rate than the younger set. Also, senior citizens are more likely to have lesser daily physical activities.

Eating appropriate amounts of food is one way to ensure the maintenance of a healthy weight. Choosing the right kinds of food to supply your daily caloric needs not only regulates weight. It also gives you vital nutrients to enhance health. Tailoring your caloric needs around the factors affecting it allow you to balance what you take in and what you expend.

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Stamina 9200 CPS Indoor Bike

Tips To Make Exercise Easier For The Obese And Overweight

Working out in order to get rid of body fats can help you solve your weight issues. However, an obese or overweight person may get a new set of problems from the solutions to weight problems. The idea of exercise might be difficult for them and it might hit their ego. Exercise may be a tough challenge because of the lean bodies and mirrors you are forced to face each time. However, it is necessary to lose the weight. That is is you would like to be looking forward to a full and healthy life ahead of you.

Before you start things up, you have to get permission from your doctor. You have to make sure that you are actually healthy enough to do exercise that m,ay also tax your heart and your entire body as well. It will also be easier to reach for your goals with supportive circleof riends and family. You will be needing all the support especially when starting out will be very challenging. Obese or overweight people are usually self conscious and understandably afraid of incurring injury. Dropping out of exercise is common because of imagined or real fears. Assess what exercises you can do. You should ask assistance from a trained fitness professional. Ensuring safety should be your priority.

Ease into an exercise program gradually. There will be a greater chance of having undetected health problems on obese or overweight people. High blood pressure, Diabetes and joint and mobility problems are common. They may also be prone to experiencing dizziness, nausea, and shortness of breath when exercising. It will good for a start to have 30 minutes of exercise 3 to 4 times a week. If you find it a bit difficult, break it into ten minute sessions. Gradually, you'll be able to do thirty minutes comfortably. When that happens, don't forget to give yourself a reward for a job well done.

It would be necessary to remember some things in order to make exercising more comfortable. You should make sure that you are wearing comfortable shoes and clothing when exercising. Overweight people tend to get overheated easily. Avoid high impact exercise; you need to be gentle with your joints. You should consider weight training but you should focus on what you can do for the moment. Cardio exercises will help you drop those pounds gradually. Avoid comparing yourself with others. Banish negative thoughts. It's easier said than done but negative thoughts produce negative results. If you want to win, think that you can.

Overweight people encounter exercise problems that can make them lose confidence in what they can do. Emotional blocks to exercise can get overwhelming enough to cause the person to back off. Support from the significant people in your life helps you get over these blocks. Focus on your goals. Be consistent in doing what you have to do to succeed. When you get to the top you'll realize everything was all worth it.

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Stamina 7250 Recumbent Exercise Bike

Fitness Activities that Guarantee Maximum Fat Loss

Though we mean the same thing, we often utilize the terms fat loss and weight loss interchangeably. It can be very difficult to make changes to your body shape. Having a balanced diet and exercise, however, can turn the tide in your favor. You will surely get better results by choosing a workout plan that burns fat more efficiently. Swimming, running and weight lifting are three of the best exercises for fat loss.

In swimming, you will get more than just being refreshed and cooled off. You can burn lots of calories with this activity. You may even burn up to 700 calories per hour by doing moderate swimming. Vigorous lap swimming can help you burn up to 863 calories in an hour. These are very significant numbers in terms of calorie expenditure. It is true that you will achieve weight loss by consuming lesser calories compared to what you expend. Swimming is not only a cardio exercise. Your every stroke gets resistance from the water. In this case, swimming is also strength training. This in turn promotes muscle growth. Every pound of your muscle is capable of consuming 30 calories in a day even if you are doing nothing at all. You can just imagine what swimming can do for your weight and fat loss plan.

Running is also a good fat loss exercise. Without any equipment, you can surely do running. You can do it anywhere as long as the weather permits. You only need a pair of running shoes and you are all set to go. You will be able to burn as much as 140 calories every 10 minutes with a high intensity run. This roughly translates to 850 calories per hour. That is, if you can sustain your intensity that long. It is recommended by fitness experts that running should be done each morning before breakfast. Because of the absence of carbohydrates, the body will use up your fat stores for energy. You can also use running for interval trainings. Alternate your pace by running fast for 3 minutes and slow for the next 3. Repeat a few times to boost calorie expenditure. Mixing it up with lunges and squats develops the big muscles of the body.

Lifting weights is a staple of a good fat loss plan. Cardio exercises are good but weight training develops muscles. This can boost your resting metabolic rate leading to an increase in calorie expenditure. Strength training demands a lot of energy from you. Glycogen stores are estimated to last for only 30 minutes when doing intensive weight training. To be more efficient, do compound exercises that work several muscle groups at once.

Intensity is important when trying to lose fat. Swim vigorously. Run faster. Lift heavier weights. You will be able to see positive results if you do any of these exercises consistently.

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Stamina 7200 Recumbent Exercise Bike

Vital Steps To Achieving Weight Loss

Studying the essential steps to weight loss will show you that these are all natural aspects of our lives that only need to be regulated. You can lose weight naturally by simply regulating the way you move, eat and sleep.

You need to move more in order to burn off more fat and lose weight. You should integrate cardio workouts and strength training workouts into your fitness program. Cardio workouts are the most efficient exercises for fat burning. Doing them upon waking in the morning, before breakfast, ensures that there are no glycogen stores to be burned by your body so it immediately burns fat. Twelve to 60 minutes of cardio exercises should be done three times a week. Strength training that builds muscles should be done in the days between your cardio workouts. You also increase your body metabolism as you gain more muscles. This enables your body to burn fat more efficiently throughout each day, even while at rest. Only the cardio and strength training workouts that are appropriate to your current fitness level should be done to avoid injury.

You must not exceed the calories you lose through exercise with your calorie intake. This means regulating the amount of food you eat. Do not eat too little, though, as this will just slow down your metabolism and stop your body from burning fat. Your metabolic rate can be maintained by eating six small meals throughout your day and stopping three hours before sleeping. It is important to ensure that these meals contain the right kind of food. Eliminate all unhealthy fats and simple carbohydrates like sugar and starch. Eat only lean protein, complex carbohydrates with high fiber content and healthy fats instead. Lean protein and complex carbohydrates raise the metabolism because they use up a lot of calories to be digested and metabolized. The body uses lean protein and healthy fats, on the other hand, in building muscles which then burn more fat.

Also necessary for weight loss is enough sleep. Your body produces excessive ghrelin and cortisol and not enough leptin when you lack sleep. Ghrelin is the hormone that triggers hunger. The stress hormone cortisol creates cravings for carbohydrates and fats. Leptin is the hormone that triggers feelings of fullness and satiety. With lack of sleep you always feel hungry and crave carbohydrates and fats. No matter how much you eat, you don't feel satisfied. You have to sleep eight hours every night to prevent this from happening.

Weight loss that can be maintained for life has to come from a healthy lifestyle that can be sustained easily. You can do this by regulating your daily movement, eating patterns and sleeping patterns.

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Stamina 7100 Recumbent Exercise Bike

Small, Frequent Meals And Fat Loss

Eating frequently to lose weight would seem, at first glance, like a contradiction of sorts. When we are aware that what we eat all add up, frequent meals may convey added numbers on the problem. Nevertheless, the word "small" will spell all the difference. One strategy that is very popular in hastening metabolic activity is eating small frequent meals. Knowing that a fast metabolism may increase your luck in fat loss, you will surely appreciate why it is very popular. A more important idea is how do we make it work for us?

When you are having small frequent meals, you have to spread out your meals throughout the entire day. In order to lose fats, women should have 1500 to 1600 calories per day while men should have 2400 to 2500. This was taken through an estimation. For you to get your accurate numbers, you have to factor in your basal metabolic rate, activity levels and lean body mass using the Katch Mcardle equation. You need to eat five to 6 times a day in a small frequent meal plan where six is the maximum and most beneficial for your own health. You should simply divide your total calories by 5 or 6, depending on your plan, in order for you to get the amount of calories for every meal. You need to eat 400 calories per meal, 6 meals a day if you are on a 2400 calorie plan.

It would be necessary for you to taper your calories in order to make your small frequent meal plan more beneficial. This means allocating more calories for breakfast than at any other meal. This can be a good decision due to the fact that we have lesser chances of storing fats when we are active. A lot of people skip breakfast; consume a regular lunch and eat a lot on dinner. This is not what fitness enthusiasts would suggest in order to get lean. You have to eat breakfast early in the day. If you start the day at six, you can fit in five or six small meals. A three hour gap should be given for each meal. The last meal for the day is ideally eaten two to three hours before bedtime.

Consistency is important if you want to lose fat. You cannot just go on and off a fat loss plan depending on your moods. Weekdays are easier compared to weekends because we follow workday routines on weekdays. Weekends tempt us to sleep late and wake up late, making us miss most of our meals in the process. Eating small frequent meals should be a habit and as such should be done everyday.

Small frequent meals speed up metabolic activity leading to increased caloric expenditure. It is admittedly difficult at first but nothing worth having is ever easy. Your efforts are commensurate to the results you get. If you employ the right fat loss strategies and you're willing to work for it, you can reasonably expect success.

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Stamina 1350 Magnetic Recumbent Bike

Eat More, Weigh Less

Three main reasons why skipping meals is relevant to fat loss exist. Skipping meals may negatively affect fat loss unlike what most people know. This results in the promotion of muscle loss, slowing down of the metabolism as well as the activation of the starvation mode. Once we notice that we are gaining weight, we would usually blame it in eating a lot. It is true, it was stated in the law of energy balance that we tend to gain weight if we eat more than what we expend. Our thoughts tend to turn to what seems to be the most sensible solution in order to solve the problem. That is, to stop consuming food which therefore causes us to skip meals. The thing that we don't realize is that we are messing up with our system using a wrong solution. We need to find ways to create a calorie deficit using methods that maximize our potential to use calories as fuel in order to lose fats.

Breakfast is the common meal which people miss. It is the most important meal of the day because it literally breaks your fast. We normally eat 3 meals in a day including snacks in between. Our last meal is usually consumed around 8 in the evening. The gap between dinner and breakfast is eleven hours. Your body might fall into a catabolic state if you extend fasting up to lunch time. Moreover, you're sending signals that food is in short supply, activating the starvation response.

A lot of people would reason that they don't have enough time to eat breakfast. What they don't realize is that they are missing an important strategy for fat loss. There could be a sluggish metabolism if you skip meals. This results to inefficient use of calories as fuel because skipping meals activates the starvation response which promotes fat storage. If you're skipping meals, chances are you're going to make up for it in your succeeding meals. That conveys that there is a chance that you will stuff yourself in just one sitting. This cycle, repeated everyday, sets you up for some serious fat gain.

Small, frequent meals spread out through the day are the best way to stoke your metabolism. For men, 400 to 480 calories per meal for a total of 5 or 6 meals is enough. For women, a 5 or 6 meal plan would average 300 to 350 calories per meal. Some people would say that frequently eating makes they consume more calories. If they skip meals, they can only consume, say, 1200 calories instead of 1600 calories. The difference lies in how the body utilizes it. Eating small, frequent meals speeds up metabolism and increase energy and muscle growth.

To lose fat, counting the calories that go in and out is important. Extreme food restriction is dangerous to health and detrimental to fat loss. The earlier you develop the habit of eating breakfast and small, frequent meals, the earlier you'll be able to lose fat.

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Stamina 1300 Magnetic Upright Bike

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Ensure Weight Loss Success Through Sensible Dieting

7 out of 10 American have been on a diet. Since 6 out of10 Americans are overweight or obese, it is already expected. A study, however, revealed that almost everybody who went on a diet regained the weight they lost. What's worse, they gained some more. This is the reason why a lot of people would no longer want to lose weight. You approach in weight loss matters. To make it work, you not only need a sensible nutrition plan. You also need a workout plan.

Crash diets are fad diets that extremely restrict caloric or nutrient consumption. The name says it all. People who go on crash diets will probably need an overhaul later. Crash diets often fail because people are incapable of sustaining such overly restricted diet for too long. The body will be transferring on a starvation mode once it senses hunger. This slows down metabolism because it wants to hold on to whatever energy is available. There will be a sluggish metabolism that will burn lesser calories.

Being on a diet conveys that the diet will end sometime in the future. A weight loss diet is considered a temporary fix. It can't be a long term solution to weight gain. That is the reason why it is important to have a nutritious diet plan that will not leave you feeling deprived or unhealthy. You should eat foods which are pack with a lot of volume but with lesser calorie content. Majority of your foods should contain high fiber whole grain, fruits, and vegetables. Avoid highly processed foods that contain a lot of sugar. You should choose healthy calories over empty ones. You will get energy you need to expend calories through exercise from a sensible and nutritious diet.

Those who have maintained weight loss for more than 5 years would agree on the same thing. The best strategy to lose weight is to have a consistent daily exercise. The role of nutrition in weight loss is undeniably important. In the first place, bad nutrition has led us to the path of obesity. Its management, however, should not focus on extreme limitations in your meals. It should focus on ways how to expend the calories that you take in.

Going on crash diets to lose weight has not worked and will never work in the long term. Consider it as a bad investment wherein you get to enjoy some profit at first but eventually lose all of it and worse, get a very bad credit. A lot of Americans can claim expertise in fad and crash diets. Why? It's because they've done it a thousand times. If you don't want to be part of the statistics, follow the sensible route to weight loss.

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Stamina 5325 Upright Exercise Bike

Effective Strategies For Life Long Weight Loss

Crash diets are not effective. They fail and crash down. You and I know that. Large numbers of dieters have tried many weight loss diets only to forsake them because they were too unyielding. Those who may have reached their goal discovered that after they stopped dieting, all the weight, and possibly even more, came back. We have to face the reality that only by making permanent changes that we can stick to in the long term can we lose weight and keep it off for the rest of our lives. Here are three simple but effective strategies for weight loss that you can incorporate into your life.

One strategy is to start and keep a personal food journal. It will grant you an awareness of the various things you put into your mouth. Most of our eating is done out of habit. Sadly, many of those habits that were the cause of our weight gain have been so deeply rooted that we tend to do them even unconsciously. Have your handy food journal with you all the time, anywhere you are, and list down every single item of food and drink that you consume each day and night, including gum. You should include the amount of food and drink taken, too. Total honesty with yourself is required. You will become more aware every time you are about to eat or drink anything because seeing all your bad habits day after day will alert you to them. Do research on the calorie counts of the food you eat. List down the food you should be eating and how much water you should be drinking every day so that you are guided accordingly. As your eating and drinking habits improve, your journal also serves as your motivation and inspiration.

A lot of people have also successfully applied the tactic of eating six small meals a day, spaced three hours apart, and using smaller plates at every meal. You do not have to take snacks when you are eating six meals a day. Our choices for snacks are often convenient but unhealthy because they are unplanned. Meals, on the other hand, are usually planned and prepared for so you can ensure healthy options for your six light meals. automatically, the use of smaller plates limits your portions. Remember not to pile food on your plate, though, and not to get second helpings. Even if you have to take some of those meals out of the house you can still use these strategies.

The third strategy is to start the habit of drinking green tea. That hunger pangs are reduced and metabolism is improved by this habit is a proven fact. Green tea is also full of antioxidants that are good for your health. Replace your coffee with green tea in the morning and throughout the day. You will soon find yourself wanting to eat less but burning more calories and fat.

Incorporating these three strategies into your life for the long term will effectively boost your weight loss efforts. Make them lifetime habits will ensure that you safely keep off your unwanted fats.

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Stamina 4825 Magnetic Recumbent Bike

How To Eat To Build Muscles

Trying to build muscles is not compatible with just gorging on food indiscriminately. It will surely make you fat. You need to gain your weight and bulk not from unhealthy fat but from lean muscles. Learning what food you should eat to effectively build muscle mass instead of gaining fat is therefore very important. Stay away from sugar, starch, fast food and junk food should be something that you already know.

In order to enable your body to repair and build more muscles you need to eat a lot of complete protein . Your overall intake of calories should surpass whatever calories your body is using up. It is the surplus of calories that will be used by the body for muscle building. These calories should be from protein sources. For serious muscle building with intense weight lifting and endurance training, you need a daily supply of 1.8 grams of protein for every kilo of your body weight. You can compute weight in kilos by multiplying your weight in pounds by 2.2. Someone who weighs 154 in pounds therefore weighs 70 in kilos. That means 126 grams of protein is needed every day if you are doing intensive strength training.

Complete proteins contain all the nine essential amino acids that are needed by the body for muscle building. Proteins with a high biological value (BV) rating have the proper configuration of amino acids that enables the body to more efficiently absorb and use them. Your goal is, therefore, to choose a diet high in complete protein food and protein food with a high biological value rating. For your complete proteins you can turn to animal foods. The most prominent animal foods are meats, fish, poultry, cheese, eggs, yogurt, and milk. Eggs, cow's milk, whey protein, soybeans, beef, cheese and fish, on the other hand, represent proteins with the highest BV ratings.

You should take multivitamins and antioxidants to supplement your diet and your muscle building workouts. To prevent free radicals from damaging your muscles you can take antioxidants like vitamins A, C, E, glutathione, glutamine and selenium. It should be noted that free radical damage is magnified by the physical trauma of strength training. You also need folic acid (vitamin B9), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) and trimethylglycine (betaine) to prevent the abnormal increase of homocysteine levels or to reduce its level in your bloodstream. According to research, intense and lengthy workouts increase your homocysteine levels, which may cause blood clotting, heart disease, or stroke.

Your basic muscle building plan should, therefore, have a food plan that includes ample amounts of calories that are mostly from complete proteins and protein foods with a high biological value rating. Supplement this with a powerful multivitamin packed with nutrients and minerals, including vitamins, A, C, E, B9, B6, B12, Betaine, glutathione, glutamine and selenium. You will soon see the results reflected in your own body.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Stamina 4545 Magnetic Recumbent Bike, Stamina 4825 Magnetic Recumbent Bike, Stamina 5325 Upright Exercise Bike, Stamina 1215 Orbital Rowing Machine. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Stamina 4545 Magnetic Recumbent Bike

Get Slim: Fight Fat With Fat

The 80's cannot be forgotten. The music was good, the hair was big and the clothes were out of this world. For fats, it was an era best left forgotten. It was the time when fats first became notorious. All kinds of fat free foods became instant hits due to the saying that fats make you fat. It was only later that we realized that not all fats are bad and that fat free foods relied on sugar to make it palatable. Today, the fashion of that era still inspires and its music still delights us. And fats, though it has lived down some of its notoriety, is still fighting to clear its name; the good ones at least.

During the 80's when the sugars took the place of fat, people had a new kind of problem. Because sugar was used to cover up for the lack of fat in foods, blood sugar rose to sky high levels. Fats help in decreasing the rate of absorption of sugar in the bloodstream. It leads to blood sugar and insulin spikes which leads to hormonally induced hunger. Insulin regulation is one of the ways to manage fat gain because insulin spikes mean eating more to relieve hypoglycemia or low blood sugar symptoms.

When the fat component is 10% or less, a diet is considered very low fat. The usual recommendation for fat is 15 to 20% of the total daily caloric intake. Some people, in their zeal to lose fat can boast of not eating fat at all. These same people also complain of not losing body fat at all. When little amounts of good fats were again included in their meals, they gave positive results. This proves that good fats in appropriate amounts help jumpstart fat loss in people who don't get enough of it. Fat deficiency, though rare, slows down metabolic activity. Its effect to metabolic activity is the same as skipping meals.

There a lot of benefits that a little good fat in your diet gives. A very low fat diet, meaning less than 10% of total calorie intake, makes your body go into starvation mode. It promotes hormonally induced hunger is very difficult; almost impossible to resist and leads to bingeing. When your meal plans are low in fat, most likely, you are also low in essential fatty acids. These fats encourage fat burning and regulate energy which is important in your fat loss plan. Very low fat diets compromise testosterone levels. This hormone, which is responsible for the male's secondary sex characteristics, is also responsible for the development of muscles. This is the reason why most females, however hard they try will never get as muscular as males. They naturally have low testosterone levels.

Some people may still believe that fats are generally bad, but you should not think the same thing. Good fats help and bad ones don't. It doesn't mean that you can eat all the fats you want. You should always practice portion control. Good fats are still fat. Getting the right amounts is still a requisite for fat loss.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Stamina 1215 Orbital Rowing Machine, Stamina 4545 Magnetic Recumbent Bike, Stamina 4825 Magnetic Recumbent Bike, Stamina 5325 Upright Exercise Bike. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Stamina 1215 Orbital Rowing Machine

Friday, January 28, 2011

Protein For Muscle Building Needs

If your strength training program is geared toward adding more muscle mass it is crucial that you support it with the right eating plan. This does not mean indiscriminately piling on calories because the wrong types of food will just add fat rather than muscles to your body. You are even advised to complement your weight lifting with cardio workouts because as you increase lean muscle mass you also need to eliminate your fat. High protein content is basically needed for the right food plan for muscle building since the foremost requirement of the body for muscle building is protein. Information on the best kind of protein for your needs as well as the amount of protein you should be taking is important for you to gather.

For the body to be able to do the tasks of muscle repair and muscle building it needs to have a calorie surplus to work with, which means that you will have to eat more calories than you are using. By getting most of your calories from protein you can make sure that those extra calories will not be quickly converted into fat by the body. If you are into serious strength training and weight lifting, you should have a daily intake equivalent to 1.8 grams of protein for every kilo of your body weight. To arrive at your weight in kilos divide your weight in pounds by 2.2, then multiply the quotient by 1.8 to get your daily protein requirement. A person weighing 150 pounds would weigh 68.18 kilos and would have a daily protein requirement of 123 grams.

Tryptophan, threonine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine+cystine, phelylalanine+tyrosine, valine and histidine are the nine essential amino acids that the body needs to build muscles and are contained in complete protein. Most protein foods that have animal sources, such as beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, cheese, yoghurt and milk, are complete proteins. Even if you are a vegetarian, though, you can still have complete protein by combining incomplete plant proteins such as legumes and whole grains in one meal.

You have to be very discerning in making your protein food choices, though, because most complete proteins are not lean. To qualify as lean protein, the particular protein food should have only one to three grams of fat per ounce, or even less. Fish would be the leanest among the complete proteins and the fat content of coldwater fish is considered healthy fat. Poultry has to be skinned before cooking, though, and beef and pork cuts should have no no visible fat or marbling.

You can be sure of getting the right amount and type of protein for your muscle building needs by computing your daily protein requirement and taking only the leanest complete protein.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Stamina 1205 Precision Rower, Stamina 55-1539 Therapy Inversion Table, Stamina 55-1610 E1000 Elliptical Trainer, Stamina 55-2065 Elite Elliptical Stepper. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Stamina 1205 Precision Rower

Weight Loss Tactics for the Holiday Season

The holidays are considered to be very perilous for those who are weight conscious. The amount of weight one gains during the holidays varies between one to ten pounds. Sadly, a lot of people are not able to get rid of this weightgain after the holidays. All the gained weight for all the holidays that have passed will then add up. In the end, you will be overweight. Being obese and overweight can predispose you to a lot of health problems. Here are some things you should bear in mind in order to prevent or minimize gaining weight. Hopefully, they can provide you a lot more holidays to enjoy in the coming years.

Starving yourself prior to a party can leave you drowning amidst numerous consequences. Most people would compensate by not eating before and after an event. Your diet plan will surely be in great trouble when you are doing this strategy. Making yourself go hungry can make you eat a lot of high calorie party foods. Your metabolic activity can also be decreased when you are starving yourself. You should eat foods which are low in calorie but high in volume before the party instead of starving. You can manage your cravings with a few tasty morsels. Hunger is known to be a biological need that requires to be filled before it is satisfied. You should treat holiday delicacies just like what they are supposed to be treated. You should savor these treats. However, you should still include healthy food choices as your main food source. Fruits, vegetables and lots of fibers should also be included. These stabilize sugar levels and help minimize cravings.

You have to drink plenty of water during the entire day. Always make sure you have a bottle of water with you wherever you go. You can curb hunger by keeping yourself hydrated. Most often, people mistake thirst for hunger. Eating for the wrong reasons increases your total daily caloric consumption. Water can also fill you up just before eating at a party. Drink two cups of water while checking out the buffet table. You'll be able to choose wisely before filling up your plate. If you went all the way with the scrumptious food, try to make the next day's meals healthy. Studies show that eating healthy meals after a pig out can reverse some of its effects on cardiovascular health.

Eating fruits and vegetables prior to an event can make you eat less of the more sinful foods. Fruits and vegetables are known to contain less calories but with high volume. That means you can easily eat a lot of it but still stay within your daily caloric requirement. Ensure the success of your weight loss plan by maintaining a regular exercise regimen. The busy holiday season can make us neglect exercise. If you're tempted to do so, think again. Exercise creates caloric deficits when you are within your daily caloric budget. If you've had a little too much food, exercise can tip the odds in your favor.

Knowing the consequences of weight gain makes you more aware of its effects on your health. Being overweight is a problem a lot of people face. Doing something to prevent it is the right solution. Keeping a healthy weight is a lifelong responsibility to your self.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Stamina 55-2065 Elite Elliptical Stepper, Stamina 1205 Precision Rower, Stamina 55-1539 Therapy Inversion Table, Stamina 55-1610 E1000 Elliptical Trainer. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Stamina 55-2065 Elite Elliptical Stepper

Slim Down Fast By Maximizing Your Equipment

More people nowadays are struggling to lose weight in light of the rising health awareness. This may translate into healthier diets and increased physical movement. Of course, it is important to remember that losing weight does not have to depend on having complicated machines or expensive club memberships. All you need to know is to maximize whatever equipment you have on hand, and you can enjoy exercising while saving money. There are machines that almost anybody can buy. Once you understand how these machines can help you lose weight, and how to make them meet their full potential, you will be more than happy to make them your loyal companions.
The first is the stationary bike. It does not move like an ordinary bicycle. While staying in place, it does not require much space but delivers a heavy sweating session. It comes with different settings and tension levels, allowing you to simulate mountain biking if you tighten the gears. You will sweat greatly in this mode. On the other hand, lighter settings make it feasible for older or weaker users. You can maximize the effects of these exercise bikes by alternating a regular pace with bursts of high-intensity pedaling. The speed bursts interspersed with regular pace means you get a heightened heart rate while building endurance for longer exercise.

The second equipment to consider is the stepper. This contraption is simple in that all it requires is a person to step on its pedals like climbing the stairs. However, the stepper is very much easier to use than the stair master, making it more recommended for amateurs. Some have straps for arm movements, making the stepper a catch-all for whole body workouts. A timer and meter that records the steps you take are attached to the contraption. Others even count the steps and convert them into an estimated distance, letting you imagine where you might have reached if walked in a straight distance. You can maximize your heart rate by jumping off the stepper for some jumping jacks and back again.

Lastly, the treadmill is also an advisable simple equipment. The difference between a stepper and a treadmill is that you can actually run on a treadmill. If you prefer walking, try to incorporate short bursts of running. Just be careful to adjust the speed according to your capability, because if the machine outworks you, it can cause serious falls. There are manual-type treadmills that do not have a mechanism to move other than your own walking. These are much more affordable for the beginning user.

Once you master these three basic equipment, you can well be on your way to that slimmer body without needing any other facility. You can see that maximizing the use of your simple equipment will deliver results close to that which you get from a gym membership.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Stamina 55-1610 E1000 Elliptical Trainer, Stamina 55-2065 Elite Elliptical Stepper, Stamina 1205 Precision Rower, Stamina 55-1539 Therapy Inversion Table. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Pregnant Women Can Exercise Safely

Exercising is considered a good way to ensure an easy delivery. As such, many pregnant women are curious about how to exercise safely. How does a woman exercise without putting her unborn baby at risk? When one is pregnant, is it not advisable to be well-rested and avoid strenuous activities? Pregnant women should keep several things in mind before starting on any exercise program.

First of all, remember to consult your obstetrician. The most prone for miscarriages is the first trimester, making doctors hesitant to approve exercise during that time. They would usually recommend exercise only in the second or third trimester. However, since every pregnancy is different, you will need to consult your particular case. This means your doctor's specific advice is imperative. The doctor will be the person to say if you can exercise. There are women who breeze through the first two trimesters and wind up with trouble in the last. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Second, make an appointment with trainers who are experienced with exercise during pregnancy. Health clubs sometimes have special routines designed especially for pregnant women. Your local health center may also hold classes for pregnant women and expectant fathers. These can include how-tos on pregnancy and include principles for exercising.

Lastly, stay on the safe side by doing low-impact workouts. Walking is still the safest exercise, as well as some water-based movements. Pool exercises are easy for pregnant women since buoyancy makes their tummy feel lighter. This allows free movement not restricted by the added weight. Well, these workouts would be best done with an expert, but even on your own, you can take some time walking around in the pool. Even in this case, be sure that your doctor has given you his approval to exercise.

At least you can now relax knowing you can still exercise safely while pregnant. Just bear in mind that you will need to keep your doctor updated, especially if anything unexpected occurs either during your exercise or even while you are resting. It's not anything to be panicked about, of course, just usual procedure of letting your doctor know how you are doing and how the exercise is benefiting you. And then you can relax knowing you are one step closer to an easier delivery!

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Stamina 55-1539 Therapy Inversion Table, Stamina 55-1610 E1000 Elliptical Trainer, Stamina 55-2065 Elite Elliptical Stepper, Stamina 1205 Precision Rower. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Treading The Path To Long Life

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it." This was said by Oprah Winfrey encapsulating the benefits of running. The time and energy you give it are reciprocated through the numerous advantages it gives you. Running is not just an exercise for losing weight or maintaining your figure. It can also give you longer life. YES, you read it right, LONGER LIFE! Now, before you start thinking that I'm extolling what might be the key to eternal life or a new wonder drug, I am not. I am simply saying that running, a very ordinary even mundane activity. People who have two functional legs, can do something as simple as running. How can it?

There were studies done to prove how relevant running is to having a longer life. The reason might be because it requires a lot of energy. Exercising allows your body to be in the best condition. Then, let's try to look at the specific benefits of running.

Foremost, researches have proven that those who run are less likely to get certain diseases. To elaborate, those who run are more protected against heart disease. Running is a cardio-vascular exercise. Running conditions the heart and the body to its prime. The heart can pump the blood more quickly. Running burns the fats which may impede our blood circulation. People are less likely to get cancer and some neurological diseases if they run. Wait, that's not all, runners are less prone to disability. They do not acquire injury easily.

Still. do not forget that there are other alternatives to running. You will probably achieve the same effect from any habitual vigorous physical activity. I am merely pointing out that there have been studies done to confirm the benefits of running. Through these studies, we have confirmed that running extends your life. Most likely due to the low chances of a runner getting a certain terminal disease or injury. There probably are quite a lot of vigorous activities you know of which can be a substitute for running and give the same results. They most probably do not have running's simplicity and convenience. Their results won't be as thoroughly researched as running.

In closing, if you are looking for a simple but effective way to lose weight, choose running. If you need an effective exercise for that does not require complex movements, choose running. If you want to have an activity which has a broad range of proven benefits, choose running. If you want longer life, CHOOSE running.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Stamina Versa-Bell 50 Adjustable Dumbbells, StairMaster SM916 StepMill, Stamina 15-9003 Recumbent Bike Rower, Stamina Versa-Bell 25 Adjustable Dumbbells. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Stamina Versa-Bell 50 Adjustable Dumbbells

Goal Setting Strategies To Unleash Your Fitness Potential

It is essential that we set goals however there are some people who don't realize that. Your dreams are the start of what you wish to be. However, dreams change along with the seasons and they don't have deadlines. When you are willing to do everything to make your dreams reality in a given period of time, they become goals. When working towards getting fit, the simple act of setting goals cements your commitment to it. Skipping this crucial step will make you wander off and get diverted from what you really want to achieve. When trying to lose fats, a lot of people tend to fails because they lack goals.

Goals are capable of motivating you as well as directing you towards the things you want to achieve. Goals are capable of helping you to translate your thoughts into action. Deciding to get fit and writing it down makes you focus on them. Thouts are futile without any actions. Nonetheless, letting your thoughts guide your actions will surely make you reach for your goals. You have to focus on what you want to achieve. And not on how impossible it is to get away from fats. You should not dwell on the negatives. This will only limit the things you can do as well as make you feel like you are such a failure.

Goal setting is important because it provides us with a point of focus. The subconscious mind is a powerful opponent if you feed it with negative thoughts. Such thoughts like you just can't lose the last five pounds, you'll never be able to trim down your belly and other similar lines all contribute in zapping your motivation. Goals help you focus on the solutions rather than the problems. Instead of focusing on your inability to lose the last five pounds, your focus should be centered on exercising and eating healthily to address the problem.

Psychologists estimate that we think over sixty thousand thoughts per day. Ninety eight percent of these thoughts are the same as yesterday and most of them are negative. That is the reason why it is good to practice positive thinking. A lot of us are used to think of negative thoughts which makes positive thinking a new way to experience life. We have it in us but we don't know how to use it to our advantage. Fortunately for us, we have a hundred percent control over our thoughts. Consciously guard your thoughts by refusing to dwell on the negative. As soon as a negative thought pops in your head, make sure to supplant it with a positive one.

Goals have the power to transport you from where you are to where you want to go. They can become real if you want them to be. You actually hold the keys to your fat loss success. Other people can advice you on what to do. Ultimately though, it is you who will have to open the door. The goals that you set will help you unlock it.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Stamina Versa-Bell 25 Adjustable Dumbbells, Stamina Versa-Bell 50 Adjustable Dumbbells, StairMaster SM916 StepMill, Stamina 15-9003 Recumbent Bike Rower. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Stamina Versa-Bell 25 Adjustable Dumbbells

Post-Partum Blues: How Exercise Can Help

Majority of mothers undergo a period of feeling highly sensitive after giving birth to a baby. It can stem from a sense of loss after getting baby out of the womb, or an overall self-esteem beating from extra weight. In any case, it is one of the most tumultuous times for the mom, as well as for the dad, who might not know the first thing in dealing with her frequent mood swings. A good way to help prevent the emotional extremes is to get into a workout program as soon as possible.

This is largely because exercise releases endorphins, or hormones that result in happy feelings. These are the hormones in charge of relieving stress. When you exercise, it triggers the release of these hormones, resulting in a happy feeling. In a way, they will be able to curb the emotional highs and lows caused by hormonal imbalances during and after pregnancy. It also serves as a better way to relieve stress instead of depending on the refrigerator.

Exercise can also fight her feelings of ugliness by giving her some confidence again. Even though she may not necessarily look fit right away, knowing that she is doing something to achieve it will indeed boost her self-esteem. Being preoccupied with the workout will also mean she won't have to spend her time moping around the house. An important side comment is necessary, that she gets the approval from her obstetrician before commencing on the exercise program. Usually, doctors allow exercise starting from one or two months after birth, depending on the mode of delivery.

Lastly, exercising will also give her some sense of control over her general situation. Struggling to take care of a newborn usually adds stress to the new mother. As such, doing something familiar like taking a brisk walk or working out on home fitness equipment will at least lend some sense of being in control. To some extent, it will help give her a sense of calm. As a result, a less harassed mom will also be more confident in learning to care for her newborn, and a chain-reaction will follow.

Knowing how to cope with post-partum depression is very important for the benefit of the mom, the dad, and the entire family. This is especially important since looking on the wrong way to feel good will only snowball into a worse set of mood swings at this very sensitive time. At least exercise is proven to have positive effects all throughout. This makes it one of the best ways to battle the blues that come on right after delivery!

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Stamina 15-9003 Recumbent Bike Rower, Stamina Versa-Bell 25 Adjustable Dumbbells, Stamina Versa-Bell 50 Adjustable Dumbbells, StairMaster SM916 StepMill. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Stamina 15-9003 Recumbent Bike Rower

Simple Tips To Reduce Calories

Nutrition is a significant part of our fitness plans. You will surely reap big rewards by taking time on planning your daily meals. Having basic knowledge of what goes into everyday foods allow you to swap high fat ingredients for low calorie ones. This will allow you to maximize your satiosfaction without the weight gain. One secret of making your nutrition plan tick is to make sure that your food is palatable. You should find it appealing enough to commit yourself to it. Or else, you might find yourself cheating on it. In the end, those who cheat are the biggest losers. Or in this case, the opne that will be gaining additional pounds.

Midday sandwiches are healthy if you know how to choose what's good for you. Turkey and chicken should be your top picks. Highly processed meats should be avoided such as ham but you may compromise on roast beef. Instead of having mayonnaise, try on avocadoes to moisten your dry sandwich. On salads, try to go easy on light olive oils. Compared to the extra virgin ones, they are not as nutritious. You will be able to save on the calories but you will lose out on the nutrient content. You can compromise by using extra virgin oil sparingly.

Before eating, drink two glasses of water. Since it will make you feel full, you will be eating lesser. Doing this will also make you adequately hydrated for the rest of the day. When going out, it would be best to choose beverages which are low in calories. Since liquid calories are not seriously taken as rich calorie sources, you may gain weight without knowing it. Unsweetened iced tea and water are good choices. To avoid getting overwhelmed in the buffet table, just remember this rule. You should try to fill your plate with fruits and vegetables. Fill the rest with complex carbohydrates and lean protein.

If you've got a chocolate craving you can't shake off, here's a little trick. Add shavings of dark chocolate into chili or barbecue sauces. You'll get a rich flavor plus antioxidants. Just don't overdo it. Rid your canned beans of too much sodium. These are rich sources of protein but too much sodium is not good for your health and your belly. Rinsing canned beans sheds one third of their total sodium content.

A healthy nutrition plan is essential for lasting weight and fat loss. This is simply because such action will enable you to sustain the entire process. Temporary "fits all" diets are just quick fixes. They may be effective at first, however, purely unreliable in the long run. All the weight you lost is bound to come back later. A healthy nutrition plan is like a good spouse. It might not be the most attractive option but one that will assuredly love you back.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: StairMaster SM916 StepMill, Stamina 15-9003 Recumbent Bike Rower, Stamina Versa-Bell 25 Adjustable Dumbbells, Stamina Versa-Bell 50 Adjustable Dumbbells. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

StairMaster SM916 StepMill

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Can You Really Lose Weight With Basic Gym Exercises?

One of the best and proven ways in losing weight is exercising. However, you may find yourself confused amidst the wide array of methods and techniques in exercise. You can maximize weight loss as well as cut your gym time by making the right choice when it comes to exercises. Properly executing exercise makes it possible to lose the most amount of pounds in the smallest amount of time. Activities such as running,rowing and intensive weight training have the potential to improve your health.

You may expend lots of calories with running. You may utilize treadmill or you can run outdoors. In running, all you need is a good pair of running shoes. Your intensity influence your calorie expenditure. A ten minute per mile run is worth seven hundred calories per hour for you. The means that you were able to expend 250 calories in 20 minutes of running. Increasing your speed to six minute miles increase calorie expenditure to almost 370 calories per twenty minutes.

The full article is posted here...

How To Make Cardio Fun

Making cardio fun may sound like pipe dream to most. Stay with me, though, and you will see something that makes perfect sense. And that's coming from someone who used to be a total couch potato. For years, I went with zero exercise on a daily basis. Then I decided to get into shape, and the difference in the way I feel and the quality of life that I have now as compared to before, is like totally night and day.

First point is that you must make it fun. That doesn't mean that it won't be uncomfortable at times. It will be, especially if you're out of shape. No doubt about that. The point is that the goal, or the end result if you will, is to end up with a lifestyle where working out and exercising is fun to you. That is the goal. keep that in mind. The physical discomfort is short-lived because after a few weeks, you will start to quickly get into a nice routine.

Read the full article...

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Gym Exercise that Drops Pounds Fast

One of the best and trusted ways of losing weight is workout. However, it is quite confusing due to the wide array of exercise methods and techniques. You can maximize weight loss as well as cut your gym time by making the right choice when it comes to exercises. Making sure that we properly execute these exercises also ensures that you can get rid of the most number of fats in the least amount of time. Activities such as running,rowing and intensive weight training have the potential to improve your health.

Running can help you expend lots of calories. You may perform it by uilizing a treadmill or you may do it outdoors. Running does not require any equipment except perhaps a good pair of running shoes. Calorie expenditure depends upon your intensity. A ten minute per mile run is worth seven hundred calories per hour for you. This conveys that there is almost 250 calories expended in 20 minutes of running. Increasing your speed to six minute miles increase calorie expenditure to almost 370 calories per twenty minutes.

There is nothing new to gyms having rowing machines. You will be able to burn lots of calories in a short span of time when rowing. Intensity matters when it comes to running. The amount of effort you put into it is commensurate to the number of calories you expend. Light intensity rowing exercises burn approximately 8.33 calories per minute. This is a bit higher compared to the usual 5 to 6 calories of other cardio exercises. You may burn down upto 14 calories every minute of doing vigorous rowing exercises. That is almost 285 calories for every 20 minutes of workout.

High intensity weight training is the best. You can increase weight training intensity by lifting heavier weights, doing compound exercises or performing supersets. Lifting weights for maximum calorie burn require choosing weights that tire your muscles totally by the end of the set. Compound exercises are exercises that target several muscle groups in one exercise. Because of the number of muscles worked, compound exercises burn more calories. A superset is performed by doing a set of one exercise immediately followed by another set of a different exercise. There should be no breaks in between. Not resting between sets ensures that you burn extra calories and stimulate different muscle groups.

It would be efficient if we are able to find gym exercises that actually works. Doing running, rowing and intense weight training exercises all work toward realizing your goal of a fit and shapely figure. These are especially useful for people who want to make the most of their time. You can be sure that these exercises, done correctly, can make you drop those pounds in the minimum amount of time.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Precor AMT100i Adaptive Motion Trainer, Polar RS400 Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Polar RS400SD Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Polar RS800CX Heart Rate Monitor Watch. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Precor AMT100i Adaptive Motion Trainer

Cardio Workouts Are Maximized With An Empty Stomach

It is not recommended to drive on empty when you are talking about a car. It is dangerous to be driving with your fuel tank empty. When doing your cardio workout, however, this is exactly what you must do to ensure optimum benefits. When cardio exercises are done on an empty stomach, more weight is lost. Because cardio exercises are very efficient calorie burners, the body burns up carbohydrates during a workout and, in the absence of available carbo, burns fat. Your goal is to always get into that effective fat burning zone.

The best time to do your cardio workout is, therefore, in the morning before breakfast. The body is empty of available carbohydrates in the morning since it has been many hours after your last food intake. This is the longest unintentional fast that you can take advantage of. You only have to do your warm up exercises and soon after you launch into your basic cardio workout, your body will be pushed into burning up your stored fat.

Another advantage of performing your cardio exercises in the morning is that you will persist in benefiting from its fat burning effects all day. Even after the end of the session, the body metabolism that has been raised remains at a higher level. The cardio workout early in the morning invigorates physically and psychologically and makes you more active and energetic for the day. This improves the fat burning power of your body even more.

Of course, if working out upon waking up in the morning is not an option for you, you can still improve the efficiency of your cardio workout at any hour of the day by ensuring that you have not eaten for at least two to three hours before the session. Carbohydrates should be avoided or limited as much as possible. The situation is not the same as a completely empty stomach but it is definitely an improvement over a full stomach. You just have to keep in mind that you may have to do a longer session because in the first few minutes of the workout your body will just be burning the available carbohydrates you have eaten earlier in the day. A longer session will ensure that your body gets to your stored fat at some point.

Keep in mind that in putting your body through a cardio workout, it is best to drive on empty. This will burn more fat and get you faster to the target weight you want.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Polar RS800CX Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Precor AMT100i Adaptive Motion Trainer, Polar RS400 Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Polar RS400SD Heart Rate Monitor Watch. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Polar RS800CX Heart Rate Monitor Watch

Enhancing Your Metabolism For Maximum Fat Loss

Ripped, chiseled and cut. Those words would come across your mind everytime fast metabolism is mentioned. It means you're burning calories at an efficient rate all the time. A fast metabolism can assure you that you are burning clories at a pace that maximizes your fat loss efforts whatever you are doing. It may be self-contradictory but you can achieve fat loss by eating frequently. According to fitness experts, increasing meal frequency is one known strategy that can increase metabolic efficiency. The success of your get lean goals are not only dependent on the quality of foods you consume. It is also about having the precise timing when your body can take perfect advantage of it.

A weight loss plan that is well structured can be inefficient with a slow metabolism. A sluggish metabolism can defeat the fat loss efforts of even the most dedicated fitness enthusiast. You need to discover the secret to fast metabolism in order to manage this problem. The most effective of revving up your metabolism is by eating small and frequent meals. In combination with a good exercise regimen, eating nutritious small, frequent meals literally turns your metabolism into a fat incinerating machine. There are people who tend to be surprised after finding out the results of this meal plan.

Usually, what you want is a fat loss plan that works as soon as possible. The safest would be 1 to 2 pounds aweek. However, having a slow metabolism can actually cut your progress even if you strictly follow a well designed exercise regimen. Small, frequent meals will make you reach your goals sooner because it will hit your metabolism problems right between the eyes. That is not to say that three square meals a day will not give you results. It will, but not at the rate you'd like to.

"Too busy" is probably the most common reason you'd encounter why people will resist a five or six meal day. If you're of them, ask yourself how many times you eat in a day. Is it two, three, or more? Skipping breakfast is also committing a fitness sin. Having 2 big meals in one day is an even bigger problem. You can get soem results with 3 nutritious meals a day plus a good exercise. A five meal day gives you good results. However, having a 6 meal day can give your metabolism the biggest boost. This is just about the maximum number of meals you can fit in one day without disrupting sleeping hours.

Knowing how to unleash the power of your metabolism will make you lose a significant amount of fat. For some, small, frequent meals can be too much of a hassle. It all depends on what you are willing to do to achieve your goals. For most people, it takes twenty one days of repeating a pattern before it becomes a habit. Twenty one days is surely short enough in exchange for a lifetime of fitness rewards.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Polar RS400SD Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Polar RS800CX Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Precor AMT100i Adaptive Motion Trainer, Polar RS400 Heart Rate Monitor Watch. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Polar RS400SD Heart Rate Monitor Watch

The Difference Between Fat Loss And Weight Loss

People often use the terms weight loss and fat loss interchangeably. Weight and fat are considered as tweo different things. The total of what the body is entirely made of is termed as weight. Fat is just a piece of the whole. You have to differentiate one from the other in order to make your fitness programs more specific and effective. You should have specific goals in order to come up with the right formula on how to reach it. To hit your target, fitness plans should focus on what you're trying to aim for. For many people, that would be fat loss.

Certainly, beauty is a matter of preference. However, most people would rather have the sculptured and lean looking muscles than spongy fat. Even if you have healthy set of muscles underneath, fat is still capable of covering it making you look soft. You may achieve an ideal weight and still look fat. That mainly separates weight loss from fat loss. You can lose weight and still have a thick layer of fat in your body. If you are able to lose fat, the beauty of your muscles can be very obvious. A body of lean muscles may not only look good. This can also help you feel good.

You should develop your muscles in order to combat fats. Muscles are actually heavier than fat in a pound per pound basis. Muscles are tightly weaved tissue that carry its weight. Fats are actually depending on muscles to carry them. This is one of the reasons why fat people get tired easily. They have so much fat that their muscles and bones work harder to carry it. Muscles burn calories even when you're at rest. The more muscle fibers you have, the more efficient your body burns calories. The weighing scale is not an accurate measurement of fitness. Fitness requires men to have 10 to 14% of body fat percentage. Women, because they are genetically predisposed to it, should strive for 16 to 20% body fat percentage.

A weighing scale cannot tell the difference between muscles, water and fat. It simply tells you how heavy you are. Boxers and wrestlers can achieve weight loss easily by dehydrating themselves days prior to the weigh in. Then again, we are not boxers or wrestlers or even professional mixed martial arts fighters, we just can't dehydrate ourselves and risk being rushed to the nearest hospital. Fitness is not measured by the weighing scale. Evaluation tools for body fat percentage are more precise in determining if you are truly fit or not.

The difference between fat and weight loss is indeed very obvious. Working towards fat loss can be harder but infinitely more rewarding. Admit it, hard muscles are really more preferable than spongy fat.

Over at the FitnessArmory.com, you can let our expert advice on fitness and equipment reviews help you create the perfect home gym but without all the huge costs. We have the exclusive reviews on all your favorite brands and models to help you get in shape, get healthy and look great. Recent product reviews include: Polar RS400 Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Polar RS400SD Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Polar RS800CX Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Precor AMT100i Adaptive Motion Trainer. We invite you to stop by or drop us a line if you have any questions or need help with your fitness equipment selections.

Polar RS400 Heart Rate Monitor Watch