Walk Faster and Live Longer?

This post on MSNBC caught my eye. It's about a study that's going to get published in the American Medical Association (AMA) that shows how life expectancy can be measured (or predicted) by simply looking at walking speed.

Also, the study was based on review and analysis of previous research that looked at walking speed, sex, age, body mass index, medical history and survival rate for almost 34,500 people.

Of course, we all know that exercise of any kind leads to better overall health, and so this isn't that big a surprise. But what's interesting is that their findings show that those who walked 1 meter per second (about 2.25 mph) or faster consistently lived longer than others of their age and sex who walked more slowly.

Dr. Stephanie Studenski, study researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, said, "We're able to show that a person's capacity to move strongly reflects vitality and health."

The researches were quick to point out that the purpose of the study was not to get people walking faster as a means for life extension. It's more about using walking speed as a metric for gauging the health level of their patients. It's just another metric to be used to gauge overall health just like blood pressure,

Quote: "Pass it on: Older adults who walk faster than 1 meter per second may live longer than those who walk more slowly."

Sources: MSNBC.com, FitnessArmory.com

Top Three Chest Exercise Using Dumbbells

Do you want to develop your chest muscles? The answer to your question may be done at home and what you will need is just a pair of dumbbells. Having a perfectly toned chest is superb especially if you want to get rid of the fat deposits in your chest that makes you feminine-looking. People with gynecomastia, or the condition of males having large chests, are commonly searching for ways to get rid of those "man-boobs" with muscles. Well, here are some chest exercises that uses dumbbells.

One Arm Floor Press. This exercise will workout your chest muscles, and your shoulder and arm muscles also. But instead of using your hands simultaneously, use them one at a time. Start by assuming a floor press position. An arm should be placed on the floor for leverage. Hold a dumbbell with your free arm and carry it at shoulder level. Gently raise your arm carrying the dumbbell while tightening your body's core. Bring the dumbbell down to your starting position and repeat the lifting step. Do the same number of lifts for the other arm. It is also vital that you start lifting with your weak side so that you would work that arm out while you are still fresh.

Alternating Dumbbell Hip Raise. After your one arm floor press routine, you can proceed to the dumbbell hip raise exercise. While lying supine on the floor, grab a dumbbell in each hand. Slowly lift your hips off the floor but keep your feet and upper back planted on the floor. Raise your left hand to the ceiling while lifting your left shoulder off the floor. Lower it gently. Next, do the same procedure to the other arm in the same manner. Repeat this alternating sequence for 1 - 3 sets.

Dumbbell Push-up. This is a difficult exercise to perform yet the force it gives to your chest muscles is also optimal. To do this exercise, you need to position yourself as if you are getting ready to do push-ups. The difference is that you will be holding on to the dumbbells while doing this. Perform a push-up but at the top of the movement, bring a dumbbell closer to your chest. Let the other arm support your body. Bring the dumbbell down. Perform another push-up and lift the other dumbbell to your chest. Repeat this sequence as tolerated.

Doing these exercises may take a lot of time before you can notice any change in your chest. However, only the people who persevere get what they want. If you have the right fitness equipment and the drive to do these dumbbell exercises for your chest, then you better start as early as now.

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: Pure Fitness Inversion Table, Ironman Gravity 4000 Inversion Table, Ironman LX300 Inversion Table, Marcy IVT450 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.

Top 3 Biceps-Toning Exercises

If you desire to have perfectly shaped arms then you should start developing your biceps. The biceps are among the most attractive part in a person's body. However, it takes a lot of time and the proper training to shape one's biceps. In this article, you can read three fun biceps exercises. Of course, muscle toning requires certain equipment such as dumbbells or barbells. In this matter, you might need to do these biceps exercises at the gym. But, if you have the proper home fitness equipment, it would be much easier to work out in your own home.

Standing Barbell Curls. This is by far the most profound biceps exercise. This will surely tone your biceps into a huge bulk of muscles. You need to have access to a 45 lbs barbell and some weights. To do the routine, grab a barbell using both hands. You can hold it using a narrow, medium, or wide grip in doing this. Be sure that your hands are supine and at the level of your hips. This is your starting position. Bring the barbell slowly to your chest and hold this position for several seconds to allow for peak contraction of the biceps. Lower the barbell slowly back to the starting position.

Alternating Rotating Dumbbell Curls. This exercise is much easier compared to standing barbell curls. The purpose of the alternate movement is to allow you to do alternate curls to each arm by applying the same amount of force. Too start, grab a dumbbell in each hand. Start doing hammer curls with one hand. At the top of the movement, slowly rotate that arm until your palms are now facing forward. As soon as you bring down that arm, start the same procedure with the other arm. You may do as many reps as many reps as you can.

Pull Ups. In doing pull-ups, your biceps and back muscles are worked out. You need to have a vertical bar to do this routine. Monkey bars are also good. However, if you don't have anything like this in your home then it may not be possible for you to do pull-ups on alternative yet risky pull-up bars made of weak materials. Pull ups are easy to do. You would just have to hold on to a vertical bar and pull yourself up with the use of your biceps strength. Pull ups can be done for about 1 to 3 sets with 16 reps for each set.

If you maintain these exercises then, over time, you can surely notice the bulk in your arms. However, biceps development requires patience because it may take several weeks before you see actual results. If you are a busy person and you don't have enough time to go to the gym then getting your own home fitness equipment.

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: Marcy IVT450 Inversion Table, Pure Fitness Inversion Table, Ironman Gravity 4000 Inversion Table, Ironman LX300 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.

Boost Metabolism with the Right Diet and Exercise

An efficient metabolism is often cited as one of the major players in the game of losing weight. Metabolism may be seen in a lot of articles regarding weight loss. Why not? An active metabolism means increased calorie expenditure. A consistently active metabolism can enhance or maintain weight loss. Depending on one's diet, a fast metabolism can make a huge difference. This is reflected in your weight and your total well being. There are many ways to improve metabolic activity, as follows.

The three factors that largely affect metabolic activity are dieting, physical activity and aging. Cutting back on food intake slows the body down. Your body also has the probability to store fat. This is one reason why crash dieting is not a good weight loss option. There will be a decrease in your metabolic rate if all you do is sit all day. The less activity you have, the slower your metabolism. Your metabolism decreases by 1 percent every decade in your life. Metabolism may be influenced by other factors. However, it would be very useful to consider it if you would like to maintain your weight.

A restrictive diet packs a double punch to your metabolism. As we all know, cutting back too much on your diet will decrease your metabolic activity. This will also breakdown your muscle tissue for energy. And we know that muscles utilize a lot of calories. Eating too little is not sustainable. Eventually, your body will demand more. Weight gain is then unstoppable if this occurs. Eating a high fiber and protein diet will help you boost metabolism. Eating lots of whole grain products, fruits and vegetables is the way to go. It is also good to consume tap or cold water. But drinking cold water can make the body work harder to match your body temperature. This increases your resting metabolic rate.

Cardio and weights will boost metabolism. Doing it regularly may be enough to cancel out the slow down that dieting brings about. Weight training two to three times a week gains you a pound of muscle per month. A pound of muscle uses up to 50 calories per day. This conveys that having more muscles will enable you to expend more calories.

Metabolism depends on the food you eat and your activity. The human body is a perfectly designed machine. It can recognize threats to its survival. For instance, when it perceives hunger, it slows down metabolism. That's why crash diets won't work. Instead, choose foods with high nutrient value and low caloric count. Metabolism is affected directly or indirectly by virtually everything you do. It is reasonable to assume that a healthy lifestyle promotes an efficient metabolism. And an unhealthy one results to sluggish metabolic activity.

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: Ironman LX300 Inversion Table, Marcy IVT450 Inversion Table, Pure Fitness Inversion Table, Ironman Gravity 4000 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.

Your Perfect Body Fitness Plan

Everybody dreams of having a perfect body. And, everybody knows very well what a perfect body looks like. The movies, internet and TV all have their own versions of a perfect body. The media wants us lean, ripped, sculpted and thin. However, a perfect body is more aesthetics. A perfect body is characterized by being strong, healthy and functional. Your body may not be anything like what you see in magazines. Your genetic material may have naturally designed your body to be an apple or a pear. But you can mold your body into its most perfect shape with these tips.

Exercise is your number one strategy to get your perfect body. Cardio exercises trim down excess fat. Strength training builds strength and sculpt muscles. Generally, your trouble zones are the ones which stand between you and perfection. For some people, these could be love handles and saddlebags. Losing the fat is easy when you are working hard on your cardio. You have to commit to 4 to 6 days of cardio exercises in a week. Interval training keeps your body guessing. Getting at least twice a week of strength training is a good idea. You have to increase intensity on body parts which seem to be smaller. For instance, a pear shaped person needs to work more on the upper body.

You should have a rightful place in your life for food. And that's as your body's fuel source. Food can be many things to many people. You should initially ask yourself if you should just before you eat. Will it provide you with much needed nutrients? Or will it just add fats on you stores? Make small changes in your diet. You should eat more vegetables and fruits. You should eat whole grains instead of white bread and other simple carbs. You have to eat breakfast in order to kick start your metabolism. In this way, you will be able to avoid eating too much later in the day. One study encourages you to drink milk after a workout. Muscle development is promoted by the proteins in milk.

Flexibility should be possessed by a perfect body. You will be functional for a longer time if you can maintain your flexibility. What's the use of a perfect body if it can't even do the most mundane task? Flexibility will be maintained with the help of stretching. It is often overlooked. It is nonetheless important. Stretching improves circulation, posture and flexibility. Elements that is essential to maintain functionality.

Your body is the only one you're going to have in this lifetime. What you make of it is totally up to you. You can just accept it. Or you can do something about it. Your motivation to improve should come from your own desire to be healthy. Focus on your health. A pleasing body shape will soon follow if you work hard on 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: Ironman Gravity 4000 Inversion Table, Ironman LX300 Inversion Table, Marcy IVT450 Inversion Table, Pure Fitness 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.

Tips On How You Can Improve Your Running Speed

When we workout, the first thing we always want to get is a great result. Thinking that it can give immediate results, most people resort to over exercising. The only thing this does is give you an immediate injury especially if your body is not used to working out yet. In order to get the results that you want, you have to remember that working out is a slow process that needs to be coupled with a healthy diet. Running is usually the number one exercise people opt to do because it's easy to do and gets them sweating fast. Running helps you burn a lot of calories at a shorter period of time. Because of that reason, some people tend to run faster when they start than they're supposed to. You can get the result you want and increase the difficulty like most exercises by doing gradually to get even better results and stay safe.

Not all athletes who run start running the way they do. Everyone has to start slow first. Getting your body ready is the important thing when increasing your running speed. You first have to train your muscles to be ready to run faster. You can acheive this by simply adding a running exercise to your workout because prepares your body for faster running. You can begin with a slow run and gradually turn it faster as well since this helps you lose weight. The increase of your speed can be blocked by excess weight.
You have to improve your flexibility as well because this is the most important thing you need when running. When you are flexible, your body's power increases and that power is an important factor in improving your speed. Flexibility can help you do longer strides which is needed in developing your speed. And obviously, if you cover more ground in fewer strides, the tendency is that you would want to go quicker. A good running form also helps in improving your speed. The better your posture is when you are running, the less stress you have when running making it easier for you to accelerate with less effort.

You can also do some tempo running. Tempo running is a technique where you run with an increased speed just above your normal one but slower than the fastest that you can go. Or to put it simply, it's faster than a jog but slower than a marathon run. Running at a manageable pace is what a tempo run does. This makes sure that you are not running on heavy legs. Our legs build up lactic acid as we run which makes our legs heavier making it harder to run. We have a lactic acid threshold which is basically the limit of lactic acid our legs should get to avoid feeling heavy. Tempo running increases your lactic acid threshold causing your legs to feel lighter longer.

When you want to get fast results when you workout, the key is not to push yourself over the limit. Training yourself to gradually increase your ability is the key to get to the exercise level you want to be in.

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: Ironman Gravity 2000 Inversion Table, Ironman ATIS 3500 Inversion Table, Ironman ATIS 4000 Inversion Table, Ironman Gravity 1000 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.

Tips For Building Muscle Quick

Most men have one goal when they workout and that is building their muscle. Exercise is a gradual process so the results don't appear sooner than we expect it to. That's why some people opt to use drugs to get their muscles to build up quickly but those have risks. When you're doing weight training, there are actually some things that you can do to build muscle fast.

The first thing you have to do is to stop over training if you have just strated with weight training or if you haven't improved your strength yet. It doesn't help you get the results faster, it helps you get hurt. You have to plan the exercise that you will be doing. Avoid working out for more than one hour a day and 4 days a week. This causes too much stress on your muscles. When you start training, plan out a variety of exercises that will target every muscle in your body. This lets your muscles rest while the others work. You can do your chest and arms on one day, then your abs and legs. Keep in mind that with weight training, just like with any workout, you have to make it more difficult as you progress so you can get the results you want. You will not move forward if the same exercise that you're doing is starting to get easy but you're still doing it.

Stretching is one of the important things that we overlook when we workout. You can help your muscles to loosen up and grow and also avoid getting it injured when you stretch. Incorporating cardio exercise on your workout is a good idea so that you lose the excess weight you may have. But avoid over doing your cardio exercises as it counters the effects of your weight training. Cardio exercises are catabolic, which is a process that breaks down, while weight training is anabolic, which is a process that builds. You also have to give your muscles time to rest. It's very easy to do that because all you have to do is get a massage or sleep for about 8 hours.

Having a strict diet is one of they keys to building your muscle. The primary food group you have to have in your diet are those that are high in protein because they help build muscle. You also need to pack on some healthy calories from whole grain foods, fruits and vegetables. Your diet should also have carbohydrates so you can get some energy for your body. Energy that you would need when you are working out. It is okay for you to use supplements but only if they have been in the market for more than a year.

When you have the dedication for it, it would be easy for you to build the body you want. Have a clear vision of how big you want to go and go for it. You have the tips you need right here.

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: Ironman Gravity 1000 Inversion Table, Ironman Gravity 2000 Inversion Table, Ironman ATIS 3500 Inversion Table, Ironman ATIS 4000 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.