6 Reasons Why You Need an Exercise Break

Either you have exercise for fun, for weight loss program or for toning your body, the exercise intensity should be adjusted to your own body. That's why there is no instant way to lose weight or to build muscles. High intensity exercise is not always correlated to better result.

Want a proof ?....

Have you ever got these symptoms during or after your workout session ?

Decreasing performance

You are in a good shape, and in a high mood to have an intense exercise today. But when it comes to muscle exercise, suddenly you face a difficulty to lift the same weight you usually have. Why?

Rapid pulse

At night after exercise...your heart is still pulsing rapidly that force you to stay awake for hours. What's wrong?

Lack of fitness motivation

You are a fitnessholic, and exercise has become your favorite activity. But today...you really don't feel like going to the gym neither to do exercise at home. Suddenly exercise becomes a responsibility. What happened?

Decreasing immune system

Up till now you are proud of your health, as one of sport's benefits is increasing body immune system. But lately you get sick so often even though you keep maintaining your exercise schedule. What's wrong?

Recovery Problem

In a healthy person, recovery after workout usually takes 1-2 days time, depends on the exercise intensity. However after your last exercise, you still got soreness and exhausted after 4 days. You feel weak and lose concentration at work. Is it normal?

Lose appetite

This has gone too far! When you lose your appetite, you won't regain your energy to do another exercise. And if you force yourself to continue your exercise, you will only torture your body!

So, what is going on here ?....

Within your routine exercise and obsession of weight loss or muscles toning, you have unconsciously come to a level of overtraining. Overtraining doesn't mean you lift a heavier weight or run faster than usual. Overtraining happens because you do not give your body enough time to recover. This is where you need an exercise break before having another exercise.

There are two types of exercise break :

Exercise Break Between Exercises

If you used to have intense daily exercise, then you can choose cardio-muscle exercises combination in every session. However, do not train the same muscles (back & chest or triceps & biceps) exercises on the same day. To avoid overtraining, have one week exercise break after every 8 weeks of exercise. You can have a swim or enjoy other sports that you like just for fun, remember...you're on an exercise break!

For men or women who don't need intense exercise, and only go to the gym 2-3 days a week, you can have your exercise break between your exercises to recover your muscles.

Exercise Break Between Sets

Either cardio exercise or muscle exercise should be performed with exercise break between sets or session.

Cardio exercise

20 minutes exercise break between 2 sets of 30 minutes of static bike, is believed to burn more fat than having 60 minutes nonstop exercise. It's because your body will use the exercise break period to get more energy from the fats. Use the exercise break period to do stretching or light treadmill.

Muscle exercise

Exercise break is very important in weight lifting exercise, to optimize your exercises. The rule of exercise break depends on your goal in having weight lifting exercise.

* For toning muscle: 30-60 seconds between sets, with minimum 10 repetition each set.

* For muscle resistance: 30 seconds between different muscles or 3 minutes between the same muscles, with 12 repetition for each muscle.

* For muscle strength: 3-5 minutes between sets, with 3-6 repetition each set.

Start a healthy exercise by inserting exercise break in your exercise schedule from today,....Happy exercising!

My name is Fanda Amnesiana, an exercise lover. I have written many articles related to exercise, weight loss, and diet at my website: http://www.myexercise-for-woman.com If you are in weight loss program or if you want to tone your muscles, you will find many fun exercises for woman that you'll going to love!

A Simple Guide For Beginners in Weight Lifting

When you have decided to start weight lifting to tone your muscles and burn more fats, you need to know some of the basics so that you will not overwork yourself and end up having strained muscles. Weight lifting can be effective in increasing the muscles mass, toning, and strengthening the muscles.

If you are just a beginner in weight lifting, you should understand that slow and steady lifting is the key for an effective lifting of weights. However, you should always remember that before beginning any kind of exercise regimen, you need to consult a physician first to determine if your body is capable of doing the exercises or not. Your exercise will also be based on your health history. Therefore, it is important to disclose the details about your health to your attending physician.

Once you're all ready and your doctor has agreed with lifting of weights as your form of exercise to lose weight and maintain a physically fit body, then you can start up with small barbells. These lightweight barbells are already enough for a starter. Starting with small barbells will help you in training your muscles so that it will adapt to those ranges of motion that you are not originally doing before.

Through these small weights, your body will get conditioned with the different range of motion exercises so that it can gradually adjust as you are also adjusting with the weights that you are using for your workouts.

Once you are already used and your body is already conditioned you can already begin with gradually increasing the weights that you are using. Keep in mind that the lightweights that you are currently using are only for training your muscles and warming it up for more intensive workouts. Through this, you won't be much pressured when you are already carrying bigger weights.

Working out and exercise is definitely an important physical activity that should be incorporated in everyone's lifestyle. However, there are still some people who are living a sedentary lifestyle. If you are one of these people, then you should start thinking of ways on how to keep your body active. You can try out various gentle exercises at home through the convenient use of a Swiss ball.

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Choosing Proper Weight Training Equipment

You're not alone should you question if you are better off lifting free weights compared to working with weight machines. The answer to this problem is complicated because it ultimately is determined by your circumstances and goals. In simplified terms, perhaps you may question which provides you with the most bulk. Well, although free weights will certainly utilize more muscle types, they don't automatically build larger muscles. It depends just how much, how frequently, and in what type you utilize each. Both enable you to receive a total body workout and get a complete body of muscles.

Free dumbbells usually are cheaper, and do offer a workout for additional muscle groups during each weight lifting motion. Then again, weight machines enable you to keep proper form, and is very important for proper muscle growth and accident avoidance. You do not need a training partner to work with nearly all weight equipment. They are good to make use of by yourself assuming you have an know-how about proper form. Any free weights ought to be done using a weight lifting partner for the best gains.

Listed here is a short selection of some other equipment you'll find beneficial...

Exercise Diary

A good work out diary is an valuable piece of lifting equipment. It is always necessary that you maintain a record of any growth every week so that you can see how you're doing. It will be important that you know precisely how much you lifted the week before, since it's your ultimate goal to continually lift more each week. And to be precise, it is advisable to write it all down using a exercise diary.

Bag

If ever you are going to workout at the gym during your dinner break, then a gym bag is obviously important. Hitting the gym properly means breaking a sweat and it likewise will mean that you are going to need to bath and change at the gym before heading once more to your job. If you ever workout for your lunch or dinner break and don't take a gym bag with you, then you will not prefer to break a sweat and risk stinking for the remainder of the day. Given that you aren't gonna perform training session properly, then what is the purpose? You certainly won't be building muscles and / or dropping any fat!

Belt

You may use lifting belts for exercises like the squat as well as dead lifts. A few people assume you don't have to rely on them while other people think that you must. Just what exactly do you need to go about doing? What about not using it when you are initially doing the exercises, and after that, when you can finally find the weight growing more heavy, you start using the belt to protect your self from personal injury.

Straps

Lifting straps are often very useful bodybuilding accessories when using substantial weights. When you're working on stiff legged dead lifts, lifting straps can really help you. You now will not have any more reasons as to why you simply can't do stiff legged dead lift reps when you use lifting straps.

Protein Shake

It's essential that you bring a post exercise shake with you to the gym. After your workout our bodies is going to be hungry for glycogen and the easiest method to nourish it is with a post work out beverage. The best time for your post workout drink is always when you complete training session. The drink should really include a blend of whey protein isolate, dextrose and malt dextrose. This blend of carbohydrates plus protein is going to be utilized rapidly by your system, making certain your muscles are getting the complete nutrition they need after your regular workout.

Weight machines enable you to keep proper form, and is very important for proper muscle growth and accident avoidance. You do not need a training partner to work with nearly all weight training equipment [http://topweighttrainingequipment.com].

A good work out diary is an valuable piece of weight lifting [http://topweighttrainingequipment.com/articles/finding-weight-training-equipment-that-fits-your-needs] equipment. It is always necessary that you maintain a record of any growth every week so that you can see how you're doing.

Dos and Don'ts When Exercising With Dumbbells

Incorporating dumbbells into your daily exercise regimen has a host of benefits whether your intention is to build bigger muscles or just to keep fit and build stamina. It is a form of weight lifting that is pretty much user-friendly. You essentially just need one set of dumbbells, which is 2 dumbbells: one for each hand, and you are set to go.

Strain and Sprain

As with any form of exercise, it is imperative to pay close attention to some dos and don'ts so as to protect yourself from getting hurt while doing any of the exercises. Exercising incorrectly can lead to undesirable muscle strain and ligament sprain which is what you must do in your utmost to avoid. A strain is when the muscle is stretched too far or torn. This damages the muscle fibers. When bone or joint ligaments are over-stretched or torn, it results in a sprain. Ligaments are fibrous connecting tissues that connect muscles to bones and joints.

Dos and Don'ts

DOs


Warm up first before you start lifting the dumbbells, even if you are just practicing. Warm-up exercises help warm up the muscles to prevent overstretching too quickly which could hurt either muscles or joints as mentioned earlier. You can warm up the muscles with light cardio, or by doing a light set of each exercise before proceeding to heavier weights.

Take a rest in between sets of exercises. A set is defined as a group of repetition for different exercises.

Go slow when handling your weights. Lift and lower your weights slowly and steadily.

Stand up straight. Make sure your posture is straight. Engage your abdominal in every movement you make to keep balance and protect your spine.

Choose at least one exercise for each major muscle group. Some major muscle groups are: chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and abdominal. Leaving any muscle group out could cause an imbalance in your muscles and possibly lead to injuries.

Take a rest for 1 to 2 minutes, or long enough to catch your breath, between each set of exercise.

After you complete your routine, remember to cool down with light cardio and/or stretching.

Take rest days too! They are as important as workout days. Make sure the same muscle groups is not worked for 2 consecutive days.

DON'Ts


Don't use momentum to lift the weight. If you have to swing to get the weight up, you could be using too heavy weights.

Don't forget to breathe! We are tempted to hold our breath especially when it is the toughest. Don't. As the American College of Sports Medicine puts it "Exhale when the exercise is hardest, and inhale when the exercise is the easiest."

Check out Dumbbell Routines and Exercises for a total body workout to improve your physical fitness in 90 days. Digital format means you can get started working out right away.

Tips Of All Sorts is a health reporter's journal with notes on modern day issues that matter to everyday living.

Easy Exercises You Can Do at Home Using a Stability Ball and Free Weights

First let's talk about exercise equipment. You don't need a fancy treadmill or a bow-flex machine to workout at home. The best exercise equipment doesn't come in a fancy package and cost hundreds of dollars. There are several hundred exercises you can do at home. In this article I will give you a few ideas for easy exercises you can do at home using a stability ball and free weights.

A stability ball alone can give you a full body workout. Stability balls incorporate balance and core training. A stability ball also shortens your workout because you have to work harder to stabilize yourself on the ball. Using a stability ball helps with core training by working more than one muscle group at a time, which also shortens your workout.

Free weights are very inexpensive and offer a workout equal to or better than weight lifting machines. When using free weights you also incorporate balance, which helps to develop core strength.

Abdominal crunch

Lay flat on the ball. The ball should be centered with your lower back, placing your feet flat on the ground. Lay your hands across your chest. Slowly lift your torso up to a 90- degree angle concentrating on your abdominal and hip flexors. Then, lower back to starting position.

Variation

Add a twisting motion to the upward phase to work your obliques.

Sitting lifts (legs)

Sit firmly on top of the ball with an upright torso, your feet placed flat on the ground. Place your hands on your hips, slowly lift and extend one leg into the air while maintaining your body position, hold for three seconds and then slowly lower. Repeat with the opposite leg.

Wall slides

Placed the ball at your belt line, step forward 12 inches, keep your feet shoulder width a part. Keep your back straight, and squat down until your knees reached a 90 angle. Then extend your legs to return to the upright position.

Variations (Arms)

Wall slide curl and press, adding free weights. Using the same stance as the wall slide. As you squat down, lift the weights up to your shoulders, bending your elbows. As you come back to a full stance slowly lower the weights down.

(Shoulders)

Wall slide press, keeping your body in the same position as the wall slide, hold the weights at your shoulder level and as you bend your knees slide down the wall and lift the weights over your head. As you extend your leg to the up right position, slowly lower the free weights to the starting position.

(Back)

Kneel on the ground with the ball placed under the stomach and chest. Arms should be held out to the sides slowly raising your hands slightly above shoulder level then slowly lower.

These are only a few easy exercises you can do at home. Using a stability ball and the free weights offer several levels of intensity. Depending on your skill level, will depend on how much weight you start with. Also you should check with your doctor before you start any exercise program. Using easy at-home exercises is a great way to stay in shape but remember every exercise program needs a good diet program as well to help you lose weight and keep it off.

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Exercise - A Successful Plan

What Is Exercise?

  Exercise can be almost any activity that uses our muscles with a beneficial degree of intensity and for a sustained duration. Do not assume  however, that all exercise is equal or that all exercise is beneficial.

What Is The Best Exercise For Our Bodies?

  It depends upon our goals. Losing fat, gaining muscle mass, going long distances etc. are all acceptable goals and various forms of exercise can be utilized to achieve them. However, when pursuing the goal of health, only certain forms of exercise, at certain times, are effective. In other words, a person who is healthy may use all forms of exercise, but not all exercise makes a person healthy.

  Fitness vs. Health

  Before  I ever knew anything about exercise, nutrition and the adverse effects  of stress, I was able to maintain a high degree of fitness from regular  exercise. Basketball and weight lifting were an integral part of my  week. If a stranger looked at me, he would think I was in good shape  and healthy. Yet, with a sustained increase in stress, I would usually  get sick. Other signs were also present, including chronic mucus in my  throat, frequent sniffling, sneezing, allergies to cats and dogs and  some foods, achy joints, and swelling in my left knee. Although I was  able to lift weights for two hours at a time and play basketball half  of the day, I was still plagued with the above symptoms. Although I was  fit, I was not healthy. I believe that most exercise programs that  utilize the "no pain, no gain"; approach are unintentionally producing  the same problems among the public.

  For  our purposes, fitness is defined as adapted to, or suited. When an  athlete allows his body to adapt to the various stress he has placed  upon it, the body will most certainly become fit. Health, however, is  defined as all the systems of the body working together harmoniously  and in their most efficient manner. The fit person is not necessarily  healthy, nor is the healthy person necessarily fit. The fit athlete,  having trained his body appropriately, is able to perform strenuous and  astounding feats, yet this benefit will most likely come at the expense  of other tissues, and often of health itself.

  It  is not uncommon to hear that an athlete has had his career cut short  due to nagging injuries, or has even died unexpectantly while training.  From my experience and study, I have found that certain deficiencies  can be expected when we train for fitness and not for health. These  deficiencies often lead to persistent injury, sickness and in extreme  cases, death. This is because fitness training places heavy burdens on  the body's anaerobic (sugar burning) system, while neglecting the more  important aerobic (oxygen and fat burning) system.

  The Anaerobic System

  The  anaerobic system is vital to life. It gives us the quick energy we need  by using stored glycogen (blood sugar) to perform an activity. Very  small amounts of glycogen are available for use by our muscles at any  given time. That is why weight training "sets" last only a short period  before the muscles, "burn out." Too much anaerobic training can cause  chemical imbalances leading to injury and eventually illness. Weight  training, sprinting, fast jogging, and most other sports are forms of  anaerobic exercise.

  Without  a doubt, we need our anaerobic systems for burning sugar, brain energy,  maintaining fat burning and for an additional source of body energy  during times of stress. Also, regular amounts of resistance exercise,  like weight training for example, have been shown to strengthen bones  and the surrounding soft tissues in women with osteoporosis. There are  other benefits as well. Unfortunately an imbalance is present in this  society, with too much emphasis placed on anaerobic development.

  We  are made up of two types of muscle fibers that are simply named "fast" and "slow". Fast fibers are also called anaerobic fibers, while slow  fibers are called aerobic fibers. Your genetic makeup often determines  how much of each you have. Through training, an athlete can change the  function of a particular fiber, making a slow fiber act like a fast  fiber and vice versa. Once training has stopped, the cells gradually  return to normal. Sprinters and bodybuilders do not have the same  number of slow fibers as long distance athletes; instead, they have a  great deal more fast fibers. All athletes, which include everyone who  exercises regularly, have certain special needs. However, it is  interesting to note that athletes participating in fast fiber sports  perform better if they train their slow fibers as well according to the  method given below.

  The Aerobic System

  Aerobic  training, (light jogging, easy swimming, easy biking etc.), is  extremely beneficial in the promotion of health. In order to engage  this system, we must exercise within a certain, low heart rate range.  The aerobic system relies on great amounts of oxygen in order to  produce energy, and the major fuel used when training aerobically is  fat. The same amount of fat contains more than twice as much potential  fuel as do carbohydrates. Therefore, when we engage our aerobic systems  during exercise, we not only become more efficient, we also burn fat.  Not only should fat be our fuel of choice for energy, it is also the  one most people want to get rid of in the first place. Too much aerobic  training is possible, but rare. For the most part, aerobic activity  will strengthen our immune, respiratory, circulatory and  musculoskeletal systems. Additionally, we lose fat and increase our  energy.

  The  most appropriate exercise for people is a prolonged, steady use of our  slow fibers. Studies examining the effects of aerobic exercise and  general health bear this out. Walking and other forms of aerobic  exercise have been recommended for all people, because of their health  promoting effects.

  Benefits of aerobic exercise:

Decreases stress on sensitive tissues like the adrenal glands
Reduces the chance of over-training
Increases blood circulation to all tissues
Strengthens immune system
Promotes fat loss
Detoxifies tissues and eliminates waste

Exercise Goals

It  was very difficult for me to give up basketball, even when I knew that  the anaerobic stress was damaging my tissues. My love for competition,  continued improvement in the sport and overall enjoyment of the game  were the reasons I had a hard time quitting. Needless to say, my  emotional attachment to the sport allowed for a distortion of my  priorities. I had often told patients, concerning their health, "Short  term sacrifice means long term benefits" and, "discipline is not a  four letter word." Knowing I was not practicing what I preached, and  hearing my own words echo in my head, I soon submitted to my  conscience. The good news is that once I began to develop my aerobic  system, I was able to once again play basketball, and this time without  pain.

Many  of you who are reading this book may have an emotional attachment to  one or several things that are not healthy. You may need to give up  some things completely; others may be returned to you in time, once a  greater level of health is achieved. You should not look at these  changes as anything but positive. Always remember that when we take  care of the things God has placed in our trust, including our body, we  are blessed. 

How to Start 

There  are two goals with exercise - to care for our bodies, or if you are an  athlete, to improve performance. The program below meets both of these  goals. 

Almost  all people have an aerobic system deficiency; those that don't, will  not be harmed by doing extra aerobic work. Therefore, we should start  by building the aerobic base. This may take up to three months. During  this time, NO anaerobic exercise should be performed. For some this may  sound difficult, and it is. You will find an appropriate time or season  in your schedule. Just remember that exercise is an integral part of  health. Without exercise, health is not possible, so the sooner you  start, the better. 

Dr.  Phil Maffetone wrote a book, In Fitness and in Health, which discuses  the topic of exercise in depth. I have found this book to be a  straight-forward, common-sense approach to exercise and have included  many of his ideas in the exercise programs I recommend. I present some  of these ideas below. 

Target Heart Rate  

The  body switches from fat burning to sugar burning at a specific heart  rate. Therefore, the purchase of a heart rate monitor is highly  recommended. Once you enter the high heart rate range and engage the  anaerobic system you will no longer burn fat even if you return to a  lower heart rate. This means that all aerobic benefit could potentially  be lost. A heart rate monitor will help you stay below the anaerobic  range and will beep when you exceed it. Heart rate monitors are very  simple to use and usually include two pieces: a wrist piece that tells  the rate of beats per minute (doubles as a watch when not in use) and a  strap that goes around the chest which picks up the electrical signal  given off by the heart. They may be purchased at most sports stores for  less than $100.00. 

To find your target heart rate range:      

Take 180 and subtract your age.  
Then add or subtract from this number based upon the following:
Recovering from a major illness, surgery or taking daily medication...subtract 10
Have  not exercised before, or have exercised but have been injured or are  regressing, or experience frequent colds, flu, or under high  stress,..subtract 5
Exercising  for up to two years without any real problems, and have not had colds  or flu more than once or twice per year..subtract 0
Exercising  for more than two years without any real problems and have been making  progress in your program or competition..add 5

  For  example, a fifty year old man who rarely exercises and gets the flu  and/or a cold or two most years would have a maximum aerobic heart rate  of 125bpm (180 - 50 -5). Then, his maximum aerobic range would be from  ten beats below his maximum, up to his maximum (115bpm-125bpm). The  heart rate monitor can be set for this range. When exercising above or  below this range, a beep will sound.

Without A Heart Rate Monitor

You  will still derive great benefit from training your aerobic system, even  if it is below the ideal range, and you will lose some benefit when the  range is exceeded. So, exercise at a very low pace. A light sweat, easy  breathing and a feeling of not having done much when through are all  good signs that indicate you have trained below your maximum rate.

What to Expect

Most  people will be shocked at how quickly their heart rate exceeds their  maximum range. I frequently need to reinforce this style of exercise to  patients who simply can't believe that training so slowly can do any  good. Patients who are presently joggers and who exercised two or three  times per week with no apparent difficulty, are surprised to find that  their normal exercise routine produced a heart rate 10, 20, 30 or more  beats above maximum. These were the same patients who showed many signs  of adrenal fatigue and nagging injuries. In only a short period of  time, after training in their aerobic range, they were able to resume  their previous running course and speed, this time with a much lower  heart rate and few, if any, nagging injuries. This indicated that they  had indeed developed their aerobic base and were beginning to receive  its many benefits.

Another  sign that you are training aerobically is the presence of sore muscles.  Since most people have trained their fast fibers while neglecting their  slow fibers, they have unknowingly become sugar burners instead of fat  burners. While training at a lower heart rate, the slow (fat burning)  fibers will be the primary tissues worked, leading to soreness. This  soreness, after an easy aerobic workout, is good. It will pass in a few  days and is a sign that you are on the right track.

Selecting a Program

An  aerobic program should be performed at least three times per week for  thirty minutes each time. As the training progresses, frequency (up to  five, sometimes six times per week) and time (up to sixty minutes or  more) can be increased.

Walking  is the best way to start and will be the only choice for most people.  If you are currently doing some form of exercise, then your body may be  able to lightly jog or swim. Whatever the exercise, it should involve  the large muscles of the legs, be continuous for the determined amount  of time and always stay in or below the target heart rate range.

The Emotional Component

Wanting  to exercise can be just as important as doing it. The emotional  component in any activity should always be addressed. Therefore, pick a  route that is enjoyable, a time of day that is convenient, clothing  that is comfortable, and an attitude that is appreciative and  determined. Tying productive emotions into any new routine or  discipline helps to get through the tougher stages and encourages progress.

Warm Up, Cool Down and Stretching

Warming  up and stretching are essential, but they are not the same thing and  should not be done at the same time. Warming up is as simple as a slow  easy walk for ten minutes. It is necessary in order to prepare the body  for exercise. Warming up should always be done first. Once exercise  begins, the metabolic by-products (toxins) of muscle activity need  somewhere to go. Warming up ensures that a sufficient amount of blood  is circulating prior to exercise, so that these by-products can be  carried away to the liver for detoxification and elimination. Warming  up also increases the amount of free-floating fatty acids available for  fuel - our desired energy source. Also, up to 80% of the blood in the  organs will be transferred to the muscles during stressful activity.  Warming up allows for this to happen slowly and gradually, decreasing  the overall amount of tissue stress. Ten to fifteen minutes is all that  is required for a proper warm up period.

After  a brief warm up period, stretching may be performed. The added  circulation from the warm up period allows for greater elasticity and  flexibility of the tissues during a stretch, both of which decrease the  chance for injury. Do not stretch through the point of pain and do not  bounce when you stretch. Stretching beyond the normal range of motion  may temporarily increase flexibility, but it also leads to micro  injury. The best form of stretching is a static-active stretch. This  means that you perform a light stretch, moving slowly to a point of  resistance, and contract the opposite muscle for 10-20 seconds. For  example, if you want to stretch the muscles on the back of the right  leg, mildly contract the muscles on the front of the right leg for  about 20 seconds.

The  cool down is just as important as the warm up. Cooling down allows a  gentle return of the blood to the various organs. If we stop suddenly  after exercise, the blood rushes too quickly into the organs, bringing  with it the many chemical waste products that were produced. Since most  of our blood is stored in the organs when we are not active, many of  the chemical waste products will be trapped there as well. This leads  to chemical stress and potential toxic buildup. If severe enough, all  the aerobic benefits from the exercise can be lost. Also, the cool down  is the first stage of the post-exercise recovery. Recovery from  exercise is just as important as the exercise itself. Simply go  gradually slower than the exercise pace until your heart rate is about  10 - 20 beats above your resting heart rate. This should only take  about ten minutes and is all that is needed.

You  will begin to get to know more about your body and its specific needs  before, during and after exercise. Always try to "tune in" to what is  going on in your tissues as you exercise. The body gives us many  warning signs; we need only to pay attention and heed its call.

Maximum Aerobic Function Test (MAF)

After  beginning an exercise program, it is important to monitor progress to  ensure that you are developing as intended. You will notice many  subjective changes: feeling better, not as tired, more energy, not as  sick, sleeping better etc. Also, you should perform a maximum aerobic  function test (MAF) to check for objective changes as well.

Pick  a distance that can be measured. When you begin the program, while  walking in your target heart rate range, complete your chosen course  and record your time. Over the next few weeks repeat the test. If you  are able to walk the same distance in less time while maintaining your  target heart rate range then you are improving your aerobic system. The  opposite can be done as well. Pick an amount of time you are going to  perform an exercise, and measure how far you go. If you are making  progress, you should be able to go further in the same amount of time  on the next test. These tests are important emotionally because they  demonstrate that progress is being made, which encourages further  exercise. Perform an MAF test every 3 or 4 weeks.

I  you are not improving, evaluate your health. Have you been sick,  stressed, getting enough rest, eating bad foods etc.? Address these  issues and keep going. Most will find that they improve rather quickly  and that they have to progress from walking to a slow jog in order to  maintain their minimum heart rate range.

Summary

Train aerobically for three months without anaerobic exercise.
Do not exceed your maximum heart rate at any time during your workout.
When training without a heart rate monitor, only exercise at a pace where little exertion is noticed.  
Warm up.
Stretch.
Cool down.
Do monthly MAF tests to ensure progress. 

When to Add Other Exercises

After  the initial three months is over, you may begin adding back your  favorite exercises as long as they are the minority activity of your  week. Aerobic exercise will always be the best for our bodies because  that is how we were designed. You should find however, that after an  initial adjustment period, you are now able to perform your old  exercises at an even greater level of ease and comfort. In a two-week  period, I may play basketball once or twice, lift weights two to four  times and do aerobic training in between. I do these activities because  I find them enjoyable, and this regimen seems to work well for me.

Evan James provides more free and extremely helpful information in his content rich Health Beat Today Home page. To search through other helpful articles on the website, explore - Health Beat Today Site map - Check http://www.HealthBeatToday.com

Get Big Muscles For Summer - What You Need to Know Before You Hit The Beach

It's getting to be that time of year again, the weather is warming up and good-looking women just seem to be popping up everywhere. It's also the time of the year that most guys start thinking about getting in shape before the summer fun begins. If you're like me, you to try to make it to the beach at least a couple times over the summer and when you do, you like to look good. Well today just happens to be your lucky day because I'm going to help you get big muscles before it's time to break out the bathing suit.

Now if you're saying to yourself "I don't want to get bigger, I want to lose weight," then I suggest you continue reading because what I'm going to teach you is just as effective for losing weight (and adding a little muscle) as it is for seriously bulking up. The only thing that will be different is how much you eat. If you want to lose weight then cut back on food just a little bit. If your goal is to bulk up and pack on muscle then you should add an additional healthy meal to your daily diet. I personally recommend eating some low fat cottage cheese before bed because it's loaded with slow digesting protein that will keep you full and make sure you're putting on muscle all throughout the night. But ultimately the decision is up to you.

I only have so much room for this article and I can't lay out a complete workout routine but I can guarantee that by the time you're finished reading you will know everything you need to know to pack on some major muscle. Your friends might start calling you "Matthew McConaughey" this summer because they can't remember the last time they saw you with a shirt on (that guy NEVER wears a shirt...)

The best way to get big muscles is to do a combination of body weight exercises and compound lifts. Body weight exercises such as push-ups and pull-ups are extremely effective at building muscle. Go to any military base and you'll see a bunch of guys with big chests, huge arms and wide backs. That's because these guys are literally paid to do push-ups, pull-ups, and other body weight exercises a few times a week.

In addition to body weight exercises you should start doing compound lifts. Compound lifts are ones that make use of multiple groups and are some of the most effective at building muscle fast. The lifts I suggest you focus on are the bench press, squats, and dead lifts. Now this is where most guys say "hey, I'm not really interested in building up my legs" and they just skip the squats and dead lifts.

This is a HUGE mistake. If you're like me and you want to get the absolute most out of the time you spend in the gym then you need to do these exercises. These exercises work your biggest muscles (your legs) which causes your body to ramp of production of testosterone and growth hormone, which in turn build new muscle all over your body and not just on your legs. The easiest way to add inches to your arms is to try to add them to your legs first.

Well there you have it, start doing these exercises a few times a week and I guarantee that you'll be looking great on the beach this summer. Have fun!

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How Do Repetitions Affect Your Weight Training?

One of the least understood terms in weight lifting jargon is the word repetition. The number of repetitions, or reps, that you perform matter quite a bit to your overall weight training strategy. Basically, if your goal is to build the biggest, strongest muscles that your physiology allows, then you need to be performing low numbers of repetitions, about 4 to 6 (perhaps even as low as 1 to 2). The key here is to lift a heavy enough weight so that by the end of the last repetition, you are unable to perform another rep in good form. If you are seeking more moderate growth and are more concerned with body tone then muscle mass, then you would aim for 8 to 12 reps before muscle failure.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has classified repetition workouts into the following categories:

High Intensity - Performing 6 to 12 reps of an exercise before muscle failure. High intensity exercises pose a greater threat of injury, but also more reward in terms of building muscles. This technique is more suitable to experienced weight trainers and athletes.

Moderate Intensity - Performing 8 to 12 reps of an exercise before muscle failure. This is the ideal number of reps to strike a natural balance between building muscle strength and muscle endurance. This approach has a lower risk of injury.

Low Intensity - More often recommended for older adults or the novice trainer with very little muscle mass to begin with. The ACSM recommends performing between 10 to 15 repetitions.

Why does performing less repetitions result in more strength?

This is only a valid statement if you follow the basic tenets of weight lifting. The number of reps you perform should link directly to the amount of weight you lift. So if you are only performing 6 repetitions, you should be using a MUCH heavier weight then if you were performing 12 reps. Remember, the goal here is to use a weight that is heavy enough so that the last repetition should be very challenging, if not almost an outright struggle.

Weight training isn't an exact science where you can plug in numbers and expect to get a certain result. Everyone's body responds differently to exercise. The key things to remember are this, to increase muscular endurance, you want to focus your efforts on doing longer repetitions, like 12 to 15, but doing only 2 to 3 sets. To increase muscular size, you want to do much lower reps, like 6 to 12, but doing many mores sets - anywhere from 3 to 6 sets. To increase muscular strength, you want to do less reps, fewer then 6 and anywhere from 2 to six sets.

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How to Work Out With Weights - 9 Guidelines For Beginning

Many people find walking into an exercise gym for the first time intimidating. You want to get into better shape but you don't know exactly where to start. Except for that one obvious beginner in the corner working with a professional trainer, everyone seems to know exactly what to do. You don't want to hire anybody, at least not yet, you just want to get familiar with weight lifting exercises and become more comfortable with them.

Major Muscle Groups

One place to start is to think about your major body areas or muscle groups. Keep in mind that most weight lifting exercises for the upper body stress the arms and many of them also involve the shoulders. Most back and chest exercises will also work the arms and shoulders to some degree.

Therefore, work your back and chest before getting to your shoulders. Your shoulder exercises will also work your arms somewhat so leave exercising your arms for last. You can fit your abs in anywhere though opinions vary sharply about this. Some people like to start with their abs. I like to work my abs either after my shoulders or wherever I want to give my arms a break, or sometimes first, to get my core warmed up. You can also work your legs in anywhere or reserve a separate day just to work your lower body.

Some people prefer a more involved approach to weight lifting exercise and like to work just a few muscle groups per workout. Many variations exist along these lines yet they quickly become too involved and advanced to squeeze in here. I just want to give you a quick overview and a few tips about how to get started.

Nine Basic Guidelines

Nine basic weight lifting exercise guidelines to keep in mind as you're starting out are:

1) Start out with light weights. Go easy and carefully so as not to hurt yourself. An injury early on may sour your attitude toward working out.

2) Respect your own body, your ultimate teacher. If some theory or advice you've heard conflicts with what your body tells you, trust your body!

3) Wait two days to measure your results, to recover, and to see how sore you feel after every workout. You won't know the impact of your last workout for two days. Then you can see how you feel. Don't exercise two days in a row when starting out.

4) Watch others as they perform their exercises and try to focus on those people who seem to have good form. They'll often have good muscular development as well.

5) Ask questions of the people who look like what you'd like to look like, not other beginners. If you find this difficult you can also ask the trainers that work for the gym some questions.

6) Whoever you ask, be sensitive to their body language as they respond. Are they just being polite? Do they know what they're talking about? Does it feel as if they don't really know what to tell you? Be quick to accept they don't have the answers you're looking for. Just because they know how to do it doesn't mean they can teach you how to do it.

7) Don't do heavy free weight exercises without a spotter - some friend or exercise partner to watch and help out if you need it. A useful alternative here is to use some of the exercise machines available at a commercial gym. Some people prefer free weights to machines but machines have the distinct advantage of increased safety for those starting out. I will often use a machine with heavy weight if I'm working out alone and I have no one available to keep an eye on me.

8) Don't stop learning. We invariably have more to learn, improvements to make, and new insights to gain.

9) Rather than competing against others with different backgrounds, histories, needs and objectives, compete against yourself and gradually try to top your own previous results.

Now go have fun, create the body you've always wanted, don't get hurt, and welcome to "the club".

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Lifting Heavy Vs Lifting Light For Muscle Mass

How many times have you heard someone tell you that they want to get toned so he is going to lift lighter weights? You should smack some sense into him. Lifting light weights will NOT get you nearly as toned as lifting heavy weights. You hear people say "I just want to tone up. I'll lift light!" This is completely and utterly wrong.

There is no such thing as a toned or un-toned muscle. Muscle is muscle. It can be big or small, but not "toned". People who lack definition have a layer of fat covering their muscular structure and/or not enough muscle in general. The fastest way to get that shredded look is to have as much muscle as possible while being as lean as possible.

Therefore, to achieve that "toned" look you so desperately aspire, you need to do just that: build muscle and lose fat. If all your routine consists of is lifting light weights for numerous reps, you really aren't doing yourself justice. While some exercise is better than none, not all exercises are equal in terms of developing the results you want. You really need to shock and stress the muscle enough for it to grow. Proper stimulation of the muscles through damage of the muscle fibers is required for it to grow once nutrients are flowed into that point of damage. Heavy lifting activates more muscle fibers because of the increased strain added throughout the muscular skeletal structure and central nervous system.

The more muscle fibers that are activated, the more muscle fibers will be damaged in the process, whereupon reparation of those fibers through proper nutrition will result in increased growth. Even if you say to yourself "I don't want much muscle mass and I certainly don't want to look bulky", muscle burns fat four times more efficiently than the fat you have on your body. So, you inherently want to be all muscle because your body will be a furnace in which it will be very efficient at burning up fat stores. The more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn. So even if you don't want big muscles, your number one target should be to build muscle if your goal is to burn fat and look "toned". You think Adrian Peterson got as jacked as he did by doing 15 lb. curls? No, the guy performs sets and sets of 315 lb. + squats for reps the day after his Sunday game.

Furthermore, if you want to be shredded, you've got to do everything in your power to speed up your metabolism both inside and outside of the gym. While activities like long distance steady running and light weight lifting burn calories while doing the activity, the calories stopped getting burned upon completion of the activity. However, heavy lifting and interval cardio, whereupon the intensity levels change for an extended period of time, result in an increased metabolism long after the workout is over. That means you will be burning calories even when you are not exercising. So to answer your question of whether you can burn fat while watching TV on the couch...it is yes so long as your activity is one that inherently requires a wide variance and differentiation in intensities. In other words, your working sets have to be gut-wrenching compared to your resting activity.

The only way to increase intensity in the gym is to fight through gut-wrenching heavy sets on a consistent basis. These heavier sets promote strength and size, but at the same time significantly increase your metabolism. If you want to get scientific, here are the facts: Lifting heavy weights stimulates two powerful hormones, known as testosterone and growth hormone. These hormones are attributed to building muscle and losing fat. Therefore, these hormones make losing fat and building muscle much quicker and easier even outside of the gym. Performing light weights for very high reps doesn't nearly ramp up your metabolism quite like heavy lifting does.

Don't misinterpret this, however, to mean you should never perform light weight lifting. Light weights for high reps has its benefits. This is not a suggestion to eliminate it altogether. However, it should not be the basis of your workout, but rather something to use as a supplement. Light weights are important to be used when warming up, cooling down, burn-out sets, drop sets, etc. Light weight lifting for a high amount of reps helps build muscular endurance and is a great way to stimulate blood flow throughout the body, which is necessarily needed for healthy circulation and transporting nutrients to muscles, joints, and ligaments. In addition, doing high-rep training (like drop-sets or doing a random set of 50 reps) can break away from a repetitive workout routine and thus, can shock the muscles into new growth when your body's response has acclimated to a repetitive workout.

However, the basis of your workout should always be working with heavy weights. Light weight workouts are great to supplement heavy lifting (key word supplement: meaning to incorporate into a routine here and there), however, you should consistently lift to your maximum potential each and every time you step foot in the gym. So in terms of lifting heavy, you should focus on performing 6-12 reps for 80% of your routine, whereupon the other 20% you can go over or under that number. Don't misinterpret this to mean there should be very little variety between workout. Most definitely, it is on the contrary. Variety in a workout routine is necessary to really shock the muscles into new growth. You never want to get the muscles adapted to training a particular way, whether through the amount of reps you do or the way you train.

Variety is always key, so in order to switch up your routine, you want to switch up exercises and incorporate different methods like drop sets, strip sets, rest-pause sets, etc. Additionally, to incorporate variety use very little rest in between sets where you're really looking to feel a pump and use more rest between sets when you are going for power and strength. Furthermore, switch up your routine often so that you incorporate muscle groups together on certain days. For instance, if you usually just perform one muscle group a day like Chest on Mondays, Back on Tuesdays, etc., take a week where you do chest and quads together, back and hamstrings together, and shoulders and arms together. Also, switch it up sometimes so that you perform certain muscle groups twice a week. Little tweaks like the ones aforementioned help in a big way.

You should keep the pace at a very high level in which you rest minimally in between sets. Even when you are lifting heavy, in order to keep your metabolism high, you should rest for no more than a minute between sets, preferably, even less than that. Obviously there are exceptions due to different fitness levels and goals, but generally speaking, on average, you should keep to that. You want to keep your heart rate up and you are also building muscle because your muscles are constantly stimulated every minute.

However, here is the biggest part in which you must pay attention. The biggest problem that people fail to realize, in which they can't comprehend for the life of them, is what is considered heavy. Heavy is not a weight you cannot handle, it is a weight you can handle. Heavy is still a weight that you can handle, whereupon your ligaments and joints aren't suffering. This is repeated twice because no matter how many times people are told they go always go too heavy and present their bodies with tremendous risk in terms of injury. Heavy lifting does not incorporate momentum into the movements!

You are doing strict form at all times, however, you are doing a weight where you reach failure upon a designated number of reps and whereupon, you struggle to get that weight up. When the word struggle is used, it is not to mean that you should jerk the weight or break your posture to get it up. For, should always be strict and heavy lifting is a term that means you shouldn't choose a weight that you can do for 20 reps and perform it for only 10. It means picking a weight you can do for exactly 10 and not 11, and getting it up for 10. Furthermore, always perform a full range of motion. People often look at going heavy as putting as much weight as possible on the squat rack, getting under it, and going down less than halfway. This will do nothing for your muscle building efforts and will only aid in getting you to the hospital.

Let's take a look at some examples as to what constitutes proper weight training using strict form:

When doing squats, keep your back straight with all of your weight on the back of your heels and go all the way down until the top of your thighs are parallel. Pause for a second here and explode up in one smooth motion while looking straight forward and keeping your back straight.

When doing bench press, bring the weight all the way down slowly until it reaches just before your chest wall, pause for a second at the bottom and explode up in an arch-like motion backward with control. You are never bouncing the weight off your chest, always keeping your back arched but on the bench at all times, and never performing the movement too fast.

When doing a bent over row, arch your back (never round it) and keep it straight, while keeping a slight bend in your knees and keeping your elbows as close to your body as possible. When performing a barbell curl, never swing your back to get the weight up. Always keep your elbows in and bring it up in a smooth motion.

So understand that you need to activate as many muscle fibers as possible by lifting heavy weights, but never to the point where those weights take you out of form or place you in harm's way. You need to understand that failing to do proper form can produce a range of health problems, especially with ligaments, joints, muscles, bones, cartilage, disks, and posture. This is hardly a way to treat your body. Remember, you only have one place to live. If you constantly sacrifice form when training, you most likely will see the negative effects from it some day and then you'll look back upon your mistakes and wish you hadn't done them. Hindsight is 20/20, but here is your forewarning.

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Lifting Weights For Weight Loss - One Cool Trick You Probably Forgot About

The quest for finding ways to lose weight is like the quest for the holy grail. Losing weight and body fat and looking fantastic is all consuming for some people. This trick I am about to share, is for anyone that has tried everything to lose weight and still struggles.

Since the different types of diets out there run rampant, does it not make sense to stick to proven methods? I think the real reason many people do not pursue what works in weight loss, is that they are looking for a quick fix. Yes, it would be much easier if there were a magic weight loss pill, but sadly there is not. Lifting weights for weight loss just happens to be the answer to your success in this area of your life.

If you hate lifting weights you might just be tuning out right about now, but please do not. There is more than one way to lift weights. Before I tell you about it though, you need to know that in order to lose weight, you must lift weights. You may lose a bit without doing it, but you will never keep it off for good if you skip it.

One reason strength training is essential is that when you use your muscle and fatigue it, it will grow back stronger and larger. When this happens, your body now has more muscle. When your body has more muscle, you burn more fat. Even when your body is at rest. So you may not actually like lifting weights for weight loss, but I am sure you can see why it works and is the only way to burn fat effectively.

Now for those of you who do not like lifting weights for weight loss, I will tell you a secret, you do not have to. That is right, because you can lift something even better. You can lift your own body weight and still have the same results as weight lifting. I'll bet that is something you either never thought about, or completely forgot about doing.

Here are 3 reasons why it works:

1. You can literally do this anywhere. If you are on vacation, at work, or on business, then you can still use your own body. It is with you all the time, right?

2. No excuses that you do not have the proper exercise equipment.

3. It is easy, fast, there is an endless supply of exercises, plus you can wear whatever you want.

Now lifting weights for weight loss is fun as far as I am concerned and I think this is just because I love the results. But lifting body weight just might be right up your ally.

Try some push ups against a wall or step. Squats and lunges as well as tricep dips off a chair work wonders. You get the picture, but for more exercises just search the internet. Please make sure if you are going to do all this work, you eat for weight loss as well. Try not to do all these great body weight exercises and then go out and eat ice cream.

There are plenty of foods to use for fuel that will help to burn the fat easily, and I would be willing to bet that some of these are in your house right now. So get to work finding them and then eating them and you will be on your way to your best body yet.

Lori-Ann Petrosino is an avid health enthusiast, with a passion for helping others acheive their best self. She does this through encouraging others to feel and look their best in all areas of mental and physical health.

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