Archives November 2013

It’s commonly known by people in the bodybuilding world that protein is required to build muscle mass. What’s really important to know is that your protein intake amount is adequate enough to feed your hard working muscles. If it’s not, your muscles will not develop well in contrast to the amount of work you’re putting in.

One way to know how much more protein to eat is to first figure out the overall calories you need to be eating for optimal muscle growth.

Building your muscles is much like gaining weight it takes between 300 – 500 calories to put on extra muscle mass or weight. Eating 500 calories extra every day will have you putting on about one extra pound every week. Keep in mind that you must be working your muscles to burn these extra calories so that they don’t end up as stored fat opposed to built muscle mass.

Now, if your plan is to use these extra consumed calories to build your muscles then you’ll want to convert the 300 – 500 calories into mostly protein. You don’t want to be increasing the amount of fat that your ingesting, although some fat is important. Lean cuts of meat will contain some fat, nuts will contain some fat and well designed protein shakes will contain some fat.

So, at any rate, don’t go overboard thinking you have to avoid fat completely. You do want your protein calories to be the bulk of these additional calories that you are consuming in order to accelerate your muscle building venture.

Work Your Muscles Hard but Ensure Proper Protein Intake When You Do.

Learning the concept of consuming the correct protein intake for building muscle is to understand that protein is the foundational building block for gaining muscle mass. With these protein building blocks in your system, when you train your muscles, you are stimulating your muscle growth cycle to develop your muscles at a much faster pace.

So it makes sense to work your muscles really hard but only if you have good amounts of protein in your body to feed those hungry worked muscles.

Why Building Muscle Mass without Proper Protein Intake is a Bad Idea

You may have heard the saying “Turn fat into muscle” and while it is true that when you workout, you’ll be losing fat and as long as you are maintaining a good protein level in your body, you’ll be gaining muscle. But you’re not actually turning muscle into fat.

The bottom line is that if you don’t consume the right amount of protein based on how rigorously you work your muscles, your muscles will not grow no matter how hard you work them. And on the flip side, you never want to over eat if you’re not burning the calories you consume because you will pack on fat pounds and that’s the exact opposite of what you want to achieve.

Many of the weight training professionals will recommend not eating extra on your rest and recover days even if your body and brain are screaming to be fed more food. Instead, they advocate physically resting up more on your rest days. What this habit will do is create an energy surplus in your body without feeding it more.

The benefit is that when you re-engage in performing an intense workout, your body will draw upon this surplus reducing your body fat stores. And as we all know, the less body fat you have surrounding you, the more your magnificent muscle tone shows itself off. Many times, the muscle tone is there… it’s just hiding.

How to Add More Protein to Your Diet

There are no one-size-fits-all answers to how much protein you should add because it can differ greatly from person to person. While one person might want to simply shape up, the next person may be looking at competition bodybuilding. One might want to get their increased protein intake from food, others may want to supplement; others will want to do both.

Increasing Your Protein Intake with Food

Everyone wanting to build up their muscles will have protein requirements unique to them so it’s a good idea to start slower rather than too fast. Keeping in tune with what was said earlier, you’ll want to start out by adding in an extra 300 calories of protein each day that you workout for three months.

Take a step back and see where you are at. If you’re not seeing the muscle growth you were expecting, increase your protein intake to 500 calories and compare notes in three more months. A local bodybuilding coach can help get you on the road to reaching your goals much faster because they can personalize this task for you and your goals.

Increasing Your Protein Intake with Supplements

Most protein choices contain higher amounts of fat and research has shown that low fat protein choices work just as effectively in building muscle. While you can easily add in low fat dairy items, lean meats like chicken, fish and turkey; a good quality protein supplement is a convenient way to “beef up” your protein intake.

There are many protein supplements to choose from; some good, some great and some that are not so good – even downright bad for you sorry to say. The most important thing to glean from this article is to find a way to increase your protein intake when your goal is to build muscles.

Secondly, your goal is most likely to simultaneously lose fat while building up your muscle tone. So, as logic plays out in our search for a good quality protein supplement you will want to look for low fat, low sugar, no artificial ingredients whatsoever; basically you want as pure of protein you can get in the supplement you choose and avoid all the garbage so many manufacturers throw in their products merely for the sake of marketing buzzwords.

Read the labels and like anything you’re thinking about putting in your body, it there’s a word you don’t understand… find out what the heck it is before you consume it!

You can learn more about whole food protein and protein supplements at http://MyFitnessNut.com but the big takeaway for this article is that you must increase your protein intake if you want to increase your muscle mass. You can lift weights from morning until the sun goes down and still not build muscle mass. That would be sad.

Reason; if you don’t feed your muscles protein when they’re being worked, your muscles will tear down and feed upon their very own protein leaving your muscle building goals stuck in the mud. Increase your protein intake to the amount that works for you and you’ll be smiling at the results of your efforts instead of wondering why your workouts aren’t working as well as you like.

Introduction to The 15-Minute Fitness Guide

In our busy lives, it’s often a struggle to find time to get everything done. Inevitably, important things can sometimes drop off our to-do lists or get pushed off our schedules.

For many of us, finding time to exercise is something we know we should do, but it’s often the first thing to get dropped.

Part of the problem may be that we think we need to find an hour or two a day, five or six days a week, in order to exercise. Or perhaps that you have to join a fancy full-service gym in order to have access to the latest and greatest exercise equipment.

Fortunately, the reality is much more forgiving. In fact, it’s possible to significantly improve your health and fitness with 15-minute workout sessions.

That’s what we’re going to talk about in this 15-minute fitness guide.

To continue reading, use the page numbers below or the table of contents to the right. Enjoy!

The March 2012 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine shows just how deadly sitting down can be.

Using data from over 265,000 individuals, the shocking research showed that people who sit for more than 11 hours a day experienced a 40% higher likelihood of dying from any cause.

And if you sit from 8 to 11 hours a day, you still experience a 15% higher probability of dying than those who sit for less than four hours each day.

The dangers caused by too much sitting include but are not limited to:

• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Colon cancer
• Breast cancer
• Heart Disease
• Metabolic Syndrome
• Heart attack

And Harvard researchers have shown that watching TV for just two hours a day increases your chances of developing Type II Diabetes by a full 20%.

That same 120 minutes of sitting and watching your favorite television programs means you are 15% more likely to develop heart disease as well, including possibly triggering a heart attack or stroke. And more than three daily hours of television viewing, which is generally done while sitting, substantially increases the danger of dying from any disease.

The dangers of sitting down all day are many as are the rewards of an active lifestyle. One HealthPop study showed that too much sitting combined with an overall sedentary lifestyle caused as many as 43,000 instances of colon cancer, as well as nearly 50,000 cases of breast cancer among the study participants.

And incredibly, simply standing instead of sitting, exercising, bending and stretching while sitting, and a couple of brisk walks a day can drastically reduce the chance that you will succumb to the dangers of sitting.

No other respected health organization than the World Health Organization has openly stated that physical inactivity and frequent sitting is the leading cause in a full 21 to 25% of all breast and colon cancers, according to their research. That same sedentary lifestyle and extended periods of sitting also contributes to at least 27% of Diabetes and a full 30% of ischaemic heart disease, according to WHO.

That same World Health Organization found that the dangers of sitting down all day are so plentiful, they consider a sedentary lifestyle one of the top 10 causes of all death and disability, making up for more than 300,000 early deaths annually in the US.

The dangers of sitting for extended periods of time, whether it be in your vehicle, at work or on your couch at home, cannot be ignored by those people looking to enjoy a healthy and fit lifestyle which leads to a longer and happier life. So, give this information to a friend or loved one and turn them into a workout buddy.

How Workout Dates Help You Stick To Your Goals

The key to attaining your fitness goals is to work out with consistency. You start a new exercise program filled with excitement and goals, but soon you are bored with the same exercise routine, discouraged by the lack of results, or sidetracked by life in general. Pretty soon, you are back to your old ways of sitting on the couch and eating ice cream and potato chips.

Keeping that excitement and commitment going over the long haul is hard, but here are some ways that can help you stay the course:

• find an exercise buddy
• schedule your workouts
• structure your workout time

Find an Exercise Buddy

Whether you exercise with a friend or your significant other, being accountable to someone other than yourself is a great way to keep you on track. When you commit to working out with someone, you do not want to let them down, nor do they want to let you down, so not showing up for a workout becomes more difficult than just going.

Schedule Your Workouts

If you are like me for something to get done, it has to be on my schedule. If not, something always takes priority and consequently the non-scheduled things take a backseat; workouts are no different.

However, by scheduling your workouts both on your personal calendar and the one you have at work, your workout time becomes just as important as anything else you have scheduled. If you are using an electronic calendar, such as Gmail or Yahoo, set the reminder so you get either an email or pop-up reminder a certain time before your workout is supposed to begin.

Structure Your Workout Time

Do you have a plan on what routine you are going to do each time you go to the gym? Do you know which days you are doing strength training and which days will be cardio?

A great way to make planning easier is to join some classes. That way the planning is done for you. Then, each week you know on Monday you have a spinning class at 1:00 p.m.; on Tuesdays, you have aerobics at 3:00 p.m., etc. This makes planning your fitness workouts much easier; it is harder to skip a workout when you know you have to be at a certain place at a certain time and other people are expecting you to be there.

Exercising on a consistent and routine basis will eventually become part of your healthy lifestyle. Eventually you will reach a point where you will feel guilty if you have to miss a session – even if it is due to something beyond your control.

But to get to that point, where exercising becomes second nature, requires diligent and deliberate dedication to succeed on your part. These “4 Tips To Make Exercise More Fun” can give you some additional ideas and you can visit http://MyFitnessNut.com and subscribe to the My Fitness Nut Newsletter to stay up to date on the latest health and fitness trends.

Congratulations, you are a new mother!

Now that you have given birth, most likely you are ready to start losing that baby weight and to get back in shape. But hold on, not so quick…

Most healthcare professionals agree that you should not start trying to lose weight or to back get in shape until you have completed your six-week postpartum checkup, two months, if you are breastfeeding.

Once cleared by your doctor or at the two-month mark, respectively, consider these four things.

1) Don’t Diet

Strict, restrictive diets don’t work and in most cases, they do more harm than good to both you and your new baby. As a new breastfeeding mother, you most likely need to eat 1,800 to 2,200 calories per day to keep your milk supply adequate; some mothers need as high as 2,500 calories per day. If you are not breastfeeding, then you should eat between 1,500 to 1,800 calories.

2) Eat Right

Caring for a new baby can be hectic and you may find it hard to work in a meal sometimes. Avoid the tendency to skip meals – especially breakfast. As they say “It is the most important meal of the day.” and so true. Many mothers find that eating five or six small meals, spread out throughout the day, works better than sitting down to three larger meals. A small meal might consist of half a sandwich, some veggies, a piece of fruit and a glass of milk.

3) Exercise

Besides eating right, exercising is the most important element in your weight loss effort. Static cardio exercises mixed with some lightweight training, such as light dumbbells or resistance bands, is a good way to both tone muscles and get your metabolism revved back up. You can exercise and spend time with your baby by going for a walk while pushing the stroller ahead of you.

4) Set Realistic Goals

Keep in mind that it took nine months to put the weight on, so it can take that amount of time to take it off (or more). Yes, movie stars lose their weight in a couple of months after having a child, but keep in mind, most of them have personal trainers to guide them and nannies to care for their child.

Losing one pound per week is a safe and realistic weight loss goal. To do this, you have to burn up 500 more calories per day than you eat. To keep your calorie count down, focus on eating whole grain, low-fat dairy, fruits and vegetables, while staying away from fried foods, sweets and saturated fat.

You can also work on getting the whole family into your fitness plan and support each other on reaching the level of fitness you desire. It just takes eating nutritious foods, proper exercising and patience.

With kids spending more time in front of the TV and playing video games with less time outside playing, it is no wonder childhood obesity and juvenile Type 2 diabetes is at an all-time high.

If you like to exercise, get your whole family involved. Not only will it create some good family quality time, but it will instill good fitness habits in your kids.

Make it Family Fitness Fun

For kids to enjoy physical activity, it has to be fun for them. Swimming, sports and outdoor games all make getting exercise more enjoyable. Activities, such a flag football or kickball, can spark the competitive spirit to see who the “best” is. In the end, you are all winners!

Develop Your Family Fitness Plan Around a Cause

Exercising for your own well-being is one thing, however, it is not necessarily a cause shared by your kids, so make your family fitness activities benefit something. There are always “k” or fun runs of various distances for the whole family that raise money to support various organizations.

Scour your neighborhood and solicit pledges of money that will go to your cause when you finish the event. Your kids will get a sense of satisfaction knowing their efforts are helping out somewhere.

Plan a Monthly Family Fitness Activity

Kids like to look forward to things and what better thing to look forward to than a monthly family outing. If the weather is nice, plan to go on some nature hikes together or swimming. Afterward, enjoy a healthy picnic lunch.

In the fall, go to an orchard and pick your own apples or other fruit. Not only will you get exercise, but fruits are good for you to eat. If you get winter weather in your area, ice-skating, skiing or snowboarding are all great ways to get exercise.

Join a Family Friendly Gym

Kids love adventurous activities that challenge them. Find a gym that offers a rock climbing wall, kickboxing or martial arts. Not only will they get a lot of exercise doing these activities, but they will develop self-confidence in themselves. A high self-esteem leads to a more enjoyable life for them and decreases the chances depression, bullying or other self-destruction tendencies.

Set the Example

Generally kids look up to their parents. By you exercising regularly and eating nutritiously, they will adopt a similar healthy lifestyle as they grow up. Not only will they live a healthier life, but they will be more inclined to pass it onto their kids. Your actions today can set the example for a healthy lifestyle for generations to come.

How To Turn Your TV Time Into Family Workout Time

Many of us get into a routine of watching our favorite TV shows while sitting on the couch. But what if we could watch TV and exercise at the same time? Not only would be avoid the temptation to eat snacks that pack calories we don’t need, but we could burn some calories in the process. Avoiding calories and burning calories too – a win/win situation! Here is how to do it.

During the TV show, focus on doing several toning exercises while holding 5 to 8 lb. dumbbells. Do 10 to 15 repetition of each exercise until an advertisement comes on. During the advertisement, drop the weights and switch it up by doing cardio exercises. Once the advertisement is over, grab your weights and switch back to toning.

Toning

Good static toning exercises – basically exercising in the same space – include:

• squats
• overhead presses
• lunges
• one-armed rows
• tricep extensions

All of these exercises work large muscle groups. As your muscles develop over time, they will require more calories to perform the same work. If you control the other variable – what you eat – you’ll lose weight.

Cardio

Some good cardio static exercises include:

• jumping jacks
• virtual jump roping (jumping rope, but without the rope)
• jogging in place
• push-ups
• crunches

Cardio during commercials is a good way to get your metabolism revved up. And the good thing is that it will stay up long after you are finished.

Taking It to the Next Level

If you have an elliptical trainer or treadmill, you can place either one in your TV room and exercise while watching your favorite shows. If on a treadmill, one idea is to walk during the show and run during the advertisements. If using an elliptical trainer, you exercise at a moderate steady pace during the show and increase your speed during commercials.

Alternating between static toning exercises and cardio during a 30-minute to one hour show, will get your heart pumping and develop muscles, all of which burn additional calories. Research has shown that even small bursts of exercise can burn an additional 500 calories per day.

Burn 500 more calories per day than you take in and in a week, you will have lost one pound. Losing a pound or two per week is a safe and practical weight loss. Diets that have you losing a lot of weight fast are not good as most of the weight you lose is water weight – most of which you will put back on once off the diet.

If you’re using an exercise machine you can rotate family members using it or switching back and forth between two or more devices. Another great activity is to combine dog walking with your family fitness plan.

Every dog needs exercising daily. Just keep in mind that exercising is not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to dogs.

The amount of exercise varies according to dog type. A little dog can’t exercise for as long or hard as a bigger dog. So don’t take your Chihuahua and your Rottweiler on the same run and expect the little one to keep up.

While no written guidelines exist, your veterinarian can give you sound advice on what is appropriate for your dog(s).

Just like you, your dog should have a physical and a clean bill of health before starting an exercise program.

Types of Exercise

There are several different types of exercise you can do with your dog. What comes to most peoples’ mind is walking or running. And while that is two popular types of exercising, there are several more, such as:

• doggy bootcamp
• chase me
• agility workout

Doggy Bootcamp

Doggy bootcamp is a combination of playing fetch with your dog and working out at the same time. Check to see if you can find a bootcamp already established in your area by searching Google; if none is available, start your own.

Basically, you throw a favorite toy of Fido and while he is running out to get it and bring it back, you are static in-place exercising, such as doing push-ups, sit-ups, squats, jumping jacks, jumping rope, etc.

If your doggy bootcamp is in a public park, you may soon find yourself in company of other dogs and owners who want to do the same thing.

Chase Me

This routine is a moving tug-of-war between you and your dog. Place two objects as markers, such as water bottles, 10 feet or so apart. With your dog’s favorite toy in hand and your dog trying to wrestle it from you, side shuffle (you in the squat position) back and forth between the two markers. Do these as many times as you can.

Agility Workout

As a dog owner, you have probably watched dog agility trials on TV. Now it is your turn to take the leash in hand and do your own agility workout. If no established course is in your area, make your own out of common items found around the house. Your dog will enjoy the challenge and both of you will get exercise at the same time.

No Dog – No Problem

If you don’t own a dog, there are a couple of ways you can still workout with one. Dog shelters welcome responsible volunteers to check out a dog and exercise it. Maybe you have a home-bound neighbor that can’t exercise his or her dog. Ask if you can take their dog out for some exercise.

Keep in mind that getting outdoors is not only exercise for a dog, but an enhancing social interaction for them. With their keen sense of smell, they are enjoying the outing even more than you while you’re conquering many of the 10,000 steps a day that you need to keep health and fitness in check!

The Benefits of 10,000 Steps Per Day

To get the point across as to why 10,000 steps a day are important, chances are that you are reading this from a laptop or desktop computer. And that is one of the dangers of modern day society. Our work and personal lifestyle habits tend to lead toward a very sedentary lifestyle which centers on a lot of sitting.

With heart disease, obesity, diabetes and even stroke and heart attacks directly correlated to a sedentary lifestyle, it is important that you understand the benefits of walking at least 10,000 steps per day.

How have fitness organizations and experts arrived at this 10,000 steps figure? With the average adult human covering 2.5 feet with every step, this means it would take a little over 2,000 consecutive steps to cover 1 mile in distance. Health professionals have stated that 5 miles of walking spread out over the course of a day leads to a significantly healthier individual, and that is where the 10,000 step number originated.

The good news is you do not have to walk this distance at one time. And if you maintain the average 3 to 4 mph brisk walking rate which most adults can, this means that between 80 and 100 minutes is all which is required to cover 5 miles, or 10,000 steps a day.

Taking your dog for a nice and enjoyable walk can burn through one third or more of those steps easily. About a mile and a half will take care of that quite quickly.

How Do You Count and Estimate Your Steps?

But without counting, how do you know just how many steps you are currently walking throughout the course of your day? If you sit down a lot, at work, at home, in your car, you only average between 1,000 and 3,000 steps a day.

To keep heart disease, obesity, several cancers and an early death at bay, this simply means adding an extra 7,000 to 9,000 steps to your daily routine. Time-wise this is just another hour of walking, and you can spread that out over the course of your day.

The benefits of those 10,000 daily steps are plentiful. The American Heart Association believes that 10,000 steps is a magic metric the average person can use to increase heart health while simultaneously decreasing the risk of developing heart disease.

The Surgeon General also agrees with this figure, and if it only helps you combat heart disease, the number one killer of both women and men in America every year, it would be a worthwhile undertaking. But the benefits of 10,000 steps per day also include an immune system boost, reduced waist size, lower body mass index, increased energy and less risk of developing diabetes.

Purchase a Low Cost Pedometer for Easy Tracking

Are you ready to get started yet? One of the advantages of walking 10,000 steps per day is that literally anyone can do it, and if you need to purchase a pedometer to keep yourself on track, a very low-cost step that you should take. You and your furry friends will look and feel better, and allow you both to live a much longer and happier life when you incorporate the 10,000 steps per day program into your daily life.

You can learn more about “How Much Exercise Do I Need Each Day” and discover many methods of exercising but the thing is that anyone can benefit from the act walking and for most people, it’s something they can accomplish.

Knowing how much exercise you need each day is only half of the equation. You also have to know which type of activity you need. Exercise is broken down into two types of energy systems: aerobic and anaerobic, or cardio and strength training, respectively.

Aerobic

Exercise activities falling under this category are further broken down by intensity into moderate and vigorous. Moderate includes brisk walking, running (at a slow jogging pace), swimming, mowing the lawn, etc.; aerobic exercises get your heart rate up and can be performed for a long period of time. You should break a sweat, but still be able to talk while doing them.

Vigorous exercise includes such things as marathon running, long distance cycling and lap swimming. They get your heart rate up into the 70% to 80% of your target heart rate (220 minus your age). While doing activities at this intensity level, you are sweating more, breathing harder and you won’t be able to say more than a few words at a time.

Anaerobic

These include strength training activities like weightlifting or heavy kettle bell swings. Anaerobic exercises can only be performed for a short period of time due to the body not being able to produce enough energy to last longer than from a few seconds to three minutes.

To reap the most benefits from anaerobic, you should reach a point where it is hard to do the next repetition. Once you can do 12 to 15 repetitions per set, increase the amount of weight; your repetitions per set will then drop accordingly.

How Much Time Do You Need?

Most experts agree you should aim to get at least 30 minutes of exercise, or some type of physical activity, six days a week. This is further broken down into 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise spread over four days per week. Alternate in at least two days per week of anaerobic exercise that works all of the major muscle groups, such as the:

• legs
• hips
• back
• abdomen
• chest
• shoulders
• arms

Give your body time to rest and repair itself on the seventh day.

Exercise Session Duration

Many busy working professionals have a hard time finding a 30-minute chunk of time each day to exercise. However, what various studies have found is that three 10-minute periods of exercising per day is just as beneficial as one 30-minute period. For instance, you could go for a brisk walk in the morning, at noon and again in the evening; the health benefit is the same as walking briskly for one 30-minute period. Almost everyone can find a few 10 minute periods in their schedule each day.

For even more health benefits, keep the same intensity level, but double your weekly aerobic activity to 300 minutes. Another option, as you get more fit, is to gradually change out some of your moderate intensity level exercises for more vigorous ones.

Why You Must Make Exercise A Priority

If you are serious about your health and fitness plans, you definitely must make exercise a priority to accomplish your goals. Did you know that the human brain will always cause you to move toward your most dominant thought? This is why a simple thought can create such incredible results in your life, and in the world around us. This is also why when you make exercise a top priority in your life, your desired results come quicker, and they are easier to maintain over time.

Human beings are intrinsically lazy, but crave direction and order. This is why scheduling activities leads to a much higher success rate in anything that you do. And when you habitually do things over and over at the same time on the same day, it is hard to get out of that rhythm. Also, often time in our lives we get better results when we insist on them.

Here are a few simple ways to make exercise a priority in your life, setting up an autopilot delivery of the benefits that exercise delivers:

Schedule Your Exercises

There are a reason that calendars and day planners are literally a billion dollar a year business. People do more things that are written down and scheduled than they do as a matter of impulse. Scheduling your exercise regimen on a daily, weekly and monthly basis where you must refer to it and hold yourself accountable will instantly program your mind and body for the desired physical and mental preparation before the scheduled exercise.

Make Exercise a Habit

Did you realize that human beings will unconsciously make a habit out of anything they do for a given period of consecutive days or sessions? Multiple scientific studies have shown that repeating the same behavior or action, on the same schedule, at the same time 17 to 21 times switches an activity from the conscious mind to the unconscious, where actions are automatic, and not a choice.

Make exercise a priority at the same time and stick to that schedule religiously, and you will find soon enough that it is virtually impossible to miss a workout.

Do Not Take No for an Answer

If you decide that you are going to exercise no matter what set of obstacles gets in your way, you will definitely accomplish your weight loss, health and fitness goals. Human beings are constantly achieving levels of performance which were previously considered impossible. And you can do the same when you simply refuse to put exercising on a back burner.

The human brain is the most powerful and capable computer of all time. When you schedule exercise at the same time, achieve 17 to 21 consecutive exercise sessions and develop the unwavering mindset that exercise is a top priority in your life, you may be surprised at how easy it is to achieve your health and fitness goals.

If you’re not very active when you start out with your exercise workout routine, it would be a good idea to read 15 Minute Fitness Tip #6 “Exercise Tips for Those Who Live a Sedentary Lifestyle” for a good place to start.

Chances are, your job requires a lot of sitting. And thanks to the marvelous advancements which technology has given us, we do not need to be nearly as mobile as we used to as human beings.

We originally evolved as walking creatures, exploring and shaping our world by frequently moving. But for many, modern day “sit down” jobs have joined a remote control equipped, couch-centered home life which has led to a very sedentary lifestyle.

However, there are some easy-to-follow exercise tips for people looking to improve their health and fitness that do not include heavy weightlifting and running marathons. Incorporate the following simple exercises into your daily routine, and you will improve your energy and fitness levels in no time.

• Doctor David Dunstan, PhD, explains that we must be thinking about fitness all day long. Exercising during the lunch break is great advice, but you need to incorporate exercise throughout the day as well. You can easily do this on the job by alternating sitting and standing whenever you have the chance.
• And the next time that you need to contact your coworker down the hall, take a walk instead of shooting out an e-mail. You can also stand and even pace whenever you place or receive a telephone call, take the stairs instead of the elevator, and take regular breaks scheduled throughout your day which get you out of your chair.
• You can also adopt a NEAT attitude, and that does not mean cleanliness and more organization. NEAT stands for “non-exercise activity thermogenesis” in this case. People often forget that stretching, bending and turning are all very important for keeping us limber and avoiding injuries, and these simple exercises can be performed all day long by even the most sedentary individual.
• If you telecommute, walk outside in a sunny park during a conference call. And scheduling a brisk 10 or 15 minute walk in the afternoon close to your quitting time will not only help you become more productive at the end of the day, but also delivers wonderful fitness rewards.

As long as you embrace improving your health, you can turn your sedentary work and home environments into fun and active centers of fitness by taking very small steps. Stand when you can, schedule multiple breaks throughout your day for even small periods of physical activity, and do not forget to stretch and bend.

These simple tips for those with a sedentary lifestyle can have a wonderfully positive cumulative affect over time, and help you reach a better overall fitness level that leads to a longer, healthier and happier life.

7 Everyday Tasks You Can Turn Into A Workout

If you burned only an extra 100 calories a day, that would lead to 10 pounds of weight loss over one year. Ramp that up to an additional 200 calories a day over your current everyday activity level, and you just dropped 20 pounds in a year. But the problem with most 21st-century human beings is not the desire to lose weight and get in shape, it is the lack of having a significant chunk of time in a very busy and hectic daily lifestyle to exercise.

However, you can achieve the weight loss and fitness goals you are striving for by turning the following 7 everyday tasks into simple workout sessions which burn at least 100 calories.

1. Did you know that simply carrying an infant for 20 to 30 minutes can burn 100 calories? You probably never have thought about your crying newborn as being an alarm bell which can help you lose weight and get in shape, but this mini-workout can do exactly that.
2. When was the last time that you did your dishes by hand? This is a great task you can turn into a workout, and if it lasts for 40 minutes, you have just burned 100 calories.
3. Every household usually has a particular person that regularly walks the family dog. But you may want to take this task upon yourself, since a 26 minute walk with the household hound can help you burn at least 100 calories.. Bigger and more energetic dogs simply mean more calories burned, and a better workout.
4. Give your living room a quick makeover, and not only does your house have a whole new look, but you have just created an awesome new 14 minute workout. That is all the time you need to spend moving furniture to burn 100 calories.
5. If you live in a cold climate, you no doubt despise having to shovel snow. Not anymore, as a simple 15 minutes of snow shoveling raises your heart rate, and your calorie burning potential, making this previously dreaded task something to look forward to.
6. And while some people love to cook, at the end of a long, hard day, not everyone wants to prepare the family meal. However, simply cooking for 34 minutes can now be considered a workout as well as a daily chore, and it burns 100 calories to boot.
7. Finally, 20 minutes of mopping the floor, mowing the lawn or washing your car will also burned 100 calories.

By looking at these common (and sometimes dreaded) daily tasks as opportunities for becoming healthier and a little more fit, your attitude about accomplishing them will be much more positive. Now you can be happy about getting enough exercise when your dog begs for a walk, and mowing the lawn once a week all of a sudden does not seem like such a horrible chore at all since it’s now part of your exercise routine.

In today’s information society, you probably are well aware that exercise is the hallmark of a fit and healthy individual.

Today’s sedentary lifestyles can be dangerous and even deadly, but how much exercise is enough to significantly impact your fitness and health levels? And if you are just starting out, what can you reasonably do to make a difference?

With more than 80% of all Americans getting less than the required amount of exercise every year, it is crucial that you know exactly what you need to do to positively impact your overall health and longevity.

One major study showed that individuals who exercised intensely for 30 minutes per day actually got better health benefits than those who performed the same exercises for one hour a day. This seems to support other studies which claimed that 30 minutes of moderately intense activity or exercise significantly boosts our immune systems, and is the minimum daily requirement for physical fitness.

The good news is that sedentary individuals can break up those 30 minutes a day down into easier to swallow bite-sized chunks. So, you’ll need to set your schedule for three times a day of 10 minutes of uninterrupted, moderate to intense exercises.

Starting Out Getting Enough Exercise

Just be sure that if you are starting out from a very inactive lifestyle, stretch first, and do not overdo yourself. When just beginning, touching your toes, doing deep knee bends, or performing a few jumping jacks will be enough to get your heart rate up.

Also, the average person can briskly walk at a rate of between 3 and 4 miles per hour, meaning a quick paced one mile walk can be accomplished in just 15 to 20 minutes.

Stand More Whenever You Can

This is something which is feasible for just about everyone, and can be added to your work and home schedules easily. But why is exercise so important? The World Health Organization and other major fitness minded institutions have linked breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, obesity and several heart diseases to a sedentary lifestyle that features sitting as a prominent feature. So remember, “Stand when you can.”

If you are getting 30 minutes of medium to intense physical exercise every day, pat yourself on the back. You are doing what is minimally required to live a fit and healthy lifestyle. And if you are not currently getting at least one half hour of exercise a day, it is never too late to start. Get out of your chair and on your feet for at least 30 minutes of exercise per day, and you can avoid the many dangers which a sedentary lifestyle delivers.

10-Minute Verses 30-Minute Workouts

As busy working professionals, finding a 30-minute block of time each day is not always easy. However, almost everyone can find three 10-minute blocks of time per day. But then the question begging to be asked is “Are three 10-minute workouts as beneficial as one 30-minute?” According to exercise experts, the answer is “Yes” and in many cases, three shorter workouts are more beneficial than a longer one.

10-Minute Workout Health Benefits

There are several health benefits derived from multiple, but short, exercise sessions:

• increased metabolism
• heart health
• weight maintenance

Increased Metabolism

Various studies have shown that three short blasts of intense exercise boosts your metabolism more, and keeps it higher longer, than a long but less intense workout.

Heart Health

And shorter workout sessions benefit heart health too. According to a study done by the Healthy Lifestyles Research Center at Arizona State University, fractionated exercising was more effective at lowering high blood pressure than longer sessions.

Weight Maintenance

Short workout sessions are great for maintaining your weight or maybe even losing a few pounds. Because most 10-minute sessions concentrate on cardio training, not only are you burning calories while exercising, but as noted above, you keep burning more calories longer due to an increased metabolism.

30-Minute Workout Health Benefits

While three 10-minutes exercise sessions do have their advantages, one 30-minute session per day works better for some people for these reasons:

• available time
• strength training
• losing weight

Available Time

For some working people, especially those with long commutes, it is actually easier to exercise for 30-minutes during the middle of the day than it is to do it either before leaving for work or after getting home.

Strength Training

Weight training lends itself better to longer workout sessions. One way of burning more calories is to increase your lean muscle mass, but in order to do that, you have to do strength training. More muscle mass means you will burn more calories in a given period of time.

Losing Weight

To lose weight, you have to get your body into the “fat-burning mode”. This usually happens at about 20 minutes into your workout, so you can get a good 10 minutes of “burn” in a 30 minute workout; if you are doing 10-minute workouts, you never get to that point.

Doing Both Workouts

Because a balanced weekly workout should include both strength training and cardio, you can get the best of both worlds by doing three 10-minute workouts four days a week and one 30-minute workout each day on the weekend. That way you get both types of training in a full week and still get one day of rest. We already discussed “6 Reasons Not to Skip Your Workout” and next we’ll dive into “Exercise Tips for Those Who Live Sedentary Lifestyles” and some everyday tasks that you can turn into a workout.

While you can think of a hundreds reasons why you should skip your workout, have you ever thought about reasons why you should not skip? Before we get to those reasons, ask yourself these questions:

• Why Do I Want to Skip Working Out?
• How Will I Feel If I Don’t?
• Is There An Alternative?
• Why Do I Want to Skip Working Out?

Is there something going on in your life that is causing you to not workout? Are you mentally or physically stressed in some way? Actually pushing through it and exercising can make you feel better.

How Will I Feel If I Don’t?

If you skip your workout, most likely you are going to feel guilty about it and mad at yourself. Do you really need that extra pressure? The mental consequences will be far less if you just go ahead and do it.

Is There An Alternative?

If you don’t feel like doing your normal full-blown workout, is there something you could do instead? For example, if you don’t feel like running, how about walking for 30 minutes instead? Anything you do is better than doing nothing at all!

6 Key Reasons to Not Skip Working Out

1. Repetitiveness Forms Habits – If you want working out to become part of your healthy lifestyle, you have to work out on a consistent basis for it to become a habit. Skipping just one workout can undo what took months to create.
2. Makes You Feel Good – When you work out, endorphins, serotonin and dopamine are all released into your system. These three naturally occurring chemicals elevate your mood and decrease stress.
3. Improve Your Physical Stature – Working out tones your body, builds muscle and helps you lose weight. This leads to having better posture, your clothes fitting better and generally having a better image of yourself.
4. Provides Long Term Effects – Working out increases circulation, builds strength, endurance and flexibility. All of these things can help you have a better quality of life in the future.
5. More Quality Sleep – Working out makes you tired physically, resulting in more restful sleep more often.
6. Time for Yourself – Sometimes we give so much of our self that it seems there isn’t any “me” time in a day. Exercising gives you that time away from everything where you can concentrate on yourself.

The next time you consider not working out, unless you are really sick, think about all the good reasons why you should strap on your running shoes or hit the gym. Once working out becomes part of your healthy lifestyle, you will look forward to each exercise session as a way to build a better you.

5 Tips For Fitting In Exercise Around Work

We are all busy these days, but what is your reason for not exercising – a lack of time or motivation? The point is regardless of your schedule, you have to make time and want to exercise if it is going to happen at all.

If you have the desire, but your schedule is such that you really do have a hard time finding time to exercise, commit to doing what you, when you can. These 5 tips should help you get started…

Tip #1 – On your day(s) off

Some working professionals find it easier to get in longer workouts on their non-work days. They don’t have to get ready for work, endure the commute both ways or try to struggle through a workout when they are already dog-tired from working. During their workweek, they can usually slip in some quick 10-minute workouts and still take one day off to rest and repair their body.

Tip #2 – On the way to and from work

Any exercise that you get is better than nothing. Some people get their exercise on the way to the office and again on the way back home. For example, if you drive to work, park at the far end of the parking lot and walk in the rest of the way. Do the reverse at night – walk back to your car.

If you use a public form of transportation, get off a stop or two from where you would normally get off. Walk the rest of the way to work; at the end of the day, walk back to the stop where you got off.

Tip #3 – During your lunch break

Most people don’t need all of their lunch break time to eat. Before eating is a great time to get out of the office and go for a walk. Just allow yourself enough time to get back and eat. If you have a fitness center on-site or close by, go there and get in a quick workout; allow time to cool down, shower and eat before returning to work.

Tip #4 – Before or after work

Some people can’t break away during their lunch time, so it is better for them to exercise before leaving for work and again once back home. For cardio training, it can be as simple as doing some exercises that don’t require any or very little equipment. For strength training, add in a couple of days per week that center around using dumbbells or resistance bands.

Tip # 5 – Taking the stairs

Climbing stairs is great cardio exercise. Once in your office building, take the stairs up instead of the elevator. Granted you are not going to walk up 50 or 60 flights, but you can climb for a few flights and then take the elevator the rest of the way.

Another good opportunity to get in some exercise is if your cafeteria is a few flights up or down from your office. Walk there and back instead of taking the elevator. Be sure to eat a healthy lunch.

If you are a person who stays home a lot, you can get some more ideas by reading “Stay at Home Exercises”. If you are truly motivated to exercise, you will find ways to fit it into your busy schedule.