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Here’s How to Measure Belly Fat

Measuring belly fat starts by wrapping a tape measure around your waist at the point that is just above your hipbone. For many people this is also where their belly button is located.

When you measure belly fat, or any fat for that matter, be sure not to pull the tape tight. You want it to be snug, but not pressing into your skin. Also exhale just before taking your measurement, so that you are not holding in your stomach. Holding in your stomach, pulling the tape too tight, etc. are all little “tricks” people use to make their initial measurement smaller, but they are only kidding themselves?

Yes, their initial number will be smaller, but they won’t see as much of a loss on the tape when the belly fat starts coming off. Get a true measurement in the beginning and then enjoy seeing the measurement shrink instead of lying to yourself in the beginning with a false number. A healthy waist measurement for women is 35 or less; 40 or less for men.

Measure Belly Fat But Don’t Forget Your Butt

Because of body composition, people store body fat in different areas, so to get an even more accurate picture, also take your hip measurement. The measurement is taken using the same “rules” however, have the tape around the widest part of your buttocks instead of your waist.

Once you have those two numbers, divide your waist number by your hip number to get your waist-to-hip ratio. A healthy ratio is 0.8 or less for women and 0.95 or less for men.

The Effects of an Excessive Belly Fat Measurement

So why are we concerned about our waist circumference or the above ratio? Excessive belly fat, called visceral fat, is worse than fat located in other areas as it can lead to many serious diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and liver disease, just to name a few. People with a high waist-to-hip ratio are particularly susceptible to diabetes and heart disease.

Visceral fat settles deep in the abdominal cavity taking up the spaces between internal organs. However once you start burning off fat, it is also one of the first places you will see results.

How to Reduce Your Belly Fat Measurement

Healthy eating and exercise are the best ways to get rid of body fat and to keep from gaining it back. Some of the fat you lose will be from the belly area. Your diet should consist of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains, all of which are high in fiber, but low in fat and carbohydrates, especially simple carbohydrates such as sugar.

Exercise should focus on cardio as those are the preferred routines that burn the most calories for the time invested. Start out at a moderate or even low intensity; as you get more fit, ramp up the intensity.

It is never too late to start and anything you can do to become healthier is better than what you were doing before. Invest in your health by reducing your belly fat measurement!

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Don’t rely on Sit-ups Alone for Reducing that Belly Fat

While many “diet and exercise programs” would lead you to believe you can, the cold hard truth is no, you can’t reduce belly fat by doing sit-ups. Reducing fat in just the abdominal area is touted as spot reducing, but the body does not work that way. The only way to lose belly fat is to reduce the fat from your entire body. In the process, a certain amount of fat lost will come from your abdominal area.

Body fat is your body’s “rainy day account”. During the good times when food is plentiful, we store fat so we have an excess supply to use as energy during the lean times. Unfortunately in many people, the belly is one of the first places fat gets stored.

The Value of Abdominal Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat

As noted, doing sit-ups does no good as far as losing belly fat, but they (and their close cousin crunches) are beneficial at strengthening your abdominal core muscles. And a strong core means better posture and less potential for back problems. A strength training routine performed a couple times a week will greatly improve your abs. You want your “six-pack” to shine through once you lose your belly fat.

We know that to lose a pound of weight per week, you have to burn more calories than you consume – 3,500 to be exact. We also know there are two ways to have a calorie deficit, working out and eating foods lower in calories (or a combination of both which actually works the best).

Working Out to Reduce Belly Fat

To burn the maximum amount of fat, two things have to happen. One, you have to increase your heart rate by performing a warm-up routine so your muscles are getting the maximum amount of oxygen. Two, you have to exercise your body as hard as possible (while monitoring your target heart rate) by doing intense workouts, such as cardio exercises, going on long runs or bicycling a long way.

Eating Fewer Calories to Reduce Belly Fat

Not all calories are created equal. Your focus should be on eating food low in saturated fat and carbohydrates, but high in fiber and protein. Such broad choices include fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain products, seafood, beans and lean meats to name a few. And don’t forget to add in some of the good fats – the poly and monounsaturated fats. These come from olive oil, fatty fish such as tuna and salmon, nuts and avocados.

By lowering your overall body fat percentage, some of your loss will be belly fat. To accomplish the loss, eat healthy and exercise as defined in this article.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Numerous studies have shown that excessive stress is associated with weight gain. Dating back to when our ancestors were wearing animal skins and hunting with spears, when the body encountered a fight or flee situation, it released a series of hormones as a response to the situation.

While our fight or flee situation today may be more related mounting credit card bills or something that happened at work, instead of getting attacked by a wounded Wooly Mammoth, the response by the body is the same.

The Body’s Response to Stress

When your body feels stressed, it releases three hormones – adrenalin, corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH) and cortisol designed to give us energy needed to deal with the stressor. In most people, the effect of adrenalin and CRH is a short-term decrease in appetite. Cortisol on the other hand lasts longer and is designed to replenish our bodies with food after the stressor has passed.

The problem of today is that dealing with our stress does not involve physically expending calories, however, the effect of cortisol is the same – eat after the fight or flee. So eating becomes the relief from the stress. While that response worked well for our ancestors, it leads to weight gain for us today.

For many people, the food they turn to are simple carbohydrates (aka sugar). The body’s response to sugar (a sugar high) is to release insulin (and usually more than it needs). Because insulin is the hormone that allows those calories to be stored as fat in our cells, and we have more of it in our bloodstream that we need at the time, too much sugar is stored resulting in low blood sugar (the crash). Our body recognizes that it needs more sugar … and the cycle continues.

While initially this is a behavioral response, it can quickly evolve into a learned response, meaning you consciously turn to food in times of excessive stress. So how do you break the effects of stress?

Do These Six Things to Break the Stress Cycle:

1. Exercise – Find an exercise that you enjoy doing. Not only will it burn calories, but it will help control your cortisol level.
2. Eat right – Focus on eating six small meals per day consisting of foods high in fiber, but low in sugar, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats.
3. Get enough sleep – Sleep deprivation increases cortisol levels.
4. Relax – Choose an activity that makes you feel relaxed and calm. It will counter the biochemical effects of stress.
5. Avoid caffeine and alcohol – These can also raise cortisol levels and can keep you from getting enough sleep.
6. Take multi-vitamins – Stress can deplete essential vitamins, especially the B and C complexes.

While you may not be able to completely control the stressors in your life, you can control how you react to them. Use the information in this article to take control and avoid stress-related weight gain.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Most of what you read suggests drinking alcohol and losing weight do not go together. For the most part that is true, however when done in moderation, you can drink a little alcohol and still lose weight.

Let’s first tackle the moderation part by defining a “drink”. A drink can be 5 ounces of wine, 1 1/2 ounces of an 80 proof/40% alcoholic drink such as whiskey or vodka, or 12 ounces of beer. Generally speaking each one has about 150 calories. Mixed drinks can have significantly more calories due to the sugary “mix” added to the alcohol.

For women, moderation means one drink per day; men can have up to two per day. Drinking alcohol becomes a problem affecting weight loss when it is not done in moderation.

What Happens When You Drink Alcohol?

Knowing how the body metabolizes alcohol helps explain why excessive drinking sabotages any weight loss plan. First, alcohol is recognized as a toxin in our body, therefore after one drink our liver gives the alcohol priority and it starts to break it down, use it as energy, and get rid of it. After as little as one and a half drinks, your liver has shut down as much as 75% of its fat burning so it can concentrate on breaking down the alcohol.

So not only is your body not burning stored fat while it is breaking down the alcohol, it is not burning the calories from the food eaten while drinking. Drinking in excess diminishes your reasoning ability, which not only leads to eating food while socializing, but eating too much of the wrong type of food – food not good for you, such as high calorie/high saturated fat appetizers or meals.

It is not uncommon for the calories you eat while drinking to equal or exceed the calories consumed from your drinks. Because your body is burning up the alcohol, the calories in food gets stored as fat, plus your body is not metabolizing the store fat it would have otherwise burned had you not been drinking. This is the main reason drinking in excess raises havoc with weight loss – consuming calories in excess and not burning them off.

Health Benefits of Alcohol in Moderation

However when done in moderation, alcohol and weight loss can cohabitate; actually there are some health benefits derived from alcohol, such as a decreased risk of:

• Heart disease
• Cancer
• Alzheimer’s

It can also improve your immune system, raise your HDL- the “good” cholesterol and lower blood pressure.

As you can see, drinking in moderation can have some positive health benefits and still not derail your weight loss plan. The key is to know where the line is and having the reasoning ability (and will power) to not cross it. By factoring in the calories of your drinks into your daily intake, you can avoid sabotaging your weight loss plan.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Smoothies for Weight Loss and a Flat Belly

Flat belly smoothie recipes which help you lose weight should also make you feel full. This promotes fat burning and overall fitness, and keeps your stomach full of healthy foods instead of making you crave unhealthy snacks.

A peanut butter and banana smoothie blended with nonfat milk, chocolate whey protein powder and a few ice cubes is surprisingly great for weight loss, and tastes outstanding as well.

Keeping with the chocolate theme, you can create a yummy mocha smoothie that is a healthy alternative to sugary and fatty snacks. When you get that sweet tooth craving, combine a few ice cubes with a half cup of low-fat vanilla frozen yogurt, one shot of espresso and a couple of teaspoons of cocoa powder. Blend until smooth, and allow this high-energy chocolatey smoothie to contribute to your weight loss by replacing baked goods, candies and other unhealthy, fat producing snacks.

Good and Simple Smoothies for Weight Loss

Watermelon is extremely low in both fat and calories. And when you combine it with lemon sherbet or low-fat vanilla yogurt and some ice cubes, you have an incredibly simple smoothie that fills you up while promoting weight and fat reduction.

For an equally simple weight-loss smoothie, cut up a banana, add a few strawberries and an orange, and slip in some low-fat yogurt or milk. Then blend with a few ice cubes for a unique and flavorful combination that will help you trim your waistline while also quenching any hunger cravings you may have.

Blueberries are commonly referred to by leaders in the health and nutrition industries as the perfect food. Super high in wonderful antioxidants which aid in losing weight, when combined with flaxseed oil, a large banana and apple juice or honey, blueberries form the basis for a great tasting weight-loss smoothie that might become your new favorite breakfast drink.

Combine one half of a large banana with 1/2 tablespoon of flaxseed oil, 1/2 tablespoon of apple juice concentrate or honey, and 1 teaspoon of psyllium seed husks. At 8 ounces of water, 1/3 cup of soy protein and 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries to blend together this healthy, fat burning smoothie.

And from the respected Doctor Oz comes a breakfast drink that the good doctor enjoys himself. Very high in fiber, low in calories and heavy on the vitamins, this green drink powers up your energy and your taste buds while promoting fat and weight loss.

Add 2 cups of spinach with one half a cucumber, one half of a bunch of parsley, and one quarter head of celery. Add 3 carrots and 2 apples, as well as one quarter orange, one quarter lime, one quarter lemon and one quarter pineapple. Blend well for 28 to 30 ounces of a delicious weight-loss smoothie that you can use to start your day in a healthy way.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Belly Enemies: Belly Fat and Belly Bloat

Belly bloat – that distended stomach look that not only makes your belly look bigger than it actually is, but gives you that uncomfortable “full” feeling. For people with celiac disease, or a gluten or lactose intolerance, certain foods can cause them bloating. However if you do not have any of these conditions, then your bloating could be water retention caused by ingesting too much sodium and not enough potassium.

When you eat foods high in salt (sodium chloride) your body tends to retain water. Much of that water can show up in your belly region making you look fat. To cut back on water retention, stay away from processed and fast foods. When you read nutritional labels on a product, if it is high in sodium, look to see if it has a high amount of potassium to offset the sodium.

If salt is not causing your bloating, then these foods could be the cause:

Cruciferous Vegetables Can Cause Belly Bloat

Cabbage, asparagus and broccoli cause gas due to bacteria in the large intestine eating the undigested sugar raffinose from these vegetables. To minimize their effect on bloating, eat them in moderation.

Beans Can Cause Belly Bloat

Gas produced by eating this vegetable is also caused by an indigestible sugar – oligosaccaride. Eat beans in moderation and with easily digestible foods, such as whole grains, rice or quinoa.

High Fiber Fruits Can Cause Belly Bloat

Fresh fruits with high fiber include apples and pears. With about 5 grams of fiber per fruit, they can produce bloating in some people. Peeling them first can help as well as only eating half of a fruit at a time.

Certain Drinks Can Cause Belly Bloating

Bubbly drinks can also cause bloating. Many soft drinks contain carbonation which is released in the stomach as carbon dioxide gas. The bubbles in beer may cause gas in some people.

Controlling Belly Bloat

Certain foods – especially ones high in water content or potassium – are good at either preventing bloating in the first place or helping to reduce it:

• banana – eat one a day to keep your potassium level up and negate the effects of salt.
• watermelon – high in potassium and 92% water, this melon neutralizes the bloating effect of salt and gets things moving in your digestive tract.
• celery – not only does celery have a lot of water in it, it also has chemicals that act as a detox, helping to purge your digestive tract of toxins.

Certain foods cause more bloating in some people than in others. By watching what you eat, and identifying the foods that cause bloating, you can minimize its effects, and if it does happen, know how to counteract its effects.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Tone Your Belly with Crunches, Planks and Your Bicycle

Once you have lost your belly fat, it is time to start working on toning muscles around your middle. While there are numerous different exercises that target the belly area, these three are the tried, true and get results:

• Crunches
• Planks
• The Bicycle

The nice thing about these exercises is that none of them require any equipment. However, you can use a yoga or exercise mat to make you more comfortable.

Tone Your Belly with Crunches

Crunches are similar to sit-ups, but not as stressful on the back and neck. To start, lie on your back on the floor (or a mat if you have one) with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor shoulder width apart. Keep your hands across your chest or locked behind your head.

Inhale and lift your head and shoulders by tightening your abs so that your shoulder blades are just off of the floor. Hold this position for a few seconds, exhale and slowly lower yourself back down to the starting position. Do as many crunches as you can right now with an eventual goal of two sets of 10 to 20 crunches per set.

Tone Your Belly with Planks

There are several variations of the plank; the one explained here is the full plank. Start by lying on the floor face down; your forearms, elbows, hands and stomach should touch the floor. Tighten your abs and lift your body off the floor. Only your forearms, elbows and feet should now touch the floor.

While in this position, your body should be in a straight line from your shoulders to your feet; avoid the tendency to raise your buttocks or to arch your back. This defeats the purpose of doing planks.

Hold this pose for 10 to 30 seconds. Relax and slowly drop to the starting position. Work up to the point where you can hold the pose for a full minute. Do as many repetitions as you can.

Tone Your Belly with Your Bicycle

The starting position is to lie on your back with your fingers locked behind your head and legs bent at the knees. Now lift your left shoulder blade off of the floor, twist slightly and bring your right knee up toward your left elbow. At the same time, straighten your left leg. Now switch sides by straightening your right leg, bending your left leg, and bringing the right elbow up to the left knee. Keep alternate sides in a pedaling (bicycling) motion. Strive to complete 8 to 12 repetitions.

While there are several more exercises that target the abdominal muscles, these three will get you well on your way to having 6-pack abs and looking great. Start working your abs today so you’ll be ready to show them off in a bikini or short top this summer.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Most of us have belly fat to some extent or another. However, when it gets excessive, it can begin to cause health issues; some can be serious or even deadly. So to keep from getting too much belly fat, you have to know what causes it. Here are three main causes of excess belly fat:

Bad Genes Can Cause Excess Belly Fat

I listed genetics first because it is the hardest to control. If you are pre-disposed to accumulate belly fat based on your DNA structure, all you can do is try to control it the best you can through healthy eating and vigorous exercising. It will mean you’ll have to work a little harder than other people to see the same results, but it can be done through diligence and dedication.

Poor Diet Can Cause Excess Belly Fat

Today, most people do not eat properly by choice. We rely too heavily on processed and fast food, both of which are not good for us.

Instead, we should focus on a high protein/low carb diet by mainly eating these foods:

• fresh fruits – berries, apples, melons and peaches
• fresh vegetables – asparagus, cauliflower, cucumbers and cabbage
• whole grains – whole wheat, oats, brown rice and quinoa
• lean protein – chicken, turkey, tuna, fish, eggs and lean cuts of meat

The type of food we eat is not the only reason we get fat; how much we eat (i.e. portion control) is also important. One trick many people use is to put food on a smaller plate. It tricks your mind into thinking you ate more than you did. Remember these four simple “rules of thumb” when it comes to portion control size:

• 3 ounces of lean meat = deck of cards
• 1/2 cup of fresh fruit = 1/2 baseball
• 1 cup of salad = 1 baseball
• 1 cup of cereal flakes = a fist

Lack of Exercise Can Cause Excess Belly Fat

Not only is a poor diet the cause of us gaining excess belly fat; a sedentary lifestyle is a major contributor also. When combined with a diet that relies heavily on processed and fast food – both high in saturated fat and calories – your body will store the extra calories it doesn’t need as fat. In many people that fat gets stored as belly fat – the worst kind of fat.

Fortunately, belly fat is one of the first fats to burn off once you start exercising. Just 30 minutes a day of vigorous activity, such as walking, running or swimming (and eating healthy) will start burning off excess belly fat. Done diligently, you should start to see results in two weeks.

Because excess belly fat is so dangerous, it is imperative that you start eating healthy and exercising. As in other types of weight loss, it comes down to burning more calories than you take in over a period of time; burn 3,500 more calories per week than you eat, you’ll lose a pound. Eventually healthy eating and exercising will become part of your lifestyle and you won’t think twice about it.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

There may be hundreds of strength training exercises out there, so listing them all will be next to impossible. And every day, you’re also likely to read about how a professional trainer has developed a new variation of a particular workout that promises to be the most effective of them all. It just adds up to the confusion.

Use an Instructor to Learn Strength Training Exercises

If you are new to strength training, the first thing you need to learn is how to do strength training exercises properly. If you can afford it, get a qualified fitness instructor who can teach you all the necessary techniques. The instructor can take note of your fitness goals and also consider your limitations, so that you are properly aligned and you execute the exercise correctly.

Use a Video to Learn Strength Training Exercises

If you can’t get an instructor to help, don’t just rely on written descriptions of the exercise. “Google” each exercise you read about and watch the instructional videos of how they are done. Try to do each exercise slowly at first until you master the movement. Your focus should be on perfecting the technique first, rather than trying to be as fast as you can or lift as much as you can.

Example of a Video on Strength Training Exercises:

[video_youtube video_url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9FR3Tkoo0A” width=”480″ height=”300″]

Strength Training Exercises Using Equipment

You should also make sure that you know how to use various machines and weights properly. There are many kinds of weights used in strength training, such as barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, stability balls, medicine balls, and benches. And there are also other machines which replicate rowing. Again, your best bet here is to have an expert demonstrate the proper techniques for each type of equipment or follow along with a video.

Now we come to one of the more difficult aspects, which is choosing the strength training exercises that you will perform. Opinions on this matter are quite varied, so it all depends on what you can actually do and what you would prefer to do. It also depends on your skill level, and you also should note that each exercise targets specific muscles in your body.

For beginners, you need to do basic exercises first before you progress to the more advanced ones. Chest presses, bicep curls, triceps kickbacks or extensions, overhead presses for the shoulders, and reverse flies for the back are great for your arms and upper body.

Lunges and Squats are also common exercises for the lower body, but beginners with weak joints may not find them suitable. The better alternatives include side-lying or standing leg lifts which focus on the inner and outer thigh, hamstrings curl for the back of the thigh, and quadriceps extensions for the front of the thigh.

You should also remember to strengthen your core muscles as well, with exercises like the planks. Planks are very popular, as they work on the core as well as the shoulders and lower back. The core muscles are those muscles in your abs and lower back area. You absolutely need a stable core, especially if you engage in strength training. Even if you have extremely strong arms and legs, you can easily hurt yourself doing a bicep curl if you don’t have a stable core.

If you decide to hire a fitness instructor, follow their advice if it makes sense to you. If you decide to learn from videos in your home, a good start would be to sign up for the MyFitnessNut.com Newsletter and get three different workout programs that you can use to learn strength training exercises from.

The popularity of strength training really grew when it was realized that great strength was an advantage in many types of sports. Many coaches in the collegiate and high school levels began to systematically incorporate weightlifting and other resistance exercises in their training programs when the benefits of strength training became apparent. It became obvious that greater strength allowed athletes to perform better.

For example, one of the benefits of strength training is that it allows baseball hitters to strike the ball harder with their bats, and this made more home runs possible. Greater strength also lessens the possibility of injuries, which is a crucial consideration in contact sports such as football, hockey, and basketball.

And obviously, it is also important in a lot of martial sports; being stronger is a definite advantage in boxing, wrestling, and judo. You probably won’t find any athlete in Mixed Martial Arts who doesn’t do any strength training.

In the military, strengthening exercises are mandatory. Pushups aren’t just meant for punishment among servicemen; they also function to make them stronger. Among military personnel, police officers, and firefighters, strength is important because part of their duties is to carry others to safety during emergencies.

But strengthening exercises aren’t just for athletes and emergency personnel. The benefits of strength training are for everyone. They’re for both men and women of all ages, and this includes those who aren’t in the most perfect of health. Actually, those with serious ailments such as arthritis and heart disease get the most benefits from these types of workouts.

Strengthening exercises prevent, minimize, or alleviate these health conditions:

• Arthritis. A study by Tufts University revealed that these exercises, when performed by older people with arthritis, increased their strength and overall physical performance, lessened their disability, and improved the symptoms of the ailment. The exercises were even shown to be at least just as effective in easing the pain as medications.
• Poor balance and lack of flexibility. In older people, these issues lead to falls that cause broken bones. Strengthening exercises can help restore some balance and flexibility. A study in New Zealand revealed that simple forms strengthening exercises for women considerably lessened the frequency and severity of falls.
• Loss of bone density. Every year, post-menopausal women lose about a percentage or two of their bone mass. The Journal of the American Medical Association published a report in 1994 which showed that strengthening exercises boost bone density and lessened the risk of bone fractures for older women.
• Obesity. Strengthening exercises can help you lose weight. Developing greater muscle mass is a common side effect of strength training, and muscle is essentially a group of tissues that consumes calories. It’s been shown that these exercises can actually boost your metabolic rate by 15%.
• Heart diseases. The American Heart Association recommends strengthening workouts to reduce the risk of heart disease, and also as therapy for patients rehabilitating from certain heart ailments.
• Diabetes. One study showed that strengthening workouts result in improvements in glucose control that are similar to taking diabetes medication.
• Anxiety and insomnia. It is also widely known that strengthening workouts fight depression and induce healthier sleep.

Here’s a little bonus: Strength training also makes you look attractive!

You can start getting the benefits of strength training very quickly using a workout program such as the ones found in our Dumbbell section http://myfitnessnut.com/dumbbells/ and in our Kettlebell section at http://myfitnessnut.com/kettlebell. Go pickup one or both of these excellent methods for building muscle and get started enjoying the benefits of strength training today.