10 Steps on Improving Your Metabolism

Get 10 tips on how you can increase your metabolism, naturally. You'll be surprised at how little things can affect your metabolism in a big way.

Are you sluggish and low on energy?

Do you feel like you work and work toward your weight loss goal and never seem to make any dramatic improvement?

You could be suffering from a slow metabolism. Even though you may have a slow metabolism, it does not have to destroy your weight loss efforts. You can dramatically improve your metabolism, and boost your energy levels without taking supplements.

Your metabolism simply refers to the conversion of food to usable energy by the body. It is the biological process, by which energy is extracted from food, and the net result is how fast or slowly the body burns those calories.

A few steps you can take to improve your metabolism naturally are:

Drink Water – Water is great to drink and you should be drinking a minimum of 8 to 10, glasses daily, of course, more is better. It will help increase your metabolism and flush out sodium, toxins, and fat. Drinking water before meals will fill your stomach so you feel full and prevent overeating. Avoid excess colas, coffee, teas, and sugary juices. Caffeine will dehydrate you, and the sugar will do more damage than good in the long-run.
  

 Eat Every Three Hours – Eat a small balanced meal every three hours, including snacks. Meals and snacks should be balanced, meaning they should contain a complete protein, carbohydrates, as well as natural fat. Failure to eat consistently can lead to a slower metabolism and fat storage. Also, skipping meals slows down your metabolism. To ignite fat loss you need to be consuming the right foods in a balanced manner throughout the day.

Don't Skip Breakfast – Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it gets your metabolism running in high gear. You wouldn't drive your car to work on an empty tank, and you shouldn't start your day without adequate nourishment. Your first meal sets your metabolism for the day and keeps it going, as long as you eat every three hours. If you get up early and eat a late breakfast, you miss out on several hours of burning calories.

Don't Fear Fat – Fat has developed a bad reputation. Many people think fat makes you fat. This is false. The type of fat and how much fat you eat impacts your body fat composition. Fat is needed by the body. Those who follow a very low-fat diet have a harder time ridding their body of fat. Choose natural healthy fats such as olive oil, avocados, various nuts, flax, and natural peanut butter to receive your necessary fats.

Omit Trans Fat – Trans fat is the bad fat, the cause of weight gain, low energy, depression, cancer, and heart disease. You will never get the body you desire by eating "healthy" fast food, frozen dinners, and other processed choices. If it's man-made, it's not the best choice, and will halt fat loss endeavors. Eat the foods Mother Nature has provided to meet your fat loss goals.

Be Active Daily – Stay active at least six days a week. Take the stairs when possible or park further out to get that little bit of extra movement to keep the heart and lungs working optimally. The more movement you get daily, the better you will feel overall.

Do Cardiovascular Exercise – Cardio exercise is necessary for heart and lung health. It also burns calories. Doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach can tap into fat stores, and keep your body burning calories at a high rate for about an hour after cardio is finished. If you fail to eat adequately daily, first morning cardio on an empty stomach can work against you. Doing morning cardio on very low calorie diet can burn muscle. Another good time to incorporate cardio is in the evening after your last meal. This allows you to burn calories so you are not sleeping on them. You do not have to implement a morning and evening session, choose one or the other or cycle between the two to prevent staleness and boredom.

HIIT It – Blend some High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) into your cardiovascular program from time to time to give your body and metabolism a good shock. The body is programmed for adaptation. Therefore, doing the same cardio format day in and day out can become stale really fast. Take one or two days a week and implement some HIIT to give the body an added shock.
HIIT is basically alternating low intensity and moderate to high intensity cardio training.  For example, a 20 minute HIIT session would look similar to this:

Minute 1 and 2 – Low Intensity (Walking) Minute 3 and 4 – High Intensity (Light jogging or running) Minute 5 and 6 – Low Intensity Minute 7 and 8 – High Intensity and so on…
Weight Train – Resistance training builds muscle, which is metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you acquire, the faster your metabolism will be.  Adding more lean muscle tissue to your body will put curves in the right places and allow you to eat more calories a day.

Listen to Your Body – Killing yourself with workouts is just as dangerous as not working out at all. Listen to your body and get proper rest. Don't train if you are ill, still sore from the previous workout, or just simply too tired. Training in such a state can cause more problems than it solves.

If any of the above fails to prove results in 4 to 6 weeks, there could be an underlying problem, such as a food allergy, sluggish thyroid, hormonal imbalance, toxins, parasites, etc. If so, I recommend searching for a natural healer in your area to determine the cause. and work from there. For the most part, proper diet, detoxifying, and herbs can correct any ailments.

Damian@FitnHealthy

Four Simple Cardio Programs to Burn Fat Super Fast

Jumping Rope

Jumping rope provides a number of health benefits: not only is it a great cardiovascular exercise that burns calories and fat, but it also develops good coordination between the hands and feet, as well as rhythm (muscle coordination). The greatest thing about jumping rope is that it is very inexpensive and you can do it almost anywhere.
Jumping rope has been proven to be a very effective method for burning fat. It has been shown to burn as many as 1,000 calories per hour. Wow, that is some serious caloric expenditure! Some of the best and leanest athletes swear by it. Movies often depict professional boxers skipping rope because it develops great cardiovascular endurance and stamina. It's no wonder that boxers are some of the best-conditioned athletes.

Grab a jump rope and try it yourself!
Stand erect, but relaxed, when you jump.
Keep your knees slightly bent.
Look straight ahead, not at your feet.
Land on the balls of your feet, not on your heels.
Keep your arms fairly still, do not flail.
Start by jumping slowly, building up your speed so you can jump rope more quickly over time. See how many times you can jump without missing. Try to do 100 skips before you have to stop – then, beat that record the next time. Do 50 super fast jumps, followed by 50 slower jumps.
Jumping rope is great for the whole family. Have even more fun by getting some friends to play Double-Dutch. Jump rope for 30 minutes, five times a week, and watch your waistline shrink. Go invest in a jump rope today, and quickly get the body you want.

Jumping on a Trampoline
Jumping on a trampoline – yes, I said jumping on a trampoline – is a great workout. It not only develops excellent proprioception (body awareness), but it also burns a ton of fat and calories. And did you know that the rhythmic bouncing has a powerful effect on the lymphatic system, which builds a stronger immune system?
A trampoline provides exercise that are easy on the joints, very low in stress, and great for the body.
It's easy to start a trampoline regimen. Buy a mini-trampoline for your living room and jump while watching your favorite TV show, or bounce to a trampoline workout video. For tons of family fun, buy a large trampoline for the backyard. Start jumping on your trampoline for 30 minutes a day and bounce away your pounds.

Outdoor Sprints
A Great workout: go outside and sprint as hard and fast as you possibly can. Once you feel like you're going to collapse, stop; walk until you're no longer huffing and puffing; then, sprint again. You might call this the 'Forrest Gump' Workout. Repeat as many times as you can, or until you complete a full 30 minutes of sprints and rest/walking.
This is a very intense workout, so you need a good level of fitness and conditioning before trying it. Sprint your butt off, walk until you catch your breath, then do it again. The harder you push yourself, combined with the faster and longer distance you run, the sooner you will get in shape and the more fat you will lose.
Outdoor sprints offer fat loss and a great body at no cost, so push harder than you ever have pushed before. If this sounds too difficult, consider the payoff. Any successful athlete will tell you they have put their bodies through this type of workout challenge.
If you are in good physical health, a sprint workout is extremely safe – so remember, just because you might feel like quitting doesn't mean you have to. In other words, keep pushing and get your butt in shape, no whining, no complaining; just results, and a happy, more confident you.

Stadium Stairs

Running up stairs is a great no-cost, outdoor workout available at your local high school or college stadium. Sprint to the top of the stadium, then walk down the stairs. Remember, safety first! As soon as you get to the bottom, sprint back up to the top, and repeat.
This extremely high-intensity cardio program will burn fat quickly and send your heart rate through the roof. Sprinting stairs is a common exercise for all levels of athletes, and who among us doesn't want the lean, muscular shape of an athlete? So stop complaining about not being able to afford the fancy equipment. Go to the stairs and run your butt off! You'll get a tight, firm rear because you'll lose that fat from your behind, and everywhere else, as you burn up the calories running up those stairs.

By Scott White
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Health and Fitness Essentials – The Cardio-vascular Workout

To accomplish a good cardio-vascular workout all you really need is a good pair of running shoes. Most cardio-vascular exercise needs little or no third party apparatus to help you accomplish your routine. Running, dancing, walking can all be done with no equipment (well, if dancing, then maybe some music would help). Other forms of cardio are step, circuit training, bike riding, swimming, aerobics and more...

With most exercise you should always remember to warm up first and cool down afterwards. This means gently stretching and moving your muscles to start off with. Suddenly moving into full exercise without building up first will cause problems such as stiffness and cramps. Ease yourself into it. Then after exercise, the cool down is basically gently moving the muscles and joints to stretch and relax, as your body returns to its normal pace.

Running:
Make sure you have a good pair of running shoes. The technology put into these shoes nowadays is highly researched and designed to reduce shock to the feet, ankles, legs and back. So don't skimp on these - you get what you pay for.

Before you start your run, be sure to warm up first. Start with a brisk walk ensuring you move your arms vigorously gradually breaking into a slow jog. It is better to run at a speed to which you can still converse. If you find yourself losing breath, slow your pace down until you've recovered. If you are a novice runner try running and walking, until you can hold your run for 15 minutes.

Now increase the length and time of your run by a couple of minutes every other time you hit the road or treadmill, until you can run for 30 minutes without stopping. Try to increase your run time by 10% each week, remember not to over do it and don’t forget to warm down at the end of each by slowing down gradually. When your run is complete stretch your legs for 30 seconds per muscle, hamstring, calf and thigh.

Cycling:
Cycling is one of the best ways to get a good cardio-vascular workout.

First of all, if you are riding on the roads safety is paramount, always use the appropriate safety equipment when road riding. You can stay fit by riding a bike to work, most people work within a five mile radius of there place of work, which is a perfect distance for a bike ride.

Exercise bikes can be used in a variety of ways, general riding for specified length of time, this is like going for a bike ride with out the dangers of road riding and the weather. Warm up riding you can use an exercise bike for warming up the legs before a leg workout. Also exercise bike classes, these classes are taken by an instructor, who will put you through various levels of pace, quite like a circuit training exercise with a bike.

You may find it surprising to find that riding a bike five miles 3 times per week will improve your heart rate, your posture, skin and weight control. Some even say that riding and running are great ways of relieving stress.

Swimming:
One of the best ways to firm up and trim your body down. Due to the resistance the water has on the body swimming involves all the major muscle groups this allows the body to burn up to 20% more calories than swimming through air. Swimming a few lengths per day will keep you fit and give you an excellent workout. Swimming also has less impact on the joints than say, running.

If you wish to take your swim a little further try picking up the pace of your swim, you can work up to a great aerobic exercise and give your body an excellent workout.

Start off by swimming 1-2 lengths at a time resting between sets if necessary, after you have swam ten lengths call it a day. The next day repeat the process until you can swim five lengths without a break. Progress to ten lengths in by adding an extra length each time you return.

You can put together your own cardio raining routing in the gym, if you have a problem with this then the staff on hand will write one for you and show you how to achieve your goal. Try to make your cardio last between an hour and an hour and a half. A good start point for cardio is always a run.

This cardio workout will work for a person of medium fitness, however adjust the times and pace according to your fitness levels.

1. Run at a light pace for 20 minutes, start off at a walking pace and gradually move to a run, this helps you get warmed up and the blood pumping.

2. Rowing machine- set the rowing machine for a countdown time of 15 minutes or keep a check on your watch or the clock. Start off with a slow rowing motion to get the pace up, maintain this steady pace throughout the full 13 minutes and use the 2 minutes to slow the pace down.

3. Move immediately on to exercise bike take a stead paced ride for 12 minutes with a sprint finish for the remaining 3 minutes.

4. After the exercise bike move directly on to the step climber for a period of 15 minutes climbing on a light level to get the legs going. Try to move at a swift pace for the full 15 minutes as this is the last of the leg work you will be doing.

5. When you have completed the step climber, move onto the abs bench for some crunches. 4 sets of crunches to failure is your target for this exercise. Try twisting your body and touching your left knee with your right elbow and vice versa.

6. The last exercise in this quick cardio workout is the leg raise apparatus. Bring your knees up to your chest for 3-4 sets for as many reps as possible (failure)

After the completion of this cardio workout, remember to do a full warm down by stretching the muscles. The full workout should take you around 1 hour 20 minutes.

Brigi G by Fit 4 Health

You Get A Full Body Workout And A Toned Torso With A Rowing Machine

One of the most complete cardiovascular exercises around has to be rowing. A proper workout on a rowing machine will tone all of the major muscle groups such as your legs, back and arms.

The beauty of using a concept 2 rowing machine is first of all it doesn't involve water.
This rower doesn't get you wet and there are no early morning trips to get your machine
out of the boat shed. No cold changing rooms and gale force winds for your training session. And there is definitely no need to find the nearest river to row your machine on. All you have to do is set it up in an adequately spacious area and away you go.

There are lots of different machines available on the market. Although they generally fall into 2 categories:

-Water rowers

-Air rowers

The water rower, which contrary to their namesake, does not end up in you getting wet after a vigorous workout. The machines are very beautifully designed and use enclosed water and paddles for resistance as opposed to air. These rowers tend to be quieter than air rowers and are just as much works of art as they are exercise machines.

Then we have the concept 2 air rower. There are many other brands available but this piece of machinery is commonly accepted to be one of the best, if not the best. They
are engineering masterpieces and are all calibrated to the same standard. So, if you do a certain time on a concept 2 rower, you can rest assured that, that time will be
replicated exactly on another concept 2 machine. This is the reason why the world indoor rowing championships use the concept 2.

The information that the display monitors show on the concept 2 is extensive, with the new monitors even being able to be plugged into a PC, so you can race
with other rowers from all around the world.

Brigi G | Fitness Inspired Formula

HIIT Cardio: The Basics of High Intensity Interval Training

Mention cardio exercise and most people will think of jogging, swimming or other low-intensity workouts. While cardio has a reputation as a low-intensity training method, it can easily be adapted into a challenging high-intensity workout.
High intensity interval training – better known as HIIT cardio – is a form of cardio that’s all about working out close to your maximum intensity level for short bursts of activity, typically followed by a rest or period of low-intensity exercise.
From increasing your aerobic abilities to improving your running speed, HIIT has a wide variety of benefits. In this guide, we’ll look at the health and body composition benefits of HIIT cardio and share a few popular HIIT cardio training programs.
Would you like to reap the benefits of HIIT cardio to get stronger, burn fat and build a great body? Enroll in our No Bull Fitness Course to join over 1,700 students for an intense, calorie-burning workout that will help you rapidly get in shape.

How does HIIT cardio work?

Who says you need to run for a long time to burn calories? HIIT cardio trades slow, low-intensity cardio training for short bursts of high-intensity exercise, giving you the same calorie-burning effect in a significantly shorter amount of time.
Because your body is forced to work at such an extreme intensity level, a couple of minutes of high-intensity cardio like sprinting or fast swimming can burn as many calories as 10 minutes or more of jogging would.
Let’s apply our HIIT cardio principles to running. While low-intensity training would involve a half-hour of jogging on a treadmill, high-intensity training would involve a one-minute sprint followed by a four-minute job, repeated for half an hour.
HIIT cardio can be used for weight loss, reducing your risk of heart disease, boosting your athletic performance and more. It’s a versatile training method that can also be used by any type of athlete, from kickboxers to long distance runners.

Unique advantages of HIIT cardio

High intensity interval training isn’t just a more intense form of normal cardio – it’s a completely different way to train. Because of this, it has different athletic benefits and health effects, particularly when it comes to your body composition.
Have you ever wondered why a sprinter has such a drastically different body type from a long distance runner? Although both athletes do lots of cardio training, one trains for intensity and power while the other trains for distance and endurance.
Old treadmills often have a ‘fat burning’ zone listed on their heart rate monitor. It’s typically a rate that’s between 50 and 70 percent of your target heart rate – a figure that scientists used to believe was the optimum heart rate for burning fat.
This is roughly the heart rate that you’ll achieve from low-intensity cardio such as jogging or uphill walking. Despite popular belief, this ‘fat burning zone’ isn’t real – it’s a common fitness myth based on outdated science and illogical research.
At a low intensity level, you might burn more calories during your hour of jogging or powerwalking. However, you won’t burn more fat, because low-intensity cardio like jogging or slow swimming tends to burn sugar in your bloodstream instead of fat.
The mechanics of fat burning and exercise are complicated, especially when you’re comparing fat loss methods. If you’d like to learn more about how your body burns away fat when you exercise, check out our Nutrition for Beginners course.
HIIT cardio’s biggest unique advantage is that instead of merely burning calories in general, it specifically targets your body’s fat cells. This means you can burn fat with high-intensity training while retaining almost all of your body’s muscle mass.

Other health advantages of HIIT cardio

As well as specifically targeting your body’s fat cells, HIIT cardio has several other unique benefits. One of the biggest is its effect on your body’s ability to take in and use oxygen, which is massively increased with long-term HIIT cardio training.
When you engage in low-intensity cardio like walking or jogging, your body is only using a small amount of its aerobic capacity. Since HIIT cardio involves short bursts of rapid exercise, it forces your body to increase its oxygen uptake as you work out.
This means that your aerobic abilities – your ability to run or do any other form of exercise for a long period of time without feeling tired – increases faster using HIIT cardio than it would through any other form of exercise.
Another unique benefit of HIIT cardio is excess-post exercise oxygen consumption, which is more easily remembered as EPOC. Because HIIT cardio leaves you feeling so fatigued and tired, your body continues burning calories for hours afterwards.
Combined with a healthy diet, HIIT cardio is one of the most efficient and safe ways to lose weight and keep it off. Discover a great nutritional plan to use with your HIIT program in our Healthy Eating: Beyond the Diet Hype course.

Starting your HIIT cardio workout

High-intensity cardio isn’t for everyone, and beginners may need to ease themselves into a high-intensity workout routine if they’re just getting started. During your first week, use the running program below every day to get started with HIIT training:

• Before you start, warm up using some basic stretching exercises
• Walk for five minutes at a slow pace to warm up your muscles
• Sprint for one minute (keep your heart rate below 80% of your maximum)
• Walk for two minutes at a moderate pace (below 60% max heart rate)
• Sprint for one minute (keep your heart rate below 85% of your maximum)
• Walk for two minutes at a moderate pace (below 60% max heart rate)
• Sprint for one minute (keep your heart rate below 85% of your maximum)
• Walk for five minutes at a moderate pace to cool down

The above workout takes about 17 minutes, including the time required to warm up and cool down after your three HIIT cardio cycles. If you find it too simple, add extra cycles of walking for two minutes and sprinting for one minute until you’re tired.
Your workout shouldn’t extend beyond 30 minutes, excluding the time you spend at the beginning and end warming up. Once your HIIT cardio training becomes less of a challenge, try increasing your pace instead of extending your workout.
Don’t like to run? You can apply the same workout template to cycling, swimming or any other form of cardio exercise. Just make sure you warm up properly before your workout begins to avoid injuring yourself.
If you’re not used to sprinting on a treadmill or hard surface like concrete, it’s easy to injure your ankles or shins. Learn the correct technique for jogging and sprinting with Right Form Running.

Keeping your HIIT cardio training fun

Most people complete their HIIT training workout on a treadmill, which can quickly get boring. Spice up your high-intensity cardio routine by running in the park, in the gym or around a local track.
Another great way to keep your high-intensity training routine fun is by switching up your exercises for extra variety. Learn other great calorie-burning exercises in our blog post on the cardiovascular exercises that burn the most calories.

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Helpful Fat Burning Workouts for Men and Women

Most Beneficial Cardiovascular Exercises and Aerobic Exercises

There are times when our body just doesn't feel like going to the gym and working out. Why do you think that is? Because there isn't any originality or different exercises that can be done there. Many a time, it becomes important to spice things up a bit, even in your workout routines. Mixing up different, yet few of the best fat burning workout will give you faster, more defined results. And for that, we have a list of non-gym fat burning exercises that will give you the much-needed change in your workouts.

Best Fat Burning Workouts at Home

Now if you are a fitness enthusiast, I don't need to tell you how and when are these exercises supposed to be done. But for those that are unaware, these best fat burning exercises can be performed at any time of the day. Which means, you don't have to do them on an empty stomach; that's just a myth. In this article, we have put together some of the best fat burning exercises at home that both men and women can perform. So, let's have a look at them.

While searching for best fat burning workouts for men and women, many focus on only building muscles and overall strength. And most of the time, some of the most beneficial cardiovascular exercises and aerobic exercises are left behind. So we will go over these cardio and aerobic workouts which will help you in shedding those excess fat and gaining muscles instead. Below are the best fat burning workout for women and men.

Workout #1 - Yoga

We are all familiar with yoga and its benefits. Incorporating yoga in your daily workout routine is not just a new trend these days, but it has become a way of life. There are specific yoga exercises that can help increase your strength, improve the structure of body, burn calories, and shed fat.

Workout #2 - Stair Climbing

Climb stairs; there's nothing better than avoiding elevators and escalators. You don't just have to limit climbing stairs during workouts, but keep it up for the entire day. At work, school, or while shopping at the mall, you can take the stairs. And during your daily workout routine, you can substitute half an hour of running with 15 minutes of stair climbing.

Workout #3 - Pilates

Not many are aware, but pilates exercises focus on core postural muscles that help balance our body. Why is it important? We put our body through so much each day, exercises, work, school, house chores, and lots more. It can get really tired and refuse to move any further. In such cases, burning fat from any part of your body can be difficult. With Pilates, you will learn how to support your spine properly, understand your breathing, and strengthen your torso muscles. With this workout, you can burn fat and focus on the betterment of your body at the same time.

Workout #4 - Weights

We can't forget about building strength and toning our body, right? Lifting weights are an integral part of doing the best fat burning workouts for men as well as women. So perform dumbbell bench press, bicep curls, triceps press, lateral raises, and other workouts with the weights. You can perform these workouts at any time of the day. Just remember to do these workouts in 3 sets of 15 counts each.

There you have it folks, few of the best fat burning workouts for women and men alike. Be consistent and make sure you don't falter. Don't cheat on your workouts, enjoy doing them, and change your routine every time you feel you're getting bored doing them. Try any of the best fat burning workout mentioned above and get the body you always desired for.

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