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

Cross Training for Fitness and Weight loss

The numbers on your scale do not indicate whether you are fit or fat. Far more significant than your total body weight is the composition of your body tissue. If a man's fatty tissue is bigger than 14% up to 15% of his body mass, or if a woman's is more than 20% to 22%, he or she is overweight, or more precisely, overweight.

A small amount of fat is needed for padding the internal organs and as insulation under the skin. Excess fat leads to such diseases as diabetes, gout, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and gallbladder problems. There are very few, very fat persons. The reason is that the fittest, not the fattest survive.

The problem now is focused on how to resolve the problem. The problem with most people who want to lose weight is that they have the propensity to concentrate more on getting those numbers lower than what they are seeing now. What happens next is that they strive harder to achieve a lower weight, according to the "ever reliable" result of the weighing scale.

It would be more important to think of the human body as a heat-exchange engine that works on the basic principles of energy physics. The caloric balance equals the total calorie intake minus the total calorie expenditure.

Some of the calories people ingest are used for basal metabolism. As people get old, their bodies require fewer calories for this basic upkeep. Some calories are excreted as waste products. Some go into "work metabolism," the energy expenditure required for any physical activity.

Hence, if people take in more calories than are used by these functions, there is a definite caloric excess. By the laws of physics, energy is transformed rather than destroyed. In this case, each excess of 3,500 calories is changed into a pound of fat. If people want to reverse this process, they have to burn up 3,500 calories to lose a single pound.

Winning the War Against Fat

When you think of fighting fat with exercise, you probably think of hours of hard, sweaty exertion. If this is the case, then, you will not get any farther. This is because people who are so much into losing more by exerting more effort tend to get bored easily.

Why? Because experts contend that when people exert more effort than what they are capable of doing creates a tendency to develop weariness and ennui. Hence, they give up, stop doing their routine exercises, and end up sulking in the corner with a bag of chips that seems to have all the bad calories in this world.

Now, you might ask, "What should be done instead?" The answer: cross training.

After some intensive studies and experimentations, health experts were able to come up with the concept of incorporating cross training in order to overcome or break the monotony or dullness in an exercise program.

Cross training refers to the integration of diverse movements or activities into a person's conventional exercise routine. The main purpose of incorporating cross training into an exercise program is to avoid overdoing excess muscle damages and to put a stop to an imminent boredom.

Three of the most commonly used activities whenever a person decides to engage into cross training are swimming, running, and cycling.

In cross training, distance is one way to extend your activity as your condition improves. For this reason, you need to traverse a measured distance.

If possible, swim the course and measure the distance. If you will be using a running track, such courses usually are a quarter-mile per lap for a complete circuit.

Cross training offers a variety of benefits for fitness and fatloss. It builds up the strength and endurance of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels. It has also some tranquilizing effect on the nerves, and it burns up calories as much as it makes your "losing weight" more bearable.

Cross training has three basic components:

1. Endurance exercises to condition the heart, lungs, and blood vessels and to induce relaxation. These begin with a careful planned walking and jogging regimen, depending on fitness level.

2. Exercises to strengthen the muscles, particularly those important to good posture. These include some activities that are selected to encourage some people who are already burnt out with a particular routine.

3. Exercises to improve joint mobility and prevent or relieve aches and pains. These consist of a series of static stretching positions that are safe and effective for most of the people who wish to try to lose some fat.

Indeed, cross training is a great way to modify the concept of exercising and losing fat without having to endure monotonous activities. In fact, the idea of exercising is to like what you are doing, hence, if you engage into cross training, you will be aware of it that you have already achieve your desired weight.

Boiled down, cross training is, certainly, one way of having fun.

Brigi G | Fitness Inspired Formula

5 Tips to Increase Your Motivation for Indoor Cycling Workout

Are you trying to lose a few extra pounds or are you trying to slim down and get into shape? Indoor cycling is an increasingly popular way of getting fit. It is also extremely easy as no special training is required and you can do it in your spare time, no-matter what the weather is outdoors. However, not many people can keep up with a proper indoor cycling workout regime and abandon their exercise bikes, or they just simply do not derive any long term benefit to their fitness. This article offer some tips on how to keep up your motivation for indoor cycling and stop that boredom from creeping in.

Alternate Your Indoor Cycling Regimes

If you just stick to one indoor cycling workout regime every day, then you are guaranteed to get bored pretty quickly. Indoor cycling workouts, just like any other fitness activity, can be classified into different types. You can vary the workout in terms of exercise intensity, duration and frequency of the workout. High intensity workouts are useful for building up cardiovascular stamina, which would not be as relevant if you are training for a strength event. You should aim to combine sets of exercises to build up your body system and train up different muscle groups. Getting access to a specialist trainer can be helpful at the beginning to help build a proper plan for your workout, depending on what you are aiming for.

Attend an Indoor Cycling Class

This is useful especially when you are starting to lose motivation in indoor cycling. Attending an indoor cycling class at your local gym can be both fun and entertaining. You can participate in a group with similar fitness aims and this can motivate you to continue doing your indoor cycling regimes. It is also a good social event and can help you persist with your workouts through the rough times. If you cannot find time to attend the gym, then you can purchase some good fitness videos which you can use in the comfort of your own home.

Diversify Your Workout

Remember that indoor cycling is not the only means to get fit or lose weight. There are other ways such as jogging on a treadmill machine or other aerobic exercises. If you get bored, mix up your cycling with other forms of workouts to achieve your daily fitness goal. That is why attending a local gym can be useful as it can offer you this, in addition to access to their fitness instructors to guide you on your path. Research has shown that diversifying your workout offers you much more benefit than just sticking to a sole form of exercise. It also reduces the risk of injury from repetitive motions and muscle strain by doing constant activity.

Purchase a Good Exercise Bike

This is important if you are serious in indoor cycling workouts. Modern exercise bikes have multitude of information including calories burnt, distance traveled and cycling speed. They also give you useful feedback on your performance and you can gauge whether there is improvement in your fitness level. It is important to have a goal to work towards and motivate you to try harder each time and stay focused. Good exercise bikes can also give you varying levels of resistance to push yourself to the limit.

Working through Injury

One of the most annoying things that can disrupt your exercise regime is sustaining injury. Remember that cycling is just like any other form of strenuous exercise. Ensure that you do appropriate warmup and stretching exercises to prevent damage to your muscles or ligaments. Know what your body can take and avoid over-exertion, especially if you are just starting out with your fitness regime. If you are unfortunate enough to pick up an injury, then this should by no means end your fitness ambitions. You can always participate in other forms of stretching exercises or balance work.

Conclusion

Indoor cycling workouts are increasingly popular and can help you lose weight and maintain your level of fitness. The important tips to maintain your motivation include attending a local cycling class, getting access to a certified exercise trainer and purchasing good equipment. You should also take it slow at the beginning to avoid injuries, and diversify your workout so that you can maintain your motivation.

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