Workout

Background

I began working out with a personal trainer, which was not nearly as expensive as I thought once I started looking around. It cost me $200 a month for 2 sessions a week and a comp gym membership. I started out with the trainer, got evaluated and developed an easy to follow routine along with healthy eating and living tips that help me even today. I, like many others, found it hard to get started, but once I did it wasn’t nearly as hard to keep going. Throughout my experience I learned a lot about fitness, living well, and just generally being healthy.

Routine

I started out with a Tuesday/Thursday gym routine and went from there.

Tuesday

On Tuesday I worked on my arms. We would lift weights using resistance bands attached to a machine. This is similar to what you can buy and use at home, just with more weight. It forces you not only to tone your arms by lifting the weights, but to strengthen your waist and mid-section by resisting the pull from the bands. I generally did 4 sets of 10-20 repetitions in different positions. As you move the bands, you can focus on different arm muscles by pulling in different ways so a good variety helps and you can get a complete upper-body workout this way.

Thursday

On Thursday I focused on my legs, we would either use a general leg press. Using the leg press, I found a weight I was comfortable with and did several sets of 20, usually until I was either tired or ready to move to another machine. The other machine I would often use is a leg lift, like those found on many home gyms. The same thing applies here, set a weight I was comfortable with and do several sets of 20 until I was tired or done working out.

Everyday

There were parts of my routine that I did everyday. I did some form of cardio, at least 30 minutes, everyday. On days when I wasn’t at the gym, I walked around my university campus, took …

In need of a new workout for the new year?

Just because your resolution for 2009 is the most common resolution- getting in shape- doesn't mean your approach has the be the same, tired one that has failed to motivate you in the past. Not a gym bunny? No worries. These fresh and trendy ideas for getting in shape might make you forget altogether that your workout is actually work!

Belly Dance Sound exotic? Well, study that most ancient and feminine of dance forms does not require a trip to the Middle East. A quick google of "belly dance" and your city and you're likely to come across local teachers and relatively affordable fees. Generally, belly dance classes run once a week for between forty-five minutes to an hour and a half at a cost of between eight and fifteen dollars per session. And if something two-thousand years old sounds irrelevant, consider the benefits of belly dance. Belly dance is friendly to all body types. It's a form of dance that makes a woman feel good about her body right now, while working towards something better. And curvy or petite, everyone looks good doing it. A couple sites on which to get information about belly dance are www.bellydance.org and www.bhuz.com

Get Out On a budget? Tough times got you down? Consider getting in shape, connecting with nature, and spending no money doing so. While it may be cold out, there's also something soothing about a quiet, snowy evening that can be relaxing to the nerves. Not to mention the added resistance provided by trudging through snow and the weight of boots and extra layers of clothing. Many cities have either indoor or outdoor skating rinks where for under ten bucks you get a couple hours of cardiovascular exercise and great toning for the lower body. As a bonus, this doubles as an ideal setting for a romantic, low-pressure date. Fall on your butt and you'll be able to it off!

Pole Dance Skip this one if you're under twenty-one. But for women wanting to build confidence and sensuality along with …

There are tons of sites and guides that claim to be authoritative sources on workout tricks. I’ve decided to compile this list in order to dispel some of the misinformation and plain falsehoods that exist within the fitness community. These tips are arranged in order to help you get more out of your workout, whether your goal be weight loss, strength, or overall fitness.

1. Caffeine. We all know the drill – caffeine is a great way to to feel good and energized after that first espresso, but what you may not know is that it that scientific research is lending greater creedence to the claim of enhanced endurance. in a study by the University of Texas, subjects ingested an energy drink prior to Cycling for one hour at moderate exertion. the study showed that those who ingested the drink faired better than those who did not, and that caffeine may aid in blocking and slowing fatigue. Bottom line, caffeine is promising in it’s use for combating fatigue and helping you power through your workout.
2. High Intensity Interval Training. Some of you may be familiar with this type of aerobic activity, but for those unacquainted, a little intro is needed. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), consists of mixing moderate cardio activities with bursts of very high eXertion mixed in between. This type of cardio (in contrast to steady-state cardio where you would stay at a moderate or high heart rate), is proven in increasing untrained atheletes to better metabolize fat and carbohydrate stores during excercise. Bottom line – incorporate half an hour of this training on your cardio days instead of steady state for more effective utilization of fat tissue and carbohydrate stores.
3. Fight the Flab. I know, it’s been promoted to death, but there’s a good reason why more and more cardio addicts are adding in weight training into their routines. Not only does weight training actually reduce blood pressure levels, it is also effective in significantly increasing the caloric burn after the weightlifting is over, and can increase fat oxidation. In other words, even a short fifteen minutes of

Summer is time for sun and fun. Frequent trips to the beach and pool make exercise more enjoyable. I love to be in the water and have been to our pool at least once a week since the middle of April.

I spend at least an hour each time exercising and not just playing around. There is more to exercising in the pool than just boring laps. I use the whole pool; the deep and shallow end for my workout.

Treading Water works out the arms and legs and helps to build endurance. Sometimes, I'll tread water in the deep end for 1/2 hour to an hour at a time. I make sure to keep my legs moving, and I'll change things up by doing various arm exercises. You can do the arm exercises with out without weights.

I'll do bicep curls, and triceps kick backs till I can't do them anymore. You can work the pecs by placing your hands in a prayer position and then pushing your hands out and to the side while the hands and arms are underneath the water. Use you imagination, and just keep moving.

I would suggest starting off slow. Spend 15 minutes treading water and work your way up to an hour. I've found you don't have the same kind of pain signals as you do on land. You are pretty much weightless in the water and you don't feel resistance as much.

I over did it the first time and was in tremendous pain after I got out of the pool. The next time I worked out, I cut my time in half, and worked my self up. I can now do an hour each session, and I feel good when I get out of the pool.

Working out in the pool is easier on the joints, and is a great way to ease into an exercise routine. Being outside in the fresh air feels nice and the swimming pool is refreshing on a hot day.

Make sure to use sun block before swimming. Getting …

If your teenager is experiencing complications associated with conduct disorder, you may be investigating your options into therapy or teen-related behavioral programs. For many parents, the options for residential treatment for teenagers are almost endless with much confusion over what is most effective for your child's specific complications.

Military-styled residential treatment programs have become increasingly more common recent years. However, they are not always proven effective. When considering the types of programs for your troubled teen, you may want to consider the military-styled program very carefully and ascertain what is best based on your child's specific needs.

Offering structure and goal-oriented directives, many troubled teens benefit from military-styled residential programs. In most cases, these types of programs offer a safe and more physically active program which is especially suitable for boys and for teenagers with anger management complications. Teens who engage in conduct disorders involving truancy, substance abuse and antisocial behavior tend to realize the best outcome in a military-styled residential setting.

Teenagers who live with a variety of externalizing behaviors, such as impulsivity, hyperactivity, aggression and lack of attention, may improve dramatically after engaging in a boot camp or military-styled residential program. For teens with a significant complication associated with internalized behavior, however, boot camp or military-styled residential treatment programs may not be effective.

When considering options for residential treatment for your troubled teenager, it is also important to understand that teens who engage in military-styled residential treatment often show a greater tendency towards acquiring a high school diploma and obtaining full-time employment than teenagers who are involved in other forms of residential treatment. To further promote this outcome, many military-styled residential programs are followed up with a change in the child's living situation at the time of release. In many cases, the child may return to a different home location, either due to a parent's relocation while they were away or simply moving to live with the other parent in the case of divorced or separated parents. While this may be difficult for you to do, it has been shown to improve your child's long term outcome following …

Before each workout think about what want to accomplish and then think about the type effort it will take to do so. At the end of your workout you should ask yourself did you do what you had planned and did you put in the effort?

This is important as it allows you to go in with a game plan to be more focused. You’ll know what you need to do and you’ll push to accomplish your goal. It’s also time efficient you won’t be guessing what the next step is wasting time going back and forth with ideas. Most importantly you’ll have a program tailored towards what you want to accomplish.

Perhaps you are a novice into martial arts and want to work on improving your striking speed. You would not train how somebody looking to build bigger arms would train. If you don’t have a plan, you haven’t researched and to figure out what it in entails to be a faster striker. You very well might train like somebody looking to build bigger arms. You figure I should train my arms so you do the motions doing various arm exercises. Not only would this not be benefit you it’s actually hurt your progress. Building bigger arms actually will slow your striking down. This is just an example.

The point is you should make a plan ahead of time, think about what you are trying to accomplish and the effort needed to do so. Then at the end of your work out asking yourself did you do what you had planned and did you put in the effort?

Why you should ask this is not as important as going in with a game plan but still important. Think of the game plan as a foundation of a house. After you have a foundation you can build upon it and design it to your personal specifications.

So at the end of a workout ask yourself did you do I what was planned, perhaps you missed something or something didn’t work how you planned. Take this into consideration so you can …