The Need to Monitor Fitness Levels to Improve

Being fit and healthy is a great way to spend free time – not just because it’s what the media is pushing on us, but it strengths you from the inside out and gives you a much better shot at a longer life compared to those who aren’t active and don’t do much moving around or pushing their bodies.

There’s also a reason fitness trackers have become such a big hit with things like Jawbone, FitBit and MyZone storming the markets at the moment. It’s not just because people want to see how much they’ve been running, or pushing themselves. For the ones who wear them, it’s because they need to monitor and keep track.

The Benefits

Monitoring your fitness has a range of benefits:

Motivational
Seeing what you’ve managed to do can push you to do more, or do better, and have you continuously working to surpass yourself. This isn’t a bad thing, as long as you listen to your body’s limits and know when it’s had enough and that you’re not pushing it too hard, which can end up with you doing more damage than by just exercising and can even put a stop to your activities if you need to have time to heal.

Improvement
A sure fire way to see that you’re strengthening up and that you’re getting fitter is when you can see that you’ve pushed yourself further than you’ve managed before. If you keep working out at the same intensity, you’re only ever going to get so fit, you’re never going to get past that stage. Being able to see that you’ve run further, faster, or lifted stronger and hiked your BPM means that  you can track these changes.

Competitive
Some people do very well if they’re faced with a challenge. Monitoring yourself, with friends, means that you can all work together to try and get past one another. This stops it from just being about getting fit but also makes it more about winning and gives you a whole new reason to push yourself.

Humans tend to be very results driven – we like to see that it’s making a difference, and see the tangible evidence before we’re happy. Even if we don’t see a change in our body, we can see it on the tracker that we’re doing something, we’re making a difference and we can see where we’re improving.

The reason the market has done so well in a short number of years is because there was a space for it to create its own niche, because it’s something that people – while they can live without it – didn’t know they needed it until it was available to them and there. They’re only going to improve, too, and get better as the years go on with more and more features becoming available to the individual to make sure that they’re getting the most out of each and every one of their workouts and can see exactly where they’ve improved.

Workouts Programs For Beginners

If you say you can’t work out appropriately because you are a neophyte in the journey called fitness, better re-think. Beginners like you can get hold of fitness routines that are just simple to execute. It doesn’t take any experience for you to go the gym to start your resistance and strength training.

Usually, fitness gurus will accommodate and provide you a specific program that comprises with warm-up, cardio, resistance training and cools down routines to complete every single gym session.

Your goal is to manage your weight for sure. But beyond that, the exercises you are going to do will also improve your blood circulation, increase your heart performance, enhance your resistance, and firm your muscles groups. The more lean muscles you develop, the higher your capacity to burn fat is.

Toning your muscles will also calm your whole system down, that’s why it’s important to finish your session with toning. Learn from the steps below so you can choose which areas to focus on. By doing one set of each, you will be able to experience a total body workout that toughens your shoulders, arms, chest, back, legs, abdomen, and hips.

1.Triceps Pushdown. You will need a pair of dumbbells to do some arms curl that targets to toughen and increase the muscles on your triceps. Do 16 repetitions in each arm.

2.Arm Curl Machine. Most fitness clubs have this machine that targets the arm muscles. You can do two sets of 16 for this one.

3.Lying Leg Raise and Press. For leg raise, you won’t need any equipment. You just have to lie down the floor on your back and raise your legs up and down. To do the leg press, you can use a specific machine wherein you just sit and extend your legs and start pushing the weight against you.

4.Shoulder Press Machine. You can stand up in front of the machine and grab the two grips. Start pressing up and down to feel the contraction on your shoulder and arms.

5.Seated Row Machine. Sit on the machine and place your feet on the metal steps. Grab the weight and pull it back with your shoulder blades together. Halt when your elbows are aligned and reverse the step.

6.Lying Leg Curl. Using a lever lying leg curl machine, you lean your upper body on the bench and insert your legs over the lever pads. Grab the handles and start flexing your knees. Lift the lever pads up and down repeatedly. You can do 16 or 32 counts of this.

For beginners, you can settle for machines that allow you to carry on your fitness programs more easily. As you get the hang of it, you can increase the intensity of your executions.

5 Ways to Improve Your Fitness

 

Are you struggling to attain a perfect body fitness? Have you been exercising for months without any significant changes? To be physically fit, you need to eat well, exercise and sleep. It is all about leading a healthy, active, relaxed, and stress-free lifestyle that can help you achieve your goals. Here are 5 Ways to Improve Your Fitness

1. Make sure that aerobic activity is a major part of your fitness routine. Some people make the mistake of spending all of their time on strength training. However, in order to make your muscles stronger, you have to get rid of the fat which is hiding them. That is where cardio activity comes into play. So make sure that you engage in at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity each and every day.

2. If you want to tighten you muscles be certain that you engage in strength training. This will help you tighten up all of those lose areas once you get rid of the body fat.

3. Remember to keep things fun. Fitness should not be something that you dread. It should be something fun, so go ahead and engage in an activity that you enjoy. If walking on a treadmill at a gym is not your thing, try running or rollerblading outdoors.

4. Exercise is the key to improving your body fitness. In fact, people who have an active lifestyle are seldom seen with unattractive figures. If you can manage simple workouts on a daily basis at home, or go to a gym regularly, then you will notice visible changes in your body fitness within a month. Exercise helps in protecting your body from muscle loss. It increases the metabolism, improves blood circulation, and revitalizes the entire system. Yoga is a perfect way to achieve a perfect body fitness, and to relax your body. It helps you in overcoming the stiffness of your muscles and produces great agility in your body. If you want to trim specific areas of your body like tummy, thighs, biceps, then you can consult your trainer to guide you about the relevant postures, and exercises.

5. Finally, keep off from stress. Stress factor does not directly affect our body fitness, but it alters our attitude towards life. It also affects our eating patterns. We neglect our exercise, proper diet, and stop thinking positively in life. We tend to starve either, or glutton on anything and everything especially on caffeine, chocolates, and colas.

Using A Pedometer To Keep Track Of Your Walking

Setting aside some time to go for a 45 minute walk isn’t always easy. We all live busy lives and between family and work, fitting in a workout isn’t always possible. What if I told you that you didn’t have to dedicate a set block of time for your walking workouts? What if you could get the same health benefits by working in a little more activity here and there throughout your day? And what if there was a fun little gadget that helped you keep track of it and motivated you to move more?

There is and it’s called a pedometer. You can pick up an inexpensive model at your local super store or order it from Amazon. Or you can go with something a little fancier like a Fitbit for example. But before you head out to spend any money, check your smart phone. Many models have a pedometer built in. All you need to do is download a free app and you’re good to go.

The pedometer will track how many steps you take on any given day. It will also track how many minutes you’ve spent being active and how many miles you’ve walked. In other words, it keeps track of how much exercise you get during your day. And the good news is that it doesn’t matter if you head out after work for a 45 minute walk, or if you work out in little spurts here and there throughout the day. Maybe you start your day by parking a little further away from the office and walking a couple of hundred extra steps. Then you take a quick stroll during your lunch break. You wrap up your day by walking around the park while your kids play. And just like that you’ve gotten your exercise in without having to block out any additional time.

Give it a try. Put on a pedometer, or start tracking with that phone you’re always carrying around anyway and see how much you’re walking around any given day. From there, try to get a little more active as time goes by until you hit your stepping goal. For most of us 10,000 steps per day is a good long term goal, but if you’re feeling more ambitious than that, go for it.

Keeping track of your steps is very motivating. Looking at your pedometer and realizing you’re 2,000 steps away from your daily goal may be just the motivation you need to head out for that after dinner stroll.

Walking Can Help You Lower Your Blood Pressure And Strengthen Your Heart

Walking has all sorts of health benefits among them the ability to help lower your blood pressure and strengthen your heart. Many people at risk for stroke and heart disease are overweight, unhealthy and have a hard time exercising. Thankfully walking is an easy, low-impact workout that almost anyone can do.

Start where you’re at. Just put on your shoes and head out there. If all you can do is walk for five to ten minutes, start there. It’s a great start and that’s a lot more exercise than you’ve been getting. Stick with it for a week and then see if you can make it for 15 minutes.

If you can go for 30 minute walk, start there. Pick up the pace, walk briskly and after a week or two, try to go for 45 minute walks. Or break up your walking workout into 3 shorter sessions interspersed throughout your day.

If you have any health conditions and in particular, if you’re suffering from high blood pressure and are at risk for heart disease, discuss your walking plans with your doctor. The two of you can come up with a plan that’s appropriate and safe for you.

Getting out and walking will help you on several different levels. The act of walking itself, particularly if you can go for a walk out in a pretty park is very relaxing and will lower your blood pressure soon after the walk. That’s a terrific benefit of walking and something that will help you feel better right away. But the benefits don’t stop there.

The regular exercise will strengthen your heart. Remember your heart is a muscle and going for a brisk walk works out more than your leg muscles. As you work out your heart, it gets stronger and better at pumping blood through your body. And as you strengthen your muscles and your body overall, you are likely losing body fat. That’s good news for your blood pressure long term. All it takes is heading out there for a short little walk each day. As you get stronger those walks will get longer and you may even give swimming or riding your bike a try.

Healthy diet, regular exercise, and losing weight are some of the most effective ways to reduce hypertension regularly. Add to that the fact that walking helps you destress and it’s no wonder that walking regularly has such beneficial effects on your health. Ready to get started? Put on your shoes and go for that first walk.

How To Get In The Habit Of Walking More

We were designed to walk for miles and miles to hunt and gather our food. Yet, in modern society, we spend most of our time sitting down. That is not good for our bodies leading to a host of health problems. This is probably one of the most important reasons to make an effort to move around and go for a walk each day. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Most of us sit for our work, we eat sitting down, and to be honest all we want to do when we come home from work is plop down on the couch for a Netflix marathon until bedtime.

In other words, getting and staying in the habit of going for a walk each day can be a bit of a challenge. But that’s exactly what we need to do. We need to get in the habit of going for that walk just like we’re in the habit of brushing our teeth twice a day or taking out the trash on Tuesdays. Once it’s a well ingrained habit, it won’t be as much of a challenge to make sure we go for a walk each day.

A great place to start is to find a walking route you enjoy. It helps to make it as easy as possible. Your favorite walk may offer beautiful vistas, but if it’s a 30 minute drive there and back, you’ll be less likely to do it every single day. Instead, save that walk for the weekends and come up with something convenient and pleasant for your everyday walking routine. If you can, find a route in your own neighborhood so you can leave right from your front door. Just lace up your shoes and start walking.

Taking the same route every day helps form that habit. It’s also encouraging to notice that you can walk the same loop faster or with less effort over time. It proves that you’re making a difference and are getting stronger and increasingly fitter.

Listening to your favorite music, podcast or audio books is also helpful. It will make the time go by faster and give you something else to look forward to. You can even use your favorite media as a way to bribe yourself to go for your daily walk. Let’s say you have a couple of podcasts you enjoy. Save them for your walks and only let yourself listen to them while you’re walking. It’s a great incentive to get out there even on days when you’re not feeling it.

Last but not least consider walking with other people. Find a walking group in your area, or talk a friend or neighbor into becoming your walking buddy. Not only is it more fun to walk when you have someone to talk to, it also has some built in accountability. It’s much easier to skip a walking workout when you know that other people are waiting for you and relying on you to join them.

Give these tips a try and see if they help you make walking a daily habit and an integral part of your health, your fitness, and your life.

Walking Is The Perfect Low Impact Exercise

If you haven’t exercised in a while, or are looking for something easy you can do every single day give walking a try. It’s the perfect low impact way to exercise. It’s easy to do, you don’t need any special equipment and you can start at the fitness level you’re at.

If you’re not in the best of shape, start by going for a 10 or 15 minute walk around the neighborhood and work your way up from there. If you’re already in great shape, walking can still provide an effective workout. Walk fast and incorporate some hills and even stairs.

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. If you’re like most of us, chances are you haven’t exercised much since you got out of college and need to start small. Maybe your doctor suggested that you move around more, or maybe you just want to be proactive about your health and well-being. In either case, walking is the perfect way to start.

Find a pair of comfortable shoes, put them on and go for a stroll through your neighborhood. You could also find a local park with a nice path you can walk on. If the weather doesn’t permit walking outside, head to your local mall and walk or hop on a treadmill.

You can even walk in place at home in front of your TV. Here’s a simple little idea to get you moving more. As you’re sitting on the couch at night watching TV, get up during commercial breaks and march in place until your favorite TV show comes back on. If you’re using a service like Netflix, make yourself walk in place for 10 minutes in between episodes. Or turn on the TV and challenge yourself to march in place during the entire show. Time will fly while you’re having fun watching TV and moving.

Speaking of having fun, going for a walk outside can be a lot of fun too. Mix up your route and walk in different areas of town, or visit different parks. Invite a friend to come along with you to walk. It’s always nice to have someone to talk to and having a walking buddy keeps you accountable. Last but not least, grab your phone or MP3 player and listen to music or audio books as you walk to make the time go by faster.

The main thing is that you get out there, move around, and get some exercise in a way that’s gentle on your joints, your heart, and the rest of your body and that’s what walking will do for you. Just give it a try and see if you don’t start to feel better, happier, and stronger after a few weeks of regular walks.

Why Bodyweight Training Outdoors is the Ultimate Workout

A word that gets thrown around a lot at the moment when it comes to working out is ‘functional’. What is ‘functional’? Well essentially, this term refers to the idea that some types of exercises provide real-world and usable strength, whereas others do not.

One of the exercises often called functional is the deadlift because it involves squatting down to pick something heavy up off of the ground using all the muscles in the leg in unison as well as muscles in the back. We pick things up off the floor all the time in real life and every moment is compound in this sense – meaning that we use all the muscles together rather than in an isolated fashion.

An exercise that isn’t functional is the bicep curl. Or at least that’s how the story goes.
Except that’s not quite true in reality. Because in the wild, how often would you actually be required to pick up a perfectly cylindrical bar with perfect technique from standing? Never.
The only times we’d have lifted things in the wild it would have been the carcass of our prey or a boulder we intended to use. The rest of the time our muscles were used for running and climbing and fighting.

And guess what? We never used correct technique. We’d have grabbed things off the ground at an angle and landed awkwardly. And we’d always have gotten back up.
What’s more is that we’d never have done the precise same movement more than once. Every time we picked up something, we’d have been at a different angle and the item would have been differently shaped.
And this is why training outdoors with bodyweight is the perfect solution.

How to Keep Challenging Your Body
As soon as you move a press up from indoors to outdoors it becomes more difficult. Suddenly you’re training on uneven terrain and one hand will be slightly higher than the other. At the same time, you’ll be training in the cold and your lungs will be working harder to supply oxygen.
The same goes double for doing a pull up from a tree branch. Every branch is a different width, meaning you have to use different amounts of grip strength and one hand will always be higher than the other.

You can make this tougher too by lifting logs and doing other non-bodyweight exercises.
But to start with, your usual bodyweight routine moved outdoors is more than enough. And this alone will be enough to start building up a lot more toughness and resilience in your muscles, as well as much more useable strength and power.

And once you start doing this enough, you’ll find that you quickly become much hardier and everyday tasks stat to feel a lot easier and less challenging.
Sure, it won’t feel very nice at first and you’ll get muddy and cold. But that’s the point! It’s time to stop being domesticated and to get a little wild!

Other Forms of Exercise That Incorporate Bodyweight Training

Bodyweight training has a great number of advantages. This is a way to work out that will allow you to increase your ‘strength to weight ratio’ thereby becoming more agile, more acrobatic and more powerful. You’ll be fast like a coiled spring and strong in a functional way that equates to real-world usefulness.

But there’s no such thing as a perfect training modality. And one of the biggest complaints you’ll often hear from people who use bodyweight training is that they don’t like it because it’s ‘boring’. Doing press ups can get old fast and unfortunately just isn’t quite so challenging or exciting as lifting 100K over your head. It doesn’t turn heads in quite the same way and the progress can often feel a lot less rewarding.

But that’s why it’s such a good thing that you can use bodyweight training as part of a more fun or interesting activity or even sport. Let’s take a look at some of the great ways you can incorporate bodyweight training into your routine without it feeling like a dull workout. Here are some great examples…

Rock Climbing (Bouldering)
Rock climbing is one of the most fantastic bodyweight workouts there is and it’s incredibly fun and rewarding whether you’re going to do it seriously or just as a fun hobby. Rock climbing involves using your forearms and grip strength in order to cling to the tiny cracks in the rocks and this can quickly build you Popeye-like proportions. From there, you’ll then be using your lats and your biceps to pull yourself up the wall and scale it like Spider-Man. Better yet, you’ll also be holding yourself in position for long periods of time using your legs alone. This quickly builds a lot more quadriceps and hamstring strength so that you’ll be getting a truly full body workout.

Bouldering is a great way to get started with this. Bouldering effectively means that you’re climbing smaller rocks that present a challenge for how to get to the top. There’s no rope and you use a crash mat – so you can turn up at a climbing center and just get started!

Other Forms of Climbing
Don’t have a climbing center near you? Not sure you fancy the idea of climbing up the nearby cliffs? A great alternative is something called ‘traversing’ which is essentially sideways rock climbing. Here you never get that high up and as a result you don’t need a rope. As long as you have some kind of natural cliff or wall you can try it yourself!
Or how about climbing a tree?

Hand Balancing
Hand balancing is a lost art that is highly rewarding and challenging. Being able to go from a pike position to a handstand requires a ton of muscle power and control, as well as balance. When you pull it off though, you’ll have a party trick that’s far more impressive than lifting 100KG and that you can actually do at a party!

A Ten Minute Full Body Workout That Anyone Can Use

When it comes to building muscle, losing fat and getting into shape, the biggest problem for most people is simply sticking to their training goals. This is called ‘adherence’ in the industry and simply means your ability to stick at a training program long enough to see the results that you need.

Even a poorly designed workout can help you to build muscle and get results if you stick at it. And it is much better to perform a bad workout for a long period of time than it is to perform the best workout possible for a day and then give up.

But this is something a lot of people don’t really consider when they plan to get into shape. Too often they will come up with routines that involve training for an hour each session, five times a week. If you’re already feeling too tired to be particularly active, if you’re already stressed with work… trying to fit in five hours of exercise a week is a huge ask. This is particularly true when you consider that you’re probably going to have to travel to the gym as well, get washed, change clothes… etc.

This is where a bodyweight workout can come in so handy. And this is especially true if you use a workout that hits the entire body in a single session, only takes 10 minutes and can be done anywhere. Use this workout first thing in the morning before work and before you go in the shower. Train in your boxers so as to not create more washing. Now you have a routine that really is just ten minutes and that no one should have any problem sticking with.

What does that workout look like? Here it is:

Three Exercises to Rule Them All
This workout is made up of three exercises that together will train the entire body while also providing some cardio benefit.

Those three exercises are:

Pull Ups
Press Ups
Jumping Squats

Perform each exercise to failure and then move straight onto the next exercise when you finish without break. You can rest after the jumping squats for one minute before starting the routine again and going for 3 sets. It should take around 10-15 minutes.

This routine hits all the major muscles in the body because it mimics a more involved split that bodybuilders use called PPL (Push, Pull, Leg). Pull ups hit the lats, the biceps and the abs. Push ups train the pecs, the triceps and the shoulders. And jumping squats hit the entire lower body and provide the cardio.

Now this workout isn’t going to be enough to help you build massive muscles overnight. It can burn fat and it can tone your muscles and harden them. But in order for you to really train you need to use heavier weights performed more slowly and for longer.

So use this as a tool to start your new training regime and to get into the habit. Likewise, use it whenever you can’t fit a full routine in.