A Russian Approach to Fitness

Filed under: Health Parlor, Staying Fit — admin at 5:28 am on Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Hardly a recent development is the kettlebell. The popular opinion places their age at nearly three centuries old. During recent years, however, they’ve increased in recognition to become one of the hottest fitness routines on the planet.

You don’t need anything but the weights and anyone can start out using these straightforward moves. You can’t just leap immediately to the more complex exercises. Always learn to walk before you run, as your granny might have said. The appropriate weight for your workout is something you certainly need to work out before you really get to grips with the Russian kettlebells. You won’t need weights as heavy as you might imagine when you use kettlebells for your exercise. Dividing according to gender, the eighteen pound size is commonly right for women just beginning, while males just starting out are likely to do best with a 35 pounder. The explanation is that the advantage of this type of exercise stems from the movement rather than from the weight. An instructional aid (along the lines of a book or video) is a wise asset when starting out, making sure that you’ve got the movements correct.

The two-handed swing ought to be the initial technique you master when you first take up the kettleball. It appears easier than it is, but it is the cornerstone of so many other kettlebell routines. Above all your exercises must be flowing, not jerky. A helpful safety suggestion merits reiterating as you limber up — your back or shoulders won’t take repeated uses to lift. Instead, keep the emphasis on your hips. Once you have perfected this movement, you can sample some of the more advanced exercises. In order to keep your motivation, variance is key — you can always alter your accompanying music, rotate techniques in and out of your regime, and so on. Perhaps another set can be factored in once you know what you’re doing, and to shake things up fully you might maybe even vary the weights involved. When you do this you have an opportunity to evade the levelling effect that makes steady exercise less effectual.

A fact we have to make clear is that Russian kettlebells will not help you build your strength or assist in bodybuilding. What these exercises are designed to do is help you reduce weight, develop tone, and enhance all-round fitness and stamina. Really, we recommend folding a session working with the kettlebells into a well rounded workout course. How regularly you turn to these exercises is naturally your decision alone. Start with a couple of times per week for standard fat burning, or push it up and take up the kettlebells once a day. You’ll burn your fat away in no time!

The Science behind the Oprah Green Tea Diet

Filed under: Health Parlor, Nutrition + More, Staying Fit — admin at 4:39 pm on Sunday, November 22, 2009

As with so many overnight success stories, the Perricone Prescription — better known as the Oprah green tea diet — came to worldwide attention on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Her guest was the highly respected Dr. Nicholas Perricone, author of several books, including the Perricone Prescription that described the medical research behind the astounding fat burning properties of green tea and green tea extract. According to Dr. Perricone (and numerous medical research studies), green tea and green tea extract contain ingredients that perform at least 3 functions in the body that promote weight loss.

1. Green tea regulates blood sugar and insulin levels. Rapid spikes of insulin signal the body to store fat. As Dr. Perricone puts it, “elevated insulin puts a lock on body fat.” Coffee, on the other hand, contains an ingredient that raises blood sugar levels, which in turn, produces elevated levels of insulin. Green tea reduces blood sugar itself, precluding the production of excess insulin. “If you do nothing else but substitute coffee with green tea, your insulin levels will drop and you will lose weight,” says Dr. Perricone.

2. Green tea boosts metabolism. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported a study in which metabolism rates were elevated by 4% in a 24 hour period. A phytonutrient in green tea elevates thermogenic activity in the body (a fancy term for the rate at which your body burns calories). This phytochemical also raises levels of oxidation of body fat (burning of fat cells).

3. Green tea controls appetite. Fat loss of 21% of body weight was observed in laboratory rats in a University of Chicago study. The researchers deemed that the fat loss was due to sizeable loss of appetite and reduced calorie intake. While Dr. Perricone has not cited appetite suppression as a benefit of green tea, several other studies have also asserted this theory.

Green tea and green tea extract (green tea extract is simply a concentrated form of the active ingredients in green tea) provide many other health benefits, which may not directly impact weight loss, but which are excellent disease fighters. Green tea has been known to lower cholesterol levels, lower high blood pressure, prevent certain cancers and preclude or repair liver damage.

Coffee Berry

Filed under: Health Parlor, Nutrition + More, Staying Fit — admin at 9:15 am on Friday, October 2, 2009

Kona Fruit is charged with phenolic acids and therapeutic plant nutrients. These phenolic acids are rich anti oxidants. Kona Coffee Berry begins it?s organic goodness along the sides of high altitude mountain side with rich organic soil. Nourished by mineral-rich soil and warmed by intense tropical sunlight, coffee plants produce a profusion of wonderful bright red fruit, known as Kona Berry.
Coffee Berryis so exceptionally rich in anti-oxidants because it grows in high altitude, low-latitude regions where the sun?s rays are strongest. As the plants mature, they develop these powerful antioxidants to protect them from damage caused by high doses of the sun?s radiation and the natural byproducts of photosynthesis.
You might be asking what the difference is between a Kona Coffee Fruit and a Kona Coffee Bean. Kona berries are the outer layer of the coffee fruit and are a rich source of anti-oxidants. Research reports that 400 mg of concentrate has a radical scavenging activity equal to 9.6 grams of fresh blueberries, 6.2 grams of strawberries, or 4.9 grams of raspberries.
This potent anti-radical power has not been commercially available previously because the fruit rapidly perishes, which is why only the bitter seed has been commercially exploited.
“We have discovered a means of growing, harvesting and processing the whole coffee fruit so that we arrest the development of mycotoxins and thereby render the coffee fruit for human consumption.
Because no one until now has figured out how to do this in a cost effective manner, whole coffee fruit has simply not been available.”
Kona Coffee Berry contains five of eight rare and essential sugars called monosaccharides, with research indicating that these are essential for the proper functioning of various biological systems.
Almost half of the dry weight of the concentrate is made up of polysaccharides, such as mannans and arabinoglactan. Conventional roasting destroys these nutrients, so they are not found in traditional brewed coffee.

Kona Berry is now available in a new energy drink called XOWii Energy.

My Two Cents Apropos Finding the Best Fat Burner Available

Filed under: Health Parlor, Staying Fit — admin at 1:40 pm on Thursday, September 24, 2009

Obesity has become a serious menace to health on a colossal scale. Naturally slimming down isn’t as simple as it sounds. The initial step is looking into the best way to get rid of all that surplus weight. Nobody likes to starve themselves for very long, even though it took time to put on the all that surplus weight in the beginning. Dieting for months on end and never seeing the effects is bad for motivation levels. You want to get information on how to reach your recommended weight safely, but occasionally, this can lead to multiple side-effects. So you must take into account every alternative open to you before deciding on any particular diet.

Even though surgery is common nowadays, sometimes it can result in some very unpleasant not to mention serious side-effects. Eating too much subsequent to surgery regularly results in you getting diarrhea or even vomiting. Cold intolerance, allergies, and altered toilet habits may also be suffered. Naturally this is plainly not a sensible option. Fat burners may offer an excellent solution if you really need to get rid of body fat safely. These supercharge the metabolism through elevating your internal temperature, which simulates the results of exercising to help burn off the extra fat. Different types of fat burners employ carnitine, bitter orange, and asprin to speed up the human body’s metabolic pathways and drop those unwelcome pounds. Liquid fat burners are very similar to those using hoodia except that they are obviously in a liquid state. This means the ingredients act very quickly and will start to eradicate fatty tissue almost instantly.

The nutritional demands of your body are paramount irrespective of what program you utilize to shed weight. Dieting can cut the number of important nutrients available from your food. So, always remember to consume plenty and find an appropriate supplement when you’re on a diet. If you would like to further speed up the process, start an exercise regime that has fat burning training in addition to strength training. We all wish we could discover a miracle that will let us get rid of all your excess weight instantaneously. Taking care of your body needs to be your focus of your mind. Counting the calories, getting regular physical exercise, and using a good multi-vitamin when required, is in all likelihood all the info you need to lose the excess weight safely…

Hiding Man Boobs Now

Filed under: Gender Issues Hub, Health Parlor, Staying Fit — admin at 8:18 pm on Thursday, August 13, 2009

Imagine your breasts like a woman. It might be a nightmare for you as a man. You might think of the friends and family talking about your man boobs. It is definitely a difficult situation. This site can teach you about hiding man boobs. Though it is nightmare but this situation is pretty common than you think. This is a situation that is common but men don’t realize it. Men feel it is due to obesity and neglect it. There are two types of man boobs. They are Gynecomastia and Pseudogynacomastia. The treatment varies accordingly as per the type of man boobs you have. The treatments are grossly different for each type of man boobs. Gynecomastia is common during adolescence. This occurs during this age due to a rise in the blood level of estrogen and reduction in the level of testosterone. The teenagers mostly come out of it on their own as the age progresses. This situation will not need treatment unless and until the teenager is not coming out of that.The other causes of man boobs are overweight and having the tendency of accumulating the fat on your chest. They are more commonly seen in men who used to do heavy exercise earlier but now stopped for many years. Specially the push ups or bench press kind of exercise that you might have done earlier and given up for many years might be the reason for the man boobs that you have. Some medicines also lead to obesity and fat deposition on your chest. Finasteride, Cimetidin and Spironolactone are the drugs that mostly cause this disorder in men.Man boobs might be caused due to some other illness that you might be having. There are metabolic problems like thyroid disorder which leads to fatty deposits in breast.Whatever the reason you must get man boobs diagnosed and treated. Otherwise, you might loose your self esteem and your life might turn into a nightmare. The treatment process for this depends on the type of man boobs you have. In most cases the treatment with diet and exercise will be able to see you through. Unless the boobs are due to some illness, they will it will go away with diet and exercise. If there is any illness then we will have to treat the illness first the take care of the extra fats on your chest. Diet is the critical component in the treatment regimen. Do not starve yourself. That is the major mistake that you will do then. Eat small meals at least six times a day. Do not take large meals. This will increase the metabolism in your body and burn down the extra fats. Have a systematic and balanced diet plan with lots of vegetables and fruits. Hiding man boobs will be easy if you do this. Then, they will go away.

Costa Mesa Personal Trainers Can Make You Feel Marvelous

Filed under: Health Parlor, Nutrition + More, Staying Fit — admin at 3:26 pm on Thursday, July 16, 2009

Don’t believe that having a Costa Mesa personal trainer is a luxury reserved only for the rich and famous. There are plenty of trainers prepared to work within your budget. You may be asking yourself “Do I really need a Costa Mesa personal trainer? Why?”

1) One of the key reasons people benefit from a Costa Mesa personal trainer is that they lose motivation to stay with a consistent physical exercise program. Certified Costa Mesa personal trainers can provide structure and accountability, and help you develop a lifestyle that encourages wellness.

2) Number one reason why people employ Costa Mesa personal trainers is to lose weight and get into shape because it works. If you made a commitment to lose the fat and build muscle, a trainer can keep you on course and help you ahieve that goal.

3) If you have any chronic health conditions, injuries or training goals a trainer will work with you and your wellness care provider to plan a safe, efficient individualized plan that considers these needs and enable you to achieve your wellness goals.

4) If you play a particular sport, a performance enhancement specialist will help you improve your skill by showing you new training techniques specific to your sport. A Costa Mesa personal trainer will incorporate skills training into your plan so you improve not only your strength and endurance, but your agility and mental focus as well.

5) If you are an absolute beginner, a Costa Mesa personal trainer is the ultimate physical fitness coach. A good trainer will present you to a very easy effective routine and build efficiently so before you know it, you have the confidence and knowledge to decide what is right for you.

6) Ok, you are already in superb shape, but you’ve been there for years. If you are stuck in the same routine and want to break out of a pleateu, a Costa Mesa personal trainer is the perfect solution. A Costa Mesa personal trainer will jump start, not only your motivation, but your routine as well.

7) a Costa Mesa personal trainer watches your form, monitors your vitals and can provide objective feedback about your limitations and strengths. Most of us tend to neglect some of the subtle signals our body provides. We either drive through pain or give up too soon. Because a Costa Mesa personal trainer can watch what you are doing while you are doing it, they can help push you or slow you down as needed.

8) Many Costa Mesa personal trainers make house calls. If you don’t have the type or interest in going to a gym, but have a hard time knowing what to do on your own at home, a Costa Mesa personal trainer can bring physical fitness into your living room.

If you want to get the body of your dreams contact Costa Mesa personal trainers.

A Top Home Gym Choice: Bodycraft Elliptical Cross Trainer

Filed under: Health Parlor, Lifestyle Center, Staying Fit — admin at 1:25 am on Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Elliptical cross trainers have become really popular with the health and physical fitness bunch. It is really no surprise. A good elliptical cross trainer can provide premium exercise. They are easy to use, handy, and provide a exceptional workout.

Even So, you do not perpetually have to get to a gym to use and elliptical cross trainer. Why not have one at home for convenience? They actually do not cost all that much and today’s models are very good. There are several producers of elliptical cross trainers. One of the best manufacturers is Bodycraft. Bodycraft has a full line of health and physical fitness equipment. You’ll find bodycraft equipment virtually everyplace.

Their elliptical cross trainers are an super selection. The Bodycraft elliptical cross trainer, no matter which example you prefer, a uncompromising, reliable, and economic. If you have not discovered of the bodycraft make you are in for a sure treat. Perform your personal enquiry and it will become apparent that Bodycraft is one of the better makers of health and fitness equipment in the marketplace.

With various elliptical cross trainers to pick out from you genuinely cannot go wrong with any. The key is to actually utilise your elliptical cross trainer. As you know numerous pieces of exercise equipment collect junk. They speedily become simply a new place to hang apparel. Nevertheless, if you have the loyalty and the drive an elliptical cross trainer can be a remarkable mode to get quality cardiovascular physical exercise into your routine from home. Sometimes, it is simply too much trouble to drive to the gymnasium to realize a half hour workout on the cardiovascular machine. By having an elliptical cross trainer at home, you can save yourself the fuss of having to go to the gymnasium at least a couple times a week. Get your elliptical cross trainer today!


Article supplied by Internet Marketing Guide. com

Listen to Your Heart

Filed under: Staying Fit — admin at 12:11 pm on Monday, March 9, 2009

If I were your (sweet) heart I would most likely be yearning for your attention right now. To make my point, I invite you to take this allegorical trek with me. Pretend that your heart - your one and only sweet heart that lives inside your chest - could actually talk to you. What would it have on its “mind” right now?

The heart of the problem

We treat our hearts like the wheels on a Daytona 500 racecar. But when it wears out we can’t pull into the pitstop and snap on another one. We’ve only got one. Like other internal organs, we often ignore our hearts. We live our lives satisfying our desires, and forming habits that endanger the health of our heart, and our lives as well.

Unhealthy heart habits you can avoid

Now I speak to you from the heart (literally). You pretend you do not realize how your actions hurt me day by day. You neglect to exercise. Haven’t you seen the volumes of scientific evidence that tell you how much I benefit from aerobic exercise?

Will you wait until you feel that burning in your chest, then you go for an aspirin? That might be too late. And how about all those chemical stimulants you subject me to every day? The caffeine in your coffee makes you feel good, but it makes me work harder. And the alcohol. That affects me too. Narcotic drugs… oh, those are even worse. You don’t even go there.

From the first time you tried smoking, I knew you were not thinking about me. Don’t you know that I suffer whenever your other organs are damaged. It’s more difficult to pump blood through damaged lungs and clogged arteries. You are killing me. When will you cut down on your animal fat and cholesterol intake? You’re killing me, and you need to realize this fact: When I die, so do you.

Help change the statistics - Exercise

Research is showing that approximately 1,200,000 “new and recurrent” coronary attacks occur per year. Don’t you realize that heart disease (696,947) is the leading cause of deaths in America. And most of this could be prevented by regular physical exercise.

Compare this to the number of deaths from cancer (557,271), stroke (162,672), chronic lower respiratory diseases (124,816), accidents or unintentional injuries (106,742), and diabetes (73,249). And I (your heart) suffer whenever any of those other conditions happen as well… I die from strokes too (cry, cry, cry).

Tell me, can’t you control your blood pressure and lose some weight? I don’t want it to have to end like Nellie did. She grew up a beautiful young girl of normal weight. Then she became lax in her eating habits and did not exercise. For years I overworked myself pumping blood past body fat and through partially clogged arteries.

She thought about her weight and how she looked, but never about me. Her main concern was how she could fit into her favorite dress again. I couldn’t take the neglect anymore. I attacked her one morning. She died at age 45.

Now, I don’t want to have to fail you that way. I am your one and only sweet heart. I’ve been working for you from before you were born. I have been taking care of you even while you sleep. Take care of me, please. Won’t you?

Ple-e-e-ease… just listen to your heart, now!

References:
Das, S.R., et. al., (2006). Increased Cardiovascular Risk Associated With Diabetes in Dallas County. American Heart Journal, May; 151(5);1094-1100.
Luddington, A., Diehl, H., (2002). Health Power. Hagerstown: Review & Herald
National Center for Health Statistics; Deaths-Leading Causes, URL: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm

Bentley Thompson - EzineArticles Expert Author

Copyright © 2006 by Bentley Thompson

Bentley writes about lifestyle-related conditions such as diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular diseases. He advocates the anti-diabetes diet which he describes on his website. You may visit his website and blog using the following URLs:
http://www.anti-diabetes-diet-supplements.com/ and
http://choosehealthtoday.blogspot.com

Body Building For Beginners

Filed under: Staying Fit — admin at 11:33 pm on Wednesday, February 25, 2009

How many people are there that would love to add some muscle to their skinny frame? Or maybe you’re carrying some extra weight around that you would like to get rid of and tone up your body at the same time. A lot of people would love to get started on a strength training routine but they don’t have the necessary information to do so. Hopefully after reading this you’ll have the information and confidence to give it a try.

The first rule to abide by when you’re beginning to train is to only train each body part once per week. Many new trainees are so eager to get going that they often over train and instead of maximizing their muscle gains they actually lose muscle. It’s often viewed as too little work to only do each body part per week, but as a new trainee it’s more then enough. When training, another rule of thumb to go by is to train each body part in the order of largest to smallest. A good example of a routine that follows these rules would be something like, Quadriceps and hamstrings (legs) on Monday, Back on Tuesday, Chest on Wednesday, shoulders on Thursday and biceps and triceps on Friday. By using this sample routine for a while you will be able to see how much rest each body part is getting and change the days around if need be.

It is best to choose a compound exercise for each body part that you can use to track your progress. This would include exercises such as the squat or dead lift for your legs, weighted chin-ups or bent rows for your back, bench press for your chest, barbell military press for your shoulders and close grip presses for your triceps and barbell curls for your biceps. The key is to do these exercises at the beginning of your workouts so your energy levels are at 100 % which will make it easier for you to monitor your progress from week to week. It is also advisable to keep these lifts pretty heavy, which in return will tell you that you’re progressing every time you can add some weight to them.

Now that you have the exercises we need to put them into a workout for you to get going. A great basic starting point is to do every exercise for 3 sets of 8 repetitions. You should also precede each initial set with 2 light warm up sets. For your first real set you should try to go as close to failure as you can, (complete the sets with enough strength to do 1 or 2 more reps) the second set should go fully to failure (unable to complete even one more rep) and the third set should utilize at least one forced rep (another rep completed with the assistance of a partner).

If you’re willing to stick to the above prescribed routine and give it all that you’ve got, I guarantee you that you will start to see a noticeable difference in your musculature and overall well being. Take the plunge and create the body you’ve always wanted.

Michael Russell - EzineArticles Expert Author

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Body Building.

Why You Do Not have Killer Abs or that 6 Pack Abdominal Muscle

Filed under: Staying Fit — admin at 5:21 pm on Sunday, January 11, 2009

Ask any woman what is the most attractive part of a male body and most of the time, they will tell you it’s the six pack abs, meaning that your abdominal muscle showing up with beautiful definition. Your abs is considered by many as a sexy muscle and is a symbol of a fit and healthy man. Women are instinctively drawn towards a man brimming with health and fitness because it is a primitive indication that the man is strong enough to protect her and her brood. A rippling six pack abs is one such indication. So is it any wonder that in every gym, you will see men of all ages doing crunches, leg raisers and sit ups religiously in the hope of obtaining the much coveted killer abs? Unfortunately, most men will never get to see their abdominal muscle in its glorious splendor. Why? The following fitness tip will show you why.

You may not like what I am going to give to you straight in the face here. But I will give it to you anyway. So here it goes. Listen up carefully. You may do a zillion crunches a day, then another another million leg raisers , but as long as there is a layer of fat covering your tummy, you will never see your abs because it is covered by the blubber of fat. In fact, your waistline will become bigger because you are adding muscles underneath those fats! So instead of having a slim waistline and showing off your abs, you will have a bigger waistline and thicker love handles. Now get this straight. There is no such thing as spot reduction! Once the fats are off, your abs will show. That I promise you. It is just that simple to display your abs. Lose fats! That’s all.

Late night TV commercials or magazines has been telling you that you can have well defined abs by using this gadget or that electronic gizmo. Do you really believe that it is that simple? If it is so, then everyone will have that six pack abs in no time, won’t they? Then why isn’t that so? Because it just doesn’t work that way.

To lose fat effectively and permanently for your abdominal muscles to show, you must include a mildly deficit calorie restriction diet, frequent cardio workouts and strength training with weights to build muscle so as to raise your metabolism in order to lose weight and burn fat naturally. Your weight loss goals will not be achieved effectively or permanently if any one of these three elements is done wrongly or not even incorporated in your slimming program. I repeat the three elements again :-

A mildly caloric deficit diet - A mildly caloric deficit diet to help you lose weight.

Frequent cardio workouts - Frequent cardio workout to exercise your heart and lungs and burn fat at the same time.

Weight Lifting to build muscles - Build muscles to burn fat permanently as muscles use up more calories from your food for energy. Lifting weights will also give you a well toned body and help your abs to show.

Forget about any fad diets or popping slimming pills . These may work initially but in the long run, they are bound to fail.

Now supposing that you are successful in your lose weight lose fat program and have very little fat covering your torso but yet you do not have well defined abs….what happened? You are doing your exercises wrongly or in poor form. More about exercise techniques and form in future articles.

More articles by Chris Chew at

    www.sgfitnessonline.com

      Chris Chew is an American Muscle And Fitness Institute’s Master Trainer based in Singapore. Many of his clients are public figures including actors, international pageant winners, models and muscicians.

      You can check out his website at http://www.sgfitnessonline.com

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