July 11th, 2010 | No Comments »

There are a million ways to get in shape. Unfortunately, if you try to do everything you will not get the results you are looking for.

The good news is that you don’t have to do everything for the best results.

Thus, here are the main areas you want to concentrate on:

1. Balance: Now you don’t want to go overboard here like most commercial fitness centers, but you still need to have some balance training in your program. And it’s especially important if you are just starting out to correct any potential postural imbalances.

2. Muscle building: Keep in mind that the muscle building process is a long and slow process. Don’t assume that lifting weights will turn you into the incredible hulk overnight. And keep in mind that most of the bodybuilders you see in magazines are on steroids.

3. Power: In simple terms, the main difference between power and strength is that power involves speed. Thus, you could argue that power is more functional in the traditional sense of the term. After all, most high level physical activities involve lots of speed.

4. Stretching: In this day and age, stretching is absolutely critical. You see, modern day desk jobs cause degenerative changes in the human body that if left unchecked, can cause some serious damage once you start exercising.

5. Connective tissue strengthening: Strong ligaments and joints are critical if you want to be able to exercise for many years to come. You see, because of poor blood supply, once a ligament is injured, it takes a very long time to heal.

6. Maximum capacity training: Staying within your comfort zone will prevent you from ever reaching your physical and health potential. Thus, it’s critical that you train close to your maximum capacity on a consistent basis.

There are a lot of different types of exercise out there. So make sure you don’t catch a bad case of analysis paralysis, just make sure you follow the general guidelines in this article!

Writer Katherine Crawford, an exercise expert and recent flabby arms sufferer, instructs on how to get toned arms. Figure out how to get sexy arms by visiting her blog with shake weight reviews right now!

Posted in Body and Mind
June 23rd, 2010 | No Comments »

Please ignore the fads and realize that you can only lose weight when in a negative caloric balance. There is no way to circumvent this fact.

And keep in mind that creating this caloric deficit with activity is far better than creating it with massive restrictions in food intake.

Thus, here are 6 ways to ignite your calorie-burning furnace:

1. Avoid sitting down all day: Now most people have desk jobs. Thus, the only way to avoid this is by working from the standing position. And keep in mind that working from an upright position will also work wonders for your lower back.

2. Don’t let cardio reduce your weight lifting intensity: Cardio should be seen as a supplement to weight loss, not a core component. The majority of your caloric deficit is going to come from weight lifting. So make sure you don’t sacrifice this in order to squeeze in more cardio.

3. Optimize your protein intake: Too much protein is horrible for your progress. And too little protein is also horrible for your progress. The recommended amount here is no more than 30% of your caloric intake. At this level you will have the biggest thermogenic effect.

4. Don’t move around just for the sake of moving around: Walking up flights of stairs or parking further away from your destination will lead to mental burn out. Instead, figure out stealthy ways to increase non-exercise activity in your daily life.

5. Consider aquatic training: You see, water pulls heat away from your body two hundred times faster than air. This means that training in water burns lots of extra calories. The only catch here is that exercise in water makes you very hungry.

6. Don’t go too high or too low with the repetitions: Too many or too few repetitions per set will not create the maximum caloric burn from exercise. The amount of repetitions per set that I recommend is 10 repetitions per set.

Creating the majority of your caloric deficit with physical activity is the best way to lose weight. Not only will you feel less hunger, but you will increase fitness to a much higher degree!

Writer Katherine Crawford, a fitness expert and former flabby arms sufferer, instructs on how to lose loose arm fat. Unearth how to get sexy arms by visiting her blog with shake weight reviews now!

Posted in Body and Mind
June 8th, 2010 | No Comments »

You probably know that water is important, but do you really know why it’s so important? Most people don’t, unfortunately.

And if you don’t know why it’s so important, you’re less likely to hydrate properly over the long run.

So here is why water is critical for fitness:

1. It will increase processing clock speeds: Your mind depends on water for optimal functioning, not just your body. In fact, people who are dehydrated have worse mental functioning. And this happens without you even noticing it.

2. It maintains smooth joint movement: Cartilage, the stuff between your joints, is like a car tire. Once it wears out, there is nothing you can do to get it back. The good news is that water lubricates your joints and prevents wear and tear on your joints.

3. It helps you stay cool: And staying cool is vital if you want to be able to exercise at the highest level possible. You see, body heat is arguably the most fatigue-inducing factor people face when exercising. So make sure you stay cool by drinking water.

4. It gets things to where they need to go: Transport of nutrients from one cell to another require the use of water. So if you are dehydrated, things move around much slower. You see, most processes in your body are under the influence of water.

5. It helps with the processing of food: Your digestive tract depends on water to get food down your gut as fast as possible. It serves as a natural lubricant, if you will. So drinking water around meal time is a great way to help the processing and digestion of food.

6. It helps you stay regular: One of the main reasons people can’t stay regular despite taking fiber supplements is a lack of water. You see, your colon uses water to get rid of waste. Thus, even in the presence of fiber if you are dehydrated, you will not stay regular.

For most people, basic advice such as “drink water because it’s healthy” is not compelling enough to create change. So take heed of the information in this article and take action!

Author Katherine Crawford, an exercise expert and recent fat arms sufferer, teaches how to tone up arms. Figure out how to get sexy arms by visiting her website with shake weight reviews now!

Posted in Body and Mind
June 8th, 2010 | No Comments »

Although fiber is essential if you want to maximize health and fitness, many people are getting their fiber the wrong way because of misinformation.

And the bad news here is that taking fiber the wrong way can end up doing more harm than good.

So, without further ado, here is what you need to know about fiber:

1. You can get a bezoar: A bezoar is a hardened mass of fiber that gets stuck in your stomach. This usually happens when someone realizes they need more fiber in their diet and stocks up on endless fiber supplements.

2. There are different types: Just like there are different types of vitamins, there are different types of fiber. And the best approach is to get fiber from as many different sources as possible. Don’t try to focus solely on one source just because it has the specific health benefits you are looking for.

3. Taking fiber in powdered form is not optimal: You see, fiber in powder form is not natural. In fact, it’s devoid of anti oxidants and other critical nutrients. So make sure you focus on getting fiber from the most natural and unprocessed sources possible.

4. At a certain point you get diminishing returns: At a certain level of intake, fiber does more harm than good. Keep in mind that too much fiber can leach nutrients out of your system. So increase fiber slowly and stay away from supplements.

5. An increase in fiber intake necessitates an increase in water intake: Without water, fiber has a very hard time traveling through your body. Even worse, if you get severely dehydrated while there is a large amount of fiber in your intestine, you could end up with an impaction.

6. Natural sources will always be best: You see, it’s not just the fiber itself, it’s also the nutrients and vitamins that come with it which give you the highest increase in health. So make sure you get all your fiber needs from wholesome, natural foods.

It’s essential to increase your intake of fiber for the best health gains and fat loss results. The key here is to take a prudent approach and get your fiber from natural sources!

Author Katherine Crawford, a fitness expert and recent fat arms sufferer, instructs on how to tone up arms. Unearth how to get sexy and toned arms by exploring her blog with shake weight reviews now!

Posted in Body and Mind
June 6th, 2010 | No Comments »

If you are not in a negative caloric balance, you cannot lose weight. There is simply no way around the law of thermodynamics. So it behooves you to do everything you can to increase rates of calories burned on a daily basis.

Thus, here are 6 ways to increase caloric burn:

1. Increase muscle mass: But don’t assume that an increase in muscle mass translates into an increase in size. You see, the fat you lose while increasing muscle mass will make you much smaller. And even if you did lose muscle and fat, you would not look good.

2. Increase fidgeting: Although hard to believe, fidgeting adds up over the day and can really increase the caloric burn of your routine. In fact, people that can eat everything under the sun while not gaining weight, have been shown by research to have a high fidget rate.

3. Take advantage of the thermic effect of food: But don’t obsess over it because if you maximize this effect, your diet will become very imbalanced. All you have to do here is make sure you have a good balance of protein and carbs in your diet.

4. Don’t sit down after eating: Not only is this not the best environment for digestion, but it also reduces the thermic effect of food. You see, if you start moving after a meal, you amplify its thermic effect. So make sure you get moving after eating.

5. Try to exercise in the water: This will make sure you are burning the maximum amount of calories per unit of time. You see, water pulls heat away from your body very quickly. And more heat being pulled away translates into more calories burned.

6. Work from the standing position: And don’t worry about your coworkers making fun of you because not only will they gain more weight, but they will also slowly degenerate their backs over time. And the best part about working from the standing position is that it will keep your more alert.

Increasing rates of caloric burn is a great way to help bolster your fat loss goal. And never forget that caloric balance ultimately dictates rates of fat loss!

Author Katherine Crawford, an exercise physiologist and former arm fat sufferer, teaches how to tone arms. Unearth how to get sexy arms by visiting her website with shake weight reviews right now!

Posted in Body and Mind
June 3rd, 2010 | No Comments »

Bones can heal very quickly. This is good news because a bone injury is not likely to ruin your fitness career, but it still hurts.

And if you want to maximize your fitness shelf life, keeping your bones healthy is a great strategy for the best results here.

So here are 6 steps towards stronger bones:

1. Lift weights: Now the key here is to make sure that you have absolutely perfected your technique and form before applying significant loads. This will make sure that your joints stay nice and healthy. Even better, you will train your nervous system to use the appropriate movement patterns.

2. Keep your cartilage healthy: Once cartilage is gone, it’s gone forever. So it’s in your best interest to do everything you can to prevent excessive wear and tear. One way to keep your cartilage healthy is to have your posture analyzed.

3. Increase calcium intake: The key here is to get your calcium from natural sources of food. You see, supplementing heavily with calcium has health risks. Most notably, overdoing the calcium intake increases risk for kidney stones.

4. Get vitamin D: Vitamin D is used to absorb calcium in your body. Now the best option here is to get some natural sunlight, and you don’t need much. Only supplement with vitamin D if you doctor deems it necessary since over supplementation can be very unhealthy.

5. Get moving: The simple act of moving around will increase bone density while simultaneously lubricating your joints. So make sure you don’t sit down all day, this is one of the worst things you can do for your frame!

6. Have your bones tested: Testing for bone density is very simple and non invasive. Now always consult with your doctor first, but if you suspect low bone density then by all means look into this. After all, it could be a hormonal issue that is affecting your bone health.

Healthy bones will translate into increased levels of mobility well into the later years of your life. So make sure you take heed of the information in this article!

Writer Katherine Crawford, a fitness expert and recent fat arms sufferer, teaches how to avoid an arm lift. Figure out how to get sexy and toned arms by visiting her blog with shake weight reviews now!

Posted in Body and Mind
May 31st, 2010 | No Comments »

Never has the world of nutrition been so confusing. You see, many rich countries in the world are gaining weight, thus there are huge profits to be made in the world of diets.

Unfortunately for the average consumer, sifting through all this information can be harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

So, here are some dieting facts that you are probably not aware of:

1. Carbohydrates prevent muscle catabolism: The first thing your body wants to eat when you cut calories is muscle. After all, muscle is calorically expensive to maintain. The good news is that keeping carbohydrates in your diet is a great strategy to reduce this effect.

2. Less muscle carbs reduces calories burned from exercise: This happens because in order to get the highest caloric burn from exercise, you need carbs in your muscles. If you simply take carbs out of your nutrition equation, you can’t go 100%.

3. Weight loss is independent of dietary composition: You can lose weight with any combination of macronutrients as long as you are in a caloric deficit. The main difference here is how painful different combinations are.

4. Eating a BMR level of calories will cause anyone to lose weight: The lowest BMR among the adult population is 1200 calories. So virtually any adult eating this level of calories will lose weight, assuming all systems in the body are functioning properly.

5. You can have power gains when eating below baseline calories: Many people believe that losing weight and being in a negative caloric state automatically means that strength and muscle mass has to go down. The good news is that this is not the case.

6. Mental hypnosis has no scientific backing: There is no evidence that hypnosis has any benefit in terms of weight loss. So save your money and spend it on more effective things like healthy food.

There is an endless sea of information out there on how to eat to lose weight. But you have to be careful because it is very easy to get lost amongst all the falsehoods.

Writer Katherine Crawford, an exercise physiologist and recent arm fat sufferer, teaches how to get rid of fat arms. Figure out how to get sexy arms by exploring her blog with shake weight reviews right now!

Posted in Body and Mind
May 30th, 2010 | No Comments »

Wasting extra time when getting in shape increases the chances of abandonment. The more effort you put forth with less return, the higher your chances of jumping ship.

Thus, here is how not to waste your time when working out:

1. Increase your muscle temperature: By raising your temperature before exercise, you increase the amount of power and strength you will have while you exercise. You see, everything in your body is affected by temperature.

2. Stabilize your circadian rhythm: Everything from hormonal output to metabolic rate is under circadian rhythm control. And getting a stable rhythm will enhance reaction time, heart rate, strength and power during your workouts.

3. Perform muscle building workouts: These types of workouts create the highest caloric cost of any other type of training. And don’t worry about getting big. As long as you control caloric intake, you will actually shrink because of decreased fat mass.

4. Drink before working out: Hydration controls virtually every process in your body. And slightly increasing hydration right before you exercise is a great way to enhance your performance. Even better, it will lubricate your joints for enhanced movement.

5. Psychologically agitate yourself: Having a psych up period before exercising has immediate effects on your physiology. Mainly, it increases good stress hormone secretion from your adrenal glands which in turn will increase how hard you can exercise.

6. Don’t have carbs while you are exercising: Your workouts should not last longer than one hour. If they do, you are not exercising hard enough. Even worse, after the one hour mark, your body will start to break down at accelerated rates. And workouts less than 1 hour do not benefit from carb consumption.

Wasting time in the gym or not getting the biggest return from your efforts is very demoralizing. After all, the last thing you want is to work hard for little, if any return. So don’t delay here and take action today!

Author Katherine Crawford, a fitness physiologist and recent flabby arms sufferer, instructs on how to get rid of arm fat. Unearth how to get sexy arms by visiting her website with shake weight reviews right now!

Posted in Body and Mind
May 29th, 2010 | No Comments »

We spend billions of dollars every year on dietary supplements. In a day and age when everybody seems to be gaining weight and nobody has time to do anything about it, the magic pill is more attractive than ever.

Unfortunately, most people are unaware of the way supplements are made and sold.

Thus, here are some hidden dangers and misconceptions about supplements:

1. Natural means they are risk free: Everything comes with risk and there are many natural substances that will kill you. So don’t make the mistake of assuming that just because a supplement is labeled as natural that it’s safe for you.

2. Supplements are tested over and over again: Companies are under no pressure to test their products. After all, it’s on the governments shoulders to prove that a supplement is unsafe. Thus, supplement companies can use the general public as guinea pigs.

3. Research backs the claims: Do not be fooled by the charts, graphs and percentages you see in the marketing materials. Most of these studies are not peer reviewed and many times are performed by the companies themselves.

4. Health comes before profit: If a company is not profitable, it dies. Thus, there is always a constant struggle between profit and health. So don’t assume that the nice packaging and seductive marketing means that your best interests are coming first.

5. High intakes of fish fats are optimal: Fish oil is healthy for you, but giant intakes are not. You see, if you start having more than three grams a day, you run the risk of heart damage. More is not better here, even with fish oil.

6. Mega doses are best: The best approach is to get the bulk of your nutrition from whole food. After all, whole food offers the most bio available source of vitamins and minerals for your body. Only take small dose multivitamins as insurance.

The supplement industry truly is the wild west, there is little regulation and the consumer has to be very careful with what they take.

Author Katherine Crawford, an exercise expert and recent arm fat sufferer, instructs on how to get rid of flabby arms. Figure out how to get sexy and toned arms by exploring her website with shake weight reviews right now!

Posted in Body and Mind
May 27th, 2010 | No Comments »

Every unit of produced energy in your body also produces free radicals that wreak havoc on your DNA. But you can dampen this effect by changing your nutrition a little.

And helping your body combat free radicals is one of the best things you can do to accelerate recovery from exercise and to slow down aging.

Thus, here are 6 steps towards increasing the nutrition in your diet:

1. Have natural green tea: And make sure it is in its most unprocessed form. In other words, have loose leaf tea for best results here. Bagged tea not only tastes worse, but it has less nutrition. Even better, green tea will enhance your blood flow.

2. Have some bark: But not just any bark, have true cinnamon. Now the key there is to not go for the garden variety cinnamon you find in the stores, get true cinnamon from Ceylon. I personally like to put the cinnamon in my tea.

3. Take a multi vitamin: Now the bulk of your nutrition should come from whole food, but a multi vitamin can provide insurance against deficiencies. Just make sure the vitamin you take is a very low dose formulation so that you don’t reach any toxic levels for any given nutrient.

4. Optimize your salads: Don’t just stick with standard lettuce here. Instead, opt for the more nutritious leafy greens like kale, chard and mustard greens. Now it may take some time to get used to the new flavors and textures, but it’s well worth it.

5. Start putting turmeric on your chicken: Although simple, this is a great strategy for getting more turmeric in your diet. Turmeric also goes really well with recipes that have chili in them. And recall that turmeric is very high in anti oxidants.

6. Start having cloves: Cloves have a strong taste, but they are extremely healthy for you. One great way to incorporate them is to put them in your hot tea. They will create a fresh aroma that enhances the taste of your green tea.

Enhancing the anti oxidant potential of your diet is a great way to slow the process of aging. Even better, it will enhance your speed of recovery from exercise.

Writer Katherine Crawford, an exercise expert and former arm fat sufferer, teaches how to do arm fat exercises for women. Unearth how to get sexy arms by exploring her website with shake weight reviews now!

Posted in Body and Mind