The Jeffrey And Tracey Info Emporium

Your core is made up of the often neglected abdominal, lower back, and oblique, or rotator, muscle groups. Most of our movements originate from the core as it is a major link between our upper and lower body. It is also responsible for stabilization and is a key factor in developing power, speed, quickness, agility and coordination.

A strong core is essential for good posture and is vital in protecting the lower back from injury. On top of all of that, having a strong set of abs and lower back just looks good!

Perform all exercises using slow and controlled motions while focusing on the muscles intended to be worked. Do not use jerking types of motions. Stop immediately if you feel any pain or discomfort. Always consult your doctor before starting an exercise program.

1. Foot Tapper, (Oblique Exercise) - Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor about six inches apart and your knees bent. Position your feet fairly close to your body, arms at your side, shoulders on the floor or close to it and chin tucked. Squeeze your left oblique (side of abdominal) and tap your left foot with your left hand. Do the same with your right hand and continue alternating back and forth. Tap each foot 10 times. To increase the difficulty reach under the legs and tap the opposite foot.

2. Bridging, (Lower Back Exercise) - Lie on your back with your feet shoulder width apart, flat on the floor with your knees bent. Place your hands on the floor next to your hips. Contract the low back muscles and lift the hips off of the floor until your torso and thighs are in a straight line. Hold for 5-10 seconds, return to the starting position and repeat 5-10 times. A pillow is optional.

3. Lower Body Crunch, (Lower Abdominal Exercise) - Lie on your back, bend your knees toward the ceiling and raise your feet off the ground. Your thighs should be at a 90 degree angle at your hips with your feet close to your buttocks. Place your hands flat by your side. Roll your hips and knees toward your chest while contacting the lower abdominal muscles. Return to a 90 degree angle and repeat 10-15 times.

4. Planking, (Total Abdominal Exercise) - Start in a traditional push-up position with your back straight. Place your elbows on the floor directly under your shoulders. Tighten your abs and lower back and hold this position for 30-60 seconds. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat. To isolate the upper or lower abs slowly extend one arm or leg out off the ground at a time alternating all four. A towel under the elbows is optional.

Jim Phillips is a physical educator, fitness coach and owner of http://www.home-exercise-secrets.com.

Many of us Baby Boomers can compare ourselves to clocks or watches running behind or well ahead of time. I.E. we are pursued by the neglect and demons of our past and have subsequently aged well before our time.

You can never beat the eroding effects of time on the body but you can slow them down. You can never forget the negative emotional experiences of the past but you can always work on them to reduce the impact they will have on your future.

As a 58 year old Baby Boomer, I have become very aware of the passing of time and the subsequent effect it has on my emotions and on my body and the way it can make me feel about myself, especially over the last ten years.

I have noticed the reduction in my one time excellent eye sight; I once was a sharp shooter with the Dutch Royal Marine Corps.

I have noticed my decrease in endurance and strength; I once was an elite soldier as a Royal Marines SBS (Special Boat Service) Combat Swimmer/Frogman or Navy SEAL.

I have noticed how easy it has become to put on weight: I once could eat and drink anything I wanted without any thought or concern of how I would look or feel.

I have noticed how much easier it is to recall past failures and regrets and then allow yourself to spiral downward into the crevasses of depression resulting in the so-called Male meno-pause or change of life syndrome, if you want to go there.

Regular exercise then can be compared to making a regular contribution to a one million dollar pension plan. The more you put in early in life or even right now, the more you will have later. The more you exercise now, the more time and energy you will have later to enjoy the proceeds of your hard earned pension plan.
The more you concentrate on the positiveness of your contribution, the less chance you have to find yourself caught in the tentacles of the life sapping consequences of depression.

Sadly most of us will totally disregard the age defying and quality of life enhancing benefits of exercise in our lives. Instead, in our younger years all of our efforts are centred on just one thing; to earn the money to provide for the immediate needs and pleasures in life and/or build a nice retirement nest egg to provide for later on, our retirement time, and many of us do it at the expense of our health and our family, our greatest treasures.

When the time comes for our retirement however, we find that we have to spend our hard earned money on medication, heart bypass surgery and doctors bills and live the remainder of our life in pain, misery, inconvenience and often in loneliness in some nursing home, having aged well before our time and forfeited our long desired freedom and happiness in retirement because of a neglect to look after our bodies, our mind and our families along the way.

We might have the money now but we can no longer enjoy it because of being sick and lonely and stuck in the memories of the past. A sad and true state of affairs for many of us and my Father was one of its victims.

It is never too late to make a change, however. No matter how far gone you consider yourself to be, you can make the changes that can rescue you from despair, sickness and unhappiness. You might be an ageing Baby Boomer like me, but the body is a miraculous and very resilient creation and when given the proper nutrition and suitable exercise in combination with the proper programming of the mind, you can virtually achieve anything you desire.

The failure rate in the SAS, SBS and Navy SEAL Special Forces courses is between 70 and 90%. Yet, all of the young men that volunteer to do the course are physically and mentally sound and very enthusiastic when they start the course. Why then do so many fail? They tell us it is all a matter of mind over body. If you don’t mind, then it doesn’t matter, they say. The same principle applies in life. Most of us start on the path of life with great plans, goals and dreams of what we will be able to achieve, yet many of us falter primarily because of our own, often incorrect emotional interpretations of our experiences along the way (our mind) and the subsequent neglect of the body (matter).

I have always made exercise an important part of my life and have done so by implementing the Short Burst or Small Doses of exercise approach, which I remembered from my SBS training days.
I have benefited from these exercises when feeling stressed as an Accountant in my busy practice; I have benefited when feeling lethargic because of long hours of work or when feeling unhappy because of some of life’s challenges that came along.

You see, the benefit of exercise is accumulative and has a direct effect on your health, moods and even memory. You therefore don’t need to spend hours in the gym every week; you don’t need to walk miles around the block. Five minutes here, ten minutes there; as long as you do at least 30 minutes of aerobic and weight resistance exercise a day; as long as you can get your heart rate up and work those muscles, you can keep yourself in reasonable shape as you age and I have proven this to myself.

Muscle is your biggest fat burning engine in your body and the combination of muscular exercise with aerobic deep breathing and a sensible diet will literally allow you to hang onto your younger looking physique or shape for many years to come.

Steven Blair, P.E.D, Director of Epidemiology at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, USA once said:
Repeated short exercise sessions have the same physiological or metabolic effect in a weight loss program as a single long workout with the same calorie cost; and the multiple-short-bouts approach to increasing energy expenditure may be easier to build into a person’s daily schedule than freeing a lage block of time for a workout. (Blair, S.N. Ask The Expert: Fat Burn and Exercise. Weight Control Digest 1 (3) (Mar./Apr. 1991):47.

Just like passing an SAS/SBS or Navy SEAL Special Forces training course is a mind thing, so is exercise, weight loss and ageing. It is therefore very important that you open your mind and learn to do the daily one to two minute short bursts of mind-body techniques on a regular basis so as to enable you to overcome the self sabotaging thoughts that stop you from exercising and allow you to fall victim to cravings or any other type of negative thought pattern build up over time.

I found the combination of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) with my own Special Forces Provocative and Short Burst exercise approach an excellent way to not only jolt yourself out of immediate or long established negative thought patterns but also to slow down the eroding effects of time on the body and the mind.

And the great benefit of this approach is that anybody can do it, no matter how old they are or feel.

Wind up that mind-body spring of life on a daily basis so you can keep that spring in your step.

Bring Mind-Body exercise into your life. Only you can do it.

© 2006. Johan Tonsbeek 58. Learn and apply my short burst mind body techniques for overcoming self sabotage and my unique, university tested exercise program for weight loss, improved balance and coordination. Get my Special Forces traits, Emotional Freedom E-book. Visit http://www.boomeranggym.com

There’s been a lot of buzz recently about Interval Training. So, you may be wondering what it really is and, more importantly, why you should incorporate it in your fitness workouts. Well, if you want a workout that can help propel you to the next fitness level, burn more calories, increase your speed, improve your power and more, then it’s time to learn more about this effective technique.

A simple definition of Interval Training is: short, high-intensity exercise periods alternated with periods of rest. These higher and lower intensity periods are repeated several times to form a complete workout . Here’s a basic example: walk for 5 minutes at 3.5 MPH, walk for 1 minute at 4.2 MPH and then repeat this sequence several times.

Most people spend their workout time only performing continuous training exercises. These are exercises where the intensity level is basically constant throughout. An example of this is walking at 3.5 MPH, at 0% incline for 30 minutes.

Continuous training is very effective and should not be eliminated from your weekly workouts. However, it’s recommended that you include both Interval Training and continuous training sessions as part of your fitness regimen.

Why should you include Interval Training? As previously mentioned, there are many benefits to this type of training and execution is relatively simple. Interval Training can help you improve cardiovascular fitness, increase speed, improve overall aerobic power, burn more calories, break-through a plateau, increase workout duration, reach new exercise levels, expand your workout options and increase your workout threshold – just to name a few.

Plus, this training method has useful applications for beginners, intermediate exercisers and even conditioned athletes. There are two basic types of Interval Training. For the majority of exercisers (novices and intermediate) Fitness Interval Training methods are recommended. Athletes can choose a more advanced technique known as Performance Interval Training.

The Fitness training method utilizes periodic increases in intensity. Typically the higher-intensity levels range from 2-5 minutes in duration and are followed by lower-intensity periods that also range from 2-5 minutes. And, a critical element in Fitness Interval Training is determining the appropriate level for the higher-intensity periods. This level should not exceed the anaerobic threshold (which is usually reached below 85% heart rate reserve).

On the flip side, the Performance training technique involves periods of near maximal or even maximal intensity (e.g. >85% heart rate reserve – even reaching 100%). The higher-intensity levels can range from 2-15 minutes in duration and are followed by lower-intensity periods that also can range from 2-15 minutes in duration.

Don’t let the two types of training and their ranges confuse you. Incorporating Interval Training methods into your exercise routine is actually quite easy. Since the majority of exercisers fall into either the beginner or intermediate category, we’ll focus on getting started with those techniques.

To begin, choose the type of exercise: walking, jogging, swimming, biking, etc. Next determine your lower-intensity level. This is usually somewhere between 50-65% target heart rate. This will be your baseline, lower-level intensity. Then simply increase the intensity-level up to where you feel like you are working hard to very hard, but avoid reaching a level over 85% target heart rate. If monitoring your heart is not feasible, instead use the RPE scale where 1 is basically at rest and 10 is working extremely hard. For example, if you find that when you are exercising at a comfortable level you rank a 5, then bump up to a 7 for the higher-intensity intervals.

You may choose to systematically raise and lower your intensity (e.g. 2 minutes lower intensity followed by 1 minute higher intensity and repeat) or you can alternate more randomly by raising and lowering the level at your discretion. To increase your intensity, you may choose to change the speed, incline, or some other variable.

Interval Training can be especially helpful in situations where you are trying a new form of exercise. For example, this can be very beneficial when first learning to jog. If you attempt to jog continuously without building up to it, you will probably fatigue quickly and even give up. However, if you begin with intervals of walking interspersed with jogging periods, the workout will be much more enjoyable and effective. Also, you will be more likely to stick with the program and achieve the end result – continuous jogging.

Now that you know the benefits of Interval Training and the basic techniques for it, why not give it a try for yourself. Not only will it provide health benefits and improved fitness levels but it is also a great way to avoid workout boredom. Plus, with Interval Training workouts often are more enjoyable, go by quicker, and improvement results come faster. So why not try spicing up a stale, run-of-the-mill workout with Interval options? You may even find yourself excelling in an activity you were skeptical of even trying.

About The Author

Lynn Bode offers her personal training services online through her company, WorkoutsForYou.com. Workouts For You provides even the busiest of parents affordable, personalized exercise programs (via the Internet)for losing weight, toning-up, building muscles & increasing stamina. The programs can be done on their schedule and in the comfort of their own home (or gym or on-the-road). Visit www.workoutsforyou.com for a FREE sample workout.

info@workoutsforyou.com

No Pain. No Gain - is so not the rule for good senior health and fitness!

For seniors who already have pain that they are trying to heal, the prospect of purposefully adding even more pain and discomfort makes taking physical exercise seem like a bad joke and totally unreasonable.

The idea that we should feel pain after we exercise may be good for military boot camps that want to create soldiers out of young men, but as seniors, there should be a way to work around extreme exercise… and there is!

Here is a useful mini guide explaining ways to safer, pain free senior fitness how you can actually enjoy your daily physical exercise…

Swimming is popular activity that is highly recommended for no pain, with gain exercising. Being in the water relieves muscle tension, pain and swelling from arthritis, and lets your body perform resistance exercise with little tension on your joints.

It is still possible to overexert yourself and feel sore the next day, but the water makes the chances of a successful and painless workout much more possible.

Some hospitals have even built swimming pools or co-opted with gyms for pool use because swimming is such a beneficial way for seniors and those undertaking physical therapy to regain strength and fitness.

There are a few ways to make sure that you are in the right environment to engage in a no pain with gain workout. Professional gyms that employ certified instructors are a great place to start and senior fitness classes are now becoming very popular.

Silver Sneakers offer classes made specifically for seniors at various levels of fitness and ability. Many instructors will also offer modifications for exercises. If the modification information is not readily available, ask the instructor or fitness manager for it.

As long as your doctor has approved the activity or class, the instructor should be able to offer ways to keep pressure off the knees and wrists, or recommend alternate exercises for those of you using walkers or wheelchairs.

Wellness centers and weight rooms should have personal trainers on hand that can recommend the proper weight for circuit training and lifting weights. If a fitness instructor does not have this information, then consider taking a different class or going to another gym.

Luckily, many doctors and fitness enthusiasts are beginning to support seniors in the re-done no pain, no pain approach. Yoga, for example, purports that no one is supposed to feel pain during any of the postures being used.

In other words, a posture done within a person’s own abilities will not be painful – after all, yoga exercises are designed to improve the body, not to cause self-injury!

The benefits derived from the different types of yoga are numerous: not only does it help you improve your flexibility, focus and stamina it also helps maintain your overall general health.

Besides finding places which can offer you the proper modifications to their classes and machinery, from a mental wellness attitude, finding something enjoyable which you like to do and that is physical will also diminish any pain philosophy.

If you pick a physical activity that you consider fun, you are not likely to associate it with a need to create discomfort. For instance, if you go dancing then you should end the night feeling both rejuvenated and exhausted by the fun, not the pain, you have experienced.

Even just taking a little walk can do wonders for your fitness and general well being… not only does it revive you it may motivate you to continue exercising.

The only potential drawback to doing something that you enjoy is that you tend not to think about how much you are working your body during the exercise. Try to keep tabs on how it is feeling and remember when your body tells you it’s had enough – stop and rest!

As gentle and safe as the new workouts for senior fitness are, a little soreness can still result from any physical exertion.

Counteracting soreness with some yoga or stretches will take away some of your knots and kinks. Drinking plenty of water before, during and after exercise also helps to keep sore muscles at bay.

The traditional, tried and tested remedy of a relaxing warm bath is still a favorite way to help your body alleviate any soreness until it gets accustomed to your new pain-free senior fitness program.

Elizabeth Longbourne writes for Good Health Tips.info - find a variety of useful information, hints, tips and techniques for promoting good general health and maintaining a happy, healthy lifestyle.

Please feel free to use this article - provided it is published with it’s resource box and a “live” active link to: http://www.good-health-tips.info

A valid connection between hypoglycemia, fatigue and premature termination of exercise been firmly established and therefore carbohydrate loading is a proven form of boosting running endurance in prolonged events lasting more than two hours in duration. While there are various methods of carbo-loading, the process basically involves consuming large quantities of carbohydrate-rich food in order to saturate the body’s carbohydrate stores. It is proposed that with these increased energy stores, the competitor will be able to avoid exercise-induced hypoglycemia and continue exercising longer than if this saturation process had not occurred. This article aims to further explain how to perform carbohydrate loading and the reasoning behind its practice.

As previously mentioned in another article on this site the human body is able to store carbohydrates for energy use in the liver and the muscles in the form of a substance known as glycogen. This carbohydrate store is basically human “starch” and is able to be quickly broken down to fuel the muscles during high intensity exercise (muscle glycogen) and to maintain blood glucose levels (liver glycogen). In the unloaded/non-carbohydrate saturated state, an untrained individual consuming an average (45% carb.) diet is able to store approximately 100 grams of glycogen in the liver, whereas muscle is able to store about 280 grams. Remember also that muscle glycogen is committed to be used by muscle and cannot assist in maintaining blood sugar levels. Therefore should no additional carbohydrate be ingested during prolonged exercise, the task of maintaining blood glucose levels rests firmly on the liver’s glycogen stores and gluconeogenesis (the manufacturing of glucose from plasma amino acids). Oxidation of blood glucose at 70-80% VO2 max is about 1.0 g/min or about 60 g/hour. Therefore it can be predicted that even with full glycogen stores, a less conditioned athlete’s liver will be depleted of its carbohydrate within and hour and three quarters of continuous moderate intensity exercise. (Interestingly, the daily carbohydrate requirements of the brain and nervous system alone are enough to deplete the liver glycogen stores within 24 hours.) Once liver glycogen levels begin to drop and exercise continues the body becomes increasingly hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) mainly because blood glucose is depleted faster than it is replaced by gluconeogenesis. Professor Tim Noakes (see profile) considers liver glycogen depletion and subsequent hypoglycemia to be the primary factors affecting fatigue and performance during extended duration races and especially in instances where muscle glycogen levels are low as well.

The amount of additional carbohydrate that is able to be stored in the body is dependent on diet and athlete conditioning level. For an untrained individual consuming a high carbohydrate (75%) diet, glycogen stores may increase up to 130 g and 360 g for liver and muscle respectively for a total storage of 490g. For an athlete training on a daily basis consuming a normal (45% carb.) diet, glycogen levels approximate 55 g and 280 g for liver and muscle respectively yielding a total of 330 g. However, should this same well-conditioned athlete consume a high (75% carb.) diet, their total carbohydrate reserves may soar up to 880 g with approximately 160g stored in the liver and 720 g in the muscle. Clearly the conditioned athlete’s muscles are much more efficient at storing carbohydrates than those of his or her unconditioned competitor. In saturating the muscle by consuming of high levels of carbohydrate, the athlete automatically increases their time to hypoglycemic fatigue several fold.

Several methods for carbohydrate loading have been described in the literature. The most familiar method is the traditional “glycogen stripping” or carbohydrate-depletion/carbohydrate loading method. This method basically involves the athlete exercising to exhaustion the sixth day before a major competition and for the next three days consuming a high protein-fat, low carbohydrate (less than 10% total energy) diet. On day three the athlete again exercises to exhaustion but for the following three days consumes a high (90%) carbohydrate diet. The aim of this method is to severely deplete the glycogen reserves of the body to cause a “super compensation” effect in carbohydrate stores. Research has demonstrated however, that this glycogen stripping method may not in fact be necessary to achieve optimal carbohydrate saturation in well-trained individuals and that this super compensation effect may not even occur. Studies have demonstrated that athletes simply consuming a high (75%) carbohydrate diet for three days prior to competition resulted in carbohydrate stores comparable to those individuals who performed the glycogen stripping method. In addition, the amount of training performed before the start of the traditional regime has little effect on the resulting carbohydrate stores. Therefore, a well-conditioned athlete may need to do little more than consume a higher quantity of carbohydrates in the three days before competition to receive full benefit.

Optimal carbohydrate loading can be achieved if approximately 600g of carbohydrate is consumed daily for two to three days. It is probably of little matter if the extra carbohydrate is consumed as simple (glucose) or complex (starch) carbohydrate. Most carbohydrates are digested quickly and enter the bloodstream via the intestine much the same as if glucose had been ingested. Replenishment rates are higher immediately after exercise due to increased insulin sensitivity. The amount ingested should be about 50 to 80g starting immediately after exercise repeated 2 hourly and continuing for the first 6 hours. Full glycogen replenishment is usually achieved within 20 hours using this method; however the most rapid glycogen resynthesis is observed when glucose is infused directly into the bloodstream, yielding absolute peak muscle glycogen concentrations of near 800g (assuming approximately 20 kg of muscle) within about 8 hours. Full replenishment of glycogen after an extended event may take several days longer due to muscle damage resulting from repeated cycles of concentric and eccentric contractions.

With the benefits associated with carbohydrate loading it may be helpful to mention some possible disadvantages to following this procedure. Firstly, glycogen storage is associated with a concomitant storage of water. It is estimated that every gram of glycogen stored is associated with about 2.7 grams of water. Therefore, a well-conditioned athlete with total glycogen stores approaching 800g will find their body weight about 2kg heavier at the start of the race. This increased body weight will have implications on running economy and performance at least near the beginning of the event when energy reserves will be high. As the muscles and other organs progressively oxidize the glycogen stores during exercise, the stored water is again released into the body. This may in turn complicate the fluid requirements of the athlete, requiring them to consume less than a non-carbohydrate loaded competitor. The best advice for fluid replacement during prolonged exercise may be found on this site (see
How Much Should I Drink? ) and in Lore of Running. A possible solution for water retention and weight gain is for the athlete to load to a lesser degree and ingest a carbohydrate/electrolyte enriched drink during exercise to help maintain blood glucose and electrolyte balance (consuming carbohydrate during an event in the fully loaded state is overkill and produces no additional benefit). Another drawback to carbohydrate loading if performed incorrectly is gastric/intestinal upset. Very large amounts of ingested carbohydrate can affect the osmolarity of the intestine. In other words, carbohydrates (especially simple/processed sugars) in the intestine draw water into the gut by osmosis affecting the water balance and may cause intestinal upset and diarrhea. As mentioned, an athlete should aim to consume about 600g a day preferably in multiple meals/sittings to avoid overloading the digestive capacities of the body.

In conclusion, this article has demonstrated the many benefits associated with carbohydrate loading. This process should be viewed as an effective and simple method for improving performance and endurance during extended duration exercise events. Increasing body carbohydrate stores before competition ensures sufficient energy to avoid hypoglycemic related fatigue and early termination of exercise. Simply consuming higher quantities of carbohydrate three days before competition may suffice for most athletes, however it is important to follow the loading regimen correctly to avoid intestinal upset. Exercise science is still exploring the significance and the relative contribution of the two sources of glycogen stores to exercise performance and further research will hopefully cast more light on connections relating to fatigue.

References and further reading: more information on carbohydrate loading and a detailed explanation of carbohydrate contributions during exercise can be found in Lore of Running – a classic book in its fourth edition dedicated not only to running performance, but to cutting edge exercise physiology as well.

David Petersen is an Exercise Physiologist/Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and the owner and founder of B.O.S.S. Fitness Inc. based in Oldsmar, Florida. More articles and information can be found at http://www.bossfitness.com

NOTE: You’re free to republish this article on your website, in your newsletter, in your e-book or in other publications provided the article is reproduced in its entirety, including the author information and all LIVE website links as above.

It is much safer to your long term health to reduce weight by natural means rather than taking medication that poses a series of health threatening side effects. In order to attack the problem of reducing weight we must identify the kind of bodies we have. Here they are:

A prominent researcher discovered that there are basically three (3) main types of bodies. They are:

Endomorph- the larger and fleshier body. Attracted to physical comfort and warm relationships with others. Their challenge is to overcome physical inertia and overeating.

Mesomorph- the more muscular type. These are the athletic types, They prefer physical activity. They tend to be doers in the world and rarely sits still.

Ectomorph- the slender or lean body type. Usually high strung and sensitive. Handles a lot of intellectual stimulation. Generally intellectuals.
NOTE: These three types rarely show up as pure forms but rather as combinations.

Now that you know your body type, you must recognize why your body may be overweight. Here are some additional reasons:

[a] Heredity:

Research has found out that we inherit genes from our parentage that makes us pre-disposed to certain diseases and health conditions. Since you cannot drastically change your body, you can make an effort, however, to manage it skillfully to keep it healthy and trim.

[b] Overeating

Given the caution in number one above, even if you do not have an adverse health condition, it would make sense to be careful with the food you eat if you have the body type that tends to get heavier when you eat excess food.

[c] Diabetes and other diseases

Any health condition that affects your mobility can quickly make you get heavier while you consume food that turns into fat over time. Your immobility does not allow the fat to be burnt up so you keep the weight on.

So, how do we propose to keep your weight in line with your body type and pre-disposition in order to stay healthy? Here are the 4 strategies:

[1] Burning Desire

First, you must have a burning desire to eat healthy foods and be conscious and careful about what you put in your mouth. You must establish the right dietary intake that is good for your body type. Second, you must also have a burning desire to keep trim by losing weight, if you already are heavy. Third, you must have discipline to identify the kinds of foods that are good for you and discipline and constrain yourself to these type of foods. Fourth, condition your mind to love these foods and imagine the good health they will bring to your life in terms of energy, vigor, zest, vitality and the wonderful feeling you would have when you do this.

[2] Consciously Decide-Discipline Yourself

You must decide to get your body mobile and limber, and exercise it, to burn off the excess fat, despite your health condition. You must select the right type of exercise that is good for you based on your body type to avoid injury and pain. You must actively perform a soul searching routine to condition our mind to achieve these attributes.

[3] Identification of Programs

Third, you must do some research and identify the kinds of fitness and exercise programs, based on your body type, that you must embrace and follow to attain the health results you aspire to achieve.

[4] Get More Knowledge

Learn all you can about how wonderful a machine your body is and treat it as a shrine. The better you take care of it, the longer you’ll probably live and enjoy this world. Read literature about how you body works and you will appreciate the wondrous machine that no man can ever build. Fall in love with your body once you start conditioning it, to achieve a slimmer trimmer and healthier body so you can enjoy it for many many years to come.

In the next article, PART 2, we will discuss how to choose the type of exercise equipment for the three body types and how to get you on the fast track to a slim and trim body that would make your friends a family notice.

Live well and stay healthy!

Trevor Adheen
Your Good Health Advocate

The author is an advocate for healthier living through good diet, body fitness and conditioning. He is an avid researcher/teacher into the deep understanding of the human body, both in physical and psychological terms, and to pass this knowledge on to others who can benefit from the knowledge gained.
Meanwhile, you can visit this site: http://1stdiabeticsupplysuperstore.com to get on the Fast Track to a Healthier Happier Body. Send your comments to me via an e-mail to: tansane@bellsouth.net

For every e-mail response I receive, I will send you a FREE E-COOKBOOK Recipe Sampler. That is: 38 Tasty Recipes. Keep you trim and fit for every occasion. Perks up your life. Soothes and comforts your whole body.

Distribution
This article is approved for distribution by the author, providing that it is hyperlinked back to: http://1stdiabeticsupplysuperstore.com from the distributor/ webmaster’s page.
Trevor Adheen
(c) All Rights reserved

Who would have thought a large bouncy ball would have become such a must-have piece of fitness equipment. The genius that designed it, an Italian toy-maker, could not have imagined just how popular it would become. The exercise ball has become part of the furniture at gyms, clinics and increasingly so at home. But are we missing a trick here?

The ball is invariably used to develop the core muscles with routines to place them under stress. However, in my opinion, the ball’s best features are not used to the full. Invariably routines using the ball are just the sort of exercises that have been done without a ball for centuries. Sit-ups, leg raises or extensor exercises are nothing new. The positions you can do them in using a ball does add a new dimension, but in effect they are the same. This is not to say an exercise ball routine is not beneficial, with a bit of imagination you can get far more from your ball workout.

The main benefit of the exercise ball is its mobility and compressibility. I believe the ball can be used to develop far more than just core muscles. Just balancing on the ball will help to develop coordination and balance but there is another less obvious skill that you can practice, and that is, learning to be in the moment.

Elite athletes call this Being in The Zone when they experience an effortless, enjoyable state even when setting world records! How can using the simple exercise ball develop this skill? It will help you to ‘get out of the way’ and develop your skills of awareness, focus and detachment – essential for health and fitness. To successfully balance on the ball with no feet on the ground you have to not worry about falling off. This will prevent you from stiffening your jaw, neck and shoulder muscles (common habits in most adults) to allow your in-built balance systems to coordinate your arms, legs and your core at the same time. I call it Total Body Integration. It’s simple really.

The essential objective is to take what you can learn using your ball into your everyday activities. This way you will still be benefiting from your routines when going about your business. You don’t need to think about holding your stomach in, or standing and sitting up straight, because these actions will only cause discomfort and adversely affect your posture in the long term.

So use you imagination. Don’t worry about stomach exercises. Try things that will develop total coordination and your understanding of how your body would like to coordinate itself. Use your body as a whole and not only will your stomach muscles get a workout but your coordination, posture and focus skills will improve dramatically.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique and has studied performance enhancement in sport for the last 10 years. More information about his unique approach to training can be found by clicking Exercise ball

Scientists now know that it’s usually more dangerous to not stay active, no matter how old you are. And you don’t need to buy special clothes or belong to a gym to become more physical.

Most people don’t get enough physical activity. Here are some reasons why they should:

* Lack of physical activity and not eating the right foods, taken together, are the second greatest inherent cause of death in the United States. (Smoking is the number one cause.)

* Physical exercise can help people feel right and enjoy life more.

* Regular exercise can halt or put off some diseases like cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. It can also perk up your mood can be a direct result along with helping depression.

* Being active can help people stay independent and able to keep doing things like getting around or dressing themselves as they get older.

There are four types of physical activies you need to do to have the right assortment of physical activities.

1. Get at least 30 minutes of activity that makes you breathe harder on most or all days of the week. That’s called “endurance activity,” because it builds your energy or “staying power.” You don’t have to be active for 30 minutes all at once. Ten minutes of endurance activity at a time is fine. Just make sure those 10-minute sessions add up to a total of 30 minutes most days.

How hard do you need to exercise? The right level of effort is described this way: If you can talk while exercising without any trouble at all, you’re not working hard enough. If you can’t talk at all, it’s way too hard.

2. Keep using your muscles. When muscles aren’t used, they waste away at any age. How important is it to have “enough” muscle? Very! Muscles step-up your metabolism, allowing you to burn off more calories during the day when your body is at rest. Using your muscles may also make your bones stronger, too.

3. Do things to help your balance. Every now and then walk heel-to-toe. When you walk this way, the toes of the foot in back should almost touch the heel of the foot in front.

4. Stretch. Stretching can help keep you flexible and will be able to move more freely. Stretch when your muscles have warmed up. Never stretch so far that it hurts.

So, make physical activity a part of your everyday life. Find things you enjoy. Go for brisk walks. Ride a bike. Dance. Work around the house and in the yard, take care of your garden, climb the stairs, or rake your leaves. Regular day to day chores around the hous can keep you moving and active.

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We have seen all of those infomercials and magazine ads that promote their best abdominal exercise routines and then promise you that you will have sexy abs in just a few short workouts. Then they further insult our intellegence by trying to convince us by showing us their “before and after” photos.

These ads should make you shake your head in disgust! There really are no magical ab workouts, spot reducing (you can’t pick areas that you would like to trim down), or crazy machines that will give you those washboard abs. The amazing fact I believe about all of these ads is - they never talk about dieting! Hard work and dieting is the only real way to lose that thick layer of fat and reveal some spectactular abs!

The best abdominal exercise is really a pretty simple and successful one - crunches and reverse crunches, that’s it! Work your abs 2-3 times per week. The abdominals are no different than working out any other part of your body. Training them more than two or three times a week will not give the muscles proper time to repair themselves.

What you really need to do when performing these two exercises is, concentrate on contracting your abdominal muscles as tight as you can. I like contracting for a count of three. This will causes your abs to fatigue faster. Don’t worry about how many reps you do, concentrate on contracting your abdominal muscles. I believe crunches and reverse crunches are the best abdomial exercise routines you can perform. If you do not like getting on the floor to do these exercises I can recommend the ab lounge. This chair will give you the range of motion needed allowing you to contract and expand those pesky ab muscles. Oh yeah - don’t forget to reduce those calories if you want all of that hard work to pay off!

Please visit Ultimate Fitness Equipment for all of your fitness needs. If you are interested on more information regarding the Ab Lounge Chair please do so.

You have probably worked long hours and many years to get where
you are professionally. It took hard work and real dedication to
achieve the success you enjoy now. Reaching professional goals
is something to be proud of, but few stop to consider the
physical tradeoffs this success often requires.

Few people stop during their climb up the corporate ladder to
consider what their daily lifestyle may be doing to their health.
Often, achieving success means spending day after day at a desk
or standing behind a counter. Americans don’t get nearly enough
exercise, and with that comes health risks. Those risks include
osteoporosis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and a number of
other related health problems.

It is critically important to get proper exercise on a regular
basis. Without it, you will almost certainly have pains and
mobility problems down the road. But the right exercise regimen
not only can decrease the risk of serious health issues, it can
also help you achieve even greater goals, both personally and
professionally.

Many don’t realize that half-hearted trips to the gym several
times a week simply won’t cut it when you’re trying to improve
long-term health. A lot of people who work out regularly may not
be getting the kind of exercise that prevents health problems and
allows them to enjoy a full, active life.

The problem with most workouts is they focus on strengthening
specific muscles or areas of the body and are very time
consuming. That’s great if you’re a bodybuilder, but that’s not
how our bodies normally work. While this offers physical
improvement in the form of tighter muscles and reduced fat, it
fails to provide the bending, twisting and abrupt stops that are
important to a truly effective exercise routine. These kinds of
motions are common in everyday life, like bending over to pick up
your keys. Failing to work them into an exercise routine means
the body will never be trained for common movements, which
naturally grow more difficult for us as our bodies age.

So, while thousands of individuals make monthly payments on
expensive exercise equipment and gym memberships that promises to
make them look better, they are neglecting the type of movement
that extends health benefits down the line.

In the U.S., people 35 to 54 years old account for more than one
million sports-related injuries each year. While that number
sounds imposing, it is completely within our power to change the
statistic. So how can we lessen our own risks?

The solution is to combine exercise with common movements. Use
exercises that approximate the kind of speed and movement you use
in sports or other active tasks. Movements like lunges, squats
and jumps all build muscle, improve balance and when performed
quickly and repetitively, can provide an effective cardiovascular
challenge.

The best part about this effective workout is that it doesn’t
require expensive equipment or a lot of time to pull it off.
Getting back to basics with exercise balls, medicine balls and
resistance bands is all you need to help prevent injury, as well
as tone and shape your body into a stronger, healthier physique.

Howard Waldstreicher specializes in helping active, busy people
learn effective workout techniques. Howard designs routines that
don’t require expensive workout gear, and yet provide more
impressive results in less time. See Howard’s half-hour exercise
program that gives you precisely the advantages he talks about at
http://www.halfhourpower.com For more information, contact
Howard at howard@halfhourpower.com