Friday, June 29, 2007

My personal trainer only has me do weights to lose weight

How many of the people that have hired a personal trainer done anything other than weight training as part of their fitness plan? The answer is probably not very many. Effective cardio workouts are considered to be the biggest gap in personal training programs.

What is interesting with all the weight training personal trainers take their clients through is that heart rate targeted interval training is considered to be one of the most effective ways to increase your metabolism and burn more fat. A person after doing an interval workout burns more fat as a source of energy than any other cardio workout or strength training workout.

Interval training is short durations of high intensity followed by short durations of low intensity. With a targeted heart rate to your correct aerobic metabolism this is the most efficient workout you can do to lose weight.

I would recommend staying away from weight lifting only trainers unless you are a bodybuilder. A really good trainer will do the cardio workouts with you to optimize your ability to be in the right heart rate zone though finding one can be a challenge. Even online only a few sites understand how to do cardio workouts. If you want to find out more about the best site that does it all cardio, strength, and flexibility visit Liveleantoday.com.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Urban Health And Fitness Myths

Copyright (c) 2007 Al Short

Go to any gym or to your last social party and some person with spit out some urban legend as it relates to health, fitness, or weight loss. So many wise tales have been passed down from generations and especially on college campuses that we start to take them as fact. So, we have list 5 of the top urban myths around health and dieting to see do they tread water or not. Who hasn’t thought that alcohol kills brain cells?

Urban Health and Fitness Myth or Fact

1. Inactivity turns muscle into fat: Almost Fact

a. The reality is that muscle and fat are two very different tissues with in the body. No, muscle can’t turn into the fat though a sedentary lifestyle will cause your muscles to burn less calories. The fewer calories your muscles burn the greater amounts of fat a person will store. The correct statement is with inactivity fat replaces muscle. This is another way of saying you have a slow metabolism.

2. Women are going to get drunk quicker than Men: Fact

a. The key difference is body weight. The average male has more weight than the average female. The extra weight results in greater amounts of water in male bodies. The extra water lower the concentration of alcohol for men allowing them to stave off impairment longer. Another key difference is men has high amounts of gastric alcohol dehydrogenase, which breaks down alcohol is the liver. This allows men to break down more alcohol leaving less in the blood stream.

3. Drinking Alcohol Loses Brain Cells: Myth

a. Alcohol won’t make you dumber though you may act dumber. Even binge drinkers are not going to kill brain cells. Studies have shown that heavy drinkers have the same amount of brain cells as the non drinker. Alcohol can kill brain cells though the amounts are too high to consume. You won’t pass out or stop breathing before you would kill any cells.

4. Holiday 5 Pounds is a given: Myth

a. People don’t gain an average of 5 pounds during the holidays. The average person gains about 1 pound over the 6 weeks from Thanksgiving to New Years. This isn’t that different than the weight, from poor food diet and fitness choices that the average American gains at any point in time. The big reason we think about is that come January 1st we are making New Years resolutions and we are thinking about our weight more.

5. Drink green tea to lose weight: Myth

a. Many products and marketing are stating all the weight loss benefits of green tea. Green tea extract has been demonstrated to support weight loss and support increase in calorie burning from your metabolism. The amounts in the tea you drink are too low in concentration though to make much difference. You can still get the antioxidant properties of green tea in your drink though weight loss not much. If you want the benefits of green tea for weight loss you will have to go with nutritional supplements which deliver high concentrations.

Every myth or urban legend typically has some sort of truth to them. The issue it typically isn’t exactly the way people think. The goal with any myth passed down is to do your homework.

Monday, June 25, 2007

How to pick the right online fitness plan

You start searching the internet and you find lots of different looking fitness plans. So what is the right online fitness plan for you? Even though there may be tons of websites you can easily narrow down your search with a few easy steps.

What seperates the online fitness plans is how comprehensive they are. Most are strength only and do just basic workout routines. An effective online fitness plan should consist of strength exercise that work full range of motion, exercises that incorporate flexibility, exercises that work on posture inbalances, and exercises that work more than one plane. More than one plane means that you do the movements in multiple ranges of motion. For example, the basic chest press is press straight out in front of you though you move your chest in more than just that motion in life. An effective chest plan would have exercises where you do a chest press down, to the side, up, and in any other direction.

The other aspect vital to a good online fitness plan is the ability to customize and progress. A lady told me on the Gillian Michaels program day 1 was the same as day 90 which is no good. To continue achieving results your workout has to change with you. Also, no person is the same or has the same goals. An effective plan has to be to be changed by a professional personal trainer.

If you use these two aspects for reference you will find that you eliminate almost all online fitness plans except for the very best.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

How to lose weight when obese

The reality is that obese people have greater concerns with starting an obesity diet plan. Going through the same workout or nutrition plan taxes an obese person greater than just an overweight individual. This is why professional support is a most for any diet program or fitness plan.

The rapid changes in an obese person's heart rate, calorie expenditure, and blood sugar levels is so important to be monitored. The key is profession support not professional help. The difference is support is working with the person to achieve their goals where help is a feeling of not capable. The reality is that any obese person is capable of achieving their weight loss goals.

The hardest challenge is changing habits. Certain habits have added the weight on. Through both professional and family support people overcome these obstacles and achieve their goals. Both kinds of support are essential. Personal trainers and dieticians are trained on the right plans and programs and have experience on how to incorporate them into people's daily lifestyles. Peer support is the most effective motivator on those hard days when we want to quit. Those that go after weight loss alone mostly quit when times get tough while those with support find the strength in numbers to keep fighting and reach their weight loss goals.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

What supplement to take

I have recieved many questions on what are the right supplements to take. This question really is too big since supplements means many different types of products that work differently in your body. The first question you have to ask yourself is what do you want to achieve with your supplementation plan? I do put it as a supplementation plan as most people go wrong since they don't take the products long enough to get the gains they are looking for. For the purpose of this post I am going to look at sport supplements.

The key with sport supplements is to increase strength, recovery, and lean muscle mass. The two best brands are the BSN supplement and Xyience supplement lines of products. I feel it is important to identify brands that you can trust that will deliver with each product.

The flagship products for both brands are creatine products called NO Xplode and NOX CG3. I call these products super creatines as they combine more than high quality creatine they also have glutamine, arginine, electrolytes, and energy. You will have instantly better workouts with just one use of taking either one of these two. They do have slightly different ingredients so you want to decide which one is right for you.

Creatine is now the staple of sport performance supplements. Creatine is essential in your most explosive energy system that you use to jump, life weights, sprint, or swing any time of bat or club. That is right you will have more power in your golf game using creatine as the energy to produce a gold swing uses creatine phosphates.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Diet Pills Effective

Weight loss goals are hard enough using diet pills can put us over the top. Effective diet pills can be the added boost you need. Diet pills use different ingredients to either increase your metabolism, control your appetite, or both.

The key to using diet pills is to use weight loss pills with a proper diet and nutrition plan.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Have you ever thought of an online personal trainer

Have you ever thought of using an online personal trainer? For most of you the answer is probably no. Online personal training is fast becoming the preferred way people get expert professional training for fitness and diet. The two main reasons first is convienence as an online trainer is available when you are and the second is price. LiveLeanToday.com's online personal trainer and dietician service is $9.95 a month. This allows for people to keep the porvessional advice long term to achieve all their goals and keep it off.