Friday, January 9, 2009

Exercise of the Week

COMPOUND EXERCISES

Huh? Well this is a way to continue Cardio training. Remember, we burn calories through Cardio training utilizing the muscles built during Resistance training. Therefore if we could do Cardio training as long as possible then we'd burn max calories -- but Cardio alone isn't enough since you have to have the muscles to burn the fat....the solution is to do compound exercises. Remember, the definition of Cardio Respiratory training is - using multiple muscles at the same time for an extended period of time. Therefore we could, technically, use compound exercises (those that use more than one muscle group) as a part of our Cardio...

Therefore you can perform traditional Cardio (treadmill, elliptical, steppers, etc) for 30-45 minutes EVERYDAY. Then you can extend this fat burn through the rest of your workout by using compound exercises. Think of it this way, we don't burn many calories during a bicep curl, because the bicep is a small muscle (it can only 'eat' so much), but if we stand on one foot while performing the curl, then we add in the core (for balance) as well as the thigh and hips. This increases the caloric burn (doing pretty much the same exercise) by an insane amount!! Speeding weight loss!

Conversely, those wanting to bulk up - need to conserve energy - burning calories is their enemy. So they need to sit with their arms braced on a bridge in order to conserve the most energy. (for the bicep curl)

Examples of Compound Exercises:

Lunges with a curl - overhead press
Squat - overhead press
1-Leg Squats
Lunge - front kick
Sumo Squat to torso twist

etc.....

Tip of the Day

Veggies & Fruit

Guess What, these are another miracle for those looking to lose weight...why? Because you can eat unlimited supplies with very little caloric intake. Plus most are predominately water based, also helping with hydration. So STOCK UP! Keep fresh fruits and vegetables on hand for snacks and times when you're feeling peckish.

Munch Away!!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Tip of the Day

WATER -

The miracle weight loss secret. Seriously! Drinking water can help you lose up to 20 pounds in just a few weeks. You see, our water retention process is a reverse process. You retain more water the more dehydrated the body becomes. This is because the body fears water being scarce, like in a drought. This makes you put on the pounds. The body fears the lack of water -because then you'd die. So in the face of minimal fluid intake the body stores every ounce of water as it can squeeze from food and drink. When you continually drink appropriate amount of water, then you don't store as much water. This means you don't have that poundage. Carbohydrates are the tool the body uses to regulate hydration. SO, when people go on those carb-low diets, they tend to lose about 20 pounds relatively quickly because their body is incapable of retaining any water...but this is also not good because our body needs water to function normally. The best you can hope for is balance. When you're in taking enough water then you don't store water, you don't have all those extra water pounds, BUT (with a carb balanced diet) you also have plenty of HYDRATION so your muscles can work to burn the fat...
Water will also help you feel full, which will keep your portion sizes under control. Water, the truly amazing diet aide!!!!