Exercise Anywhere You Go

The best way to benefit from weight loss and exercise is to make it simple. When you make small, regular changes, they will actually add up to much more serious weight loss improvement than what you would achieve by making too many changes at once. There are a wide variety of healthy workouts that you can achieve without a lot of time, space or equipment. The following workout is designed to provide you with an excellent basic workout that you can achieve outside without requiring any equipment. This means that you can rely on your own body for resistance and will be able to do this workout no matter where you are.

All that you are going to need in order to achieve the requirements for this particular brand of workout is a stop watch, enough space to execute the exercises properly, and your own body since your body is the only thing necessary for the creation of resistance. What you should be doing here is attempting to race the clock to see just how fast you can finish the exercise sequence. You should be using a full range of motion and you should never sacrifice good form for the purpose of speed with each of these movements. Simply get the stop watch started and get ready to go!

0 - Warm Up with a light walk or jog,
1 - Begin with a ½ mile run,
2 - Transition into squats or chair-squats, completing a total of 30,
3 - Transition into push-ups or bent-knee push-ups, completing a total of 20,
4 - Transition into sit-ups, completing a total of 30,
5 - Transition into a ¼ mile run,
6 - Transition into squats or chair-squats, completing a total of 60,
7 - Transition into push-ups or bent-knee push-ups, completing a total of 20,
8 - Transition into sit-ups, completing a total of 60,
9 - Transition into a ½ mile run,
10 - Transition into squats or chair-squats, completing a total of 30,
11 - Transition into push-ups or bent-knee push-ups, completing a total of 20,
12 - Transition into sit-ups, completing a total of 30,
13 - Cool Down with a stretch and a light cool down walk or jog.

You should be scaling this workout to suit both your fitness level and your ability level. Shorten the runs or even cut down on the exercise numbers by a third or a half as needed to prevent yourself from overdoing anything. If you have problems performing any of these exercises, try to substitute in another exercise to suit your needs. Make sure that you are not overdoing it with this workout, otherwise you may end up hurting yourself without doing yourself any good.

Despite its simplicity, this is a challenging workout capable of testing your physical limits and keeping you in good shape. This workout, when combined with a healthy diet will completely revolutionize how you lose weight and get healthy.

Photo credits: Thomas Hawk

Originally posted 2009-09-07 03:58:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Which Exercise is Supreme?

I get this question often. It's usually followed by "...for getting rid of my belly/thighs/butt/tricep fat"... etc.

Regardless of what you are looking to accomplish, that question in its current form is unanswerable.

There are exercises that work very well for certain muscle groups and movement patterns, various forms of posture, cardiorespiratory training, etc. So while trying to create a "supreme exercise" is a futile task, I will devise a criteria by how I define a "great exercise"

One that incorporates big, compound, multi-joint movements that requires a degree of coordination and integration to perform.

For arguments sake, If I could only pick 3 exercises that I had to do for the rest of my life, they would be... DeadliftsPull-upsWind sprint intervals (90-100% intensity - Tabata style)
By definition, the above work massive amounts of muscle groups, require a large degree of integration and include a very high intensity cardio. Deadlifts - are the prototypical posterior chain exercise - working the muscles of the back of the legs, butt, lower back and require a serious amount of stabilization through the core and a fight to keep a neutral spine. Pull-ups - I confess I love them. All you need is a bar and you have a near perfect lat/pec/trap (mid/low) and an appreciable amount of stabilization through the core and shoulder girdle. Wind sprints - I love running and performing near-max efforts are a fantastic way to boost fitness in a hurry. Build up to these bad boys though.
What 3 exercises would you do if you could only choose 3?

Image Credit: Flickr/elvertbarnes

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4 More Diet and Exercise Myths That Die Hard

AKA "Things we thought we knew that might be wrong".

In this installment, we will look at some other misconceptions surrounding nutrition and exercise. If you missed the first part, you can read it here.

If you read chain emails started by lunatics then yes, they are horrible - causing everything from cancer to leprosy. But are they really carcinogenic? The body of evidence says no - although some may be safer than others. My beef with AS's is not the potential dangers they supposedly cause but rather the caloric emptiness of the foods they are designed to sweeten.

These substances are rigorously tested - toxicology, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, etc. Scientists collect data and determine an Acceptable Daily Intake - the maximum amount that regulatory bodies consider safe. Even 90th percentile consumption falls in about 5-10% of the ADI. Over 1000 studies have been published on Aspartame alone and with scant exception they have been deemed safe. Of course you'll hear the "yeah but those studies are funded by the companies that make it". When looking at studies, the methodological quality is the most important factor when validity is the subject.

"Hallowing" is a technique popular in yoga and Pilates whereby people are instructed to "suck in" their bellies" to stabilize. Unfortunately the science here is unstable (nyuk, nyuk). The rationale is to try and fire up the deep muscles of the abdominals and lower back.

When tested clinically, however, a technique called "bracing" was shown to be far more effective in recruiting the right muscles for lower back stability. To "brace", think about filling the belly up with air without letting the belly button stick out or draw in. Pretend you are bracing for a punch to the gut. Side note: Anyone involved in prescribing exercise should read Stuart McGill's books.

Telling people what they want to hear 101 - the #1 trick of the trade of diet book authors. In a perfect world we could just eat near-limitless amounts of certain kinds of foods and never gain an ounce. Well, reality can be harsh, but it's the only place to get a good steak. The simple indisputable fact remains, that chronically eating more than you burn will cause you to gain weight - regardless of macronutrient composition. At some point, even extreme low carbers and the fading low fat advocates will have to watch calories.

This one has weaved its way into "common knowledge-hood" without much in the way of scientific validity. The fact is, however that there is no evidence that those with healthy kidneys will suffer kidney issues from elevated protein intakes. In fact, boosting protein (in the presence of adequate calcium) will likely benefit bone density.

While the scientific process is never final, it's a good idea to question things we think are fact.

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