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General Weight Loss Tips

Research on Obesity in the United States

How much does obesity cost the United States? See the following infographic for details.

It highlights work and health care costs by state, as well as comparing the states to one another.

Arizona, where it is hot, has the lowest percent of obese people in the country. Either the heat forces them to move away, or they sweat it off. The old grade school joke about the desert being so hot that only one S can grow there perhaps some foundation in reality.

Alaska is a leader in obesity – perhaps its to cold to go out and do anything, or people need the extra layers for warmth. What other area is right up there with Alaska on the leader board? Washington D. C. … no doubt some politicians and greasy lobbyists are living high on the hog.

Click on the mini-snapshot image below to open up the full extended infographic in your web browser.

Obesity Research.

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General Weight Loss Tips

Andrea Ambandos Bio

Who is Andrea Ambandos?

Andrea Ambandos may not be a household name, but if you have any fitness videos laying around, she’s probably on the credits of at least one of them. Staying behind the scenes, Ambandos has directed and produced many popular workout video series, including “Crunch”, “Yoga Zone”, and the ever popular 10 Minute Solution”. These videos have been on shelves for over 10 years, and they’re still selling strong in retail stores across the nation. Andrea’s staying power in the fitness industry has to say something about how effective her methods are.

Fitness videos are growing more and more popular these days as people have less time to hit the gym and would rather stay in the comfort of their own homes to work out. Instead of driving to the gym, grab a bottle of water and a few free weights and get moving in front of the TV! And the only thing better than a home fitness video is an effective home fitness video. And those are the kinds of videos that Ambandos lends her fitness expertise to. She focuses on making workouts fun for the viewers by creating great, enthusiastic methods for toning muscles and losing fat, easy for viewers by going slowly and clearly teaching moves and methods, and cheap for consumers because this one time fee of less than 20 dollars is cheaper than a monthly gym membership!

Here are just a few titles that Andrea is involved in: Andrea Ambandos DVD

  • 10 Minute Solution: Kickbox Bootcamp
  • Jillian Michaels: No More Trouble Zones
  • Fat Burning Workout For Dummies
  • The Firm – Supercharged Scultping
  • Pussycat Dolls Workout
  • Hula Workout: Weight Loss
  • 20 Minute Yoga Makeover: Sculpt Buns and Thighs

“10 Minute Solution”

One of the most popular series that Andrea directs and produces is called “10 Minute Solution”. The “10 Minute Solution” series is a great, affordable way to shape up during a busy schedule. If you don’t have the time to drop everything and work out, doing a few 10 minute sessions throughout the day can boost your health and your confidence. You can even do a few sets in a row for a full-blown workout session! These videos focus on losing fat with simple (but fun) cardio moves and sculpting with a number of different exercises.

The diversity in this set of videos is amazing. If you prefer cardio, pick up the “Fat Blasting Dance Mix” and enjoy learning fun dance moves to trim those pounds of fat. If you prefer a tougher approach, “Kickbox Bootcamp” gives you cardio while strengthening and leaning out your muscles. Kickboxing is a great full-body workout, and Ambandos helps beginners learn how to use this great exercise to their advantage.”

Another popular “10 Minute Solution” video is “Pilates Perfect Body”. Tons of celebrities have sworn that Pilates is what gives them their great figure, which is why this video is so excellent. Under the direction of Ambandos, you can easily learn several different Pilates exercises and begin your journey to a great, lean body with a strong core. Don’t have money for expensive, first-rate Pilates classes? Don’t worry! This video costs $15 and you have your own personal trainer in your living room for as long as you want.

Along with the “10 Minute Solution” videos, Andrea Ambandos is behind some great collaboration with Jillian Michaels on workout DVDs. These include the “30 Day Shred” and “Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism”. These are both high energy workouts, but the steps are easy to learn and follow under Ambandos’ direction. Learning how to be healthy and get more effective exercise is easier than ever with these videos.

Dance Workouts

If you’re more of a dancing type, Ambandos has also done a few dance workout DVDs, including ones featuring Julianne Hough and the Pussycat Dolls. These are completely unique workout videos. The Julianne Hough video features ballroom cardio. Who knew you could get a cardio workout by learning how to ballroom dance? Not only are you getting great exercise, you’re also having fun learning a new skill that isn’t the cookie-cutter workout. Are you getting bored doing all those jumping jacks yet? Give the ballroom cardio video a try.

The Pussycat Dolls video features exactly what you’d expect – hip hop choreography and dance techniques. The choreographer of the Dolls, Robin Antin, hosts the video under the direction of Ambandos, and leads viewers through a exercise program designed to tone and burn fat fast. You’ll also be working out to some of your favorite Pussycat Dolls hits! Instead of grumbling after 10 minutes of work, you won’t want to stop.

Ambandos is also the director of the short series “Hula Workout”. If you don’t know anything about hula dancing, go pick up the beginner video to learn how while getting a decent workout! If you want to focus on losing weight, there’s a specific video for that, too. It combines the art of hula dancing with a great aerobic exercise routine. After practicing with these videos, you’ll be able to show your skills to your friends and family, and you’ll have a great appreciation for the skill that this beautiful dance takes to master! Not only is it fun, but its effective and totally worth the money.

Yoga Workouts

If yoga is more your thing, or even if you’re just a beginner wanting to learn, Ambandos’ yoga workouts are fine ways to get in shape. She directs several different series, including “Yoga Zone” and “20 Minute Yoga Makeover”. Yoga is a great way to release stress, build posture, flexibility, and even strength. Even though it may seem like the “trendy” workout with its wide celebrity acceptance, yoga has been in practice for more than 5,000 years. If people have been enjoying its benefits that long, it can hardly be called a trend.

Ambandos works with Sara Ivanhoe on the a few “20 Minute Yoga Makeover” videos. The “20 Minute Yoga Makeover: Weight Loss” DVD is designed to improve flexibility and strength while getting you to break a sweat and burn calories and lose that stubborn weight. This video is safe for beginners and all the poses are excellently presented so they’re easy to learn. If you’re worried about yoga not doing much for your physical appearance, try this video. It has helped many a figure.

Another 20 Minute Yoga Makeover includes “Power Beauty Sweat”, which is along the same lines and also features Sara Ivanhoe. Be prepared to sweat a bit in this workout! Sweat is the body’s way of eliminating old toxins and chemicals it doesn’t want in the body, so it is great for you to sweat. The workout routine in the video offers great yoga benefits, and will help you to boost your energy level, make you glow, burn calories, and even improve digestion.

The 20 Minute Yoga Makeover series has many more videos to offer, such as “Flat Abs” and “Sculpted Buns Thighs”. If you’re looking for specific areas to work on rather than a general workout, grabbing these videos would be of benefit to you. They are also easy to follow along with and fun to do, just like every Andrea Ambandos fitness video.

If you’re more of an intermediate or advanced yoga practitioner, the “Quick Fix: Power Yoga Workout” is a great video you can follow along with in just 10 minutes a day. However, you can still try it if you’re a beginner since it has variations on each pose. The video is broken up into 3 segments of 10 minutes each, so you can do each separately or all together depending on your time limitations and workout goals! Another great video directed by behind-the-scenes fitness superstar Andrea Ambandos.

Helpful, Fun, and Easy

Andrea has also directed great videos like the “Quick Fix” series that cover everything from Hip Hop dancing to exercises focusing on toning and strengthening your abs, the “Prevention” series that cover fighting cellulite and getting a flat stomach, and the “Crunch” series that goes from kickboxing to crunches and everything in between. Her videos have a lot of variety to them, so you’re surely to find something just right for you and your schedule.

There are many fitness videos out there to choose from. If you’re confused or skeptical about which direction to take, you can trust the directing expertise of Ambandos. Whether you like yoga, dancing, pilates, or just plain aerobics, there is an Ambandos video out there for it. Her videos are easy to follow (perfect for beginners) and fun to learn. Instead of dreading workout sessions, you won’t be able to wait until the next one! The videos don’t make it seem like you’re doing a workout but just as if you’re having fun advancing your health and body.

All in all, Ambandos videos focus on having fun while working out, and keeping the workout short and simple when you’re pressed for time. If you only have 15 minutes at a time to exercise, it is easy to pop in one of these fitness DVDs and fly right through a fun and exciting workout. You may even want to stay for longer!

As you can see, Andrea Ambandos has had a huge impact on the industry of video fitness. Since you can learn basic to complex workouts with never having to leave your home, it is a popular choice for many of the busiest people. The videos directed by Ambandos are fun and helpful, and you’ll never be without your own personal trainer again. Even though Ambandos works behind the scenes, her effect on modern fitness has been great.

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General Weight Loss Tips

Cal Pozo Biography

Cal Pozo, Exercise and Fitness pioneer

Cal Pozo is a fitness instructor, choreographer, director and producer of best selling exercise videos. He was born in 1946 in Cuba and moved to the US in 1960. Though he has been dancing since his early teens Cal made sure education was a priority, attending both Bowling Green University in Ohio and New York University in New York City. After college, while living in New York City, Cal became a dancer in Broadway musicals, including a revival of the original musical West Side Story, which also starred Patrick Swayze. It was during this show, in the late 1970s, when Cal suffered a serious hip injury. This ironic twist of fate was to be Cal’s springboard for launching into the fitness and exercise video industry.

Before suffering his debilitating hip injury, Pozo had been a serious dancer with no interest in the exercise and fitness instructional video industry. After suffering through the injury and subsequent rehabilitation, his doctors advised his dancing career was very likely finished. Refusing to accept such a diagnosis, Cal decided to take over on his own rehabilitation program and mixed various dancing and exercise disciplines into a system all his own. Successful completion of his own style of rehabilitation program, which included an approximately forty pound weight gain and loss, started Cal on his path to fitness stardom.

The Beginning

Cal Pozo started his career in the fitness industry with a book which was completed shortly after his hip injury rehabilitation and was called “Bunnetics – How to Reshape Your Buns” (Doubleday – 1982). This book began a tour of daytime talk shows including Oprah Winfrey’s first talk show and the Phil Donahue show. Such appearances on the daytime talk show circuit launched a number of contracts to write instructional fitness books. Along with the book contracts, Cal was also offered a contract to host instructional dance videos. “Cal Pozo’s Learn to Dance in Minutes” was published by Parade Video in 1989 and was wildly popular. His exercise videos and DVDs have been purchased by approximately 50 million people over the years.
Cal Pozo.

The Instructor

Cal, as a certified fitness instructor, uses his dance and exercise training to teach others how to effectively get in shape and stay in shape. When Pozo made his first entrance into the fitness and dance video world, exercise instructional videos on VHS cost upwards of $80 dollars and were difficult to find. Today’s modern digital world has provided a method, through DVDs, to make exercise and fitness more affordable for everyone. The average exercise or dance instruction DVD costs $15 to $20 dollars and can be ordered from the comfort of your own home.

Cal Pozo has been producing and hosting dance instruction and exercise videos for the past 25 years, even beginning his own production company. Cal’s directing and production credits include more than 300 videos which often feature fitness celebrities such as Denise Austin and model Heidi Klum. Pozo’s fitness videos have also garnered awards such as the HBO Spirit Award and the Parent’s Choice Award.

In addition to videos featuring exercise and television stars, Cal also produces videos featuring the instructors from the hit television series “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Biggest Loser”. The “Dancing with the Stars” videos features the instructors from the show along with a cast of dancers performing workout sets based on a variety of dance styles, including the Samba, the Merengue and the Mambo. “The Biggest Loser” videos feature Bob Harper, the shows trainer, and are completely unrehearsed, being filmed at the same time the class is learning the workout routines.

Fitness Products

Cal Pozo, along with being a video choreographer and producer, is an accomplished author. His instructional books include, “Bunnetics”, “The Back Book”, “Twenty Days to a Trimmer Torso” along with major contributions to the books “Dancing with the Stars – The Book” and “Let’s Dance – A Beginner’s Guide to Ballroom Dancing”.

Cal’s video offerings, through his production company, FitVid Productions, includes programs such as “Partner Dancing 101”, a three DVD series of basic dance steps for those with little to no knowledge of classical social dancing, and the DanceFit DVD series. The DanceFit DVD series feature two separate cardio workouts and one sculpting workout DVD for those who want to get in shape and stay in shape. This video series focuses Latin and Retro dances and Salsa dancing.

Additional instructional materials include the book, “Let’s Dance”, which features 260 pages of instructional directions and photos that include all of the traditional ballroom dances. To make learning the social dance steps easier, the book set includes an accompanying DVD with a tutorial for each chapter in the book.

Why Dancing works for Fitness

Obesity is one of the most often cited causes for heart disease, diabetes and early death in adults. Today there is also an ever growing problem with childhood and teenage obesity. While ballroom dancing may not be the coolest or most interesting form of exercise available for a teenager, more modern, club style, dances can attract younger generations to get their bodies moving. Sedentary and a stressed out lifestyle can often be cited for the cause of many cases of obesity. Working any type of motion into a daily routine can greatly improve health and provide weight loss and fitness benefits to all ages.

With the prevalence of video games in today’s society, it is easy for children and teenagers, even adults, to sit in front of the television and ignore the need to exercise. While some products, such as the Wii Fit, can get people up and moving, traditional and modern dancing can provide even more benefits. Most forms of dancing use the whole body in motion, toning the muscles and providing excellent cardio exercise to improve heart and lung function.

There is a very good reason dancing works as part of a complete fitness routine. Many people have a hard time maintaining an exercise program simply because they become disinterested with the gym cardio routines. Boredom is often the most cited reason for dropping or relaxing an exercise routine. Keeping the interest of the person trying to lose weight or get in shape is difficult for any aerobics program. Many gym programs add music to their routines, but few are dedicated specifically to teaching dance.

Cardio fitness has long been known as essential to any workout routine. Cardio based exercise raises the heart rate, increases oxygen consumption and greatly increases caloric burning energy. Increased lung function provides better muscle tone, allows deeper oxygen saturation of the blood stream and can improve sleep habits, eating habits and even existing medical conditions. Most people looking to lose weight may not think of dancing as a first option for keeping interest in their exercise program.

There have been studies conducted that found that Salsa dancing could greatly improve someone’s cardiovascular fitness levels. One study found even less energetic ballroom dances increase the number of active steps a person takes during a day. Modern medical recommendations advise 10,000 steps per day is the minimum required to maintain healthy fitness levels in an average adult. To be realistic, there are just not that many adults, especially senior citizens, who are going to be in motion enough during any given day to total 10,000 steps per day.

Although 10,000 steps per day may seem like an impossible number to obtain, a minimum of 2,000 steps can greatly improve one’s aerobic exercise and cardiovascular health. Even senior citizens can benefit from ballroom dancing, which is less strenuous than some of the more modern dances such as the Tango or Merengue. Salsa dancing, the focus of many of the studies was found, one specifically included 11 pairs of dancing partners, found the maximum heart rate increased between 58 and 75 percent. The same study found oxygen consumption, both measured during typical Salsa dancing lessons, was increased between 41 and 56 percent. The author of this particular study, Gian Pietro Emerenziani of the University of Studies in Rome, Italy, stated, “With this form of dance, you are clearly getting a workout. All three types of Salsa in our study, practiced frequently, will have a positive impact on health and fitness.”

One other benefit to using dance instructional videos as part of a more comprehensive exercise program, is they can be used in the privacy of the home. No trips to the gym with many others in the same club, which can often be embarrassing for someone who is overweight or struggling with their diet. Even the partners dancing programs can be used by an individual to gain that extra measure of fitness to assist in losing weight.

Continuing Fitness

Cal Pozo is not one to rest of his past accomplishments. He keeps up with current dance and fitness trends, recently choreographing and producing the video, “Dirty Dancing – The Official Dance Workout”. The video featured dance moves inspired by the original movie which are performed to the original sound track. Within the past year, Cal has hosted a new series of instructional videos to teach ballroom dancing called, “Partner Dancing 101”.

Cal Pozo still lives in New York City, where he heads his production company, FitVid Productions. He is still hands on with his company, choreographing, directing and producing exercise videos. Not only does he spend his time in New York, he can also be found at sound stages in Los Angeles and in South Miami Beach, where he can frequently be found practicing Yoga with his 92 year old mother. If there is any need for proof that exercise and dancing are a good part of a healthy lifestyle, Cal Pozo, and his mother, are good examples.