Tag: Fitness

Tips for Ab Fitness

For those seeking ab fitness to tone, firm, or lose weight around the midsection, abs are one of the hardest areas to workout. Due to the fact that many people do not work them out properly, and also that it is an area of the body which is prone to high body fat, make sure you know how to workout, and what exercises to do for ab fitness. Here are some things to keep in mind to attain the desired results. These are 7 tips for ab fitness which will help you slim down, and see the results you are hoping for.

DON’T STICK TO ONE EXERCISE

Whether it is crunches, sit-ups, reverse crunches, or planks, you have to mix things up. In order to see the muscle transformation, and in order to workout all muscle groups in the abs, you have to mix things up. Changing up the exercises you do, and throwing in new exercises will help you to see the changes, reduction around the waistline, and the definition you seek.

USE WEIGHTS

In order to build muscle, you have to add weights to your abs routine. You can hold a weight across your chest, above your head, or with your ankles (depending on the routine you are doing) but, adding in weight is going to help build muscle, and will allow you to do more challenging exercises down the road. This will in turn lead to the definition, due to the fact that you are doing new exercises, and working out different muscle groups.

DON’T TRY TO DO HIGH REPS

You will notice that if you do 20 reps properly, with the right weight thrown in, and done from different angles (exercises), you are going to get a much better workout than if you do 200 reps of crunches, where you are simply working the spine. When done properly, you only have to do a small number of reps for each exercise, to see the results when you are working out the core muscles.

PROPER DIET

As with any other workout routine, if you want to see results you have to incorporate the proper diet. So, you are going to want to eliminate refined sugars and carbs, increase protein, and add in the healthy fats like nuts. Additionally, eating super foods like berries, legumes, nuts, etc, you are going to notice you remain fuller longer, due to the high fiber content in these foods. So, you will reduce calorie intake, and the calories you are eating are high in protein and fiber, making for a slimmer midsection. For more on healthy diet see muscle building foods.

ALTERNATE SPEED

Depending on the exercise and muscle group you are using, and on the amount of weight you are including, you should vary the speed of each exercise. This will not only workout different muscle groups, but it is also going to shock the muscles, which is something that is required when you want to see the changes in body composition, and when you want to see the ultimate results with your ab fitness workout.

WORKOUT OTHER BODY PARTS FIRST

Due to the fact that your abs are part of the core muscle group, they take much more effort to work them out. For this reason, you should do cardio, and workout larger muscle groups first (when weight lifting), to ensure you will have the strength you need to complete your workout. Even if an abs routine seems easy, it is more draining than doing squats or bicep curls, because you are working the entire core.

STRETCH

Although it seems trivial, stretching prevents injury, and it helps you to elongate the ab muscles. This is going to make for a more defined look, will help you get the slimmer look you are after, and will help you see the definition in your abs far quicker than with individuals who do not stretch with their workouts.

You may also wish to see the article on top 3 abdominal exercise workouts or also the review on the popular Six Pack Shortcuts fitness program.

Keeping each of these factors in mind, and making sure you know how to do the movements properly as opposed to trying to do hundreds of reps, are some things which are going to help you see the ab fitness results you are after, and will help you attain the best looking abs in a shorter period of time.

Also check out Top 3 Abdominal Exercise Workouts or Six Pack Shortcuts Review

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What is a Macrobiotic Diet?

Post author By admin
Post date September 9, 2012
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What is a macrobiotic diet? The word “macrobiotic” is Greek for “long life”. This diet plan consists of eating mostly whole grains. It’s quite different from many other weight loss plans out there – especially low carb diets. The macrobiotic diet supports an Eastern philosophy of balancing the yin and yang by eating certain foods. It’s considered to be more of a lifestyle change than a short-term diet plan.

Practitioners of the diet prefer to eat organically grown foods in the traditional manner, such as steaming, boiling, and baking. It aids in weight loss because it’s high in fiber and low in fat. Fiber is great for digestive health. If you want to lose stomach fat, then this diet is a good choice because of its low fat and high fiber content.

Macrobiotic Diet Food Recommendations

What is a macrobiotic diet and what should I eat?.

50% of your daily diet should consist of brown rice, wheat, barley, corn, barley, rye, etc. Approximately 20% – 30% should consist of vegetables. The rest of your daily food consumption should include soup, beans, fish, seeds, nuts, and fruits.
Some vegetables aren’t recommended. Limit the amount of potatoes, eggplants, peppers, and beets. Eating them sparingly is OKAY. Other foods to avoid include dairies, refined flour, hot spices, and any foods with preservatives.
Caffeine is forbidden in the macrobiotic diet. Stimulated drinks don’t provide the “balance” for the diet’s plan philosophy. You can drink a lot of water, juice, and decaffeinated teas.
Pastas and noodles are okay in small portions. This might sound like a vegetarian diet plan, but moderate amounts of fish and lean meats are permissible. Use unrefined oils when cooking natural foods.
It’s okay to eat a bowl of soup every day. Soups and broths containing soy bean paste, beans, and vegetables are acceptable.
Sea vegetables and beans should take up 10% of daily food intake. Sea vegetables include foods such as kelp, hijiki, nori, and Irish moss. They contain a lot of vitamins and minerals.

What is a Macrobiotic Diet?

Macrobiotic diet practitioners never eat anything 3 hours before bedtime. It’s recommended to chew food thoroughly. Count to 50 for every mouthful of food. This helps to create a meditative atmosphere.

Vitamin Supplementation on Macrobiotic Diet

Don’t try this diet without consulting a dietitian – otherwise you might end up with nutritional deficiencies. Taking a multi-vitamin supplement everyday might be in order, unless you eat a good amount of sea vegetables. Since the macrobiotic diet plan includes very little fish, you could end up with a deficiency of omega 3 fatty acids.

Exercising on Macrobiotic Diet

The macrobiotic diet doesn’t address exercise. As a given, though, no diet is complete without some form of moderate exercise. Try to be as active as possible every single day. Just cleaning the house and scrubbing the floors can provide fitness benefits. You might also want to consider engaging in systematic exercise programs like martial arts and yoga.

Should you Try a Macrobiotic Diet?

The macrobiotic diet plan requires a lot of commitment since it’s about making permanent changes to your lifestyle and daily eating habits. If your primary goal is to lose weight then this might not be the diet plan for you. The idea behind this diet is to strive for a long, healthy life. It’s appealing to those who want to take a holistic approach to their well-being which is What a macrobiotic diet is.

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Why Most Diets Suck

I get tired of watching the latest and greatest crazy diet fads come and go. You have probably heard that the whole diet industry makes their money by taking advantage of fat people.

It is true

The reason that the diet industry is screwing over fat people is because almost every diet out there has some magic bullet in it. Eat this and lose weight, avoid that and lose weight. Lose weight eating cookies, lose weight drinking sweetened lemon juice.

Most of it is crap and we all have to realize that. Every time I go to the bookstore I get intrigued and then leave shaking my head.

The trouble is there is no magic bullet. Losing weight always comes down to bringing in less calories than are going out. The trouble is there are lots of variables and the diet makers are always looking to exploit people that are having trouble losing weight by depressing people, confusing them, and then offering the newest magic to lose weight.

Don’t fall for it.

Only Three Things Matter for Losing Weight

What you really need to lose weight is to get your eating under control, your metabolism high, and your exercise up. Lets just looks at these three pieces in isolation

Get you Eating Under Control – almost everyone gets portion control wrong. Your body is a machine and whatever food you can not use your body will just eliminate or store. If you have a burger, fries, and soft drink then no matter what crazy diet you would use you will still have to burn off that 1100 calories or so and it is just not possible, so you eliminate some and store the rest. Now if you eat a normal meal which would be about 400 calories or so you would not be hungry but not full either.

Now again if you eat just the hamburger for a meal you may drop the calorie count but you are not getting the nutrients and vitamins that you need and also you are getting a lot of those calories from artery clogging fat. So if you just had fruit and veggies and lean meat in your diet then that 400 calories would go a lot further and keep you healthier.

Is Running Healthy

Get a Higher Metabolism – This is a bit stranger to look at. Your body really just runs like it should. Your body burns calories to keep everything going, your muscles healed, maintaining your organs and giving you the energy to run or not or whatever you need to do as you have over the last little while.

When you look at your metabolism this way then it is obvious that your metabolism is naturally going to be faster when you are working out a lot (your body is prepping for your lifestyle) and your metabolism will be slower if your are in an office and then living on the couch all evening (the most your body needs to do is get you to the fridge) so your exercise history over the last little while will make a difference to how many calories you burn at rest. Still this is only going to make a smaller difference then eating or exercise.

Get Your Exercise Up – The third piece of the calorie in/calorie out equation is your exercise. If you were to walk well and burn 350 calories in an hour or run hard and burn 1500 calories in the same hour you are doing three things that are helping you. You are raising your resting metabolism, your are making your body work better an more efficiently, and of course you are burning up those calories.

So exercise is going to make a big difference not just for that one workout a day but also the other extraneous exercise. Walking to work, biking with the kids, doing laundry. An active lifestyle means that you are letting it all add up and burning more and more calories as you get stronger and better. Just think, how long would it take for you to going from walking for an hour to running fast for an hour and burning 5 times the calories in an hour.

What About Diet Plans

So bearing in mind these three critical points to losing weight where does everything else fall? Did you know that there are over 37,000 diet books on Amazon.com?

Well if we look at the GI Diet, the Atkins diet, the Mediterranean Diet, in fact any kind of Carb restricting or Fat restricting diets is that the diet itslef is based on moving around your carbs, fat, and protein and these can be important but not as important as eating and exercising right.

The other diets that we see are centred around a food or pill. Eating Acai berrys, or PGX pills are only going to have a small factor on increasing metabolism and do all their work in reducing your hunger.

Finally we have specialized diets like Paleo Diet, Vegan Diet, non-wheat diets, and carb cycling diets. These have their place and the thing that I really like about these diets is that they use science as well as a very passionate group of people teaching others about the benefits of their particular diet.

This gets back to the two diets that I support here on the blog.

Fat Loss for Idiots – Based on what you like or don’t like this diet uses carb cycling to make an exact menu for you to eat. This diet tends to be very successful because you eat what is right and don’t have to become a dietitian to use it. I have more comments on the review for this diet than almost any other post and mostly because people are surprised and excited about the success.

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle – This is a one book based diet and exercise program that a former bodybuilder teaches us how to eat and exercise to make sure that you lose weight and know how to do it. Tom Venuto is a guy with a track record and a best selling book for years teaching you how to lose the weight and keep it off.

Why Most Diets Suck, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

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