A slim and trim and well toned body is a delight not only to flaunt, but also to behold. Today, women all over the world aim at the zero size and hourglass waistlines. However, the fast paced lifestyles we lead and the demands made on our time, at work and at home, make it impossible to stay in shape and perfect physical and mental health without dedication and guidance.
The best tips for workout routines applicable to women include the following:
Develop a plan
Chalk out your daily chores and free time on hand and only then design a fitness regime to work out. This will ensure that your workout routine will be managed within the free time on hand and the quality of the regime will not be hampered due to any disturbances.
Consult your doctor
It is very important to consult the family doctor and confirm your fitness level to take on the regime intended. It will do you good to periodically check your blood pressure and pulse rate. You should ideally adopt a fitness routine only after consulting your doctor and trainer and considering all the options, pros and cons involved.
Stay motivated
If company helps to motivate you, exercise at the local gym. Remember that the body loses mobility and flexibility with every break in the regime. Identify a space, time and routine that will keep sedentary habits at bay and enable you to exercise regularly.
Remember to adopt warm up and cool down exercises
It helps to develop the routine, complete with warm up exercises prior to the main work out and cool down exercises post regime. Gentle flexing before and after helps a lot and keeps strain and injury away. The warm up exercises enable the body to gradually adapt to the postures required during the regime, while the cool down exercises help to relax the body after the regime, neck, shoulders and every body part involved in the work out.
There are many online and offline resources that help you to put great exercise regimes together and offer guidelines 24 hours a day. Also there are certain simple exercises that you can adopt and practice even as you handle your daily chores, like:
1. Standing with your feet apart and knees slightly bent and bending your torso to the right and left for a great stretch
2. Lying on your back and bending your knees and raising your legs to cross your ankles to tone stomach muscles with the controlled movement and breath
3. Going down on and straightening one leg out at a time
4. Striding forward one leg at a time, keeping your back straight and bending both knees till each one, in turn, nearly touches the floor
5. Holding a chair and in turn, turning your legs out slightly and then raising one at a time as high as you can
6. Lying on your back and raising your knees and lower legs so that they are parallel to the ground
7. Sitting on a stool and resting your forearms over your thighs as you lean forward and pick up a dumb bell weight with one hand at a time
The workout routines are many and it is important to first identify the kind or level of toning you desire before taking on an exercise regime. It is just as important to compliment the fitness regime with a well balance diet. You should also consider simple toning exercises for all round fitness and tone muscles that lose strength and appeal with age. These exercises also help you address problems such as sagging skin and droopy posture.
Remember there are many experts who make themselves physically available or guide you online or offline, either free or for a reasonable fee.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1164567

Have you been looking for a more efficient way to lose weight this summer? Need to tone your muscles in your legs? Your glutes? You could waste your summer away by spending hours in the gym. But why? There’s so many other fun things to do in the summer.
Now there is a simpler, more effective way to get the workout you need. Two new fitness products that you can take advantage of to help shed the pounds and tone you muscles more efficiently, without spending hours in the gym this summer. Both allow you to get an extra workout while doing what we all do on a daily basis…walking.
The new walking shoes are called mbt shoes and Fit Flops. Both are relatively new brands of walking shoes that premiered and became popular in Europe and have since become increasingly popular in the United States. Featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Oprah, and 20/20, both these walking shoes are flying off the shelves. But why?
The reason there is a feeding frenzy for both these shoes is that they are both a walking shoe with the gym built in, so you can get an extra workout while you walk. Both the MBT Trainers and the Fit Flops are designed to give you a more efficient workout, allowing you to burn more calories, activate and work neglected muscles, improve muscle coordination, absorb more shock and reduce the danger of suffering from a joint strain.
Both walking shoes use different concepts in their design, but the concepts and goals of each is the same. They both help you burn more calories while walking, tone neglected muscles, decrease shock on the joints, and improves stamina. The biggest difference is price. MBT shoes range from $150 – $250 whereas the Fit Flops cost $50.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1167673

Starting a bodybuilding program can be a daunting experience. You visit your local gym only to see intimidating, big armed men and lean, muscular women training with a serious attitude. You look around and are dazed by the expansive array of equipment. How does it all work? Even the vocabulary seems like a foreign language: spotting, pyramid training, gastrocnemius, reps, periodization.
Whew! Would it help if I reminded you that even Arnold Schwarzenegger, perhaps the greatest bodybuilder of all time, had a first day in the gym? If fact, we all did!
Getting Started
Great – you’ve decided to try bodybuilding. Perhaps you want to build mass, tighten up your midsection or slim down; those are all possible with strength training. Whatever your reason (and you should definitely write down your goals for starting and your realistic expectations of what you hope to achieve in the short and long term) you should follow a clearly defined program.
Don’t expect us to provide you with any so-called success; let’s state for the record right now that some training methods are smarter and better than others, but nothing resembles a secret. The role here is to teach and review muscle programs so that you can take your training to the next level and design a personal routine that meets your needs.
Is there one program that’s right for everyone? No. Did you really expect that one routine would serve the needs of the female college basketball player who wants to make a more dominating presence on the court, the 45 year old businessman looking to firm his body and improve his health, and the young man interested in competitive bodybuilding? Every person who trains has different motivations, desires and genetic potential, and each must make his or her own adjustments in putting together a particular program. It’s really not so difficult. But before you get started, here are some points you’ll want to consider.
1.Get a physician’s release if you are over 40 or have had any sort of previous injury or impairment.
2.Be realistic but positive. Assess your current condition and where you want to be in three months, one year and five years. Keep focused on your goals and know you’ll achieve them.
3.Commit yourself to three months before making any judgements about whether it’s working or not. The truth is, you’re probably a bit impatient, and sculpting your physique takes time. Changes take place incrementally, but three months is long enough to notice some significant changes in strength and size. Persistence and dedication are characteristics that all successful bodybuilders have in common. Do you?
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1183393

It is not sufficient to depend on exercises only to reduce fat. There is also the need of an efficient diet plan and the effectual combination of the two can only set up a weight loss plan. Well many of us are aware of this. However the question remains the same. How should you proceed? What steps should be taken from the initial moment?
To lose weight and keep it off, you should be aware of the different types of programs available and the important parts of a good program. Knowing this information should help you select or design a weight-loss program that will work for you. The three types of weight-loss programs include: do-it-yourself programs, non-clinical programs, and clinical programs.
Program the mind that it will be both dietary changes and an increase in activity for at least a few months before you may see real results. Make plans on how you’re going to prepare the foods, shopping for food, cooking times, exercise time, etc. Plan for the dietary change, remember its not a diet which we relentlessly follow it’s a consistent dietary change needed.
One of the best ways to lose weight is to exercise. Walking is an example of the best places to start your exercise. It takes no experience, no coaching, and tiny additional hardware – literally, all you have a requirement for is a couple of shoes (and perhaps some socks). Really, several weight reduction and fitness professionals endorse walking as just a basic exercise program, not simply a weight reduction exercise program. When you walk, you raise your heart rate, which burns calories, and builds muscle strength and elasticity.
It’s possible to lose weight without exercising, but all the best weight loss plans will encourage you to do at least some. I know you’ve got a lot of things on your plate… a job, family,plus the need to relax of course… but the more activity you can bring into your lifestyle, the better off you are. the gym’s great, but not everyone can make time for it. If you like watching sports, why not take the kids out and play a few rounds instead of sitting in front of the tv? Maybe take the family out on some hikes. Heck, even walking an extra 20 minutes a days can make a big difference, why not start looking for places where you can include an extra few minutes here and there?
The first step is to start taking your lunch to work. Pack fruits or other healthy snacks to eat in between meals. This will not only save you calories but it will also save you money. It is important to eat about six small meals a day when you are trying to lose weight. Eating these small meals will ramp up your metabolism and help you burn more calories.
Another important factor to make your weight loss successful it to drink plenty of water. Try having a glass before you eat a meal and you will eat less. The water will make you feel full before you start to eat. Water will also help your body work more efficiently.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1210374

There seem to be a lot of buzz in the fitness industry about online fitness training. This buzz may be a result of the fact that there are online fitness companies and websites springing up all over the place. Obviously Fitness entrepreneurs’ expectation and belief is that if an online fitness company can really effectively deliver quality workout routines and hence results to their members, they will do very well due to the fact that they will offer the customer the utmost convenience with respect to fitness at the lowest price possible. These companies have the potential to reach and service millions of people virtually all over the world; people who can’t afford a fitness trainer, expensive gym memberships or people who like to exercise in private or who do not want to be exposed to the various germs pervading many of the public fitness facilities.
However, despite the fact that online fitness training companies offer fitness services that are significantly lower and convenient than traditional gyms, it is a must that these virtual fitness providers deliver good workout routines with easy to follow instructions. Accordingly, they must be interactive, provide above average customer support and they must help their members set goals and monitor their progress or at the very minimum provide the tools that will allow their members to do so. It will also be very important for these companies to design workout routines that the mass majority can do with as little equipment as possible.
Many potential members will be very skeptical about this new fitness phenomenon. Therefore, it would be prudent for companies offering fitness online to allow their prospects the ability to try their service for a week or so before becoming paying members.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1221294

The most effective way to gain mucle mass is to design a well thoughout muscle building workout.
Planning is the key to succeeding in anything including building muscle.
Before you start your exercise you need to warm up and when you are finished your muscle exercises you need to cool down. Without proper warm up and cool down, you are leaving yourself and your muscles prone to damage and diminished results.
Doing some low-level cardio exercise followed by light weightlifting would constitute a good warmup. Just walking into the gym and starting to lift heavy weights is bound to lead to serious injury. If you injure your muscles you will be unable to continue with your workouts in the gym thus losing out on that muscle gain.
The workout element of a muscle workout is where the muscle gain starts to happen.You need a very good plan here as well. When you going to the gym you should know exactly what exercises you’re going to do and the number of sets and repetitions as well.Turning up willy-nilly and just doing various exercises without any real plan means you will get diminished results.
Your workouts will be so much better when you have a plan to follow. It also means you have a way of tracking your progress.
We all know that muscle is built by stressing the muscle fibers and that the healing process is what adds to our muscle mass.Therefore keeping detailed record of our exercises is imperative.
The previous week we were to 2 sets of five reps with 20 kg.To continue our muscle gain we need to increase the intensity of exercises either through heavier weights or more repetitions.It is recommended to maintain low reps but in this case we would increase the reps to seven.
Knowing what you achieved in the previous week will allow you to plan what you will do this week.Is it at least clearer what the significance is of planning your muscle building workout.
Exercising one muscle group per week is good practice.Don’t try exercise the entire body in one day as this will defeat your efforts to gain muscle.
Combine legs together with abs for your first gym day in the week and you then combine shoulders, triceps and chest for your second gym day in the week.On day three in the gym you do back, biceps and forearms. Make sure that you have at least one days rest between days in the gym.
To complete your workout plan you need to decide what exercises you want to do for the particular muscle group.for example for back exercises you could deadlifts, overhand chin-ups, bent over dumbell rows.
As a general guideline plan to no more than 5-7 sets in total for large muscle groups such as the legs and no more than 2-4 sets for smaller muscle groups such as biceps.
As regards reps plan to do 5-7 reps for large muscle groups and 10-12 reps for small muscle groups Once you can pick up the weight for 7 reps for 2 sets for example then its time to increase the weight.
So have fun planning your muscle building workout.
Remember planning will bear results.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1229001

Most fitness goals include weight loss, or the reduction of fat content, in one way or another. Whether we want to lose a couple pounds, change a clothing size, or gain muscle mass, loss and control of our fat content is usually part of the plan.
Just as it is necessary to know what steps to take to meet your individual fitness goals, it is just as important to know what not to do. Avoid the following top ten mistakes that are sure to ruin your fitness efforts:
1. Fail to Plan. It’s been said over and over: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Working out without a pre-determined workout regime is similar to going on a trip without directions; most likely you’ll end up getting lost. Don’t make this common mistake. Enlist the aid of a qualified personal trainer to design a proper resistance training and aerobic program. Purchase one of the many guides to fitness programming and educate yourself on the basics.
2. Compare yourself to others. Go into any gym and you’re sure to see grunting exercisers muscling their way through workouts. Meanwhile, the group fitness studio is filled with twirling, panting, leaping students who look more like they’re auditioning for a music video than participating in an aerobics class. Don’t even think about trying to emulate them. At the very least you’ll get discouraged that you can’t keep up; at the worst you’ll get hurt.
Keep your expectations realistic. A beginning expecting to bench 300 pounds in the first month is doomed to failure. Better to increase strength incrementally over time. Likewise, presuming that you’ll lose 100 pounds of bodyfat on a new diet in three months will never happen. Set realistic goals that will keep you motivated and concentrate on yourself, not others, throughout the process.
3. Too little exercise. Contrary to what popular exercise programs would have us believe, it is simply not enough to put in three or four exercise sessions per week and expect major results. Weight loss and body composition changes are results of cumulative lifestyle choices, not just exercise in the gym. There are 168 hours in a week; expecting to lose weight by just spending 1% of our available time being active is ridiculous.
This doesn’t mean you need to spend your entire day chained to a barbell, but make sure that you are active in some fashion every day. In addition to workouts, increase lower level activity by walking or bike riding to work, choose the parking space furthest away from the grocery store’s door, or get out and play with your kids. The point is to be active and keep the body in motion on a regular basis.
4. Too much exercise. On the other hand, don’t become obsessed with exercise that it begins to rule your life. Over-training is as detrimental to achieving fitness goals as doing nothing at all.
Common signs of over-training include overuse injuries, insomnia, fatigue, prolonged recovery from workouts, and general disinterest in exercise. Rest and recovery are vital for achieving gains and preventing burnout.
5. Never change your workout routine. Nothing is as boring as the same routine over and over again. Not only will you get bored, your muscles will adapt and quit responding. Change your exercises, the order you do them, the number of sets and reps, and vary the weights. Variety is necessary or progress will stop. Make every workout different in some way.
6. Starving to lose weight. The usual American diet consists of a quick (usually missed) breakfast, lunch on the run and then a huge feast for dinner. Unfortunately, this is the worst eating plan for weight loss because it slows down the metabolism. When the body is not fed consistently, it flips into starvation mode developed through evolution and hangs onto fat content for survival.
Research supports that the production of thyroid hormones can be negatively affected by repeated bouts of dieting and calorie restriction. Five or six smaller meals spaced evenly from 2.5 to 3 hours make it easier for the body to digest throughout the day and increase metabolism over the long term. It may sound counterintuitive, but in order to burn fat you need to eat. Instead of reducing the amount of meals, care should be taken in controlling portion sizes.
7. Underestimating alcohol consumption. Just as portion sizes need to be controlled, alcohol consumption must be limited, if not eliminated. Not only does alcohol have calories; it is actually metabolized more like fat than carbohydrates. Unlike fat or carbohydrates, alcohol has no nutritional value whatsoever. Drinking a glass of wine or having that martini may feel good but adds no benefit whatsoever to weight loss and muscle growth. The empty calories of those “liquid lunches” just add up too quick.
8. Relying on fast food. In the New York Times Bestseller Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Eric Schlosser gives a convincing interpretation of how the rise of the multi-billion dollar fast food industry correlates with what we now see to be epidemic obesity in the U.S. Instead of spending time planning and preparing meals, it is far easier to grab the burger/fry/shake combo or a deluxe pizza on the way home from work.
The problem with regularly eating out is that despite how careful we may think we are, we truly don’t know the makeup of most of the food that is being served to us. Even with fast food stores attempting to offer “healthier” choices, preparation of mass-produced meals relies on use of less than optimum ingredients and typically laden in fat. The only way we can be sure of knowing what we are consuming is to prepare food ourselves. Consuming less processed food is not always the easiest thing to do if we’re used to it, but it is a major lifestyle choice that needs to be changed. Besides, is it just a coincidence that we call it “junk food”?
9. Avoiding of weight training. An important concern for weight loss is increasing the body’s metabolism so caloric expenditure is increased throughout the day. As stated above, one way to do this is to make sure that the appropriate number of meals is consumed. Another way is to increase the percentage of muscle mass. The more muscle we carry on our frames, the higher the caloric expenditure required. Weight training is necessary to increase muscle mass.
A common belief among beginning fitness enthusiasts is the need for hours and hours of high intensity aerobic exercise for fat loss. The reality is just the opposite. Aerobic exercise certainly helps to burn fat, but does relatively little to increase overall metabolic rate in comparison with muscular gain due to a consistent resistance training program. A concern for increasing muscle mass is imperative for successful loss of fat content.
10. Looking for the “easy way out.” Whether it’s winning the lottery or having the perfect body, we all want something for nothing. One look at late-night infomercials and you can see all the bogus advertisements that promise weight loss by either popping a pill, drinking a shake, or buying some revolutionary new piece of equipment. Even factions of the medical community have jumped on the bandwagon in recent years, promising the body of our dreams through a variety of surgical procedures.
The main concept of weight loss, calories in vs. calories out, is simple but far from easy. Only with dedication, work, and healthy lifestyle changes are results going to happen. And FORGET the quick fixes. They don’t exist. Cher said it best in a fitness commercial back in the 80’s: “If it came in a bottle, we’d all have a beautiful body.”
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=16414

Analysis of the “Curves” Fitness Program
By Kyle Battis CSCS, L/ATC, NSCA-CPT Professional Fitness Coaching
Many people have asked me what my thoughts were on the Curves fitness program. After researching the program, interviewing current and past members, and speaking with other fitness professionals around the country I have compiled the following analysis.
WHAT IS “CURVES”?
Curves is a franchised exercise program designed exclusively for women. The Curves program has spread across the nation like wildfire due to claims such as: “No experience necessary, only 30 minutes for a full-body workout, no class times, no appointments to keep, you can’t be late for your workout because the circuit is always on!” In fact, the Curves franchise is listed by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top franchises to own. The question is why has it grown so popular?
The answer can be found in the target audience of the Curves program. Curves caters to a very large group of women seeking positive physical change in a supportive environment. Most commercial gyms and fitness centers do not come close to offering a friendly and supportive environment for beginning exercisers be it female or male. You have to give credit where credit is due. The originator of this franchise recognized that there was a huge market for a gym such as Curves and surely has tapped into a goldmine.
GREAT CONCEPT, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ACTUAL PROGRAM?
Curves is definitely great from a marketing and business perspective but what about the actual exercise program that is followed? One of the Curves members that I interviewed offered the following synopsis:
They have about 10 different units. Leg extensions/leg curls, squats, leg press, glut press, biceps curls/triceps extensions, lat pull downs/overhead press, chest press/seated row, a dip/shrug machine, and a seated abdominal machine. They repeat some of the machines and you go around the circuit 1 and 1/2 times. In between each machine there is 3′ x 3′ platform that you perform some continuous exercise such as running in place or stationary jumping. The goal is to stay in the fat burning target heart rate zone for 30 minutes.
Curves is a 30-minute exercise circuit comprised of hydraulic resistance machines and bodyweight exercises. The nature of the hydraulic machines used in the Curves program forces the user to perform concentric (muscle shortening) contractions of the opposing muscle groups. No eccentric (muscle lengthening) muscle action occurs when using these machines so very little muscle soreness is developed. The problem with the lack of the eccentric muscle actions is that it does not put a lot of stress on the muscle and a muscle not stressed is a muscle that will not change.
In fact, as Strength Coach Christian Thibeadeau points out in his book Theory and Application of Modern Strength and Power Methods,
It was found that omitting eccentric stress in training program severely compromised the potential strength gains (Dudley et al. 1991).  Curves members are encouraged to check their heart rates every 8 minutes to ensure that they are in their target heart rate zones. In summary, the Curves routine is a circuit-training program that focuses on muscular endurance and aerobic exercise.
A GOOD START BUT………..
It is important to point out that every exercise program has benefits and inherent weaknesses. I commend the originator of the Curves program for the benefit that it introduces women who would not otherwise be exercising to a regular exercise routine. There are, however, many limitations to the exercise routine utilized by Curves.
Some of those limitations are lack of an individualized exercise routine (cookie-cutter approach), absence of a comprehensive fitness assessment, reliance on limited-value hydraulic exercise equipment, lack of progressive overload (for both resistance training routine and cardiovascular conditioning), lack of exercise variety which can lead to overuse injuries, lack of program design that is based on current research to deliver optimal results, lack of instruction on how exercisers should progress after reaching a plateau with the program, and finally a lack of qualified supervision by an exercise specialist which poses many problems in itself. The lack of qualified supervision can lead to problems such as not knowing when to refer out to the appropriate medical professional if problems arise, recognizing when an individual is over-training, or modifying an exercise routine to suit the individual’s current needs and training level.
Simply put, the Curves fitness program utilizes outdated exercise programming that predisposes the exerciser to an abundance of overuse injuries (bursitis, tendonitis, medial and lateral epicondylitis, etc.) and does not deliver optimal results in the safest manner possible. I work full-time at a Physical Therapy clinic and we have seen countless cases of women developing overuse injuries from the Curves program. It should be a big red flag but some people just are not making the connection that the nature of the program is what causes the problems. I hate to say it and I hope that you are not offended, but the Curves program is fairly limited.
Any competent fitness professional could design an individualized exercise program combining progressive resistance training, anaerobic intervals (when appropriate), aerobic exercise (for recovery purposes), flexibility training, and restoration/recovery methods that would deliver results that are far superior to the results delivered by following the Curves fitness program. An individualized exercise program that suits your specific exercise and health history, caters to your specific fitness goals (athletic or aesthetic), focuses on metabolism-boosting resistance training methods, and focuses on progressively overloading the system in an intelligent manner with a variety of different loading parameters and exercises will far surpass any “one-size fits all” exercise program as found in all Curves centers.
Any current Curves members would be wise to pay attention to nagging pains that are developing (any joint pain or soft-tissue pain that does not diminish in 48 hours). They should also pay attention to any plateaus that are reached in their weight loss or fitness results.
The human body is an amazing adapting machine and eventually the body will adapt to the stresses (exercise is a stress after all) that you are asking it to perform. If your body has adapted to a specific exercise routine and you continue to subject your body to that routine, you not only run the risk of developing overuse injuries but your fat-loss results will come to a screeching halt and you will see no further improvements by following that same program. Here-in lies the major weakness of the Curves program, it does not change!
There is a concept in exercise physiology known as Progressive Overload. Basically, it means that over time, you have to gradually and intelligently lift more weight, perform more repetitions, or change something about your workouts in a progressive manner in order to see results. Once your body has adapted to a given form of stress, it basically says, “Yeah. We have done this before quite a bit. This stress is nothing new and we don’t have to do anything differently and we don’t have to change.”
If you want to see your body change (i.e. lose fat, get lean) then you must expose your body to varying and progressive stress. I can’t stress this concept enough and any program that does not obey this law is doomed to fail! It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Understand that Curves is a great program for an absolute beginner but it is a vehicle that can only bring you so far!
WHAT DO I DO IF I AM A CURRENT CURVES MEMBER?
Curves has tapped into a huge market of women exercisers that find comfort in being surrounded by other people that are in the same situation as they are. In that regard, Curves is important because it gets more people active and involved with a structured exercise routine. The program that is followed is hardly ideal and is deficient in many aspects. I doubt that the franchise will alter the parameters of the exercise routine any time soon so the current Curves member might take some of the following advice into consideration.
1.Watch out for overuse injuries that might develop and seek the appropriate medical assistance if problems do arise.
2.Pay attention to your body and keep tabs upon your progress. It is always a good idea to check your body fat percentage, body weight, strength levels, girth measurements, energy levels, and track your progress. When your body has adapted to the routine provided by Curves, recognize when it is time to move on. Remember that it is a vehicle that will only take you so fat. Once you have adapted to the program you will simply be spinning your wheels!
3.It has been said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Curves is simply a gateway program. After its full value has been maximized, a member would be wise to seek the advice of a qualified fitness professional to determine an individualized plan of action that would lead to further results.
4.If this plan of action does not sound appealing, then the budding exerciser should begin a journey into the science and practice of shaping their body with the tools of progressive resistance training, cardiovascular exercise, and supportive nutritional practices. The resources are out there such as e-mail list serves like “Supertraining,” fitness books, fellow gym members (although not always the most accurate of sources), and fitness magazines.
5.The key is to find progress and escape the restrictions of the simplistic circuit training routine found in Curves. It can be an enjoyable process if approached in the appropriate manner. Have fun, keep progressing, and enjoy the adventure to discovering your best body!
I would be happy to assist you in any way that I can! Sincerely,
Kyle Battis CSCS, L/ATC, NSCA-CPT Professional Fitness Coaching http://www.profitnesscoaching.com http://www.fatlosskeys.com Concord, NH 03301 (603)-867-4934
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=29287

Just like routines, this document is not intended to be a “one size fits all.” Take from it what you will, but please remember that what is most important is your health and well being. In that light, consider the following list:
1. Before beginning any serious weight lifting or body building regimen, consult your physician.
2. Set your goals. Define what you expect to achieve with your new bodybuilding campaign within a realistic time frame. If you create goals that are unattainable you are setting yourself up for failure. You can become bored, disappointed and disillusioned to the point where you may give up. This is a very sad outcome to what might have been the best decision of your life. Don’t sell yourself short. Set your long term goals, of course, but also set short term goals that are achievable. And, don’t forget to reward yourself when you do achieve them.
3. Consider the costs. If you don’t already have a budget, create one. Then, determine what amount of discretionary funds you have available for your bodybuilding program. This will determine whether you can afford to have a home gym or if your needs would better be served by joining a club. Joining a club is still a good short term introduction before spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on equipment that might not be appropriate for your needs.
4. Don’t forget some of the low cost alternatives to purchasing your bodybuilding equipment. If used equipment is still functional why spend the extra dollars just for a little glitz! Good, brand name used equipment is every bit as functional as something right off a showroom floor.
5. Consider combining a home gym along with a membership in a public facility. Purchase less expensive free weight equipment for use at home and join a gym to have access to the more expensive equipment. You can design your entire workout routines around a combination such as this.
6. Eat healthy! This can’t be stressed enough. The only true bodybuilding aids are good nutrition. Consult a licensed dietician. Watch your local community calendar for free seminars on diet and nutrition. Learn all you can about what nature freely provides that can help you to develop a healthy diet.
7. If you choose to use dietary supplements, make certain that you know what you are putting in your body. Follow the packaging guidelines we outlined above. Ask your physician for his/her recommendations based on the regimen you have selected. No friend, coach or acquaintance can take the place of your physician. In fact, you may even investigate finding a physician who specializes in sports wellness.
8. Be kind to yourself. Yes, it’s important to push to achieve your goals, but it’s very easy to tip the scales in the other direction and create a nightmare for yourself. Obsessive, compulsive behaviors are not conducive to a healthy bodybuilding lifestyle.
I wish you a healthy and happy journey on your road to weightlifting and bodybuilding. Put the suggestions and recommendations to work and you are well on the way to building the body you can be proud of!
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=41594

Be prepared to be less effective and waste your own time, if your weight loss programme does not contain these quick lose fat tricks.
1. Must have a Change in Lifestyle
Every effective weight loss programme will help clients change their lifestyle. This is absolutely critical to the long term success of the programme. Unfortunately, it is now fashionable to pop slimming pills or go for cellulite treatments to lose weight.
The results from such programmes will never be permanent because the person’s lifestyle would effortlessly put back all the weight. The very moment that these artificial programmes are halted, weight will come rushing back.
When a person changes his/ her lifestyle, the unhealthy food and weight gaining activities will be eliminated from their daily lives. Hence, an effective weight loss system MUST have an in-built mechanism that helps clients refine their lifestyle.
2. Must include a Water Drinking plan BEFORE Meals
Drinking at least a glass of water half an hour before meals is critical to weigh loss and maintenance of a healthy body. The water replenishes the fluids that will be used to make bicarbonate solution on the mucus membrane of our stomach lining. This protects the stomach from being burnt by its own acid fluid.
Similarly, a well hydrated body reduces the urge to drink unhealthy drinks which introduce more toxins to your body. Furthermore, the body does not need to excessively retain water, thus making the body fatter than necessary.
Lastly, a majority of people are chronically dehydrated though they seem to be leading normal lives. It is a common sight to see my clients reduce the amount they eat after they begin the water routine. Many people have lost the ability to differentiate between food hunger and water hunger. A systematic water plan will help them regain this lost touch.
3. Must include a systematic plan for reduction of sweetened and diuretic beverages.
Sweetened drinks are beverages like soda, cola, diet cola, tea, coffee and beer. The three major groups of substances that would impede and slow down your weight loss are caffeine, sugar and sugar substitutes.
Caffeine – This is a diuretic substance that drains your body of water. It is roughly estimated that you lose 33% more fluid from your body then the amount you drank. If you drink one cup of coffee, you would lose all the fluid from the coffee plus an extra 1/3 a cup. This makes you body desperate to retain whatever water it can. In the long run, your body’s instinctive reaction is to retain water, hence giving out the round water-filled appearance. Diuretic drinks are coffee, tea, most colas, most sodas and beer (though it technically has no caffeine, it is a diuretic).
Sugar – Besides the numerous health damaging effects of sugar on your body, it also adds useless calories to your diet. When sugar enters the body it is broken down into glucose and the calorie that is created is termed “empty calorie”. It has absolutely no vitamins or minerals, hence it does not do any good to your body besides adding calories.
Sugar substitutes – Sugar substitutes like Aspartame (sold as nutrasweet) and Splenda cause you to overeat sugars (including carbohydrates) because receptors in the tongue have been trained, through the years, to expect “sugar” when it tastes “sugar”. Products like nutrasweet always tout that you get the taste of 8 (figurative number) spoonfuls of sugar but only half the spoonful of calories. In theory this sounds great, however, our receptors in the tongue will stop glucose production in the body and expect to be able to take it from the incoming food. So now it is expecting 8 times worth of sugar calories! But the sugar only provides 1/16th of that. The body now hungers for more food since it has shut down glucose production. All “diet” drinks that claim to be sugar free and sweets that are sugar free contain either nutrasweet or splenda, you can confirm it on the labels.
4. A Muscle growth programme
You need a proper muscle growth plan if you ever want to stop spiralling back to your heavy weight. Programmes that are based on pills and nutrition tend to neglect or gloss over the muscle building plan. This is very dangerous because your muscle acts as a buffer for excess calories and helps maintain your weight and figure. Furthermore, there is no such thing as eating to build muscles as popularly believed. Muscles can only be built in the good old fashioned way – make it do work.
5. A programme that focuses on the growth of the aerobic Type 1 muscle fibres.
On the other extreme there are programmes that are excessively focused on going to the gym. That would mean they ask you to go twice or three times a week to the gym for weights. This is a waste of your time and probably they are building up Type II (a/b) muscles instead of Type 1 muscles fibres. This difference is important because Type II muscles are big and showy, but they require a lot of maintenance and have poor fat burning abilities. Type 1 muscle fibres hardly bulge but contain the highest amount of mitochondria, an essential enzyme in fat burning.
6. You must want to lose weight.
Most people assume that being involved in an activity means that they actually want to do it. Many people busy themselves finding the greatest miracle weight loss cure or trying out every fad but never really achieving anything. Subconsciously, they do not want to lose weight, but the appearance of busy effort allows them to gain affection or acceptance by loved ones, peers and their own inner selves!
7. A Nutrition plan that reflects personal individuality.
When we buy clothes, especially expensive ones, we always insist on having it tailored to our size. Sometimes, the sleeve may be too long but the chest perfect fit. That is why stores have many different labels to suit different body size and shapes. Similarly, the food we eat should also be tailored to our body, not just in terms of size (calories) but also in terms of design. Nutrition programmes need to first assess and categorise our body type or blood type or metabolic type (not limited to these categories), before any recommendations can be made.
8. The plan should never come with food restriction.
Yes the unbelievable! Most of my clients are shocked when I advise this to them. It is an accepted fact that all diets mean that you have to give up on your favourite foods. This is totally untrue and will in fact destroy the sustainability of the programme. We are creatures of greed; we always want what we cannot have. That is hardwired into us. Hence, the command not to eat a particular food will conversely create a greater demand for it. The correct technique should be learning to manage the urge, rather than suppressing it.
9. It must have a component that includes aerobic walking or jogging.
Ultimately, our body thrives to walk, jog and run, that is our basic function as human beings. For many overweight people, this function has been dormant and numbed for too long. Aerobic walking or jogging is essential to any weight loss programme because it gradually helps your body to adjust to the change in weight load as you slim down. Swimming or carrying weights in an aerobic fashion is not a substitute because the whole body is not engaged in the activity.
10. The programme MUST be sustainable relative to your daily workload and commitments.
You cannot and should not embark on a quad weekly (4 times a week) get slim course if you already have to juggle two jobs and a family. Firstly, it is absolutely impossible for you to sustain the hectic schedule in the long run. Secondly, it would create a phobia within you, framing your mindset that weight loss is a strenuous and painful event. A healthy lifestyle is a fun activity that should preferably involve your family and loved ones, the last thing you would ever want to do is to sign up for a programme that is too daunting to complete.
Some Useful Resources
The Benefits of Water (One of the best resources around) – http://www.watercure.com
A Fantastic Muscle Building Programme – http://www.precisiontraining.com
A Bloody Type Diet System – http://www.dadamo.com
A Metabolic Type Diet System – http://www.turnuptheheat.com
A Health & Weight Loss System that contains all 10 of these core points plus more – http://phenogy.com
* All links are provided as is. We do not gain from commissions nor will we be held legally responsible. It is just us sharing with you some great gems.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The author, Winston Ng, is an avid peak performance coach and CEO of Phenogy Health Advisors Pte Ltd, based in Singapore. His Health Consultancy programmes are renowned worldwide for their efficiency, simplicity a
They want you to experience their service before spending a single dime! Receive FREE Health Coaching and find out more about their E-Manuals and Consultancy Services! http://phenogy.com.
Winston Ng and his Coaches are contactable at enquiries@phenogy.com.
Original Article archived at http://www.phenogy.com/articles/10essentials.htm = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Reproduction of this article
You are free to reproduce this article on condition that it is reproduced in its entirety and with all the hyperlinks intact. The article is not allowed to be sent out as spam, unsolicited mail or in print format. Phenogy Health Advisors Pte. Ltd. reserves the right to ask any person to remove the article from their site or email in the event of abuse.
You MAY remove this guideline box during reproduction, however, you MAY NOT remove the author resource box above, unless you are an article distribution source. In that event, everything has to be in.
Magazines with circulation of above 100,000 that would like to use this article with a streamlined resource box, please contact us directly at enquiries@phenogy.com, attn: magazine.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=48076