Have you been working out on a regular basis, yet you haven’t been able to lose any weight?  If so, chances are pretty good that you are making one of these three common mistakes: (more…)

Are you trying to figure out what type of treadmill you should purchase?  While there are many things you should take into consideration when purchasing a treadmill, such as the number of workout programs the treadmill has to offer, the price and the accessories that are included in the machine, you also need to consider your height and weight when selecting a treadmill.  This way, you can be certain to select a treadmill to meet your physical needs. (more…)

Do you need a little help with planning the perfect workout routine to fit your needs?  Or, perhaps you need someone to help keep you motivated to complete your workout on a regular basis.  Whatever your reasoning, you might want to consider hiring a personal trainer to help you with the workout process.  But, before you hire someone to give you assistance with your exercise plans, be certain to know what type of trainer you should hire.

Make Sure He Knows His Stuff

You obviously don’t want to hire a personal trainer who is not current in the latest research in the fitness industry.  In addition, you don’t want to hire someone who is stuck in old fashioned ways of thinking.  One telltale sign that you shouldn’t work with a trainer is if you are a woman and the trainer tells you not to include weight lifting in your routine.  The reality is that weight lifting is necessary for both men and women to stay healthy and in shape.

Don’t Follow a Dangerous Plan

While a personal trainer should help push you to your fullest abilities, he or she should never advise you to do something that is dangerous for your health.  For example, you should never cut your calorie intake to dangerous levels.  Cutting back may be a good idea, but make certain you are still following a healthy and nutritious diet.  Similarly, don’t work with someone who tries to push you too hard.  If you are in pain after you have completed your training session, your trainer is likely making you overdo it – which means you may be doing more harm than good to your body.

Make Her Do Her Job

If you are hiring a personal trainer, she should be prepared to do more than stand behind you and yell while you are lifting weights.  Your trainer should develop a program that is personalized to your body, your lifestyle and your goals.  As such, she should also be tracking your progress from the beginning to end.  Not only does this help you see how far you have come, the information should also be used to help tweak your program to get the best results.

To make certain you get a qualified trainer who is worth the expense, make certain to check into his or her certifications and references.  This way, you will be certain to get a great experience – and workout – when you work with your trainer.

When it comes to achieving a higher level of fitness and shedding excess weight, it is important that you take steps to maintain your muscle mass throughout the process.  Maintaining your muscle mass is important for a number of reasons.  Yet, many people who are trying to lose weight choose to follow fad diets that result in a loss of muscle mass.  Or, they engage in an excessive amount of exercise that may actually do more harm than good.  Therefore, when planning your diet and exercise program, be certain to create a plan that will allow your muscle mass to stay properly in place.

Why Your Muscle Mass is Important

Maintaining your muscle mass is important for a number of reasons.  If you are trying to lose weight, for example, you will need your muscle to help you burn calories because muscle burns a greater number of calories than fat.  This is partially because muscle mass helps to increase your body’s metabolism.

In addition to helping boost your metabolism and burn fat, muscle mass is also important because it helps to improve your overall stability, balance and physical performance.  It also helps you reduce your chances of becoming injured and helps you look and feel better. 

Maintaining the Proper Muscle Mass

In order to maintain your muscle mass, you should limit your cardio workouts to three times per week, as burning too many calories will force your body to look to your muscles to obtain energy that has been stored in your body.  To that end, you should also avoid performing cardio and strength training on the same day, though you should engage in strength training at least two times per week.  This way, you will be continually working your muscles and, even if you are not trying to bulk up, you will be able to maintain your muscle mass and keep your body healthy and strong.

Are you looking for a way to give yourself an extra boost of energy before engaging in your workout?  If so, you may be considering drinking a sports drink or eating an energy bar beforehand.  While these foods and drinks may provide you with a small and temporary boost of energy, they may actually be providing you with extra calories that stand in the way of your losing weight. 

If you are interested in using sports drinks or bars to help you with your workout, you need to be certain your routine warrants the extra calories.  For example, if you are engaging in endurance training that you will be taking place over a long period of time, using sports drinks and bars may be a good idea.  If you are engaging in the typical workout, however, you will basically be working out just so you can burn those calories back off again!

In addition to providing you with an excessive amount of calories, sports drinks and sports bars also typically have a significant amount of sugar.  In fact, the sugar is often what makes you feel as if you have more energy, but this extra boost will fade away within a short time and will be replaced by a lack of energy.  Furthermore, you obviously don’t want to add more sugar to your diet when you are trying to lose weight. 

If you want to give yourself an extra boost of energy before your workout, try eating some healthy, low calorie foods instead.  These foods will provide you with extra energy that will be longer-lasting and that will not fill your body with empty calories. 

If you are a woman, you may be a bit disheartened to learn that women naturally have more fat cells in their body than their male counterparts.  Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean you are destined to be overweight, nor does it mean that you will not be able to shed the extra pounds that you may have put on.  In order to successfully take off those extra pounds, however, it is helpful to understand how more about fat cells as well as how fat cells are burned.

The Fat Cell

Did you know that the average person has anywhere between 25 to 30 billion fat cells in his or her body.  A person who is severely obese, on the other hand can have 300 billion fat cells in his or her body.  As the name suggests, these cells store fat in your body.  The size of these cells, however, depends upon how slim or obese a person is, as they shrink or grow according to the amount of fat that is being stored.

Burning Away Fat

In order to lose weight, you do not actually burn the fat away from within the cell.  Rather, the fat needs to be released from the cells so it can move into the bloodstream.  Here, tissues are able to use the fat as energy.  It is important to not that the actual fat cells do not simply “go away.”  Rather, they shrink after the fat has been released from them.  When the fat cells shrink, the layer of fat that is covering your muscles is also reduced and your body starts to gain more definition. 

In order to help reduce the size of your fat cells, you need to burn calories while also consuming less calories.  This way, your body will utilize the fat it has reserved in its fat cells in order to provide you with energy.  By releasing the fat from the fat cells and using it for energy, the size of your fat cells is reduced.  Of course, there is a difference between reducing your calorie consumption and starvation, so make certain to follow a healthy diet plan that provides you with the nutrients you need without providing you with extra calories.

Are you trying to shed a few extra pounds with the help of your elliptical trainer?  If so, you will be pleased to know that an elliptical trainer provides one of the most effective and efficient methods for losing weight.  In addition, because it is low-impact, it is also one of the safest ways for you to exercise and to burn off some extra calories.  In order to get the most out of your elliptical trainer, however, it is important for you to gain a better understanding of how this machine can help you lose weight.  In order to accomplish this, you first need to understand the various features you will find on the monitor of your elliptical trainer and what that information means to you.

Burning Calories

Your elliptical trainer may provide you with feedback regarding the number of calories you have burned during your workout, but how is this value determined?  There are actually several different formulas that can be used to estimate the amount of calories burned during a workout, but the most common method is one that uses what is referred to as a metabolic equivalent. 

Your metabolic equivalent is a measurement of the amount of energy you burn while sleeping, which is approximately half a calorie per pound.  Therefore, if you weigh 120 pounds, you will burn approximately 60 calories per hour while sleeping.  When calculating the number of calories burned during a workout, an elliptical trainer will make its estimation based on your weight in comparison to the standardized metabolic equivalent for the type of activity you are engaged in. 

Losing Weight

Obviously, you will lose the most weight by burning the most calories possible.  In order to burn the greatest number of calories, you need to elevate your heart rate and reach what is referred to as your fat burning zone.  Otherwise, while your workout routine will still be good for your overall health, it won’t be effective at helping you shed excess pounds.  Therefore, it is important to engage in a high-intensity workout rather than a light to moderate program if you hope to lose weight with your elliptical trainer.

Are you having a difficult time fending off your cravings?  Resisting cravings can be one of the most difficult aspects of dieting or simply eating healthy.  Fortunately, there are a few tricks you can use to help you get past those cravings and stick with your diet plan. (more…)

Are you trying to build lean muscle mass or simply maintain the lean muscle mass you already have?  If so, you may think that you only need to lift weights on a regular basic in order to build up your muscles.  In reality, this is a common misconception.  In order to better understand how to build or maintain your lean muscle mass, it is important to understand more about how muscles work and how they grow. (more…)

When working out, it is important for you to be aware of your body and to be able to recognize when it is telling you there is a problem.  By knowing what is normal and what is not normal for your body, you will be better able to recognize a sports injury when it occurs. (more…)