Treadmill Fun

Walking is one of the best stress relieving exercises that anyone can do, regardless of fitness level. Treadmill Walking is one of the easiest ways for you to get in shape and burn fat. Treadmills can be used either at home or in a gym. They only require that you can walk to use them, as opposed to other Gym Equipment requiring more strength and perhaps special training how to use them.

There are many different types of treadmills, some featuring extended handles that move as you walk so they work your arms and shoulders, too. Most treadmills provide a comfortable surface on which users can either jog, walk, or run. The suspension must be directly under the walking deck in order to provide effective cushioning for the legs, feet and back. Having a treadmill with a long deck allows you to run or walk at full stride.

A treadmill workout, while similar to that of an elliptical, provides a different variety by allowing you to run, jog, or walk on an incline. Even though the feel of an elliptical is close to walking or running, it’s still not as good as actually running. In order to keep bones, muscles, and joints working in good order, most experts will agree that an average healthy person requires the bouncing and jarring usually connected with walking or running.

Walking or jogging on treadmills can be boring. But many people prefer that kind of a workout so they can concentrate on other things while exercising. Putting on a headset and listening to music or even educational material is an excellent way to multitask and accomplish more while getting fit. Also placement of the treadmill so you don’t face a blank wall helps make it more interesting. Walking slowly and then suddenly increasing the speed is one way to vary your workout and burn extra calories.

Over the years, the amount of walking people naturally do has decreased due in part to the convenience of the automobile. Treadmills offers a great alternative to walking outside as well as being much more versatile than outdoor walking by being able to choose your terrain and walking attributes. You can walk on a even surface at a leisurely pace, enjoy a brisk sprint, or race rapidly up a hill.

Besides being able to adjust the incline and having a smooth and even surface, walking or running indoors has the advantage of being available in all weather conditions (except maybe during a power outage unless you have a manual one). No need to worry about wet or icy roads or the neighbor’s dog. If your schedule is tight, having a treadmill at home can mean the difference between skipping your workout or being able to fit in a few minutes of activity for your body.

Exercise is important whether it is on a treadmill, a bicycle, elliptical or by running or walking in your neighborhood or on the jogging track. If walking, running, or jogging is your preferred exercise, getting a treadmill is a smart choice. Even if you prefer being outdoors, having a treadmill will motivate you even on days when the weather does not cooperate with your plans.

When it comes to the Big Three of exercise – cardiovascular, strength and flexibility training – it’s pretty clear which one can get overlooked. After all, while we prize cardiovascular and Strength Training for their role in helping us Lose Weight, build muscle and get fit, the benefits of flexibility training are less immediately alluring.

As the population ages, however, more of us are learning to appreciate the rewards of stretching. Staying limber can offset age-related stiffness, improve athletic performance, and optimize functional movement in daily life. Research shows that flexibility training can develop and maintain range of motion and may help prevent and treat injury. In fact, the American College of Sports Medicine has added flexibility training to its general exercise recommendations, advising that stretching exercises for the major muscle groups be performed two to three days per week.

How can you include an effective flexibility workout in your Fitness Program? Here are some guidelines:

Think in Terms of Serious Flexibility Training, Not Just Brief Stretching.

Squeezing in one or two quick stretches before or after a workout is better that nothing, but this approach will yield limited results. What’s more, generic stretches may not be effective for your particular body. The more time and attention you give to your flexibility training, the more benefits you’ll experience. A qualified personal trainer, physical therapist or health professional can design a functional flexibility program specifically for you.

Consider Your Activities.

Are you a golfer? Do you ski, run or play tennis? Do your daily home or work routines include bending, lifting or sitting for long periods? Functional flexibility improves the stability and mobility of the whole person in his or her specific environment. An individualized stretching program is best to improve both stability (the ability to maintain ideal body alignment during all activities) and mobility (the ability to use full, normal range of motion).

Pay Special Attention to Tight Areas.

Often the shoulder, chest, hamstrings and hips are particularly tight, but you may hold tension in other areas, depending on your history of injuries and the existing imbalances in your muscle groups. Unless you tailor your flexibility training to your strengths and weaknesses, you may stretch already overstretched muscles and miss areas that need training.

Listen to Your Body.

Stretching is an individual thing. Pay attention to your body’s signals and don’t push too far. Avoid bouncing or jerking movements to gain momentum; this approach can be dangerous.

Instead, slowly stretch your muscles to the end point of movement and hold the stretch for about 10 to 30 seconds. Older adults, pregnant women and people with injuries will need to take special precautions.

Get Creative.

Varying your flexibility training can help you stick with it. You can use towels, resistance balls and other accessories to add diversity and effectiveness to your stretching.

Warm Up First.

Don’t forget to warm up your muscles before you begin. Walking briskly for 10 to15 minutes is a simple way to do this.

Find a Flexibility Class That Works for You.

Classes that include stretching are becoming more popular and more diverse. Some combine cardiovascular and strength components with the flexibility training; others focus exclusively on stretching.

Stretch Your Mind and Body.

Did you know that your emotional state may affect your flexibility? If your body is relaxed, it will be more responsive to flexibility training. Listening to music and focusing on your breath can help you relax as you stretch. You may also want to explore yoga or Pilates. In addition to stretching, classes in these disciplines may include relaxation, visualization and other mind-body techniques designed to reduce stress and increase mindfulness.

It’s Not Just for Wimps.

Forget the idea that stretching is just for elderly, injured or unconditioned people. Many Olympic and professional athletes rely on flexibility training for peak performance.

Do It Consistently.

It doesn’t help to stretch for a few weeks and then forget about it. Integrate regular stretching into your permanent fitness program. For inspiration, look to cats and dogs – they’re dedicated practitioners of regular stretching and you rarely see them getting the kind of joint or muscular injuries that humans get!

Shoulder and Trapezius Stretch:
Stand upright with shoulders back, chest out, and feet hip-width apart.
Sign up for our newsletter hereClasp your hands behind your buttocks.
Slowly lift your hands up and away from your body until they have reached the furthest comfortable position.
Keep your chest out and your chin in without hunching over.
Once you feel a comfortable stretch in your chest and anterior shoulders, hold this position for at least 15-30 seconds.

Lying Quadriceps Stretch:
Lie face down on a mat.
Lift your right leg up towards your buttocks.
Reach around with your right hand and grasp your foot. Slowly pull downwards, stretching your quadriceps to the furthest comfortable position.
Hold this position for at least 15-30 seconds.

Shin Stretch:
Using a wall or chair as support, place your left foot behind your right foot, with the top of your left foot on the ground.
Extend the bottom of your left shin as far forward as possible. Slowly lower yourself by bending both legs.
Once you have stretched your anterior tibialis to the furthest comfortable position, hold for at least 15-30 seconds.
Switch legs and repeat.

Hip, Gluteus and Back Stretch:
Sit on the floor with both of your legs extended in front of you.
Bend your right leg over your left leg, keeping your right foot flat on the floor outside the left knee.
Place your left elbow on the outside of your right knee, and extend Sign up for our newsletter hereyour right arm behind you with your palm flat on the floor for support.
Slowly twist your Upper Body to the right while looking over your right shoulder.
Lightly apply pressure with your left elbow on the outside of your right knee as you twist. Be sure to keep your upper body straight.
Once you feel a comfortable stretch in your hips, buttocks, and Lower Back, hold this position for at least 15-30 seconds.
Switch sides and repeat.

Calf Stretch:
Put the sole of the top half of your right foot against the wall.
Slide your right heel as close towards the wall as possible.
Slowly lean forward towards the wall stretching your calves.
Once you have stretched your calf to the furthest comfortable position, hold for at least 15-30 seconds.
Switch legs and repeat.

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Christopher Guerriero, is the founder of the National Metabolic & Longevity Research Center and a best-selling author, speaker, and coach to millions. He is creator of the award-winning ‘Maximize Your Metabolism‘ system. To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for FREE how-to articles and FREE teleseminars, visit Maximize Your Metabolism

Is there really a difference between doing your workout in the morning compared to at night? If you asked people this question, the majority would be split down the middle 50-50 and then you would have some that just workout whenever the schedule permits.

Morning workouts

Working out in the morning has several key benefits one of the major ones is increased metabolism and Fat Loss. If you workout it in the morning prior to eating your body will be burning almost purely fat, as all the glycogen and carbohydrate stores have been used up during the fasting period of sleep. Another benefit of working out in the morning is it boosts your metabolism for the rest of the day. Thus you burn more calories throughout the day. The downside to working out in the morning is that stress hormone levels in the body are normally more elevated during the morning hours. On top of this elevation of stress hormones, working out also increases levels of cortisol and other stress hormone in the body. This increase in stress hormones can make it difficult to increase fitness levels as well as increased muscle mass as stress hormones like cortisol are known as catabolic hormones which break down muscle tissue.

Evening workouts

The major benefit of evening workouts is that you don’t have that major increase in stress hormones due to just waking up and being the early morning. Another benefit of evening workouts is it helps people forget the stresses of their job, or other daily stresses. The real downside of evening workouts is again it will increase your metabolism and in essence stimulate your mind so people may find it hard to go to sleep if done too close to bedtime.

Basically in the end, there is no real difference between workouts in the morning compared to workouts in the evening. It really comes down to the person’s preference as well as what they can fit into their schedule.

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Have you ever started a Weight Loss program, made great results at the beginning and then everything fell apart? You started a resistance training routine, you were eating right, doing your cardio and lost on average a pound or two a week You finally found the answer to succeeding at weight loss, or so you thought. Now a couple of months later, the scale refuses to budge. You were doing everything right. So what happened?

Well, this is another case of something very simple that can be corrected easily. Its something you may have never put into action though if you didn’t take the time to seek out answers from someone who knew a little bit more about weight loss and exercise then you do. Here is a big pat on the back for having a problem and doing some research to look for a solution.

Lets take this step by step so you understand exactly what might have happened. First, look back and see when and where you WERE getting results. It was at the beginning. This is because at that time, the weights and exercise were a challenge for you so your body had to change and adapt. These factors are what caused your body to Lose Weight. This is called S.A.I.D. to personal trainers. S.A.I.D. is and acronym for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. This basically means that when your body runs into a physical stress that it is not used to, it will change so that what you are doing will not be so hard to handle the next time you run into it.

Its normal for results to slow down or stop if you are not on a program that changes things up either in the actual routine or the stresses that it causes. Changes in your weight loss program bring back the intensity. Intensity is what causes further changes to your body.

Intensity in your weight loss program can be caused by using more weight, using the same weight but completing the routine faster, or using the same weight but making each repetition take longer to complete. These are just some examples.

Often when I train females, they believe that using heavier weights will make them get too muscular or that they will get bigger. This belief keeps them from taking the actual course of action that would bring them quickly to their goals. In actual fact, because of the hormonal differences between men and women, muscle gains do not come extremely fast for women. What happens is that they increase their metabolism, lose a lot of fat and tighten up the saggy parts, leaving them with a very toned body. If at any time the amount of Body Fat lost is too much, it is very easy to cut back on the weight or drop some fat burning cardio in order to soften up a little if that is what you are after.

This is a simple truth that has been show to work over and over again in countless numbers of my female clients where weight loss was the goal.

The intensity factor also applies to your cardio. You must increase how hard you work on that every couple of weeks also. Again, the intensity can be from doing the same distance in less time, doing more incline on the treadmill or simply changing the machine or activity that you like to do. Remember that in order to lose a pound of fat a week, you should shoot for burning off 3500 calories over a 7-day period. 3500 calories is how many calories are in a pound of fat. When you crunch the numbers most people are shocked to realize that they don’t burn around 500 calories a day in exercise. This little fact is one of the many that when changed can quickly get you back on the path to becoming one of those weight loss success stories you always read about.

I hope this helps you out and if you would like to use the program that I designed that takes care of all these factors for you, please visit Fat to Fit. You get exercise descriptions, your diet, Exercise Program and a ton more. It’s the complete package if you want to lose weight fast the healthy and correct way.