Friday, March 23, 2007

Bring Out The Best In Your Abs

Most people are in a constant struggle with their abs trying toexpose them to the world but always seem to fail. Below we willshare a few tips to help you win this battle.1. CARDIOLike it or not you can do all the weight training you want withyour abs, but this is not going to be enough. You need to upyour cardio levels so you start burning fat which in turn willlet your abs be more visible. So first tip is to do some cardiolike sprinting or guerrilla cardio which was discussed in theprevious blog post.2. DIETTheir is a famous saying Abs are made in the kitchen, not inthe gym. Without the proper diet you can kiss your chances ofgood abs good bye. You really do need to keep your carbs low atnight, protein high, and sodium low. The basics of a diet shoudlbe enough to drop the belly fat and expose the abs.3. Weighted AbsWould you do 4 sets of bench press at 50 reps each with justthe bar? not to many people would why should you do the samewith abs? Add some weight to your exercises to actually buildmore muscles around the abs. This is already assuming you areon the right diet and cardio levels, but doing abs with weightsis a great way to develop the actual abdominal muscles and makethem larger and more defined.4. WATERWhen you think you have drank enough, you havent even gottenstarted. The pros drink more then a gallon of water a day sotry and drink as much water as you possibly can. Make it partof your day, this flushes out fat and unwanted toxins from yourbody.5. FlexingWhen not in the gym, while driving your car, showering, orwhatever you do keep your abs tight and flexed. Dont ever letyour stomach hang. Always keep the abs tight and sucked in,this in itself will train your abs to become tighter and cangive visibly better results.6. Shower TimeWhen in the shower, get some soap and lather it up around yourabdominal and love handle sections. Now massage the soap intoyour abs and love handles vigorously up and down feeling thefat moving. What this does is break down the fat pockets andmakes them easier to burn. This is done best before a workout.Haven t you ever seen those ab creams and they say to rubthem vigorously around your abdominal area for a few minutes?guess what your actually doing, yea the same thing as with thesoap ;-)About The Author: Jared Izwar - http://Fat-burners.org/articles

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Alcohol And Exercise

On Friday afternoon after you leave work, you probably thinkabout going out and having a few drinks with friends to relaxand wind down. Even though you may think you deserve to go outand have a few drinks, there are some things that you shouldcertainly keep in mind. Like any other day, tomorrow is going to be a day for exercise,and since you are exercising on a regular basis, a few drinks ofalcohol won't really hurt anything, right? Before you decide torush out to the local bar, there are a few things below thatyou should think about before you make your choice about goingout to drink some alcohol. Research has proven that even small amounts of alcohol withincrease muscular endurance and the output of strength,although these types of benefits are very short lived. After 20minutes or so, the problems will begin to surface. All of thenegative side effects associated with alcohol will easilyoutweigh any possible benefits that it can have. No matter howyou look at it, alcohol is a poison that can really harm yourbody if you aren't careful. The negative side of alcohol can reduce your strength,endurance, aerobic capability, recovery time, ability tometabolize fat, and even your muscle growth as well. Alcoholwill also have an effect on your nervous system and brain. Ifyou use it long term, you can cause severe deterioration ofyour central nervous system. Even with short term use, nervemuscle interaction can be reduced which will result in a lossof strength. Once alcohol reaches the blood cells, it can and probably willdamage them. With alcohol users, inflammation of the musclecells is a very common thing. Over periods of time, some ofthese cells that have been damaged can die which will result inless functional muscle contractions. Drinking alcohol will alsoleave you with more soreness of your muscles after youexercise, which means that it will take you a lot longer torecuperate. Alcohol will also have many different effects on your heart andcirculatory system as well. When you drink any type of alcohol,you may begin to see a reduction in your endurancecapabilities. Anytime you drink, your heat loss will increase,due to the alcohol simulating your blood vessels to dilate. Theloss in heat can cause your muscles to become quite cold,therefore become slower and weaker during your musclecontractions. Drinking alcohol can also lead to digestive and nutritionproblems as well. Alcohol cause a release of insulin that willincrease the metabolism of glycogen, which spares fat and makesthe loss of fat very hard. Due to alcohol interfering with theabsorption of several key nutrients, you can also become anemicand deficient with B type vitamins. Because your liver is the organ that detoxifies alcohol, themore you drink, the harder your liver has to work. The extrastress alcohol places on your liver can cause serious damageand even destroy some of your liver cells. Since alcohol is diuretic, drinking large amounts can put a lotof stress on your kidneys as well. During diuretic action, thehormones are secreted. This can lead to heightened waterretention and no one who exercises will want this to happen. If you must drink alcohol, you should do it in moderation andnever drink before you exercise, as this will impair yourbalance, coordination, and also your judgement. Think aboutyour health and how you exercise - and you may begin to look atthings from a whole new prospective.About The Author: Mohamed Rabea - Online Tips and Resources!http://wheyprotein.wheyproteinonline.infohttp://wheyprotein.wheyproteinhome.infohttp://wheyprotein.wheyproteinsite.info

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

A Healthy Weight Loss Diet Plan

All overweight people yearn for some kind of dieting miracle... something like Cinderella's fairy godmother who will waveher magic wand and produce an instantly slim body. Alas, thisisn't going to happen. Instead, seek a healthy weight loss dietplan instead. The multi billion dollar weight loss industry isloaded with all kinds of illusions. Here is the truth aboutsome of the most popular ones. 1. It's not about "will power" and rigid control. Often in my dieting days, it seemed as though there was a "GoodMe" and a "Bad Me" and they were continually at war. The Good Mehad to somehow force the Bad Me into behaving in a proper way.When I didn't 'follow the rules', I felt it was only suitableto punish myself. The result of such an insane plan? The same old cycle again andagain ... deciding to exercise and eat in a sensible way andthen failing to do so. The only result is mental turmoil andkeeping the pounds piled on. Choose a weight loss plan that is pleasing, that you want todo. Then it will be easy to follow and the weight loss will bepermanent. 2. There is no quick and easy way. We all like to hear the "Lose 10 pounds in a weekend" stories.But they're only cruel delusions. Even if, by some miracle, youdid lose 10 pounds in a weekend, it would come right back. Theseare nothing but scams - and often dangerous scams, at that. Ifyou are 50 pounds overweight, you know that those pounds didn'tappear overnight and it will take time for them to disappear. Bepatient and face the reality: genuine weight loss is aboutlifestyle changes, not quick fixes. 3. Set mini-goals. If your ultimate goal is to lose 50 pounds, that can seem sofar away to be hopeless. So set mini-goals -- and rewards --along the way. That way you will get constant reinforcement asyou move forward and you will be encouraged, rather thandiscouraged. Your motivation will remain high because you havelost 10 pounds and you have a new outfit, rather than focusingon the 40 still to lose. 4. The weight loss program isn't important, as long as it'shealthy. If a weight loss diet plan really and truly was successful foreveryone, there would be no need for new ones. But watch themagazines at the checkout stands of your favorite supermarketor discount store. There are weekly magazines that have a newdiet program in every single issue! And these new weight lossprograms are usually accompanied by pictures of fabulous food. In truth, there are only two criteria for a weight loss plan: * Will it promote your health or worsen it? You might believethat losing weight is the only thing that matters to you andyou don't care how it happens. However, if you are sick andweak and can't enjoy anything in your life, you will quicklychange your mind. Such extreme measures as having part of yourintestine removed certainly cannot be defended by anyone as ahealth measure. * Can you enjoy the diet plan enough to follow it? If you won'tstick to a weight loss plan, nothing else matters. For instance,I am a vegetarian because I don't like to eat meat. Therefore, aprogram such as Atkins would be torture to me and there's no wayI would ever follow it. Those who write diet books seem to think that if they simplyexplain the diet plan well enough, their readers will loseweight. But folks who have excess poundage to lose know thatthe problem isn't the diet ... it's getting themselves tofollow through on the plan that is the problem. 5. Don't suffer over your weight! Overweight people might find it hard to imagine the instructionto "have fun" when it comes to weight loss. Yet, that's thegenuine path to success. Eliminating all stress and sufferingover your weight makes it significantly easier to persist untilyou are happy with your weight. Concentrate on making it fun! For instance, * Invent some wonderful new recipes that you adore using onlythe foods you have decided to eat * Continually focus on the benefits you expect to receive frombeing slim? Will you have more energy? Look better in yourclothes? Feel confident? Improve your social life? Whatever youwill gain, concentrate on that, rather than any feeling ofdeprivation. * Create rewards for yourself. They don't have to be financialand can be very short term. If you skipped a piece of cake,reward yourself with an hour of gardening. If you've lost threepounds, take a nap instead of cleaning the bathroom. In thisway, you receive constant positive feedback and it encouragesyou to continue. * Remember that YOU chose to undertake this. No one is forcingyou to do anything and there is nothing to rebel against. A healthy weight loss plan, once that includes great food andsensible exercise, plus a serene and cheerful mind, cannot helpbut result in the lean body you crave and deserve.About The Author: Obesity and flab are a national - or evenworldwide - epidemic and interest in home fitness equipment hasnever been greater. Learn how to choose the best home gymequipment. http://exclusive-gym.com

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Obesity Are You Born With It? Part 2

One reason why many people fail to achieve long term weight loss is because they fall prey to the many claims and promises that come from the diet industry. Unfortunately fad diets dont work for long term weight loss. And many people today dont want to hear that because they are constantly brainwashed by huge advertising blitzes from the diet industry telling them the opposite. And the sad irony is the fact that people fail to achieve meaningful weight loss through fad dieting, while still believing thats the best way to do so. One reason why they believe so is because most diets promise a quick, easy fix solution or magical formula that usually requires little effort. They appeal to the senses and thats part of human nature.Many of these diets tend to confuse people that are already making an effort towards improved lifestyles. The only way to stop the confusion is simply to stop following advice from fad diets. The most important thing to keep in mind is that to lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume. Thats all it is.With that in mind you must then work on the quality of your diet. You must always strive to improve your food choices. Forget about the low-carb diet, the Glycemic Index diet, and the like. New diets pop up as do new trends, mostly created by the media (and often broadcast inaccurate and misleading information). Years ago it was the high carb low fat diet. Later the high protein high fat, low carb (Atkins) diet became popular. Then as news came out that saturated and trans fats were linked to chronic diseases such as heart disease, the South Beach and Zone diets came out. The bottom line is that all these diets have the same premise they are based on calorie restriction and thats really what makes them work.So, try not to get confused with all the new diets constantly coming out on the market. Trends come and go but the formula behind weight loss and weight gain is always the same. Its simply based on Input and Output.The other thing that many people are doing is placing too much emphasis on exercise and often completely ignoring diet. Believing exercise is the answer to weight loss people flock to health clubs or exercise at home while they continue to overeat and sometimes eat more which they justify by exercising.That is also wrong. Dont misunderstand the point here, exercise is very important, not only for weight loss but for general health. The point is not to make the mistake of keying in on one factor while totally disregarding the others. If you are obese you will need to reduce your daily calorie consumption as well as increase exercise participation. If you are working on one factor alone or both factors insufficiently, you are probably not happy with the results youre getting. In order to get effective weight loss you must reduce daily food intake and exercise on most days of the week, on a regular basis. There really is no easy way out, yet.