A New Year’s Fitness Evolution

“This year I am going to be a size 6!” Sound familiar? “Getting more exercise,” and “shedding unwanted pounds” (in that order) are numbers 2 and 3 of the 10 most popular New Year’s Resolutions.¹ Since the most recent statistics still show that 66% of adult Americans are overweight or obese,¹ we know why weight loss is at the top of the list. But too often we make New Year’s resolutions, only to quit after a few workouts.

Whether you just want to become more fit or are looking to shed those unwanted pounds, the number one way to achieve success is simply to stick with your program. Yet, that is one of the most difficult things to do, especially for beginners.

Organizing Your Training Session For Injury Prevention

We are all trying to get more out of our workouts, but one of the things we don’t want is to sustain an injury. Like anything else we do in life, organization is key. An organized plan for your workout sessions will provide a more consistent and effective workout, but more importantly, will also help prevent injury.

5 Exercises to Improve Core Strength

Proper posture helps maintain a structurally stable body. But how do you achieve proper posture? Well, it all begins in the core. The core is the center of the body and where all movement begins. The core consists of the muscles of the hips, abdominals, and low back. These are some of our largest muscles groups, and provide the human body with the structural integrity it needs to function.

3 Exercises to Improve Low Back Strength

It has been said that up to 80% of the U.S. population will suffer from some type of low back problems throughout their lifetime. And there are many causes — including instability, strains, injuries, and accidents. Among adults, low back pain is often caused by overuse and muscle strain or injury. Proper treatment can help you stay as active as possible and enable you to understand that some continued or repeated back pain is not surprising or dangerous.¹

The Wonders of Incorporating High Intensity Resistance Training

We’ve all heard the old adage, “The more you give, the more you get.” Though at times we don’t get rewarded for all of our hard work, there is at least one situation in which this saying holds 100% true — high intensity resistance training (HIT), or for cardiovascular training, high intensity interval training (HIIT).

HIT is weight training that allows for no more than 8-12 reps, for anywhere from one to three maximal effort sets. HIIT is performing aerobic exercise at an interval at 90-100% of max heart rate for a designated period of time on a cardiovascular machine with a 3:1 rest to work ratio. HIIT should be performed at the end of resistance training sessions. It affects the anaerobic energy pathway but has implications for the burning of fat.

3 Keys to Fitness Success

The design of a successful fitness-training program should begin with the end in mind. There always needs to be a means to an end. I have met plenty of people in my field that believe due to their training strategy, they can’t achieve the results they set out to accomplish. In this article I will cover three simple keys to help you achieve fitness success.

Set Goals

Whether in life or in fitness, having a plan is the most important key to being successful. Always begin a workout plan by having specific goals that will allow you to visualize what it is that you would like to accomplish. This will provide you a specific game plan.

Vibration Plates for Fat Loss?

Some of you may have heard of a new piece of equipment that is popping up in gyms and fitness centers across the US…Whole body vibrational plates are devices that you stand on and as the name suggests, they vibrate in three different planes of motion. These devices are reported to lower the percentage of body fat while increasing muscle mass and bone density.

Normally, I wouldn’t give anything with such big claims a second look. You know the old “if it sounds too good to be true it probably is,” saying. However, the studies on vibration plates look promising.

Six-Pack Abs in Time for Summer

The biggest myth when looking to develop 6-pack abs is that you need to perform an unlimited number of crunches. The real truth is that you must work hard to reduce body fat through proper food intake, increasing activity, or a combination of both.

In this article, I will focus on six core exercises that will help you build stabilization and strength in different planes of motion, which in turn will help you build those 6-pack abs you have always wanted.

5 Innovative Ways to Train without Going to a Gym

You get home from a long day of work and the last thing you want to do is drive to a gym, so you say, “maybe tomorrow”. Well, those days are over because now all you need is your living room and a few cost-effective tools that can be found at any sporting goods store.

In later articles, we will introduce you to the vast world of training that can be done at your bedside when you wake up in the morning, or at night while watching your favorite television show. For now, here is a preview of the cool new ways to train.

Trick #3 to Boost Your Metabolism: Interval Training to Finish

Say goodbye to the dreaded long hours spent on cardio machines and get ready to tone up with interval training. And the best part is — it only takes 15 minutes after your resistance workout!

The new wave of cardiovascular exercise is interval training, and it is the most economical way to get results fast. According to researchers, intense cardio interval training is much more effective at improving aerobic capacity than cardio training alone.1