Best Exercises For Cellulite

Category: Exercise | 1 Comment

QUESTION: I wanted to ask if there is a natural way, through diet or exercise to rid the body of cellulite? Are there particular foods to eat or avoid and possibly particular exercises that would help to work this problem out? I try to exercise between full time work and part-time school, mostly the treadmill at home appx 2 miles – 4/5 x’s a week, and 1-3 times at gym on weights, depending on my schedule.

ANSWER: Cellulite is a word that was popularized by marketers of “cures.” Some promised cellulite reduction by using herbal body wraps. Others promised pills and capsules would do the trick. Still others sold creams and massagers. Not a single one of these products worked . . . despite a sometimes very aggressive marketing campaign with claims that “research had proven” some cellulite reduction. Even large companies such as Rexall tapped into the “get-rid-of-cellulite” market by releasing over the counter supplements such as Cellasene. The claims they made were unsubstantiated and in 2000 the FTC filed a lawsuit against Rexall Sundown. As one gets shut down, however, new offerings emerge, all promising to be the solution. What they all failed to tell consumers was . . . body wraps, pills, massagers, etc. do not rid the body of fat . . . and cellulite is nothing other than fat. The reason cellulite looks “different” than most subcutaneous fat when viewed through the skin is because in the thighs that adipose material (fat) might get caught between pockets of connective tissue. Each pocket becomes enlarged as long as the fat remains in place. I wish I had some better news for you, but all I have is honesty . . . the honesty cellulite cure sellers won’t share. The only natural way to get rid of fat . . . including cellulite, is through supportive nutrition and a combination of resistance training and moderate aerobic exercise. I know you’re already attempting this, but it’s important that the exercise program and the eating plan match the goals. You mention that you do “mostly” the treadmill. Aerobic exercise alone may actually feed off of muscle tissue, especially if it’s not supported by the adequate protein and protein-sparing carbohydrates and essential fats. Weight training 1-3 times per week is barely enough assuming the 3 times is more common. If you are more frequently leaning toward once per week, you will be disappointed in the results.

 

You might look into one of my programs as they all outline the path to putting the body in a state where it is willing to release fat . . . cellulite included. Cellulite may appear to be “stubborn” but as systemic fat is decreased . . . it will go!

For more fitness truths go to Phil Kaplan

How To Perform One-Arm Hammer Planks

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So quick question…do you want abs like these…

If so, I’ve got a unique variation of the Plank exercise that can help you get them (of course, it goes without saying that you have to lose any extra fat you’ve got to be able to SEE that you’ve got abs like these!).

It’s going to develop a rock-solid core as well tightening up your entire midsection and waist…and dare I say flatten your belly…

Now the regular Plank is a simple exercise and a very effective one for developing core strength and stability (and I’m not talking about the plank you see on the Internet where people just lie facedown on top something…I’m referring to a REAL plank where you support yourself on your forearms, keeping your body stiff and straight).

The regular Plank is an exercise I start even complete beginners off with because of the tremendous core-focused benefits you can get from it.

This version of the plank cranks the difficulty up a LOT…it’s definitely not a beginner version. You should be able to do at least 2 to 3 minutes of a normal plank before attempting this one.

You’re going to be doing the plank with one arm instead of two. The arm you’re bracing on will be set perpendicular to your body, which is the reason I call this one a “hammer” plank (it mimics the hammer curl and you’ll be exerting force against the ground with your fist, like a hammer).

And instead of setting the forearm in line with body and tilting so you’re doing a side plank, you will instead be keeping your shoulders parallel with the ground, using your arm position to brace the core.

It’s a VERY tough position and targets the obliques and deep muscles of the core strongly (the transverse abdominus, for example) by focusing on anti-rotation tension.

What that means is that you’ll be exerting force to PREVENT rotation of the spine. This is a much safer way to target “rotational” msucles without actually rotating the spine.

When doing this one, you have two options…legs together or separated (I just did the legs-together version in the demo). Keeping your legs together will increase that torsion through the core. Setting the feet wide will make the exercise easier as part of the work that the abs should be doing will be done with leg stabilization.

Here’s the position you will be in for the One-Arm Hammer Plank.

Notice how the arm is set and how my shoulders are kept square to the ground. This is the MOST important thing to note for the exercise…because if your body tilts up on it’s side, it turns it into a Side Plank, which is a whole difference exercise. Don’t make it easy on yourself :) .

In order to maintain that shoulders-square position, you must exert force with your fist against the ground, which carries through the arm and into the core.

Hold until your position starts to break then set your other forearm down and switch arms.

For more instructional article from Nick Nilsson GO HERE

How To Squeeze More Lemon Juice For Lemon Aid

Category: Health | No Comments

Have you ever wondered how you could squeeze more juice out of your lemon? Believe it or not you can. Yup, you can actually get more value for your lemon buck by getting more juice out of your lemon. And you can do so without having to go through a difficult process or use complicated gadgets. All you need to get started is a lemon, a bowl and a microwave. The purpose of the microwave is to separate the meaty lemon juice inside the lemon. So simple anyone with a pulse can do it. Just slice the lemon a few times, place it in the microwave for 20 seconds and then it’s all about the squeeze. This simple strategy will afford you more lemon juice out of your lemon. Life is not always about increasing quantity to get more. You can always get more by being more creative with the existing amount.

 

Hilarious Fitness Jokes

Category: Uncategorized, Videos | No Comments

We all know the general rules of the gym: don’t drop the weights, wipe your sweat off the machines when you’re done, etc. But do you know all about the more “colorful”, lesser known rules of the gym?

 

1. Don’t blow your nose in the water fountain.

This is a crude habit and can contribute to the spread of colds and viruses. Besides, that’s what the gym towels are for…

2. No smoking on the cardio machines.

Those little circular thingies are water-bottle holders, not ashtrays. If you need a cigarette that badly when you’re working out, tape one to the pulldown bar and take a drag on it as a reward for each rep you do.

3. When spotting someone on bench press, be sure to wipe your face first.

You are not a stalactite, and dripping sweat into someone’s eye is not a good way to make friends.

4. If you choose to wear cologne or perfume to the gym, please don’t marinate in it.

If the person on the stair machine next to you lights up a cigarette, you could both be seriously injured.

5. Those stands that have all the weight plates on them should not be used for holding your donuts.

Your donuts will end up with a terrible metallic taste that even the coffee in your water bottle won’t be able to get out of your mouth.

6. The Crunch Machine is not a vending machine for candy bars.

Please don’t try to put money into this machine. It’s for working your abdominals. You will never, EVER get a Nestle’s Crunch bar out of it.

7. Even though the gym has stair machines, it is not required by law to have elevator machines.

Please stop asking about this at the reception desk.

8. Pick up after your dog when you walk him on the treadmill.

No explanation necessary.

9. If you have a habit of spraying spit when you lift, ensure there is no one in your target area.

It’s bad enough that the mirrors by the squat rack look like a St. Bernard shook himself in front of them.

10. Do not give yourself C.P.R. when doing bench presses.

Bouncing the bar heavily off your ribcage instead of pressing it properly may cause damage to the bar and voids the warranty on the bench. Besides that, you don’t want your spotter feeling as though he’s dribbling a barbell down the court do you?

11. Beer and/or liquor in your water bottle are prohibited.

Unless, of course, you bring enough for everybody. This also goes for mochaccinos, frappaccinos, and anything with an umbrella in it.

12. Use the rowing machine at your own risk.

If it sinks, there are no lifeguards on duty.

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Supportive Eating For Fitness Hopefuls

Category: Nutrition | 1 Comment

There are three elements that must be in place in order to lose weight permanently/reshape your body positively:

1. Supportive eating

2. Aerobic exercise

3. Resistance exercise

Since supportive nutrition is the most confusing of the three elements , you’re about to develop some clarity in preparing and eating “supportive meals.”

The term supportive means coming from nature, meals that are supportive of metabolism, meals that help maintain stable blood sugar levels, meals that provide optimal energy, and meals that provide material from which you’ll build new healthy cells.

In order to get optimal nutrition, nutrition that supports your exercise efforts and your metabolism, you’ll want to get meals frequently throughout the day.  When you come to understand that metabolism simply refers to “the speed with which your body burns through food,” you’ll also understand that if you want to speed metabolism, you have to ask the body to process food often.

You should opt for a supportive meal every 3 – 3 1/2 hours.  A supportive meal would be made up of the most natural food choices possible.  It would be free from hydrogenated fat, low in or free from saturated fat, and free from simple sugar and refined flour.  A supportive meal would contain each of the following three elements in visually equal serving sizes:

Lean Proteins

Eggs
Chicken Breast
Turkey Breast
Fillet steak
Steak mince (lean)
Salmon
Halibut
Haddock
Tuna
Low Fat Cottage Cheese
Whey Protein Powder

Starchy Carbs

Potato
Sweet Potatoes
Brown rice (basmati, a long grain aromatic rice)
100% Whole Wheat Bread
100% Whole Wheat Pasta
Oatmeal (porridge oats)
Corn
Tomato
Peas

Fibrous Carbs

Broccoli
Asparagus
Spinach
Tomatoes
Peppers (red, green and yellow)
Onions
Mushrooms
Cucumbers
Courgettes
Brussels Sprouts
Turnips
Celery
Lettuce

 

Supportive meals sample:

Chicken Breast, Baked Potato, Broccoli

A Piece of Fish, Brown Rice, a Green Salad

Egg White Omelet with Spinach and Mushrooms, Oatmeal

Sliced Turkey Breast on Whole Grain Pita w/Tomato, Onion, Sprouts

Warning!! It will take time getting use to eating supportively, especially if you were raised on the idea of breakfast, lunch and dinner.  After about a week or two of supportive eating, appetite usually becomes very supportive and an innate intelligence for portion sizes and meal frequency takes over.  The change is sometimes challenging, but the benefits far outweigh the efforts.

Biology Of A Hangover & Preventive Measures

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Do you remember your first hangover? I do. I remember my first hangover at the drop of a fat free cookie, despite the event taking place 15 years ago. I was among friends dining at a high-end restaurant in South Beach, Miami. I don’t remember too much details but I do remember drinking two beers and topping it off with at least three shots of Goldschlager.

 

With so much alcohol exceeding comfort level, it’s only fair that my body responded with the residual and all too familiar hangover. I felt weak, awful, lite headed with dry mouth and a feeling of uncharacteristically motivated to say the least. I love to enjoy my days and this was not a day I love to love.

 

What is a hangover really, and how can we prevent such happenings in the future? Unfortunately there are no magic remedies that will rescue you from the aftermath of a hangover. Your best hangover remedy is to ride it out and limit consumption of your best alcoholic beverages on cheat days once a weak .

 

The medical insurance companies knows the negative ramification following a hangover, that’s why they’ve produce this very helpful infographic called Biology of a Hangover, jammed packed with detail instruction to help you remedy yourself.

 

The best way to prevent the negative effects of a hangover is not drinking at all. Sure, a few beers every now and then will probably not cause a hangover, but your undesired outcome maybe an expanded waistline.

 

I’m told that drinking one glass of red wine a day is actually good for the body, especially the heart. If you do opt for this option make sure you do so in moderation.

5 Mistakes That Limits Fat Loss

Category: Exercise | No Comments

Don’t make the following mistakes if you want to burn fat and lose weight permanently:

1) Too much aerobic exercise
2) Performing aerobic exercise before before lifting weights
3) Eating the wrong foods at the wrong time
4) Focusing on the exercise/machine instead of the muscle
5) Not challenging muscle beyond comfort zone

 

Too much aerobic exercise make people fatter!

Category: Exercise | 2 Comments

Here’s a sample:

 

Q: I’m a 42 year old woman with two children. I do aerobics every day, alternating between the treadmill, step classes and calinetics. I’ve lost weight, and I look OK in clothing, but I’ve still got flab in the back of my arms and around my hips and thighs. How do I tighten it up? 

A: You can’t. Wait….don’t get discouraged. You can reshape your entire body, and get both the back of the arms and the hips and thighs lean and sexy. You just can’t tighten up flab. Flab doesn’t tighten! 

Women often cringe when I use the word “muscle.” They have visions of their heads on Arnold Schwarznegger’s body. You should first understand that women, because of their high proportion of estrogen to testosterone, can not develop manly muscle without chemical enhancement. If you’ve seen those masculine female bodybuilders on ESPN, and been led to believe that lifting weights creates such monsters, you’ve been misled. Although it’s not commonly presented to the general public, female bodybuilders often depend on anabolic steroids to obtain huge muscle. Muscle is valuable to you, especially if you want to reshape your body, and a slight accumulation of lean body mass will not only keep you feminine, it will likely enhance your femininity! 

Women appear to be more comfortable using the word “toned” than “muscular. “Toned” simply means, reducing fat and either adding or maintaining muscle in a given area. 

Many women make the mistake of undereating and over-aerobicizing! If you exercise aerobically, beyond your body’s ability to provide regular fuel, the body reaches into muscle tissue and as you lose weight, you lose muscle! 

 

People who get started on my program begin by performing only 12 minutes of aerobic exercise per day….and they lose fat! The reason is twofold. Firstly, they develop a nutritional concern for supplying the material for muscle maintenance, and secondly, their aerobic exercise is customized so it keeps them within their fat burning limits. 

By losing muscle through aerobic exercise, you then become dependent on that exercise just to maintain the condition you’re in. Take a break from the aerobics and your body will rapidly accumulate new fat stores. 

In addition to keeping aerobic exercise moderate, and providing adequate nutrition for optimal fat reduction and muscle maintenance, it is also important to provide some resistance training to stimulate muscle development. End result…..a lean, toned body! 

Those “trouble areas” you mentioned will develop as you concern yourself with the body as a whole. Spot reduction can not take place since the body loses fat proportionately from all over. Develop muscle, however, and you can soon begin to “shape” your body much as a sculptor shapes clay. As you improve, customization of your program will allow you to specialize on any areas you choose.

 

For more fitness truth article from Phil Kaplan go here

5 People To Avoid At The Gym

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Want a great post-exercise laugh? In this funny fitness and weight loss video comedian Drack identify five people you want to stay away from while exercising at the gym.

1.Needy guy
(needs a spot for every exercise, biggest time waster)

2. Sweaty person
(sweats on every machine and never clean up their mess)

3. The mobile exerciser
(always on their cellphone and gets in the way of serious exercisers)

4. The Pre-Madonna
(women dressed up just for the gym wearing so much perfume you can smell her even when she leaves)

5.The complainer
(complain about everything from music too loud, not right, too cold, too hot, too many people, etc.)

The Sledgehammer Workout

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Want to spice your fitness program? The video you’re about watch features some the coolest exercises you can add to your fitness training using a sledgehammer. A sledgehammer is a heavy, one-sided tool and relatively cheap, easy way to get an effective workout. With this sledgehammer workout you’re exercising the whole body from head to toe leaving no parts untouched.

This workout is for any one looking to optimize energy, increase metabolism and burn fat.

Give it shot!