Top Fitness Guide

Hindsight is a beautifully cruel perspective, isn’t it? Everything is so clear now, yet you know, back at the time; you wouldn’t have listened. Even if someone told you exactly what you think is true right now. Well, maybe I’m just stubborn. If I tell you some things that I wish I had known, back when I started training about a decade ago, hopefully you might be able to take something from it. Here’s 6 things I wish I had known when I first started training: 1.  It doesn’t matter how much weight is on the bar – How much you have on the bar is perhaps strengthening your ego, but not necessarily doing much for your body. See, your muscles do not work in pounds on the bar, they work in force of contraction. The harder a muscle contracts, the harder it is working, the more it will grow and become stronger. Problem is, when you load up too much weight on the bar, you start using other muscles to assist in lifting it, swinging it with...

[Dr. Lauryn Lax – Contributor] Post-workout nutrition is a highly debated subject with various opinions as to what the ‘perfect’ recovery meal is following your workout. Some claim,“after you finish a workout, you have approximately 30-minutes to replace energy by consuming a mix carbohydrates and proteins”. Others say: “The best time to eat any sort of sugar or cheat meal is after your workout.” Still others state: “A 2:1 carb-to-protein ratio is ideal—and avoid fats at all cost.” And, still others say, “Just make sure to consume a real whole food meal not long after your workout.” BUT here’s what they don’t tell you: In most every study or experiment that has investigated the benefit of immediate post-workout nutrition, test subjects were fed after completing an exercise session that they had completed in a fasted or semi-starved state. In other words, yep! You’re going to benefit if you eat a meal after a workout in which you ...

“Training is a physical activity, how is my mind going to help me get stronger?” Well, in a whole host of ways, actually. Let’s get into it. We generally think of exercise as a physical activity, and for many of us, our mind is elsewhere, as we go through the motions of working out. If this is you, I’m afraid to tell you, there is a huge pool of potential that you have not yet tapped into. You could well be stronger than you realize. You could lift more weight, run faster, jump higher – today. Without becoming any stronger or fitter. How? Using the power of your mind. You could also accelerate your progress, overcome plateaus and get more from your workout, without actually changing what you are doing in terms of exercises, sets, reps or weight. How? Using the power of your mind. Let me explain the 9 ways harnessing your mind will improve your workouts: 1. Be Present This is the biggest thing I can teach you. When you are present...

Both Spinning (indoor cycling) and running on a treadmill have their advantages, and both go a long way toward improving your cardiovascular health. Many people swear by one or the other. However, depending on your goals, the two exercise are definitely very different and one might better suited for you. Comparing the Calorie Burn In terms of calories, a 30 minute treadmill running session at 6mph for an 155lb adult will burn around 350 calories. The same size adult will burn around 260 calories in 30 minutes on a Spin bike at a steady pace. However, a Spinning class is much more intense so you can expect to burn anywhere from 400-600 calories if you push yourself. Woman.thenest.com reports that “a 160-pound person can burn over 600 calories per hour at the leisurely pace of 5 mph. Increase the speed to 8 mph and that figure jumps to over 800 per hour.” That’s a whole lot of calories. According to Spinning.com “an average...

Most of us probably know how to eat a healthy, balanced diet (putting it into practice is another story). But one thing a lot of people struggle with is trying to figure out the best things to eat before and after a workout to get the most benefits from both your food and your workout. Here, we break down what to eat before and after your workouts and give you some ideas to try for yourself. Some people think that exercising on an empty stomach is the best way to burn calories and fat. This isn’t a good idea. Your body needs food to fuel itself throughout the day, including during a workout. Food is energy, and it’s going to be a lot harder to get an effective workout in if you have no energy. You could also become dizzy and extra sluggish if your blood sugar gets too low while you’re exercising. Plus, if you have no fuel in your system, you body will draw from your muscle tissue for energy. Choosing what to eat before a workout can be...

As a personal trainer, you tend to take a more engaged view of what other people are doing in the gym. You can’t help but assess what is going on around you when it’s your field of expertise. There are many things that make personal trainers cringe, but these are 10 of the most common things that you might be unwittingly doing. Ego lifting Having too much weight on the bar doesn’t impress anyone. Problem is, many people don’t even realize that they’re doing it. For example, if you’re squatting to quarter depth or doing bicep curls that use more back and shoulders than biceps, you’re moving the weight in (mostly) the correct motion, and you feel the muscles working, so you must be on the right track, right? Unfortunately, that might not be the case. Yes, you might be moving the weight, but if you’re not using full range of motion and the right muscles, it’s not benefiting you as much as it could be. Train better and you will progre...

One of the most important things for maintaining a healthy lifestyle is focusing on cardiovascular health. While building muscle is key to maintaining your fitness, good heart health will help prevent high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol, all of which can lead to heart disease. There are lots of ways to incorporate cardio exercises into your routine and help increase your heart’s health. Not all cardio has to be long runs or bike rides that take hours. If you’re short on time, you can use the quick but effective High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) method. HIIT alternates bursts of intense work followed by short recovery periods. Most HIIT workouts don’t (or can’t) last more than 20 minutes. Since you’re working as hard as you can during the intense intervals, you’re significantly raising your heart before bringing it back down again, so you don’t need to spend hours doing a HIIT workout to see the benefits. Raising an...

Whether you’re starting a new program, coming back after a long time off or going to the gym for the first time , starting a fitness routine can be daunting. Sometimes it seems easier to just give up on it. Below are some tips to stay motivated and keep your fitness goals on track. Start small Going from never running a day in your life to training for a marathon is a recipe for disaster. You could get injured, but more likely you’ll get burnt out and discouraged trying to take on too much and end up quitting. Start with more manageable goals, like completing a 5K race or doing ten perfect pull-ups. Starting with more short-term goals makes them a little easier and quicker to reach, which can help you stay motivated to push for those bigger, long-term fitness goals. Enjoy it Say you hate indoor swimming pools. Lap swimming obviously wouldn’t be your exercise of choice. To ensure you stick with your exercise program, pick an activ...

Sometimes, a solo workout where you push yourself to your limits is just what you need. But other times, it’s very difficult to motivate yourself to work out alone. A group fitness class is the perfect thing for those days when you need to work out, but just want to stay home and sit on the couch. Having an instructor guiding the exercises takes the pressure off of you to create a workout plan, and the group of fellow exercisers will push you to work harder than you would if you were on your own. From the traditional classes held in gyms, to more unique outdoor and studio classes, here are five of the best group fitness workouts to help you stay motivated. CrossFit CrossFit is an extremely popular workout that focuses on multiple fitness components, including cardio, endurance, strength, balance, speed and flexibility. It’s a high intensity workout that changes up its routine daily to keep your muscles working and prevent you from ge...

Taking up a new exercise can be a scary and intimidating process. It’s hard to know where to start, and there are usually a million and one pieces of advice, often conflicting. If you are looking to take up weight training, we’ve broken down the benefits and the best way to get started so you can increase your strength without getting injured. Why Weight Train? While cardio exercises like running, swimming and HIIT workouts are a necessary part of a workout plan, lifting weights has a plethora of benefits. Cardio certainly burns a lot of calories and improves heart health, but weight training does both of those things and more. Adding weights to your routine a couple days a week will help you build more strength, which will improve your cardio workouts. Increased muscle mass also protects your bones, lowers your BMI and fat percentage and boosts your metabolism. In fact, increased muscle that comes from weight lifting helps your body ...

Yep. It’s all in your head. Whether you achieve the amazing body that you’ve always dreamed of having, or just want to get back in your old clothes from 10 years ago, the key to success isn’t your training plan, diet, or whether you hire a personal trainer. The truth is, it’s all in your head. Of course, the right training and diet plan is important, but it comes second to what’s going on in your head. Having the best plan and implementing the plan that works for you are not necessarily the same thing. The biggest reason a lot of people struggle to maintain their exercise and diet plans is simply because they’re too advanced, too complicated and too demanding. The expectations are not managed and then, as life inevitably gets in the way, you fall out of the routine, it knocks your confidence and suddenly you’re facing an uphill battle that you’re not likely to win. In any endeavour that you are successful, you are generally fully...

The deadlift is often called the “king of exercises.” It’s the movement that uses and builds strength, and there is something about lifting a heavy weight from the floor that is a rush. However, a lot of people are apprehensive about deadlifting. You might have even heard that it is bad for your back. If you learn how to do it safely and effectively, you’ll be able to use this extremely effective move to build muscle without hurting your back. Are deadlifts bad for your back? No. Bad deadlifts are bad for your back. When done properly, strengthening the back with deadlifts is the best thing you could possibly do. (Assuming you have no pre-existing injuries) How often should I deadlift? Deadlifts are hard on your body. For a beginner, it’s not much of a problem, since you’re not strong enough to really fatigue yourself. Once you have a little bit of training under your belt, you probably don’t want to deadlift more than once...

Finding time to work out is one of the biggest challenges I hear people struggle with in their workout regimens. It’s becoming harder than ever with longer work hours, more traffic and more distractions in our lives. Here is what I would do if I only had 20 minutes to work out. Why 20 minutes? Because we can all find 20 minutes in our day. Whether we have to get up 20 minutes earlier or spend half of our lunch break working out, everyone has the ability to find 20 minutes for themselves. If you’re honest, you probably spend more time than that browsing Facebook and watching TV every day. You could easily use that time more effectively. If I only had 20 minutes to work out I would… Do density training : Density training is a style of training that is most easily described as doing as much work in a given timeframe as possible. The more work completed, the more ‘dense’ your workout is.  Set the timer for 20 minutes and do ...

This is one of those funny things in life where it seems like almost everyone would benefit from doing the opposite of what the generally accepted wisdom is. Let me explain: Here are two observations that can be made about the workouts of the majority of gym goers: Men tend to lift too heavy, get too caught up in the numbers and are often focused on stroking their ego rather than training their bodies Women tend to lift too light, not push themselves as hard as they could and are less driven by progression Now, not everyone fits those assumptions, of course. There are many men and women who are exceptions. If you think you’re an exception, then enjoy this article as validation for your methods—you’re doing things well already. Think you might be making these mistakes? Let’s dig deeper in to WHY these observations are true and the benefits of training more like the opposite sex typically do. Men Guys tend to want to lift as he...

Overview: With over 30 years of experience in designing, developing and manufacturing traditional cardio equipment like rowing machines, indoor bikes, treadmills, as well as Crossfit-style functional fitness equipment, GetRX’d is covering a lot of bases with their Xebex offerings. A key part of the Xebex family of products is the  Xebex Air Rower .  This fan rower is a quality machine, built gym-tough, but designed for the home users as well.  The damper setting allows you to change resistance from 1-10, with 10 being just as tough (or tougher) as the Concept2 Model D. Lower levels mimic water rowing near the surface with less resistance, whereas setting the damper to level 10 is similar to a deep water row and gives a much more strenuous workout. The heavy, stable base (the whole rower is 110lbs) of the Xebex AR-1 Air Rower sits almost 2’ off of the ground making it easier to get on and off the machine. Xebex also equips the Air Rower with ...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

We’re all busy. Between work, family, friends, chores, hobbies and other commitments, it can be difficult to find time each day to exercise. One way to fit in a workout on a busy day is to take advantage of your lunch break. Instead of spending that time scrolling through Facebook or looking at your phone, use it to squeeze in some exercise. Here are some tips and suggestions for lunchtime workouts. Focus on Strength Since your lunch break is probably only an hour long, it can be tough to fit a whole workout in, especially if you have to shower and get ready all over again. Instead of trying to do a full routine in such a short amount of time, break it down and do part of your regular routine. Do cardio before or after work, and get your strength training done at lunch. You don’t even need a gym or lots of equipment. You can get a great strength workout with a pair of hand weights or even just your body weight.  HIIT If you re...