Yes, there are numerous reasons or excuses one can cite for carrying around those extra pounds. Many people blame a fast-paced lifestyle that doesn’t allow proper time for good eating. Some point to poor metabolism, believing that counting calories just won’t work for them. Most commonly, though, the real reason is a diet high in fat and calories and low in fiber and nutrients, along with an insufficient level of exercise. While nutrition is extremely important, it goes hand-in-hand with burning calories through some sort of fitness plan.

Exercise Procrastination Exercise

Many people who have experienced a roller-coaster ride of weight highs and lows have failed to integrate proper nutrition and exercise into their daily lifestyle. Often, these same people have always impulsively turned to the latest diet trend, only to become discouraged when the most current weight-loss trick didn’t peel away the pounds as was promised. Does this sound familiar?

If you’ve passionately followed a fad diet only to find it didn’t work, you may have gotten discouraged. If you’ve ever lost weight quickly only to rebound with the same old bad habits when you reached your target, you know that diet integrity needs to be a constant element of your lifestyle. Maybe you have decided that you just don’t have the patience for that long road that is the only real path to the sexy figure you long for. Or maybe you’re clinging to the excuse that losing weight just isn’t in the cards for you. Nonsense!

Stop the Procrastination

The fact is you can change your metabolism by boosting it with aerobic activity. And you can lose pounds forever if you maintain a higher standard for what you put in your mouth. It may not happen quickly, but it will happen if you follow the rules. Why then, are you putting it off?

You have probably delayed your diet for any one of a few reasons mentioned above. It could be disillusionment atprevious failed attempts. It could be the fear that you will never lose the weight. Or, quite simply, it could be that you are addicted to the comfort that certain foods provide.

When you lose the weight, (and you will if you just stick with it), you’ll have more energy. You’ll probably have a more upbeat outlook. And your health will certainly be greatly improved.

You’ve surely heard the adage about today being the first day of the rest of your life. That’s a poignant message for anyone who needs to reclaim their health through weight loss. So stop procrastinating. There is no tomorrow in weight loss.

By Mike Brooks

There are some great Yoga shows in the mornings. In Australia, men everywhere tuned in at 6am to watch Gloria and the girls on Mats outside the Opera House. In the US, there are a tonne of Live Exercise Programs that radiate over Networks at all hours of the day and night.

TV Yoga

The problem? You can’t rely on TV for fitness.

Yes that’s right! While it’s tempting to sit in front of the television and put on your favorite exercise program, you might be forgetting one very simple thing that make the television an incredibly ineffective device for exercise…It’s addictive. Shocking I know. But in all seriousness, how can anyone be expected to exercise effectively if their only motivation for performing the exercises is doing them in-sync with a program on television.

More TV Yoga

Grow up! TV is not the answer. You don’t need someone to do the exercises in front of you. Learn them once, remember them and get outside to exercise as hard and as fast as you can. one other problem associated with exercise programs on television is that they change so regularly. Times, hosts, programs, they can all be different from day to day. Exercising to TV program offers no stability and no motivation. Two things that are essential to maintaining a healthy exercise regime.

Get off the couch, changing channels won’t help you!

By Tim Howard

“The Zone” is sometimes hard to find. It is often said to be a mythical place that only the greatest athletes will ever visit. Alternatively, some people believe that “The Zone” is a state of mind. But it’s much simpler than that. You know that girl with the ponytail on the running machine who never looks up or goes for a drink? She’s in “The Zone”. The guy who’s done 400 crunches with his eyes closed? He’s in “The Zone”.

In the Zone

When you get there you don’t even realize you are. It’s the second wind during a marathon, the final sprint in a stage of a cycle race, the last 3 pushups in your daily goal of 100 or pulling away from the field and not realizing you’ve crossed the finish line. But how do you get there?

In the Zone?

There’s a reason why so many people exercise with iPod’s blasting in their ears. You can hear them coming up behind you at the water fountain I’m sure. But the practical reality of using music in order to get in “The Zone” is a long-established practice. Anything from Rage Against the Machine to Dolly Parton can get someone in “The Zone”. Listening to external stimulus takes you mind off the physical activity you’re performing.

Crank the tunes!

The secret to making exercise time fly by is to be completely tuned out to the rest of the world. If you’re trying to concentrate on the exercises you’re performing, the session will drag on with no end in sight. Having a special playlist that you know and love will give you the motivation and distraction to follow your exercise program without focusing on it.

Buy a portable music player. Tune out to everything around you. Get in “The Zone”!

By Tim Howard

Bring Lunch to Work

By bringing a lunch to work, you control what is being put into the meal, which can lead to a smaller waistline line. At a restaurant, there is no way of knowing how much how oil is being put into a pan to make your dish. Even dishes that have been deemed healthy can be some of the worst menu options. Salads sound good. A mix of vegetables and salad leaves are wonderful things to put into your body, but they aren’t the problem. The dressing can quickly negate those greens and then when you add buttered croutons, bacon bits and meat the salad quickly becomes an unhealthy option. This doesn’t include the side of garlic bread that a lot of salads come with.

The first step is getting into the habit of packing a lunch. Our evenings and mornings are valuable and every minute is usually accounted for. There are kids that need to get to school or practice. There are evening obligations as well, so you may not want to make a meal before bed or when you get up, but the decision to do so is your first step towards a healthier lifestyle.

Fitness Lunch

In the weeks and months to come, I’ll go over how to make the brown bagged lunch healthy. I will also delve into the other two meals of the day and healthy snacking options. In addition to eating right, excise has to become part of the ritual for the working person to get back into shape. Again, the workday consumes most of us, making it hard to find extra time to go to the gym, go for a walk, run, swim or bike ride. It’s not impossible tough. In fact, you could be leaving the office every evening with two healthy meals in the books, a workout and only a nice dinner to finish the day. How is that possible? In my next article, we’ll go into the art of the lunch hour workout routine.

By Kevin Finley

Starting Interval Training

The best way to start adding interval training into your routing is to pick an activity: running, biking, and using an elliptical are excellent choices, but you can even use a rowing machine, stair stepper, or swim.  Start by doing a warm-up of 5-10 minutes at a relaxed pace, what you would generally do your routine at; on a scale of 1 to 10 your effort should feel like a 7 or 8.  Then, do one minute almost as hard as you can (an effort of 9) by upping the pace.  Follow this by a two minute recovery at an effort level of 6 or 7, and then repeat the cycle and follow it with a short cool-down.  Start with adding a few intervals and then work your way up to doing a total of 10 minutes of hard efforts.

Tough Interval Training

Play around with different types of intervals, by changing the times of your hard efforts and recovery paces.  You can do shorter sprints of 30 seconds hard with one minute recovery, or do two or three minutes hard and then recover.  You can further mix it up by varying the resistance or incline along with the pace.  Intervals are excellent tools to add to your training routine; you can do them up to three times a week, but be sure to rest or do a steady, recovery cardio workout at least a day between sessions.  Soon you will notice that the days you do your steady cardio, they will be feeling easier and you will be encouraged by improvement in your interval days as well!

By: Caitlin Chock, Home Fitness Guru

There are many of workout programs to choose from. In order to lose weight, Cardio is probably your first point of call when you first start that exercise program. In terms of Cardio there are also a tonne of different exercises that will ALL build your cardio-vascular endurance, burn calories and help you lose weight. Starting out is fun. It’s exciting and you feel great doing it. But what if you’re not doing something you enjoy when you’re exercising?

Choose YOUR exercise

Too often people are convinced to run when they don’t want to, to swim when they prefer the bike or to row when they’d rather do Yoga. The question is one of motivation. How can you motivate yourself to do something you don’t enjoy? The answer is…not without an extreme amount of will power. But who has time for that, am I right? Instead…find an exercise that YOU actually enjoy!

Do you run for exercise?

If you want to play tennis, play tennis. It you want to jog, jog! The fastest way to opt-out of exercise is to convince yourself that you should be doing something you don’t enjoy. This is one of the few circumstances where it is actually good to take the easy way. Doing Cardio exercises that you enjoy is the best way to stay motivated to exercise

By Tim Howard

Never discount the importance of support when exercising and dieting. Surrounding yourself with like-minded people is one thing, going to the gym and exercising, eating right and staying focused are others. But telling your family that you’re trying to lose weight and feel healthy will give you a great support network that you might not have even considered! Best of all, you’re virtually guaranteed to get honest advice from your family. Whereas friends will sometimes be inclined to boost your ego, families have a habit of being obsessively honest. Let them help you by being your harshest critic.

Family Exercising

Be strong. sometimes you won’t hear exactly what you want to from your family. But keep in mind that if they’re critical it’s because they’re doing the right thing by you. Be sure to pick family members to tell that will give you honest feedback. And have a thick skin about it. Remember, you asked for help! Don’t be offended if you receive criticism.

Family Exercise

And remember…The family that plays together stays together. There’s every chance that telling your nearest and dearest that you’re trying to lose weight will encourage them too. You could even end up exercising and eating right as a whole family. Take walks and runs together or join sporting teams that are community and family based. Lots of these exist if you know where to look. Or join sporting clubs that have junior, men’s and women’s teams within them. That way you can play a sport together and watch each other play as well. Make a day of it and start enjoying your weekend as a group.

By Tim Howard

Stuck in a workout Rut?

If you continue to do the same thing you did years ago, your fitness will stop improving, you will stagnate, and actually start to burn fewer calories.The key to avoid getting stuck in a fitness rut is to change and mix-up your workout.  You can keep doing one routine for a period of 4-6 months, but by having a variety of different moves and exercises to choose from, you will not only avoid boredom (and possibly burn-out!) but always keep your body guessing as to what will be coming its way next.  Adding new stressors to the body will ensure that you are constantly working different muscle groups, doing so by different angles, and thus keeping your fitness level improving.

Hit the Rut Head-On!

This can be done in a number of ways; choose a different machine or exercise even for the same muscle group when you are doing your weight routine.  Do tricep dips one day, tricep kick backs another, and skull crushes a different time.  Build a arsenal of different apparatuses that you are familiar with and an array of exercises.  There are a plethora of moves to be discovered and will make your routine more effective, leaving you more toned and fit.  With your cardio routine, pick different activities: bike, run, stair-climb, play a vigorous game of basketball, or take a new class.  Go shorter and faster in one session and longer and steadier another.  They say variety is the spice of life, so take than and apply it to your fitness routine!

By: Caitlin Chock, Home Fitness Guru

This should be a no-brainer and yet so few people do it. They’ll try to act the part and go to the gym along or grab their resistance bands and just workout at home alone. But that’s not how you’re going to get fit and healthy!

Find An Exercise Support Group

Working out at home can be great fun and it’s an excellent way to save on gym memberships and what not. But if you are going to exercise at home, be sure that someone else know. Have support, we all need it. There’s plenty out there on the web and if you are embarrassed about your weight, don’t worry! That’s the whole idea of a support group.

Your support group will likely meet once a month or fortnight, there’s a real comradery there. Don’t know where to find one? Fat Blasters and PeetTrainer are good places to start. Other people are out there for moral support. Never forget that.

But also remember that this is a group, a community. You’re only as strong and as motivated as the person next to you. So be sure to give as much encouragement as you get. Be positive and drive everyone to do better. Having someone alongside you will be some of the best motivation you can possible get.  So start sooner rather than later!!

By Tim Howard