Walking for Health

You want to start with something you know you can do every day.  So starting off by lifting heavy heights or doing sprints right away are going to leave your body sore and make you less likely to workout the next day.

Lunch Break Walking

A great way to start a workout routine is by taking a half hour walk during the lunch hour.  The goals right now are to get your heart pumping, break a little sweat and make your body to want to do it again the next day.  Once you get into a routine, your body will crave the exercise and will begin to want more.  Also, walking will prepare your legs for the running you’ll be doing in the coming weeks, which we’ll get into in my next article.

By Kevin Finley

Home Exercise Routines

This workout will combine quick bursts of cardio to get your heart rate up in the right target zone (to find out what this zone is for you check this article out on calculating your target heartrate and then incorporate strength moves to get you lean and toned.  The best part is you can do this routine virtually anywhere, even while catching up on your favorite TV shows!

Jog in place for 5 minutes—it’s always best to warm-up into any routine

15 push-ups—drop on the floor and pump these out without a break

15 chair dips—keeping the momentum, place your hands on a stationary chair or chair step and extend your feet in front of you; lower yourself until your arms are bent at the elbow at 90 degrees and parallel to the floor, and then raise yourself back up until your arms are straight

Jump rope for 5 minutes—if you don’t have a rope, just jump in place keeping your heart pumping

Home Exercise Alternatives

30 lunges—hands on hips and feet together, extend your right leg and drop into a deep lunge until your left knee is almost touching the floor and then push yourself back to the starting position and repeat with your left leg in front. Do 15 on each leg for a total of 30 lunges

15 bicep curls—grabbing either 5 or 10 pound weights, or you can get creative and use filled water bottles or even canned goods; as long as you feel the burn my the last few

Stair stepping for 5 minutes—finding either a step or raised surface alternate stepping your feet one at a time up onto the stair and then down; you will stay in the same place, but with one foot on the stair and the other under you as you quickly switch the positions of your feet

15 squats—squat down low and work to keep your weight balanced on your heels

Home Exercises

15 upright rows—grabbing your weights or water bottles stand with your feet shoulder width apart and arms hanging in front of your hips; pull your arms upward in front of your torso until your upper arms are at shoulder height and bent at the elbow.  Lower your arms and repeat.

Scissor step for 5 minutes—place your hands and feet on the floor and bend at the waist so that your bottom is toward the ceiling.  Alternate hopping your right foot forward and then switch positions so that your left leg jumps forward as your right goes back

30 second plank—placing yourself in the push-up position, hold yourself up concentrating on pulling your abs in and keeping your back straight

30 crunches

5 minutes sideways hops—facing forward with your feet together jump first to the right and then the left; keep yourself working and sweating!

15 side arm raises—with a weight in each hand and your arms at your side, keep your arms straight and lift them until they are shoulder height and parallel with the ground.  Lower your arms and repeat.

30 front punches—with the same weights alternate punching one arm in front of you and then the other for a total of 15 punches on each side.

5 minutes running in place—gradually work yourself into a cool-down

You’ve just done a perfect total body workout while getting your pulse moving and lungs working.  The strength moves will help build muscle and the combined cardio will help you torch calories, and the best part is you didn’t have to spend a penny!

By Caitlin Chock

The importance of your Back

We cut and split wood for fire, pulled crops from trees, planted and harvested gardens, hunted and killed game, and some people still today wash clothes by scrubbing them on rocks. For women there was the milking of cows, kneading of bread and churning of butter, while men used their larger upper body strength to build roads, streets and towns.

For the most part, everything I mentioned involves the muscles of the back, the upper body’s largest muscle group. For the most part, many Americans do not perform any of the aforementioned daily chores. If you don’t have a job that involves a lot of physical labor, run a farm or own horses, you most likely do not to enough work for your back. We have so ignored these important muscles in recent history that back problems and even spinal deformities are on the rise. The Dowager’s hump at the base of an old lady’s back can now be seen on teenagers.

Put Your Back on Top!

In a few more million years we may evolve into a slug-like creature that requires only minimum movement to survive. Until then, we need to work our bodies the way they’ve been working for the last million years. That means walking—every chance you can. It means doing squats, properly with knees over your feet and back straight. It means lunges and some stair or hill climbing.

We still use our biceps for carrying, and guys like to give those guns some extra work. The triceps, unless you’re into fighting sports, probably needs some work. Dips are great and if you want to really get the job done, push-ups can’t be beat for chest and triceps. Do them off your toes, your knees or put your toes on a bench or chair for a real burn.

Back Exercises

The problem lies in the largest upper body muscle group, the back, which is difficult to work without specific exercise. The best exercise is the pull-up. A pull-up bar, even if you only hang to start is a great beginning. Eventually work up to pulling your body up in a chin.

The other thing you need is a rowing movement. Tennis and swimming are great, so is golfing and basketball. If you don’t participate in those sports, you’re going to need some rowing either in a kayak or with some exercise bands. Lifting properly, keeping the weight close to your legs, back and arms straight and using your leg power to stand up right will save your back from injuries.

Put your back training on the top of your list of body parts. Train it at least three times a week, and don’t forget hyperextensions, Cobra moves and pelvic raises to keep that lower back muscle in tune.

By Laura Dayton

For more weight training exercises, especially for women, refer to Laura Dayton’s total guide to women’s weight training, available at www.lauradayton.com.

“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

If you wear a rigid boot or shoe that changes your regular gait, strap them on and spend a few hours walking around on the carpet. Bind them just like the real thing and you’ll find any potential blister spots ahead of time. Your ankles and shins will also be getting in some practice runs.

Skiing Lunge

If you’re not a cardio fiend, you aren’t going to have much fun. You should be able to hold the mid-high level of your target heart rate for at least thirty minutes. Work the legs extra high and throw in some classic calisthenics, like Squat Thrusts: Squat down hands on the floor and in the same motion kick both legs behind you (show-offs might do a push-up at this point) then spring your knees and feet back under and stand (or better, jump) and repeat again in a continuous movement. Get up to 20 of these and you’re ready for jumps and moguls.

Resistance Moves
Bands and bodyweight work are excellent because they mimic the way your muscles work during the sport better than machines. You want light weights, and high reps. Light doesn’t mean easy, it just means you aren’t going for a one rep max—you’re lifting for exhaustion, just like you ski. On most of the exercises you’ll go to the point you can’t do one more, or you’re bored. BTW, if you’re bored, add more resistance next time. For starters you’re going to need extra work on the back, biceps, quads, hams and calves. Power generates from your core, so you need and lower ab exercises along with some sidebends.

Upright from Lunge Position

Elbow-to-Opposite-Knee drills are a great warm up for your ski workout. So is jumping rope for about five minutes, even if you have to take breaks. Pull ups, even partials, are good for the back as are any type of rowing movement or side lateral raises. Some shoulder shrugs and neck rolls are also called for.
The rowing exercises go hand-in-hand with bicep pulls. You can use a tight band or even a towel around your feet for these—pull ‘til ya can’t pull no more.
I do most of my ab work with the ball. There are plenty of exercises to choose from, just be sure you do some low back stretching as well.

Your legs do the lion’s share of the work, unless your sport is snowmobiling. I like Ballet-style squats where you pulse down to the count of 4 (as close to thighs-parallel-to-the-floor as possible) hold until you want to scream, then pulse back up. Now do the same thing on your toes.

My other exercise of choice is the lunge. I wish this exercise was called the long-step, because the biggest mistake people make is to lunge forward with their torso as well as their forward leg. Your torso should remain upright and allow your quads, hamstrings and glutes to do all the work. Your step should be as long as possible so that your trailing leg’s knee is about 4-6 inches from the floor. If you loose your balance or, Heaven forbid, hit the ground with the trailing knee, shorten your stride. For ski tune-ups I prefer walking lunges, and walking up a slight incline (10%) and down is a real plus. Perform until you get the first real burn, but then give it a break. Add more steps each time you lunge, and never work a sore muscle on consecutive days.

Starting three to four weeks out on this routine is ideal. Don’t start it the day before you ski. If you’re doing these moves with ease, you are ready for many great days of skiing.

By Laura Dayton

But things are what they are, and everyone seems to feel like if they want to be fit that joining a gym is the only way to do it. It doesn’t have to be like that though. There are methods of getting in shape that have been around a lot longer than gyms and there are lots of exercises that require very little or no equipment. I bet you’ve already even done a lot them.

Pushups at Home

The pushup is probably the best and most classic example of an exercise that requires no equipment. This one exercise alone can make a noticeable change to your chest, shoulders, and arms. There are endless ways to vary it up as well. Putting your feet up on a wall at an angle will make them harder because you are putting more weight on your arms. You are changing your position and therefore you have less leverage. You can gradually progress to walking your feet up the wall all the way until you wind up doing handstand pushups! On the other side of it, if you keep your feet on the floor and walk your hands up on to a ledge, step, or any other sturdy surface that it higher than the floor, you can give yourself better leverage. This is a good technique to use in order to train towards doing one armed pushups. By doing a one armed push up on an angle you can get better at the technique and gradually build towards doing them on the floor. Experiment with different variations on the push up and it can stay fresh and challenging for you.

Pullups for Fitness

Pull-ups and chin-ups are also among the best exercises for building the upper body and they require very little equipment. If you don’t have a pull-up bar then try to find a park or playground with monkey bars nearby. I love to take my workouts to the park when the weather is nice. I find it beats working out at the gym by a landslide. Pull-ups and chin-ups can also be varied in many ways. Technically speaking a pull-up is done with your palms facing away from you (overhand grip) and a chin-up is when your palms are facing towards you (underhand grip). But there are many other ways to vary these two basic themes as well. You can do a mixed grip with your palms facing each other. You can also vary the width of your grip, the position of your legs, or the placement of your head on either side of the bar. And of course let’s not forget the granddaddy of them all: the one arm pull-up.

Way to Lunge

Squats and Lunges are two of the best exercises for your legs. And while these are great exercises to perform with weights, they can also be very effective with just your body weight. Even if you have strong legs, doing an endurance workout with just your body weight consisting of hundreds of squats and lunges can lead to you having a hard time getting up out of a chair the next day. Taking squats and lunges and turning them into plyometric exercises is another great way to add a new challenge with no equipment. All you need to do is jump on your way up and then land right into the lowering phase of the next rep. Repeat until your legs are quivering and your heart feels like it’s going to explode. Then rest and repeat. Or go into another set of pushups while you wait for your legs to recover. Of course, squats can be performed with one leg as well–and this is just the tip of the iceberg!

Creative Exercise

Your creativity is the only limit to finding ways to vary these fundamental exercises. Experiment for yourself and don’t feel the need to conform to the limits of conventional methods. Finding new challenges and adding different variations is one of the keys to success in the world of fitness.

By Al Kavadlo

Ignore the vanity of this suggestion. We understand that this is not something that everybody delights in. But it is important to have goals during a weight loss campaign. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, as they say. Giving yourself a healthy goal which will meet your expectations aesthetically is a great way to stay motivated and committed to an exercise and fitness regime.

Before and After Photos

Note: This does not mean standing int he mirror for hours each day and analyzing yourself!

If anything, avoid mirrors all together. Looking at yourself is not motivation to exercise and that time would be better spent at the gym or even just stretching around the house.

Remember too that aesthetics depend very much on the type of exercises that you are performing. While slimming down and losing excess fat will obviously make you look and feel better, pushing big weights and having lots of rest between sets isn’t necessarily the best way to tone up. In fact, you should be doing, more reps on lowers weights and with less rest between sets.

Resistance Band Training

Another good idea is to use products that assist with toning muscles. Resistance Bands are some of the best. They provide an overall workout that hits almost every muscle in the body constantly. Which is exactly what you want for toning and sculpting muscles.

By Tim Howard