Walking on a treadmill is great exercise but it probably won't give you the results you're looking for. The treadmill will help you burn calories and lose body fat but the best way to tone and shape your legs and butt is with resistance training. Two of the best exercises for this are lunges and squats.
Beginners should strive to complete one set of 10-15 reps for each exercise and work toward completing
two to three sets. You'll want to do these exercises 2-3 days a week on non-consecutive days. Use dumbbells or resistance bands to add resistance and keep the exercises challenging as you get stronger.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
"Keep Moving" Is The Key To Cardio
I'm in the middle of a round of P90X and I wanted to comment on something that Tony (createor of P90X) says during many of the workouts. He often suggests hitting the pause button. I think this may be an OK thing to do during the strength training workouts.
Not necessarily a good strategy during your cardio workouts like Plyo. My Plyo session today was great. I was really tired by the end and of course had a good sweat going. I kept up with Tony and the kids pretty well. Though I didn't go as fast as them on everything I didn't have to march in place at any point either. Marching in place is what I do when I'm too tired to do an exercise during a cardio session. I think that pushing pause is a mistake.
If you're really exhausted, you feel dizzy or sick, then of course, pause the workout and do what you need to do to feel better. However, if you think you can recover by simply backing off a bit, then keep moving! Maybe you reduce your speed, modify the move in some way or just march in place or pace around the room. The only thing hitting pause does is make the workout longer. As long as you're keeping your heart rate up is doesn't matter if you're following the workout exactly. You still get the benefits and before you know it you'll be keeping up with Dom.
Not necessarily a good strategy during your cardio workouts like Plyo. My Plyo session today was great. I was really tired by the end and of course had a good sweat going. I kept up with Tony and the kids pretty well. Though I didn't go as fast as them on everything I didn't have to march in place at any point either. Marching in place is what I do when I'm too tired to do an exercise during a cardio session. I think that pushing pause is a mistake.
If you're really exhausted, you feel dizzy or sick, then of course, pause the workout and do what you need to do to feel better. However, if you think you can recover by simply backing off a bit, then keep moving! Maybe you reduce your speed, modify the move in some way or just march in place or pace around the room. The only thing hitting pause does is make the workout longer. As long as you're keeping your heart rate up is doesn't matter if you're following the workout exactly. You still get the benefits and before you know it you'll be keeping up with Dom.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Ask the Trainer: What is the one piece of equipment you couldn't go without?
Answer: Since I workout almost exclusively at home I'll answer in terms of home fitness equipment.
If we're going to keep it really simple then I'd say a pull-up bar. This is because I can work almost every muscle group effectively with body weight exercises alone. The exceptions are back and biceps. However, with a pull-up bar you can use your own body weight for resistance to work the back and biceps muscles as you pull (or try to pull) yourself up on the bar.
Either resistance bands or a set of dumbbells would also be a good choice. They would allow you to work all your muscle groups including your back and biceps and broaden the range of exercises you could do. So, they'd give you a good full body workout and by expanding the list of exercises that would be available to you they would help create variety.
If we're going to keep it really simple then I'd say a pull-up bar. This is because I can work almost every muscle group effectively with body weight exercises alone. The exceptions are back and biceps. However, with a pull-up bar you can use your own body weight for resistance to work the back and biceps muscles as you pull (or try to pull) yourself up on the bar.
Either resistance bands or a set of dumbbells would also be a good choice. They would allow you to work all your muscle groups including your back and biceps and broaden the range of exercises you could do. So, they'd give you a good full body workout and by expanding the list of exercises that would be available to you they would help create variety.
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