Home Fitness Workout Tips To Help You Lose Weight
By: Jim Johnson
One of the main reasons that people workout regularly is to help manage their weight, and to be sure that is a very good side effect of having a healthy workout routine. But some find that even with working out regularly they just don't seem to get the results that they really want with regard to their weight. What could be going wrong? Well, here are some tips to help you stay fit and lose weight too at the same time:
1. If you are working out regularly and still not losing weight, maybe you aren't working hard enough. That may seem crazy but it could be true. Some people actually give themselves way too much credit for actual activity in the workouts they do. You can't get your body to kick in and start losing weight if you don't push it, and most experts agree that you need to reach about 75% of your maximum heart rate to start burning calories. Of course, the big question then is how do you know what your maximum heart rate is? The general rule of thumb is to subtract your age from 220 to get your maximum heart rate. So if you are for instance 35 years old, just subtract 35 from 220 and you get 185. Calculate 75% of 185 and you find that you need to keep your heart rate around 135 - 140 beats per minute or so to burn calories. Of course, before you undertake an exercise routine like that you should make sure with your doctor that you have the conditioning to be able to handle it.
2. Another common mistake that many exercisers make is failing to drink enough water through the day and especially as they exercise. When you are dehydrated the body tells the brain, but it often mistakes the signal as meaning that you are hungry instead and so before you know it you are reaching for a snack. Drinking lots of water also keeps your stomach full and allows you to eat less at meal times as a result, so there are lots of benefits of water drinking and staying hydrated. Also don't worry about having to go to the bathroom more often as you start drinking more water, as in a few days your bladder will get used to the demand and you can most often settle back into a normal routine.
3. You may not be eating much, but you may be eating all the wrong things when you do eat. Don't sabotage all your workout efforts by grazing on low nutrition, high calorie foods that will only add the pounds back on that you are working so hard to take off. Unfortunately a lot of folks just don't realize how much food they are eating through the day as they just don't remember it. So it may be a good idea to keep a notebook with you for a few days and write down everything you eat as you go. You may be very surprised to see that you haven't really been following your diet as well as you thought.
Hopefully these home fitness workout tips can help you get back on track and start losing the weight you want.
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Circuit Training Exercise Equipment And Progressive Overload
By: Tracie Johanson
Many people who have turned to a circuit training health club seeking quick weight loss get discouraged because they find that, once they start exercising consistently, they do achieve some results. Sooner than expected, however, they reach a plateau and have their progress grind to a halt. These folks aren't doing anything wrong; they just lack the weight loss information needed to continually make headway toward their fat loss goals.
What these folks need is circuit training equipment that features adjustable resistance. In other words, they need the ability to increase or decrease the amount of resistance on the workout equipment.
Why is this important? Why not have just one level of resistance?
With only one resistance level, the typical 30-minute circuit workout gym franchise is unable to meet the long-term fitness needs of their members.
The 'Principle of Progressive Overload' maintains that once the body has adapted to the stress put upon it, no further progress will be made until 1) resistance is increased or 2) repetitions are increased. This puts a gym without adjustable resistance in the uncomfortable position of having their members 'plateau' once they have mastered the equipment. Depending on their age and prior fitness level, their members soon find that their progress has come to a halt.
Most circuit gyms are unable to adjust their resistance settings, so by definition they cannot promise life-long progress. Of course, their members could simply do more repetitions (exercise for 45-60 minutes), but that invalidates the entire 30-minute workout concept.
Circuit training gyms with adjustable equipment provide a solution to this problem. Pick Up The Pace, for example, offers equipment with six different resistance settings. Most new members start on a setting of one or two, and no members are able to complete a full workout on a setting of six. The hydraulic equipment provided at Pick Up The Pace thus provides an answer to the life-long fitness enthusiast; members will never plateau but will continue to make progress for as long as they are a member.
Another way to consider this concept is to think of jogging. If you went outside today and jogged for 10 miles, how do you think you would feel? Probably dead on your feet! Now, what would happen if you did that same 10 mile run every day for the next year? After twelve months it wouldn't be difficult at all. The human body adapts to the stress put upon it, and in this example you would eventually find it easy to jog 10 miles.
Once your body has adapted to the point that a 10 mile run is no challenge, then you will cease to make progress. Sure, continuing to run 10 miles each day would certainly MAINTAIN your good health, but you wouldn't make any more progress. Again, the 'Principle of Progressive Overload' mandates that in order for you to make more progress in this jogging example you would have to either 1) increase the resistance (run uphill) or 2) do more repetitions (run farther).
Resistance training works the same way. By increasing resistance periodically, you will achieve continuous progress and stay off the plateau.
It's time to move up the resistance to the next level when:
a) it takes longer to reach your target heart rate
b) you have difficulty maintaining your target heart rate throughout your workout
c) the resistance feels 'too light' for you.
Increasing resistance when we're not ready for it puts you at risk of injury, makes you burn less fat and doesn't give your muscle the same beautiful tone you're looking for, so don't increase the resistance until you're sure you're ready.
If you've been exercising in a circuit training fitnes center, but are unhappy with your recent results, it may be time to seek out a gym with adjustable resistance.
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I Want A Proform Treadmill. Are They Any Good?
By: Peter Crump
The Proform treadmill is possibly one of the best-known names in exercise equipment. Produced by that behemoth of fitness equipment manufacturing, Icon Fitness, the Proform treadmill is often seen as synonymous with sturdy construction and reliability. While many treadmill experts do indeed rate the Proform range highly, for every positive Pro Form treadmill rating you will find, it seems there is a corresponding review that reports consumer dissatisfaction with the Proform treadmill line.
Some quick research will reveal many a positive treadmill rating for the Proform range. The construction of the Pro Form treadmill range is considered by those in the know to be excellent, and these treadmills are also deemed to offer a good motor. The electronic readouts that they provide are consistently clear and easy to use. As a company with a relatively long history in treadmill construction, Proform treadmills have developed many innovations, such as the adjustable deck cushioning that is available with some treadmills, and the likes of the scissor type arms included in Pro Forms CrossWalk treadmill, which provides the user with the same upper body workout that is afforded by an elliptical machine. These innovations have helped distinguish Proform treadmills from their treadmill competition. But are these factors enough to secure a top-notch treadmill rating?
It would seem that this is not necessarily the case. Despite the many exercising advantages offered by the Proform treadmill, it is not difficult to find many a consumer treadmill rating that reports great disappointment with a Pro Form treadmill purchase. There exists an apparent consumer treadmill rating consensus that Proform treadmills lack the punch that was expected of them, and long term users report myriad reliability problems and poor customer service. Some users have even reported safety concerns with using a Proform treadmill, and even though certain issues have been resolved by the company by adding extra safety features to their newer treadmills, the older models remain as they were, so caution is recommended when purchasing a used Proform treadmill.
Overall, the Pro Form treadmill offers a good package of features, including a range of innovative designs not available with other treadmill brands. Proform are not, however, deemed the most reliable make of treadmill available in todays fitness equipment market place, and with relatively short warranty periods and questionable customer service, the treadmill ratings tell us that a Proform treadmill might not be the wisest investment for the serious exerciser.
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