Posts Tagged “sit ups”

I think I made it clear last week in one article about doing weight workouts to increase your strength that it is importatn to do a very few sets with low reps to failure. I keep finding however referwnces to the 300 workout. The 300 workout si a workout inspired by the movie called 300 and is supposed to make you lean and incredibbly strong and buff. We will see how this influences regular workouts but this is long and mentally grueling with lots of sets and lots of reps for a workout.

Chris Aitkin is a martial arts trainer and expert and inspired this spin to the 300 workout which although I believe would work very well for overall fitness would also take a long time and really beat you up. I can’t wait to try it out.

Ever since the movie “300″ came out and the rippling abdomens and rock-hard pectorals of dozens of stars and extras made their debut, many versions of the so-called “300 workout” have arisen on the internet. As a trainer and someone who enjoyed watching that movie, I was interested in what types of exercises these body-breaking workouts were employing, and I managed to find three or four different variations on the same theme. Read the rest of this entry »

Abs are the one muscle group that I seem to hear more questions about than any other. If you are interested in building abs you need to have a great diet and reduce your fat level but also these exercises will help you build up those abdominal muscles.
Perfom Crunches(with or without mat).
This is for the lower abs. Lie down on the floor and cross your arms in front of your chest. (Do not place both hands behind your head. Placing both hands behind your head can cause lower back problems in the long run as it places unnecessary stress on that part of your body from pulling on your head and neck.) Another alternative to crossing your arms in front of your chest is to lightly place your finger tips behind your ears, without pulling on your neck or ears to help raise you off the floor. Draw in your abdomen towards your spine while inhaling through your nose. Now raise your shoulders (upper torso) towards your knees, using strictly your abdominal muscles. You willfeel your abs tighten in this exercise

It is very important not to lift your entire back off the floor, as this can cause back strain, and the extended movement does not help you develop six pack abs any faster. The most important part of the crunch is the initial flexing of your abs as you lift your shoulders off of the floor. As soon as you begin lifting off the floor exhale through your mouth, ending with a gasp once your shoulders are off the floor. Then pause for a second once you are at the top of the crunch and exhale the last bit of air from your diaphragm while flexing your abs. The proper breathing and flexing make all the difference. Now lower back down slowly and controlled while inhaling through your nose, just until your shoulder blades touch the ground. Do not let your head touch the ground and repeat. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that fall is in full swing and the baseball playoffs are winding down most of our exercise is going to need to take place indoors instead of the outdoors that it is so easy to do in the summertime. There are of course two kinds of exercise, weights and cardio.

First I want to apologize in advance to any hardcore weightlifters here. Most of this stuff is a bit of a review for you.

Sometimes I think that everyone of course lifts weights on at least a weekly basis. Of course this is not fair as most people, although well meaning, have never lifted weights in their life and are not about to join a gym to start lifting weights this week.

The simple fact is that the more muscle that you have the more calories that you body will need to burn in order to maintain your weight. This fact alone should make any person looking to lose weight to start looking at the gyms that they drive by.

The simple fact is that if you have never lifted weights just think of this time between now and the beginning of the New Year as the best time to start warming up to the idea of lifting weights. If you start lifting some kinds of weights at home then you can get stronger, build muscle mass and when the new year comes with all of the gyms giving great deals to join you will have a better idea if you want to join a real gym or not.

First of all I think that it is easy enough to get some light weights that you can start lifting with at home. Either look in the classifieds in your local paper or go to the local pawn shop or used sporting goods place and get some 5, 10, and 15 pounds dumbbells, women can probably get away with 2.5, 3, and 5 pound weights to start with.

So what if you have no weights at home? First of all are all of the regular calisthenics that we all know. You can do things like push-ups for your chest, shoulders and triceps, lunges for your legs, and sit-ups for your abs.

If you would like to start doing weights proper then you have many options. Look around the kitchen and you probably have some heavy bottles or cans that you can do bicep curls with, you have kitchen chairs that you can do front laterals with. There are many options and if you look around I am sure that you can improvise with what you already have.

I will write another article this week about what kind of workouts to do exactly but this week why not just try to find a few kinds of exercises that you can do around the house if you have no weights and if you can beg, borrow, or steal some weights it will make things a lot easier