When you do aerobic exercise—brisk walking, biking, or swimming, for example—you breathe harder and your heart beats faster. This "cardio" workout provides a wealth of cardiovascular benefits. But you might not realize that strength training—also called weight training or resistance training—is also good for your heart. "Strength training maintains and may even increase muscle mass, which people tend to lose as they age. Boosting your muscle mass speeds up your metabolic rate, so you burn more calories—even when you're not exercising. Burning calories and belly fat Burning more calories helps you avoid weight gain, which keeps your heart healthier than if you pack on pounds. And strength training may be especially important for keeping off belly fat. This so-called visceral fat, which surrounds your internal organs, is particularly dangerous for your heart. Health officials found that healthy men who did 20 minutes of daily weight training had less of an age-related increase in abdominal fat compared with men who spent the same amount of time doing aerobics activities. Changes within muscles seem to promote these benefits. Muscles store glycogen, a molecule that breaks down into glucose (sugar) to fuel strenuous activity like weight lifting. After a workout, your body gets busy restoring that glycogen and must rely on fat as an energy source, who is also a professional fitness instructor. Strength training also increases the number of mitochondria, the energy-burning structures inside cells. Dodging diabetes and high blood pressure Other research shows that strength training can help control blood sugar levels by drawing glucose from the bloodstream to power muscles. High blood sugar is the hallmark of type 2 diabetes. Building more muscle mass also makes the body more sensitive to the effects of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. Another study found that men who do at least 150 minutes of strength training per week cut their risk of type 2 diabetes by about 34%. Diabetes raises your risk of cardiovascular disease, as does high blood pressure—another condition that strength training appears to improve. A review article that compared aerobic training with different types of resistance training found that all these types of exercise helped reduce blood pressure. Getting started Speak to your doctor before starting a weight training routine, as the activity will challenge your heart. It's best to find a supervised program—through a personal trainer,—to learn proper form, which is key to avoiding injury. Strength training can be done with resistance bands, small hand weights, or weight machines. A well-rounded program works all major muscle groups: legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms. Start by warming up for a few minutes by moving your muscles without weights, and don't forget to stretch at the end. Aim for one or two sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise, using a weight or resistance that's challenging but manageable. You can find more detailed information on Tranquillity 360 Fitness Strength and Power Training Program. https://www.tranquillity360fitness.com/store/p8/online-weight-loss-muscle-building-training.html Stay safe during your workout Blood pressure can soar to dangerous levels if you hold your breath while performing strength exercises. Be sure to always exhale as you lift, push, or pull, and inhale as you release. If you find yourself grunting or getting stuck in the middle of a lift, you're using too much weight. Decrease the amount of weight to stay in a safe zone. And heed the following warning signs, which apply to strength training and aerobic exercise alike. Stop exercising and call a doctor for advice if you experience
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This is one thing that I have mention over a million times if you are training for fat, you are not alone, in fact you are one out of 100s if not 1000s of people each day going to the gym each for the same reasons Fat loss is one of the most discussed topics in the fitness industry and among gym members or any one looking for healthier life. If you ask half the people in your local gym what is their training goals are or what they hope to accomplish by going to the gym, half will say fat loss. How many of these people reach their goal? Most never reach their goals of having a six-pack or even taking a couple of inches off their waist. Here are five common reasons why people fail to reach their fitness gaols. 1. Your Diet Starts Tomorrow If you haven’t discovered by now that fat loss is almost always a nutrition problem, now you know! Take some time to learn about proper nutrition if you already have an idea of what proper nutrition looks like, the biggest reason that you fail at fat loss is because you don't apply the knowledge of good nutrition that you have learned! and one diet does not fit all You can calculate all the macros, calories, micros, resting metabolic rates, and whatever else you want to calculate, but those numbers are worthless if you never start your diet, and sticking to it, you often times keep telling yourself you’ll start next week. Then Monday comes around and instead of starting your diet you decide you need a little more time to prepare. The next thing you know it’s been a month and you are no closer to your fitness and health goals than you were a month before. Or even worse, you’re fatter than when you originally began planning your diet. Don’t fall into this trap. Start now! You can always adjust along the way but quit planning to plan and start making small changes to your diet today. The biggest mistake you can make on the road to hitting your fitness goals is to never start, so just start! Not on Monday, NOW! If you thing you don’t have an idea of how to go about this, then don’t just download some program online, get help from the professionals to design a diet plan that will fit well your goals and desired. 2. Consistency The results you gain, come from making steady progress day in and day out for extended periods of time which should really be measured in months, or even years depending on where you are starting from, not weeks. Getting fit and strong is a process and you must be consistent. Focus on showing up to the gym day in and day out over the long haul. It is popular to perform workouts that leave you crushed and vomiting on the floor. While this may have a place in the gym, these workouts should be spread out over months of training. This gut wrenching intensity should not be applied to your daily training because you can't maintain high intensity for very long before running yourself into the ground and having to take a break. Consistent, less intense training will beat sporadic, high intensity training performed inconsistently for those trainees looking to get ripped. This is especially true for those who are dieting and struggle to find the energy to train intensely. Train consistently over the long haul with a consistent nutrition strategy instead of running yourself into the ground for a month or two and then having to take a break because of injury or exhaustion. 3. Heavy Drinking, You Don't Lose You might not guess this one, but alcohol is the biggest red light if you are trying to get fit and into shape. It's that simple. It's not just that alcohol itself has seven calories per gram, making it more calorically dense than carbohydrates or proteins, but also the fact that it compromises your ability to make good choices when it comes to nutrition. You know what I mean! Who hasn’t stopped at a drive thru or a kebab van after a night of drinking! In addition, alcohol creates a hormonal environment that is primed for fat storage. If it’s your goal to get a six pack or another fitness goal, then you need to find something else to do besides going out for a beer or ten. Stay focused on your goals, and once you achieve them, then you can go out and celebrate with your friends! 4. Can’t See Progression Another massive reason that a lot of people fail to get results is they fail to progress their training and nutrition methods once they have plateaued. In training it is very common for people to get comfortable with a certain workout program (which is fine if there is progression factored into that program) and the exercises, loads, reps, and sets stay the same from week to week. Initially this works, but after a couple of months the body catches up and progress stalls unless you put in place some form of progression that will allow you to make further gains. The same goes for your nutrition. You can get your bodyfat down low with simple balance of nutritional practices, but the last couple of kilos require progress with practices like carb or calorie cycling and nutrient timing to help with the last remaining fat hiding the definition you are after. Don’t get stuck doing the same training and eating the same ways or you will end up stalling and lose momentum on your quest to get your fitness goal. You have make that your training and nutrition change as your weight and strength change! Progression and consistency are the keys elements to unlocking your gains. 5. Stress Levels If you are trying to get a desire fitness goal, you need to learn to relax, chill out and deal with stress. Not only does being in a constant state of fight or flight cause your body to cling to bodyfat, it can also cause you to gain more fat! Yes, gain more fat! When you are stressed how well do you follow your diet? It’s easy to ditch your diet and training when you feel like you don’t have time, or you are feeling pressure from other areas of your life whether that's work or family. This is especially true if you use food to cope with stress. Find ways to manage stress to find your abs and the rest of the definition that you are seeking. Some of the best ways to reduce stress are to ensure that you are getting enough restful sleep, massage, meditation, and taking care of any personal issues that have been causing you stress. You might be surprised just how much relaxing and reducing stress can help you get lean! Getting fit is simple. You need to train smart, eat appropriately, and make sure that your lifestyle supports your goals. Although the process may be simple, that doesn’t mean that it's easy. Best of luck on your quest to get ripped. Some people would say it’s a good idea to warm up your muscles as part of your exercise routine, but I would say it’s a must, reasons being muscles that are not properly warmed up are at higher risk of injury. This can easily be accomplished with a light, active warmup such as dynamic stretching or jogging depending the individual. While professionals, such as personal trainers will disagree over whether it’s better to stretch before or after a workout, most doctors recommend stretching as part of an exercise routine, particularly if you’re doing activities such as running or biking. Flexibility doesn’t happen overnight, however. Some people are naturally less flexible than others, so it may take weeks of regular stretching to improve joint mobility. Here are four leg stretches she recommends improving flexibility and reduce the risk of injury. Try to hold each stretch for about 30 seconds. The Quads The quadriceps, or quads for short, is the muscle group in the front of your thigh. You use these muscles when you walk, run, or do lunges. To stretch your quads:
The Hamstrings The hamstrings are the muscles along the back of your upper leg, running from the thigh to the knee. They help you to bend your knee and move your hip. These muscles are used when you’re playing sports or running. Your calf muscles are along the back of your lower leg. They help move your heel during activities such as walking, running, jumping or doing certain types of workouts. To stretch both muscle groups together:
Inner thigh stretch The inner thigh muscles help to stabilize your hip and knee joints. Exercises that focus on working inner thighs are often recommended to tone and strengthen the legs. To stretch your inner thighs:
Supine leg stretch This stretch works your lower back, hamstring, calf, and ankle. All of these areas are used in your daily activities, and while running or biking. To perform this stretch:
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