Fitness Friday| Freeze Your Fat| 15 Minute Isometric Workout

 

I don’t know about you but when I workout I am guilty of hammering the cardio and sometimes forgetting about strength…. which is not good! Strength exercises obviously build up your muscles and it is a fact that the more muscle you have the more fat your body will burn during the day! Now you don’t have to hammer the weights to get your strength workout in, in fact you can stay completely still and still work your body hard.

Above is a range of isometric exercises that slim you down and tone you up without moving a muscle! Isometric exercises require you to remain static and use your body's own resistance and weight to challenge your muscles. So all you have to do is hold each of the positions for 60 seconds, three to four times, will a 30 seconds rest between each.

1- Plank- Lie face down on the floor and prop yourself up on your forearms and toes. Keep your bum down and your body in a straight line. Concentrate on your abs and glutes and squeeze them as tightly as you can and hold still.

2- T-Stabilisation- Firstly get into a push-up position. Next shift your weight onto you left hand and rotate your chest to the right as the raise your right arm towards the ceiling. Keep your feet stacked. Hold for a few seconds, then try it on the other side. That’s one rep!

3- Wall Squat- Stand with your feet should width apart and back against a wall. Lower your body, slowly down the wall, until you knees are at a 90 degree angle. Push into your heels and hold still.

4- Lateral Raise- Start in a standing position with your feet shoulder width apart with your arms at your sides and a 1kg to 2.5kg dumbbell (if you have no dumbbells, use a tin of beans). Slowly raise your arms until they are in line with your shoulders and hold them there!

5- Static Squat- Start in a standing position with your feet shoulder width apart  or slightly wider. Extend your hands out in front of you to keep your balance. Sit back and down like you are sitting on an imaginary chair. Keep your head facing forward as your upper body bends forward a bit. Lower down so that your form a 90 degree angle with your knees and hips, ensuring that your knees never go over your toes. Press back into your heels and hold still.

Have you tried isometric exercises before? Or do you prefer to use weights? Which one of this moves is your favourite?

Fitness Friday| Festive Flat Tum Week 1| Highs & Lows

 

*Images from Tumblr*

As many of you will know this past week I have been following my Festive Flat Tum Challenge, and as a result will be posting regular Fitness Friday posts on my highs and lows of the week gone by, plus some motivation for both you and I. This weeks are as follows;

Lows

This week I did not get off to as strong of a start as I wanted. I have been really struggling to wake up in the mornings... why is it so dark?! So have missed my morning workouts which is not good! I must do better next week! I have been trying to get to bed earlier so I will get into a routine of falling asleep earlier so I will find waking up less of a struggle!

Highs

Diet! This week my eating has been great, I’ve been eating clean and feel great because of it! I have not eaten crisps or chocolate, my only treat has been a cupcake on Cake Day at work, so I am giving myself a pat on the back for this!

I am also really pleased that I have ran 2 5k’s this week, although they are not the quickest, I am still pleased as this is the longest I have ran on the treadmill so far. I can run 5k outside easily as it is more interesting, but the treadmill bores me so much! So to stay on it for longer than 15 minutes is torture!

This next week I aim to get up earlier in the mornings and get my morning workout in, as well as keep up my daily cardio with the aim to run another 3 5ks! This next week I am going to take my body measurements, and some pictures, so I have something to mark my progress with. I am not weighing myself as believe this only demotivates myself. Anyways measuring inches lost is a much healthier way to analyse your health and fitness than being obsessed with the weighting scale. Scales do not take in to account muscle gained, and a toned body is much healthier and sexier than a skinny body with no definition! 

Are you stepping up your health and fitness in time to look great for Christmas? What have you done this week to make yourself proud? What fitspiration do you use to keep yourself motivated?

Fitness Fridays| Myth busting

I don't know about you, but when it comes to health, fitness and diets etc, there is such a wide array of information, sometimes good, sometimes bad, and sometimes conflicting. I find it all very confusing, however help was at hand. I read an article in a fitness magazine a few months ago that was very interesting. It basically told the truth on many misconceived fitness and health tips. I have picked my favourite to share with you today. 

Myth 1- Women bulk up if they lift weights.

I have mentioned this a few times, as this is one of the largest misconceptions. You will not bulk up if you lift weights (only if you do it for several hours a day.)There are many benefits to weight training; it sculpts and tones you, and it increases your metabolism. 

Myth 2- You can spot reduce just one area.

Yes you can sculpt and tone one area, but you cannot target fat loss from one area. From your birth your body is predetermined where it will store fat and which fat stores it will draw from first.

Myth 3- Eating Carbs after 5pm will make you put on weight.  

There is no evidence that you metabolise food in a different way at different times of the day. You should eat when it suits you, and concentrate on eating a healthy meal, not at what time you are eating. Many believe this myth comes form peoples tendency to snack on sugary foods in the evening, which would cause you to gain weight.

Myth 4- Eating fat makes you fat.

We need fat, the right kind of fat in small amounts, to make up a balanced diet. Good fats are needed for repair, recovery and regrowth, and can help your brain function. Consume avocados, nuts and oily fish.

Myth 5- Cardio is the best/ only way to burn fat.

Cardio is a great fat burner, while you're doing it. However the number of calories burnt after working out is higher from resistance training, so you will continue to burn calories hours later.

All you should really remember is to achieve a fit and health body, you need to burn more calories than you consume through plenty of exercise and a healthy balanced diet.
I hope these tips have helped some others.

Fitness Friday| How To Reduce Cellulite

Image from Google

I'm going to be honest here, so I don't know about you, but I know I suffer from the dreaded cellulite, but thankfully I'm not alone as apparently Ninety per cent of women suffer from it, including celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Blake Lively! It is caused by a combination of factors including toxin build up, water retention and poor circulation.

Below are some tips I have picked up over the year to help reduce the appearance of cellulite!

Step One- Change your diet

Healthy eating is very important when it comes to cellulite, as eating processed, junk food only encourages our bodies to retain water and slows down our circulation. Reducing your consumption of saturated fat, caffeine, wheat, salty foods, alcohol and refined carbs will make a big difference. 

Step Two- Move your body

Exercise it the most effective way to ridding cellulite. For the best results you should try and mix up your work outs, include; aerobic exercises such as jogging and cycling or swimming; toning exercises such as weight training and lots of squats; lymph-boosting exercises like yoga and Pilates. 

Step Three- Stimulate your system

Stimulating your lymphatic system increases the oxygen travelling through the body, and gets rid of toxins. The most effective method is through body brushing. You do this by selecting a brush which is not too soft or not too hard, and brush before your bath or shower. Start at the feet and working up your legs and across the hips, bottom and stomach in upward strokes. Move from the hands, up the arms to the shoulders, always brushing towards your heart. 

7 Top Tips

1. Eat plenty of fresh foods and reduce your processed food consumption.
2. Eat protein daily.
3. Cut out fatty, sugary foods which are stored as fat, mainly on your lower body. 
4. Drink loads of still water!
5. Exercise! Exercise and Exercise! 
6. Relax once a day- take a few minutes to concentrate on your breathing.
7. Body brush to improve the skin texture and use a good moisturiser. 

Do you have any of your own tips?

Fitness Fridays| Blast Fat Fast

For those of you who work out, work out and work out some more, but are yet to see the results, this may be because you have hit a plateau with your fitness. This is basically where you reach a point in your exercise routine where your body has become used to the routine, and additional progress cannot be made. This typically happens every 6 to 8 weeks.

The following tips should help you defeat the plateau and find yourself fighting the fat again.

• Factor in Rest- There does exist such a thing as too much of a good thing. If you give yourself a rest week every fourth week, you will actually gain fitness by allowing your body to recover and grow stronger. If you feel very tired or something is niggling, do not be afraid to take an extra few days, or even try a lower impact form of exercise for a week.
• Short and Sweet- If you are aiming for fat loss, then shorter, high-intensity workouts are the most effective. Incorporate interval training into your routine. This consists of a short burst of high-intensity work followed by longer, low-intensity recovery periods. Ideally you want to aim for 45 seconds of high intensity, followed by 90 seconds of low intensity, repeated every 8-12 times. You can do this running, cycling on the stepper... just do it!
• Lift it up- strength workouts are essential for your workout routine. Weight training raises your metabolism, gives you a totally new body shape, sheds fat, and improves your body composition. Incorporating strength training for 20 minutes, 3 times a week will train your body to burn fat while making you lean. 
• Just keep moving- Every little helps! Any extra movement you do throughout the day will burn more calories, all those little thing between your gym sessions can make a difference. Take the stairs, get off the bus a stop early, jumping jacks in ad breaks, just keep moving!
• Nibble away- In order to keep your metabolism up you need to keep eating (obvious the right stuff, not rubbish.) Start the day with a decent breakfast then keep nibbling every two to three hours. Keep snacks near/on you such as nuts, seeds, hard boiled eggs, fruit and veg. 
• Shake it up- As mentioned earlier, your body get used to the exercises you put it through, therefore try and keep things fresh, keep it surprised. Change the frequency, length, and intensity of your workouts, Try a new exercise; yoga, Pilates, dance, swimming, spinning, use weights and kettle balls, just be adventurous. 

I hope this help a few of you get out of a rut, and back to making a difference to yourself. Do you have any other tips?

Fitness Fridays| Little changes equal big changes

Image taken from We Heart It

So a few of the past Fitness Friday articles may have been a little daunting or a too big of a challenge for some of my lovely readers and followers. Therefore today I am offering some advice on the little changes that everyone can make that will make a big change to your life and health, so here we go;

1. Eat before you exercise- research shows that your body burns the same amount of fat whether you eat before exercise or not. However exercising on an empty stomach means you exhaust your supply of glycogen (this is glucose you store for energy). If you do this you will end up burning more your muscle instead of building it... not good girls!
2. Combine your strength exercises- do not just lift your arms weights while standing still. If you are doing arms lifts with your free weights, combine these movements with squats, as the more muscles you use at the same time the more calories you will burn. Don't over do it though! 
3. Beware of mini-sized snacks- you may think eating snack size treats is being good, however studies have shown that it is easy to overeat these. This is because it makes it harder to stick to one portion, your silly little mind believes that because the calorie count is so low on these snacks, you convince yourself that its OK to have seconds. Its OK if you have the iron will and will power, but just be careful girls! 
4. Reduce your rest time- The fewer rests you do mean you do the same amount of work, but in less time, therefore reducing your workout time, or meaning you can do twice as much work in the same amount of time. In a study, it was found that people who waited 35 seconds between exercise sets lost 27% more body fat than those who rested for three minutes.
5. Eat protein at every meal- Please please so this girls! This will dramatically change your diet for the better, so if you make one change do this! You will fell fuller for longer, which prevents you from snacking. The best sources are eggs, lean meat and fish, and nuts.  

Fitness Friday- Benefits to strength training

I hope some of you have done some jumping jacks this past week! I did! I thought they were going to be alright, but they soon get tiring, great all over body workout! I'm definitely keeping it up, as feeling my legs are a bit more toned.

This week my concentration is on strength training. I know far too may girls that are scared of strength workouts and think they are going to end up big and bulky, when in fact this is wrong. All that will happen if you incorporate strength training into your workouts is you will lose inches and weight quicker and you will look better naked... more toned! Now who doesn't want that! 

Studies show that women don't build bulk, and gain size from strength training like a man does. You instead develop muscle tone and definition.

Even if you don't have weights, use tins of beans or soup, or use your own body weight by doing lunges, push-ups and crunches. 

All images from Tumblr

I'm not going to preach to you , I will only list the benefits; 

1. You will obviously become stronger- With this your confidence will grow!
2. You will lose body fat- For every 3 pounds of muscle you gain, you will burn an extra 120 calories a day, thus causing your body to burn fat without even trying!
3. You burn calories for longer- After lifting weights you body continues to burn calories for an hours after the workout!
4. You will more likely have a flat stomach- Studies found that lifting weights just twice a week can prevent you from gains abdominal fat!
5. You will reduce your risk or osteoporosis, heart diseases, diabetes, and depression!
6. You will reduce your risk of injury- This means you can work out harder for longer when you are at the gym without risking damage to yourself. 

The best thing you can do is both... do strength and cardio. 

Think of it this way- Cardio sculpts the body from the outside in (Because you are burning away your fat), and strength training sculpts your body from the inside out (Because you are building your muscles underneath your fat).

I hope this article helps a few people, and opens a few peoples eyes to what they are missing.