How to Use Your Mind Against Your Bodies Desire to Forgo Exercise

For many people the hardest thing about exercise is actually getting body up out of bed and moving. Most the time our mind wants to exercise. We know that it will be healthy, give us more energy, help us sleep better and have countless other benefits. Getting out of bed can be such a pain in the butt. It is just so comfortable and warm underneath all those bed covers, and who wants to get up and put our body through pain, no one.

Here is my secret. Now, if I tell you this secret you have to promise not to spread it like a wildfire. If this secret gets out it could be bad. Are you read? Here is the key. I have named my bed... "The Gym". That way whenever someone asks what I did this morning I can say, "I spent the whole morning in The Gym." Bam, now all your problems are solved.

Okay, for real though, there can be quite a battle with your mind and body. The good part is that you are the one that gets to decide which will win every battle, your mind or your body. You know the benefits of working out and you have every intention to work out. I know that for sure because that is pretty much what everyone thinks, because it is true. Here are a few tips for you to give the edge to your mind.

There are two types of people, morning people and night people. I for one am NOT a morning person. I stay up late and sleep in as long as possible until I have just enough time to get up and get ready for work. Try and build your workout routines around whatever type of person you are. There is no way I could wake up early and workout consistently. Yeah maybe for a few weeks, but soon I will start slacking. If you are a morning person, then get up earlier and workout in the morning.

Try and find a workout that you like. I love getting outdoor and hiking and biking, so I try to do a lot of that for exercise. If you like working out at home, then get some home work out equipment or a DVD workout video. If you like the gym set a plan to get to the gym at least 4 times a week. Otherwise you are throwing your money away. Doing what you enjoy, or at least half enjoy, will help give your mind the edge.

Try working out with a friend so you can have some accountability. This is my personal favorite. This is what gets me going more than anything. In the past I have said that if someone misses a workout then they owe the other person $10. That will keep you working out, plus you will have someone to talk with and progress with.

Now you have no excuse to let your body defeat you in the battle to exercise. Exercise is just far too important in life to not do. So get up out of bed, get off the couch, turn off the TV and go get fit.

Reshape Your Biceps With Resistance Bands

The bicep is an important muscle for both women and men. Useful for lifting, well defined and shapely biceps are appealing and look great. There are several ways to exercise your biceps and you can use resistance bands instead of free weights to get excellent results. Many people are turning away from free weights because they are heavy, take up too much space and are awkward to store and carry, while resistance bands offer the same benefits they are much easier stored and carried.

When traveling, it can be difficult to bring free weights to ensure that you continue your bicep workouts. Resistance bands are compact and can be easy to store away in your luggage. Make certain that you do not neglect your biceps workout just because you are on the road. With several bicep exercises to choose from, you can mix up your workouts and ensure that your biceps continue to get the strengthening and toning work that they need.

When beginning any health, diet, or exercise program it is a good idea to speak with your heath care provider first. Those who have had shoulder or elbow injuries, suffer from chronic joint pain, or struggle with arthritis should discuss the use and benefits of resistance training with their health care provider. It is important to recognize the warning signs of pain and never push yourself to the point of injury. Yet, most health care providers agree that exercise is the best way to prevent the debilitating effects of arthritis and other joint related conditions. Use a lighter resistance band when just beginning and aim for 3 sets of 25 repetitions. When you can complete these easily and effortlessly, progress to the band that provides the next level of resistance. Bands usually come in many different colors to show their strength levels so you know what pound each resistance band is.

There are a variety of ways to perform bicep curls with resistance bands, including seated and standing. Choose the exercise that you feel most comfortable with or mix and match routines to ward off boredom. Seated bicep curls can be performed on the floor or mat, in a chair, or on an exercise ball. Standing bicep curls can be accomplished by standing on the middle of the band or by affixing the band to a door or other steady piece of furniture, door, or equipment. No matter which method you prefer, you will find that performing bicep curls is an excellent way to keep the arms toned.

To perform standing bicep curls with resistance bands take your band and place the middle of the band on the floor. Stand on it with feet hip distance apart. Keep the knees at a comfortable bend, not flexed and grip the ends of the bands with each hand, palms facing up. With elbows kept close to the body, bring the hands in towards the shoulders. The key in performing correct biceps curls is to keep the body stabilized throughout the movement. You might find that squeezing the shoulder blades gently towards each other will keep your shoulder area stabilized. Bicep curls are an important exercise and with resistance bands you can perform them simply and easily.

10 Diet Tips For Weight Loss

The formula for losing weight is simple. Eat less and exercise more. It's a formula that's work since the beginning of time. People tend to get all caught up in the latest diet fads, the latest weight programs to hit the market and what the celebrities are doing. It doesn't have to be that complicated at all. Just follow these 10 easy diet tips and watch those extra pounds melt away.

Diet Tip 1. Eliminate empty calories and junk foods (fats and sugars) from your diet. This one is a no-brainer. If you're going to eat, eat healthy.

Diet Tip 2. Reduce the amount of overall fat in our diet to a maximum of 30%. Eating less then 20% of your calories from fat is even better. Remember, some fat is essential and some fats are better than others. Avocado, olives, nuts and seeds, various oils like olive, flaxseed and canola, and fatty fish are all good fat choices. Keep some of these types of fats in your diet.

Diet Tip 3. Adjust your caloric ratio to increase protein during the day and decrease carbs at night. As a rule of thumb, you want about a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. Eat protein throughout the day so your muscles get what they need, when they need it. Lower the number of carbs in your diet in the evening, as you have fewer energy demands as the day goes on.

Diet Tip 4. Eat less as the day goes on. As the saying goes: Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. This way as your day slows down, so does your caloric intake.

Diet Tip 5. Time your carbs. Get your carbs in the morning and afternoon and lay off them at night when your body doesn't burn them as efficiently. Carbs are also best eaten as a quick energy boost before and after a workout.

Diet Tip 6. Eat several small meals (5-6 per day), and eat less as the day goes on. Remember diet tip 4.

Diet Tip 7. Eat 25-30 grams of fiber a day. Great sources of fiber include wheat bran, oatmeal and beans.

Diet Tip 8. Vegetables are a great snack and should be a dieting mainstay. Make sure that you consumer at least five servings of vegetables per day.

Diet Tip 9. Eat and walk. Very light physical activity, like a stroll after lunch or dinner, not only helps digestion, but also helps to boost your metabolism and burns up some calories.

Diet Tip 10. Supplement your diet with the nutrients your body needs - especially if you are cutting calories. Make sure that you are eating foods for all food groups and make sure the food that goes into your body is as nutritional as possible.

Again, you don't need to follow a celebrity diet plan to lose weight. By following these simple time tested rules of weight loss, you will lose those extra pounds, hit your weight loss goals and achieve a healthy lifestyle.

How to Lose 10 Pounds in a Week - 8 Proven Tips That Helped Me to Lose 10 Pounds in One Week

I desperately needed to lose weight for my wedding. I have lost 13 pounds on the first week, and 10 pounds on the second. This is quite a short time for losing weight, and not very healthy, I know. However, this quick weight loss success was a kick-start for my weight loss journey, and it motivated me to keep losing weight, following natural and healthy methods later. I am going to share every single step I followed on the second week, that helped me to lose 10 pounds in 7 days.

Please keep in mind that extremely fast weight loss is never healthy.

Here are the steps I followed after the first 7 days, to lose 10 pounds in a week:

1) First, I had a day of detox - to cleanse my body and lose weight even faster. I prepared a drink of lemon juice, ginger and honey mixed with water, and drank this detox drink during the day. Whenever hungry, I just drank it. I felt good, as I normally do, no cramps, no lack of energy, nothing. This was not hard at all, and I am sure it boosted my weight loss results. I know some people do the whole week of detox, but this is not for me.

2) I limited the amounts of foods, because I really needed to lose weight so fast. I had plenty of vegetables, lean meat, fish, eggs, and some fruits (mostly apples and oranges). My new rule of eating was this: half of the plate should be veggies (just tried to avoid too much potato), ¼ of the plate - white meat or fish, and the rest can be fruit (no bananas because they are too sweet and starchy). I know that eating less is not always an option for a long lasting weight loss. But it surely is an option for fast weight loss, and that`s what my goal was. An easier way to reduce the amount of food is to get a smaller plate. However, eating less was pretty hard, I admit. But I reached my goal, and I am so happy now.

3) I added 2 apples an one can of black beans to my daily diet. I had the beans as my main meal, or split them into 2 smaller meals and had with veggies on the side. This is a trick that no diets tell. And it works wonders, because 35 grams of fiber in a daily diet truly supercharges weight loss. These fibers clean the digestive tract and improve digestion.

4) I started to eat breakfast and stopped eating at night. 7 PM was the latest time of the day when I had my dinner. Breakfast boosted my metabolism and helped me to burn calories faster, although I never believed it could be so important for weight loss. It kept me energized as well. I got at least 10 glasses of water during the day, and I still do - water cleanses the body, increases metabolic rate, and does not let you feel hungry.

5) I distributed my usual calorie intake during the day. I started to eat 5 times a day, having smaller meals. This way I never had to go hungry.

6) I limited fat, sweet and not so healthy food, and whenever I felt like I need to eat something unhealthy, I moved those meals to the first part of the day. Because metabolism is higher in the morning compared to the evening, and this let me eat a donut or ice cream once every few days.

7) Instead of drinking juice, I had a fresh fruit every time. Juice is too sweet for weight loss, if you`re thirsty, get some water or unsweetened green tea.

8) I kept myself motivated and busy all the time. I know that when you`re busy, you have no time to go to the kitchen. This works wonders.

This plan might sound too simple to lose 10 pounds in a week - but follow this plan religiously, and you will see real results.

Loosing Weight and Gaining Muscle Its Easy

loosing weight and gaining muscle is relativley easy, i personally would say the most important things are obviously good diet and a decent training programme.

Diet is relativeley easy to know but often harder to stick to i find that being realistic with your diet is most important for loosing weight and gaining muscle as people who set them self unrealistic goals often fail, the diet i am following at the minute is a good example of a diet that is not to O.T.T and quite easy to follow

* Breakfast:1 egg 2 egg whites scrammbled on wholemeal toast

* 10am snack: two pieces of fruit protein shake

* Dinner: jacket potato with tuna and salad

* 3pm snack: fruit and protein shake

* tea time: chicken and salad with a light dressing

* evening snack: fruit

this diet is similar to what i would follow on a daily basis obviously you can mix it up a bit with different meals so you don't get bored but you get the idea its all good healthy food, also you will notice i start the day with carbohydrates in my bread and potato but towards the end of the day i tend not to eat as many, i find this very good for loosing weight, also during the day i try to consume about 5 litres of water and of course eat plenty of fruit, this diet would be ideal for someone wanting to loose weight and gain muscle its low in fat and has lots of quality protein for repairing and growing muscle.

Now on to training this is obviously the second part of the equation good training programme i have used many in the years i have been training as i like to keep my body guessing, the programme i am using at the moment is by ll cool j and his personal trainer if you check the resource links below i have highlitesd where is the cheapest place to buy this book this programme is very varied there is lots of cardio along with weight training a lot of the programme is circuit training which i have found brilliant if i am honest i was a bit out of shape when i started just due to a few months laziness however it soon got me back in shape again in the first 6 weeks I lost the best part of a stone and gained significant muscle growth, also it is full of other imformation and has some really good diet programmes definatly worth a look guys and there is also a 6 week womens programme towards the end of the book.

The other training programme i would highley recommend is burn thre fat feed the muscle this is a brilliant programme for beginers or the more experienced alike in this programme desighned by natural bodybuilder tom venuto you are given excelent advice on nutrician and training i personaly got down to about 9% body fat which for me is the lowest i have ever been i only have 2 weeks left of the ll cool j programme and am considering this programme for the second time its that good so there you have it these are my personal favorites for loosing fat and gaining muscle check them out get in shape just in time for summer.

How To Get Nice Muscle Tone And Build An Attractive Muscular Body

Most people know that they need to lift weight build muscles. However many just want to have nice muscle tone and an attractive but not too muscular body as they do not want big muscles. So they just lift light weights with high repetitions. Well, it is not going to work. To have nice muscle tone, you will have to build some muscles right? So you will have to lift heavy to force your muscles to grow. Once you are satisfied with the size of your muscles, you will then need to cut your body fats for your muscles to show up well and that means nice muscle tone.

You need to have a solid commitment and knowledge to get nice muscle tone and build an attractive muscular body. Here are some muscle building tips. Before you commence weight training, remember to warm up and as well as doing some stretching exercises.

•Train Muscle With Free Weights

Machines will have its uses, but for a start, concentrate on free weights. That means work almost exclusively with barbells and dumb bells. Free weights recruit many stabilizing muscles for balance and control. That means you will work a lot more muscle parts other than the intended ones. That will give rise to little bumps, striations and definitions all over your body instead of one huge lump of muscle on your intended muscle. Because of the extra stimulant created, your muscles grow faster too. Why else do you think all professional body builders almost exclusively use free weights?

•Train With Compound Exercises

Incorporate as many compound exercises as possible to your routines. Compound exercises are exercises that involve 2 or more joint movements. Because they utilize more joints, which means greater muscle mass are involved. Greater muscle mass means heavier weights. Heavier weights mean encouragement of greater muscle growth. More muscle growth means more tone to your muscles.

Some excellent compound exercises are the Squat, Deadlift, Chin ups, Dips, Bench press, Barbell Press, Lunges, Bent-Over Barbell Row...etc.

•Train Intensively But Do Not Over train

You must train intensively for your muscle to grow. Try to do more reps or add more weight than the previous session or else your muscles will think (actually muscles don't think, they adapt), "Ah... we've done that. Nothing new, so no need to grow bigger and stronger." That being the case, you will wreck your chances of attaining an attractive muscular body.

Because of this, it is important that every time you train hard, you give your body time to recover as it has suffered strains and actually sustained many small scarring. Contrary to popular belief, your muscles grow when you rest, especially when you sleep and not in the gym. So sleep at least 8 hours a day. Also, do not train everyday or work the same muscle group more than once or twice a week. If your training was vigorous enough, do no more than an hour per session.

Try not to do cardio work on the same day as your weight lifting work. In fact, during the muscle building phase, you should do less cardio work as aerobic exercises burn muscles. You can increase your cardio work at cutting body fat phase, so as to lose body fat in order for your muscle tone to show up nicely.

•Technique And Form

This is the most neglected fundamental of bodybuilding. Everywhere, everyday, you will see people using wrong forms and techniques. This not only compromises your growth, it will also make you susceptible to injuries... sometimes even permanently putting you out of the gym.

Wrong form occurs usually when people try to lift weights that are too heavy, whether out of vanity or ignorance. As a guide, always lift with strict focus on the muscle you intend to build for that exercise. Feel it contract and extend. Lift the weights deliberately and slowly. Never ever swing your weights up especially when doing bicep curls or the military press.

•To Build Muscles Fast You Must Perform Lower Body Exercises!

This is what most people don't realize. Your lower body makes up 60-70% of your musculature. If you don't train them, not only will you look spider-legged, your entire body will not grow as quickly and as large. Don't think that you can hide those skinny limbs in pants! Most people do not train their legs because squats, dead lifts and lunges can be very grueling exercises. But it is precisely because of such intensity that you will produce more growth hormones when you sleep and overall muscular development is stimulated. Your body shape will also be more balanced and therefore more attractive.

Do read up more to understand how your muscles work and then work on it so that in no time you will be a proud owner of a well tone attractive muscular body.

How To Effectively Reduce Belly Fat

Jelly Belly. Love Handles. Dunlap Disease. Whatever you want to call it, the excess fat around your midsection that wiggles and jiggles in all the wrong places just isn't pretty. Not only is belly fat unattractive, it can be downright dangerous to your health. Extra fat carried around your abdomen can increase your risk of heart disease. With so many pills, potions and programs flooding the weight loss industry today, many people are left feeling just plain confused about how to effectively reduce belly fat.

The first thing you must know about how to effectively reduce belly fat is that there is no magic bullet when it comes to weight loss. Reducing body fat levels requires a three pronged approach that doesn't come from popping diet pills or gulping down foul tasting drinks. Belly fat also won't come off by trying to spot reduce only doing sit-ups or crunches. It's just not possible to spot reduce, so don't waste your time.

So, the question remains, how do you effectively reduce belly fat? Here is a safe, practical three pronged approach to get rid of belly fat.

1. Healthy Meals. Notice the word diet isn't part of the equation. That's because the word diet conjures up visions of carrots and celery and not much else. The word diet gives us nightmares of deprivation and hunger, and that's not the image we're looking for with permanent weight loss. Just because the word diet isn't used does not mean you're free to gorge on junk food at will. Healthy meals consist of lean protein, lots of vegetables, whole grains and some fruit. Your should consistantly choose foods that are as close as possible to their natural state.

2. Cardiovascular Exercise. Regular cardiovascular exercise will reduce body fat levels. Where should you start? Wallking is great cardio! Put your shoes on and get moving for at least 30 minutes per day. It doesn't matter how fast or how far you walk in the beginning, the most important point is that you're moving your body aerobically on a regular basis. If you don't enjoy walking then ride a bike, rollerskate, jog, run. Participate in whatever aerobic activity you enjoy.

3. Lift Weights. Yes, you did read that correctly! If you're wondering what lifting weights has to do with effectively reducing belly fat, then read on. Regular weight lifting has several beneficial effects for those folks trying to reduce their body fat levels. Muscles burn extra calories. The more muscle you carry on your frame, the more calories you burn in a 24 hour period which translates into extra fat burning power. Muscles take up about one third less space than fat. Muscles give you the power to carry on your daily activities more effectively and with energy to spare.

Learning how to effectively reduce belly fat isn't a difficult task. The three principle keys to getting rid of your gut rely on diet, cardiovascular exercise and weight lifting on a regular basis. Remember, you didn't sprout belly fat overnight and you can't get rid of belly fat in a day, but you can reduce belly fat if you're willing to put forth a bit of
effort.