One of the major challenges that new athletes encounter when working out is improving their endurance. Perhaps this sounds familiar: you resolve to hit the gym in the new year, and show up in your gear, ready to go. Ten minutes into your workout, you’re huffing and puffing, overextending yourself and forgetting why you wanted to get in shape in the first place. This is no “runner’s high!”

First of all, don’t despair! Endurance is something that must be built slowly and steadily, over time. The best way to increase your endurance without burning out or injuring yourself is to begin with something light and comfortable, like brisk walking. Experts recommend a pace that elevates your heart rate, but not so much that you couldn’t have a conversation with a walking partner.

30 minutes, 3 times per week is a common target for walking exercise. Once you’re comfortable at that activity level, increase the workout time by 15 or 20 minutes. Of course, you can always add extra days to your workout.

Increasing the intensity of your workout will further improve your endurance. If you’re comfortable with walking, try light jogging or running. Tired of jogging? Perhaps biking might be more to your liking. Swimming, lifting weights, ultimate Frisbee, or salsa dancing are all ways to increase the intensity of your workout while still having fun.

Improving your endurance does not have to be an exercise in drudgery. People get burned out on exercise when they don’t constantly switch things up and keep it fresh. Mixing high intensity aerobics with a light session of weights and a game of pick-up basketball is one way to get a fantastic workout that builds endurance.

Remember these simple steps to building up your endurance and having a great exercise experience:

1. Check with your doctor if you are concerned you may have health problems as a result of ramping up your exercise regimen.
2. Start slowly, and build from there.
3. Determine the types of fitness activities you’d most enjoy.
4. Change the type of activities you do, including moderate, vigorous, and muscle building endeavors.
5. Work out in a safe place and be aware of your surroundings.

Fencing.net is the online guide to the Olympic sport of fencing. Learn more about this great fun sport, perfect for building endurance and toning legs and glutes at fencing.net.

Kettlebell training is quickly gathering adherents all over the world, thanks to endorsements from big-name celebrity fitness trainers like Jillian Michaels and Kathy Smith. These days, fitness enthusiasts are beginning to realize that staying in shape is a lifelong process that requires long-term dedication and positive changes in lifestyle.

It’s no longer fashionable to refer to fitness programs as ‘boot camps’ or ‘warrior training sessions’ or some other equally ridiculous phrase. All the successful modern fitness programs do away with this idea of instant gratification and promote
concepts which foster a lifetime of good health and an injury-free lifestyle.

With that in mind, it’s no wonder that even the most ‘old school’ of training styles — kettlebell training — is being revamped and improved with an eye towards increasing the sustainability of the exercises and decreasing the risk of injury. These days, the smart kettlebell athletes use modern adjustable kettlebells. Unlike traditional bells which are nothing more than a cast iron ball with a stubby metal handle, adjustable kettlebells are designed from the ground up with the user’s safety in mind.

Since the weight is adjustable in sensible increments, there’s no need to make a massive jump in weight when moving from one kettlebell to the next heavier model. This means workout progress doesn’t stop; instead, it keeps coming without jarring to a halt when you outgrow a fixed-weight kettlebell.

Adjustability has another massive benefit over the obsolete fixed-weight bells. It means you can use one kettlebell for all your exercises. You don’t need to buy separate weights just to do swings and snatches in the same workout (for instance). The cost savings and performance benefits of such an approach to kettlebell fitness are overwhelming.

But there’s more to the newer styles than just adjustability. They’re easier (and safer) to use too, thanks to the wider handles and thinner grips. Designers looked at all the areas in which traditional bells failed their users, addressed these issues, and improved them to the point that a modern adjustable kettlebell is significantly superior to the old fashioned style it replaces.

So whether you go for a best seller like the Powerbell, or one of the more expensive models, you can be sure that modern technology and good design has combined to give you a kettlebell that will get you in shape the right way.

Written By Lisa Schilling RN at Get REAL Wellness Solutions

The benefits of yoga are multifaceted. As someone who spent a great deal of time developing muscle definition and doing cardiovascular exercise, yoga seemed like some kind of New Age way to tie yourself into a pretzel. My experience has shown that to be a silly misconception. In fact because of all I did in fitness, I needed the benefits of yoga more than I ever realized.

In many areas my muscles were tight and inflexible. This led to occasional injuries and frequent visits to the chiropractor for minor adjustments and realignment. After my first session of yoga I actually increased my vertical forward bend by nine inches! From that point on, I was hooked. Yoga was the real deal and it yielded visible results.

But the benefits did not stop there. I lead a fast paced and hectic life, often carrying stress and tension in my neck and shoulders. Through my regular yoga practice I have learned simple techniques to keep this area loose and reduce temporary physical stress.

Beyond the physical stress, my mental stress was high. My mind was “on” 24/7. The practice of yoga has taught me to quiet my mind and control my breathing. This benefit has been life changing. Creating the awareness of “now,’ by practicing mindfulness, is a gift in this era of busyness. The practice of yoga allows you to gently restore your body’s natural alignment, while strengthening your supporting muscles.

The deep breathing, guided imagery and relaxation techniques that are taught in yoga can be used in other areas of your life as well. They can help you to restore balance in mind, body and spirit. This kind of holistic approach has helped my overall satisfaction with life.

Learning to properly stretch your muscles while engaging in deep breathing creates an internal harmony. This internal balance has aided my other areas of personal health and fitness. The increase in flexibility and the peace that came with it has been truly an unexpected reward.

Some of the practical benefits of are:

• mind, body and spirit balance
• improved circulation and digestion
• internal harmony and peacefulness
• deeper and more frequent relaxation
• increased flexibility and injury reduction
• increased mindfulness and emphasis on “now” awareness

For more health, fitness and wellness related information from Lisa Schilling you can visit: www.getrealwellnesssoltuions.com or find her on facebook at www.facebook.com/getreal.wellness.

This is a guest post written by Lauren Dzuris. Lauren runs FindMyCarSeat, an Infant Car Seat website that was created to help parents find the right car seat for their child, while giving them advice on everything from pregnancy to your child’s toddler years.

Once we become pregnant, we often worry what our body will be like after the birth. We hope that we don’t get those terrible stretch marks, and most importantly, we hope we don’t have a lot of extra pounds to lose once the baby arrives. Although we can control how much weight we gain during our pregnancy, a lot of us still blame the “baby” for making us gain the weight. If you’d like to get stay in shape during your pregnancy and after your pregnancy you can exercise and of course have a healthy diet.

It may seem a little frightening to exercise while you’re pregnant, but really if you follow these five tips, you can guarantee great results all while staying safe.

1. Talk with your OB/GYN: First of all, you want to make sure you talk to your ob/gyn first before you do anything. They will make sure you’re capable of exercising and also make sure you’re not a high risk pregnancy.
2. Hydrate: It is so important to keep your body hydrated. Not only are you making room for two now, but you want to make sure you don’t dehydrate yourself, which can harm you and your baby. I always recommend a bottle of water before exercising, during, and a full one after to rehydrate what you’ve lost.
3. Stretch: Take five to ten minutes to get a good stretch in. This will get your muscles working and ready to do any physical activity and will also help increase flexibility and weight loss.
4. Take it slow: You don’t want to overdue yourself during your pregnancy. Take it slow and don’t push yourself. They say that you shouldn’t get your heart rate higher than 140 beats per minute. So, try to get your body going, but not to the point of overdoing it.
5. Avoid: You want to avoid certain exercises like weight lifting, Pilates, and anything that is mainly core related. Instead, you can go for walks, light jogs, slow bike rides if you’re not too far along, and some exercise videos that don’t push you too hard.

As you can see, exercising is pretty simple when you’re pregnant. Most importantly, talk with your physician before any physical activity and always make sure you don’t overdue yourself!

Have you spent time on the treadmill or investing time in circuit training to only get nominal results? It works in the beginning and your weight loss starts to slow. So what do you do? Most people add more time to the treadmill and became a slave! When doing cardio or circuit training only – you see results initially, but that eventually comes to an unhappy ending. You see, the human body adapts over time and becomes more efficient.

Start by cutting out long “cardio” sessions that could potentially lead to weight gain. Many top-notch fitness experts believe that the body adapts to aerobic exercise by storing more fat. If a cardio session primarily breaks down fat, then shouldn’t the body adapt to that fat loss by storing more of it? That extra fat will ensure that the body has enough fuel for the next long haul of a cardio session. This is why the ’cardio maniacs’ make little to no progress in the fat loss department even after hours of exercise every week—not mention look a little flabby and BORED!

Lifting weights or body resistance training, breaks down muscle and creates more growth—thus making you stronger. The purpose for strength training is to build muscle. The muscle is your body’s built in fat burning equipment and burns calories 24 hours a day. Therefore, the more lean muscle you have, the higher your metabolism, the more fat you are able to burn and the more food you can eat!

You need to make strength training the focus for long term fat loss. Now, on the flip side, strength training itself doesn’t seem to compare to cardiovascular exercise on a fat burning basis. Strength training is typically done at a moderate intensity, so it tends to burn less fat.

High-Intensity Interval Training (often referred to as HIIT). Burning a lot of calories in a shorter amount of time AND experience an elevated metabolism for the rest of the day is what you want right??!! When you follow weight lifting with anaerobic exercise you increase your metabolism for an extended period of time and burn more calories. This type of cardiovascular training is so much more effective for fat loss! Initially, your intervals can be fairly long, but as you progress the low intensity interval will decrease. You always want to make sure your body does not become complacent and continues to burn fat! By frequently changing your workouts and incorporating this type of training, your body will be a lean, mean, fat burning machine!

If your primary goal is fat loss and long term weight loss then long cardio sessions and circuit training needs to become a thing of the past. Interval training is the weapon of choice against fat. In the end, spend less time working out and more time doing the things you love!

Guest Written by:
Lori Boyd, Owner of BODY 360, LLC
http://www.fitnesstrainingcolumbus.com/
614-653-8080