Hiking – An Excellent Option For Improving Fitness

With so many of us cooped up indoors pounding the treadmills and working the stationary bike, in climate controlled environments, the idea of hiking in the great outdoors, as a fitness option may not strike readily. And yet hiking is an excellent option for meeting your fitness and health related objectives – and summer may be the best time to take that road not taken!

Depending upon your fitness levels and your fitness goals, your hike could mean a leisurely paced trek to an arduous one on a steep gradient.

Hiking up hills can itself be fairly taxing physically, particularly when you are also carrying a back pack – this can help burn calories and also help increase body strength.

It isn’t just the physical impact of hiking that is positive – being outdoors and communing with nature is also more tranquil.

Hiking can help you de-stress as well as help you get stronger and lose weight.

It can be a fun group activity, wherein you may enjoy the activity so much, it doesn’t even seem like a work out.

Hiking is not something that requires a lot of skill and as a group activity one can get a big boost of encouragement and support as well. Since it is an enjoyable activity, even a sedentary person may be tempted to persist with it.

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Hiking – An Excellent Option For Improving Fitness

With so many of us cooped up indoors pounding the treadmills and working the stationary bike, in climate controlled environments, the idea of hiking in the great outdoors, as a fitness option may not strike readily. And yet hiking is an excellent option for meeting your fitness and health related objectives – and summer may be the best time to take that road not taken!

Depending upon your fitness levels and your fitness goals, your hike could mean a leisurely paced trek to an arduous one on a steep gradient.

Hiking up hills can itself be fairly taxing physically, particularly when you are also carrying a back pack – this can help burn calories and also help increase body strength.

It isn’t just the physical impact of hiking that is positive – being outdoors and communing with nature is also more tranquil.

Hiking can help you de-stress as well as help you get stronger and lose weight.

It can be a fun group activity, wherein you may enjoy the activity so much, it doesn’t even seem like a work out.

Hiking is not something that requires a lot of skill and as a group activity one can get a big boost of encouragement and support as well. Since it is an enjoyable activity, even a sedentary person may be tempted to persist with it.

Syndicated via RSS From: http://www.fitnesshealthzone.com

Gym Versus Home – The Benefits Of Working Out At Home

While many of us may swear by the gym and claim that only working out at the gym can work for them, many of us may have the contrary view, that working out at home beats the gym any day!

Fact is both can work for a person, depending upon their own priorities and preferences. The pros or benefits of working out at home[fitness at home] are many:

It’s Free: Whereas a gym membership will cost you, working out at home is free. You can go for a brisk walk rather than walk on a treadmill or enjoy a real bike ride out in the fresh air rather than workout on a stationary bike.

Rather than use dumbbells, you can use a couple of cans and rather than use resistance exercise equipment, you can do pushups and chin ups for free.

Even, if you do make an initial investment to purchase equipment; that would be a onetime expense. There is no recurring expense such as a monthly or annual gym membership.

It’s Private: Many of us feel most reluctant to work out in front of other people. Either because we don’t want others watch and judge us, and the progress (or lack thereof) that we make, or because one does not like to get all hot and sweaty with others looking on, many of us may prefer working out at home.

Working out at home is as private as you want it to be. Also you can be dressed any old way; your oldest and most tatty clothes will do. At the gym you would need to be dressed presentably and may be rather tempted to go shopping for new trendy stuff as well.

Hygiene: Although many gyms have excellent hygiene and cleanliness standards, the exercise equipment at a gym will typically be used by a series of different individuals, whose personal hygiene the gym may be unable to control.

Also other users may bring in infections and viruses that one may be powerless to prevent exposure to. At home this is irrelevant since it is your own space and your own rules of hygiene apply.

You can follow your own schedule: A gym will typically have work timings and times when it will be shut. Further you may be assigned certain work out timings if that particular gym has rules as such.

At home you are free to work out at anytime that suits you. You can work really early in the morning or even have a late night workout session if that works for you. At the gym you may have to wait if someone else is using a machine, but at home you never have to wait.

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Ask Raphael: Get a Better Butt

Hi Raphael,

I want to tone my rear but do not want to make it smaller. If I could I would like to make it larger because it's already flat and small. What kind of exercises do you suggest? -- CS


CS,

You’ve come to the right place. I have a proven workout for you. There are only three exercises involved in my program: the squat, walking lunges and leg presses. Check out the following comments from eDiets members who used the program and posted on my Exercise and Fitness support board.

From eDiets member Danelle:
“Hi Raphael! I did those walking lunges that you suggested as another lower body exercise. Man! do my buns hurt! I did them on Monday, and I could hardly sit on the toilet this morning! I cringed! Guess I hadn't worked all those muscles quite like that in a long while.”

From eDiets member Debby:
“I followed Raphael's butt routine religiously. And slowly but surely, I began to develop a butt! I've been dating a new guy for a couple of months and he said to me...'Did anyone ever tell you that you have a nice butt?'" I laughed really hard and said, 'Well no, as a matter of fact, that is the first time I've ever heard that in my life! Thank you!' He did not believe me, but I told him about the routine Raphael prescribes.”

You will be performing three super sets -- all three exercises in a row without resting After a 90-second rest, repeat two additional times (with the same 90-second rest between super sets).
Warm up for 5 minutes by walking or on a stationary bike. Then begin your first exercise with a few warm-up sets.

Squats: The squat is one of the best lower body exercises on earth. It works just about the entire lower body. However, leg positioning can assist in better isolating the glutes. If you position your feet about one to two inches past shoulder width and squat to a parallel position, you’ll really feel those glutes being worked.

However, you have to go to the parallel position for maximum effectiveness. Focus on perfect exercise form. Perform a set of 15 repetitions to momentary muscular failure. Momentary muscular failure means that rep 16 would not be possible to do. After the set is completed, immediately go to the next exercise without a break.

I prefer the barbell squat but you can also use dumbbells.

Walking Lunges: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, grasp a pair of dumbbells with your arms straight at your sides, palms facing the body. Take a large step forward, and lower your body so that your front knee lines up with your ankle. The back knee is almost touching the floor. Push off with your back foot and take a large step forward with your other foot.

Walk lunge 15-20 steps, and then turn around and return to the start using the same form. You should contract your glutes on the lowering of each movement. After the set is completed, immediately go to the next exercise without a break.

Inverted Leg Press: Place your feet two inches higher than you normally do on the leg press machine in order to place more overload on the gluteus and hamstrings. Your feet can be positioned at shoulder-width or just little wider. Make sure you lower the weight just a tad below 90 degrees, but no more. We need to protect those knees and lower back.

Perform a set of 15 repetitions. Make sure your legs are high enough on the platform so you can really feel your glutes on the lowering part of the movement.

By the end you’ll have performed nine total sets in minimal time and your glutes and legs will be burning -- but you’ll love it.

Please note: This routine isn’t for everyone because it’s advanced. If you’re not an advanced exerciser, follow these guidelines: Perform one set of each exercise on alternate days of the week for two weeks. In week three, add a set. Add a third set in week four, but do not attempt the super set. You’ll need 3-6 months of experience before you can begin the super set routine. However, it is something to strive for.

Make sure to thoroughly stretch your lower body after the workout.

Check with your doctor before starting this or any exercise program. Good luck and please write back in a few months and let me know how it’s working.

Have a fitness question you want answered? Email Raphael at askraphael@ediets.com and you could have your question picked! And if you missed a previous column, see the archive here.

Make NOW your time to do something about your weight. eDiets can help make weight loss a little easier. Let our nutritionists and fitness pros guide you! Click here for a FREE diet profile.

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