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Archive for July, 2010

Strengthen Your Core in 12 Minutes a Day

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Strengthen Your Core in 12 Minutes a Day

If you suffer from back pain — or want to avoid it altogether, you’ll need to strengthen your core.

Strengthening your core is what allows you to do those everyday tasks (i.e. carrying the groceries, bending over to pick something you dropped, moving boxes, etc) and not get hurt doing them.

Plus, strengthening your core will give you better posture and keep you mobile well into your “Golden years.”

Here are three exercises you can do everyday (best of all, you can do them in as little as 12 minutes!):

Superman – Lie on your stomach. Stretch both your arms out in front of you. Make sure both your legs are straight behind you. To do a rep, lift your head, chest, arms and legs off the ground. You’ll feel your lower back tighten. When doing it correctly, you’ll look like Superman flying through the air. Hold this position for 3 – 5 seconds. Now go back to the starting position. Repeat 10 times.

Plank — Lie face down. Now get into a pushup position. Lower your forearms so that they are touching the floor. Keep your legs straight behind your. Only your forearms and toes should be touching the ground at this point. Now tense your abs and keep your back straight. Hold this position for 10 – 20 seconds. Repeat 5 – 10 times.

Side Plank- To do these, lie down on your right side. Now bend your right elbow, palm facing down. Put your left leg on top of your right and make sure they’re stretched out. Now lift your body (like you did in the plank) except this time, all that should be touching the floor is your right forearm and right toes. Stretch your left hand out towards the ceiling. Hold for 10 – 20 seconds. Repeat 5 times and then do the same on the left side.

Don’t worry if you can’t do all three exercises as outlined here at first. If all you can do is one rep, that’s fine.

Gradually build up. But most importantly, make sure you do these exercises every day to build a strong core that’ll help you relieve back pain, prevent future injuries and keep you walking taller.

Strengthening your core is just one of many things you should be doing to keep yourself fit and healthy.

Lose Your Belly Fat Before The End of Summer!

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Lose Your Belly Fat Before The End of Summer

Want a slimmer waistline in a few weeks’ time?

It’s certainly possible. And easier than you may have hought.

When it comes to losing that bulge around the middle, most of the advice you’ve probably heard is completely wrong.

It’s not surprising. There are quite a few myths out there when it comes to getting a flat stomach.

For example:

  • “You’ve got to do 100s of crunches to lose that belly”
  • “You need to diet (i.e. starve yourself)”
  • “All you need is XYZ brand’s diet pill.”
  • “Do hours on end of traditional low-intensity cardio, like walking on the treadmill.”

The truth is that it’s not that complicated to lose your abdominal fat.

Here’s all you need to know:

Eat right. This means eating properly to fuel your body, boost your metabolism and burn more fat. Avoid all junk foods, including fried foods, soft drinks and heavily processed foods. Stick to foods that have one or two ingredients max. That means good protein sources (like chicken, fish and eggs), plenty of fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats (nuts, olive oil, flaxseed oil, avocados, etc.) Also, try to eat 4 – 6 small meals evenly spaced throughout your day.

Train with weights. This one’s a given. Train 3 – 4 times per week. Focus mainly on compound movements. This means the “tough” exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, barbell rows, etc. These are effective at building muscle and priming your metabolism to burn fat like nobody’s business. Plus, these kinds of exercises are more functional and will provide the strength you need to go about your day-to-day life.

Do cardio smartly. Once you’re eating healthy and working out with weights, it’s time to add in a little cardio. But not the kind of cardio you see everyone else at the gym do. The goal isn’t to see how long you last walking on the treadmill. Instead, you’re going to do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

Simply put, this means alternating between all-out exertion and resting. For example, if you’re on the treadmill, you’d warm up for the first 2 minutes, then sprint as fast as you can for 1 minute. Then rest the next minute. Do this for 9 more sets of 1 minute exertion followed by 1 minute rest. Doing cardio this way burns more calories in less time, since you’re “upping” the intensity factor.

So there you have it. Follow these three tips starting today and you’re bound to lose some belly fat before Summer’s out.

 
 
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