Here’s one more little trick to losing weight and gaining muscle and tone. Flutter kicks! It may seem like it can’t be that great of an exercise with a name like that, but it’ll make a huge difference in the glutes if you do include it in your routine. It’s a deceptively easy exercise; it doesn’t even include any weights or machines. Even more than that, it’s executed by laying flat on your stomach. Still think it might be for pansy’s?Check it out.

On a flat bench lie facedown with the hips on the edge of the bench, the legs straight with toes high off the floor and with the arms on top of the bench holding on to the front edge. Squeeze your glutes and hamstrings and straighten the legs until they are level with the hips. This will be your starting position. Start the movement by lifting the left leg higher than the right leg. Then lower the left leg as you lift the right leg. Continue alternating in this manner (as though you are doing a flutter kick in water) until you have done the recommended amount of repetitions for each leg. Make sure that you keep a controlled movement at all times. 

Here’s a short video to demonstrate: http://videos.bodybuilding.com/watch/29271/flutter-kicks

That takes care of the part where you burn energy, but what about getting energy back, minus the huge amount of storable energy (fat). We all know vegetable are a great source of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and good carbohydrates. But it’s still hard, even with practice, to stick to a bland diet. And lets be honest. If you’re used to eating a certain way, most food is going to taste bland to you. So you’ve got to find a way to kick up the flavor so you don’t kick out the diet.

Broccoli is packed full of vitamins and minerals, including Iron, Zink, and Vitamin K, so naturally it’s a great thing to include in your diet. Hypothetically. But let’s be honest, the best way to eat it is smothered in cheese and dripping with butter, but ingredients that are chock full of fat and empty calories. so lets make that broccoli sing a different tune, one we can harmonize with.

There can be little doubt that the most common way in which we cook broccoli is to simply boil it in water. This is where the problem of particularly children coming to dislike the vegetable generally arises. The most common error when boiling broccoli is to overcook it. The florets should be boiled only for about seven or eight minutes, until softened but still relatively firm. This not only makes them a lot more palatable, it retains far more of the goodness in the vegetable itself, as opposed to it being lost to the boiling water.

Here is a link to a recipe I am going to try this week: http://weightlossandtraining.com/broccoli-recipes

It looks delicious, but you never know until you try it, so I can’t wait to give it a go!

One way is to stand on the edge of a set of stairs with only your toes on the step surface, the rest of your foot extended beyond the end. Slowly lower your body down as far as you can, pause, then slowly raise yourself into a tippy-toe position. That is called a rep., which is just short for repetition. Pause and repeat ten-twenty times, depending on your strength. That is called a set.(Don’t over do it, you’ll really pay for it later. Your muscles will become filled with lactic acid and be sore and tight, making walking a very painful endeavor).  Step down and walk around for thirty second or so, and do another set. Do a total of three sets at least three times a week, gradually increasing to more reps as your body is ready for them. For bulkier muscles, you can hold hand weight in your hands.

So now you’ve become acquainted with a new exercise, what about a new food that you can introduce to your diet. In light of the surprisingly successful, recent popular Atkins diet (a Carb-free/low-carb diet), it may surprise you to learn that some carbohydrates necessary for a healthy diet. A baked potato, for example  loaded down with fat like butter isn’t healthy, but there are enough ways to make delicious, healthy foods that you won’t even miss the butter!Whole grain bread is a good example of a healthy carbohydrate source, but again, not loaded down with fatty, empty calories. More good news: you’ll feel fuller longer, since whole grains and fiber take longer to digest. And research shows that filling up on high-fiber foods may help you to prevent weight gain—or even encourage weight loss.

Whole grains provide a healthy boost of vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and phytonutrients and are also rich in carbohydrates, the body’s main fuel supply. Start your day with whole-grain muffins or yogurt topped with granola; try hearty salads with wheat berries or quinoa; swap out white rice or potatoes for sides of brown rice at dinner tonight. And here is a tasty recipe to turn you on to healthy cooking:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/roasted_red_peppers_stuffed_with_kale_rice.html

Enjoy!

This exercise is frequently seen being demonstrated at body building events, and the reason is simple. Dead-lifting requires the body to use almost every single muscle group in the entire body. As you can imagine, this consumes an enormous amount of energy, so in addition to building muscles, it also burns through an exorbitant number of calories, stored in the body in the form of fat. That makes it an excellent, albeit exhausting, addition to the work-out-for-weight-loss regimen.

The dead-lift is where a loaded barbell is lifted off the ground from a stabilized bent-over position until the person is standing in an erect position. As you may well imagine, this activity can be extremely dangerous to do if you do not know the correct technique and have no one there to help spot you. Here’s a link to how a dead-lift is done correctly and safely:

www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Do-the-Beginners-Stiffleg-Dead-Lift-23492061

So now we’ve burned up a ton of calories and we’re faced with the gut-wrenching dilemma of what we’re going to eat to satisfy the ensuing hunger. Because the exercise was so intensive, the muscle tissues have torn and your body is repairing them, so what you give it to do the repairs is imperative to the outcome of all your hard work. There are several things that your body needs right now, but the most important of all of them is protein. Complex carbohydrates are great for energy prior to a work out, but after a workout it is essential that you get large amounts of protein. And since the main goal is to lose the excess fat on the body, reaching for a hamburger would be anti-productive, despite the meager amount of protein it provides to your system. So, you ask, is a healthy alternative?

One of my favorite sources of protein is eggs. I eat five of them for breakfast, although I only eat one of the yolk. Egg yolks are where the cholesterol, calories, and fat are contained. Your body does need some fat, and I prefer the taste of eggs with an egg yolk in it, so I indulge my taste buds a little by keeping one egg yolk. But, you say, eggs are for breakfast! Not so fast. There are some muscle-building enthusiasts that drink the egg yolks raw, or mix the raw egg in smoothie concoctions, although I don’t recommend it personally. But there are other ways. Hard-boiled eggs are a quick and delicious way to eat the eggs at any time of day. Not only are they full of protein, they are filling as well. Here is one method for making great boiled eggs:

simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_perfect_hard_boiled_eggs/

Good luck, and enjoy raising the bar!

So this week lets get outside and do something about that boredom. Let’s go for a jog! Except, we’re going to step up the pace quite a bit and do sprints instead. While running and jogging are fabulous activities for cardiovascular endurance and weight loss, the sprint has benefits beyond the leisurely jog in the park. Sprints intervals within jogging sessions, however, do aid further in weight loss. Sprinting requires more power, and therefore demands more calories to be burned for energy, from the lower body and abs. It also feels amazing to run with everything you have, to test your lungs, heart and explosive force.

First, a how-to for push-ups. Doing them wrong, like any exercise with which you’re unfamiliar, can cause injury. Injury means laying off the muscle group so it can heal, which means postponing the great results you’re (sort of) looking forward to.

There are different intensities of push-ups that you can do, either indefinitely or until you have grown accustomed to the movement and gotten a little stronger. The easier version is frequently referred to as a woman’s push-up, due to the small amount of exertion required to execute the motion. In this version, the knees are kept on the floor at all times, feet up and crossed, although the rest of the body still moves in the same strait lever-like motion. Here is a link to help you have a visual idea of how to accomplish a sit-up correctly in this manner.

www.youngwomenshealth.org/fitness/ti_knee_pushup.html

For men, the same general motion carries though, with the exception that the feet are the pinion for the motion as opposed to the knees. This requires more strength and therefore should not be done unless you are strong enough. Here is a link to a video in which both men and women demonstrate the how-to of a correct push-up.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrgsIDWfKUY

Although there are hundreds of ways to get great looking, toned arms, this is a great (and very convenient) place to start. But just the exercise won’t cut it, you’ve got to include a good healthy diet on your journey to Popeye Arms. And as silly as it may seem, Popeye did something else right. He ate spinach. And while Popeye loved his spinach, not everyone does, which means it can be a real chore to include it in your diet. But it’s worth it, and making even small changes can make a big difference. Spinach is high in iron, which is especially important for women. Using spinach instead of Iceberg lettuce in your salads and wraps is the easiest, but there are some delicious recipes that include spinach, which really helps incorporate it into your everyday eating style. Here is a recipe worth trying:

allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crustless-Spinach-Quiche/Detail.aspx

Whatever way you choose to lean down and tone up is great, these are just some of the ways that I’ve chosen. Each journey to healthy is different, but it’s not how you make the journey that counts, it’s where you end up.

First of all, they must be done properly to avoid hurting your spine and the neck and head muscles. In addition, sit-ups are about using your abs. That means close attention has to be paid to make sure that you are not compensating by using other parts of your body to perform as sit-up, as this will diminish the effectiveness of the sit-up and may cause injury to your body. It is not as bad as it sounds – always, always focus on the abs and you are most of the way there!

Here’s a link to a video for a safe sit-up execution:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygmgGqzsSiU

The other half of achieving a pretty, toned belly is of course, the things you put in it. When it comes to meat, the leaner it is, the healthier it is, generally speaking. I’m a big fan of tuna, myself, and think anyone can find at least one recipe that they enjoy eating. And that’s part of what this is about. Enjoying losing weight so it’s easy to keep it off. I like Tuna Steaks, but then, I like tuna in general, so I even like it strait out of the can (packed in water, not oil) mixed with a little salt, pepper, and salsa. That wont cut it for everyone, though, so here’s a link to a delicious recipe for tuna:

allrecipes.com/recipe/sesame-seared-tuna/

Enjoy! And good luck!

Yes, they’re hard, but doing them (the right way) is the key to burning fat and gaining muscle. Muscle requires more energy even when not working, so building a muscle to eat away at your stored energy (fat) is the best way to lose the weight quickly and safely.

Here is a link to a demonstration of the correct, safe way to do static lunges: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ95qwNaD78 . You can also do walking lunges, as shown here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkwYjPQ97_0&NR=1 .  Note the the links do not work apparently, so you’ll have to copy and paste them into your browser window.

Another way to safely lose weight is to learn to control one’s diet. Not just in the dieting sense, but in a manner that can actually be adhered to on a long term basis, which means learning how to make delicious foods yourself so that you can control how many calories, fat grams,and carbohydrates (CFC’s) you intake, and what it is that provides those CFCs (good calories versus bad empty, or bad, calories).

One of the best things you can make a part of your diet is spinach. Spinach is high in Iron and vitamin A, low in CFCs, and easily added to many any recipes to create a healthier version. Here’s a link to a delicious spinach recipe:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-Crescents/Detail.aspx Enjoy!

In this blog series I’m going to introduce some different work-out exercises that can be done to help keep the jiggle at bay. I’ll introduce one new exercise a week, beginning with the ones I personally do. As I introduce a new exercise into my blog, I’ll incorporate it into my personal work-out regimen to be fair, and update the blog on my progress and/or assessment of that exercise the following week. I’ll try to find 1-2 link about the exercise in my blog for visuals and extra tips and advise.

I’ll also introduce one new health food each week,  explain what that food is most lauded for, and provide a link with a recipe you can use that food to make.

I’ll start by show-casing the American Pit Bull . The canine version of a product of the American melting pot is a true success story. A bulldog-terrier cross that made its way out of the fighting pits and into the hearts of dog lovers everywhere – well, almost everywhere. Nicknamed Yankee Terrier, Pit Bull Terrier, Half and Half, and American Bull Terrier, it was admired for its tenacity, courage, agility and spirit. Now known as the American Pit Bull Terrier, it has been recognized and registered by the United Kennel Club since 1898.

A true force to be reckoned with, it is a very strong, athletic dog. The dogs must be kept firmly in control; they might not go looking for trouble, but they won’t back down from it either. That, combined with their fierce loyalty and strong desire to please their masters, is one of the key reasons it was cultivated for fighting. They are great dogs, though, and training and socialization result in a calm, loving dog that enjoys such activities as obedience, herding and weight-pulling. They make great dogs for women who live in the city and enjoy the companionship and protection offered by this wonderful breed. They’re small enough to be kept comfortably in a small living space scenario as long as they’re exercised,  and grooming is a breeze since they have short hair. With minimal brushing, it’s easy to keep a Pit Bull looking sleek.

The Portuguese Water Dog is a breed that is also muscular, brave, loyal and obedient. The breed is good with children and is an ideal choice for the water sports enthusiast like myself who can give it daily exercise and a home with a yard. Obvious by the name, they love water so they’re great for the outdoorsy type, and since they’re only medium sized dogs, so as long as the owner is an active person, they’re great for indoor living as well. They’re originally from Portugal, but they were brought to the U.S. in the late-1960s, and in 1972 a club was founded to promote its interests. Alas, America and it’s CLUBS. It was a successful endeavor, though, so much so that more of them exist here in America than do in Portugal.

The only draw back ( aside from the fact that they basically look like a great big poodle – ugh! ) is that they do have to be brushed. This type of dog has two different coat types within the breed. They come in the typical poodle colors, with one coat variety being long, wavy and loose; the other being short, thick and curly. Both are “classified as single and non-shedding” , which I don’t know what means, and “require grooming about three times a week” which I would have thought meant the opposite of ‘non-shedding’.  Adult coats are customarily clipped in either the lion or working retriever pattern, again, much in the fashion of our dear friend, the Poodle.

So there you have it. Two amazing breeds, opposite in  temperment and strength, but equal in their unwavering ability to love and please their master, friend, and owner.

First, the tiny,  more than slightly annoying dog: The Chihuahua. Chihuahuas are alert dogs with terrier-like qualities. They’re  sassy little dogs that are well known as “purse dogs” like the famous Bruiser in the movie Legally Blonde starring Reese Witherspoon. They are good with families only if the children are gentle and patient. Because of their small size, they require little exercise and are good city dogs, but can be sensitive to cold temperatures because they don’t have much in the way of fur, which also means that they  need very little grooming. They are perfect dogs for people with little time and energy to devote to a pet.

Then we have the Vizsla. A beautiful, highly intelligent. perfectly sized breed with a great personality, the Vizsla thrives as part of an active family that provides daily exercise. He is lively and affectionate to his people, and possesses an above-average ability to take training. He’s low maintainance as far as daily grooming is concerned, which is a plus since you wont have time after exercising him.