Weight Machines vs Free Weights

An easy way to start weight training is to use the weight machines available in most gyms. These are user-friendly, have you move your body in a logical path, and usually have instructions telling you how to use the machine. They are good exercise — they move your muscles, get your heart pounding, and generally force your body to work off some calories and fat. However, if you are serious about weight training you should look into a freeweight training program.

Freeweights roughly divide into two categories: dumbbells and barbells. Dumbbells are weights that you hold in one hand, while barbells are bars with weights on either side of them. Obviously, dumbbells are going to weigh less than barbells for similar exercises because you need to hold two of them.

Weight machines do help you get started on resistance training programs, but they have some major drawbacks. For one, they are machines in the rawest sense of the word. They use pulleys, wedges and inclined planes to help you get the weight where it needs to go. This means that you are not really doing all of the work yourself, but rather are helping the machine do the work. This is profoundly different from moving a weight yourself.

Another problem is the fact that the range of motion is fixed. When the angle you move your weights at cannot change, your body does not need to engage stabilizer muscles. This means that the workout is not as good with free weights — you may be working the “focus” muscle (as in bicep curls), but you are not working any of the auxillary muscles. This means that it may take two or three different weight machines to do the work of one barbell exercise or dumbbell exercise. This is not very efficient, and it makes for longer workouts.

So speak to a personal trainer or someone else with intimate knowledge of weightlifting about a free weight program. They may be intimidating to start out, but once you’ve mastered the form you’ll wonder why you ever used machines in the first place.

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Weight Lifting

Weight lifting has gained popularity in recent years as more and more people have discovered its benefits. It is no longer just the purview of bodybuilders screaming in the corner of the gym, looking and sounding positively inhuman as they grunt and scream to move a weight through the air.

But weight lifting doesn’t need to be like this. Indeed, you can be extremely strong, fit and lean without the truck-like shoulders or breast-like pecs that the guys in the corner of the gym have. Those guys have devoted their lives to lifting weights; you’re probably just trying to get (or stay) fit and healthy.

There are a few key points you need to understand. The first is the difference between an isolation exercise and a compound exercise. If you’re a beginner, you should probably stick to the latter. Isolation exercises work one single muscle, while compound exercises work entire muscle groups. Working single muscles can feel like more of a workout and have more immediate, tangible effects, but it also opens you up to the possibility of injury.

If, for example, you have extremely well-developed biceps but haven’t developed your shoulders, pecs or back, your biceps will be able to hold and lift more than these muscles. This will make it possible for you to lift something partway — but when the other muscles kick in they’ll be overwhelmed, possibly straining or tearing.

So, whether you’re lifting a lot of weight for a few reps or a little weight for a lot of reps, you should start with compound exercises. These are a little more intimidating and technical than most isolation exercises, so you should consult a trainer beforehand. Doing a compound exercise incorrectly puts the strain on the wrong joints and muscles, and also opens you up to injury. However, the benefits are innumerable, ranging from more energy, better muscle tone, and lower body fat, so if you are physically able you should consider a weight training program today.

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Abdominal Training

You want nice abs. I know it, you know it, we all know it. Even the most well-adjusted person can’t help but see a model or actor with washboard, 6-pack abdominal muscles and feel just the slightest pang of jealousy.

It is easy for these pangs to manifest themselves as endless situps, crunches or other abdominal exercises. Like all exercise, these are better than nothing — but they probably aren’t going to get you the washboard stomach you want. This is because the real key to a nice set of abdominal muscles is not actually strong abs. Rather, it’s low body fat.

Have you ever seen a really skinny guy take his shirt off? He’ll often look surprisingly ripped. This isn’t necessarily because he is. Rather, he just doesn’t have a layer of fat covering his abdominals. You, on the other hand, probably do. So to get a nice set of abs, you shouldn’t be focusing on the abdominals. You already have these. Rather, you should be focusing on the layer of fat covering them.

The bad news gets worse. You can’t actually get rid of fat on your stomach alone. Your body doesn’t work that way. Your body eliminates fat uniformly. If you lose a pound of fat, it is going to be partly from your stomach, partly from your face, partly from your thighs, and so on.

As I said above, exercise is important. But you can only burn so many calories. It’s much more efficient to cut fat from the front end — change your diet. You need to reduce your calories by around 500 a day, cut out the trans fats, and avoid simple carbs like sugar, white bread and other foods without much nutritional content. Lean meat and vegetables are your new best friends.

It’s going to take time, too. Healthy weight loss is a pound or two a week. After awhile, you’ll see hte difference — your stomach fat will have burnt off, and the 6-pack you never knew you had will make itself known. Enjoy.

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Interval Training

Interval training is cardiovascular training that is extremely effective for both cardiovascular strength and fat loss. It works your heart extremely hard, which gives it the ability to move more blood wtih each individual pump. This gives you better endurance for running, walking, having sex or performing any other cardiovascular activity.

It also improves your metabolism, making your body burn more calories both before and after you work out. So, someone who regularly interval trains will burn more calories watching TV at night than someone who does not.

Interval training is also quick (albeit brutal). Most interval training sessions are around twenty minutes long, so if you don’t have much time you can easily smash a session out after work, or even during your lunch hour. This makes interval training a good option for the busy exerciser.

You need to ease into interval training, both in terms of general training and for individual workouts. You should start every interval training session with a five-minute warmup, where you work at a gradual rate and keep your heart beat just slightly elevated over your resting heart rate.

Once you’re warmed up, you need to increase the speed or intensity for a “work” interval. The key is to be working as hard as you can. If you’re on an exercise machine, you can either start going as fast as you can or increase the level to a higher level.

Your intervals should be short — around 30 seconds, but this is not set in stone. You can make them 15 seconds if you want, or a minute long. They shouldn’t be much more than a minute, though, as the key to interval training is short duration, high intensity.

Once you’ve finished your first work interval, you should have a rest. Don’t stop exercising, of course. Rather, just slow down to the speed you were going when you were warming up. Your rest interval should be twice as long as your work interval when you start this training. Over time, you can make it shorter and increase the total number of work intervals.

The whole workout should be 20 minutes long. This doesn’t feel like much, but trust me — you’ll feel it.

Filed Under: Games, Sports Tagged With: , ,

The Success of Sport Themed Movies

Sporting events and great sporting achivement evokes such a passion and emotion throughout the world it’s only natural that storylines about true champions, inspirational winners, passion and commitment to a sport and the determination to achive make such great movies.

You can go right back to early movies like Elizabeth Taylors debut in National Velvet, Chariots of Fire, up through the decades to Raging Bull, The Rocky movies, Sea Biscuit and more recently The Fighter.  There are so many great movies about sport but what is it about sporting movies that captures our imagination and sends us in droves to the movies?

1)       They are all relatable, and once you can relate to a situation or a character you are emotionally attached.

2)      Human spirit.  We all want to see good people overcome any roadblocks and succeed, it also inspires us to do the same

3)      Admiration.  We adore and throw love and affection on a true champion.  Look at Mohammed Ali or Rocky Balboa.  True geniuses of their chosen field of sport whether fictional characters or not

4)      The underdog.  The gripping emotion you feel when you see The Champ defeated or Sea Biscuit win.  Sometimes the emotion is so high you can barely watch yet glued to the screen at the same time as if you really are on the track or front row at a boxing title fight.

So, the next time you are in the video store, see how many great movies there are about great sporting events or sportsmen and women.  Rent some out, ignite some passion in your belly and get inspired!

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Unusual Sports From Around The World

It’s always sports season somewhere in the world and millions of fenthusiasts every day are registering at local sports clubs, becoming fan members of a premier league footy team and buying up merchandise of their beloved teams left right and centre.

But what if you over it a little this season and fancy a change?  Well you may want to try these unusual sports for size if you’re brave enough!

In Finland, there is the annual wife carrying championships. Yes, you guessed it they actually carry their wives or partners across a bizarre obstacle course, through water and race to the finish.  If you’re thinking of taking up this sport you may want to run it past your wife first!

The Aussies love the tuna throwing championship held in Port Lincoln, Adelaide annually.  The current champion is an ex hammer thrower who threw his tuna 37.23 metres. So that’s what happens to retired world sport champions!

In Gloucestershire the English aren’t as quiet and reserved as you may think.  Once a year thousands turn out for the annual cheese rolling championships.  This strange and surprisingly dangerous sport has entrants rolling a rather large hard cheese down a hill and running after it.  It’s so bizarre its makes the news headlines most years and there are often cheese rolling related injuries.

The Welsh are not to be outdone.  The annual competition of man vs horse pits human against equine in a race of stamina and speed.  Competitors race through trees, down steep hills and negotiate an obstacle course.  The horse is more often than not the winner.

Maybe after reading the above a game of baseball, tennis or a local swimming group seems much more suitable.  The grass as they say is not always greener, so grab your Lakers cap, pick up your golf clubs and enjoy!

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Joining the Gym – How To Keep It Going

We’ve all done it.  Put on a few kilos, felt bad, joined the local gym and paid extortionate fees for a whole year only to go twice and never go back.  So how do you stick with it this time, increase your energy, lose weight and finally see the results you’ve been searching for?

1)      Get a buddy.  If you join with a friend the gym stops being a chore and starts being a social event.  You can motivate and encourage each other, have a laugh and negotiating your way around a large, unfamiliar gym is less scary with two.  You are also less likely to back out of going if you know your friend will be waiting for you there.

2)      Get some tunes!  Upload your ipod with running tracks and high energy rock or dance tracks with a strong beat.  Subconsciously you will move to the beat of the music burning more calories and time will fly by!

3)      Routine.  Overtime at work, picking up the kids and taking the dog to the vets are all lame excuses to justify in your head that you can’t get to the gym for a workout.  If this sounds like you the best advice is to build a morning workout into your weekly routine.  Set your alarm just 30mins earlier than usual, chuck on your gym gear, brush your teeth and get to the local gym for 20mins of cardio.  If you commit to doing this three or four times a week you will begin to see a different.

All of these tips will keep you motivated and committed to regular exercise.  But without a positive attitude and realistic goal setting you are more likely to fail.  So think about what you want to achieve, grab a mate and have some fun!

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The Teenager: are Extreme Outdoor Sports in their Future ?

The teenage years are a period of transition from childhood to adult. Parents want to channel that teenage energy into forming a happy, productive and responsible adult. If they have participated in the typical outdoor sports such as baseball, football, tennis, volleyball and on, are they ready for a transition to extreme outdoor sports ? That will depend on whether parents are in to extreme sports already or perhaps an opportunity for father/son or mother/daughter combinations to jointly look in to extreme sports of interest to both or to each.
A search of available extreme sports in their home region or a resort offering the extreme sports of interest to them jointly or individually would help decide an action plan.  Together time sharing sports and social events that will be permanently seared in to their memories for a lifetime, would seem to be a most desirable pursuit.
What, oh What should I choose ?
Selecting an initial choice among so many options might prove to be challenging. A teenage lad might be influenced by what his dad does to keep bread on the table or he may have had a keen interest in autos or military aircraft. This might prompt him to choose Paragliding or Sky Diving initially. A teenage lass might have an interest-as her mom does- in furthering the advance of women to compete in that formerly all male bastion outside the home. She might be prompted to choose mountaineering as her first choice and stand out as a woman pioneer in that particular field.
A lad on a date with a mountaineering lass might innocently ask what hobbies she likes. He will have to think fast when she casually responds ” Oh, I like to climb mountains ” Life on Earth is forever changing, coping and adjusting to the changes becomes a lietime pursuit.

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Fun in the Sun

A friend of mine is considering purchasing a property in Long Beach and renting it out to tourists when he isn’t in town. That sounds like a great decision. Even when he’s not in town and using the house himself, he can always snag a tourist to rent from him. Tourists are always looking for alternatives to staying in hotels. It’s so much nicer to take a vacation in a place that feels like a home, not just a cramped hotel room with only a bed and a TV. In Long Beach, he would always have a pool of tourists looking to rent in this popular vacation destination. He could even hire a Long Beach property management company to help him find renters and take care of the place while he’s away.
I really hope he goes through with the purchase, because, let’s face it–Long Beach is definitely the place for fun in the sun. I would love to visit him in Long Beach while he’s living in his summer home and get my fill of bikini-clad women, parties, outdoor shopping, warm weather, and palm trees. He and I are really into hiking and surfing, and Long Beach is the ideal place for both of those sports. My friend says thatdeep sea fishing is really fun, but I have never tried it. Since Long Beach has excellent deep sea fishing, I could go on a fishing trip while I’m there. And Long Beach is home to some of the most adventurous off-road vehicle trails on earth. Nothing beats one of the best beaches in the world! That’s right there in Long Beach, too.

Really, Long Beach is the ultimate vacation spot. I’ll have to see what I can do about talking him into buying a property there so that we can enjoy many sunny vacations there.

Filed Under: Hiking, Outdoor Sports

Family fub and Solidarity vta Outdoor Sports

The children are growing, perhaps ranging in age from a first grader to preteen. As parents you want to expose them to that world outside their home location. The children are anxious to experience that world they see and hear about. Traditionally, the options include travel to vacation regions and roughing it ( sort of ) by pop up camper,fifth wheel, or motor home at suitable camping facilities spread across the country.
In recent years, resorts offering year round outdoor sports on an organized or family choice basis are growing popular. The outdoor sports combined with better creature comforts and the scenic natural beauty of sea shore or mountainous regions have proven to be an attractive package.
Cold Season Outdoor Family Sports
Outdoor sports resorts offer a full spectrum of cold season activities: The joy of ice fishing, the fast action of ice skating or hockey, enjoying that natural beauty -enhanced by the snow cover- by snow shoeing or cross country skiing. The outdoor sports resorts will offer contests or tournaments to whet the appetite of of the competetive souls among us
Warm Season Outdoor Family Sports
Warmth expands the spectrun of choices for family sports: swimming, surfing, snorkeling at suitable shore locations. Softball, outdoor basketball, tennis, hiking at suitable mountain regions. The family enjoyment around a campfire as the children clamor for more smores.
Locations for Family Outdoor Sports resorts
Sea shore activities can be found in Maine, Massachusetts ( Cape Cod ), Florida ( many beaches out to Key West ) California ( Long Beach ) Louisiana and Mississippi for the Gulf shores. Mountain regions include Colorado ( Aspen, Vail, Steamboat Springs ) Idaho ( Sun Valley, Couer D’Alene, Elk River ). A bevy of resorts that will suit the status of the family pocket book and interests on a year round basis.

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