Fitness - page 7

10 Most Favorite Exercises You Can Do With Dumbbells

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There are so many exercise equipment you can use to work out. They have various styles, specific used and benefits like for cardio, weight and strength exercise.

Equipment’s such as treadmill, medicine ball, bicycles, boxing pads, etc.

Yet, one of the most common and used equipment there is, the dumbbell.

Dumbbells are  used in weight training, they are made of either metal bars or cast iron with metal plates on both sides. Can be used individually or in pairs, with one in each hand.

Here are 10 Most Favorite Exercise using Dumbbells;

  1. Biceps Curl – with a dumbbell on each hand start on standing position. Arms should be hanging at your sides while palms facing forward. Then flex your elbows to curl the weight in a controlled motion. Pause the motion then go back on the staring position.
  2. Shoulder Press – with a dumbbell on each hand start on standing position. Do the pressing movement by extending your arms, flexing and abducting your shoulder to rotate the arms as you press above your head. Pause at the top then go back on the staring position.
  3. Overhead Triceps – start on a sitting position, hold dumbbell on one hand directly above head with arm fully extended. Try to clasp  elbow with free hand for support. Then, slowly fold elbow so dumbbell is lowered behind head. Finally extend arm back to staring position and repeat.
  4. Front Raises – on a standing position, knees slightly bent, shoulder with apart. Palms should be facing towards thighs. Raise one dumbbell directly in front of you. When arm is parallel to ground lower dumbbell slowly back then repeat with the other arm.
  5. Hammer Curls – in a standing position with dumbbells both sides. Turn palms inward so they face body. Curl dumbbells up slowly keeping your elbows close to sides. Do as many repetitions as you can.
  6. Flat Chest Press – Lying flat on a bench or mat, hold the dumbbells directly above chest with arms extended. Then lower dumbbells to chest on a controlled motion, press dumbbells back to starting position and repeat the movement as many as you can.
  7. Half Squats – Holding dumbbells at sides, stand upright with feet shoulder width apart. Bend and do squat position while keeping your back flat. Return to upright position and repeat.
  8. Lunges – Holding dumbbells at sides, stand upright with feet shoulder width apart. Step one foot forward about 2 feet and bend your knees to 90 degrees nearly it touches the ground. The push off with front foot to return to starting position.
  9. French Press – lying on a flat surface or bench, hold dumbbells with both hands directly above chest with palms facing and just about touching each other. Locked your shoulders and let your elbows fold so dumbbells are lowered down to either side of head. Go back to staring position and repeat.
  10. Triceps Kickback – standing position right beside a bench place one arm and leg on the bench. Upper body should be parallel to ground. Holding dumbbell raise your elbow so upper arm is parallel to ground while elbows bent on right angles. Then extend elbow so entire arm is parallel to ground and go back to starting position, repeat. Switch position and work on the other arm.

There are so many dumbbell weight class to choose from. In using this equipment, you should be conscious on how heavy you can carry to avoid any injury. Better start on lighter weights and as you get used to it move on to higher weight.

Dumbbell exercises are good for building and strengthening muscles on upper body especially the arms and shoulders part.

Try these 10 most favorite exercises using one of the most effective tool, the dumbbells.

7 Tips for a Trimmer You

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7 Tips for a Trimmer You

Gain weight from holidays? So much party, still feeling bloated and trying to cut down calories.

This time you wanted to feel better and lose some weight. With so many resolutions losing weight is one of the most difficult to achieve.

To lose some pounds this year here are 7 simple tips you can take to reach that goal.

1.Drink plenty enough water. Our body is consist of average 65% water, so it important to keep it hydrated. Hydration leads to hunger. Drink as much as 8-ounce glasses a day, also it is best to drink a glass full of water every before meal.

2.Sleep more. Study shows that lack of sleep leads to weight gain. Sleep deprivation can cause cravings, moody feeling and laziness. It is recommended to get at least seven hours of sleep everyday.

3.Choose Food Wisely. There are so much food types and nutrition available to consume. Good, junk and we thought good kind of foods are up for sale on the market so better choose your food wisely. Choose foods high in protein and fiber rich foods to make you fuller and provide more energy. Load up foods like eggs, poultry, cottage cheese, vegetables, whole grains and seeds.

4.Avoid Empty Calories. These are the foods we knew it’s bad yet so delicious and hard to resist. Try to avoid such as sodas, syrups, sugary snacks, white bread, white rice and highly process foods.

5.Look for smart substitutions. Like choosing the right food, try to choose better ways or options on how to cook or prepare your food. For example use olive oils on frying, sauté foods in stock or broth instead, choose popcorn not chips, or substitute your coffee with some smoothies.

6.Listen to your body. Be responsible with your own body, take care of it and listen. Eat on time with small amounts at least 5 times a day. Do not eat when your are too hungry, bored or stressed – or else your body will crave for more. Put down the fork when you feel full and satisfied – your body says enough so listen.

7.Exercise or move more. Visit your gym as much as you can, try to walk or jog around your village, take the stairs instead of elevators at work and do sit ups while watching TV. These are just some that helps your keep moving and somehow makes you burn those calories and fats. Don’t stay on one place/position in an hour, you got to move.

Follow these simple ways to trim down weight, make it a habit and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Start Your 2017 with 30 Days Body Shaping Challenge

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2016 is a year long of challenges, with regards to health getting fit was our priority.

And for sure we did our best to eat right, sleep right and exercise as much as possible.

Why not start the new year 2017, taking this month long challenge?

30 days body shaping challengeStart your 2017 with 30 days challenge

 

Lunges – are good exercise for strengthening, sculpting and building muscles including thighs, buttocks as well as the hamstrings. Try as much as possible both side lunges and back/forward lunges for better results, also carry some medicine ball if you can to put some weight.

Squats – helps to shape up your legs including your calves. It also help you improve both your upper and lower body strength. You can use equipment like kettlebell or weights to add some pressure.

Plank – this is one of the best core strengthening workout. This builds endurance and helps your shape your abs, back and core. Also will improve your posture and balance.

Frog Jumps – this is a great calorie burner exercise. Helps you power up and build strong muscles all over the body. This exercise is so easy to do and so effective movement.

Crunches – if you want more visible and strong abs try crunches. This exercise helps you shape and make you abdominal muscles stronger.

Try to do some warm up like jog in place before doing these routines and do stretching right after to prevent from getting sore. Also drink plenty of water and rest in a while if you are in pain, skip a day or so and get back strong.

Holiday season is almost over, take the challenge and help your body get in shape before summer time.

Eat a Healthy Side Dishes this Holidays

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Eat Healthy side dishes this holidays

Ham, turkey, roast pork or steak are mostly the star on holiday dinner table.

But most people are craving for the side dishes, and one of the most favorites are the big carbs like rice, mash potatoes, mac and cheese, and different kinds of pasta.

These heavy carbs contains many calories that can actually hurt our diet and will lead to weight gain fast.

Carbohydrates are both good and bad to our health. Know the recommended amount to consume and lists of good carbs to intake and you should be fine.

Why not try these side dishes instead to enjoy your holiday dining?

  1. Vegetable Salad – vegetables are very light and rich of healthy minerals like protein, fiber and vitamins which are good for our body. You can also add up some fruits to your salad for more flavors. Also dressings are very important so don’t overdo or use heavy dairy products like ranch or mayo.
    • Recipe: In a large bowl, mix all the lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, parsley and basil. Toss it well with vinegar/balsamic, olive oil, pinch of sugar, salt and pepper to taste. This is best on ham or steaks.
  2. Quinoa – is a very good grain with contains enough carbs and fiber. For all the meats we eat this recipe will ensure proper digestion.
    • Recipe: Put a cup of quinoa to a pot with cups of water add some salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil until quinoa is cook. Put some spinach, tomatoes or beans to it for some added flavors. Include this recipe with your roasted chicken or pork.
  3. Beans – is a good source of low-fat proteins, full of fibers and rich in nutrients. Adding beans to your daily diet is good for lowering body fat and controlling weight.
    • Recipe: Load the beans into a pot, add some onions, bay leaf and bacon then bring to boil. Reducing the heat, let it simmer for an hour allowing the beans to soften make sure to stir it once in a while. Then add some spices like paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. Simmer it again wait until soft and creamy.  This recipe are best with barbeques.
  4. Sweet Potatoes – when you say healthy diet, this crop is one of the most favorite. Sweet potatoes are packed with nutrients such as potassium, beta-carotene and fibers which are good for cutting weight.
    • Recipe: Wash sweet potatoes thoroughly and load them on a pot with water (just enough maybe half pot). Bring to boil for about 20-t30 minutes or until soft. To check if its already cook, use a fork and pinch the middle part of the potato, if the fork gets through it’s ready to eat. Serve it with some grilled chicken or medium-rare steak.
  5. Salsa – it is a Mexican favorite sides full with vegetables and herbs that are good our body.
    • Recipe: Toss some chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, parsley and corn. Add some lime, salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Best serve with steak or chicken.

Enjoy the holiday eating healthy options, so you won’t feel bad for your body after the festivities.

How can you Build your Body Muscles at Home?

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How can you build your-body muscles at home
Eat right, sleep right! Exercise is a must!
Help build your body build lean muscles by doing exercise even at home.
With that in mind, here are six exercises that will have you building muscle and looking great in no time:
Running or Walking. This is the easiest and simplest form of exercise, at home you move a lot from kitchen to living room, getting up stairs and down or running around the village. These exercises helps you strengthen your muscles on your legs, also a very good routine for cardio. 30 minutes running/walking can go a long way.
Squats. You can do this even while watching TV at home or while playing with your kids. Squats help you build muscles on your gluteus and butt area. You can use some weight for more intense workout. Do at least 25x in the morning and before getting to bed.
Push-ups. Find a flat surface at home and workout those arms. Push-ups helps build and strengthen muscles in your triceps area and midsections of your body. There are so many ways to do pushups and sometimes this routine is use for punishment or form of discipline in military or sports. Try to do at least 10 push-ups or as many as you can.
Crunches. It is also fun to do crunches in bed in the morning or before bed time. Crunches is an abdominal exercise works on midsection area and some part lower body like the hips. The abdominal crunch is a classic core strength exercise. Do some 10x or as many as you can.
Walking lunges. Add spice on your walking routine and do lunges. This exercise helps you build lean muscles on your hips, gluts and legs. There are different ways to do lunges like side lunges (using left and right foot) and classic lunges (front and back lunges). Try at least 20 each side or as many as you can.
Triceps dips. This exercise is a basic body weight that doesn’t require much of equipment. It is easy to tone muscles on your arms from shoulders to your elbows. You can always do them on the ground at least 20x or as many as you can.
Eating the right amount of calories and exercising these routines will jumpstart your muscle building process.
Try to lift progressively and alter your routines sometime.

10 Best Food to Help you Build Lean Muscles

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10-best-food-to-help-you-build-lean-muscles

Food is one of the key to have a healthy body. We need to eat to nourish our body and furnish energy.

For those people working out and cutting weight “food” is so vital which they are very conscious about it.

Our food intake should be essentially rich in protein, carbohydrate, and good fats to help us sustain growth, repair, and vital processes for our body.

To build lean muscles protein are very essential. Protein is what body needs during and after training for muscles repair and recovery. You need at least 200g of protein and gallon of water a day.

Besides exercise like lifting or watching calorie intake; check out our top 10 items to put on your protein-friendly grocery list!

  1. Eggs – this is a perfect breakfast meal cooked hard boiled, sunny side up, scrambled or omelet. Add some wheat or whole grain toast for a full heavy meal.
    • Protein Power: 6 g per 1 large egg
  2. Cheese – this can be a perfect snack or toppings on your pasta or salads.
    • Protein Power: 14 g per 1/2 cup serving
  3. Greek Yogurt – perfect for midnight snacking. So many flavors now to choose.
    • Protein Power: 23 g per 8 oz. serving
  4. Tofu – best for a dinner meal, slightly fried.
    • Protein Power: 12 g per 3 oz. serving
  5. Quinoa – is a high protein grain, this best serve on dinner as it very light and easy to digest.
    • Protein Power: 8 g per 1 cup serving
  6. Beef Steak – lean steak provide a generous amount of protein. Best eat this meal during lunch with some vegetables on the side.
    • Protein Power: 23 g per 3 oz. serving
  7. Chicken Breast – this poultry meat is easy to cook and cheaper than beef which has almost the same amount of protein. It is good to eat this on lunch or dinner.
    • Protein Power: 24 g per 3 oz. serving
  8. Pork Chop – choose boneless and remove fats to reduce calories.
    • Protein Power: 26 g per 3 oz. serving
  9. Salmon – this is one of people’s favorite meat. So easy to prepare and cook.
    • Protein Power: 23 g per 3 oz. serving
  10. Mixed Nuts – are good as morning snacks or food to munch right after workout. Make sure to watch out for sodium/salt.
    • Protein Power: 6 g per 2 oz. serving

We just need enough protein to build and repair muscles, and most of the time we don’t need supplements just eat most from the above list.

There are more protein rich foods in the pyramid like most of the vegetables and fruits. Make sure to always eat a balance diet.

Eating should makes us feel happy and content.

Get Warmed Up before going to Holiday shopping!

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‘Tis the season to be jolly!

Perfect time for gift giving, and going out for shopping is fun yet tiring. You can shop online but the shipping now is costly, takes time to get delivered and sometimes inaccurate.

So better go out and shop it yourself. It will be a long walk, falling in long line on the cashiers and carrying those shopping bags will be exhausting.

Why not do some warm up exercises first before you run to the mall?

Warm up exercises helps us to stretch out (good for some flexibility), body temperature will rise up (keeps you awake, ready and warm from cold weather), and strong enough to do some shopping.

Here are some easy yet effective warm up exercises;

  1. Jumping Jacks (50x)- in a standing position start jumping while arms over your head.
  2. High Knees in place (50x or at least 2 minutes) – while running in place, raise your knees above reaching waist level or as high as you can simultaneously.
  3. Jump Squats (25x) – begin in a squat position, then engage your core and jump up explosively. When you land, lower your body back into the squat position.
  4. Pushups (10-20x) – On the floor, start on a good posture push-up position. Position your arms correctly to properly support your body. Keep your back straight, flex your ab muscles and squeeze your gluteus. Then slowly lower your body as if your are pushing the floor away from your chest, and repeat. For assisted push-up, try to put your knees on the ground instead.
  5. Lunge with a Twist (20x) – start on a standing position, lift your right foot off the ground and place your right foot on the ground heel first. Then, twist your upper body to the right. Shift you left leg forward then twist.

Do these routines for only 1 to 2 repetitions depending on your capability and sleep hours. Remember you need more energy later, these routines should just warm you enough, stretch your body and boost some energy ready for a day long physical activity. Don’t overdo and tire yourself.

Stay warm and Happy shopping!

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