Five Ways to Fit Fitness Into Your LifeWritten by Sylvie Charrier
It is extremely important to select an exercise program that will be well-suited to your lifestyle. If you have to drive 25 miles in rush hour traffic to nearest pool, a swimming routine might not be your first pick. Find an exercise program that you like - shop around, try out various sports and programs. Only you can really determine if a given exercise plan is right for your tastes. In end, key to any exercise plan is obvious: For it to "work", you have to stick to it. And, to stick to it, most people need to find some satisfaction in what they're doing. Go out and find some exercise fun!============================================ The Buddy System: Exercise Made Easy ============================================ Find a partner to exercise with you. Having an exercise buddy will not only keep you motivated, it will also help you push yourself to becoming better and better. Your partner will inspire you to get out of bed on those cold mornings when you’re feeling lazy, and will share in your excitement when you've reached a milestone on your path to achieving your health goals. In addition, a partner will allow you to discuss your fears or frustrations, too. Find a partner and commit to making positive change in your life today. ============================================ Elevator Out of Order: Use Stairs ============================================ Whenever you can, use stairs instead of elevator. Elevators may be convenient, but they also make us lazy. There are so many opportunities in your daily life where you can choose to either be lazy or motivated to move. Doing a stair workout shows that your dedicated to achieving your diet and fitness goal. You will actually give your body a surprisingly good workout just by walking up and down stairs. If you focus your attention when climbing or descending, you can isolate affected muscles groups (e.g., calves, quadriceps, gluteus, hamstring) and produce a stellar workout for yourself.
| | "How Do I Gain Weight?"Written by JP Clifford
Try asking people how to gain weight and you'll likely see some bewildered faces staring back at you. For majority of people, hearing that question is akin to hearing questions, "How do I stub my toe?" or "How do I run out of gas?" Those confused faces not withstanding, question is a legitimate one and one that frustrates those who find themselves on light end of scale. While those on heavy end can't get through a commercial break or flip through more than five pages of a magazine without someone offering up a solution to their weight problems, it can be a lonely struggle for those who want to put on weight. If you are lucky enough to get a reasoned response to your question, it will probably involve words "eat more." That, despite being obvious, is great advice. Quite simply, to gain weight you will need to up your calorie consumption to point where you consume more calories than you expend. Couple an increased caloric intake with a little weight training and you have recipe for healthy weight gain. You may think you eat a lot, even enough to keep pace with your more weight-furnished friends, but you are probably over-estimating your intake. After a trip to doctor's office to rule out medical causes for your inability to bulk up(thyroid disease and other medical problems can hamper weight gain), a first step to designing an effective weight gain program is to journal your eating habits. Counting calories for a week will give you an accurate view of your diet. From there, increase your daily caloric intake by about 300-500 calories until you start putting on pounds. Keep in mind though, while your caloric intake will directly influence your bodyweight, it will be other factors like types of food you eat and your weight training regimen that decide type of weight you are putting on. So if you are after an aesthetically pleasing weight gain, that of lean muscle weight as opposed to just some extra body fat to lug around, it will be important to pay attention to these factors. To get most muscle out of your weight gain, avoid junk food and focus on eating whole foods. A good weight gain diet should be composed of 30-50% protein, 20-50% carbohydrates and 20-40% fat (the majority of which should be essential fatty acids). Different ratios within these ranges will work differently for different people. Keep up your food journal and experiment to find ratios that work best for you.
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