Winter Fitness

Millions of people for obvious reasons become less active during the winter time. Combined with holiday sweets and treats, winter can be one of the easiest seasons to lose your shape. I’m sure a lot of us don’t like working hard to get in shape for summer and then losing it around winter time just to have to do it all over again next year. For those of us that become less active in the winter then the summer I’ve decided to list off a bunch of activities you can do in the winter to stay active and in shape.

Shovel the snow instead of use a snow blower.
Go sledding, walking up hills can result in a great lower body workout.
Go to a gym or exercise in doors.
Go ice skating.
Go on a walk and enjoy the snow.
Go shopping for presents, there is plenty of walking involved.
If you use a wood burning stove or fire place go scavenge for fire wood instead of buying it.
Go build a snow man.
Go around and look at Christmas decorations.
Play with the kids or animals if you got em.
Take a vacation, if being active in winter isn’t your thing, go somewhere warm and get active there.
Get some house work done, clean out the garage or something.

Just GET OUT and do something. Go to the movies, hang with friends, or go bowling. Anything you can do that doesn’t involve you sitting around all the time watching tv and eating sweets.

You may have heard the phrase Circuit training more then once but do you know what it is or even tried a work out using Circuit training?  A lot of people tend to do one exercise and stay on that exercise till they are finished with working out that particular muscle group. This can add a significant amount of time to how long you spend at the gym. For those of you looking to cut down on your time spent at the gym, Circuit training is the answer you could be searching for. Circuit training is where you perform more then one exercise in concession with another. Example is doing one set of curls and then instead of waiting to do another set, move on to another exercise such as the bench press and do a set of that. If that’s all you wish to do for your current circuit it would look like this.

1 set curls > 1 set bench press > 1 set curls > 1 set bench press, and so on till you have finished working those muscle groups.

Of course when doing a circuit many people include more then just 2 exercises into their circuit at a time. Which exercises you include is up to you and you can have multiple circuits in a work out so don’t add too much. Doing circuits during a work out is a great way to keep your heart rate up and is also a great way to cut down on the time spent at the gym.

Today I’d like to share one of my ab workouts that I do often in the gym. Its just a simple and effective floor exercise with no need for heavy weights or fancy machines. So here it is

First of all make sure you are stretched out and ready to go, don’t be out of breath or you probably won’t last long.

Crunch – 25 reps ( look at the ceiling and don’t bend your neck and keep your back on the floor.)

Right Oblique Crunch – 25 reps

Left Oblique Crunch – 25 reps

Push Through – 25 reps

Right Side Crunch – 25 reps

Left Side Crunch – 25 reps

Leg Pushes – 25 reps

Reverse Crunch – 25 reps

Bicycle Crunch – 25 reps (you can go for more if you can handle it.)

If your just starting out your going to want to take breaks and rest throughout this workout.  Never over do any work out.

Facts are something everyone looks at. So here are 5 Facts about fitness that may get you back into the gym.

-Fact #1-

Fitness improves overall Health. Some are saying well duh? But did you know it relieves stress, helps ward of diseases and sickness, and can even improve conditions such as diabetes or high cholesterol.

-Fact #2-

Eat the foods you love. You like eating food and indulging in sweets, and there is nothing wrong with that. I personally eat when I want and what I want. Thanks to being fit and exercising often, I can still enjoy good food and maintain a killer body.

-Fact #3-

While many people see working out as only way to improve appearance. Staying fit will increase your performance in all aspects. Run longer, play longer, get work done with ease, the possibilities are endless.

-Fact #4-

The heart is the strongest muscle in the body. Being fit improves your hearts performance. This help prevents heart disease, increase blood flow, and reduces how much your heart has to work.

-Fact #5-

Breathing is actually important to working out. The only time you should ever hold your breath when working out is if your are doing an underwater exercise.

Working out isn’t always as simple as just lifting heavy weights. There are many factors that can lead to a more intense workout and yield better results. I’m going to share 5 tips with you I use every time I go to the Gym.

-Tip #1-

Slower Lifting. So its no problem for you to curl 50 pounds 25 times fast? Well with slower lifting you’ll be increasing the effectiveness with each rep significantly. Each curl should take about 5 second between contracting and releasing. This is more effective then just cranking out 25 reps in 20 seconds.

-Tip #2-

Good Form. This one should apply to every exercise you do. I see lots of people at the gym who stray from good form and it’s costing them a more effective work out. Make sure when lifting you are using weights where you can keep your good form during reps rather than struggling to lift weight that’s too heavy to keep perfect form.

-Tip #3-

Intensity. This one can be a key factor in getting a much better work out. Some people spend hours at the gym working out when that isn’t necessary. If your workout feels like it’s getting to easy and your no longer as sore after your workouts chances are your not pushing yourself hard enough. Rather then working out for 2 hours with low intensity kick it up into high gear and do a more intense workout for an hour. What do I mean by more intense? I mean lifting heavier weights or increasing resistance. As you can imagine this will push your bodies limits much quicker and give you a more effective workout.

-Tip#4-

Protein. This one is crucial for people interested in increasing and keeping their muscle size. Muscles need protein to rebuild and grow. Without it, your muscles aren’t rebuilding the way they should and that means your workouts less effective. While it’s generally better to get your proteins from the food you eat, it’s not always possible. Consuming a Protein shake before your workout and after, combined with the proteins you get from food, should be more then sufficient to stimulate your muscle growth.

-Tip #5-

Change it up. Are you still doing the same exact workout you’ve been doing for months? Well that’s a problem, you’ve probably reached a plateau, what’s a plateau? Well in terms of working out its the point where your workout has stopped earning you good results because your body has become used to the workout. It’s far more effective to change your workout and work the same muscles just in different ways. This is going to be way more effective and give you a much better workout.