5 tips to improve treadmill workouts
Follow these five tips for improving your treadmill workout to see better results, says fitness columnist Kelly Turner.
By Kelly Turner
On Fitness
As the cold and wet of winter set in, many prefer the shelter of a gym to the great outdoors. With that, many people head to the treadmill for their cardio workouts.
But many people make critical mistakes while using the treadmill. Simply racking up minutes isn’t going to get you results. Don’t waste your time and effort. Make every one of those minutes count. There are several variables you can play with to get the most out of your treadmill workout. Try one or try them all, in any combination, to burn more calories and see better results in less time. (more…)
25 Most Deceiving Exercises (They Tone More than You Think!)
Pistol Squats
The Top Moves to Tone Your Trouble Zones
Tone your trouble zones!While you can’t target exactly where you’ll lose body fat (aka spot reduce), you can tailor your workouts to help build more lean muscle in certain spots. We’ve got moves to hit all your problem areas (no equipment required). And since targeted training means you’ll be adding lean muscle to your frame, these exercises can also help you burn more fat! Add a few of these toning moves into your regular routine to see a difference:
Upgrade Your Abs Exercises
If your belly refuses to flatten, your workout is probably stale. Upgrade your favorite exercises with these tweaks and revisions. Plan on putting these moves into practice and get ready to experience transformed abs.
SIDE PLANK AND ROW(Replaces: Side plank) (more…)
Brrrr: 10 tips for cold-weather runners
Posted by Don Shelton
If you’re a Seattle runner like I am, you’re no stranger to running in cold, rainy weather. But the kind of bone-chilling temperatures and ankle deep snow that’s hitting the area now is a different matter.
We’re here to help. If you’re looking for some advice on how to stay safe and avoid a pratfall or injury, look no further. Here are 10 tips for runners to weather any kind of nasty extremes, courtesy of running coaches Jess Cover and Sam Davis from RunVermont. These folks seem to know their cold-weather stuff.
So read up and run on.
1. Layer, layer, layer: Layering clothes provides the perfect balance needed for winter running to avoid over- or under-dressing. When done properly, layers will trap the air warmed by your body while still allowing moisture and sweat to be wicked from your skin. Choose layers that can easily be tied around your waist once you begin to warm up; it’s important not to overheat while running since this can put you at risk of hypothermia. (more…)
Kick Up Your Core
The Editors of Men’s Health
Fri, Sep 30, 2011
A fighter’s body should be a streamlined machine, as lean and muscular as it needs to be—no more, no less. That requires efficient training, says mixed martial arts trainer Chad Waterbury, M.S., author of Huge in a Hurry. This cutting-edge workout develops upper-body strength, size, and endurance simultaneously, packing so much exercise into just 15 minutes that you’ll shrink your waistline in the process. And to find out the regimen and training secrets that turned welterweight king Georges St-Pierre into a champion, read The Ultimate Fighter Workout.
Do this:
Start with 6 reps of each exercise, with no rest between moves. Then do 5 reps of each, and continue to count down until you do 1 of each. If you complete the workout in less than 15 minutes, add a rep to your first set next time—so you’ll start with 7 instead of 6. If you can start with 8 reps and finish in 15 minutes or less, consider yourself ready to rumble.
1 Judo pushup
Start in a modified pushup position, with your hands directly beneath your shoulders and your feet far enough forward that your hips rise. Now lower your body until your chin nearly touches the floor. In a continuous motion, raise your head and shoulders while lowering your hips until they almost touch the floor. Reverse the move to return to the starting position. Want to see more variations of this classic exercise? Then try out these 14 Smart Pushup Improvements.
How to Do the Perfect Pushup
By Bill Phillips and the Editors of Men’s Health
Aug 15, 2011
When was the last time you did a pushup? Choose the most applicable answer:
A) “Gym class, sixth grade.”
B) “Why would I ever do a pushup?”
C) “Yesterday.”
Scoring: If you answered A or B, you’re like most men. If you answered C, you probably work at Men’s Health.
Most guys abandon the pushup for the bench press sometime around puberty. That’s a shame—pushups have a lot going for them. You can do them anywhere. They don’t require any equipment. And they’re more effective at building rippling muscles than you probably realize.
In fact, researchers recently discovered that performing pushups as quickly as you can is one of the best ways to build explosive upper-body strength, according to The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. This pushup method was more effective than doing plyometric pushups (think: clapping between each pushup), and fall pushups, where you drop from a kneeling position and try to push your way back up to the starting position.
Why is quicker better? Take a look at a vertical jump: “If you do a quick knee bend before jumping, you’ll always jump higher than if you don’t,” explains N. Travis Triplett, Ph.D., one of the study’s researchers. The same type of action occurs when you do pushups as fast as possible. Dropping your chest toward the ground and pausing ever so slightly enhances the motion of pushing yourself back up—and ultimately helps you build more explosive strength, says Triplett.
You won’t be able to maximize your strength if you don’t perform the pushup correctly, though. Here’s the right way to perform the move:
Yoga Exercises May Alleviate Lower Back Pain
7 Yoga Exercises That Help Osteoarthritis
By Kate Hanley, Special to Lifescript
Are you fed up with the back pain and misery of osteoarthritis, a painful degenerative joint disease? Regular yoga practice can help. Here are 7 easy exercises to improve mood and mobility, build strength and stability and increase circulation for osteoarthritis sufferers. Plus, how much do you know about yoga? Take our quiz to find out…
What do yoga and osteoarthritis have in common?
Osteoarthritis is an age-old, degenerative joint disease that takes a toll on your physical and emotional health. Yoga is an ancient therapy that can restore both. Recently, science has begun to connect the dots between the two.
A 2008 randomized, controlled study revealed that dozens of women eased their chronic low-back pain by participating in a one-week intensive yoga program to help osteoarthritis.
“By its very nature, yoga is good for arthritis because it relieves the disease’s major disability” – reduced range of motion – “without causing further trauma to joints,” explains Loren Fishman, M.D., co-author of Yoga for Arthritis (W.W. Norton).
It also:
- Builds strength, which provides greater stability to joints.
- Improves posture, which minimizes joint trauma caused by misalignment.
- Increases the circulation of synovial fluid, which nourishes and protects joints.
- Promotes a confident attitude, and reduces anxiety and irritability.
“The key is practicing regularly,” says Ellen Saltonstall, a New York City yoga teacher and co-author of Yoga for Arthritis, who also has arthritis in both hands, one foot and lower back.
The best part is you can do yoga on your own whenever you have time. To help osteoarthritis, aim to complete at least one pose each day, she suggests. If that’s too ambitious, make it every other day.
Before starting, consult your doctor and an experienced yoga teacher to learn the right alignment. To find a qualified teacher, ask a chiropractor, acupuncturist or other trusted health-care provider for referrals, or search the website of the International Association of Yoga Therapists.
Here are 7 easy yoga exercises for low-back pain adapted from Yoga for Arthritis by Fishman and Saltonstall. (Reprinted by permission of W.W. Norton.) During each pose, breathe slowly through your nose.
Get Sleek, Toned Arms
By Jen Ator, Women’s Health
Here’s something you’ll love to learn: Your shoulders and upper back tend to carry less fat than the rest of your body, so the right exercises can give this area a nearly instant makeover, says Ramona Braganza, a celebrity trainer who has worked with stars such as Anne Hathaway and Jessica Alba. Braganza’s workout, below, hits every major upper-body muscle and will help stabilize your shoulder joints, improve your posture, and build that strong, toned look you’re after.
Using five-to eight-pound weights, perform 15 to 20 reps of each exercise and go from one move to the next with little or no rest between. Do two or three sets three times a week.
Hold it right there: Build strength with this muscle-isolating isometric workout.
Four Top-Tier Moves
1. Reverse fly
