<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Latest Articles by funktoast</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/</link>
<description>Articles at Populate.NET</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<item>
<title>Improve Your Workout Results With An Effective Warmup</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Muscle_Building/improve-your-workout-results-with-an-effective-warmup.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Muscle_Building/improve-your-workout-results-with-an-effective-warmup.html</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Without a proper warm-up and cool down as part of your workouts, you cannot hope to perform at maximum capacity. A proper warm-up before exercise is necessary for two reasons; one, without proper warm-up exercises, you run the risk of injuring yourself; two, your goal is to perform each exercise with precision and at peak performance; you can't do this without performing warm-up exercises.

For strength training workouts, your first warm-up should take place even before you hit the weight room. To get the most out of your workout, you should lift heavy. A good warm-up prepares the body for the high intensity lifting ahead. At the beginning of your workout, jump on a cardiovascular machine of your choice--the treadmill or elliptical are both good options; you may also hit the road for a jog. The important thing is to perform five to ten minutes of low intensity exercise. This will get the blood flowing and prime the muscles for heavy lifting. Don't mistake your warm-up for a full cardiovascular workout. If you overdo it, you can impede your ability to perform when you hit the weights. It is essential to lift weights at full capacity. If you spend too much energy on your warm-up, you will not realize the full muscle growth benefits of your weight lifting exercise.

You must also perform warm-up sets before each resistance training exercise. For each exercise, you will select a working weight, the weight you will be using to burn muscle tissue during lifting. Before racking up your working weight, perform a warm-up set with half the weight you expect to lift. Put 50% of your working weight on the bar and perform two or three reps with a slow deliberate cadence. After finishing your warm up set, take a break and evaluate how you feel. If you feel ready to lift the full working weight, go for it. If not, rack up 60% of your working weight and perform an additional two or three reps of exercises. After one or two warm-up sets, you should be ready to move on to your full working set.

It is essential, especially while lifting heavy weights, to perform warm-up exercises to prepare the muscles for maximum exertion. Warm-ups pump blood into the muscles, readying them to perform at peak levels. With proper warm-ups, you will lessen the risk of injury, perform better in the gym, and recover more efficiently from your workouts. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Lose Fat From Your Thighs And Hips</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Weight_Loss/lose-fat-from-your-thighs-and-hips.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Weight_Loss/lose-fat-from-your-thighs-and-hips.html</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ You can quickly lose fate around your thighs and hips. Losing weight can be difficult, even frustrating. Especially when trying to lose weight around pesky trouble spots like the thighs and hips. It can become maddening to perform hours of exercise in those problem spots and not see results.

You can lose fat around trouble spots like your thighs and hips, but first you must understand how fat loss works. Fat is nothing more than a fuel storage mechanism for your body. Like a gas tank, fat stores energy that can be used at a moment's notice. Energy in fat is measured in calories. One pound of fat contains roughly 3,400 calories. That means if you burn an extra 3,400 calories of energy above what your body needs to survive, you will lose one pound of fat.

Fat loss, unfortunately, cannot be pinpointed. You can't choose an area of your body and burn the fat away in that specific location. You must think of fat loss as a global effect. Your body decides from which location it consumes fat; you have no say. The best offense against unwanted fat is to burn more calories than your body requires, a lot more. Your body will take the extra calories from fat and you will see your body trim and tone up. As for those trouble spots like the thighs and hips, you must be patient. If you don't see improvement in those areas right away, just remember that, if you are diligent in your exercise and healthy dieting, your body will get around to burning the fat away around your thighs and hips.

Here are three quick ideas to help you burn more calories every day:

1.	Quit eating carbohydrates after 4:00PM. It has been clinically proven that eliminating carbs altogether from your diet can be harmful to your health. It is better to limit carbs rather than eliminating them altogether. An excellent way to limit your carb consumption is to cut yourself off at 4:00. That means no breads, no cakes, no candy, and no soda after 4:00.

2.	Drop sugar sodas from your diet. Some studies show that nearly a third of American's daily calories come from sugar sodas. Some doctors even claim that one can of soda a day can significantly increase the risk of metabolic syndrome. Drop sugar soda altogether. If you must have soda, drink diet soda rather than sugar soda.

3.	Move more. Every calorie you burn above what your body needs will be taken from fat. If you want to burn away the fat, you must increase your activity every day. Evaluate your current daily activity level. Rate your activity level between 1 and 10. Do you feel you are at a level 1 (sedentary)? Or a level 6 (moderate exercise 3 times a week)? Once you have determined your activity level, notch it up by one level every 2 weeks. If you walk every morning, try a jog. If you jog every morning, try a run. If you run twenty minutes a day, try running for 30 minutes a day. If you run once a week try running twice a week. Within a couple of months you will see big results in your fat loss.

Above all, be patient. It is not unusual to start an exercise and dieting program and not see satisfying results for a few weeks. Don't get discouraged. Remember, if you are moving more and consuming less calories, your body has to lose fat, it has no choice. Be patient. If the fat does not come directly off from your thighs and hips right away, stay the course; your body will get around to it. In the meantime, you may be pleasantly surprised at fat loss and toning in other areas of your body along the way ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Turn Your Metabolism Into A Weapon To Burn Fat Fast</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Weight_Loss/turn-your-metabolism-into-a-weapon-to-burn-fat-fast.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Weight_Loss/turn-your-metabolism-into-a-weapon-to-burn-fat-fast.html</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ You can use your metabolism as a weight loss tool. Your metabolism breaks down nutrients like proteins and carbohydrates into elements that are used to generate and repair cells. Like an engine, your metabolism requires fuel to run. Metabolic fuel is measured in calories. It's easy to confuse calories with nutrients, but calories are merely a measurement of energy. Gasoline can even be measured in calories; one gallon of gasoline contains 31,000,000 calories of energy. Body fat can also be measured in calories; 1 pound of body fat contains about 3,400 calories of energy. Therefore, if you burn 3,400 calories from fat, you lose one pound of flab.

It is possible to use your metabolism as a tool to lose fat. The first step is to calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate). This calculation determines how many calories your body requires to stay alive while at rest. The calculation is simple:

Harris-Benedict Equation for Men:
BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in lbs.) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

Harris-Benedict Equation for Women:
BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

A 30-year-old, 115 pound, 60-inch tall woman calculates her BMR with the following calculation:

1,296 = 655 + (4.35 X 115) + (4.7 X 60) - (4.7 X 30)

By this calculation, the woman's body burns 1,296 calories a day while at rest. 

To calculate actual calories burned per day, you must multiply your BMR by an appropriate lifestyle activity modifier. Modifiers are as follows:

- Sedentary (Little or no exercise) = BMR X 1.2

- Lightly Active (light exercise/ sports 1-3 days per week) = BMR X 1.375

- Moderately active (moderate exercise, sports 3-5 times per week) = BMR x 1.55

- Very active (hard exercise or sports 6-7 times a week) = BMR x 1.725

- Extra Active (very hard exercise or sports & physical job or training twice a week) = BMR x 1.9

A woman who is lightly active, and has a BMR of 1,296 calories per day, calculates her daily caloric need by multiplying her BMR by her activity level modifier of 1.375. Hence, she requires 1,782 calories a day to maintain her current weight. (1,296 x 1.375 = 1,782). 

Once you calculate your daily caloric need, you can determine how to use your metabolism as a fat-burning machine. The first step is to reduce your caloric intake by 500 calories a day to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. As stated earlier, 1 lb. of body fat contains roughly 3,400 calories. Therefore, by reducing your calories by 500 calories a day, you create a 3,500 calorie per week deficit. Your body must, therefore, take its energy from fat reserves at the rate of 1 pound of fat per week. 

How do you go about limiting your caloric intake comfortably without starving? Below are some effective suggestions:

- Divide your daily food into 6 small meals a day. Balance each meal with 85% complex carbohydrates, and 15% proteins. Think of your plate like a pie chart. Set your serving size of protein to about the size of your palm; a palm size chicken breast, pork chop, beef-steak, etc. The rest of your plate should be made up of complex carbs such as whole grain breads, oats, and vegetables.

- Don't eat simple carbs after 4:00 PM. Simple carbohydrates are found in candies, soda, cake, ice cream and white breads. You should eliminate simple carbs from your diet altogether. But if you must have them, you can cut your consumption in half by not eating them after 4:00 PM.

- Drink plenty of water. You lose, on the average, about 64 ounces of water in sweat and urine every day. Hydrate your body by drinking a half-gallon of water every day. You might start each meal with a glass of water to help control your hunger.

- Count calories for two weeks. It is not necessary to count calories for the rest of your life, but counting for a short time period is an excellent way for you to see where your dieting strengths and weaknesses lie.

Turn your metabolism into a weapon against unwanted weight gain by calculating your caloric need and shooting for a 3,500-calorie deficit every week. With time and patience, you will see the fat melt away. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Secrets Of A Toned Tummy</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Weight_Loss/secrets-of-a-toned-tummy.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Weight_Loss/secrets-of-a-toned-tummy.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ You have seen pictures of them; fitness models pulling up their shirts to reveal rock-hard six-packs wrapped with only a paper-thin layer of skin. The truth is, you too, with a little work and time, can have a toned, well-defined stomach. Everyone has a six-pack somewhere beneath the fat. It is a matter of shedding that flab to allow the muscle to define the shape of the abs rather than a layer of fat.

Ab Exercises Alone Don't Work
Contrary to the infomercials and a myriad of fad gizmos and gadgets that are put in our faces every day, abdominal exercises alone will not define your stomach. You can get up in the morning and do a hundred crunches every day and still not get that attractive six-pack that lies dormant somewhere beneath the fat.

Ab exercises are, of course, important. With efficient exercise of the abdominals and plenty of rest and recovery time between workouts, the muscles in your abs will grow. Well-developed abdominal muscles can do nothing but strengthen your stability during exercise and, of course, look amazing once you shed the obscuring fat around them. 

A Three-prong Approach to Defining Your Belly
If you want a six-pack, and who doesn't, you must engage in a three-prong attack at your fat. Your first wave of attack is effective strength training, not only of the abdominal muscles. The second attack is effective cardiovascular training to burn away excess calories. The third weapon is reducing the calories in your diet and eating only nutrient-rich foods. Let's discuss these three categories on one by one.

Use Effective Strength Training to Build Lean Muscle Mass
The name of the game is muscle mass, and you want lots of it. If you want to shed fat, muscle mass is your best weapon. Every pound of lean muscle mass on your body consumes, on the average, 13 calories a day, but can consume up to 50 calories a day. With plenty of lean muscle mass, you can transform your body into a fat-burning machine. However, don't make the mistake of thinking that by merely adding pounds of lean muscle mass to your body, you can eat anything and everything you want. A healthy amount of quality muscle can help you to keep the weight off, but does not become a substitute for healthy dieting habits.

So how do you gain lean muscle mass? Strength training is the answer. But rather than concentrating on actually lifting weights, you should be concerned with rest and recovery time between workouts. When you lift weights, you only need enough exercise to start your muscles into repair and rebuilding mode. Once you have accomplished this, there is no need to perform any more exercise. It is time to stay out of the gym and let your body do the work. Only train with weights after your muscles have had a chance to completely recover between workouts. Only then can you expect to perform at peak levels and get the most out of your workouts.

If you are after lean abs, don't make the mistake of thinking that training only your abs will do it. Your body has a more-or-less even distribution of fat throughout your system. If you train only your abs, you won't burn as much fat overall as if you train your entire muscular system from calves on up to shoulders. You have to think globally, you must lose fat generally throughout your body to get to those abs. Eventually, as the fat melts away, your abs will emerge, beautiful and defined. But getting there is an all body effort. 

Use Effective Cardiovascular Training to Burn Extra Calories
Calories are nothing more than a measurement of energy. Hence, any fuel can be measured in calories. A gallon of gasoline contains about 31,000 calories of energy. Your body burns calories at a rate defined by your metabolism--age, sex, and activity level all weigh into how quickly your body burns calories. If you consume more calories than your body burns, your body stores the extra fuel away in the form of fat. If your body burns more calories than you consume, your body is forced to take its fuel from fat reserves. Each pound of body fat contains about 3,400 calories. To burn them away, you must increase your activity level.

Cardiovascular exercise is one of the best ways to burn calories. When you hit the treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike, your goal should be to burn as many calories as possible in the shortest time period possible. Use interval based training, by far the most efficient type of cardio training, to do this. You can burn upwards of 213 calories in 20 minutes of good, high impact cardio exercise. Multiply that by 3 [cardio workouts per week], and you have toasted 639 extra calories per week. That's about 20% of a pound of fat. You can pretty quickly see the benefits of cardio exercise.

However, even cardio exercise is not enough to bring out your six-pack. You must also consider the third area of attack.

Consume a Nutrient Rich, Healthy Diet
The name of the game when going for a six-pack is putting your body in a constant state of caloric debt. That means you want your body to burn more calories than you consume. We have already considered how to burn more calories with cardiovascular exercise and weight training. Another way to burn the fat is to lower the amount of fuel you put into your system. Your body will burn what it needs to in order to function properly, either in the form of consumed fuel or in the form of fat reserves. The trick is to force your body to keep eating that fat away.

So how do you consume less without counting your calories or weighing everything you put into your system? A few simple tips might help.

Dump simple carbohydrates from your diet. Simple carbs found in white breads, candy, soda, brownies, cake etc. do nothing but bulk up your fat reserves. Your body doesn't have to break simple carbs down to assimilate them into your reserves. With complex carbohydrates, found in whole grain breads, whole grain pasta, bran, and oatmeal, your body has to work to fuel itself. The process is more complicated than that, but the important thing is to forego the ice-cream, cake, pie, and especially soda pop. Instead, opt for whole grain substitutes and diet drinks. It won't hurt; I guarantee it.

Drop your portion sizes by one half. When you sit down at the table for a meal, evaluate how much food you would regularly pile on your plate then take only half. If you are absolutely starving at the end of your meal, take seconds of only fruits and vegetables to satisfy the pangs. With this simple habit, you will quickly see the fat shed away.

Know how many calories you are eating. I know, I know; I just said don't count your calories. Though if you drop simple carbs and limit your portion sizes, you do not need to count calories, it is still a good idea to know what you are eating. Pick up a small notebook from the grocery store next time you go shopping. For two weeks only, write down everything you eat in that book. If you have access to nutrition labels, write down the calories you have consumed. Generally you should shoot for about 1,100 calories a day if you are a woman and 1,700 calories a day if you are a man. For most, this will drop your fuel consumption sufficiently to put your body into the caloric debt zone. With this simple exercise you will soon find your trouble spots and know exactly where you need to cut back.

In Conclusion
A tight, well-defined stomach is absolutely in your grasp. But don't believe those ab-only exercise gadgets or those miracle exercise scams that claim they will bring your abs out in only six seconds a day. Toning your abs is part of a whole. If you follow the advice in this article, you will see steady, consistent fat loss over your entire body and eventually your abs will appear, emerging from the obtrusive fat that hides your definition so effectively. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Live a Happier, Healthier Lifestyle Now</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Aerobics/live-a-happier-healthier-lifestyle-now.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Aerobics/live-a-happier-healthier-lifestyle-now.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ You can become lean, more energetic, and happier by making a few easy decisions in your life. Below are ten tips to get you started.

1. Lift weights. An effective strength-training regimen adds lean muscle mass to your body. Each pound of lean muscle mass burns, on the average, 13 calories a day; that means, if you gain an additional ten pounds of lean muscle, you will burn an extra 130 calories per day. 

2. Do cardiovascular exercise. Perform 20-minutes of interval-based cardio exercise three times a week. Interval training means varying the intensity of exercise throughout your workout. Pick the cardiovascular exercise of your choice; running, biking, and elliptical are good options. Alternate the intensity of exercise throughout your workout, 2-minutes of fast, high-intensity exercise followed by 2-minutes of low-intensity exercise.

3. Drink plenty of water. You lose, on the average, 64 ounces of water a day in sweat and urine. It seems counter-intuitive, but the less water you drink, the more water you retain. The more water you retain, the more bloated you will look and feel. Drink at least a half-gallon of water every day. Keep a bottle of water at your desk while you work. Sip as you go.

4. Quit sugar soda. Americans consume one-quarter of their daily caloric need from sugar sodas. Soda has no nutritional value. Not only that, it can be harmful. Ramachandran Vasan, MD, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine recently stated that, "Even one soda per day increases your risk of developing metabolic syndrome by about 50%." Metabolic syndrome is a combination of medical disorders--elevated waist circumference, higher levels of fats in the blood, and a drastic reduction in good cholesterol--that can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Rather than drinking sugar soda, opt for no-calorie diet drinks, or drop soda altogether and replace it will water.

5. Reduce simple carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates are found in foods like white bread, candy, cake and ice cream. They are absorbed into the blood stream directly through the intestinal lining and are rapidly converted into glucose at the rate of 30 calories per minute. The body responds by producing high levels of insulin to regulate the blood sugar. This can cause your body to experience energy spikes, followed by energy lows. Complex carbohydrates, found in whole grain breads, oats, rice, and vegetables, are converted to blood glucose at only two calories per minute. Sticking to complex carbs drops the level of calories converted to fat and regulates your energy levels.

6. Eat breakfast. Researchers at the National Weight Control Registry studied 3,000 people who successfully lost weight and kept it off. Most of these people stated that they eat breakfast every day as a weight control strategy. Breakfast starts your body's metabolic system early in the day and fights hunger well into the afternoon. Eating breakfast also prevents many adverse effects that come from fasting, such as irritability and fatigue.

7. Set and achieve goals. Never live a day without a written goal. A good goal should have three characteristics; it should be realistic, it should have a deadline, and it should be written down. To lose one pound a week for twelve weeks is an excellent goal as long as it is written down. 

8. Reward yourself. Life is full of triumphs; some are substantial; others are small; none are insignificant. Reward yourself for each accomplishment. Take yourself out to lunch or buy something nice. Think about how your accomplishments affect your life for the better. This will cause you to focus on the things you do to better your life and the lives of your friends.

9. Spend time with friends and family. By spending at least a few minutes a day to strengthen relationships, perhaps with a telephone call to an old friend or a birthday card to a family member, you give a little bit of yourself away. And the more you give, the more you receive in love, support and acknowledgement for all the wonderful things you are.

10. Meditate. A recent study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison sent 25 corporate Americans to an 8-week meditation coarse. After completing the course, subjects showed, on the average, a 5% increase in antibodies--some even showed a 25% increase. Researchers were surprised to see a 50% increase in electrical activity in parts of the brain associated with positive emotions and anxiety. The speed of life moves at a fever pitch. It's essential to find a place where you can set everything aside and reboot your mind so you can stay effective. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Get Thin Now With An Extremely Motivating Training Journal</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Weight_Loss/get-thin-now-with-an-extremely-motivating-training-journal.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Weight_Loss/get-thin-now-with-an-extremely-motivating-training-journal.html</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Staying motivated is the biggest roadblock on your path to fitness. Luckily, there is a bomb-proof shield against lack of motivation; the solution is a well constructed plan. Lets roll up our sleeves and line out exactly what you will need to lock in your fitness success.

STEP ONE: YOUR FITNESS JOURNAL
Start with a fitness journal. Don't just grab an off-the-shelf, spiral bound notebook. Go for something cool. You will be pasting photographs of yourself, writing notes, attaching clippings. You need a robust book that can hold all of these materials. But you also need something portable that you can pick up and take with you to the gym.

STEP TWO: PAGE 1 - YOUR MISSION STATEMENT
Any good plan starts with a compelling mission statement. Writing your thoughts out on paper turns nebulous notions into tangible reality. You can't pick up an intention and show it to someone. You can pick up a sheet of paper with your intentions written on it and show it off. Your mission statement might read:

I, Jane Johnson, am an active person. I love to exercise because it makes me fit. Exercise trims me down and tones my body. When I exercise, I feel more powerful and motivated to accomplish many other worthwhile endeavors. I exercise to have more energy and focus at work. I exercise to have the energy to keep up with my two children. I exercise to stay attractive to my husband. I know that, with my good habits of exercising and maintaining a healthy diet, I will live longer and improve the quality of my life in every aspect.

With a mission statement like this, why wouldn't Jane stick to her fitness program?

STEP THREE: PAGE 2 - YOUR GOALS
A study at Harvard Business School between 1979 and 1989 attacked the effectiveness of written goals head-on. The 1979 Harvard MBA graduates were asked this simple question: have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them? Of the graduates asked, 84% didn't have any specific goals, 13% had set goals but had not written them down, and only 3% had taken the time to sit down and draft their goals and plans in ink. Ten years later, the same graduates were reviewed again. The 13% who had mentally set goals but not written them down had made twice the income of the 84% who had no defined goals. The most staggering fact was that the 3% who had actually committed their goals and plans to paper were making, on the average, ten times the income of the other 97%. This study shows that the mere act of committing goals to paper can increase your success by up to ten times. With that in mind, why wouldn't you take a few minutes to write your goals and review them often?

There are three components to a well-written goal:

1. A well-written goal is measurable.

2.A well-written goal is realistic.

3.A well-written goal has a time limit. 

A sensible goal might be to lose 24 lbs. in 12 weeks. This goal adheres to all three components; it is measurable, realistic, and has a time limit. Some ideas for goals might include steady performance gains, gain ten pounds to your bench press over the next eight weeks, perform twenty pull-ups in one set within 12 weeks, run a 5k in twenty-five minutes within sixteen weeks. Body measurement goals are excellent; such as, lose two inches around the belly in ninety days, gain a half-inch on the upper arms in ten weeks. Perhaps you are training to climb a mountain, run a marathon, play competitive sports; whatever your pleasure, base your goals around your final objective.

STEP FOUR: PAGE 3 - YOUR BEGINNING MEASUREMENTS
Every race has a starting line. With your fitness log, you plan to get stronger, leaner, more active, and feel younger. It is difficult to track your success if you can't look back and see how far you have come. You must take a snapshot of your stasis at the beginning of your journey. 

You must put three essential elements on your beginning measurements page:

1. A photograph of yourself. 

2.Measurements of your body. will need a vinyl tape-measuring device and possibly the help of a friend to get these measurements. You should write down the circumferences of each of the following body-parts in inches: 

a. Neck
b. Shoulders
c. Left and right upper arms (biceps/triceps)
d. Left and right lower arms
e. Chest
f. Belly (at naval level)
g. Hips (around the largest area of the glutes)
h. Upper legs (thighs)
i. Lower legs (calves)
j. You should also log your scale weight and body fat percentage

3. Notes about your physical/mental well-being. 

You will regularly take measurements of yourself along the way and will want to flip back to your original measurements to compare your body changes to your original data.

STEP FIVE: WORKOUT SHEETS
Write all measurable data into your training journal. You should commit one sheet to each workout and bind them chronologically. Any workout system has concrete, measurable data. If you are on a strength training system, you should write your lifting weight and the quantity of sets and reps. If you are training for running speed, you should write distance and speed. Without consistent measurable data, you can't hope to see progress in your training endeavors.
 
As you workout, you can use data from your last workout to push yourself even harder on your next workout. 

STEP SIX: MONTHLY MEASUREMENT SHEETS
If you see positive changes in your performance, if you see your body fat melting away, if you feel consistently happier and more energetic, there is no way you will give up on your fitness training. The best way to track progress is to insert monthly measurement sheets. Each monthly measurement sheet should include all the elements of your beginning measurement sheet: a photograph of yourself, your body measurements, and notes about your physical/mental well-being (see STEP FOUR).

Monthly measurement allows you to check in with your body, to diagnose your progress, both physically and mentally. These sheets will become one of your greatest motivators.

STEP SEVEN: GOAL CLOSEOUT SHEETS
If you are dedicated, you will hit your goals. Include a new sheet in your training journal to close out attained goals. Put down improvements in your life that have resulted from reaching your goals. Pictures work. If you set a goal to tone your stomach, take a picture of your ripped abs and paste it on your goal closeout sheet to proove that you followed through on your commitment to yourself.

STEP EIGHT: NEW GOAL SHEETS
When you accomplish a goal, you must write a new goal sheet and place it in your training journal. Remember to include every aspect of a well-written goal (see STEP THREE).

IN CONCLUSION
You can have the body you want. You can become leaner, stronger, and faster. But it will take time and work. One of the best ways to speed your journey to good health and fitness is to keep an organized and up-to-date fitness journal. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Measure Big Time Fat Loss With The Proper Tools</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Muscle_Building/measure-big-time-fat-loss-with-the-proper-tools.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Muscle_Building/measure-big-time-fat-loss-with-the-proper-tools.html</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ A thin, toned body is a lovely thing to look at; but good looks are only one of many benefits offered by a lean physique. We all want to lose weight, to shed that extra layer of fat around the abs and show off the natural, alluring muscle tone beneath. We have become victims of the bathroom scale. We base our performance, and perhaps even our self-esteems, on the number the scale displays on its cold, unbiased digital screen. The truth is, the scale does not tell the whole story. Often, the secret to shedding fat does not lie in losing pounds, but in gaining them--pounds of high quality, lean muscle mass, that is.

Lean muscle mass benefits the body in many ways. It strengthens the bones to fight against osteoporosis; it raises the metabolism by an average of thirteen calories per day for every pound of lean muscle mass. It gives the body a shapely look, pleasing to members of the opposite sex. It causes the body to become more powerful and capable of more intense activity. Those who understand the benefits of gaining muscle mass do everything in their power to pack it on. They also understand that the scale only tells half the story.

A better method of measuring fat loss lies in calculating the body's composition. This can be done using a skin-fold caliper fat percentage measuring device--such devices can be purchased online or at any health and fitness retail store. It's important to remember that muscle is three times more dense than fat. As you build muscle mass, using an effective bodybuilding program, your scale weight likely will increase. However, by measuring your body fat percentage, using a skin fold caliper and calculating your body composition, you can quickly determine how many pounds of fat you are losing. The following calculation determines the quantity of fat pounds on the body: [body weight in pounds] * [body fat percentage] = [pounds of fat on the body]. 

GAIN A POUND AND CELEBRATE
For example, a man who weighs 180 pounds and, with a skin fold caliper, determines that his body fat percentage is 18%, can calculate how many pounds of fat he has by using this calculation: 180 * .18 = 32.4. By this calculation, it is determined that a 180-pound man with 18% body fat has 32.4 pounds of fat on his body. After engaging in an effective bodybuilding program for several weeks, the same man, using this calculation, might determine that he has lost 11 pounds of fat, but gained 12 pounds of muscle. If this man uses the scale alone, he might feel discouraged that, after slugging it out in the gym three times a week, he has gained 1 pound of body weight. In actuality, he has lost 11 pounds of fat. The increase of 12 pounds of lean muscle mass will burn, on the average, 156 extra calories a day by merely existing. The loss of 11 pounds of fat will trim and sculpt the man's body. It's a win-win-win.

It can be discouraging to get on the scale day after day and see only marginal changes in body weight. The truth is, with an effective strength training routine, it is more effective, and more motivating to use scale weight in conjunction with a skin fold caliper to determine the reduction in actual pounds of unwanted fat than to base body training progress on scale weight alone. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Do Less Exercise For Mind-blowing Results</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Muscle_Building/do-less-exercise-for-mind-blowing-results.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Muscle_Building/do-less-exercise-for-mind-blowing-results.html</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Every gym has them: die-hards who seem to live, eat, and drink in the free weight room. After a while you recognize their faces. Just how many hours do they spend pumping iron? Such fitness zealots might cause you to second-guess your own routine. If these die-hards workout for, say, four hours a day, seven days a week, how often should you workout? The answer to this question might surprise you; relatively infrequent but intense strength training workouts are all that is required.

Novices do many things incorrectly during workouts; improper lifting form, dangerous, explosive lifting, and over-stretching before strength-training workouts are a few infractions. One of the most frequent violations is overtraining. You hear it all the time from strength-training gurus: don't overtrain, it's dangerous. But how can you know if you are overtraining? How often should you visit the gym? How many days of rest should you take between workouts?

The answer might involve a paradigm shift for you. Before you can determine if you are overtraining, you must have accurate records of your workouts. You must know if your body is getting stronger with each workout, or if your performance has stagnated. Unfortunately, it's difficult to determine your performance when using traditional reps and sets to measure your exercise. With a standard routine of three sets of eight reps per exercise, you can only gauge your performance by evaluating how much weight you can lift; are you lifting more now than you lifted last time? If so, in theory, your muscles are becoming stronger. But what if you could zone in on a precise way to measure each muscle group's progress from workout to workout? Would that excite you? It should.

Measuring precise strength gains lies in a concept called time under load. Logging your time under load for each set of exercise allows you to determine, within seconds, if your muscles are growing stronger, or if your strength gains have stagnated. Determine your time under load by starting a stopwatch at the beginning of a set, performing exercise until you reach muscle failure--the point at which you cannot move the weight another inch--then stopping the clock. The end time on the stopwatch is your time under load. It doesn't matter if you hit muscle failure at the beginning, at the end, or in the middle of a repetition. You don't have to count your repetitions. The number of reps is not important if you lift using a slow, controlled cadence and clock your time under load.

With the habit of logging load times for each set of exercise, you can know if your muscles have grown stronger or if your performance has plateaued. For example, during workout one, you perform the bench press with 180 lbs. and hit muscle failure at 120 seconds. On workout two, after 48 hours of rest and recovery, you lift the same 180 lbs. and hit muscle failure at 124 seconds. It took 4 seconds longer to hit muscle failure during workout two. Therefore, your chest has become stronger; your muscles can handle the same weight, 180 lbs., for a longer period of time--4 seconds to be exact.

If you choose to perform more than one set of exercise per muscle group, it is especially important to record load times for the first set of exercise for each muscle group. With these records, you can accurately determine if you are overtraining. Now for the rule of over training: if load times for any two muscle groups decrease two workouts in a row, add a permanent rest day between workouts. For example, if, during workout one, you see a decrease in the load times for both the biceps and the calves; and, after 48 hours of rest and recovery time, during workout two, you see a decrease in the load times for both the triceps and abdominals, it's time to add a permanent rest day between workouts. Your rest and recovery time should increase from 48 to 72 hours.

As your body strengthens, you will gain lean muscle mass. This means there will be more muscle to damage during exercise and, hence, more time between workouts will be required for muscles to fully heal and become ready to lift at optimum performance. Additional rest days between workouts should be permanent. By allowing your muscles to fully heal between workouts, you will see consistent strength gains from workout to workout with limited stagnation.

To sum it all up, when you see those hard-core gym rats lifting for hours and hours in the free weight room, you can rest assured that you are experiencing the same strength gains they so diligently seek with half the time in the gym. The secret lies in tracking your time under load and calculating your body's precise rest and recovery time requirement. This begs the question: what should you do with all that extra time? Try reading a book or going to a movie. Do anything but hamper your strength gains by overtraining your body. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Up Your Exercise Intensity For Mind-Blowing Results</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Muscle_Building/up-your-exercise-intensity-for-mind-blowing-results.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Muscle_Building/up-your-exercise-intensity-for-mind-blowing-results.html</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Millions of people commit many of hours out of their schedules at health clubs working out. The sad fact is, most fitness enthusiasts who regularly visit gyms know little about what makes up an effective workout system. In this article, I want to dispel 90% of the hype and help you understand exactly how to build your routine so it will guarantee that every second you spend in the gym will help you get stronger. After all, you spend a lot of time lifting weights; don't you want to make sure your workout time is spent as efficiently as possible?

With so many strength-training systems on the market today, it becomes difficult to cut through all the noise and find a training system that is based on solid science. A good indicator that a strength training system is less effective is if it uses a one-size-fits-all approach. Your body is unique. You are different than anyone else. It simply doesn't make sense that if you do exactly the same thing in the gym as everyone else, you will get the same results as everyone else. To get the best results, you must understand your body's individual needs. If you can give your body exactly the exercise it needs, nothing more or less, you will maximize your training results while not wasting even a second of your valuable time in the gym.

Another solid indicator that a strength training system is bogus is whether it is based in biology. Many strength-training systems are simply anecdotal. Some fitness gurus peddle their opinions, passing them off as training gospel just because it feels right to them. Be careful. A good training system should be backed up by the physiology of the human muscular system. The more a strength training system is steeped in the actual workings of the human body, the more customized it will be to your body type and the better it will work.

Now that we have explored a couple of indicators of less effective strength training systems, lets take a look at a system that IS based solidly in physiology and IS completely customized to your body.

Scientifically steeped high intensity training (HIT) power-packs your strength training routines. HIT training teaches that muscles grow and adapt more efficiently if they are worked intensely for short bursts of time on a relatively infrequent basis.

Three elements make up an effective HIT workout regimen; slow lifting cadence, timed sets, and adequate rest and recovery time between workouts. Lets take a closer look at these three elements.

SLOW LIFTING CADENCE
Cadence, as related to strength training, is the time it takes to perform one full rep of exercise. Use of a slow lifting cadence is an excellent way to make every second of your workout count.

Fast, explosive weight lifting introduces many problems. First, it is less effective. Your goal, during a set of exercise, should be to spend every available ounce of muscular energy; you can't hope to accomplish this goal if you continually throw the weight past the most demanding parts of the exercise. Second, explosive lifting is dangerous; you can expose yourself to hazardous acceleration, velocity, and momentum spikes. These spikes can lead to loss of control of the weight, causing painful, and possibly permanent, injuries.

To get the most out of your workout, use a slow lifting cadence with every exercise. Each exercise should be divided into 3 lifting phases; move:hold:move. As a rule of thumb, use a 5:2:5 lifting cadence; 5 full seconds to move the weight from an exercise's starting position to its fully contracted position (the most difficult position at which to hold the weight); 2 full seconds to hold the weight in the fully contracted position; 5 full seconds to move the weight back to starting position. It should take a total of 12 seconds to perform one rep of exercise. If you lift enough weight and use a slow cadence, you can be sure that you are firing as much muscle fiber as possible.

TIMED SETS
By timing your sets, you can determine the correct weight to rack up for each exercise. You can also be certain that your muscles are sufficiently spent during each set.

We have long been conditioned to break weight training exercise into sets and reps. Many strength training systems prescribe a consistent quantity of sets and reps for every person, regardless of sex or body type. This one-size-fits-all approach might not be optimal for you. Your muscular system is different than anyone else's. It's important, if you want big-time training results, to adapt your exercise regiment to your body's specific needs. Timed sets is the best way to determine how much exercise is best for each of your muscle groups.

To time your sets, you will need a stopwatch. At the beginning of each set, start the clock. With the seconds ticking, perform the exercise until you hit muscle failure. Don't worry about counting reps; complete muscle failure is your objective. Lift until you can't move the weight another inch, then try one more rep. After you have spent every ounce of your muscular energy, stop the clock. Your final seconds count is called your time under load--the total time spent performing the exercise.

A good set of exercise is not made up of a quantity of reps; it is made up of 30 to 60 seconds of high quality, slow cadenced exercise, with muscle failure at the end of the set. As you gain muscle mass, you will have to increase the weight you lift to keep your sets at between 30 to 60 seconds.

ADEQUATE REST AND RECOVERY TIME
With adequate rest and recovery time between workouts, you will hit the gym mentally and physically ready to workout with precision and energy.

Overtraining is a chronic problem among gym rats. Too often the success of a strength-training regimen is measured by the quantity of hours spent in the gym. Each time you workout, you spend a tremendous amount of muscular energy, leaving your muscles in a state of controlled shock. It takes a number of days to fully recover. If over-trained, muscles can remain in a continuously weakened state--a state at which they cannot perform beyond their usual, daily workload. Unless muscles are trained at a level far beyond what is usually expected of them, they cannot adapt by growing, hardening, and strengthening.

You must allow your muscles to fully recover between workouts. This means your strength-training regimen should have more off days than on days. To start, take 2 days off between workouts. As you gain muscle mass, you will need to add additional rest and recovery days. If you experience a stall in your strength gain progress, take a full week off from training so you can hit the gym recharged and strong. Often, the best way to break through a training plateau is to workout less frequently, not to increase hours spent in the gym.
 
When it comes to workout frequency, don't fall victim to the more is more mentality. Your strength gains stay with you for months before beginning to fade away. As long as you stimulate your muscles into growth and adaptation on a regular and relatively infrequent basis, you will make steady, satisfying progress.

There you have it. If you are after tremendous muscle mass gains and satisfying fat loss, high intensity training is the key. With a relatively infrequent, hard-hitting strength training routine, using slow lifting cadence, you can skyrocket your training success into the stratosphere. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Blast Away Fat With Interval Cardio Training</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Aerobics/blast-away-fat-with-interval-cardio-training.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Fitness/Aerobics/blast-away-fat-with-interval-cardio-training.html</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ You can lose weight quickly. You can shed fat from your belly and under your arms with rigorous but smart exercise. You can get a lean, athletic build. You can even show off your muscles by losing that pesky layer of fat that obscures your tone and definition. It is not a matter of training for hours on end every day. It is a matter of making every minute of your exercise as efficient as possible. When training your heart while shooting for fast calorie loss, interval based cardio training is the key.

Low Intensity Vs. High Intensity Cardio Training
There are two camps when it comes to cardio training; one buys into the low intensity philosophy. They say, walk, don't run. The high intensity people, on the other hand, say run, don't walk. Lets explore both arguments.

It is true that, during low intensity cardio exercise, such as walking or light biking, more calories are burned directly from fat. The only problem is, with low intensity cardiovascular exercise, your overall calorie burn isn't enough to truly make a difference in your overall weight loss and body fat reduction.

High intensity cardio training, on the other hand, burns many more calories in a much shorter time period. Some fitness enthusiasts take this to the extreme by pushing themselves as fast and as far as they possibly can. A competitive athlete might sprint flat out for as long as possible, increasing his or her distance and time on the track with every workout. This method works well for some, but is not practical for all.

Tools For Effective Interval Based Cardio Training
Interval based cardiovascular training is a more sensible method of burning a high volume of calories in a short time period. To train with cardio intervals, you will need two things: a heart rate monitor and your maximum heart rate (MHR). Your MHR relates to your age and sex. You can get your MHR by using the following calculations:

For men: MHR = 202 - (.55 x age)
For women: MHR = 216 - (1.09 x age)

These calculations are the results of research conducted at John Moores University in Liverpool in 2007. Research results were reported in the Int J Sports Med 2007; 24.

To practice, lets calculate the MHR for both a 36-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman.

A 36-year-old man calculates his MHR with this equation: 202 - (.55 x 36) = 182.

A 28-year-old-woman calculates her MHR with this equation: 216 - (1.09 x 28) = 185.

Once you have calculated your MHR, you will need a heart rate monitor. You can purchase an inexpensive model from any sporting goods store or from an online vendor. With all the right tools in place, you are ready to workout using interval based cardiovascular training.

Using Interval Based Cardio Training
Any cardiovascular exercise will do. You can run, speed-walk, bike, stair-step, work on an elliptical, jump rope, or any other from cardio exercise. High impact cardio exercise such as running can be harmful on the ankles and knees over time. You might consider using low impact exercises like biking or elliptical to guard against unnecessary wear and tear on the body.

Interval based cardio training breaks your workout into sections (intervals) of time. These intervals alternate between low intensity and high intensity. Your heart rate during exercise acts as a guide to tell you when to switch from low intensity to high intensity mode or from high intensity back to low intensity mode. To exercise using interval based cardio training, follow the eight steps below:

1. Put on your heart rate monitor and begin exercise. Start with one to two minutes of exercise at a light, warm up speed.

2. After a short warm up, kick it in gear. Push yourself as hard as you can. Keep an eye on your heart monitor. Your goal is to hit around 80% of your MHR. If you MHR is 185, you should shoot for 148 to 160 or so.

3. Once you hit 80% of your MHR, maintain your current intensity/speed to keep your heart rate at 80% of your MHR for one minute.

4. At the one-minute mark, drop the intensity of your exercise. Your goal is to drop your heart rate by twenty beats per minute. If, during your high intensity interval, you kept your heart rate at 148 (80% of your MHR), you should shoot for a heart rate at around 128 during your low intensity interval.

5. Maintain your low exercise intensity to keep your heart rate at 20 less than 80% of your MHR for one minute.

6. After a minute of low intensity exercise, kick it in again to raise your heart rate to 80% of your MHR.

7. Continue this pattern, alternating between a high intensity interval for one minute and a low intensity interval for one minute for as long as you like.

8. Finish your interval based workout with a one to two minute, low intensity cool down.

Usually twenty minutes of interval based cardiovascular exercise is enough to keep your metabolism pumping, to lose weight, and to keep your heart in good condition. You should experiment with the frequency and length of your interval based training. Put yourself a cardiovascular exercise schedule for two weeks, perhaps working out for 20 minutes on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. Weigh yourself at the beginning of your schedule and again at the end. If, while maintaining a healthy diet, you have not lost weight, try increasing the length or frequency of your cardiovascular workouts. You should see a weight loss difference; if you don't you need to change your routine until you get on a steady fat loss track. With some experimentation, you will find your way to obtaining a slim, athletic body. ]]></description>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>

