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Posts Tagged ‘Exercise’

If Oprah can’t do it, how can I?

I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday season. I know I said in my last post that I would write about ab training some more, but I have to write about this topic.

Oprah, on her show and in her magazine, has said that she fell off the weight wagon once again. This has gotten a lot of people talking. I can’t tell you how many people at the gym and in the stores are talking about her weight. I also can’t tell you how many people are wondering how they can lose weight and keep it off, especially if Oprah, who has a seemingly unlimited supply of money and access to the best trainers and chefs, still battles with her weight.

Oprah 1
Creative Commons License credit: Bruno Boutot
If Oprah can’t do it, how can I?

This just shows that the excuses that people give for not exercising or living a healthy lifestyle are just that, excuses. Money shouldn’t be what’s holding you back from changing your life. Like I said in my first post, walking, running, and bodyweight exercises are all free. It doesn’t cost anything to put on some shoes, open your door, and go for a nice, brisk walk everyday. You don’t need a gym membership or an expensive personal trainer to live a healthy lifestyle.

Living a healthy lifestyle is as much mental as it is physical, maybe even more. People don’t realize how much they sabotage their own efforts to lose weight and get fit by not changing their mentality. How can you make a significant behavior change without first changing your mentality? You can be your biggest obstacle, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Being fit is not about money, or having the best personal trainer or chef at your disposal. It’s about changing your relationship with food, how you deal with stress, and finding ways to fit exercise into your daily routine.This is what Oprah’s personal journey with weight control has taught us.

Next time I’ll write more about ab training…

Posted in: Featured

Ab Training 101

  • By: Jessica
  • December 18, 2008
  • 4 comments

When I tell people that I work as a personal trainer, or that I write about fitness, one of the first things they do is point to their midsection and strongly ask “Hoe do I get rid of this?” They usually say “I do thousands of crunches but nothing happens” or “I have all the gizmos and machines from the infomercials and I still don’t have a six pack.”

Let me tell you something. You’re not going to like it, but you don’t get great abs from doing crunches or from machines.

It’s true.

Oh the struggle to be bone thin
Creative Commons License credit: MoToMo
The Cardio Struggle

Getting great abs comes from nutrition and cardio, mixed with a bit of effective core training. But the bulk of it comes from what you eat and how you burn fat.

When you just do crunches, you’re simply strengthening your ab muscles. This is why people who only do crunches or variations of crunches can feel their abs but not see them. That’s where nutrition and cardio comes in. You have to burn the fat in your midsection to reveal your abs. If you’re eating poorly, you’re accumulating fat, probably in your belly (the term “beer gut” comes to mind). If you’re not working out effectively, you’re not burning enough calories to get rid of the fat that’s hiding your gorgeous abs.

They’re under there, you just have to find out how to reveal them.

So quit doing crunches. You don’t get great abs that way and you risk injuring your lower back from the repetitive stress crunches can put on your back.

So what can you do to get great abs? I’ll go into more detail about what you can specifically do in my next post.

Posted in: News

How to Not Let Your Fitness Efforts Sink With the Economy

I don’t need to remind everyone about the state of the American global economy. I’m sure you all have felt the effort somehow, either in the grocery store, in your pockets, or even through your home. Don’t let the effects show up in your belly, butt, thighs, wherever. Don’t neglect your health because of the economy! How can you do that, especially since in times like this, one of the first things to go are the gym and fitness center memberships?

Well, if it’s possible, rearrange your budget to include your gym, and instead take out those 3 lattes you get every single day. Or maybe the daily fast food excursions could get the boot.

runners
Creative Commons License credit: twenty_questions
Continue Exercising in this Economy

But, what if you have to let that membership go and there is no cheaper alternative, such as no local YMCAs or other community gyms? (Remember, the YMCA and community gyms are highly viable options; they may not be as flashy as those big commercial gyms, but you don’t chose your gym based on flash, right?)

If you don’t have a gym, that is not an excuse to let your fitness progress lapse or to throw away those fitness goals.

In case that was not clear, I will repeat myself. Not having a gym to go to is not an excuse to let your fitness progress lapse or to throw away those fitness goals. Nor does it excuse you from starting a new fitness program!

So what can you do?

Well, the last time I checked, walking is free. So is running. So many people overlook the value of walking. They say, “Hey, I walk everyday! I walk to the bathroom, to the kitchen, to my car, to the boss’ office, and to the vending machine!”

Yeah, but what are you doing for the other 23.5 hours in the day when you aren’t walking to such places?

Try walking around your neighborhood, or around the community where you work. Walk upright, with a decent pace, and switch up the pace throughout your walk. Walk up and down hills. Challenge yourself and work your way up to jogging, then running.

If you choose a walk that passes a park, guess what you now have? An instant outdoor gym! And for free! Monkey bars can act as pullup bars, and if you swing from them, you can get a killer core workout. You can easily do dips and pushups on park benches.

Jumping jacks are free, too. A jump rope isn’t expensive, yet is an extremely effective fat-loss and conditioning tool.

You can do plenty of burpees in a park!


How to Do a Burpee (video)

But what if it’s raining? Again, a jump rope can come in handy, if your ceilings are high enough and if no one lives under you. If you have stairs in your house, run sets of stairs. Play with your kids.

Buy a pack of inexpensive exercise tubes! You can do just about anything with tubes that you do with machines or free weights.

There are endless possibilities, but my point is clear: a bad economy is not an acceptable excuse for being a slacker. Period.

Any more tips for staying fit in this economy?

Posted in: Featured

Planning on Biking?

You’ve all seen the news. Record gas prices. Food costs a grip. Americans are re-thinking how to spend their weekends, their holidays, and how they get to work. Some have advocated that they plan to buy a hybrid, which from a cost standpoint doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but…I digress. My question to you, YBP, is do you plan to use your God-given legs and hop on a bike anytime soon?

That may be an open-ended question, but it really encompasses a fundamental truth: Our lives are forever changed by the today’s world economy.

Read More »

Posted in: Lifestyle

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