Fitness Strength Training: Getting Started

Fitness strength training is a great area to get into if you want to lose body fat and gain lean muscle mass. If this sounds like you, then you are going to find the following information very useful. Fitness strength training is not something that you can rush into, and you really have to make sure that you are aware of all this before you get started.

Whether you are interested in fitness strength training or fitness circuit training, this information will be helpful.

Maintain Muscle Mass Balance

One of the most important things to know about fitness strength training is how important it is to maintain muscle mass balance. After all, the last thing you want is to have a well toned upper body and lacking lower body. You want to make sure that your body is gaining muscle evenly, so ensure that you are doing the proper amount of each exercise.

Also focus on compound exercises in your fitness training routine more than isolation exercises, and a good rule of thumb when it comes to fitness training in general is to start each muscle workout with compound exercises and save the isolation exercises for the very end of the workout.

Take it Easy

If you are just getting started with fitness strength training, you need to make sure that you do not overdo it. Sure you may want to go crazy and workout several times a week to get the quickest results, but this is not the way that you should go about it.

Instead, you want to take your time and ease your way into it. Start off with even just one or two workouts a week, and then as you progress and begin to get stronger and more familiar with your workout, you can increase this and begin exercising more frequently.

If you want more help and more personalized advice, you can speak to a personal trainer who will be able to work with you here. They can talk to you one on one and determine what your problem areas are and what your strengths are and where you are going to need the most help.

Speaking with a nutritionist would also be a great idea, because they will help you create the right diet plan. You can exercise all you want, but if you are not eating the right foods you will not be able to tone and shape your body as you desire.

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Walk for Miles, Without Ever Leaving the Room

What's the most popular way to exercise these days? As it happens, most people prefer treadmills. For the straight skinny on the subject, take a look at the Treadmill Reviews Comparison Guide. Experts agree that a brisk walk is one of the most effective ways to exercise, because it gets the heart pumping and gets most of the body's muscle groups into the act. Walking on a treadmill may mean miles of going nowhere, but you don't have to worry about dogs and muggers chasing you, either, the way you might outside.

Plus, you never have to go to a sweaty, overcrowded gym to work out, so that's one excuse out the door. Treadmills don't take up much space, so they're perfect for the living room, the home office, the den, or even the bedroom. By the way, you can watch TV, read a book, balance your checkbook, or check out Garfield's latest antics while walking on a treadmill. Try doing those things while out on the jogging track!

Whoops, we've just gotten rid of the two most common excuses that people use not to exercise. With them out of the way, you have no real reason not to hop onto your treadmill and get moving. Or maybe you're waiting for the New Year, so you can use this as one of your resolutions. Well, that's a thin excuse. Instead of waiting for your resolutions, which you know you're going to blow off anyhow, get yourself a treadmill and start walking.

If your excuse is that you don't know anything about treadmills, that one won't hold water either. All you have to do is read a few (or a few dozen) treadmill reviews. Take a look at the Comparison Guide for a good collection of reviews and ratings, as well as a few tips to help you make your choice. Treadmills comprise just one sub-category of elliptical exercise machines, and there are literally dozens of different models to chose from -- if not hundreds.

Basic treadmill models aren't that expensive. Even the more intricate electronic models contain features that make them well worth the investment. The best elliptical trainers at the best prices can be found right here online. Why wait for January 1? Strike while the iron is hot, and start walking off your pounds today!

How to HIIT Your Fitness Goals By This Summer

 

You're truly focused this time. You're going to meet your fitness goals, and you're going to do it fast. You will get muscular and strong and in awesome shape. The only question is how. How can you achieve real fitness in just a few months?

You don't have enough free time to spend hours a week on cardio, and it is too boring anyway. Hours in the gym working out with some trainer isn't in the cards either. Surely there's a way to get a lean body, flatten your abs, and add a little muscle without sacrificing the rest of your life. Well you're in luck. There is a way to do all of the above. It's a workout approach called HIIT.

What in the World is HIIT?

HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training. A HIIT workout involves cycles of short, high-intensity work, followed by short recovery periods. When you work out this way, your heart rate continually varies, rocketing from a relatively low level to near your maximum heart rate, then back down again. HIIT workouts are tough, but fortunately, they're short.

Typically, a workout entails a warm-up period, several cycles of high-intensity work, and a cool down period. The entire program normally takes less than an hour to complete. Working out more than three times a week is strongly discouraged, as doing more wouldn't give your muscles enough time to recover.

Compare the HIIT approach to the usual kinds of workouts that feature great activities like jogging for hours, swimming endless laps, and heavy dieting. Short intense HIIT workouts look pretty enticing compared to all that and are more likely to fit into your already overcrowded life.

But how well does High-Intensity Interval Training work?

Scientists show conclusively that the ever-changing heart rates and exercise levels associated with high-intensity interval training are very effective for burning fat while maintaining or even adding to your muscle mass. These results hold true despite the fact that HIIT workouts are often much shorter than traditional workout routines and even though your body is most efficient at burning fat during long slow aerobic workouts like swimming laps. The answer to this seeming paradox is that HIIT workouts cause your metabolic rate to stay higher during the times between workouts as your system recovers from the intensity of the workouts.

What's a HIIT routine like?

Are you curious as to what a HIIT workout is actually like?. The details vary depending on the design of the particular program, but they have a lot of common elements to them. In particular, they usually involve multi-joint movements.

Multi-joint movements are exercises like deadlifts that require the use of multiple muscle groups. These exercises are fundamentally different than exercises like curls, which involve a single muscle group. Involving multiple muscle groups in each exercise really cranks up the intensity while making it possible to get a lot done in a short time.

Perhaps the prototypical HIIT workout is sprinting. The way a sprinter trains, with frequent short bursts of extreme movement interspersed with rest periods is HIIT in its purest form. And if you've ever looked at the physiques on sprinters, you've seen what kind of results HIIT can generate .

More and more, short, high-intensity workouts are being recognized as the best way to develop and maintain a strong, fit, sexy body while you strengthen your heart, and burn fat. If you want to be fit and lean by summer, with a flat belly, solid muscles, and a healthy heart, try a HIIT workout plan.