Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Show Up to Get Results

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You may have heard that it is okay to skip the gym or workout on occasion. Sometimes your body needs a break. Maybe you are starting to get bored with your workout routine. Whatever the reason you might be feeling reluctant about exercising, it is important to remember that you must show up to get results.

While taking the occasional break is fine and sometimes even necessary, too many missed workouts can hinder the results you are seeking to achieve. Worse still, breaking the habit of exercising one day can lead to more apprehension about exercising the following day. It is a habit that you do not want to break.

Exercising and working out are not always easy. Many times life issues stand in the way. However, if you are looking to get results, you must show up to work out. Most times you will be glad you did.

Even while on vacation or holiday, it is good practice to stay active as much as possible. Plan activities, find jogging paths, locate the hotel gym or a local one nearby to get in some needed exercise. This will enable you to pick up right where you left off when you get back into your workout routine.

If you are beginning to get bored with your workout, maybe it is time to join a fitness group or hire a personal trainer. There are many workout routines online that you can check out and implement into your own routine. If you do not have a fitness partner, maybe you can start working out with someone at the gym.

When you are working towards a goal, like losing weight, lifting weights or body building, you know how important every workout is to help you progress. Each day brings you closer to your goal. But you must show up to get results.

Energize with Exercise

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Energize your body, mind and soul by exercising every day. Even when you feel too tired to get moving, motivate yourself to push forward. Our bodies are designed to move! We need to keep moving throughout our lives in order to maintain not only healthy muscles but to keep all of our internal systems in tip top shape as well.

To keep our bodily mechanisms hard at work, we must keep the gears moving. Otherwise our muscles become lax and withered and in turn, our bones suffer the consequences. For instance, when core muscles in the body are not exercised and developed, more stress and strain is put on the back and spine. The same for the knee. Knee injuries that develop into arthritis can be helped dramatically by strengthening the muscles that surround the knee.

We all know that a healthy heart is essential to living well. Daily activity has been proven to strengthen the heart muscles and alleviate stress by helping the body to produce endorphins. Regular cardio exercises combined with strength training provides the best exercise plan.

Exercise is good for the mind and soul as well as the body. It feels great to take a nice walk after a big meal. Not only does the walk help your food to digest, it relieves stress and gives the mind and soul a chance to recharge and reboot.

There are so many benefits to staying active. Just as well, there are serious side effects that can develop when a person chooses a sedentary lifestyle devoid of exercise and activity. Don’t wait for these ailments to steal your zest in life. Go out there and get moving.

You don’t have to join a club or do anything fancy to begin exercising. If you are a beginner, start with a 15-minute walk out and 15-minute walk back. That’s an easy 30 minutes of exercising that you can build on day after day. I guarantee you that if you stick with it you will never regret the time you invest in exercise and taking care of your body.

Exercise For A Healthy Heart

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We all know that exercise improves the heart’s functions but did you know that not exercising could be worse on your heart than just about anything? According to a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, inactivity is the largest risk factor for heart disease in women over the age of 30. The largest factor! That means it is crucial to your health and your longevity that you get moving. Walk, run, swim anything you like to do to be active, but get up and get going.

Thirty minutes is all it takes of vigorous exercise each day. Of course, once you begin exercising regularly, you will probably find you want to exercise longer, too. Challenge yourself each session or each week by changing your routine and adding weights or resistance to your cardio exercises. The idea is to train your heart to work harder and become stronger.

If you have been walking for exercise and find it becoming almost too easy. Try wearing a backpack with weights inside. This will make your walk a bit more difficult as you work your entire body to accommodate the added weight. To work your arm muscles, you can carry little hand weights to build arm muscles and add some resistance to your stride. The same idea can be carried over to cardio activities at the gym, if the exercise becomes mundane, change it up and add something different.

The important thing is to keep moving. No matter what your age, it is never too late to benefit from exercise. Medical News Today reported that starting exercise at the age of 40 has the same heart benefits as earlier training. A reassuring fact that exercise improves health and is essential to our well being.

As healthy as exercise is for the heart, it is also beneficial to other organs in the body as well. Thirty minutes of vigorous exercise will increase your lung capacity, aid in circulation, reduce inflammation, and help you to control your weight. When you exert your body, it uses the calories that you consume for energy. Regular exercise will help you to burn those calories rather than store them.

In addition to cardio exercises to improve heart health, resistance exercises also benefit the heart by making it work harder. That is why an exercise program that alternates cardio and strength is the best combination to keep your heart healthy, while losing weight and staying in shape.

Sleeveless and Sexy—Get Sleek Arms For The Summer

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The popularity of sun dresses and sleeveless tops in summer means full exposure for your arms. You can be confident that they will look their best with exercises that are specially designed to fight arm jiggle and sculpt your arms from your shoulders to your fingertips.

Upper arm workouts, when done regularly will make keep the muscles in your arms toned and fit. The bigger the muscle, the less jiggle you will have in your arms. This is true for women who are underweight as well as women who are overweight. Developing your muscles will give your arms that beautiful sculpted look, which is desired by many.

When you begin to work your arms regularly, you will notice a difference in as little as 30 days. Less wiggle and jiggle and a larger muscle mass in your arm when flexed will be proof that with just a little bit of exercise directed as these small muscle groups can make a big difference.

You will find yourself opting out for the wrap, sweater and jacket to accommodate your dress or blouse. No longer wanting to hide your arms under clothing, you will want to take every opportunity to show them off.

If it’s hard to act out a story without having the embarrassment of jiggly arms, it is definitely time for you to start moving those wings. Arms are often neglected in cardio exercises like walking and running. That’s why it’s important to add hand weights when walking and use the handles on the elliptical machine to ensure your arms are getting worked too.
Below is an upper arm exercise that is designed to give you sleek and sexy arms that will look great in any outfit, sleeveless or not. This exercise, the Two Arm Overhead Dumbell Extension is a great exercise to help build muscles in your upper shoulder, triceps, biceps and core.
Position 1: Begin by grasping the stem of a dumbbell with both hands.
Position 2: Raise your arms overhead, bending your elbows and allow the weight to hang down behind your head as far as comfortably possible.
Position 3: Slowly straighten your arms keeping your elbows back and pointed toward the ceiling throughout the move.
Position 4: Contract your triceps, and then slowly lower the weight back along the same path to the start position.

Take it to the next level by increasing the weight of the dumb bell. Biceps will develop rapidly and you will be ready for all of those sleeveless days and nights of summer.

Begin A Fitness Journal Today

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Many successful diets incorporate journaling in their program. That’s because the journal helps to keep you accountable for everything you eat and drink. By reducing or eliminating high calorie drinks alone, can make you lose significant weight. But the best way to measure how your diet is working for you is to maintain a journal every day.

Maintaining a diet and fitness journal has been proven to be the number one motivator for helping a person succeed with their goals. Writing down everything you eat and drink and all of your activities each day will help you track your progress as you move toward your fitness goals.

The act of writing down your goals triggers a focus mechanism in your brain that helps you keep your mind focused on your goals. Not only does it provide a constant reminder of your goals; but it helps to establish them as real and attainable. When we keep our minds on our goals, we make decisions that move us toward achieving those goals.

The first step in keeping a fitness journal is to understand your current eating and exercising patterns. You must know your starting point in order to establish your goals. Journaling, or keeping a food and exercise log, is a great way to do it. By writing down your goals and then logging in everything you eat and drink each day you will be able to determine what is working for you and what isn’t.

There are many journals to choose from and they come in all sizes. You can select one small enough to fit in your purse or a larger one with full size sheets of paper to write on. It’s your journal so look for one that suits you best. To keep you excited about your journal, find one that is attractive and that allows enough entries for your day to day happenings and your short term and long term goals.

Remember, keeping a journal is fundamental to your success. Changing the way you eat and making a habit of exercising is not easy. The journal may be the easiest part of your whole program, a simple process that is also a critical component to your fitness plan. It has been proven time and again that people who keep a fitness journal have a much greater chance of success when it comes to losing weight than those who do not.

Be part of the successful people and begin your fitness journal today.