Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Get Stronger, Sexier and Leaner Legs

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Want leaner, stronger, sexier legs? It’s a work in progress that requires perspiration and persistence. To develop and tone any specific area of your body, you must commit to a balanced diet and regular exercise. Cardiovascular exercise helps you burn calories to expedite fat loss. Weight training and resistance training help to build and tone muscles.

Aim for at least 30 minutes per day of moderate-paced exercise. Activities such as jogging, cycling and hiking won’t directly burn leg fat, but they will contribute to greater leg strength and muscle tone. These activities also burn lots of calories – you’ll burn about 350 calories for a half -hour jog. One of the great benefits of exercise (and there are many) is that the more muscle you build the faster you will lose weight. Pound for pound, muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat does, so the more muscle you build, the more calories you will burn off.

To tone and strengthen your legs, design your workout with extra leg-strengthening exercises like squats, lunges, step-ups and side shuffles. Aim for a minimum of one set of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise using a weight that feels heavy by the last reps. If you’re new to strength training, you may notice improved strength and tone in the first few weeks; fat loss may take longer, however, depending on how much you want to lose.

If cellulite is a problem, don’t be discouraged. It is estimated that nearly 90% of women have some cellulite on their bodies. Contrary to what you might think, cellulite isn’t because you are fat. It’s more of a problem of looks but not one of health. However, there is a lot you can do to treat, reduce and even prevent cellulite.

Stay hydrated, by eating foods that contain a significant amount of water like watermelon, cucumber and tomatoes. These foods improve skin hydration, keeping cells functioning at their peak level. Blueberries are an excellent super food to keep in your diet. Blueberries help keep collagen strong and healthy, providing the skin with structural support to promote thick, strong and cellulite-free skin.

Never give up! Stay focused and finish what you started. Remember that you are further along than you were yesterday. Every second you devote to your health and fitness is an investment that will pay off in your future. To get your legs looking their best, keep exercising and keep eating foods that nourish and build the body you desire.

Feel Fabulous Every Day

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Learn how to sync your schedule to your body’s internal clock and feel fabulous all day, every day. From the time you arise until the time you go to sleep, you can make the most of your day and never feel as if you are running out of time to do the things you want to do.

Busy women tend to feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. However, with a full 24 hours given to us each day, there certainly seems to be sufficient time for just about anything. It all has to do with making choices that work the best for you and your lifestyle and that includes having time for family and friends.

Awake each day around the same time, allowing yourself enough time for your morning routine. You can train your body to wake up at approximately the same time every day, if you give your body enough rest and relaxation.

Welcome the day and celebrate your existence with positive affirmations that help to guide and direct your mind and body to follow your goals. Follow these positive messages with some stretching to promote flexibility. Next, you will want to head to the kitchen and prepare a healthy breakfast, within about 30 to 60 minutes of waking.

If you work, be sure to already have your snacks and lunch planned for the day. During a regular 8-hour day, you will want to have 2 snacks and a lunch. To ensure you manage your weight successfully, you will want to always have healthy foods to take with you. Dining out is also an option, but be sure to write down everything you eat in your fitness journal.

As often as you can, stand up and stretch, take the long way around to walk, park further away, and any other ways you can move your body throughout the day. If it is feasible where you work, schedule a workout time during the day. This helps to break up the work day, relieve stress and gets your workout in without disrupting time with your family.

Of course, many women find time in the evening to work out, too. A regular exercise routine with your husband or children can provide the activity and social interaction you need to improve your health, reduce your waistline and help you to manage your weight.

Enjoy dinner with your family and spend time truly listening to what they have to say. Set a regular time for bedtime and stick with it. After awhile, your body’s clock will naturally readjust and you will get sleepy every night about the same time. Setting a schedule will help you find the time you need within the 24 hours you get each day.

The secret to feeling fabulous every day, is to plan your day in advance but be flexible and forgiving. Never feel guilty about the choices you make, just resolve to make better choices in order to attain the results you seek. It’s all about being in control of your life, when you take charge and seize the day, you are naturally going to feel fabulous.

Why Fitness Is Important For Women

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For centuries, women never concerned themselves with fitness or staying active. They dieted to lose weight and the most exercise they got came from chasing their children. There were of course, exceptions to this rule. There were women who participated in physical games with their kids or maybe a bike ride with their husbands. But for the most part, women, once they were grown, didn’t make it a point to exercise. Only a few women understood why fitness is important to women.

Today, women are beginning to consider fitness and exercise an important part of staying healthy. As information becomes available about the benefits of exercise and the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, women are paying close attention and doing something about it. They are making fitness a higher priority in their lives.

With a workforce of women earning nearly as much or more than their male counterparts, women have been plagued by many of the health problems that men have encountered for years. Women are often in higher managerial positions now and stress related illnesses and diseases associated with certain lifestyles have increased for women. Fighting off these life-threatening diseases is one more reason why fitness is important for women.

Staying physically fit helps to strengthen the heart, respiratory and mental functions. Studies have shown a direct link between fitness and brain function. By sticking to a regular fitness program, women in decision-making positions find it easier to perform their jobs and will be able to better deal with the stress.

Fitness is important for all women, regardless of their occupation. Whether reaching up while stacking shelves or bending down to pick up children, women use large and small muscles throughout their bodies to do every day tasks. Staying physically fit can aid in every moves made throughout the day.

Regular physical activity includes a combination of resistance and cardio exercises. Be sure to mix it up to get maximum results during each workout. Cardio activities raise the heartbeat and help the body to burn calories. Choose activities that you enjoy like walking, jogging, swimming, or cycling, for starters.

Women are busier today than ever and many may think they don’t have time for exercise. 30 minutes of exercise each day is all it takes to stay in shape. You don’t have to spend hours at the gym—just commit to exercising at least 30 minutes a day and reap the full benefits of fitness.

Love Your Heart With An Active Lifestyle

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The number one killer of women is heart disease, according to the American Heart Association®. The good news is, there are many steps you can take to protect your heart and make it healthier. But first you need to know your risk factors, important information like your family’s history of heart disease. Did your parents, grandparents, or siblings experience heart disease and if so at what age? Sharing these informative facts with your physician can help determine your risks.

Your diet plays a big role in your heart’s health, too. So does getting ample sleep. But neither of these risks figures in as dangerously for the heart as the effects of a sedentary lifestyle. Inactivity is a killer for women and men, alike. Outside of smoking, a sedentary lifestyle is one of the unhealthiest behaviors, but fortunately, this behavior is completely preventable.

Exercise, on the other hand, is one of the healthiest behaviors in which you can participate. It has been proven that even moderate exercise leads to a healthier heart. The more active and fit a woman is, the less chance she will have for coronary heart disease. Many studies have been conducted over decades and each time the results are pretty much the same. Exercise and an active lifestyle will keep your heart healthy.

There are so many forms of exercise to keep your heart healthy. Believe it or not, housework can count as exercise, too. But remember, your goal should be to reach a cardio heart rate for at least 20 minutes. It may take you a while to get there but the more you train your heart the stronger it will become.

Walking and jogging are also good forms of exercise that even a beginner can excel at. But if you need something more stimulating, try taking tennis, dance or spinning classes to stir up some fun. Any sort of sport that you enjoy playing will help you to work your heart and increase oxygen circulation, the key to helping your heart work at optimum condition.

Your body’s ability to take in and use oxygen improves with regular exercise making it easier on your heart to reach a cardio heart rate. Effective exercise occurs when the heart, lungs and muscles work together. Regular cardio exercise will help your heart to become a more powerful pump so that it can supply the body’s needed oxygen at a slower heart rate.

Exercise is essential to a heart healthy lifestyle. Love your heart and become an active participant in your own life story.

The Healthy Benefits of Tea – Nature’s Beneficial Brew

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If you want a drink that will keep you healthy, make you feel younger and possibly live longer, put down that coffee cup and try a hot cup of tea, instead. Although, it contains caffeine, tea is especially beneficial to your heart and overall health.

Tea contains flavonoids, antioxidants that help to neutralize free radicals, which can cause cancer. Recent studies have found that people who regularly consume Black Tea have a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke.

Virtually calorie free, tea is a refreshing beverage that contains no sodium, fat, carbonation or sugar. It also helps to maintain proper fluid balance. But drinking tea is not the only way to benefit from this natural beverage. Tea can be used in a variety of dishes from salad dressing to cake batters.

Tea aids in digestion and can help you to lose weight. By far, lower in calories than sugar-laden soft drinks, tea works on the body like a natural laxative. A great ally for losing weight, tea can boost exercise endurance. It also magically shrinks your waistline.

From the first sip to the last, a good cup of tea comforts a weary soul like a familiar friend. Warm and comforting, a cup of hot tea can make the stress melt away. There are even teas that will calm you and help you fall asleep, like chamomile tea.

Although tea has been around for thousands of years, it has found a new group of followers for its mystical brew. Tea bars and stores devoted to selling teas have sprung up everywhere. They encourage tastings and promote different brands and tea and food parings. There are so many different flavors that it’s easy to fall in love with at least one of them.

Loose-leaf tea comes in a variety of types in Black, White, Green or Oolong tea. Each has a different flavor and different health benefits. Loose-leaf tea is a higher quality tea with a much better taste than bag teas.

Iced tea is also beneficial to your health. Choose unsweetened tea to keep it virtually calorie-free. A cold glass of tea is a welcome refreshment on a hot summer day. It goes well with sandwiches, snacks or a full course meal. Totally versatile, hot or cold, tea is the favorite beverage that Americans choose to quench their thirst.