Joseph Pilates, born in Germany in the late 1800’s, spent most of his youth in ill health. He was able to overcome his health issues with bodybuilding and exercise. Exercise, as it turned out, became his life. By his late teens he had become an accomplished athlete. During World War 1 Joseph was interned in England as an “enemy alien” with other German nationals. It was during this time that he refined his ideas and trained other internees in his system of exercise. Using bed springs and furniture, he created equipment that could be used for resistance exercise by the bedridden. In 1918 England suffered an influenza outbreak that killed thousands. Not one person following Josephs exercise system died.
After his release Joseph returned to Germany, where his system gained some popularity with the dance community. Shortly after his return he was asked to train the German army his system of exercise. He decided to leave Germany for good.
In 1923 Joseph Pilates immigrated to the United States. During his voyage he met Clara, a nurse, who would later become his wife, and together; until his death they worked to refine and share Josephs work with others. His teachings became very popular among the dance community in this country, and stayed that way for many years.
Some years after his death, the Pilates system started finding its way outside of the dance community, and now, almost 40 years after his death, millions of Americans practice Pilates.
I believe that Joseph would not be a bit surprised that his system would one day be considered fitness mainstream. He was known to say often, “I’m fifty years ahead of my time.”
Simply defined: The focus of Pilates is on strengthening the “powerhouse” (abs & buttocks) by implementing controlled movements with much attention to systematic breathing.
Visit Pilates-411 to learn about Pilates. Get motivated with articles, tips and resource information on Pilates. Great for beginners!
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When you sit down to reflect on the New Year, will you have already gained the average 5 pounds that most Americans put on during the holiday season? Or will you be losing fat and gaining muscle with Turbulence Training?
With the Turbulence Training reports and the following article you can avoid gaining holiday fat while doing the impossible: Losing fat and gaining muscle over the holiday season.
Since one of our least favorite holiday traditions is trying to find room for exercise in a busy schedule, here are 6 tips on how to continue to improve your body over the party season while getting a head start on your New Year’s fitness resolutions.
Step 1 - Train efficiently
Strength training is a very efficient type of exercise, giving you many benefits with a small amount of exercise. During the holiday season, you might be able to get the same benefits by reducing the number of sets per exercise in your workout from 3 to 1. That will help you maintain muscle and strength while significantly reducing your training time.
Interval training is another economical form of exercise. Rather than following up your strength training with 45 minutes on the treadmill, you can get the same (or better!) fat burning results from a much shorter period (20 minutes) of interval training.
Step 2 - Cut the junk
Men’s Fitness Training Adviser Alwyn Cosgrove suggests that we ask ourselves, “Will this help me or not? Is this a positive step or not?” So unless you can justify doing 3 exercises for triceps, then cut the junk from your workout and focus on efficient exercises only.
Step 3 - Warm-up as a workout
You don’t need to spend 10 minutes on the treadmill before you strength train. Instead, you need to prepare specifically for what you are about to do. If your walk to the gym is more than a couple of minutes, you can go right into specific warm-up sets for your strength training exercises.
Step 4 - Whole body vs. split routines
Don’t be a slave to doing chest and arms on Mondays. This eliminates any excuse to skip workouts when you deviate from your “weekly” schedule. Plan your holiday workouts to train either your entire body in one session or alternate between upper body and lower body workouts.
Step 5 - Train your abs with every exercise
The 15 minutes of sit-ups you do each day is a waste of time and is damaging to your lower back. Instead of wasting away on the floor, approach every exercise as an abdominal exercise. Brace your abs (like someone was about to punch you in the stomach) and never let your low back “round”. This body posture is especially important for exercises such as the abdominal plank, squats, push-ups, and all standing exercises.
Step 6 - Plan your workouts
In the spirit of the holidays, I’ve given you a lot of tips to improve your workout efficiency. Now the most important part is up to you to put them into action. So don’t go into the gym without a clue and end up on the cardio machine for an hour because you didn’t know where to start.
Each Turbulence Training workout follows an efficient and effective template to get in and out of the gym in under an hour. You can also choose to do a weights-only or intervals-only workout, therefore cutting even more time off of your trip to the gym.
Turbulence Training Template
5 minutes - 2 warm-up sets for key weight training exercises
15 minutes - Weights
20 minutes - Intervals
5 minutes - Stretch (tight muscles only)
www.turbulenceTraining.com
Craig Ballantyne trains athletes and executives in Toronto, and writes for Men’s Fitness magazine. His trademarked Turbulence Training workouts and his comprehensive workout manuals (including “The Ultimate Bodyweight Workout”) are featured on his website Turbulence Training.
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Let’s face it your body is a smart machine, if you want to be a champion especially in the sport of bodybuilding you have to continuously push yourself in EVERY way. The only person you compete against is yourself. The only person you have to stay ahead of in the game is yourself. To do this, it really boils down to just two things: master the art of listening to your body and master the art of not allowing your body and mind to adapt to your training and eating programs.
Athletes and the general fitness buffs lose their desire and motives for two reasons: boredom and lack of results. Boredom in the sense than their bodies gets use to a certain pattern of exercising and sooner rather than later adapt to that pattern. When this occurs results do not. When we are not mentally and physically pushed we end up staying at a certain level or worse give up on ourselves. This does not have to happen!
On a personal note, I have averaged five days a week exercising and won many bodybuilding championships by doing half the weight and exercises in half the time that most do. Why? Because of one simple rule; never allow your body to adapt to your program.
However, there are many of you who do the opposite and change things up too soon and too often. You don’t see results in a short period of time so you change it up. At the end of the year, if I would ask you, “What works for you?” You could not tell me, because you are confused with all the things you’ve tried. There is a fine line of when and what to change. Here are some suggestions on becoming a champion in any sport when it comes to mastering the art of adaptation:
1. Design your workout programs in twelve week cycles -
You could also call this periodization training. Your body works in cycles. Any more than twelve weeks and your body and mind get use to the pattern of your training.
2. Have a rest period between programs -
It is very important both physically and mentally to take a break to recuperate. This may be hard to do, but pays dividends down the road. Remember - More is not better!
3. Vary intensity levels on both cardiovascular and weight training workouts -
This continually pushes your body to grow and improve. Monitor heart rates and keep a good flow in your weight training workouts.
4. Set a time frame to your workout session -
This forces you to push yourself and not allowing your body to get in a rut. Do not allow your workouts to become a job to do. Enjoy it!
5. Alternate between machines and free weights -
Your body even gets use to equipment, reps and order of exercises. Change up once a while.
If you want to be a champion, these things must be incorporated into your workout plan. If you are afraid of change, experimenting or failing you will continue on the road of metiocracy. However, if you want to be a bodybuilding champion you must think outside the box!
Greg Ryan is a high profile fitness expert and former employee of Kathy Smiths. Best selling author of the Changing from the INSIDE book series. Discover the common sense way to lose weight with out dieting. A proven formula the doctor’s DON’T want you to know about. For FREE MINI COURES click here http://www.resolutions.bz
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Everyone knows it’s a good idea to always stretch your muscles prior to exercising, but did you know stretching might also help reduce leg cramps? Here are some good tips to proper stretching that will lower your chances of getting leg cramps.
Before beginning any exercise or workout routine you should always stretch your muscle groups for at least a minute. The best way to accomplish this is to gradually stretch out your muscles. Don’t stretch so hard and fast that you injure yourself by tearing the muscle. Slowly stretch and increase every 10 seconds until you can’t stretch any further and then hold it for 30 seconds.
According to David Joyce, a resident sports massage therapist, you should utilize a very light 10-minute warm up period at 50% effort. Then follow that up with 10 minutes of stretches. David has found that up to 70% of leg cramps and injuries can be prevented by following these tips. This applies to runners, football players and basketball players.
David also mentions that a combination of massage and stretching will work the best. When you watch an NBA basketball game you will notice that during warm-ups the players stretch and trainers will massage the players legs.
Of course, most of us don’t have a personal trainer or massage therapist on hand to help us, but you can do some of this yourself with a little massage therapy basics. Read up on it and apply some of the principles. It will greatly reduce the possibility of getting leg cramps during exercises.
Know How Flexible You Are
If you know how flexible you are then you can know if you’re prone to getting leg cramps or even a lower leg injury like an Achilles injury.
How do you test your flexibility? For your calf muscles you should sit on the ground with your legs stretched out in front of you. Keep your knees straight and grab the top of your feet, pulling them toward you. You should be able to pull them back 90 degrees without discomfort.
If it feels tight then you know that you need to concentrate on exercising and stretching these muscles. Spend a little extra time stretching and you’ll notice the results immediately.
If you live in a colder climate you may need to spend more time stretching than you would in a warm climate. The colder air tightens your muscles. Keep that in mind on those cooler days.
I know that 10 minutes can seem like a lot of time to warm up, so you may want to start out with a slow jog. After a few minutes you can begin stretching and even mix in a yoga routine. By adding the yoga to your stretching you can warm up your muscles quicker without the risk of getting a leg cramp or muscle injury. Be sure to end any workout or exercise routine with stretching.
If you will add a good stretching routine before any sporting event or exercise program, you’ll reduce the risk of getting those painful leg cramps. And that makes things much more fun in the long run.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Exercise
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The sexy toy market has been ever changing since it all blossomed in the 90s. The sexy toys available become more amazing each year and the martial toys for this year are brilliant. If you have not got into martial toys yet then this year is a perfect time to give them a try. There are legions of benefits of having sexy toys, the sexy toys might well help to spice up a love life, help to give gents a better time in the bedroom and help guys to release emotions.
There are an extensive range of sexy toys available on the market and the greatest sellers have always been vibes. Luckily if females become embarrased about purchasing sexual toys males might now find reputable marital aid retailers online. And the toys are dispatched next day usually. When ladies are using marital aids it can help to use sex lubricants to help ease toys in. Women can purchase lubes in all lovely flavours. My favourite is berry. One must forever make sure that after using a sex toy that you clean it. By cleaning your martial toy you make sure you keep dirt levels low. The astonishing thing about toys is girls can use them by themselves and with their partner. Grab a bargain with Vibrators from retailer Sex Bomb.
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Proper cleaning of dildos is essential to stop nasty transmission or infection. of STIs. While some STIs die once the fluid the sexually transmitted disease lives in dries, other sexual diseases such as hepatitis and HIV will survive for days or many months outside of the crotch area. If you yourself want to prevent pregnancy, it is also fundamental to take off any sperm that can often be on the sex toy before playing near or in the love tunnel. It is principal to keep the double dildo instructions for washing the vibe and to follow them properly. If you yourself feel that washing the dong rightfully would be too much hard work or unrealistic for you, think about buying a different vibrator. The data provided just below gives a rough overview for washing particular forms of marital aids and isn?t really here to replace the martial toy manufacturer?s instructions.
For basic dildo care, remove any batteries. Use a wet soapy cloth to wash your marital aids, preferably with strong soap. Remember to never dunk electrical components under water. Keep vibes stored in a pouch or cupboard to keep it dry and in a cool, dry place. Sex aids can be amazing toys to play with so please make sure gents are safe and clean with your sessions with vibe cleaners. If you are having a night in you should use Adult Sex Toys.
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Are you not decided which water based lubricant to own? Your questions will be discussed in this following lube post.
Water Based Lubes are not primarily for romantic nights in. Getting oiled up for solo fun is one of the most common uses for water based lubes, fruity oils and fruity lotions. Using water based lube during one on one fun is safe, good and practical. You yourself will want your sex toys to enter and slide as significantly as possible.
If people are looking for a sex lube which is safe to apply with all sex toys stick to a water-based sexual lubricant, there are many tasty types out there like pineapple. And there are some that heat up.
Old school users will often already know what sex lubricant is most enjoyable for them. But if you are buying a water based lube for the first time we would enjoy to recommend the following. It?s wise to start off with a water-based sex lubricant. Water-based sexual lubricants do not stain and sexual lubricants are also totally safe to apply on all vibrators. If you yourself want to try a lube for mouth play Sex Bomb recommend you get one of the sumptuous orange flavoured ones. Anal devotees tend to go for thicker sex lubricant because these fruity lubricants are slightly longer lasting. Remember, the more water based lubricant you use the more mind-blowing sex you can have. Get dominated or be the dominator with Bondage Gear.
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