Posts Tagged ‘Muscles’

Fitness For Older Women

May 1st, 2010



Fitness has a very broad meaning encompassing improved health, enhanced looks and a better feeling. With advancing age, a woman’s delicate body undergoes more stress (due to child birth or hormonal changes in the body during menopause) in comparison to a man’s body. For older women aged over 40, whose bodies begin to lose bone density and muscle mass, strength training offers a lot of benefits and helps to gain bone density and muscular strength. Strength training tones the body and makes it slimmer and shapelier. This is because the flab and fat in the body is replaced with more muscles. However, strength training does not help reduce weight because muscles are heavier than fat. Strength training returns the youthfulness in the lives of older women.

Most recommended in the strength training program for older women is the use of leg weights and free hand weights which are adjustable. One must start with the lightest weights available and gradually increase the weights as well as the intensity and duration of the strength training. It is better to start with 1 to 3 kilograms in each ankle cuff and 1 to 2 kilograms of dumbbells. One can simply start working out from the comfort of their home. It would be really helpful if one could manage to get hold of the book titled “Strong Women Stay Young”, which covers a wide range of basic exercises for older women. Older women must be extra careful if they are suffering from back pain problems. It is always wise to consult a physician before deciding to go ahead with an exercising schedule.

If you are looking to feel good in general and have a better body then start thinking about fitness seriously. Once you start you will automatically feel the benefits of being fit and healthy.

By: Jared Lee

Fat Loss Exercises for Obese Men and Women

November 5th, 2009



Fat Loss Workouts for Obese Men & Women do not have to be long slow cardio workouts.

Fat loss for obese people can follow the same strength training and interval training workout guidelines that fat loss for advanced people will follow, but we just need to adjust the exercises and intensity. The principles remain the same.

Obese people need to get stronger and use resistance training to build muscle so they can do cardio type events.

Most people work backwards, doing lots of cardio first, but that only guarantees an injury.

You need to do strength training first to prepare the muscles to be able to handle the repeated stress of cardio training.

In a fat loss resistance training workout for obese men and women, we’ll use multi-muscle exercises. We’ll do them in superset pairs. And yes, we’ll even use interval training for this. It will be modified, but we can still do it.

Recently, my friend and nutrition expert Dr. Chris Mohr interviewed me on how an obese person can use strength training and interval training for fat loss.

Q: Craig, what do you do if you have an extremely obese individual who is totally inactive — is a program of strength training and interval training still the best recommendation?

Answer: Yes, it still is.

This is a much better approach than telling an obese person to go and run for 30-60 minutes per day.

I have designed a strength training and interval training system working with men and women from 14-75, and my experience included many obese men and women along the way, including men over 300 pounds and women over 225 pounds.

Provided their doctor approved them for exercise, we were ready to go and get them using strength training and even beginner interval training.

Any sedentary individual, man or woman, needs to start there.

In fact, the very first phase is performed with 90% of the exercises done lying on the ground. Users are shocked to see how hard LYING exercises can be…but they are the perfect blend of safety and intensity for overweight, inactive folks.

The perfect starting point.

That brings up one other thing…and the main point beginners need to understand is that NUTRITION is the key to fat loss in the first couple of weeks when they are getting back into exercise.

Folks will get more results from following nutritious meal plans that focus on having them cut back on processed foods and sugar. That said, they need to choose an exercise program that will build them up for future training sessions…and that’s what strength training and interval training workouts do.

On the other hand, if inactive folks launch right into a serious cardio/endurance program, they’ll get a sour taste of the “Dark Side of Cardio” pretty quick, putting them in the Doctor’s office with overuse injuries.

So choose your fat loss weapons wisely when just starting out!

If you are a beginner, make sure to check with your doctor before starting a new diet or exercise program.

By: Craig Ballantyne