PHYSICAL FITNESS - 10 STEPS

There are 10 easy simple steps to follow for your physical fitness. Watch out below,

FITNESS PRINCIPLES

Almost everywhere you go today, you are approached in some manner about health and physical fitness. The fact that a large percentage of world people are considered obese has helped increase the marketing of diet, physical fitness,and health products. You’ll be reminded of health and fitness on TV, in magazines, on the radio, the news, at work, almost everywhere you go you’ll see something about physical fitness.



With all this commotion about fitness, have you joined the team and started your path to total fitness? If not here is a brief description of the standards of physical fitness and what you may do about your current fitness level.

Most experts agree there are five basic components of fitness. They are:

1) Aerobic Endurance

Your level of aerobic endurance measures your ability to do moderately strenuous activity over a period of time. It’s a measurement of how
efficiently your heart and lungs work together to supply oxygen to your body during exertion and exercise. This fitness component is also called aerobic fitness.



2) Muscular Endurance

Muscular Endurance measures your fitness level by your ability to hold a particular position for a sustained period of time or repeat a movement many times. One example might be to lift a five-pound weight 20 consecutive times.



3) Muscular Strength

The ability to exert maximum force. It is possible to have greater muscular strength in one area, than another. For example, you may have great strength in your arms, while lacking strength in your legs. One example might be lifting the heaviest weight you can possibly lift.



4) Flexibility

Flexibility fitness measures the ability to move a joint through its full range of motion or the elasticity of the muscle. This is how limber you are.



5) Body Composition

This fitness area measures the proportion of fat in your body as compared to your bone and muscle. It does not refer to your weight in pounds or your shape.



If you are weak in any area or need to begin a general overall fitness plan, there are basically three areas of exercise you should concentrate upon to make improvements. They are :

1.)STRETCHING





2.)AEROBIC ACTIVITY







3.)STRENGTH TRAINING





Each of these areas is very important to your overall fitness level.

Eating a healthy diet will also contribute greatly to your overall fitness level.



Remember, it is never too late to improve your fitness level. Regardless of your physical fitness level, your age, or the length of time it has been since you last exercised regularly, it’s never too late to start and maintain a good fitness routine. Your body is designed to move. If you don’t use it, you lose it. It is just
that simple.



BENEFITS OF FITNESS

SIX PACK ABS WITHOUT SUPPLEMENTS

There is a good reason why commercials for weight loss supplements always show rock-hard bellies with sharply defined abdominal muscles: everybody wants it.



The stomach is the number one area that most people would like to improve and the majority of those people will do almost anything to get those abs except for the one thing it requires: hard work.



That’s why supplements are so popular: they promise the results people desire without physical exertion or sweating. Whether or not these supplements actually do any good is up for debate.

The majority of supplements available on the market today use active ingredients that are not approved by government agencies as being safe for human use. Many times these special elements have no scientific evidence to back up their wild claims. Ingredients such as ma huang, ephedra, and aristolochia have been shown to produce adverse effects like heart palpitations, kidney failure, and, in the most extreme cases, even death. Herbal supplements have no regulatory agency in the United States and thus a manufacturer could put anything in a pill, call it herbal, and then sell it on the market without ever presenting any proof of safety or efficacy. Ingredients are only banned when enough people become ill to raise an alarm. Do you really want to be one of those people just to get the six-pack of your dreams?

The good news is that you can get a killer stomach without drugs or so-called herbal supplements. Through a carefully planned program of exercise, diet and hard work, you can change your belly into the abdominal muscles of your dreams. It may not be as easy as popping a couple of pills but the results are worth it and you will enjoy the reward even more since you earned every bit of it on your own.

The first thing you should do is find something to use as a record-keeper and plan book for your program. Exercise journals are fantastic for this purpose because as you enter daily information in the journal, you are putting together a complete record that can be referred back to in the future.



It can also be great encouragement for you to look at how far you’ve come in terms of weight loss and muscle gain. If you have a personal digital assistant (P.D.A.), find an application that allows you to track your workouts and personal statistics. There are dozens of companies that make programs for the P.D.A., so you are sure to find one that makes an application suitable for your handheld.



If you prefer to remain low-tech, buy a basic school notebook and use one page daily to record information about your exercise program. The important information you should be writing down is as follows:

Date (including time of day)

Weight

Exercise for the Day

Daily Meals

Measurements (once weekly)

Tracking this information will assist you in figuring out what works for you and what doesn’t. Writing down your daily meals is especially important – research shows that the most successful dieters are the ones who keep an honest food journal every day. When you have an accurate count of your daily intake of calories, it’s hard to deny the truth and eat another chocolate chip cookie. Be aware of your calories and you won’t overeat.



Another trick from successful dieters is to weigh in daily. While some may disagree, keeping a daily record of weight acts as a check on overeating and skipping workouts – the desire to see the number on the scale drop can prevent any diet misbehavior. The best time to weigh yourself is in the morning as soon as you wake up and have emptied your bladder. Try to weigh at the same time every day for the most accurate assessment of your weight.



As far as measurements go, taking them weekly is appropriate – that allows enough time to see a real change so you do not become discouraged. You may want to consider measuring biweekly if you prefer to see more dramatic changes.

Once you are prepared with your exercise log, it is time to think about an exercise schedule. For the best results you should incorporate cardiovascular exercise with weight training and abdominal work.



Exercising aerobically burns fat and calories, and decreases the amount of fat that lies over the abdominal muscles. Many times people do hundreds of sit-ups and never see a change in their bellies – that’s because unless you reduce the fat that covers the muscles, you can not see the definition underneath.Excellent choices for aerobic workouts are swimming, interval training, and speed walking.







You should ideally work out four to five times during the week. Strength training is also important because you need strong muscles in order to power your aerobic training. Additionally muscle burns more calories than fat and takes up less space, too.





The final part of your program is the abdominal work itself. Traditional sit-ups are fine but try moves with a twist for an extra boost in metabolism.


(SIT-UP)


Pilate’s moves are great for tightening abdominal muscles as is belly dancing.



There are a variety of moves and routines you can incorporate into your schedule to move you closer to your ultimate goal of six-pack abs.

Expect to spend at least three months working on your goal. Change doesn’t happen overnight, especially if you have more than five pounds to lose. Stick with it and manage your training log; before you know it, you will be sporting killer abs.