15 Ways To Improve Your Fitness

How far away is your mailbox!!!!!!!!!
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Don’t let exercise be the first thing to fall off your busy schedule. Learn how to work in a workout―and make it really effective.

1. Exercise in quick spurts. A new study has found that people who did just four to six 30-second sprints reaped the same heart-health benefits as those who logged a moderate 40- to 60-minute workout. Two ways to get your heart racing: Jump rope for three minutes, or sprint to and from the mailbox three times (ignore the neighbors’ curious looks). If you live in an urban area, sprint blocks sporadically (just pretend you’re running for the bus).

2. Make your home a fitter place. To help you flex your muscles more often, leave a set of dumbbells near your microwave and do curls while heating up dinner. Put a yoga mat next to the bed so you can do downward dogs when you get up or at bedtime. Hang a resistance band on the bathroom doorknob and strength-train while the tub fills up. Or use a stability ball as a desk chair to engage your core when paying bills.

3. Inconvenience yourself. Instead of always doing things the easy or fast way (standing on escalators, using valet parking), rethink the services that curb your activity level. Even tiny changes can make a difference. So don’t have someone else run upstairs to grab your sweater, for example; fetch it yourself.

4. Reinvent date night. If your usual evening out consists of dinner and a movie (read: sedentary), consider bonding in a more active way, like dinner and dancing or taking in a museum exhibition.

5. Or make a date with Michael Scott. You wouldn’t dare miss your favorite office-set comedy. So schedule regular workouts at your gym during your must-see TV shows and you’ll work up a sweat and watch the time fly. If you have equipment at home, slide it into TV-viewing position―a workout in itself.

6. Deskercise. To squeeze in a few moves at work, download Break Pal, a program that pops up on your monitor every 30 minutes with a three-minute routine ($20, breakpal.com). When the phone rings, take the call standing up to burn 10 percent more calories than you would chatting in a chair.

7. Brave the outdoors. During the winter, for instance, in 30 minutes, you’ll burn about 182 calories shoveling the driveway (while saving money by not outsourcing it), 205 sledding, or 191 ice-skating.

8. Put it in ink. You stick to the doctor’s appointments and work meetings that are on your calendar, so why not take the same approach to exercise sessions? Every Sunday night, schedule them into your weekly planner (or your PDA). To make sure your family members are on board, place the calendar in a common area so they can see it. That way, workout times become public declarations and nonnegotiable parts of your routine.

9. Be a coach. Find a youth league in your area and put your old athletic skills to good use. Running laps or teaching techniques will get your heart rate going. Plus, it’s a great strategy for those who find treadmills a slog. To find a team, check with your school district or the Positive Coaching Alliance (positivecoach.org).

10. Enlist Fido. Exercising a dog will get your arms and legs pumping. (A Canadian study found that dog owners spend about 300 minutes a week doing canine-related physical activity.) No pooch? Help a neighbor or volunteer at an animal shelter.

11. Don’t let travel derail you. Instead of returning from vacation feeling flabby, plan a week filled with hiking, biking, walking, or an activity you’ll train for. Visit Gorp Travel (gorptravel.away.com) for ideas. Many hotel chains also have programs to help you. Most Westin Hotels and Resorts offer rooms that contain fitness equipment. And Hilton Garden Inns will give you a free Stay Fit Kit, which includes a Pilates band, a yoga mat, and hand weights.

12. Put a personal trainer in your pocket. If you own an iPod or some other MP3 player, download complete audio or video workouts from iTrain.com or PumpOne.com. To go that extra mile or work out longer, download podcasts of radio shows, like National Public Radio’s This American Life, or add a few new songs to your playlist every two weeks.

13. Look at yourself. No, really. Put a mirror in front of the treadmill. Researchers have found that people who watch themselves while working out exercise faster with less effort. Eyeing yourself can make a new exercise routine feel easier.

14. Increase the beat. Listen to faster music and your feet will follow suit. And, says a new study, you may also exercise for up to 15 percent longer. Try BeatScanner, a free PC-compatible program at bestworkoutmusic.com that searches your music library for upbeat tunes. Or use the Yamaha BodiBeat, an MP3 player that adjusts the music to your pace ($300, yamahashoponline.com).

15. Track your steps. Wearing a pedometer will log your progress and may motivate you (aim for at least 10,000 steps a day). Log on to pedometersusa.com to find one. Simple pedometers measure just steps; sophisticated models track calories burned, distance, and more.

Tip: Have a friend meet you at the gym to help keep you accountable. Got lazy friends? Find a workout partner at findgymbuddies.com.

Source:- http://www.realsimple.com/health/fitness-exercise/workouts/15-ways-get-more-fit

Five Rep Workouts for a Bikini Body

A five rep weight training program creates lean, defined muscles.

Doing just a few reps with a heavy amount of weight you can only lift for about five reps burns more fat in less time and helps you create a more defined, muscular physique. Women won't bulk up from this type of lifting, due to the lack of testosterone levels required for large, fast muscle growth. The fastest way to get a bikini body is to do cardio workouts and do strength training exercises optimal for fat-burning using heavy weights.

Benefits

If your goal is to shed body fat, lifting heavy weights for five reps is better than lifting for sets of 10 or more reps. In five challenging, explosive reps, you'll burn more body fat by recruiting your fast-twitch muscle fibers instead of slow-twitch fibers. This releases more fat-burning hormones and muscle-growth hormones. So you won't just burn more fat, but also build sexy, lean and defined muscles to show off in a bikini.

Choosing Your Weight

Use dumbbells, kettlebells or machine weights to lift heavy weights if you're a beginner, but when you get stronger try using barbells, which can help you easily pack on more weight. You should be able to lift the weight slowly for at least one rep but no more than four reps, so that when you lift for five reps you use explosive power. This ensures you activate your fast-twitch muscle fibers to burn more calories. If you can't do five reps without losing correct form, your weights are too heavy and could put you at risk of injury. Once you've chosen the right amount of weight for an exercise, do at least three sets of five reps, resting about a minute between sets for muscle recovery.

Related Reading: Six-Week Intense Bikini Workout Plan

Choosing Your Exercises

Start each workout with the most effective exercises for fat-burning before doing a variety of other exercises. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, exercises like squats and lunges that work multiple muscles at a time stimulate more muscle-growth hormones and burn more fat. Make sure you target all your major muscle groups. For example, do hamstring curls for your hamstrings, leg extensions for your quads and overhead triceps extensions for your triceps.

Variation is Important

The more you vary the exercises you do, the more you challenge your muscles and activate different muscle fibers. Target each major muscle group with at least two different exercises at least twice a week. You can also vary the range of repetitions you do from workout to workout so that you work your slow-twitch muscle fibers as well, which are responsible for muscular endurance. For example, you may do one or two 5-rep workouts a week, and one or two 20-rep workouts a week. Get at least three hours of cardio activity each week to burn more calories and for balance in your exercise regimen.

Safety Considerations

Especially when lifting heavy weights, it's important to use proper form and correct technique to avoid injuries. Have a personal trainer help you if you're new to strength training. Avoid over-training by letting your muscles recover for at least 48 hours before strength training them again. If you feel muscle or joint pain during exercise, stop immediately and rest, elevate and ice the affected area.

Source:- http://livehealthy.chron.com/five-rep-workouts-bikini-body-4023.html