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

Jump For It

The calorie-torching fitness craze that's sweeping the nation isn't just good for you, it's also good clean fun.

Quick Poll: Have you picked up a jump rope since grade school? I recently found myself in a boot-camp-fitness situation in a sweaty muscle gym (first bad sign) that incorporated the playground staple — and I couldn't fathom why I had ever found it a recess-worthy activity. Pathetically stumbling and tripping through the workout, I was shocked at how difficult it was, and after, I slunk out, dejected. (Did I just pay for this humiliation?) But at another class I attended later that week, I found myself bouncing around again — this time on a trampoline — and had quite the opposite experience: I don't think I've ever had so much fun exercising since, well, grade school.

Evidently, I'm not alone. It seems the nation has suddenly become smitten with the simple act of jumping up and down. "Trampoline parks," fitness/play centers for the whole family, are cropping up all over the country. One major chain, Sky Zone Sports, has recently opened 18 of them, with 10 more scheduled to roll out in cities like Dallas and Cleveland over the next year. We'll be watching trampoline gymnastics at the Olympics in London this summer, and innovative new classes on rebounders (those mini personal trampolines) are springing up at boutique fitness studios from coast to coast. In L.A., there's On the Rebound at the ESP Wellness Center (espwellnesscenter.com) and Jump at Ballet Bodies (balletbodies.com); in New York City, there's Trampoline Yoga at Shen Tao (shentaostudio.com) and Bari Bounce at Bari Studio (thebaristudio.com).

Here's why this seemingly juvenile trend is a very, very good thing for everyone involved: 1) A trampoline workout is easy on the joints; people with sports injuries and other issues are protected by the low-impact cushion of the net. 2) It's detoxifying. Jumping up and down stimulates the lymphatic drainage system, which is why experts at the world-famous We Care fasting spa near Palm Springs — where stars go to drop 5 to 10 pounds fast — recommend their tony clients jump on mini trampolines throughout their stays. 3) It's accessible. Besides all the trampoline parks opening up everywhere, anyone can purchase a relatively affordable rebounder (about $40) and sneak in a few bounces during TV hour. 4) It's also highly efficient. Studies show that jumping on a trampoline burns about 20 percent more calories than jogging at five miles per hour. And according to Parvati Shallow, teacher of ESP Wellness Center's new trampoline class, six minutes on the rebounder can equal one mile of jogging. And did I mention it's really, really fun?

Addicted to the feeling of flying through the air with the greatest of ease, I hightail it to Bari's Bounce class, where I first got hooked. Co-owners Alexandra Perez and Brice Andrew Hall, a trainer who has worked with Madonna, claim Bounce further improves on the already propitious trampoline workout. "People need cardio [like running] in their workout routines, but we found too many clients were prone to shin splints, foot problems, and other issues that interfere with exercise," says Perez. "For Bounce, we've choreographed strategic sequences on the trampoline that activate more muscles — and in different ways — to burn more calories and engage you cognitively, so you also benefit in areas like strength, balance, and coordination." In other words, clients find themselves doing a lot more than simply bouncing on the spot, and it translates to maximum results. During the class, we learn dance-y routines that require quick thinking and take us up, down, and all around the trampolines; plus we pull resistance bands hanging from the ceiling, squeeze exercise balls between our legs, and perform interval push-ups and other strength-training exercises off the side of the thing (which makes for some serious core work). It's exhausting but enjoyable, and you can immediately feel how full-bodied the workout is. While just jumping on a trampoline still packs major benefits, the new versions of rebounding workouts are on speed.

The other day, I received an invitation to check out NYC's Sex and the City — famous trapeze school. But unlike Carrie Bradshaw, I'm not sure heights are my style (unless I'm flying first class, that is). Luckily, they also now offer a Big Top — style trampoline class, which instantly transports me back to childhood, jumping around in a neighbor's yard at dusk with that feeling of pure, unadulterated joy. Sounds like a perfect workout high.

This article is by Erin Flaherty and appeared in Marie Claire.

You can read it here:- http://tiny.cc/xh8vbx