Very useful fitness&Bodybuilding training course program

The energy seems to be our standard excuse for not doing things. These are things we like to do, want to do, enjoy doing! This is no way to live one's life. We need to manage our energy so as to increase it and apportion it to every aspect of our busy, sometimes exhaustive, life styles.

-1 Sleep: Lots of it

For this is most important as a first step. Adding another half hour to our usual nights sleep would be an average requirement since most people are somewhat sleep deprived. Late nights and early mornings are a bad combination for draining our energy. Start a bed time ritual at least an hour before actually retiring. This prepares the mind and body for sleep. Turn off the television, put on the voice mail and do not deal with any new pressing problems that can assuredly wait for the light of day.

-2 Water: 3 bottles a day
 

And most of people are tested for their bodies water content they are dehydrated. Coffee, wine, soups and soft drinks do not count as water intake. As a matter of fact some of these act as a diuretic draining our bodies of precious water. I start my morning with a full glass of water. It has been 8 hours since I had any water so mornings are a key time to start hydrating our bodies. Then comes my work out with a full bottle of water. After an hour or less it is another bottle of water with my protein powder. Before noon hour I would have drank 3 bottles of water. The benefits to your skin quality, muscle tone and bowel function is dramatic. No constipation with a consistent hydration policy. I go nowhere without a couple of bottles of water.

-3 Food Choices: Balanced & Nutritious

There are many comfort foods we love and crave. They make us feel full, content and sleepy. These should NOT comprise the bulk of our diet. We all know the amount and the types of foods that are nutritious. Eat what you feel would do your body good and fuel your next 2 hours of activity. A meal should replenish you, not drain you. Second helpings can be had in an hour or two not at one sitting. Typically at a restaurant I cut the food portion in half, eating one half and bringing the other half home for a snack (in about an hour and a half) This is better than chips or cookies!
 

-4 Exercise: Equals More Energy

Sleep, water and good food choices make for a great health combo. Without exercise the train does not leave the station. We need to keep moving, challenging heart, lungs and muscles. Working at the 85% of maximum for at least 3 days a week is minimum with five days a week being better. I exercise daily, only taking a day off because of travel or business obligations that invariably want to steal my workout time. Showering, brushing your teeth, combing your hair are all part of your daily routine and so should exercise.
 

-5 Variety: Deadly Boredom Trap

Every regiment eventually succumbs to a boring routine. Even an exciting, passionate activity like sex can slip into the "same old, same old." Keeping an exercise journal allows one to change up or tweak your workouts. Even a slight variation will challenge us to see if we can beat our previous workout goals. I love my pull ups so I have a doorway bar upstairs, downstairs, one on the ceiling and of course one in the shop were they are made. My travel trailer has a custom pull up bar that I can use camping as well as a travel bar that breaks down without tools for my suitcase. Engaging your mind before and during your workouts will add some variety but maintain the consistency needed for growth or fat loss if that is your goal.
 

-6 E-Triggers: Personal

People are different and respond in their own way from outside stimuli. My wife for example loves people and every gathering is a party. More than on one occasion would she chat with family and friends over a bond fire til the sun came up. One the other hand put in a DVD for the evening and its snooze time in a half hour or less. She needs and enjoys people so her morning walks are with me and the dog. The health club she goes to (for ladies only) is always teaming with people. People give her energy. They are her E-Trigger. Mine is goal accomplishment. The satisfaction of one more rep or putting another workout in the bank is all I need and thrive on. Belonging to a group or sharing your fitness goals with a confidant may be your thing that triggers excitement for fitness.
 

-7 Nap time: 20 minutes only

This is such a great way to relax your mind and body preparing it for the 2nd half of your day. I am talking about a short power nap before 1pm not an hour or two mid afternoon snooze that leaves you groggy for hours. Not everyone has this opportunity to lay down on the job. If this is the case find a quiet place were your mind can wander to pleasant places as you breath deeply relaxing your whole body. I find those moments that I can drift to my one palm tree island in the Caribbean so relaxing. Knowing it is just a vision in my head and soon my body must spring to the daily grind, I am refreshed.

What about training in your own gym

Always you are desirous to make training in your time without any thing block this training and when it comes to your health and keeping your body in a well maintained condition it is important. In reality it should not matter how much you spend to make sure that your body is at its best. This is especially true if you are someone that plays sports for a job. Sure there are a lot of people that say to have a gym and the proper gym equipment it would cost them tens of thousands of pounds to get the things that they need. However that is not true as you can find great deals, especially when buying numerous machines and equipment together.

As long as you have some space available you can easily create a home gym of just equipment that you want to use. This means that you can access your gym whenever you want and can workout more often. If you just went to a regular gym you may not even get on the machine of your choice and will waste petrol money but if it is in your house you can use it day or night.

And also paying for gym memberships can really add up so buying your own machines will save you money in the long run if you are serious about working out. Some people can get embarrassed about attending a gym as you are self conscious that people will watch you and you do not work out as hard. Within the comfort of your own home you can sweat and train as much as you want without anybody looking. You are bound to have completed a much more vigorous session.

Although you may not like other people watching it can benefit working out alongside somebody else. If you have a friend who you take part in a sport with it could be beneficial for you both to train together. I am sure that they will love coming round to your private gym than a public one too. This way you watch each other to help improve techniques and also make sure that you are both safe when using machines and weights.

And if you wanted to train in a more natural and cheap way you could of course go for a run but this has its downsides. You will not be working out all of the muscles that you need to. Also weather can have a huge impact on peoples mood to actual participate in exercise. So if you have to go out in freezing snow or torrential rain, somehow I think you will not be going out running

Cross trainers equipments Uses

For the Cross trainers equipments there are also known as elliptical machines. These machines have this name because they are oval or oblique in shape. This form of exercise will allow the user to make use of elliptical movement to exercise.

The user will stand on the foot pads and hold onto the handles of the machine. As the exercises are done in a standing posture, you will have the advantage of using your lower as well as your upper body. Some models will even have handles that move so that you can give your upper body more of a work out.

From your standing position you will feel as if you are doing a walking or running exercise. However because of the handles and the elliptical movement the exercise will also simulate skiing or cycling. You can build bone density by standing, but there is no strain on your muscles and joints because of the fact your feet always stay on the foot pads. If you put the machine in reverse you can give other muscle sets a workout.

There are a number of advantages of using cross trainers:

-There is no strain on your muscles and joints like machines that use weights. The device will offer resistance like weights but not put undue strain on your body.
 

- You are giving multiple sets of muscles a work out. The elliptical movement helps to exercise several muscles at a time. You can also set it into reverse and exercise even more muscle sets.
 

- You are giving your body weight bearing exercises without the strain of weights. This will maintain your bone density without any strain on your joints and muscles. This is good for those who have joint problems like arthritis.
 

- It is very easy to use as it is similar to walking and you can go at your own pace.
 

- And you can exercise for longer because it is not putting a strain on your body. This allows you to build up more endurance and improve performance.
 

 -For the handles allow the user to have upper body exercise, so that you will have a complete workout.
 

- And it is good for cardiovascular training. There are built in computers that will monitor your cardiovascular activity.

And these machines are available in the gym or at home. If you make use of the gym you will need to make time to go there every day. Sometimes this is hard to do. If you have the discipline then you can buy and use one of these cross trainer machines at home. Having it available in your own home makes working out easier as you can choose when to go on it and at more convenient times. You would also get more of a sleep in than having to get up early to drive to the gym. You can recuperate a bit more energy sleeping and then have a good workout in your house

The relation between legs and back pain

There are many information exactly from 30 years ago we learned that straight legged sit-ups were bad for you because it caused back pain. But aren’t lying or hanging leg raises the same thing as the straight legged sit-ups – done in reverse? Aren’t you using the same muscles, whether you raise your legs and keep your upper body still or raise your upper body and keep your legs still?

And great looking abs are a goal for both men and women, but lying or hanging leg raises may be contributing more to your back pain then you think.

How Muscles Work

To understand why this exercise may not be so good for your back, you need to understand the basic bio-mechanics. Learn which muscles move what body part. Anatomy and physiology teaches you that a muscle attaches at two ends. When those two endpoints or attachment points move closer together you get muscle contraction. It is the contraction of the muscle that pulls the endpoints closer and moves your body. When the two end points move further apart, the muscle stretches and relaxes.when one muscle contracts – an opposing or opposite muscle stretches or relaxes. Every muscle has an opposing muscle. For joint stability and staying pain free it is important to exercise both the contracted and opposing muscle, otherwise you get muscle imbalance.

Look at the bicep muscle, for an example. It attaches at the top of your shoulder and just below the crease of your elbow. When you bend your arm, or do a bicep curl, the two endpoints move closer together, and the muscle is in a state of contraction. When you straighten your arm the two points move further apart and the bicep muscle stretches or lengthens.

Every muscle in the body works on this same “pulley” principle, including your eye muscles. Look at your chest muscles. The pec’s attach along the side of your sternum and run diagonally into the top of your shoulder. Now imagine as you lower the bar when doing bench press, the two end points move further apart. The pec muscles are stretching, but as you push the bar off your chest, the two endpoints move closer together. This causes the pec muscles to contract.

Examine the Leg Raise

The muscles primarily responsible for raising the legs are the psoas muscles, NOT the abdominal muscle. The common name for the psoas muscle is the ‘hip flexor.’ The hip flexor attaches at the upper/inside portion of your thigh muscle and sits beneath your abs and intestines. It runs up and attaches to your spinal column, more specifically your lumbar vertebra and disc. These muscles are commonly overlooked for being a primary cause of back pain, but as you start examining which muscles move your body, you will quickly see how they can be the problem.

And the abdominal muscles attach at the bottom of your ribs and run down past your belly button and attach to the pubic bone. Remember a muscle contracts when the two endpoints come closer together.

To prove to you that lying or hanging leg raises don’t specifically work the abdominal muscles let me get you to lie flat on your back as if you were performing a leg raise. Place your right hand at the top of your pubic bone and your left hand on the bottom of your rib cage. Now slowly raise your legs up to the ceiling, no more than 90 degrees. Did your hands come closer together? I don’t think so!

And if you keep pulling your legs past that vertical position (90 degrees) and move them closer to your head, you will notice that your pelvis will begin to rock up towards your head. You should then begin to feel your hands move closer together, this is because you are finally contracting your abdominal muscles. You are basically doing a reverse crunch.

from now, keep your hands in the same position and do a regular crunch. You will notice your hands move closer together, which tells us your abdominal muscles are doing the work, not your hip flexor.

Crunches for Great Abs

Hopefully, this will help explain why crunches and reverse crunches are some of the best exercises for your abs. Doing leg raises, or holding your feet six inches off the ground or having someone throw your legs back down after you raise them is only going to make your hip flexors tighter and put you at risk for back pain.


For years I have seen patients come to my office complaining of back pain. One of the first questions I ask them is what kind of abdominal workout they do? If they say, lying or hanging leg raises or some other type of similar movement…..I help educate them on how that specific movement could be contributing to their back pain and how to properly target their ab muscles, without hurting their low back.

In Summary

In the last when you do leg raises or hanging leg raises, the first 90 degrees of the leg raise is activating the hip flexors. As you go past 90 degrees, the abdominal muscles will finally begin to contract. Unfortunately most people only do their leg raises within that first 90 degrees of range of motion, which is only working your hip flexors and will eventually make you susceptible to low back pain.

It doesn’t matter if you bend your knees, or put your hands behind your back. The muscles responsible for raising your legs those first 90 degrees are your hip flexors, NOT your abs. Grab an Anatomy & Physiology book and take a look at where these muscles attach to better understand what we are talking about. The last thing you want to do is slow your progress down with an injury.