Tag: exercise bike

July 13, 2022

Choosing Your Fitness Equipment

Post By wpmasterlogin Uncategorized , , ,

Fitness equipment is a large group of tools that are used in exercise and are referred to also as exercise equipment. These can include simple items such as balls, track shoes and skipping ropes as well as more complex pieces of equipment such as treadmills, weights, bicycles and many others. Today a wide range of fitness equipment is available for sale with new designs constantly being produced due to the high demand for equipment that is effective in building muscles and strength as well as for losing weight.

Some of the types of fitness equipment available for use can be classified according the type of exercise for which they are built. The first class to be discussed is the strength training equipment. These include free weights and machines referred to as the resistance machines.

The most common type of resistance machine is one that uses gravity as a resistance source. This design is used mainly in weight machines. Gravity in combination with a simple design of pulleys, wheels and inclines, uses a percentage of the weight of the user as the resistance transferred. Other types of resistance machines can use other forces other than gravity to provide resistance. These include friction, spring-loaded, fan-loaded or fluid-loaded machines.

Another type of equipment belonging to the strength training equipment is the bands and tubing, which are lightweight options for training at home and in the office.

The other class is the aerobic fitness equipment which is mainly the endless-path machines. These include devices such as the stationary bicycles, the treadmills, the elliptical trainers, aerobic riders, the stair climbers, the ski and rowing machines. The stationary bicycle focuses the exercise on the legs by the action of pedaling. The treadmills are an all body exercise as you may walk or run at various speeds. There are also some models that can simulate slopes for a more intense workout.

The stair climbers replicate the action of climbing a stairway. This device now also has modifications that replicate the pulling up action off the hands for a more through workout. The skiing and rowing machines work both the arms and legs simultaneously with the rowing machine also working the back muscles. The elliptical trainers are a cross between the stair climbers and the ski machines. The aerobic riders also exercise the arms and legs at the same time by the use of a simultaneous pull and push motion.

There is also a miscellaneous group of fitness equipment. These include items such as heart rate monitors and exercise balls as well as many others. The heart rate monitors are used as a motivational tool in exercise as they monitor the heart rate and provide feedback to the individual exercising. The use of exercise balls has become very important in training such as flexibility training and for balance as well.

When using any type of fitness equipment it is always important to seek professional advice as the improper use of this equipment can cause severe damage.

July 13, 2022

20 Minute Home Work Out

Post By wpmasterlogin Uncategorized , , , , , , , ,

If you are busy, not able to get up early morning or have no time for gym just follow this 20 minute home work out to stay healthy and fit.

1) Jog : in one place for 3 minutes

2) Jumping jacks: 25 repeats
When landing, bend your knees slightly to reduce the impact on knee joints.

3) Crunches : 15 repeats
Lie flat on your back with your knees bent. Place your hands behind your head with elbows pointing outwards. Support your neck with your hands. Keep your neck in a straight line with your spine. Flex your waist to raise the upper torso from the mat. Lower yourself until the back of your shoulders touches the mat.
Muscle worked: rectus abdominis

4) Hip Bridges : 10 repeats
Lie on your back. With your hands at a 90 degree angle to the floor, lift your body off the floor to form a straight line, a sort of a bridge, from the shoulders to the knee. The position should resemble a table … your hands and legs as the legs of the table and your upper body to your knees as the surface. Hold this position for two seconds. Squeeze your gluteus (butt muscles) and then lower yourself.
Muscle worked: Lower back, hamstrings and gluteus.

5) Step – up’s : 1 minute
You will need a stepper for this.
Muscle worked: hamstrings, gluteus, quards.

6) Reverse crunches: 15 repeats
Lie on your back with your hands on your sides. Keep you knees bent. Bring your knees towards your head, till your hips come slightly off the floor. Hold this position for a second, and then lower your knees.
Muscle worked: lower abs and obliques.

7) Mountain climbers : 1 minute
Get your hands and knees and raise your knees like a starting block sprinter. Run in that position, supporting your upper body with the palms of your hands. Keep your back straight.
Muscle worked: triceps, deltoid muscle, gluteus, quards, hamstrings, calves.

8) Push – ups : 15 repeats
Muscle worked: triceps, deltoids, pectorals.

9) Squat thrusts: 1 minute
Stand straight. Now, drop to a crouch position. Immediately thrust your legs out straight behind on your toes, in push up position, now jump to pull legs back to the chest, in crouching position , then stand up straight,
Muscle worked: arms, legs, chest, and lower back.

Cool down by walking around, till your heart rate starts getting back to normal, stretch.

A minutes rest is needed in between exercise. Proper form is important. Do not hold breath. Sip water during the workout. This workout targets the whole body, improves cardiovascular efficiency and tones and strengthens the body.


June 29, 2022

10 things you should know about stretching

Post By wpmasterlogin Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Before fitness training, one must give importance to doing warm-up or stretching exercises to prevent accidents or to enhance the output during the training. There are also a number of precautionary measures and tips to serve as guidelines when doing fitness exercises. Here are some of them.

1. To increase your flexibility and to avoid injuries, stretch before and after workout. Almost everyone knows that stretching before workout prevents injuries during the exercises, but only few people know that stretching after workout, when muscles are still warm, can increase flexibility.

2. Hold your stretching position for more than 60 seconds to increase flexibility. While holding your position for 20 seconds is enough for warm ups, holding each position for at least 60 seconds will develop the body’s flexibility.

3. Do not go into a stretching position then immediately return to the relaxed position, and do it repeatedly. This is more appropriately termed as bouncing while in a position. When stretching, hold that position for several seconds, and then slowly relax. You may do this exercise repeatedly this way. Bouncing or forcing yourself into a position during stretching can strain or damage some joints or muscles.

4. Work slowly in increments instead of immediately proceeding to doing the hardest exercise or position.

5. Make sure that you have stretched or warmed up all muscle groups. For some people, even if they have strong bodies, they tend to neglect the neck when working out of stretching. Stretching the neck muscles can be as simple as placing the palm of one’s hand against the front of the head and pushing it. Then, do the same to the sides and the back of the head.

6. Stretch regularly to continually increase your range of movements and your level of flexibility and strength.

7. Workout considering only your capabilities and not of others. Do not force yourself to do exercises that you are not yet capable of just because there are people who can do it. Increase your limits slowly. Listen to your body. There are days when your body may be too tired that you may have to consider reducing your range of motion.

8. Learn to rest. Rest in between sets and stations to make sure that the body has enough time to recover its energy. Also, it is advisable that you don’t work the same muscle groups consecutively for two days. The muscles grow during the period when you rest and not when you are working out.

9. Do aerobic exercises to strengthen your heart. Aerobic exercises are those physical activities that much oxygen for fuel. This includes cardiovascular exercises such as skipping rope, running or swimming.

10. Music may help you when you want to train for longer periods or to increase your intensity. You can use mp3 players, CD players or lightweight am radio receivers for this. Just make sure that you brought your headset with you so you wouldn’t disturb people who don’t prefer music while exercising.

Apart from preventing injuries and increasing one’s limit, it is also said that stretching is good for a tired body and also for a stressed mind and spirit.

June 22, 2022

5 Myths About Fitness

Post By wpmasterlogin Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1. Sport is for professionals. This idea applies only in the case of performance sports. The native qualities required for professional sportsmen (speed, skills, specific height, etc.) can only be developed, they can’t be formed by training. As long as the aim of a regular person is not performance, almost all sports can be practiced for keeping the body in a good shape. It’s all about dosing the training you chose, so that the benefits are bigger than wear and tear. Even the sports considered tough can be practiced in a ‘soft’ way (tae-bo, mini-triathlon, jogging, etc.).

2. Training is tiring. This idea is true as long as it refers to consuming all your energy (muscular and hepatic glycogen), but it doesn’t mean that training gets you into that state of exhaustion which would slow down the process of recovery of the body. Even in performance sports, the purpose is to have rather effective than exhausting training, so that the body can get the stimulation necessary to qualitative progress from one training to the next.

Even more than in other sports, in fitness the sportsman is spared overexerting. However, the training must not become ineffective. People can come to the gym tired after a work day and leave relaxed (physically and psychologically) and not more tired. This is extremely useful for people with sedentary jobs, but also for those who make physical effort at work. They could use the training by choosing a type of effort meant to compensate the one involved in their job.

3. Training takes too long. Again, this idea is true if applied to performance, which can only be obtained by working a lot. But also in this case short and very intense training or training for relaxation and recovery are often performed. In fitness, you can get to 20-minute training, working only super-series of fast exercises, which could involve, directly or indirectly, all the muscles. Anyway, regular training shouldn’t take longer than an hour and a half. Otherwise, the body will get into the catabolic faze, when the cortisone secretions ‘cannibalize’ the muscles.

4. Any type of exercise is good for solving your problems. What’s true in this refers to some particular cases like excess of adipose tissue. This tissue can be ‘melted’ by any kind of aerobic exercise (running, cycling, swimming) if this is continued long enough. Even in these cases it was clear that some exercises are more effective than others. There are situations when only a combination of exercises with a certain amount of each, can provide you with the results you expect. More than that, repeating the same exercise all the time can have as a consequence not only losing balance in the antagonist muscles and in the joints involved in training, but also stopping progress or even regressing.

5. You’re older? No more exercises! This is true only if we refer to extremely demanding efforts (really heavy weights, fast running, jumping, etc.). There are lots of exercises adapted to different ages. Their purpose is to keep and improve health and also to improve physical shape. The development of movement parameters for older people refers especially to muscular and cardio-vascular resistance as well as mobility of the joints. Because the final purpose of training is not preparing for a competition, the exercises can be organized gradually according to their difficulty, eliminating the risk of accidents. Because it’s based on perseverance, fitness can be adapted without problems for older people and even for people suffering from different affections specific to old age.


June 20, 2022

Cheap Home Gym Setup

Post By wpmasterlogin Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , ,

Training at home could prove as a good solution for the ones interested. The effectiveness of this type of training could compare to the one of working out in the gym, as long as some factors are considered.

The first, and at the same time the most important of these, is owning the necessary equipment. If, besides this, you also have a partner who trains with you, the exercises can be as effective as the ones performed in the gym. Of course, we are talking now about the ideal situation of affording a gym in your own house.

Even with these conditions fulfilled, some practitioners, especially the more extrovert ones, might lack the stimulating atmosphere, the sharing of experience, the communication that they can find in the gym.

In most of the cases, what you can do at home is improvise a room or just a corner of a room, for fitness. Besides, most of the times you have to train by yourself. As these are the most frequent situations, we’ll deal with them now. Anyway, it is preferable to have constant training at home, rather than interrupt it a lot because the gym is too busy, too far, too expensive, etc.

The minimum of equipment necessary for training at home includes: an adjustable bench, a set of two dumbbells, with increasing weights, a barbell, with free weights and a fix bar for pull ups. This equipment will enable both executing basic exercises (squats, bench presses, pull-ups, sit-ups, etc.) and diversity of exercises, necessary for avoiding routine.

The main disadvantage of not having a partner to train with is reflected in the amount of loading in some exercises, which cannot reach its maximum. There are many exercises which can be loaded to maximum without any risk, even if there is no partner to assist you (pull-ups, dips, shoulder presses, barbell curs, dumbbell curls, etc.).

An advantage which comes from training at home is that you can choose the training time without any restraint. Moreover, the speed of exercising can be increased a lot if the practitioner chooses to execute supersets, tri sets or giant sets. You can also save time, as you are not distracted by casual conversation, by waiting for the machines to be available, by having to change the weights for every personal series of exercises, etc.

In the extreme case when we can only afford as equipment a mattress, chairs and a towel, we can focus on exercises using the weight of the body (push-ups, reverse push-ups, between chairs push-ups, squats, sit-ups, crunches, hyperextensions, lunges, plyometrics, plunks, etc.).

All the exercises involving the body weight are considered as really demanding, because they mobilize more stabilizing muscles that ensure coordination and balance. The body-weight exercises are often introduced in the programs at the gym due to their proven effectiveness. They are also used in training and testing people in special troops, as these need a lot of force and discipline in their training.


June 18, 2022

25 ways to get a 10min workout part 1

Post By wpmasterlogin Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Experts recommend working out 45 minutes to an hour a day (30 minutes for beginners) for weight loss and fitness. But if you’re like most women, you don’t always have a block of 30 to 60 minutes a day to devote exclusively to doing your workouts.

You can still exercise–you just need to sneak in the equivalent in resourceful ways. “The idea is to keep moving,” says fitness expert Ann Grandjean, EdD. “Get a cordless phone or put a long cord on your regular phone, and walk when you talk. Find whatever works for you and just move. Park half a mile from the mall and walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Those little, itty-bitty things add up.”

Every Stolen Moment Adds Up

Lest you think that short bursts of activity have a negligible effect on your fitness program, think again. One study found that women who split their exercise into 10-minute increments were more likely to exercise consistently, and lost more weight after 5 months, than women who exercised for 20 to 40 minutes at a time.

In a landmark study conducted at the University of Virginia, exercise physiologist Glenn Gaesser, PhD, asked men and women to complete 15 10-minute exercise routines a week. After just 21 days, the volunteers’ aerobic fitness was equal to that of people 10 to 15 years younger. Their strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility were equal to those of people up to 20 years their junior.

In yet another study, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore found that for improving health and fitness in inactive adults, many short bursts of activity are as effective as longer, structured workouts. “It would be useful for people to get out of the all-or-nothing mind-set that unless they exercise for 30 minutes, they’re wasting their time,” says Gaesser.

Breaking exercise into small chunks on your overscheduled days can also keep your confidence up, says Harold Taylor, time management expert and owner of Harold Taylor Time Consultants in Toronto, who has written extensively on the subject. “Skipping exercise altogether is ‘de-motivational’–you feel depressed and guilty,” Taylor says. “If you skip it, you tend to figure, ‘What’s the use? I can’t keep up with it anyway.’ Yet as long as you make some effort each day, that motivates you onward. Success breeds success.”

Keep in mind, though, that short bursts of exercise are meant to supplement, not replace, your regular fitness routine. Here’s a roundup of practical ways to work exercise into your day even when you “don’t have time to exercise.” (You don’t have to do them all in 1 day; select what works for you.)


May 21, 2022

The Exercise Bike

Post By wpmasterlogin Uncategorized , , , , , , No Comments

The exercise bike has long been the type of exercising that people just love to do. Why? It is relatively easy to do and it allows people to exercise at virtually any time, in a number of different ways. It is through these bikes that people can tone muscle or lose weight. They can find an excellent amount of help through these bikes as well. If you are one of the many that love to work hard and want an exercise bike that will work for you, then this may just be the right option to think about. But, wait; did we mention the various types of exercise bikes on the market?

Just Look At The Options!

The exercise bike has really come a long way from the days of a stationary bike that you can ride. They used to be quite similar to those bikes that are rode out of doors, but now they have become complex machines. Now, although you can choose any of the exercise bike options that you find, it is important to realize that the true benefit to the bike comes only from getting on it and getting in that workout. In other words, you need to invest the time in the bike to gain anything from those features.

Some of the features that you will find on exercise bikes are those that will enhance your performance. One of the major problems or differences between the stationary bike and those that are real bikes is that you don’t get the up and down of hills that help to intensify a workout. But, this is possible and does happen when you use an exercise bike that you can tighten and release the tension off of. Also, some exercise bikes can be inclined at different levels to simulate the effects of bike riding.

Exercise bikes can also monitor your performance better. Yes, they can tell you how well you are doing. Many exercise bikes are equipped with mileage counters. Some have calorie burner counters as well. Still others will track your speed. On top of these elements, you will find heart rate monitor bikes that will actually track and monitor your heart’s beat throughout the course. Want to analyze this data? Some exercise bikes will allow you to download the information to your computer or will allow you to track and use it right on the bike.

Just remember, as much as you want to have these excellent features, you have to commit to the exercise as well. That means that you have to get on the bike and get the workout done, regularly because if you don’t nothing is gained. Take some time to find just the right features and priced exercise bike for you and get to working out! If you use your exercise bike fully and regularly, then you will reap the rewards of increased health and wellness that loss of weight and increased muscle tone can do for you.