November 27th, 2009
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Health 
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Machelle Lee asked:
Contrary to popular belief, doing millions of crunches will not sculpt your abs. While there is a time and a place to use the beloved crunch in your waist slimming effort, this alone will not create the body of your dreams. The key to creating an enviable midsection lies in your ability to effectively challenge your abdominal muscles.
The “crunch” movement only targets your upper abdominal muscles, the ones found between your rib cage and belly button. Imagine you are doing a crunch - better yet, get down and do one - notice where you feel the burn. Those are your upper abs.
To effectively sculpt your waist, you will need to focus on strengthening your upper, lower and side abdominal muscles.
In order to achieve an overall look of symmetry your flat abs routine should consist of at least one exercise for each portion of your midsection.
A surefire way to kick up the intensity, and thus the results, of your abdominal workout is to add resistance training. By working your midsection against resistance you open up the possibility for greater muscle stimulation which equals greater results. You can do this by using a medicine ball, cable machine, elastic band or dumbbells.
First, consistent cardiovascular exercise is needed to burn off stored energy.
Follow these three tips to ensure your success:
* Choose an aerobic exercise that uses major muscle groups such as walking, jogging, swimming, dancing, biking anything that uses your big muscle groups. The more muscle groups you are using, the better.
* Find an exercise that you enjoy. This will make it easy for you to stick with it. I often get asked, “What is the best exercise?” The best exercise is something you enjoy doing. That way you will look forward to doing the activity.
* Make sure that you are exercising aerobically for at least 30-60 minutes three times a week. However, feel free to do it longer and more frequently.
Second, to uncover your abdominal muscles we have to discuss….your eating habits. I’m sorry to say it, but the food that you put in your mouth will surely have an effect on the size and shape of your waist.
Use these three pointers to help you slash fat:
* Eat small meals frequently throughout the day and avoid overeating.
* Processed foods should be kept to a minimum or avoided completely.
* Load up on vegetables and lean meat before partaking in grains or starches.
ORVILLE
November 26th, 2009
| Posted in
Sports And Fitness
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Celebrity Trainer asked:
The fast track to a great set of abs takes a healthy balanced diet, plenty of exercise and most importantly, time dedicated. If six-pack cravers are willing to put in the effort, a trimmed torso will be well on its way–to stay.
Let me preface by stating that a good nutrition plan is the essential component of any successful health and fitness program. It is important to understand and balance the basics of all food groups, which means that proteins, carbs and fats are all part of the equation (in their own moderation).
In addition to ab training, cardiovascular exercise is also vital not only for burning fat but important to maintain a healthy heart. With these in mind, we move on to ab exercising.
Traditional ab workouts (such as crunches and sit-ups) use a “top-down” motion that put the upper body at risk of injury if not executed properly. Traditional “Bottom up” exercises such as “hanging leg raises” and “leg lifts” are highly effective for developing great abs without that risk— yet let it be known that they are very difficult to perform.
Hence, I’ve gravitated towards testing out the new AbCoaster® from a company called Tristar Products. This ab machine is built with a patented “Natural Arc Motion,” making it possible for people like me to engage the abs from the bottom up (just as every expert recommends) but with ease, comfort and without the need to hang from a bar. Instead, you, the user are situated in a comfortable kneeling position off the floor as the curved track guides you through a perfect lower abdominal lift. The kneepad adjusts or “swivels” for isolation of the obliques and other ab muscles, even adding weights for advanced resistance.
I find that the best aspect of the Ab Coaster® besides the fact that it works all of the muscles in the midsection, is that it does so while eliminating stress to your head, neck, back or shoulders. This was once an impossible feat when working out ones abdominals. Even if one chooses to sculpt the torso with an aggressive workout regimen, there is no need to worry about proper technique and neck straining to avoid serious injury. The unique design allows anyone–from professional athletes to at-home beginners–to focus on the exercise to work the ab muscles safely, effectively and comfortably.
If the Ab Coaster® has the U.S. Army’s stamp of approval, then it has mine.
THERON
November 25th, 2009
| Posted in
Other - Careers & Employment
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Jessica (: asked:
Hi there, I’m 19 years old looking into going to pastry school. I love art and food. Since my senior year I’ve always been intrigued by sculpting and food. Can anyone give me ideas or resources where I can go look at and maybe take a day to hang out with said chefs and see how they work.
ALVA
November 24th, 2009
| Posted in
Fitness
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Chung Leong Yu asked:
Try this weight training routine and get as sculpted as possible and as soon as possible. To push your body to the next level, you have to change your weight training program and avoid getting stuck in the rut. Many people actually are in a plateau phase which they did not know of and in the end of the day, they would not get the sculpted body that they wanted because their muscles are just not responding to their weight training plan anymore.
For muscles to respond and get optimum results, they need to be exercised extra hard and kept on guessing. There for, for change, it is recommended that high intensity technique is applied once a while to give the muscle a shock.
One of the best ways to shock the muscle is by using this weight training routine, which uses a technique, called superset. Superset is a method where by 2 exercises for 2 opposing body part is done back to back without rest. Two exercises for one body part done back to back can also be used as a superset.
The purpose of using this technique is to actually keep the intensity high and to keep the heart rate high as well. For example, if we use a chest and back superset exercise, the back muscle is at rest while the chest muscle is worked. When its time to work the back muscle, the chest muscle is at rest and have time to recover and by the time the chest muscle is worked again, it would already recovered.
For superset with the same muscle group, the purpose is to really exhaust the muscle group and kick the stubborn muscle so that it will grow! A good example is to do a bench press followed by a chest dumbbell flyes. Chest dumbbell flyes is an isolation exercise and it will really compliment the bench press, which is a compound exercise. Again, this will keep your heart rate high in the fat burning mode and shock the muscle.
Check Out This Free Weight Training Routine To Get A Sculpted Body For Chest And Back
1. Chin ups superset with Bench Press
2. Bent over barbell rows superset with push ups till failure
3. Seated cable rows superset with chest cable flyes
4. Close grip pull downs superset with dips till failure
Check Out This Free Weight Training Routine To Get A Sculpted Body For Biceps And Triceps
1. Standing bicep curls with close grip push ups
2. Seated 45 degree dumbbell biceps curls with standing triceps push down
3. Standing cable bicep curls with standing triceps rope extensions
4. Standing bicep hammer curls with bent over triceps kickback
Check Out This Free Weight Training Routine To Get A Sculpted Body For Quads And Hamstrings
1. Seated leg extensions with seated hamstrings curls
2. Leg press with straight leg dead lifts.
Check Out This Free Weight Training Routine To Get A Sculpted Body For Shoulders
1. Dumbbell shoulder press with standing lateral raises.
2. Bent over rear delt reverse raises with barbell upright rows
3. Standing dumbbell front raises and shrugs
The repetition range you should be doing is around ten to twelve. If you go above that chances are you may puke because its so intense! Choose moderate heavy weights and include this workout at least once to twice a month.
SALVATORE
November 24th, 2009
| Posted in
Fitness
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Jesse Miller asked:
Building strength and muscle using sculpting bands is a fairly new addition to fitness world. Some travelers who want to sculpt their body can only travel with resistance bands. The used of resistance bands are recommended for its several advantages:
1. Using resistance bands is a great way to develop strength. A growing body of research is showing that “accommodating resistance”, a phenomenon whereby the band’s tension becomes more challenging at your muscles’ strongest length, is a tremendous way of developing muscular strength. For instance, performing a biceps curl with a resistance band is far more challenging than using dumbbells.
This is due to the fact that as you raise the band it becomes tighter, creating more tension and work in the biceps muscle. In general, as you lengthen the band it creates more resistance. As an example it’s almost like starting the movement with 10 lbs dumbbell and finishing it with a 30 lbs dumbbell. The constant pull of the band creates an ever-growing amount of tension making any muscular movement challenging throughout.
2. As the resistance band is stretched it stores a tremendous amount of kinetic energy, much like an outstretched spring. The natural tendency then would be for the band to “snap” back to original length, much like a rubber band that has been stretched. This provides an incredible eccentric or “negative” load on the working muscles that can produce amazing gains in strength.
3. Resistance band aside from being a remarkable workout tool to develop muscles’ strength and size it is also a convenient device that can be used at home, while you travel, or even in the gym. It is not advisable to bring heavy equipments like dumbbell while you’re on travel or lifting heavy weight materials at home. Some resistance band workouts that can be great for doing at any of those places mentioned are; squat presses, resisted step-ups with biceps curls, lateral lunge with diagonal chop, resisted crunches (on stability ball), reverse lunge with back row, standing alternating chest press and squat sit with 1-arm back row. For each exercise using resistance band, you just have to complete as many reps as you can in 30 seconds for you get a good result.
The combination of increasing tension and intrinsic eccentric properties make the resistance band an amazing workout tool for developing muscular strength and size. However, it is important to progressively use tauter bands as you become stronger. Just like using a 10 lbs dumbbell forever will force you to plateau and realize no further strength gain, so too will a band of similar tension. As you get stronger, you can move onto a tougher and more resistant band. Progression and overload are 2 important aspects of any training program and need to be implemented for maximum gains in strength and muscular growth.
LUIS
November 23rd, 2009
| Posted in
Fitness
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Jesse Miller asked:
Women don’t just work out to trim down or get a flat tummy. The goals range from weight loss to strengthening their muscles, lifting their backside to abducting and adducting their legs. Whatever the fitness goals are, every woman is willing to equalize the capacity that a man has in order to be at par.
The legs of a woman can either be attractive or big. If you are one of the women who worry about how to shape your legs likeably, you can consider these 3 leg sculpting routines for women:
1.Squatting is an effective routine that doesn’t only target the buttocks but also the legs. It specifically strengthens the front and back spots of your thighs. Stand still with your feet spread apart.
Two seconds after, you gradually bend your knees to squat down like you’re sitting on an invisible chair. Your feet should be steadily held flat on the ground. Hold it for 3 seconds before you straighten back your legs and return to standing position. It is important that you don’t squat too lowly so that you don’t sprain your ankles and knees. Your goal should be 4 sets of 10 repetitions to feel the effect on your legs. If you want a more intense level, you can hold some dumbbells as you squat.
2.Lunging is another routine you can master at either your home or the gym. It certainly aims attention to strengthening your backside and legs. Still stand steadily with feet apart. Thrust your right foot to the front as if you are about to walk. Bring your body a little lower while your foot is held forward. Then you can bring your body up to the standing position and do the lunging again. Repeat it for 12 counts before you shift to the other foot and leg. You can do 3 sets of each side.
3.Curling is effective to strengthen your hamstrings with the usage of a bench. Get yourself to a lying position with your face down on the bench. Put your right and left feet below the bar that has foam pads. Start lifting your feet toward your thigh’s back area. In this manner, you are taking the weight upwardly. Hold for 2 seconds before lowering it to the initial position. As you do the curling motion, it’s important that you breathe in and out manageably. You can do 3 sets of 12 repetitions of the curl exercise.
There are still other few routines to make your legs sexier, firmer and stronger. The three mentioned ones are the more familiar ones that women find effective. You make these routines a portion of your entire fitness program so that you end up earning a bonus—firmed and well-sculpted legs at that.
EVERETTE
