Category: Fitness

by: Tracie Johanson
Okay, so we already know that exercise is good for us. We try to work out on a regular basis, reminding ourselves that the payoff is well worth the effort.2024

Still, we all have times when we ‘fall off the wagon’ and somehow miss those exercise sessions. We get sick, there’s a big deadline at work, relatives come for a visit, or the kids are out of school…..there’s no end to the reasons why we take a break from exercising.

But did you know that CONSISTENCY is the key to success in health and fitness? It takes only about two weeks to start losing your level of cardiovascular fitness when you stop exercising. After about three to four weeks without exercise, you’ll start losing muscle (losing muscle is the WORST thing we can do when trying to lose fat!). Source: Shape magazine; June 2005.

We agree, it just doesn’t seem fair that fat ‘goes on’ faster than it comes off and now we learn that we can get ‘out of shape’ in just a few short weeks! Hey, we don’t write these rules, we just report them!

So what’s the take-home advice? Stay consistent in your workouts. Get into the gym at least three times each week. Can’t make it three times? Two is better than none! For that matter, one exercise session is better than none! We only really backtrack in our fitness levels when we quit exercising completely.

Consistency is the key, so let’s all take whatever steps we need to take to make sure we’re getting to the gym regularly. Maybe we need to set an appointment to work out with a friend. Maybe we need to go to the gym early, before the day gets crazy. Maybe we need to go to the gym late, after dinner is done and the day is winding down. Whatever we need to do, let’s do it today. Let’s be consistent with our exercise.

We’ll see you at the gym…..consistently!

About the author:
Tracie Johanson is the founder of Pick Up The Pace, a 30-minute exercise studio for women, focusing on fitness, health and nutrition for maximum weight loss. Please visit http://www.letspickupthepace.com/for more information.

by: Aaron M. Potts, ISSA CFT
Why does the title of this article mention Housewives and Athletes? Brace yourself for the answer: Because the training protocols for both are exactly the same!

“How can that be?” you ask. “Is the author of this article on drugs?” “How can an athlete and a housewife train the same way?”

Here is your answer: Because each of them works diligently towards their respective goals using the same time-proven training techniques that you are about to learn. The goals of an athlete may be different than those of a housewife, but the science behind the training program is exactly the same.

EXERCISES

If your goal was to bench press the heaviest weight in history would it help you to take ballet classes? If your goal was to have a trim, toned body with a low level of bodyfat, would you get a lot out of Power Lifting classes with a squad of 350 lb athletes at ‘Bruno’s Iron Body Weightlifting Dungeon’?

The point is that you have to train for what you want out of your exercise program! Don’t choose exercises out of a magazine just because they worked for the author of a particular article. Don’t do the “classic” exercises at the gym just because everyone else is doing them.

Determine what your goal is, decide which exercises and which training programs will get you to your goal, and then just follow your program. This is pretty basic information, but you may be surprised by how many people just follow the crowd, which will get you exactly nowhere.

FORM

Once you have your training program ready to go, you have to do it right! If your program calls for eight 30-second wind sprints in 5 minutes, guess what you have to do?

If your program calls for picture-perfect free weight squats, bench presses, or lunges, how should you do your free weight squats, bench presses, and lunges?

You have to get your trai2024 program from a reputable, trustworthy source, such a personal trainer, or a friend or family member who is in very good physical condition. Once you have determined that your source is qualified to tell you how many wind sprints to do, or the proper way to do lunges, then you need to do exactly that.

Too many people get “distracted” during their training sessions and just end up going through the motions. During each and every exercise or activity, your form should be perfect, your concentration should be fierce, and your effort should be maximal.

Safeguard your health as well as your fitness goals by doing things the right way. You’ll achieve maximum results, with minimal risk or wasted time.

SETS

How many sets of each exercise should you do? No doubt your favorite fitness magazine has instructed you at some point to do 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions. That is good advice in some instances, but not in ALL instances. Who came up with that number, anyway? The proper number of sets to perform of each activity depends on the activity itself, what your training goals are, and where you are at in your training program. 3 sets may be perfect in the beginning, but later on down the road, you may need more or less than that.

Don’t do the “traditional” number of sets, or the traditional number of exercises. Think outside of the box! This will keep your mind and your body from getting bored or over-stressed by any given exercise program.

PROTEIN

Here is a newsflash: You need protein at every meal, regardless of your fitness goals. It doesn’t matter if you are a bodybuilder or a glass blower – your body needs protein several times per day, every single day of your life.

Don’t think that just because you aren’t trying to put on muscle mass that you don’t need to consume protein. Your body uses the amino acids in protein to repair damage that happens naturally to your body everyday, even if you don’t exercise. If you are involved in an intense exercise program, then your need for protein is amplified by a large percentage.

Do you need the latest protein supplement? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on your present training program and nutritional intake. Decide if you are getting at least 20% of your calories from protein everyday, and as much as 40% for some competitive athletes. If not, then you may need to take a protein supplement, or at least increase the amount of lean protein in your daily diet.

CARDIOVASCULAR TRAINING

Cardiovascular training is just good for burning off calories, right? Wrong! Cardio does burn a lot of calories, but let’s break down the word “cardiovascular”.

Cardio: Having to do with the cardiac muscle – your heart.
Vascular: Having to do with your circulatory system – your veins and arteries.

When put together into the term “cardiovascular”, can you determine the primary reason for doing cardio? To improve the strength and efficiency of your heart and circulatory system!

Yes, improving the strength and efficiency of your heart and circulatory system burns a lot of calories. Yes, cardiovascular training is part of any good health and fitness program.

However, if you don’t do it right, you won’t get much out of it. There are various formulas for determining the intensity of your cardiovascular workouts, and they include the Target Heart Rate Zone and the “Talk Test”.

Whichever method you choose, you must always put forth a true moderate to intense effort, and you must also practice different activities, and different amounts of time spent doing cardio. If you always do the treadmill at 3.5 mph for exactly 30 minutes, your body will quickly adapt to that, and your progress will cease.

Change the activity that you engage in, change the intensity, and change the amount of time you spend doing it. Keep your body guessing, and it will reward you by literally “throwing your fat into the fire” to fuel the workout!

About the author:
Aaron Potts is a Personal Trainer and Fitness Success Coach whose customers include consumers as well as other fitness professionals. Sign up for his free Fitness Journal at http://www.fitnessdestinations.comor visit his coaching site at http://www.ptsuccesscoach.com

Build Muscles And Smash Plateau For Beginners
by: Chris Chew
Five times a week, two hours each visit. You’ve been more faithful to your gym schedule than you’ve ever been to any girlfriend you’ve had. And for a while it paid off: those muscles started rippling and the girls started paying attention.

But then, like a bad dream you wake up from, your muscles suddenly wasn’t growing like what it used to do. Your muscles stop responding to your heavy workout no matter how intensely you’ve been training. So you said to yourself, now I will train harder. So now you put in three hours a session and but even as you upped your gym dosage, horrors of horrors, your muscles are actually shrinking.

Ahhhhh, the Gym Plateau. It afflicts all of us and few of us ever gotten out of it. In fact, most people don’t even know that they have hit the dreaded plateau and thought that their muscles can only grow so much due to inherent genetic factors. Not to worry though, if you read the following fitness tips, and follow these tips to the latter, I can assure you that your muscles will start growing again and grow bigger they will.

Here are your free fitness tips.

Fitness Tip #1
Take A Break

This tip is easy to comply for most of us but very difficult for some gym rats. Simply take a break from your workout. Do not step into the gym or do any workout for 2 weeks. Its time to let your body recover from the punishments you are dishing out to your muscles. Some bodybuilders may find this difficult to do because working out is addictive. You produce endorphin when you workout and endorphin is also known as happy hormone. The same hormone you produce when having sex.

Professional bodybuilders take a break after every 4-5 months of hard training and when they are back in the gym, they shock their well rested but complacent muscles back into massive muscle gain.

Fitness Tip #2
Are you training too ofte2024

If your exercises are intense enough, you need only to train each muscle group once or twice a week. Your training schedule shouldn’t repeat muscle groups in the same week. Every time you train, you do your muscles damage. Muscles need time to repair and it does so in the after your training when you are resting. This means that if you lift weights on consecutive days, there isn’t sufficient time for the body to recover. Try to have one day rest between each weight lifting day.

If your routine requires intensive weight training, remember not to prolong your gym time longer than an hour. This is because your cortisol, a muscle eating hormone level will be elevated and thus will be counter productive to your efforts. It eats your muscles.

Most of all, you must sleep! Eight hours or even better, go for ten hours. Muscles do not grow in the gym; they grow when you sleep. When you sleep, you are secreting growth hormones for many bodily functions and one of those functions is to build muscles. That is why they called it beauty sleep!

Fitness Tip #3
Are you using the correct weight lifting techniques?

If your technique or form is incorrect, not only is your training retarded, you are also inviting injury. Don’t laugh. But when you exercise you must think and focus, instead of mindlessly repeating the motions, do take note of how you perform each exercise and rep. Do so with deliberation and at the beginning and end of every lift, pause and squeeze the muscles you are exercising. Mind and muscle must connect! Never never use momentum of the swing to lift the weights and let gravity pull the weight down. That is why you must lift slowly and lower slowly feeling the tension in your muscles and resisting the load all the time.

In order for muscles to want to grow, you have to stress them to the maximum, and then further. Do enough repetitions until you feel you cannot go any further using good form. You must then either increase the weight or the number of repetitions at the next session. This is called progressive overload, and progressive overload is what forces your muscles to grow. As a general guide, if you can lift more than 12 reps the weight is probably too light and it is too heavy if your muscles fail you in less than 5 reps. You may wish to consult your physical fitness trainer on the correct form and technique for each exercise.

Fitness Tip #4
Are you using free weights?

Most machines do not involve as much of the synergistic muscles (supporting muscles) as free weights do. And, therefore, do not build as much muscle mass. Synergistic muscles are the smaller muscles that aid the main muscles in balance and strength in each lift. Machines has its uses, but for beginners and for smashing plateaus, use free weights.

Fitness Tip#5
Workout with compound exercises

Compound exercises are exercises that involve 2 or more joint movements and thereby employing bigger muscles and more synergistic muscles . Bench presses, dead lifts, squats, and barbell curls amongst others are fantastic compound exercises . For example, when you squat , all the muscles in your lower body get a workout and that alone is about 60 percent of your overall musculature . Squat also works your back and abs too. Using more muscles at one go means that you get a better overall workout. To add icing to the cake, because of the massive utilization of your muscles , you will pant, huff and sweat more. That means your routine also has a cardio effect and you will burn calories even hours after you stepped out of the gym .

Fitness Tip#6
Are you working out your legs?

Your body is programmed to grow proportionately with only slight variations. If you do not train your legs, your upper body mass will stop growing before it becomes large. Surely, you’ve heard of chicken legs! Just because leg training can be brutal, it doesn’t give you reason to hide your legs in your pants. To get that super hero X-frame, pepper your routine with squats . A word of caution though: compound exercises such as dead lifts, squats, and bench presses must be done in excellent form and a spotter is highly recommended. This is where your physical fitness trainer will come in handy as your spotter. If not, injuries are bound to happen and that may put you permanently out of the gym.

Fitness Tip#7
What are you eating?

Muscle building requires protein – the more, the better. Meat, especially red meats and fish, are the best source. It is in your food that your body will draw nutrients from, for strength and necessary fats for joint and organ protection.

To have massive muscle gain and help in muscle preservation , you need about 2-3 grams of good protein per kilogram of your body weight . If you want to get serious about muscles , you may need to supplement them with protein shakes . Eating a meal and having a protein shake immediately after your workout also maximizes the window for rapid absorption of nutrients. This is important as you need to feed the muscles now that you have damaged them. You should also 6 small meals a day so your muscles are constantly fed throughout the day. This will help rev up your metabolism to burn fat too. This will tremendously help you in your build muscle lose weight program. Remember to take your protein shake half an hour before you workout too.

Fitness Tip#8
How about Carbs?

Glycogen is the main energy source for any muscle-building exercise. The body stores whatever carbohydrates you eat as glycogen and muscles use it to give you energy during your workout. After an intense workout, do consume carbohydrates immediately to replace the used glycogen. You can even indulge in high glycemic carbs such as ice creams and white bread as these will turn into insulin and shuttles nutrients such as protein to your muscle cells quickly.

Fitness Tip #9
And Fats?

Yes, your body do need do need fats . But try to avoid saturated fats such as animal fats or worse, trans fats which are artificial fats found in pastries, confectionaries and preserved food. Consume healthy unsaturated fats such as olive oil, canola oil, fish oils, flax seed oil.

Fitness Tip#10
Water Water is essential.

Water is essential. It is the most underrated macronutrient. You need at least eight glasses of water every day but when you exercise , you lose even more water because of the sweating. So drink before, during and after your workout. Weigh yourself before and after the workout, and compensate for the loss by drinking at least 16 ounces of fluid for every pound or half a kg lost.

Fitness Tip#11
Creatine

While meats are the best source for creatine, which is a nutrient that helps speed up muscle gain and power you up during workouts, those who do not get enough from their regular diet must be supplemented. Creatine puts volume into your muscle cells and gives you that muscle pump thus your muscles feels tighter, look bigger and overall illusion of superb muscularity . It also helps to prevent muscle breakdown.

Fitness Tip#12
Glutamine

When supplemented, it may help bodybuilders reduce the amount of muscle wasting away or used up as energy. It also helps in muscle recovery.

Fitness Tip #13
Do you change your routine?

The human body is fantastic at adaptation. So whatever routine you are on, your body will get used to it. So do change your routine every 6-8 weeks. For example, instead of working out your chest muscles at the start of your workout, work your back muscles instead. You can reverse your whole routine or change the variations of your exercises or add new ones and take away some old ones. By changing your routines, you not only shock your muscles to new growth, it will also prevent boredom by doing the same thing all the time.

About the author:
Chris Chew is a personal trainer and count actors, pageant winners, models and other celebrities as his clients. He runs a fitness training school in Singapore at http://www.sgfitnessonline.comand is the author of “Burn Fat Build Muscles Fast.” See his books at http://www.sgfitness.com

by: Jan Nicholas
Have you made the decision to become a personal trainer? Do you prefer to take the necessary courses, online? A personal training career is the ideal profession for those who love to stay in shape and have the desire to help others, do the same.

Please consider the following options when conducting your initial “data gathering” session. (Note: This information is being presented as a courtesy, to aid in your search. Company credibility has not been verified, by this web site.)

The International Sports Sciences Association (http://www.issaonline.com/courses/CFT) offers a Certified Fitness Trainer program that can be completed online. Founded in 1988, by a respected sports medicine Dr./Olympic trainer, ISSA has trained countless of students via their online study program.

The site provides secure online enrollment and a live, online customer service/admissions option. They also offer a toll-free customer service number, as well. Great for obtaining answers to any pre-enrollment questions.

Visit the site to learn more about the Certified Fitness Trainer course materials, members section and, both, the online and seminar prep guides.

For more comprehensive training Pro-Fit Worldwide (http://www.pro-fit-worldwide.com) is an excellent choice, when considering a career as a professional trainer. They offer a minimum 25-week, online training course. Student loans and flexible tuition payment plans are available. Graduating students are required to attend a 4-day “boot camp”, before receiving certification.

PFWW claims to be the “Ultimate Personal Training School Online.” Indeed, it assists it’s students in becoming the best personal trainer they can be, via the PFWW online education program.

About the author:
Jan Nicholas – For more tips like these go to http://www.personaltrainingclasses.com/where you will learn how to keep in shape and start your very own personal training career! Try www.triumphbrowser.com

by: Richard Rigor

The perfect diet should be combined with a healthy weight management or activity program. Weight management may conjure up that dreaded “exercise” word. And exercise to some means pushing the body beyond limits, experiencing painful in joints, muscles, bones – everywhere. No pain no gain, right? Wrong. Instead, replace the word “exercise” with “activity” and incorporate this in your daily routine. And a general rule of thumb for guidelines about “activity” would be to strive for a minimum of 30 minutes for adults or 60 minutes for children of moderate physical activity daily.
Individual activity goals depend upon each person’s health and weight goals and issues. Begin by checking with your medical advisor or healthcare physician to get a green light on which activities would be suitable for you, what your target weight range should be and a strategic plan to improve your health.
In a nutshell, during activities, calories are burned, pounds are shed in the long run. And the number of calories burned depends upon the duration and intensity or the activity. Slow and steady is the rule of thumb. And note daily progress. For those who have never been very active at all, it may be advisable to begin slow like with walking 10 minutes each day, gradually building up time and distance with increased “brisk” pacing. Even if you can’t get out to walk, bike or swim, take stairs instead of elevators and escalators. Clean your house. Clean your car. Wash windows. Wash your dog. Check out exercise videos, cassettes and workout books from the public library and put some of their ideas into action (Visit www.idealbodyfitness.com for more info). Check out your local fitness centers, YMCA, community center, too, for ideas. Partner up with a neighbor to walk or join a community volleyball team. There are unlimited ways to be active and enjoy life at the same time without using painful weight loss strategies.

About the author:
Richard Rigor is the author of “The Ideal Body Fat Loss Guide.” www.theidealbody.netHe is also the owner/editor of www.idealbodyfitness.coma free membership site focused on diet and exercise.

by: Andrew Mills

Fitness refers to ability of the body to function with vigor and alertness. Nutrition refers to the nurturing of our body, in our ability to keep it healthy and functioning as it is supposed to do. Our ability to provide the body with all the necessary food, vitamins, and minerals so that we continue to thrive in our daily life processes. But do we know if we are really fit? How do we tell?
First, you might want to look at your exercise habits, if there are any. If there aren t any exercise routines to examine, no fitness. Everyone, no matter what their age, benefits from exercise. It keeps our bodies conditioned, our mental sharpness working at top speed, and thanks to the physical aspect, we get a boost to our cardio health, extra calorie burn, and more oxygen to those cells!
Do you take in more calories than your body needs? Are you supplementing your vitamins and minerals to make sure you are getting your recommended daily allowances? If you re not making the most basic of efforts to take care of your nutritional needs, you aren t a fit individual. You may not look sick, you may not have any noticeable symptoms of ill-health, but you re not the fit and toned individual you could be.
What about the stress levels in your life? Do work in an environment with high levels of stress? Is your personal life a source of comfort or does it add to your stress levels? Do you engage in some form of stress-relieving activity? Stress is the number on contributor to heart attacks and strokes, since they manage to speed up the affect of the real culprits. Stress is basically an out of control situation for most adults today. We manage to schedule every moment of our free time, and leave ourselves with no time for quiet reflection, or time to deal with life s unexpected emergencies.
Fitness requires us to examine more than just our exercise routine. The mere definition of fitness refers to the body s ability to meet physical stresses. That includes coping with our day to day life, getting from the beginning of the day to the end, without being worn completely out. In order to be truly fit, we find ways to rid ourselves of built up stress, the kind that begins to affect our muscles, muscle tone, and composition. Massages are the best cure for ridding our bodies of the stress buildup that can occur, even with exercise regimens and detract from our overall fitness.
Exercises that demand total body involvement are the best for maintaining and improving your level of fitness most effectively. Running, swimming, jogging, dancing, cycling, and very brisk walking are some of the more popular total body involvement exercises.
There are so many occasions to stop and question our efforts at maintaining optimal health, that we usually don t even take the time to begin the examination. But it is beneficial to our overall health, the quality and quantity of our life, to make every effort to be fit, healthy, individuals. Read more health and fitness articles at http://www.dietpost.info http://www.fitnesspost.info http://www.takingsteroids.com http://anabolic.ca

About the author:
webmaster of http://www.anabolic.caand http://www.takingsteroids.comhttp://www.dietpost.infohttp://www.fitnesspost.infoand many other websites for over 5 years.

by: Aaron M. Potts, ISSA CFT
What would you consider is your most valuable tool for staying in shape? Is it your treadmill? What about your weight set? Is it your arsenal of low-fat cookbooks, and low-carb diet snacks? What about your collection of workout videos?

Would you consider it a revelation that your most lethal weapon in the battle of the bulge is your Attitude?

Think about it. What good is your treadmill if you don’t have the energy to get on it, or can’t get up the motivation to crank up the speed, or the elevation? How useful are your dumbbells if you can’t push yourself to use them in the most effective manner? How good is a nutrition program that you can’t stick to? How much fat loss will you get out of your workout videos if you just can’t seem to get as motivated as that bouncy cheerleader who is urging you to jump higher, or that buff macho man who keeps saying, “C’mon, just one more rep!”?

No, none of those tools is going to get you very far unless your HEAD is in the right place. As you read this article, you have probably already been exposed to more nutrition and exercise information than you could possibly ever need to actually stay in shape. You’ve probably read, listened to, or watched the answers to your fitness issues enough times to win the next Mr. or Mrs. Neighborhood fitness competition a dozen times over! Yet, you are still not where you want to be. Why?

Attitude.

Seeing Your Goal

Do you have a clear vision in your head of where you want to be, or what you want to accomplish when you are at a peak level of fitness? I don’t mean just some vague idea – I’m talking about an actual burning mental image of a six-pack set of abs, or a nice set of curves, or a clear picture of you crossing the finish line in first place, or taking home that trophy. If you don’t have that, you are already just spinning your wheels. How can you expect to get somewhere if you don’t know where that “somewhere” is?

Many people start out very motivated to get in shape, or to compete for that prize, but their motivation lacks focus – laser-targeted precision that will guide them down the right path. The term “as the crow flies” comes to mind. If you could leave your house and drive in an exact straight line to your destination, don’t you think that you would get there a lot faster? What if you could just fly through stop lights and intersections, disregard all posted speed limits, and go exactly in a straight line to every destination? You sure would get there a lot faster!

Exercise, physical fitness, and nutrition are no different. If you don’t have a clearly mapped out and measurable road map to your success, then you will stray, and that will cost you time at the very least – and at the most, it will cost you precious amounts of self-confidence! Take some time to think about WHERE you want to be, HOW you are going to get there, and most importantly, WHY you want to be there. Take the time to do that, and I think you’ll see that your previous path may have been road blocked by a few too many trips to Starbucks for a Caramel Frappuccino. Not that anyone writing a fitness article such as this would know anything about that…

Believing In Your Ability

Okay, so you’ve got yours2024a good mental picture. You have your road map in front of you, your path is straight and true, and you are ready to get started. What comes next? Belief.

Do you believe it is possible to wave a magic wand and have all of your excess bodyfat gone, and all of your fitness goals realized in the blink of an eye? Of course not. If you do, and you know the secret, please contact us – I’m sure we could make some money on that secret! For everyone else, I’ll ask a different question. Do you believe that you could sit on your couch, suck down some ice cream, and put on some more bodyfat? The answer is, unfortunately, yes.

What is the difference between those two questions? Very simple – one is possible, and one is not. What does that have to do with your fitness goals? Well, it may come as a surprise, but you have been dealing in the IMPOSSIBLE for quite sometime now. You have been striving for a goal, yet not really believing that it was within your power to reach it.

Oh sure, you may have joined a gym, or bought a new Litmus 3000 Super-Decker top of the line treadmill/clothes hanger, but did you really believe that you were going to do it this time? If you are reading this and you are in perfect physical condition, then congratulations – you did it! For the rest of you, are you seeing the point? You didn’t truly believe it, because otherwise it would have happened.

Each of us shelters hidden either very deeply or sometimes NOT so deeply a seed of doubt that we will really succeed. When that seed is there – whether it is planted deeply or not – your subconscious waters it and feeds it. The next thing you know, it is has grown into an entire field of self-limiting beliefs, and you have neither the time nor the desire to get out there in the field and destroy that evil crop!

What are you to do, then? BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! Why? The answer to that is simple – because you are the only one who truly can. Others may support you, and they may even show you the path, but it is YOU who has to walk it.

Taking Action

We have covered the need for you to clearly see your goal, and for you to use the power of belief to start walking down the path, but what’s next?

The next step is the same for you as it is for an aspiring business owner, or a college freshman, or an artist staring at a blank canvas – you have to TAKE ACTION. You can read the top 2 sections of this article all day long, but doing so won’t burn off any bodyfat, or pack any muscle tissue onto your body. Only appropriately carried out action can do that.

Think of all the self-help books that you have read, or programs that you have watched on TV, or listened to on the radio. Did any of them do you any good whatsoever if you didn’t take action on what you had learned? What about what you have read so far in this article? Has it been helpful? Most likely. Will it do you any good if you don’t Take Action? Nope. Negative. No way. Nada. You get the picture.

You can read, listen, and watch your way right into a bodyfat level that would make a sumo wrestler jealous, or consider your options until your muscles have diminished so much that you can’t even lift a toast to your dearly departed dreams, but none of that will mean squat if you don’t GET UP and make it happen!

Why are you still sitting here? Get out there and Take Action!

About the author:
Aaron Potts is the owner and creator of Fitness Destinations, a content-filled health and fitness website for consumers as well as professionals in the fitness industry. Aaron’s experience in the health and fitness industry includes one on one personal training in many different environments, maintenance of several health-related websites, and authoring of many fitness articles and fitness-related products for consumers and fitness professionals. http://www.fitnessdestinations.com

by: PT Cheng
When it comes to health, you go for a medical checkup to see if you’re physically fit. The medical report will tell everything about your health.

But when it comes to wealth, it’s as important that you do a regular checkup for your financial health. You need to know where you are financially before you decide what you want to achieve financially.

What do you do to ascertain your level of financial fitness?

You can use financial statements to determine your financial fitness. They are income statements and balance sheets.

It sounded boring and alien to me when I first prepared my income statement and balance sheet. The process is tedious as you need to dig out things and get them organized in a proper format.

But I can tell you once you’ve done this checkup, you’ll have a clear picture where you stand financially and you can take the necessary measures to achieve financial freedom.

Besides that you’ll be more in control of your money and know how to spend your money wisely.

Let’s get started to determine your financial fitness.

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Income Statement
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First, you can prepare an income statement. An income statement is also called profit and loss statement. An income statement consists of two sections: monthly income and expenses.

Your income would probably comprise salary, rent from real estate, dividends from stocks and bonds, interests from savings accounts, and royalties.

Your expenses would be food, clothing, utilities, car loan payments, credit card payments, home mortgage payments, medical expenses, entertainment, insurance payments, charity, taxes, and education.

List down your income and expenses into each section accordingly. Then calculate your total income and expenses.

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to calculate your net income. Net income is the difference between your gross income and expenses:

net income = gross income – expenses

If you have a negative net income, it tells you that you spend more money than you make. You’ll have to have plans to reduce your spending or increase your income.

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Balance Sheet
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Next step is to prepare a Balance Sheet. Like income statements, balance sheets also have two sections: assets and liabilities.

Assets are your cash, real estate, car, bank accounts, stocks and bonds, mutual funds, retirement accounts, and businesses.

Liabilities include mortgages, credit card loans, car loans, personal loans, education loans, and taxes.

Prepare your own balance sheet by listing down your assets and liabilities. Calculate your total assets and total liabilities.

The following step is to calculate your net worth. Net worth is the difference between total assets and total liabilities:

net worth = assets – liabilities

Net worth is usually used to determine whether a person is wealthy.

You deserve a pat on your shoulder if you’ve come so far with me. By doing this simple exercise, you are one step ahead of many people.

You’d have known the level of your financial fitness by now.

So, are you financially fit?

To help you with this exercise, you can use our free money worksheet at http://www.financiallyrich.com/wealth-calculator.asp

by: Jenny Crolson
INTRODUCTION

The term Anti Aging means different things to different people and also depends on your age and to some degree is governed by fashion and culture.

To a 50 year old woman it may mean “I want to reduce my wrinkles”. To a 21 year old girl it may mean “How can I keep my skin like this for the next 15 years?” To a 30 year old man it may mean “How can I keep my current fitness for the
next 30 years?”2024

This article is aimed at a particular group of people you are interested in anti aging, mainly 20 to 30 year olds. If you are in another group or have some other interest in anti aging you may like to visit my web site
http://www.informationaboutantiaging.com

CAUSES OF AGING

The signs of aging can be caused by many things. Some of the top reasons are listed below.

Genetic
Sunlight: To much sun bathing will cause wrinkles.
Makeup.
Chemicals in cosmetics: Use organic.
Cigarette smoke.
Alcohol.
2024
PREVENTING THE SIGNS OF AGING

It’s a fact that we are going to grow old, and with that we will being to show our age. But there are certain things that we can do to slow and reduce the signs of aging. There are four main categories that can help prevent the signs of aging.

FOOD
Being on a good healthy diet goes a long way to slow down the aging process. You need to limit your calorie intake.
Your Doctor or Physician will be able to tell you what your proper intake should be for your particular age and health. As part of your diet you should ensure that it is balanced and consists of the following.

Fresh fruits including berries.
Vegetables, contain antioxidants.
Beans.
Seafood.
Cereals.
Cut down on fast foods.

FITNESS
Your fitness level will also determine how the natural aging process affects you.
Make sure that you include some of the following in your
weekly schedule.

Exercise.
Fitness training.
Stretching the body.
Yoga.

SUPPLEMENTS

There are many vitamins that you can take to supplement your normal diet. But, as always you must consult with your Doctor before starting to take any supplement, this is due to the fact that everyone s health state is different and you may get ill if you suddenly start taking supplements.

Here is a list of vitamins that you might like to consider:

Vitamin A
Helps to reduce wrinkles.

Vitamin C
Helps produce collagen.

Vitamin E
This strengthens your immune system.

Conzyme Q10
This is an antioxidant which helps protect the skin.

CREAMS

Creams can be used as an anti-aging technique.
Ensure that you follow a regular skin care routine.
Make sure than you are cleansing your face effectively.
Make use of herbal creams

Disclaimer
Please note: I am not a Doctor or Physician. This article is for informational purposes only. No anti-aging technique can be guaranteed to stop the signs of aging. You must consult with your Doctor or Physician before altering your diet or taking supplements.

About the author:
Copyright Jenny Crolson 2005
Please visit http://www.informationaboutantiaging.comfor further information on anti aging techniques.

by: Paul Callis
In my time I have been an international competitive swimmer, ranked number 1 in the UK, in the top 20 worldwide, represented England, and won medals at World level. Having been in the environment of top class athletes, and everyday healthy people, I have become very knowledgeable in the area of nutrition and fitness.
Still maintaining regular fitness and excellent nutritional levels, I regularly converse with many people of all types of fitness levels. The majority, at fitness centers, are obese and vastly over weight, constantly looking for ways to lose weight.

Spending years training in public, and seeing bodily changes on a day to day basis, I have become very familiar with Hoodia Gordonii, and have seen rapid improvements, that have in turn had life changing effects on people, and all for the better.

You may be wondering what Hoodia Gordonii is, and may have heard from the newspapers and television.

It is grown in the Kalahari Desert region of South Africa, Hoodia Gordonii is an all-natural appetite suppressant, derived from a cactus-like plant with prickly spikes. Scientists have been researching the Hoodia plant for almost a decade, and have found it to be completely free of harmful side effects.

The active ingredient in Hoodia Gordonii, the molecule known as P57, imitates the effects that glucose has on your brain, signaling that you are full. Your brain has what is called a Hypothalamus. This part of your brain controls your appetite. When you eat, the glucose levels in your body rise. As these levels go up, the hypothalamus sends off a signal to your cells to stop eating. This is when you start to feel full. Hoodia Gordonii’s molecule, P57, tells your brain the same exact thing, even if you haven’t eaten a bite. By mimicking the effects of glucose on your brain, the hypothalamus starts to send messages to your cells which in turn, make you feel full.

Paul Callis is extremely knowledgeable in the field of sports and nutrition in the UK . Paul s passion for swimming in his earlier years, helped him achieve world medals and gain great knowledge and understanding in all aspects of looking after the human body, eating correctly to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and discovering what does and does not help with weight loss.

About the author:
You can visit Paul s web site, and read his recommendations and advice at http://www.hoodiagordonii1.com