Exercise Bikes: The Perfect Fitness Partner
Tried and trusted exercise bikes have been a fitness companion for many people for years. They are simple piece of equipment and you can use them any time and do not need to prepare too much before you leap on!
They give your legs a fantastic workout and condition your cardiovascular fitness too. They are great if you already enjoy cycling but live in a very built up area and want to avoid the traffic.
Exercise bikes build your athletic fitness and leg muscles in particular. Leg muscles are the strongest in the body so exercising them will lead to an improvement in many areas of your fitness, especially running and walking, playing with the kids and running up the stairs.
Your stamina improves tremendously and using an exercise bike allows you to build up stamina safely because, unlike with running for example, there is no impact. By doing only two sessions a week and increasing the length of session and resistance per session, you will start to notice the difference after the first week and you will be able to run or walk longer distances too.
If you want to train for an event there are many settings on exercise bikes to help you. They can simulate a race with different resistances to help you build up your distance and speed over time. You can program you own course or use the default on the bike.
All exercise bikes will increase your fitness levels, however there are a myriad of features to make it more exciting and here are few to get you thinking.
The two main types are upright and recumbent. Upright bikes are the most common and you ride it just like a normal bike in the same upright position. Your legs are in front a little and you are leaning forward to hold the handlebars.
Recumbent bikes mean you are leaning back onto a padded backrest. Many feel this position is far more comfortable if you are riding for a long time. This bike also comes recommended if you are recovering from back or knee injuries.
Some features to look for include magnetic resistance pedaling motion. This uses magnets to add resistance when you pedal. It will feel like you are dragging something along behind you, giving a more challenging workout. Make sure you get a bike that allows you to combine the levels of resistance and create your own programs.
A heart rate monitor is essential to get a measurement of how hard your heart is working. The bike detects your pulse usually through special sensitive pads on the handlebars. The most effective exercising heart rate for most of us is roughly 70 to 80% of your maximum.
A good digital display is essential to inform you of your distance traveled, your speed and time. Look for controls near the display area which let you change the program or make a new one.
Exercise DVDs: A Low Cost Way To Get Fit
With so many of us canceling gym memberships and turning to home-based fitness regimes, exercise DVDs seem to be the way forward for a cost effective, high energy workout. But with a whole myriad to choose from in the market, which one do you go for?
The selection seems infinite with a wide variety of DVDs targeting different areas of the body like glutes, abs and legs, or arms, shoulders and abs right through to all over cardio workouts like dance based routines or even pole dancing! There are also mat based body conditioning workouts such as pilates and yoga.
But, why limit yourself? We all have low energy days and a more relaxing stretch workout may be more suitable than a high energy one, so purchase a selection.
It is definitely worth spending time reading user reviews to make sure you choose the right workout DVD for you. However, here are some criteria to get you started.
Start by taking into account your preferences for exercising. Do you want to use equipment like weights or a step (for step aerobics) for example? How do you feel about music? Whether it is high octane or relaxing, have a think about whether music suits you.
Also think about the stage you are starting at. For example, your age is also a key factor in deciding which DVD to buy. Or perhaps you used to exercise but have stopped due to injury. Are you very overweight, or just need a bit of toning up in some focused areas?
The best exercise DVDs to get you on the road to fitness whatever your level, are those with a gradual progression-style structure so you are not struggling to keep up from the start. The DVD should also have an ability specific structure to the exercise in order to cover all fitness levels, meaning a beginner can be moved through a gradual increase in intensity over time but a seasoned exerciser gets a challenge too.
Another key tip is to research the teacher. Once you have found your favored fitness DVD it is a good idea to check out the professionalism, background and competence of the instructor. Run a search on Google and see what comes up. Read a review about their DVD as well as comments from users too – the most unbiased information.
Also, when purchasing the exercise DVDs ensure they come with at least a 6 month guarantee. In general, it usually takes the majority of users about 7 to 9 weeks to really get into the program, meaning a 30 day guarantee is not satisfactory. You want to make sure you are seeing and feeling the changes the DVD claims to be offering. If you purchased a legs, glutes and abs program, are you seeing the changes? It’s unlikely you will notice a real difference in 30 days.
If you have been sedentary for a while for whatever reason, it is worth taking your DVDs to your doctor just as a precaution to make sure the exercises are appropriate for you.
So this gives you a few tips to get started. Rest assured that you will find the right one for you. The market for home fitness DVDs is absolutely huge with almost every celebrity jumping on the bandwagon! So whether it’s Pilates, yoga or high energy aerobics and dance, you will almost definitely find the exercise DVDs to suit you.
Retaining Your Muscle Mass While Dieting
Retaining your muscle mass while on a weight loss program is one of the most important aspects that you need to concentrate on as this will help you to keep your fat percentage down long-term.
On the ultra low calorie diets the body begins to cannibalize its own muscle tissue as its defense mechanisms come into play.
An example of this is shown with some of these apparently slim fashion models who have quite high levels of body fat in proportion to their overall size.
The reason for this is the fact that they haven’t done any form of exercise or resistance training to maintain any reasonable level of muscle mass and this is only made worse by the fact that they are often eating a very low quality diet and nutrition is lacking.
It is not uncommon to see skinny models with cellulite and that is a sure sign that they are retaining fat in a higher percentage than they should be.
They would find that if they added a little bit of resistance training or even some form of decent exercise to their daily routine they would be able to still retain a slim figure but the body fat percentage would be considerably lower and they would look a lot more toned and healthy.
And healthy is what you should be aiming for when you go on a weight-loss program and not simply losing weight as actually improving your overall health and well-being will help you to live a better lifestyle for a lot longer.
Increasing your muscle mass also improves your metabolic rate whereas body fat has a very low level of metabolic activity. Nutritionists regard muscle as the furnace that burns in the body and this is what you should be aiming for.
If more weight loss programs focused on retaining muscle mass people would be unlikely to put the weight back on rapidly once they finished the program.
