However, as the population ages, more of us are learning to appreciate the rewards of stretching. Staying limber can offset age-related stiffness, improve athletic performance, and optimize functional movement in daily life. Research shows that flexibility training can develop and maintain range of motion and may help prevent and treat injury. In fact, the American College of Sports Medicine has added flexibility training to its general exercise recommendations, advising that stretching exercises for the major muscle groups be performed two to three days per week.

How can you include an effective flexibility workout in your fitness program? Here are some guidelines:

Think in Terms of Serious Flexibility Training, Not Just Brief Stretching. Squeezing in one or two quick stretches before or after a workout is better that nothing, but this approach will yield limited results. What's more, generic stretches may not be effective for your particular body. The more time and attention you give to your flexibility training, the more benefits you'll experience. A qualified personal trainer, physical therapist or health professional can design a functional flexibility program specifically for you.

Consider Your Activities. Are you a golfer? Do you ski, run or play tennis? Do your daily home or work routines include bending, lifting or sitting for long periods? Functional flexibility improves the stability and mobility of the whole person in his or her specific environment. An individualized stretching program is best to improve both stability (the ability to maintain ideal body alignment during all activities) and mobility (the ability to use full, normal range of motion).

Pay Special Attention to Tight Areas. Often the shoulder, chest, hamstrings and hips are particularly tight, but you may hold tension in other areas, depending on your history of injuries and the existing imbalances in your muscle groups. Unless you tailor your flexibility training to your strengths and weaknesses, you may stretch already overstretched muscles and miss areas that need training.

Listen to Your Body. Stretching is an individual thing. Pay attention to your body's signals and don't push too far. Avoid bouncing or jerking movements to gain momentum; this approach can be dangerous.

Instead, slowly stretch your muscles to the end point of movement and hold the stretch for about 10 to 30 seconds. Older adults, pregnant women and people with injuries will need to take special precautions.

Get Creative. Varying your flexibility training can help you stick with it. You can use towels, resistance balls and other accessories to add diversity and effectiveness to your stretching.

Warm Up First. Don't forget to warm up your muscles before you begin. Walking briskly for 10 to15 minutes is a simple way to do this.

Find a Flexibility Class That Works for You. Classes that include stretching are becoming more popular and more diverse. Some combine cardiovascular and strength components with the flexibility training; others focus exclusively on stretching.

Stretch Your Mind and Body. Did you know that your emotional state may affect your flexibility? If your body is relaxed, it will be more responsive to flexibility training. Listening to music and focusing on your breath can help you relax as you stretch. You may also want to explore yoga or Pilates. In addition to stretching, classes in these disciplines may include relaxation, visualization and other mind-body techniques designed to reduce stress and increase mindfulness.

It's Not Just for Wimps. Forget the idea that stretching is just for elderly, injured or unconditioned people. Many Olympic and professional athletes rely on flexibility training for peak performance.

Do It Consistently. It doesn't help to stretch for a few weeks and then forget about it. Integrate regular stretching into your permanent fitness program. For inspiration, look to cats and dogs – they're dedicated practitioners of regular stretching and you rarely see them getting the kind of joint or muscular injuries that humans get!

Shoulder and Trapezius Stretch** Stand upright with shoulders back, chest out, and feet hip-width apart.** Clasp your hands behind your buttocks.** Slowly lift your hands up and away from your body until they have reached the furthest comfortable position.** Keep your chest out and your chin in without hunching over.** Once you feel a comfortable stretch in your chest and anterior shoulders, hold this position for at least 15-30 seconds.

Lying Quadriceps Stretch** Lie face down on a mat.** Lift your right leg up towards your buttocks.** Reach around with your right hand and grasp your foot. Slowly pull downwards, stretching your quadriceps to the furthest comfortable position.** Hold this position for at least 15-30 seconds.

Shin Stretch** Using a wall or chair as support, place your left foot behind your right foot, with the top of your left foot on the ground.** Extend the bottom of your left shin as far forward as possible. Slowly lower yourself by bending both legs.** Once you have stretched your anterior tibialis to the furthest comfortable position, hold for at least 15-30 seconds.** Switch legs and repeat.

Hip, Gluteus and Back Stretch** Sit on the floor with both of your legs extended in front of you.** Bend your right leg over your left leg, keeping your right foot flat on the floor outside the left knee.** Place your left elbow on the outside of your right knee, and extend your right arm behind you with your palm flat on the floor for support.** Slowly twist your upper body to the right while looking over your right shoulder.** Lightly apply pressure with your left elbow on the outside of your right knee as you twist. Be sure to keep your upper body straight.** Once you feel a comfortable stretch in your hips, buttocks, and lower back, hold this position for at least 15-30 seconds.** Switch sides and repeat.

Calf Stretch** Put the sole of the top half of your right foot against the wall. Slide your right heel as close towards the wall as possible.** Slowly lean forward towards the wall stretching your calves. Once you have stretched your calf to the furthest comfortable position, hold for at least 15-30 seconds.** Switch legs and repeat.

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Whether you are going to be doing a cardio workout or a resistance workout, you should try to make it a point to eat a mix of carbohydrates and protein. What determines the percentage of carbohydrates and protein you should consume is whether you are doing cardio or resistance and the intensity level you will be working at.

The ideal time to eat your pre workout meal is 1 hour before you start. If you are working at a lower intensity level, keep this meal down to around 200 calories or so. If you are working at a higher intensity level, you may need this meal to be as high as 400 to 500 calories.

If you are doing a cardio session, you will need to eat a mix of around 2/3 carbohydrates and 1/3 protein. This will give you longer sustained energy from the extra carbs with enough protein to keep muscle from breaking down during your workout.

If you are doing a resistance session, you should eat a mix of around 1/3 carbohydrates and 2/3 protein. This will give you enough energy from the carbs to perform each set you do and the extra protein will help keep muscle breakdown to a minimum during your workout. It has been shown that your body most effectively uses protein during exertion meaning that taking in more protein before resistance workouts aids in faster recovery as well.

Now, eating after a workout is just as important as the pre workout meal. Remember that when you exercise whether it is a cardio or a resistance session, you deplete energy in the form of glycogen. Our brain and central nervous system relies on glycogen as their main source of fuel so if we don't replace it after exercise, our bodies will begin to break down muscle tissue into amino acids, then convert them into usable fuel for the brain and central nervous system.

Also, mostly during resistance workouts, you break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears. This means that right after a workout; your muscles go into a repair mode. Proteins are the key macronutrient for muscle repair and so you don't want muscle breaking down further to create fuel in place of lost glycogen.

If you have just finished a cardio session, you will need to consume mostly carbohydrates, preferably ones with high fiber. Oatmeal, rice, whole wheat pasta, and most northern fruits are good sources. Try to consume around 30 to 50 grams of these carbohydrates after a cardio session. After cardio, it is ok to eat within 5 to 10 minutes of completion.

If you have just finished a resistance session, you will need a combination of carbohydrates and protein. Because unlike cardio workouts, with resistance workouts you are breaking down muscle tissue by creating micro tears. The protein is needed to build up and repair these tears so the muscle can increase in size and strength. The carbs not only replace the lost muscle glycogen, but also help the protein get into our muscle cells so it can synthesize into structural protein, or muscle itself.

Chicken or fish with a potato, egg whites with a piece of fruit, or a protein shake with fruit mixed in are good meals after resistance workouts but remember to keep the fiber low here. High fiber slows down digestion, meaning the protein will take longer to reach the muscle cells.

After resistance, it is recommended to wait 30 minutes before eating so as not to take blood away from your muscles too soon. The blood in your muscles helps with the repair process by removing metabolic waste products from them.

Any fats should be consumed well before and well after exercise.

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No matter if you are going to be doing a cardio workout or a resistance workout, you should always make it a point to eat a balanced mix of protein and carbohydrates. What makes that determining percentage of carbs and protein you consume is whether or not you are doing cardio or resistance exercise and the intensity level that you plan to work at.

The ideal time for you to eat your pre workout meal is an hour before you start. If you plan to work at a low intensity level, you should keep your pre workout meal down to 200 calories or so. If you plan to exercise at a high level of intensity, you will probably need your meal to be between 4,000 and 5,000 calories.

Those of you who are doing a cardio session will need to consume a mix of 2/3 carbs and 1/3 protein. Doing so will give you longer sustained energy from the extra carbs with enough protein to keep your muscle from breaking down while you exercise.

For resistance exercise, you'll need to eat a mix of 1/3 carbs and 2/3 protein, as this will help you get plenty of energy from the carbs to perform each set you do and the extra protein will help keep muscle breakdown to a minimum while you exercise.

Eating after you exercise is just as important as your pre workout meal. Anytime you exercise, whether its cardio or resistance, you deplete energy in the form of glycogen. The brain and central nervous system rely on glycogen as their main source of fuel, so if you don't replace it after you exercise, your body will begin to break down muscle tissue into amino acids, and then convert them into usable fuel for the brain and the central nervous system.

Keep in mind that mostly during resistance exercise, you'll break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears. What this means, is that after a workout, your muscles will instantly go into repair mode. Protein is the key here for muscle repair, as you don't want muscle breaking down even further to create fuel instead of lost glycogen.

Once you have finished a cardio session, you'll need to consume mainly carbohydrates, preferably those with high fiber. Rice, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, and northern fruits are excellent sources. Also, try to consume 30 – 50 grams of there types of carbs after you exercise. After your cardio workout, it is fine to eat within 5 – 10 minutes.

Once you've finished a resistance workout, you will need to consume a combination of carbs and protein. Unlike cardio workouts, resistance workouts will break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears.

You'll need protein as this happens to build up and repair these tears so that the muscle can increase in size and strength. The carbs will not only replace the lost muscle glycogen, but will also help the protein get into muscle cells so it can synthesize into structural protein, or the muscle itself.

After your resistance exercise, you should wait up to 30 minutes before you eat, so that you won't take blood away from your muscles too fast. The blood in your muscles will help the repair process by removing the metabolic waste products.

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Initially beginners should aim to complete two sets of ten to twelve reps but after a few weeks, when you have developed sufficient control and basic strength, experiment with one set of six to eight reps to failure. This will maximize your muscle growth and give you the impetus to move on to the next stage of development. Before long you'll find the use of this single piece of equipment restricting, so later in this series of articles we'll pull together a muscle boosting program that utilizes other equipment to take you to the intermediate level. In the meantime, get to work with these exercises in order to get used to working your muscles.

Start off training four days per week and work body parts on the following basis not forgetting to incorporate rest days:

Day 1 – Biceps, Back, Abs

Day 2- Hamstrings, Shoulders, Abs

Day 3 – Quads, Forearms, Calves

Day 4 – Triceps, Chest, Abs

The exercises recommended for beginners are as follows:

CHEST: Bench press, flyes

UPPER BACK: Prone reverse flye, seated reverse flye, bent over row, pullover

SHOULDER: Lateral raise, shoulder press, upright row

TRICEPS: Lying triceps extension

BICEPS: Curl, concentration curl

FOREARMS: Wrist curl, wrist extension

LEGS: Squat, leg curl, calf raise

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Another way to vary your fitness routine is by changing from exercise machines to free weights / dumbbells or visa versa. For cardio exercise, move from the treadmill to the stepper, elliptical or bike. With cardio workouts, I like interval training because it does just that, it varies the workout each time. Instead of always walking on the treadmill at the same speed and incline or grade, change up your speed and increase your grade. This will keep your exercise dynamic and prevent boredom. More importantly it will challenge your muscles, heart, and lunges to work at different levels.

There are many ways to change your exercise routine. Be creative. Try creating a simple six-week training cycle in which you alternate between heavy, medium and light training sessions for each body part. Each time you try a heavy day, push your limit, leaving your medium and light days for building tendon and ligament strength as well as muscle endurance. At the end of your six-week cycle, take 2 – 4 days off and allow your body to rest. This prevents overtraining and will help your body with improved performance when you start up again. The cycling approach will be particularly effective for preventing injuries to muscle groups and connective tissue down the road.

Your goal will determine the number of reps you typically use. Different numbers of reps serve different purposes. First, know what your goals are in your training. What are you trying to accomplish? The standards are as follows: for strength train at 6 to 8 reps; endurance at 15 to 20 reps; toning at 10 to 15 reps; mass and size 6 to 20 reps.

There are also other factors to training in addition to reps. The number of sets is how many times you do the exercise with rest in between. Intensity is the level of difficulty in performing the exercise usually stated in a percentage of a 1 to 10 rep maximum. Rest, is the amount of time you wait until you do another set. All of these factors are controlled variables in an exercise program. Knowing your fitness goals will help you or your trainer determine what the best mix is for you in designing your exercise program. For more information and tips on exercise, go to http://www.easyexercisetips.com

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Almost all the people with a big belly take up, with a lot of determination, sit-ups, crunches, side-bends, twists, etc., hoping that every new series or set of exercises, every session of repeating them, will help them get rid of the 'ring' of adipose tissue around their waist, also called 'the ring of death'.

Besides the fact that it is probably the most anesthetic 'deposit' of adipose tissue, abdominal fat involves many risks for the health of the person which possesses it (related to diabetes, high blood pressure, cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, impotence, etc.).

We must keep in mind, once and for all, that when we refer to the melting of the subcutaneous adipose tissue, there is no spot reduction. No matter how much we strive to locate effort in the areas we are focused on, we will only fortify the muscles under the fat, but the reduction of the fat itself will be insignificant. The explanation is simple and is connected to the energetic support of the anaerobic effort, which uses, for the exercises, muscular and hepatic glycogen, and not fat acids from the adipose tissue. For getting to the deposits of fat, what we need is cardio training (running, biking, fast walking, swimming, etc.).This type of exercises must be maintained for a long time (45-60 minutes) and they must be intense (60-70% from the maximum of heart rhythm).

An alternative is cardio training with periods when intensity varies, although the total volume is not smaller than in the case of uniformly cardio training.

A very important role in burning fat is held by the diet. It is said that the most effective of training can be sabotaged in the kitchen.

The nutritionists say that a diet which maintains caloric deficit, but keeps a balanced proportion of the basic principles (proteins, lipids, blood sugar), with a slight increase of the protein part, will always have as a consequence losing weight. Physical exercises like sit-ups, crunches, etc., without other exercises meant to involve bigger groups of muscles (thighs, chest, back) and to fortify the abdominal muscles, do not increase very much the basic metabolic rate.

As a consequence, indirect burning of calories (during breaks, post-training) is very small in comparison with the burning due to aerobic effort (especially the ones with alternative periods) – in their case, during effort taking more than 20 minutes, the energetic support is exactly the adipose tissue.

The magic formula for burning abdominal fat is a combination of hypo caloric diet and exercise – especially aerobic, but also anaerobic (focused on all the body, not only the abdominal muscles).

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Have you ever used visualization when you are doing your breathing exercises, a lot of people think that breathing exercises are only a manner of sitting down and concentrating as they inhale exhale, which to the outsider can seem as being very boring and monotonous but here's a few things you can try out the next time, try…

* concentrating on a particular colour on inhalation and another colour on exhalation (for example some colour you link with calmness or purity, and another colour for stress or impurity)

* having a picture in your mind of your body and as you breathe in, think of all the extra parts of your lungs that have been under used because of bad breathing habits.

* Taking a breath and picturing the air coming into your body from different areas (such as the soles of the feet for example.)

It can especially seem complicated for beginners when starting out to do breathing exercises as you can't see the muscles that they are working on but by visualizing their lungs in action in their mind it makes it all the easier to do…and remember when you're doing your breathing exercises you're not really learning anything new but undoing all the bad habits you've picked up over the years.

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By that point, you just want to collapse on the floor, exhausted. Then you wake up and have to do it all over again the next day.

Fortunately, there is help. You just need to know about an amazing exercise and self improvement system. This may be the easiest exercise to learn that you have ever seen. You'll feel wonderful and energized afterwards, unlike ordinary workouts. Its called Falun Dafa.

I attribute the disappearance of my back pain to Falun Dafa. Another thing I feel that it did for me personally was give me the energy to get things done. You may also be excited to learn that it is something you can implement in your life very easily, without a lot of effort.

What you'll want to do is visit Falun Dafa website. You'll want to get the book, Zhuan Falun, and exercise instruction videos. Both are available for free download. You'll want to read the book to gain the full benefits of this self improvement system.

Now, you may be thinking that it might not be easy to learn all the ins and outs of these 5 sets of simple, energizing exercises just from a video.

You'll find the solution for that on the very same website. There is a volunteer instructor list. Scan it for your city or one near you. The list covers most major cities around the world and even many smaller cities.

The best part is that none of these volunteers will accept a penny of your money. They will show you these exercises free of charge and with no strings attached.

The reason they will do this is because they have also received amazing results from this practice. For this reason, they are willing to take their own time to show you how to do it at no cost to you.

So, what are you waiting for? Go over to that website and get started on what might be the most amazing and beneficial treasure you'll uncover in this lifetime. Discover for yourself an incredible wellspring of health and energy.

This article is for information purposes only. It is not meant to prevent, treat or diagnose any health condition or disease. If you have or suspect you have a health problem, and before embarking on any exercise program you should consult your physician.

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Building muscle and muscle strength is important for a variety of reasons. Stronger muscles help you through daily life. The weights lifted in strength training help to build up your bone density. These means that you will have less chance of breaking a bone or of developing osteoporosis. Also by building up your muscle you get nice tone and shape to whatever part of the body you are working on. Men are more likely than women to increase their muscle size in terms of bulk, but there are lots of women bodybuilders and both genders can use strength training equipment as part of their regimen to build up big muscles.

Strength training equipment comes in many forms as well. The traditional form is in iron or metal free weights that you can put on and take off of a bar to increase and decrease the amount of weight you lift. You can also find strength training equipment in the form of weight training machines that are usually considered safer than using free weights and easier to work with. Also there is strength training equipment in the form of tubing or elastic that works your muscles by increasing tension making it harder to pull. Be sure to look up strength training equipment reviews online.

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If your goal is to lose weight and build muscle, you need both diet and exercise. The good news is that both diet and exercise are extremely effective at losing the weight fast and toning your body.

With a diet and exercise plan you can usually lose about 10 pounds a month while shaping up your body and building muscle tone. If your goal is to lose 15 or even 20 pounds with both diet and exercise you can accomplish these goals in a very short time usually only 8 weeks.

There are lots of diets being offered, but health professionals have stated time and time again that the best types of diets are those that incorporate all types of foods such as grains, lean meats, fruits, vegetable and some oils from time to time. An exercise program is also easy to start. You don't need any fancy equipment such as a home gym or to sign up for a contract, just start walking for 30 minutes to 1 hour each day. If you are looking to shed the pounds and get your body into shape, take a look at diet and exercise.

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