Winston Salem Fitness

Fitness walking have become more and more popular the last few years. From the aerobic trend to lifting weights in the gym, it seems that fitness walking has become one of the more popular forms of staying and getting in shape in the 2000′s. And sure, it’s easy to do; fits the beginner exerciser as well as the more athletic one. It can be done almost everywhere; all you need is some comfortable clothes and a good pair of shoes. The Hollywood celebs does it; the mom next door does fitness walking.

If you’re eager to loose weight, a really effective way to go, is to walk half an hour before breakfast in the morning. The calorie burning is at it’s highest in the morning, and at that time the body also burns fat, not muscle. That might be your easiest way of loosing those pounds, just to start walking. And a great way to start the day. Just put on you’re favourite radio station, audio book or music in your Ipod and get out there!

If you want to fuel up your fitness walking there are a couple of ways that I’ve tried and really liked. Heard of the Masai Barefoot Technology Shoes? Invented by the engineer Karl Muller, who suffered from severe back- and neck pain. He did some research on the Masai people, who are famous for excellent posture and no back problems, even though carrying water and equipment for miles. Karl Muller found out that walking barefoot on uneven surfaces was keeping them in such good shape. He started to develop a shoe that could imitate that way of walking, kind of like building in nature in the shoes. And he seemed to succeed, the so called MBT shoes has become really popular and extended research from health institutes all over the world proves that these shoes really do work. They increase calorie burning, improves posture, helps back-, hip- and neck problems. If you fuel up your fitness walking with a pair of MBT shoes, you will see results before you know it.

Is there anything more to do to get your fitness walking to be really effective? Well, heard of Nordic walking? This way of exercising, that includes a pair of walking sticks, is a popular way of fitness walking that started out in Scandinavia. Basically you just do the fitness walking, adding a pair of walking poles that looks like skiing sticks. They increase energy burning and heart rate, and can improve the calorie burning with up to 25%! The poles are not especially expensive (from 15$ and up) in opposite to the MBT shoes, that has a price that can be a bit eye watering at first ( from about 200$). The MBT’s are well worth it’s price though, and if you invest in both of these, you will have a full equipped gym, doing a full body workout as you do your normal fitness walk. It’s not hard to do, cheaper than your gym card or any of those fitness equipments piling up in your wardrobe, and it’s safe. Takes no private teaching, just a bit practising and you will be on your way!

Why would you re-arrange your work schedule plus pay high fees when you can literally download your customized personal fitness trainer into your home Ipod? Think of it. No more 1-trainer-fits-all-people. No more working out to a stale repetitive workout video, when you can daily download a more tailored workout that suits your mood and needs.

You’re tech savvy so browsing the Internet for “solutions” is dead-easy. The latest and coolest thing going in the body fitness market are Internet based total body fitness podcast downloads. You want to target your arms…your abdominals…shape up a big butt…exploit the total woman body fitness possibilities? Stay online and cruise the many choices of online fitness training programs.

99-Cents And 1 Step Closer To Your Ideal Body Shape.

No longer do you have to join an expensive gym, drive miles to get a body shaping workout, pay high hourly rates to drill sergeant style trainers plus conform to large-group dynamics. Instead, cursor over to your favorite online personal fitness trainer…push “send” to download your fitness podcast directly into your Ipod.

Online Personal Fitness Training – All About Convenience Low Cost And Style.

As you Google between popular online personal fitness trainers such as mariononline.com, cardiocoach.com or Itrain.com, what you quickly realize is that a world-of-choice has opened up for you. Pick the online trainer whose voice and workout style best matches what you’re looking for.

No longer restricted to the workout video, you can select the trainer…the specific body workout…length of workout…style of music…switching between stretching and strength to yoga, ballet or dance-exercise.

Workouts are grouped into single workouts, or long term body fitness programs that bring you along slowly but steadily until you reach your body shape goals.

What’s The Data Format For Online Fitness Tools?

You can pick audio or video fitness podcasts. Which is better? It all depends on your Ipod system gear. If space is restricted or you’re going to a room without any media gear, then an audio download is likely to be the best offering. Download, adjust your headphones, push play and let the sweat roll!

With video workouts, you’re facing a practical problem: how do you actually watch your MP3 player while you’re doing your workout? Video workouts perform best when channeled through your media set up at home or in a hotel room if you’re traveling.

Uncertainty: How To Select The Best Online Fitness Trainer.

You don’t want to get hurt by undertaking some poorly crafted workout program designed by goof-ball jocks. Solution? Check each site, and trainer, and make sure that they’re certified by a major recognized sports training body such as the American College of Sports Medicine or other reputable organization.

Getting Results By Yourself.

Are you a self-starter? Can you execute with precision the movements and pace by your online fitness training pro? How do you know you’re doing the exercises right? How would you know if you’re actually making body shaping and fitness progress? These are the key questions that critics offer to new fitness podcast enthusiasts in order to reality-check their impulse to do-it-alone.

Where’s the happy medium balance point? Perhaps your smart play is to download fitness podcasts, try them out, vary these programs to see how your body responds, but still keep portions of your earlier workout program. Mix-and-match often delivers the best results, so that you continue to get feedback on your technique and progress.

While it may not be the easiest feat to accomplish, achieving “anytime fitness” can be a very realistic goal for just about anyone who puts their mind to it. Before anyone may achieve this goal however, it is important to understand what physical fitness actually is.

Fitness is essentially a person’s capacity to adapt and endure stresses caused by changing conditions. Physical fitness encompasses not only the body, but the mind and soul as well. In order to realize a goal of overall fitness, a person must engage in a regular fitness program which will include a healthy diet, exercise, and a good attitude.

What is known as “anytime fitness” can be achieved by simply changing little things during your day and making yourself more accountable for the time you have. Most people always complain about how busy they are and need more time, but the truth is that most of them waste a lot of the time they do have, they either don’t realize it or won’t admit it. If you don’t do something about this NOW, I can guarantee that it will come back to haunt you in the near future.

The better health a person has, the better life time fitness he or she will experience. There are so many different factors that can affect a person’s health which aren’t always obvious. In fact, the environment in which a person lives, works, and plays will have a direct effect on his or her overall physical fitness. Because the environment will have a direct effect on a person’s physical fitness, the importance of staying fit is increased.

In order to get the most out of life, a healthy fitness program should be followed. Staying in shape is integral to having anytime fitness, which means that you are likely to feel good and stay well more often. Those individuals without a good fitness regimen are more likely to be ill or sick much of the time.

The right diet and plenty of exercise can actually improve your health by boosting your immune system. Staying in shape and feeling good can positively impact your life as you will be able to enjoy time with family and friends, complete tasks, and get through the day without needing to rest so much. The healthier you are, the better you will look too; so you can’t lose by staying in shape.

Fitness instructors all over the world are touting the profit potential of fitness boot camp programs. These low-overhead and social fitness programs are very popular and provide for a healthy profit margin. Is it worth is to learn how to run a fitness boot camp to add to your current fitness programs? Are these bootcamps THAT profitable? Yes… they certainly are.

Fitness Boot Camps are an effective way to gain new clients and drastically improve the bottom line of your fitness business. There is next to no over-head required to run a boot camp program. No fancy equipment is necessary, no large fitness center – only a trainer. The main cost will be costs associated with marketing your boot camp training program, all of which will be quickly and easily recouped when you run your first boot camp program.

Potential exercise clients are attracted to the fitness camp concept mainly because they offer exercises that anyone can do. Boot camps also escape the stigma of exercise programs that are common with weight lifting and aerobics.

Fitness boot camps also begin to generate a community-like feel to them. As the instructor, you will notice the boot camp participants becoming friends and also see them helping each other with the exercises and training. A fitness bootcamp is also more recommended by word of mouth by present clients to potential clients than other forms of exercise programs.

Finding a location to run your boot camp-style fitness programs is simple and inexpensive – you can just about run them anywhere. You can run your exercise boot camp in the park, at school sports fields, around your neighborhood, or yes, even in your fitness facility. One woman I know makes a killing running a fitness boot camp for the moms in her local play group right from her BACK YARD!

Even with the booming popularity of boot camp programs, many fitness instructors are still not offering a boot camp program to their clients. For those on the fence about boot camp style fitness programs, remember this: Fitness boot camp market research shows that fitness centers that do NOT offer these programs are really lagging behind market demand….and are short-changing their bottom-line. Adding a fitness bootcamp program or two to your current list of services is a smart business move in the current exercise market.

Unfortunately, many people are misinformed and are also misled by the many promises of the weight loss industry. Everywhere you look, you see or hear of people promising “Dramatic Weight Loss” with products such as “The Fat Trapper”, or “Exercise in a Bottle”.

Then you also have the hundreds of diets out there such as “The Zone”, “Sugar Busters” or “The Atkins Diet”. I’m sure you have heard of many of these yourself. You might have even tried some of them. Unfortunately, these products and diets are not the quick fix, or the miracles they are portrayed as. They are also usually very dangerous.

Below are some common misconceptions among people with regard to exercise and nutrition.

1. You need to exercise to burn fat.

The truth is you don’t gain body fat because of a lack of exercise. You gain it because your blood sugar levels exceed what you are using. Basically, you are eating too many calories at one time.

2. Your metabolism slows down once you hit 30.

WRONG! Actually, hundreds of research studies have shown that the slow down in metabolism is due to a loss of muscle tissue. And the loss of muscle tissue is directly related to a lack of hard physical activity!

3. Pasta and bread are fattening.

Anything is fattening! Lettuce can be stored as fat! Any food or drink, which contains calories, can be stored as body fat if it causes your blood sugar levels to exceed what the body needs at that time. Bread and pasta are actually great sources of complex carbohydrate! The key is how much you eat and when you eat it.

4. Eating after 7pm will make you fat.

Absolutely false! It all depends on whether or not the body needs that amount of calories at that time. Keep in mind your body is constantly burning calories, 24 hours per day, just the amount varies.

5. Strength training will make you bulk up.

Another NO! It seems as if mostly women are concerned with this one. Muscle size is primarily affected by genetics and hormone production; therefore, most women don’t have the potential to build very large muscles.

Muscle burns calories, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn which makes easier to burn fat and harder to gain it!

By no means is this a complete list! There are so many I could write a whole book just about them. The key is in education, but not by reading fitness magazines!

We’ve all heard the advice before starting an exercise program: “See your doctor before you begin.” Often, many adults disregard this advice, presuming that it doesn’t really apply to them. However, regardless of your age, your current fitness level, or your health history, it’s always important to make sure that exercise is safe and appropriate for you before embarking on a new exercise program.

Fitness assessments — also known as pre-participation health screenings, or fitness tests — are important screening tools to determine the presence of risk factors and any symptoms of cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic diseases, as well as other health conditions which may be adversely affected by exercise. The fitness assessment provides key information that can be used to develop a prescription of exercise that helps you achieve your health goals quickly, but safely.

These can range from simple self-administered questionnaires, to a physical examination and even complex diagnostic screening tests. Typically, the physician creating your exercise prescription will determine the screening procedures appropriate for his or her patient population.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) suggests three levels of fitness testing prior to participation in an exercise or sports program. In a Level 1 Screening, only a self-administered questionnaire is completed. The Level 2 Screening is more detailed, and can involve a medical history, physical examination, and laboratory testing. Level 3 Screening involves an even more detailed physical examination and exercise stress testing.

Most often, only the first level screening is performed. However, according to the ACSM, it is not inappropriate to perform all three levels of fitness testing, since the information obtained from all three screening steps can actually enhance your exercise prescription’s safety and effectiveness.

Fitness assessments typically focus on identifying the presence of major cardiovascular risk factors, looking for symptoms suggesting possible cardiovascular, pulmonary, or metabolic disorders. However, other important areas of consideration include your baseline joint range of motion and level of flexibility, since design of your exercise program should ideally take these into consideration in order to be completely safe. Your body composition and a test of your strength and endurance should also be performed, primarily to obtain a baseline so that you can see how much you’ve improved by the end of your exercise prescription.

Finally, perhaps the most important part of a fitness test is to make sure that those who have demonstrated some risks or health concerns are referred for additional evaluation. The presence of health risks doesn’t necessarily preclude you from participating in a fitness program, but your exercise prescription may need to be altered to allow for safe participation and to maximize health benefits.

Copyright Healthy U, LLC. All rights reserved.

This is an article designed to help you work toward competing in a Ms. Fitness or Ms. Figure contest. If you are debating the idea of competing then don’t debate, just go for it! Almost anyone can prepare toward a Fitness/Figure contest and this information should give you a great boost toward that goal! It is nice to have the 2 classes to choose from.

When I discuss competition, there are several obstacles which seem to deter women from competing. The 4 biggest concerns I hear are:

• I can’t do gymnastics
• I am not flexible
• I can’t jump
• I could never get that lean

I could never get that lean

These are all very simple problems to deal with and age has no bearing on anything! I have competed along side many women in their 40′s who have won or placed very high.

The Ms. Fitness routine is not judged on what “tricks” you are able to perform, but rather on how clean and polished the content is. Ms. Figure has the same focus with a bit more on physique, of course, since this is a contest where the judges want to see a body in between fitness and bodybuilding. Ms. Figure is perfect for those who are not interested in the strength, flexibility and endurance components of competition. Ms. Figure contestants should recognize that Ms. Figure does require that you to be somewhat leaner than for a Ms. Fitness competition.

Bare Basics

Planning Training & Diet

Let’s start of with planning. You want to look ahead a year to 4 months away from a contest date depending on your current level. Training and diet needs to be periodized toward your contest so that you are prepared and peaked at the right time. I always suggest doing a few contests the same year especially if there are some contests that fall a week apart so that you can get some experience and get to utilize everything you worked so hard for. Periodizing simply means you plan progressively over time so that you can:

• I can’t do gymnastics
• I am not flexible
• I can’t jump
• I could never get that lean

Insure success

Ms. Fitness wants to concentrate on the outcome of a nice toned and moderately lean physique with out too much hardness or striations. Ms. Figure wants to get a bit leaner than Ms. Fitness with a bit more muscle density and hardness yet not as lean, striated or muscular as the bodybuilders. Achieving this balance is the trick. Even once your at your best the rest is up to who is standing beside you and how you all look in comparison.

The type of weight training/cardio and diet depends on each individual, some need more others need less but everyone needs a different combo and levels can vary so programs have to be individualized, you can’t train/eat like “everyone else” because it may not work for YOU. Mass produced competitive training/diet manuals made bulk in advance to help you prepare for a contest can work but were not made just for you, which means you are getting second best. I am very insistent on making sure all the programming is catered to each of my clients individual needs but unfortunately not all trainers do that which can result in injury or lack of preparation. You don’t want to be ‘group’ trained for contests because the chances of all participants being at the same level has a very low probability resulting in some participants not getting all the attention needed to be properly prepared.

Talent

Don’t have one? Who cares! You can put a routine together with any theme. I have put all types of routines together for Ms. Fitness, Ms. Figure and Bodybuilding that utilize all types of talents from Salsa to Martial Arts. Take what you like and enhance it. Even some ethnic backgrounds can translate into a cool routine, so be creative because that always gives you points! Here are some theme ideas used in past fitness, figure and bodybuilding routines:

• avoid injury
• work on different aspects of training/diet progressively
• avoid overtraining or too many plateaus
• insure success

Suits, Posing and Tanning

Costumes and posing suits are also going to be judged. Even if they’re not part of the formal scoring, your outfits can make you look better or worse so keep that in mind. The color of your suit is a big factor. With Ms. Figure you have to stick with a solid color for pre-judging so you want to pick a complimentary color that will enhance your physique but not take away or distract from it. Black seems to be very popular. Now it has been okay to use a dazzled up suit for night shows in Ms. Figure and Bodybuilding. Like the Ms. Fitness women, the Ms. Figure ladies want to have 2 suits to highlight the morning and night show. Most of the judging is normally done in the morning show but there are times when ties occur and those are the occasions when you will be judged at night.

Skin tone is also normally judged and affects your look. The appearance of looking ‘tight’ is enhanced by tanning and coloring. I normally suggest tanning well in advance so that by the last few weeks prior to competing you don’t have to tan which can make some people feel drained and considering you’re already dieting and depleted you don’t need added stresses. Then you can start coloring up a few days prior to contest. For those of you not familiar, there are products sold for that extreme tanned look which is needed on stage to keep from being washed out by the stage lights. The products vary but are made especially for competition and can be found online at some bodybuilding sites. I find being tanned then using the coloring product is your best bet.

Skills

Now you have to assess your skills. For Ms. Figure most women are required to do the routine in a regulation suit and heels although some organizations have a figure that is close to Ms. Fitness in the way that they can wear a costume and do a high energy routine but without inverted movements and adding poses into the routine. Ms. Fitness uses heels for the physique and gown round so here is a skill that is needed — practice walking in 4-5 inch heals (I always suggest platform, you may think they are ugly but they look the best on stage)! Of course, open hand posing (similar to the mandatory bodybuilding poses) must be practiced for the comparison rounds in Ms. Figure. Both classes need to practice posing for the quarter turns. There is a variation of ways to pose but you don’t want to be to stiff. You want to get a balance with your arms to avoid over exaggeration but the line is fine because you do need to strain a little. You want to angle slightly but keep heels together, head high, shoulders level and back, chest out, exhale to show abs. On the side pose some judges like you to look at them and others like you to look straight ahead so keep your ears open for the cues. The side pose is when you want to hike up the hip that faces the judges and even lift your heel a tad to give a nice defined leg and glute.

Lastly on your back pose you need to bring the lats out more for Ms. Figure than Ms. Fitness but in both cases the shape has to show, and tuck up the tush for a nice tight back end.

Skills for the fitness routine are a variety of holds, push ups, splits and dance. With a minimum of these you can put together a winning routine. When girls perform ‘lacking’ routines but still win fitness contest the audience can still see for themselves who the REAL fitness girls are regardless of the placings – likewise if you see a great routine but the girl has cellulite on her rear the audience can see it! Unfortunately I have seen Champions who have won contests without so much as a push up and no flexibility whatsoever but they had unbelievable stage presence, a clean and polished routine, or a higher point grade in other rounds. I still to this day believe you should go into a contest with strength and flexibility components in your routine but you don’t have to be a gymnast to win a Ms. Fitness contest.