Entries Tagged 'Exercise & Fitness' ↓

Pilates is an excellent type of exercise to help you lose unwanted fat around the waistline. Surprisingly for a somewhat static type of exercise, Pilates can really get your blood pumping and cause you to work up a sweat.

Pilates is not only a very cost effective exercise, but this type of exercise can be extremely convenient as all exercises can be done pretty much anywhere.

All you need is a spare half an hour and you can do a thorough Pilates workout in the comfort of your own home.

Some excellent benefits of integrating Pilates into your exercise schedule:

• Low cost: for the price of a DVD video and mat you have everything to get started
• Convenience: no traveling to a gym or to a pool, pilates can be done in the comfort and privacy of your home
• Low impact: unlike running pilates is the perfect low impact exercise which greatly reduces the risk of injury
• Strength: pilates is an excellent strength building exercise which focuses largely on building your ‘core’ strength
• Cross Training Benefits: adding a regular pilates session to your training schedule will help you perform better at other exercise types like weights and running

The real key to using pilates for maximum results is to use this type of exercise to mix your training schedule up and keep your muscles guessing what’s coming next.

Using a session of pilates say twice a week, three days apart is a great way to ensure continued fat loss results.

Remember that no single type of exercise or type of physical training will give you miracle results. To get the best results you have to accumulate a number of different exercise types whether that be running, weights, pilates, swimming or anything else and become comfortable using them regularly.

In fact the more you mix your exercise types up the better!

Although you still have to enjoy doing the exercises, this helps you to avoid getting bored and losing motivation.

In many ways, motivation is much more important than the types of exercises you perform!

A great way to get the most out of a Pilates workout

Many people really like the idea of working out in the comfort of their own home which is why pilates has become hugely popular.

Although if you have never done pilates before, there is no way to know whether you are doing the exercises correctly and with good form and if your getting a good workout by properly isolating muscles.

It really pays then to do some classes at your local gym just to get the feel of how to properly perform many of the exercises.

Don’t be shy to pick the instructor’s brain and get some hints and tips on how to get the absolute max from the exercises in the class.

You won’t have to do to many classes to have a good feel on how to perform many exercises after which you can simply add more DVD’s to your collection and do most of your pilates sessions at home.

Although Pilates is a very popular exercise for women, it is just as effective for men!

In fact many male elite athletes use pilates along with weight training and other forms of physical training to obtain that competitive edge.

Pilates in general is an excellent tool to add to your training regime when your short on time and is extremely cost effective, though the key is get the most out of this exercise by integrating it effectively with a complete, planned training schedule.

Those of us working out with a personal trainer may find ourselves repeatedly hearing the same phrases again and again. Our first reaction may be to assume that the trainer may think you have a learning disability, have an attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder, or just don’t care. Don’t complain! If everyone out there were a gifted, natural athlete, they wouldn’t need to use a personal trainer.

Your personal trainer may say things like…

1) “Think about the exercise!”.

2) “Slow down the negative!”.

3) “LOWER!” always on squats.

4) “Watch the forward lean!” again on squats.

5) “Keep your head up!” squats again.

6) “Lead with the ELBOWS, not the wrists!” on lateral raises and upright rows

7) “Keep your chest CONVEX, not concave!” on pulldowns and rows.

8) “Pause at the TOP, not the bottom!” on lateral raises, leg extensions, and leg curls.

9) “All the way up. All the way down!” on heel raises.

10) “STRETCH!” to the client just standing around with his thumb in his ear between sets.

11) “BREATHE!” to the client who holds his breath until his head looks like a gigantic blood blister.

12) “C’mon, let’s go! This is supposed to be a super-set!” to the client who finishes the first exercise of a circuit or super-set and then claims he or she needs to go to the bathroom, make a phone call, get a drink of water, blow their nose, etc.

13) “What do you mean, you can’t do that? You haven’t even tried it yet!” to the client with a confidence problem.

14) “Control the weight! Don’t let the weight control you!”.

15) “WATCH IT!” to the client who finishes the set and then just drop the dumbbells, nearly hitting me, themselves, or an innocent bystander.

Personal trainers are experts in the field of nutrition, motivation, and exercise. The words of encouragement above which I am sure are repeated in a similar manner with your personal trainer will ensure that you are getting the most out of your workouts and that you are using proper technique to avoid injury.

When I first started training to improve fitness and achieve my fitness goals I had problems with motivation and didn’t know what exercises I should be doing, so I used a personal trainer sydney which I found to be really helpful.