10 Ways To Fit In a Workout Before 10 am

Don't beat yourself up for never hitting the gym - these moves from Jennifer Cohen, health and fitness expert and author of No Gym Required, will have you feeling tight and toned all before you sit down to work.

7 a.m. 
When you wake up, immediately hit the floor and do 10 pushups. "As you get stronger, add an extra two pushups each week," says Cohen. As you increase the amount of reps, you'll spot a real difference in your upper arms. Looking good!

7:10 a.m.
For a high-protein breakfast, microwave eggs for two minutes. Fit in cardio by doing 20 jumping jacks, 20 squats, 20 front lunges, and 20 tricep dips on your kitchen chair before the buzzer goes off.

7:30 a.m.
When you're brushing your teeth, alternate between calf raises and squeezing your butt muscles for toning every other day.

7:45 a.m.
Squeeze in 50 crunches before you get dressed. "It's great to do abdominal exercises before you put on your clothes," says Cohen. "You feel skinnier."

8:00 a.m. 

Whether you're dropping the kids off at school or heading to work, skip the lift. "Make sure you're wearing flats or comfortable shoes, and run up the stairs to burn some calories and help strengthen your glutes," says Cohen.

8:05 a.m.
When you reach the final flight, work the outside of your thighs by side-stepping halfway to the landing, leading with your left leg.

8:10 a.m.
Work your other side by side-stepping up the stairs until you reach your floor, this time leading with your right leg.

9:00 a.m. 

Use your desk or or your coffee table to do 15 inclined pushups. "Different angles work different muscle groups," says Cohen. "Doing pushups flat on the ground when you first wake up and then doing them inclined later helps work different parts of your chest, upper back, and core for a more complete workout."

9:30 a.m.
Rather than sitting still when you're on the phone, keep moving. Take hold of a chair, extend one of your legs to the side, and pulse it out for 20 seconds while focusing on squeezing your thighs. Repeat with the opposite leg. "This move is great for core for stabilisation as well as toning the outer thighs, which minimises saddlebags," says Cohen.

9:45 a.m.
You've earned a coffee break! Drop down for 10 squats, and head out for a latte.

By Holly Corbett

Is Your Current Thinking Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Success?

With as many as two thirds of us overweight to one degree or another we try different diets and exercise programs without much success. In fact, 95 percent of all diet plans fail to get the people that embark on them any significant weight loss for the long-term.

Many of these people start these programs and very often get some results in the short term.

Unfortunately, however most of these same people end up just a few days/weeks later falling off the weight loss wagon because they are not prepared mentally for the changes they need to make to their lifestyle to maintain their new found weight loss.

To succeed in anything, your head has to be in good shape. You need to believe - and keep on believing - that the changes you need to make are worthwhile. Even the very best diet or exercise program will fail if you haven't fully accepted the life and body changes you need to make to become a slim person.

What happens is without some new inner mind programming nothing has changed on the inside so what happens is that any junk thinking you may be harbouring will derail you time and time again no matter how many diet plans you begin. Mainstream weight loss systems do not take this into account and they can only give you results while you are on the program. But they don't tell you HOW to slick to the program long term and your inner programming is in charge of this.

If you want to succeed at weight loss, you need to cut the "mental fat", and that will lead to cutting the "waistline fat". To do that you need to get to know YOU on a deeper level and look at the patterns and habits in your life that you are dragging around with you that get in the way of your own success.

What is your junk thinking doing to your good intentions?

We can easily build up this 'junk thinking' with misinformation and inherited wisdom about nutrition, dieting and what proper exercise REALLY means. We get all this stuff spinning around in our head mixed together with some plain old self-delusion and 'bingo' we have a recipe for getting and staying stuck in an overweight, unhealthy and unhappy body. That slim, fit, healthy body that we really want remains frustratingly out of reach.

But we can change the way we think so we can 'get out of our own way' and achieve the weight loss success that would be life-changing for us. First, we need to identify the thoughts, feelings, emotions and self-beliefs that are causing the roadblock and change them so they no longer sabotage us at every turn. Then we need to replace them with ones that will serve us better. Only then will you be programmed for getting that new slim body and the good health that goes along with it... permanently...

Once you have dropped new thoughts and ideas into your head you will be amazed at how quickly they take root and little by little you begin to make better food choices, eat less overall and even enjoy exercise.

Losing weight will then happen on autopilot, you will not even need a diet plan. You already know what foods to eat and what foods to avoid and it is simply a matter of allowing that to happen but without the self-sabotage that you normally experience.

Imagine how good it will feel to reclaim that slim trim body? Well, you can have this simply by overwriting old negative mind programming and installing new programming into your subconscious mind that will lead you to the body of your dreams. Sounds easy doesn't it? Well it is, and it works like a treat, and once you get started you will be so grateful to have its power working for you to achieve what you desire.

The idea that your subconscious mind may be actively blocking your conscious efforts to lose weight can be hard to swallow at first. So in addition to revealing my top 4 secrets to effective weight loss, I have included in my free report "Visualization Secrets For Weight Loss Success" a section on how mastering your subconscious mind through visualization can make all the difference to your level of weight loss success.

You can download that report here: http://weightlossmotivationbible.com/freereport


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carolyn_Hansen


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7153733

Fitness for Health and Wellbeing

When you think of fitness, you may be thinking of well-toned bodies, rock-hard abs and generally, just a fit and outstanding physique. What if I told you that in order to be truly fit and feel great you don’t need to be a body builder?

Fitness is more than exercise. If you think exercise and weight control are all there is to fitness, you may be surprised! Fitness is a lifelong pursuit, not a short term goal. "Physical fitness is defined as "a set of attributes that people have or achieve that relates to the ability to perform physical activity" (USDHHS, 1996).

In fact, physical fitness is made up of five main components: cardio-respiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, body composition and flexibility.

An interesting quote I came across is this: "The biggest obstacle people face in achieving physical and financial fitness is developing consistent and long-term healthy habits." This came from Countrywide Bank Managing Director, Pierre Habis. Interestingly, it points up the fact that anything worth achieving should become a mindset based on a long term goal. Add anything that is worth while achieving to your regular life routine.

In general, physical fitness is the ability to do daily activities without feeling overly tired. Physical fitness is especially beneficial in preventing coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease, enhancing muscle quality, preventing muscular deterioration and reducing depression.

You see, true fitness is everything from proper sleep to proper nutrition, from stress reduction to weight reduction, and from flexibility to balance to relaxation. Being physically well toned and muscular does not mean you’re healthy.

Diet and exercise work together for your body's best interest. That’s becausenutrition and physical activity go together like bread and butter for our bodies. Dieting alone is not going to be able to give you all of these health benefits. You need to have the physical part as well. Exercise will aid in digestion, provide strength and endurance, and does wonders for the heart.

On the flip side, it is important to be aware of the fact that a bad diet can affect your fitness training, even if you follow the best type of exercise plan available! In order to stay as healthy as possible, you need to combine a healthy diet with a lot of exercise!

The average person needs at least twenty minutes of exercise three times a week. This is not hard for most people to attain – even if you’re not used to any kind of fitness training. It will help to strengthen your cardiovascular health and your overall fitness. Regardless of what sort of physical activity you choose, you should burn about 3500 calories per week. You will soon start feeling the benefits!

When you start any type fitness plan it is recommended that you talk to your doctor about it first. He may work out a specific exercise plan with you that is best suited for your particular physical needs. Be sure to discuss with your doctor any special health concerns like blood pressure, hypertension and any special diet needs that you may have.

It just cannot be stressed enough how the combination of a healthy diet and exercise plan will do wonders for your overall well being. It will make you feel good mentally, emotionally, as well as physically!

Did you know that you can use diet to control high blood pressure? Studies have shown that exercise has a role in keeping blood pressure from increasing. Yes; hypertension can be controlled by physical activity, a low fat diet, and reducing your salt intake, weight, and alcohol consumption!

There is also increasing evidence that weight bearing exercises, like walking, dancing, running, and sports are all excellent for good bone health.

To balance your overall health, you need to have a healthy diet that provides ample calcium, vitamins and minerals along with the adequate amount of exercise to keep your body working great for the rest of your life.