When Is The Best Time To Exercise, Morning Or Evening?

When Is The Best Time To Exercise, Morning Or Evening?

Fitness Blender

This is a universally accepted fact that exercise is the gateway to a healthier life. There are countless advantages associated with exercise. Our physical and mental health is mainly dependent on physical activities like this. Doing exercise regularly not only tones up our body and muscles, but enhances our mental condition, heart health and blood pressure levels. Exercise is an effective tool to fight against stress and depression and helps to improve the frame of mind, keeping you fresh throughout the day. Another benefit associated with exercise is the sound sleep. If you are suffering from sleeping disorders or remain restless while sleeping, then exercise is the right solution to such issues.

Your daily life performance is greatly dependent on how well you have slept at night. If you couldn't take a sound sleep, you wouldn't be able to perform well at work. Working out daily for 30 to 45 minutes helps you enjoy a sounder sleep at night and consequently keeps you fresh and active all day.

So, now you are convinced that significance of exercise is undeniable; there are some other factors that play vital role in making the exercise beneficial for you - time and the type of exercise.

You would find an extensive range of exercises for different purposes. You need to choose wisely the type of exercise you are going to do, keeping in view your age, health condition and physical fitness. For instance, if you are a heart patient, you should avoid vigorous exercises like cardiovascular workouts.

People usually do exercise either in morning or in evening. There are different opinions, myths and research studies regarding the advantages and disadvantages of morning and evening exercise. The body temperature of the human beings lowers down at night and rises up in the daytime. Exercise right before bed stimulates your brain and muscles, making you feel tired. Vigorous exercise before going to bed increases body temperature and makes it hard for you to fall asleep. If you exercise in evening and there is a 5 to 6 hours gap between evening exercise and your bedtime, then your body temperature will have enough time to lower down till your bedtime. If you sleep too early at night and there is not enough space between evening and your bedtime to decrease the body temperature, then going for early morning exercise is better for you.

Going for a 30 minute morning walk followed by 20 minute aerobics will surely lead you to a healthier life. Morning walk is also a great tonic to relieve stress and enhance the mood. When your mood stays fresh all day, it indirectly affects your sleeping patterns in a positive way. Moreover, exposure to the natural light in the morning improves your physical health and keeps your body fit. The sleep-wake cycle of your body is also reinforced by exposing it to the sunlight in morning.

Hit The Slopes Fit, Not Fat

Hit The Slopes Fit, Not Fat 

Fitness Programs 

You've book your winter vacation. You're excited about your upcoming ski trip over a long weekend. You can almost hear your ski's carving through the snow as you rush down your favorite run. Then it hits you! You haven't skied in a year and as a matter of fact you haven't spent all that much time staying in shape either. You've gained a few pounds since last years trip and you've starting to notice your stamina is not what it was a year ago. You used to hit the gym regularly a few times a week, but this past year work as been crazy, the kids seem to have more going on and the gym has just gotten pushed to the back burner. To put it bluntly, you've gotten fat.

The following 4-week plan is designed to improve your fitness level, increase your strength and stamina and get you back in shape so you can enjoy more time on the slopes and less time recovering in the lodge.

The following program is designed as a 4-week program. The exercises are focused around the muscles and movements used in skiing. Not only are these exercises designed to increase your strength and stamina; they also will help protect you against injury.

This program will start with a dynamic warm-up, then move into some core and strength work and finish up with a high-intensity interval finisher. In Week 1 you are going to perform both Workouts A and B once. Weeks 2 and 3 you will perform Workouts A and B twice each. Week 4 you will perform Workouts A and B once each leading up to your weekend.

The Workout

Dynamic Warm Up - perform this warm-up before each workout.

Foam Roll (Glutes, Hamstrings, Quads, IT Band, Inner Thigh, and Back)

10 reps each area

Hip Flexor Stretch with Overhead Reach

30 seconds each side

DBL Hip Bridge

10 reps

Forward and Backward Jumps

10 reps over and back

Prisoner Lunge with Rotation

10 reps each side

Side-to-Side Jumps

10 reps over and back

Wave Squat

10 reps

Triangle Jumps

5 reps clockwise, 5 reps counter-clockwise

Speed Skaters

10 reps over and back

Workout A - perform 3 sets of 10 reps for each exercise. Performing A1 then A2 once each followed by a rest period of 60s and then repeated for two more sets. Do the same for groups "B" and "C".

A1) Kettlebell Swing

3 x 10

A2) Single Arm Push Press

3 x 10

B1) Kettlebell Goblet Squat

3 x 10

B2) TRX Row

3 x 10

C1) Single Leg Deadlift

3 x 10 each side

C2) Front Plank

3 x 60 seconds

Finisher: Squat Matrix

2 sets

Workout B- perform 3 sets of 10 reps for each exercise. Performing A1 then A2 once each followed by a rest period of 60s and then repeated for two more sets. Do the same for groups "B" and "C".

A1) Split Squat

3 x 10 each side

A2) 3 Point Dumbbell Row

3 x 10 each side

B1) Single Leg Hip Bridge

3 x 10 each side

B2) Push Ups

3 x 10

C1) Side Plank

3 x 30 seconds each side

C2) Inch Worm

3 x 5

Finisher: Bike Sprint Intervals

5 sets of 30 seconds work, 30 seconds rest

Exercise Descriptions

Kettlebell Swing - Start in shortstop position with hips hinged, back flat, and head up. Place hands on the handle of kettlebell. Place the kettlebell about 12 inches in front over your body on the floor. To start the movement pull the kettlebell back between your legs, as is you are snapping a football. From there explode your hips forward allowing the kettlebell to rise to chest height. Once there pull the kettlebell back down and between your legs by hinging your hips. Do not squat the swing.

Single Arm Push Press - Select a dumbbell that is slightly heavier than what you could stand and press with one arm. Starting with the dumbbell at your shoulder, slightly dip your hips and explode up pushing the dumbbell to the ceiling. Lock out at the top, and then slowly lower the dumbbell back to the starting position. Perform all repetitions on one side before switching to the other side.

Kettlebell Goblet Squat - Holding the kettlebell by the horns tuck your elbows to your rib cage. Hinge your hips back and sit down into a squat until your elbows reach your knees. Push through your heels and stand up.

TRX Row - Using a TRX Suspension Trainer grab the handles with a neutral grip and walk your feet in until you reach approximately a 45-degree angle with your body. Lower your body down slowly by straightening your arms and then pull yourself back up. Do not allow your shoulders to shrug up to your ears.

Single Leg Deadlift - Start by standing on one leg with arms at sides (you can hold dumbbells is needed). Hinge your hips and lean over keeping the knee of the leg you are standing on slightly bent and the opposite leg straight and horizontal with the floor. Once your hands reach knee level stand back up. Perform all repetitions on one side before switching to the other side.

Front Plank - Start on the floor supported on your forearms and toes. Clasp your hands together with your elbows under your shoulders. Keep your back flat with a neutral spine. Hold for 60 seconds.

Squat Matrix - Perform 20 seconds of bodyweight squats, immediately followed by 20 seconds of squat jumps, immediately followed by a 20 second squat hold. Rest 20 seconds. That's one set.

Split Squat - Start in a lunge position. Lower your back knee to the floor. Do not let your front heel lift off of the floor. Lift up by pressing your heel into the floor. Keep legs in split position until all reps are completed on one side, then repeat on opposite side.

3 Point Dumbbell Row - Place one hand on a bench and both feet square on the floor. Keep a flat back and pull the dumbbell up towards your body and pull your shoulder blade back. Do not shrug shoulders. Do all reps on one side and then repeat on opposite side.

Single Leg Hip Bridge - Start by lying on your back with your right leg straight and left leg bent with foot on the floor. Press your left foot into the floor and lift your hips and right leg up from the floor. Do all reps on one side and then repeat on opposite side.

Push Ups - Start on the floor in a push-up position. As you lower your body to the floor keep elbows at 45 degrees. Push yourself back up.

Side Plank - Start by lying on your side with your elbow under your shoulder. Plank up on your elbow and forearm and outside of you bottom side foot. Keep your body in straight alignment.

Inch Worm - Stand with feet shoulder width apart. Touch your toes and walk hands out to just beyond a push-up position. Walk feet back to hands, keeping legs straight. Walk hands back out and repeat.

Bike Sprint Intervals - Pedal for 30 seconds as fast as possible and then rest for 30 seconds. Repeat for prescribed sets.

New Year New You Exercise Tips And Strategies That Work

New Year New You Exercise Tips And Strategies That Work

There's good news for people who don't have much time or energy to exercise: the cumulative effect that comes from daily exercise increases the value of minimal daily effort.

If you want to get into great shape focus on creating daily consistency for your workouts- no matter how brief each workout may be. Daily consistency- defined as the steadfast adherence to resolution- has one fundamental requirement: self-discipline.

Cumulative effect requires passage of time- it kicks in automatically when you stick with any plan long enough.

Cumulative effect doesn't require lengthy workouts or tons of energy. Cumulative effect requires perseverance, self-discipline, and the passage of time.

Perseverance and self-discipline are character traits that are available to anyone who sets an intention to practice them. With perseverance and self-discipline you can work out daily for a few minutes and over the course of time experience measurable cumulative results from your efforts.

Although believing in your process and having a good workout plan are important, using your self-discipline to establish daily consistency for your workouts will get you farther than anything else.

The contingency for experiencing cumulative effect is you can't quit too soon. You don't need either a lot of time or energy to reap the benefits from the cumulative effect of consistency. Beyond all else, cumulative effect requires one thing: passage of time.

Most strength training movements using dumbbells can be done in 20-30 second time increments. One strength exercise that requires only 20-30 seconds to complete will yield measurable results for the muscles involved in that movement- when the cumulative effect of daily consistency kicks in. Start with one movement- bicep curls would be a very good first choice.

Don't have time for your planned workout? Change your plan. Don't skip an entire workout because you don't have time for what you had planned to do. A five minute workout, consistently done daily, has real value and will keep your habit strong.

You can lay a foundation for your fitness success with a minimal amount of daily exercise for two reasons: 

1. a little leads to a little more: as your body, mind, and lifestyle acclimate to daily exercise you'll likely desire to gradually expand your efforts. 

2. A daily habit is the strongest habit and strong habits survive.

Of course you don't want just one great muscle. Eventually you'll want to create a well-rounded exercise plan for yourself.

Lengthy intense workouts, sweating, or jumping up and down, are not requirements for good health. Doing a little bit every day is far better than doing more but working out less frequently.

What you don't know when you're new to and exercise habit is how good you'll feel from working out or that working out doesn't need to be difficult.

Going to a gym is great- but don't rely on it. Work out at home sometimes. The day will come when you either don't have the time or money for the gym. Home workouts can be fabulous.

Create good health through the cumulative effect from daily exercise. Instead of becoming an encumbrance, your stronger body will facilitate your lifestyle.

Cumulative effect of daily consistency is like magic dust sprinkled onto your good fitness habits. Create this magic fitness dust through the conscious choice to practice self-discipline and perseverance.

Style your personal fitness plan for sustainability: a suitable difficulty, intensity, and time duration.

The important thing is to start where you are and do what's within your personal power to be fit.

Why Exercise Is Important to Senior Health and Fitness

Why Exercise Is Important to Senior Health and Fitness

Fitness Blender

Comedian, George Burns, said at 100 years of age, "If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself." Many people will live to a ripe old age no matter how badly they take care of themselves strictly because of good genes. But the benefits of exercising well into your senior years can determine the quality of life you enjoy - or not.

As you age, muscle mass decreases to the tune of about three to five percent per decade after you're forty years of age. Since muscles keep us fit and strong and helps to burn calories and maintain weight, serious problems could develop if you let your muscles deteriorate.

Without strong muscles, which also contribute to our bone strength and balance, you could lose some of your mobility and much or all of your independence. The good news is that if you're a senior who has been a couch potato all your life, it's not too late to exercise and build muscle mass.

The best exercise for building muscle mass is weight lifting and/or resistance bands. In a recent study, when male and females ranging from age 72 to 98 years of age lifted weights three times per week for a total of ten weeks, they increased thigh muscle mass by almost 3%. After three months of lifting weights they were able to increase their walking ability from 25 minutes to 35 minutes. That's an amazing increase in endurance and vitality.

No matter what your age, you can be sure that strength and endurance will increase within days of beginning an exercise (weight and resistance) program. And, it's not just the muscle mass that will keep you going. The brain sends signals through the nervous system about which muscles are needed for the movement you're about to take. When you exercise, that signal becomes stronger and your muscles will get the signal more clearly.

Exercise for seniors is also vital because it increases endurance. When your endurance ability decreases as you age, you become more susceptible to diseases such as cardiovascular, mobility impairment and premature death. Severe fatigue, trouble breathing and muscle cramps are also results from lack of exercise in seniors.

Flexibility and balance are also good side effects from seniors engaging in exercise. Bones become brittle and balance may deteriorate enough to cause serious falls as you age, so exercise while you can to prevent a catastrophic illness or fall which could take away your independence and your overall health.

Physical Fitness - Exercise Over Equipment

Physical Fitness - Exercise Over Equipment

Fitness Exercise

Among competitions and sports that define ability, capability and skill the fittest and fastest is always the winner. Sports as an activity showcase an athlete's potential physically and mentally to overcome challenges to reach the top spot.

In contrast, competitions there are also sports that put enormous focus on pure physical strength - wrestling, boxing, sumo are some categories that require rigorous amounts of strength building of the body to have the edge always over the opponent.

Before the advent of the 'tech age', fitness was imparted at group sessions where a trainer or master, usually an ex-wrestler or boxer would impart tips and advice and guide probable wrestlers and boxers through the paces of moves and actions and prepare them for match bouts. The emphasis was more on strenuous physical exercises and activity, both indoor and outdoor, to put the body into shape.

Then came the time where machines took over. Streamlined equipment to help with various exercises and procedures began to appear in sports clubs, health centers, and sports training schools and even in homes. Here, the athlete simply trained on the machines to achieve levels of fitness with or without the presence of a trainer. However, the human touch began to disappear.

Today, there are exercise sessions and classes on the television, CDs with documented videos showing step-by-step fitness routines and even online networked sessions with former champion athletes where the trainer-student routine is imparted through PCs or other equipment over distances, removing close contact completely. Whether or not these provide the real advantage is a debatable issue but connectivity ensures the link is present though not through physical proximity.

A global issue that needs to be addressed

Fitness and exercise equipment are big-bucks earners and a multi-billion dollar industry. However, lack of guiding ethics and fundamentals have also contributed to the unchecked and rampant growth of websites, instructions manuals, tutorials, videos and many other methods of fitness instructions that serve as a 'one for all' tool. This kind of approach cannot be considered healthy for the general population, as a whole, because some exercise regimes and fitness programs are specially and specifically designed for professional sportspersons and athletes who are required to maintain a certain degree of fitness and physical ability to meet their professional requirements.

While there is no denying that equipment definitely helps in staying fit, prolonged usage without need or supervision can lead to bodily harm, injury or permanent disability. And, where fitness is seen more as a fad to gain entry into a 'premium league' the disadvantages of over dependence on machinery over a principled lifestyle are very obvious. Physical fitness equipment can put the body in shape faster; it also puts the body 'out of shape' faster because sustaining fitness through machinery is not always possible long-term. Invariably, areas of the body that bear the brunt of unnecessary and uncalled for strain end up paying the price in the 'race to remain fit'.

Diets and workouts

To take away this over dependence on machines and equipment to put the body in shape, fitness experts, doctors and nutritional advisors stress on the importance of a healthy lifestyle and exercise that provides overall fitness against bulging muscles and abs. It is very difficult to sort through tons of information available online through weight loss programs, diets, workout videos and many others that all claim to be 'the best suited' or 'most suitable'. We have seen how people of older generations are able to keep fit with minimum exercise like walking, swimming or playing a game or sport that does not put undue strain on the body. For many physical conditions that affect the body, a combination of exercise and disciplined diet intake provide many benefits.

The general population has to understand the concept that 'one size does not fit all'; falling prey to marketing gimmicks and techniques using the Internet that propagate trends and usages to increase visibility and fill coffers is a oft used tool by many corporations and agencies.

Fitness Exercise / Exercise Helps Diabetic Neuropathy - 5 Tips to Get Started

Exercise Helps Diabetic Neuropathy - 5 Tips to Get Started

Exercise is beneficial for many different conditions and you can include diabetic neuropathy to the list.

In the early stages of diabetic neuropathy at least, exercise appears to help in the regulation of nerve pain of neuropathy and to slow its progress as revealed in a recent study. Researchers found that neuropathy sufferers who exercised on a treadmill for an hour four times a week had a significantly slower progression of nerve damage.

Precisely why exercise helped wasn't reviewed, however a good guess is that exercise produces a demand for more blood flow to the legs and feet, exposing affected nerves to more required nutrients.

Despite knowing this, it's hard to convince a person suffering from neuropathy to exercise simply because the discomforts related to neuropathy are the very reason that keep them from working out in the first place. So the trick is to discover an exercise that doesn't intensify the condition in the short term so you can keep exercising long enough to see the benefit.

Here are 5 helpful tips.

First, It's always best to get your heart, eyes, and feet inspected by a medical professional prior to starting any new exercise program and ask their view regarding which type of exercise would be best for you.

Start Gradually

Once you've got your doctor's advice, don't feel you have to jump right in and exercise a lot. Slowly integrating exercise into your life is a better way to ensure you'll continue it. Doing too much too quickly can cause problems. Start with simply five minutes of additional motion a day, even something as simple as moving your ankles up and down. As you feel more comfortable, include a little more time every day. The American Diabetes Association suggests building up to exercising 30 minutes per day, 5 days a week.

Be Kind to Yourself

Neuropathy is a long-term condition and its symptoms may be with you for a while, so think long-term. Because walking can be jarring on the feet, possibly enhancing your pains, swimming or water aerobics may be a much better option. These non-impact exercises can be really valuable. Water offers both support and resistance so you'll get less pressure on your feet, yet still utilize your muscles, creating an enhanced blood flow into the impacted areas.

You might likewise think about utilizing a stationary bike, an elliptical trainer, both of which give great results with far less pounding on the feet. Yoga and tai chi could also be useful as their motions can help with both balance and relaxation.

Make Exercise Fun

Our bodies were built to move. Unfortunately, many individuals equate exercise with "work" and work usually implies something undesirable. May I suggest you consider working out as an opportunity to play. Working at exercise can enhance your physical fitness, but "playing at" exercise lifts both physical fitness and spirits. You do not need to develop a major sweat to acquire benefits.

As kids, a lot of us found something we enjoyed doing, whether it was a sport or other activity. If possible, rekindle that pleasure by incorporating that sport or a modified version of it into your workout program. For instance, I liked playing basketball through my 20's, however due to injuries I discovered I couldn't continue. Now in my 50's I remain to delight in the game and get some great exercise simply by going to the health club to shoot baskets between wind sprints. On the other hand, my wife has always liked dancing. She continues to take dance courses with pals.

Make Exercise Part of Your Day

Another way to stay inspired is to establish "play-dates" with a friend, a next-door neighbor, partner, or even a pet, preferably someone with a similar physical fitness level. Can't find anybody? Check out group courses at the local leisure center or fitness center.

Mix It Up

Do not feel you have to do any particular routine. One of the most common reasons people give up on exercises is that they feel it gets boring. Mix it up by learning a new sport or activity such as golf, dancing, or bowling. Another suggestion is to go to the library and search for a new exercise DVD or video.