Give The New Cardio Boot Camp Series A Try

Instructional books and DVDs are a great way to learn exercise techniques from the comfort of your own home. Whether you’re the type of person who works different shifts and can’t make it to the gym on time, or you would rather exercise in your own surroundings without worrying about having people staring at you — instructional videos like cardio boot camp give you a home-based option.

The newest exercise trends revolve around circuit training routines, with multiple exercises, performed at varying levels of intensity. The ever-popular -300 Workout- for example focuses on extreme high intensity circuit training to get a body like the characters from the popular movie.

Not everyone has the heart for the almost terrifying -300 Workout- though. Cardio boot camp is a workout designed to whip you into shape using a variety of popular methods. One of the first things that’s addressed is proper stretching and flexibility technique, through the use of Pilates, Yoga and ball stretching exercises. There’s also exercises like obstacle course style training, power walking, running, army boot-camp exercises and martial arts techniques derived from karate, kick-boxing and boxing.

When the creators decided to call it cardio boot camp, they really meant what they were saying. The beauty of getting a DVD and doing it yourself at home is that you can work into things gradually, without fear of being embarrassed at an aerobics studio, by more experienced participants. There are workout centers all over Canada and spreading to the United States for people who want more of a social setting though.

What was the old saying? -There’s no time like the present.- This is a great quote for anyone contemplating getting their body into tip-top shape for the beach, bedroom, or better overall health. Get started today and enjoy all the benefits tomorrow.

Learn more about cardio boot camp at our fitness tips website.

A Guide To Kettlebell Cardio Workouts

Millions of people around the world are looking for exercises to enhance their strength and fitness. While running, cycling, swimming, and aerobics are effective, sometimes changing a routine is necessary to get a mental break and to avoid plateau. For people who are stuck in a rut, a kettlebell workout could help you get motivated once again and help you achieve a greater level of fitness.

The popularity of kettlebells has increased tremendously in the last 6 years or so. This type of workout builds endurance and cardio. All you need to get started is: well, you guessed it, a kettlebell.

The use of the kettlebell actually began in Russia back in the 1700’s. However, it didn’t become a sport until the mid 1900’s. This piece of equipment looks like a ball with a handle on top, and consists of cast iron. The handles are grasped firmly so the kettlebell can be swung or lifted. Initially it was a sport, but down the road it was used by Russia’s military for fitness training.

This workout has a lot of benefits healthwise. For one, swinging kettlebells would help build strength. A very fundamental movement in this exercise involves swinging the kettlebell from a half-squat position, then using glutes and thighs to propel the body upward. Even a few repetitions of this exercise can lead to muscle development throughout several areas of the body. Doing a high number of repetitions and exercises without taking a break will get your heart rate up and burn a lot of calories. Moreover, the movements also will help strengthen your core muscles.

Kettlebell routines can be considered intense because you are moving around while carrying some weight. The ketllebell cardio workout has been praised by many runners and sprinters who experienced an increase of as much as 30% in their speed. What’s also nice is that you can choose a kettlebell weight that works for you, and increase it over time as you get stronger.

For most people kettlebells are used for either circuit training or for cardio. You can mix in some kettlebell exercises with other strength and cardio during a workout. If you did kettlebell workouts for the next 2-4 weeks, you will achieve excellent results.

While using as an actual kettlebell is recommended, you can use a hand weight as a substitute. There are various kettlebell exercise DVDs that you can purchase. If your interested, then you might be able to sign up for some kettlebell classes if they are offered at your local fitness center or gym.

Health And Fitness Essentials The Cardio-vascular Workout.

To accomplish a good cardio-vascular workout all you really need is a good pair of running shoes. Most cardio-vascular exercise needs little or no third party apparatus to help you accomplish your routine. Running, dancing, walking can all be done with no equipment (well, if dancing, then maybe some music would help). Other forms of cardio are step, circuit training, bike riding, swimming, aerobics and more…

With most exercise you should always remember to warm up first and cool down afterwards. This means gently stretching and moving your muscles to start off with. Suddenly moving into full exercise without building up first will cause problems such as stiffness and cramps. Ease yourself into it. Then after exercise, the cool down is basically gently moving the muscles and joints to stretch and relax, as your body returns to its normal pace.

Running:
Make sure you have a good pair of running shoes. The technology put into these shoes nowadays is highly researched and designed to reduce shock to the feet, ankles, legs and back. So don’t skimp on these – you get what you pay for.

Before you start your run, be sure to warm up first. Start with a brisk walk ensuring you move your arms vigorously gradually breaking into a slow jog. It is better to run at a speed to which you can still converse. If you find yourself losing breath, slow your pace down until you’ve recovered. If you are a novice runner try running and walking, until you can hold your run for 15 minutes.

Now increase the length and time of your run by a couple of minutes every other time you hit the road or treadmill, until you can run for 30 minutes without stopping. Try to increase your run time by 10% each week, remember not to over do it and dont forget to warm down at the end of each by slowing down gradually. When your run is complete stretch your legs for 30 seconds per muscle, hamstring, calf and thigh.

Cycling:
Cycling is one of the best ways to get a good cardio-vascular workout.

First of all, if you are riding on the roads safety is paramount, always use the appropriate safety equipment when road riding. You can stay fit by riding a bike to work, most people work within a five mile radius of there place of work, which is a perfect distance for a bike ride.

Exercise bikes can be used in a variety of ways, general riding for specified length of time, this is like going for a bike ride with out the dangers of road riding and the weather. Warm up riding you can use an exercise bike for warming up the legs before a leg workout. Also exercise bike classes, these classes are taken by an instructor, who will put you through various levels of pace, quite like a circuit training exercise with a bike.

You may find it surprising to find that riding a bike five miles 3 times per week will improve your heart rate, your posture, skin and weight control. Some even say that riding and running are great ways of relieving stress.

Swimming:
One of the best ways to firm up and trim your body down. Due to the resistance the water has on the body swimming involves all the major muscle groups this allows the body to burn up to 20% more calories than swimming through air. Swimming a few lengths per day will keep you fit and give you an excellent workout. Swimming also has less impact on the joints than say, running.

If you wish to take your swim a little further try picking up the pace of your swim, you can work up to a great aerobic exercise and give your body an excellent workout.

Start off by swimming 1-2 lengths at a time resting between sets if necessary, after you have swam ten lengths call it a day. The next day repeat the process until you can swim five lengths without a break. Progress to ten lengths in by adding an extra length each time you return.

You can put together your own cardio raining routing in the gym, if you have a problem with this then the staff on hand will write one for you and show you how to achieve your goal. Try to make your cardio last between an hour and an hour and a half. A good start point for cardio is always a run.

This cardio workout will work for a person of medium fitness, however adjust the times and pace according to your fitness levels.

1. Run at a light pace for 20 minutes, start off at a walking pace and gradually move to a run, this helps you get warmed up and the blood pumping.

2. Rowing machine- set the rowing machine for a countdown time of 15 minutes or keep a check on your watch or the clock. Start off with a slow rowing motion to get the pace up, maintain this steady pace throughout the full 13 minutes and use the 2 minutes to slow the pace down.

3. Move immediately on to exercise bike take a stead paced ride for 12 minutes with a sprint finish for the remaining 3 minutes.

4. After the exercise bike move directly on to the step climber for a period of 15 minutes climbing on a light level to get the legs going. Try to move at a swift pace for the full 15 minutes as this is the last of the leg work you will be doing.

5. When you have completed the step climber, move onto the abs bench for some crunches. 4 sets of crunches to failure is your target for this exercise. Try twisting your body and touching your left knee with your right elbow and vice versa.

6. The last exercise in this quick cardio workout is the leg raise apparatus. Bring your knees up to your chest for 3-4 sets for as many reps as possible (failure)

After the completion of this cardio workout, remember to do a full warm down by stretching the muscles. The full workout should take you around 1 hour 20 minutes.

If You’re Looking To Lose Weight, Look Towards Cardio Fitness

If you focus on the goal of losing weight, sometimes you get discouraged along the way. This is common, and avoidable. An easier way to look at losing weight is to become physically fit. The fitter you are, the less you tend to weigh. For all intents and purposes, getting fit and losing weight end up with you in the same place: looking and feeling better than ever before. If you concentrate on cardio fitness, you’ll end up losing all the weight you ever dreamt of, and your heart will thank you for the effort. Cardio fitness can benefit you in every walk of life, so concentration on it makes complete sense.

You can get started doing cardio very quickly. If you have a gym membership, you can can use any of the common machines such as LifeCycles or elliptical trainers to get your cardio workout done. Cardio can also be done without machines, and any type of high impact aerobic workout or even certain martial arts will help you elevate your heart rate. The more cardio you do, the more efficient your body is at burning fat. Cardio workouts will burn a ton of calories, so this is always good news for someone on a mission to shed pounds.

Cardiovascular conditioning can greatly reduce certain people’s risk of heart attacks, according to recent studies. This can only be good news, as heart disease and its’ attendant risks are currently one our nation’s greatest killers. Cardio fitness training can help you avoid a heart attack, and help you greatly increase the quality of your day to life. Being able to breathe better, losing weight, and a general sense of benevolence can be attributed to increased cardio fitness training.

How will you know when you’ve achieved cardio fitness? At its’ most basic level, cardio fitness means a person who has achieved extremely good oxygen flow and can easily walk or jog for an hour or more. At that level of physical achievement, you are less inclined to have heart attacks than less fit people. As well as decreasing your chance of having a heart attack a fit person is also much less likely to carry excess bdy fat than an a person who leads a sedentary lifestyle. As corny as the saying may sound, “Move it or lose it” is a pretty accurate statement of what happens to our
conditioning when we ignore exercise.

If you haven’t exercised in years, you’ll need to start slow. But not to worry, exercise is something that you can do based on whatever current commitment level you possess. If you’re prepared to workout for 15 minutes 3 times a week, do it! At least it will be a practice that helps you get healthier and the key is stablishing positive personal habits anyway. It is often stated that a habit is formed by 3 weeks of continous practice. Why not force yourself to practice some great cardio fitness habits for 3 weeks and see if it becomes something you do for a lifetime. Your heart will thank you in the end.

Fit Fem Flash Cardio Fat Burn Blast

The rebirth of cardio. The 80s were an infamous time period for the fitness industry. Leg warmers, terry cloth head bands, neon colored spandex, bottom fringed ink shirts, thong leotards, big fun sprayed to death hairor about the musicOlivia Newton Johns Lets Get Physical and Flashdances Shes a Maniacor the cardio aerobics movesthe grapevine, step touch, the pony.even dudes were into it yes they wore thing spandex too, hmm?!?

Think back to all the people who used to work out back then. They were long, lean, and thin. Why? Its no surprise that if you are interested in dramatically losing weight and burning that fat of your body, you NEED cardio as part of your fitness routine. Its also no surprise here that yours truly is a super cardio junkie. I am one of those ladies who loves to sweatand I dont give a rats ass if my hair gets ruined or if my makeup gets smudged (who the hells wears makeup to work out anyway?) Lets just say I mean business when it comes to intense fitness. Go fast, go hard or go home!

Here are some hard cold truths:
You need to do at least 5-6 cardio workouts a week
Aim for at least 30-60 minutes of mixed cardio and strength training fitness regimens. For the fat to melt, you need to burn off those calories.
You need to make a severe change when it comes to your weight loss fitness plan. Even if it means you are de-conditioned and you start at a slower pace, its better than nothing. And as you become more conditioned, learn to challenge your body by intensifying the workout. Dont just think by doing the same ol snail pace walk on a treadmill youll slim down your waist line and get into those itty bitty bikinis. So pick up that pace Fit Femrs; go faster, go harder. Just like theres no crying in baseball, theres no crying in fitness. Get your rump off the couch and get movin with this under 5 minute cardio routine you can couple with other Fit Fem Flash routines I have on my site. This workout routine will no doubt get your heart pumping, allowing you to burn some initial fat and improve your fitness. This workout program is group of several cardio exercises that are known to not only make you sweat a lot, but also shed your pounds and eventually boost your metabolism to reach your fitness goals. Metabolism is really important if you want to lose weight. This is because a higher metabolism is associated with larger regular losses of calories, and, therefore, fats. This is what the cardio fat burn blast workout offers so dont miss out. If you are not used to exercise at all, well, sorry to tell you that you might start feeling the aches and pains of having to do this cardio workout. Yes, it is painful, but very fulfilling at the end. And dont worry, youll body will get used to it and will be so grateful as you start seeing your slim down results! Get your heart rate up and start burning fat baby! Perform each of these for 60 seconds at a time with 10 second rest in between for 1 round only. And if youve got the time, add a few more rounds!! Why not?
Cross Country Skiers: start by standing with legs staggered (one leg in front and the other in back, a few feet in between each other). Quickly shift your feet and your arms (in opposing directions) in a continuous manner keeping your abdominals tight the entire time.
Hopscotch Drill: start by standing with your feet a shoulder width apart. Hop one foot forward and then landing on both feet back. Continue to hop forward on the opposite leg and then landing back on both feet. Continue this repeating pattern.
Repeater Knee Lifts: stand up straight and lift one knee up to chest height. Quickly tap that lifting leg back to the floor at a slight angle behind you and quickly pick that leg up again allowing the knee to come up to chest height. Use your arms to add more intensity by bringing them up and down in opposite movement of the knee. So as your knee comes up, your arms come down. If you want to feel a more quadriceps burn, the standing leg will have a slight bend to the knee. The lower the lunge, the more intense the exercise becomes. Repeat for 60 seconds then switch to the other leg. Perform this with total control. Doing these simple yet highly effective exercises regularly, you will be in the perfect shape with peak fitness in no time. Dont you think its to burn that fat Fit Femrs?? Do it up Richard Simmons style!