Walking: Trim your waistline, improve your health

Walking is a low-impact exercise with numerous health benefits. Here's how to get started.

Walking is a gentle, low-impact exercise that can ease you into a higher level of fitness and health. Walking is a form of exercise accessible to just about everybody. It's safe, simple and doesn't require practice. And the health benefits are many. Here's more about why walking is good for you, and how to get started with a walking program.

Benefits of walking

Walking, like other exercise, can help you achieve a number of important health benefits. Walking can help you:

Lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol)

Raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol)

Lower your blood pressure

Reduce your risk of or manage type 2 diabetes

Manage your weight

Improve your mood

Stay strong and fit

All it takes to reap these benefits is a routine of brisk walking. It doesn't get much simpler than that. And you can forget the "no pain, no gain" talk. Research shows that regular, brisk walking can reduce the risk of heart attack by the same amount as more vigorous exercise, such as jogging.

Preparation helps avoid injury

Walking isn't as likely to lead to injuries as other types of exercise. Still, take time to prepare yourself to prevent injuries, such as blisters or muscle pain.

• Get the right gear

Be sure to wear comfortable footwear. Choose shoes with proper arch support, a firm heel and thick flexible soles to cushion your feet and absorb shock. Before you buy a new pair, be sure to walk in them in the store.

Also dress in loosefitting, comfortable clothing and in layers if you need to adjust to changing temperature. If you walk outside, choose clothes appropriate for the weather. Avoid rubberized materials, as they don't allow perspiration to evaporate. Wear bright colors or reflective tape after dark so that motorists can see you.

• Use proper technique

Walking is a great exercise because it's so simple to do. But using the correct posture and movements is essential.

• Warm up

Spend about five minutes walking slowly to warm up your muscles. You can walk in place if you want. Increase your pace until you feel warm.

• Stretch

After warming up, stretch your muscles before walking. Include the calf stretch, quadriceps stretch, hamstring stretch and side (iliotibial) stretch.

• Cool down after each walking session

To reduce stress on your heart and muscles, end each walking session by walking slowly for about five minutes. Then, repeat your stretches.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/18986

How to Grow Slim by Eating Healthy Food

Human beings need to yearn to grow slim by eating only healthy food. Healthy foods are good for both men and women. Kids need to be interested in eating vegetables instead of junk foods. Having a high demand for eating unhealthy foods will increase your chances of growing fat and fully overweight. It is not hard to lose weight and grow slim through eating healthy well-balanced diets so check out the tips below.


Tips


Move to a places where people hate fat people who have enormous appetite levels. The attitude of harsh people can open your eyes to realities at times. Maybe, you should move to a place which inhabits some of the meanest Americans and you will probably stop eating large pounds of cheeseburgers everyday. Do not move to New York City because there are many overweight people in this US city.
Workout if you want to grow slim. Also, aim to limit the number of times you eat sugary foods on a daily basis to help you to prevent a disease like diabetes from ruining your life. Instead of watching TV everyday, you need to develop a habit which will allows you to run outside of your home for hours. Avoid your breakfast and lunch and eat once a day. Always eat nutritious food in the evening if you want to burn some calories within a short time frame. Nutritious meals aren’t likely to be sold in most restaurants which operate in some of the fattest US cities in America.




Read more: http://www.choicehow.com/2009/12/how-to-grow-slim-by-eating-healthy-food/#ixzz1Hm4Ud3rh

Workout With Your Sweetheart On Valentines Day

For most people Valentine’s Day is an excuse to hook-up and eat chocolate. Hey, sounds good to me too, but surely we can be more creative than that! Why not mix things up this V-Day with a fun workout you can do in the comfort of your home with your significant other?

In this Article I am going to demo the concept of partner training. Partner training workouts are essentially a workout that involves performing joint exercises with at least one other person or more. There are a ton of benefits to partner training, including:


* Social Support and Accountability
* Provides a Ton of Variety
* Breeds Competition and Drives Better Results
* It’s FUN!


Partner training can definitely spice a workout up. So before you head out for the day, grab your valentine and give this workout a go:


The Valentine’s Day Partner Training Workout

I love training with resistance blog. They provide a unique type of resistance and they give you the ability to perform a resistance training workout targeting your entire body in any location. Try lugging a bunch of dumbbells around in your gym bag 

This 20-minute total body partner circuit training workout maximizes the use of one band. They are just so many things you can do with them! This workout will surely help set the stage for a great day.

For each exercise, one partner will perform as many reps as possible (in good form) for 20 seconds while the other partner holds; then switch positions before moving on to the next exercise. You will cycle through the 4-exercise circuit 4 times for a total of 20 minutes. Note: Your ultimate goal is to be able to perform at least 10-15 reps per set for each maximum effort exercise within the circuit. Once you have accomplished this, seek to increase loading or progress to a more advanced exercise variation.

Exercise 1: Hip Squats

Exercise 2: Split Stance Chest Press

Exercise 3: Good Mornings

Exercise 4: Split Stance Rows

Active Recovery Exercise: Back Pedals

Special Note: For a more advanced version of this same workout, perform each exercise simultaneously. Use a 40:20 or 50:10 interval. That will really spice things up!


Now go ask someone to be your valentine and get after it!!!


They say that sweat-driven pheromones are one of nature’s most powerful aphrodisiacs… you tell me…And of course, jump in the shower when you’re done