I learned this new exercise today for inner and outer thighs, and I think I might add it to my daily exercise repertoire, because of it’s ease of performance, the fact that you can do it without any equipment, and the part of the body it targets happens to be one of my biggest problem areas – my outer thighs. This exercise does also target the inner thighs as well. It’s very simple, but it seems to be effective, because I could really feel it in my inner and outer thighs when I was finished.

Here’s how it goes. Grab yourself a ball the size of a childs play ball (like a kickball or soccer ball sized ball). It doesn’t have to be super rigid or squishy, just as long as it’s not too flimsy and you can squeeze it fairly hard without making it bust. Lie down on your back with your feet planted on the floor, and your knees in a triangle, like you’re doing a modified sit up.

Put the ball in between your knees and squeeze hard but controlled for about twenty to thirty seconds. Next, put the ball in between your two ankles between your legs and again squeeze the ball between your ankles hard but controlled for twenty to thirty seconds. Repeat this routine five times. When you are finished you should feel a little burn in your inner and outer thighs.

This is what is called an isometric move, and is targeted at spot toning the muscles without aerobic movement. It can be highly effective when combined with cardio exercise, so you can burn fat and then sculpt muscle at the same time. It is not recommended to do strictly isometric exercise, as you always need your cardio too. It’s good to sweat!

Exercise of any kind has consistently been proven as one of the best ways to beat the blues, combat depression, and be in a generally happier, more positive frame of mind if you do it on a regular basis. That is one of the reasons that I started this blog on fitness, because I truly believe that fitness and exercise is one of the components that is lacking in lives of people who suffer depression and other mental illnesses, and that exercise can help anyone in this hard place immensely. I’m not saying it’s necessarily a cure, but it’s darn close, especially if you do it every day.

Research is showing that those that walk or jog of course get the benefit of a mood lift, but those that choose interesting “green” places to walk where they are out in nature and the fresh air come back with considerably better moods and more positive outlooks than those that, say, work out indoors on a treadmill and elliptical machines, or prefer the gym to the great outdoors for physical activity when it’s sunny and beautiful outside.

The fresh air can be invigorating and add so much energy to you body for the day to come. Not only that, many find exercising outdoors as their time to reflect on their life, and be truly at peace with subjects that may have been bothering them. They can think clearer, and of course the appreciation for the beautiful nature around you helps lift spirits naturally as well.

If you’re looking at getting your fitness activities in outdoors on a strictly utilitarian basis, then you can also count among its benefits the fact that you are jogging usually over uneven ground, and at varying levels, so the exercise you getting is more intense without you even realizing it. Plus, you don’t have to smell that sweaty locker room afterwards, and you have all the room you need to stretch. Just be sure to wear your sunscreen on sunny days, even if there’s snow on the ground, so that you can keep another precious asset safe and in good shape – your skin.

I was at the gym where I work (I’m lucky enough to have a great gym facility where I work), and a gym worker was giving a new member a tour of the gym. She had stopped at the elliptical machines and was answering the new patrons questions about how to operate the piece of machinery, when I thought “wow, I never even thought about how confused I was when I first tried one of these machines”. It’s like the old saying about riding bikes, once you know you never forget, even though learning seemed hard at the time.

Elliptical machines mostly operate on pretty much the same type of system, except the user interface and various controls and features usually vary per the model and make you have. The better models will typically have more options to choose from when it comes to picking programs like up and down hills, cardio, endurance, and manual. Every one of them though, has a manual program, and most will have a control that you can dictate the amount of incline you want to be on, or high high of a grade you want to be stepping on.

They usually all have a resistence adjustment as well. So, if you’re a beginner, you usually will choose the lowest resistence – say a number one, and if you’re more advanced, like I am now, you might choose a 5,6 or 7. I know when many people first start out on ellipticals, they find them very hard to do much time on. Trust me, if you stick to it, in no time you will find an elliptical a much better option than most treadmills, because of the fluidity of motion and more options on how to work out the whole leg, not just the quad and the calves.

Some of the best ellipticals now today that can be purchased for home use, and are just as good as anything you’d get on at the gym are reviewed here on our special elliptical machine reviews page. There are so many out there, and there are some really sub-par ones, it is really worth it to purchase a good one though – they are more stable and provide a much better, more worry free workout than one that is rickety or doesn’t work at the right resistence levels.

I have asthma, so it has always been a challenge for me to workout. However, since I work out regularly, my asthma is considerably more manageable. In fact, I have to use my inhaler very seldom now, and my asthma is almost never set off by physical activity, but usually from stress, anxiety or allergies when allergy season is in full gear. Here are some tips to managing asthma naturally so you can go about your life and have a healthy, normal exercise regime.

Asthma attacks can be frightening and are characterized by wheezing and chest tightness. Physiologically, they’re caused by bronchial tubes constricting and the alveoli in our lungs can’t process the air. The result is gasping for breath with the bronchial spasms.

There are some things you can alter or try to avoid that trigger an attack. In cold weather, wear a scarf or mask over your mouth to warm and humidify the air you breathe. Cold air often triggers asthma attacks.

During a bout with a cold or flu, use mentholated chest rubs to keep your respiratory passages open. Look at your diet and try to determine if food additives are a culprit in triggering attacks. Food dyes, nitrates and sulfites can cause problems with asthma in people who are hypersensitive to them.
Horehound candy works to clear the lungs of mucus and helps to relax smooth muscle.

Proper exercise actually helps people with asthma. The best exercise to start with is walking and gradually increase the distance and the pace to build up your stamina and lung capacity. Believe it or not, being sedentary is one of the worst things you can do if you asthma, because then your lungs never get built up, and you become hypersensitive to even the smallest amounts of physical activity.

Learn how to breathe properly. Rapid, shallow breathing is ineffective. The use of relaxation techniques coupled with deep breathing exercises are wonderful at controlling asthma and warding off asthma attacks.

Certain foods are noted for thinning mucus and reducing inflammation of the airways. Some of these kinds of foods that can help to control asthma are fish that is high in omega-3 fatty acids are such as salmon,mackerel or sardines, chicken soup, chili peppers, garlic, onions and mustard.
The use of a sauna can unclog your tight airways. You can just run a hot shower and close the doors and the steam should thin the sticky mucus effectively.

Avoid being around smoke, not only from cigarettes, but also avoid sitting by a fireplace or a wood burning stove. Living with asthma isn’t easy, but following some of these tips can help make it more manageable. Keep asthma medication close at hand such as an inhaler or whatever your doctor has prescribed for you for your safety.

I’m going to be reviewing a newer healthy energy supplement that is supposed to healthfully sustain your energy levels all day long. It’s called FRS Healthy Energy, and it is a combination of several different types of supplementation that can be used by themselves or together as a sort of energy boost.

The main idea behind the FRS energy supplements is that it provides a lot of antioxidants in the formula, and they say that since your body is not concentrating on healthy cell renewal and the destruction of free radicals since their patented antioxidant delivery system is, you will have more energy to spare.

I thought that sounded great, since I’m a little sensitive to mega doses of caffeine, and it also tends to make my face break out. However, upon a fruther examination of the ingredients, I did see that caffeine is listed in an ingredient in their drinks, although it is listed fairly far down, which means there’s not too much of it. I was a little disappointed in this, as I thought I would be buying a caffeine free energy sustaining supplement, but as long as it does not have mega amounts of caffeine, I’ll be all right I suppose.

I went for their free trial, where you get two free weeks of the stuff. You actually get all of the forms in smaller amounts, so you get the powder, the concentrated liquid, the chews and a soda can-like thing of the drink supplement as well. I’m hoping this can be my replacement for what I currently use at work to replenish my energy, which is Five Hour Energy, and costs about $3 a tiny bottle.

At one bottle a day that can add up, but so can this FRS stuff. I’m willing to try anything besides coffee to stave off that afternoon lull I inevitably get. I will review the FRS energy supplement as soon as I get it in the mail and start using it for you.

Speaking from personal experience, and as a woman, saddle bags, those fatty deposits on the sides of your thighs, are the absolute hardest thing in the world to lose, especially if you’re genetically inclined. Saddle bags run in my family. We are smaller women, and by no means do we have any obesity in our family, but we all have the saddle bag syndrome, and for me personally, these have historically been the hardest part of my body to keep in check.

I’m currently undergoing treatments to help shape them up and get rid of some cellulite on my butt and the sides of my thighs, and I’m hoping that will also help to tone up and get rid of my saddle bags in conjunction with dieting and other types of exercise, but the woman who is performing the body sculpting treatments on my thighs and buttocks told me that she did these exercises for a few months when she was in her twenties, and she’s now in her fifties, and ever since she started doing these exercises, which require no equipment, she hasn’t had a problem with them again.

She also advised me that she does have a history of obesity in her family, including the ever so stubborn saddle bags that I’ve struggled with even at my thinnest. Here’s how these simple exercises work, and believe me, you will feel these on your inner thighs, and even on the juncture of your thighs and front of your legs, but you will also feel them in your rear saddle bag area, if you’re doing them right.

First, lay down on your back, put your legs straight up in the air so that you are forming a perfect 90 degree angle with your body. Zip your abs up, keep them firm. This is very important so that you both protect your back and perform the exercise efficiently and effectively.

Now, hopefully I can explain this correctly. If you don’t understand, please comment on this blog and I’ll try to explain it better. You cannot wear shoes with this exercise. You can wear socks if you want though.

Ok, so in the ninety degree angle position, you will put the soles of your feet together, so that you are forming sort of a diamond with your legs, and your legs are now slightly bowed out to either wall in your room. Take your legs now, keeping your soles of your feet together and making sure they never leave eachother the whole time, and bring them down, so you are essentially collapsing the “diamond” you’ve created.

Do this motion several times if you can. I only made it to about twenty the first time. It deceitfully a lot harder than it looks, at least I thought so. It’s a short exercise that packs a big punch in terms of being time effective and making your muscles work – the right muscles. Do this every night or day, and work your way up to more. Stretch your quads if you need to afterwards.

I’m hoping this works for my saddlebags – I’ll keep you posted! I just started them yesterday….

Health is on everyone’s mind and most of us would love to get in shape and work out regularly. One of the biggest obstacles to attaining and maintaining a physical fitness routine is a lack of time.

Health clubs are responding by offering faster harder workouts in a cool environment to enable their customers to work out even with their time crunch. Locally, in Ohio, there is a sweat-free facility called Overload with three different locations.

Most customers looking for this kind of workout are middle-aged and need the brief workout to fit into their busy schedule. Their visits are supervised and their workout is intense. The equipment available is high-tech and varied. The temperature is kept at a chilly 62 degrees so patrons don’t have to break a sweat so there’s no need to shower and sometimes you don’t even need to change clothes.

The cool temperature helps to save time even more by often eliminating the need to shower and clean up before the patrons embarking on the remainder of their busy days. Personal coaches help to assess individual needs to target and focus on to get the maximum fitness benefit in a minimum of time.

On the average, at fitness centers such as Overload, the workout’s duration is approximately 20 minutes. This time factor may vary with a person’s level of fitness. A person who is very fit may be done in 12 to 15 minutes, while a novice may take 30 minutes or more. Each workout is termed a “dose” and each “dose” costs about $50.00, but there is no monthly membership fees or initial fee to join.

This is an innovative approach to working in your fitness to our hectic lifestyles.

I’ve been going on a very big non-yoga kick, and have been strictly pretty much working out at the gym and on home fitness equipment, simply due to time restraints and the fact that I have access to a great gym at work, but I have just put in my qeue on Netflix for a Rodney Yee Fat Burning Yoga DVD, and am hoping that this can get me back into yoga, with the fat burning and cardio that I’m looking for.

The yoga DVD’s that I have right now are excellent for muscle stretching, relaxation techniques, destressing, and anti aging, but I do need something lately that is also going to light a fire under my metabolism, so that I can get this weight off that I’ve been meaning to. I’m only looking to lose about five pounds right now, simply due to the fact that I ate like a pig for about two weeks because of a lot of family functions and stress going on, and just not enough time to eat right, and my pants are fitting me a bit tightly, so I’m looking to get them off fast, and cardio and more intense workouts do that better than relaxation techniques and only slightly calorie burning through slow moving yoga.

Fat burning yoga is typically an Ashtanga form of yoga, where the movements are much fast and more fluid. This provides for more of an increase in heart rate, while stretching the muscles as well as helping to regulate the oxygen levels in the blood and still help with anti aging and stress management, but also adding that extra calorie burning boost and cardio in their for a double advantage.

My preference in yoga, because I’ve tried several kinds, including Ashtanga, Bikram, and traditional relaxation yoga, is actually the relaxation form (go figure lol), but I’m sure I can get to like Ashtanga, or more fat burning styles, if I just start doing them more frequently. I’m hoping that fat burning yoga can eventually replace some of my traditional cardio workouts, where I’m working out on elliptical machines, recumbent bikes, and treadmills.

We’ll see – I’m thinking this might also be a great way to confuse my muscles and get better results, instead of just doing the same old stuff all the time.