The more and more I learn about how my body ideally reacts to exercise, and what I mean by that is how my body reshapes itself, re-energizes and also tones up and begins to have a better sense of endurance, the more I realize that changing up my routine and doing many different types of activities that continuously and progressively challenge me in different ways, is the quickest and best way to create a slimmer physique.

What is muscle confusion, you ask? Well, I had sort of an idea, and had heard it before from aquaintences of mine who were more in the know about this sort of stuff, but I had to look it up to be sure of what I was talking about. Muscle confusion is really what it sounds like, you’re sort of fooling the body into thinking it’s going to be doing the same thing over and over again, but then you break plateaus by abruptly switching up the game, as you do in circuit training for example.

When you’re training based on this principle, you can switch from between aerobic activity that is high impact, back to light weight workouts, and then heavy weight workouts, and then you can add some resistance and stretching in there as well. What you get is something that continuously pushes the boundaries, challenges your muscles in different ways that are unique and that also are very challenging and push you to your limits, basically forcing your muscles to not only make the body go into the ultimate fat burning mode, but also to push your muscles to be the shape you want them to be.

Have you ever reached that sort of plateau in your workout? I know I have, where it’s not even really the challenging any more, and you feel like you’re just sort of going through the motions? Well, that’s an indication that you need to start changing things up and really start to push your body again. You should always be breaking a sweat, and when that’s not happening any more, move on to a totally different kind of workout.

Try jogging if you’ve never run before, or try an elliptical or bike machine, or go hiking on a mountain – something that will push your boundaries and something that the body is not used to, to force your body to adapt.

I have been recording several shows on Fit TV in an effort to really change up my routine, avoid boredom, and create muscle confusion, which is one of the best ways to get your muscles to sculpt faster, and get those hard to shape and reduce areas pared down in no time. The harder something is for you, the more it changes (forces) your body to change and reduce in size, as well as change it’s shape.

That’s why things like circuit and interval training are so successful at toning you and reducing weight, because they are harder on the body, and burn more calories in less time.

I’ve been trying to combine Gilad’s Bodies in Motion, which is primarily an aerobic based workout, with his Body Sculpting workout which is also on Fit TV. I like the Total Body Sculpting, but the Bodies in Motion I’ve seen leave a lot to be desired. They are all outdated, and look like they were filmed in the nineties, so the quality is very grainy, the sound is bad, and the workouts themselves feel outdated and quite frankly not challenging enough.

I actually used to do the Bodies in Motion workouts when I first started working out when I was in my teens, and that and Basic Training, which was either Gilad’s wife or his sister, Ada, which I actually liked better. I don’t know if they were more challenging then because I didn’t really know what was challenging, or if I just wasn’t in as fit a shape, but now I feel like Bodies in Motion is a very half hearted workout.

It’s great for beginners, but it’s probably not the best for those who are more advanced or looking for more of a challenge. Now who knows, as I watch them more, I may actually get some better ones, so I’ll keep you posted. I’ve watched about four Bodies in motion ones so far.

For women, more so than men, it is quite a challenge to get our arms summer-ready and buffed out. Many women store their extra fat in their upper arms, it’s just a fact of life actually. This is why so many women battle the “lunch lady arms” syndrome where their triceps sort of hang like bat wings (another affectionate term for this effect of flabby arms), and fight so hard to get rid of their bat wings. They’re just about equally stubborn as the thigh fat that is affectionately called saddle bags, and that’s why they are one of the most sought after body parts to get fit, especially by women.

Some of the stars that have the most sculpted, thin arms are girls like Sarah Jessica Parker, who has always had a nice pair of triceps, delts, and biceps, but they’re really great looking because they’re not overly built or under built, but just right. She looks strong without looking bulky or manly, which is tricky when it comes to getting a woman’s arms to look just right without them looking like they’re a female body builder.

Another woman with perfect arms is Jillian Michaels, but then of course, she’s also a professional personal trainer, so this makes sense. She looks very strong, and yet still has the subtle feminine characteristics in her arms as well that don’t make her look overly muscled – yet you wouldn’t want to get into a tangle with her.

Now, the trick to getting fat free, sculpted arms lies not only in the exercises you do for you arms, but also in your calorie burning capabilities. If you are burning calories simultaneously with doing hard muscle workouts and cardio, then this is the best way for you to eek out the most calorie burning for the most payoff, and also to get the most fat off of your upper arms in the least amount of time.

Workout DVD’s that emphasize the fact that you have to build muscle on top of constantly burning calories at the highest level possible for sustained periods of time are your best option. Stay away from pure muscle workouts, as they will bulk you up, not just slim you down.

I’ve taken to a rather strange habit of jogging quick sprints around the house, on the nice padded carpets that don’t do damage to my fragile joints since there is very little impact when you’re running on something so soft (that and trying better shoes is another option lol). Since my job entails sitting for hours at a computer, what I will do is get up periodically, say every hour or so and run a few quick sprints around the house, totaling no more than 3-4 minutes of quick activity.

It not only busts stress and eases back pain because of the length of time sitting, which is one of the worst things you can do for you back, which is very sensitive to sitting since the disks are compressed and they don’t have enough room, but it also helps to boost the metabolism for short bursts, which means you get a little bit more out of your metabolism for the day. Not to mention, it keeps you awake. How many people feel like they are ready to fall asleep at their desk all day long if they have a desk or administrative job?

I’m not saying this is an easy feat if you don’t work at home though. Undoubtedly, those that don’t work at home would find it nearly impossible to go sprinting off down the halls of wherever it is they work, without getting at least a few strange glances from coworkers. However, that doesn’t totally limit you.

At my job, as in my nine to five job, I try to take bathroom breaks where I can get in a stall and do not only some serious stretching, but also I can do some quick squats, which are a great way to engage the large muscles in the leg, which adds a nice metabolic boost not to mention some great muscle toning and shaping that you wouldn’t be getting otherwise if you were sitting at your desk turning into a jello backside. At any rate, getting up and getting some sort of activity in short spurts during the day definitely improves our chances of boosting metabolic rate, enhancing our energy, and shaping our bodies.

Well, we’ve made it on to the second level of Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred DVD, and let me tell you, this thing is a KILLER workout video, and if you don’t see results with this, then I just don’t know what you will see results with. First of all, I talked about the first level of this DVD, which is hard, but you can definitely build up to it, and it seemed a lot easier, though not unchallenging, after we had done it for ten days. However, this second level, which we just did for the first time yesterday, is absolutely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

Like the other level, level one, it’s about a twenty five minute workout, and believe me, she keeps reiterating that over and over, except she calls it a twenty minute workout which I say pshaw to every time because it’s really more than that, but whatever. I love this series because you really don’t waste any time, and you get the same level of workout that you’d probably get from “phoning it in at the gym” as Jillian likes to say, for an hour and a half, maybe even a better workout than that, because you are placing so much stress on the body that you are instantly burning off calories and putting your body through the wringer, which makes it adapt.

If I had to guess, I’d say that the twenty five to twenty seven workout burns at least 300 calories, maybe more, depending on what level of intensity you do it at. I was out of breath beyond belief several times during level two, and at some points in the workout, I had to take a breather because I thought I was going to pass out. You have to watch your knees on this workout, because it’s really hard on your knees, so if you have sensitive knees, you may need to vary your positions.

She does a lot of explosive floor moves that take a lot of breath and a lot of strength to complete. You will be panting and gasping for air, trust me, but you will see results, as I have seen in just a few short weeks if you stick to it. She’s a force to be reckoned with, for sure!

So, I’ve been recording a few of the Gilad Total Body Sculpt half hour workout shows on Fit TV for the past few weeks, and didn’t have the opportunity to actually do one of them until recently. I did one that was advertised in the preview on he DVR as being targeted toward the abs, thighs and butt, and boy was that true. The only thing I don’t like about doing these exercise programs off the DVR (digital video recorder), is that it’s annoying when they go to commercial and you have to continue what you’re doing, it sort of ruins your focus a little.

Usually what I’ll do is just more reps of what they were doing when they went to break, or if that’s too much, I’ll just run in place so I’m at least keeping my heart rate up during the down time.

Gilad has been doing workout videos since I can remember. He’s a big, buff guy, and he’s encouraging, but the only complaint I have is that he seems to move from one move to another too quickly, and it doesn’t really give you time to figure out what the proper form is until you are smack dab in the middle of the exercise already. Also, a half hour seems too short and it seems jam packed into those thirty precious minutes.

However, with that being said, he works your butt off in the short half hour, and when you’re done, your butt and thighs are burning, a sure sign that the exercises he has put you through will be effective. I like the fact that he gave me some moves that I had never done before, especially considering I have been working out for years now, I’m not just a novice.

Gilad also has a new DVD series out that looks like it’ll get you in shape in no time. It’s something like 60 bucks for three packed DVD’s, which isn’t bad, and I’ll bet it’s very effective. He focuses a lot on combining almost a slightly cardio workout with serious muscle building and sculpting moves. He likes to burn calories, but he also concentrates a lot on building lean muscle mass. I mean, look at him, he knows what he’s doing! Needless to say, I’ll be tuning in again to get my half hour of butt kicking moves.

While we know that exercise has immense benefits when it comes to our overall health and mental well being, and many have even said it increases brain functions like concentration and emotional stability, there is new evidence out there showing that it may even increase the size of a critical center of our brain, which controls vital functions related to things like navigation and memory.

You may have heard of it before, perhaps you remember studying in high school or college biology or human anatomy. The interesting part about all this is that exercise, in and of itself has nothing to do with navigation or memory, unless there is some as of yet unknown link to muscle memory (that’s all I could come up with, being the non scientist that I am), but it seems to have the capability to enlarge the mass of the hippocampus.

Prior to this, the only studies that linked any type of activity to the enlargement of the hippocampus were studies that showed it was linked to the increase in size because the individuals who had bigger ones actually worked it out by navigating every day (like cab drivers), or they had a job where their memories were crucial and so they exercised their memory space every day, which is this area of the brain. However, when elderly people were tested for the size of their hippocampus, it was found that they had larger ones if they were more physically fit. If they were not physically fit, their size was proportionally smaller than their exercising counterparts.

So it seems that exercise gives us yet another benefit we may not have thought of yet – enhancing our memory and even our navigational skills. Too bad I don’t think the navigational skills improvement has applied to me personally yet, I still can’t seem to find my way out of a closet, but I’ll chalk that up to my genetic roots, none of the women in my family have a lick of a sense of direction!

Unfortunately, when it comes to getting a flat belly, there is no magic potion, or one thing you can do to get this desirable shape to your midsection. Heck, men and women alike have been trying to figure out a magic bullet to get leaner abs for years, and the only conclusion that we’ve come to is that diet or exercise alone will not fully address the problem of the “pooch” as it’s called so fondly, especially by some trainers when they’re trying to get your riled up to lose that weight, flatten the abs, and burn excess fat and calories.

You have to combine both a sensible diet that is high in fiber and low in processed foods and the right kinds of abdominal exercise if you are to have hope that you will have a flat belly. Many of us women may have great upper abdominal muscles, which are actually much easier to work than the lower abs, but we may suffer from that little poochy area right above our groin, where the abs tend to pouch out.

Think about when you have your period ladies, and you get that little pouch, that’s the area I’m talking about, and that’s the area that’s harder to target because our upper abs, which most likely are stronger, always want to jump in and join the party when we are trying to target only the lower abs, because they are stronger and the larger muscle group.

This happens with a lot of your muscle groups, which is why it is important to really focus on the part of your body that you want to be working on, and position yourself right so that the only part that works is the desired one. This takes practice and concentration. One of the things you need to be aware of when doing abdominal exercises is to make sure that you are never in a “resting” position. Many times when we are doing crunches of some sort, we tend to let the shoulder blades come to a rest when we are fatigued – this defeats the purpose of constant movement, and the way we strengthen and flatter the abs best is through contstant movement and tension.

Even if you have a desk job, you can practice flexing and strengthening the abs right there at your desk, it’s a great way to shape the abs, and also gets you in the habit of holding in these muscles, which makes it effortless when you don’t even think about it any more. Another great tip to remember if you are trying to get flat abs is to rev up your cardio sessions, since burning fat in this way is one of the best ways to get rid of abdominal fat. Circuit training, where you are combining a few minutes of heart targeted cardio as well as strength and endurance, is a great way to burn that belly off as well.

You can try maybe a spinning class that combines high intensity with lower intensity, so that you are doing concentrated doses of hard exercise, followed by lower intensity, but you are constantly moving. This gets the fat burning mechanisms going, and because you are constantly moving, you are constantly burning off that belly fat and increasing the metabolism. Combining these workout moves with dining correctly will dramatically reshape the abdominal area and make it stronger, it just takes a little practice, dedication, and endurance.

It’s been noticed that the nations with less of an obesity problem, and certainly nowhere near the “obesity epidemic” that Americans still seem to be suffering from, use different forms of transit than individual vehicles and instead use either mass transit like buses and trains, or they bike and walk to most places they have to go. We might be seeing a little more of a comeback of biking and walking here in the US as well, especially with the current economic situation that’s happening right now and the expense of cars.

I was actually just talking to my boyfriend about us getting bikes and how fun it would be to start riding them around, except for the fact that we live on a fairly busy road and I’d almost be afraid to bike down it and the adjoining road since cars tend to fly down them at speeds that are dangerous since there aren’t many police patrolling them for speeding. I remember when I was a kid, and of course a lot more lean, I used to bike all over town.

I would take my bike to ride down to my friend’s houses, to go down to the local store and get candy, and to ride down the park and the beach, both of which were about a ten minute bike ride. I’m sure I was never more fit and happy as I was back then, and I’m sure it had a lot to do with the fact that kids tend to be much more active than adults. In fact, it’s been proven that there is a specific turning point in the teens where kids become more sedentary, and this often stays with us until we are adults.

We don’t realize how many more calories we burn when we do things like bike and walk places, or take the stairs instead of the elevators and escalators and all those little things that really add up. Hopefully with the current situation we’re in, and with gas prices on the rise again, we will see more of a return to biking and walking, not only is it better for our fitness and weight control, but it’s also better for the environment.