Cheap, effective way to burn fat and improve cardio

Thinking about my mother this morning fostered me to think about how she stays in shape. She is a very busy CFO, yet manages to stay in very good health without working out at the gym very often. Besides eating well (no fried foods, no sweets, etc.) and drinking a great amount of water and juice daily (I personally think she has an addiction to water, but that’s another story), she takes the stairs to her 6th floor office every day, every time she leaves the office. She has gotten a few of her co-workers to follow suit, and I hope that more will join the healthy lifestyle crew.

Anyway, my mom does something every Friday that most people would overlook as a way to stay in shape. She is a member of a double-dutch team, and she manages to stay fit by reliving a childhood favorite of hers. Here’s a video of her that was shown last September on the local news in DC. She’s the one with the Nike shoes that looks kind of purple/blue with white stripes going across the shoe. She’s also the one who says something about friends coming together to do what friends do best.

I’m not suggesting that you go out and join a double-dutch team, but I want you to know that jumping rope is a cheap and very effective way to reach your fat loss goals and to improve your cardio. All you need is a jump rope, which you can get for as little as $4-$5 at Walmart, or about $10 at sports stores. There are leather ropes, weighted ropes, and speed ropes. I am a fan of the speed rope because I can jump faster, and I like to focus on anaerobic fitness due to my sports.

To get started, start out slow. Like any other exercise, you want to get the form correct before you perform at speed. The most simple movement is turning the rope and jumping with both feet. Once you get that right, you can add many other variations, like alternating feet, jumping in a triangle figure, double jumping, jumping from side-to-side etc.

Trust me, jumping rope burns fat at an amazing speed. It’s hard, but it doesn’t cost much, you can do it just about anywhere and anytime, and it works. Adding jump ropes to your circuit routine is also a guaranteed way to blast through any fitness plateaus you have encountered. Your body will thank you for it later! I will post video demonstrations on variations of jump rope exercises later.

As usual, leave your questions and comments for me! Give me something to do while I rest my leg.

Eating for fitness

In order to make gains in muscle growth or to help your body shed unwanted fat, you have to eat. The trick is learning how to eat well.

Eating 3 large meals a day is not conducive to reaching your fitness goals, whatever they may be. You should be eating 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day. Why? Because it constantly keeps your metabolism engaged, burning fat and calories as you digest your food! I tend to eat heavier in my second meal, lunch and dinner; the other meals usually consist of light cereal or fruit such as applesauce, apples, and kiwis.

What should you eat? I generally follow a rule of if you can’t catch it, grow it, make it, or pick it, I usually don’t eat it. I have to confess though, I am partial to fruit snacks But my substantive meals consist of a lot of rice (leaning towards brown rice now), vegetables, chicken or turkey, steak once a week, and salads. For breakfast, I eat cereal, make pancakes (not the frozen kinds, but cooked on a skillet), eggs, sausage, and fruit such as kiwi, apples, and oranges. Always, always eat something for breakfast! It kick starts the metabolism and provides you with the fuel you need to begin your day. If you don’t like traditional breakfast foods, who says that you can’t have something else that you like?

I drink 100% juice, usually cranberry and pomegranate juice for the high antioxidant content. I very rarely eat fried foods; I find little value of fried foods for my fitness goals.

Throughout the day, drink plenty of water. Not only will water keep you hydrated and facilitate the transport of nutrients between cells in your body, but it can also help keep the munchies away. If you don’t like plain water, I strongly encourage you to find a way to flavor it up, maybe by adding a little lemon or an orange slice to give it a subtle hint of flavor. Carry a refillable water bottle with you so you don’t have to constantly buy more bottles of water and contribute to waste.

How do I portion my food? I tend to keep my servings no bigger than my fist. When I am eating to retain muscle mass, such as during soccer season and right now, I eat more. I don’t count calories and I personally don’t suggest it; I favor following a natural, balanced diet. I also do not suggest eating below 1000 calories per day because that is the minimum your body needs to operate well.

I find some of my favorite recipes from Oxygen Magazine. I just cooked a roasted chicken, asparagus, and potatoes recipe and it was delicious! I find that the recipes in this magazine are clean and support my fitness goals.

What are your tips for eating well? Leave comments and I will respond!

PS. As a side note, I just maxed out at 10 strict pull ups…going for 11 today!

No Gym, No Problem

So you don’t belong to a gym or a health club, and you don’t have a home gym. That doesn’t give you an excuse to not strength train! Every time I hear “But I don’t have access to a gym, so I can’t work out” I want to flip out. But somehow I manage to keep my composure.

Seriously though, you don’t need fancy equipment and machines to improve your strength. Your own bodyweight is often enough resistance for you to make drastic improvements and helps with fat loss. If you are able to control your own bodyweight when doing movements, you are, in fact, a strong person!

If you have access to a playground, you can do pull ups on the monkey bars, and swing through the monkey bars as well. Remember playing as a kid, how much fun the playground was, how much strength it took for you to swing from bar to bar? If you start doing pull ups and variations of pull ups in a playground, you will notice your strength improving within a couple of weeks.

Speaking of playgrounds, you can create an entire circuit using things you find at a playground. For example, you can run hard for 3 minutes, stop and do 3 sets of 15 dips on a bench, run again for another 3 minutes, do 3 sets of pull ups to failure on the monkey bars, run again for another 3 minutes, do 3 sets of push ups to failure, run again for another 3 minutes, do 3 sets of planks for 1 minute each, run again for another 3 minutes, do 3 sets of 15 burpees, run again for another 3 minutes, do 3 sets of 30 mountain climbers, run again for another 3 minutes, do 50 bodyweight squats, and finally run again for another 3 minutes. That’s 24 minutes of intense running, plus the cardio you get from moving from one exercise to the next.

To make that easier for you to read:

3 mins run

3 sets of 15 dips

3 mins run

3 sets of pull ups

3 mins run

3 sets of push ups

3 mins run

3 sets of planks, 1 min each

3 mins run

3 sets of 15 burpees

3 mins run

3 sets of 30 mountain climbers

3 mins run

50 bodyweight squats

3 mins run

As soon as my hamstring heals, I’m gonna give it a shot. If you try it, let me know how long it takes you to complete and how you feel about it! Leave comments!

More on Interval Training

So you all know that I love interval training. I have written about its superiority over long cardio programs when trying to achieve fat loss, but I have yet to really get into interval training.

What is interval training?

• This type of training uses a work to rest ratio over a certain period of time (example, a 1:1 ratio would be 1 minute of work to 1 minute of rest, 2 minutes of work to 2 minutes of rest, etc.) rather than continuous work. Rest is active rest, meaning that you are either walking briskly or jogging at a low intensity.

What equipment can you use?

• Interval training can be done on any type of cardio machine, including treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, and can be done on a track, while running outside, jumping rope and in the pool.

Who can benefit from interval training?

• Anyone! Interval training is not limited to athletes and weekend warriors; people who want to lose a few (or more) pounds will highly benefit from this style of training.

How does interval training work?

• Interval training is effective because it enables your body to work both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. Working at high intensities will condition you anaerobically, and the recovery periods help improve your aerobic abilities. However, the intensity level during the recovery periods shouldn’t be so low that your heart rate drops significantly; otherwise, you will compromise your aerobic gains.

How long does a session last?

• Depending upon the intensity of work intervals, interval training sessions usually last between 20-30 minutes. As an athlete, my sessions have rarely gone over 30 minutes. However, if I were working on aerobic endurance, my interval training sessions would be between 30-40 minutes. For those with the goal of fat loss, 30 minute sessions will be good.

How often should one do an interval training session?

• Interval training should be done 2 or 3 times a week, never back-to-back due to the intense nature of the exercise. Rest is important when you are conditioning your body!

What are the benefits?

• Interval training saves TIME.
• Interval training is a CHALLENGE, which will push you through a plateau.
• Interval training is FUN; this training will beat the monotony of regular gym routines.
• Interval training is EFFECTIVE; you will see results in terms of fat loss quicker than doing traditional cardio routines.

Any more questions about interval training? Please leave a comment (even if you don’t have a question)!

Looking for a collection of fitness articles?

Every Monday, FitBuff hosts a blog carnival featuring articles on a wide range of fitness and health subjects. My last post about the fat-burning zone is featured in this week’s collection. Check it out and leave comments!

http://www.fitbuff.com/total-mind-and-body-fitness-blog-carnival-44/

Coming up this week:

Need motivation to start a healthy lifestyle?

Instilling healthy habits at a young age

More on interval training!