Be Fit Fitness Blog

The V-bar pullup is a compound exercise that targets your lats as well as your biceps, middle back and shoulders. You build strength on each muscle as you pull yourself up and down the pull-up bar.

Before beginning this exercise, make sure that you have done your stretches and warm-up.

How to perform this exercise…

Place a V-bar at the middle of a pull-up bar. If your pull-up bar already has neutral grip handles, there is no need to do so. The V-bar should be secure prior to execution of the exercise. Hold the bar with both palms facing each other. Stick out your chest and slightly incline your back backwards so to concentrate the action on your lats. Let your body hang with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle and your ankles crossed. This is your starting position.

Exhale as you pull your torso up as you incline your head slightly to the right to avoid getting bumped at the chin-up bar. Keep the motion in your lats and continue lifting until your chest is almost in contact with the V-bar. Hold the position for a second, maintaining the contraction in your torso, and then inhale as you slowly lower your body back to starting position. Maintain the tension in your torso at all times throughout the exercise and do not just drop your body. You will only injure your muscles as you do so. Do the same procedure again this time with your head leaning slightly to the left.

Repeat with the recommended alternating number of repetitions and sets. If you do not have the strength to perform this exercise, you can use a pull-up assist machine or have a spotter lift your legs. If you want a more challenging workout, use a weight belt to hold a few extra weights.

Written by Daniel Lee from Extreme Home Workout, your top site to Get Insanity by Shaun T.

I am going to discuss how often you should eat by looking at why eating 4 to 6 smaller meals more frequently (about 2.5 to 3 hours apart) is better than 3 large meals and why eating fewer calories at night is ideal.

Eating a large meal increases the opportunity for fat cells to extract fat from the blood and therefore, grow bigger. Fat cells can actually adapt to a pattern of large, infrequent meals by becoming more efficient at storing fat.

In addition, a 2 to 3 meal-a-day pattern causes the body to face long stretches without food. By the time lunch or dinner rolls around, you’re so hungry that you’re more likely to make unwise food choices and overeat. Eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day, not only prevents you from making unwise food choices, it helps you to feel more energized and satisfied and it keeps your metabolism revved up throughout the day.

I understand though that from time-to-time you might have a sweet tooth, and in this case we have the perfect solution – our product is called the “Protein Freeze.” It has a taste and texture similar to ice cream (it’s so good!), yet 5 times as much protein and very little fat, sugar and calories. It’s an amazing product and you can learn more about it at Protein Freeze.

Besides eating smaller meals more frequently, try to plan so that you don’t eat your largest meal late at night. The body’s metabolic rate has a natural cycle of highs and lows, peaking late in the day and dropping to its lowest level during sleep.

So it makes sense to avoid putting a large meal into your system 2 to 3 hours before bedtime when your metabolic rate is beginning to slow down. If you do feel hungry after this time, you don’t need to go to bed hungry, just eat something very low in calories and in a small portion. Protein and fibrous carbohydrates (vegetables) are the very best types of food to eat at night because they’re so low in calories and have almost no adverse affect on blood sugar levels.

It’s important to note, just because you eat at night, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll gain fat. If you’re still in a caloric deficit, whether you eat at night or not, you’ll still likely lose fat but eating less at night is an easy way to keep calories under control, especially since these extra calories aren’t needed at night before you go to bed because you’ll be inactive while you’re sleeping. Make sense?

Okay to summarize, here are my key points to remember:

1. Eat small, frequent meals (4 to 6 meals/day) about 2.5 to 3 hours apart.

2. Try to eat fewer calories later in the day which can easily be accomplished by focusing on protein and/or vegetables.

By Kim Lyons – Fast Track to Fat Loss, BS, CPT

By Kim Lyons

I want to spend a little time explaining how you can enjoy what I like to call ‘cheat meals’ without sabotaging your progress. I’ll be discussing caloric deficit, caloric intake, calorie balance, caloric budget with respect to eating and losing weight.

Junk food doesn’t automatically make you fat. It’s the extra calories in these junk foods that make you gain fat. For example, many people think eating pizza or a cheeseburger or chocolate equals getting fat. It doesn’t. There’s not a cause and effect relationship where ‘junk food’ automatically turns into fat. Eating too many calories equals gaining fat and because junk food is very high in calories it often leads to fat gain, but that’s the only correlation.

We suggest that you limit these types of high calorie foods, or at least make healthier changes to them such as asking the waiter to go light on the cheese or hold the mayo and substitute a salad for fries because they’re very high calorie foods and they make creating that ‘caloric deficit’ (burning more than you eat) a challenge.

But to say that when you eat one of these foods they’ll cause you to automatically gain fat or even prevent you from losing fat, that just isn’t true! The bottom line is that depriving yourself completely of your favorite foods is a great way to make yourself miserable and certainly cause you to fall off your diet progress very quickly.

And this is the reason so many diets fail. They don’t teach you how to strike a balance. We feel that you can allow yourself your favorite foods as long as you acknowledge that calories do count and you must obey the law of ‘calorie balance’ (calories in vs. calories out) and plan accordingly to consistently create this calorie deficit.

This means that if you really want to go out and have a cheese-burger with your friends, for example, then you should follow these 4 easy steps:

1. Take account for that in the rest of your meals that day and make a conscious effort to eat a little smaller portions and/or eat foods lower in calories, such as lean complete proteins and fibrous carbohydrates (veggies).

2. Be a little more active throughout the day as well. Whether it’s an extra 10 minutes of cardio or simply playing with your kids, the more calories you burn throughout the day, the better.

3. Make some simple changes to that meal so that you can still enjoy it, but don’t go so overboard that you sabotage your progress. An example of making simple changes to a traditionally high calorie meal is as follows: ordering a burger with no cheese and mayo, having a salad instead of fries, drinking water or diet soda instead of regular soda, and asking the waiter to box up half in advance. (We have lots of ideas like this for you at Fast Track to Fat Loss)

4. Get right back on track after that meal, right away. Allowing yourself a ‘cheat meal’ doesn’t mean that you can go crazy the rest of the weekend and then just start over on Monday.

Now, because you ate a few less calories than you normally do throughout the day and were a little more active … and because you made some simple, yet wise choices to your burger meal you may have ended up eating no more calories than you normally do.

So did that burger out with friends cause you to gain fat? Absolutely not because you planned wisely in advance and made wise choices to stay within your ‘caloric budget’ for the day. If you plan ahead and follow the above simple steps, you will achieve your weight loss goals, yet still enjoy yourself in life.

Speaking of cheating, did you know that your average glass of beer, wine or cocktail has more than 200 calories? That’s just one glass! You could eat 20 large bags of spinach and not consume that many calories!

Learn more about nutrition and effective weight loss at
Fast Track to Fat Loss.

Here is a checklist of all the ideas that I have thought of to show you how you can reduce the amount sodium in your diet substantially. These days, many people consume too much sodium a day and this can have a negative impact on your health and it ends up costing the health system or your pocket book a lot of money in the long-term.

Do not buy prepared frozen prepared foods as they contain a lot of sodium. Even the frozen products that say they contain less amounts of sodium, they still contain too much!

Do not buy frozen meats or fish. Buy meats or fish that is fresh and freeze yourself.

Do not buy prepared meals from grocery stores.

Do not add salt when you are cooking. As flavoring, use fresh or dried herbs and spices instead.

Cut down on the number of times you eat at restaurants because you don’t know how much salt they add to foods. It’s always best to prepare your own meals. However, nowadays, some restaurants are indicating what goes into their meals.

Compare labels for the sodium content of products.

Always opt for the non-salted variety of your favorite product. For example, instead of salted peanuts, buy unsalted peanuts.

If you use these ideas, you can substantially reduce the amount of sodium that you consume on a daily basis. Basically the fresher the food is and the more control you have over the ingredients of your meals before processing, the less likelihood that the food will contain sodium.

In France a research study was conducted between the correlation of exercise, nutrition and breast cancer. The French researchers found that women who exercise and eat a low fat diet i.e. no saturated fats decrease the chances of getting breast cancer. The reason is that cancer cells seem to grow in the fatty tissue of a woman’s breasts. By reducing these fatty tissues, you possibly eliminate an ideal environment for the cancer to grow and you stand a better chance of not contracting this disease.

Other researchers refute this study claiming there is not enough evidence to support these findings. It’s possible that this could be true especially if other factors play a role in developing breast cancer like our polluted environment and stress in. I guess further and continuous study is necessary over the long-term.

Regardless of whether you believe either side, it’s a good idea to stay healthy by exercising regularly and throughout your life, eliminating the bad fats from your diet, avoiding overeating and eating foods high in antioxidants and Omega 3.

Fitness in Ten Minutes. If you’re reading the title of this article and thinking, Bah, humbug, to yourself, I wouldn’t blame you. I’ve been there, done that myself. But that was only until I realized that there was more than a modicum of truth to this statement. Yes, it is possible to get fit by spending just ten minutes a day if you know exactly what you want to do and doing it diligently. So if you’re ready to take a trip down the road to fitness, continue reading.

Interval training:
This is the single most important aspect of fitness – to put it in a nutshell, it’s fast and furious. It’s great for people who have absolutely no time to spare but who want to stay fit. Interval training is simple – all you need to do is choose a cardiovascular exercise that you’re comfortable with, like cycling, running or swimming. Now let’s say you’ve chosen running – warm up for two minutes, then run as fast as you can for the next 30 seconds (or 1 minute if you’re up to it). Now slow down to a walk for the next 30 seconds, and when your heartbeat is almost back to normal, start sprinting again. Repeat this cycle for 10 minutes and you pack in a workout equivalent to an hour’s worth of jogging. By alternating bursts of high intensity exercise with periods of rest, you improve your fitness and stamina, and also lose weight.

Strength training:
Working out with weights helps you tone and strengthen your muscles, but there are some strength-training exercises that don’t require you to use weights. If you have ten minutes to spare, use them to do three sets of 12 squats each, and/or three sets of 12 lunge pairs (a single lunge on both legs counts as one lunge pair). If you have a pair of dumbbells, hold them in your hand to improve the intensity of your workout. These exercises will have your thighs and buttocks looking great in no time at all.

Active lifestyle:
If you spend half an hour watching television, use ten of those minutes to do your chores around the house. If you take the elevator to your office, get to work ten minutes earlier so you can take the stairs. And if you live close to your workplace, walk to and from your office. It takes a little time to get used to an active lifestyle, but once you get going, you’ll see that even ten tiny minutes is enough to make a difference in your fitness and weight.
Remember however, that you must try not to negate the positive effects of your ten-minute workouts by eating more than necessary. Eat every couple of hours so that your stomach doesn’t start to crave food and binge on unhealthy and fatty stuff. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, juices (without sugar), salads, and baked snacks (with low sodium) are healthy snack ideas in between meals. And while it’s ok to indulge your taste buds once in a while, not counting your calories could lead you to count much higher up on your bathroom scales.

By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Amy S. Cook, who writes on the topic of LVN to RN. Amy welcomes your comments at her email id: amy11s.cook@gmail.com

A lot of people have trouble falling asleep or going to sleep once they hit the pillow. There are of course those people who just lay down and are quickly asleep. It’s very important that you get good night’s sleep for your health, well-being and especially for those people who exercise on a regular basis. Your body needs time to rest and recover from the day!

What are the reasons that people may have trouble falling asleep? Some of the common reasons are that you are under a lot of stress at home or at work. You have a lot of things to think about for the next day or you are just not tired!

To be able to fall asleep quickly, you need to clear your mind of all these problems and worries, otherwise you may not fall asleep for hours or have a restless sleep or sleepless night!

My simple and effective technique for falling asleep quickly:

The key to falling asleep quickly is that you must clear your mind of everything. Basically, you must prepare yourself to just sleep.

Lay down in your bed in a comfortable position. I always lay flat on my back with my head rested on a pillow in a comfortable position.

Now breathe in slowly through your nose and breathe out through your nose. By doing this, you relax your body and your mind by replenishing it with oxygen and this helps you to focus on breathing and thus clear your mind.

If you focus only on the breathing and stay relaxed, you will fall asleep.

This is my meditation technique towards falling asleep quickly and it’s 99.9% effective. I tell myself sometimes that I will count the number of breaths that I have to take before I will fall asleep, but I never can because I end up falling asleep. It’s probably in the neighborhood of 3 to 5 long deep breaths.

On the other hand, if your bed is uncomfortable, you may consider purchasing a new quality mattress or good pillows such as those Obus Forme pillows. I find them to be amazing, although they may take a day or two to get used to.

In summary, I find this the most reliable, healthy and effective way to fall asleep naturally. Getting the right amount of sleep is critical to your health and well-being. It can be very frustrating and annoying if you cannot fall asleep. You may also want to consider taking Yoga classes. It also has many health and exercise benefits for both body and mind.

Since we live in a very fast-paced world, many people opt to purchase processed foods because of its convenience and the time saving involve in meal preparation. Processed foods can include those found at fast foods restaurants, frozen foods and pre-packaged foods. All of these types of foods contain too much sodium, in excess of what the daily intake of sodium should be plus many additives with strange names. Even restaurant foods and those healthy choice frozen and processed foods can contain too much salt and sodium. As you probably are aware, sodium in excess of the daily recommended amounts can cause many health problems, particularly heart problems.

To add to this, I also wonder how much sodium the prepared meals from those diet centers contain.

Of course there is a way to avoid all this unnecessary sodium and still eat healthy and delicious meals and it is to prepare your own meals. If you do it wisely, it can be quick and not very time consuming to do. Start by planning your meals for the week when you go shopping. Simply prepared dinners can be just as delicious as fancy ones which take a lot more time. What I like to do with certain foods is to pre-cook for a few days and store it safely in your refrigerator for 2 to 3 days like rice and chicken. So all you have to do when it is time to eat is to reheat when you are ready to eat. Other meats like fish and beef can be cooked quite quickly on the day you want to eat it. Preparing salads also doesn’t take very long. So basically in 30 minutes or less you can have a healthy and hot dinner ready to eat. Also, try to avoid adding salt to your cooking. Substitute salt with spices and herbs. It’s much healthier and tastes great!

Other meal preparation and meals tips:

For lunch, try opting for tuna and salads instead of deli meats whenever you can. They contain a lot of sodium plus other preservatives.

For breakfast, choose the cereals that contain the lowest amounts of sodium.

In summary, eventually governments will legislate companies and restaurants to substantially reduce the sodium content in their processed foods to much lower levels. In the meantime, these are just some of the ways to reduce your sodium intake.

Are you looking to tighten and tone your butt for the summer? If you haven’t started to focus on exercising your gluteus muscles, it’s not too late. Despite the fact that many leg exercises either on the floor or with machines and exercise activities will in fact work out your gluteus muscles, it’s a good idea to do at least one exercise that specifically focuses on and targets these muscles. You can do it using machines at the gym or simple, effective floor exercises. In fact there’s one exercise that I want to point out that the technique, method is almost basically the same whether done on the floor or using a machine. The only difference is that with the machine you can add on weights.

If you have a gym membership and your gym carries excellent machines, LifeFitness has a really good machine to work out your butt. Actually, it also works out your other leg muscles. I find that it’s an excellent all-leg workout machine, especially if you are pressed for time. I use it in late winter to early spring to get ready for rollerblading. Basically on this machine you can adjust the weights to the appropriate level. Now lean forward a little to grasp the handles, with your chest pressed against the adjustable padding in front of you. One leg remains on the floor, with your knees bent a little, you then press the other leg against the foot rest and push backwards and outwards with it basically as far as you can go. Now you bring the leg in as close as you feel comfortable or as close as you can. Do this for about 12-15 repetitions then repeat for the other leg. 3 to 4 sets of this is fine, once a week.

If your gym does not have such a machine, you can of course do a similar and just as effective or more effective exercise. Press your hands and knees against the floor (the doggy position). Keeping your legs bent at a right angle, push your leg upwards just a little above your waist. Now bring your leg in towards your chest but not touching it. Again do this for about 12-15 repetitions then repeat for the other leg. 3 to 4 sets of this is fine, once a week.

Other great exercises for your butt include stair climbing and rollerblading.

In summary, getting Buns of Steel
for a man or a woman has many advantages. They range from looking great and feeling confident in how you walk or look like at the beach in a bikini or bathing suit to the strength training benefits that arise whether you play sports, jog or rollerblade. It’s also a great way to stretch out those tight butt muscles, especially if you have a desk job at work.

You’ve probably seen all these websites promoting full-body workouts in 7 minutes a day and guaranteeing you amazing bodybuilding, toning or weight loss results. Well, save your hard earned money.

Let’s look at this logically. If evolution intended humans to exercise for only 7 minutes a day and end up achieving amazing results, than our bodies would have evolved that way, but they didn’t and probably never will. If anything, lack of exercise and inactivity will continue to be a health problem in the future. Limiting yourself to a very limited and set amount of time for exercise will hinder your strength and cardiovascular system in the long-run. It’s pretty obvious why.

Also, if you could train from only 7 minutes than Olympic athletes would be doing this instead of the long hours they put into various training programs.

The human body was meant to be active whether through exercise, work or some other activity. Sure you can focus on a 10 minute exercise for a certain body part like your abs, but not your entire body. Exercise should not be just viewed as a way to achieve a certain look… A healthy and toned look is important but it’s more than that! It’s a major health benefit for you and it can be a social thing too especially if you exercise with friends or socialize with friends at the gym. It’s a chance to get away from stress and the daily routine of life, a chance to do something else. So if you are limiting yourself to only 7 minutes a day of exercise, you will be missing the whole point of exercise.

What exercise program works best for you is something that you will figure out over time or with the help of a personal trainer.