If you want to shape up, walking, jogging and running can all provide a step in the right direction  and an extra edge to

Running can help you kick-start a well-rounded fitness plan!

your fitness plan.  Experts say these activities are not only excellent aerobic exercise but they can be the easiest and most natural route to fitness. Running or walking outside, however, may not always be a natural choice. If you’re not enthusiastic about running or walking in winter weather or summer humidity, or if you live somewhere where there are few sidewalks or where there’s a lot of traffic, you may want to invest in a state-of-the-art treadmill.

A treadmill can make it easier to achieve fitness goals and the latest treadmills offer many fun, motivating features that let you track progress. Not all treadmills are created equal and a badly designed treadmill may ultimately do more harm than good. It’s important not to settle because a bad short-term choice could have serious long-lasting health consequences. Since exercise should be a life-long habit, you want a treadmill that will protect potentially fragile joints.

When you exercise on concrete sidewalks, for example, the impact shock is “bounced” back to your knees and hips, because concrete is a rigid material. This can also be true of rigid, heavy steel treadmills. When choosing a treadmill, look for one with active shock management features and an aluminum frame. Aluminum frames provide strength but also flex more than steel.  As a result, your joints can stay healthier for longer.

Another extremely important issue when it comes to running is footwear. It is extremely important that you invest in good, comfortable, anatomically correct running shoes. Wearing old running shoes with worn soles or shoes specified for activities other than running can cause soreness, blisters, severe joint pain, and other even more serious problems. Running shoes need to be switched out quite often and replaced once the wear and tear has kicked in.
Running, like any physical activity, can take some adjustment at the beginning but can be a great asset to your fitness plan!

Take Charge!

P.S. Want to: Learn the “Easy” way to get and stay in shape? Discover the secret to quick fat loss? How to exercise less and get better results? Discover the secret to ripped abs without doing endless crunches? Then be sure to get my “Amazing Fat Burning Formula” HERE.

P.P.S. If you like this post, and think it will help others, please help me help others by clicking on one of these “Share and Enjoy” links below.

Ahhh, rest. Makes you sigh just thinking about getting some right now, doesn’t it? As Americans we are chronically sleep deprived. We don’t sleep enough and our everyday performance suffers as a result. Why is it so important and why do we need to have the proper amounts in order for our bodies to function properly?
The National Sleep Foundation recently reported that, “Americans are living to work, not working to live; Foundation urges Americans to make time for sleep.” And from the results of their recent poll, it seems that most people don’t realize the consequences of being chronically sleep deprived. If you knew that sleeping more would make you healthier, allow you to perform in a safer way to avoid injuries, improve your memory, and allow greater body transformation success from your fitness plan, wouldn’t you sleep more?

In fact, a study – “Effects of Prolonged Wakefulness on Subjective Measures of Activation” – showed that energy and

Sleep deprivation can greatly hinder any visible progress from your fitness plan.

concentration decreased significantly, and tiredness rose in those that were chronically sleep deprived. If you have less energy and are more tired, this will certainly not help your body reshaping efforts. Plus it is only when you rest and sleep that your body recuperates from the efforts you have made in the gym and from your fitness plan. (Casagrande M, and Violani C, Bertini. “Effects of Prolonged Wakefulness on Subjective Measures of Activation” Department of Psychology – University of Rome)

You don’t gain muscle while in the gym but outside of it – the proper foods you eat and the rest and recuperation you allow cause the positive change to happen. Sleeping enough is also crucial for a biological reason. You may have heard of human growth hormone (HGH) mentioned as one of the wonder hormones your body produces, and how as young adults we have prodigious amounts of this substance. Indeed, HGH has been shown to be a veritable “fountain of youth.” Many of the physical changes associated with aging are linked to declining HGH levels. It is generally considered normal that as you age you get weaker, fatter, unhealthier, and you lose your energy and vitality. It is no coincidence that as we experience these changes, our levels of HGH decline as well. Recent studies show that HGH can counteract some typical age-related problems:

• Thin skin and skin wrinkles. HGH promotes and increases the synthesis of new collagen and protein tissue.
• Muscle wasting. HGH again promotes and increases the synthesis of new protein tissue.
• Abdominal fat. HGH is directly involved in the metabolism of fat. Injecting HGH directly into the abdominal   skin (which is the normal method of administering prescription HGH) results in localized and overall fat   loss.
• Poor Sleep. Results in less HGH being released.
• Decreased energy. The hormonal system is a potent metabolic regulator.
• Lessened Sexual performance. 40% of the participants of a recent HGH study reported increased libido.
• Weak bones. HGH’s positive effect on bone density is measurable.

HGH is released from your body in a pulsatile fashion. This means it is released in spurts at specific times during the day or night based upon circadian and external influences. The greatest amounts of HGH are released when you sleep. So, if you don’t sleep enough, or sleep fitfully, then you are not allowing your body to get the full benefits of HGH because the potential for it to be released is significantly diminished. Combine this with the fact that, even under normal sleeping conditions, your HGH output decreases as you age; it is no wonder that we all seem to have such a hard time losing fat as the years roll by. Two thirds of male HGH production occurs during deep sleep; while only one third of women’s HGH production occurs during this time, it is still a significant amount that should be maximized every chance you can get.

How important and effective is HGH? While there are very few cast-in-stone conclusions in any field of science, recent data and studies have shown that HGH seems to be a very powerful ally in your battle against fat and declining health as we age. A past “USA Today” article talked about the research on HGH and the growing fascination with this highly touted hormone. They reported that studies have shown that, as we age, we secrete less HGH. They found that aging is also highly correlated with declines in our deep sleep patterns. The studies found that the less deep sleep we got, the less growth hormone our bodies secreted.

University of Chicago researchers found that the first stage of age-related deterioration of sleep quality occurs between the ages of 25 and 45. These people sleep as long as younger people, but spend less time in restorative deep sleep (Journal of the American Medical Association). The same scientists found that the proportion of deep sleep drops from nearly 20% of a normal night’s sleep for those studied under 25 to less than 5% for those over 35. By age 45, few people spend any time at all in deep sleep.

Other studies of the elderly have linked HGH deficiency to increased obesity, loss of muscle mass, and reduced exercise capacity. One of the study’s directors, Eve Van Cauter, says, “We have no data to suggest that maintaining higher levels of growth hormone will increase longevity, but it could increase the healthy status for a longer period of time.” Thomas Roth, sleep medicine chief at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, calls Van Cauter’s report “very important” because it shows that the decline in deep sleep begins at a relatively young age and is strongly correlated with a drop in growth hormone levels.

Since deep sleep is so important to allowing maximal levels of HGH to be released naturally, what can we do about it? First, by exercising regularly and with concerted effort, we are naturally more tired and thus tend to fall asleep faster and more easily; we also tend tol sleep more deeply. This phenomenon, whereby deeper sleep increases your HGH output, is what I consider a freebie. No effort at all is required on your part to get better results from your fat loss efforts. The only thing you have to do is simply get a better night’s sleep. Knowing the importance of good rest, as you do now, please make sure you do everything in your power to get regular, deep, and restful sleep.

Take Charge!

P.S. Want to: Learn the “Easy” way to get and stay in shape? Discover the secret to quick fat loss? How to exercise less and get better results? Discover the secret to ripped abs without doing endless crunches? Then be sure to get my “Amazing Fat Burning Formula” HERE.

P.P.S. If you like this post, and think it will help others, please help me help others by clicking on one of these “Share and Enjoy” links below.

Lesson #9: Visualize

Visualizing success is an extremely effective and important part of a successful fitness plan. Consider, for a moment, my own story and the part that visualization played in helping me to achieve my results.   Do you think it helped me? I

Visualization plays a major role in creating an effective fitness plan and helps you keep on track when you face challenges on your journey towards optimal fitness.

guarantee you it did. And this was not a fluke: I’ve received many letters from others who have successfully used this technique of visualizing the physique they wanted. The funny thing is now the “visualizer” has become the “visualized.” Many have told me they now use my physique as the inspiration and ‘standard’ for the physique they want to achieve (except of course for the women).

In fact, visualization is now a standard athletic training technique for all competitive athletes.   Studies have found that using your mind to visualize a perfect golf swing, a perfectly timed jump, a targeted swing at a speeding tennis ball – whatever it happens to be that requires precise coordination combined with explosive body movements – improves the task almost as much as if one had spent hours in actual physical practice.

Why does this happen? Scientists have yet to pinpoint the actual reasons behind the success, though they admit that

studies show visualization works. In the same way that athletes improve their performance through visualization, so too can you improve your body transformation results.  By focusing, laser-like, on the image you are trying to get your body to accept as yours, you are more likely to achieve it.

These sessions of intense concentration cause tremendous synaptic firing of your brain cells as you “program” your brain to allow your body to change into the exact shape you want.  This technique will not enable you to visualize your physique to look like Arnold Schwarzennegger’s or Corey Everson’s without eating better or working out – it would be nice if it were that easy – but it will make a significant difference in your final results; visualization most definitely works.  Don’t be afraid to use this technique as part of your fitness plan:  remember, “What you can conceive, you can achieve.”

Take Charge!

P.S. Want to: Learn the “Easy” way to get and stay in shape? Discover the secret to quick fat loss? How to exercise less and get better results? Discover the secret to ripped abs without doing endless crunches? Then be sure to get my “Amazing Fat Burning Formula” HERE.

P.P.S. If you like this post, and think it will help others, please help me help others by clicking on one of these “Share and Enjoy” links below.P.S. Want to: Learn the “Easy” way to get and stay in shape? Discover the secret to quick fat loss? How to exercise less and get better results? Discover the secret to ripped abs without doing endless crunches? Then be sure to get my “Amazing Fat Burning Formula” HERE.

P.P.S. If you like this post, and think it will help others, please help me help others by clicking on one of these “Share and Enjoy” links below.