That's Fit

I don't know about you, but when I set out to drop some weight, I don't mind working extra hard for a defined period of time. I know, I know -- it should be a life choice, but the fact of the matter is that, while I can hit the gym six or seven days a week for several weeks, most of the time I'm more likely to get there five days, and sometimes less. So, when I received a copy of The Six-Week Bikini Countdown, I was stoked -- I can totally stick with a program for a month and a half!

The book, by Karon Karter (host of Pilates from the Inside Out) has some really good features. Each week has cardio, weight-training, and Pilates incorporated for a well-rounded workout.

Some of the workouts aren't too hard -- the first week, I found myself adding intensity to the cardio and doing extras on the weights. However, Week Two was harder, and by Week Three, I was working really hard. However, I tend to work hard at the gym anyway -- this book would be extremely challenging for someone brand new to fitness.

If you're busting your tail in the gym, but the pounds keep sticking around, you're probably wondering why. If you're eating as healthy as you can, but your bulging waistline serves as no indication of your effort, you're probably wondering why. And if you're doing both of these things and more, you're probably ready to punch a hole in the wall and scream at the top of your lungs: "Why am I not losing any freakin' weight?!!!"

Okay ... calm down. Everything is going to be just fine, I promise. Tell you what, why don't you take a second to let your blood at least reduce from a boil to a simmer and then we'll start to deconstruct your approach and, as best, we can come up with a solution. To help us in this endeavor, we'll refer to a recent article published in the current issue of Maximum Fitness magazine, which is aptly titled 6 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight.

For the next six days, I'll offer one of the tips in the order that they appear in the Maximum Fitness magazine article. So, you can either wait to read them day by day or, if you don't have that kind of patience, you can run out to the bookstore and pick up a copy of the magazine. Your call. Either way, we're going to get to the bottom of all this and find out what's keeping the numbers on your scale from getting any lower.

Possible Reason #6: Your Exercise Program is Imbalanced. To maximize results from your weight loss and fitness efforts, it's best to follow a program that covers all the bases. Resistance training is a great way to build lean muscle and reduce fat, but it may not be enough by itself to produce the results you're looking for. Therefore, be sure to also include regular cardio sessions and spend some time stretching as well. The same logic applies for doing cardio by itself; you will drop pounds, but not as fast as you would if you also weight train. The solution? Take a moment to reevaluate your workout. Be sure to include both resistance training and cardio sessions throughout the week. And, if you opt to do them both in the same day, perform your weight training first and then finish with your cardio.

Well, that concludes this six-post series. I hope it was some help. For more diet and fitness tips to help you kick-start your weight loss, join us for AOL Body's America Takes It Off!

As both men and women age, a decrease in bone density typically occurs. Strength training and a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D can help slow down this process, but nothing can prevent it entirely. Making matters worse for women, according to an article in Women's Health magazine, is the use of oral contraceptives.

Citing a study published in the journal Osteoporosis International, the article points out the potential link between the Pill and a lower degree of bone mineral density. Based on the study, study subjects who had been on birth control pills for an average of 3.5 years had three percent less bone density at the spine and two percent less at the hips.

Researchers aren't sure what causes the Pill to have this effect, but they stress the importance of getting at least 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day and following a resistance training exercise program to help keep bones strong.

We generally don't think too much about our lower back until it suddenly starts to hurt. When it comes to areas of the body that we tend to focus on in the gym, very seldom are we psyched about the killer lower back workout we just finished. But, if your goal is to build a healthy and fit body, you're doing yourself a disservice -- and potentially risking injury -- by neglecting to target this area, too.

The lower back is an important stabilizing muscle group, which is called upon during many other exercises (not to mention simply keeping you standing upright). Still, to prevent a muscular imbalance, try implementing at least one of the following exercises (clicking on each will bring you to a video demonstration that I managed to track down) into your resistance training workouts:

• Good Mornings
• Seated Row
• Hyperextensions
• Supermans
• Deadlifts

One word of caution: Use extra care when performing lower back exercises. As you may have found out in the past while lifting a heavy box or piece of furniture, if you do not use proper form, it may result in injury.

If any of you guys out there (or girls -- I apologize for being so presumptuous) want arms shaped like pythons that swallowed a pig, then you need to make sure you're using proper lifting form. Since bicep curls are a favorite arm exercise among lifters, we'll start with one of the best moves you can do: the barbell curl.

Holding a barbell, start with your hands at around shoulder-width apart, palms facing up. Then, lower the bar until it is just in front of your thighs. Be sure to keep your elbows tucked in tightly against your body, as allowing them to flare out will place too much stress on your wrists. Keeping your back straight and abs drawn in, curl the bar up in a semi-circular motion until your forearms touch your biceps. Throughout the motion, be sure to keep your head facing forward. Tilting it down or to the side to look at your biceps can not only strain your neck muscles, but it will also make you look like kind of a tool for admiring yourself (besides, that's what the mirrors are there for).

The barbell curl is a great way to give you strong and dense biceps. However, it's worth knowing that the size of your arms actually has more to do with your triceps than it does your biceps. So, for maximum results, be sure to also incorporate such moves as push-downs, dips, and skull crushers into your arm workouts.

The number of new benefits related to strength training never ceases to amaze me. Once considered to be a workout relegated for the guy who no longer wanted to get sand kicked in his face at the beach, weight lifting has grown to become a doctor recommended way to maintain health. Serving as a testament to this is the discovery that strength training improves insulin sensitivity.

In a back issue of the Journal of Endocrinology Metabolism, French researchers published data suggesting that resistance training may fight against inflammation in internal tissues and organs. Specifically, they found that it improves insulin sensitivity and blood sugar metabolism without any effect on C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation. What's more, not only does this help to prevent diabetes, it appears as though weight training's effect ability to fight inflammation can also aid in the fight against cancer and coronary artery disease.

In a related study, researchers from the University of Southern California studied weight training's effect on insulin Resistance and body fat in Latino boys aged 14-17. They found that 16 weeks of strength training improved insulin resistance, reduced body fat and increased lean body mass by 91 percent.

Does your upper body look like an upside-down muffin? Well, if you have the interest in getting rid of that paunch around your waist, you would do well to begin a strength training workout.

Proper diet is an extremely vital component of weight loss and total health, just as cardiovascular training plays a large role in both. However, far too many people are missing out on the fat-burning and muscle toning effects of resistance training, mostly because they still subscribe to the arcane belief that lifting weights will instantly turn you into a bodybuilder.

If you're still hestiant to try resistance training, perhaps the results of a recent University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study will help sway you a bit. Researchers found that when women ages 25 to 44 strength trained for 45 minutes twice a week for one year, they shed 4 percent of their total body fat -- much of which came from their midsection. And guess what? These dramatic body changes occurred without any dieting whatsoever.

When you begin weight training, you gain muscle and lose body fat at roughly the same rate, so initially you may not see a difference in your weight -- or you may even be surprised to find that your weight may go up a bit -- even though your body really is changing.

Don't be afraid: Gaining muscle is a good thing, it burns more calories than fat does, which will boost your metabolism and help you continue to lose weight and stay slim.

Rather than measuring your success by the number on the scale (which 99.9 percent of us do -- myself included at times), a better gauge is to go by how your clothes fit. After a few weeks, you'll probably find that they're looser than before -- even if you haven't lost much actual weight -- because even though you're replacing fat with muscle, muscle is more compact taking up about 25 percent less space, pound for pound.

So don't let the scale fool you, instead let your jeans be your guide and keep on lifting weights.

There are several great fitness calculators available online, many of which can be accessed right here on That's Fit. Some can provide you with a fairly accurate estimation of your BMI, while others can approximate how many calories you burned performing a particular exercise in a given amount of time. Hell, there are even some that can determine if you are overstressed (although you probably don't need a calculator for that one in the first place).

One of my favorite calculator tool helps determine what your One Rep Max will likely be on an exercise. For example, if you can bench press 225 pounds for 5 reps, then your estimated 1RM is 253 pounds. Is it accurate? Maybe not precisely, but it's probably pretty close. This same calculator can also be used to quickly figure out a certain percentage of your 1RM. So, if your 1RM is 253 pounds, then 50-percent of that is 127 pounds. Granted, you could have easily figured that one out in your head, but what if you wanted to know what 65-percent of your 1RM is? Not so easy that time, is it, Einstein?

Knowing what your One Rep Max is on an exercise is an important part of designing the right resistance training program for yourself. It will help ensure that the weight you are lifting is neither too heavy -- leading to the increased risk of injury, nor too light -- causing workouts to be less effective than they potentially could be.

Interested in knowing what your 1RM might be? If so, click HERE.

Are you having trouble sticking to your goal? You're not alone, and although there are many possible reasons why consider if it's because the goal you're trying to stick to is unrealistic or unclear in some way. Often people set their goals too low (motivation is an issue), too high (risking disappointment), or they aren't specific enough with how they're going to measure it. But understanding different fitness benchmarks, and using them to focus and measure your goals, can fix all that and give you both clear direction and clear ways to mark your progress. It's hard to know where you're going if you don't know where you're starting from!

Use these benchmarks to set you're starting point, and your finish line:

• Heart Rate A great way to measure your physical fitness level and cardiovascular health is to keep track of your heart rate -- hence all the heart rate monitors on the market these days. You want to aim to be at around 50% of your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age) when you're first getting started, and work your way up to 75% as your fitness level increases.
  

Probably not, but depending on what your goals are you might. And although they're intimidating for most people (no, taking them won't balloon you up like the Arnold Schwarzenegger of old) they really aren't that complicated. Buying muscle-building supplements is just like anything else health related: it's all about assessing your lifestyle and reading labels.

The most common supplements used for building muscle mass include creatinine, sports drinks, and whey protein. Creatinine is found in the body naturally and is used to fuel short bursts of intense activity, sports drinks provide a good balance of energy and protein, and whey protein is great for post-workout muscle repair. Read this article for more tips on how and where to start if you're considering supplements for your workout, and there's also a list of the best supplements to consider.

I hear this often from women: "I want to weight train, but I'm nervous about bulking up." I'm here to tell you, honey, the chances are slim that you'll get big rippling muscles unless you also do lots of steroids. Women just don't have the testosterone for it. In fact, you might need to worry about whether you are lifting enough. A study of college students at Ohio State University showed that women, when left to their own strength training devices, typically chose weights at 50 percent of their max capacity, which isn't even close to the 75 percent you should be pumping. And women who were given a regimen using weights at 75 percent reported that the program was too hard. So while guys in the gym might be adding pounds to the bicep curl, many women are probably just, well, barely making it worth their while.

This is a drag, because you need sufficient weight to really get the benefits of muscular fitness and bone density. Bone density is crucial in the prevention of osteoporosis. Here's one way to tell if you aren't pumping enough iron: can you do three sets of ten to twelve reps of an exercise with relative ease? If so, add weight, baby. At least the last few reps of the second and third set should be hard to complete.

Most expert will tell you that there's not getting rid of cellulite once you've got it. But that's all a bunch of hogwash, according to certified trainer Joyce Verdal, PhD, who weighs in on the subject on this eDiets article.

The truth, according to Verdal, is that cellulite can be a thing of the past, but it takes lots of hard work. Those creams that promise results will only work at draining your wallet -- blasting cellulite comes down to exercise, particularly weight training, and eating right.

And for those who are lucky enough to be cellulite-free (for now, at least), there are a number of steps you can take to avoid getting it, including flushing toxins from your body. For more information, check out the article.

Weight training is an important part of a healthy fitness routine -- it's not just for bodybuilders anymore. And while most people trying to lose weight will stick to cardio, weight training is just as important because it can boost your metabolism and help you tone those flabby bits that you find so embarrassing. But there's a fine line between weight training effectively and wasting your time in the gym. Here are some tips from eDiets:

• Make a specific goal, be it toning, building muscle or increasing energy
• Vary your routine every few weeks.This doesn't mean any big changes -- just change the order of your exercises
• Vary the amount of reps in your sets
  
• Vary the weight you're using
  
• Vary the tempo of reps
• Vary the wait time between sets

For a more in-depth look at the proper way to keep your weight-training routine challenging, check out the full article from eDiets.

Strength and resistance training is known to be good for your cardiovascular system and body in general, and the American Heart Association has just released new and updated information on exactly how. For those looking to cash in on the those benefits and are just getting started here are the latest recommendations:

• Use rhythmical, controlled movements at a slow or moderate speed
• Exhale on the effort and inhale on the return
• Avoid holding your breath and ensure full range of motion
• Choose age and health appropriate weight, number of repetitions, exercises, etc
• Start out with no more than 1 set twice per week
• Involve the major muscle groups of both the upper and lower body

Keep in contact with your doctor when you're getting started, and be careful not to overdo it -- your muscles need time to adjust to the new activity.