Site Navigation

• Home
• Sitemap
• Healthy Sites
• Privacy Policy

Exercise Equipment

• Home
• Cardiovascular Equipment
•   Other Cardiovascular Equip

Exercise Equipment Deals

Exercise Equipment Tips

The more you want to use it, the more we would recommend that you go for high quality treadmills.

When you understand the basics of a quality treadmill, then it will be easy to find one that is perfect for your home and budget.

Long or short workouts determine the quality of motor you need for your treadmill.

I usually end my treadmill routine with about 15 minutes of quality stretching.

Researches have shown, that during exercising most people forget to breath deeply or they are unable to integrate their breathing pattern with the exercises causing them muscle pain and fatigue after the workout.

Vote in This Week's Poll: What confuses you the most about exercise?
If you don't know what you're doing, exercise can be a confusing prospect. Case in point, I've been getting emails from one confused beginner for years, asking questions about different aspects of training. In all this time, he's been so paralyzed by indecision and so afraid of doing the wrong thing that he hasn't actually started exercising yet.

That's an extreme case, but I've worked with other clients who've been just as confused and ended up doing what, to them, made the most sense. One client wanted to tone her backside and did more than 100 squats every day, something that might have caused injuries and overtraining symptoms over time. Another client's workout involved doing 200 crunches every day to get flat abs, never realizing that he could've been using his energy in a more effective way.

I'm curious about you. What confuses you the most about exercise? Do you struggle to figure out how much to exercise or how to fit everything into your schedule? Maybe you're not sure about the best strength exercises to do or how hard you should be working. Vote in this week's poll and leave a comment telling us about your exercise confusion.

Vote in This Week's Poll: What confuses you the most about exercise? originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Monday, July 19th, 2010 at 05:00:29.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Weight Loss Backlash
When you lose weight, you probably expect, or at least want, people to be supportive and complimentary. It's nice to hear things like, "Wow, you look amazing!" or "You look so good, I kind of hate you!"

Unfortunately, not everyone will respond to your weight loss in a positive way. They may be jealous or they may be a little confused if your appearance has changed dramatically. They may not even realize they're not being supportive, but whatever the case, it's possible you'll get one or more of the following reactions to your weight loss:

• The backhanded compliment - "You look great! Wow, you must have lost a ton of weight." This person may not realize they've just suggested you once looked like a big fat cow.
• The behind-the-back gossip-fest - Some people may say nice things to your face, but then talk about you behind your back. This situation happened at a job I once had when a woman opted for gastric bypass surgery. Some people in the office decided this was 'cheating' and that this somehow meant the woman was less successful. The woman inevitably heard about the gossip and felt so bad, she ended up finding another job.
• The weight loss monitor - Then there's the person who watches every move you make and says things like, "Should you be eating that many carbs?" or "If you don't watch it, you'll put all that weight right back on." That person may be a busybody, or he or she may genuinely think that kind of advice is helpful but, either way, it can drive you crazy.
• The saboteur - "You're so skinny! You should put on more weight." Now, this type of comment isn't always meant in a negative way. To some people, you may look too thin - or, it could be that you are too thin and people are concerned. However, sometimes this reaction comes from jealousy and it can be frustrating when you feel like you have to defend yourself.

Exercises of the Week - Work Your Hamstrings
I've talked about the importance of strong quads before, but strong hamstrings are also important for keeping you injury free. In fact, many lower body injuries we experience, from knee pain to muscle pulls, are often due to an imbalance between the hamstrings and quads. It's not hard to see why the quads are sometimes stronger than the hamstrings when you think of the exercises we do on a regular basis. Squats, lunges and step ups are very quad-intensive, leaving your poor hamstrings neglected, a serious exercise crime that could lead to jail time.

Giving your hamstrings some regular love will keep them strong and fit enough to support your knees and make it less likely that you'll pull a hamstring muscle, which is painful and frustrating. I've highlighted three of my favorite hamstring exercises, but feel free to leave a comment telling us your favorite hamstring exercises as well.

Deadlifts

Deadlifts are my all-time favorite for working the hamstrings, glutes and lower back. If you're new to this move, use a light weight at first because your lower back will need time to build strength for this move. You'll also want to perfect your form, working to keep the shoulders back and the back flat throughout the exercise.

One-Legged Deadlifts

Vote in This Week's Poll: What dieting mistakes are you guilty of?
Do you ever feel guilty when you eat? I ask this because I got an email from a young reader struggling with her weight. She mentioned watching her diet to the point of feeling guilty every time she ate anything and I know many of us can sympathize. We know we should eat fewer calories, but that often spirals into extremes - skipping meals, monitoring every bite and, sometimes, feeling guilty for eating at all.

The problem is, those behaviors often backfire. When you skip meals, you're so starved by the time the next meal comes around that you go out thinking, "I really should have that grilled chicken salad, but I may just die if I don't get the double cheeseburger."

Many of us have grown up with the idea of three meals a day, so the thought of eating more often may be completely foreign. However, that's often the best way to keep your cravings in check and keep your blood sugar levels from taking a nosedive, which leads to horrible decision making and the mistaken belief that a cheeseburger is necessary to continue to live. In fact, there are some specific mistakes that often lead to overeating such as:

• Skipping breakfast - This isn't news to most of us, but it still holds true that people who eat breakfast tend to eat fewer calories throughout the day than people who skip it.
• Eating too much later in the day - Skipping meals makes us ravenous, to the point where our willpower is pretty much non-existent. Staggering your meals throughout the day can help you avoid overeating.
• Failing to plan - Consistent meals are also important for weight loss. If you eat at irregular intervals, you may end up eating more than you think.

Fit Fact: Women Have a Different Heart Rate Response to Exercise
It's taken the medical and fitness world some time to figure out that women aren't just small men (and if they'd just read "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus," they would've known that) but they are getting there. We know that women's bodies work differently from men's - woman have different heart attack symptoms, they tend to lose weight differently and they also have a different response to exercise.

In a recent study experts decided to ask an important question - are the heart rate formulas we use, largely based on men, accurate for women?

The answer: Not really. After some study, they realized that the traditional formula used to calculate maximum heart rate, (220-age or the updated version, 206.9 - (0.67 x age)) actually overestimated maximum heart rate for women.

With this information, experts have come up with a new formula to calculate maximum heart rate for women. 206 - (.88 x age) = MHR

Now, the experts in this study were actually more interested in finding an accurate peak heart rate for women in order to predict future health and to make sure women recovering from heart problems were given the right exercise intensity to recuperate. If the numbers were too high (as the experts suggest in this study), they might be doing women more harm than good by trying to make them work too hard.

Now, I've always promised there would be no math on this blog, but I lied, so bear with me. Let's take a look at how target heart rate zones would be different using the new max heart rate formula along with the karvonen formula. Say you're a 49 year old woman with a resting heart rate (RHR) of 65:

Old Formula

206.9 - (0.67 x 49) = 174
174 - 65 (RHR) = 109
109 * 65% (low end of heart rate zone) OR 85% (high end) = 71 (65%) or 93 (85%)
71 + 65 (RHR) = 136
93 + 65 (RHR) = 158
The target heart rate zone for this person would be 136-158 beats per minute.

New Formula

206 - (.88 x 49) = 163
163 - 65 (RHR) = 98
98 * 65% (low end of heart rate zone) OR 85% (high end) = 64 (65%) or 83 (85%)
64 + 65 (RHR) = 129
83 + 65 (RHR) = 148
The target heart rate zone for this person would be 129-148 beats per minute.

You can see how different these numbers are and this suggests that some women may be struggling to get to a certain intensity, not because they're not in shape, but because their max heart rate has been overestimated.

So, what about you? How does this formula change your numbers and do you think it's more accurate? How heavily do you rely on calculations like this anyway? Leave a comment and tell us about it.

_Source:

Copyright © 2010 Home Gym & Exercise Equipment