Exercise – How To Increase Your Endurance

We’ve all had that frustrating feeling of been working out for quite awhile, yet we’ve “hit a plateau” – and cannot seem to build up our endurance beyond a certain point. Here’s one way you can get beyond your plateau, and increase your endurance in your workouts.

First of all, if you’re looking to increase your weight lifting endurance – the best way to do that is by working on your cardio program. Improved cardiovascular fitness, whether done by running on a treadmill, riding an exercise bike, or workout out on a elliptical trainer, is an excellent way to improve your endurance during a resistance training workout.

When you put together your cardio training plan, divide it into three levels. The first level is your intense plan – this is where your training so hard, you can’t talk to anybody during your workout, even if you tried. The second level is your moderate level – this is where you could blurt out a few short words. And, the third level is your recovery level – this is where you could carry on a conversation while working out.

Next, plan your routines. Our plan is based on whether you do your cardio workouts once a week, twice a week, or three times a week. If you workout more than this for your cardio routine, just double up the routines – if you workout four times per week, take the 2x plan, and do it twice during the week.

• Once per week: Do the below “Intense” workout, then do 15 minutes at an easy pace.
• Twice per week: Do the “Intense” workout one day, the “Moderate” one the other day.
• Three times per week: Do “Intense” one day, “Moderate” the next, and “Recovery” the third.

The Workout:

• Intensive: Do an intensive workout of eight alternating sets of 1 minute at hard, 1 minute easy – without rest between sets.
• Moderate: Do five alternating sets of 3 minutes hard / 2 minutes medium without rest between sets.
• Recovery: 25 minutes at an easy pace
  

After a couple of weeks with this workout – you should start to see your endurance improve –both in your cardio workouts, as well as your weight training sessions. Have a great workout!

Fitness - The Best Way To Buy Exercise Equipment

by Bob Lachniet
President - Fitness 4 Home Superstore

So, whether your purchasing home exercise equipment for the first time, or your looking to add to the equipment you already have for your home gym, there’s always that problem of trying to figure out where to start. The best way to ensure you make the right purchase, is to have a plan for finding the equipment that best suits your needs – and we have some suggestions on how best to do that.

1. Determine your fitness goals. Like to run? Want to build muscle? Determine if you are looking to build strength and muscle mass, or just loose weight and firm up, as this will help you to narrow down the types of equipment you should consider.

2. Assess your experience. If you’ve been a regular exerciser in the past, that helps. If you’re not that experienced, you might be a bit confused as to what type of equipment you’re most comfortable with. This is where a specialty dealer has a significant advantage over the “big box” stores. Specialty dealers like Fitness 4 Home Superstore can help you assess your goals and experience, and recommend the types of home fitness equipment that will best fit your fitness needs.

3. Determine where you would put your equipment, and how much room you have for it. Make sure that what your planning on purchasing will fit the space you have - and for help determining if the equipment your looking at will fit, Fitness 4 Home Superstore can help!

4. Determine your equipment needs. Once you know what you want to accomplish, your comfort level and dedication for an exercise program, and where you’d put it – now you can think about the equipment you’d want. Remember one thing, though. Whether it’s a treadmill, cross trainer / elliptical, exercise bicycle, or home gym – keep your choices focused on what you really need to make exercise a healthy, permanent habit!

Once you have an idea of what you want before you go shopping, you’re less likely to make a premature decision. Plus, when you’re ready to shop, you’re best served by considering a specialty dealer rather than a big-box store. For more information on why, click here.

With a solid purchasing plan, you’ll be better prepared to find those sales & bargains that can help you find the equipment you need – at the price you can afford!!

Exercise - Ignite Your Metabolism!

The harder you work out, and the closer you come to achieving the leanness you're looking for...the harder it seems to be to loose the last bit of fat you're looking to burn off. As frustrating as it is to try to loose weight, keep in mind that this is your body's way of self-preservation - your body is designed to protect your fuel reserves from running too low, just in case food becomes scarce. This was a nice biological feature in the past, but here in the 21st century, this "feature" is hardly necessary! How do you get around this problem? By igniting your metabolism! Here's some ways to make that happen!

1. Skip the long runs. Distance running doesn't enhance your fat-burning. It's much more effective to do short sprints of thirty seconds, interspersed with a slow jog.

2. As time goes on, the same amound of activity burns fewer calories - your body adapts to your level of work, causing you to keep "upping" the workout to achieve the results you were having before. For example, University of California at Berkley scientists found that to avoid age-related weight gain, runners needed to "up" their weekly mileage by 1.7 miles each year. So, think beyond your last workout - and think about what you can do on your next!

3 When weight training, do eight to 15 repititions of each set. This stimulates an increase in fat-burning hormones, compared to less or more rep's. Just make sure you use weights that challenge you. If you do eight repititions with a weight you could do 15 rep's with - you're not having an effective workout. Try to give 90 to 100 persent of your full effort for any given repitition range. If you struggle on your last repitition - you're in the zone!

4. Do two to four sets of each exercise. Yes, the more you do, the better...but only up to a point. Beyond 4 sets, you might be increasing your strength, but for fat burning, the extra sets above 4 don't really help! So, start with two sets as you start working out, and work up to four as your conditioning improves.

5. Keep your rest periods between sets no more than 75 seconds. Keeping your rest periods shorter builds lactate in your blodstream - and high lactate levels are associated with an increase in the release of fat-burning hormones. Resting too long lets your body process out the lactate in your bloodstream, negating the positive benefits.

6. Lift slow, not fast - and alternate between two exercises. Taking your time puts the stress on your muscles (which burn fuel) and off your tendons (which not only don't burn fat, but also can become injured from that stress). And, follow with a set that works a different muscle group. Not only does this help you limit your rest periods (keeping your lactate levels high), but also helps you offset fatigue!

7. Work your whole body. Work multiple muscles, rather than isolate specific muscle groups. And, the bigger / more muscles you work, the greater the benefit. For example - doing squats will elevate your metabolism far better than working your biceps - and working all your muscle groups in a workouut means more muscles burning fuel. And, as your muscles keep burning fuel even after a workout - up to 39 hours afterword! Plus, a University of Wisconsin study found that doing a full-body workout with just three big-muscle exercises (bench press, power clean, and squat) - you'll burn a greater percentage of calories from fat compared with only targeting a couple of small muscle groups.