Author: Steven Stratton

You made your resolution to get in shape, you have even found an exercise program that you like, but where exactly do you start? One of the first things that you should do is to find out what your current fitness level is. This is important, because you want to make sure that you increase at a healthy rate to prevent injury. There are several ways to test your fitness level.

Upper Body Strength
A great way to test upper body strength is by using the push-up. Men should use the traditional military style push-up, while women can use the bent-knee position. To perform the test, do as many push-ups as you can, and count them as you are going. The average number of push-ups is listed below:
WomenMen
Age 20-29: 17-33Age 20-29: 35-44
Age 30-39: 12-24Age 30-39: 24-34
Age 40-49: 8-19Age 40-49: 20-29
Age 50-59: 6-14Age 50-59: 15-24
Age 60+:   3-4    Age 60+:   10-19

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Author: Steven Stratton

Shaun T’s new workout has been highly anticipated for quite some time now, and it has finally arrived! Insanity with Shaun T will definitely be the workout that will change people’s lives. The Insanity workout will help you conquer the battle in your mind, so you can maximize your results and push your body to reach fitness levels you never thought possible for yourself.

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Author: John Philip

Often times middle-age people avoid riding a bicycle because they claim that it hurts to ride. While this may be the case for some people because of health issues, for healthy individuals, riding a bike should not be painful. If you find cycling painful, it’s quite likely that you are riding a bicycle that is the wrong size for you.

The most common types of pain that are often associated with cycling include back pain and knee pain. For those suffering from back pain, improving posture is one of the best things that you can do to alleviate the pain. Your back should be properly arched in order to make pedaling easier and allow for some flexibility when going over bumps. Some people feel that modifying their bike in order to make the handlebars higher is the solution, but this does not actually work well. It may allow you to sit upright, but bumps in the road will cause the vertebrae to hit one another, causing back pain. High handlebars also make it hard to ride any faster than a fast walking speed. Study proper posture and consult a professional if it becomes a problem for you and you should be able to ride without back pain.

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Author: John Philip

With so many different machines out there in the gyms across the country, many people tend to forget about the easiest, cheapest, and the best way to get into shape. A cycle exercise, such as riding your bike, is a great fitness routine to get into. Health should be the number one priority for people because there is nothing more important. The healthier you are the more you will get out of life in the end.

One of the most obvious benefits to cycle exercising is that of getting out into the world and enjoying the scenery while getting all of that fresh air. Breathing that clean air is another thing that is excellent for your health. Instead of staring at the same four walls at the gym and smelling all of that stale sweat, you could be watching the blue skies and getting all of the fresh air you could ever want.

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Author: Marcus Peter

There is no debating the fact that cycling is perhaps one of the best ways to commute smaller distances considering the health and environmental benefits it offers. We all know that cycles produce no carbon dioxide or other harmful emissions, are easy to park, produce no noise, are easy to maintain and can help rev up your health. But apart from these obvious advantages there are many other far-reaching benefits that cycling has to offer. Let’s look at a few of them here.

1.) Biking burns calories: It does not take gas to run a bike. The only fuel that cycling burns is your own calories! The more you ride your bike the more calories you burn and the more fuel you save. This directly helps you save more. So if you look at it, the benefits here are three fold. You save money, improve your health and help the environment at the same time.

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Author: G. Jones

Building muscle with pushups is the most basic, easiest way to start building upper body muscles quickly. For those of you who dont have time to go the gym, or even if you just love to do calisthenics you know you can always benefit from pushups. Building muscle with pushups is one of the oldest ways to gain muscle yet its also one of the best ways to gain muscle.

There are a variety of pushups you can do to get your chest, shoulders, and triceps busting out of your t-shirt! Even your biceps are hit to a certain extent but not as much as the other muscles. Incorporating these different types of pushups in your workout can have a huge positive effect on the muscular development of your upper body. For example, you can start  building muscle with pushups  by starting with a set of 20 normal pushups, then 15 diamonds and 15 inclines with no rest in-between. Imagine the intense burn a workout like that can have on your upper body! (Change those rep numbers according to your physical ability of course.)

Try These…

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Author: Eddie Lomax

Push ups are one of the classic bodyweight exercises.  Every bodyweight training program I know of uses push ups in one form or another.  As a result, the ability to perform a proper push up, for high repetitions is a fitness milestone in bodyweight training.

But there is more to this classic bodyweight exercise than high repetitions and bragging rights.  As a matter of fact, some people get so caught up in high repetitions that they forgo [forget] proper form, reducing the strength and endurance gains, and increasing the risk of injury.  In this article I’ll reveal an alternative to high repetition push ups.

But first, what is a proper push up?

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Author: Healing Headquarters LLC

Today we hear the word diet much more than we hear the word nutrition. There are so many diets on the market that it’s easy to get lost in the fad and forget what nutrition truly is. There is the Atkins Diet, the Zone Diet, Weight Watchers and many others, from Slim Fast to the various one-food diets, such as the cabbage soup diet or the grapefruit diet. Society has become fixated on the ‘diet’, instead of quality nutrition. Unfortunately, this fixation isn’t working. America is the fattest nation in the world, with high rates of diabetes, heart disease and other life threatening illnesses. While diets are becoming more popular, nutrition is suffering.

What is a diet?

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Author: Jim Atilson

Some subjects are too confusing and harder to understand, such as; Math, Chemistry, Biology, and in the case of bodybuilding, Nutrition. There is more to bodybuilding and building muscle than just lifting weights. A very important part of the process of gaining muscle, along with sufficient rest, is Bodybuilding Nutrition. Fortunately, to achieve your fitness and weight lifting goals, you do not need a degree in Nutrition. Instead, all you need is to have an open mind and willingness to learn as much as you can about it. Now, lets go ahead get started with the basics of bodybuilding nutrition.

Most people use the terms Nutrition and Supplements interchangeably. They assume that by using over-the-counter supplements their nutritional needs will be taken care of. Nothing is farther from the truth. There is a big difference between bodybuilding nutrition and supplements. In addition, supplements should be used very sparingly, if not at all. However the topic of supplement use is a totally different one all together.

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Author: Tk Healey

Ever heard of rebounding? Rebounding is a fun way to get great exercise using small controlled movements on a mini trampoline. By using a small trampoline and following a rebounding video, people of all ages can exercise on a rebounder. Rebounding is safe because your feet barely leave the surface and a stabilizing bar can be added which will help if you feel unsteady.

There are different types of rebounders on the market and some even fold for easy storage. Because of the size of these mini trampolines they can be used in your home or even easily transported to your office. Rebounding has been taking up in some of your most popular commercial gyms.

There are a vast selection of videos to keep your rebounding workout exciting and new. There are special routines for people of all ages to make it more enjoyable. Some examples of rebounding workouts include first timers, basic, seniors, sports specific, dance, ballet, hip hop, Latin, core, yoga, abdominal, stretch and many other routines.  You will never get bored with so many videos to choose from.

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