Lose Weight

Ah, the crisp cool breeze, the invigorating feel of the outdoors as the leaves start to turn colors, the sound of kids laughing on their way to school.

Fall is the time for new beginnings. New classes, new curriculum, new programs, new start. You’ve relaxed over the summer and now you’re ready to reach higher, push further.

You’re pumped. You’re excited about starting a new season. You’re ready to tackle new challenges.

There’s nothing like feeling the momentum of new beginnings. If you’ve been wanting to lose weight and get into amazing shape, why not use this momentum to your advantage?

Momentum is one of the most underrated factors in achieving a better body.

Momentum can give you what you need to start an exercise program, stick with it and reap major rewards.

As we all know, it’s very easy to do something when we feel excited about it. This is not a bad thing if you learn to use it.

This initial excitement does wear off eventually, but by the time it does, you could be so far ahead already, that maintenance is easy.

Why not use this initial excitement to kick-start your treadmill exercise program?

Plan a program that you can get excited about, something that will push you just beyond where you are at right now physically. Then go for it! Don’t wait until that excitement wears off. Do it! Live in the moment.

With that in mind, here are 3 steps to planning a treadmill exercise program that gets results:

1) Grab a journal or notebook and write down everything you want to achieve in vivid detail. How do you want to look? How do you want to feel? What would you like to fit into? etc.

Reread this vivid description at least once a day. By keeping in mind the end result, you’ll be highly motivated to push yourself further.

2) Start exercising and make notes on every workout session that you do. How long did you go? What was your perceived exertion? How many miles did you cover?

3) Review your workout session notes every week and then add something a little bit more challenging to the next week’s workout.

For example, if your average exercise time last week was 20 minutes - up your average time to 30 minutes. If your perceived exertion was 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 then up it to 7. Make these little adjustments every week and you will be progressing leaps and bounds towards your fitness goals!

Plus the inspiration you get from charting your progress will keep you going long after that initial momentum is fizzling out.

By following these steps and using the fall momentum to inspire you, starting a treadmill exercise program becomes both exciting AND easy. Learn to use momentum to your advantage and you’ll achieve more than you ever dreamed possible!

Kathryn O’Neill is chief editor for Treadmill Review, a consumer oriented website focusing on the home treadmill market.

For weekly best buys, sales and free treadmill brand reviews, go to http://www.TreadmillReview.net.

Share This

Treadmill walking is one of the easiest ways to get in shape and burn fat. In fact, mile for mile, you can burn as many calories walking as you would jogging. Walking is also one of the best stress relieving exercises and anyone can do it, regardless of fitness level.

Want to start a treadmill walking program? Here are 5 tips to help you get the most walking bang for your buck:

1) Get your arms pumping.

Bring your upper body into your workout by pumping your arms. This is an easy way to burn more calories while walking. If you want to tone up and use more arm muscle during your workout, try carrying 2 - 5 pound handweights.

Bonus Benefit: pumping your arms propels you forward and helps you move faster - which means more distance covered and more calories burned!

2) Build in incline intervals.

Walking on an incline is one of the fastest ways to drastically skyrocket your calorie burn. But you don’t have to spend your whole workout on an incline. Try building in 30 - 60 second intervals of incline walking on your treadmill every 5 to 10 minutes.

If you’re walking outside and can’t control your incline, try stopping every few minutes and doing 10 - 15 squats or lunges to tone your lower body.

Bonus Benefit: Building in intervals will also help your body continue to burn calories post-workout.

3) Increase your pace, not your stride

Got short legs? No problem! Instead of increasing your stride (and possibly pulling something), increase the number of steps you take. This also increases your speed which means more distance covered and more calories burned.

4) Invest in a pair of excellent walking shoes

Walking in poor shoes can cause damage to your feet, knees, hips, joints and back. Wear poor shoes and you may not be walking for a long time!

If you want to feel great after a walking workout (and be ready for the next one tomorrow), make sure you have the best possible walking shoes you can afford.

Bonus Benefit: A solid pair of walking shoes can actually help you lengthen the time that you walk, which again means more calories burned.

5) Take plenty of time to warm up and stretch to avoid injury.

Walking is one of the best exercises you can do for stress relief and long term fat loss. However there’s this little thing called shinsplints that can threaten to put you out of walking commission for a while.

Many walkers and runners struggle with this problem. This constant repetitive flexing of the shin muscle can create soreness when a walker increases their speed or distance.

To help ward off shin splints or other muscle injury, take plenty of time to warm up before you really get into your workout.

Also, make sure you stretch. Pointing and flexing your foot helps stretch and build the shin muscle. Ankle rotations also help with this. Stretching properly will definitely keep you happy and walking for a long time to come!

So there you have it - 5 essential walking exercise tips. Keep these in mind and you’re guaranteed to enjoy many stress-relieving, fat burning walks!

Kathryn O’Neill is a fitness specialist and contributing writer for Buying A Treadmill, a website that lays out exactly which feature you need to look for to find the best treadmill for you.

Visit http://www.BuyingATreadmill.com for more information.

Or for the latest 2005 Best Buys visit:http://www.buyingatreadmill.com/Best_Buys_2005.html

Share This

There is no denying it power walking techniques is a fantastic way to get into shape and then continue to keep fit. As I’m sure you can imagine you will not be moving at the speed that you would normally be attaining if you were running but it can still have significant advantages to your overall health and fitness.

One of the most advantageous benefits to power walking is that the amount of impact is greatly reduced as opposed to the amount that your joints can receive while running. Although running is a good exercise this amount of impact can damage your joints over an extended period of time. Power walking however does not have any significant level of impact by comparison. Because the feet are never both lifted from the ground of the same time your body weight is never brought down with the same level of force that it is while running and this can be a great benefit to the health of your joints.

Of course as with everything else you have to learn how to do it properly and acquiring a good knowledge of the correct power walking techniques is an ideal way to start. Power walking techniques are significantly different from normal walking and are designed to get the maximum forward momentum and give you as much speed as possible and thus the best exercise experience.

By using the correct power walking techniques you can actually achieve a speed far greater than many people can get to by running. Indeed you could actually, when a little bit more experienced and familiar with the techniques, find yourself overtaking many of the recreational runners in the park! Power walking is an extremely efficient way of exercising and allows you to make better use of your energy while lessening the possibility of an injury. It also does efficiently burn off a great many calories so if you are doing exercise to lose weight this is an ideal solution.

Power walking techniques are best applied by keeping your head up and level and not looking down, but ahead to where you are going so that you head does not drop at any time during the exercise motion. Your arms do need to be bent as you walking but do not be tempted to swing them wildly around in an attempt to gain further momentum. Instead, just move them gently and in a way that is comfortable and fits in with your walking. Your walking movement should come initially from the hip area so that it swings forward with the leg following and then straightening out. As you move forward you should apply energy to the back foot so that your forward momentum is maintained. Try your best not to take extra long steps, just use a stride that is natural to both the motion and the speed that you are going.

Of course it is not possible to really describe power walking techniques accurately and it is always better to learn by watching somebody do it and having them show you the correct technique. There is no great mystery to power walking techniques it is really just a question of practicing until it feels right to you.

Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Treadmill-Solutions.com. He provides more treadmill ratings, recommendations and information on what are the best treadmills that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

Share This