Fitness Made Simple

Everybody understands push ups and sit-ups. They’re simple, straightforward exercises. But to get a shapely and fit looking body you need to get beyond the more simpler of exercises and put more of your muscles to work. Dieting can only take you half way through to your goal. The rest has to come from exercises that will burn fat and build stronger muscles.

One good exercise that can be easily performed at home by anyone, is the squat thrusts. In order to perform squat thrusts, you have to put your hands on the floor, shoulder width apart, with the legs stretched, just like in the normal push up position. From this position, you must bring both legs forward, underneath your torso, by bending the knees and thrusting forward. The third step is to return your legs to the original position with the same quick, powerful movements.

This exercise can be performed by bringing the right leg forward, in a position that resembles that of a runner at the start line. Then, thrust both legs simultaneously, the right leg going back and the left leg coming forward to replace the right one. Then thrust again, bringing the right leg forward and pushing the left leg back.

This exercise is meant to work out the glutes, the hamstrings and the quads, with some benefits for the triceps. Be careful not to trip and fall and make sure your hands are firmly keeping the whole body in the correct position. Perform between 15-20 reps every workout session and you’ll be showing some great legs to anyone who cares to look. The opposite sex is impressed by muscular legs and asses and you don’t need me to tell you how men feel about women with good-looking legs.

Remember that exercises must be helped by keeping a close eye on your food intake. Junk food, sodas and snacks have to go. Fruits, vegetables and other
nutritional foods must take their place.

Push ups

What’s the oldest trick in the big book of fitness exercises? It’s the push ups. It’s extremely simple and extremely effective. So, if you want those bulging pectorals, get down and give me 20!

Push ups are a great exercise that can be performed anywhere. The basic push up is performed lying face down on the floor and then raising and lowering the body using just the arms. Push ups are meant to strengthen the pectrals, triceps and, to some extent, the deltoids, but are also good as core body strength exercises.

If you really want to put pressure on your shoulder and chest muscles you can try the press ups, which are the military or athletic version of the push ups. Press ups are performed with the back and legs straight and off the floor. If you are at home, you can put your feet on a low chair or armchair. If you’re in the park, you can use a bench to prop up your feet. Try not to raise your legs too high above the shoulder line.

Other variations include push ups performed using just four fingers at each hand, using only one hand, clapping the hands (requires strong pushes that raise the body higher than usual), or pressing against a wall instead of using the floor (the farther your feet are from the wall, the harder the exercise). Take care not to injure yourself while performing some of the more exotic variations.

If you’re an overweight person looking to get back into shape, you should not avoid push ups, but should start off slow. This exercise can teach you something about carrying your own weight.

Sit-ups

Getting up in the morning and going straight to work or other chores can be a bore. There are days when one simply doesn’t feel like getting out of bed. This is where exercising can actually help you with a kick start. A quick workout session at the beginning of the day can do wonders for your health, especially if you’re also trying to lose weight.

Sit-ups are one of the most basic exercises that can be performed at home. To perform sit-ups, you need to lie on your back on the floor and bend your knees at a 90 degree angle. Then sit up without moving your legs at all. It is very important not to use your leg muscles to balance the body, compensate or supplement the effort made by the abdominal muscles or you will get no benefit from this exercise.

You may want to perform the exercise on a workout mat or pad in order to make it easier on your back. Some people find it uncomfortable when the lower back bones press into a hardwood floor, which is why workout mats are recommended.

However, if you want sit-ups to be fully effective, you should couple them with generic cardio exercises, such as running, which will lower the overall body fat and leave the abs exposed. If you experience lower back pain, you should stop performing sit-ups and settle for crunches or other exercises that do not involve lower back movement.

This exercise will help you get those cool looking abdominals that everybody wants to show off. Today, both men and women are eager to acquire that “tough to the core” look that a well defined six-pack gives. It’s a sign of a body kept well in hand and of a strong will behind it.

Stair Sprinting

Anybody can lose weight; it’s no big deal. You only have to be careful about the food you eat and to make more effort than you usually do. Dieting doesn’t have to mean food deprivation and money spent on gym memberships. You can keep your body in shape with simple exercises that do not require gym equipment or professional advice and supervision.

A simple exercise that anybody can perform at home or the park is called Stair Sprinting. The name is pretty self explanatory. All you have to do is run up and down the stairs between several floors; the more floors, the better off you’ll be.

It’s a good idea to start small, even if you’re in a good physical condition. Run up and down four floors two times. First timers and overweight people are unlikely to manage more than two reps anyway. However, it’s no big deal if you can’t do more than two reps in the beginning. Resistance to effort is built in time. Do the two reps every other day for two weeks.

After two weeks, increase the number of reps to either three or four, depending on how you feel. If you can take four reps up and down four flights of stairs, then by all means do so. If you can’t, then stick to three reps. As the weeks go by, you can add even more reps to your routine in order to increase your endurance and to really put the muscles to work.

This exercise is perfect for the legs and buttocks. Men and women looking to build a shapely buttocks and strong thighs should try stair sprinting. Having to carry your own weight up the stairs instead of flat terrain, puts more stress on the muscles and helps the feet gain more endurance. However, be very careful when doing this exercise. Running up and down the stairs makes it very easy to trip or miss a step and sprain an ankle.


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