Gayle Foster

Weight Training is important to your exercise and fitness program. You can start light at first and gradually increase your weights as you gain strength and coordination. Your local gym will have a good range of equipment as well as qualified instructors to design a program for you.

But you can just as easily start using weights in your own home.  Watching a DVD or video on weight training will be helpful as you will be taught the correct way to stand and to use the weights.  You don’t need to construct an expensive home gym with lots of equipment to get started.  You can use just one set of changeable dumbells.  This will be much cheaper and take up a lot less room!

Burn Fat

Weight training will help increase your metabolism and burn more fat and calories throughout the day because your muscles and body will need more fuel for maintenance, even when at rest. Weight training usually refers to the use of lighter weights with high repetitions to shape and tone the muscles. This is different from weight lifting, or body building, where heavier weights are used with less repetitions which builds muscle mass.

Weight Training For Women

Women benefit greatly from weight training. Building up muscle can help women strengthen their bones. By working the muscles, the bones are required to produce more calcium which strengthens bones and helps fight osteoporosis. Attending a Pump class at your local gym is fun and motivating.

Weight training is an excellent way to promote great health and great fitness. A good rule of thumb is the greater the resistance, the more calories you burn in the exertion, but remember to take it slowly at first to reduce the risk of injury. An instructor or personal trainer can be a great help here.

Do you need a Personal Trainer?

Well that all depends on what you are trying to achieve with your exercise program.  A Personal Trainer will be a great motivator and he or she will push you beyond limits you never thought possible, if that’s what you want.

If you are really unfit, the personal trainer will take that into consideration and will start you off slowly while challenging you along the way. He will need to know what your goals are so that he can help you get there.

Generally speaking, the job of a trainer is to get you fit.  And you only have to watch Biggest Loser to see how far they are prepared to push their clients.  That level of intensity in a workout may appeal to you.  Then again, it may not.

Lift Your Fitness

Even if you begin with walking, the fitness instructor will want to lift your fitness to the point where you are running, jumping, lifting weights, etc.  That’s their job and they are very skilled at what they do.  If you feel that you want to get really fit and you lack the motivation to do it on your own, then personal training from a qualified instructor could be just right for you.  You’ll be surprised at how much you can achieve in a short time.

Lose Weight

But if your goal is simply to lose weight, having a personal fitness trainer and doing strenuous workouts are not necessarily the way to go.  Have you noticed on the aforementioned TV program that if the contestants cheat on their diets their weight loss is dramatically affected.  Losing weight is mostly about the food you eat, and not so much about high intensity workouts.  Don’t expect a fitness instructor to be able to undo the effects of your overeating.  Yes, you will be burning up calories, but the food you eat accounts for at least 70% of your weight problem, if you have one.

So if you have a weight loss goal, the news that you do not need a personal trainer may be music to your ears.

A Healthy Heart

Cardio fitness is the other side of the coin. It is a well known fact that we feel much better, more energised, when we are fit.  Climbing stairs becomes easy, we can run and play with our children and our social life can improve greatly by joining with other people who play sport or go rock climbing.  And if your heart is healthy, you will live longer too, all things being equal.

Having a personal trainer will make you get into a routine of regular exercise.  You will have set times for your workout and you will need a pretty good excuse to miss one. The trainer will usually meet you at your home and the exercises he teaches you at home or around your local neighbourhood can be easily repeated even when he is not there.

Exercises. The very word strikes fear into the heart of any couch potato. But fear not, because exercises do not have to be strenuous sweaty things. In fact, the single most highly recommended form of exercise is walking, and most of us can do that.  And for those who find even walking difficult or impossible, there are exercises for you too.

Admit it. We all know that people living in 21st century affluent societies have become pretty lazy. Many of us sit at computers for hours on end. Even watching TV is lazier than ever since the invention of the remote control.  We are content to sit and watch other people do their workouts in some of the well know weight loss shows, while we happily munch on carbohydrates and drink alcohol.

The type of exercises you do depend not only on your level of fitness but also on what you are trying to achieve.  If you want to lose weight, moderate exercise such as walking is best.  If you are aiming for cardio fitness, then aerobic exercise is best, something that gets you puffing. To build up muscle definition you will need weight training or weight lifting.  There are also exercises to help with flexibility and balance.  Your local gym will have special classes for this.

Getting Started

So how are you going to get your workout started?  If you haven’t done any exercise for ages, start by walking, 30 minutes if you can manage it.  And try to do that every day and gradually build up to an hour.  You may even want to add inclines to your walk, either using a treadmill or simply walking up a hill.

Then if you like, add in some weight training. Once again, going to classes is great because you can work to music, have fun and stay motivated. Whatever exercises you choose to do, you must enjoy doing them, otherwise you will just give up.  Weight training will improve muscle tone and strength while body building or weight lifting will increase muscle bulk and definition.  Most of us do not aspire to look like a body builder, but weight training can reshape your body and increase bone strength as well.

Flexibility and balance exercises, such as pilates, are another great option to add to your walking program. They may seem a little tricky at first but you will get better with practice. Everyone will benefit from these movements. Older folk who are finding that they are not as supple as they once were will enjoy these workouts just as much as the young and fit.

Exercise for Fitness

Now if you are aiming for fitness, you need to get your heart pumping. These aerobic exercises can take many forms. You can go jogging, swimming, dancing, play football or do an aerobics class.  Basically anything that makes you puff and sweat.  This will increase lung capacity and improve your heart health.  There is no need to do strenuous exercise if you are only wanting to tone up or lose weight. These high intensity workouts will burn carbohydrates from the food you have recently eaten rather than burning up  stored fat for energy.

If you are disabled or not able to get up and about for any reason, you only need to watch the Paralympics to be inspired to make the most of what you have. I will not go into all of the sports that are available for people with disabilities. But if you are bed-ridden, you may still be able to do leg raises or even sit ups. If you are in a chair, you can try raising your feet one at a time up to knee level, then try both together. And work you arms and shoulders.  There are very few people on this earth who cannot do some form of exercises.

There are two ways to think of a Gym. One is a home gym and the other is a fitness center which offers classes, sports and a gymnasium full of equipment.  There will also be an instructor on hand to guide you through a program of exercises.

Many people like to attend their local leisure center. There is a great social aspect which often makes the hard work of sport and exercise more enjoyable. A regular timetable can also help with your commitment.  There is usually a wide variety of programs and classes on offer at a gym.  These may include Step Aerobics, Pump, Cardio Combo, Boot Camp, Mature Movers, Indoor Soccer, Netball, etc.

And of course there is the gym room itself containing weights, treadmills, bikes and various other sorts of equipment.
Most gyms will not allow you to start using the equipment until you have had at least one session with the instructor.  It is his or her job to assess your level of fitness and experience and to guide you through the correct use of each piece of equipment.  The instructor can design a program of exercises specifically tailored to your fitness and your goals.

Home Gym

A home gym does not have to be a room full of expensive apparatus.  People can spend thousands on treadmills, benches, spin bikes, bars, dumbells, and machines that are made for only one exercise.  They need a separate room in the family home to accommodate all this stuff.  And more often than not, it does not get used on a regular basis.

Treadmills and spin bikes are great if the weather is bad and you can’t get out for a walk, run or ride. However, if you are limited for space for your home gym, consider jogging on the spot, skipping rope, or just stepping from side to side to your favourite music.

Sit ups, leg raises and push ups can be done on the floor.  A Swiss ball takes up very little room and can be used for sit ups and various other exercises that give a good workout to abs, butts, backs, shoulders, chests and arms.

A good set of changeable dumbells is both space saving and money saving. The weights can be increased or reduced depending on the muscle group being worked. These dumbells can work the chest, shoulders, biceps and triceps. They can also be used for squats, side bends, twists and back raises and can add intensity to sit ups.

So with minimal financial outlay and only a small space to work in, you can set up a great home gym that will be simple to use and just as effective as those large expensive pieces of equipment.

There are countless programs, pills and promises aimed at those people who want to lose weight.
Whether you have a serious obesity problem or just want to drop a dress size, you are the target market for the multi-million dollar weight loss industry.

You’ve Tried and Failed

If you have ever tried to lose weight, you have probably failed many, many times.  Or you may have lost the weight successfully but failed to keep it off.  If you are like most people you will have tried just about everything – fat burning pills, strenuous exercise, low fat, low sugar, low salt, calorie counting, fasting, meal replacements, etc, etc.

If you have successfully lost weight and kept it off for life, Congratulations!  You are a rare breed.

For the rest of us, it is a life of yo-yo dieting, comfort eating, and repeated failure.

You Can Lose Weight

But I am here to tell you that if you really want to lose weight, it is actually not all that hard. You don’t believe me?
Losing weight is pretty basic really. You have to move and you have to eat properly.  Notice I did not say exercise and I did not say eat less.  In fact, you must never allow yourself to remain hungry. If you are hungry, eat!

Regardless of you current weight and fitness level, you can lose weight starting today, right now.

1. Walk. Just walk. Not power walking or hill climbs, just walk.  Start with 30 minutes a day on flat ground and gradually increase to about an hour if you have the time.  Otherwise, on top of the 30 minutes first thing in the morning, make sure you walk around during the day.  Walk over to someone’s desk instead of buzzing them on the phone.  Take the stairs, not the elevator.

2. Eat. At least six small meals a day.  Each main meal must contain protein and lots of vegetables, and each in between meal snack must be protein only.  If you are hungry, eat protein, not cookies, not chocolate, not even fruit. Protein – meat, fish, eggs, tofu, vegetarian substitutes, etc. Fruit, cereals and bread (not white) should only be eaten at breakfast time.

3. Water. Drink at least 2 litres of water a day.  You can have tea, coffee and diet soft drinks as well, but you must drink plain water.  Drinking plenty of water is crucial if you want to lose weight.

4. Reward. Have one day a week where you can eat whatever you like. So if you are craving some chocolate or fried food, remind yourself that you can have it on your free day, maybe Saturday. So you never have to give up chocolate.  It just becomes your Saturday food. Eat plenty of protein snacks in between your free foods on the free day. You will find that there is just not enough time to cram all the junk food that you love into one day without making yourself feel sick.  So even on your free day you will find that you start to make healthier choices and you will still lose weight.

This is the simple and straightforward way to successful weight loss. It is not a diet. It is an eating plan that can easily be followed for the rest of your life.  Once you get to your goal weight, use this plan as a guide to maintain your weight. You can loosen up a little, but if you find that the weight is creeping back on, just stick to the plan again.

There are a lot of misconceptions about being a Vegetarian.  Many people believe that vegetarians never have a weight problem.  This is competely untrue.  A meat-free diet can contain just as many fats, carbs and sugars as a meat based diet. And in fact, the lack of protein in many vegetarian meals can make weight loss quite difficult.

I first became a vegetarian when I was 17 years old. I was a ballet dancer, so always conscious of my weight and always looking for new diets to try.  I came across one which was strictly vegetables, fruit and nuts. I followed that diet for three weeks and lost hardly any weight, not that I had any to lose! But what I did notice was how well I felt.  My insides felt clean and I felt really healthy. So I decided being a vegetarian was the way forward for me.  Later I added small amounts of eggs and dairy food for variety.

Carbohydrates

The vegetarian way of eating served me very well for years, until I gave up dancing, got married and had children. Within a few years, my carbohydrate based eating plan which supplied the energy I needed for dancing, no longer suited my lifestyle and I began to store the carbohydrate as fat.  I reached 60kg, not overweight by normal standards but horrible for an ex ballet dancer. No one could understand, least of all me, how a vegetarian could put on weight.  Mind you, I did love eating lots of grainy bread, lots of fruit, various cheeses, dark chocolate, and drinking red wine.  I still do.

But I have discovered that the low level of protein in my meat-free diet, coupled with the sugar in fruit and starches, had put my metabolism out of balance.  I needed to change what I was eating and when I was eating.

Protein

Many vegetarians lack protein. Meat, fish and eggs are the best sources of protein and protein is essential for our bodies to function properly. Our hair, skin, muscles, nails, and organs are reliant upon protein for repair, recovery and good general health.  As we age, a lack of protein can mean that the natural decrease in our ability to repair and replace tissue is accelerated.

During times of exercise, there can be a huge stress on the body. This often leads to a condition called muscle catabolism which is the breakdown of muscle tissue. Protein will replenish your amino acid stores in the muscle tissue to avoid losing muscle and valuable metabolic advantages. Without protein your muscles wither and you lack the ability to burn fat. Your fat burning potential is effectively shut down. Now who would want that?

A Healthy Balance

So what can a committed vegetarian do to get more protein in the diet without the fat that comes with dairy food?  The best way is to ensure that you eat six serves of protein a day, so three main meals and three protein snacks. In the past we have been told not to eat between meals, but it is now known that six small meals a day keeps the metabolism powering along and burning stored fat for energy.

The portion should be about palm size and can include egg, chick peas, beans (the dried variety), lentils, low fat cheese, low fat cottage cheese, soy cheese, meat substitutes (vegetarian sausages, nutmeat, tvp), protein bars and protein powder.  The snacks should be just protein and the meals can have unlimited vegetables added.  Keep starchy vegetables to a minimum and only eat fruit or multigrain bread in the morning.

Enjoy the vegetarian way of life that you have chosen, but do not rob yourself of essential protein in your diet.

If you are interested in overall Fitness, all you have to do is eat a nutritious, balanced diet and introduce exercise into your daily regime. You can work out at home, perhaps using a video or DVD or you can attend a gym, where you will be able to take part in different classes and use the equipment under the guidance of a qualified instructor.

Getting Started

If you are just starting your get-fit program, walking is an ideal exercise to complement a healthy eating program. Begin walking for just 30 minutes over flat ground at a steady pace. Walking is fabulous for fat burning. You can gradually increase to an hour and also incorporate hills and power walking into your exercise as your fitness level increases. Mornings are best to get your system kickstarted for the day.

Weight training is a good low impact form of exercise that you can undertake quite early in your program.  It need not be strenuous, as you can start with very light weights at first and increase as you gain muscle strength.

Cardio Fitness

When most people talk about fitness, they are usually referring to cardio fitness.  That is to say, how easily do you get out of breath or feel your heart thumping if you climb stairs or play sport.  Cardio fitness needs to be worked on gradually.  For example, you can add short spurts of running into your morning walk and gradually build that up until you are running the whole time.

Anything that works the heart, making you puff and sweat, is called aerobic exercise and it is this form of exercise that will really improve your fitness. Make sure you choose something that you really enjoy so that you will keep at it.

As already mentioned, your other lifestyle choices will also impact on your overall health and fitness. Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and overindulging in poor quality food will have a negative effect on the level of fitness that you are trying to achieve.  If you are serious about improving you health and fitness, look after your body by being selective about what you put into it.

It does not matter how old you are, or what your fitness level is right now, a program including walking, weight training and aerobic exercise will help you achieve better health. As with any exercise and health program, consult your doctor first to make sure there is nothing in your medical history that could be a problem.

When most of us hear the word Diets we automatically think of eating less.
And at that point many of us switch off.
But our Diets are simply what we eat.  Therefore a diet can be healthy or unhealthy.  It can be designed for weight loss or weight gain. Diets can be based on preferences, or allergies, or to suit a particular lifestyle such has sport. They can be high fibre, low fat, etc, etc, etc.

It’s Not Working!

There has been so much talk about diets over the past thirty to forty years that most of us are sick of it. In fact the obsession with our weight has literally made many people sick or even resulted their death through such conditions as anorexia and bulimia.

Interestingly, since the low fat craze swept the Western world and the food pyramid was promoted as one of the healthiest ways to eat, obesity has risen at an alarming rate, costing billions in health services.  Clearly, this is not working!

Carbohydrates

The food pyramid suggests that we should eat mostly from the carbohydrate group:
bread, cereal, rice and pasta. 6-11 serves daily.
The next level up is fruit, 2-4 serves; and vegetables, 3-5 serves.
Next comes the protein level comprising meats, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and dry pulses, 2-3 serves
and milk, yogurt and cheese, 2-3 serves.
The top level, being the level of least consumption, is fats, oils and sweets.

What is now being discovered is that all that carbohydrate is making us fat.  The carbohydrate is converted to sugar and is stored as excess body fat unless we happen to be an elite athlete who needs all that extra energy to burn.  The sugars in fruit and fruit juices are adding to the problem.  Not only that, but sugar promotes an insulin response making us crave even more carbs and sugar.

Protein

The key to healthy diets, and weight loss too, is to eat more lean protein and lots of fibrous vegetables, not starchy ones such as potato, pumpkin and corn.  Keep carbohydrates and sugar low and drink plenty of water.  Diets like this will not only rebalance your metabolism, but will stop cravings because you will feel full and eradicate the insulin peaks and troughs that cause cravings and binge eating.

Making Money Online

You know what I like about Making Money Online?

Several things really.

You don’t have to do any face to face selling for a product or service.  You don’t have to get out there and try to sell something to people, only to have them say No to you.  All you do is get the product or service up on the net and people come looking for you, people who actually are looking for what you have to offer.  There is no pressure whatsoever.

There is no argument about price.  The price is up there for all to see and they either pay it or they don’t.  They just punch in a credit card number and it is done.  No haggling or asking for discount.  Just good clean payment of the asking price.

With an online business, you are instantly global.  Not only does that mean that you have a huge supply of potential buyers, but it means you can be selling stuff at any time of the day or night.  You can literally be Making Money Online while you sleep.  How’s that for time management?!

You don’t even have to be the provider of the service or the manufacturer or distributor of any product.  Now this is where Making Money Online gets interesting.  You can actually have a website that promotes someone else’s stuff.  If you get a sale for them, they cut you in on the deal at a pre-agreed amount.  It’s called affiliate marketing.  How cool is that?

Making Money Online sounds easy, but many have tried and failed.  Just like affiliate marketing – you need to know what you are doing.  There’s a book about it and you can click here to get it in ebook form.  I’ve got my copy and it really does show you step by step how to be successful at Making Money Online.

The book is called Year Of The Affiliate, and as the title would suggest, it concentrates mainly on affiliate marketing.  But there are hundreds of hints and tips in the book that can be useful in any online marketing business.

Making Money Online can be as easy or hard as you want to make it.  For me, being a baby-boomer technophobe, I like to follow the steps set down by someone else who knows what they are doing, someone who has already made all the mistakes that I might potentially make.  I want to save time, work smarter not harder, all that stuff that you hear in time management training.

So I got the book!

Easy Internet Marketing Strategies

Are there really any easy Internet Marketing Strategies?

Well, yes, if you know the  strategies that the experts use.

Let’s face it, we would like to be able to make easy money, and Internet Marketing  seems to be one of the simplest ways around.  But just how do you get started, what will it cost, and how do you compete with all the others out there who are also using various Internet Marketing Strategies?

Firstly, let me tell you that getting started in Internet Marketing  need not cost you anything.

I’ll say that again – Internet Marketing does not have to cost anything to get started – not one cent.

Now, I can hear you asking “what about the cost of market research, what about website design, what about advertising, what about the cost of products?”

True, some  strategies can cost a small fortune to set up, but…..

What if someone else had already done that for you and all you had to do was get a slice of the pie?

How easy is that?

And it gets easier!

A great guy named Sean Rasmussen has written a book about Internet Marketing Strategies, specifically affiliate marketing.  He is an expert in the field and is pretty much self-taught.  He is the real deal, having tried and tested, made mistakes, and fine-tuned Marketing Strategies that work.

His book, called Year of the Affiliate, gives you a step by step guide to the world of Affiliate Internet Marketing.  It is available in ebook form, and if you want to grab yourself a copy, just click here.

I hope you enjoy great success with your Internet Marketing Strategies.