Archive for May, 2010
New Workout Turbo Fire
I just heard about this new workout called Turbo Fire and its by the same makers as of Turbo Jam. Its from the company Beachbody which makes the best home workout dvd’s in the business! The fitness coach Chalene Johnson developed this workout and it is based on the a workout routine called (hitt) or High Intensity Interval Training! This workout routines combines short burst of intense exercise and then a quick rest to kick your metabolism into gear! The affect of all this is that supposedly you get whats called a afterburn effect which is that your body continues to work and burn fat even after you stop, up too 24 to 48 hours after you end your workout! If anyone is familiar with Shaun t’s Insanity Workout, then you might know how intense Turbo Fire is gonna be! Its the natural evolution of workouts going from a mild to hard workout like turbo jam to a extreme workout like Turbo Fire.
There is going to be 12 workouts in the turbo fire package, a nutrition guide, and hopefully some flash cards!One good thing i like about this workout is that it doesnt require any weights to do the workout, which is very convenient. I will keep everyone updated and give a full review of Turbofire when it comes out, which should be soon!
Benefits of a High Intensity Workout
In order to achieve the best results, most personal trainers and fitness professionals recommend a high intensity workout. It’s been shown that brief periods where our muscles are pushed to their limits can increase their strength. For example, if runners include sprinting for about 30 seconds for each mile ran, their leg muscles become stronger over time when compared to regular running. This principle can be applied to weight training, exercises, and even stretching.
The science behind high intensity workouts involves the ripping of the muscle tissues, which our bodies then repair. Each time the muscle tissue is ripped, it becomes a little bit stronger. Thus, high intensity workouts rip the muscle tissues, and make those muscles sore. The soreness indicates that the exercise is working. The old “no pain, no gain” motto translates well when it comes to fitness. If you don’t have the fortitude or willpower to push yourself to the breaking point, a video like the Insanity Workout can help you get there.
Great Add-on’s To Your Workout
Weighted gloves
Weighted gloves can be worn during cardiovascular workouts to increase your calorie and fat burn. They can help you achieve lean and sculpted arms in a shorter period of time. Such workouts like Turbo Jam and Hip Hop Abs use weighted gloves to add more intensity and get a more advanced workout. Weighted gloves can add something new to any cardiovascular workout or help you to get past a weight loss plateau by engaging new muscles.
Medicine Ball
Medicine balls can be used to target your core and sculpt your abdominals into a six pack. They can also be used to help you increase your flexibility, strength, and endurance during your workouts. They are a great addition to your strength-training workout that help to mix up your exercises a little bit.
These five workout accessories can help you achieve greater results during your workouts and give you more options for exercises so that you are sure to continue on for a long time with your workouts.
Why Is Yoga Important To P90X
The P90X home fitness training system is an intensive system of workouts that claim you can “get ripped” within 90 days by using this system, and with a 90 day money back guarantee there seems to be little harm and all benefit to trying it.
This training system is hosted by Tony Horton, and the workout itself is broken down into 12 different units, one of which is a Yoga workout. The host of the show is very careful to point out the benefits of yoga, and how it is integral to the very core concept of this train-at-home system, which is called Muscle Confusion.
Muscle confusion is the process by which the muscles of the body are worked through a variety of movements and exercises which each take time to master. In this way, the muscle’s process of recovery and growth is accelerated in order to keep up with the new demands. The P90X
system hopes to avoid the dreaded “plateau” by keeping the workouts fresh and different each day.
The yoga portion of this system is performed on day 4 of the workout program, and as such is an integral part of the P90X training schedule. Tony Horton explains how yoga combines flexibility, coordination, balance, strength and breath control to not only enhance your physique but to also strengthen the body. The P90X yoga workout proves that there is power and difficulty in each of the moves designed with six benefits in mind: muscular endurance, mind-muscle connection, active recovery, flexibility, agility and mental focus.
Building Muscle Burns Fat
A cardiovascular workout may be a great starting point to losing weight, but over a certain period of time you may notice that you stop losing weight and soon your weight starts to plateau. This is because your body has become accustomed to the exercise and it no responds the same way. When you start adding weights into your workout, your body becomes challenged once again and the weight starts dropping off again.
When it comes to circuit training exercises like ChaLEAN Extreme 
some people, mostly women, get scared off because they think that they will develop big, bulky muscles, but that is absolutely not true. When you perform the right exercises with enough weight just to push you to your limit, you develop lean muscle mass, which is the kind that makes a a tight and toned body. Plus even if a woman tried to develop muscles like a man, it would take her years and artificial drugs and hormones to do so.
A Little About Shaun T’s Insanity Workout Program
The Workouts
Insanity comes with ten different workouts that are all planned out for you with your very own workout calendar that comes with the program. Simply follow the workout calendar as it is laid out to get maximum results from the program. Here are the workouts that you get with the program:
· Dig Deeper and Fit Test
· Plyometric Cardio Circuit
· Cardio Power and Resistance
· Cardio Recovery and Max Recovery
· Pure Cardio and Abs
· Cardio Abs
· Core Cardio and Balance
· Max Interval Circuit
· Max Interval Plyo
· Max Cardio Conditioning and Abs
Other Features
Insanity is just not a set of workouts, it is an actual workout program that should be followed for 60 days. Shaun T includes other features and information for you to get the maximum results from your efforts put into the Insanity workout. He includes a nutrition guide, a fitness guide, the Insanity calendar as well as online support to help you through the 60 day journey. The program is specifically designed to use these special tools as well as the 10 different workouts to provide people with an intense exercise program that has not been seen before.
Shaun T’s Insanity
is not for everybody. If you are just starting out exercising, you may want to stick with less-intense programs such as his Hip Hop Abs workouts. Insanity is also not for people at high risk such as severely obese people as well as pregnant woman. So, who is Insanity for then? This workout is for people who want to be pushed during their workouts. They can handle the high-intensity of the exercises and want to reshape their body in 60 days.
Some Good Workout Accessories
Push Up Stands
When you use push up stands during your workout, you don’t have to worry about hitting your face into the ground. Push up stands also allow for a greater range of motion which can increase the intensity of the exercise. They are portable and convenient and can really make a difference when building upper body strength. Workouts like Tony Horton’s P90X
utilize push stands to further challenge your body and engage different muscles.
Balance Ball
A balance ball can add intensity to just about any exercise. Simply balancing while sitting on the ball can work your core muscles as your abdominal muscles have to be engaged to keep you balanced. There are hundreds of different exercises that you can do on a balance ball. You can work just about every area of your body from your butt to your shoulders with a balance ball. Engage more of your muscles and burn more fat when you use a balance ball during your workouts.
10 Minute Trainer – Resistance Bands Are Great Tools
The way that the super stacking technique works is that you work more than one area of the body at a time. For example, during lunges you may be using the resistance bands to not only work the legs, but also using them during a simultaneous arm press exercise. This works both your legs and your arms at the same time, as well as your core muscles. The addition of the resistance bands only adds more intensity to the workout, making you have to work harder, which means more calories burned in a shorter period of time.
Most people can easily commit to 10 minutes of exercise 5-6 days a week with the 10 minute trainer workout
. If you really want to take your workouts even farther and get the body that you dreamed of even faster, add the resistance bands to the workout. The good thing about resistance bands instead of using free weights is that the are easy on beginners and can be hard on the advanced. If you are beginner, you are going to give more slack on the bands so it is easier on you. If you are more advanced and want a challenge, tighten the bands with hardly any slack and you will find yourself struggling with the exercises.
Resistance bands can be used for more than just the 10 minute trainer workout. They can be used for all sorts of exercises and programs. They can easily replace free weights for exercising and strength training, as all it takes is a a little variation in the the exercise and you can be maximizing your workout with resistance bands.
Extreme Fitness
Many are familiar with getting active, going to the gym, and looking up workout routines and other health and wellness related information on-line. However, I’ve noticed that there is still a gap between the readily available information out there and the ability for the average individual to actually get results. For example, so many of us are trying to get the edge in our workouts, and are looking for answers to extreme fitness on-line. The web is full of quick ideas at virtually no cost. However, the information is often not helpful in the long run.
Part of this problem might be the vast amount of conflicting information which is not regulated for quality and credibility. If you are in search of extreme fitness and the results you’ll get from it, then you are probably already a fit.
Personal training vs video training
Here are the ups and downs if you are trying to figure out which route to take for you’re workout. If you are trying to decide between a personal trainer and workout videos training, you are probably not sure what to do when you walk into a gym. You probably don’t know where to find the motivation to actually work hard when you do train, and so you are looking for a little company to show you the way. Well good. Here are a few things to think about that could aid your decision.
Disadvantages of each:
- Personal trainers get very expensive after the first couple of times; you are paying for someone’s time and expertise each session you attend, and even thought personal trainers might vary price, they get expensive after a week or so.
- Workout videos can be cheesy and fail to explain reasoning for exercises
- Personal trainers are not always as qualified as you’d think
- Workout video’s 
are not personalized for you’re fitness level
- Having a personal trainer means making appointments and showing up for them, regardless of how you feel that day
Advantages of each:
- Personal trainers have knowledge; have a question about what you are doing? Want to know why they chose these exercises in particular for you? Just ask your trainer and you’ll know.
- Workout videos are a one time fee, and you can use them over and over.
- Personal trainers are able to asses your fitness level and your goals and make a plan accordingly
- Workout videos come in a variety of levels and costs; they are available virtually anywhere, and you can use them whenever you want to schedule your workout for.
Hopefully this will help you get a good idea of some things to consider, and help you make the right choice for yourself.