(Love the feline “trainer” training the trainer!)

Visit Mike and Mode Athletics on Twitter and Facebook at:
http://twitter.com/mroulston and http://facebook.com/modeathletics

For daily exercise tips and fat-burning advice, visit these blogs:
http://gymlessrevolution.com/blog/ and http://modeathletics.com/blog/

Here is a great chest workout you can do at home with a cheap dumbbell set. Big gyms are nice but when you can get a killer workout at home without the overhead of getting to and from the gym. In this chest workout we are going to do pushups, then with no rest immediately do flys, then with no rest immediately do dumbbell press. Make sure and use a much lighter weight than you usually would on the flys and dumbbell press because after the pushups you wont have much left in you. After doing this set of three exercises, wait 2-5 minutes and do it again. Do 5-8 sets like this and you will be sore the next day.

As with all dumbbell exercises, form is key if you want to maximize your muscle building efforts and minimize the chance of injury. Don’t use too much weight, if you can’t do the exercise slowly then you need to go lighter. Count aloud “one onethousand, two onethousand, three onethousand” on the way up and the way down, if you cant do this on this exercise then you are using too much weight. The reason this exercise method maximizes your muscle growth is because it confines the motion to the muscle you are trying to work out, if your body squirms, swings, and kicks, all you are doing is taking the focus away from the muscle you are trying to exercise.

Anyone can be healthier, have more energy, sleep better, and feel better about themselves through bodybuilding. Bodybuilding doesn’t have to be expensive or take a lot of time, gyms are great but home workouts can save you time and money. A cheap dumbbell set from a garage sale or walmart is all it takes to get started with your home workouts.

For more information on home workouts, please see my free website (no advertising either):

www.scoobysworkshop.com

Nutrition is key to being able to add muscle! I cover nutrition on my website, if that’s not detailed enough for you I have reviewed and recommended some excellent books:

scoobysworkshop.com/goodfitnessbooks

Limitation of Liability: Consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program! I am not a medical professional. It is your responsibility to critically evaluate this information and with the help of your physician decide if it is appropriate for you.

Copyright 2006-2009 www.scoobysworkshop.com LLC

3 Tips for busy people to stay in shape by Ace, Affa, Acsm, Nasm, Certified Trainer Heather Rider.

3 Tips For Busy People From A Professional Trainer

by Heather Rider
Ace, Affa, Acsm, Nasm, Certified

One of the biggest populations that I encounter as a trainer is the “I have kids, a job, and no extra time to work out” population. I am always amazed by people who have all of these things going on and still get to the gym. There are so many things that we have going on in life these days, its hard to make exercise one of the priorities. However, if you really want to enjoy your job, your kids, your family and your life, for a long time, you have to stay healthy and that means staying active. I have given many of my clients little ways to get their work outs in when they cant see me and now I am going to share them with you!

1) It’s The Little Things:

These days many of us go for the all or nothing way if thinking, If we cant do a full workout that takes at least 45 minutes, we don’t see the point of doing it at all. Well it doesn’t have to be that way at all. Somewhere in the day if we really try we can find at least 10, maybe even 20 minutes to just move. If that means walking around the office and down the hallways or up and down the stairs, or getting a breath of fresh air, even marching in place at your desk, ANYTHING to get the body moving you are a step ahead. Remember the body will do what it is trained to do. When you are at rest that is what it knows. Teach your body to move again even if its in little places throughout the day. 10 minutes in the morning and ten at night is just fine. Its also a good way to reconnect with a loved one, a child or a pet. Walk!

2) Zip Ups

Many of my clients spend a lot of time worrying about their abdominals and back, as they should. This part of your body better known to many as the core, needs to stay strong and is vulnerable to injury if not. If you cant find the time to do some abdominal work what I call the zip up. Simply take an activity that you do every day, or close. Something like driving in your car, sitting at your computer, shopping at a supermarket. Take five minutes to perform a zip up as you work, drive, shop, whatever. Here is how to do it. Simply pull in your abdominals as if you have just entered a very cold body of water. At the same time bring your shoulders back so you have good posture. Try to see how long you can hold that, and then repeat. This will help to keep your core strong.

3) Leg Lift Up

I have one client who worked out diligently 3-5 days a week for years. Then he fell in love and while that is a wonderful thing, his workouts dwindled to once a week. I begged him to at least walk and do the leg lift up exercise. He didn’t. Its been a year now and he recently injured his knee running for a cab. When he saw the DR this exercise is the first one that my client was told to do. When he told me, head bowed in shame, he said “ imagine how much money I would have saved, not to mention pain of surgery if only I had listened to you” Oh well. Now you can learn from his mistake! This exercise takes less than 5 minutes. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you and your hands off the floor, if you have back issues or you feel back pain when doing this, sit up against a wall, but try to do it without. Slowly, and I mean slowly counting to 4, lift your right leg up and then just as slowly lower it without touching the floor. Repeat this on the same leg 10 -20 times. Then switch. You should feel this in your upper leg, which is your quadriceps. The knee is a joint and the only way to strengthen a joint is to keep the muscles around it strong. Remember to do this slow. No cheating!

Exercise can be a great way to give your confidence and energy level a boost. Treat yourself to a few minutes a day and you will see the rewards in mind and body!

www.heatherrider.com

Heather Rider holds a Masters degree in psychology with an emphasis on eating disorders and mind-body fitness. Heather was a Reebok University Master Trainer, and certified by ACE, AFAA, NASM-CPT, ACSM. Heather has appeared in numerous TV and video series including VH-1’s “Getting Brittany Abs”, Crunch on ESPN2, Body By Jake and the syndicated infomercial for AbRoller. She has taught at some of the hottest clubs in New York and Los Angeles, including Crunch, New York Health & Racquet Club, Voight By The Sea, Gold’s and corporate fitness centres located at the United Nations, The American Stock Exchange, Sony and NBC. Heather has also presented at the annual Cory Everson’s Fit Camp for three years.

How to Burn Fat at Home

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

If you want to burn fat quickly combining cardiovascular training and strength training in your routine will ensure you see results in no time. The workouts don’t have to include equipment that takes up half your living room or half your wallet if you know what to get. Here are some suggestions for great first-purchases to help get your fat burning at home program underway on a budget. All items should be available at your local sporting goods or fitness equipment retailer.

Steps

1. Make free weight exercises using dumbbells and barbells the foundation of your in-home gym fitness program. Free weights are compact, easy to store and take care of. Lifting free weights also gives you more strength training bang for your buck, because it works multiple muscle groups within an exercise. Focus on the basic compound exercises, such as squats, deadlifts and bench presses.
2. Use resistance bands. They offer a complete and highly effective strength training workout to build muscle and burn fat in a space-saving, inexpensive and highly portable form. Similar in look to a jump rope, the bands are made of plastic tubing and come in differing resistance levels (light, medium or heavy or specific pound equivalents). Whatever exercises you can do with free weights you can basically do with resistance bands. Most bands come with exercise illustrations, some even offer instructional videos. You can also find free resistance band exercises for burning fat on the internet, so there is no excuse not to get started.
3. Get a cardio workout. Whilst strength training is great for muscle building, cardio workouts will burn more calories during the exercise. Start doing simple exercises at home like push-ups, pull-ups, squats and abdominal crunches. Also consider fun activities which you could do with friends like walking, running, cycling, and swimming.

Tips

• Strength training for women will not make you look bulky. Although it will help with increasing more muscle mass, which is what you want to boost your metabolism and burn fat, you will not get the bulky appearance as women don’t build as much muscle as men. The female bodybuilders which you see in magazines have been training for years and they are probably not doing it naturally.
• Make sure to include strength training exercises with free weights, resistance bands, your own body weight, in your routine. Increasing your muscle mass is fundamental to burning fat as it increases your metabolism. A high metabolism will make you burn more calories even at rest, as your muscles require more energy for fuel.
• Weight lifting gloves help you keep your form and prevent injury by giving you a better grip on free weights. They cover the palm of your hand and stop at the fingers to give your hands maximum mobility. Make sure you get a snug but not-too-tight fit. Try them on before buying.
• A weight bench can provide balance and support for working with free weights. Make sure you go for quality construction and stability – the bench should sit solidly on the floor and not rock in place when you sit or lean on it, and should have adequate padding. Try it out by lying down on your back on the bench that resists ripping.

Things You’ll Need

• Dumbbells
• Barbells
• Weight bench
• Resistance bands

Related wikiHows

• How to Build a Low Cost Home Gym
• How to Stay in Shape
• How to Get the Most out of Your Workout
• How to Effectively Burn Calories

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Burn Fat at Home. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.