The Health and Fitness ChannelJuly 2003 IssueYour Truth In Fitness Source
THOUGH I'D HATE TO SEE YOU GO, IF YOU WISH TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION PLEASE SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS EMAIL AND FOLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS THERE. This month you'll learn highly effective tips to make it easier to lose weight or maintain the weight you've lost. METABOLISM SLOWS WITH AGEAs early as age 35 our metabolism naturally slows down. Result 1: A harder time losing fat than when you were younger. Result 2: Weight gain simply from continuing to eat as you did when you were younger Self Defense 1: Weight training and regular aerobic exercise to increase muscle mass (which boosts metabolism). Self Defense 2: Eat food that
are full of nutrients and fiber but low in Self Defense 3: Reduce your portion sizes. FREE YOURSELF FROM FOOD CRAVINGSFood cravings are the nemesis of any dieter. They are the number one reason for failing to stick to a diet. Here's some tips to help you: Self Defense 4: If You Crave Something Sweet eat a low/no-sugar product. I like sugar-free, strawberry licorice. Self Defense 5: Make Gradual Changes In Your Diet - not abrupt ones, which can upset mood-altering brain chemicals. Self Defense 6: Eat Regularly - not skipping breakfast is especially important. Self Defense 7: Take A Daily Multivitamin/mineral - some food cravings are actually your body's way of telling you it's deficient in a certain vitamin or mineral. Self Defense 8: Drink at Least Six to Eight Glasses Of ICE Water every day - Mild dehydration can be misinterpreted as food cravings. Also, sipping ice water burns calories. Drinking cold fluids raises your metabolism to keep your body temperature from falling. Eight six-ounce glasses of ice water will burn an extra 200 calories per day. A DIET FOR LIFEDon't start a diet simply to meet some short-term weight goal. Example: Trying to drop a few dress sizes in time for a special party. Problem: Pounds that are shed quickly using unhealthy means are likely to return just as fast - if not faster. Better: Focus on long-term, permanent weight control, which requires a similar long-term, permanent change in lifestyle. CALORIE BUSTERPietro Tonino, MD, chief of sports medicine, Loyola University Medical Center, reported that his studies showed running on a treadmill burns more calories than other common exercise machines. Exercisers who ran on a treadmill burned about 700 calories per hour, compared with those who used a stair machine (627 calories per hour)...rower (606)...cross-country ski machine (595)...stationary bike with arm motion (509)...and standard stationary bike (498). See you next month! The "Fitness Corner": Your fitness questions answered.**QUESTION: Hank, I am 24 years old and I have a small amount of fat around my midsection
that I would like to trim up. I am 5'10 185 and I exercise a lot. I
work my abs constantly and I know if I could lose this small layer of
fat my six pack would show. What can I do to trim this area and keep
it trim. ***ANSWER: Ok, go to a decline crunch bench, a bench where when you lay on it your head is lower than your feet. It should have some type of foot support to prevent you from sliding down the bench. Start with the lowest decline setting you can adjust the bench to. You will be performing crunches. Now, before you start with your first crunch and with your feet secured, make note of the pad touching the top part of your ankle. What you don't want happening while doing the crunch movement is any "pressure" being felt between this pad and your ankle. And the way to prevent it is to drive your heels back towards you and away from this pad. In effect, contracting your hamstring muscles. So instead of using the pads as they were designed (by hooking your feet underneath them), you'll want to use only the part of the bench that's touching behind your knee. You want to use this part of the bench to support yourself from sliding down instead of the ankle foot pad. And the way to do that is to "contract" your hamstring muscles by, again, driving your heels back towards your body. ''Hooking'' yourself in this way will allow your ab muscles to do all the work and effectively eliminate virtually any hip flexor involvement. It will not feel like a natural movement as you'll want to use that nice, padded ankle pad to provide pressure against the natural feeling of wanting to "extend" your legs. You must fight this feeling and instead do just the opposite. The feeling you want to feel is the same as when you are doing a set of leg curls where you lie face down on a bench and "curl" your legs towards you. This feeling of contracting the back of your thighs is the same feeling you want to feel here. Although this may seem difficult, with just a little practice you'll quickly get the hang of it and be on the way to a great set of abs. Since doing crunches this way will be more difficult, you won't be able to do endless crunches like you used to. Instead, you'll perform repetitions in the 8-15 range for around 3-6 sets. Also, you should experience muscular failure towards the end of these repetitions. This will be the key to increasing the "size" of the individual ab muscles and allowing them to "show" sooner at a higher level of body fat than they would have otherwise. Remember, increasing the size of the abdominal muscles is the key (along with diet of course). Many people have dieted down to low levels of body fat only to be disappointed because their "6-pack" didn't show. Although their body fat was low, their underlying ab musculature was so underdeveloped (because of their incorrect exercise techniques) that their hoped-for set of washboard abs never materialized. So to get that great set of abs perform 8-15 reps for 3-6 sets 2 times per week (only). And watch how you too will soon be joining the 6-pack ab club. Good luck and great success! Please send your questions to The Fitness
Corner
I hope you enjoyed this latest issue. See you next month with more tips and solutions to achieving your best body. Good luck, God bless, and all the best in health and fitness, Harry "Hank" Johnson Jr,
President
Harry is the creator of the "Amazing Fat-Loss/Ultimate Results Program" - specifically designed to help you lose fat quickly and easily. "When you want to lose 20 pounds of fat (or more) in 6 weeks (or
less) --
Also,
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