possible. We encourage you to be deliberate and intentional in planning your physical activity. This will help you stick with the activities over time. StrongWomen has three points to guide this philosophy.
Seek out active transport as often as possible. If possible, walk or bike instead of drive.
Break a sweat one or more times a week. Vigorous physical activity offers great benefits and the “break a sweat” rule of thumb is a good indicator of the intensity of a workout.
Find new opportunities to be active during the week. Take a walk with friends, shovel snow, go to a rock-climbing gym, dance, go to the gym, go for a run. New opportunities keep your daily physical activity schedule exciting and interesting.
Our physical activity philosophy is meant to help you envision your ideal physical activity lifestyle. Your philosophy will be unique to you and based on your lifestyle and personal preferences. Take some time to write down your vision of your ideal physical activity lifestyle.
New scientific information on physical activity and health helped the first Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee create science-based recommendations for the types and amounts of activity that provide the greatest benefits. Some key findings from the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, and rules to live by, are as follows.
Everyone benefits from physical activity. People of all ages, from children to older adults, pregnant and postpartum women, people with disabilities and members of every racial and ethnic group.
Even a little physical activity is better than none. Physical activity can be performed in bouts of at least 10 minutes. And, even though it is best to spread your physical activity throughout the week, it is fine to get all your physical activity in a couple of days such as over the weekend.
Physical activity improves health regardless of your body weight. (healthy, overweight, obese)
Both aerobic exercise and strength training improve health. Substantial health benefits can be gained from 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity. An equivalent combination of the two also provides substantial benefits. Strength training involving the major muscle groups two or more days per week is also recommended.
More physical activity equals greater health benefits. For additional and more extensive health benefits, aim for 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate aerobic activity or 150 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity each week. Or, an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous – intensity activity will provide the same benefits. Remember, additional health benefits are gained if you participate in physical activity beyond this amount.
There are many ways to be physically active: choose to do what you like best. The best way to boost physical activity is not only through planned exercise, but also through a variety of activities that expend energy throughout the day. Choose activities that you enjoy and you will be more successful in staying physically active on a regular basis.
=====================================================================================
Your brain is the caveat of success. No matter what your goal, if you want to increase your wealth or shrink your waist, your brain is the power source that will get the job done.
But sometimes the brain needs to be convinced that this is truly what you want. You’ve heard the old saying, “Old habits die hard.” That’s because once the brain has familiarized itself with a certain behavior it paves a pathway so that it no longer has to think about doing that particular deed. Your brain forms the habit so that the action can be performed with very little brainpower involved. In other words, your brain is a little bit lazy.
So, how do you instruct your brain to think about what you want and keep it from concentrating on things you would rather forget?
Daily prayer and meditation can help redirect your mind. Once your spirit has been lifted, take your commitment one step further. Begin writing down your affirmations and follow those with your goals. Now your brain has something new and positive to dwell on.
But you might find that you still slip up and resort to old habits. The brain is tough, so you’ve got to step up your game in order to win the battle. A sure-fire way to keep your brain on track is to keep a fitness journal of everything you eat and drink and all the activities that you participate in each day.
You see, by writing down everything you eat and drink, you become accountable for all the foods that you are feeding your body. It’s important that you record everything because this way you will be able to decide which foods you can keep in your diet and what changes you need to make.
Remember, it takes at least thirty days to make or break a habit. Do you have some habits that you would like to leave behind? This can be day one as you re-train your brain to take on healthy habits and begin a new healthy routine.
=====================================================================================
Flatten Your Tummy:
In the gym my friends are constantly asking me about how to flatten their tummy. Is it a diet trick? Perhaps some sort of flat tummy workout? Actually, its not as secret as you might think. It does involve quite a lot of discipline though.
In this article I am going to show you how to flatten your tummy fast. If you follow these steps you will have that tight, firm and fat free tummy that you have been trying to achieve for years.
Why do we want to flatten our tummy?
I used to think about this a lot. Why are women so obsessed with a flat tummy? I used to think it was an unhealthy obsession that we had picked up from the media, Hollywood, etc. We see stars like Jessica Alba, Lady Gaga, Miranda Kerr, etc. and we want to have bodies like theirs.
But recently I read a study that showed that a belly is a very important indicator of health and, in actual fact, humans have used the belly to gauge the health of a mate for thousands of years. If your belly is too big you might not be able to provide for the family – that was the thinking.
Now science is showing us that even small amounts of belly fat can increase the likelihood of cancer, heart disease and so on. It is extremely important to be at a healthy body weight.
How much fat is healthy?
The Australian Government has put out some guidelines for what is a healthy amount of fat to have on your belly. They have been trying to get people to lose the fat because it is costing the health care system millions of dollars every year in heart attacks and cancer medicine. Lose the fat and you can potentially prevent a lot of this stuff from happening.
If your waist size is more than 80 cm you are at an increased risk of heart disease and cancer. If you are over 88 cm you are at a greatly increased risk. This should be motivation enough to change.
How to get a flat tummy
1. Reduce meal sizes by 10%
If you can reduce your meal sizes by 10% you will begin a very good habit that will allow you to lose over 10kg of fat each year. And, more importantly, you will establish a routine that will stop you from gaining the fat back.
You see, a flat and tight tummy comes from losing the fat that is covering your ab muscles. The best way to do this is by reducing the amount of energy you consume over the long term. Try not going back for seconds at dinner time and buying smaller bowls so you eat smaller sized meals.
2. Drink water before every meal
In the same fashion, by drinking a tall glass of water before every meal you will reduce the size of your appetite. This will help you consume less calories and therefore spend less time at the gym. Every time you eat something you should have a glass of water first. Its easy.
3. Eat before you get hungry
Don’t wait until you are starving. Eat before you get hungry. The idea here is that you will eat a lot less and snack on less junk food. Eat when you are hungry and eat until you are full. This is very important.
4. Exercise every single day, even just a bit
I have an exercise bike in my TV room. I will pick one TV show per day and ride the bike during that show. For example, if you like watching the news you can ride your bike while you watch. If you don’t have a bike you can do sit ups, push ups and other types of exercise. Do it every single day and you will burn so many calories while you feel like you are relaxing at home.
5. Drink green tea
Green tea can help you speed up your metabolism and keeps you healthy and well. It also works towards keeping you feeling full.
6. Do high intensity exercise twice a week
We have written so much on the benefits of high intensity exercise. It builds up your muscles and gets your metabolism boosting. It also burns a lot more calories than a slow walk on the treadmill. Take a look at this article for some other ideas. Some of my favorites are:
Capoeira
Kickboxing
Jumping Rope
7. Do Pilates for your abs
Pilates abs exercises are a great way to get a flat tummy. Some of the best ones are the swiss ball jack knife and the Pilates crunch.
=====================================================================================
