Some exercise will challenge many components of your fitness ability. The exercise demonstrated above is such an exercise. This exercise is regarded as a high value exercise (HVE). When you can do lunge walking with dumbells the next level up would be lunge walking with barbells. If you have good balance performing barbell lunge walking, then a higher level would be performing lunges stepping on and off a low stepper gradually building up to a high stepper.
Barbell High Stepping Lunges as performed in the video above will challenge your muscular strength, your balance, your flexibility and your coordination. If you perform the exercise for high reps it will also challenge your muscular and cardiovascular endurance. It will work wonders if you are trying to get a tighter butt with lean sexy thighs
Why only do exercises that no longer challenge your fitness? When you are no longer being challenged you will reach a plateau which will bring your lean muscle building, fat burning program to a screeching halt.
Challenge yourself by always striving to perform more (HVE) high value exercises.
Lose the weight fast, gain it back. Lose the weight slowly, keep it off for a lifetime. The power is in your hands to control how you take off excess body fat.
When you learn how to melt body fat slowly, you also learn more about yourself. Your body has time to make some adjustments to the changes you need to make to be successful in your fat loss efforts. Just as your body mass expanded and your body adjusted to it, the same applies as you reduce your body mass.
The three methods described in the video above will result in the removal of unwanted body fat over a period of time. More time spent applying the right principles, the better you become at reducing fat and keeping the fat from returning.
Performing core exercises is a whole lot more than doing crunches.
Crunches are great, but if you can strengthen your abdominal muscles while you are also doing other exercises, you increase your physical fitness level faster. An exercise such as the exercise demonstrated in the video above requires the use of many muscles.
Muscles being used includes the obliques (love handles), latissimus dorsi (back), biceps/triceps (upper arms), gluteus maximus (buns), adductors (inner thighs), quadriceps/hamstrings (thighs) and the flexors and extensors of the lower arms.
Exercises that help you work many muscles at the same time are rated as high value exercises. These types of exercises also help you improve your balance, flexibility and coordination in addition to increasing your functional strength.
As you grow older, functional strength can make a dramatic difference in your quality of life.
Start where you are with your current fitness level and build your endurance and strength slowly. The early stages of getting fit requires that you learn the exercises. This is especially important if you have some old injuries that may need special modifications before you can increase your workout intensity.
One of the best things you can do after you learn the exrcises is to challenge your muscuar conditioning by combining exercises to do super, tri, monster and giant sets. Why do just one set of an exercise when you can do two, three, four or even five.
In the video above my client was advised to get shoulder surgery. He also had knee surgery years ago. When he first started exercising he was about 40 pounds heavier, got winded quickly and had to use machine exclusively. The exercises he demonstrates requires shoulder strength and stability. His knees support him without any difficulty when performing a free form back exercise and a cable chest exercises in a lunge position.
What do you want to achieve? Do you want to shrink your overall body size? Are you interested in increasing your lean muscles? How about getting rid of excess body fat?
Now that you know what you want to achieve you can plan how to eat.
It is all about eating to accomplish an objective. If your objective is important enough, you will find a way to stick to your eating plan. That does not mean you cannot eat what you like. Just ask yourself before you eat, how will this affect the overall goal. If you don’t mind waiting longer to achieve success, then go ahead and eat that item which is not a part of the plan. If it is allright with you to only attain a low degree of success, then go ahead and get off track.
Now it becomes a matter of how badly do you want it. What are you prepared to do? How much are you prepared to sacrifice? Do you have the discipline?
Chances are you can achieve your body change goals if you have the right tools. The tools are knowing what to eat, being prepared in advance of each meal time and staying focused on how your body and health will benefit.
The video below is an example of how I eat when I want to preserve my hard earned muscles as I get rid of the excess body fat. How long I stay on this eating plan is based on how much fat I need to lose. Usually I’ll need about 4 to 6 weeks to get lean. My abdominal muscles will be visible. (washboard abs) If I am looking to get shredded the meals would become even more strict. (bodybuilding show)
Now that you are strength training you can start targeting certain body parts.
Targeting the upper chest and shoulders will compliment the work you do for your back, biceps and triceps. The barbell chest press is a great movement for the upper body. Men love this exercise, but usually it is with a flat bench and very heavy weights to build a strong massive chest. Women can also do the flat bench press for overall strength development but target more of the upper chest muscles with the incline bench chest press.
By performing the incline bench chest press you are using more of the muscles just under your collar bone which will help create a stronger, more defined chest.
Start out by first getting used to doing push ups before you actually start using the barbells. Body conditioning exercises always helps strengthen the joints to prepare for more intense work with the free weight.
Below is a demonstration of the incline e-z bar incline press with 55 pounds for 12 reps. This weight is about 35% of her bodyweight. You do not want to overload the joints to much, take your time and progress slowly.
If you are interested in building a rock solid, age defying, muscular, strong body, this message is for you.
The squat is a no joke exercise. You must respect this exercise or you can be seriously injured. Take your time to learn the correct form. Build your upper back, lower back, quads, hamstrings, abs and calf muscles so that all the links in the chain is strong. You should also have a decent level of balance and flexibility. It would also help to have good cardiovascular conditioning.Your body uses oxygen more efficiently when your cardiovascular endurance is in a good range.
Many strength training exercisers avoid this exercise because they have been injured doing it. Many are also intimidated by this exercise because they know someone who has been hurt doing it.
I want to be clear. Please be patient when approaching the barbell squats. Start with a weight that is not too challenging and work slowly to increase it.
The demonstration in the video below is with a weight that is a little more than twice my body weight. The total weight is 365 pounds. This is comfortable for me because I stop before I reach failure. This weight is just right for me to stay safe. If I was to go up in the weight I would wrap my knees and have someone with experience spotting me.
Maintaining strength as you get older is not for the weak-at-heart, but it will help you stay young-at-heart.
Our bodies are designed to move, as we get older this could be more of a challenge. Part of this challenge is maintaining your strength to preserve your muscles. Your bones may also lose some density, strength training is one of the best defense against this loss of bone. Balance is also affected as part of the aging process. Losing your balance makes it easier to fall and in some cases can be fatal.
Muscle building exercises such as leg press, squats, leg extensions, leg curls and calf raises will go a long way in helping preserve muscles and bones plus the prevention of falls.
It is also a good idea to practice one leg exercises such as some Yoga exercises. Other exercises should also include Tai-Chi and Water Aerobics would also be very helpful.
In the video below you will see a dumbell squat exerise demonstrated by a regular exerciser over the age of 80.
When you talk about building power you must include this back exercise.
Body weight barbell rows represent the foundation of the upper body exercises along with unassisted pull-ups.
Most exerciser avoid these exercises for a number of reasons. The only reason that is acceptable would be a medical reason. In many cases these exercises are avoided because they are extremely challenging. They can also be complicated. It is much easier to use a machine that does most of the work for you.
If you are new to exercise and you are in poor physical shape it is fine to use the machines for a few months. The basic idea is to get the muscles ready for the real exercises.
Think of the next level in your training with the ultimate goal being able to use your existing body weight as the resistance you want to move with good form.
Develop a mindset of getting stronger if you are weak relative to your body weight. Once you can effectively move your body weight or greater for multiple repititions, using the largest muscles in your body, you will dramatically impact how you look and perform.
Demonstrated below is the barbell rows with 225 pounds which is approximately 50 pounds more than my body weight.
Strength training is an integral part of staying healthy and strong over age 50.
As you approach your retirement years strength training becomes an investment. An investment that pays very high dividends.
Strength training will help you maintain a high degree of physical functioning. It will also protect your bones and ease the stress on your joints. Strength training also helps you fight the accumulation on excess body fat by increasing the metabolic activity in your muscles to burn more calories.
Your exercise program must include some strength training to be considered complete.
Men and women over 50 with exercise experience who have a good understanding of proper weight lifting technique are well advised to increase the intensity of their strength training sessions. This does not mean lifting heavy beyond what you can control. It’s all about progressing slowly to a higher level of performance.
In the video below you will see a demonstration of an advanced strength training exercise called a super set. You lift for a number of reps and immediately go to another exercise for the same muscle to perform a second exercise. This requires strength and endurance. At an advanced level it is performed with a weight close to or greater than your bodyweight.