Check out the video which shows all 37 exercises in a row, then run through the description and pictures to get a better feel about how to perform them correctly. Choose four or five exercise depending on the activity you will be going to do. You should always follow these with some movements specific to your sport or workout, however these will get you primed, mobile, dynamic and flexible.

Variety is great, but try to identify your weaknesses and use the warm up to really target them and ensure those areas are really ready for the work out. The best warm up exercises are not always the most common ones, and you will find a few gems in this list that will really help you to progress with your fitness goals.

Remember: When you are starting out these exercises will be challenging. A lot of them are still hard for the best athletes that struggle in certain areas. Be patient and work through them, eventually you will achieve the mobility needed to perform them to their maximum. If you struggle with any of these in particular, do it more frequently.

1. Inchworm

Why: Dynamic hamstring stretch that incorporates core stability.

How: Stand with your legs straight and bend from the hips. Walk out on your hands until you are in a push up position and then walk your feet back up. Keep your legs as straight as possible during the movement

2. Lunge to Instep

Why: Stretches everything and is great for hip mobility.
How: Step out as far as you can and lunge forward. Bring your opposite elbow to touch the instep on the foot that is in front of you. If you can’t reach it, just get as far as you can. You will improve quickly!

3. Leg Swings Front

Why: Dynamically stretch everything and warm up your hip flexors, hamstrings, adductors and abductors.
How: Stand to the side of a chair and swing your leg back and forth as high as it can go. Do the same thing to the side standing in front of the chair.

4. Leg Swings Side

Why: Dynamically stretch everything and warm up your hip flexors, hamstrings, adductors and abductors.
How: Do the same thing to the side standing in front of the chair. Swing your leg as far left and right as your mobility allows.

5. Knee Side to Side

Why: Mobilize the lower back and warm up through the core.
How: Lie on your back with your feet on the floor and knees bent about 90 degrees. Move from your hips to the left and right, as far down as you can go.

6. Downward Dogs

Why: Warm up the upper body and core and stretch through the legs and lower back. A great mobility exercise.
How: Start on all fours with your bum in the air and your arms and legs stretched out.

7. Active Quad

Why: Stretch those quads dynamically and really hit your rec fem.
How: Take a couple of steps, grab your quad in a stretch and pull your heel close to your bum for a second. Drop down, take a few more steps and do the other leg.

8. Active Butt

Why: This warms up your calves as well as actively giving you a stretch through your bum.
How: Take a few steps, bring your knee up to your chest and hold it for a second with your hands. Drop it down take a few steps and repeat on the other side.

9. Windmills

Why: This hits the hamstrings and adductors and gives you some rotation through your hips.
How: Stand with your legs wide open and straight. Bend over keeping your back tight and outstretch your arms to either side. Create a windmill action by rotating your body left and right, keeping your arms and legs straight at all times.

10. Side Lunges

Why: Side lunges warm up your legs as well as stretch your adductors.
How: Start in a wide position and perform a side lunge. Alternate to the other side after you get as low as you can. This will be difficult for beginners so just go as far down as you can.

11. Bridges

Why: The ultimate glute builder and will get those babies activated and ready to go. You need your butt in everything you do, so get it working.
How: Start on your back with your feet on the floor. Press up through your heels until your body is parallel. You can progress to one leg when this becomes too easy.

12. Bridges Drop Leg

Why: This will ensure your glutes are firing as well as mobilise through your adductors.
How: Get into the bridge position and alternate dropping down each leg. Keep your feet on the floor and control through you core to keep as still as possible.

13. Walking Stiff Leg Dead Lift

Why: A good dynamic hamstring stretch that will challenge your balance.
How: Keep your arms outstretched and take a few steps forward. Bend down only at the hips until you touch the floor (totally ok if you can’t yet). Slowly bring yourself back up, take a few more steps and repeat on the other leg.

14. Lunges with Twist

Why: Warm up your legs and glutes while stretching your hip flexors.
How: Perform a normal lunge, stepping out far enough so your knee does not go in front of your toe and twist your body to that side. Pretend like you are holding onto a small ball and keep your arms outstretched as you bend.

15. Squat to Stand

Why: A good way to warm up your legs in general and get some more flexibility through your posterior chain.
How: Start on the floor in a deep squat position with your hands on your toes. Stand up and keep holding your toes. If you can’t stand up the whole way, no problem, go as far as you can and improve each time.

16. Overhead Squat on Wall

Why: This is a great way to warm up your legs and glutes.
How: Start in front of a wall with your hands up against it. Your arms should stay outstretched and running down along the wall as you squat down.

17. Sumo Side to Side

Why: This will isometrically warm up your lower body as well as stretch your adductors.
How: Start in a wide position down low with your elbows on your thighs. Move from the left to the right slowly and increase as you get more mobile.

18. Leg Extensions

Why: Activate your glutes and stretch out your hips.
How: Start on all fours and extend you leg out backwards and to the side. Hold for a second before coming down and alternating legs.

19. Static Spiderman Walk

Why: Great core warm up that gets your hip flexors involved.
How: Start in a push up position, and bring your knee up to touch your elbow on that side. Alternate sides. If you cannot reach it, come as far as you can, you will improve quickly.

20. Bird Dog

Why: A great core exercise that will warm you up, activate you and prevent a ton of injuries in many areas.
How: Start on all fours, bring your elbow under your body to touch your opposite knee and then extend them out as far as you can. Hold for a second and alternate.

21. Rocking Calf

Why: Warm up your calves and stretch them dynamically at the same time.
How: Start in a push up position and place your foot on top of the other leg. Rock slowly back and forth pushing from your toes.

22. Floor to Sky

Why: Warm up your lower body and add some rotation to it. This is great for your legs, lower back and even shoulder. A full body warm up.
How: Start in a squat position and reach behind you as if you will pick something up. With outstretch arms, then bring your hands around your body and over your head to the other side reaching behind you as if you are throwing it to the sky.

23. Adductor Opens

Why: A great position to hold for your abs as well as challenge and stretch your groin (adductor) muscles.
How: Start on your back with your knee bent to 90 degrees as shown in the picture. Slowly drop one leg to the side as far down as you can go, bring it back up and repeat with the other leg.

24. Leg Up and Over

Why: This will warm up your hip flexors and dynamically stretch your hamstrings and glutes.
How: Start on your back with your arms outstretched to the side, and your legs straight. Lift your leg up until its at 90 degrees to your body, and slowly bring it over your body to touch your hand.

25. Upper Back Extensions

Why: Your thoracic spine is bent most of the day if you sit at a desk and has huge implication on shoulder pain. Open up the area and have a healthier upper back, as well as enable yourself to get more out of your shoulders during a workout.
How: Sit on a chair with your upper back at the top of it. Extend your arms up and stretch back over the chair. Repeat a few times. You can also do this over a foam roller if your chair doesn’t work.

26. Wall Slides

Why: A great way to ensure your shoulders are mobile enough to safely perform your workout.
How: Start against the wall with the back of your hands and elbows up against it. Slide your arms up and down the wall and make sure they never leave the wall. You will gradually achieve more mobility.

27. Prone Walks

Why: Warm up your shoulders and hit your core at the same. Great for shoulder and core stability.
How: Start in a pushup position and walk to the left and right on your hands. Keep your core strong and your back straight through out the movement.

28. Scapular Pushups

Why: These are a great shoulder warm up and will help you strength some really important muscles for shoulder health.
How: In a push up position, keep your arms straight and lock your elbows. Drop through your upper body and pull back up. You will feel it between your shoulder blades.

29. Pull Rotate & Press

Why: This is a great complex that will help to warm up your rotator cuff muscles.
How: Start standing up with your arms stretched out front. Pull back so your elbows are inline with your body. Rotate your arms keeping your elbows in the same place until your hands are pointing to the sky. Extend up and press your hands towards the roof. Come back the way you came. Ensure throughout the whole movement that you keep your upper body strong and stable.

30. Neck Side to Side

Why: Moving your neck just helps to open up your shoulders and neck area. We sit still a lot of the day and these muscle can become extremely tight.
How: Simple move your neck side to side, bringing your ear to your shoulder.

31. T Open

Why: This will warm up your core, give you some rotation and open up your upper body.
How: Start in a push up position and hold your body strong. Lift one arm off the ground and bring yourself into a T position as shown in the picture. Hold for a second, drop back down and repeat on the other side.

32. Chest Opener

Why: Your chest can get really tight throughout the day, especially if you suffer from bad posture. This will open up your chest and help those rounded shoulders.
How: Start on the floor with your leg over your body and knee down on the floor. Stretch your arm out to that side and lay it on the floor. Your other arm should start on top of it, keep it straight and open it up to touch the floor on the other side of your body. Repeat this movement a few times.

33. Arm Circles

Why: This will warm up your shoulders in general and get some good mobility through them.
How: Stand with your arms outstretched to the side. Start with tony circles and make them larger each time around. Keep swinging with big circles and start to make them smaller again.

34. Tennis Ball Quad Mobility

Why: Hit some common trigger points in your quads.
How: Start on the floor with the ball under your quad. Bend your leg at the knee slowly. Try moving the tennis ball up and down your leg.

35. Tennis Ball Shoulder Mobility

Why: Ensure that your rotator cuff is loose and you have full range of movement in your shoulder.
How: Start on the floor on your side. Place the tennis ball in the groove in between your armpit and shoulder blade. Keeping your arm at 90 degrees and your elbow on the floor, slowly move your arm up and down. You might struggle with mobility to start, but will improve quickly with persistence.

36. Tennis Ball Calf Mobility

Why: Help your range of motion at the ankle by releasing your calf muscle and getting rid of the junk.
How: Put the tennis ball under your calf while you point and flex your foot. Move the ball up and down, ensure you work a lot closer to the heel.

37. Tennis Ball Glute Mobility

Why: Your glutes get inhibited when they are tight and can cause a ton of problems. Release them with the tennis ball actively before you start working.
How: Sit on the ball placing it under your glutes. Rotate your leg to the side as shown in the picture. Move the ball all around your glutes to find out where you need the most work.

Now you have 37 great warm up exercises you can start doing today. Add them to your warm up or use them as a recovery workout to get some more mobility. Leave a comment if you have any more exercises you like to do for your warm up!

I had the pleasure to interview Fred from Fat2FitFred.com, who has lost an amazing 150 pounds.

After changing his lifestyle around with healthy food choices and exercise (yes, it works) he has lost an insane amount of weight, completed 2 marathons plus many other distance races, and kept it all off since 2007. That is a very impressive achievement, so I decided to interview Fred to find out exactly how he got started, kept going and has changed his lifestyle completely.

A quick note from me before we get started. You will see throughout the interview that Freds weight loss was a mindset. Once you set your mind to achieve a goal, there are various paths that you can take. There is no one special formula or even person that will teach you how to lose 100 pounds, they key is to make the decision to be healthy and find the path that will get you there.

Not everyone likes running, and that perfectly fine. Exercise is a big part of weight loss and you need to incorporate it into your weekly routine, and there are many different forms you can do to be successful. If you have any questions regarding how to find out what works for you, don’t hesitate to leave a comment on the post.

Now, let’s get started…

Lauren: First, congrats on the amazing transformation, it’s very inspirational and you look fantastic. Tell us a bit about yourself and what sparked you to make the change?

Fred: Thanks Lauren for the kind words and for this interview. As a child I grew up overweight and obese. I was athletic and I played outdoors a lot with friends, but I had horrible eating habits and really had no one to tell me to not eat certain foods. I consistently overate which was why I was an overweight person. The weight gaining continued until my early adulthood. At the time I tried different diets like the Atkins Diet, but I never put forth much effort. Eventually, my weight got up to 355 pounds and my pants size was 56 inches. I was at these high numbers at the young age of 31. Luckily my wife gave me some great news around this time and told me that we were expecting our first child. This is when I realized that at this pace, within a few years I could be 400 pounds and not around for my child. It was a quick wake up call and I knew I had to lose weight and to permanently keep it off.

This is when I realized that at this pace, within a few years I could be 400 pounds and not around for my child. It was a quick wake up call and I knew I had to lose weight and to permanently keep it off.

Lauren:I know you are a runner, and this was a huge part of your weight loss. Tell me about how you used it to help you lose the weight?

Fred: Yes, I am a runner and it did greatly help me in my weight loss. When I was growing up, I did play sports with my friends outside, but I was always the slowest and if we ever had to run far, I never participated. When I got into high school, I always found a way to skip the yearly 1 mile run test day. I didn’t play high school sports because most of the sports involved a lot of running for conditioning. So as you can see, running was something that held me back for many years. When I realized I needed to lose weight, I knew it was going to require shedding at least over 100 pounds.

My plan was to do some weight training, but to add some time on the cardio machines to burn calories quickly. I started walking on the treadmill, but eventually it turned into running when I got bored on the treadmill. At first it was a walk/run ratio, but eventually I was able to run on my own for distances I was never able to accomplish. This felt good to meet this type of accomplishment. I was able to conquer my past fears along with proving to myself that the body is capable of so much if I don’t let my mind get in the way.

Lauren:What is running to you now, has it evolved to a passion, do you compete?

Fred: I continue to use running to challenge my body and mind. When I first started running, I ran/walked a 5K in around 40 minutes. Some people might be happy with that and they should be. However, for me I have continued to work on the time over the years. At the end of April 2013 I set a new personal best when I finished in 24 minutes and 20 seconds. Will I ever win a race? No probably not. However, because I have running goals, it continues to drive me to develop different workouts so I can see improvements in my running.

When I started running, I never in my wildest dreams did I ever think of running a marathon. I now have done 2 full marathons, my 3rd one is planned later this year and I will also be running my first 50 mile race later this year. Therefore, as you can see I am using it to push my body and mind beyond what I thought it was capable of accomplishing. It also gives me time to myself to think of the past, present and future. When I am running, it is a peaceful time which I why I run by myself most of the time.

Now with all that being said…Yes it has become my passion but my family still comes first. I wake up early to get my workouts in or I stay up late after my son goes to bed to complete my running. If it is important to me, I will find the time and fit it all in.

I wake up early to get my workouts in or I stay up late after my son goes to bed to complete my running. If it is important to me, I will find the time and fit it all in.

Lauren: Tell me about the nutrition changes you made. What was your diet like before your weight loss? What are your top 3 healthy eating recommendations?

Fred: Well before my weight loss, I ate what I wanted. If I was driving by a fast food place and I was in the mood, I stopped there. If I was in the store and wanted something sweet, I picked up some candy. Before I made the changes, I never paid attention to calories, protein, carbohydrate or fat quantities. I don’t even think I knew what they all meant. I consistently overate, drank all sorts of beverages and just “enjoyed” life. When I decided to make lifestyle changes, I learned about nutrition and the amount of calories I should be consuming and what foods was “good” or “bad” for me.

• Drink Water. Most beverages have no nutritional benefits so skip them when possible.
• Eat a well balanced breakfast. Your metabolism needs to get kick started and an early breakfast does this job.
• Don’t diet, just eat real food. I don’t believe in diets, I really think you just need to know about how many calories you need and adjust from there based on your lifestyle and activities.

Lauren: So many people start and fail, what motivated you and kept you going?

Fred: Results. I put in the work in the gym and in the kitchen and results came. Honestly, if I was doing all this work and I saw no changes in my size or on the scale it would have been easy to give up. People start and fail because they follow “diets”. When it doesn’t work for them, they fall back to their old habits. Yes, learn about nutrition, but if you eat real food, don’t overeat and exercise you should be fine. If it doesn’t work at first, analyze and adjust. For example, if it worked for you last year it may no longer be right for your new body. Don’t give up, just keep experimenting.

Listen, if you want to lose 100 pounds, walking the dog for 20 minutes a day is not going to help you lose 5 lbs a week. Think about what you want and realize you will have to put in a good amount of work. 150 extra pounds did not happen overnight, so it took time to get rid of that, but since I was able to convince myself that work+discipline=results, I was able to stay motivated. I keep this lifestyle now because I love being active with my son and also seeing how my running results keep improving.

Lauren: How has this transformation changed your relationships and family life?

Fred: My wife was with me at my “biggest” weight. Therefore, it has not changed much except that I appreciate more that she was with me back then and that we have become closer as the years go by. I also definitely feel I am a nicer and more patient person because when I was eating bad food, I was “tired” most of the time and was grouchy. If I had stayed overweight I know I would not have been able to do the majority of the activities I do now with my son. I am also proud that my 7 year old son has already completed various fun runs (half mile, 1 mile and 2K distances). He is so far ahead of where I was at that age and I am able to keep up with him when he wants to play outside, sports and ride bikes. All of this is what keep me going.

Lauren: What are you goals now after this transformation in regards to exercise, healthy living and weight loss?

Fred: My personal fitness goals are to run longer distances, get faster at shorter distances and still lose more weight. I am still 200-205 pounds, so I would love to be able to lose another 20 to help me with my running and fitness goals. However, more importantly is I would love to continue to be an example for my son that eating right and being active can make you a better person all around and help you in all aspects in life now and later on. I also want to be some type of inspiration for others who are in my past similar situation and it will help them get started and become the person they are capable of being. I hope they read my story and understand it is possible and they should not settle for where they are now.

Losing 100 pounds would be overwhelming to anyone. Therefore when you have a large goal like that, you break it down into mini-goals.

Lauren: Do you have any special tips or advice for people ready to make the change and lose the fat for good?

Fred: Just start. If you never start, you will never get to where you want to be. Set goals. Big ones and little ones. I set a goal of losing 100 lbs. If I would have only focused on that, I never would have stuck with it. Losing 100 pounds would be overwhelming to anyone. Therefore when you have a large goal like that, you break it down into mini-goals. For example focus on taking off 5 or 10 pounds within a month, and then see how you did. Then set a new goal for the next month, etc. Eventually you will get to your BIG goal. Also, stop dieting, start living. It all changed for me when I stopped trying to follow a “diet” and just made sensible lifestyle changes (eating right and exercising). I include some more helpful ideas on my website in some past blogs.

Fred is an inspirational blogger who lost 150 pounds and kept it off. You can find out more about him on his blog, Fat2FitFred.com, or head on over to Facebook , Google Plus or Twitter to connect with him personally.

Second, that’s have a look at why the word toned really gets on my nerves.

Busting The Biggest Fitness Myth

I do understand what you mean when you say you want a toned body, but the fact that is any different to actually gaining muscle is a lie. This is perhaps not necessary for you to know but I like my readers to be educated and understand what they are doing and how it will help them achieve the goal they want. In fact, if someone was to scientifically increase the tone of their muscles, they’d have to stick a fork into their brain. Tone implies that the muscle is constantly contracted, and that is something we do not want, or we suffer from a muscular disorder… but I digress.

Toning implies that awesome look when your muscles pop out and have great definition. Girls and guys, I’m sorry to say but the only way to physically get that look is to increase your muscle mass and decrease your body fat. End of story. Guys tend to bulk up a lot more thanks to a multitude of hormones that we females do not have. We simply won’t grow like they do unless under the influence of something rather illegal.

I’m glad that’s cleared up. Being toned means more definition, which in turn means getting bigger muscles and losing fat. Simple.

The Scales Will Lie

Do not associate what you see on the scales with what you see in the mirror. As you put on muscle mass you are going to gain lean mass. The idea is to decrease fat mass, however often you don’t see much of a change on the scales if you aren’t overweight. Those with a lot of pounds to lose will see big scale changes, but as you get closer to your goal, you will see the scales stop moving. Don’t be afraid. You are gaining that lean muscle mass you need for the great defined look.

So How Do I Get Toned?

Getting that look is simple in theory. Eat well and lift well, and you will get results. There is no magic pill, just old fashioned hard work. Of course, a little bit of knowledge will help you out… so here goes.

Nutrition Is The Key (Seriously)

You are absolutely not going to get where you want if you stuff your mouth with the wrong things. Aside from cutting out the obvious junk like soda, fried food, take away, chips and candy…there are 3 things you can do that require very little thinking that will take you very far very quickly. Do the minimum and get the maximum results, change these variables and you will start to see fat loss and muscle gain.

• Eat More Protein: Protein is literally the building block of muscle. You need it to get lean gains, and you need to to help keep you full. Just eat more protein and see for yourself.
• Eat More Healthy Fats: These also keep you full, as well as do amazing things to some pretty important body composition regulating hormones. You very likely need to increase your intake.
• Drink More Water: Water is great for you, and when you are dehydrated you feel like crap, can’t workout hard and usually think you need to eat.
• Cut Out Refined Sugar: Sugar is not the devil, but you don’t need all the added stuff. Just nasty calories and does horrible things to your blood sugar.

This are not all the changes you can make, but these are the ones that will get your the biggest results quickly. Want to expand on these and get more nutrition tips? Check out my free email course where everything is covered.

Make Small Changes

Nutrition is mostly about habit, and to change a habit you need patience. The best way to make things stick is to take it slow. Do a dramatic overhaul of your diet and you have more chance or regressing.

Two weeks is a great time frame to make something a routine. With nutrition you need to take it slow. Make one small change every 2 weeks. Start by not drinking soda, then cutting out refined sugar, then add more protein to your diet… the list goes on. This is a sure fire way to succeed and you will find you get some great fat loss and muscle gain with each step you make.

Strength Train Your Way To A Toned Body

Nutrition is the key, but strength training is what will take you to the next level. You can lose all the fat you want, but if you don’t build that muscle you will only be skin and bones.

Why Strength Training Is Better Than Cardio

Oops I said it. Cardio is great and a balanced fitness routine is the one that almost always succeeds…however, if you are looking to get that toned look and you aren’t doing strength training, then you will find it very difficult to achieve you goals. For getting definition, strength training is absolutely better.

Lifting weights and doing body weight resistance work places a lot of stress on the muscles. Tissues break down, tissues repair, tissues grow. With this initial stress you don’t get the growth. Without the lean gains you won’t achieve that toned look, no matter how much fat you lose.

Full Body Versus Split Routines

I often get questions regarding the use of split workout routines. In my very humble opinion it is much more efficient to use a full body routine. If you are a body builder, then forget this advice…however for the general public it is very important that you get the biggest bang for your buck, and that’s where full body routines come in. You would only need to workout 3 times a week, for maximum 40 minutes and you can hit all the major muscles in your body and cause some serious lean gains.

Low Repetition Versus High Repetition

I often hear that if you want to get toned, you better stay in a hi repetition range (20+). This is yet another myth that we will be busting today. To grow muscles, which is one of the two things you need to do if you want to tone up, you need to stress them. The more stress you place, the bigger the gains. Although there is no perfect repetition range for everyone, staying in a relatively low range, like 6-12 will ensure you always get a decent stimulus on the muscles (provided you lift enough weight), and will help you build lean muscle. Don’t do those girls weights for 25 repetitions, it’s not going to get you the look you want.

So How Do I Apply All This?

Thankfully I have a really cool free email course for you that will show you how to tone your body up at home. You will get workouts, a free ebook, nutrition advice and important tips that help you apply all of these principles, and get the body you want. Visit this page or sign up below!

This beginners at home workout allows you to get your exercise done quickly, effectively and with zero expense. There is no more excuse not to get started. Something different for regular readers today, picture format.

How To:

• Get off the couch.
• Complete the warm up three times through without any rest.
• Complete the workout circuit 3 times through with 1 minute rest between each circuit.
• Get back on the couch (Joke, drink some water and eat some good food).

If you like the workout please share it and leave a comment below telling me what is stopping you getting started.

If you are looking for more great workouts you can do at home, make sure you sign up below. You’ll receive an email course with two free workouts plus your free eBook, and regular updates from the blog.

No Equipment No Excuses has only been out for two months and already I have had tons of feedback on how much people are loving it. Not only am I getting great feedback, I’m also getting some pretty sweet results.

Here are two readers who took the time to measure and keep track of their training and results for me!

Matt, Australia 41

Matt bought a copy of No Equipment No Excuses just before the price rise and has been in contact with me personally. He’s keeping track of his data and is getting GREAT results. I’m really pumped, but not a all surprised. He’s a very disciplined guy and we are working on keeping a balanced lifestyle and making sure the weight stays off. He started on the Beginner 10 Week program. Everything looks fantastic right now!

(Matt is from Down Under so his measurements are in kgs and cms)

Here are some of his comments to me via email.

After week 1- I have dropped 1.65kg to 95.50kg and my waist has dropped 2cm to 98cm.  I am happy with the progress.  My wife has joined me on the program as well.  She started at workout 2 on Wed and was impressed by the intensity of the workout.  She regularly exercises and likes tough workouts so take that as a compliment!

After Week 2- I’m still enjoying the exercises and love getting ‘inchworm’ out of the way in the warm-up routine although getting more fluent with it.  It is amazing the workout you can get without any equipment.  I am often huffing and puffing by the end.

After Week 4- Enjoying the workouts, and pleased with the results – especially since I am spending one third of the time I used to spend exercising and achieving similar results.

Bill, USA

Bill was one of the first people to purchase my book and put it into action. In just a few weeks on the program he has lost 5 pounds and an inch of his waist. He started on the Beginner 6 Week Program.

This was his original comment to me on Google Plus:

I’ve been completely inactive the past few months, so I started out with the 6 week beginner workout. The winter months are miserable. My favorite activity is biking so I tend to become very sedentary during the winter. Your book has solved a very big problem for me, that being what do I do during the winter. I’m not the kind of person to do the gym thing and my interest in martial arts hasn’t been the same the last couple of years.

During:

So, Day Two. Working out in the morning has never been my thing. That is going to take some getting used to. I was tired when I started my warm ups, and started sucking wind right away. But, it got better pretty quickly.

A Little Later On:

I got on the scale this morning, and it’s the first time this year I’ve lost weight 2 weeks in a row. I wonder what I’m doing differently?

This is now:

I have decided to start week 3 of 10 of the beginner schedule this week…..

I think I’m going to add a Krav Maga twist to it. While holding the position, I’m going to put a pillow decide me, in lieu of a proper kick shield, and punch it ten times, then switch sides. I doubt that i’ll get 16 reps out of it at first but I’ll work towards it. (Lauren- Bills talking about the Russian twist I have in the beginner 10 week program, I don’t even know what a Krav Maga is. Come a long way, starting to teach me things!)

No Equipment No Excuses isn’t a guide to losing weight quickly, it’s a lifestyle strategy to help you keep it off for life. You are able to workout wherever you want, and you don’t need to use a lot of time to get maximum results… or spend large amounts of money for gym memberships and equipment.

I will keep you updated with these case studies and more as I get more results and feedback. In the meantime, keep consistent and feel free to email for personal help whenever you need it.

It is a simple fact of life that it gets harder and harder for you to lose weight as you age. If you have spent a large part of your life fighting the battle of the bulge, you may be noticing that losing weight after 40 is even more of a challenge. Just because it is difficult does not mean it cannot be done, however. There are lots of things you can do to continue to stay at a healthy weight as you age.

First of all, you have to accept the fact that the amount of calories you eat and the amount of calories you burn really do determine how much you weigh. There simply is no substitute for eating less, eating healthier and moving more when you are trying to lose weight. In fact, these factors become even more important as you grow older since losing weight after 40 is more difficult than when you were younger.

Since so much depends on calories in and calories out, it is important to understand that as you grow older your caloric needs decline. You do not need to take in as many calories in your 40s and 50s as you did in your 20s. You are not as active as you were then, and your bodies processes are slowing down. You do not have a growing body and revving metabolism to feed, so you do not require as many calories in your daily diet.

It gets more difficult as you get older

You have more of a challenge getting to and maintaining a healthy weight now than you did 20 years ago for another reason that you might never have realized. In general, our food portions at each meal have increased dramatically over the years. On average, we eat 25% more than we used to and we burn 20% fewer calories than we did in the past. These two factors combine to make us gain weight and have a harder time taking it off.

Taking all these factors into consideration, you can see why it would be helpful for you to determine just how many calories you are getting in your daily diet. It is likely to be a much higher number than you think, and this will give you an excellent starting point for beginning to lose weight.

Should you count calories

It is not necessary for you to memorize the amount of calories in every morsel of food you put in your mouth. The key thing is to keep track of how much you are eating each day so that you do not pack in lots of calories through “mindless eating.” After you have tracked your food intake for a few days or weeks, then you can start to make healthy substitutions and reduce your portions. This will go a long way in helping you to shed some excess weight.

Once you have a good idea of how many calories you are consuming every day, then you need to figure out how many calories you really need. This way you can be sure not to overeat. Keep in mind, though, that exercise burns off calories. So you can afford to eat a little more if you are very active, but you need to cut back more if you are sedentary.

Lastly, be conscious and aware as you go through your day of what you are putting in your mouth. Do not eat or drink anything without first asking yourself if this is the healthiest choice you could be making and if you are giving your body the fuel it needs. Making smarter choices each day will help you to achieve your goal of losing weight after 40.

Author Bio

Kevin is a qualified Strength Coach; and he also holds a Degree in Human Movement Science, with a Major in Exercise Science. With over 20 years experience in the fitness industry Kevin combines his knowledge, his no-nonsense approach and cutting edge methods to produce lasting results for many individuals, athletes and local teams he has worked alongside.

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Tight hip flexors are a common complaint and cause of back pain. When we talk about hip flexors we are looking at the Psoas, Illiacus and the Rectus Femoris. When these muscles get tight back pain can follow. There are two common reasons why you get tight hip flexors. Let’s take a look.

Hip Flexor Stretches And Beyond

Lets take a look at 8 of the best hip flexor stretches.

1. My Stretch

This is my own hip flexor stretch and one I perform before any exercise. I have relatively good core stability, so this is great for me as I stabilize my pelvis well. To perform this correctly you need to squeeze your glute muscle on the side which your knee is on the floor (reciprocal inhibition which we will discuss later in the article). Hold your hips strong while you push forward and bring your other hand back to touch your foot on the floor. Make sure you hold this stretch for at least 30 seconds. If you suffer from back pain during this stretch then you likely struggle with core stability. Stop with this stretch and work more on strength and dynamic exercises that you will see below.

2. Partner Stretch

My Dad showed me this stretch (he’s one of the top Strength and Conditioning coaches in Australia) and hammered me with it when I had really bad back pain. Anyone can help you do it and it is very effective. You need to find a table and someone to help you. Lay with your bum right on the edge of the table, pull one knee to your chest and hold it there. Extend the other leg off the table and let it hang. You partner should then push down for at least 10 seconds while you try to pull the leg upwards. Basically you resist the stretch as strong as you can. After 10 seconds you stop resisting and let your partner stretch you again. You will find that you get more range of motion right away. Repeat three times.

3. Rec Fem Stretch

This is a really good stretch to make sure you hit your Rec Fem (which crosses your hip and knee joint), which is one of the hip flexor muscles that doesn’t usually get hit with standard hip flexor stretches. My hot tip for this exercise is to put a pillow underneath your knee, otherwise it gets really painful!

4. Bridges

One of the ways to stretch your hip flexors is to activate your glutes. There is a phenomenon called reciprocal inhibition and it is heavily at work here. There are several muscle partnerships in your body that work this way. When you glutes are weak, your hip flexors will become tight. When you hip flexors are released, your glutes are free to activate and get strong. We are going to exploit that here with this simple exercise. You will also get a dynamic stretch as you straighten out your body and squeeze your glutes.

You can do this exercise with one or two legs. Start with your bum on the ground. Press up through your heels and straighten out your body.Hold for one or two seconds and lower you body again. Repeat 10-15 times.

5. Overhead Lunges

This is an exercise you should include in your program and is great for stretching out your hip flexors dynamically. Holding something over head will help you stretch out the fascia over your hip flexors as well as stabilizing your core. Hold something overhead and step out. Make sure you step far enough out so your knee doesn’t go too far over your foot. Press back up to a standing position.

6. Split Squat

I use this exercise to dynamically stretch my hip flexors and strengthen my glutes and quads. It is one of my ultimate exercises. If you are a beginner this will be really hard to start as it is putting all your weight on one leg, but you will improve very quickly. Start with one leg behind you on the couch and step out far enough so when you drop down your knee doesn’t go too far over your foot. Drop down until as close to parallel as you can go, this will vary depending on strength and flexibility. You will improve quickly.

7. Overhead Squats

This variation of the squat will ensure that your hips flexors are stretched out during the exercise. As you stand up from the squat your hip flexors will be on stretch. These are not as effective as the two exercises above, but should be included in your warm up for your exercise program. Hold something over head with your arms completely outstretched. Squat down ensuring that you move with your hips first. Go down as far as you can. You will be limited by strength and flexibility at the start, but you’ll find that your mobility improves quickly as you get stronger through the range of motion.

8. Tennis Ball Work

Sometimes stretching isn’t enough. This is a way to really hit the trigger points in you hip flexor muscles and release them on a deeper level. You can’t always get to a massage therapist and its important to be able to do some soft tissue work on yourself. This is where a tennis ball comes in handy. Grab a book and your tennis ball. The book will make sure that you get deep enough into the hip flexor. Place the book on top of the tennis ball and lay down over it. The tennis ball should be 1-2 inches to the left or right of your belly button. Then get up onto your elbows to stretch your hips flexors out. Hold this position for at least 30 seconds at atime, you should feel your hip flexors release. If you want to see ways to release your whole body with a tennis ball, check out this book.

Work Your Core

As mentioned earlier, sometimes tight hip flexors can be caused by a weak core. In this case, you need to do some strength work for your abs. I really like prone holds or planks for this. Everyone can do it and they really get in deep and work your stabilizer muscles. Start on your elbows and keep your body straight. Work on holding this position for as long as you can until your form breaks. You will improve quickly.

Now you have a wide range of hip flexor stretches and exercises to both passively and dynamically stretch your hips. Start implementing them into your warm ups and programs. If you have really tight hip flexors you should do this work every day to ensure you get the release you need. Any questions just leave a comment below and i’ll get back to you ASAP.

There is one more day to get your copy of the book for $19. You can check it out here!

All About Carbohydrates

These come in all forms, from natural sources like fruits, to veggies, to tubers like potatoes and turnips, to processed forms like flour, HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), table sugar (sucrose) and pasta. A quick primer on the different forms of carbs looks like this:

• Glucose: The most basic and more easily used sugar. Broken down from starch (potatoes, rice, corn)
• Fructose: Found in fruit. Preferential to the liver, NOT skeletal muscle.
• Lactose: Found in dairy, broken down into glucose and galactose. Can be problematic in some folks.
• HFCS: Acronym for high-fructose corn syrup, which is usually either 55% or 42% fructose.

Working Out Hard? You Need Carbs

One of the biggest misconceptions is that Low Carb = Health = Athletic Performance; while different authorities continue to argue, two main facts exists that are specific to HIIT (high-intensity interval training) athletics:

1) Intense, short duration training in the glycolytic pathway utilizes muscle and hepatic glycogen—this must be present for performance, and replaced for recovery (Translation, you use carbs when you work out really hard. So you need to replace them adequately or you are going to have nothing in the tank the next time round).

2) Chronic low carb intake will negatively affect  hormone creation/cascade, resulting in acute onset of adrenal dysfunction and exacerbate over-reaching/over-training (Translation, if you go low carb for a very long time, you are going to have a lot of health issues that will make you feel really tired, down and low on energy).

Post Workout Fuel

This is highly individual, and dependent on a variable of factors:  Training, age, body fat percentage, training age and carbohydrate tolerance.

Here are some general post workout formulas, based on body fat percentage:

Post Workout Fuel Male:

• Above 12% – 30g prot/10g carb
• 8-12% – 30g prot/25g carb
• Below 8% – 30g prot/40g carb

Post Workout Fuel Female:

•  Above 16% – 20g prot/10g carb
• 12-14% – 20g prot/20g carb
• Below 12% – 20g prot/30g carb

Don’t forget to eat a balanced meal of protein fat and carbs, 45-60 min after consuming your post workout fuel.

The Bottom line:  Athletes NEED carbohydrates for performance, hormone health, and recovery.

This post is full of great information but is pretty high tech for beginners. If you can’t understand something or need some clarification just leave a comment below and Mike or myself will answer as soon as we can.

Now to the good stuff.

Not everyone has access to a gym, and even if you do, getting there isn’t always possible. Luckily, there is a lot that you can do at home without needing any equipment whatsoever. In fact, it’s a myth that body weight exercises can’t get you the results you want. They most definitely can, there are progressions of exercises that are really hard and will make sure you get the leg workout you want.

Here are 6 exercises to do at home, without any equipment that you can start with today. Plus they have some sweet variations you can try out if the base is too easy.

Squat

This is the ultimate exercise and everyone should learn how to squat properly. Mastering this movement will ensure that you are strong for life, and as you age you won’t lose the ability to do basic movements. Not to mention it’s a great calorie burner and warm up exercise once you get the hang of it.

Start in front of a chair or table. Move backwards with your hips first and let your knees follow. Once you tip the top of the chair or table, slowly pushup yourself back up. To progress you can add a jump at the top of the squat.

Split Squat

This is one of my favourite exercises that I do all the time. it’s great for your legs and bum and really builds power and stability through your lower half. Place your leg behind you on a bench, table or chair. Step out far enough so that when you bend down, your knee will not be going over your foot. Lower yourself down by bending at the knee, make sure the movement is controlled. You can progress by adding weight to your back in the form of a back pack with books in it, or you can perform a jump at the top.

Bridges

This is a bum builder and really important for lower body strength. There are a number of variations you can do depending on your strength. Starting on the floor with two legs in front, press up through the heels to raise your body. If you are already advanced, you can place one leg up on a bench or couch, and perform the same movement. Press up through the heel until your body is straight, control the movement and come down slowly.

Nordic Hamstring Curl

This is a very advanced hamstring exercise, so don’t perform it unless you have some some bridges and stiff leg dead lifts frequently. Put your heels under a couch so your feet are locked in. Slowly lower yourself, keeping your body straight at all times. Once you can’t lower yourself controlled anymore, let go and fall forward to the ground and catch yourself on your hands. This works your hamstrings in an eccentric manner, which means the muscle is lengthening as it contracts and it places much more stress on the fibers.

Wall Squat Calf Raise

This is a great combination exercise you can do anywhere you want, plus it burns! Get in a wall squat on the wall, with your legs around 90 degrees. Once you have that position you can start to do calf raises. Force yourself to raise your heels off the ground whilst maintaining your position on the wall.

Single Leg Dead Lift

Another great hamstring exercise that also promotes stability. Start on one leg with your knee slightly bent. You won’t bend your knees anymore during this exercise.Now move from the hips and take your body forward until you feel a stretch on your hamstring. Once you feel that pull, raise your body again, this is one repetition.

These are only 6 exercises among many that you can do at home. As you can see, you need zero equipment. If you want to check out more, then make sure you have a look at my full workout at home guide here.

Any questions or concerns just let me know!