Improve Fitness

10 Reasons Why Men Should Practice Yoga

Edward — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:00:50 +0000

Yoga has become one of those fitness disciplines that modern society associates which just women having a go at. If you see a yoga class at your local sports centre then you are likely to see mostly women there and if there are men within the class it will most likely be because his wife or partner has dragged him along.

This doesn’t make sense as when we look around us at the typical human body it is usually the men who should be doing yoga practice more as they are usually the less flexible of the sexes. In fact yoga in the past had been exclusively for men, so yoga becoming almost women only is only a modern custom.

Our Top 10 Tips For Surviving Christmas and New Year While Losing Weight

Edward — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:36:39 +0000

It’s coming up to that time of year again where you are visiting family and friends and taking part in the traditional aspects of Christmas such as Christmas dinner where you are almost expected to eat lots and drink excessively.

This can be an absolute nightmare if you’re trying to lose weight. It is especially bad if you’ve been achieving lots during the months of October, November and December and now you don’t want to go backwards after all that hard work you’ve put in. But at the same time you don’t want to come across as being an Ebeneezer Scrooge by avoiding parties just because you might give into temptation.

That’s why we are giving you our Top 10 tips to help you get through the Christmas and New Year break without putting on too much or maybe even continue to lose weight. By following these tips we’re sure that when you jump on that scale in early January that it won’t be too much of a shock.

Not Losing Weight When Following Exercise Program Such as P90X? A Look at Why That Might Be

Edward — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:13:01 +0000

So you’ve started an exercise program such as P90X or ChaLEAN Extreme, you’re doing well and completed a few weeks, you’re now exercising more and pushing yourself through your workouts as well as following a much better diet plan and eating the correct amount of calories.

After some time you decide to weigh yourself on the scales, your expecting to see a lower number appear and yet even with all that hard work the scales have not moved an inch. Yet you've lost inches around the tummy and look thinner, what on earth is going on?

Firstly don’t be disheartened by this, one thing you’ve got to realize is that many of these exercise programs such as P90X are not weight-loss programs. Instead they are supposed to help build muscle, increase flexibility, improve balance, help you follow a proper diet and generally make you feel fitter and look better.

Body Mass Index - What BMI Is, What It Shows and When To Use It

Edward — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:54:41 +0000

Body Mass Index is a useful way we can attempt to calculate whether we are overweight or obese. The way it does this is by using our height and weight to give you a BMI score. This BMI score which is usually within the 15 to 35 range gives us a good idea of how fat or thin we are for our height.

Your height can have a big effect on what a healthy weight is. A tall person that weighs 160 lbs will be thin, but for a short person it might be getting too far into the overweight territory. This is where the BMI score comes in because if the BMI score is between 18.5 and 25 then you are within the normal weight category for your height. Below 18.5 and you are underweight and may be suffering with some sort of malnutrition or other health problem. Above 25 and you're into the overweight range where losing some weight could be beneficial to your health.

BMI Calculator - Calculate Your Body Mass Index Now

Edward — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:23:51 +0000

Below is our BMI Calculator (Body Mass Index) and can be used to help you find you approximate healthy weight range.

Simply put in your height and weight (imperial or metric) and the calculator will tell you your BMI and whether you are within the underweight, normal, overweight or obese category. If you want to find out more about BMI, the check out our post called
What BMI Is, What It Shows and When To Use It which explains what it is all about.

Why a Warm Up is Important Before Beginning Exercise

Edward — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:06:07 +0000

You've most likely heard sports teachers/instructors telling you to warm up before exercise. Some people might just want to dive right in to the tough exercise, because that is where the fitness gains are actually achieved. We're going to tell you no, you need to warm up first and in this post we are going to explain why. A warm up is essentially a preparation, you might have been resting before doing exercise and to go from one extreme to the other can be a punishment for the body which needs to be prepared for what is about to be unleashed on it.

What’s happening to your body during warm up

During a warm up your heart rate will start to increase which begins to pump blood faster around the body. Your circulatory system begins to open up more with this increased blood flow and begins to allow your blood to go directly to where it is needed which is in the muscles.

Why You Shouldn't Skip Breakfast When Trying to Lose Weight.

Edward — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:28:05 +0000

When you first decide to lose weight, your first thoughts about how to achieve a new you are by cutting down on the amount of food you eat. Naturally many people decide that one of the easiest ways to reduce their calorie intake is that they will skip breakfast all together. Usually hoping that they can survive any hunger pains through the morning right up until lunchtime.

We’re going to tell you now that you should eat something for breakfast in the morning and we’re also going to tell you why!

Breakfast starts up your metabolism

Whilst you was asleep your metabolism slowed down and you were using up only a very small amount of calories. Breakfast can help to break that low metabolism that you had during sleep kick start your morning and put some fuel onto the fire to make your metabolism burn at a higher rate.

Improve Fitness is Launched, Our Introduction Post to Say Hello!

Edward — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:01:14 +0000

Welcome to our new site, Improve Fitness. We're already stretched and warmed up and ready to get producing content for you. This site will contain articles, product reviews, hints and tips, recipes and more on a wide range of fitness subjects. The articles should help anyone to improve their fitness or if they are already in tip top condition then help you to maintain yourself. Our aim as we write new articles will be to provide concise and factual information to help you on your journey to getting towards a fitter and healthier you.

We plan to include a forum later on and some free tools such as body mass calculators and more. So we hope you join us by subscribing using the links in the right hand menu to our Facebook, Twitter and RSS Feeds. These will allow you to keep up with all the info we post.