A type of exercise using explosive movements to develop muscular power, esp. bounding, hopping, and jumping.

Plyos (as they are called for short) are great ways to train your muscles for fast twitch movements and are an awesome way for athletes to develop stronger and faster bursts of speed in their movements. And every athlete knows that being faster and stronger are essential for success in almost any sport.

I really like Reference’s explanation of what muscular power is on the Plyometrics page:

Muscular power is determined by how long it takes for strength to be converted into speed. The ability to convert strength to speed in a very short time allows for athletic movements beyond what raw strength will allow..

This is such a great explanation of what muscular power is and how Plyometrics help in achieving things that your body would not be able to do solely using strength training. So with that we will get onto some basic Plyometrics movements to get you started in your Plyometrics training.

Power Skip For Height

Power skipping is an aerobic exercise that is great for your thighs and calves. It is basically a skip, where you alternate legs trying to achieve maximum height off of ever jump. Using this in combination with power skipping for distance is a great combo of Plyos.

Power Skip For Distance

This is just like power skipping for height except now instead of trying to gain maximum vertical height you will be trying to achieve maximum horizontal distance. So now you are jumping out instead of up (like you would for height).

Therapy

The past week I’ve been dealing with an abnormal amount of stress in my work, personal life, and just about around every corner of my day. So I’ve been using a 20 minute walk as a way to get away from everything and take some time for myself to sort out what’s going through my head. Of course it’s not a requirement that you think at all when you go for a stroll down the road, it’s nice to just not think of anything but putting one foot in front of the other for a while.

Exercise

There are some obvious benefits to going outside. A walk is far better than sitting in a recliner, no matter who you ask. It can make a difference just by parking your car around the corner from work or in the back of the parking lot at BigDept. Store ©. For me it’s a good starting point, I’ve let myself get far out of shape, and have had issues with my back and shins since I was in Jr. High.

Companionship

It can be great to have someone go along with you, it gives you a chance to bond, to get more information out of each other or just talk about your day. It can be a better (healthier) alternative to sitting around the table and picking at food after a meal that you don’t need just to see eachother. If you don’t have a significant other to get out there with, take your dog! He’ll love the exercise and will never say “not right now,” just don’t take him for a walk while you drive in your car….
Set some simple goals

Goals!

Setting goals isn’t a big deal at all. Start by walking what you know you can do, and walk that distance a couple of times a week. Then, as you get more into it start going to the next mailbox, or the next road, and work your way up every couple of trips. You’ll start to notice quickly that it’s getting easier and easier to get down the sidewalk every day. It’s a great feeling.

That’s about all I’ve got for now. Now get out there and get Rover some exercise.

First off I would recommend checking out AskMen.com’s Ab Guide. They have some great information there as well.

Diet

I have already introduced the idea of eating healthy in order to achieve your ab goals. I would work on cutting out the sweets from your diet. This will help drastically on the fat intakes you have. One tip I would like to pass along is to take out all your junk food from your cupboards and give it away, then go to the store and replace that junk food with healthy fruits, vegetables, and alternate snacks. Check out Wikipedia’s Healthy Diet entry for more information.

Cardio

Cardio is important if you need to burn fat, actually it is great for your body either way and will help a lot with achieving your ab goals. A few things you could are running (10-20 minutes, whatever you can do, push yourself), swimming, and biking. The first two would probably be your best bet since biking does not rely as much on your abs as the others do. If you need to burn fat this is where you are going to do it, ab workouts only workout the muscle underneath the fat.

Ab Workouts

Check out these sites for many great ab exercises until our list goes up:

• Ab and Core Exercise Progression
• Real Women’s Fitness Ab Section (men can use them too)
• AskMen.com’s Ab Guide
• How to Structure Your Ab Workout for Better Abs

There are many other resources online for great ab workouts, I will write a post in the coming weeks with my personal favorite exercises for abs. Comment below if there is anything you would like to add!

In general usage, the biceps is the biceps brachii, the prominent muscle on the inside of each upper arm, popularly associated with bodily strength because it can be flexed very visibly.

From Reference.com’s entry for Bicep.

The most common way to exercise your biceps is to do Bicep curls. There are a few different ways you can do Bicep curls, but I prefer standing with a good solid athletic stance (shoulders firm, feet shoulder width apart, and knees slightly bent). Then I will use two dumbbells and alternate the biceps curl movement. If you are unfamiliar with the proper form of Bicep curls I would recommend checking out this guide from BodyBuilding.com. Where they state:

Stand straight up with your shoulders squared and with your feet shoulder-width apart. Let the bar hang down at arm’s length in front of you, with your arms, shoulders and hands in a straight line. WITHOUT leaning back or swinging the weight, curl the bar up toward your chest in an arc. Keep your elbows in the same place and close to your sides. Bring the weight up as high as you can and squeeze the biceps at the top. Lower the weight slowly, resisting all the way down until your arms are nearly straight.

Now that guide is for barbell curls but it is the same concept for dumbbell curls, where you will alternate arms. I normally start the next arm when my other arm is close to being down to resting position (on the way down).

For a decent beginner starting workout I recommend starting out with something like this:

Day 1: 10, 10, 10 (reps, each arm). On your first day I would recommend doing a light weight and getting used to the movements and proper form.

Day 2: 8, 8, 8 (reps, each arm). Up the weight if possible and try to crank out 8 on each arm with proper form.

Day 3: 8, 6, 4 (reps, each arm). On this day push yourself hard to use proper form and raise the weight.

*Note: Those are not consecutive days. The “Day” is representative of your arm workout day. I only work out my arms once a week hard. If you workout while you are still sore you may risk injury and you will not develop how you should.

Now this is just a guide to get you started. I do 4 sets of Bicep curls once a week for my Bicep workout. It depends on your body and what you need to maintain and gain what you want. My arms are the size I want them to be, I do not do low reps on Bicep curls because I am trying to define and tone my arms instead of make them bigger. This is my personal goal, so set your own goals and work to achieve them. Remember before starting any workout routine to consult your doctor and if you are unsure as to what you should do I would recommend hiring a personal trainer.

Real Muscle Online has a great article on “How to structure your ab workout for better abs” that I found very helpful and informational. They also had an informational post on “How to make your daily run more weight loss effective” that I found to be great as well. A lot of positive work going on at Real Muscle Online, keep it up guys!

The main reason regular running is limited in its effectiveness is because you get used to that heart rate range. If you jog at the same pace everyday your body becomes adapted to it and doesn’t get pushed. If you add some sprints in there though, you can increase your heart rate during the run as well as boosting your metabolism for the rest of the day. This means less calories absorbed as fat and more fat burning the next day. All good.

Crunch Notes has an article on “Marathon Training for Nerds” that is worthy to check out for the tech-hearted. They have a lot of great gadgets and technology that pertain to active workouts and running.

General

• Running – Ask someone where a safe route would be to run, as you may not be familiar with the area and the roads. Go out during daylight hours to be safe.
• Pushups – Make a rigorous pushup routine to do in your room, use different hand positions to work out different parts of your upper body. Including shoulders, triceps, and chest.
• Crunches – There are so many ab workouts you can do in your hotel room or lodging that your abs can get just as good of a workout on vacation as they would at home or at the gym. Plus the fact that your eating habits may abnormal (more grease, more fast food), crunches and running are great for burning those excess calories.
• Squats/Lunges - Doing some weightless squats will help your legs stay active and not lose to much of your hard work.
• Swimming – Swimming is a great workout for the entire body. Most hotels have pools (and maybe a hot tub for some relaxing after a hard swim or day) and you can get some laps in. Make sure you bring goggles so you don’t run into the edge of the pool! If you are camping, there is also a possibility of swimming, call ahead and ask.

Hotel

Quite a few hotels have access to weight rooms with a few basic machines, which could include treadmills, bikes, and a few weight machines. Use the machines to your advantage, usually they are not the best quality or most useful but if you can get a few upper body exercises in, it will definitely help keep those muscles active.

Camping

While camping you can do various activities including hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, swimming. Call ahead to where you will be staying and see the activities that they would recommend doing to stay active. Camping is usually a relaxing vacation choice, but that does not mean that you should take the entire trip off, get out and do something, be active, there will be plenty of time to relax at other points of the day.

Relatives or Friends

Ask your family or friends if there is something you can get out and do to stay active during your visit. Maybe they will get out and do something with you. Ask them for good running routes to avoid high traffic areas and other dangerous areas.

Conclusion

As you can see there are so many options to stay active when you are out on the road and there really is no reason to not even attempt to get 15-30 minutes into a day, even if you are busy most of the day. It will make you feel much better and could help you sleep better on that awful hotel bed you have to stay on for a week.

I am on the road while writing this and I must say I have felt much better on the days that I got up and did some running and pushups compared to the days I did not. Leave your traveling workout tips in the comments.

Squats

The ultimate leg exercise, squats work the whole body, squats especially work your thighs, hips, and butt. I prefer normal squats (bar on shoulders) going to close to parallel. Make sure you keep your back tight and have a spotter. Check out About.com’s and WikiHow’s excellent squat guides for more in depth information.

You will not want to do very much weight, find a good weight that you can do 15 reps of. I prefer to do four sets of squats, a warm up set (ex. 15), then 3 more sets, 15, 15, 12 (reps). Take a good 1-2 minute break between sets. If the weight is to easy add a few pounds.

Lunges

Lunges have quickly became one of my favorite leg exercises. Lunges do a great job on many major muscles in your leg. Lunges work your butt (glutes), calves, quads, and hamstrings. Proper form is critical on lunges, I recommend again About.com’s Perfect Butt Guide for more in depth look at lunges if you are not familiar with the proper technique.

I like to do very high reps with weights on lunges. I would recommend starting with 15 each leg to start, using 5lb weights (if you can’t use the weight at the start, just use your body weight). My legs are usually burning after 3-4 sets of squats at high repetitions, it is a great exercise.

Biking/Running

Biking and running are great ways to get in shape and lose weight.  But they are also great for your legs. Biking really works your thighs, hips, and butt, and will help tone up your legs. Being a cyclist myself, I would recommend doing faster paced spinning classes (or ride in a higher gear) so that your legs are moving faster, it should really help tone up your legs. I would recommend the spinning class if possible since I know I look pretty silly riding my bike and my legs just going at a high RPM.  Remember to wear your helmet!

A good site with the benefits of cycling is Bicycling Info. Head over there for some good information.

Conclusion

There are many other great exercises out there that can help you achieve your goals for your legs. Different workouts and exercises work for different people. Remember despite what exercises you choose working hard is the most important thing, your legs should be burning and sore after your workout. Make sure to warm up properly and to stretch afterwards so you don’t become to sore. There really is no substitute for hard work, especially when you are working towards a goal is important.

About.com’s Top Ten Butt Exercises is a great resource for some more information regarding this subject.  Best of luck looking good this summer!

The euphoria of an energetic workout may tempt us to further push our levels and try our hands and legs on exercises that drain us off which is the first mistake that must be avoided. After a morning workout session, the heartbeat rate must pacify itself. This is because we do not want a palpitating heart forever which is very uncomfortable to deal with, not to mention unhealthy.

It is advisable to do simple stretches immediately after the morning workout because the muscles stretch during the workout and contract at the same rate after the workout. Hence a heavy morning workout implies heavy contraction, which may lead to shrinking. This mandates the necessity for light stretches after which we will feel brisk, fresh and great after a morning workout. So jog off to work, ride a bicycle, and enjoy the fruits of labor.

Workout naturally results in working the water out of the body. Morning is considered to be the best period to work out, but that is also the time when the body is yearning for water. So it is absolutely essential that we stay hydrated during the exercise duration and more necessarily after the workout, throughout the day.

Instead of protein or carbohydrate-rich drinks that may sometimes nullify the purpose of our fitness regime, it is better to drink at least 4 glasses of water more than the usual consumption, for there is no greater elixir of life than the clear liquid itself. It is the artery through which nutrients are circulated in the body after a perfect workout and we don’t want to wag our tongues for want of water. Instead, we want to feel the flow of strength and potential that is begotten by a good morning workout.

If there is one great benefit of morning workout that stare into our face, then it is the food pattern that can be easily followed. To feel great after a morning workout, we must eat very soon after the workout. The perfect timing would be within 1 hour of doing the workout, which would be a cakewalk for us because we can have our breakfast within 1 hour of the workout.

The nemesis, in other words, the 3-letter villain FAT should be avoided during the breakfast session because fat slows down digestion, which is the complete opposite of our intent. Intake of proteins and carbohydrates is highly recommended because carbohydrates provide the much-needed glucose to refurbish our muscles and give us that pep to start our day with enthusiasm, feeling great about ourselves. In short, any food that helps in easy digestion of food is preferred because our ultimate requirement is energy and not to be a storehouse of unwanted fat.

Even without a workout, it is rejuvenating to take a hot water bath. With a workout, it is a treat to bath in hot water to feel all the stress ebbing away. The reason behind this is that, hot water dilates the muscles and immediate cold-water bath contracts the blood vessels. This vacillation between hot and cold water will clean up the tissues and helps get rid of impurities.

It is not enough to have a great morning workout, it is absolutely important to feel great after a morning workout and all these steps are necessary to aid in our quest for a healthy and happy living.