The importance of water

60-78% of our body is made of water (depending on your age).  This means water is VERY Important.  The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) total beverages a day.  This does included the water you need to intake during exercise.  While working out you should have 8 oz (1 cup) every 15-20 minutes.  That is on top of the daily total intake needed. 

Really if you start consuming the right amount of water - You WILL start to feel better.  Try it!!

How?  You ask.  Here are some ideas.

*  The average mouth full of water is 2 oz.  So 4 month fulls equal 1 cup.  So every time you leave your desk take a couple big month fulls of water from the drinking fountain.

*  Also have a water bottle with you.

*  Put 13 or 9 rubber bands around your wrist and take each one off as your drink a cop of water.  By the end of the day you better have all the rubber bands off.

*  Carry a full jug of water with you and drink it all before the day is over.

*  If you don't like the taste of water - add Crystal Light or Lemon (or something like that) to add flavor to your water.

The Stick

www.thestick.com

The Stick

This lil' stick does amazing thing to help with sore muscles, knots, and flexibility.

 

Heart rate monitors

Heart rate monitors are very useful when wanting to improve your fitness workouts.  

They help you know how hard you are truly working out.  Most also calculate the calories brunt - which is very useful in weight lose.

There are only two types of heart rate monitors I would recommened - Polar or Garmin

http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/

http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us

To figure out your Target Heart Rate Zone follow this equation

220 - your age = A#

A# - your resting heart rate* = B#

B# x .65 = C#

C# + your resting heart rate = your low end of you target heart rate

B# x .80 = D#

D# + your resting heart rate = your high end of you target heart rate

*see the "Find your pulse" post

As you do you cardio workouts try to maintain your heart rate between you Low and High number for at least 30 minutes most days of the week.

An example:

A 26 year old with a resting heart rate of 67

220 - 26 = 194

194 - 67 = 127

127 x .65 = 83

83 + 67 = 150

127 x .80 = 102

102 + 67 = 168

So the target exercising hear rate zone is 150-168 bpm

(If you are very de-conditioned you may need to times is by .55 & .75)

Find your pulse..

To find your pulse/resting hear rate

First thing in the morning, when you have not been alarmed and awoken from the alarm clock.  Take the following steps.

1.  Place the tips of your index and second fingers on your lower neck, on either side of your windpipe.

2.  Press lightly with your fingers until you feel the blood pulsing beneath your fingers. You might need to move your fingers around slightly up or down until you feel the pulsing.

3. Use a watch with a second hand, or look at a clock with a second hand.

4. Count the beats you feel for 60 seconds. 

Do this for 3 mornings and then average (add together the 3 numbers then divide them by 3) them out and the number you get is your Average Resting Hear Rate.

Weight lose book

This is the ONLY weight lose book I would ever recommend!

It is not a "weight lose" book - it is simply a story... easy to read with many great lesson to learn inside!

Reality check...

During a marathon (running 26.2 miles) I  burn 2,700 calories.

1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories 

So I ran a whole marathon and  did not even lose 1 pound!!!

What I am saying - you can't just exercise one day and except to loose.  Exercise must be a daily thing!!

Fat & Exercise

There are 3,500 calories in 1 lb. of fat...

So in order to lose 1 lb of fat a week you need to decrease your calorie balance by  

500 calorie each day.

Here are some ideas about how to get your daily 500 calories 

* running 30 minutes = 300 calories (depending on your size)

* 1 cup of ice cream= 260 calories

* 6 oreos = 300 calories

Fat vs. Muscle

They say that muscle weighs more than fat, but honestly a pound is a pound. One pound of fat is going to weigh the same as one pound of muscle. If you look at this photo, though, one pound of muscle is going to take up less space on your body than that one pound of fat. It’s also going to be a lot less lumpy under your skin than the fat is. Which look much better.  Also one pound of muscle burns way more calories - even as rest - than fat.  Who doesn't want to burn more calories with out working more?