Fitness | Online Personal Training

Kayaking can be practiced in any form – as a recreational activity or as a thrilling adventure sport. However, both these forms require the paddler to possess basic fitness and stamina. There are special kayaking fitness programs that kayakers can practice to stay fit and healthy for kayaking.

Kayaking Fitness Program

Upper Body Exercises

Since the most important element in kayaking is paddling, developing and strengthening the upper body is most important. One of the best upper body exercises is pulling dumbbells or prone barbell bench pulls.

The barbell bench pulls consists of lying on a flat board and pulling the barbells kept below the board at an arm’s distance. The barbells must be directly pulled towards and away from the chest in a fixed momentum. Yet another easy method involves the use of dumbbells. The person must place his feet at shoulder’s distance from each other and lean forward. However, it is important to keep the back straight and put all the body weight on the heels. In this position, doing pulls with the dumb bells would develop the upper body and arm muscles tremendously.

The weight of the dumb bells would depend upon the motive of the individual. Using light weight dumb bells and doing more counts would increase endurance while using heave weight dumb bells and doing fewer counts would increase the upper body power greatly.

Exercises for Shoulders and Arms

Kayaking regularly is the best option to develop the body for kayaking. Thus, to strengthen the muscles and the arms, paddling for long hours is the best option. Individuals need not hit the water and can indulge in dry paddling sitting at home.

A great tool to use for dry paddling is a bodybar or two paddles at a time and air row for 3-5 minutes per set. This would prepare and tone the shoulder muscles for kayaking.

Squats

Squats too are great kayaking exercises especially for strengthening the calf muscles. Although, most people know how to perform squats, doing them perfectly is very important. Remember to start by standing upright on the toes with back straight. When sitting down, do not lean forward or hold on to any support.

Yet another version of the squats involves the use of paddle. Individuals must hold the paddle parallel to the shoulders while sitting down.

If going to a gym, doing the leg curls and extension exercises is a must for all kayakers. These exercises are important to strengthen and tone the quadriceps and hamstrings.

Abdominal Crunches

Crunches are excellent form of workout for strengthening the abdominal muscles. The best option is to use the pilates ball for performing the crunches. These would burn the unnecessary abdominal fat and keep the body lean and fit for kayaking.

Cycling

Kayaking requires great endurance and stamina, especially for whitewater kayaking or sea kayaking expeditions. Thus, a long cycling session, preferably outdoors would help in building the stamina a great deal.

These are just a few of the major exercises that kayakers can practice so that they are fighting fit for a kayaking session always.

Lifting weights is an exercise as old as civilization. The tale of Milo of Croton from Ancient Greece exemplifies this, as he was supposed to have lifted a young calf every day, until many months later he was able to lift the now fully grown bull. The progressive nature of strength development was thus known, and, if not understood on a biological or physiological level, practiced extensively to produce athletes and circus strongmen throughout the ages. Today, however, most people in commercial gyms ignore the barbells except perhaps for the ever popular bench press. Is it that people have discovered something better, or should people return to using barbells?

In the 1970’s, a gentleman called Arthur Jones invented a kind of exercise machine that revolutionized the fitness world. It was based on the principle of ‘variable resistance’, and allowed people to isometrically train each muscle by a resisting static force. A machine was invented for each muscle or limb, and the trainee could change the amount of resistance by selecting the amount of weight to be used. While exercise machines had been around forever, Arthur Jones revolutionized the fitness world by creating a circuit of them, and claiming that by moving from machine to machine and exercising each muscle, you could gain incredible strength through precision and targeting.

Why did the Nautilus catch like wildfire? Despite its short comings which I’ll discuss in a moment, it allowed gyms to put a bunch of machines on their floors and not need to train their employees on how to use them. They were simple. Whereas before training an employee on the intricacies of barbell training had taken time and effort, now relatively clueless gym trainers could walk their clients through the Nautilus machines, saving the gym both time, effort, and expense. More people could train at once, and the gym industry took off.

However, human bodies were not designed to train isometrically. Ever muscle has its counter. The hamstrings balance out the quads. The biceps balance out the triceps. By training just one side, imbalances are created, and the whole system fails to grow cohesively. Strength does not result, and after a few months most people quit for not having achieved results.

The reason that barbell training is fundamentally better than Nautilus training has to do with how the body is designed, but also one more crucial aspect: all the muscles are harnessed and put to use by the neuromuscular system. By training with the Nautilus machines, this system is ignored, left undeveloped, and those complete, cohesive strength fails to manifest. When training with barbells, however, the whole body is engaged, core strength is built as stabilizers are brought into play, and compound exercises cause complimentary muscles to grow together as they are harnessed to the neuromuscular system. There is simply no better way to train, and as any Nautilus circuit trainer that has attempted to gain strength through circuits and then moved to barbells when frustration wins over, free weights produces rapid, profound changes in the body, resulting in startling strength gains and muscular hypertrophy.

Exercise has become a way of life for many people, and at the same time others are looking to get started with an exercise program. It is important for everyone, regardless of the stage their at, to include the best exercises for overall health and fitness in their routines.

We wanted to take some of the guesswork out of the equation by providing some proven workout options considered among the best exercises known. We all owe it to ourselves, family, and friends to take care of the only body we have been given. Instead of feeling defeated, you can get stated today using the best exercises to make a permanent and positive change in your life.

Walking

Walking is free, it can be done anywhere, and it gets results. Long understood as one of the best exercises around, walking is effective for every one. Walking works in many ways by burning calories, boosting the body’s metabolism, and toning/strengthening muscles. Considered one of the best aerobic exercises, you should not ignore this exercise.

Pushups

Whether doing pushups with a straight leg of bended knee, numerous muscles are used to include the triceps, pectoral muscles, abdominal muscles, back, and legs. Lying face down on the floor with the palms flat down about shoulder width apart, the entire body is lowered down and raised. For the easier option, the knees are bent and again, the body is raised and lowered. This is one of the best exercises because it also increases stamina.

Sit Ups

Another of the best exercises you can do is the old-fashioned sit up. For this, the arm, back, and abdominal muscles are used. This starts by lying down on your back keeping the knees bent and feet placed flat on the floor. Crossing your arms across the chest, you would then raise the body up so the chest touches the knees, followed by lowering the body back down to the starting position.

Jump Rope

Jumping rope is listed as one of the best exercises for cardiovascular health this is free and easy to do. With this exercise, choose the right length of rope for your height. Next, just start jumping in the air for 2 minutes while working your way up to 30 minutes. This exercise utilizes the calf and thigh muscles.

Squats

The last of our best exercises is squats, which can be done by beginner or advanced workout enthusiasts. Standing upright, you want to bend the knees while keeping the arms stretched out parallel to the floor. Slowly, bend the knees until the thighs become parallel to the floor. For the more advanced person, a weight bar or actual weights can be used. Place the weights behind the neck and across the shoulders.

Your Traps, which is also known as the Trapezius muscle, are those little muscles that are located in between your shoulders and your neck. Traps are basically divided into 3 functional regions: the superior region which supports the weight of the upper limb, the intermediate region which retracts the scapulae, and the inferior region that medially rotates and depresses the scapulae.

This muscle group gives you that football player look that compliments your chest and back muscles. This muscle can be developed using a variety of exercise routines that mostly involves elevation of the shoulders. Contrary to Lats that can be trained only through pulling exercises, Traps can be developed by pushing exercises as well.

Here are 3 Exercises to Develop your Traps:

1. To be able to grow a thicker and higher trap muscles, you should do the Shoulder Shrugs which can be done with the use of either a barbell or a set of dumbells. Both equipments have the same effect; it would only depend on your preference on which one to use. This is done by either holding a barbell with both of your hands or holding a dumbell on each, and shrugs your shoulders as if trying to reach your ears even though you know it is impossible. You should maintain an erect stance throughout the whole course of this routine while slightly bending your knees. Without compromising the integrity of your lower back, try to lower the weight as much as you can. Try not to do a rolling motion with your shoulder in performing this routine since it is a good way of pinching your nerve and inviting injury.

2. Next one you should consider doing to improve your Traps would be the Behind the Neck Press. This is done quite similar to the way the Seated Press is, but this one should be on a wider grip and the weight should be lowered behind the neck. This is a routine that complements the effects of the Shoulder Shrug which is why this is highly recommended by experts. The reason why a wider grip is suggested for this routine is that, with a narrower grip, the focus would be on the shoulder and not on the Traps, so you need to widen the grip while sacrificing the range of motion of the exercise.

3. If you want to perform Shrugs without having to use either a dumbell or a barbell, then use the Machine Shoulder Shrug. All you need to do is to position yourself on a calf machine in a certain way where your shoulders should be situated below the shoulder pads. With your hands on your hips, start to raise your shoulders up towards your ears and after acquiring the maximum height; hold it for a second before retracting it to the starting position. Do the recommended repetitions similar to the conventional Shoulder Shrug, and try to hit different angles of the traps by changing you shoulder position.

These routines are guaranteed to make your Traps grow and be able to complement with your Lats and Chest muscles for that Mr. Universe look.

Treadmill is a popular exercise equipment that helps in building endurance and enhances the fitness level of a person. It is a secure exercise equipment that can be used by all the members of the family but happens to be one of the costly fitness equipment.

Based on their prices, treadmills can be categorized into three types namely the cheapest, whose price is less than five hundred dollars, the moderate costing five hundred to three thousand dollars having a slightly higher quality and functions and the expensive ones which can cost as much as six thousand dollars and more.

The cheap treadmills obviously fall into the first category and are characterized by low quality parts. Cheap treadmills may have belts that are wobbly and a not so strong deck that has the peril of losing its levelness with the ground. They may need frequent maintenance.

Significantly, cheap treadmills are manual and the belts are worked by the user. The user has to put in extra effort to keep the belt in order, while running. This may sometimes cause shin aches and calf muscle aches lasting for days together. Also, cheap treadmills cannot be expected to have advanced features as their expensive counterparts.

Generally, cheap treadmills do not have powerful motors which are essential for a person who is truly interested in a serious workout. Cheap treadmills can be purchased through other means such as getting used equipment or buying a reconditioned one which can be bought from a gym that updates their equipment. There are online companies that offer reconditioned treadmills at a cheap price.

The price of a treadmill can be minimized by sacrificing some of the accessories like the electronic heart rate monitor or the like because a treadmill is basically intended to do workout to help a person keep in good shape and trivial accessories that enhance the price of the treadmill can be sacrificed.

Hence while choosing a cheap treadmill, it is vital to check the stability which is of utmost importance and the material with which it s made up of. If these factors are satisfied, there is nothing wrong in going for a cheap treadmill especially for a novice who would first like to try in a cheaper version before plunging on the best of the product in the market.

Cheap treadmills that cause neither any discomfort nor any bill to the doctor can be a good bargain. In such circumstances, it would be better to choose a used treadmill that has all the satisfying features and may not make much of a difference in the price. There are websites and bargain sites such as eBay that offer a wide range of cheap treadmills.

One or two easy changes to your boring routine of fat burning exercises can take you to a whole new level in your fitness and help you to burn more fat.

Here are some tips to spice up your regular training regime and keep you interested in exercising.

1.  Take a new route

It is imperative to keep your body constantly challenged if you would like to lose fat, increase your fitness levels, or gain extra muscle strength. It is relatively simple to attain any or all of these without having to change your regime a lot.

If you are a regular walker or runner, try including some extra hills. Otherwise, if you use cardio machines at the gym or at home such as a Treadmill, increase the incline or the speed.

For resistance training, you can try lifting more weight, alternatively do more sets or reps than you normally would.

2.  Include supersets in your resistance training regime

Bringing supersets to your resistance training regime will not only help increase your muscle size, it is excellent for adding some extra muscle definition. Supersets are also good if you’re in a rush, as there is less resting time between each exercise, making your routine quicker to complete.

To perform a superset, you do one set of a particular exercise, immediately followed by one set of another exercise. There are three types of styles for you to pick from:

Identical muscle group superset – uses the identical muscle group in each superset. The initial exercise being a compound movement. A compound movement is when more than one joint is used. The second part of the superset then uses an isolated movement, meaning only one joint is employed to work the muscle. An example of an identical muscle group superset for your back would be one set of dumbbell rows followed by one set of prone rows. Alternating superset – uses totally different groups of muscles for a superset. An example would be doing one set of calf raises, followed by one set of bicep curls. Push/Pull superset – uses opposing muscle groups for example, chest followed by back (one set of chest press and one set of lateral pulldown).

3.  Go hard!

Commonly with exercise and weight training, you may experience feeling a bit swamped with the plethora of technical jargon you need to bear in mind – repetitions, sets, maximum heart rate, and so on. Why not forget all of that for a change and just train hard at whatever exercise you choose for the day.

If you’re running change to a totally different route than you would normally pick and just go for it! Don’t monitor your heart rate if you normally do, rather persist with a high intensity until you need a rest. After a short rest, go some more.

If you’re used to doing interval training, don’t time yourself in between each interval, instead persist until you need a break. Have a breather until you are ready to repeat the same. Continue your intervals in this manner.

Next time you are weight training, rather than counting your reps, instead do the exercises until you feel your muscles start to burn. Rest for a minute then repeat another set, try adding an extra five more reps this time.

4.  Purchase some new gear

Another great idea is to get some new exercise outfits to enhance your self-esteem and really feel great when you’re performing your regular training regime. Even if others don’t notice, you’ll feel great within yourself, wearing your exciting new training gear.

5.  Interval exercising

Incorporating intervals into your routine is an exceptional way to enhance your fat burning exercises. Try including one minute spurts into any of your cardio workouts such as treadmill work, running, spinning, cross-trainer, or swimming. If you normally walk, try running for 60 second spurts.

6.  Try a different class

If you go to a gym that has a variety of classes, do one you’ve never tried before, although it may require you to get out of your comfort zone and experiment something new. Some suggested fat burning classes are cycle, body combat, basic training, or body pump.

7.  Choose your most enjoyable exercises

It’s not hard to quit your fat burning exercises regime when you feel fed up and lacking all motivation. Pick some enjoyable activities such as going for a bike ride, joining a local sports team such as soccer or netball, belly dancing, or walking along the beach.

With any luck these suggestions should give you some novel ways if you want to change your exercises to keep yourself keyed up and eager for your next session.

For a start, you hit the gym with a mere thought of losing pounds. You run, dance and move to shed those fats off your tummy, legs, buttocks and arms. Once this is practically achieved and you tip the scale at 10 to 20 pounds off, you begin to think what’s next in line.

Nothing is enough one success after the other. You surely seek for more and explore the possibilities of enhancing the different parts of your body. You want your abs flatter, butt firmer, legs stronger, shoulders broader and arms leaner. These 7 muscles group exercises for a shapely you will perfect your fitness obsession:

1.Chest Muscle Training. Men think that having a firmer chest is attractive. Develop and strengthening chest muscles can be done through chest press machine, pushups, bench press using barbell or dumbbells and a lot more. As you put greater attention to your chest development, you manage your breathing considerably.

2.Back Muscle Training. Your back supports the entirety of your physical anatomy. They interconnect the rest of your muscle groups and they bear a big portion of your body. Your back can be strengthened and fat-free through doing back extensions, pull downs using barbell or heavy dumbbells, lateral raise and overhead press. Get the assistance of a fitness instructor to execute appropriately.

3.Shoulder Muscle Training. The shoulder muscles contain your tendons and rotator cuff that allow your arms to move flexibly upward, downward, backward and forward. Your shoulders can be trained and made broader through front, lateral and overhead presses.

4.Biceps Muscle Training. Your biceps are visibly seen. They are the forefront of your arms. They are developed to the fullest by consistently doing concentration curls, hammer curl or biceps curls.

5.Triceps Muscle Training. Triceps are the back muscles of your arms adjacent to your armpit and shoulders. You can train and develop them by dong kickbacks, dips and triceps extension exercises.

6.Lower Body Muscle Training. The lower body interconnects your buttocks, legs, hamstrings, abs muscles and feet muscles. It’s the most challenging part of your body that needs to be trained and developed. You can do it by squatting, lunging, leg press machine usage and calf raise.

7.Abdominal Muscle Training. Everyone wants to have a flatter and nicely sculpted stomach to flaunt off. It may be difficult to achieve that if you don’t consistently do your workout routines and cut down on belly-enlarging food like cakes, high-carbohydrates, alcohol, etc. To achieve a six-pack abs, you can do crunches, pelvic tilts, oblique twists and reverse crunches.

Training your muscles can differ in terms of repetitions, intensity and heaviness of the weights. If you’re choosing them incorrectly, your goals are unachievable.

For millions of people all over the world, the decision to get in shape means one thing: Joining a gym. Your local gym or workout facility will have all the equipment you will ever need as well as a staff of fitness experts who can help you reach your goals.

For all the good results you can achieve through joining a gym, they also have their downsides as well. In fact, a growing number of fitness buffs have taken to working out outside of the gym environment and focusing on bodyweight exercises that they can do anywhere to get in shape. For many of the diehard gym rats out there, this decision may seem almost sacrilege, but as we will see below, there are some valid positives to taking this NO GYM route and pursuing a Boot Camp training program.

First of all, gyms can be expensive. Fees upwards of $75 per month are not uncommon and often times this fee is paid for the privilege of waiting until someone else is done using the equipment that you need. If you are waiting, you are NOT working out. Focusing on using your bodyweight to stay in shape, needless to say, will cost you nothing.

The next benefit of choosing bodyweight training vs. joining a gym is the lack of distractions. Look, I love watching THE OFFICE as much as the next guy, but I don’t really need to relive every hilarious moment WHILE I am working out. There are always at least 2 or 3 folks at the gym who are more interested in what they watched last night than what is going on right in front of them. They often show complete lack of respect and needless to say, this is an annoyance you won’t have to deal with if your program revolves around bodyweight training. All you need to think about really is breathing to keep yourself alive most of the time!

One of my favorite reasons to cite for leaving the gym atmosphere behind is just that…the atmosphere. Gym walls, no matter how pretty they are painted, are still gym walls. The world is a wonderful and glorious place that must be experienced and getting out in nature to exercise beats the confinement of a stuffy gym ANY day.

So, now that we have listed some of the reasons why using bodyweight training in a Boot Camp program may be a better alternative than joining a gym, you still may have ONE little nagging question…what the heck is bodyweight training? Simply put, bodyweight training is performing any exercise where your bodyweight provides the main source of resistance. These exercises can be performed anywhere you go and there is a huge list that don’t require ANY apparatus to receive the full benefits of the workout. Bodyweight squats are great to add to your regimen as a foundational exercise. Pushups, either traditional or elevated, will give you perhaps the greatest upper body results of any exercise out there. Add in some jumping jacks, calf raises, and a set or two of plyometric jumps and your bodyweight workout will allow you to burn fat, build muscle and get into incredible shape at no cost to you and without the shortcomings of gyms that we spoke about.

It is not because a person expects to have a car accident that he or she will buckle up. We don’t carry first aid boxes to picnics because we expect to break a rib during the picnic, but because it is the wise thing to do ‘in case’. Taking precautions is the effortless and easy insurance cover that caters for the probable slim chance that some mishap may come along as the day gets by. It after all it doesn’t happen, a body builder will always be happy it didn’t, but more so that he managed to avoid it.

If for example the body builder is doing a set of calf presses using a press machine, odds are slim that the feet will slip off the edges. However, in case they do, and the body builder hadn’t engaged the safety stops in advance, that will probably be the last time he or she will see the gym. While doing heavyweight barbell bench lifts or presses, the failure or ignorance to use a specific spotter is worse than the proverbial Russian roulette. A casual visit to the gyms will always come upon a body builder lifting 300lbs of a barbell with the thumbs resting on the very same side as the other fingers. Simply put, this is attempted suicide.

Such safety precautions are cliques common with instructors, who keep telling body builders to remember wiping the hands dry before loading plates, keeping the feet completely clear from plates and dumbbells lying idle on the floor, using a belt while doing heavy lifts or over-the-head presses or even using a spotter if in a particularly vulnerable position etc. Instructors know that none of these mundane tasks is rocket-science, and actually chances are most precautionary measures end up totally useless. They however, come in hardy when the body builder messes up, and is only happy that he or she took the few seconds necessary to play it wise and safe. Research has irrefutably established that most people crash ultimately from cumulative minor accidents built up over years of careless workout sessions.

For instance bicep curls done wrongly by putting undue pressure on a joint, will not demand immediate surgery. But the next time this is repeated, it will push further towards the brink and after numerous repeats the hands will be set for disaster. Precautions begin with listening to the body and taking appropriate correction or preventive measures immediately.  If elbow feels odd after a couple of skull crushers, a body builder is well advised to let it rest adequately and avoid extreme crushers next time.

Safety precautions in body building require the body builder to respect, understand and obey the body while at the same time not giving it a chance to be lazy. If the knees start aching after an intense workout, then perhaps the new squatting record, desired and planned for should be postponed.  Most dedicated body builders take pride in strict workout programs. Indeed a daily drill at the gym always on schedule is the single most important requirements for long-term body building success. But they know when exceptions to the rule apply like when on the slim edge of going over the extremes in training. They take caution before the worst happens.

Many athletes have a lot of trouble increasing the power of their one-legged jump. This article will reveal the trick to harnessing your horizontal momentum fast with an easy exercise to increase vertical jump.

Athletes consider a large vertical leap very important in giving them numerous athletic career choices. In fact, your size of your jump is one of the key things that scouts take into account when looking to buy professional athletes for their teams.

It is not unusual for one athlete to be able to jump high off one leg, while another athlete will experience much more momentum with the other leg.

Maximum downward power, however, is always achieved with two legs. The trick is being able to achieve this same momentum by jumping off one leg.

The key is to do some practice. The next time you’re at your basketball court, run as fast as you can to the free throw line and then jump up with just one leg. When you have done this mark in some way exactly where your feet landed on the ground.

You will notice a difference from the free throw line to where you landed. The key is to minimize this distance to not waste any part of your vertical. When this exercise gets easier you can try doing it with a two legged takeoff which is even more powerful.

Toe raises will also build up your calf muscles. It is a very easy exercise to perform. All that is really required is to stand on your toes, one at a time or simultaneously with both legs, and then pull down and repeat the exercise. Best results are achieved if you do this workout slowly.

If you are serious about increasing your jump you need to find the right program that will meet your needs.

The best program for you will be able to be customized to your own individual and athletic needs and circumstances. Vertical jump programs customize their workouts differently. One may concentrate on an individual’s weaknesses, while another program will customize its workout through performing repetitious exercise.

The best program will be able to customize your workout precisely according to your needs and not someone else’s. It will also be able to individually take into account your weight, your height, your health, your fitness level and ultimately, your vertical jump goal.

It will also offer multiple different vertical jump training levels. The best program will increase your strength through both weight training and plyometrics.