8 Most Effective Exercises

With many of us leading extremely busy lives, time is money and being efficient in everything we do is a must. The same goes for exercising. Stop wasting your time on exercises that work only your forearms, or biceps, or just your calf, instead think big and target the major muscles groups when working out. You’ll not only get the best bang for your buck, but you will burn more calories.

Most of us are intimidated to join a gym or even begin to exercise due to the lack of knowledge of many exercises. Yes, there are thousands of exercises and a beginners can find themselves very lost and discouraged, but there is no need to worry, what you need to understand is that out of those exercises that you see people perform in the gym, TV, magazines…most of them originate from the basics. All you have to do is learn the basics and you will understand the rest of the exercises much better and may even find yourself creating a few of your own. I have listed the top 4 cardio exercises and the top 4 strength training exercises:

1.) SWIMMING

Swimming is one of the best cardio exercises that you can do. Its activates almost every major muscle group in the body as well as teach you how to breath while exercising. The water provides for a non impact cardio session so anyone can do it. Regular swimming builds endurance, muscle strength and a cardio vascular fitness. You can find a swim team almost anywhere where there is a local pool. Go to http://www.usms.org to find a master team near you and don’t be intimidated, many masters team have many beginners that have just started to swim, the fee is usually very low to join and many teams have up to 3 practices times a day where you can choose from (you pick how many days and practice you like to take part in)

2.) CYCLING

Another excellent non impact cardio is cycling. It is a fantastic way to tone up your legs as well as your gluteus! Sure you can go to your gym and hop on the stationary bike for an hour, but how boring is that? Invest on a road bike and go out and see the world. Take part in a fund raiser ride with your friends, join a local ride group (go to a local bike shop and ask them about local rides) or just call a few friends and make your own weekly rides. Perhaps you don’t have any friends or much stamina to get out on the roads yet, well not to worry go to a local gym where they offer spinning classes, they are usually very fun and upbeat, not to mention a great place to meet people with a similar healthy interest.

3.) WALKING/RUNNING

Walking burns approximately 500 calories in one hour. It is very easy and most of us can do it. You may not have 1 hour to walk a day, but guess what? Recent studies shows that 3 bouts of a 10 minute walk is just as effective as a 30 minute continues walk, so make it count everywhere you go. Park the car far away and walk, take the stairs instead of the elevator, find a local running/walk club. You can even use your walking to help others by taking part in local 5k run/walk where money goes to help organizations such as the American Heart Association, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Susan G. Komen breast cancer association (Race for the Cure). So get out there and walk and when you get really good—-run, you’ll easily double the amount of calories you burn an hour!

4.) INTERVAL TRAINING

Pace variation during your workout increases power in your aerobic system, this increases your body’s capacity to burn calories. Adding interval training to any of your cardio sessions will increase the calories your body burns overall. Whether you are biking, running, walking or on the elliptical, throw a 1 minute surge at an intense but controlled speed every 5 minutes of so. Again, lets try to be efficient with our already busy lives, don’t just sit on the elliptical for an hour in the same boring pace watching the TV. Instead, make the workout last 30 minutes, but really focus on those surges every 5 minutes. As you get more accustomed to this style, increase your surges to 1:30, 2:00 and 2:30 and shorten your recovery (regular pace) from 5 minutes to 4 minutes and eventually 3 minutes.

5.) SQUATS

In addition to your cardio session, it is essential that you add some strength training exercises to your routine. Squats are one of the most effective lower body exercises that you do as it activates almost all lower body muscles including major ones such as the hamstrings, gluteus and quadriceps. So if you are looking to shape up those thighs and buns, there is no better way then some good old fashioned squats. You can start with you own body weight and then add some weight to it as you improve. Remember that form is key, refer to http://www.workoutz.com for a visual and full instructions on how to squat properly.

6.) LUNGES

Another effective lower body exercise is the lunge. It mimics walking and strengths all the muscles involved. It activates the gluteus, hamstring and quadriceps. Refer to http://www.workoutz.com for a free visual illustration on how to do them properly. It is very easy to injury yourself if you don’t do them right. As you improve, you can add some weight or do backward lunges, lateral lunges, or even split jump lunges. Remember to always keep it fun.

7.) PULL-UPS

A properly done pull-up requires strong upper body strength. It activates most of the back muscles as well as the arm muscles. If you can not do a full pull up, do one—its better than none, but make sure you make a goal for yourself to go for 2 the next week and 3 the week after. You are much stronger than you think, don’t sell yourself short. Another option is to buy a fitness band and tie it on the top of a pull up bar, strap your feet and pull yourself up, it adds a little assistance. Also many gyms will have assisted pull-up machine so make sure you add that one to your workout list. Alternate from overhand grip to underhand grip in order to activate different muscles.

8.) PUSH-UP

The classic push-up is one of the best upper body exercise that you can do. It strengths you chest, triceps, shoulders and even your core. Make sure you don’t put your hips up too high, that’s cheating and you’ll be losing the benefit of the exercise. If you can’t do a full pushup, let your knees touch the ground (put a pillow or towel underneath it so you don’t hurt yourself) but remember to make goals for yourself to try for a full push-up the week after, and 2 the week after that and so on.

You may be wondering why there are no abs exercises on the list, that is because if you do the cardio correctly and stay loyal to a healthy diet, the fat will shed away and you WILL SEE your abs appear, its guarantee. A flat stomach is all about adding plenty of cardio and having a strict diet.

Remember to always keep it fun, don’t make working out just another part of your life make it a lifestyle.

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