I’ve had enough of all the theoretical stuff! Here’s an article from my newfound friend Jessica over at http://www.visfitness.com .

Enjoy it!

Get results from your cardio workout by following these simple tips.  Burst through your cardio fat loss plateau and eradicate boredom from your routine

Cardiovascular exercise is a vital part of any good fitness program.  By doing cardio, you to keep your heart & lungs healthy, reduce stress, improve circulation, burn fat, increase your metabolism, and more.  The benefits of cardio are well documented in scientific journals, often recommended by physicians, and always talked about in reference to any exercise program.  There’s no question as to the importance of cardio in living fit and staying healthy for life.

Every person wants to be as healthy as possible, but we also want to look our best as well.  In addition to the health benefits cardio provides, it’s also important to realize that cardio is an important tool in helping you look great and feel empowered.  If you use cardio correctly in your exercise program, you can increase your metabolic rate and burn more overall calories.  Here are a few of the secret techniques I use when doing cardio.

1) Choose a weight bearing exercise.

Choosing a weight bearing method of exercise is a great way to ramp up the calories burned during your workout.  If you accustomed to using a recumbent or stationary bike (sorry spinning lovers) for cardio, consider switching to a treadmill, elliptical, or stair climbing machine.  Using a weight bearing method of cardio increases the caloric demand placed on your body during exercise because your body is no longer being supported by the machine (in this example, a bike seat).  All the work is now being done by your own bones & muscles.  Making this simple change should increase your calories burned by about double.

2) Interval training. 

Interval training is an excellent variation to add to your exercise routine.  Instead of doing long hours of boring cardio each day, use all the buttons and gadgets on your cardio machine to increase the intensity for a few minutes at a time (you can also achieve this outside).  By increasing the intensity (speed, incline, resistance), you’ll be placing increased demand on your body.  The increase in demand will challenge your heart and lungs and cause all sorts of adaptive changes to occur after your workout.  The great thing about interval training is that you can potentially burn more calories after your workout while your body adapts to the new, higher intensity exercises you’ve done.

3) Good Form. 

Another very important part of cardio is performing all your exercises with good form.  Good form includes both perfect posture and using the right muscles to do the exercise you’ve chosen to do.  Perfect posture while exercising will support you in developing a balanced body, free of muscle imbalances that can lead to injury.  Use perfect posture by keeping your shoulders back, chin up, and abs slightly tightened.  By using perfect posture, you’ll naturally use the right muscle groups to perform the exercise.  Another important tip for using good form to benefit from your time spent doing cardio is to keep your hands on your hips or at your sides swinging (similar to a natural walking motion).  The handles on cardio equipment should be used for balance and stability only, and your goal should be to place as little of your body weight on the handles as possible.  Leaning on the machine or hanging on with a death grip pulls you out of your perfect posture and decreases the weight bearing load (caloric demand) to your body.

Jessica Dawn is a leader in teaching health & fitness through the
internet.  You can also visit her blog @ www.visfitness.blogspot.com and
learn proven strategies to make your fitness program effective.  To receive
a free 5 day fitness e-Course, visit: www.visfitness.com

As many of you may already know, I have been losing weight for a while now. April 07 will be one year. It’s been a rough patch for me the last few months trying to lose weight. I hit plateaus and found myself stuck for quite a while.

During December I didn’t do so well and even gained back a few pounds! What can I say…unfortunately I am not as of yet perfect, ;-).

I did discover something during the last month that is helping me now more than ever in my weight loss journey. I’m hoping it can help you as well.

We all know what we must do to lose weight. We know we need to eat better, exercise, stay active, etc. It’s no secret that we have more than enough information available to lose weight.

The real hang up comes in applying that information we know in our heads to our own situations. This can seem hard at times because most of us have an emotional connection to food, I know I do. I find eating one of life’s pleasures and really enjoy dining out with friends and family in nice restaurants.

What I discovered recently has TOTALLY changed my mindset and freed me up to take greater control of my eating habits and lifestyle. In a nutshell, what I have done is a sort of psychological trick…only it actually works.

Here’s what to do:

Each of us have certain things we pride ourselves in, areas in our lives we control and feel good about. For me, I am proud that I strive not to be a follower or just part of the crowd. I find myself at times doing things my own way, just because I don’t want to be like everyone else.

I don’t smoke or drink (I’ve never touched a cigarette or had a sip of alcohol) nor have I ever been to clubs or the whole “party scene”.

I was offered a beer last night by my friend’s new roommate and it wasn’t hard at all saying “No thanks.”

Now, if he had offered me certain foods…it would have been another story. I would have had to think about, debate myself, and say “No thanks”.

Why is this? Why is it SO EASY to decline one thing and SO HARD to say no to another?

Both are choices and both involve me making a decision to move forward or stop. After much thought, I have discovered part of my mental make-up and what I can do to control my eating just like other areas of my life.

In America, it is widely (pun?) noted that 2/3 of us are overweight. That’s right, 66% of Americans are overweight. And what does that mean to me? I’m glad you asked!

It means that I, the guy who likes to not follow the crowd, acts just like the masses of people eating what they want, when they want, and with blatant disregard for their own health.

When that hit me, like hopefully it will hit you, something in me changed. I basically took the strongest identity factor I had and instantly made my eating and lifestyle choices incongruent with who I am.

I don’t follow the crowd, I don’t want to be part of the 66%! I have to be different, I have to be “myself”. Do you see how powerful this is?

I challenge you now to “take a think” as our UK buddies say and look for the identity factors in your own life right now that you can use to change your lifestyle habits.

It’s extremely easy for you to do certain things. Maybe you pride yourself on always being honest. You are a VERY honest person. How can this help you lose weight?

Make a mental connection between you being an honest person and your weight loss. If you took an “honest” look at your life right now, are you the person you want to be? Are you being honest with yourself about your current lifestyle?

You see where I’m going with this. What’s your Main Identity Factor? What’s your Mental Make-up? Use these as your new determination and inspiration.

It becomes easy to succeed when you can instantly and almost effortlessly make eating healthy foods, exercising, and living an active life part of what makes you…you!

If you’ve been struggling with the mental aspect of losing weight, I truly believe this will help you. Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. This year I want to see us all succeed and I know we can do it.