Here’s a lovely short article from Jessica Dawn about mindset and weight loss. I hope it inspires you like it has me. Let’s stay on track and make 2007 the best year ever!

Most of us have had times in life where we’ve been frustrated with our weight, super low energy, or just in a rut, unsatisfied with how we look and feel, knowing we need to do something, but not quite sure exactly just what to do. Of course we’ve all got books, tapes, videos, vitamins, and health information sitting on our shelves collecting dust. Things we bought with the full intention of using them, of whipping ourselves back into shape, and staying disciplined and determined with this new program…

How does it happen? How do we go from the excitement, energy, and enthusiasm we feel on the first day of our new exercise, eating, or health program to allowing that new idea, one we know will help us, to fall by the wayside and collect dust in our basements? The brand new treadmill becoming a coat rack, book shelf, and jungle gym for the kids (and pets) to use, and finally it ends up getting sold in a garage sale while we resign ourselves to failure…

Believe it or not, there is a three step system that will help you reach your fitness goals. It’s a matter of knowing what to do, and what order to do it in. I know most of us have “heard it all before”, our healthy, fit friends tell us to just use our will-power and start a program, watch the weight “melt away”, watch your energy levels “shoot through the roof”, guzzle this shake and you’ll “never be the same”, “burn fat while you sleep” and on and on and on.

Your well-meaning fit and healthy friends are on easy street, they already use the simple steps to fitness without even realizing it! They don’t even realize that they are setting you up to fail b/c they don’t know just exactly how you feel inside; they don’t know what is going on in your MIND! In one way, they are right, there is a simple method to fitness that can be applied to anyone, with any type of fitness level, looking to achieve any goal, but it’s not about using more “will power” to “exercise and starve” the fat away. No, it’s much simpler than that, and I can promise you, if you don’t know how to follow STEP ONE, your going to be “battling the bulge” until you drop! Do you want to know what step one is? Ok…I’ll tell you!

Step one is……drum roll please….. Mental Attitude!!! Are you shocked or disappointed? Either way, it doesn’t matter. This simple secret is the absolute foundation for any life change and especially in health & fitness. Follow me as we dive into the basics of how your mental attitude affects your healthy lifestyle and use this information to reach goals far beyond what you’ve been able to do so far!

Thanks for reading! If you want to get started on changing your mental attitude and learning about fitness, visit: http://www.visfitness.com

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