Elliptical trainers are kind of a combination of rowing, cross country skiing, and bicycling. You move all major muscle groups in a very fluid, low impact way. A high quality elliptical trainer is very solid, (No jerky motions) quiet, and usually comes with a display that will let you know the amount of time you have been riding, calories burned, mileage, etc.

I prefer using an elliptical trainer because of the full body workout plus the fact I can watch TV, listen to music, or even read while I am riding. The sound of a high quality elliptical trainer will not disturb others in your home. The fact that your whole body is involved makes it less likely that you will get bored or experience discomfort while on your elliptical machine. It is easy to track progress and easy to fit into your schedule. Even the busiest people I know watch at least a half hour of TV per day, now you can combine your exercise, weight loss routine with your TV time!

When it comes to elliptical trainers – Quality Counts! Do not get a loose, squeaky, cheap variety; it will end up being a clothes hanger in your family room! Cheap elliptical trainers do not provide a fluid motion and can sometimes feel jerky. A high quality elliptical machine will have a “natural” feel while you are riding. High quality elliptical trainers can be found at reputable web sites and some exercise equipment stores, but I have yet to find one I liked at a department store. Look for trial periods, satisfaction guarantees, and warranties.

How can you incorporate riding an elliptical machine into your weight loss program? Let me give you a few suggestions but remember to check with your doctor and realize your limits. First off theoretically speaking, 3500 calories represents one pound of fat. If you eat 3500 more calories than your body needs it will be stored as a pound of fat, if you consume 3500 less calories than your body needs it will burn 1 pound of stored energy resulting in fat loss. Perhaps you are saying: “Wait a minute! Why are you talking about consuming fewer calories? I thought this was an article about elliptical machines and weight loss!” The key here is; “consuming fewer calories than your body needs”. Rather than focusing on how to consume fewer calories we are going to think of our elliptical workouts as a way to cause our bodies to need more calories.

Let’s say you are someone who is relatively stable in your consumes/needs bank; You are consuming a few more calories than you are burning and perhaps have been slowly gaining weight over the years. Set a goal to eat as you normally do and ride the elliptical trainer for 3500 calories over a week’s time. Do this consistently week after week and you will achieve weight loss.

Let’s say you are someone who is not so stable in your consumes/needs bank. You are consuming many more calories than you are burning. If this is the case you will obviously need to make some better food decisions. Read some of our other articles for ideas on how to cut some calories from your diet. Start with a goal to ride the elliptical machine for 3500 calories per week and soon you will be on the positive side of the consumes/needs bank and you will start to drop those pounds.

Ride your elliptical trainer consistently and do your best to make it a ritual that you enjoy. Listen to music, watch TV, read…make it something you look forward to every day. The rewards will be a healthier body, less fat, and a better feeling you.

I wish for you the best of health!

Bill Herren

Bill Herren is the webmaster for weightloss-articles.com Everything weight loss related! Weight loss success stories, product reviews, exercise articles, weight loss recipes, and diet articles. All Free and all designed to help you lose weight!

http://www.weightloss-articles.com

Total Fitness Road Map

It’s not complicated to modify your current workout to transform it into a total fitness workout. All you need to do, is find a little balance. The easiest way to do this, is to focus on one component of your total fitness workout each time you exercise. If you exercise say three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), as many do, you could do a strength workout on Monday, a cardio workout on Wednesday, and a flexibility workout on Friday. Of course if you workout more than 3 days a week, then you can just alternate each day with a different type of workout. Alternating workout types, allows muscles you use for one type of workout to recover while you work a new group of muscles with a different workout type.

A Little Heavy Breathing

When many people think of cardio workouts, they often thing of aerobics classes. While that is certainly a great workout, there are plenty of others as well. Many sports such as swimming, soccer, basketball, and squash are great forcardio. As well they can make exercising fun, and provide social interaction particularly with sports that are team based. If you prefer the structured class approach, there are a great variety of classes available these days, such as spinning and step exercise programs. Check with your local fitness club, to see what they offer.

Mountains Of Muscle

Whether you goal is to look like a champion body builder, or simply get stronger, your going to be lifting weights of some kind. Good fitness clubs should have a variety of lifting andresistance machines to build muscle mass and make you stronger. Often, they will have an introductory session for members who are unfamiliar with the machines. Doing weight training the right way, is safer for you, and will get you good results faster. So, if your not sure about how it works, be sure to ask.

Stretching Things Out

This is the one are that is often neglected by many. As you get older, this is probably one of the most important things you can do though. Good flexibility gives you the ability to do a wider variety of other physical activities, as well it helps reduce injuries when participating in sports. Yoga and Pilates are two excellent ways to achieve this component of your total fitness workout.

Achieving total fitness, is not really that hard, and like anything else, it gets easier with practice. The nice thing about each of these components, is that they compliment each other. The more flexible you get, the easier it gets to become stronger. The stronger you get, the easier it is to run that extra mile. Time to get started.

Setting fitness goals gives you motivation and drives you for the short or long term success. Goal setting helps you obtain the knowledge necessary to achieve. If you plan and organize your time to exercise and eat the right meals, you’ll get the best out of your efforts.

Setting clearly defined fitness goals will also measure progress and provide accountability. Holding yourself accountable will help you through the challenging days (such as ordering pizza at work). Your self-confidence will sky rocket as you learn more about your capabilities.

The first thing you need to do when setting fitness goals is to have a vision of where you want to be a month from now or a year from now. Your vision of yourself must be clearly defined. For example, a good short term goal would be “I want to lose 8 lbs in one month”. Then break down your goal into smaller targets so you can easily hold yourself accountable to complete it.

When using this weight loss example: you want to set weekly goals for that month to lose 2 lbs a week. Then write down the steps necessary to lose 2 lbs a week. Use these steps as your plan to success.

Having a good attitude has a big impact on setting and achieving your goals. You must be realistic with yourself and think about anything that would hold you back from loosing weight.

Realize any behavior challenges you may have ahead of time. It will give you a mindset to attack any issues you may encounter during your path to success. For example, if you love go out to eat with co workers, try to plan your order ahead of time so you eat clean and healthy for that meal.

Leading a healthy lifestyle is for the most part dependent on your time management skills. Most people fail because they often have bad time management skills and lack of persistence. Planning your work outs and meals ahead of time will decide success or failure.

Your family should never be left out of your plans. Do not to put your family aside. If you plan your workouts during family obligations you are setting yourself up for failure. Find out what time blocks you can control (such as waking up earlier) and use that time to plan your work outs.

I’m sure someone said, “A life filled with work really stinks”, or something like that, is very true. Take advantage of life’s pleasures: set up a cheat day once a week to eat what ever you want. Having a day with no rules provides the mental break needed to continue with your fitness objectives.

Create a fitness-to-do list for the day. Write down at least three things you want to do that will help you continue your new fitness lifestyle. This will help you set the tone for the day. In my opinion writing down your fitness objectives provides a mental agreement with yourself to complete those objectives.

Once you learn the basics of setting your fitness goals, you will be able to effectively lead a life of health and fitness. It will be more realistic to you and you’ll soon be an expert on achieving your goal of leading a healthy life filled with a new found energy that you will love.

To really learn on how to create your fitness goals and achieve them, read our review of the burn the fat feed the muscle e book at http://www.addfitness.com. The burn the fat feed the muscle book will provide the no frills physical fitness information you will need.

Stretching – unfortunately isn’t even put in the strength development category, because most of us figure that since it’s a low intensity movement it’s purely for cooling down after our workouts. However stretching isn’t merely a great way to cool down – trust me it can actually help make you stronger. That’s why I feature a great stretching diagram on my website, FitnessGear101.com.

The benefits of stretching have numerous effects on your weightlifting progress. Just remember when you stretch you should feel slight tension in your muscles, but no pain!

Stretching is your key to the following fitness pluses:

Increased Strength – Stretching actually helps to increase your muscular strength because it expands your range of motion, and range of motion literally applies to weightlifting. For example when you lift in a wider range of motion compared to a smaller range, you’re enlisting the help of more fibers, making your muscles stronger.

Reduced Stress – We all know that stretching helps reduce the stress and tension in our exercised muscles, but did you know that a quick 20-mintue session of stretching can also release most of the tension that built up throughout an entire workday?

Improved Posture – Flexible muscles are your key to good posture, because stretching promotes balanced muscle tone in all the major joints in the body. This affects your strength training because good posture reduces stress and soreness in the muscles and joints, letting you get back to the gym faster.

Improved Speed & Reaction Time – if you’re an athlete you’re aware of how important agility is to top performance. Flexible muscles make you quicker on your feet. This allows for you to run faster in sports like soccer; react quicker by making saves in hockey and by maneuvering around opponents in football.

Decreased Muscle Soreness – This means less time off from the gym and your game, and more time to devote to developing those muscles.

Ease of Movement – If you’re not an athlete, never fear, stretching does more than improve sports performance. It makes simple daily tasks easier as well, by lessening the general stiffness in joints so you can bend down, reach up and lift things easily. Stretching will also affect the future of your joints by making you less likely to develop joint pain later in life.

Reduces Chances of Injury – More flexible muscles translate to less chance of injuring tight muscles during exercise. Take for example your hamstrings, the muscles that run down the back of your upper legs. I like to compare the hamstrings to an elastic band – the flexible hamstring has a lot of stretch; whereas the inflexible hamstring is that dried out elastic that breaks when it’s stretch too far.

By just browsing the Internet and completing and submitting the membership form that includes your name, email address, and credit card information, you can start taking advantage of the various services of online fitness training. You start by filling out an online assessment form through a secure login site.

When you become an online member, you can choose from among the workout programs that include weight loss or gain, muscle building, cardiovascular training, resistance and strength training, and stretching exercises. Your certified personal online trainer customizes and personalizes your training program based on your individual profile, which includes your age, fitness goals, exercise and medical history, fitness level, and equipment and schedule availability. You’ll be provided with healthy nutrition plans for your dietary needs, tailored services and tools to ensure achievement of health goals and results, and access to their workout accountability system.

You’ll also get unlimited email consultations, weekly assignments and encouragement and tips in emails from your own personal trainer, and round-the-clock access to a library of over 500 exercise demos. Each demo includes an animated demonstration and detailed verbal and written instructions on the right procedure for every move. Exercise videos can be viewed online or downloaded into your computer for immediate viewing offline. They are also available in optional CD-Rom format. You can also view recipes and articles and participate in forums; and there are a lot more services.

Whether you’re a beginner, a homebody, or an athlete, you can find an online fitness training program that is effective and affordable you.