An Exercise You Will Love – 'Turkish Get Up'

When you learn a new exercise, it can rejuvenate your exercise passion. This exercise, the ‘Turkish Get Up’, is a functional and practical exercise.

The exercise consists of using a weight (a dumbbell) and holding it straight toward the ceiling as you get up and lie back down. Sounds simple…but this one exercise will work and strengthen your whole body.

It’s probably best to start with a weight of 10 to 15lbs. When doing the Turkish Get Up, make sure to fix your eyes upon the dumbbell the entire time. Also, make sure to do the exercise with both the right and left arm.

It is important to perform this exercise correctly. View this video to see the Turkish Get Up step by step. Once you get the hang of this exercise you will love it.

Toning Up Without Bulking Up

To Bulk up: lift heavier weights and less repetitions

To Tone up: lift lighter weights and more repetitions

A common myth says if you lift weights for a certain part of your body you will lose weight in that spot. This is called spot reducing fat and it is not possible.

When you lose weight, you lose it all over. Some people lose weight more in certain spots than others, but you have no control over where you lose your weight. If your goal is to lose weight as well as tone up, you need to have your output exceed your input (this is called a negative energy balance).

Output = aerobic or cardio exercise, burning calories
Input = eating, giving your body fuel

The best way to lose weight and tone up is to do aerobic or cardio workouts along with lifting lighter weights with more repetitions. This will help to reduce fat throughout the body and tone up the muscles.

Back Pain and Core Strength

Abdominal strength does more for your body than just improve your “look”; it also helps a lot with back pain.

The reasons for back pain are many, but having a weak core can be the majority of the cause. By strengthening your abs you are strengthening your core muscles that stabilize your back.

Everyone should try to do abdominal exercises at least 3-5 times a week. This will really help decrease back pain and chances of back pain. Below are some links to great abdominal or core strengthening exercises. Everyday switch exercises to keep it interesting.

1. Bicycle Crunch
2. Ab Crunch on an Exercise Ball
3. Vertical Leg Crunch
4. Reverse Crunch

5. Plank Exercise

6. Crossover Crunch

7. Oblique Crunch

8. Alternating Superman

9. Half Curl

10.V-Sit

Remember, abdominal exercises alone won’t be enough. Combine these strengthening exercises with a well balanced exercise routine (cardio & strengthening) and good nutrition.

How to Add Strength Training into a Busy Schedule

The importance of strength training has been explained in the previous post. Now the question is – how do you add strength training to your busy week?

To build your muscles and become well-toned, you need to “strength train” 2-3 times a week. To maintain your strength gains, research says to overload your muscles or perform maximum contractions every 14 days.

When I do my strength training for the week, it takes about 10 minutes to go through 6 exercises. The optimal program for strength training is to do 3 sets of a specific exercise and to rest no more than 90 seconds between sets. During the rest time, you do another exercise for a different muscle group. This is the best way to save time. Choose a weight that allows you to strenuously do about 10-15 repetitions.

Try to strengthen a large muscle group from each major area of the body: arms, legs, back, and abs. There are many different exercises for each muscle group. You can choose to either buy some weights or to do body resistance exercises (such as push-ups and sit-ups).

To get the best outcomes remember not to rush your repetitions. Keep your resistance slow and sustained. Another good reminder is to breathe while you are exercising. It sounds funny, but a lot of people do forget to breathe when they are concentrating. Therefore, a good rule of thumb is to always have your mouth open while doing your exercises.

Now the trick is to find the time. Try to make room for at least 10 minutes in your day 2-3 times a week. If you can’t find at least 10 minutes, you can try to find 3-5 minutes to alternate between two exercises. Do your best and enjoy taking care of your body.

The Importance of Strength Training

After the age of 25 our muscles begin to atrophy (loss of muscle cells) at a faster rate. Research tells us that after the age of 25 a person may lose up to one-half pound of muscle tissue every year. This cycle of losing muscle tissue every year can be broken with a regular strength training program.

Strength training is not just for people that want to become stronger. Strength training (an anaerobic exercise) is just as important as running or any other aerobic exercise.

As we lose muscle our resting metabolic rate RMR (the amount of energy that is used while resting) lowers. This makes the body burn less calories at rest. The reason our RMR lowers is because it takes less energy for the body to care for fat than muscle.

If we build our muscles, the body will use more energy at rest; therefore, burning more calories at rest. One pound of muscle tissue requires three times the amount of energy as one pound of fat tissue. Here’s how it works:
-Gaining 3 pounds of muscle will make the body burn an extra 40kcals a day.
-So gaining 3 pounds of muscle will burn about four pounds of fat a year.

Strength training also has many health benefits just like aerobic exercise. In a research study titled, “Does Strength Training Improve Health Status?”, strength training was found to have some health benefits other than just getting stronger. Strength training improves a person’s body composition, glucose metabolism, bone mineral density, and gastrointestinal transit time. By improving these components of health a person decreases their risk for heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and possibly colon cancer.

(Ben Hurley, PhD. “Does Strength Training Improve Health Status?” National Strength & Conditioning Association, June 1994.)

Strength training does not replace aerobic exercise. Increasing or maintaining your strength should be a part of your physical activity during the week.