Give Me a Boost!

Aerobic exercise has a favorable effect on your lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. Sophisticated research has shown that this exercise-induced increase in high-density lipoproteins boosts metabolism, which in turn results in significant weight loss. According to the American Heart Association, increases in these high-density lipoproteins have been found in women who exercise at higher levels of recreational running. This is one of the important health benefits of running.

Cardiovascular fitness can also alter your body composition. By reducing body fat, you will also reduce your susceptibility to cardiovascular, disease, diabetes, cancer and muscular/skeletal disease. Even milder forms of exercise can boost metabolism.


If you have ever spent any time in Italy, you will note that while there is an abundance of heavy, delicious food, in the major Italian cities, you will rarely see people who are significantly overweight. This is due to the Italian tradition of passegiata, which involves taking a walk to digest the evening meal.

The Well-Balanced Fitness Program

When you create a beginner fitness program, you will want to make sure to include exercises that satisfy the basic components of fitness. These include:

• Strength: Strength is defined as the degree of force a muscle can exert in response to a specific amount of resistance. Weight training exercise, as well as resistance bands and tubes will help you build strength. Additionally, body weight exercises such as push-ups and crunches will also strengthen your body.
• Power: In contrast to strength, power involves full out muscular contraction in movements that require explosive bursts of energy, such as jumping and sprinting.
• Agility: Agility is defined as the ability to quickly react to outside stimuli without losing balance, stability or postural alignment. Jumping rope, playing catch, playing tag with a child or chasing your dog are excellent activities for developing agility.
• Balance: People who have god balance are able to walk on icy sidewalks without falling down. You can improve your balance by working out on a stability ball or bosu, or by taking yoga or a Pilates class.
• Flexibility: Flexibility is related to the range of motion at each of your joints. Yoga and Pilates help enhance flexibility.
• Muscular Endurance: Muscular endurance is gained by performing higher repetitions in your strength training program.
• Aerobic Endurance: Aerobic endurance is related to the heart’s ability to deliver blood to the working muscles for an extended period of time.
• Coordination: Coordination involves the ability of the muscles to work together to create fluid, harmonious movement. Step classes, aerobic classes, and cardio boxing classes improve coordination.

Benefits of Quitting Smoking

If you are a smoker, the best piece of fitness advice someone can give you is to quit. Surprisingly, the benefits of quitting smoking happen immediately. For example, 20 minutes after your final cigarette, your blood pressure and pulse rate will drop and the body temperature in your hands and feet will increase. After eight hours, the carbon monoxide level in your blood will drop towards normal, while the oxygen level in your blood will increase to normal. When you’ve made it to 24 hours without a cigarette, your chance of a heart attack has already begun to decrease. At 48 hours, you start to re-grow the nerve endings that have been damaged by smoking and your ability to smell and taste begins to improve.

Between the periods of two weeks to three months without a cigarette, you will start to notice that your circulation is improving. You will be coughing less, and you will have less of a tendency towards sinus infections. Shortness of breath will gradually disappear, which means that you will actually enjoy your aerobic workouts.

Hopefully, this has motivated you to substitute your smoking habit with your new exercise habit!

Importance of Behavior Modification

Research shows that many women who lose a significant amount of weight in a very short period of time will gain the weigth back. One of the hallmarks of women who have successfully lost weight and kept it off is that they actually changed they way they acted and reacted. Women who are successful at losing weight or reaching any fitness goal have used the process of losing weight or getting in shape not as a means to an end, but as an opportunity to change they way they think about food and exercise and have learned to substitute more appropriate activities for eating. Women who modify their behavior for the long term are more likely to remain in good shape after an intense period of diet and weight loss is over.

Journaling Your Way to Good Health

Whether you want to lose a lot of weight, get into better shape, or change some unhealthy patterns, experts agree that journaling is one of the most important elements for success. Many women overeat or partake in other unhealthy activities as a result of too much stress. Additionally, there is evidence that suggests that stress in and of itself may cause weight gain, high blood pressure, and insomnia, among other ailments. Women can release some of that stress through journaling. Keeping a diary or a journal helps women think more clearly about their eating and fitness habits, identify the bad influences, and come up with better solutions to achieve her goal(s).

Starting Out Small with Your Workouts

If you have never exercised regularly or haven't exercised in a long time, it is very important to start your workout routine conservatively. To avoid pain and injury, women should do less than what they think they can for at least the first few workouts. When you are first beginning an exercise routine, it is much more important to avoid injury and build a solid fitness foundation. See your doctor or a trainer for more information on starting a fitness routine appropriate for your level of fitness.

Making Your Family Your Fitness Allies

Instead of guilting, manipulating and cajoling your family into your fitness scheme, make them your allies by setting goals and rewards together. For example, you can make it a goal to run a 5K charity race as a family, and have a reward night for the family with a movie and dessert night. Not only will you lessen your family's resistance to eating right and exercising, you will help your kids develop good eating habits themselves.

A Personal Trainer's Fitness Assessment

Despite the well known warnings, most women do not visit their doctors before beginning a new diet or exercise program. While there is no substitute for your doctor's advice and judgment, if you choose to hire a trainer your first session with him/her should be a consultation. During this time, you will be able to talk about your goals and what you want out of the program. If you have any injuries, this is also the time to tell your personal trainer, before he/she draws up an exercise plan for you. Your personal trainer will also weigh you, measure your body fat percentage, check your blood pressure and resting heart rate as well as assess your strength, cardiovascular fitness and your flexibility. This screening not only allows the trainer to figure out where you are from a fitness perspective, it can alert you to problems like high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a problem for about 30 million American women and is especially common in women who are overweight. It can cause heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and kidney damage among other things. Your personal trainer's assessment can let you know if you are at risk from high blood pressure or other diseases so you can promptly seek treatment from your physician.

Education for Personal Trainers

When evaluating a potential personal trainer's education, it is important to go beyond the basic certifications. In addition to a well-regarded certification like the ACE or ACSM, women should look for trainers with college degrees in fields like kinesiology, biology, or sports medicine. Finding a personal trainer with a degree in a physical-fitness related field will help insure that the trainer is knowledgeable and professional. A highly qualified and educated trainer is more likely to be familiar with the injuries women are prone to and will be able to offer tips and advice on how to avoid injury.