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There is bodybuilding and there is serious bodybuilding. Serious bodybuilding encompasses training sessions, competitions, and strict regimens of diet and supplements. People that seriously build their body have bulging biceps, titan triceps and glutes of steel. Serious bodybuilders take what they do extremely serious and every part of their mind body and spirit participates in activities that promote elements that solely benefit their ultimate goal.

Ultimate goals can vary within the total realm of bodybuilding. There can be intermediate, moderate, and totally serious participation in bodybuilding. There are guidelines for women and guidelines for men, with each guide being helpful in different parts of the bodybuilding scene.

Supplements, vitamins, and protein drinks are a large part of the bodybuilding lifestyle. And it is a lifestyle. When you are serious about bodybuilding you create a lifestyle where by you eat differently than other people, you exercise in a more dedicated fashion than other people and you also include resting your body and recovering your body from the old ways far more than other people.

What exercises and how much is totally up to you as an individual. The level of weight training and the amount of time you spend under the weights is again a personal decision. However with serious bodybuilding there are serious consequences to being a slacker. You have to be committed to a daily routine that includes all aspects of bodybuilding success in order to see results.

Diet can’t be neglected when bodybuilding is a goal. Choosing foods that fill the natural needs of your body and being disciplined to steer clear of foods that are wasteful or harmful is a key step in any type of bodybuilding regimen. Sometimes that takes a person on a personal pathway they have never forged before, but hopefully there will be a knowledge learned on this path that will carry mind body and spirit throughout the rest of life.

Rest and recovery is key to a embarking into a bodybuilding lifestyle. Getting the proper rest for your mind and body should not have to be explained. Yet there are people out there who neglect the idea that getting correct amount of sleep improves the activities of your day. The time you need in order to feel consistently rested may vary from that of your spouse, siblings, or friends.

Recovering from pushing your self too far, recovering from old habits that resurface, and recovering from a bodybuilding competition are part of the recovery process that generates happiness in life.

People who don’t understand serious bodybuilding may have predisposed ideas about steroids and general unhealthful practices in order to gain recognition as an over bulked, under brained champion. When the opposite is true.

Body image is a topic that usually makes one think of teenaged girls starving themselves thin.  But most people, no matter how old or young, have a feeling or image of the way their body should look.  This image is composed of the actual view in the mirror combined with life experience, such as the image of our own younger/fitter/slimmer body, and the expectations of the way their body “should” look.  This “should” comes from media images, parental influences, peers, past experiences or who knows what….

In my many years of fitness training I have noticed one common pattern among new fitness participants. Most newbies start a fitness program to “get healthy and fit” and to change a particular body part.  Note the operative phrase here is particular body part.  For example, it’s common for men to want to lose the fat roll around the mid section (“love handles”) and for women want to trim the hips.

Have you ever really observed other people in your gym?  If you do, you will notice that there are a lot of men doing upper body and arm work and a lot of women doing lower body work.  I recently prescribed outer and inner thigh (abductor/adductor) work to a client who was an experienced body builder. Yet he had never trained these muscles specifically because he felt these exercises “were for women”!  

Yes, we’ve all heard for years that it’s impossible to “spot reduce” by exercising the body part, but emotionally this idea is hard to own…especially for newbies. I can’t tell you how many times I have given a person a weight training and aerobics style fitness program which is enthusiastically started but at the 1 month follow up it’s revealed that the exerciser has thrown out exercises that did not target the imagined problem area and replaced them with extra sets of the exercises that did.  

Now, take that same newbie, get him or her working out regularly and systematically for about 6 months and you get the beginnings of real body transformation.  What does this mean?  It means different things to different people, but to me it means BALANCE…and balance is beautiful.  A body system that is in balance moves better, stands straighter (this means looking better in your clothes), can be trusted to perform physical activities longer and better and is less likely to sustain injury.  Yes, the person’s perceived “problem areas” change, but so do all the non-problem areas.   

The most interesting thing that I’ve noticed is that with this body change, the newbie now truly enthusiastic about his or her changed body also has redefined goals and expectations of what it means to transform their body…and what a healthy body should look like. It’s very common to hear women clients say that they had no idea that their arms could be so attractive and shapely and for men to comment that they like having legs that aren’t so “skinny”.  These very same women started out avoiding arm work because they only were thinking about slimmer hips.   

After six months or so when new trainees start to see real differences, they talk about how they feel a real sense of accomplishment (it is hard work to get there no doubt about it!).  They begin to formulate new fitness goals which are surprisingly different than the ones they started with. These folks have not only begun to transform their bodies, they have transformed their thinking. Their perception of their body, or body image, has become very different.

They KNOW they look good and feel good!

Scientists now know that it’s usually more dangerous to not stay active, no matter how old you are. And you don’t need to buy special clothes or belong to a gym to become more physical.

Most people don’t get enough physical activity. Here are some reasons why they should:

* Lack of physical activity and not eating the right foods, taken together, are the second greatest inherent cause of death in the United States. (Smoking is the number one cause.)

* Physical exercise can help people feel right and enjoy life more.

* Regular exercise can halt or put off some diseases like cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. It can also perk up your mood can be a direct result along with helping depression.

* Being active can help people stay independent and able to keep doing things like getting around or dressing themselves as they get older.

There are four types of physical activies you need to do to have the right assortment of physical activities.

1. Get at least 30 minutes of activity that makes you breathe harder on most or all days of the week. That’s called “endurance activity,” because it builds your energy or “staying power.” You don’t have to be active for 30 minutes all at once. Ten minutes of endurance activity at a time is fine. Just make sure those 10-minute sessions add up to a total of 30 minutes most days.

How hard do you need to exercise? The right level of effort is described this way: If you can talk while exercising without any trouble at all, you’re not working hard enough. If you can’t talk at all, it’s way too hard.

2. Keep using your muscles. When muscles aren’t used, they waste away at any age. How important is it to have “enough” muscle? Very! Muscles step-up your metabolism, allowing you to burn off more calories during the day when your body is at rest. Using your muscles may also make your bones stronger, too.

3. Do things to help your balance. Every now and then walk heel-to-toe. When you walk this way, the toes of the foot in back should almost touch the heel of the foot in front.

4. Stretch. Stretching can help keep you flexible and will be able to move more freely. Stretch when your muscles have warmed up. Never stretch so far that it hurts.

So, make physical activity a part of your everyday life. Find things you enjoy. Go for brisk walks. Ride a bike. Dance. Work around the house and in the yard, take care of your garden, climb the stairs, or rake your leaves. Regular day to day chores around the hous can keep you moving and active.

Over the years, there have been people making up plenty of excuses to avoid exercising. Some of these excuses are creative, some are ridicules, but most are in a group of common excuses used everyday to justify not having to make the effort to improve their health and well being.

How many people do you know who were going to start exercising and start getting in shape and they were going to start this coming week, but that was two weeks ago and they still haven’t started yet? What excuse did they have this time? Maybe this has happened so many times, you stopped counting. Maybe this has even happened to you more times than you can remember. Well, what’s stopping you?

Here are some of the most common excuses used by people to not exercise, and the ways that you can get around those excuses if they have plagued you and are stopping you from partaking in a healthier lifestyle.

By far and away, the most common excuse used today is; “I don’t have the time to exercise”. The old perception that you have to exercise for 1 to 2 hours a day is just nonsense. A good, solid exercise routine doesn’t have to last for more than 20 to 30 minutes a day to be very effective. If you can’t find up to 30 minutes a day to exercise, then how do you manage to find up to 2 hours or more a day to watch TV?

Another popular excuse used often is; “I can’t afford to pay for a gym membership or for home equipment”. The fact is, you can get in better shape and lose weight without ever setting foot in a gym. Walking and or jogging around your neighborhood or in the local park don’t cost a dime and will give you all of the benefits of a cardio workout at the gym. Doing callisthenic exercises such as crunches and pushups and so on at home also cost nothing. Home fitness equipment can also be purchased that will give you a good resistance workout for under $50.00 such as resistance tubing bands and an exercise ball.

“I don’t know how to exercise or what exercises to do” is an excuse that gets used from time to time, but there are several ways to learn how to exercise right and what exercises to do. Using the services of a qualified, certified personal trainer is the best way to get you going in the fight direction. If affordability is an issue with a trainer, there are workout videos and books that you can buy to help you out, you can even find loads of exercise books at your local library that you can check out free of charge.

Another excuse that seems to be fairly common is; “I’m too old and/or out of shape to start exercising”. This excuse is really only valid if your doctor has told you that you should not exercise for some medical reason. If you are very out of shape or you are a senior citizen, then you may just have to start out slowly. Even starting out with only 5 minutes a day of exercise and slowly increasing as you go is much better than doing no exercise at all.

Last but not least and by far my favorite excuse is; “I hate anything to do with exercise”. This one always gives me a laugh. Most people who really think they hate exercise do so because they are stuck with the image that exercise is a series of boring, grunt and groan exercises involving heavy weights, or jogging far enough to complete the Boston marathon. The old adage of “no pain, no gain” is still embedded in the minds of many people, and who wants to have to go through pain every day to get in better shape? Exercise is really all about getting active and getting your body moving. Even playing in a softball league or hiking on a trail or bicycle riding is good exercise. Just find activities that you like to do and you will find that exercise can be fun.

Ok, no more excuses. The time is now. Making the time to spend even 30 minutes a day to get active, get in some exercise, and get yourself more healthy and fit will by far be the best thing you can do for yourself and your family. Think of how much more you can enjoy doing the things you like to do when you are in better condition and better yet, think about how much more you can enjoy your children as they grow up and how much more you can enjoy your grandchildren later in life.

We all know how difficult in might be to make it to the gym after 9 long hours at work. I bet it has happened to you as well.

But what do you do when you don't feel you have the energy to stop by the local gym on your way home? Or may be you don't have the time for a workout at the gym. You can only use 20 - 30 min.

What’s the solution then? It could be only one - a full body workout at your home gym.

But first take this from me. If you don't have a home gym set up already, don't even think of missing a workout. Go to the local gym where you are a member. Missing a single workout can set a path for a habit. Vice versa, not missing a workout won't let you think of such an option.

So, let’s suppose that it's one of these days when you can't make it to the gym, and are planning on working out at home. That means you have a gym of some sort, already set up.

In this article I want to advise you on your choices for a full body routine. The workout you will pick however, will all depend on how your home gym is equipped.

For example you might have a home-gym machine. Or you might be a hardcore bodybuilder. Then you have free weights as your main equipment.

If you belong to the first group - you own a home gym machine - this is the part you should be reading.

The simplest home gym machines are equipped for at least several exercises such as: bench press, lat pull down, seated rows, biceps curls, triceps push-downs, leg extensions and standing hamstring curls.

That’s actually plenty. You can complete the whole body in a single session.

Your circuit workout:

/Warm up/
Crunches 2-3 x 15 - 30
Seated bench press 3 x 10 - 12
Lat pull-down 3 x 10 - 12
Front cable raises (machine behind you, lower pulley cable between your thighs) 3 x 10 - 12
Standing biceps cable curls (lower pulley cable, facing the machine) 3 x 10 - 12
Standing triceps push-downs (using the lat-pull down handle) 3 x 10 - 12
Leg extensions 3 x 12 - 15
Standing hamstring curls (facing the machine) 3 x 12 - 15
/Cool down/

You have more options for replacing some of the exercises:

Replace seated bench press wide grip with seated bench press close grip.

Replace lat pull down with seated rows (facing the machine).

Replace standing biceps cable curls with lying cable curls (lie down on the floor on your back and place your feet on the rolling pads for support).

In case that you belong to the second group - you are a hardcore enthusiast or bodybuilder, the least equipment you have (I would guess) is an adjustable bench, a power rack, an olympic barbell set and a pair of dumbbells with adjustable weights.

For you I'd suggest two circuit routines. You can do only one of them or you can do two circuits, using both if you feel you have energy (and desire) to do that:

Workout One/Circuit One

/Warm up/
Crunches 1-2 x 15 - 30
Flat bench press on the rack 2-3 x 12 - 15
Barbell rows 2-3 x 10 - 15
Seated dumbbell overhead presses 2-3 x 12 - 15
Barbell curls 2-3 x 8 - 12
Barbell lying triceps extensions 2-3 x 12 - 15
Squats 2-3 x 10 x 15
Stiff Leg Dead Lifts 2-3 x 10 - 12
/Cool down/

Workout Two/Circuit Two

/Warm up/
Reverse crunches 1-2 x 15 - 20
Dumbbell flys 2-3 x 10 - 12
One-arm dumbbell rows 2-3 x 10 - 12
Dumbbell lateral raises 2-3 x 10 - 12
Seated dumbbell curls 2-3 x 8 - 12
One-arm overhead triceps extensions 2-3 x 8 - 12
Lunges (holding a pair of dumbbells) 2-3 x 12 - 15
/Cool down/

Note that the number of reps is slightly higher than what you would normally do should you have worked out at the gym. I did it this way intentionally. My advice is that you use 50 - 70% of your One Rep Max due to the fact that you don't have a spotter. If you think you can go heavier please do, but at your own risk.

That’s it. Now that you finished your workout you deserve a nice, chilled protein shake. After all you are at home and can make it any way you want, right. And, yes, you should feel good because you didn't miss your workout.

So you're overweight, "fat"--to be honest--and you want to start exercising. Before you take off like an overlarge airplane and start preparing for the Olympics trials, stop right there. You may have it all figured out by now, after checking with your friends, the media and finally that fickle fiend known as the bathroom mirror, that a regular exercise program is the only way to fly when it comes to permanent weight loss. That entails working out or otherwise flexing your physical and psychological muscles on a regular basis, perhaps three times a week, or maybe even once per day.

But therein lies the rub. How do you get started? How often do you exercise? Most importantly, if you've been very sedate or at least somewhat off your feet for awhile, what's the safest way to begin an effective, weight-loss centered exercise program?

Beginning a Righteous Program--Realistically

First of all, follow the old saw about consulting with your doctor. Don't start thinking you can just begin running around the block. That's why the medical profession exists, to advise and keep you safe. You doctor will recommend specific types of exercise tailored to fit your own individual lifestyle, personal health needs and concerns. But you don't need to make it entirely clinical when you begin an exercise program.

Most importantly, you need to pick something you're going to stick with. What do you like in the way of sports? If you're people-oriented, you should look into joining a team sports program of some kind in your area, one created for adult participation. You can look for a local softball league, take a beginning aerobics class at a fitness center, or play regular games of basketball at a gym with your buddies. And then there's golf, the perennial favorite of people who want to perform fun and interesting mild exercise. All you have to do is motivate yourself and perhaps some friends to get started. Or if you're a loner, you can take up an individualized sport such as bicycle touring, which can also be done in small groups, or laps swimming at your community pool.

But be realistic, and work with your doctor. You want to aim for something fun that you'll keep committing to doing regularly. If it's something you hate, perhaps such as running on a track, climbing stairs or using what seems to you to be boring exercise equipment, forget it! Don't spend all your money on something you can't keep doing because you feel guilty, or think you have to punish yourself into exercising. Be sure you like what you're going to do before you get started. Simply walking around the block is a very inexpensive and potentially fun way to go from a sedentary state to a beginning new level of much better health and fitness. You must start with something easy and simple if you haven't been exercising for decades, and you should gradually increase your level of activity as you feel comfortable with it. Move by inches, not by miles.

Eventually, you can try exercising every single day, anywhere from twenty minutes to a full hour. But especially at first--and that may be for several months--don't push yourself too hard. Don't go all out, and get frustrated because you can't keep it up. You don't have to be a college athlete, and you can seriously hurt your heart by pushing too hard or overdoing it. Remember, you're doing this for fun, for health reasons and to feel good about yourself. Don't try to become an "athlete" unless you think that will be something you'll want to commit to on a much more rigorous schedule. Later!

Easy Exercise Comes--Naturally

Americans tend to think of exercise as more their duty than as a part of their culture, or "way of life." But it's a true lifestyle preference. Throughout the world, many forms of regular exercise are taking hold of whole general populations. Take walking, for example. In Europe, people are flocking to their local well-developed public hiking trails, and there's quite a few of those spread across the USA as well. Walking of a moderate type is called Volkssport in Europe, and it's really been around for many centuries.

Easy-going exercise such as walking continues to stave off heart disease, osteoporosis, high cholesterol and many types of cancer, as well as taking care of most of your belly flab. It doesn't sound like much, but it will really tighten your whole body up. Your legs will especially benefit, and your buns will automatically grow firmer as you stroll. Not to mention that the worst investment you need to make is a pair of comfy, sturdy sensible shoes, preferably made of leather or canvas with rubber soles. You may think that yoga is some uncomfortable form of Eastern self-punishment and mysticism, but it's not. Yoga is great for toning your body, as it's extremely gentle when done correctly. It combines traditional breathing and relaxation techniques with simple stretching. It's good to use yoga during a weight-loss program when you're sedentary, as it's very easy on your body, you don't have to repeat the same exercises every day, and it requires a minimal time commitment. Yoga can be used in conjunction with a more rigorous exercise program to help maintain your overall state of fitness. "Yoga doesn't take over your life, it enhances it," says Alice Cristensen, founder and executive director of the American Yoga Association.

Continuing Your Program--Goals and Motivation

Okay, so you've gotten started, but what does all this have to do with watching your weight? To keep on schedule with this as your original goal, you also have to keep that commitment to lose enough poundage to be a healthy, happy and physically fit person.

First of all, you have to figure out exactly what you're expecting to accomplish. Are you looking for optimal health, or do you really want to fit into slinky clothes better? Either way, you're going to have to set goals and try to attain them as you go. It helps to clearly keep in mind what you're aiming for, and it helps to visualize yourself at your ideal weight several times a day. This image impresses itself upon your subconscious and inwardly motivates you to continue your program with a bulldog's sheer tenacity and motivation. You want that; whatever happens, you don't want to stress out and quit. Try looking at old photographs of yourself at your ideal weight and picturing realistically what you'll look like when you're back there again. Don't expect the Fountain of Youth, but you'd be shocked how close you can get to your mental picture, and how good you're going to feel as you move your body, eat less liberally and become fit and not fat.

You must also remember to keep it simple when you're losing weight. In most cases, burning more calories than you ingest is the biggest concern. You have to expend approximately 3,500 calories to lose one pound of adipose fat tissue. Water weight doesn't count, and that's what a lot of people lose at first. Also, the important thing about exercise is that you can eat almost normally and still lose the weight at a healthy and reasonable pace. If you don't exercise and try to lose weight, you'll be tempted to embark on a starvation diet. This has been shown to make you lose lean muscle mass instead of fat in most cases, and although you'll drop some pounds, they may be the wrongest ones. Chances are that if you're unfit while you're losing weight, you'll get physically tired, sleep less, become overly emotional, and stress out and become extremely irritable. It simply isn't healthy to do it that way, so you need at least a moderate exercise program.

Try keeping a journal of your progress every day, and consult with it when you want to know how far along you've come. You can also use it to gauge how you're doing, and whether or not you're losing weight at a reasonable pace. Congratulate yourself every time you ate the right thing, kept to your walking schedule, or didn't give in to temptation that day by making a brief note about it. Read the journal to inspire you about what you're doing whenever you feel the urge to let go.

Don't forget to share any successes or failures with your friends and family. Tell them all about how proud you are of the new lifestyle choices you're making, and share in their enthusiasm. They want you to be healthy and go on living, and so do you. But some of them may worry that you're starving yourself or are in a state of denial. Reassure them, and proceed carefully with your healthy diet and exercise plans, while always knowing that it's exactly what you need to do to look better, feel stronger and live longer.

Easy Dieting Tips to Live By--Starting Now

• Never eat after 7 pm. Studies prove that your body's metabolism begins to shut down in the early evening. It needed fuel to function earlier, but at night you're getting yourself ready to fall asleep. Eat the bulk of your daily food intake around noon--that's when you're burning the most calories. But if you work nights, do it the other way around, of course. It's not the time of day that's important; it's the fact that your body is well-adjusted to a cycle where it doesn't burn many calories before and during bedtime.

• Limit your intake of saturated fats, sugars and any other substances in food proven to add empty calories to your daily diet. Don't drink any pop or sodas at all as they're very bad for you generally, being full of chemicals. Diet sodas tempt you into drinking the sugary ones, and all soda pop robs water from your system and makes you thirstier. That can lead to eating more food.

• Eat lots of vegetables and fruits. You might want to go easy on some of the higher-calorie fruits such as starchy bananas, and don't eat lots of high-fat avocados. But in general veggies are a dieter's best friend. You might want to always eat your veggies with some meat protein to curb any histamines that might ravage your system and make it harder for you to breathe. Also, eating plenty of veggies kills the hunger signals from your brain, due to their sheer bulk and fiber. And the nutrients in fruits and veggies will increase your physical strength. Eat your spinach!

• Also eat lots of whole grains, which provide antioxidants that fight cancer and help you feel satisfied in a manner similar to that of eating veggies. But whole grains are even more filling, and help you digest your food. You want to eat plenty of fibrous foods, plus drinking lots of water, to flush toxins left over in your body from the dieting completely out of your system.

• Take a healthy multivitamin. Don't go overboard and try to take everything, because some of the substances we need interact non-positively and can cause chemical imbalances. Consult with your doctor and see what's recommended nowadays. One good wholistic multivitamin and mineral supplement--not a megadose of potentially harmful chemicals--can improve your skin, hair, overall appearance in general, and also your chances of managing on a little bit less food.

Anybody can lose weight; it’s no big deal. You only have to be careful about the food you eat and to make more effort than you usually do. Dieting doesn’t have to mean food deprivation and money spent on gym subscriptions. You can keep your body in shape with simple exercises that do not require gym equipment or professional advice and supervision. If you’re also using a dietary supplement like ProShaperx, losing weight will be the simplest thing in the world.

A simple exercise that anybody can perform at home or the park is called Stair Sprinting. The name is pretty self explanatory. All you have to do is run up and down the stairs between several floors; the more floors, the better off you’ll be.

It’s a good idea to start small, even if you’re in a good physical condition. Run up and down four floors two times. First timers and overweight people are unlikely to manage more than two reps anyway. However, it’s no big deal if you can’t do more than two reps in the beginning. Resistance to effort is built in time. Do the two reps every other day for two weeks.

After two weeks increase the number of reps to either three or four, depending on how you feel. If you can take four reps up and down four flights of stairs, then by all means do so. If you can’t, then stick to three reps. As the weeks go by, you can add even more reps to your routine in order to increase your endurance and to really put the muscles to work.

This exercise is perfect for the legs and ass. Ladies and gents looking to build shapely asses and strong thighs ought to try stair sprinting. Having to carry your own weight up the stairs instead of flat terrain puts more stress on the muscles and helps the feet gain more endurance. However, be very careful when doing this exercise. Running up and down the stairs makes it very easy to trip or miss a step and splay an ankle. Even more serious injuries might happen if you’re not careful enough.

The eyes contain many small muscles, and there is no doubt that eye exercises can do little harm to your eyes, but can they actually be of benefit?

A New York ophthalmologist called Dr William Bates, developed a series of eye exercises to improve eyesight without resorting to lenses or surgery. Dr Bates felt that many eye problems had their root causes in stress, tension and laziness of the eye and he thought that because of these causes, the eyes could be treated without correction such as lenses, spectacles or even surgery. Dr Bates' methods were first devised at the beginning of the 20th century, but many people still practice them today.

Dr Bates' theory revolved around the notion that the muscles of the eye became fixed on a scene causing strain to the eyes. Dr Bates felt that the eyes could be re-trained to relax and improve the link between the optic nerves and the brain.

Dr Bates' theories have been largely ignored by the world of medicine. However, many people around the world have claimed remarkable improvements in short sight, long sight, astigmatism, squints and lazy eyes using these methods. Even young children are able to practice the exercises and people with normal vision may improve concentration, reading skills and co-ordination by following the routines suggested by Dr Bates.

In essence, you can expect to perform some simple exercises for about half an hour a day. These can involve some of the following:-

• 'Palming.'
To rest and relax your eyes, sit comfortably in front of a table, resting your elbows on a stack of cushions high enough to bring your palms easily to your eyes without stooping forward or looking up. Close your eyes and cover them with your cupped palms to exclude light, avoiding pressure on the sockets. Breathe slowly and evenly, relaxing and imagining deep blackness. Begin by doing this for 10 minutes, two or three times a day.

• 'Swinging.'
Relax and keep the eyes mobile. Stand up and focus on a distant point, swaying gently from side to side. Repeat 100 times daily, blinking as you sway. Blinking cleans and lubricates the eyes, which is especially important if you spend a lot of time in front of a computer.

• You may be asked to have a 'colour day.' Choose a colour and look out for it throughout the day. When you see it, be aware of the colour rather than the form. For example, if it's a red truck, experience the shade of red, not the truck.

Why not try some of these exercises yourself?

See Clearly Method
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The See Clearly Method is another popular series of exercises and training to help with vision correction. Similarly to the Bates' method, you are required to do 30 minutes of eye exercises a day to strengthen and enhance the flexibility of the eye's muscles. This would usually involve making the eye change it's focus from near to far for example. One simple way of doing this would be to hold a small object in your hand and slowly move it away from your face, ensuring that your eye follows the object and retains focus upon it.

One exercise which is know as "tromboning" has you hold a small object again, starting at arm's length. Then you need to breath in and move the object slowly closer to your face, until it touches your nose. You are then required to breath out, looking at the object as you again move it away from your face. Hence the notion of "Tromboning".

The See Clearly Method also employs a number of techniques which are aimed at accelerating progress or improvement. For example, there is a technique referred to as the "blur reading" technique, which asks you to turn a magazine upside-down at a distance where the words are not distinct. Then, you are supposed to choose one word and focus your attention around it, to see if you can identify any of the letters.

As with the Bates' Method, the eye exercises suggested in the See Clearly Method are certainly worthy of a go to see if they help you at all.

Everywhere you look you will find exercise information.  It can come in fitness magazines, the beauty salon, your co-workers, the Internet, and infomercials.

You will see snappy headlines such as, “Lose 10 Pounds in a Week with No Exercise at All!”, and “Melt Pounds without Dieting.”  These marketing ploys don’t end.  They will use any tactic to get you to buy their product.

Along with the vast amount of exercise information coming to us at every conceivable angle, there are many myths leaving the consumer thoroughly confused.  In this article I will be discussing several exercise myths, giving you the facts and dispelling the fiction.

Myth #1: Exercising with weights will bulk you up. Fact: - Excess calories from protein, carbohydrates, and fat will bulk you up, not resistance training. Fat is bulky and inactive while muscle an active, lean and dense tissue.  The more muscle you acquire, the more fat you will burn at rest and during activity.

Myth #2: Muscle weighs more than fat. Fact: - A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh the same, a pound. As previously stated, muscle is more dense, and takes up less space than fat. Adding muscle to your physique will create curves and make you appear smaller in the absence of excess fat.

Myth #3: If I stop weight training, my muscle will turn to fat. Fact: - Muscle cannot turn into fat any more than fat can turn into muscle. The two are not interchangeable. They are two completely different tissues. You can increase or decrease fat and muscle, but the two cannot change into the other, ever!

Myth #4: Crunches will make my abs visible. Fact: - Crunches will build the abdominal muscle, but your abs won't shine through until you remove the layer of fat covering them. When it comes to "ripped" abs, they are built with balanced nutrition, coupled with proper exercise.

Myth #5: Weighted crunches will make my midsection thick. Fact: - The abdominal muscle is a thin layer of muscle tissue, and not able to grow much in size like other body parts.  Therefore, adding resistance to your abdominal training will just increase your midsection strength.  It is the side bends and twists that can contribute to a thick waist.

Myth #6: Exercise burns fat. Fact: - Exercise burns calories, and eating correctly with added exercise can aid in fat burning. Weight loss is not a one-shot approach. There are many angles, and you have to tackle each of them in small to moderate amounts. Knowing the right food combinations can give you the advantage on fat burning.

Myth #7:  Exercising with light weights and a lot of reps will get me defined. Fact:  Training with light weights will build muscle endurance.  If your goal is to get defined, you should also incorporate a healthy diet balanced in macronutrients and add some cardiovascular exercise.

Myth #8:  I just want to tone up, not build muscle. Fact:  When you weight train you build muscle.  There is no “toning” about it.  As a woman, you have the ability to control the amount of muscle you add to your frame to a certain extent.  Hormonally, women will not build a large degree of muscle mass.  However, you can add more muscle size by increasing your protein intake and overall calories.  For a woman to add a lot of muscle, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication, and sometimes steroids.

Conclusion to Exercise Myths

Now that we have dispelled exercise fact from fiction, you are better equipped to get in the shape you desire.  Always strive for excellence and keep a positive attitude.

Please don't be like me!

Several years ago I was warned to stay away from behind-the-neck exercises and movements, and do you think I listened? Of course not.

And as a result, I acquired a rotator cuff injury that slowly gets worse and worse over time.

It is often said that it is much smarter to learn from the mistakes of others than to have to suffer the consequences yourself. I'd say that I agree with that.

Just in case you are not quite sure what a "rotator cuff" is, its a handy little muscle on the back of your shoulder that literally helps your arm to "rotate" around the shoulder socket.

For most people, this muscle is not supposed to rotate far enough to take the arms too far behind the head.

Behind the neck exercises not only pull this muscle to the edge of its natural range, but often have additional weight resistance involved that cause even more stress to the area.

If this is done repetitively over time, the muscle will often get injured. Another thing that may happen is that it will become inflammed and swell to the point where the bone around it pinches the muscle. Both conditions are chronic, painful, and should be avoided at all costs.

So, if there are any behind-the-neck movements in your current workout, you will want to find more shoulder-friendly alternatives. And if such an exercise is ever recommended to you by a friend or exercise program, ask or look for a better alternative immediately.

You only get one body! Take care of it.