I know that all of the elliptical and treadmill worshipers are probably fuming at me now after that article headline, but the fact is, ellipticals and treadmills are one of the least effective methods of working out in existence. With this article, I'll show you how to get a much more effective fat-burning workout without wasting time mindlessly exercising on a boring elliptical machine or treadmill.

Now first let me state that if you really honestly enjoy your elliptical machine workouts and treadmill exercise routines, then I give you my blessing to keep doing what you love. The reason is that even though ellipticals and treadmills are relatively ineffective compared to other types of exercises, whatever you actually enjoy doing the most is going to benefit you most in the long run because you will be more likely to stick with it more consistently.

However, don't say that I didn't warn you that you might be wasting your time with all these boring mindless cardio machine workouts.

I actually do not believe in cardio machines as a good form of working out at all. This might surprise you coming from a fitness nut such as myself, but I don't think I've personally used an exercise bike, treadmill, elliptical, or any other cardio machine for at least 8 years or more.

In fact, I don't even use cardio machines anymore for warm-ups before my workouts. I actually think it's a much more effective warm-up to do dumbbell and/or kettlebell swings, snatches, clean & presses, etc, mixed with bodyweight exercises as a great full-body warm-up before working out.

Why do I think cardio machines are so awful? Well, here's 5 reasons:

1) Treadmills and ellipticals are just a very ineffective way to workout compared to other options. Why should you do treadmill or elliptical workouts when you can get better results by doing more interesting forms of training that actually stimulate a fat-burning hormonal response and stimulate your metabolism to a greater extent.

2) Elliptical machines and treadmills are insanely expensive and a waste of money for people that work out at home... there are so many better things for home workouts you could have spent your money on rather than wasting it on an elliptical machine, treadmill, or exercise bike.

You'll see plenty of ideas below for better home workouts if you don't like going to a gym to work out.

3) I have seen several studies that indicated results that treadmill running may be less effective than outdoor running for various reasons such as stride abnormalities on treadmills vs natural running, slightly less caloric burn compared to outdoor running, and so on.

(although I never recommend just "jogging" anyway... variable intensity walking/running or sprinting are much more effective, training your heart rate in a much wider range instead of the same heart rate range the whole time).

4) Steady state exercise (that doesn't require concentration on what you're doing) while watching tv or reading a newspaper or magazine creates a mind/body disconnect resulting in extremely poor results compared to exercise that requires focused attention.

5) Elliptical and treadmill workouts are just mind-numbingly boring!

So what are some good alternatives to elliptical machine and treadmill workouts? Some of my favorites are:

• Outdoor wind sprint workouts - This is the ultimate workout for a rock hard lean body... just look at the powerful yet super-lean and ripped bodies of world class sprinters, and compare that to the withering weakling physiques of typical marathoners... what would you rather look like?
• Jumping rope - incredible mind/body connection and actually fun (you can try speed jumping, crossover jumps, and double jumps once you get good at it)
• Kettlebell workouts - nothing will get your heart pounding and sweat pouring like high rep kettlebell swings and/or snatches (or clean & presses)! These can be done with dumbbells too, but I prefer kettlebells as they have a better "feel" to them and the unbalanced nature of KBs makes you work harder)
• Bodyweight exercises - mountain climbers, bodyweight squats, push-ups, jumping drills, lunges, bear crawls, plank holds, and so on.
• The good old fashioned rowing machine - I don't really lump this in as a "cardio" machine per se like elliptical machines and treadmills... Rather, I think the rowing machine is actually a great full body workout that actually uses real resistance)
• Hill sprinting - running as hard up a hill as possible, followed by walking down and repeating as many times as you can for a full workout (yet another classic drill for a rock hard lean body)
• Shadow boxing... a killer workout, but if you are shy, this is best done at home since you will get some crazy looks doing this at a typical gym!
• Swimming sprints - a more muscle toning workout compared with steady pace distance swimming... I actually love the upper body pump I get from sprint swimming (instead of swimming slow and steady, with sprint swimming, you swim as fast as you can exerting as much force as you can for 1 lap. Then rest for 15-20 seconds before doing another swim sprint).
• Heavy bag punching/kicking workouts, speed bag, rebounding bag... all are tremendous workouts and much more fun than boring cardio machines (requires an very intense mind/body connection which increases results).

I hope this article gives you lots of ideas you can use to go out right away and bring some more variety into your workouts instead of relying on the same old dull elliptical machine and treadmill workout routines. Have fun!


If you want to find out 27 unique tips for losing your belly fat faster, you can grab a free report here Free Fat Loss, Metabolism-Boosting Report


For dozens more unique workout and diet ideas go to Killer Workouts, Unique Exercise Ideas, and Diet Tips 
This information was provided by trainer and nutritionist Mike Geary.






 

You see them all over the place these days... nutrition bars that claim to be healthy and good for weight loss or muscle building, but when you read the label, you see an endless list of chemicals, sugars, processed trans fats, and other harmful overly processed ingredients.

There are so many types of "health bars" and "protein bars" on the market today, how do you know if you are actually getting something healthy or just junk food in disguise?

Again, just as I've talked about grocery store food choices, you really need to know how to read labels if you're going to stand a chance at finding a truly healthy food bar.

To be quite honest, most of the bars out there are pure junk... candy bars disguised through labeling as a health food bar.

Just a couple weeks ago, I was going on a bike ride with a friend and needed a quick bar to make sure I had enough energy for the bike ride.

Well, I didn't have any bars on me, so my friend gave me an extra slim fast bar he had.

Keep in mind that these slim fast bars are marketed as health foods for losing weight.

These things are just a flat out joke...there's nothing even remotely nutritional about them. In my opinion, these slim fast bars are WORSE for you than candy bars!

The first ingredient in this bar that my friend gave me was corn syrup! Then the second ingredient was sugar (hooray more sugar!), followed by hydrogenated oils (source of deadly trans fats). After that, the list went on with nothing but junk such as artificial flavors, colors, evil artificial sweeteners, more hydrogenated refined oils, and rounded out with some highly processed soy protein isolate (which despite popular belief, processed soy is NOT healthy for you... I'll talk in detail about that in a future article) just to give your body some more junk.

So not only are these "weight loss" bars a disaster nutritionally for you, but the bar tasted absolutely horrible! It tasted like chemicals and was way too overly sweetened (not a surprise with all of the sugar, corn syrup, sugar alcohols, AND artificial sweeteners). This is a prime example of "over-engineering" of food.

So how do you determine a healthy protein bar or energy bar?

I look for simplicity in a good bar. Many of the healthiest and tastiest bars I've found have only a couple basic ingredients such as nuts, seeds, and fruit. I also look for organic ingredients and raw ingredients if possible.

A couple of my favorite truly healthy bars:

1. Organic Food Bars - This is actually the brand name.

Depending on which flavor, these are usually a base of organic almond butter (or cashew butter) with a certain type of fruit, organic seeds, organic biosprouts (quinoa, etc), and some organic rice protein. Some flavors include an organic dark chocolate as well. They also have a line of bars that use exclusively raw ingredients.

Not only are these bars extremely nutritious, but I think they are delicious as well and have a lot of flavors to choose from such as chocolate chip, blueberry, cranberry, high protein, and more.

You won't find these bars at your local grocery store, but I have found them at several health food stores.

2. Larabars - These are even simpler in ingredients than organic food bars. Usually larabars are just 2 or 3 ingredients, and mostly raw... a blend of crushed nuts along with a type of fruit is the usual combination, but they have a lot of different flavors so it can vary.

These are also delicious and you will NEVER see a list of chemicals a mile long in their ingredient list... usually just nuts and fruit, and that's it! Simple IS better. This is a very high quality bar. Again, you probably won't find these at your local grocery store, but I've found these at various health food markets.

When you actually find truly healthy bars like these examples above, they make great quick snacks while you are traveling or while you are at work.

I carry some on me almost at all times, just to make sure I have healthy options to eat whenever I need a quick snack, so that I am not tempted by fast food joints or junk food vending machines. Good luck and be sure to read those labels to make sure you're getting a health food bar and not a candy bar in disguise. See below for 5 unique tips to help you lose your stubborn belly fat.


Go to the following site to get a free report about belly fat and why even the best abdominal exercise will never help you lose stomach fat.




Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1264469 

You may have seen a whole new slew of advertisements online and on television trying to revamp the poor image of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  They are basically trying to promote this junk food additive as "healthy".

The advertising campaigns don't come right out and make the claim that high fructose corn syrup is "health food", but they do try to get clever and fool people into thinking that it's not bad for your health.  In fact, they make these misleading claims:

"It's all natural"

"It's no worse for you than table sugar"

"It's made from corn"

"It has the same calories as table sugar"

As you can see, these ads are trying to deceive us into thinking that HFCS isn't so bad after all... I mean, they do say that it's "all natural" and "made from corn".  These ads are pure sleaze!

In my opinion, these ads are highly immoral.  For one, as if our nation, and the world for that matter, wasn't already suffering an obesity epidemic, as well as skyrocketing degenerative diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  Now, they're trying to make matters worse by fooling innocent people into thinking that high fructose corn syrup is somehow healthy. Meanwhile, as society and our kids get fatter and more unhealthy, they're lining their pockets with massive profits since HFCS is in the majority of processed food.

As for their claim that HFCS is "no worse for you than sugar"... I'm not even going to discusss any of the science about how HFCS affects the leptin and insulin process in your body, your blood sugar process, appetite levels, etc.  Instead, I want to make a more important point:

Who cares if HFCS is "no worse for you than sugar"... because sugar is one of the worst things you can ingest in your body anyway, so it is not even a valid argument!

The point you need to understand is that if you want to be lean and healthy for life, you should be minimizing, or even eliminating all sugar and high fructose corn syrup.  In fact, most processed food should be eliminated altogether if you want to be serious about getting lean.

As for their claim that HFCS is "all-natural"... don't even get me started!  It's just a ridiculous statement to begin with.  I don't care if you call it "natural" or artificial, the bottom line is that it's a highly processed, refined substance that makes you fat!

So the next time you're thinking about drinking that can of soda, or eating that candy bar or cupcakes, just think about how that is only going directly against your efforts to lose body fat and can even lead to other health problems in excess.


If you want to lose your stubborn belly fat, check out these strategic workouts and diet tips at Ab Exercise Workouts

Also, learn some of the best tricks to live healthy and enjoy life while also losing body fat at Healthy Fat Loss Tips




 

If you want to lose weight, we all know that eating a healthy diet should be your first priority.  Sure, exercise is important, but diet is king when it comes to lifelong weight management.  I hope this article gives you some simple, yet effective ways for you to make healthy changes in the way you eat on a daily basis.

1.  Make sure to eat at least some healthy fats in most of your meals.  Eating enough healthy fats is very important for maintaining proper fat burning and muscle building hormone levels in your body.  Adequate healthy fats in your diet also helps in keeping your appetite under control.

The healthiest sources of dietary fats are raw nuts, seeds, egg yolks (from organic free range eggs), avocados, extra virgin olive oil (highest antioxidant content of olive oils), coconut oil (a great source of healthy saturated fats in the form of medium chain triglycerides), and grass-fed meats (a great source of the healthy fat, conjugated linoleic acid, which can help burn body fat and build muscle).

Try this tip -- eat a handful of raw nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds are great healthy choices) 3 times a day about 30 minutes prior to meals.  This can help to quell your appetite and give your body some protein, fiber, and healthy fats so that you eat less calories overall at your meals and get more nutrition at the same time due to the high nutrient density of most nuts.

2.  Try to eat a high quality protein source with each meal and snack that you eat.  Quality proteins from grass-fed meats, grass-fed raw dairy, and even from plant sources such as nuts and beans provides good appetite suppression so you can control your calorie intake easier.

Getting ample quality proteins also helps you to build lean muscle (if you're working out hard regularly) so that your metabolism can run at a higher rate from the increased lean muscle on your body.

Eating sufficient protein at most of your meals also aids your body in controlling blood sugar and insulin levels by helping to slow the breakdown of ingested carbohydrates.

3. Although I do not fully agree with extremely low-carb diets, I do believe that one of the main reasons that so many individuals struggle to lose weight for most of their lives is due to eating excessive processed carbohydrates such as refined grain-based starches and refined sugars on a daily basis.

The natural sugars in whole fruits and berries are ok because the fiber in fruits helps to slow the blood sugar response in your body.  Just make sure to avoid fruit juices, which are mostly sugar and have the fiber removed in processing the juice.

In my experience as a nutrition specialist, when people start to minimize their grain consumption (from cereals, bagels, breads, pasta, etc), they start to lose body fat much easier.  What I usually recommend is for people to minimize eating grains and focus their carbohydrate intake on fruits and vegetables solely.  This simple step alone usually helps people to start managing their weight more easily.

Try to implement these 3 tips for eating a smarter, healthier diet and I'm willing to bet that you'll start to see a leaner body and more energy in no time.

If you want some ideas for reduced-sugar desserts that are healthy but also delicious, check out these lower calorie desserts.

If you find it hard to make the healthiest food choices at the grocery store, here is a good article on 

I hope you enjoyed this article and it helps you to choosing healthy foods. start eating healthier and enjoying better health!