Spring is finally here and it is time to start on that exercise you routine you have been avoiding for the past winter.  The cold is no longer an excuse to keep you from your new journey to fitness.  If you still find it hard to get motivated you might think hitting the gym is the answer.  So, as you waltz merrily through the doors of your local gym just remember that you need to be careful when you exercise or you could end up injured.  Here are a few tips to help keep you safe in the gym.

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Two things you should try to avoid while exercising in the gym are overtraining and training incorrectly.  These are the cause of many of the common injuries in gym.  Training with poor technique is the quickest way to sustain an injury and the most easily avoidable.  So, if it has been awhile since you last went to the gym or you are starting at a new one, sign up for an introductory course.  This will allow you to brush up on your technique, meet the qualified staff and perhaps get a few tips and acquaint you with the equipment.

Even if you are a regular gym-goer, and you already know what type of shoes to wear etc,  you may not be familiar with the newest equipment in your gym.  All those seemingly simple machines can be deceptively tricky.  Rather than trying to figure it out on your own and risking an injury ask how they work.  For those of us who do not frequent gyms even the treadmills pose problems.  No two treadmills are alike.  The buttons seem to be arranged in the least sensible manner possible and they it seems that the machine speeds up and slows down at will rather than as you command.  Instead of hopping on the treadmill assuming you know how it works and then searching blindly for the stop button ask how it works.  You don’t want to risk a sprained ankle or head injury because you can’t find the stop button and you are too tired and wobbly legged to continue running, forcing you to jump off the terrifying machine.  Stay safe; ask how to use the equipment.

The risk of overtraining may be greater than that posed by gym equipment.  It is important to remember that fitness is not a race or a competition.  Start with the lowest weights and work up to higher ones.  There is no sense in using weights too heavy for you and risking an injury at the start of your new exercise program. If an exercise is too easy for you it is always possible to add more weight.  But once you have strained a muscle you will need to spend weeks letting it heal.  The last thing you want to do is damage your tendons because you were a bit overzealous at the start.  Before you begin exercising remember to stretch.  Stretching is an easy way to loosen your muscles, get them used to the range of motion you will put them through during your exercises and lastly help prevent injury.  Well stretched muscles will be less likely to strain or tear.

Paying attention to your form, especially for new and unfamiliar exercises will also help prevent injury.  Many of the most common injuries can be avoided by using the proper form.  Even simple exercises such as squats and lunges require the right form.  Making sure your knees never pass your toes will prevent stress and damage to your knees.  Another easy way to prevent injury is to take each exercise slowly.  It will be easier to pay attention to form if you take it slow and you will be less likely to strain a muscle in a rapid unfamiliar movement.  Be cautious when you do free weight exercises.  Only use weights you can handle easily.  If you must lock out your elbows to do a front or lateral raise then the weight is too heavy for you.  Locking out your elbows is improper form and deciding to push through the exercise anyway will only put you at risk of a micro tear in your tendon.  It will not make you stronger.  Listen to your body and your muscles.  If an exercise hurts or begins to hurt do not continue doing it.  Your body knows what it needs and ignoring it will only cause you suffering later.

If you are in a rush or on a tight schedule take your exercises at the same slow pace and do less of them. Getting in more repetitions in less time stresses your joints and risks poor technique.  Plus you are in the gym to have a good workout.  Slow down, enjoy that burn.  Even if you are in a hurry your muscles still need to be stretched and treated with care.  Skipping these important steps and ignoring form will very likely be the cause of an injury and that would be an unfortunate start to your routine.

An introductory session would be a great time to be reminded of these little tips by qualified gym staff.  Ask whether any of the staff members are trained in first aid.  You can also check on the qualifications of various instructors in case you are thinking about taking a class.  The same safety rules apply in classes.  Take things slow and listen to your body.  Just because yoga looks easy does not mean you can bend like that at first.  If you are a beginner then you should stick with the basics.  If you decide to try out complicated poses and headstands on your first day you just might need the person trained in first aid to save you or untangle you.  Asking the right questions and taking things slowly is the easiest way to stay injury free during your gym experience.

In order to lose weight, or just to look like a beast, calorie control is essential.  The part of calories that people have the hardest time with is trying to burn them off.  Some exercises are certainly better than others when it comes to accomplishing this.  Here are some of, what I think are, the best exercises used for cutting calories.

Running

Running is probably the most common form of exercise, which is everybody’s “go to” exercise when they want to lose weight and it is rightfully so. Running is a cardio exercise that can help you burn a lot of calories. The amount of calories you burn while running can increase by increasing the incline that you run on. Some home treadmills make this an easier thing to do since most of them now days come with incline training built in.

Swimming

I am a big advocate of swimming. It is one of my favorite things to do; and not only is it fun to do, it is arguably the best cardio, calorie-burning exercise out there. Unlike running, this exercise is low-impact, meaning that there is less impact and strain on your joints when you exercise. It is a perfect exercise that you can do no matter what your weight is, and if your weight is a little high it can help you keep it under control. It really is the ultimate exercise, just make sure you know what you are doing! To learn how to do a proper stroke, click here.

Biking

This, too, is a very effective cardio exercise. One of the main benefits of cycling is that it is low-impact as well. One thing that should be noted is that spending the same amount of exercise on cycling as running will not get you the same results. Because cycling doesn’t require as much effort, you will have to exercise for a longer period of time to burn the same amount of calories.

Well, there ya have it. Those are my favorite exercises that burn a lot of calories.

Jordan works and goes to school full time. He enjoys the outdoors, healthy living, music, and just about all sports and loves blogging about all of them. Follow him on Twitter at, and you can also find him on Google+.

Buddha is this Buddhist who has some solid philosophies on life.  Never in my whole life have I ever met or even heard a story about a Buddhist who was upset or depressed.  Most of the Buddhists, according to my biased, shallow Hollywood-illustrated perspective, are skinny and strong too.  So that makes them a perfect example for fitness and motivation.

He isn't skinny, but the people who listen to him are.

I give you a crash course on Buddhist philosophy.

• 1. Follow the three R’s

1. Respect yourself
2. Respect others
3. Responsibility for your actions

If you are respecting yourself then you wouldn’t ever do anything disrespectful right.  You would give a kid a cigarette because that is terribly unhealthy and disrespectful.  So why should you allow yourself to smoke, drink, eat garbage (not actual garbage, but like fast food and stuff).  And if you are going to disregard all self-respect then you had better be willing to take responsibility for your actions, whether it be cancer, belligerence or diabetes.

• Learn the rules so that you know how to break them properly

Oh Buddha, you sneaky man you.  Now remember we are not going to disrespect anyone, not even ourselves,  so “breaking rules” could be better put “finding effective strategies towards our goals”.  The key to this one is learn.  You need to understand the situations around you if you want to beat them.

• Judge your success by what you had to give up to get it.

Ok, this one to me seems pretty clear.  He is obviously talking about weight loss.  Even though he doesn’t look very fit and skinny in that statue he is still much healthier than he was a few years before that was carved.

I hope all this motivation was ambiguous enough to allow you to misconstrue some sort of meaning.  Seriously though, the Buddhists have some hard core philosophies.

Let’s level for a second, there is a large number of people nowadays who don’t consider themselves physically fit (whether that is true or perceived is a different discussion), and would consent to saying that losing a little bit of weight might actually be a good thing.  In fact, studies have said that as of 2010 in 1/4 of the states in America the obesity rate is over 30%, which only goes to show, that for many of it wouldn’t be a bad thing for us to not only consider shaking things up a bit, but also consider changing our eating habits and lifestyle as well. Continue reading →

Hacking is usually a computer programming related term for a gifted programmer that who is able to manipulate the cod involved in incredible ways. Just like these programming hacks can create software shortcuts and tricks that lead to self gain, lifestyle hacks are innovative ways to surpass obstacles that humanity has been running into for years.

One of the universal problems that nearly everyone is concerned with is staying in shape and being healthy. Here are some lifestyle hacks that you can utilize to get in shape without drinking the elixir of life or wishing for a day with 25 hours in it.

1) Take the stairs! Sorry, this one is so classic it just has to be included. Keep this in mind though: if you are not willing to utilize this lifestyle hack then you are not trying to get in shape, you’re just looking for a lifestyle hack that allows your physical body to keep on living comfortably without doing anything to take care of it.

Now that that is out of the way, here are some more innovative hacks.

1.5) Active standing. Yup. Active standing.

Many people have time spent standing every single day. People wait for the bus, people wait in line at the grocery store, but how many people realize that they can be active even while they stand?

The activities that one can reasonably engage in whilst all around him are motionless depends on where you are. If you are at a bus stop no one will care if you do some wall sits against the wall or do some squats; just don’t impede the bus traffic.

Let’s talk about how to destroy fat, particularly that lumpy glycerin around your abdomen.  Yes it is gross, and there is good reason for you to feel embarrassed with your shirt off.  Don’t worry though, losing weight around your stomach isn’t the hardest thing; actually, losing weight on the back of the thighs is.  Losing weight around your waist comes in second for hardest place to grease the pan, if you know what I mean.

Planking is Effective for Abdominal Enhancement

Muscles require calories to create ATP and energy and all that scientific hullabaloo, blah blah blah.   Here is what you really need to know. Your abs are not going to burn calories, meaning you are not going to lose fat by doing crunches and sit ups. Those just don’t work. The abdomen is too thin to effectively necessitate a large amount of caloric burn.

You do have to work out your abs. Here is what you do.  To get good caloric burn that is going to burn those little grease lumps off your stomach you need to work out your entire body.  That is the trick too it, pure and simple.  Crossfit training is a great way to do it, P90X is super effective, or if you are a little less demanding about seeing results come fast you can jump into a yoga program.  These are the types of exercises that burn fat around the waist.

Some specific exercises that will tighten the abdomen and include burbees, planking, lateral torso movements with a medicine ball or dumbbells.  There you go kids, get off the couch and get rid of that stomach fat.

Free Weights vs Machines

There has always been a long running conversation about whether to use free-weights or machines to do your workouts. While it is easy enough to say, if you have both, use them both. Using both free weights and machines will help you prevent muscle memory and you can trick your muscles into submission by changing it up a bit.

Further, there are so many great exercises a machine can provide starting with cable curls and cable flies. The advantage to doing these exercises on a cable machine is that the cable is being held tight throughout the entire exercise and doesn’t loosen up when you reach the top or bottom of the exercise movement.

On the other hand, you really can’t beat a good straight bar when it comes to bench pressing or the building of the pecks. Dumbbells also do their part for bicep curls as well, but again it is worth using the cables of a machine to do those exercises if you have them.

Another good exercise for the free-weights is the military press and the decline bench press. These are hardly duplicated successfully on any machine. Most of the machines, like a universal, curl machine, bench press, or abdominal machines are a waste of time. Most of the machine parts merely try to mimic free-weight movements, but fail miserably.

The problem with machines is the distribution of weight. Sure there are cables lifting the weight stack, but that does nothing for you in that aspect of cables. Most machines have a fixed platform for arms, biceps, triceps or other. The fixed plat forms often do not require your muscles to perform delicate balancing tasks while employing each muscle.

For instance when you have a bicep machine you place your elbows on the pads. Then you pull up the machine arm and lower it. But the motion is fixed on a vertical axis and there is no need for the muscle to prevent the horizontal movement of the weights being lifted. Also, unlike the cable curls, there is no resistance at the bottom or top of the curling movement (it’s just resting).

We could go on and on with each muscle exercise or you can apply the contrasting examples of a free-weights vs machine exercise as we did with the bicep exercises.  If you only have access to one or the other I would say to stick with free-weights if you are serious about building muscle. If all you want to do is tone up and do some cardio workouts I would suggest the machine.