MARRIAGE AND WEIGHT GAIN

We all see it, a fit and sexy single guy or girl gets married and in a few months gets the spare tire, love handles, pot belly, turkey arms, etc.(If you doubt me, look up your parents pre wedding pictures.)  

Kim +Kanye, 20 years on??

Unfortunately, a recent study revaled that weight gain constitutes the biggest relationship peeve for most couples.

The biggest culprit is the change in lifestyle that happens after marriage. The reason for this is simple; when a person is single, they feel the need to look sexy and attractive, so they adopt lifestyle choices such as dieting and exercise. With marriage and the attendant adjustments however, couples tend to slack off on healthier choices. Your partner may even encourage less-than-healthy habits. "When you're combining lifestyles, sometimes the less active one wins out," says Cheryl Forberg, RD, nutritionist for The Biggest Loser and author of the cookbook Flavor First. for instance when your guy wants you to skip your morning run to sleep in with him, it's easy to roll over and give in.

You don't have to get like this!!!

There's no need to fear, research shows that couples that work out together have a 94% chance of sticking with their fitness programmes. Couples can motivate themselves toward a healthy lifestyle while sharing some emotionally beneficial quality time. In order to do this however, the couples should identify activities which they mutually enjoy. Activities which couples can enjoy together include:

1. Dancing: 

Take a Latin dance class or alternatively, head down to the hippest dance club in town and break out some moves. Avoid too much alcohol and drink lots of water while youre at it (You wouldn't want to do something you'll regret later on!!).

2. Martial Arts

 Taking a martial arts class together helps the couple build a healthy respect for each others physical abilities, in addition they can work out together and provide mutual support to each other in the process.

 

3: Swimming:

 This low impact and enjoyable activity can provide hours of quality and healthy entertainment to the couple, as well as being a wonderful prelude to some bedroom activity (*wink*)

 

4. Biking:

 You and your partner could take a nice bike ride and enjoy the environment together reminiscent of how you hung out with your siblings when you were young.

   

 

PLAY AWAY THE POUNDS

Exams are over.... finally!!!!!!

After six months of unrelenting academic drudgery, I have packed my books, articles and notes far from my sight; from now onwards, I'm going to kick back, rest and think about the future ( Can I hear an amen!!!). I'm now working hard to shed all the extra weight I gained while studying for exams and regain my six pack in time for summer.  

A lot of students also want to lose some weight or build some muscle before summer, but they  want to stay out of the wonderful sun instead of working out in a dreary gym. This got me thinking about ways of working out in a fun, collaborative environment, while enjoying the sun.

On my way back from a class picnic last week, I discovered a free outdoor gym at Mile End Park with a fitness bike, a chest press machine, a cross trainer, an abdominal bench, a ski machine and a treadmill. The zone has a traversing wall, kickwall, basketball goal, tennis wall and freestyle area for aerobics and martial arts. I particularly liked the dip bars and the pull up bars.

I have found several outdoor gyms in many parks and playgrounds in London, so if you don't have the spare cash for a gym membership, or you wish to take a break from indoor training and have some fun in the sun ,then you can make use of these facilities.

Crazy Workouts for Building a Steel Core

"I find that my core is ostensibly the toughest part of my body to firm and shape up!!! It has been a frustrating venture for me as I have had 3 children and it unfortunately shows in the areas of my person that I do not want this to show. I don’t know if I can do it" - Worried mother

Your core is the corset of muscles and connective tissue that encircle and hold the spine in place. If your core is stable, your spine remains upright while your body swivels around it. The core comprises of all the muscles and tendons between your knees and your rib cage, partivularly these 4 muscles—the rectus abdominis muscle (the six pack), the internal and external obliques (those muscles at the sides), and the transversus abdominis. Abdominal muscles have many important functions such as contributing to breathing, they are responsible for the acts of coughing, and sneezing, as well as maintaining posture and speech.

The rectus abdominis can be worked out with the basic crunch, the vertical crunch, the reverse crunch, and the full vertical crunch, and when at a low enough body fat percentage (10-12% for males, 15-18% for females) the individual parts of the muscle become visible; many refer to this visible separation as a six pack. By exercising the internal and external obliques the stomach can be flattened while the waist line can be reduced

Here are some crazy exercises that will help you flatten that stomach and build a solid core within a reasonably short period.

The Fireman Stair Climb

Fill a back pack with books or any heavy objects (the weight should be at least 20kg for this to be really effective). Try to run up and down 10 stairs 6 times within 3 minutes. this will build your core, leg and heart to new highs.

The Mighty Plank

The plank exercise  is a great way to build endurance in both the abs and back, as well as the stabilizer muscles. This move is also great for building strength for pushups, an exercise that requires quite a bit of core strength. You can add some weight on your back to increase difficulty.

How to:

1. Lie face down on mat resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor.
2. Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows.
3. Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels.
4. Tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals to prevent your rear end from sticking up in the air or sagging in the middle.
5. Hold for 20 to 60 seconds, lower and repeat for 3-5 reps.

Good Ol' School Pushups  (need I say more?)

6 Second Abs: Technology meets fitness

Banner for 6 second abs

The 6 Second Abs machine is a small, portable piece of fitness equipment designed to help you perform a perfect crunch. With 6 Second Abs, you can train all of your abdominal muscles in just a few short sets or you can target specific muscles.

You hold the device in your lap while seated. With your hands gripping the handles, you crunch forward from this position, pressing down on the unit, which offers resistance between 15 and 55 lbs. Audible clicks time you through the crunch, which lasts six seconds. You can hit all the abdominal muscles with 6 Second Abs exercises.

A few years ago, my mum bought one of the '6 second abs' machines in an attempt to tone up her abdominals. It came along with an instruction video and a 30 day diet and exercise plan. I promptly purloined the machine and used it for a full year before it was recovered from my possession (LoL)

I found that doing the 6 second abs programme whilst lying on my back, as you would a normal sit-up works 10 times better than in a seated position. I have the resistance on 55lbs, which isn't actually that much in all honesty. The only downside is that the stronger red bands need to be ordered separately.

That aside I think it’s a good piece of kit and as long as you get an original you should be okay. The burn is GREAT and I found that with commitment and a good diet this kit will actually delivers what it promises!

The Right Crunch... Everytime

The main thing is, it really does get the abs burning with minimal movement. It looks great, feels like a toy and is fun to pick up and use too.

With any form of fitness regime, you need to eat/drink healthily in relation to exercise. You won't notice any difference if you do 20 mins a day and then hit the bar for several hours a week.

You need to curb unhealthy drinking and overly fatty foods. Pasta/Salad/Wholemeal Bread/Smoothies/Fruit are an excellent way to pack in carbs and calories without over eating.

It would seem that there are cheap fakes of this machine on the market. Bands breaking and DVDs not playing properly are two obvious signs that you may have purchased a fake.

Counterfeit 6 second abs pack

Savvier (the Makers of the product) has noticed several identifying marks on the counterfeit 6 Second Abs units that can help distinguish them from the authentic 6 Second Abs:

• Prices that are well below the televised advertised price of $59.90. These may indicate a counterfeit product which is of inferior quality.

 
• Instructional DVD's Rock Hard Abs and Total Body Workout that simply don't work.

• Interchangeable resistance bands that are of inferior quality and finish.

These aren't some generic brand knock offs, these are being sold as original products but unfortunately are of far inferior quality, be careful when purchasing one. Make sure you buy from a genuine dealer, and ensure that the product purchased is working correctly.

Next... the 6 Second ab workout-------->>>>>> watch out