Friday, July 2, 2010

How to Adapt your Workout without Weights

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A w orkout without weights is not necessarily the easiest style of exercise. At the same time, some of a weight free workout might be too easy. How is this possible? Since the boot camp exercises are generally different levels of difficulty we need to find ways to make them work for us. A lot of regularly active people find their chest much stronger than their back and therefore find an equal strength progression of both back and chest is much tougher than usual to maintain, especially if you're a work at home web designer or spend most of your day in an office chair.

In order to combat this, we’ve found some methods that you can easily add to your workout to make the basic exercises easier or harder whenever you like. If you find different areas of your body are not proportional strength wise, you can incorporate these techniques if necessary to achieve the number of sets and reps you’d like your weight free workout.

The first technique is to make the workout easier. If you’re doing pull ups, chin ups, dips or any other hanging exercise, put a block underneath your feet and do the exercise with as much support as you require. What this does is allow you to monitor how much help you are giving yourself. You may need just a touch to help you complete your desired workout, or maybe you need to use half your weight on the block. Whatever you do, you can push yourself as far as you like while using the block as a support.

The second technique is to make your workout without weights harder. By adding dynamic resistance to each exercise you can actually make every rep much harder than it usually is. Charles Atlas developed a system called dynamic tension where a person creates self-resistance which makes the muscles work against each other. The person tenses the muscles of any body part and then moves the body part being exercised against the tension creating resistance for every rep. You can try this by tensing your entire arm and then imaging your pushing against a strong weight as you curl your arm up.

A third way to change up your workout is to use explosive exercises. Clapping push ups, jump squats, burpees etc. are exercises that force your muscles to work in a different manner then they are accustomed to. Boot camp exercises are great in this respect and adding explosive training to your weight free workout can help you to build muscle by shifting the exercise style to make the muscles adapt.

If you’re looking for a way to make your workout without weights more applicable and individual to you try incorporating some of these techniques and you might find you’re able to perform a more balanced and full routine.

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Thursday, July 1, 2010

Ashtanga Yoga: A Balanced Workout without Weights


There are many misconceptions about yoga. This is partially bred from the many different styles and different types of people who engage in this form of exercise. Yoga has been around for centuries and has been used in many different circumstances by many different people. Today we’re choosing to focus on Ashtanga yoga because it is one of the more physically challenging styles of yoga and can help to increase cardio fitness and muscular endurance.

The beginner or primary series is composed of about 75 poses takes anywhere between an hour and a half to two hours to complete. The practitioner should use ujjayi breathing, a form of inhaling and exhaling designed to heat up the body and strengthen the immune system. The system was introduced by Pattabhi Jois and has become popular worldwide.

The reason ashtanga yoga can contribute to a workout without weights is because it actually is a challenging exercise that helps in my different facets of ones life. Although some people view yoga as purely stretching, we assure you that yoga, ashtanga yoga in particular can be tough, especially if you're used to a typical gym workout.

If you are unfamiliar with yoga, the routine will lead you through a set of poses that detoxify the body, realign the spine, and build strength, flexibility and stamina. In workout terms, the movements will strengthen all areas of your body and build core strength. The poses generally have multiple levels allowing you to go at your own pace and move farther when your body tells you it’s the right time.

The reason athletic forms of yoga like ashtanga yoga are so important is because they not only build strength but also lends to other portions of your life. Besides the meditation aspect, yoga makes you less likely to face injuries if performed correctly and can be an important part of a workout without weights. It complements cardio or muscle building exercises by working your entire body and increasing abdominal power. Additionally the costs of purchasing yoga equipment are often much less than normal workout equipment. Your credit card processing costs are much lower when you're working with yoga.

Yoga also adds to your functional capabilities. Other activities in your day and week become easier if you’ve done yoga earlier on because your muscles have been stretched and relaxed as well purified in the process of your yogic practice. We've found that people who do yoga, wear the right clothing, like barefoot shoes and eat healthy have enormous benefits!

Although we won’t delve into many of the details of yoga, we advise you to investigate further into yoga, particular the ashtanga style if you’re interested in the athletic aspect of this form of weight free workout.