Hip lift demonstration

Video: Hip lifts work your glutes, hamstrings and leg muscles.

Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs with Brown Sugar, Ginger and Soy Sauce

Ingredients

3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons sherry

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into 2 inch pieces

1 – 20 ounce can pineapple chunks, drained

Directions

In a shallow glass dish, mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, sherry, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic powder. Stir the chicken pieces and pineapple into the marinade until well coated. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken and pineapple alternately onto skewers. Grill 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally, or until chicken juices run clear.

Jump rope

Video: A super simple exercise, but very effective, jumping rope can be done almost anywhere and is great for getting your heart rate up.

The Heart Healthy Diet

When thinking about heart disease, we know that a change in diet is often needed. In today’s world of fast and convenient foods, people think more of saving time than saving calories and fat. If we can be just a little bit more conscious about what we are eating, then we can greatly reduce our risk of heart disease in the future.

One of the best ways we can change up our diet is by restricting our use of solid fats like butter, bacon, and gravies. These are known as Saturated and Trans fats. We often use these fats to help prepare the food we cook. Some great low-fat alternatives are olive oil, yogurt, and fresh fruit. Try to also be label-conscious and read the contents. Look for ingredients like polyunsaturated fats found in nuts and seeds and monounsaturated fats found in canola and olive oil. Be wary of the boxes labeled “reduced fat” though as they often still contain the bad fats.

Something else we can do is to choose meats that are lower in fat. Fish is always a healthy choice and most even contain the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids our bodies need. These omega-3 fatty acids can actually reduce our levels of triglycerides. Lean cuts of pork, beef, chicken breast and turkey are also great choices. Beans and other legumes are a wonderful meat alternative, while still providing our bodies with needed protein. Soy and tofu have become popular in recent years also adding to the meat alternatives list.

The largest dietary change we can make is adding more fruits and vegetables. Many Americans do not even eat half of the servings the food guide recommends as it is not convenient. Fruits and vegetables are chock full of vitamins and minerals, the things we need each and every day.

Soluble fiber is often found in fruits and vegetables and is an excellent source for reducing our cholesterol levels. Fruits and vegetables have also been proven to help reduce heart disease. By snacking on these tasty treats, we are less likely to snack on something higher in fat.

It is easy to keep fruits and vegetables in the fridge ready for snacking as most just need a quick rinse in water and we can munch away. Sometimes even keeping vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower already cut up in the fridge or a bowl of fruit on the counter makes it easier for us to grab and go if we are in a rush.

Whole grains, as found in bread and pasta, are another great dietary change we can make to help our heart. Choosing 100whole wheat breads and pastas gives us the nutrients we need that we cannot get from other foods. We also need to be aware of our salt intake. Salt is a huge heart enemy resulting in higher cholesterol levels. Processed foods often have added salt, so by choosing fresher foods, we are cutting our salt intake.

By adding more of these foods to our diets on a daily basis, not only are we reducing our risk of heart disease, but an added side effect is weight loss!

How to do a double crunch

Video: A personal trainers demonstrates how to do a double crunch, an exercise that targets your core area.

Exercise for Your Back: Lower Back Extensions

Many would agree that we often ignore the lower back part of our body. While we strive too hard to work on all the other body parts we forget that our lower back is as important as any other part of our body and needs equal care as shoulders or middle back. The fact that most of us ignore our lower back is because we aren?t aware that it supports the upper part of our body thereby affecting almost every activity that you perform.

We often lay more importance on abs work out and forget our back workout completely. Due to this an imbalance is caused between your abs and your lower back which leads to severe back pains. So strengthening your lower back muscle is as important as strengthening your abs.

The lower back extension is the best exercise that is recommended by the doctors and the fitness experts to fight your back pain and also to strengthen your back muscles to avoid any future risks. It also helps you in loosening; tight or sore back muscles that may be caused due to over sitting or lack of back exercises. It can be done anywhere as it doesn?t require any equipment and is really simple to perform.

Lower back extension exercise:

As always, start with warm up exercises. Preferably a light aerobics exercise for 10-15 minutes. This is a very good exercising strategy to be followed before getting into your regular exercise regimen.

Lie down straight on the floor with your hands and arms kept flat at your sides and your legs extended like in a standing position. But actually lying down. This will be your starting position.

Now raise yourself slowly above the ground level. By using your lower muscles raise above your upper body part, but do not over extend. Just raise your body up to 45 degrees above the ground level, to the point where you feel comfortable and beneficial. When you raise yourself above the ground level see that you tighten your buttocks and totally exert pressure on your lower back. Hold this movement for a count of 3-5.

After holding the position for a count of 3 or so, lower your body back to the floor in the same manner as your starting position.

While performing this exercise don?t forget to breath. Breathe in as your raise your body and hold your position and then breath out when you lower yourself.

Repeat this exercise until the sets are completed. Each set should comprise of 12-15 reps. Likewise start with 2 sets for the first two weeks, increase it to 3 sets of 15-20 reps in the 3-4 week and then let it progress as per your capability. However one thumb rule to be followed here is do not overdo it, as it may increase your back pain than eliminating it completely. Perform this exercise just 2-3 times a week and the rest of the day?s work out on other body parts.

Initially you might find it difficult to do this exercise. You may not be able to raise your body very high. But that?s totally fine, as you progress you will be able to lift yourself higher. So let?s not waste anymore time, let?s get going.

One Arm Dumbbell Rows – A Great Upper Body Workout

When it comes to losing weight you must consider every aspect of your body. Just working the lower body is not enough to be able to get you the body you are looking for. A great workout for the upper body is the one arm dumbbell. When you work just one arm at a time, you will find that you get a better work out because you are using more energy to focus on the muscles you are using. The muscles that you use when you do this are the lats (back muscles), the upper arm muscles and even your abs. The great thing is that all you really need is one dumbbell of your weight choosing or you can use two which can make it easier.

How to perform one arm dumbbell rows

1. You will want to get into a seated position to make this more like an actual row.

2. Start by leaning forward with your arm extended and the dumbbell in your hand

3. As you pull your arm back, you will also lean back until you are in a straight seated position with your torso at a 90 degree angle to your legs. It is easiest to think about rowing a boat while you are performing this exercise.

4. Keeping your arm straight, you will extend them back out and lean forward again to prepare for the next repetition of this exercise

Tips for getting the best result from one arm dumbbell rows

To get an extra little work on your muscles when you do this exercise, you can twist your wrist at the end when you are fully seated

Another way to get an extra burn and keep yourself on your toes is to alternate arms. It helps to have a dumbbell in both hands in order to keep you from not breaking your rhythm

You will want to make sure that you keep your abdomen held in as you do this exercise and be conscious of your posture throughout the exercise

Just as important as your exercise is to make sure that you breathe properly as you exercise. The best way to do this is to inhale as you pull back as there is more room for your lungs to expand. Then exhale as you lean forward again as this will help to get the air out of your lungs

Make sure that you do not rush through your movements.

If you are trying to get toned, it is a good idea to use low weight dumbbells and high repetitions.

If you are trying to build muscle, you will want to use heavier weights even though you will not be able to do high reps.

You will want to do 3-4 sets of these exercises to get the best results. This can be done either back to back, which is extremely hard, or if you are working on your upper body, you can just do the next set after you have completed the other exercises you are doing in your workout .

Tricep Workout

Video: A fitness professional goes through a workout that targets your triceps.

Demonstration of jumping jacks

Video: An easy exercise that can be done anywhere and really gets your heart rate going.

Dynamic workout for your upper body

Video: This upper body workout is a great home workout that requires no equipment and little space.