10 Reasons Why Women Should Start Kettlebell Training

hello,

Have you started using Kettlebell Training yet? If not why not? kettlebells are a great solution for the busy woman looking for a quick butt firming, thigh slimming total body fat burning workout.

with one piece of equipment and 20 minutes at home you are well on your way to getting the fat loss, cardio conditioning and strength building (without the fear of developing too much muscle) body you want.

read this article then head on over to Kettlebell Workouts where I have some video demo's of how to do kettlebell exercises (it's a work in progress so I am adding new videos all the time)

10 Reasons Why Women Should Start Kettlebell Training

Kettlebell training has fast become the top choice of fitness training with many top strength and conditioning coaches, personal trainers and elite athletes around the world. For the benefits and fast results that you can get from the traditional Russian fitness training tool, it is no surprise that many top female celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz, Kim Cattrall, Kim Basinger, and Angelina Jolin have also turned to kettlebell training. The following is the Top 10 Reasons why women should train with kettlebell.

1. Increase metabolism
Metabolism is the key to long-term weight management success and therefore it is very important in regards to achieving the lean, toned and athletic body. As kettlebell training is a form of weight training and utilizes mainly full-body movements, it helps to raise the metabolism of the body by increasing the lean muscle mass.

2. Improved tone in the Body
Because this training increase lean tissue mass, it would naturally improved the tone in the body that would help any women fit better into their clothes.

3. Postexercise Fat Burning Effects
Kettlebell training induced postexercise fat-burning effect in the body due to its compound movements and high-intensity nature. Unlike most aerobics exercise, the postexercise fat-burning effects allows the body to use more fat as energy at rest and during low-intensity physical activities. As such, more fat will be burned.

4. Shape the Butt
It is great for shaping up the butt because many of the exercises such as snatch, swing and clean are initiated from the hip movement. As a result, the glutes muscle which is the butt is engaged very often giving the behind a great workout.

5. Cardio Fitness
With high reps of kettlebell ballistic movement based exercises, it requires high level of effort and is great for improving cardio fitness.

6. Prevent Osteoporosis
Unfortunately, women are much more prone to osteoporosis than men. It is a loss of bone mass caused by reduction of estrogen after menopause. Fortunately, kettlebell training which is a form of resistance training that can prevent this situation.

7. Prevent Sarcopenia
Sarcopenia occurs when muscular strength declines with increasing age. It is caused by the loss of muscle tissue. Again, women are very much affected by this situation because they have less muscle fiber than men to begin with. However, strength training from kettlebell can prevent loss of strength and muscle mass. As a result, it prevents sarcopenia.

8. No Muscle Bulk
Kettlebell training do not build muscle bulk because the typical training program is made up of mostly ballistic movements. Unlike grinding moves, it does not isolate any muscles group that is essential in building muscle bulk. The truth is, women do not possess the level of muscle-building hormones like the men have to gain muscle bulk with any form of weight lifting.

9. Prevent Injuries
This form of exercise focuses on movements and it differs very much from the traditional bodybuilding type training that focuses on loading strains on target muscle group. Because movement efficiency is enhanced due to kettlebell training, injuries are greatly reduced by fixing the compensation and imbalances in the body.

10. Time-saving
Most important of all, you do not need to spend hours that you would with typical aerobics program to see the results. Kettlebell training is high-intensity strength and cardio workout that forces the body to burn fat fast.

In conclusion, kettlebell training is a great training tool for women not only in terms of improving physical appearance but also improving overall health and all-round fitness. Especially for women who hit a plateau with training progress, kettlebell training can be a solution to break out of it.

TC is a Perth kettlebell instructor who provides personal training and boot camp services in the Suburb of Nedlands, Subiaco, and Claremont. To learn to more about the proper techniques of kettlebell lifting and get a week of FREE kettlebell training, please visit http://www.kettlebellbootcamp.com.au

Do you see any reason why you Shouldn't be training with kettlebells? No i didn't think so.

Short total body workouts you can do at home. No more of the incredibly inefficient marathon treadmill workouts, no commuting to the gym and no more gym fees.

Don't forget head on over to Kettlebell Workouts for some video instruction.

Busy Women Need Weight Training

Here are 10 reasons why women NEED to do resistance training. Did I mention that you can do resistance training at home with very little or no equipment whatsoever?

Here are some of the reasons women need to do resistance training that I may have neglected to mention:

1. Burn more fat. When you do a resistance training program, your metabolism will stay elevated and you continue to burn fat for several hours afterward. During regular cardio exercise, you stop burning fat shortly after the workout.

2. Change your body shape. Resistance training can slim you down, create new curves, and help avoid the "middle-age spread".

3. Boost your metabolism. The less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism will be. As women age, they lose muscle at increasing rates, especially after the age of 40. When you diet without doing resistance training, up to 25% of the weight loss may be muscle loss. Resistance training while dieting can help you preserve and even rebuild muscle fibers. The more lean mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be and the more calories you'll burn all day long.

4. Increases strength and confidence. Resistance training increases functional fitness, which makes everyday tasks much easier. Being strong is also empowering. Not only does it improve your physical activities, it builds emotional strength by boosting self-esteem and confidence.

5. Build strong bones. Weight bearing exercise helps build and maintain bone mass, and prevents osteoporosis.

6. Fight depression. Endorphins are released during resistance training and can lessen depression symptoms substantially.

7. Improve sports fitness. Resistance training equals more strength which will equate to better sports performance whether that be your golf game or skiing or whatever sport you enjoy.

8. Reduce injuries and arthritis. Resistance training improves joint stability and builds stronger ligaments and tendons. Keeping joints strong and mobile is always beneficial.

9. Help your heart. Resistance training also benefits the heart by increasing your "good" (HDL) cholesterol and decreasing your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol. It also lowers your blood pressure.

10. Guard against diabetes. The more lean mass you have, the more efficient your body is at removing glucose from the blood,

I hope you're adding resistance training to your fitness program. If you need some support with this, go to how the busy woman gets and stays healthy.

To your health,

Fat Burning Workout Tips And Tricks

For a sexy female body,

1) Ditch the Lame Warm Up

Skipping rope and performing calisthenic exercises like jumping
jacks work the entire body, and prepare you neurologically for the
workout to come. This will allow you to get more out of each
workout.

2) Don't Be Afraid to Lift Heavy

I insist that all my female clients spend at least 2 days per month
dedicated to heavy lifting (75% of 1RM in certain cases).


3) Fight Hormones with Hormones

Use the power of lactic acid to locally attack stubborn
estrogen-based fat storage patterns.

4) Increase Training Density

Doing more work in less time has a number of incredible benefits:
increasing the rate of fat loss, aerobic and anaerobic training,
and an increase in work capacity.

5) Focus on your Assets

When it comes to squatting for your booty, go wide. For lunges, go
deep.


And for MEN,

1) Focus on Building an X-Shaped Physique

An X-shaped physique means: broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and
strong, well-developed calves.

2) Push Less, Pull More

We should focus more on the muscles of the upper back: latissimus
dorsi, teres major, trapezius, et al. These muscles, developed
correctly, will help pull your shoulders back, helping to create
the broad shouldered look that men find powerful and women find
attractive.

To prevent imbalances and help to create such a look, try to
maintain a 3:2 ratio of pulling exercises to pushing exercises.

3) Lift Heavy at Least 4 Days per Month

To achieve the increases, my clients all have at least 1 day per
week dedicated to lifting near maximal loads. In addition to the
aforementioned benefits, heavy training also leads to strength
increases, which has obvious implications for training in the
future.

4) Mix Up Your Training

For the purposes of getting lean, exposing yourself to consistently
changing stimulus is an excellent way to ramp up metabolism and
consistently increases the processes by which fat loss is made
possible.

5) Tame Your Hormones

To aid in shedding the love handles and creating a body worth
seeing naked, there are a few ways to improve insulin management
via supplementation and diet. More details on the blog...

Your Fat Burning Workouts Using Variety For Success

Someone asked me the other day which workouts should she choose to do. She was a little confused because in my articles I talk about weight training, kettlebells, interval training and bodyweight exercises. So I could see how she was a little confused.

My answer to her and all of you is use them all. You know the whole variety is the spice of life thing. When it comes to fat loss, gaining lean muscle and improving your fitness and health variety is your best path. Now I mentioned 4 different ways to exercise above do you know the combination and workouts you could put together?

Using variety will keep you motivated and focused on getting to your fitness and fat burning goals. I don't know about you but I tend to get bored easily and let's face it exercise isn't always the most exciting thing in your life. If you keep challenging yourself with new and different workouts you will start to look forward to them. Especially once you start seeing the rewards in the mirror.

The one small problem with using exercise variety like I do is you have to really plan ahead. Back in the old day's of doing the basic bodybuilding splits you went to your garage or gym or wherever you worked out and were going to do the same workout over and over.

I tend to go by feel sometimes just for whatever reason I might feel like doing a particular exercise or exercises so I do it. I don't want it to sound like I just jump into a workout not knowing what I'll do that day. I do have it planned ahead of time but I will deviate from the plan also.

What I want to give you here is how to incorporate a variety of fat burning and muscle building exercise programs to use. You do need to plan this ahead on at least a weekly basis.

Commit to Weight training Monday and Thursday use total body exercises. As an example:

#1. Deadlifts

#2. Pushups

#3. Clean and Press

Again these exercises aren't written in stone maybe for whatever reason I don't have the feel to do pushups I'll do Incline dumbbell presses instead.

Use heavy weights, keep your reps in the 4-8 range, 4-5 sets each (best for lean muscle gains and losing fat). Yes it is only 3 exercises but with these 3 exercises you have also worked virtually every muscle group, Workout with intensity, haphazard workouts give haphazard results. You workout for a purpose, burn fat, gain lean muscle and improved fitness and health.

Tuesday and Friday do some Kettlebell exercises - Use timed sets

Set a timer for lets say 5 minutes (this will depend on your fitness level adjust time up or down)

#1. Kettlebell Swings - do as many reps as you can in your time frame

#2. Kettlebell Snatch - same as above

With timed sets every workout try to do more reps than the workout before. You don't need to do 10 more reps if you can't even 1 more than your last workout is progression.

Wednesday and Saturday could be Interval Training.

Do some bodyweight circuits, Jump Rope, go outside and do some sprint intervals.

This is just an example of how you could set up your exercise week. No you don't have to workout 6 days a week this is just an example. You should set up your workout to your conditioning level. Keep your workouts short 45 minutes(for weight training) 20 minutes and under(for kettlebells and Intervals).

Like I said sometimes I feel like doing something in particular so I do it.

I guess in a round about way what I'm saying is if you say to yourself I am weight training today but I really feel like doing Intervals than do Intervals that day. You are motivated to do intervals not weight train that day. Chances are if you say I have to (instead of I want to) weight train you probably won't even make it through your workout.

Use this article as your guide. As I mentioned change out exercises for variety. Keep the workouts short (not only saves time but also helps keep you motivated). At my new web site Fat Burning Diets And Workouts we talk about all kinds of different exercises and workouts you can do. We also talk about nutrition and healthy eating, motivation and goal setting. Stop by and check it out.

Check out my new web site Fat Burning Diets And Workouts for more workout and diet articles. Thanks Joe

The Fat Burning Or Fat Storage Process Of Your Body

How Fat Loss Happens


The overweight and obesity problem in this country is running rampant, one problem you may have in trying to deal with it is information overload. The internet is full of the latest and greatest fad diets and quickie weight loss products. What you need is a basic understanding of how fat loss happens in your body. Learn the basics and you can in a safe and healthy way reach your fat loss goals.

Fat loss first and foremost is a hormonal event, the right hormones telling the body to release the stored “energy” in the fat cells to burn off. It is also important to know that there are also fat “storing” hormones that act in the opposite way, triggering the body to store “future energy” into the fat cells. The body triggers these hormones through many different stimulus like food, drink, exercise, stress and sleep.

Fat cells are just the body’s emergency storage tanks afterall. If we didn’t have fat cells, we wouldn’t have survived the famines of the past. It’s a built-in survival mechanism that is getting all the wrong signals today. The body wasn’t designed around constant intake of food, especially the processed and high in sugar kind. (as that is not something that naturally grows on trees!)

So we know that fat loss is hormonal. Also fat loss occurs when oxygen is present, what is known as aerobic. (which means with oxygen) The other stage is called anaerobic (without oxygen). Anaerobic training is also known more commonly as strength training.

This is the confusing part with exercise. Most people think that by doing aerobics you burn all the fat you want. Well if that was true we would all have single digit body fat levels from the 1980's aerobics craze. There is no guarantee for fat burning. What about stored glycogen? Plus if you can burn fat in an aerobic state, well aren’t you in an aerobic state all day long (minus brief times of anaerobic activity) including sleeping? So you have the ability to burn fat all day long! The only thing left is the hormones and whether they are emptying or storing.

Learning to empty the fat stores are the key!

The Fat loss hormones are insulin, glucagon, and growth hormone (GH). Insulin is a fat storing hormone, while glucagon and GH are fat burning hormones. If insulin is high, the other hormones go down (this is an important relationship to realize). Another hormone called cortisol (stress hormone) is a muscle breakdown hormone… not something we want in our fat loss quest.

Below are quick and easy points on how to maximize the fat burning hormones and minimize the muscle breakdown/fat storing hormones (not all muscle breakdown is bad, you need to break down and rebuild the cells it’s when you have excessive breakdown and minimal rebuilding that is the issue as that will lead to a loss of muscle).

Your #1 enemy, Sugar

Everything you put into your mouth counts! Why is sugar bad? Because sugar will be quickly absorbed into the blood which causes a spike in your blood sugar and with that spike the body releases insulin to take care of it (shuttle excessive blood sugar into the fat cells for storage!). Every time you put sugar into your mouth your telling your body let's store some fat and that is exactly the hormonal signal you are giving it. Remember also when insulin is high, glucagon and GH go down.

So for fat loss:

•Minimize insulin levels thoughout the day (no high levels/spikes except during the post workout window when the insulin sensitivity is maximum, it goes into muscle not fat)

•Maximize Glucagon (which is directly inversely proportional to insulin levels)

•Maximum GH (which is controlled by insulin, exercise response and sleep)

•Keep Cortisol in check (you will have some, but excessive will lead to muscle loss)
For Insulin control (and max Glucagon response):

•Keep levels low by not eating sugar or foods that quickly break down into the bloodstream (any processed foods)

•Have protein with every meal (as that will slow down the digestion of any sugars). Also protein intake stimulates the release of glucagon.

•Improve insulin sensitivity with glycogen draining exercise (weight training) which will in turn reduce your insulin resistance (which is one of the biggest reasons for obesity and a serious increase of risks for many other diseases including heart disease, cancers, diabetes, accelerated aging and more!)

For max GH response:

•Most of your daily GH is released in the first couple hours of sleep at night (75%) . Keep your insulin levels low (which means no big meals or sugar 2-3 hours before bed). So get your sleep, shorting yourself of sleep will hurt your fat loss efforts and may lead to weight gain from improper hormonal responses.

•Exercise with Intensity, whether it is weight training with short rest periods or doing interval training. Short burst of anaerobic intense exercise (lactic acid burn) will signal the body to release GH. Long aerobic activities (jogging, etc) will NOT. (The old argument of look at the body composition of a sprinter vs the marathon runner…the sprinter has more muscle and very low bf%, the marathon runner has little muscle and a higher bf% even if they look smaller).

•Exercise in a fasted state has also shown to increase GH levels (make sure you have enough energy to get through your workout, have a small meal 1-2 hours before).

Minimize excessive Cortisol:

•Keep all intense strength or cardio exercise under 45min (remember we want to increase the intensity in a short period, not the duration, less is more). Anything longer will just start wasting muscle as fuel.

•Relax, don’t stress the small stuff. Get perspective on things in your life, and detach from things that really don’t matter.

So if you can master these small steps, you will see tremendous changes. Remember that fat loss is an all day event! So eat and live your life that way! Don’t worry about how many calories you burn doing something, because that is not the point. Worry about what you eat all day and how your hormones are going to react to it. Eat the foods your body was meant to eat and live the active lifestyle your body was designed for….and you will have increased health, look great, feel great and hopefully live long and stay active. So….to sum up:

85% of fat loss is nutrition (not how many calories you can burn doing something) and you have the ability to burn fat all day long if your hormones tell your body to do so.

Eat whole natural foods (not processed), avoid all sugars (foods and drinks), have protein with every meal

Train your fast twitch muscles with weight training 2-3x a week and do interval training 2-3 times a week. Do something active everyday.

Stop stressing out, take some deep breaths, get outside to relax and get your sleep.