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There are three kinds of physical fitness

Cosmetic…developing specific portions of the body to increase one’s social attractiveness, for example, exercising the abdominal muscles to produce “washboard abs”
Health…doing sufficient physical activity to enhance health and well-being, such as walking or gardening to reduce stress, lessen the risk of heart disease and cancer, or living longer.
Athletic…having sufficient endurance and strength to perform at the level of an athlete.

Most people think they have to do #3 in order to get #2 and #1. That isn’t so. You can “body sculpt” with just one or two weight lifting exercises and never get #2 or #3. In addition, you can walk, garden, or ride your bike at levels that do not contribute much to being “in shape”, even though they contribute a lot to being healthy.
If you’re seeking #3, you must involve yourself in aerobic exercise. This increases the body’s ability to utilized oxygen and improves endurance, and strength training, which enhances the size and strength of particular muscles.

Aerobic Exercise

            Aerobic exercise is doing any activity in which you breathe hard and sweat. The idea is to get the heart and lunges working hard enough that you increase the amount of oxygen the body takes in. Exercises that involve moving the large muscle of the body at a rhythmic, regular pace are best. Those include running, swimming, biking, playing tennis, Tae Bo, aerobics, stair climbing, and machine or “true” cross country skiing.
            You build fitness by exercising in you target heart zone, which is a heart rate between 60 and 80 percent of it theoretical maximum. Your theoretical maximum heart rate (MHR) is your age subtracted from the number 220. The lover limit of your target heart zone is 60 percent of that number; the upper limit is 80 percent of it. When you exercise, your heart rate should be between these two values. For example, the MHR for a 40 year old is 180 (220-40). This makes the target heart zone 108-144.
            When you exercise, your heart rate should gradually increase during you warm-up. Reaching the maximum level during peak activity. And gradually decrease during cool-down exercise. You measure you exercise heart rate about five minutes into the peak activity part of you exercise by placing your forefingers on pulse point (either your wrist or neck) and counting the number of beats in 15 seconds, then multiplying by 4 to get beats per minute. If your exercise heart rate exceeds your target heart zone, back off a little so you don’t harm yourself. If your exercise heart rate is below your target heart zone, get cracking!
            Three to four days of aerobic exercise per week, exercising 30 to 45 minutes at a time, is sufficient to get fit. Two days per week may suffice for people already in good condition but otherwise virtually useless for anyone else. In addition, one day a week does little to increase fitness and may increase the chances for injury, so don’t be a Sunday-morning jogger.

Strength Training

Strength training involves repetitively moving muscles against resistance, commonly applied by weights such as barbells, dumbbells, and exercise machines, but also by simply pushing against an immovable object (isometric training). You build strength by increasing weight and you build endurance by increasing number of repetitions. The America College of Sports Medicine offers these guidelines:

Please consult with your doctor before starting any new diet or exercise program

COMMINT TO BE FIT FOR LIFE FITNESS GAME PLAN

Perform a minimum of 8 of 10 separate exercises that train the major muscle groups.
Do 12 to 15 repetitions of each of these exercises to the point of fatigue.
Do your strength building exercises at least twice a week.
Use the proper technique for each exercise done.
Exercise through your full range of motion for each muscle group.
Move smoothly, at moderate to slow speed, and maintain control during both the lifting and lowering phases of each exercise.
Maintain normal breathing through each repetition.
Work with a partner is possible to provide encouragement and assistance.

Muscle tissue responds to the demands of your workload. Inmost progressive strength-training regimes, sufficient protein to build new muscles tissue should be obtained in a well-balanced diet. People engaged in high-level bodybuilding may benefit from extra protein supplements.

Starting Out

To Avoid soreness and injury, individuals contemplating an increase in physical activity should start out slowly and gradually build up to the desire amount to give the body time to adjust. Increase duration no more that 15-20 percent per week. Apply the “talk test”; Maintain an intensity level near your target heart rate, but easy enough to allow you to talk. People with chronic health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, or obesity, or who are at high risks for these problems should first consult a physician before beginning a new program of physical activity. Also, men over age 40 and women over age 50 who plan to begin a new vigorous physical activity program should consult a physician first to be sure they do not have heart disease or other health problems

Fitness Tips

Vary your workout schedule. Alternate days of heavy intensity or long duration with lighter days. Devote particular days to aerobic training and others to strength training.
Cross train. Use another activity one or two days per week to complement your chosen emphasis and to give joints and muscles a rest.
Increase duration gradually. Increase the duration of your endurance sessions no more than 5 minutes pre week.
Don’t over train. Persistent joint and muscle soreness are warning signs of impending injury. If you are sore, take a day off to give your body a chance to heal.
Avoid dehydration. Drink plenty of fluids while exercising.
Avoid heat problems. Hot or humid conditions make it difficult for the body to shed heat generated by exercises, resulting in dangerous increase in body temperature. Time your workouts for the cooler times of the day. Increase your fluid intake and go at a slower pace when it is warm.
Overexertion. Headache, side-ache, upset stomach, and breathlessness are signals that you are overdoing it. Listen to you body and slow down or stop until the symptom subsides.
Serious warnings. Stop exercising and see a doctor if you experience dizziness or light-headedness, chest pain, heart palpitations, or persistent joint pains (more than 3 days)

Complements of Commit to be Fit, Inc.

Please consult with your doctor before starting any new diet or exercise program

COMMIT TO BE FIT FOR LIFE NUTRITONAL GAME PLAN

What you should except from your diet

Your diet should help you stop storing and start burning fat.
Your diet should help you control hunger and stop food cravings.
Your diet should help you lose (and not regain) 1-2 pounds per week.
Your diet should improve your energy levels.
Your diet should emphasize eating habits, which you can follow for the rest of your life.

Why you gain weight and the key to weight loss
Individuals usually gain weight because their bodies do not process carbohydrate calories properly (impaired insulin response), and therefore, these individuals too easily store calories as fat rather that burning those calories or storing them as the special storage starch known as glycogen. A diet high in animal, saturated and artificial fats, high in alcohol, high in simple carbohydrates and low in fiber-the usual American diet-can bring on this problem and/or make it worse. Such a diet also makes it difficult to control your appetite. Poor food choices and bad eating habits trigger your body’s “starvation response” and force the body to burn fewer calories and at the same time to produce and store fat. Learn to correct and avoid these habits and you will turn off the “starvation response”.

THE “COMMIT TO BE FIT” GAME PLANE

Eat Between four to five meals per day!
Balance out your meals with the right mixture of proteins, carbohydrates & fat per meal

Those who eat a balance meal program will find not only that they lose weight, but also that their energy levels are higher during the day. Try not to eat two to three hours before bedtime and if possible an hour after eating walk for 20 to 30 minutes.
Drink Plenty of Water just as starving yourself triggers the “starvation response”, not drinking enough water causes the body to retain fluid. Drink 8 to 10oz glasses of water (preferably bottled water) everyday. Plenty of fluids also help the body to dispose of toxins.
Eat foods high in fiber, such as whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains slow the release of sugars into the blood stream, thus helping to give you more even and steady levels of energy. Fiber is bulky and helps to control the amount of food eaten at any given meal. Also, fiber, especially that which consists of the soluble and semi-soluble types found in vegetables, legumes, and fruits, helps to trap toxins and improve elimination. Dieters who eat high fiber foods have been shown to lose more weight than those not Eating high-fiber foods. Vegetables are more easily digested if lightly cooked.

Try to avoid refined foods and all sugars, including overripe fruit and fruit juices. Refined and processed foods are often loaded with salt, sugar, and fat. Processing and over-cooking makes most foods, even complex carbohydrates such as legumes, more closely resemble sugar in their effects upon the body.
Fruit juices and overly ripe fruit or very sweet fruits such as bananas also act like sugar in the body. No more than two whole fruits (favor items such as oranges, apples, cherries, berries, and peaches) should be eaten every day. Replace wheat breads with whole rye, spelt, barley, oat and other breads whenever possible. Limit consumption of soft drinks, Simple carbohydrates lead to fat storage and interfere with the burning of fat for fuel.

Avoid saturated and processed oils. Try not to eat margarine or other processed or artificially hardened oils; limit animal fats. Eliminate fried foods, cookies, pastries, and prepared salad dressings. For cooking, use extra virgin olive oil. For salad dressing, use cold pressed olive, walnut, canola, or sunflower seed oil or flax seed oil to your diet to supply special calorie-burning essential fatty acids.

Please consult with your doctor before starting any new diet or exercise program

Limit animal proteins at meals with simple carbohydrates and fruits. These are “unfriendly” food couplings. The common “dieter’s plate” of cottage cheese and fruit actually encourages and excessive insulin response – it can trigger the “starvation response” at the next meal.
Limit fats, alcohol, and caffeine. Limit fats to no more than 20% of all calories and limit alcohol to mo more than two drinks per day. The typical American diet obtain 40 to 45% of its calories from fats and as much as 10% from alcohol. Alcohol, if taken, should be combined with meals rather than consumed alone or before meals. Caffeine tends to imbalance the body’s regulation of insulin. After reaching your desired weight, limit fats to less then 30% of daily calories. Diets which contain little or no fat (10% of daily calories or less) are not recommended since, in the long run, these diets encourage your body to make bad fats from carbohydrates. These diets can increase your appetite!
Eat slowly and deliberately; eat smaller meals. Eating too quickly or eating in front the TV encourages weight gain. Eating very large meals makes digestion more difficult, makes you sluggish, and encourages excessive insulin response.
Take a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can trigger the “starvation response”. Antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and minerals such as chromium, copper, manganese, magnesium, potassium, and zinc are important in the body’s regulation of carbohydrates and fat metabolism.
Exercise daily. A good 20 to 30 minutes walk is great way to get into an exercise routine. Walking early in the day helps the body to “wake up”. Walking more than once per day can improve your rate of weight loss. Exercise is important primarily for training your body to release and burn fats for energy. Weight training to add lean muscle tissue can encourage your body to burn calories.

Proteins (descending order of preference): Whey, Soy, Egg whites, fish (including high omega-3 fish oil such as salmon), skinless white portion of chicken and turkey, shrimp, loin cuts of lamb, loin cuts of pork, leg cuts of lamb, veal, whole eggs, round and loin cuts of beef. Red meat consumption should be limited.

Complex carbohydrates: Amaranth, barley, beans, and legumes (any except peanuts), buckwheat, lentils, millet, rolled oats (no instant or “fast” varieties), pastas (preferably whole grain), peas, rye, spelt, sweet potato, and winter squash. Limit wheat consumption except as pastas. Avoid sugars, honey, fructose, and processed carbohydrates, including most prepared cereals (“all-bran” type without added sugar is acceptable), chips, and fast foods.

Vegetables: Limited consumption of carrots and beet (contain too much sugar). Limit consumption of avocados (treat as a “good” fat, not as a vegetable). Give preference to lightly cooked vegetables over raw vegetables and eat more dark green leafy vegetables.

Fruits: Limit consumption to 2 servings pre day as snacks and avoid overly ripe and very sweet fruits. Give preference to apples, cherries, berries, peaches, and whole oranges. Limit the consumption of bananas and fruit juices.

Fats: Avoid processed, saturated, and animal fats. Use cold pressed oils, giving preference to olive oil for cooking. Use olive, walnut, canola, or sunflower seed for salads and dressing. Add 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of essential fatty acids to the daily diet.

Please consult with your doctor before starting any new diet or exercise program