Gym memberships can be expensive, especially when you work out cost per visit if you struggle to visit on regular occurrence.
In fact, new research has revealed that 61% of Britons partake in home workouts, compared to 21% who visit an actual gym for their exercise.
The top home workouts were revealed in the poll to be exercise DVDs, YouTube videos, running and workouts using exercise equipment you have in the house, like treadmills or bikes.
But if people don’t have gym equipment at home, they’re not opposed to making the most of the situation, using tinned foods as weights and stairs for exercises.
George Charles, spokesperson for VoucherCodesPro.co.uk, said the following: “It’s really good to see that plenty of people aren’t wasting their money on gym memberships and are getting inventive to work out at home instead. Using heavy objects from the kitchen cupboards as tins of beans and running up and down the stairs are fantastic ways to keep fit, as long as it’s done safely.
“There’s no point paying for a gym membership when you can throw on a pair of trainers and go running in your local area. However, those doing home exercise should be careful that they don’t end up spending a small fortune on the latest workout gear, DVDs and fitness gadgets or you may end up paying more than you would on a gym membership!”
Taking a trip to grocery store can be confusing at times, especially when you're trying to eat healthy.
While everything may look good, nutritionists say it’s easy to fall into a food trap if you don’t read the labels carefully.
“It's organic, it's healthy, it's GMO free, all that stuff, but the problem is, it just has way too many calories," nutrition specialist Ken Fujioka explained.
Fujioka said you need to read the labels to know exactly what you're getting these days. You can even get too much of a good thing.
"When you take things like fruit and you grind them up and concentrate them, you're actually making a high fructose syrup," Fujioka said.
Air-popped popcorn is one of the healthiest snacks around, full of fiber and low in calories.
"But the minute you soup it up, with sugar, with salt, with cheese, that's when you run into a problem and you take a healthy snack and you render it unhealthy," said Tod Marks with Consumer Reports.
Sara Haley, a personal trainer and mom from Santa Monica, California, hits the gym six days a week — and it turns out that's a problem for her fellow gym members, who, Haley says, routinely harass her because she's 35 weeks pregnant.
According to a recent story published in the New York Daily News, Haley, who specializes in pregnancy fitness, incorporates a combination of pull-ups, tricep dips, dead lifts, and lunges into her workout routine. But the constant stares, whispers, and comments (“Wow, your butt is so big!” and “Those stretch marks are the worst I have ever seen!") in the gym make her feel as though she's being ganged up on. “It is an element of bullying,” the 35-year-old told the newspaper. “Some people have no filter all of a sudden when they see a pregnant woman training.”
And while Haley — who in April was named one of 50 hottest fitness trainers by Shape magazine — insists that exercise is encouraged during pregnancy, she doesn’t want to be viewed as herculean. “My favorite reaction in general, throughout my pregnancy, has been the classic eye contact with a big thumbs up,” she said. "I do appreciate the encouragement, but honestly, I'm just pregnant, not trying to save the world."
She's hardly the first pregnant gym-goer to cause controversy. Back in September, Lea-Ann Ellison of Los Angeles made headlines for participating in CrossFit, a high-intensity conditioning and core-strengthening exercise program that includes lifting barbells and dumbbells, tire-flipping, and using medicine balls. Ellison became an international sensation after photos of her lifting weights (She says they were staged for a pregnancy photo shoot.) hit the Internet and went viral.
Yahoo Shine could not reach Haley for comment. However, the benefits of exercise during pregnancy have been well documented. For the mother, staying active promotes energy, sounder sleep, and may even help to prevent gestational diabetes and reduce the length of labor and the odds of requiring medical intervention during birth. And babies reap the benefits too. A University of Montreal study found that pregnant women who exercise for just 20 minutes three days a week boost their newborns' brainpower. And, according to research conducted by Kansas City University, pregnancy exercise improves newborns' heart health too.
And according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), pregnant women can safely walk, swim, cycle, participate in aerobics, and run (provided they were runners before they were pregnant). "The general rule of thumb is, if it's a healthy pregnancy with no complications, we recommend that patients resume their pre-pregnancy exercise routines," Shahin Ghadir, MD, who is board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive endocrinology and infertility, tells Yahoo Shine. "Otherwise, starting a new exercise routine can be a huge shock to the body."
In fact, taking up a new routine without being monitored by a doctor can lead to injury for both the mother and baby. If a pregnant woman isn't accustomed to exercising, Ghadir advises she start a regular walking routine.
For Haley, she has observed one interesting side effect after exercising throughout her pregnancy with her 3-year-old son, Landon — an appreciation of her workout music. “When Landon was born, the only thing that would stop him from crying was me playing hip-hop music, like Jay Z,” she told the New York Daily News. “I think he heard it in utero and was jamming along with me!”
Wouldn’t it be great if every runner were at his or her ideal weight? We’d all look and feel better, and race faster.
Being at your healthy, ideal weight would certainly make you a faster runner. In fact, a study completed in 2007 found that for every percentage increase in body mass, it cost study participants an extra 1.4 percent in metabolic energy to propel themselves forward. Of course, that’s not a direct comparison for runners since they weren’t running a race, time trial or other maximum effort.
But imagine how much better you’d feel training for a marathon if you could conserve 1.4 percent (or more) energy? You’d be able to use that energy in the final miles instead of hitting the infamous wall.
Finding and safely getting to your ideal weight should then be a top goal for every runner. Here are three of the best ways to structure your running program to burn fat and lose weight.
Fat Burner #1: Longer Workouts
It’s a no-brainer that longer workouts burn more calories. But interestingly enough, when you run for longer than about 90 minutes, you improve your body’s ability to use fat as fuel.
The lesson? Complete a long run every week. Since these workouts are more taxing on the body, it’s a good idea to only run one every week.
Several studies have shown that the longer a subject exercised, the longer it took for their metabolic rate to return to pre-exercise levels. Even at relatively moderate exercise durations, the benefit is significant. Another study found that this “exercise after-burn” is more than doubled when exercise is increased from 30 to 45 minutes. And after 60 minutes? Metabolic rate increased by a factor of five!
Fat Burner #2: Intensity
Intense workouts torch a lot of calories, even if they don’t last very long. Since most runners work out at an easy or moderate effort for all of their runs, this is often the missing link between staying at your current weight and losing those extra pounds.
The key with intense workouts—either strength sessions in the gym or running interval workouts—is to make the hard portions very hard, and take enough recovery so you can keep going at the same intensity level.
Races run at 100 percent of your maximum effort accomplish this goal quite well, as do sprints or maximum-weight lifts in the gym. Make sure you run at least one hard workout per week, and race regularly.
A favorite to burn a lot of calories is to run a Warrior Dash. The combination of running and obstacles keeps your heart rate high and boosts the amount of energy you continue to burn after you finish.
Fat Burner #3: Frequency
How often do you run every week? Most runners fall into the 2 to 4 runs per week category, and from an advanced weight-loss perspective, that’s simply not enough.
Running more often creates more spikes in heart rate and metabolic activity, increasing the number of calories you burn on a daily basis. Increased consistency will also help you prevent injuries, run faster, and ultimately become a better runner.
Admittedly this strategy is less important than the duration and intensity of your workouts, so start with those first and then add more runs to your training schedule once you’re comfortable with them.
And of course, understand that the goal here is to get to your ideal weight, not to be underweight. Being too thin won’t help your running and can predispose you to injuries.
When you’re able to maintain a healthy weight, you’ll realize the benefits: faster race times, fewer injuries and a feeling of accomplishment.
