Ok, so tax time is rapidly approaching and as a result, a lot of folks are stressed out. Like the flu, it comes around once a year and it almost always seems to get put off until the last minute. You swear that you’ll never do it again, but lo and behold, it’s the last minute tax crunch. Unfortunately, working out is not like taxes because it’s not something that you can get away with cramming in at the last minute and only focusing on once per year.

Sporadic workouts done with great intensity are a surefire way to end up with an injury in addition to mediocre health and fitness results.

So what’s the solution?

A personal trainer, better work out program, plyometrics, periodic training or maybe better exercise equipment?

While all of those things can help, the key is consistency. No matter how great your plan, club or training is, it can be quickly undermined by inconsistency of working out. One month of working out, followed by eleven months of sitting on your butt always spells disaster no matter how you might try to sugar coat it.

Now, the first key to being consistent is to train yourself to enjoy the process of exercising. On the other hand, enjoying doing your taxes is a stretch but enjoying working out is possible. So if you want the results working out can bring you, it’s going to have to become a habit just like tying your shoes or brushing your teeth. You don’t have to love doing it, but you better make sure you don’t hate it.

What’s the first step to turn working out into a habit is realizing that working out needs to be habit? Understanding that it’s not just an inconvenience you push through to finally allow you to fit into those one size smaller jeans.

In order to healthy and to keep your body running in its prime, you are going to have to maintain some type of consistent workout plan and the good news is that you get to choose the plan. Knowing that working out is something you need to be doing the rest of your life, why don’t you make it enjoyable?

Amazingly, there’s also a very powerful physiological effect that happens when you turn working out into a habit. By committing to the new healthier lifestyle, you start to remove internal sabotage. If you are fighting to get to the gym and doing a work out you hate just to lose weight or get to a fitness level,you’ll always have that voice of doubt in the back of your head. Every day you’ll have to fight that voice and, unfortunately, it will eventually win.

Understand that by committing to working out consistently, the voice of doubt eventually disappears. No longer are you on a frenzied rush to get to that perfect fitness goal. Instead, you’re committed to working out and enjoying the process which eventually also brings you that fitness goal.

Before you realize it, not working out will feel strange and oftentimes bad. You’ll soon crave the consistency of taking the steps that makes your body feel great. No longer will working out be a “have to”. Instead, it will become a “get to.”
The simple act of following a consistent workout plan will soon become the habit and the target of that plan, will be the goal you are striving for.

Whether you achieve your goal, have a set back, or decide on a different goal, your underlying motivation of consistently following a workout plan will never change. This fact allows consistently working out to become a habit, even though, the specifics of what you do, changes.

it’s a fact that you have to work out consistently to keep you body running at its best and you have to do taxes. You might not like taxes, but if you make working out a habit you enjoy, you’ll end up keeping it the rest of your life.

Begin now, today, to make the changes necessary to start living the life that you want and deserve!

Brace yourself for something you might not have heard before.

What if I told you that in 10 seconds you can develop new muscle tissue? Yes, that mean in less than 4 hours per year you can transform your body by adding from 10 – 24 lbs of muscle on to your frame at the same time that drastically reduce your body fat.

I realize that a statement like that probably seems unrealistic right now. In fact, it probably sounds like some crazy story of how a comic book superhero became incredibly strong. Honestly, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that at all. Actually, I thought the exact same thing when I first heard about what I’m going to share with you now.

But there’s just one little problem though. It’s totally possible. More than that, it’s a reality for thousands of people everyday.

And no, we’re not talking about hard core gym rats on steroids or participating in some outrageous military experiment trying to create super soldiers. These are everyday folks like you and me who hold down 9-5 jobs and simply don’t have time for exercise between dedicating time to the kids and worrying about mortgage payments.

So how exactly do they do it?

The simple answer is a little technique called Isometrics. I’m now going to explain what Isometric exercise is and how you can start doing it while you read the rest of this short article. That’s correct. I mean by the time you’ve finished reading this you will have completed two basic, physique changing exercises, the first to trim and tone your waistline and the second to tone and firm your chest.

Are you ready for this?

Your Isometric abs step by simple step:

1. Sit up tall and straight in your chair.
2. Breathe in deep and draw your stomach in as hard as you can.
3. Now tense up your stomach firm as though you’re bracing for a punch, still keeping it sucked in
4. You feel that tightness in your abs, right? Great, that’s the start of it.
5. Now purse your lips and breath slowly, making a “sssss” sound. You’ll feel your abs getting tighter.
6. As you breathe out, crunch your abs really hard while rotating your hips upwards and your rid cage inwards.
7. You’re almost there! Now breathe all the way out.
8. Finally, just relax.

How did that feel for you? If you did it right, you should feel great. Your abs will be warm, tighter, relaxed and a little bit tired. Now simply do it again and repeat until you’ve finished reading this article. Your abs will be tighter, firmer and more toned tomorrow morning then they are right now. Daily practice of this one simple exercise will tighten and tone your stomach much faster than 1,000 sit ups.

How are your abs doing by the way? A little tired? Okay, take a little break now. Now let’s try another simple iso exercise for the chest.

Your Isometric Hand Press:

1. Stand up tall and straight
2. Hold your arms out straight in front of your chest
3. Bend your elbows slightly, creating a triangle from the wrist to the elbows
4. Now press your palms together
5. As you do this, concentrate on making your chest as tight and solid as possible.
6. After a few seconds you should feel like you’re chest and arms shaking all over because your muscles are tiring as they work really hard. This is the power of Isometrics.
7. Hold this position for about 30 seconds.
8. Release slowly. This is important because after intense contraction, your body needs time to unwind.

So how does that feel. Just repeat that action ten times as you scroll down .

Sadly, a lot of folks are always on the lookout for new fads or machines to help achieve their physical fitness goals and oftentimes Isometrics gets completely overlooked. With a new fitness culture renaissance approaching people are turning back to the old methods while science is discovering some amazing things.

For example, it only takes 10 Seconds to stimulate new muscle growth.

That said, there is one small detail I want to clarify. It has to be incredibly intense stimulus. Isometrics happens to be the most intense exercise in the world and in a little as 10 seconds you can completely exhaust your muscles. The really great thing is it doesn’t matter what your current level of fitness is, because the force you generate while doing Isometrics is in direct proportion to your current level.

This simply means that you can’t go too far with these exercises. Isometrics is also incredibly safe because it doesn’t require any weights (except at advanced levels), making it ideal for anyone. Seniors, folks in physical rehabilitation as well as everyone else too busy to get to the gym.

Ok, if you followed the directions I’ve laid out here, you will have just worked out two of the biggest muscle groups in the body, the chest and the core ab muscles. In a future article, I’ll explain a little more about some of the specific benefits of Isometrics and give you some more exercises to practice as well as reveal how it melts fat while strengthening your digestion system, internal organs and even reversing the aging process.

But for now, enjoy the feeling of having a firm toned waist and a lean powerful chest. Practice these two simple techniques every other day and remember to breath correctly.

So you want to get into better shape, that’s great! Just make sure that you get a full physical from your doctor so that you’re confidant it’s ok for you to do the physical exercise. Unfortunately, many gyms don’t  require this before letting you start.

Now, depending on how long it has been since you last did regular exercise, it’s recommended that you start off slow and gradually build up your workout to harder levels. It’s typically recommended to start off at the gym with just the treadmill or the lifecycle for the first week or so. This is basically to wake the muscles up and to slowly get you prepared for a gradually tougher workout.

If you go the treadmill route, you’ll typically want to find a speed on the treadmill that is a pace you can keep up with as little discomfort without stopping for 15-20 minutes. After this short burst take a 5 minute break, stretch a little bit and have a drink of water, then go back and increase the speed a little for another 15-20 minutes.

Keep in mind that pushing yourself too far is taking a risk that you may not be able to live with. Unfortunately, many people make the mistake of getting back into an exercise program and push their limits while trying to get back in shape in just one hour. But that’s almost always a recipe for disaster. The only thing this will do is make you really sore the next day and likely lose interest fast in the gym.

Remember that while a little discomfort in ok, pain is not your goal.

Now, depending on how long it’s been since you last worked out, I recommend working out 4 or 5 days a week. Sure, this may seem like a lot but like anything else, consistency is the key to success.

Understand that working out 5 days a week does not necessarily mean you have to go to the gym every day. I typically recommend the gym 3 times a week and the other day or 2 you can just go for a long walk around your neighborhood or local park. Remember to change things up so that you don’t work out the same parts of your body 2 days in a row.

Most trainers will tell you that if you work out your arms and chest on a Monday do not exercise those muscles again for at least 48 hours. This gives those muscles time to heal and grow. It’s this straining and resting of the muscle that makes it grow, not just exercising it.

So keep in mind that you need to take it slow at first and progressively increase your workout as your strength and endurance increases and you’ll do just fine.

Hypertension and stress are common health challenges nowadays. If left untreated, this relatively easy to control issue can quickly grow into a life threatening problem. People who suffer from high blood pressure need to lower blood pressure in order to neutralize the effects of hypertension on their body. The big question that typically comes up is how to go about actually doing it?

Sure, changing your lifestyle and sometimes taking medicines is recommended for people who need to lower blood pressure.

What better way to treat hypertension and lower your blood pressure than yoga? Yoga exercises, called asanas, involve stretching and moving the body into various positions. During these exercises any tightness or tension observed in the body should be consciously relaxed. Yoga practice offers natural stress management techniques, which are essential to lower blood pressure. There are many yoga asanas, maybe hundreds or even thousands, but only certain asanas can help you lower blood pressure.

The most efficient for lowering blood pressure are the forward bends, which have a pacifying effect on the brain, the nervous system, the blood circulation to the brain, and they also help you reduce built-up stress. All these actions work together to lower blood pressure.

Also helpful in lowering blood pressure are the sitting asanas, such as Upavista Konasana, which remove any tension from the ribs and the intercoastal muscles as well as help you breathe easily. Many hypertensive sufferers have difficulty in breathing and these asanas oftentimes help them to also lower blood pressure.

Other helpful asanas are the supine poses, like Supta Baddhakonasana, which relax the abdominal region and have a calming effect on the nerves, yet another contributing factor that lowers blood pressure.

Inversions, such as Halasana and Setubandha Sarvangasana have a refreshing effect on the nerves and reduce the sympathetic tone very fast. Usual practice of these asanas regulates and effectively lowers blood pressure when it’s abnormally high.

Bottom line… if your doctor has advised you to take steps to lower your blood pressure and stress level, yoga may be the perfect solution.

We all seem to have this pre-conceived notion that only coffee contains caffeine but that’s not the case at all. Drinks like soda and chocolate products contain even more caffeine than a cup of that Colombian dark roast you like so much. Sure, a hot cup of coffee with the morning sunshine sounds so tempting and revitalizing.

After all, it has the ability to keep you awake as well help burn that midnight oil when you need it most. In our society, coffee has become a matter for social gathering… kind of like a bar but you can visit during your lunch break without the threat of getting fired. But like Benjamin Franklin famously stated, “All things in moderation.”

Having coffee can help you stay alert but it is the aftermath you should be worried about. In too large of quantities, it can wreak havoc on your body. Studies have proven that caffeine is a stimulant which does wonders to your central nervous system by stressing the hormones in the blood stream and keeping you alert and awake whenever you have it.

This unnatural way of keeping your body alert takes it’s toll. The normal way of functioning gets disrupted due to the intake of coffee or any other product which contains a large amount of caffeine.

As caffeine enters the system it has the potential to make us addicted to that sudden jolt. If should happen to start taking larger than normal doses of caffeine and then you suddenly stop taking coffee, you will oftentimes face caffeine withdrawal symptoms which can be anything from a headache, irritability, fatigue, constipation, lack of appetite, lack of concentration to even forgetfulness.

The withdrawal symptoms can be very harmful… leading to stomach ulcers as the coffee is acidic. This excess acid gets into your blood streams causing loss of calcium in urine. Caffeine which has been freely used in most of the soft drinks has led kids get addicted to it to a degree. The high content of sugar makes it very popular among children which can also lead to another unhealthy result… obesity.

Large doses of caffeine can also cause abnormally fast, slow or irregular heartbeats. It is also been attributed to increased blood pressure which leads to constant stress and hypertension. In such cases, there are increasing chances of heart disease; pancreas and bladder cancer which is oftentimes fatal.

If you’ve found yourself enjoying that cup of Joe a little too often, consider cutting back slowly. The process should be slow and gradual to avoid potentially nasty withdrawal symptoms.  Avoid other caffeinated products or substituting caffeine for another potentially harmful product (nicotine, sugar, etc) which would just make matters worse. If you happen to drink 6 cups coffee a day, consider cutting back slowly. Consider trying a couple of cups of green tea in place of that java fix or even better… drink plenty of water instead.

Ever have days when you don’t even feel like crawling out of bed?

I think we’ve all had days like that. In fact, sometimes those days extended for months when I barely had the energy or motivation to lift my head off of my pillow.

Then something interesting happened. I was watching tv in bed (big mistake, I know) and I heard someone describe my problem to a tee. It turned out that I was violating practically all of the rules for losing weight, including eating after 8pm and even worse… eating in bed.

Come to find out, our bodies have some kind of weird mechanism that actually stores fat if you eat too close to your bedtime. It has something to do with our metabolism slowing down while approaching the sleep phase.

I guess it’s kinda like a bear going into hibernation mode. Well, anyway, I was also eating the wrong kinds of food throughout the day and when I stepped back and began logging what I was eating, I discovered that I was addicted t sugar. Yep, the dreaded white stuff.

The good news is that I was able to wean myself off of (processed) sugar by switching to honey as a sweetener. It’s waaay better and totally healthy for you, too as long as you don’t overdo it.I also started replacing sugary snacks with fruit (apples and tangerines are my favorite).

Another thing I did was I began eating raw almonds during the day as a snack. They’re loaded with energy but don’t contain all of that nasty sugar or salt that seems to be so popular.

The final piece to the puzzle was that I began drinking LOTS of water. In the past, I would typically opt for a soda instead but since drinking water all day long, the affects have been pretty darn amazing.

As a result of these few simple changes, I was able to lose nearly 20 lbs of fat in a six week period as well as being able to sleep comfortable throughout the night. It just goes to show that sometimes it’s the simple things that we often overlook that can make the most difference.

Newsflash – everyone needs to sleep. And one of the primary functions of sleep is to reset and help restore the emotional capacity of our brain circuits so that we can tackle the day’s emotional challenges in appropriate ways. Unfortunately, some folks undoubtedly go through annoying sleep problems.

Various sleep disorders are a highly common medical issue that affects millions of people each year. And while some people suffer from mild sleeping problems like occasional nightmare, others have extremely severe sleep disorders that can negatively affect their health if it left untreated. This incredible figure means that a huge number of people aren’t getting the treatment they need, which will likely put them in danger of permanently damaging their health. If a person doesn’t get enough sleep, they will eventually make irrational choices due to a lack of concentration. If this insufficient amount of sleep constantly nags a person, he or she might be having some sort of a sleeping disorder such as insomnia.

Basically, insomnia is a condition in which a person has trouble falling into the sleep cycle or staying asleep. Some people with insomnia may be able to get asleep fast but they just as easily wake up. Other people may have the opposite problem, or they have trouble with both falling asleep and staying asleep. Regardless, the end result is poor-quality sleep that leaves a person feeling physically or mentally drained when they wake up.

Insomnia may include any combination of difficulty with falling asleep, staying asleep or sporadic awakening during the night and early-morning awakening. These episodes may be transient, short term or chronic. Insomnia may also result from psychological or physical causes with the most common psychological problems include anxiety, stress, and depression.

Many people will have insomnia during the acute phases of a mental illness. Other medical conditions that trigger insomnia are chronic pain syndromes, congestive heart failure, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) or Alzheimer’s Disease.

Common stimulants associated with poor sleep include caffeine and nicotine. If you suffer from insomnia, you should consider not only restricting caffeine use in the hours immediately before bedtime but also limiting the total daily intake. A significant number of people often use alcohol to help induce sleep, as a nightcap. But this is a poor choice because alcohol is associated with sleep disruption and creates a sense of non-refreshed sleep in the morning. A disruptive bed partner with loud snoring or periodic leg movements also may impair one’s ability to get a good night’s sleep.

While insomnia can be mild to severe depending on how often it occurs and for how long, chronic insomnia means having symptoms at least three nights per week for more than a month. Insomnia that lasts for less time is known as short-term or acute insomnia. Secondary insomnia often resolves or improves without treatment if an individual can eliminate its cause. This is especially true if the problem can be corrected soon after it starts.

Fortunately, there are treatments for insomnia that can help put a person back on the path to a good night’s sleep. These include various hypnotics (FDA approved medications for insomnia), cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), and other treatments such as low dose antidepressant medications.

Bottom line is that better sleep habits and lifestyle changes often help relieve or eliminate insomnia. You may need to see a doctor or sleep specialist to get the best relief for insomnia remain persistent or if the cause of the sleep problem is unclear.

Sure, it may sound like a bit of contradiction to suggest that eating more often is the answer to getting slimmer, but in reality the idea of eating more often is the only way to speed up weight loss.

All of us understands what a calorie is  and everybody knows that the best way to lose weight is to begin eating fewer calories per day. Right?

Well, not so fast…

The problem with this rule of thumb is that the human body does not burn calories based on a 24 hour day. In fact, our established 24 hour day is pretty much just an arbitrary interval of time that has absolutely no bearing on how your body burns calories.

You need to first understand that the human body burns calories in real time or, in other words, it burns calories as you eat them (it doesn’t burn calories based on a 24 hour in a day).

What’s the point? What this means is that your daily caloric intake is almost meaningless when viewed alone.

For example, take a typical dieter who skips breakfast but who then eats 900 calories for lunch, 900 calories for dinner and 300 calories for a late night snack  for a total of 2,100 calories per day.

This dieter falsely thinks that their intake of 2,100 calories per day is the deciding factor in whether they lose weight or not  but in reality the deciding factor is something totally different.

The deciding factor lies in how many calories that they eat per meal.

For example, if that same dieter took those 2,100 calories per day and divided them evenly into 6 meals (350 calories for 6 meals = 2,100 calories) — then their body would be able to burn much more of those daily calories throughout the day instead of in three big chunks.

Ultimately, the dieter would seriously increase their weight loss results if they did this.

How is this possible?

Because your body burns calories as you eat them, and if you feed your body too many calories at any single sitting then the excess calories from that sitting cannot get burned and may wind up stored as fat tissue.

However, if you were to eat fewer calories per sitting then your body has a better chance to burn all of those calories, and if your body burns all of the calories at any given meal then your body will be forced to begin burning stored fat tissue for any additional energy that it may need before your next meal (which equals fat loss for the hopeful dieter).

So if you eat fewer calories per meal but increase the number of meals throughout the day, then you can begin losing more weight while still eating the same number of calories per day (you’ll just be doing it via a greater number of meals each day).

The bottom line is that  when a dieter uses this method of “mini meals” dieting, the overall calories consumed each day would be the same, but yet the dieter’s body would be able to more efficiently burn those calories on a per meal basis  and thus the dieter will lose more weight each day.

Makes sense?

Give this method a try for a week and you be the judge.

If you’re currently not eating a healthy diet, it can be tough to change old habits. I totally understand.

But think about this, healthy eating along with some exercise is pretty much the only way maintain a good bodily function and goes a long way towards living a disease-free life. If you struggle with healthy eating, then you know that breaking unhealthy habits can be the most difficult part of the process. If you truly want to live the best lifestyle possible, it’s important to follow some easy tips in order to start eating a more healthy diet.

A great first step when you want to start eating your way to a healthy life style is to rid your home of all temptations that will distract you from following better eating habits. Yes, not just set them aside but ditch that poison completely.

If you’re worried about getting hungry, keep healthy snacks like carrot sticks, yogurt, fresh fruit, or whole-wheat crackers on hand. If you find that you just cannot bear to toss out the sweets, try keeping something tiny on hand, peppermints or something flavored with honey. Eating a few, (emphasis on few) of these won’t ruin your diet but also will give you that little sugary fix you rave.

Another great step to healthy eating, when you’re first starting the process, is to take a little time to learn what foods are the healthiest for you and how your body processes them. To start eating better you need to begin by thinking healthily. Most people understand that fruits, vegetables, and low-fat meats and dairy products are good for you, but few people understand why. The key is learning about nutrients. When you understand how specific nutrients work and why you need them, it becomes more reasonable for you to make healthier choices for your body. Knowledge really is power!

Make sense?

How you prepare your food is a major key in starting a new healthy diet. You must take into consideration your schedule for meals. If you often eat in a rushed hurry at odd times of day, you’re probably more inclined to grab a rushed meal which will probably do more harm than good.

So plan ahead! Instead of grabbing a fast food lunch on the go, take a bagged lunch to work… with a healthy wrap and some fresh fruit and vegetables. Remember not to forget your evening meal, a simple plan to have a meal ready before you get home would be perfect, but in our fast paced life style, sometimes this just can’t be done. One way to solve this problem is to plan out your evening meals for the week, on your days off.

Maybe just before you do your weekly shopping. Another warning: when going to the shops, do not head there hungry because if you’re anything like me, one or two chocolate bars won’t hurt! That becomes the first break in your healthy eating.

Initially many folks will find it very difficult to make those necessary changes to healthier eating. Along with the difficulty of change, you may not feel well for a short period of time. Usually this is normal as your body is adjusting to your new and improved life style and is cleansing itself from the unhealthy toxins built up from poor eating habits. However if this feeling continues or you are worried, a visit to your doctor would help bring you peace of mind.

Start with baby steps.

Even if you only replace one soda a day with a glass of water, you’re really improving your calorie intake. If you eat fast food every day for lunch, try replacing that half of the time with better quality foods. When you start by taking small steps you aren’t cutting out all of the foods you love all at once.

By taking your time to learn about your eating habits and slowly replacing them with better meals, by taking the time to learn and understand why you should be doing that and making the necessary changes in an orderly fashion, you will feel much better within yourself physically, mentally and emotionally and will be well on the road to becoming as healthy as you can be in the shortest time possible.

I have a confession to make.

I hate going to the gym. There, I said and I feel better now. Here’s the thing… I dread even getting in the car to drive to my local gym.

It just seems like there’s so much involved in the process… leaving work, fighting traffic, looking for a parking space at the gym, waiting in line to check in, changing clothes, waiting for a machine, working out, a shower that doesn’t feel “clean”, getting dressed again, fighting traffic to get home and then beginning my family time.

In my frustration, I found myself going to the gym less and less until I eventually stopped altogether. Wanting to keep in shape but not wanting to go through the motions, I decided to invest a little bit of cash (approx $100) and buy a few of the necessities to get started.

Here’s what I ended up with:

1. a decent set of dumbells (150 lbs total)

2. a set of push-up bars

3. a chin up bar to mount in my garage

That’s it. Now I do follow a pretty strenuous workout routine but I enjoy using the basics in the comfort of my own home instead of forcing myself to go to the local gym.

Oh, and my wife and kids appreciate having more family time in the evenings because now I’ve managed to cut nearly 2 hours off of my schedule by working out at home. That’s not even considering the monthly savngs from a gym membership.