What is HIIT?

If you’ve had a workout regimen that you’ve been doing to stay in shape for a while, you probably realize that it can take hundreds of hours to achieve the results that you’re looking for. In more recent times, science has developed new and innovative techniques to help people reach their fitness goals. HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is designed to help you to get fast results. If you’ve been looking for a way to get to your goals, then you will enjoy reading about HIIT in the following article. 

How It Can Help You

High intensity interval training isn’t just all about losing weight, because it has a massive range of other benefits as well. One really great thing about HIIT, is that it can help you to improve the functionality of your metabolism, which will make your body more efficient in a variety of ways beyond fat burning. You’ll also improve your heart health, improve insulin resistance, and give you faster gains to help you reach your size and tone goals. Also, the very best things about HIIT, is that a lot of HIIT workouts can be done without any sort of equipment and still produce amazing results, so it’s worth the investment of time to learn about how to do the routines.  

How It Works

For this type of training, you should go as hard as you can for the appointed time that is needed. This is usually for a specific amount of repetitions or a predetermined amount of time. The most common way that it is done is with a 2:1 ratio. For example, if you were going to do 20 seconds of jump squats, they would be followed by 15 seconds of rest, and another 20 seconds of exercise and so forth. This activates and builds stamina, as well as an increase in fast twitch muscle fibers. These muscles can help you to burn 16% or more of the fat you have stored in your body. 

Time to Heal 

Weight gain is a lot easier as you grow older particularly as the motivation to exercise also wanes, but you can turn it around it does not matter how old you are. You should start to weave some sort of exercise into your daily life. It’s important to note that HIIT requires you to take some time to heal in between sessions. This means that it’s likely to cause far more damage than good if you were to
work out any more than 2 - 3 times a week. If you work out, then you should definitely spend some time healing and resting so that you can be ready another session of intense work. 

Women's Health and Fitness - Weight Training To Lose Weight

Weight gain is a lot easier as you grow older particularly as the motivation to exercise also wanes, but you can turn it around it does not matter how old you are. You should start to weave some sort of exercise into your daily life.  

One type of exercise that you should consider to do is weight training, also known as strength training or resistance training. Weight training will not only help with losing weight but will also trim and tone your body. Age does not matter it has been shown that women as old as 70 who have started to weight train and have improved their body strength within a very short while.

Weight training is an important element in fighting flab; maybe it is the most important. If you do aerobic exercise you only burn fat during the exercise but with weight training you burn fat even when you have finished. The body is still burning fat for up to as much as twelve hours after finishing the exercise whilst it is building the muscles worked, so you can still be burning fat while you are resting. But that is not the end of the story. 

A body full of muscle uses far more calories than a body full of fat, so you will find that you will need to eat more to maintain your weight and your muscle. You do not need to worry that you will bulk up like a body builder, as you do not have the right makeup to do this, as a woman you will only elongate and define your muscles, and build lean muscles.

When you first start to weight train you might find that your weight will actually increase. This is because muscle is heavier than fat but as muscle is smaller so you should notice the body getting smaller even if the scales do not show an decrease in weight.

The additional benefits from weight training are:

1. It helps to strengthen and increase the density of your bones because the act of the muscles pulling and flexing the bones helps to lay down more bone fibre.

2. Stronger muscles helps your body to be more steady and so helps to prevent falls.

3. It has also been found that it can fight the build up of abdominal fat by lifting weights at least twice a week.   

Finally when weight training make sure that you change your routine around so that the body can not get use to the routine.  It only takes the body about six weeks for it to learn how to work efficiently if keeping to the same routine and therefore you will stop seeing any weight or body changes.

So have fun and start weight training to lose weight and tone your body.

Superfoods For Vision

The term superfood is a type of food that contains a high amount of nutrients. There is a long list of superfoods on the list, though many people think of healthy foods and ingredients like spinach and chia seeds first. 

In addition to the general category of superfoods, there are some that help with specific things, like weight loss and heart health. There is also a category of superfoods that can help boost your vision. These superfoods contain antioxidants, vitamin C, carotenoids, and omega-3 fatty acids, all of which are essential for good eye health.

Here are 10 of the best superfoods for healthy vision.

1. Carrots

This is probably one of the most common foods for vision, and what many people think about when they consider eating healthier to improve their eye health. The reason is because carrots contain a very high volume of beta-carotene, which is an excellent source of vitamin A. With enough vitamin A in your system, you are able to protect the cells in your eyes, improve the health of your cornea, and might even prevent night blindness. They also contain other nutrients like potassium.

2. Spinach

You should also make a habit of adding more greens to your diet. Spinach is another excellent source of vitamin A, which is going to protect your eyes from vision problems later on. There is also lutein and zeaxanthin, more nutrients that are good for eye health. This also goes for other greens, like kale and collard greens.

3. Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are often found on most superfoods lists, and that is because of the important nutrients they contain. Chia seeds are high in antioxidants and can help get rid of free radicals in your body. This will help to strengthen the cells in your eyes, including protecting the lens and retina. There are also some fatty acids in chia seeds, which as you know help not just your eye health, but your entire body.

4. Dark Chocolate

Yes, you can still have chocolate! When you are craving something sweet, go for dark chocolate. They contain some powerful antioxidants that help increase the blood flow in the retain, particularly with flavonols. Plus, how doesn't love to eat chocolate? Just make sure you pay attention to the amount you eat and donít over-indulge too much.

5. Salmon

As you know, omega-3 fatty acids are important for your vision and eye health. Salmon is one of the best sources of fatty acids and are easy to add to your different meals. You can have salmon as a main course, in a salad, or even in a special type of soup. With more omega-3 fatty acids, you are able to improve your vision and possibly might prevent blindness.

6. Blueberries

In terms of fruit, blueberries are among the top superfoods to eat when you have vision problems. With blueberries, you have a powerful antioxidant, but also a superfood with anti-inflammatory properties. This can help strengthen your eyes, improve the flow of blood to the backs of your eyes, and help with age-related eye conditions.

7. Avocadoes

Next up is avocadoes, which luckily are a favorite of many people, so it isn't difficult to add them to your regular diet. Avocadoes are not only a superfood, but an important healthy fat. It can help improve your vision and help to protect damage to your eyes that might occur as you get older. There are important nutrients in avocadoes, including vitamin C, E, and B6.

8. Strawberries

Another fruit that is also a superfood for better vision is strawberries. These have vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that promotes better eye health. Not only does it help with vision issues and macular degeneration, but the nutrients are good for overall health at the same time. Add strawberries to your cereal, make a fruit smoothie, or just eat them as a snack.

9. Peppers

Bell peppers are great to have in your diet if you are trying to improve your vision. Many types of peppers contain vitamin A and vitamin C, both of which have antioxidants for eye health and better eyesight. They also have other nutrients, such as beta-carotene and vitamin B6. All types of peppers are good for you.

10. Walnuts

Finally, you can add walnuts to your salad or eat them as a snack, and improve your
vision at the same time. These are considered a superfood thanks to the omega-3 fatty
acids, antioxidants, vitamin E, and zinc contained in walnuts. Other nuts that are also
good for vision are pecans and almonds.

Women's Health and Fitness - Reducing Cortisol Levels Can Help You To Lose Weight

It is now known that stress can actually stop you losing weight especially around your middle.  Stress can cause your body to secrete high levels of cortisol hormone into your bloodstream, because of your body's "flight or fight" response to stress.  Stress can be either psychological (mental and emotional) or physical.

Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands and is actually important for the regulation of blood pressure, the immune system and many other functions.  Cortisol can be good in small amounts but high levels can lead to an increase of abdominal fat, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and can also increase your bad cholesterol levels and decrease your good cholesterol levels.  

High levels of cortisol can also decrease your bone density, leading to osteoporosis and loss of muscle tissue, which will also slow down your metabolic rate, and it can also increase your blood pressure along with other problems.

Each of you will react differently to stress; some of you will produce more cortisol to a particular stress while others will produce less.  It has been found that those of you that produce more cortisol will actually eat more food as well, in particular carbohydrates.

What you need to do to combat producing too much cortisol is to learn ways to relax and also to maybe change your lifestyle.

Relaxation can be achieved in a number of ways either by exercising, mediation, yoga or breathing to start with.

Maybe one of the easiest and simplest ways is breathing.  This is done by gently breathing in through the nose, gently expanding your abdomen and then gently expelling the air through your nose pulling in your abdomen at the same time.  Whilst breathing out the air you need to focus on that breath.   After several breaths in and out you should start to feel yourself relax.  You need to practice doing this exercise a few minutes a day to start with building up to five minutes in the end.  You can also practice this when you are feeling stressed or when things are getting on top of you.  Just a few minutes can slow your body down and help it to feel relax. 

Life style changes can be like changing your eating habits for a healthier diet, getting enough sleep, or even organizing your time more efficiently so that you do not feel so stressed.  Also looking after your body will help your body to cope with stresses that you come across during your day.

So if you are exercising frequently and eating properly but still not losing any weight especially from around the middle then maybe you are suffering from high levels of cortisol caused by stress.  Look at ways to solve the problem and hopefully then you should see a difference in your weight and around your middle.

Can Women Build Big Muscles? Why Women Can't Build Big Muscles Easily?

Why Is It Difficult For Women To Build Big Muscles

"I don't want to workout lifting weights because I don't want to build big muscles " or "I just do aerobics and sit ups to lose weight because if I lift weights, I may build muscle and looked like a man." 

Ladies. Have you made these comments before? Awww... c'mon ladies, if you have ever uttered these words, you have just done a terrible disservice to yourself and are missing out on many great benefits that working out with weights can give you. Have you ever pointed to your belly or butt and sweetly proclaimed, "I want lose weight here." So managed to convince yourself that sweating profusely is the answer to a slim and beautiful body and you hit the gym day in and day out just to sweat off your tummy or butt fats! 

So you peddle away on your stationary bike in the gym just like little hamsters or frantically stepping away on the step up machine and then you woefully do crunches after crunches in the hope of having a flat belly and a well rounded shapely butt not realizing that there is no such thing as spot reduction. 

You never even bother take a look at the weight lifting machines or the free weights lying everywhere in the gym not to say even touching those weights. Gosh.this terrible myth of building big muscles on women is creating so much fear in women causing them never to train with weights at their detriment. 

Ladies! If you are listening, I want to say this loud and clear. There is no way women will build big huge muscles unless you are on special supplementation and specially designed training system. Some of those muscle bound ladies you have seen may even be taking steroids which are banned and obviously harmful. never never touch steroids to build muscles. 

So the, why is it difficult for women to build big muscles? Well, it is simply because you do not have enough of testosterone, a male hormone that encourages your muscles to grow. In fact, women have ten to thirty times less of bodybuilding hormones, testosterone than their male counterparts. Women who accept the myth that they will build big muscles if they workout with weights will miss out on all of the benefits that weightlifting and bodybuilding can offer. This myth is so ingrained in women's psyche that even after explaining the facts to my women clients, they are still afraid to lift weights. So will women who lift weights in their workouts build more muscle tissue? Yes, of course, but it will not be those big huge muscles like those of bodybuilders. Your muscles will just tone your body shape resulting in a tight, firm, healthy, attractive and desirable body. The body shape that is ever so sexy and healthy. Yes, you may have noticed an increase in weight when you step on a scale. This is because muscles weigh more than fat. Thus, as you increase your muscle tissue, your weight will increase but your fats will be reduced giving you a well toned sexy body which most women can only dream of. 

Muscle burn calories naturally even when you are sleeping. In fact, research has shown that for each kilo of muscle you build, you will burn 70-100 more calories per day. So, if you gain 2 kilos of muscle and lose 2 kilos of fat, you will burn about 75 more calories per kilo, which equates to burning 150 additional calories per day, which translates into 4200 additional calories per month and ultimately results in a fat or weight loss of 7-8 kilos a year without doing anything! One kilo is 2.2 pounds. Doesn't that sound great? 

Another reason that women should do weightlifting is the benefit it can have on your bones. Weight training is a powerful preventive action against osteoporosis, a disease caused by porous bone and low bone density. Women has a much higher risk than men to suffer from osteoporosis. In fact, most women will suffer from this disease as they age. Those plagued with osteoporosis have an increased susceptibility to fractures. These fractures can even be fatal. So, women should exercise with weight to strengthen and increase bone density. Research has shown that six months of weightlifting may increase bone mineral density by as much as 15 percent. As you increase your muscle tissue, your bones must adapt to accommodate this increase in your muscle mass . So your bones respond by increasing in density. The result? You will own a stronger skeletal structure and a reduced risk for osteoporosis. 

So, don't completely swear off weightlifting fearing that training with weights will build big muscles and turn you into an Incredible Hulk! You won't and you can't. Period. 

OK girls, the weights are over there. Let's lift them now! Have the last laugh when your girl friends tell you that they don't want to lift weights and yet watching you transform your body that will make heads turn when you are in your bikini.