Half Marathon Training Schedule

I decided the other day that I need a new challenge. I haven't done any serious running for some time, so I thought that it was time to start working on that area of my fitness again. What better way to do this than to attempt the half marathon distance. I used to do a lot of running about 10 years ago, but have since changed my regular training towards muscular endurance and anaerobic training. Hence I'm probably about 7 to 8 kilos heavier than I was when I was last running seriously. Running is a great way to lose body fat, but I want a training program that won't compromise my lean body mass too much.

So this is my plan. It's a 6 week training schedule, to get me accustomed to running the 13.1 mile half marathon distance at a reasonable pace. I'm not out to break any records, at this point I would just like to complete the distance in an acceptable time.

This is the training schedule I will be following;

This schedule allows me to fit in my regular circuit training sessions so that so that I will still maintain a balance program by factoring in resistance training. This will also help me to maintain my muscle mass whilst reducing body fat.

If you are complete novice at running and fancy the challenge of running the half marathon distance then click here to take you to a beginners training schedule. This site also has some great tips on training and preparation for the race.

I'm going to be monitoring my progress over the next 6 weeks to see how I'm getting on. My goal is to be able to complete the half marathon distance and to lose some body fat in the process, whilst trying to preserve lean body mass.

Let's see how I get on.

Sleep and exercise

Sleep is one of the most important factors affecting a persons health and fitness. The National Sleep Foundation states that sleep is a basic human need and is just as important for good health as diet and exercise.

You need to make sure that you are getting at least 8 hours uninterrupted sleep per night.
Having too little sleep increases what is known as 'sleep debt' and eventually your body will demand the debt to be paid back. Having too little sleep can cause your physical functions to become impaired, affecting reaction times and judgement.

Exercise can be used to promote a good nights sleep. Increasing physical activity tires you out so that your body requires more sleep. On the other hand sleep deprivation can also lead to weight gain simply because you are too tired to do any exercise.

If you're not getting a good nights sleep here are some other factors that can be affecting it;

• Caffeine - tea, coffee and some soft drinks all contain caffeine
• Alcohol - affects your sleeping patterns
• High stress levels
• Drugs - diet pills, decongestants and antidepressants

5 minutes is all it takes

That's right, can you commit just 5 minutes a day to getting fit? Of course you can, everyone can spare 5 minutes with no excuses.
If you can spare more time then even better.

Here's what I want you to do and I can guarantee that if you stickto this plan, in 6 weeks time your fitness levels will have improved 10 fold. I want you to put aside just 5 minutes every day this week dedicated to nothing else but exercise. That's right, just 5 whole uninterrupted minutes. I don't care what time of day or night it is, whatever suites you.

I want you to get dressed in to your exercise kit and shut the door and tell everyone else around you, not to disturb you for the next 5 minutes. Then do something, I don't care what it is, it can be jumping on the spot, skipping, walking, running, dancing, cycling, anything as long as it gets you out of breath and a little hot and sweaty. Continue for 5 minutes. If you are out of breath, stop and have a rest then start again when you get your breath back, but keep going until the 5 minutes is up.

Do this everyday for a whole week, don't miss a day.
Now; the next part of the plan is, I want you to add an extra 5 minutes every week for the next 6 weeks. So week 2 you will be doing 10 minutes per day, week 3 will be 15 minutes and so on until week 6 you when you will be doing 30 minutes uninterrrupted exercise.

So what is the point of this I hear you ask? Well, one of the biggest excuses I hear from my clients is 'I just don't have the time to exercise around my busy schedule'.

What you need to do is make time for exercise and this is a great way of introducing exercise into your life. It doesn't matter at the moment what you do, you can customize your workouts later once you become more accustomed to exercise and have achieved a basic fitness level. The idea is that you do something to increase your heart rate, get your joints and muscles working. If you don't do any exercise at the moment then this is an ideal way to get started.

This system is specifically aimed at people who don't know what to do and can't get started. The beauty of this system is that it introduces a gradual progression so if you stick with it you can't help but get fit.

So get started now and make this your time for exercise. You will be amazed at how much fitter you are in 6 weeks time.

How To Get Fit Fast

Before we start, let me set the record straight and tell you that there is no magic formula that will transform you from being unfit and overweight to looking like a super fit athlete over night. I'm sorry for dropping that bombshell on you like that. But the sooner you realise that then quicker you will reach your dream. So forget the fitness gadgets and fad diets that promise you a fit toned physique in 14 days or less and get real.

If you truly want to get fit fast then listen up, because I'm about to tell you what you need to do to achieve just that. If you follow the simple free advice in this article you will be well on your way to reaching your goal faster than any miracle exercise gadget or latest fad diet. This is the only way to achieve true balanced fitness and get in the best shape of your life.

Do this and get fit fast now!

1. Assess where you're at;
Ask you’re self why you want to get fit. Most people decide to get fit for one of 3 reasons;

a) Improve physical appearance
b) Health reasons or quality of life
c) For a particular sport or challenge

Which category to you fall into?

2. Set yourself a goal;
When will you know you have reached your goal? What do you need to do to get there? If your goal is weight loss, then what is your ideal weight. If you are training for a specific event, such as a running race, what time or distance do you need to achieve. If it's for health reasons, you may wish to reduce your blood pressure or cholesterol.

3. Eat healthy;
Your diet must be specific to your goal and your exercise plan. Make sure you are eating the right food and at the right times to get the most out of your exercise programme. A poor diet equals low energy and poor performance, ask any successful sports person.

My advice is don't go on a strict diet. You'll just end up hungry, de-motivated and give up. Eliminate processed foods from your diet. If you can't pronounce the ingredients, then bin it. Cook yourself fresh healthy food that you know the contents of. Just making these changes is far better for you than any fad diet or so called miracle supplement.

If weight loss is your goal, then start by making one small but significant change to your diet every week. For example if you were to cut out 1 tsp of sugar from your 2 cups of tea or coffee per day, then that's a saving of 14,500 calories in one year. That amounts to a loss of over 4lbs of body fat. Do you see where I'm coming from? Small changes can make a big difference when you add them all together.

4. Exercise;
If you are new to exercise and think you don't have the time, then make a commitment to start exercising for 5 minutes per day. Do you think you can handle that? Next week, increase it to 10 minutes and so on until you are doing 30 minutes per day. You'll be amazed how much fitter you are just in that short time.

Choose an exercise activity appropriate to your goal, but make sure it's a balanced programme that covers all the major components of fitness. A balanced exercise programme should include; CV training, for aerobic & anaerobic fitness. Resistance training, for muscular endurance, strength and power. Flexibility for range of movement and posture. Balance and coordination.

If you are not sure where to start then consider these;
1. Enjoy what you do
2. Balance your exercise to include CV, Resistance and Flexibility
3. Make your exercise specific to your goal
4. Make it a lifestyle change not a chore
5. Make it challenging, but not impossible

For the best results and to get fitter faster, then consult an exercise professional to design a programme specifically for you.

5. Monitor and motivate;
Monitor your progress, it will help to motivate you to stop you losing interest. Once you see that you are making steady progress towards your goal it will keep you focused. Try training with a friend or join a club to help keep you interested.

6. Fitness for life;
Don't just make a commitment to get fit for new year or holiday, make it a lifestyle change. Decide that you are going to make changes for life.

If you can get to the point where fitness and healthy living becomes second nature and a natural routine then it's the unhealthy things that start to become a chore! Remember if you practice anything enough you will do it without thinking about it and this is the state you need
to aim for. One day you will come to realise, 'this fitness stuff isn't so bad after all'.

12 Week Plan to Get A Flat Stomach

It's not often I post articles written by other people, but this article by Abi Shaan contains some good sensible advice on how to go about achieving a flat stomach. What I like about the article is that it dosen't make any false promises. It makes you realise that success depends upon an individuals circumstances. Achieveing a flat stomach will take longer for some people than others.
It also promotes weight training as the best form of fat loss exercise over long slow CV routines. More muscle = more energy consumption = less body fat.
As you know 'Get Fit' does not support the 'one size fits all' approach to diet and exercise. You are an individual and your success depends upon finding out what works for you. But applying the techniques in this article will help you to hit the ground running.

12 Week Plan to Get A Flat Stomach
By: Abi Shaan

It doesn't matter what others do and don't do to get a flat stomach because I am only going to show you what YOU should do if you really want to get flat sexy abs in a span of 12 weeks.

Before you get over excited with the fact that you could get flat abs in just 12 weeks, I should warn you that results very depending on the individual. An overweight person with a 38 inch waist can lose 4-5 inches within 12 weeks which doesn't mean that person got a flat stomach. Instead he/she lose 4-5 inches, and if the person continues following the system, he/she will get super lean in a very short period of time.

Let me take you through a brief journey to the world of quick and effective fat loss where the dirtiest yet most popular myths of fat loss with be finally revealed.

-- Doing 1000s of Ab crunches every day will never get you a flat stomach.

You can cry and break yourself doing thousands of Ab crunches every single day, but you will never see those strong muscular abs if you don't get rid of the fat hanging around your belly. In order to remove this fat, you need to lose fat from all over your body. As you continue to lose body fat, your abdominals will start to reveal itself in the form of a six pack for men or really sexy abdominals for women.

-- Spending hours on the Cardio machine is a waste of time for fat loss.

If you were already aware of the fact that you need to lose total body fat to get a flat stomach, then you probably would have started spending too much time on the cardio machines hoping to burn more calories as displayed in the digital meter of the treadmill or stationary bike.

Well, let me tell you right now that slow boring cardio is really boring and a real waste of time. Have you noticed that the overweight people in the gym always hang around near the cardio machines while the lean and ripped individuals spend their time in the free weights section?

If you want to get a flat stomach, you need to build muscle. The more muscle you build in your body, the harder your body works to maintain that muscle while repairing damaged muscle tissue from the most recent workout. This causes your body to burn a lot of calories for energy and fuel.

And here's where the original golden rule applies.

Calories Out Greater Than Calories In = Fat Loss.

If you build muscle in the right way by performing compound muscle building exercises like the Chest Press, Rows, Squats, Deadlifts, Chinups and Pullups by performing 3 to 4 Sets of each exercises to muscular failure, you will be very well on your way to get a flat stomach in a very short period of time.

-- Eating Too Little to Lose More Weight is A BIG FAT MISTAKE!

This is by far the most popular and legendary myth of all times. Eating too little so that you lose weight only works in the short term, and leads to get double fat in the long run. This is really big mistake and I am going to shatter this truth and claim (with thousands of backup experts) that the best way to get a flat stomach is by eating 5-6 short meals a day with two portions of high fiber carbs, a handful of healthy fats like almonds and one portion of lean protein in every meal.

In order to lose weight, you need to eat anywhere from 1500 calories to 2000 calories a day depending on your weight and gender. In short, you need to consume 500 calories short of your maintenance level every day until you reduce your total body fat to the level you want. If you want to get a flat stomach and see your six pack abs, you need to be at least at 9% body fat for men and 14% for women.

Keep following this plan and you will be well on your way to get a flat stomach in just weeks!

Article Source: http://physicalfitnessarticles.net

Home workout

You don't need to join a gym, have any specialist equipment or even leave the house to have a great workout that will improve your overall fitness.

Check out this video of a very simple Home Based Body Weight Circuit that you can do anytime, anywhere without any equipment.

This circuit will improve your cardiovascular fitness, tone muscle and burn body fat.

Do this circuit at least 3 times per week. Start with 1 set of 15 repetitions

The exercises should be performed in a circuit format one after the other. You should aim to perform at least 15 repetitions of each exercise.

If you are new to exercise then start slowly and only do what you can. You can rest for up to 60 seconds between each set of exercises. As you progress and get fitter, reduce the resting time between each exercise set.

Once your form begins to fail then you should stop and rest. You should aim to progress each time you do the circuit, for example, if you can only manage to do 5 push ups, then the next week, aim for 6. This is how you will eventually get fitter and stronger by continually moving the marker posts and challenging your body.

If you find any of the exercises too difficult to perform even 1 rep, then replace it with one you can do. For example; Push Ups, you can do them on your knees. If you can't do declined push ups (feet on the bench) then try inclined push ups (hands on the bench, knees or feet on the floor)

Here's the exercise order again;

• 15 x Y Squats
  
• 15 x Push Ups
• 15 x Lunge
• 15 x Declined Push Up
• 60 x Star Jumps
• 15 x Runner Squat Thrust

Get started right away. Your aim is to to be able to complete all the exercises and repetitions with perfect form, one after the other without any rest. Once you can do this, then it's time to move on and change the routine to a more challenging one.

Is the fat gene an excuse for being overweight?

I was watching a TV programme last night, in fact I'm sure many of you also saw it. Basically, they took DNA samples from a group of people to see how many of them had copies of the fat gene. The results were analysed and the group was then split into 3. Those who had no copies of the fat gene,those that had one single copy and those that had two copies. As genetic sequences come in pairs, the effect is greatest in those with two flawed copies. So you would have expected those in the group with 2 copies of the gene to have all been very overweight right? Wrong. In fact the 3 people in the group that had both copies of the gene, weren't actually overweight. What it did show is that the group with the two copies of the gene had a slightly higher than average body fat percentage than the other two groups. What that means is they have a slightly higher body fat to lean body mass ratio, but that does not necessarily make someone overweight. You can still have a relatively high body fat percentage and be well within your healthy weight range.

Now their were some people in the other two groups who were convinced that they had the worst case scenario, that is 2 copies of the fat gene, when in fact they had none or only one copy. They were really suprised to find that they could no longer blame being overweight on genetics. So are we as a nation using the excuse of the 'fat Gene' for being overweight?

Certainly, your genetic make up can play a big part in you being overweight and if this is the case then you can't do much about that, but it's only one part of the equation. Their are several other factors all related to poor lifestyle that can be addressed in the war against obesity. These are things that you can influence and make a difference even if your genetics are against you;

1. Dietry habits - Nutritional imbalance. You are eating more calories than you need
2. Physical inactivity - Sedentary lifestyle. Not eneough exercise
3. Smoking and alcohol - Both have a significant influence on the body in relation to storing body fat

So before you start blaming the fat gene for you being overweight, make sure that you have addressed the other three parts of the equation. Being overweight can be addressed with a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise regardless as to whether you hold the 'fat gene'.