Archive for the ‘Exercise’ Category

Wii Fit Exercise – Does it Really Work?

It seems too good to be true right? Exercise while enjoying a fun video game? Wii Fit seeks to do just that. Shigero Myamoto, the computer whiz behind Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda, has a new product that is aimed at everyone. Wii Fit goes along with the original Wii console and comes with a CD full of exercises, information, and a balance board. You get a 12-inch by 20-inch plastic slab that looks a lot like the steps used in aerobics classes. The balance board is used extensively in the game. All the exercises are done on the board or next to it. It senses whether you’re correctly positioned, and even functions as a scale. The balance board will tell you your weight and body mass index when you first start using Wii Fit. In addition to balance games, Wii Fit offers strength training, yoga, and aerobics. With each category you will have four our five options to begin and as you progress you can “unlock” more options for each exercise.

Strength training, for example, allows you to choose between torso twists, lunges, jackknifes, single-leg extensions, and push-up/side plank combos.

The balance board will tell you whether you are doing these exercises correctly. It counts how many times you do them and will offer general suggestions. For example, while doing a side plank it will tell you not to drop your hips.

Aerobic exercises start with a basic step, a run, or hula-hooping. All of these offer a fairly low level of cardio activity, but by advancing in the game it will offer you more and more difficult exercises.

Balance games consist of the ski slalom run, a ski jump, table tilt, and soccer “heading” during which you butt the onscreen ball with your head. These are a key component to Wii Fit because they determine your fitness level throughout the game.

Although the Wii does offer several solutions for excellent home fitness that are fun and entertaining, this is only part of the equation if you are really trying to get more fit. As any fitness trainer will tell you, your diet is at least 80-90% responsible for making any real progress with your physical fitness. You need to pay attention to what you eat, staying away from fat, sugar, and empty calories. Try to eat plenty of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables each day in place of junk food.

If you want to really make a difference in your fitness level, it is wise to use your diet as a tool to help you. Protein supplements are a very common way to quickly and easily boost your protein level so that your muscles have the necessary fuel to grow. By increasing your lean muscle, you effectively increase your metabolism, which naturally helps your body to burn fat. Whey Protein is one of the best protein supplements you can buy. It is 90% protein and a naturally byproduct of dairy, so it is an all-natural, extremely efficient way to metabolize plenty of additional protein. With this kind of fuel, your Wii Fit workouts will be more pleasurable and you will see results faster than you ever thought possible.

For more info on whey protein, visit MyTopForm.com

Acting Exercise – Tips For Breath Control

 But the chances are you haven’t been breathing naturally for a long time. This acting exercise will have you breathing new life into your characters.

With good posture, stand in front of a mirror. Put one hand on your chest, and the other hand on the upper part of your abdomen.

Take a big, deep breath.

Did your chest swell up with that breath? Did you get small around the waist? If so, you need some reminders about correct, natural breathing.

We have in the lower part of the thorax, or chest cavity, a floor of muscle that is also the roof of the abdominal cavity, separating one from the other. This is the diaphragm.

Try another exercise by lying down on the floor. Just relax. Don’t even think about your breathing. Place your hands flat against your floating ribs at the sides and notice how the entire region, all the way around to the back, contracts and expands as you breathe, while your chest remains immobile.

Notice, too, how the floating ribs now seem to have a very direct contact with the diaphragm.

Get a piece of string and make a lasso. Slip the lasso around the diaphragm region and, keeping the end of the string taut, notice how it lengthens and shortens as you breathe, while your chest remains immobile.

Stand up again and attach your chest, fixed and high, to your imaginary hook. Breathe just as you did while you were lying on the floor, again checking the expansion and contraction of your diaphragm with your lasso.

This is a good acting exercise for breathing. It may seem strange for you to breathe this way if you’ve been told most of your life to “take deep breaths with your chest.” But don’t be disturbed about it You are now following nature’s way of breathing, and she’ll help you acquire the habit of breathing in her own sensible manner. Nature is on your side.

All animals breathe in this fashion. You breathed in the same correct, natural way when you were an infant.

Here is an exercise in breathing and performing a specific action at the same time.

Acting Exercise

Start from a sitting position with hands on knees. As you inhale, move one hand up to your top shirt button. Start the movement and a breath at the same instant. End the movement (at the top shirt button) at the exact peak of your intake of breath.

As you exhale, return the hand to its original position (on the knee). Arrive at this original position at the same instant the final expiration of your breath takes place.

By coordinating a movement exactly with your breathing, you have experienced the use of a potential power tool of acting. So keep practicing until you have mastered it

Focus your mind on diaphragmatic breathing and let your mind tell your body what to do. You’ll soon get back to breathing as well as you did when you were born!

Nature intended that you should breathe with the diaphragm. It’s healthful for your general well-being in daily living. And it’s necessary to you as an actor. With diaphragmatic breathing, you control the breath and get compressed air, necessary for keeping balanced energy under all the vibrations of the speech instrument.

As you may know, compressed air is one of the strongest sources of power known to science. It’s used to stop trains, to drive pneumatic drills, and in many other mechanical processes requiring enormous power.

To acquire vocal vitality and control, make use of the same kind of power that science has found so useful … Nature has already given you the necessary equipment.

Breathe correctly and practice this acting exercise and you will improve the technique of your acting.

Always wanted to learn to act like the professionals?
Check out more great acting exercises at:
http://www.freeactingschool.net

Remove Tummy Fat: Gardening Is Good Exercise

 

Virtually all programmes designed to remove tummy fat will include a set of vigorous exercises. Indeed many rely on the exercises as a major part of the drive to remove tummy fat, as they should since any fat loss will require a combination of diet and moderate exercise.
 
No matter what you may read, the best exercise routine will be a complete regime affecting the whole body. This is because such exercise will burn the most energy and convert the most fat since it is in this way that the body sources its energy reserves.
 
The question tends to be how to get the best all over exercise. My experiences show that specific exercises only work in the short term and success in the long-term results from exercise that becomes a habit. This is particularly effective if you can find an activity that you can include as part of your everyday routine. Examples might include walking or cycling to work, leaving the car at home, or perhaps parking the car further away from the store when collect your shopping.
 
There has been recognition recently that another form of exercise can be very effective when your goal is to remove tummy fat. You can get a great workout by simply working in the garden.
 
Now this may seem an odd way to get the exercise you need but in reality you use most of the muscles in the body when engaging in the jobs required to maintain a garden. The activities involved will be many and various: they range from weeding to digging and from painting to lifting. A complete programme to remove tummy fat in fact.
 
To improve the benefits still further you might consider changing the way you work too. Why not give up using power tools and consider using hand tools instead? Try using a hand saw instead of a chain saw or shears instead of a hedge trimmer. You will see a great increase in the positive effects on your health.  
 
Gardening has the same recommendation as other new exercise routines; it is better to consult a medical professional before undertaking a rigorous programme in any activity. How often do people complain they have a bad back after a session digging in the garden? It is always a good idea to treat such work as an exercise routine and perform a warm up and cool down routine before and afterwards. Use one of the many available preparation routines and find a set of stretching exercises that suits you for after your work session. The key is to ensure you stretch all the affected muscles. Something as simple as a walk around the garden to assess what needs to be done can help.
 
Most programmes to remove tummy fat recommend around thirty minutes daily exercise and half an hour gardening will fit the bill.
 
But gardening has other benefits you may not recognize at first. Working with nature is very therapeutic and you will discover yourself mulling over any problems you might have as you work. For some reason gardening seems to balance the way you think and indeed undertaking some of the more repetitive tasks (such as cutting the grass, weeding and planting) will help your mind tick over. In a way it gets close to meditation and you may be surprised at the ideas that reveal themselves as you try to remove tummy fat.
 
Gardening also produces a profound satisfaction with the smallest success. There is little doubt that the healthiest food you can eat is that you grow yourself but the pride resulting from a job well done and creating a beautiful garden should also not be underestimated. This can be combined with rest periods too; always remember to take regular breaks from your hard work. Picture the reward of pausing in your toils and observing the birds, animals and insects enjoying the flowers and plants you have cultivated.
 
In this way, you can use your gardening exercise routine to improve the environment too. There can be no other method to remove tummy fat that has so many advantages.