The latest video craze is thanks to the Wii and complimentary games like Wii Fit and EA Sports Active. These “exergames” have made fitness enjoyable by allowing physical activity to be fun, challenging, and adventurous. These fitness video games are great for improving eye-hand coordination, balance, stability, and stamina; all of which you can do at the gym as well.

Although the sweaty gym or health club may not be the most enjoyable place to spend an hour or so of your day, the benefits are endless. I understand that driving to the gym is an inconvenience and full of germs and people you may not want to talk to, but suck it up and hit it hard!

I strongly believe there is no substitute for exercise itself. Although “exergames” do a good job, exercise cannot be imitated. Cardiovascular training can be done anywhere and everywhere, but there is no exception for weight training. Weight training has been proven to increase bone density and lean muscle mass, improve posture, and reduce the risk of future injuries, which is not something you’ll be able to accomplish with your video game.

As a fitness expert, I encourage you to proceed with your normal workout routines (cardio and weight training) and let the digital workout world be an added benefit to your physically active lifestyle. In other words, don’t rely on video games to get your physical activity, use them for fun and additional exercise.

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Gym Workouts More Beneficial than Fitness Video Games

First off, this added resistance during aerobic activity strains the joints and can cause injury to the ligaments and tendons. Secondly, it just silly.

So, if you are guilty of this, please do your joints and your body a favor by hitting regular non-weight/resistance bearing cardio followed up by your weight training.

It is a proven fact that the human body reacts to specific training (Law of Specificity). The Law of Specificity refers to the similarity between a training activity (exercise) and the actual task (goal). If you are training to run faster in a competition, then you have to run fast in practice (not use ankle weights). It is as simple as that.

With that being said, ankle weights are a great way to add progression to an exercise in the weight room. For example, a standard leg raise for the lower abdominals can be made more challenging simply by adding ankle weights or any type of weight or resistance for that matter.

Below are a few exercises that can be performed with ankle weights. The majority of exercises that can be performed with ankle weights are for the abdominals or the hips/hip flexors. I recommend performing two sets of 20 repetitions of the following exercises. Good luck and please feel free to ask if you have any questions!

Ankle Weight Exercises

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Best Ankle Weights Workout

Guest blogger Taylor Ryan is a NASM certified personal trainer and the head trainer of the all women’s site: The Art of Weight Lifting. Women’s fitness is her passion! Read more at her blog.

Not all exercise is created equal. We all know that running a mile burns more calories than biking a mile and that dancing burns more calories than gardening, but did you know that when it comes to strength training exercises, the same rule applies?

If you’re spending time at the gym on the weight machines, now is the time to stop. These are isolated exercises geared to work one small muscle in a designated range of motion… basically you burn very little fat and build or tone very little muscle.

The trick is big exercises that use multiple muscle groups and where you have control of the range of motion, and let me tell you, the bigger the range of motion the more calories you burn, which means the more fat you burn and the more muscle you tone up and build!

Here’s my list of the best women’s exercise moves you can do to see results!

1. Squats
2. Push-ups
3. Pull-ups or chin-ups (most gyms have an assisting machine)
4. Lunges
5. Shoulder Press

Try these moves out and then compare it to the machines. You will feel a big difference and so will your body, which will show!

The best part of these exercises is that you can add variations of the moves to keep motivated and far from boredom when you hit the gym.

Here are some ideas of what I mean:

• Instead of the standard squat do a plie squat or a split squat.
• For Push-ups you can change it up with incline push-ups, decline push-ups or even push-ups on a stability ball.
• For pull-ups you can change up the grip and lunge,s you can go reverse style, lunge walks or lunge off a stepper.
• Last, for the press there are curls to press, clean and press or the barbell press.

It’s easy to change it up when you know the variations!

Now you can stop wasting time on machines and start doing something that makes your time at the gym the most effective!

Guest Blog Series: Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com. See other posts in the Guest Blog series.

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please contact us.

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The Best Fat Burning Exercises for Women

Three basic body types and workout regimens:

Ectomorphic: Tall and lean body style with a high metabolic rate which makes it hard to gain either muscle or fat. If you fall into this body type, you should perform 20 minutes or so of cardiovascular training three times a week and weight training consisting of three sets of six to ten repetitions with a moderate to heavy weight three to five days a week.

Mesomorphic: Square, sturdy bodies, commonly known as athletic bodies. Tend to bulk with strength training. If you fall into this body type, you should perform 30 minutes of cardiovascular training three to five days a week and weight training consisting of two to three sets of 20 repetitions with a light weight three days a week.

Endomorphic: Short and round body style and tend to store body fat easily. If you fall into this body type, you should perform 45 minutes of cardiovascular training three to five days a week and weight training consisting of two sets of 20 repetitions with a light to moderate weight three days a week.

Again, this is just an opinion from another fellow fitness enthusiast.

via Women Fitness

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Identify the Best Workout for Your Body Type

As soon as you get to the gym go immediately into your upper body weight training routine (15-20 minutes), followed by cardio (30-60 minutes), and then to your lower body weight training routine (15-20 minutes).

I have put together an upper body and lower body workout for you below. Focus on moving from one exercise to another while trying to keep the heart rate up. I recommend performing two sets of 25 repetitions. Good luck!!

Upper Body/Abs

Lower Body/Abs

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Split Workout #2: Weight Training

This is how it works: As soon as you get to the gym, hit the cardio for your normal time (30 minutes), then move to your weight training portion (30 minutes), and then back to do some more cardio (30 minutes). This workout is designed to push you past the limit and to achieve greatness.

I recommend doing total body or partial total body exercises during this style of a routine. Below I have designed for you a chest, back, leg, and ab workout that is geared toward keeping the heart rate up the entire time you are at the gym. Try to focus on super-setting (quickly move from one lift to another) each exercise with the one below it. Keep moving, you can rest when you get home. Try to hit two sets of 25 repetitions. Good Luck!!

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Split Workout #1: Cardio

I recommend performing three sets of 30 repetitions while super-setting or circuit training the exercises. Good luck!!

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The 30-30 Workout

Yahoo! Shine wrote that you can do the proper training to get “First Lady” arms with just 5 minutes of training a day. Who doesn’t have 5 minutes? Do the following routine, 5 minutes a day, every-other day.

1. Combine a band and a dumbbell. Offers triple toning benefits. Do 8-10 repetitions.

Sample move: Stand on exercise band and hold each end in each hand while you simultaneously do curls with a dumbbell.

2. Choose a “heavy-enough” weight. You have to challenge your muscles to make an impact, otherwise it’s not worth your time. Do 8-10 repetitions.

Sample move: Grab a 12-pound dumbbell and do Rows: Feet hip-width apart, hinge forward at hips, letting arms hang straight down, palms facing in. Bend elbow back, pulling weight up to chest level. Lower and repeat as many times as you can in 30 seconds; switch sides.

3. Drop and do 20: The single-most effective workout a woman can do are push-ups because of the total body effects. Do as many as you possibly can in 30 seconds; over time, your strength will increase and you’ll blast through more and more each session.

Sample move: Start on hands and knees, with back straight. Keep upper arms close to sides, which helps you hit the triceps (the muscle in the back of your arm that has a tendency to get flabby without exercise).

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Michelle Obama’s Sexy, Sculpted Arms

The Workout Plan

In last week’s How to Train Legs Part I, I talked about the reasons why you should train your legs hard and hopefully helped you to establish some new goals for leg training. Today, I outline a workout to achieve those goals.

How to Sprint

Choose an exercise like running, cycling, stairs, swimming, or whatever else you feel most comfortable with. The only caveat is that it must be an exercise that can accommodate 100% maximal effort (no walking!).

Using running as a reference point, this will help you determine intensity:

• Low intensity is like walking briskly.
• Medium intensity is like a sustainable jog.
• High intensity is like an all-out max effort sprint.

Now perform the sprints using the following duration/intensity scheme:

Duration Intensity
120 sec                Low
60 sec                Medium
120 sec                Low
30 sec                High
120 sec                Medium
30 sec                High
120 sec                Low
30 sec                High
120 sec                Medium
30 sec                High
120 sec                Low
60 sec                Medium
120 sec                Low

In order to gauge progress over time, you can try to:

• Increase sprint duration.
• Decrease rest periods to 90 seconds, then to 60 seconds.
• Increase the number of high intensity sprints in a session.

Training Goals

Split
We want to execute three full-body workouts each week, so that we can hit the legs hard every other day.

Sets
Execute from one to three warm-up sets and five work sets for the first exercise of the day. Follow this with three sets of each subsequent exercise.

Reps

• For strength gains, 5 reps for men, 7 reps for women.
• For muscle gains, 10 reps for men, 12 reps for women.
• For endurance gains, 15 reps for men, 20 reps for women.

Weight
Choose one weight and stick with it for the duration of the exercise. If you complete all of your required reps for all of your required sets, increase the weight by at least five pounds for your next workout.

Full Body Routine
Workout 1:

• 5 sets of squats
• 3 sets of rows
• 3 sets of good mornings / stiff leg deadlifts
• 3 sets of dumbbell bench press
• 3 sets of abs

Workout 2:

• 5 sets of deadlifts
• 3 sets of incline barbell bench
• 3 sets of alternating lunges holding dumbbells
• 3 sets of pull ups / pull downs
• 3 sets focusing on lower abs

Workout 3:

• Include a 20 minute session of interval sprints at the beginning of your training.
• 3 sets of any chest press
• 3 sets of any row or pull up / pull down
• 3 sets of shoulder presses
• 3 sets of dips super set with 3 sets of dumbbell curls
• 3 sets of abs

Recovery

• After each workout you should be stretching for no less than 10 minutes.
• Drink a post-workout drink within 20 minutes of finishing your workout.
• Drink 64 ounces of water every day.
• Sleep for 7-8 hours every night.
• Eat 3 solid meals and 3 smaller snacks every day.

If you must do extra cardio, I recommend doing low-intensity cardio at the opposite end of the day from your weight training or immediately after your training session, then take the following day off completely.

Stick to this program for eight weeks and let us know your results.

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How to Train Legs, Part II

If your goal is to limit your range of motion and perform a controlled movement, then machine weights are the way to go. This controlled movement allows you to focus on the specific muscle, but does not allow other muscles to engage most of the time. Again, it all depends on goal. Free weights are rather more difficult and advanced movements, but they allow a full range of motion and engage other muscle groups as well.

As a trainer, I recommend starting with machine weights and then progressing to cables and free weights. This allows for the individual to become familiar with the process of working out as well as the comfort level. By advancing to cables and free weights over time, you will provide modifications, prevent boredom, and allow for different types of movements and ranges of motion.

Below are examples of a barbell chest press, cable chest press, and a free weights (dumbbell) chest press. Each of these movements are similar, but they each require a little different range of motion and different muscle recruitment.

So, I recommend:

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Free Weights vs. Machine Weights