Fit and Youthful Life

Guest Author: Paul M. Jerard Jr.


There was a time when the use of the words, “Yoga” and “business,” in the same sentence, would have been considered “shameful.” However, when you have a Yoga studio, pay for a lease, advertising, insurance, utilities, and more – you know this is serious business. Whether you own a Yoga studio, or are an independent contractor, your money is “on the line,” and possibly your life savings.

Many Yoga teachers, and directors, often ask me the following questions: What is my most effective way to advertise? Who should handle the marketing? What can I do about student retention? Why does a Yoga teacher need a sales letter or business plan?

As the popularity of Yoga grows, more Yoga teachers are looking for professional advice to “stream line,” market effectively, and make their Yoga businesses “recession proof.” For some Yoga teachers, Yoga has evolved from a sideline hobby to a fulltime Yoga business. Yoga students will not be happy to train and learn with you “in a closet.”

As a Yoga teacher, your economic survival is at stake. With a fulltime business, of any kind, a surprising amount of overhead will follow. When you own a Yoga studio, you have to “wear many hats.” If you are already an established Yoga teacher, you went into teaching Yoga to share the gift and practice your own solo routine more often.

Many of the most successful Yoga studios, ashrams, and wellness centers, get “insider” business and marketing advice. The surprising fact is that Yoga business coaching doesn’t have to cost as much as you think. Yoga business coaching can be handled on a “per session” basis. Many Yoga businesses save, and learn, far more than the session costs.

If this is not the case, it is time to find a different Yoga business coach or consulting service. The objective of Yoga business coaching is to help the Yoga business owner become self sufficient. Therefore, consulting is not for dependence, but to teach the typical Yoga studio owner how to fill the gaps and address priorities within a particular Yoga business.

What type of Yoga studio should seek business advice? Most Yoga businesses, of any size, can use help with a particular issue. Established Yoga studios, and Yoga teachers, usually know where they need help, but still need practical solutions. Also, established Yoga studio owners may want to “recession proof” their business or increase their market share right now.

Is this type of service geared toward new Yoga studios, as well? After years of Yoga training, and thousands of dollars, many new Yoga teachers need to recover the money they have invested in their new career as soon as possible. Yoga business consulting services will help any new Yoga studio get to the next level and put the learning curve behind.

Are Yoga business consulting and technical support services given by phone or Email? Actually, I use a combination of both methods. After a Yoga business coaching session by phone, there is a “homework assignment” for my client. Sometimes, this assignment will save my client thousands of dollars or create unforeseen revenue streams.

Sales letters, marketing campaigns, and website development can be handled by your Yoga business coach, but it is far less expensive if you learn how to take control of your own marketing campaign. Again, the objective is to have a client who becomes totally self sufficient.

However, complete marketing campaigns for Yoga studios are never refused by any responsible business coach. In any economy, coaching programs for marketing and business will save you thousands of dollars, and teach you skills that will last you a lifetime. At this point, it will be much easier for you to help your own Yoga students and clients.

© Copyright 2006 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications



Secret of Youth

Guest Author: Danial Dawood


The U.S. Public Health Service ongoing study of the lifelong effect of health within the population of the United States had recorded the chances of heart disease developing among the different categories of people.

Epidemiological research is the study of circumstances that is causing the health and illness of populations. The research are able to determine groups of people in the high risk zone even before they showed any signs or symptoms.

The study have identified a group with the highest risk as being a male, with the age of over 35, a cigarette smoker, having a history of high blood pressure, maintaining a high levels of some types of blood fats and having a family history of cardiovascular complications.

To add to that list, some researchers have included the uncontrollable, hard-driving and extremely anxious personality as another risk factor. The bigger the amount of severity, the higher the person’s total risk.

There are two fundamental categories for these warning signs. First are those that are not in the control of the individual such as sex, age and heredity. The second one are the ones that is controllable, avoidable or even can be eliminated.

It is among those within the second classification are what cardiologists term as “the triple threats”.

“The triple threats” category consist of cigarette smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol level in the blood.

Whenever a smoker puffs a pack of cigarettes per day, their risk of getting a heart attack is about twice that of a non-smoker. What is worse if you smoke, living with hypertension and consume food with enormous amount of fats without any exercise at all, the risk that you put yourself in is five times more than the normal people.

Now if this risk criteria are causing heart’s health to be in danger then what will improves its well-being and better the odds of being functioning long and well?

It is definitely obvious that giving up smoking and eating nutritious diet that is low in fats will help you. Nonetheless, the next best action that you can provide for your heart’s sake is to supply it with what it needs naturally and if you had guessed consistent exercise sessions or a complete cardio interval training then you are right.

What we know about the heart is that it consists of a group of muscles and it is no different to the muscles of the arms and legs.

These limb muscles are strengthened and improved with regular exercise and it will no doubt boost the health of the heart muscles too.

Many prominent statistical studies since the World War II have assessed the dependency between physical exercise and cardiovascular disorders.

There is a famous survey which compared over 30,000 drivers and conductors of a few bus companies. The drivers who are mostly in a sedentary sitting position had a very much higher rate of heart disorders than the conductors. The conductors had the chance to roam around the buses and climbed stairs to get to the top level of a double decker buses.

Another fine experiments involving dogs with coronary arteries that are surgically narrowed to mimic a human arteriosclerosis can clarify the why and how behind those statistics.

Compared with inactive dogs, those that are allowed to exercise had a healthier blood flow.

A new development between the connections of the imperfect and almost normal blood vessels seems to be stimulated by the workout. This mean dogs that are exercised had a healthier blood supply provided to the muscle tissue of the heart.

Looking at the human heart, it reacted exactly in the same fashion to transport blood to the part that was ruined by the heart attack.

The heart uses a new tiny blood vessels for a process called collateral circulation so that it can go about healing the damaged heart muscle.

These latest branches on the arterial tress are able to appear a long before a heart attack. If the new structure can take over efficiently the function of the narrowed vessels then heart attack can be avoided.

Gathering all of this facts, what action can we take to avoid such predicaments?

In constructing these subsidiary pathways, some studies have found that moderate workout a few times a week is more efficient for the task than an intensely vigorous workout done two times that frequency.

More supporting researches concluded that there are proven connection between exercise and a healthy heart based from the data that shows the group that do not exercise had almost 50% higher risk of heart attack than the other control group of people. The cause of a third of that danger, according to the study, is due to sedentary lifestyle alone.

Thus by getting involved in cardio interval workout, you can be sure to achieve positive development not only on aspects that concerns your cardiovascular system but also on the overall condition of you health too.

In a nutshell, merely committing into this type of exercise can lessen the threats of heart attacks, allows the heart to perform efficiently, increase metabolism, improves the lung capacity and decrease stress.

Have no doubt that cardio interval training is the sensible way of actualizing a healthy heart, mind and body.



Banish Wrinkles Instantly

Guest Author: Dr. Valerie Rosenbaum


With the release of the studies that explained the many benefits of the polyphenol found in red grapes people from all over began to search for a source of high potency resveratrol. Of course, the substance is readily available in wine, but how much of that can you get away with drinking? Trying to obtain enough of the substance through that method would also lead to too many other problems.

Scientists have been studying this compound for quite an extensive amount of time trying to unlock what its health benefits could be. What they came away with surprised even them, as the variety of ailments that can be treated or prevented through the ingestion of resveratrol are great. It is the list of various ailments that it treated that drew so many people to it.

The benefits that can be had through the use of a product that contains a high potency resveratrol dosage in it are immense. This compound is thought to be capable of not only preventing cancer, but of containing a mechanism that triggers a decrease of inflammatory cytokine, which will result in a reduction in the mortality rate for not only cancer victims, but those with cardiovascular disease as well.

It will also provide protection against someone who is regularly imbibing in the compound developing heart disease in the first place, and it also works to prevent any damage that could possibly happen to the arteries and blood vessels. Resveratrol also will offer you protection from free radical damage, which is known to be one of the major causes of aging.

People seek out high potency resveratrol supplements due to the fact that it is instrumental in inhibiting the replication of the herpes simplex virus, as well as helping to prevent atherosclerosis. It lower you level of LDL cholesterol while at the same time raising the levels of HDL that you have. It is also highly beneficial in the alleviation of menopausal problems.

It is also beneficial in the treatment and prevention of arthritis, and it is effective in arresting viral growth. There simply seems to be no end to what this wondrous natural ingredient can do, but as with all things it will not take care of every problem that your body has to offer. This is why people need to make sure that the source of their nutritional supplement contains a more varying array of ingredients.

You need to make sure that your high potency resveratrol supplement is surrounded by all natural ingredients that are capable of treating all of your physical ailments. This will require that the product contains a large variety of herbs, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, proteins, and immune system boosters that will offer you a full range of protection.

It doesn’t matter how pure it is, or of how high a quality, high potency resveratrol cannot do the job of keeping you healthy when used by itself. The other ingredients will not only treat different disorders on their own, but will also bolster the positive effects that resveratrol has on your health. There is nothing but good that could come of that.

Guest Author: Craig Ballantyne


Long, slow cardio is not the fastest way to burn fat. Research shows that short interval training workouts burn belly fat faster.

I was one of the first trainers to question long, slow cardio for fat loss back in the late 1990’s and I believe that traditional cardio is over-rated.

Interval training, or interval “cardio” if you want to call it that, is much, much better for fat loss. It burns belly fat in half the workout time.

I figured this out just before the year 2000. Back in 1998-99, I was but a lowly grad student, studying the effects of androstenedione (the supplement taken by the mighty baseball player, Mark McGwire during his record-breaking home run quest in ‘98).

In my study (which was published in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology for any science nerds like myself out there), we had guys use the supplement and go through a couple of weight training sessions. By February of ‘99 I was stuck in the lab, analyzing the blood samples using some fancy radio-active isotopes.

And when I say stuck in the lab, I mean STUCK. I’d get there at 7am, and record my last data point at 11pm. Sixteen hours of mad science. And if I wasn’t there, I was downstairs in the medical library, studying papers on testosterone and training.

Now coming from a very athletic background, this sedentary lifestyle didn’t sit well with me. But there I was, studing for a degree in Exercise Physiology and left with no time for exercise. Or so I thought.

Fortunately, I actually had a 50 minute window once per day of “down-time” while the lab’s gamma-counter analyzed blood samples.

That left me 50 minutes to get to the gym (5 minutes across campus) and get a workout in the remaining 40 or so minutes. I knew that if I applied my studies to the workout, I could get maximum results in minimum time.

As a former athlete, I knew that I had to find a way to stay fit and to avoid the fat gain that comes with working long hours in a sedentary environment. And I also had to stay true to the high-school bodybuilder I once was, so there was no way I was willing to sacrifice my muscle to one of those long-cardio, low protein fat-loss plans that were popular at the time.

Instead, I had to draw on my academic studies and my experiences working with athletes as the school’s Strength & Conditioning Coach. I knew that sprint intervals were associated with more fat loss than slow cardio, and I knew that you could also increase aerobic fitness by doing sprints (but you can’t increase sprint performance by doing aerobic training).

So clearly, intervals were (and ARE!) superior to long slow cardio for fat loss. I had seen first hand the incredible results of sprint intervals in the summer and fall, as the athletes made huge fitness improvements and shed winter fat in a short time using my interval programs. I knew that intervals had to be the next step in the evolution of cardio.

The biggest benefit of intervals? A lot of results in a short amount of time. I knew that I only had 40 minutes to train, and therefore I could only spend 15-20 minutes doing intervals.

I also understand that interval training sounds intimidating to a lot of people, so I need to clear up how an interval training workout goes.

After all, I believe everyone can do interval training for fat burning. Even beginners. For beginners who usually exercise for 30 minutes at 3.5 mph on the treadmill, their interval workout would be to go for 1 minute at 3.8mph and then recover for 2 minutes at 3.0 mph. That’s it. Repeat 6 times. If you are more advanced, you would use more intense exercise.

Interval training doesn’t have to be sprinting for your life. It just needs to start off harder than normal and progress from there.

Most folks hate cardio, so they are happy to use interval training as an effective replacement to lose stomach fat. Here is my list of preferred ways to do your intervals, ranked in order from best to worst, based on my experiences.

1. Sprinting outdoors (Hill sprinting might be the absolute best method)

2. Kettlebell exercises

3. Bodyweight interval circuits

4. Treadmill running

5. Stationary cycle (upright cycling preferred over recumbant bike)

With those 5 interval training methods, you’ll burn fat fast and never have to do cardio again!



Become Wrinkle Free NOW

Guest Author: Paul Rodgers


Natural health experts believe that type II diabetes is a nutritional disease, when no other cause can be identified. In other words, incorrect nutritional intake over a period of many years leads to the metabolic disorder that is usually accompanied by a tendency towards obesity and high blood sugar levels.

Will a pill someday be able to prevent some of the most debilitating effects of aging, including cancer and diabetes. It is promising to think that accelerated aging, diabetes and cancer could one day be treated with this natural compound. As a drug, resveratrol may one day be used to treat fresh heart attacks and strokes, diabetes, as well as brain trauma.

Resveratrol has captured the attention of the world’s health and scientific communities since experiments from the Harvard laboratory of David Sinclair first appeared in the journal Nature in 2003. Resveratrol is the antioxidant compound in red wine that is currently hyped as the new “fountain of youth”.

Resveratrol is fast becoming one of the health buzz words of the decade. With studies now showing that resveratrol may well have significant effects on such cancers as prostate and breast cancer, the news is good. But is there a link between resveratrol and diabetes as well?

According to recent studies of resveratrol and diabetes, there seems to be growing excitement about a potential breakthrough, so what is this all about? We have known for a long time the powers of this super nutrient in stopping cancer and increasing life expectancy, but according to the latest research, an imminent breakthrough is predicted for type 2 diabetes.

One of the latest resveratrol and diabetes studies has to do with a novel function. One of the things that occur in type II diabetics is that amylin, a protein peptide that is released by pancreatic cells along with insulin, begins to form hard fibrils within the cells. These fibrils eventually kill the cell.  Resveratrol inhibits the formation of these fibrils, according to a recent study.

It truly has some remarkable positive health effects for all of us without any resveratrol side effects that are negative. Even better if you want to get the ultimate benefit of it take it in a combined supplement that includes other health promoting ingredients like the one I take which has over 70 ingredients that comprise of products like decaffeinated green tea and turmeric, to name a few.



Instant Wrinkle Free Skin

Guest Author: Arvind


Before we learn about anti-spam software, we need to first know what is spam. To put it succinctly, spam is unsolicited and unwanted email. Other names for spam are Unsolicited Bulk Mail, Excessive Multi-Posting, and Unsolicited Commercial email, in addition to the more common – spam mail, bulk email or just junk mail. The advent of email brought in an era of instant communication, where information reaches our desktops, at negligible cost, and in no time at all, from across the globe.

Along with the benefits, came the negative aspects of email. For the multitudes of marketing hawks out there, this was an opportunity to send unsolicited promotions of their products, instantly, and at a very low cost. Today, spam has reached such monumental proportions that 10 out of every 13 emails (76.9%) we receive are spam, one way or the other. This is why anti-Spam filter has become a must have software for almost all PC users.

Stopping Spam

Simply put, anti-spam software helps detect spam. It is a software program that detects unsolicited and unwanted e-mail, and prevents them from reaching your inbox.

Anti-Spam software is also known by many different names, such as: Spam Filters, Email Spam Filtering, Spam Blocking Software, Anti-Spam Filter, Spam Filtering Software, Spam Blockers, Bayesian Filters, and Anti-Spam, among many others.

Anti-spam software is installed in your machine to divert the spam coming in. If installed in the mail server, you will never receive the spam, to begin with. The filtering is configured based on a number of criteria. These could be specific words in the subject line, in the body of the message, and the type of attachments accompanying the mail. You could arrange to filter out even the sender’s email address. Certain Internet Service Providers (ISPs) maintain a blacklist of habitual spam senders – known as spammers. Anti-spam software detects these blacklisted senders and rejects them per se.

Over time, anti-Spam software has become sophisticated to match with the wiles of the spammers. They use techniques that do not trash genuine emails by effectively analyzing the content of the email. Such software looks for keywords and tries to interpret their meanings in the sentences. Certain spam filters do not accept emails that come to you in the form of “Undisclosed Recipients.” They accept emails where your email address is in the “to” or “cc” fields.

Anti-spam software has become an essential part of your computer’s security, to ensure that you only receive the emails you want, and not others. To help eliminate spam, look for anti-spam software that has the following features, among many others:

• Blocking emails using both lists and preset filters – blocks specific addresses, watches subject lines, and messages within

• Updating filters automatically

• Isolates spam outside of your inbox

• Puts acceptable emails automatically into your safe list

• Monitors and filters multiple email accounts

Now that you know the basics about the need and importance of anti-Spam filter, select the right one for your computer and get rid of the menace of Spam.

Guest Author: Alien


Yoga for Kids is a Great Way to Keep Active and Healthy



Yoga for kids is a way to develop body awareness, body language, listening skills, cooperation with others and powers of observation among children. It also helps children to learn easily the names of all parts of the body, their locations, and functions.

A shocking statistic illustrates that about 50 percent of all children are growing up to be overweight adults. Inactivity and needless food are creating our children unhealthy. The inactivity among children develops with the things such as sitting before the television set, or watching movies or playing video games rather than going outside and playing as the adults of today doing.

This makes the children to become couch potatoes and, in real, causes a danger of health related problems. This is an ideal time for children to begin a yoga practice. The recent study shows that yoga for kids provides benefits for all ages of children.

On the other hand, there are yoga classes for children where dynamic movements, postures, breathing exercises and meditations and many more can be learned and if you have ever looked at one, you would be surprised at the positions that they makes us to do.

Yoga Classes for Kids

Yoga for kids is not only a traditional quiet meditative yoga routine but also includes yoga poses that are fun as well as healthy for a child. Yoga classes designed for kids offer children to learn the names of the poses and movements they develop a yoga terminology.

With this practice, they can use their yoga poses in their games, imagine the qualities of different animals to create stories about animals on a farm, climbing a mountain or walking through a jungle.

There will be a fun of barking like a dog while doing the downward facing dog pose and jumping around like kangaroos is one more fun part of a kid’s yoga classes. The idea is to get them used to moving around, make it a part of their routine life and we can only expect to continue that routine throughout their life.

Yoga for Kids Improves their Breathing Techniques

Yoga for kids also prepares them the breathing techniques that are used by the adults in yoga. For example, a yoga instructor practices the bridge pose with his small kid and when he is doing the pose, the child crawls under him making noises like a boat.

So let us look at the way that is helping the adult. It keeps them in the present, which is one of the goals of yoga. Presenting the yoga pose before his son and teaching proper breathing exercises will help the kid to become an active and healthy adult.

Effective Ways to Introduce Yoga for Kids

Here are some of the effective ways to help introduce yoga routine in your kid’s life.

* When introducing yoga to your kid, try to get down on their level. Try to take a different approach with children by creating a comfort and encouraging atmosphere and also be gentle towards them.

* A kid who’s new to yoga poses isn’t going to exhibit the same silent concentration to which you may be habituated. So, understand the child’s nature and have fun with them by making yoga routine a fun activity time.

* Try to make use of the poses as a basis to move around other poses in imaginative ways. The little attention span of a kid makes it impossible for them to be in one pose as an adult would.

* Find out the poses with your child that lets them flow naturally and center your attention on them. Again, this is one of the reasons to practice yoga, to keep you in the moment and help you have the benefit of the time you have right now.

* Support the use of reverberation or sound in yoga for kids such as roaring like the lion in lion pose. Encourage the child to obtain the benefits of maintaining the poses by using his natural love of his own voice.

* Encourage the child to admire their body. Avoiding obesity as a young adult, and stiffness as well as tenderness, when they’re older are the benefits of starting yoga for kids when they are small. You can make yoga and some times a difficult part of their lives but be aware of physical limitations.

So, yoga for kids is a great way to help your child grow into an active and a healthy adult while helping yourself with yoga routine at the same time.



Fountain Of Youth

Guest Author: Dr. Valerie Rosenbaum


Many people have asked the question about what is the best anti wrinkle cream. The answer to this question is a little more complicated than just naming off a number of products. There are some ways that you can find the right product for your skin and answer the question about what is the best wrinkle cream.

The first thing that you should do when you are looking for what is the best anti wrinkle cream, is know your own skin. You should know the type of skin you have and if you are sensitive to any ingredients. Many of the products that are available on the market have chemicals and artificial fragrances in them that can cause some serious problems for those who are sensitive. Don’t just use a product because the advertisements claim that it will help your skin. Look at the ingredients and make sure that it will not be harmful to your face.

Take a look at some of the natural ingredients that have been shown to be very beneficial to your skin. The natural ingredients are often more effective and gentler on your skin than a high priced wrinkle treatment product. You should try to find an all-natural product for your skin. When you are looking for what is the best anti wrinkle cream, natural products are better for your skin.

One consideration that you may not have thought of when you are looking for what is the best anti wrinkle cream is your sunscreen. This offers your skin a level of protection that will keep it from becoming damaged and wrinkled by the sun. This is a big cause of wrinkles in many people. Wearing your sunscreen whenever you will be out in the sun is a good way to keep your skin protected and wrinkle free.

Read some online reviews about what is the best anti wrinkle cream on the market. Real life opinions from people who have used the product are a great way to find out what others have discovered. It also saves you from having to purchase the product before you find out if it is effective. Remember that the reviews might not be written with your particular skin type so make sure that you still do your research on the ingredients before you put it on your skin.

What is the best anti wrinkle cream is also one that you will use every day. It is very important that you maintain a daily routine for your skin care. Keep your skin clean and well nourished with moisturizer during the day as well as before you go to sleep. A special product that is designed just for your wrinkles is also very effective at keeping your skin looking great for a longer period of time.

When you are asking what is the best anti wrinkle cream, you should understand that you would have to find the one product that will work for your skin. It may not be the one that someone else will find effective for his or her skin. Look around and do your homework.



Mother Nature’s Magic Pill

Guest Author: Dave Poon


Most people would define spam as unsolicited e-mail. They are e-mail messages which are mostly marketing schemes which crowd your Inbox. If you do not have an anti-spam software, you would have to sort through hundreds of junk mail before you can even get to read the e-mail messages which came from contacts whom you actually know.

This is not just time consuming but annoying as well. Some people even find it offensive when companies get a hold of their e-mail addresses and send them marketing correspondence through e-mail.

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most common e-mail programs used by Windows users. There are a lot of anti-spam software which can work seamlessly with Outlook, and this is one way of filtering junk mail from going through your mailbox.

Take a look at some of the top-rated anti-spam software which would work well with your Outlook e-mail program: – SPAMfighter for Outlook

SPAMfighter has teamed up with Microsoft to develop an anti-spam tool for Outlook and Outlook Express users. This is an easy to install tool which would get rid of spam from littering your Inbox.

This is how it works: Once a new e-mail message shows up on your Inbox, it is tested by SPAMfighter. The tool has a feature which automatically detects spam, and if the message sent is considered to be junk mail, it goes straight to your spam folder.

There is also an option where once you click a button, spam mail is removed from the mailbox of other SPAMfighter users in over 200 countries.

It works seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. The good thing about this tool is that you can help other online users by reporting spam once you receive it, and as soon as it is reported, the same message which will litter another Inbox will also be removed.

This tool comes in two versions, the SPAMfighter Pro and SPAMfighter Standard. – CA Anti-spam Software for Outlook

CA, which is formerly known as Qurb anti-spam software, can also be integrated with Outlook. The application is now known as eTrust Anti-Spam which aims to stop all spam messages from even reaching your Inbox. As soon as eTrust Anti-spam is installed, it will work so well with Outlook or Outlook Express that you would think that it is a feature of your e-mail client. – Norton Anti-Spam Software

Norton is one of the more popular anti-virus software. Their Norton Anti-Spam program filters your mailbox on several levels and it works well with Outlook and Outlook Express. Another feature of this program is blocking pop-up advertisements. – Anti-Spam 1.3 for Outlook

Any version of Anti-Spam for Outlook will remove more than 90% of spam on your mailbox. With this application, you can train the software to classify the messages on your Inbox as ’spam’ or ‘friend’. After some time, it will be automatically configured and will instantly classify your messages as junk or something that should show up on your Inbox.

Here are other anti-spam software that you can use seamlessly with Outlook:

-Cloudmark Safety Bar -SpamBayes Outlook Add-in -Outclass -Ella for Spam Control -Outlook Spam Filter -Trend Micro Anti-Spam Pilot

These applications will do the job for you by sifting through the hundreds of spam mail that you receive everyday so that you can have a spam-free, uncluttered mailbox.

Guest Author: Eddie Lomax


Everybody knows bodyweight calisthenics are an excellent way to get a full body workout, or at least they should know. However, I want to explore another way you can use bodyweight exercise to improve fitness, physique and fat loss. Try using bodyweight calisthenics instead of other “cardio” like jogging, biking, rowing, etc.

Think about your workout program. Normally you’ll do some form of resistance training and then follow it up with some cardio work. Most people do the “cardio” to improve endurance and burn fat. But let me ask you a question. What do you think is better for helping you meet your fitness, fat loss and physique goals: 20 minutes on the treadmill jogging at an easy pace, or a full body, fast paced calisthenics attack for 10-15 minutes after your resistance training?

I think the answer is obvious, but first let’s talk about cardiorespiratory endurance.

Cardiorespiratory endurance is the level of ability your body has to gather, process, deliver and sustain oxygen to produce energy needed for the successful completion of activity. Your respiratory system gathers and starts to process oxygen, your cardiovascular system continues to process and distributes oxygen and cardiorespiratory endurance is your respiratory and cardiovascular systems ability to work together to sustain oxygen for activity.

Cardiorespiratory endurance is characterized by healthy, effective and efficient heart and lung function needed to gather oxygen for the production and distribution of energy to the body during activity.

Having improved heart and lung function allows you to…

- Do more, longer… greatly improving performance abilities in a wide variety of sport, work and life activities.

- Perform other physical abilities better… without being winded and exhausted you will be able to produce and distribute the energy needed to perform better for a longer period of time.

- Reduce the risk of injury… Fatigue leads to poor form and potentially dangerous movements that greatly increase the risk of injury.

- Be healthier… Healthy heart and lung function can greatly reduce the risk of disease and sickness.

- Live better… cardiorespiratory endurance carries over to every aspect of life greatly improving your quality of life.

Cardiorespiratory conditioning allows you to simultaneously keep the doctor away and improve your ability to live life to the fullest.

But did you know, improving cardiorespiratory endurance is more than just steady state aerobic activity?

Many people are brainwashed into believing the only way to positively improve cardiorespiratory conditioning is to do steady-state aerobic exercise for 20-30 minutes in your “target heart rate zone”. But what if you used bodyweight calisthenics for cardiorespiratory conditioning by performing a 10-30 minute workout made up of bodyweight exercises without rest?

- The bodyweight exercises (anaerobic in nature) increase your muscular endurance while bringing the heart and respiratory rates up.

- The calisthenics exercises (aerobic in nature) lower the intensity some-what, forcing the body to lower the heart and breathing rates while still under stress… greatly improving cardiorespiratory endurance.

- Therefore, using bodyweight calisthenics for cardiorespiratory conditioning in this fashion simultaneously improves strength endurance, heart and lung power and your body’s ability to function as one complete unit… with the added bonus of burning calories and fat even after the workout is completed!

Don’t you agree? Doing bodyweight calisthenics instead of steady state cardio does more to build the strong, lean, athletic body you deserve. So, give it a try, but be forewarned. This type of muscle blasting, heart pounding, breath taking, fat burning workout is intense, and you should work up to it progressively. You’ll find it is much more demanding than the easy cardio workouts you are used to doing while watching TV or reading a magazine, and this is what makes it so much more effective.

If you are currently bored with your “cardio” training, or don’t feel you are getting the most out of your cardiorespiratory conditioning, try using bodyweight calisthenics for cardiorespiratory conditioning… and see what you’ve been missing!



Fountain Of Youth