Winston Salem Gyms:Winston Salem Gyms:build your own home gym
July 2nd, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. No Comments
Fitness doesn’t have to be expensive. Most people think of home gyms as elaborate affairs made of heavy metal frames or sleek high impact plastic ones, with weights, pulleys, and other gadgets sticking out of them.
While these home gym systems are effective, you don’t necessarily need them to stay in shape. You can actually build your own gym equipment, using simple exercise gear that will allow you to work out without placing a large dent in your wallet.
The first and simplest piece of equipment you can use is a clean soft floor mat. Make sure it’s wide enough to accommodate your body lying on the floor full length, and thick enough to cushion your body from the hard wood or concrete of the floor. Don’t make it too thick or soft, as this will throw your balance off when it “yields” under your body weight.
Rubber mats work best for this purpose. This mat can be used for sit-ups and crunches, as well as simple calisthenics like jumping jacks and running in place. Free standing squats on the mat held build up leg strength considerably, too. Even before you start building your own gym equipment, using a simple mat that you can pick up at any department store can already go a long way.
Another exercise tool you can make when building your own gym equipment is push up bars. These are simple and easy. Find a pair of U shaped metal bars, with the bottom of the U fitting your hand’s grips comfortably. The ends of the U are then fastened to either wooden blocks or metal sheets (your choice) that will let you place them on the floor. You can wrap the “grip” portion of the bars in foam or heavy tape to make your grip better.
Studies have shown that push ups done when the hands are in a straight fist position are better for the wrists than placing your palms on the floor. These simple handle-bars allow you to do push ups correctly, and from any of the various positions that push ups are done from to hit various pectoral muscle groups.
Another piece of gym equipment that’s easy to build is a chin up bar. I highly discourage the classic approach some people take of mounting these on a door frame, as this can lead to accidents when people walk in on you. Instead, get a long comfortable bar and mount it one and a half to two feet from a wall. Use mounting and support brackets to ensure that it can take your weight. Set the bar’s height at just high enough for you to reach on tiptoes. This height is ideal because you can get enough ground clearance by simply flexing your legs slightly when you do chin ups.
The reason the bar should be set so far from the wall is so you can do pull ups both facing towards and away from the wall. Also, if you want to, make the bar long enough so that you can use a “wide” grip, with your hands positioned past your shoulder’s width. This allows you to target your lats when you work out.
Another variation of the above gym equipment you can build is a device used for tricep extensions and rowing exercises. This is a simple metal bar set horizintally at a certain height. To determine the height of the bar when building this piece of gym equipment, lie down on the floor and extend your arms straight up. This is the height the bar should be at. Set support bracket legs at the ends of the bar so it retains it’s height. Make two sets of these bars, one for your arms to grip, the other is a place where you put your feet on.
Two exercises can be done with this set. One, you can lie on the floor underneath it and “row”, pulling yourself up in a reverse push-up. For the other, you place your feet on the other set of bars, and position the “arm” bar right behind you. The position looks akin to sitting on the edge of a chair with your feet up on a table, and your hands directly behind you gripping the bar. You basically raise and lower your body using your arms. This works out your triceps and gives them a great deal of defenition.
The above ideas are just a few examples of how with a little imagination and work, you can build your own gym equipment easily. It helps if you actually have prior experience in a real gym working with free weights and other exercise machines, as you will know which exercises target certain muscle groups.
However, if you want to build your own gym equipment and have no prior experience in working out, I highly recommend going to a real gym and getting some exposure first before you get too creative, as any mistakes when building your own gym equipment may actually lead to personal injury
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Tags: Gym, Own Home Gym, winston salem gyms
Winston Salem Gyms:Bodybuilding On A Budget
June 29th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Fitness Tips. No Comments
Thanks to the declining value of the dollar, gas prices shooting through the roof, and a bunch of other elements, the cost of food in the United States has increased very considerably in the past couple of years. While there were a lot of people who saw those high prices of food coming from a mile away, many of those people were shocked that the price of supplements had also shot up over the past year. Most providers of whey, including online sellers, have marked the price up nearly fifty percent, and it doesn’t look good for the future. The prices have gone way up for beef, chicken, fresh produce, eggs, and whey, in other words, all of the average bodybuilder’s favorites.
So before you throw in the keys, take a look at the following tips that will help you get through the higher prices, and also a few ways to benefit from these rough times.
Cheaper Gym Memberships If you are having a hard time adjusting to the struggling economy, just think of what gym owners have to get through. Supplements are also at a higher cost to them, the gym equipment is way more expensive to have delivered, and the number of members has probably gone down. For most people, the cost of a gym membership is high on the list of things to cut back on when currency is tight. Go to your gym, or a gym where you’d want to be, and explain that because of rising costs, it’s not in the budget to be a member. In a lot of cases the owner will pull some strings and allow you a membership at a lower cost. This might be due to their costs being fixed, and they would probably want to get less money out of you rather than lose your business.
Working Out In Your Home Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll be aware that gas prices are absolutely ridiculous these days at nearly five dollars per gallon. While many times it’s difficult to get a full chest, back, or leg workout in your home, you can discover that a couple sets of dumbbells are a great and efficient way to train your biceps, triceps, forearms, and shoulders. Any work on your abs, and most cardio exercises can also be completed in house, which saves you money and time. If you can not spend just ten dollars a week by not driving to the gym on select days and working out at home, by the end of the year you’ll have saved nearly $500. This is a great way to save money without giving up too much of your routine.
Buying In Bulk Even though food has become more expensive due to the economy and shortage issues, you can still purchase large amounts of food that you need for relatively cheap. A large sack of rice is still pretty cheap, and will take care of your carb needs for weeks. Tuna is continued as an excellent and affordable protein source. It’s also good to check for unmarked deals where you can, like the butcher who will discount a lot of meat if they need to sell it before it’s not considered fresh, you can purchase a big hunk of meat, and freeze it. Small purchasing decisions could end up saving you a lot of money.
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Tags: Bodybuilding, Gym, winston salem gyms
Winston Salem Gyms:Why Dumbbells Make More Sense
June 28th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Fitness Tips. No Comments
In the world of resistance training, one of the most common debates is whether one should use machines or dumbbells (free-weights) for their strength-training goals. Despite the slick look and new technologies of the latest fitness machines out on the market, dumbbells are one of the very few tools used in strength training that have stood the test of time.
Simply stated, dumbbells are better because they are free weights. This means that you have to work to stabilize the weight, instead of the shiny machine. And that’s the goal: for you to do the work.
The use of dumbbells gives you a much more comprehensive strengthening effect because the workout engages your stabilizer muscles, in addition to the muscle you may be pin-pointing. Without all of the belts and artificial stabilizers of a machine, you also engage your core muscles, which are your body’s natural stabilizers. In this sense, every exercise also becomes a more comprehensive total-body workout. Free-weight lifting causes your body to engage its natural strengthening tendencies. The same person that can bench press 200 pounds with a bar or a machine, may be only able to lift 160 pounds of total weight with free weights. With dumbbells, results are quicker because you have to work harder to stay stable in the entire body.
Dumbbells also give the user a better range of motion. The movement that it takes to lift a dummbell uses not only our natural weight baring tendencies, but also the body’s natural patterns of movement. In this sense, free-weights are more balanced, and more functional. An example of this functionality in the real world would be that of an athlete training for a sport. Through the use of the free-weights, the athlete could create a workout routine that mimicked critical movement patterns that he or she repeats while engaged in the sport. Similarly, there are many cases where we can safely “multitask” with free-weights, such as in the case of doing biceps curls and lunges at the same time. In this way, you can perform a variety of exercises in less time than switching from machine to machine.
Furthermore, working out with dumbbells is something that most of us can afford to do from our own homes. In this sense, they carry over into normal life better than a machine can. The sheer variety that a couple of pairs of dumbbells can offer is unparalleled when compared to a machine. Many experts agree that dumbbells also create quicker, more visible results than exercise machines, because of their “natural” stabilizer effect, as well as the use of many other supporting muscle groups.
Price wise, the set of machines you would need to purchase to train all of your different muscle groups would cost a fortune for a home gym. A standard set of adjustable dumbbells can cost as little as $200 to $300 dollars. Compared to the price of buying the machines yourself, or even a standard gym membership, your own set of dumbbells are a great value for optimizing outcome on your body and your wallet. Space wise, today’s adjustable dumbbell sets can be easily stored in the corner of a room or in a closet. Machines are bulky, and especially for a home-gym, require that you have an extra room in your home specifically for working out. This is simply unrealistic for most of us.
That said, there are some great benefits to using machines that should be mentioned. Particularly from a therapeutic standpoint, machines enable us to work a target muscle by pinpointing the exact and optimal range of motion. More modern machines also have cams that can alter the resistance in accordance with the muscle’s strength curve. In this way, we can progressively load resistance, something that is impossible to do with free weights. Another advantage of machines is their ability to increase safety. The machine greatly prevents injuries from dropping a load on yourself, as well as hyper-extension or over-motioning.
All in all, your best bet for a comprehensive work-out is to use a combination of both, with an big emphasis on dumbbells and free-weight lifting. Use machines to target specific muscles, or to heal and strengthen an injury safely. And remember, dumbbells can be just as safe as a machine, if used with the proper awareness, proper training and general safety guidelines. Make the decision to incorporate adjustable dumbbells into your home or gym practice, and start witnessing some new changes in your strength process.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1163479
Tags: exercise, Fitness, Gym, winston salem gyms
Winston Salem Gyms:How To Lose Weight And Exercise
June 27th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Fitness Tips. No Comments
How to lose weight and exercise can be a tough battle. We all know it’s necessary, but we don’t want to get up early in the morning to do it. What is this “it” I’m talking about? It is exercise and it is essential for a long and healthy life.
I’m not just saying that either. Ask anyone who has lived to be sixty, seventy, and over who move better than some people half their ages. They have used exercise to turn their life around.
Here’s a good example for you. I’ve got 2 grandparents still alive. Both of them are women. One of my grandmothers is 82 and in failing health and has been this way for as long as I can remember.
My 2nd grandmother is 86 and she’s golfing, doing water aerobics and still leading a very active lifestyle! Do you know why this is? Simple……..because she has always exercised. I always use my grandmothers as an example of what exercise can do for your body.
When it comes to losing weight and exercising, exercise is getting our bodies moving and burning calories. To lose one pound, it takes a deficit of 3,500 calories. I know what you’re thinking – it might as well be a million calories. But, it is not as hard as you think. Exercise doesn’t have to be organized at a gym for it to be legitimate and to “count.”
The best thing about how to lose weight and exercise is that it is cumulative. That means that if I do ten minutes of walking in the morning, fifteen minutes of walking at lunch, and twenty minutes of walking when I get home, it all adds up to calories burned and pounds lost. The benefit to my muscles and my heart increase as I continue to fit exercise in where I can.
So, where do you start? Get up off the couch. That is the hardest part. Starting is both good and scary. What if we can’t do it? Well, I’m here to tell you that there is an exercise for
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Tags: exercise, Gym, Lose Weight, winston salem gyms
Winston Salem Gyms:Lose Baby Weight – Look and Feel Great
June 26th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Fitness Tips. No Comments
After a stressful nine months of pregnancy, you are probably feeling pretty happy about being delivered. While you definitely have enough to think about at this point, your thoughts will inevitably turn to those experienced by the vast majority of postpartum mothers, how are you going to lose baby weight gained during pregnancy?
Giving birth is a life changing experience on many levels. It is also a time when you may notice some alarming changes to your body and decide to make a commitment to getting back into shape. When you set out to lose baby weight and get fit, it’s a commitment. But, when that commitment begins to become a lifestyle, you will be healthier and happier for the rest of your days!
To lose baby weight and keep it off, you are going to need to eat correctly. There are some good materials available to learn from on the Internet, and it is not complicated. Here are some examples of good eating habits;
You are going to begin eating nutrient rich lower calorie foods This means no processed carbohydrates. It’s amazing how much you are able to eat and still burn fat when you are eating the right foods.
You are going to eat smaller portions more often You will be astonished how this alone can crank up your metabolism and burn way more calories around the clock!
You are going to pay attention to the liquids you are drinking It’s more than just staying hydrated with water. Avoid super high caloric fruit drinks and sodas which are commonly laden with refined sugars.
It is much easier to make this part of your lifestyle than you might first think. Now if you do not only want to lose baby weight, but look good while doing it… you are going to have to exercise. It’s the combination of proper eating and exercise that makes a powerful change. You don’t just decrease your intake of calories, you have to burn them.
If you are going to do some aerobic activity to lose the baby weight, great! Stick to low impact aerobics and go to it. A minimum 3x a week, 4x would be better, 20 minutes or more. You will be turning up your metabolism and burning more calories.
But, if you really want to look and feel good you will join the gym and begin whole body weight resistance exercises. Yes, pumping iron. Nothing will firm, tone, burn calories, strengthen your muscles and bones like weight lifting will. The gym is no longer for “men only”. I have been in gyms across the US since the 1970’s and the membership is now 50% female, so you no longer have that excuse. In fact, most of these women joined a gym to lose baby weight.
Learn to eat properly, couple this with weight resistance exercise, and you will not only lose baby weight but you will quickly start to feel and look great.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1166806
Tags: exercise, Gym, winston salem gyms
Winston Salem Gyms:How to Make the Most Out of Your Gym
June 25th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Fitness Tips. No Comments
Joining a gym is a big commitment, especially for those of you who are just starting out, and trying to get into the routine of working out. No matter how much you convince yourself you’re going to go to the gym, sometimes it just doesn’t happen, so it’s important to have the odds with you, not stacked against you. The best way to do this is to choose a gym that offers you everything you want, and then some. Here are some things to think about before choosing a gym.
Is it close to your home or on your way home from work? The majority of people prefer a gym that is easily accessible to either their work or their home, because if you have to travel long distances or through traffic to get to your gym, it’s just going to offer you with another excuse to not go. People also often like going to the gym directly after work, on their way home. Sometimes if you go home first, things can come up, you might start cleaning the shower stalls or kitchen sink, or cooking dinner, and then before you know it, the window of opportunity has passed. So location is key when choosing a gym, keep that in mind.
Membership rates are also something to consider. Of course you want to find the best deal, and not be shelling out hundreds of dollars on your gym membership, but you do want to make sure you’re getting what you’re paying for. You don’t want to just sign up for the cheapest gym that has nothing but old treadmills and a boom box. Sometimes spending the extra money for the state of the art equipment, the flat screen tv’s, and the steam showers makes it worth it, because you can use it for more than just a place to workout. It can be a fun place to go, watch your favorite show, sporting events or a relaxing place to unwind in the sauna.
Does it offer a wide array of workout programs? Sometimes going to the gym everyday, working on the same machines can get tiresome. Many gyms offer classes like yoga, pilates, or kickboxing, which can switch up the mundane routine and keep you interested in your workout regime. Make sure you ask prior to signing up.
Make sure the odds are in your favor when you’re signing up for a new gym membership by taking these points into consideration before you commit to a location. Transform your opinion of going to the dreaded gym by making it a fun place to relax in a jetted shower, meet people, and improve your health and physical and mental appearance by having a cool gym to go to!
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Tags: Gym, winston salem gyms
Winston Salem Gyms:Lose Baby Weight – Look and Feel Great
June 24th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Fitness Tips. No Comments
After a stressful nine months of pregnancy, you are probably feeling pretty happy about being delivered. While you definitely have enough to think about at this point, your thoughts will inevitably turn to those experienced by the vast majority of postpartum mothers, how are you going to lose baby weight gained during pregnancy?
Giving birth is a life changing experience on many levels. It is also a time when you may notice some alarming changes to your body and decide to make a commitment to getting back into shape. When you set out to lose baby weight and get fit, it’s a commitment. But, when that commitment begins to become a lifestyle, you will be healthier and happier for the rest of your days!
To lose baby weight and keep it off, you are going to need to eat correctly. There are some good materials available to learn from on the Internet, and it is not complicated. Here are some examples of good eating habits;
You are going to begin eating nutrient rich lower calorie foods This means no processed carbohydrates. It’s amazing how much you are able to eat and still burn fat when you are eating the right foods.
You are going to eat smaller portions more often You will be astonished how this alone can crank up your metabolism and burn way more calories around the clock!
You are going to pay attention to the liquids you are drinking It’s more than just staying hydrated with water. Avoid super high caloric fruit drinks and sodas which are commonly laden with refined sugars.
It is much easier to make this part of your lifestyle than you might first think. Now if you do not only want to lose baby weight, but look good while doing it… you are going to have to exercise. It’s the combination of proper eating and exercise that makes a powerful change. You don’t just decrease your intake of calories, you have to burn them.
If you are going to do some aerobic activity to lose the baby weight, great! Stick to low impact aerobics and go to it. A minimum 3x a week, 4x would be better, 20 minutes or more. You will be turning up your metabolism and burning more calories.
But, if you really want to look and feel good you will join the gym and begin whole body weight resistance exercises. Yes, pumping iron. Nothing will firm, tone, burn calories, strengthen your muscles and bones like weight lifting will. The gym is no longer for “men only”. I have been in gyms across the US since the 1970’s and the membership is now 50% female, so you no longer have that excuse. In fact, most of these women joined a gym to lose baby weight.
Learn to eat properly, couple this with weight resistance exercise, and you will not only lose baby weight but you will quickly start to feel and look great.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1166806
Tags: exercise, Gym, Lose Baby Weight, winston salem gyms
Winston Salem Gyms:Get Big Muscles
June 23rd, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Fitness Tips. No Comments
You now know that building big muscles is not easy as showing up at the gym and throwing back a few protein shakes. Apply these simple steps in your next program and I promise that you will start building brand new muscle all over your body.
Do you know what it really takes to build big muscles? Do you think it’s as simple as buying a gym membership, training each body once per week, slamming back some protein shakes and trying to eat as much chicken and tuna possible? Viola, you are big enough to enter a bodybuilding contest. Can you imagine it was that easy to build big muscles? Unfortunately, your monthly gym membership, regular weight training workouts and casual eating habits, isn’t going to cut it.
Squatting and Deadlifting are known as two of the Big Three exercises that are responsible for power and mass muscle building. Consider these two animal exercises the kings of the jungle! Without them, you do not have a chance of survival. These two exercises alone, work out about 75% of your entire musculature, including your traps, shoulders, arms, back. Gluts, hams, calves and core muscles.
Not to mention the degree of intensity, squats and dead lifts force your body to release greater volumes of growth hormone, which results in bigger muscles all over your body. This spillover effect results in strength gains in all you other lifts which translates into a more muscular you! Squatting and dead lifting are especially critical for hard gainers because of the hormonal spikes affecting the entire body.If all you do is concentrate on building your puny muscles like arms and calves, then you will end up with exactly what you focus on – puny muscles!
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Tags: exercise, Gym, muscles, winston salem gyms
Winston Salem Gyms:Stay Healthy This Winter
June 22nd, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Health Tips. No Comments
It seems that with winter come delicious casseroles, creamy soups, rich desserts… and subsequently the added poundage. This year don’t let the spring and summer months of hard work and healthy eating go kaput. Although the abundance of fresh peaches and strawberries seems like a distant memory, you can still manage to eat healthy, keep your sexy sleek body and be ready to go come bikini season.
Don’t scrimp on the 5 servings of fruits and vegetables your body needs every day. “Make sure to shop for produce that is in season such as apples, oranges, tangerines, bananas, pumpkin, squash, grapes, pears and sweet potatoes,” says Julie who works for a Salt Lake City catering company who pride themselves in many of their healthy selections.
Winter is a great time for soups, just be sure to steer clear of the creamy and cheesy soups as these are full of unwanted calories. Instead stick to broth and tomato based soups that are full of lean meat and vegetables.
Although exercise may not seem entirely appealing during the cold winter months, it’s still a must. Whether you have a gym membership or put together a living room routine, make sure you are getting your heart rate up at least 30 minutes a day and that you are strengthening your muscles with weight training.
With shorter days and longer nights, it’s natural for your body to crave more rest. Try going to bed earlier and you’ll wake up refreshed and with more energy.
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Tags: exercise, Gym, winston salem gyms
Winston Salem Gyms:General Knowledge of Home Gym
June 21st, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Fitness Tips. 1 Comment
I am a twenty-four years old graphic artist. I used to have a problem about my weight because my job does not really require me to exercise. In fact, my hands, brain, and eyes are my most active body organs when I work. Being a graphic artist, I sit down a lot. I reached a point when I became overweight at 220 lbs. At first, I did not care about my weight. After all, there were many other people around me who were heavier. I got teased by my friends and my family because of my weight. I also felt that my weight hindered me from doing the things I wanted to do. I easily got tired when at one point I tried playing basketball with my friends.
I also got depressed because I was not getting more attention from the ladies. That is why I decided to take action. I started going to the gym to work out. At first, I did not want to. I felt that those who go to the gym are just plain vain. I was proven wrong because there many people in the gym that come from different walks of life. They also have different reasons why they go to the gym. Not everyone went there to get ripped muscles. In the first three months, I dropped 40 lbs by undergoing intense workout. I was happy with the result but I knew that it was not enough. I had to continue with exercising and working out. Going to the gym, however, was getting in the way of my work. My friend told me that instead of going to the gym regularly, I could come up with my own home gym.
I started buying dumbbells and barbells. They were the cheapest. These home gym equipment helped me strengthen and build my biceps and triceps. They also developed my shoulders. The next home gym equipment that I got was the bench. This equipment assisted in my weight training program. My home gym was slowly filling up but I knew that I had to get other materials. I got a simple treadmill for my home gym as opposed to the more specialized ones in the gym. I then purchased a bicycle. These machines improved my cardiovascular endurance.
I hade to give importance to my heart as well after a long time of not caring about the things I eat, especially the ones rich in fat. These machines also help me sweat a lot. They were instrumental to my weight loss. That is why I enjoy using them. They are tedious to use, but I reap the rewards of having them in my home gym. I am a believer of the adage, “no pain, no gain.” Coming up with a home gym is very practical. While you may spend more buying your own home gym equipment than what you are already spending in your gym membership fee, you save on a lot of things.
You have these equipment to yourself, contrary to the setup in the gym where you have to share the equipment to other users. With this in mind, you are also responsible for these equipment and how long they will last. Finally, you save time. With a home gym, you do not need to go to other places to work out and exercise. You can work out even if you are busy with your work.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1179969
Tags: exercise, General Knowledge of Home Gym, Gym, winston salem gyms