Monitor Your Body Fat Levels For Results
A very important aspect in really finding out if you're on the right track or not, is to monitor your body fat levels. Go to your local sports store and buy some body fat calipers to test your fat levels. Record these levels along with your body weight each week and start to monitor these changes. You want to make sure you're building quality muscle mass and burning that extra body fat. By monitoring the changes of your lean body weight, you will be able to tell whether or not you are replacing adipose tissue (fat) with hard earned muscle. Lean body weight (muscle) can be found by subtracting your body weight with your body fat weight. You body fat weight is calculated by multiplying your weight with your body fat percentage. Tips on measuring your body fat levels: 1. Take all measurements on the right side of your body. 2. Carefully identify and recall your measuring site for accuracy. 3. Take the measurement when skin is dry and lotion-free. 4. Do not measure immediately after exercise due to shifts in body fluid. There are three main sites for measuring your body fat for males: 1. Chest - Fold is taken 1/2 the distance between the anterior auxiliary line and nipple. 2. Abdominal - Fold is taken vertical 2 cm lateral to the umbilicus. 3. Thigh - Fold is lifted on anterior aspect of thigh midway between inguinal crease and proximal border of patella. Body weight is shifted to left foot. There are three main sites for measuring your body fat for females: 1. Triceps - Fold is taken midway between the shoulder and elbow joint, on the center of the back of the arm. 2. Waist - Fold is taken diagonally above the iliac crest along the anterior auxiliary line. 3. Thigh - Fold is lifted on anterior aspect of thigh midway between inguinal crease and proximal border of patella. Body weight is shifted to the left foot. Kris Bierek is a fitness specialist for the health and fitness site http://www.ShapeFit.com where you can find FREE fitness tools like fitness newsletters, dieting tips, weight loss help, exercise questions and a free fitness analysis to help you get into the best shape of your life!
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Performing Potentially Dangerous Gym Exercises
How do you know that the exercises you are performing are safe? Found below are some potentially dangerous exercises with suggestions on how they should be done correctly or avoided completely.
Sets And Reps - The High And Low Weight Workout
Big weights! Wicked pump! I always get caught between two minds whenever I hit my workout at the gym. One side of me says to lift heavy to get big and the other says that form should matter more than my weight poundage. This is an issue that used to cause me to get quite twisted every time I would prep a workout training cycle. I know each technique has its merits, so I used to be swayed back and forth never staying with either method long enough to see the results. With the low weights I get to move some decent poundage's and my ego gets gratified but alas, there is no killer pump. When I stick to the perfect form method with lighter weights I get great pumps but I never feel like I am really working hard enough to get anywhere because my weights are so light. So in my search for the perfect weight workout, I decided to combine the two methods and get the best of both worlds.
STRETCHING; Why Should I?
This short article looks at some of the tips, tricks and helpful hints you can use to help prevent sports injury and do-away with stiff, aching muscles & joints. It's been put together to answer some of the more common questions we get regarding stretching and sports injury, and details a number of useful sports injury prevention techniques. I hope it proves useful to you.
How to Supercharge Your Energy Levels through Exercise
Your energy levels will depend on several factors, including genetics, nutrition, sleep habits, and emotional stress. Some of these you have no control over But there is one VERY important factor that you do have control over and that is your ability to take part in physical exercise.
How NOT to Return from an Exercise Break
Several sites, including this one, recommend that you take a break every 8 weeks after working out with weights. But how do you come back from that break and get back into your routine?
After WLS: Walking for Wellness
Step for step, mile for mile, walking is the best cardiovascular activity you can include as part of your weight loss surgery success story. Walking is easy, accessible, inexpensive, individual and effective. It is the gold-star sport for real people with real lives. Formerly stigmatized as cheap transportation and a senior citizens' sport it is now a credible and fashionable form of exercise. And it's been around for a long time ? anthropoids stood upright and put one foot in front of the other thousands of years ago and we haven't looked back since.
How to Get Better Exercise Results By Improving Hydration
Water and Exercise
How to Maximize Your Fitness Results
What I am about to reveal to you can make a drastic change in the out come of your fitness results. Many of us are willing to dedicate a decent number of hours each and every week to our workout plan. But quite often we do not always see the results we had hoped for. Looking at the big picture, the average fitness enthusiast only has about 3 to 6 hour per week to dedicate to their workouts. In a 168 hour week 3 to 6 hours is not really a large number of hours. We can drastically increase the number of hour we are exercising by practicing what is called multitasking. In the fitness industry combining exercise with your daily tasks is referred to as Accidental Exercise.
Benefits of a Good Training Journal
Most of us have trained at one part in our lives. Chances are if you've ever taken your training seriously you've used a training journal or a training log.
Success Versus Failure in the Exercise Department
Success is what you are prepared to make of yourself every single day. That one cold morning when you want to roll over but instead get up and go to workout, is a defining moment. Success boosts self-confidence and is self perpetuating. We all know it, thrive on it and love it.
Defeating Back Pain Forever
Back pain, one of the most common physical, and debilitating ailments today, affects 70% - 80% of us at one time or another in our lives. However, as a result of the obesity epidemic, that number continues to climb. So if you are suffering or have suffered from back pain, you are not alone!
How to Avoid Using Your Home Gym as a Clothes Rack
So here's the situation?
Different Exercises Schedule to Combat Diabetes, Arthritis, and Obesity!
Different Health Problems generally do not allow us to do traditional exercises. Above all, one type of exercise cant be effective to each group facing different challenges. But despite all these different challenges, the general rule applies to all: Extra Effort and Persistence.
Top 10 Reasons To Exercise In The Morning
If I had to pick a single factor that I thought
Mom, How F.I.T.T. Is Your Workout?
Moms don't have the time or desire to mess around with complicated workouts that don't get results. If you want real Mommy Muscle you need a plan that's based on principles not infomercials and advertising.
Lose Weight - Stay Fit and Stick With It!
Health and nutrition experts continually advise us that the more we exercise the healthier we will be. In magazines, the doctor's office or on television we are never far from information showing us how to exercise, what to eat and how to lose weight. One constant rule, in the expert's opinion, is that regular physical activity is an essential element to successful weight loss and fitness maintenance.
Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts: Part 4
Welcome to article number 4 in our series "Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts". In this article we are going to talk about how bodybuilders tend to create massive muscle imbalances and what you can do to not be one of them.
If you missed the first article, you can read it by clicking on the link below.
Here's a breakdown of the articles to look for:
1. Article:1 - Choosing The WRONG Exercises
2. Article:2 - Training Variations for Pain Relief and Maximum Results
3. Article:3 - Targeted Stretching
4. Article:4 - Targeted Exercises
5. Article:5 - Rest, Recovery, and Injury Prevention
Article:4 - Targeted Exercises
What is a Targeted Exercise and Why You Need To Be Doing Them?
While performing three different exercises for each area of the chest may sound "targeted" and it may work great for targeting the chest itself? this is NOT what we mean by targeted?
What we are talking about is choosing exercises with more than just size increases in mind? remember, there is far more to muscle than just how it looks? You can be really big, but also weak, slow and inflexible.
To drive this point home some more, remember the "Turtle Back Syndrome" we covered in article #1? So many body builders are plagued with this gruesome condition and they don't even know it! Are you?
The Turtle Back condition is a direct result of too much focus on building up the pecs and lats and not enough focus on the upper back. Also, the lack of focus on flexibility in the chest and shoulders makes it even worse?
Not only does this look stupid, but it sets you up for back, neck and shoulder problems like rotator cuff tears and the like? and I know you don't want any of those!
So by targeted, we mean exercises that will not just develop muscle strength and size, but more importantly work towards correcting muscle imbalances which will mean less pain and missed workouts, better performance and function, and most of all better and balanced total body development!
So How Do You Find Out Which Ones You NEED To be Doing?
As we discussed in the previous article on "Targeted Stretching", it's very important to know before hand what stretches you actually NEED to be doing? the same applies to exercises?
and the ONLY way to find out what specific areas you need to target is to perform physical evaluations so you can pin point the weak muscles that need strengthening and the tight muscles that need stretching.
We have developed a series of simple assessments you can do yourself to identify the muscles imbalances you have?
and while they are intended for people suffering from back pain or sciatica, as a bodybuilder you stand to benefit greatly because you train so hard, you are far more likely to experience injuries like bulging and herniated discs, rotator cuff tears, knee pain, etc?
Plus, even if you don't have any pain or injuries now, it would be very wise to learn how to assess yourself so you can target your training now before you create an injury, which not only will slow down your training and progress, but it can also become a life-long struggle with pain and a serious loss of your strength, size and fitness.
So be sure to check out our website to learn more about how you can quickly and easily identify and eliminate any muscle imbalances you have.
Sweating Vacation
It seems like everyone is concerned about putting on the pounds over the annual holiday season, but what about summer vacations? We spend the greater part of the new year trying to shed the weight gained from an over-indulgence of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pies and various other sweets in order to slip into that new bikini or eliminate the gut before shedding the shirt at the beach. What happens when you reach your destination of summer frolicking? Toss your diet out the window and reward yourself with excess? Stay loyal to your eating and exercise plan? Somehow manage to find a happy medium? I was faced with these questions when I embarked on a weeklong excursion of bliss to Kona Village on the Big Island of Hawaii.
5 Essential Walking Exercise Tips
Walking exercise is one of the easiest ways to get in shape and burn fat. In fact, mile for mile, you can burn as many calories walking as you would jogging. It's also one of the best stress relieving exercises that anyone can do, regardless of fitness level.
Best Abdominal Exercises to Get the Sexy Six Pack You Deserve
The key to getting those sexy abdominals lies mainly on what abdominal exercises you choose to perform.
|
