Zone Training for beginners to maximize workouts

Like Training programs that are based upon maximum heart rate, Anaerobic threshold (AT)-based training zones are relative to varying levels of intensity, each of which serves different training objectives. Each of these zones develops essential physiological functions that contribute to good health and improved fitness, especially the possibility of weight loss. So you should never limit your training to a single metabolic zone, although you may exercise predominantly in one zone for a given time in order to reach specific training objectives.

Except for rank beginners or people with health related limitations, all levels of intensity are appropriate to ensure maximum cardiovascular development and results. How much and how often you work in each zone will depend on your athletic goals and your current level of fitness (continue reading for a more detailed description of the zones and their primary applications).

Let's look at the volume of the different zones that should be performed weekly. As a rule of thumb, 60 to 65 percent of your total workout time should focus on Zones 1 and 2; 30 to 35 percent on Zones 3 and 4; and about 5 percent on Zone 5. But you need not incorporate all zones into a single workout. In fact, you'll get better results from designing a range of different workouts throughout the week - including long, easy ones in Zones 1 and 2, and shorter, tougher ones that occupy more time in Zones 3, 4 and 5.

ZONE 1: Warm-up Heart-rate range: 60 to 70 percent of AT.

Training objectives: Encourage blood flow and burn fat.

What's happening: This is almost a pure aerobic state, which you can maintain almost indefinitely without experiencing any rise in blood lactate.

Feeling: Comfortable to talk and breathe through your nose.

How long: 10-minute warm-up progressing to higher intensity zones for 45 minutes or longer. Depending on your fitness level, you may need to start with a shorter workout and build up to 45 minutes, or do several shorter workouts throughout the day.

Zone 1 basics: This is a good place to launch your fitness program if you are a beginner or returning to exercise after taking off several months or more. It develops basic exercise technique, endurance and an aerobic base. Ideally, if you are new to exercise, or returning to training after a long break, you should stay in Zone 1 for about six weeks before moving up in zones. Zone 1 is also a good place to recover from tougher workouts.

ZONE 2: Aerobic Development

Heart-rate range: 70 to 90 percent of AT.

Training objectives: Build aerobic efficiency and maximize fat burning at a higher caloric rate.

What's happening: A small rise in blood lactate occurs, yet the body can process it without buildup.

Feeling: You can still converse and may have the urge to go faster. Breathing deepens a bit.

How long: 30 minutes (beginner); 90 minutes or longer (advanced).

Zone 2 basics: Before developing your lactate tolerance or increasing your AT, you should fully develop your "aerobic base," and this is a great zone for moving that effort forward. Noticeable improvement in this zone generally takes about six weeks of consistent training. But don't worry: As you become more efficient and fit, you'll be able to work out faster in every zone. For fit people, Zone 2 is also a good place for active recovery.

ZONE 3: Aerobic Endurance Heart-rate range: 90 to 100 percent of AT.

Training objectives: Increase endurance. Here, you push your AT up to higher intensity by training your body to tolerate more lactate in the blood.

What's happening: As intensity increases, not all lactate produced in the cells can be shuttled back into the metabolic cycle. Lactate levels in the blood begin to rise and, with time, fatigue sets in.

Feeling: Breathing becomes noticeable, but not too difficult; conversation is restricted to short sentences.

How long: 20 minutes (beginner); one hour or more (advanced).

Zone 3 basics: Building endurance at your AT through long intervals (four to 10 minutes) at threshold range will help raise your AT and slowly develop your body's tolerance of lactate. This training adaptation also allows your body to burn fat more efficiently. The idea here is to rest between intervals with your heart rate recovering in your aerobic zone and then increase intensity again up to your threshold.

ZONE 4: Anaerobic Endurance Heart-rate range: 100 to 110 percent of AT.

Training objectives: Increase athletic ability by improving lactate tolerance. Here you're pushing AT and VO2 max (your body's highest ability to utilize oxygen), challenging the heart to work longer, and increasing cardiac output (more blood is being pumped with each stroke, thus requiring fewer strokes per minute).

What's happening: Your body switches into primarily using glycogen or carbohydrate to fuel its need for energy, and your blood-lactate levels dramatically increase.

Feeling: Breathing becomes heavy, difficult and uncomfortable. You may also experience "muscle burn" because of lactate buildup.

How long: Five minutes (beginner); 30 minutes (advanced).

Zone 4 basics: Run at an aerobic pace, then speed up or increase resistance until your heart beats at 110 percent of your AT range. Maintain this level for one to four minutes. Reduce the pace until your heart returns slightly below AT, but not completely back to the aerobic zone. Then repeat the interval.

ZONE 5: Speed and Power Heart-rate range: 110 percent of AT to MHR.

Training objectives: Increase athletic ability by improving neurological response, exercise mechanics, speed and muscle power.

What's happening: Your body is burning the last remaining fuel (glycogen) in your muscles and cannot sustain this maximum effort for more than a few seconds without succumbing to exhaustion.

Feeling: Extremely difficult and uncomfortable. You'll feel breathless and may hear pounding in your chest. You'll feel an intense desire to slow or stop.

How long: Typically several seconds.

Zone 5 basics: Your work here consists of sprints and very intense, short intervals (up to one minute). Although you can come in and out of Zone 5 several times during the course of a single workout, spending more than 10 percent of your total workout time in this zone increases your risk of injury. If you've done a significant amount of Zone 5 work, be sure to add recovery time (meaning a day or two of rest or working in Zones 1 and 2) before returning to Zones 4 and 5.

Progress Makes Perfect By using your AT as a marker for aerobic exercise, you can base your training on a highly individualized fitness parameter, without having to guess about percentages of MHR. This lets you take advantage of every exercise session, knowing you are making the most of your time and energy. And as your fitness improves, so will your AT - one of the best indicators of cardiovascular health, fitness and overall vitality.

---

Live Lean Today offers professional online fitness trainer programs and great deals on products from Scifit and more.

Staying Healthy While on the Road

Are you having trouble with travel related health problems? Want a vacation from your colds, flu, and other illnesses? You will perform much better for work, and have a lot more fun during pleasure vacations if you feel healthy while traveling. Here are a few tips for staying healthy and even achieving greater results while on the road.

Traveling can be a great way to get a rest from your normal routine and enjoy some new exercises. As a fitness trainer, I have found that on the road I typically have more time to workout if I chose to since I don't have the time with family and others as I do at home. Your traveling workout can become a time to get even better training sessions.

Get some sleep. In able to head of jet lag, try scheduling your east bound flights early and west bound flights late. This will ensure the least amount of disruption in your sleeping patterns, and in turn will preserve your travel health. Sleep is one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of fitness and weight loss.

Have produce handy. You can fend off gastrointestinal problems by having high fiber foods rather than stopping off at the fast food restaurants for burgers and fries.

Be germ conscious. It is no secret that planes are full of germs. Pack sanitizer and remember to wash up before eating.

Drink water. Planes create an arid environment that can dry out the mucous membranes, skin, and throat. Dehydration can also set in. Sports drinks can also replenish sodium and potassium that are lost in sweat.

Have extra vitamins on hand. Travel can be stressful, and extra vitamins will help to keep your immune system functioning at a high level.

This information certainly isn't breaking news, but it is amazing how many people are caught up in the business of being busy. Make taking care of yourself a priority at home and on the road. It will only serve you better when you need it most.

You can utilize fitness equipment that is easy to store in a suit case like resistance bands. Also, most hotels have a workout room. Even the smallest of workout equipment centers can allow you to get the workout you want.

For information about a fitness plan and supplements, consult with a personal fitness trainer and learn how a coach can help you get fit.

---

LiveLeanToday offers online fitness trainer, Tag Heuer Sunglasses, and more.

Alpine Climbing and Fitness

I have written before in this publication about indoor rock climbing and its fitness benefits. Now I want to turn my attention to the sport of "alpine climbing" and its variations, and how this activity can become a part of a fitness lifestyle that is truly in concert with what we call the "inner athlete." Another term for alpine climbing is simply "mountain climbing". Though most people would think of mountain climbing as something that would involve a very high peak and trekking through snow to get to the top, the purpose of this article is to show the value of participating even in less extensive climbs that test fitness and require some planning, but can be done in a short period of time or even over the course of an afternoon. As a personal trainer I was always looking for things that would effectively motivate my clients to adhere to a fitness program and reach their goals. Whether the goal was weight loss, building muscles, toning up their bodies or having more energy, I knew that the "Inner Athlete" that we mention frequently on our website exists in everybody, so it was up to me to find an activity that allowed a client's version of that inner athlete to come out. Training to get their body fit enough to climb a mountain was frequently the ticket. It is a very simple idea: get your body from the bottom of the mountain to the top, and once you are up there, enjoy the view and the fruits of your labor. A lot of clients were really intrigues by the idea, so we built their cardio programs and resistance training programs around it.

As I write this article, recently I have been riveted by the current Discovery Channel series "Everest, Beyond the Limit". The series follows the journey of a group of climbers led by a professional guide as they attempt to reach the summit of the world's highest mountain. In the series, viewers are treated for really the first time with EXACTLY what it looks and sounds like way up at those rarely traveled altitudes. In addition, a TV series has never before focused on the actual life these climbers lead as they spend almost 2 months on the mountain itself, getting used to the altitude and building the specific fitness required to achieve the summit. The hardship these people endure to reach their goal is almost beyond the understanding of most people, as the prolonged exposure to the increasing altitudes of Everest causes the climbers' minds and bodies to gradually shut down and stop working properly. It is enough to make even a pretty experienced fitness professional and adventurer like myself question the value of doing something that extreme to my body. Even having done some alpine climbing myself, including summiting Oregon's Mt. Hood (11,249ft) and Washington's famous Mt. St. Helens (8,364 ft), I still found it tough to imagine wanting to put my body through something so tortuous. The altitudes on the mountains I have climbed are only around 1/3 as high as those on Everest (29,035ft)

That's not what this article is about, however. Only a few thousand people in the entire world have ever stepped onto the summit of Everest, but virtually anyone can find a "climbing" adventure that suits their fitness and personality. The experience of the thrill of climbing is something that is realistically within anyone's means when actually trained for. Most people have just never really considered it possible or know where to start. Looking beyond the extreme nature that is present on Everest, the sport of "mountain climbing" can be participated in by almost anyone with a solid basic level of fitness. There some real and absolutely extraordinary fitness benefits that extreme climbers have achieved by the time they are done on Everest, and a version of those benefits are within the reach of "normal" people. These are people who may want the adventure of climbing a mountain to motivate them, but can realistically be achieved on a much smaller scale attainable by virtually anyone.

Physiologically, climbing is one of the most effective aerobic activities that can be performed. The steady state effort required to train for and perform climbs builds tremendous fitness in the heart and circulatory system. It is also typically low impact and easy on the joints which makes it an activity that virtually anyone can perform at some level.

Psychologially, climbing has a typically very simple appeal: getting to the top of a mountain feels good and is a very easy goal to define. "I made it to the top" is a very attractive thing to feel. Everybody wants to feel a sense of accomplishemnt in their lives, and too often our fitness success or failure is defined by the weight scale. All shapes and sizes of, people can climb, and the mountain doesn't care what size you are, it only cares if you made it to the top of it or not. So, best of luck in your climbing adventures, no matter at what altitude you finish!

---

Live Lean Today offers perfect options for those looking for online fitness trainer, Tag Heuer sunglasses, and more.

Why Core Fitness is Important

If you've listened to the buzz around the fitness world lately or perused the latest workout books, you've probably heard the experts referencing core fitness in some shape or form. Traditionally, strength training has been dominated by exercises focused on isolating the muscles of the arms and legs. In fact, if you look at many of the weight machines that have become popular in modern gyms, you'll notice that they require you to sit or recline while you use them.

While these machines will effectively help you build the muscles that they target, the problem is that, in real life, we don't use our muscles that way. We lift a box from the floor to a shelf, swing a golf club, push our children on the swing set, or climb a rock wall. In fact, the vast majority of the things we do require all of the muscles in our bodies to function together and be coordinated through our mid-sections, or our "core."

While those activities may make the use of core muscles seem very obvious, this area, made up of the muscles of our midsection, are actually responsible for quite a few of the more subtle functions as well, including posture, balance and stability.

A weakened core will often result in poor posture and stability, yet we don't necessarily feel the results of it in areas that show us a direct cause and effect correlation. For example, poor posture, due to a weakened core, might allow our hips to slip out of alignment resulting in knee pain. In fact, quite a few of the chronic muscle and joint pain issues that Americans are suffering with today stem from a weakened core.

It is no wonder, then, that exercise science has taken a dramatic shift in recent years to include the core in strength training regimes. Now, rather than using a machine to first exercise your legs and then your arms, trainers are suggesting that their clients use free weights or bands to combine exercises such as a squat to overhead press. By linking the two, people are forced to transition the exercise movement through their core, and the core muscles in turn help to maintain good posture throughout the exercise. The end result is that we are exercising in a fashion that mimics the movements that we use in everyday life, while creating better posture and increasing our stability and balance.

---

Shop.liveleantoday.com offers great deals on SciFit products and legal ephedra diet pills.

Cardio Threshold Training - Medium Intensity Days

The Plan: The threshold workout or medium intensity workout is the #1 workout that most cardio athletes and enthusiasts miss in their programs. The goal of the threshold workouts is to work at the max at which your aerobic metabolism produces energy. Because you have another energy source called your anaerobic metabolism, you have the ability to train harder or faster than a proper threshold workout. Most people thinking that they need to be killing themselves to be getting a good workout never slow down enough to train their body effectively.

Your aerobic metabolism is the way your body burns fat and carbs as energy with the use of oxygen. The only way to optimally perform in cardio or endurance races, as well as, achieve your weight loss goals is to train your aerobic metabolism to be as fast as it can. The perfect workout for weight loss, 5k training, and running a marathon.

How do we find the proper intensity to train at? The only way to know for sure that you are training at the right intensity is through having your own personal heart rate profile. With Live Lean Today's online fitness plans, you receive your own heart rate zones to optimize each workout. Most people not watching their heart rate are way off to what they think their heart rate is to what it actually is.

Threshold workouts range from 15-30 min. in total session time. With Live Lean Today, your online personal trainer will work with you to create the right program and progression for your threshold workouts. If you can go longer than 30 min than we need to go faster. What is important is highest rate of energy and heart rate that you can sustain for the entire threshold workout.

The Results: Threshold hold workouts train your body to burn more fat and carbohydrates as energy. This is another way of saying you have a faster metabolism. As it relates to performance, with threshold training you create a faster pace. Especially, if you have found that you can't seem to increase your running pace, threshold workouts are needed in your program.

After effective threshold workouts, the biggest difference you will instantly feel is how much faster you perform at lower heart rates. Your heart rate profile will change as you progress and improve. This is why it is so important for a cardio expert to be monitoring your progress and making adjustments. You now have the ability to run faster for the same distances and times that were once a struggle.

Your weight loss results occur while you are resting. If you have ever said you wanted a faster metabolism than threshold workout are for you. Your body will burn more calories of fat 24 hours a day 7 days a week after your body improves from threshold workouts.

The Difference: Live Lean Today is the only online personal trainer program to have precise heart rate training programs to optimize your results. Training in the right heart rate zone makes each workout as effective as it can be. The fastest way to your results is through proper heart rate training and progression.

---

Find the best online fitness trainers and LG Science products at LIveLeanToday.com

A Fit Body Burns Calories and Loses Weight- Pretty Simple

A common strategy for people trying to lose weight is to focus on calories, so they make calorie burning the biggest aim of all their workouts, with the added goal of being in the "fat burning zone". See our new page on The 7 Steps to New Year's Weight Loss. People often do very long and repetitive cardio sessions — walking or jogging for an hour or more at a relatively low, even level of intensity. But this isn't necessarily the most efficient way to burn off unwanted fat, and it's certainly not the most effective way to achieve and maintain a strong, lean body over time.

To do that, you need to boost your metabolism, which regulates your body's ability to become (and stay) lean. And shifting your metabolism depends on improving your fitness and supporting your goal with good nutrition, which is 70% of your ability to get the results you want.

When your body turns food and oxygen into energy — something it does throughout the day, virtually all day — it burns calories. That process takes place in your cells' mitochondria, which need oxygen to burn those calories efficiently. So the more oxygen your body is capable of processing per minute (a function of your VO2 max — more on that in a moment), the more calories it can grind through on a given day.

In other words, being fit helps your body run more like a finely tuned machine — one that's naturally inclined to eliminate excess weight.

"People who have a higher level of fitness burn more calories even while at rest and asleep," Hyman says. Exact numbers are difficult to nail down because each person's resting metabolic rate is unique (based on muscle mass, age, genetics and even climate). Still, some experts estimate that fit, muscular adults can burn an extra hundred calories or more per day — while at rest.

It's important to note that in the course of their daily activities and workouts, fit adults can and do burn a couple thousand more calories daily than unfit, more sedentary ones.

And here's the beauty of it: Fit people are naturally more inclined toward activity and tend to exert themselves at higher levels. That's because exercise and activities of all kinds become easier as your fitness improves, and even intense levels of exertion become more comfortable. All of which makes calorie-burning activities a much more appealing proposition, thus further increasing active inclinations.

This is what's known as a "benevolent circle" (as opposed to a vicious one) — and the more fit you become, the more you can take advantage of its fat-burning effects.

---

LIveleantoday offers high quality online personal trainer services and more information about our 7 Steps to New Years Weight Loss.

Lower Stress While Driving

Have you ever noticed how stressed you get behind the wheel of a car. We get upset when the person in front of us is driving to slow, traffic is backed up, a car cuts us off, or wishing the kids in the back would settle down. As we know stress causes many of the health problems we face today. Just think how a reduction in your stress while driving will make you healthier, especially when you think how many times we drive everyday.

bmwIf you live in an area similar to my parents in South Dakota you may be thinking to yourself what stress while driving. This article is for the rest of the world that has to deal with traffic, road construction, and more learner permit drivers than we know what to do with. The average person spends 1.5 hours a day behind the wheel of a car. Since we are not going to being spending this time exercising we can learn to lower our stress and improve our health while we drive.

The first secret to lower your stress while driving is to identify what cause you stress while behind the wheel. Most people have some daily event that causes their stress levels to rise. For some it is when they are stuck in traffic, getting cut off, changing lanes, or bad weather. These stresses are usually caused by fear that you may not be aware of. For instance when you hit gridlock in traffic is it really the traffic that upsets you or the fact that you are going to be late. You may find though you get upset at the traffic that it is really an underlining issue that causes your stress. The more you understand what causes you stress behind the wheel the better you can make a better choice to distress while driving.

I used to train a psychiatrist who talked about that one of the most common syptoms she would treat was road anxiety. She helped these people by having them eat a candy bar on their way home from work when they were the most stressed. What she didn’t know was that the reason people are so irritable on the way home from work comes a lack of proper eating habits. You body wants 5 small meals a day when it doesn’t get it your body finds unhealthy ways to get energy. In the case of our rush hour drivers, because they typically eat 3 meals or less, they have low blood sugar while driving home which causes them to be quickly go to anxiety and rage. You will find as your blood sugar is stable from eating throughout the day, your stress levels reduce substantially.

Tips for Better Stress Free Driving

1. Start your trip earlier: It will always take longer than you think to get some where, especially if you live in a big city. Most people’s stress rises because they didn’t give themselves enough time reach their destination if things don’t go perfectly. If you start early than you won’t be as bothered when traffic situations happen.

2. Relax while driving: Use the time while driving to unwind and reflect about your day. If you have a lengthy commute home spend the time being alone with yourself instead of racing to get home as fast as you can to only have plenty of stuff do once you get their. You have an opportunity to take a few minutes out of the rat race while you drive home.

3. Be courteous: We all hate it when someone cuts us off though I can’t throw the first stone from never cutting people off myself. A person once told me that how would you feel if that person was rushing a dying person to the hospital and that if they make it on time the person would survive. Every time I see a person driving dangerously I wish them well and hope that their need to drive fast has benefit for them. This works the same during accidents which if you live in Phoenix is an everyday occurrence. What calms me down is I truly hope the people are ok. Though I don’t like traffic slowing down, I don’t people hurt either. I find I lose my anger when I think of the poor people who are having it worse than my delay home.

---

Shop.liveleantoday.com offers the latest diet ephedrine pill and nitric oxide supplement at discount prices.