Mind Body Fitness Vs Zen Exercising

There is a new trend in the fitness industry called "mind-body fitness" (or various other names) which combine tough physical workouts with lighter and less stressful components for what some personal trainers are calling "a total mind-body solution".

In reality mind-body is a misnomer. People like to use the words mind-body (or mind-body-soul) whenever they want something to sound New Age in an effort to appeal to people's more religious/spiritual sentimentalities.

Now there is nothing wrong with being spiritual and trying to look for moral guidance. Moral guidance can teach you to be less lazy, less gluttonous, more proactive, more patient about your goals... more virtuous and less sinful = More Exercise and a Better Diet. So nothing wrong with trying to be moral and virtuous, especially when it comes to exercise.

However just because something says "Mind Body" doesn't mean you should buy it. If anything you should instantly recognize it as a slogan / catchphrase, the same as "Authentic", "Traditional", "Old School", or anything else that screams "New and Improved".

Take for example Yoga: Traditional Yoga sounds pretty good, doesn't it? So does Mind-Body Yoga. New and Improved Yoga just sounds like the person is trying too hard.

Mind Body Fitness really is a bit like Interval Training... except Interval Training alternates the difficult and easy exercises multiple times instead of just one each. One Stressful, One Less Stressful. But if you repeat them both 5+ times then it IS Interval Training.

Anywho, back to my main topic: Some examples of this more stressful/less stressful so-called 'mind-body' trend include:

1. Cy-Yo-One hour workout that combines spinning with yoga.
2. YogaFit-Stength, cardio and yoga merged into one.
3. Pilates-Yoga - The core strengthening benefits of Pilates combined with the full body + relaxation of yoga.
4. Extended Stretch Sequence - Personal trainers may leave the last 10-15 minutes of every few sessions for a good, thorough (and more than likely, much needed) stretch.
5. Jock Yoga - It's challenging enough for athletes but involves the relaxation that active people need to stay physically healthy.

So when you think of it you can basically combine any light exercise with any heavy exercise to make a combined 'Mind-Body' workout.

Examples:

• Weightlifting followed by Yoga
• Cycling or Spin Class followed by Stretching 
• Running followed by Surfing or Wind-Surfing.
• Helping Your Friends Move all their Furniture... followed by tossing around a frisbee or football.

So really, pretty darn easy to do these things. But do they really engage your mind? Not really. The latter component is really just more physically relaxing compared to the previous activity.

How to Add Less-Stressful Exercises into Your Workout

Easy. Think of a really physical stressful activity that you don't like doing, but you know you should do (eg. intense cardio for 45 minutes). Then add an activity you enjoy doing which is more relaxing but still keeps you moving (eg. 30 minutes of archery).

So anyone can do this on their own if they choose to. It takes only a little effort to add it your daily regimen and what you will discover is that the enjoyable exercises make the whole thing worthwhile and enjoyable.

What is ZEN EXERCISING?

Well Zen is the idea of really focusing on what you are doing. You avoid thinking about other things (distractions) and your goal is to get really into the activity you are doing to the exclusion of everything else. Doing this will result in a more intense workout, create better harmony between mind and body (and better hand-eye control and reflexes.

So Zen Exercising therefore is a very different thing from Mind Body Fitness (which is really more about stressful / non-stressful exercises) because Zen Exercising really gets more into your mental state while exercising.

Some people like to exercise when they're angry. The adrenaline rush from their anger makes them stronger and more energetic. However if you only exercise when angry you probably won't be exercising very often unless you have some serious anger management problems.

HOWEVER!

Some exercises are really good for developing your mental abilities. Examples:

#1. Zen Archery. Archery combines physical strength and balance with your ability to aim and concentrate on the target. Even your breathing comes into play because if you breathe into your chest and move your shoulders your aim will be knocked off, so you need to concentrate on breathing into your stomach.

#2. Tight-Rope Walking. If you're not paying attention to what you are doing you WILL fall.

#3. Acrobatics / Gymnastics / Figure Skating. Many balance oriented exercises (like surfing) require full concentration.

#4. Yogic Breathing. Concentrating on your breathing patterns is more difficult than you think.

Thus someone wanting to add Zen to their exercise routine needs to be adding things which will cause you to concentrate on your balance, aim and breathing.

Archery Testimonial

"Charles was great. Patient, gives good advice and his approach to setting up for a shot was helpful and resulted in consistent shots." 

- Cesar O.

Are Frozen Veggies Bad For You?

If you can get fresh vegetables, preferably picked, purchased and prepared for dinner all within 48 hours, then yes, that is absolutely healthy for you.

But lets pretend you can't always go to the grocery store to buy fresh vegetables. Maybe you like to stores veggies in your fridge and they tend to go bad easily. So you ultimately end up throwing out rotten onions and other things you meant to eat, but simply didn't get to them in time to save them from a grisly rotting demise.

So the question then is:

Are frozen veggies bad for you?

The short answer? NO.

They're actually quite healthy for you.

Frozen vegetables have a tendency to lose a bit of their taste, but all the nutrients are still there. Just frozen nutrients. They're perfectly healthy and if you toss them in a stewpot, boil them, toss in some cooked beef or chicken, and you've got yourself a healthy veggie and meat soup.

HOWEVER! Not all veggies can be frozen. Onions and potatoes for example, just don't freeze that well. But corn, peas, carrots, beets... perfect! Works great for berries too!

And what is better, if you get flash frozen vegetables you will discover they maintain the quality of the taste too. All the convenience, all the healthy goodness and all the great taste too!

Three Ways to get rid of Cellulite

First what exactly is cellulite?

It's actually just fat.

It is just fat that is arranged differently than the other fat on our bodies. Fat is separated by connective tissue and on a woman's body some of those tissues are honeycombed shaped. An excess amount of fat in these areas will bulge out and that is the cause of cellulite.

However contrary to popular belief, it is not caused by poor circulation, or toxins in the body, although
lack of exercise certainly is part of the problem. With age, women put on more weight and their skin becomes thinner and they exercise less. This causes an increased appearance and occurrence of cellulite.

But can it be "cured" naturally? Not really (because there is no cure for fat), but like all fat cellulite can be reduced. There is no miracle exercise or diet, just old fashioned fat burning to reduce the excess fat that is being stored, and weight training, to build muscle and tone the area. You really want full body exercises that cut down on all your extra fat stores and this will, with time and effort, reduce your cellulite. (Or prevent it altogether by exercising regularly.)

Tips to Reduce or Prevent Cellulite

1. Exercises that target the lower body
 

Squats (try with a side leg raise)

Lunges (try one foot on a chair)

Lying inner and outer thigh raises

Step Ups

Standing Leg Curls
2. Diet Changes to Reduce Cellulite
 

Cut out Junk food, eat more healthy greens

Clean up the diet to reduce the chance of unhealthy weight gain. Cut out fried and fatty food.

Drink more water
3. Add more Cardio plus a dash of weight lifting

Cardiovascular exercise burns fat in large amounts. A reduction in overall body fat will decrease the appearance of cellulite and prevent more from developing. Any exercise that can be maintained for 20 or more minutes and elevate the heart rate will achieve this result. It can be walking, cycling, dancing, rowing, boxing, power yoga, etc. You have to do this daily to get the benefits.

Add a dash (5 to 10 minutes daily) of weight lifting and you will also maintain your muscle tone and maximize your fat loss.

For many women cellulite has always been a problem, but don't stress about it. You can work our butts off and eat as healthy as possible, but ultimately self-acceptance, loving your bodies and noticing all of the positive attributes that you have to offer is more important than a little bit of weird looking fat!

Exercising while Watching TV

The average American spends less than 30 minutes daily exercising, but spends 3 hours watching television.

This means that if the average American simply exercised while watching television they would increase the amount of exercise they get by 700%.

With that in mind here is 10 Tips for Exercising while Watching TV...

1. Fidget while you watch your shows. Science has proven that people who fidget even while sitting down can burn up to 350 more calories per day. If your body is in motion, it is burning calories. (Note that this also can be done at work at your desk.)

2. Move your exercise equipment in front of the TV. If you have a treadmill stuck in the corner doubling as a clothing hanger, now is the time to dust it off and move it right in front of the TV. You cannot see around it, so you’ll be forced to get on and walk while your favorite shows are on. Keep some dumbbells / etc in the same room as the TV so you have something to do with your arms while you watch.

3. Set up a circuit training route in front of your TV. If your living room is large enough, you can set up “stations” that you go to in order to perform cardio routines while your shows are on. You can jump rope, walk in place, or use equipment like dumbbells, exercise balls or steps to get your heart rate up.

4. See how many pushups you can do during a show trailer or commercial. If you’re just starting out, then you might start with pushups during commercials, but once you become more adept at exercising, see how many you can do during a half hour or hour long show! If pushups are too tiring, do jumping jacks instead.

5. Do lunges while you watch TV. You can do lunges in place or walking lunges around the room while your shows are on.

6. Walk in place as you catch up on your favorite show. Walking in place requires no special equipment and it won’t put a strain on your body while you do it. Just march your legs up and down and rest during the commercials.

7. See how many squats you can do. Squats can be done in place or up against a wall in a sitting position. See how long you can hold it. Can you reach a certain number of squats before the next commercial?

8. Become a commercial crunch Queen (or King)! Crunches take less effort than a full sit up, but they help tone your abs a lot better. See how many crunches you can do during commercials or if you’re brave – during the length of the show itself!

9. Watch exercise shows on TV and move along with them. You don’t have to invest in a lot of expensive exercise videos if your budget is small. There are tons of free cable channels that have daily exercise shows on them for all levels – beginner through advanced.

10. Switch up your exercise routines with your TV watching habits. You do not watch the same TV show over and over every hour, do you? No – you switch it up between the news, a reality TV show, and maybe a sitcom or police drama. So do the same with your exercise routines, too. Switch it up so that you don’t get bored and are more likely to stick to it for the long haul.