At Home Workouts - The Workout Solution to a Busy Lifestyle

There's a common misconception out there that to really be fit that you must spend hours upon hours a week exercising. It's simply not true. In fact, many people buy into this concept so much, that they often over train and sabotage their own efforts. Not only is working out for several hours a week usually not a good idea, but for most of us, it's just not possible.

The solution? Full body workouts and at home workouts that can be performed quickly and efficiently.

Let's face it, we're all extremely busy. Time is our most precious resource. We're all struggling with multiple responsibilities. We barely have time to breathe. Who has time to spend an hour or more a day, four to five times a week exercising?

So what happens? Most of us skip working out all together because we have a preconceived notion that we must spend hours a week exercising for it to be "worthwhile". That's simply not true. In fact, it's just another excuse in a long line of excuses that people come up with to NOT exercise.

I can tell you that as a father of two with a demanding job and a host of other responsibilities, I have an acute awareness of how precious each minute of the day really is. There's hardly a free minute in my day. Up at 6AM and asleep around 11:30, my days are jam-packed.

When I was younger (and less educated), I used to spend hours a week at the gym. Five days a week, 60-70 minutes a day working out. I'd follow the routines I'd find in the bodybuilding magazines I used to read religiously.

That's no longer possible. Not only is not possible, but it's not the ideal way to build lean muscle and lose fat.

With age comes wisdom (or at least I like to tell myself that!). My approach to fat loss and building lean muscle and specifically full body fat loss workouts has completely changed. Back then I didn't believe in at home workouts and a full body workout was something only girls did.

Here are some basic concepts that I've learned in my years as a trainer and former personal training studio owner that should be helpful to any ultra-busy person that is looking to lose fat and build lean muscle, but has little time to commit to exercising:

Skip the gym.

Save your membership and gas money and workout from home. All you need is a 10x10 space and your own body. There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of exercises you can do with either a simple pair of dumbbells or no weights at all. Most people completely underestimate the power of body-weight only resistance exercises.

Skip the social hour and shorten your workout.

If you already have a gym membership and don't want to "waste" it or have no room in your home, by all means, go to your gym. However, keep one thing in mind: shorter, more intense workouts are the way to go. Most people that go to the gym go for the social aspect. The gym is not a bar! Most gym workouts look like this: Do a set, walk around, do a set, talk to your buddy, do a set, repeat. Stop wasting valuable time and get to lifting! If your goal is to perform a fat loss workout, you can be done in about 15 minutes!

Stay focused and stay intense and make the most of your full body workout!

Anywhere, anytime.

Being on vacation or on a business trip or at the park with your family is no longer an excuse for missing a workout. Learn how to do body-weight only workouts and you never have an excuse to miss one. I keep a set of workout clothes and sneakers in my trunk, so I'm ready to go whenever I need to get a workout in. Remember, you can get a great, fat burning workout in under 15 minutes.

Dumbbells.

Too many people, especially men, love to use barbells with heavy weights on them. I haven't used a barbell in over two years (or a bench for that matter) and I don't plan to. Dumbbells allow you to string together a range of movements in one exercise to make the most efficient use of your time (such as the squat-curl-press). I recommend buying a pair of adjustable dumbbells for home. They take up little space and are sufficient for most people as they go from 5 to 55 pounds in one set of dumbbells.

Skip the long work outs.

Make the most efficient use of your time.

Focus on short, intense, full body workouts, 3 or 4 times a week and you'll be amazed at the results you'll get for such little time spent. Even for the busiest people, the formula above will not only help you with your fat loss goals and build lean muscle, but it will save you time. Time you can spend NOT working out!

A full body at home workout can be the key to your success!

Can You Really Lose Weight Eating Noodles?

I 'm always looking for new ways to help my readers reach their fat loss goals. I recently wrote about the benefits of intermittent fasting and received some good feedback. In fact, I've been doing a 24 hour fast for the last three months or so and the results, when combined with my training system, have been pretty good.

This week I want to talk to you about the Miracle Noodle. I stumbled upon the Miracle Noodle a couple of weeks ago while I was doing some research. I was intrigued enough to place an order and after trying it for myself I wanted to provide you with a quick review. I believe many of you may find this product helpful when it comes to reaching your goals.

This review is based on not just my taste buds, but the taste buds of my wife and children as well, so you'll have the experience of four tasters to draw from!

Miracle Noodles are available in various physical formats: Angel Hair, Fettucini, Orzo Pasta, Linguini and several others. My wife used the Miracle Noodle in two recipes. One was chinese food style chicken and broccoli where she used the noodles instead of rice. The second was with home made tomato sauce.

Our collective verdict? My wife loved them. I thought they were pretty good and my kids gave them one "thumbs up" (as opposed to two).

Now if you're expecting the Miracle Noodle to taste like good old fashioned pasta, you'll be dissapointed. They don't taste like any pasta, wheat or otherwise. The truth is, they have virtually no taste at all.

These "noodles" are made out of konjac root, the source for glucomannan, which is used as a natural fiber in some nutritional supplements. The konjac root is not a new food. It has been used throughout Asia as part of a healthy diet, so it's not new to the food supply.

Glucomannan creates a feeling of satiety or fullness through its water-binding effects. By creating a thick gel, glucomannan delays gastric emptying and slows the release of sugar into the bloodstream, which helps to lower levels of insulin and blood glucose. Additionally, glucomannan improves blood-lipid profiles and can lower systolic blood pressure. Because of these effects,glucomannan can greatly benefit individuals with metabolic syndrome or diabetes. But this isn't the only benefit of the Miracle Noodle.

Turning this root into well known pasta shapes such as angel hair and traditional noodles and using them as a replacement for good old fashioned traditional pasta is a new and unique idea. The noodles themselves look like pasta and even have a somewhat similar texture as pasta, but, and here's the great news, they contain zero calories and no carbs!

Some people may consider the lack of taste a problem. If you're expecting Miracle Noodles to taste like spaghetti, you'll be disappointed. The key thing to remember when preparing Miracle Noodles is to let the sauce carry the taste and recognize that the noodles themselves are basically there to soak up whatever flavor the sauce provides.

If you're looking to lose weight, the Miracle Noodle is a GREAT enabler. The great thing about eating glucomannan is that it causes you to feel full (physically) before you've eaten too many calories. If you use it to replace traditional pasta, the amount of calories that will be reduced could be dramatic (around 500 calories or more). So in effect you can have your pasta while you're working on losing weight at the same time.

It will also reduce the glycemic index of the meal considerably, and that's great news for anyone working on controlling their blood sugar levels (especially beneficial for diabetics).

I almost forgot...Miracle Noodles don't even need to be cooked!

I would highly recommend the Miracle Noodles, especially for those who just can't live without their pasta. It might not taste like traditional pasta, but if you use a good sauce, you just might not miss your spaghetti too much.

 

You can try them out here: Miracle Noodle!

This Habit Can Help You Be Successful

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Achieving your fitness and fat loss goals should not be approached from just a workout/nutrition perspective, but also from the mind/body perspective. So much of what determines your success in any endeavor you choose to pursue has to do with your mindset and the perspective you take in achieving your goals. The battle is truly won or lost inside your own head.

We all live in two "worlds". The physical world and the world of your own mental attitude. I truly believe that your mental attitude attracts to you those aspects of the physical world which are in sync with your mental attitude. In other words, if you are constantly pessimistic, you're going to attract misery and "bad luck". If you truly believe losing that weight or getting that six pack is impossible, you will never, ever be successful. If you're enthusiastic and have a positive mental attitude, you will attract happiness and good fortune and it's a vital first step in accomplishing your goals.

This all also applies to reaching whatever your health and fitness goals are. Without an enthusiastic mental attitude, you'll never reach your goals. In fact, I think it is a vital and necessary aspect of your life that MUST be learned for you to be successful. You must learn how to develop the "habit of enthusiasm".

If you need help in this area, my advice is to read what the grandfather of the self help movement has to say on the subject. Napoleon Hill felt that you can develop the habit of enthusiasm by taking the following steps:

-Adopt a definite major purpose.

-Write out a clear statement of both your definite major purpose and the plan by which you hope to attain it. Include a statement of what you intend to give in return for its realization.

-Back your purpose with an enthusiastic motive and let that motive become a burning (obsessional) desire. Fan it, coax it, and let it become a dominating factor in your mind at all times.

-Go to work immediately to carry out your plan, starting right when you are.

-Follow your plan accurately and with persistence, fed by all the enthusiasm you can generate.

-If you are overtaken by temporary defeat, study your plans carefully and change them if necessary, but do not change your major purpose simply because you have met with a temporary setback.

-If the nature of your definite major purpose requires it, ally yourself with others whose aid you require, following the instructions given in the lesson on the master mind.

-Keep far away from joy-killers and pessimists and associate with those who are optimistic. Tell your plans to those who are in sympathy with you, such as members of your master mind alliance.

-Never let a day pass without devoting some time, though it be ever so little, to furthering your plans. Remember, you are developing the habit of enthusiasm, and habits call for repetition through physical action.

-Autosuggestion is a powerful factor in the development of the habit of enthusiasm, as well as in the development of any other habit. Therefore, keep yourself sold on the belief that you will obtain the object of your definite major purpose, no matter how far removed from you it may be. Your own mental attitude will determine the nature of the action your subconscious mind will take in connection with the fulfillment of your purpose.

-Keep your mind positive at all times. Enthusiasm will not mix with fear, envy, greed, jealousy, doubt, revenge, hatred, intolerance and procrastination. Enthusiasm thrives only on positive thought and action.

Develop this habit, and you'll be sure to reach your health and fitness goals, whatever they may be, plus you'll be a happier person to boot!

To get started with a workout system that is different and only takes 15 minutes a day or less, try the BusyBod Workout System. Because the time commitment in this system is so short, it's easier to develop the habit of consistently working out and once you're done, you'll be in a great mood for the rest of the day!