Are you a road runner? Love the sweat, the burn and release from a good run but tired of breathing in exhaust and running near traffic? Take the road less traveled by becoming a trail runner. Hit the off-road dirt paths, 4×4 backcountry roads and experience the tranquility, beauty and fresh air of moving through nature. Trail running offers better views, air and cushion for your stride and the same physical demands and even more benefits than running on pavement.

There are outstanding physical benefits from making the switch from road runner to trail runner. The trail runner experiences a whole body workout. The unpredictability of terrain on trails improves your sense of balance, awareness and forces your all of your body to respond. Trail runners build balance by having to run continuously on uneven rocky terrain, over water, tree roots and whatever else nature presents itself. Therefore, running on trails requires you to use more muscles which ultimately burns more calories than running on pavement or a treadmill. A trail runners ankles and knees become stronger due to the uneven terrain. Dirt trails absorb the impact for your joints, yet maximize the workouts for your muscles.

Running in sunshine, away from crowds and the mundane responsibilities of life, can help you reconnect to nature and your senses. Become a trail runner and experience the mental benefits: diversity of visual stimulation; what nature has to offer: varied terrain, wildlife, floral, fauna and new and old life;

great concentration: “zone out” and you’ll trip over a root or stumble over rocks; vitamin D and increased serotonin production from natural sunshine.
Mental stress is reduced by running through nature.

HOT TIP: Be sure to practice safe trail running by knowing your route, telling someone when you’ll return, carrying plenty of water (see hydration packs) and an ID.

Get off the pavement and into nature with the ultimate physical running workout as a trail runner.

A person doesn’t need a fancy gym membership to be sound or stay fit. With some creativity and some effort, you can shift earthly everyday burdens into swift bursts of exercise. With our present-day delicate economy, we must do everything to put each and every hard-earned buck to ample use.

Fiscal standings are a typical excuse for people who don’t want to enhance their weight and wellness. The fact is they are just too indolent to come up with a resolution. They are just looking for excuses to rationalize their inadequacy of momentum to be slim. If you honestly want something done, you’ll definitely find a way to realize it no matter what, and getting fit is no exception.
Below are a number of tips where you can merge work out into your day-to-day lives. Please remember to check with your doctor first before carrying on any physical exercise. Having a decent pair of running shoes would be helpful as well.

Walk to school if you live just a few blocks away. Stretch your legs and put them to ample use rather than driving your car or taking a taxicab. Not only will you rid of calories, you will conserve on petrol as well. Park several blocks away from your office and walk the rest of the way if it is too a long way to walk from your house.

Take advantage of the stairs by getting out a few levels below yours. Better yet, climb the stairs all the way!

Parks and jogging tracks are your friends. Parks are commonly free of cost to use and a great way to network with other fitness fans as well. Pay attention and you may pick up a number of advice that they may be willing to part with. An all natural treadmill for you to use as long as you have ambition and running shoes.

Do basic stretches during work. Long hours of sitting and brooding over work may cramp your muscles. An effective way to keep pace with your fitness is by taking a quick breather and doing basic leg, arm, neck, and back stretches.

In place of commissioning help, do your own loft cleaning. 5 minutes of sweeping, vacuuming, and polishing will do so many wonders to your entire body and house as well.

Find a sport that you enjoy and play it like an ace. Your intention is not to win so do not sweat it if you do not play good. You want to work a sweat and trim off those unpleasant undesirable fats. Also, it would be choice if you can have your pals join you.

Change night-outs into a work out. Instead of catching a film or spending the night drinking, go to clubs or attend concerts and dance to your heart’s desire. Again, this is a fusion of fun and exercise!

Running down hill, variable terrain, tough climbs, and uneven footing; these are the ingredients of trail running. They demand lateral agility and responsiveness that one might lack from the more predictable strides of road running. The key to the requisite lithe footwork of trail running is a strong and supple core because the abdominal and lower back muscles are the essential centerpiece of the gyroscope that allows for balance and resilience. The core forms the foundation for posture, back support, and stability, and assists in absorbing the impact of descents. More and more runners are using Russian Kettlebells as part of their cross training and the following exercise is one that will develop your core as well as your legs.

Kettlebell thrusters are simply one of the best compound Russian Kettlebell exercises you can do, if your goal is to build a strong core and work your whole body. In addition, the cardio vascular component of this exercise complex is flat out amazing. The kettlebell thruster is a full body workout. If you employ the correct levels of tension, remember to inhale at the bottom and sharply exhale at the top you will tax every muscle of your being and raise your heart rate to lung searing levels. If you are a kettlebell rookie, then you need to use the right size bell. Most women will start with either the 8 kilo or 12 kilo and most men the 16 kilo.

The first part of the exercise is to use a “clean” to lift the Kettlebell. You will start with the kettlebell in front of your feet like the point of a triangle. The first move is a hike pass through your legs, near your crotch and above the knee. Keeping your arm loose, the KB is lifted with your hip thrust. Keep your elbow in and quickly flip your elbow under when the bell has almost reached your shoulder. Do not pull with your arm or try and cheat curl it up to your shoulder! The power is from your hip thrust. Move your hand through the handle. Don’t move the kettlebell around your hand. Once you are in this racked position keep the elbow tight against your rib cage with full upper and lower body tension and a happy, relaxed face. You do not support the kettlebell with a shrugged shoulder or by pushing up the arm. Instead, relax the shoulder girdle and let the force of the kettlebell pass to your ribcage, stomach and hips. You need to have your elbow as low as you can. The Kettlebell will be just off center of your chin for men and just to the side of your chin for women to protect the breast area. When returning the Kettlebell to the bottom position, after the set of thrusters, keep your arm very loose. Swing it back between your legs and don’t try to stem the tide of the kettlebell momentum. Then let it swing forward just a little bit and then place it on the deck.

Once you have the kettlebell racked into position, then find your ideal stance right around your feet at shoulder width. Keep your heels planted and you should be able to wiggle your toes. Track your feet with your knees. Push your hips back as if sitting and go as deep as you can. Keep your core under tension and your lower spine straight. Ideally your hamstrings rest on your calves. Next, drive through with your heels and press the kettlebell overhead without raising your shoulder up to your ear. Keep your whole body tight. Lower the kettlebell back into the rack position by pulling it down, not by dropping it. Re-squat and repeat. Work for thirty seconds on one side, set the kettlebell down, rest for thirty seconds and then go to the opposite side for thirty seconds. Try for 9 minutes. As you get fitter you will be able to work more and rest less.

This one exercise workout will develop your core and balance like no other. In addition, you will be building metabolic lean muscle that will want to feast on your fat. If you can last for a full nine minutes, without any rest, but just switching from right side to left side, then you are tough as nails. A full nine minutes means never letting the kettlebell touch the deck. Most of you will not be able to do the nine minutes without using the rest periods. The goal is to work more and rest less each time you the workout. Good luck!

Runner’s Question: If you set the elevation on your treadmill higher, or run up hills in the neighborhood, will it burn more calories than just running on flat ground?

Is it a better work out to just run up elevated land? (Like if you would set your treadmill to a high elevation)

Thanks!

Add your two cents! Answer this question (or check out the other answers) in the comments section below.

Runner’s Question: I have a bit of a belly, but nothing out of control. I just finished a run, where I burned over six hundred calories, and I was curious – Is it ok if I do some crunches immediately after the run?

Will doing this help me burn more calories, and in turn will it help me to tone my stomach? Thanks in advance, and keep up the great work on the blog!

Add your two cents! Answer this question (or check out the other answers) in the comments section below.

If you’ve been paying any sort of attention lately, you’ve heard a lot about high intensity interval training. You’ve probably heard that, by alternating short bursts of high intensity exercise with periods of low intensity recovery, you can achieve some pretty incredible health and fitness goals. You’ve probably also heard that this kind of training blows the doors off of traditional long, slow distance type workouts.

The Benefits of Interval Training

And, if you’re like me, you’ve seen the laundry list of these benefits. Benefits you can’t get from traditional long, slow cardio. To recap:

* Interval training can decrease the risk of heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and the onset of diabetes * Interval training can burn more fat than traditional cardio – even burning fat up to 24 hours after the end of your exercise session

* Interval training has been shown to be the best type of exercise to reduce belly fat – a leading indicator in the development of metabolic syndrome

* Interval training can teach your body to burn fat first during activity

* Interval training can add lean muscle to your frame – muscle that boosts your metabolism, helping you burn more calories

* Interval training can help increase the release of Human Growth Hormone – the essential substance in building and repairing muscle, keeping bones healthy and burning fat naturally

Why Doesn’t Everyone Interval Train?

“With all of these benefits”, you might ask, “Why hasn’t everyone jumped on interval training as their main method of exercise?”

The main reason for most people is this – they’re afraid of getting hurt. It is true that you must be a little careful in switching to high intensity training. You must build up gradually so that you don’t risk getting hurt. It’s difficult to just jump right into high intensity training.

I ran into this issue myself when I tried to get back into interval training in my mid-30′s. I tried to go back to the workouts I had done 10 or 15 years earlier – and I paid a price.
The method I tried to use involved running sprints at the local high school track. And it worked in that I felt better, had more energy and dropped some serious fat. But, trying to be a little too gung ho, I forgot that my body hadn’t moved this way in a long time. As a result, I started to run into problems like pulled hamstrings, strained calf muscles and sore Achilles tendons…

The Safest Interval Training Method

That’s when I started to look around for a better way to run my intervals. And what I found worked wonders.

I decided to go back to basics. To go back to a workout that I had used in high school (and seen plenty of elite athletes incorporate into their training). The answer that I found to making interval training safer was: the hill sprint.

The only change I made to my interval training was to take it to a hill instead of sprinting on a flat. The difference was dramatic.

Less Chance of Injury

First of all, running intervals on an incline made all of my little nagging muscle pulls and tweaks disappear. I was able to train at a high intensity without having to worry about injury.

One reason for this is that sprinting on an incline decreases the impact that running has on your body. Flat surface sprinting can place a lot of pounding on your back, knees and shins. Hill sprints alleviate most of this high impact punishment. Studies have shown that adding even a slight incline to your running decreased the impact on your lower legs by as much as 26%.

Interval training on hills is also safer for your hamstrings – one of the most commonly seen sites of injury when increasing the intensity of your workouts. Because your stride is shortened slightly when going up hill, you tend not to over-stride and pull with your hamstrings. Instead, you plant closer under your center of gravity, changing the focus to your “pushing” leg muscles. This means you can run fast, and have less of a chance of pulling the old hamstrings.

Get Results Faster

The second reason that hill sprinting is a great way to interval train is that it’s an easy way to increase the intensity of your workout, no matter what your current level of fitness is. Just by going up a hill (or stairs, or bleachers), the intensity of your workout is automatically increased. If you currently walk, walking uphill will be “high” intensity. If you can sprint, sprinting uphill will raise the intensity even further. And if you are somewhere in between, the hill will provide the same benefits.

All of this means that you can instantly do interval training. You don’t have to work up as gradually as you would doing flat sprints. Your progression from walking to sprinting can be done in less time.

Get More Done in Less Time

Finally, using hills for interval training can decrease the length of your workouts. Again, because the incline raises the intensity, it is not necessary to go as far or as long as you would with flat surface intervals. Give them a try and you’ll be surprised how fast you are “huffing and puffing” as recommended for maximum health benefits.

If you’ve been putting off the start of your interval training because you don’t want to get hurt, I’ve just given you a solution to your problem. Taking your intervals to the hills, stairs or bleachers will allow you to start RIGHT NOW. This training can be safer than flat intervals and just as effective. In fact, potentially even more effective in a given period of time.

No more excuses. Time for you to get results.