While many people look for exercises that burn the maximum calories per hour, you should be more interested in exercises that fit your lifestyle and that you are interesting in doing. Here are some tips on exercise that burn calories.

For many people, the easiest exercise to participate in is walking. Walking is not only a low impact exercise, but you can walk anywhere and you don’t need any special equipment except a comfortable pair of shoes. For a normal walking speed of 3 mph, you will lose about 250 calories per hour. If you walk up hill at that pace, you can increase your calories burned per hour to 450. This is an excellent way to lose lots of calories fast and with little risk of injuring yourself.

If you enjoy bicycling, you will be happy to know that riding a bike at a leisurely pace burns about 300 calories per hour, if you ride a stationary bike, you can burn a little more at about 350 and if you mountain bike, you can easily burn 450 calories per hour.

If you enjoy golf, here is another reason to play more often. If you play golf and carry your own clubs, you can lose about 350 to 400 calories per hour. Cut off about 150 calories if you use a golf cart. If you are looking to lose weight with exercise, check out these great tips and calculate the amount of calories that participating in specific exercises burn.

You should know that losing weight is a difficult process and many people have difficulties shedding the pounds because they do not participate in an exercise program. If you want to increase the amount of weight you lose, it is important to add an exercise routine to your lifestyle. Here is some more information.

Exercising to lose weight is one of the key factors for any healthy weight loss program. You will be hard pressed to find someone that has dropped many pounds without the help of exercising. Exercising does a few main things that help facilitate you losing weight. Exercising first helps you burn more calories. The more calories you burn, the more weight you lose.

Exercising also helps build valuable muscle. The more muscle you build, the more calories you burn. Muscles need more energy, hence more calories. Exercise also helps your body to work more efficiently. When you are in good shape, your bodily functions should work optimally which can help you keep off the weight. Feeling healthy might help you have more energy to do more activities during the day.

As you can see exercising to lose weight has a spiral effect that actually is very beneficial to your lifestyle. If you are looking to live a healthy lifestyle, exercise to lose weight.

The good news is that you can lose as much weight or more without straining yourself. For instance walking is one of the best low impact exercises available. You can lose as much calories with a leisurely walk than by lifting weights. Walking can be done at your pace, almost anywhere and with no equipment. You can lose about 250 calories per hour or more just by taking a leisurely stroll. Walking is also extremely safe.

Another great low impact exercise is swimming. Swimming is possibly one of the best exercises because you use most of your muscle groups. If you don’t have your own pool, you can usually find pools at your local gym or recreational center. Swimming is a great way to relax and work out.

Bicycling is another great low impact exercise. While many people think about mountain biking, you can easily ride a bicycle cruiser which is extremely comfortable and take a few trips per week to the store or just around the neighborhood.

If you have not worked out for a while, are mature or have injured yourself, you should first consult with your physician before starting any exercise program. Your doctor can also recommend great exercises for you as well.

One human hair can support 3 kg (6.6 lb).

The average man’s penis is three times the length of his thumb.

Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.

A woman’s heart beats faster than a man’s.

There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.

Women blink twice as often as men.

The average person’s skin weighs twice as much as the brain.

Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.

If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.

Women reading this will be finished now.

Men are still busy checking their thumbs.

On a broader level we often make decisions to change something fundamental in our life. It might be your job, a change of abode, breaking up or forming a relationship, and (of course) starting a new fitness program to change your health and well being. These are major changes and can cause a lot of negative stress in our lives.

How we handle change can have a massive impact on our health and our relationships. These tips below may not help you to LOVE change, they will help ease the ride by reminding you to take care of your most important asset along the way – YOU!
Tip 1: When in doubt, go slow and get your bearings before moving on. If you ever found yourself lost while on the way to someplace else then the best thing to do is to slow down and take a look at your surroundings. This is the same for life – once you have a pretty good idea of where you are, it will be much easier to see what direction you need to go in next.

Tip 2: Be grateful for the new opportunities and possibilities that change brings. Change can sometimes bring new lessons and new connections that can help us further down the road, and these things can ultimately make us a healthier, happier human being.

There is also a lot of wisdom in the saying that “what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger”. While this not always true (repeat stair running is a good example) the tough times in our lives can you a more rounded and balanced person, and might allow you to appreciate the not-so-tough times even more!
Tip 3: Take time for yourself to re-establish your personal foundations. Reconnect with yourself and with your goals and desires. Sometimes activities that take the focus off of the everyday like taking a walk, reading a book, or listening to music help us to reconnect with what is important to us and give us a certain calmness and strength that helps us keep going.

Personally we find fitness training is a great way to get away from it all and find some “me time” in our day. A walk, run, cycle or gym session can be an almost “meditative” experience that can clear away negative thoughts and bring some focus back into your day. This is true both mentally and physically, because studies have shown that after exercising people have greater mental clarity and make better decisions. So the next time things are becoming over-whelming or you feel bogged down try taking some time out for fitness.

Tip 4: Allow some room for mistakes. So you chose the wrong direction, or made a mistake, now what? You can be angry with yourself but that might not get you back on track. The best thing to do is acknowledge your mistake and turn around to try something else. Beating yourself up may only slow you down and make you feel bad about yourself as well. Most of the time we allow room for children to make mistakes as they grow and learn – so why not do this with ourselves.

People often beat themselves up over missing a training session or having a “bad” meal or snack. Whilst it’s not helpful to miss training or eat poorly, it’s also not the end of the world and is certainly no reason to stop altogether. Try to let it go, and get back on track as soon as possible. Also, see if you can determine the reasons for why you had a bad patch, and then organize things so they don’t happen again!
Tip 5: Make lists of things you need to do as you think of them – keep a notebook with you. One of the reasons change sends us into a tailspin is that we lose control of our regular schedule. We can be afraid of not being able to do everything we want to do. While being organized is not the only method of dealing with change; it can help you remember what is essential that needs to be done like paying the bills or doing the washing.

Similarly, stick to a training plan and keep a track of how everything is going. We can often forget what is important when it comes to fitness or eating well, so if we have a plan that takes care of itself it will ensure you keep right on track and wont be distracted by the things that inevitably try to disrupt us.
Tip 6: Stop and breathe when you feel overwhelmed, nervous or unsure, and know these feelings are absolutely normal. It’s hard-wired into our biochemistry to be concerned or worried about changes to the environment, because it’s what helped us stay on guard from the physical threats we used to experience – tigers, lions, famine, etc!. We’re often concerned about change and the unknown but it is perfectly normal to have feelings of fear and uncertainty. The trick is how you manage this stress and ensure it doesn’t becoming overwhelming or out of control.
Tip 7: Give yourself several weeks to get used to your new situation, because it can take some time to get fully acquainted with new surroundings. If it is a new job, use the first few months to learn all there is to know about how to do your job on a basic level. If after the first three months you see that you need to make changes then you will have all of the information you need.

It’s the same with fitness – start out slow and get used to the movements and activities you are doing. It may take some time for it to become natural or even enjoyable, but if you give it some time you’ll be surprised what can be achieved!
Tip 8: Keep a positive attitude and find something to be happy about everyday – a new experience or discovery; even something as simple as the color of a wall or a leaf on a tree. Being joyful or stopping to smell the roses helps us to slow down and in the slowing down we can see that we are where we are supposed to be in the process of change.

If you are new to fitness, or even an old hand, look for the small improvements at every training session. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it does take time for your fitness program to work it’s magic! You need to focus on what you can control – which is the here and now of the training you are doing right now, and let the end results take care of themselves.

For a short but excellent read on the subject of change try “Who Moved My Cheese ?” by Spencer Johnson.

The study investigated the use of Swiss ball training on core stability and running economy on eighteen young male athletes. The subjects were tested before and after training for stature, body mass, core stability, electromyographic activity of the abdominal and back muscles, treadmill VO2 max, running economy, and running posture.

The experimental group performed two Swiss ball training sessions per week for six weeks. Data analysis revealed a significant effect of Swiss ball training on core stability in the experimental group with core exercises; however, there were no effects found in any of the other measurements.

Further research would be required to explore whether gains in core stability & core strength from core exercises achieved through Swiss ball training are converted to enhanced physical performance.

Having strong core muscles (also called trunk muscles or the “inner unit”) that work together properly is important for all movement, from sports and dynamic movement to the basic functions of daily life. A strong core is a prerequisite for the prevention of injury, enhanced sports performance, improved balance, and proper training and muscular development.

And of course a strong, well trained core will also help your stomach look flater and toned! A six pack is very aesthetically pleasing, so read on to find out more about core muscle training and exercises!

Core muscles

Core muscles include any muscle that has a functional role to play with one of the five major postures: standing, sitting, lying on the back, lying on the stomach, or on hands & knees. This means that in addition to abdominal muscles, the greater core area is made up of all the muscles of the lower back and shoulder girdle, the internal and external obliques, pelvic muscles, transverse abdominus (TVA), gluteal muscles, and even hamstrings.

• Rectus abdominis muscle: commonly known as abs or six pack this is a paired muscle running vertically on each side of the core muscle area
• Transversus abdominis: so called for the direction of its fibers, is the innermost of the flat muscles of the abdomen, being placed immediately beneath the internal oblique muscle
• Internal oblique: is the intermediate muscle of the abdomen, lying just underneath the external oblique and just above the transverse abdominal muscle
• External oblique: is the largest and outermost of the three flat muscles of the front core muscle area

Therefore to maximize your core strength working just one or two isolated groups of muscles isn’t enough. You need to focus on integrated training exercises that work several muscle groups together such as compound resistance exercises and challenging core & stability work. Swiss ball exercises are especially good for working the core because the unbalanced platform the inflated ball creates means more core muscles are recruited.

What do the core muscles do?

We now know where the core muscles are but why do we want to work them?!

• While no one is ever completely safe from injury, strong core muscles go a long way toward injury prevention in both sports and routine activities like carrying groceries or picking up a child.

• Strong core muscles help your extremities to work well in conjunction with the rest of your body. So when you’re teeing off or serving, muscles throughout your body contribute to the effort and cushion the strain on your joints.

• Back injuries often result from weak core muscles, so by strengthening the core your spine will be more stable and you’ll have less risk of herniation or a bulging disc. Our lower back muscles are often weak and are the first thing to go when we bend forward or twist. A strong core and core muscles can help reduce and prevent lower back pain.

How do you train the core?

There are a number of different ways to strengthen your core muscles with exercises, and it depends on your starting level and your aims for core development. It is best to talk to a qualified personal trainer to see what sort of exercises are best for you, and to make sure you’re doing them correctly.

In genral, you should aim to work on strengthening your core muscles three times per week for at least ten minutes per session if you want to notice a real difference. Focus on the quality of the core exercises rather than the quantity of repetition, and keep the speed slow and controlled. If you can do more than 25 reps of a core muscle exercise it’s either too easy, your technique is not correct, or you are going too fast!

Core muscle exercises

Exercises for the core include prone holds, side holds, leg extensions, crunches, sit ups, oblique sit ups, oblique twists, back extensions, alternating arm and leg raises, supermans, plus a host of swiss ball exercises such as crunches, prone holds, russian twists, jacknives, hip bridges, hamstring curls and more.

Don’t forget that it’s not just core specific exercises that strengthen your core muscles. You fitness training program should include compound resistance exercises such as squats, bench press, lat pull downs, and shoulder press to work the core muscles in a more dynamic method.

A person’s cardiovascular or aerobic fitness is best measured by their VO2Max score. This term describes “the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilise during highly intense aerobic exercise”. It is expressed in millilitres per kilogram or body weight per minute (ml/kg/min). This number (higher is better) is a good indicator or your aerobic fitness or power and will indicate how difficult you will find aerobic activities such as walking, running, cycling, swimming etc.

We use a ‘submaximal’ fitness test protocal called the ‘Astrand Submaximal Bike Test’. This uses a subjects heart rate response to various levels of work on an upright cycle over 5-10 minutes. The average heart rate on a particular level is then correlated to an estimate of the subjects oxygen capacity.

Other fitness tests can use more sophisticated equipment to perform a ‘maximal’ fitness test where the subject is pushed to their limit! You may have seen these sort of tests on TV where someone runs on a treadmill until they are completely fatigued!

This sort of fitness test is more accurate than a submaximal fitness test but obviously requries more equipment and careful monitoring. The good news is that these more advanced tests correlate well to the Astrand test for VO2max.

From the Astrand fitness test we get two results: one is your ‘oxygen capacity’ which is expressed in litres of oxygen per minute, the other is your VO2Max score, which is your oxygen capcity adjusted for your age and body weight. To get a higher fitness test score you need one (or all) of these three things:

• a higher oxygen capacity
• a  lower age
• a lower body weight

Now, we cant do much about your age (!), so to get a higher VO2Max fitness test score you need to work on improving your oxygen capacity (with aerobic fitness training) or decreasing your body weight (fitness training, strength work, and nutrition).

Aerobic exercise is what you can do to keep your heart healthy…. Aerobic exercise strengthens the heart and will help keep you and it healthy. Any form of aerobic exercise where the heart is working and you are having to ‘puff’ is beneficial to the heart. It can take some time to improve your heart health, but some functions such as oxygen delivery will improve almost immediately. You’ll be surprised how good a little aerobic exercise will make you feel!

When your heart becomes stronger, more oxygen can be circulated to your body with greater efficiency. This improved efficiency results in less work for the heart, and thus a slower heart rate. The most notable adaptations accompanying aerobic training include:

• An increase in heart size (your heart can grow by 20% in size!)
• An increase in blood volume
• A decrease in resting heart rate (a good resting heart rate is below 70bpm)
• An increase in cardiac output due primarily to increased stroke volume
• An increase in oxygen capacity (you can use more oxygen per minute)
• A reduction of blood pressure (excellent for heart disease risk)
• Improvement in body fat levels (great for your health)

So you can see aerobic fitness training has some excellent benefits for your heart and health.

Now, how do we get started?!

What sort of aerobic exercise should I do?

Essentially and form of activity that gets your heart going and your lungs puffing is aerobic!

Options range from walking, swimming, and social sports, to running, cycling, and competitive multisport events. The simple rule to remember is that you need to move! Aerobic training requires movement so get moving. You don’t even need to make it a full on training session: simply walk more during the day, take the stairs not a lift, park your car a little further away and walk. All those little bits of extra aerobic activity add up and can make a good difference to your heart health.

How can I test my heart health?

Your best option is to visit your doctor and take a thorough health check. In addition, you may want to visit a fitness centre or personal trainer who can conduct a fitness assessment for you. See our article on VO2max testing for an idea on testing your aerobic fitness levels.