Push-up Exercise Tips

JILLIAN'S TIP OF THE DAY

Rethink the Push-up
The poor push-up: It's usually considered a form of punishment. Who doesn't cringe when they hear the phrase "drop and give me 50"? Well, it's time to see the push-up in a new light. This move offers a huge bang for the buck by training the chest, arms, shoulders, and abs all at once. Better yet, it doesn't require any special equipment. It can be done anywhere, at any time. Okay, get to it! What are you waiting for?

1. Lie facedown with your legs straight out behind you and your feet together.
2. Bend your elbows and place your palms on the floor out to the sides of your chest.
3. Position your palms so that they are directly under your elbows. When your arms are bent, they should form a 90-degree angle. Your neck should be straight and your eyes should be focused on the floor in front of you. Keep your abs in tight.
4. Straighten your arms so that your body is hovering over the floor, balancing on your palms and the balls of your feet.
5. Bend your elbows and lower your entire body at once until your upper arms are parallel with the floor.
6. Exhaling, push back up to the starting position and repeat. Be sure to keep your back straight and your eyes focused on the floor in front of you during each rep.

Compound Moves

Compound exercises are ones that require more than one muscle and joint to move, so they train more than one muscle. Push-ups fall into this category because although the chest is the targeted muscle group and does most of the work, the back of your arms, front of your shoulders, and abs get a good workout, too, because they play an assisting role. It's a win-win situation — you multi-task muscles and burn lots of calories.

Naturally Thin People. Top 7 Tips

More "Naturally Thin"
Part 1: 25 Characteristics of Healthy, Naturally Thin People
Part 2: Understanding the Mind: 3 Keys to being Naturally Thin
Part 3: The Science and Psychology behind

Intuitive self-care. That seems to be the secret to staying thin all your life. Check out the 7 secrets of the "naturally thin" and introduce a few of their habits into your lifestyle. It's never too late.
eDiets

You hate them.

You know the type... The ones who never bat an eyelash when it comes time to order lunch or dinner. Ask them how much they weigh, and they probably can't even tell you -- they don't know. Question them about calorie count and you're likely to be answered with a blank stare.

They are the men and women who don't give weight-watching a second thought. And that's the very reason they're at a happy, healthy weight. They are naturally thin people -- the enemy to anyone who's ever battled extra pounds.

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But please don't hate them. You too can be one of them, says Dr. Dorie McCubbrey, author of How Much Does Your Soul Weigh?: Diet-Free Solutions to Your Food, Weight and Body Worries (HarperCollins). The weight issues specialist and licensed professional counselor has spent the last 15 years helping people explore their weight woes. McCubbrey, the "Don't Diet" doctor, has made it her mission to take the focus off the scale and put it on what she calls intuitive self-care. It's that kind of treatment that the Colorado counselor encourages. She tries to steer her clients away from regimented and overly restrictive diets.

The idea, according to McCubbrey, is to emulate the way a naturally thin person thinks. For starters, the world doesn't revolve around the number on the scale.

"Sometimes we think, ‘When I'm thin enough, I'll be happy,'" McCubbrey says, who describes herself as someone who was the wrong kind of dieter for 15 years. "A naturally thin person knows how to be happy first, beyond weight success. It's freedom to enjoy your life. It's about healthier relationships and being able to achieve the goals you want for yourself professionally. It's finding the time to enjoy some pleasures in life, like the vacations you always wanted to take or the personal goals you always wanted to achieve. It's having the energy and desire and ability to follow through on these things. It's a fuller, richer life."

What it isn't is obsessing over every pound shed, minute spent exercising, calorie eaten, etc. Somewhere there has to be a happy medium between the apathy and the obsession. That's where the seven secrets of naturally thin people come in. According to McCubbrey, we're all born naturally thin. However, it's the way we think that takes away this mentality. It all begins when we go on our first diet, she says.

McCubbrey is quick to point out there's a big difference between being thin and being a naturally thin person. There are those who struggle with anorexia or rely on starvation to avoid weight gain. These people are engaging in unhealthy physical and mental behaviors. When it comes to weight loss, one size does not fit all, she says.

"There's no one diet or meal plan or exercise plan that's right for everybody. That's what is great about eDiets -- it customizes thin. My approach supports that. You have to find a customized approach unique to your own needs."

Before you can even get started on a healthy approach to dealing with your weight, it's important to get in the right state of mind. McCubbrey has the seven healthy secrets of naturally thin people that can help you get one step closer.

Secret #1: Practice Intuitive Weight Maintenance
Naturally thin people have a stable weight and don't worry what it is. Naturally thin people don't weigh, measure or otherwise keep track of their bodies' dimensions. You won't even find a bathroom scale at the naturally thin person's house. They don't need to weigh themselves, because they trust their bodies to regulate their own weight. Sure, it is easy for people not to worry about their weight when it never changes. But does their weight not change because they don't worry about it? What if constant worries make your weight fluctuate? What if you tried to think like naturally thin people instead, with an inner knowledge that your weight would stay stable?

Secret #2: Apply an Intuitive Attitude
Naturally thin people have a positive view of themselves and their lives. People who have never had a weight problem know that the key to happiness is in how they perceive themselves and their lives. They have a wonderful self-image, because they have not allowed society's pressure to influence them. Besides appearance, some people criticize themselves for their thoughts, feelings, behaviors -- everything. How they see their bodies is a reflection of how they tend to see their entire lives. Have you been putting thinness before happiness? What kind of criticism have you been carrying with you in your "bag of manure?" What positive thought can you carry with you instead?

Secret #3: Know Intuitively Why to Eat
Naturally thin people eat when they are hungry, but for other reasons as well. They eat because their bodies need fuel, but they also eat sometimes even if they are nut hungry. People eat to fulfill physical need (75 to 100 percent of the time), physical desire (0 to 25 percent of the time) and emotional desire (0 to 10 percent of the time). The key is proportion: to be attuned to the body's signals of what it needs, but also to eat once in a while out of desire. This involves using the body's inner wisdom. It's fine to eat something because you want to, or occasionally because you're having a bad day. Enjoy that piece of cheesecake from the dessert tray, simply because it looks so good and you want to taste it. Have a custard-doughnut, because it's your favorite comfort food and you're feeling really stressed. Just be aware of what you are doing. Pay attention to why you are eating and make your choices in a conscious, proportioned way.

Secret #4: Know Intuitively What to Eat
Naturally thin people eat exactly what they are hungry for. They seem to have an inherent sense of what they really need. They'll go out of their way to get what they are hungry for, even if it means making a shopping trip. If that's not feasible, then they substitute another similar food. While eating, they are in tune with whether or not the food is satisfying their need, and they make adjustments in their intake accordingly. What happens when you make your food choices based on what you think you should eat? What are some of your "forbidden foods," and what would it be like to let this label go? How do you feel after eating your current food choices? What foods would you like to try adding to your intake?

Secret #5: Know Intuitively How Much to Eat
Naturally thin people stop eating before they get too full. They often leave food on their plates when dining out, because the typical restaurant portion is more than a body needs. When dining at home, they often finished what is on their plates if they served themselves, because they are in tune with how much food their bodies will need and only put that much on their plates. A naturally thin person can even take a spoon and eat right from the container -- then put the container away when they've had enough. Eat slowly, pay attention to how you feel as you get full and learn hot to recognize fullness cues.

Secret #6: Exercise With Intuition
Naturally thin people enjoy a variety of fitness activities in reasonable amounts. They exercise on a regular basis without going overboard. There is consistency without compulsivity. They use exercise guidelines, but in a way that honors their bodies' needs. Some exercise for longer durations than others, and some work out at more advanced levels than others. Their bodies just seem to know how much exercise is right for them. Regardless of their level of conditioning, they all have some level of commitment to making fitness a part of their lives. They focus on what they really enjoy: running, biking, swimming or aerobics.

Secret #7: Live an Intuitive Life
Naturally thin people have truly fulfilling lives (and it's not because they are thin). Thinness is part of their experience, but it is not the source of their fulfillment. They have meaningful relationships with others. They enjoy significant experiences in both their professional and personal lives. They focus far beyond the number on the scale. Their focus is on enjoying life, exactly as it is, and making the best of things, exactly as they are. With this attitude of gratitude, they seem to attract more good into their lives automatically, without having to chase after it.

Click here to get your copy of "How Much Does Your Soul Weigh"

The fitness pros at eDiets can show you how to combine exercise and nutrition to get the best results. This is what you've been looking for. You will need to make the commitment, but isn't it time to finally take care of you?

7 tips to speed up your metabolism

By Sheri Strykowski
Special for eDiets

Ready to transform your sweet self into a lean, not-so-mean, fat-burning machine? You may be surprised to find that don't have to overhaul your lifestyle.

People make the mistake of thinking they have to make drastic changes to lose weight and get in shape, says Lyssie Lakatos, RD, LD, CDN, but the secret is to make small changes and incorporate them into their lives permanently.

"Dropping your caloric intake below 1,000 calories a day on a consistent basis will signal your body that you are in starvation mode, and will slow down your metabolism," warns Lakatos, who with her twin sister, Tammy Lakatos Shames, RD, LD, CDN, is the co-author of "Fire Up Your Metabolism." When the metabolism slows, we store food as fat and gain weight.

Calories do count, but it's also about how efficiently your body burns those calories. Your metabolism plays a big part in regulating your weight, Shames says. Metabolism is the way your body uses up calories from the food you eat and turns them into energy. Metabolic rate is the speed at which you use up those calories. The goal is to get your metabolism into peak operating condition so you will burn the most calories all day long -- even while you sleep.

If you follow these 7 tips to speed up your metabolism, you might never again find yourself facing the next bigger size of cute jeans at your favorite store.

Tip 1 -- Determine your daily caloric needs: To rev up your fat-burning engine, don't overload your system with too much food, Shames says. Figure out how many calories you need to consume each day to lose weight and keep your metabolism humming. Caloric level is determined by taking into account your age, sex, height, weight, lean body mass and activity level. Here's a quick formula from Shames to give you an idea of your magic number: Multiply your body weight by 11. For example, a 140-pound woman would need to consume 1,540 calories per day to lose weight. If you're very active, you can multiply your weight by 12.

Tip 2 -- Divvy up your meals: Kick-start your metabolism and curb your appetite by dividing your meals into five to six small, nutritious meals a day instead of three squares. Eat a 200-400 calorie mini-meal every three to four hours. Your body will expend more energy to digest the food and your metabolic rate will increase, Lakatos says.

Tip 3 -- Just move! Physical activity accounts for 20 to 40 percent of calories burned each day. The American Academy of Family Physicians suggests that a good goal for many people is to work up to exercising four to six times a week for 30 to 60 minutes at a time. If you can't do that much, do what you can, say the twins. Walk the dog, park the car at the far end of the lot, take the stairs instead of the elevator, clean the house, just do something.

Tip 4 -- Pump iron: Muscle is your best friend! Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the pace at which your body burns calories at rest. It accounts for 60 to 70 percent of your daily calorie expenditure and it's closely linked to the amount of muscle you have. Muscle burns more calories than fat, and the more muscle you have, the more calories your body will burn, even while you sleep. Lean muscle needs calories just to exist, so start lifting those weights.

Tip 5 -- Sleep tight: Sleep loss may increase hunger and affect the body's metabolism, which may make it more difficult to lose weight, according to studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Lancet. People who lose sleep may continue to feel hungry despite adequate food intake because sleep loss has been shown to affect the secretion of cortisol, a hormone that regulates appetite. Make sure you get in your eight hours or more of shut-eye every night.

Tip 6 -- Eat lean protein and good carbs: Your body burns some of its own calories when it digests the food you eat. This is called the thermic effect of foods (TEF) and it's what makes protein (which has the highest thermic effect of any food) and good carbs metabolism-friendly. Lean protein such as turkey and chicken also builds calorie-burning muscle. Good carbs such as whole grains, legumes, veggies and fruit are also your body's major fuel source, Shames says. They provide the energy to get you up and moving so you can burn more calories.

Tip 7 -- Drink H2O: Researchers in Germany have found that drinking water may increase the rate at which people burn calories. Metabolic rates among study participants increased by 30 percent after consuming approximately 17 ounces of water. The energy-burning process of metabolism needs water to work effectively. Water also fills you up, curbs your appetite, flushes out your system, and rids the body of bloat. Drink at least 8 to 10 glasses per day -- more if you're active.

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Sheri Strykowski is a freelance journalist who specializes in health, fitness and lifestyle. Her articles have appeared in The Chicago Tribune, Lerner newspapers and National Safety Council publications. She is also a content expert who has built more than 40 websites for a Fortune 100 company.