Fittshell

Teen Body Building

Teen body building is rising in popularity as many young people decide that they want to get fit and be healthy.  Starting an exercise program when you’re young is a great way to stay fit for life.  However, teens need to take into consideration a few things before they start a body building program.

Because a young person’s body isn’t fully developed, it’s important for a teen to be cautious when starting a body building workout.  Here are some guidelines to follow for a teen who wants to get into body building:

* Teens under the age of 13 should never start an intense weight lifting regimen. It’s alright to start exercising, but stick to low-impact exercises like push ups and chin ups.  Leave the weight lifting until later.

* Squats and dead lifts can be started after the age of 16.  These exercises require a great amount of precision to be done correctly.  If you do not do them the right way, you can cause serious injury to your body.

* There is no reason you should ever take any type of testosterone supplements in your body building program.  Teen boys naturally have a large amount of testosterone already in their bodies.  When a testosterone supplement is added to a teen body building program, you risk stunting your growth.

* Your diet should include a large amount of protein and carbohydrates.  These two nutrients provide you with energy and muscle building power, so be sure to eat right.

* Rest is also very important in a teen body building program.  Not only will sleep help you concentrate more and be an effective exerciser, rest will also help your body prepare itself for another workout and repair whatever damage was done during the day.  Muscles grow at night when you’re asleep, so get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep per night if not more.

* If you are serious about body building as a teen, it’s important that you stick with your workout program and keep an eye on your ultimate goal.  Unless you have a very good reason, you need to stick with your workout plan and not skip days in favor of other activities.

Body building is a great way for a teen to get fit, lose weight, and stay healthy.  If you start being conscious of your body and your health when you are young, you are setting the stage for a healthy adult life as well.  In general, teen body building is a great way to achieve the goal of a healthy body and a healthy life – just be sure you aren’t pushing yourself beyond your limits.  Use the advice of adults, and start today!

Aerobic Fittshell

The Way to Health & Vitality

It’s time to start a Healthy life:
your 7 days program


How many times have you gone to sleep at night, swearing you’ll go to the gym in the morning, and then changing your mind just eight hours later because when you get up, you don’t feel like exercising?

While this can happen to the best of us, it doesn’t mean you should drop the ball altogether when it comes to staying fit. What people need to realize is that staying active and eating right are critical for long-term health and wellness — and that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The more you know about how your body responds to your lifestyle choices, the better you can customize a nutrition and exercise plan that is right for you. When you eat well, increase your level of physical activity, and
exercise at the proper intensity, you are informing your body that you want to burn a substantial amount of fuel. This translates to burning fat more efficiently for energy.

In other words, proper eating habits plus exercise equals fast metabolism, which, in turn gives you more energy throughout the day and allows you to do more physical work with less effort.

The true purpose of exercise is to send a repetitive message to the body asking for improvement in metabolism, strength, aerobic capacity and overall fitness and health. Each time you exercise, your body responds by upgrading its capabilities to burn fat throughout the day and night, Exercise doesn’t have to be intense to work for you, but it does need to be consistent.

I recommend engaging in regular cardiovascular exercise four times per week for 20 to 30 minutes per session, and resistance training four times per week for 20 to 25 minutes per session. This balanced approach provides a
one-two punch, incorporating aerobic exercise to burn fat and deliver more oxygen, and resistance training to increase lean body mass and burn more calories around the block.

Here’s a sample exercise program that may work for you:

  • Warm Up — seven to eight minutes of light aerobic activity intended to increase blood flow and lubricate and warm-up your tendons and joints.
  • Resistance Training — Train all major muscle groups. One to two sets of each exercise. Rest 45 seconds between sets.
  • Aerobic Exercise — Pick two favorite activities, they could be jogging, rowing, biking or cross-country skiing, whatever fits your lifestyle. Perform 12 to 15 minutes of the first activity and continue with 10 minutes of the
    second activity. Cool down during the last five minutes.
  • Stretching — Wrap up your exercise session by stretching, breathing deeply, relaxing and meditating.

When starting an exercise program, it is important to have realistic expectations. Depending on your initial fitness level, you should expect the following changes early on.

  • From one to eight weeks — Feel better and have more energy.
  • From two to six months — Lose size and inches while becoming leaner. Clothes begin to fit more loosely. You are gaining muscle and losing fat.
  • After six months — Start losing weight quite rapidly.
woman in black tank top and gray leggings

Once you make the commitment to exercise several times a week, don’t stop there. You should also change your diet and/or eating habits,’ says Zwiefel. Counting calories or calculating grams and percentages for certain nutrients is
impractical. Instead, I suggest these easy-to-follow guidelines:

  • Eat several small meals (optimally four) and a couple of small snacks throughout the day
  • Make sure every meal is balanced — incorporate palm-sized proteins like lean meats, fish, egg whites and dairy products, fist-sized portions of complex carbohydrates like whole-wheat bread and pasta, wild rice, multigrain cereal and potatoes, and fist-sized portions of vegetable and
    fruits
  • Limit your fat intake to only what’s necessary for adequate flavour
  • Drink at least eight 8-oz. glasses of water throughout the day
  • I also recommend that you take a multi-vitamin each day to ensure you are getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs.

I suppose that’s all I can think of for now. I should extend my thanks to a doctor friend of mine. Without him, I wouldn’t be able to write this article, or keep my sanity.

Enjoy life, we all deserve it.

You’ll find many more useful information and articles at Health & Vitality – to Enjance Your Life.