Josh Perez Fitness

You don’t have to be a elite athlete to reap the benefits of efficient interval walking, in which you alternate between bursts of intensive effort and slower recovery periods. In fact, by doing effective interval walking for a mere 20 minutes every other day, you can shift your metabolism into high gear so that you burn more calories from fat in less time than if you were working out at a steady pace.

With any interval training, the higher the intensity of the exercise, the longer the EPOC (Excess Post Oxygen Consumption); that is, you will continue to burn more calories from fat even while at rest! Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your efficient interval walking workout:

1. Instead of going at a steady state, warm up for five minutes. Then, walk almost as fast as you can for 3 minutes, Then do a slow down walk recovery for 1 minute. Repeat this 3-4 times pending on how your feeling that day.
2. Wear shoes that will give you proper support: walking shoes, cross-training shoes, or running shoes. And choose synthetic athletic socks over cotton ones because they wick away moisture and keep your feet dry and blister-free. Here’s how to find a good investment into great workout shoes.
3. Be mindful of maintaining good posture while you’re walking. Draw in your core, or simply hold your abdominal muscles in tight.
4. With each step, strike the ground from heel to toe and feel your glutes (butt) contract. This will help strengthen your glutes and the backs of your legs as you walk.
5. Wear a heart rate watch or carry a stopwatch to keep track of time so that you can complete the designated number of intervals per session in or under about 20 minutes.
6. Remember that doing a little is better than nothing. Do what you can at first, and then gradually increase your periods of intensity and total distance.
7. On the days that you’re not doing higher intensity interval training, be sure to take a recreational walk for 25 to 35 minutes.

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Compare The Top 7 Online Diets For 2009

According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s report obesity is responsible for 300,000 adult deaths in the United States each year and are attributable to unhealthy dietary habits and physical inactivity. Therefore you need a specific plan of attack to understand what your body needs to eat. Your eating habits and proper percentages of carbohydrates, proteins and fats are unique as having your own “thumbprint.” That’s why online dieting is becoming the most effective and efficient method of getting introduced to a diet that works for you. I’ve reviewed all the major dieting sites targeted for the U.S. population. I welcome you to read all the reviews on this site and make your own decision. A great dieting service will not only give you a very comfortable and enjoyable experience, it will also increase your success in finding the results you need.

Below are the 7 of the best, reliable, and affordable online diet sites ranked according to the number of people who sign up, customer service reviews, online features, and maximum weight loss in the shortest amount of time. Follow our links to visit the sites we recommend and read a more in-depth review of each diet site. Are you ready to have your body back?

1. 5 Factor Diet

   The 5 Factor Diet online provides a multitude of options and preparation for success. This plan is designed to give you results in five weeks! And it’s so easy and effective that you may naturally turn your five-week plan into a lifestyle and is proven successful by Hollywood stars. Harley Pasternak has worked with stars of song and stage for years, aiding them with weight loss and maintenance. Familiar clients include Jessica Simpson, Kanye West, John Mayer and Alicia Keys. If you’ve ever dreamed of having the well-cared-for bodies that they have, 5-Factor Diet is your chance. What’s included with the 5 Factor Diet program: Daily Meal Planner – Hundreds of Recipes – Personal Recipe Box – Shopping List Tool – Food Log – Cooking Shortcuts – Eating Out Guide – Custom Fitness Plan – Activity Calculator – Weight Tracker – Online Journal – Ideal Weight Calculator – Daily Inspiration Message Boards.
   Read my complete review of The 5 Factor Diet.
   Current Promotion: Start now with 5 free diet tips! See why celebrities love this plan. Easy & effective. Subscribe now!

   




2. Nutrisystem

   Live counseling, both online and via telephone, replaced the embarrassing traditional customer visits and now they can avoid the sales pitch process, and created a new and extremely private way for people to deal with difficult weight loss issues! Additionally, by way of online ordering, NutriSystem could now deliver its quality food and meal programs directly to consumer doorsteps, providing them with a convenient and streamlined way to learn more sensible eating habits and can concentrate on their weight loss. Clients just log-in, decide on a recommended meal plan, order their food, and once it arrives, they’re ready to eat. NutriSystem also offers vitamins and dietary supplements to clients, to ensure that their customers receive proper nutrition while concentrating on weight loss. What’s included with the Nutrisystem Diet: Mindset Makeover A 13-Week Interactive Strategy Tool – Weight & Measurement Log – Progress Tracker – Food Diary – Exercise Log.
   Read my complete review of The Nutrisystem Diet.
   Current Promotion: Get two weeks of free food with NutriSystem! and Introducing NutriSystem Flex™, the program that gives you weekends off while still losing weight for $7 a day

   




3. Duke Diet & Fitness

   The website is easy to navigate and very attractive. Many people have seen weight loss on this diet. The Duke Diet and Fitness team really breakdown your behavioral habits and realize what you are more to prone too with eating habits and exercise. The program is extremely precise on breaking down every single component that is necessary for you to get towards your weight loss goal. The Duke Diet and Fitness team make it as specific solution as possible for your own body, goal, and daily habits. I highly recommend this diet for anyone who wants to lose weight, or perhaps start a solid workout routine that works for your own body! The Duke Diet online program comes at a low cost at $4 per week! Get your customized online program now, which is based on your goals and body. Learn More.
   Read my complete review of the Duke Diet & Fitness program.
   Current Promotion: Get the Weight Off: Learn the 4 principles of proven weight loss. Free evaluation!

   




4. Medifast Diet

   Medifast teaches you to eat well. I believe in the body’s natural ability to heal itself with proper nutrition and I believe in you and your ability to achieve real results with Medifast. Medifast offers you a choice rich menu of nutritionally complete products, support services and new opportunities to create a life of health, hope and happiness. Medifast is here to serve you, because you matter and the success of our clients truly inspires us to be your life-long and trusted partner in health. Medifast products are formulated with a High Fullness Index™ so you don’t get hungry. You lose weight quickly — up to 20 pounds a month — while learning how to eat healthier. Medifast Meals are formulated with low-fat protein and fiber, and fortified with vitamins and nutrients, so you lose pounds and inches without losing out on essential nutrition. The Meals’ low glycemic formula makes them perfect for people with type 2 diabetes. What’s included with the Medifast Diet: Message Boards – Order Form – Daily Success Tracker – Plateau Tips – BMI Calculator – Nutrition Details – Diabetic Guide.
   Read my complete review of The Medifast Diet.
   Current Promotion: Medifast – $50 off any purchase of $275 or more! Use Coupon Code: APR30C good until 4-30-09

   




5. eDiets

   The eDiets Weight Loss Meal Plan and The Low Glycemic Impact Diet is our most popular meal plan because of its flexibility and convenience. It is a balanced approach to eating, providing 3 meals and 1 snack daily. Using familiar favorites, it never feels like a diet and is easy to follow. It helps teach lifelong eating habits based on portion sizes and moderation. Also, the Weight Loss Meal Plan is customized to your preferences. Based on the food pyramid, as well as recommendations from the American Heart Association, it provides 50-65% of your calories from carbohydrates, 20-25% of your calories from protein and less than 30% of your calories from fat. eDiets focuses on flexibility, convenience, and a healthy balance of your favorite foods. You will surely not get bored with this diet because your meals are adjusted weekly and designed with you in mind. The eDiets program follows a low calorie diet. If you are looking for a more specific kind of diet, just re-submit your eDiet free profile analysis. All of the Diets at eDiets include: Customized menus – recipes and convenience food options – A personalized fitness plan designed by trainers – live phone support from registered dieticians – plus 24/7 online member support – online community – motivating member challenges – eDiets Weight Loss Guarantee – if a customer’s weight loss goal isn’t reached in 6 months or less, eDiets will give them the next 6 months FREE!
   Read my complete review of The eDiets Program.
   Current Promotion: Use Promo Code SAVE25 to Save 25% at eDiets!

   




6. The Zone Diet

   The Zone Diet works by working the right ratio of carbohydrates to proteins and fats in order to control the insulin in the bloodstream. Too much of the hormone (insulin) can increase fat storage and inflammation in the body (conditions that are associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease). Dr. Sears asserts that by using the Zone Diet you are actually optimising the body’s metabolic function. Through the regulation of blood sugar, you allow your body to burn excess body fat. Also, The Zone Diet is precisely in line with the dietary guidelines developed by the Joslin Diabetes Center and The Harvard Medical School for overweight and obese adults with Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes or at high risk for developing diabetes. What’s included with The Zone Diet: Zone Block & Body Fat Calculator – 7-Day Meal Planner – Quick Start Guide – Healthy Recipes – Dr. Sears blog – Fitness and Motivation blog.
   Read my complete review of The Zone Diet.
   Current Promotion: FREE 7 Day Meal Planner Kickstart Your Health & Wellness Regimen and SAVE 20%

   




7. South Beach Diet

   The South Beach Diet is not low-carb or low-fat. Instead, the South Beach Diet teaches you to change the balance of food you eat to emphasize health and weight-loss! You’ll do away with bad carbohydrates and bad fats, and start eating good fats and good carbohydrates. Once you sign up and start losing weight, they will customize your success plan and guide you through each of their three phases of weight loss. The South Beach Diet itself has some scientific flaws and many nutritionists and fitness professionals like myself would argue that its promise of losing 8-12 pounds in 14 days is a bit aggressive and may not be able to stand up against the test of time. While cutting out white flour, sugar, and processed foods from your diet is a great idea, the South Beach Diet is actually one of the most dangerous diets out there. I would use this diet for the protein rich healthy tasting recipes and as a crash diet! With the meals you should add in your own complex carbohydrates. By adding an additional 150-300 calories to each recommended meal, your are teaching yourself a healthy balanced way of eating. Whats included with The South Beach Diet: Meal Planner – Food preferences – Diet phase – Weight Tracker – Journal Tool.
   Read my complete review of The South Beach Diet.
   Current Promotion: Get exclusive access to recipes, advice, support. Free diet profile.

   

This article was posted on Yahoo health earlier today and I don’t agree with this myth. It was a post written regarding “Don’t Believe the Health Hype: Six Fallacies Debunked” By Maxine Hurt. The other 5, I do agree with except for the very first one. You can burn more fat effectively at “Your” own specific heart rate zone! Of course if you listen to the cardiovascular recommendation of a heart rate zone, it will not work due to it’s the average for everybody. Are you average? Absolutely not, your as unique as having your own thumbprint, so we want to cater to that.

We want to work smarter not harder and more effective. According to Michael Brazeal, “you don’t need to be in a target heart zone and all you need to do is work hard.” I say pending the clients goal and what they want to accomplish in X amount of time, a target heart zone will be very effective towards their goal of burning fat. Do you want to hope to burn fat for 30 minutes – on the cardio, or do you want to know your burning fat for 30 minutes? Here is 2 posts of mine regarding a The Fat Burning Zone and Target Heart Rate Zone.

Here is the original article:

1. I should exercise in my “fat burning zone.”
You hop on the elliptical machine at the gym and study the console’s colorful diagram. Without making a single rotation, the words “Fat Burning Zone” cause your heartbeat to accelerate. A special zone that allows me to burn more fat? Perfect! So you accelerate, check your heart rate, then decelerate and peddle cautiously to ensure you never leave the fat burning zone. According to Michael Brazeal, Director of Fitness and Exercise Physiologist at the California Health and Longevity Institute at the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, California, you’ve been misled. “Yes, at low levels of exercise, a greater percentage of the calories burned come from fat, whereas at higher levels of exercise intensity a greater percentage of the calories burned come from carbohydrate combustion. But the bottom line is that it’s all about calories and creating an energy imbalance—your body doesn’t care where the calories come from.”

Brazeal explains that when he measures his clients’ resting metabolic rates (the energy required to perform vital body functions such as respiration and heart rate), a higher percentage of calories burned come from fat combustion. This means that you would be in the optimal “fat burning zone” when watching TV on the couch or lying in a hammock by the beach. Obviously, that’s not going to help you with your health goals. Instead, Brazeal, whose advice is evidence-based and substantiated by scientific research, tells his clients, “Exercise vigorously. Get the most out of it.”

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A specific warm-up should follow the general warm-up and stretching routine before any type of intense exercise. The specific warm-up relates to activities specific to your resistance training program or training session. Depending on the exercise, you may to choose to use no weights, or use the bar when performing these exercises that I have listed below. Here are the examples.

• Pressing movements
• Pulling movements
• Arm circles
• Trunk circles
• Overhead squats
• Knee circles
• Squat to a overhead press
• Muscle snatch
• Wrist circles
• Core movements

A cool-down gives the body a period of adjustment from exercise to recovery. You may choose this time to improve flexibility, but more importantly, the cool-down assists in muscular relaxation and promotes the removal of muscular waste products by the blood. Lastly, It also reduces muscular soreness and allows the cardiovascular system to adjust back to it’s normal levels.

A general warm-up involves exercising muscle groups of the body under light or minimal loading. These movements should be general in nature and not related to movements in the workout, training session, or activity. A general warm-up is everything it says it is, just nice easy light flowing warm up to get the blood circulating.

Some examples of a general warm-up are jumping jacks, riding a stationary bicycle, skipping or light calisthenics. Warm-ups should be intense enough to increase the body core temperature and cause minimal perspiration (sweating) but not fatigue. A nice thorough warm-up will improve performance and your conditioning. Here is a list of some of the benefits:

• Increased rate of strength of muscle contraction
• Increased metabolic rate
• Increased muscle coordination through related movements
• Increased work capacity/anaerobic activity
• Reducing the risk of injury
• Psychological benefits

Following your general warm-up, you should include a flexibility routine. Flexibility exercises are those exercises that increase the range of motion of a joint. These exercises should immediately follow your warm-up because the increase in the tissue temperature will make the stretching both safer and more productive. “Cold muscles” injure very easily and stretching them before they are warm can produce tearing injuries. Which is the very last possible scenario we want to happen.

Refer to my Fitness Products – Deals and Fitness Products – Store for your savings on all major fitness brands.

For some people, exercise itself is an uncomfortable activity, with all the sweating, huffing and puffing, and challenge that comes with elevating your heart rate for an extended period of time. But for people with seasonal allergies, the discomforts of exercise reach a whole new level. Your eyes are itchy and watery, your nose is stuffed up or runny, and breathing can become difficult. But that doesn’t mean that you should give up on your plans to make regular exercise a part of your healthy lifestyle. In general, people with allergies can and should exercise (as long as their health care provider says it’s okay). The following tips will help you make the most of your workouts and keep your allergy symptoms at bay.

If you are a beginner to fitness, exercise indoors for a few weeks before you move your workout sessions outside. This will help you build up your fitness level without worrying about allergy symptoms on top of the challenges of starting an exercise program.

Take your allergy medication on a regular basis to remain protected. At the very least, take your medication and/or use eye drops at least one hour (or 24 hours, if using a nasal spray) prior to exercising.

If you receive allergy shots, do not exercise strenuously for at least one or two hours after your injection. Vigorous exercise, which increases heart rate and blood flow, can lead to a rapid absorption of the shot, increasing your chances of serious side effects.

Watch the weather. Changes in weather (temperature, wind, humidity and precipitation) all affect pollen counts. Warm, dry, and breezy days—especially in the morning—tend to increase pollen counts (avoid outdoor exercise during these conditions), while rainy, cooler days and evenings will reduce pollen concentration.

If you’re feeling under the weather, avoid outdoor exercise. Your immune system is more likely to react severely to allergens when you’re tired, sick, or overly stressed.

Before heading outside, listen to the radio to check pollen/mold counts or log onto a pollen count website. Adjust your workout plan accordingly, based on the counts and your level of sensitivity. According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, “low” pollen counts will only affect individuals who are extremely sensitive to pollen and mold; “moderate” pollen counts will give many individuals symptoms; and “high” pollen counts affect almost everyone with any sensitivity to pollen and molds.

Spend at least five minutes warming up before you start each workout.

Here are some tips that will help prevent and reduce your allergy symptoms so you can exercise comfortably.

• If you’re allergic to dust mites, you can avoid breathing indoor dust by exercising outdoors.
• If you’re allergic to grasses and weeds, avoid these allergens by exercising indoors during the height of the allergy season.
• Air pollution can trigger a tightening of the airways in sensitive individuals, making it difficult to breathe when exercising on sidewalks—and even up to 50 feet away from the road. Avoid contact with outdoor pollutants (near busy roads, for example) by exercising at low-traffic times and locations or exercising indoors.
• If you’re allergic to pollen and want to exercise outdoors, plan your workouts for times when pollen counts are lowest. They tend to peak between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m., so skip an early morning workout in favor of an afternoon or evening exercise session.
• If your seasonal allergies are severe, you may need to limit your outdoor workouts completely—especially when pollen counts are at their peak levels.
• Remember that outdoor allergens like pollen can travel several miles. Although you may feel better when exercising further away from allergens like grass and trees, you may still exhibit allergy symptoms while on a tennis court, an asphalt track, or even at the beach.
• To prevent itchy, watery eyes when outdoors, wear wrap-around sunglasses to prevent allergens and wind from compounding the problem.
• Consider wearing a paper face mask to filter out allergens while you breathe heavily during exercise.

Spend at least 10 minutes to properly cool down. And don’t forget to stretch! If you exercised outdoors, change you clothes (preferably outside to keep allergens on your clothes out of the house), and shower as soon as possible to remove allergens from your skin and hair.

Keep windows closed and use the air conditioner to clear the air even more. Consider using a nasal spray (saline) to clear allergens from your nose.

Exercise is an important component of a healthy lifestyle. While allergies may be a nuisance, there are lots of options for working your workouts around your symptoms. In fact, a good workout may even help reduce your allergy symptoms. Your body produces extra adrenalin during exercise, which benefits the body by lowering your allergic response (temporarily). This means that exposure to outdoor allergens while you are working out might not result in a reaction. But once that workout is over (and adrenalin levels return to normal), allergy symptoms are more likely to flare up.

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Your exercise heart rate is the most precise way to measure intensity. Your target heart rate is a training zone—an estimate of where your heart rate should be to insure that you are training aerobically. Training below your target zone may not be intense enough to burn sufficient calories, while training above your zone will force your body to burn calories anaerobically (without or lacking oxygen) and inefficiently.

Another element in finding your training heart rate zone is determining the intensity level at which you should exercise. Your individual level of fitness will ultimately determine where you fall within this range. Use the following as a guide for determining your intensity level:

Beginner or low fitness level . . 50% – 60%

Average fitness level . . . . . . . . 60% – 70%

High fitness level . . . . . . . . . . . 75% – 85%