5 Best Moves For Geat Glutes

By Team eLifestyle Fitness and Lifestyle Expert Robb Armstrong

In last week’s Fit Tip we addressed some of positives of adding free weights into fitness regimen.

This week we spring clean your current fitness routine by introducing 5 great moves to add shape and strength with added attention to your glutes!

When it comes to choosing the very best exercise techniques while training at home sometimes you may overlook the basic yet must-have moves that always deliver great results. Check our choice 5 below!

Precautions
See your doctor before trying these exercises if you have any injuries, illnesses or other conditions and modify any movement that causes pain or discomfort.

5 Best Lower Body Moves
(Muscles engaged: glutes, hip flexors, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves)

Equipment Need: Dumbbells, weighted body bar, stackable steps, mat

Squats
Performed with your own body weight, dumbbells or a weighted bar, the squat is one of the best ways to maintain full-body awareness and core strength while tapping into all the lower body booty-shaping muscles!

Lunges
Walking or stationary, using free weights or not, stepping forward or reverse, lunges allow for a special emphasis on quads and glutes.

Deadlifts
When done properly, performing a stiff-knee deadlift, using dumbbells or a weighted bar, will put special emphasis on your hamstrings, glutes and lower back.

Step-Ups
As you progress in ability, adding steps for a higher rise will continue to work all muscles of the lower body and your heart rate to a much greater degree to burn maximum calories at the same time.

Glute Kick-Backs
Popular among those who partake in regular gym fitness classes, this move is also a must for your home routine. It puts special attention on your glutes with additional work to your core muscles to stabilize in the position.


Note: Check back every week for more helpful health and fitness tips from eLifestyle's Fit Tips by Robb!

Using Free Weights For a Fat-Free Body!

By Team eLifestyle Fitness and Lifestyle Expert Robb Armstrong

In last week’s Fit Tip you learned why cutting your carbs too low could actually stall your weight-loss efforts.

This week we give you a few of the main benefits of adding free weights into your exercise and fitness routine to help you tone up while shedding excess winter flab.

When it comes to effective training, throwing some free weights – dumbbells and barbells – into the mix will have you making great strides in shaping and toning up for a summer-ready body. So shed your fear of free weights to shed more pounds! Here’s how …


3 Key Benefits of Using Free Weights

1. Unlike a weighted machine that is fixed in one position, free-weight training is effective in recruiting additional stabilizer muscles to provide balance and coordination during any chosen exercise. These are important elements needed not only in our day-to-day movements as we age, but are also required for various sports, fitness interests, and recreational activities as well.

2. Weight machines keep the weights steady and moving in the proper plane of motion. With free weights, it’s up to you to maintain proper form in order to engage your muscles to their maximum. For example, a biceps curl is going to feel more natural and use more muscles in your torso (to support the weight) than if you did a seated biceps curl on a machine where the machine does some of the work and has you leaning against it for leverage.

3. There are a variety of exercises that you can do with dumbbells and barbells that you can’t do with machines. For example, if you’re creative, squats, lunges, step-ups, and many upper-body exercises can be performed with free weights. What’s more, you can simply contact us at www.elifestyle.ca for some personal training advice to gain more exercise knowledge.


Note: Check back every week for more helpful health and fitness tips from eLifestyle's Fit Tips!

Why Drastic Carb Cutting Can Hinder Weight Loss

By Team eLifestyle Fitness and Lifestyle Expert Robb Armstrong

Last week we taught you how to perform stretching techniques to help bolster your exercise efforts.

In this week’s Fit Tip we give you 10 top reasons why cutting too many carbs from your diet can actually halt your weight loss progress, and what you can do to avoid this unintentional, yet common, dietary mistake.


While it’s true that cutting back on your daily carbohydrate intake will help the progress of your weight loss efforts, cutting too much carbohydrates from your diet however, can actually have the opposite intended effect. The frustrating result may be that your body weight may remain the same, or even worse, you’ll gain additional weight!


10 top reasons why carbs are an essential part of your daily diet:

1. The effects of a low-carbohydrate lifestyle will result in a “carb crash” that includes constipation, bad breath, headaches, irritability, fatigue and potential vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

2. You need carbohydrate calories to burn for energy.

3. Drastic carb cutting may lead to faster weight loss, but can also lead to fast regain of body weight once carbs are reintroduced into the diet, even in smaller amounts!

4. If carbohydrate intake remains very low and overall caloric intake with regards to proteins and fats aren’t properly adjusted, your body will revert into “starvation mode” as the body tries to conserve energy.

5. In terms of exercise, if carbs are too low during dieting you will be weaker, more lethargic and will lack the ability to concentrate and maintain an effective training intensity to produce desired results.

6. You need carbs to ensure you’re getting enough fiber and cancer protective phytochemicals.

7. Because serotonin is a byproduct of carbohydrate metabolism, a low-carbohydrate intake depletes the serotonin levels in the brain. With lower serotonin, individuals become more depressed and more obsessed, and in extreme cases that can lead to an eating disorder.

8. Cutting carbs too low may not be effective for your body type.

9. The sudden loss of energy-burning fuel can stall your metabolism, which is counterproductive to weight loss.

10. A state of ketosis can result from drastic carb-cutting. Common in the malnourished and those who suffer from diabetes, if not treated, ketosis is a potentially fatal condition that first leads to a coma as the nervous system becomes depressed because of the blood pH drop caused by the ketones in the blood stream.


Note: Check back every week for more helpful health and fitness tips from eLifestyle's Fit Tips!