Air Squats - bodyweight exercise for lower body fat.
Why I like bodyweight exercise for optimum fitness.
Now more than ever, Americans like me are trying to save precious time and hard earned money how ever possible. Fitness is vital to maintaining good physical and mental health. But how much time and money to spend on maintaining fitness is of course, a big consideration.
The time and money spent traveling to a fitness center make working out at home an attractive option. With bodyweight exercise, you can get a great strength training and cardiovascular workout with no equipment other than your own body.
What type of excersize do you prefer?
Strength training, cardiovascular training, and stretching are are important for overall fitness. People of varying body types and personalities tend to favor exercise that fall in to only one of these categories. Avid runners, for instance, tend to do only perfunctory stretching prior to running and little to no strength training at all. Dedicated yoga enthusiasts believe that strength training and breathing exercise are already incorporated into their daily routine. Weightlifters often use cardiovascular training and stretching as a warm up and cool down before and after strength training, but not as a large part of their overall workout.
Want to kill two birds with one stone?
Certain types of low impact aerobic training can be effective for killing two birds with one stone. By doing strength training exercises without weights for an extended period of time, the heart rate can be elevated to an aerobic training level for a sustained time period. In this way, a cardiovascular workout can be achieved while specific muscle groups are being targeted. This type of strength training falls into the category of bodyweight exercise.
My favorite exercise? The air squat.
What is the air squat? It's the same as doing squats with weights, but instead of holding a bar with your hands, you raise them in front of you at an acute angle with palms facing downward. Hold your arms in this position throughout the squatting movement, relaxing your arms at your sides in between repetitions.
As a petite woman with a pear shaped body type, I like to concentrate my strength training efforts on my hips, thighs and buttocks as much as possible. The air squat is perfect for this. In addition to my regular bodyweight exercise training regimen, I build up strength with sporadic sets of air squats throughout the day. I set goals for the amount of air squats I will do each day and make sure I get them done throughout the day.
Don't forget to stretch.
Yogi say that you are only as young and fit as your spine is flexible. There are a plethora of yoga books, dvd's, and classes to experiment with. Take the time to incorporate stretching into your workout routine. Even a short yoga session a couple of times a week can make a huge difference in how you look and feel. Achieving greater flexibility while releasing tension from your muscles and joints can really put a spring in your step.
Now more than ever, Americans like me are trying to save precious time and hard earned money how ever possible. Fitness is vital to maintaining good physical and mental health. But how much time and money to spend on maintaining fitness is of course, a big consideration.
The time and money spent traveling to a fitness center make working out at home an attractive option. With bodyweight exercise, you can get a great strength training and cardiovascular workout with no equipment other than your own body.
What type of excersize do you prefer?
Strength training, cardiovascular training, and stretching are are important for overall fitness. People of varying body types and personalities tend to favor exercise that fall in to only one of these categories. Avid runners, for instance, tend to do only perfunctory stretching prior to running and little to no strength training at all. Dedicated yoga enthusiasts believe that strength training and breathing exercise are already incorporated into their daily routine. Weightlifters often use cardiovascular training and stretching as a warm up and cool down before and after strength training, but not as a large part of their overall workout.
Want to kill two birds with one stone?
Certain types of low impact aerobic training can be effective for killing two birds with one stone. By doing strength training exercises without weights for an extended period of time, the heart rate can be elevated to an aerobic training level for a sustained time period. In this way, a cardiovascular workout can be achieved while specific muscle groups are being targeted. This type of strength training falls into the category of bodyweight exercise.
My favorite exercise? The air squat.
What is the air squat? It's the same as doing squats with weights, but instead of holding a bar with your hands, you raise them in front of you at an acute angle with palms facing downward. Hold your arms in this position throughout the squatting movement, relaxing your arms at your sides in between repetitions.
As a petite woman with a pear shaped body type, I like to concentrate my strength training efforts on my hips, thighs and buttocks as much as possible. The air squat is perfect for this. In addition to my regular bodyweight exercise training regimen, I build up strength with sporadic sets of air squats throughout the day. I set goals for the amount of air squats I will do each day and make sure I get them done throughout the day.
Don't forget to stretch.
Yogi say that you are only as young and fit as your spine is flexible. There are a plethora of yoga books, dvd's, and classes to experiment with. Take the time to incorporate stretching into your workout routine. Even a short yoga session a couple of times a week can make a huge difference in how you look and feel. Achieving greater flexibility while releasing tension from your muscles and joints can really put a spring in your step.
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Fitness
