We were not built to do cardio on elliptical machines. Doing the same repetitive cardio motion over and over again leads to too much wear and tear. Its better to use bodyweight exercises to build our body while burning fat and strengthening the body.

Recently, one of my private clients emailed me this week, “Help! My treadmill broke. What can I do for intervals?”

My answer? Bodyweight to the rescue.

As luck would have it, I just finished up a tough lower-body circuit workout on Friday that will help keep my client’s (and your) fat loss going at record pace.

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If you want to do aerobics but find that they are just too difficult for you, then there is a solution. It is called low impact water aerobics. These don t require that you do high impact strenuous exercises that leave you feeling tired and sore. This is the main reason that people give up and stop their exercise program. It is just too hard to continue for a long period of time for many people. If you find that you fall into this category then you will find that low impact water aerobics can provide you with many benefits. They will help you stay in form without as many problems.

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It is a common misconception that aerobic exercise tones and firms muscles. Actually it accomplishes very little toning and firming. Resistance exercise (weight training) is where real toning and firming of muscles occurs.

Doing both aerobics and weight training is the optimal way to lose more fat and gain more muscle. If you are trying to lose weight, studies show that weight loss increases by 56 percent with aerobic and strength exercises combined.

Muscle may weigh more, but when you increase your muscle composition, the body is able to burn more fat, even when you are resting, because your metabolism is higher. A pound of muscle will use 350 to 500

calories per week to survive, while a pound of fat only needs about 14 calories per week. New studies have shown that building muscle helps your body fight disease better, too.

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As I peruse the pages of various holiday issues of my favorite fitness/womens magazines I notice many articles about the benefits of practicing yoga at this stressful time of year. At the risk of sounding like a cardio snob, if I have 30 minutes a day (if I m lucky) and i have to get into a special outfit in about a month and a half. I am not spending that 30 minutes taking cleansing breaths and stretching.

Don t get me wrong, if you exercise regulary year round you can absolutely benefit from a yoga class 1 maybe 2 times a week. However, if you are now just starting a routine in hopes of fitting into a size

8, then mama get ready to sweat. Here is the routine I recommend.

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One of the more popular aerobic exercises is step aerobics. Most of the time step aerobics is conducted as a class in a gym. This can really be fun and you can make a lot of good friends. But with the number of videos that have hit the market many people do step aerobics at home. There are also the many TV programs that conduct daily exercise classes. Most of the TV exercise classes conduct a variety of aerobics so if you are into step aerobics only this may not be for you.

Step aerobics is done on a platform where you step up and down usually to the beat of music. It is recommended that you not exceed

128 BPM as this can cause injury. Sometimes this can cause people to want to go faster to get a better workout. Well you can actually get a better workout by staying below the 128 BPM and modifying your routines. The platforms are usually from 6 to 10 inches. For a better workout if you are in good physical condition choose the higher platform. You can stay below 128 BPM and achieve the same step aerobic workout.

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