Tying your shoelaces is usually one of the skills that you learn to master at a very early age. Or at least you think you do. If you know how to tie your shoes, then how come those laces always keep coming undone? It’s happened to us more than once during a nice jog in the park or while doing a high-intensity Home Workout Challenge workout. The laces of your running shoes have come undone, you stumble and almost fall down, and need to tie the laces all over again. Not cool.

Well, no worries! Those days are soon over, because we have a couple of cool tips for you! You’ll learn once and for all how to tie your shoes with knots that’ll hold.

Watch the video to learn how to tie your shoes

The reason why the knot is not strong enough is that – believe it or not – you are doing it the wrong way around! If the starting knot and the finishing bow are not in balance, the result is a weak knot that will not hold and results in you stumbling and tripping over your undone shoelaces.

How to tie your shoes properly then? In the following video, we’ll demonstrate how to tie the laces of your running shoes by making a strong knot that will hold even through a marathon!

You will see three techniques for lacing your running shoes. We call them the Weak Knot, the Strong Knot, and the Home Workout Challenge knot.

1. Weak Knot

First, you’ll see the Weak Knot, which is the “normal” way to tie your shoes. What’s typical to this is that when you tie the knot, the bow will point in “heel-to-toe” direction, which makes the bow imbalanced and prone to come undone.

2. Strong Knot

Secondly, we’ll show how to do a Strong Knot. This knot is inspired by this TED-talk. The Strong Knot differs from the Weak one in that you need to go to the other direction around the loop. In the end, the bow will point across the shoe making it strong!

3. Home Workout Challenge Knot

Finally, you’ll be introduced to the ultimate knot developed by us that will hold forever: the Home Workout Challenge Knot! When making this knot, go around the bow in the same direction as in the Strong Knot, but at the end, make one more half-circle around the loop before finalizing the knot. And you’re ready to go! This knot is perfect when you’re running or working out!

Let us know your top tricks in the comments section below!

The post How to Tie Your Shoes? Top Two Knots that Last! appeared first on Home Workout Challenge.

Elisa, your coach at Home Workout Challenge was recently interviewed by Vanessa Halloum at Feminine Soul radio. The interview was all about how to find the motivation to exercise and get more energy.

Listen to the radio broadcast here!

Listen to the broadcast and you will learn

• How to be full of energy all day every day.
• How to find the time and motivation to exercise and eat right.
• How to make healthy living a lifestyle.
• How to know where to get started.
• How will high-intensity interval workouts make your life better and why everyone should be doing them.

The majority of us lead busy lives. Whether it is children or a job or both that’s keeping us busy, the fact is that it’s often hard to find time or motivation for working out and overall healthy living and eating. Days go by quickly and unless staying fit is your number one priority it is so easy to say you will go to the gym tomorrow or on Monday next week or the week after..

In the broadcast Vanessa and I discussed how to overcome these issues and keep up healthy living by make fitness a permanent part of your life and staying fit, lean, healthy, and full of energy, no matter how busy you are.

Feminine Soul Radio is an online community for women with the aim of empowering, encouraging, and connecting all the women around the world, allowing their voices to be heard. Although the radio channel is mainly for the female audience, I encourage also all the male readers to listen to this interview, there’s plenty of interesting information also for you guys!

If you want to get more energy or learn how to get in shape, this half an hour is a time well spent!

Listen to the radio show here!

The post Home Workout Challenge on Air! appeared first on Home Workout Challenge.

Less is more

Imagine yourself in a race. As soon as you hear the ready-steady-go you start running as fast as you possibly can.

At first you feel great. You have lots of energy, you feel the adrenalin rush and the power in your muscles.

After about 10 seconds, you get the first feeling of exhaustion. Your muscles are slowly losing their initial explosive power and you are breathing heavily. You need to slow down a bit.

After running for additional minute and a half, you are really starting to feel the lactic acid in your legs and you are feeling out of breath. You need to slow down a bit more to be able to continue running.

If the race continues longer than 2 minutes, you will need to slow down your speed again to be able to carry on.

The reason why you need to slow down bit by bit is related to the different energy reserves in your body that your muscles are using to perform the exercise. When one source of energy is used up, another one needs to be started. Each one of the energy sources ATP, ATP-PCr, glycolytic, and oxidative systems requires more time than the previous one to get going and start preparing the required amount of energy for the exercise to continue. Slowing down the speed of exercising allows time for the energy source to get activated.

So, your body has its ways of keeping you going while exercising, as long as you are willing to slow down your pace. However, if your goal is to get better, stronger or leaner, going on endlessly at a slow pace is not what you want to be doing! The faster you are going and the more intense the workout is, the more energy your muscles are using both during and after the workout. In other words, a 100m sprint burns more calories per minute than jogging at a comfortable pace. If you want to get some real results in a short period of time, going for short bursts of exercise at a time is far more beneficial than long workouts at a steady pace.

High-intensity interval training, it’s what everyone’s talking about

In order to get the maximal benefits of working out and using your body’s energy reserves as effectively as possible, there is a specific method that you want to be following.

It’s called HIIT.

HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training. The concept has been around for years, but it’s only lately that HIIT has become the hot, new trend in the fitness world – and for a good reason!

Training at high intensity means going all out, at your maximal speed, strength, and power from the very beginning until the end of the workout. When working out at high intensity, you are using your body’s energy sources at a more rapid rate than with low or moderate intensity exercise. Basically it means that you are burning more calories! And not just any type of calories, but especially stored fat. As you body needs time and energy to recover from the high-intensity workout, HIIT increases the amount of calories you burn both during AND after the workout.

If you’re not interested in burning fat, HIIT also has a positive effect on your endurance and overall fitness level. It’s also great for building lean muscle mass unlike normal aerobic exercise. Together with the right kind of diet you will definitely get more energy with high-intensity inteval training.

However, like described in the beginning, going at your max does not last very long. As the workout continues, you will need to slow down quite quickly, which then again slows down the benefits. Not cool.

That’s why you need the second i of HIIT: high-intensity interval training!

Intervals can be explained as periods of rest or recovery. Whether it’s a full rest in the middle of the workout or a period at a slower pace or a set of exercises done with alternating muscle groups, when you add intervals into your workouts, you give your body’s energy reserves more time to fill up amid the workout. This, on the other hand, prolongs the duration of your workout, which again adds up to the benefits. When you do the workout at high-intensity AND for a longer period you can multiply the advantages of this type of training!

For maximal benefits of HIIT, you need to really push yourself when doing the workout. This will take you past the upper end of your aerobic zone and allow your body to replenish your energy reserves during the recovery intervals.

What else is good about HIIT

Most of us want to get fitter and healthier, but can’t bear the thought of having to spend hours after hours on the treadmill or simply don’t have time for it. So, in addition to the indisputable physical benefits of HIIT training, working out with high-intensity also saves time. It is a workout method so effective it’s almost too good to be true! HIIT really is the smartest way to workout.

With HIIT you get world-class results, quickly! That’s just perfect, isn’t it?

It doesn’t mean high-intensity training is necessarily easier, though.. Working out with high-intensity means that you need to engage in giving each workout all you got. There’s no slacking when doing HIIT.

I’m just a beginner, can I do HIIT?

Yes, you can! High-intensity interval exercises are suitable for everyone, even the beginners. Although the idea of these workouts is to apply maximal effort, you are doing the workout at YOUR max. If you’re just a beginner, your maximum might not be the maximum of a more advanced athlete, but it does not matter. As long as you are giving the workout all you got and exiting your own comfort zone, that’s when you are making progress!

Numerous studies have ranked HIIT as a top method of working out due to the superior results one gets when following this type of working out. In a study conducted by Shiraev & Barclay in 2012, the benefits of HIIT exercises especially for patients with a high risk of cardiovascular disease were discussed. The study showed that when following a program of high-intensity workouts, a significant decrease in the risk of getting the disease was achieved. HIIT also improved the subjects’ maximal oxygen uptake (cardiovascular fitness) along with helping with weight loss.

Even though this type of training if suitable for everyone, there are a couple of points to note before you start squatting at full speed! Firstly, if you have any medical condition or have any doubts whether HIIT training is suitable for you, please consult your doctor before getting started. Secondly, always warm up first before starting a workout! It’s really important to get your muscles warm first, that way you will minimize the risk of any injuries and will get better results.

We believe in HIIT!

The world of Home Workout Challenge is all about high-intensity interval workouts. If you aren’t convinced yet, sign up for our free 7-Day Home Workout Challenge to try it yourself. You’ll love it, guaranteed!

Go on, give HIIT a try!

The post HIIT – High-Intensity Interval Training: the Smartest Way to Workout appeared first on Home Workout Challenge.

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What is a circuit breaker and what does it have to do with health?

Imagine you are in an aeroplane ready to take off when suddenly one of the engines stops running. The plane is pulled back to the ramp and mechanics are called up to fix the problem. From the window of the plane you can see and hear the mechanics working on fixing the engine. You’re sitting on your seat, starting to feel a little worried of what’s going on. Minutes, half an hour, an hour passes by while the mechanics and engineers trying to work out what the problem is. You’re getting quite anxious on your seat, wondering if it’s a good idea to take this flight after all..

Then after almost two hours of waiting you hear the captain’s voice reassuring that the mechanics have found the problem, fixed it and you are ready to depart shortly. Apparently, it was just a circuit breaker that had tripped causing the engine to shut down. He says the circuit breaker has now been replaced and you are good to go.

Do you know what a circuit breaker is?

It is a safety mechanism, an electrical switch that will shut down the engine in case there is an electric failure, overload or a problem in the engine thus protecting the rest of the system.

Think about it.

It is a safety mechanism that shuts down in case there is a problem.

Knowing that it is only the circuit breaker that has now been replaced, would you still take that flight? What about what caused the circuit breaker to trip in the first place? What if it happens again while you’re in the air?

Finding the Z factor of life

In October the Home Workout Challenge team embarked from the dark and cold Finland to the sunny and warm south coast of Spain. The purpose of the trip was not only to fill up our vitamin D stores, but also to attend a health seminar The Z Factor held by the wonderful and inspiring Joseph McClendon III.

Joseph is a neuropsychologist, a success coach and an expert in life transformation. He is an enthusiastic spokesperson for healthy living and eating and it is obvious that he really practises what he preaches. Seriously, the man is in his 60s, but looks at least 20 years younger! There’s a true role model for everyone!

We left the seminar bursting with energy, new ideas and eager to share all that we learned!

Fixing the problem, not the outcome

Coming back to the circuit breaker. You may be wondering how it is related to your health.

Let me explain. Just like a circuit breaker is a warning signal that something is wrong in an engine, problems with health such as headaches, poor digestion or high blood pressure can be a warning signal that something is wrong in your body.

What is interesting is how this warning signal is treated.

In the aeroplane example, it was the circuit breaker that was replaced. What about the original problem that caused the breaker to trip in the first place?

If you’re suffering from headache, do you take a painkiller? If you’re suffering from poor digestion or heartburn, do you take medication to relieve the symptoms?

What if instead of fixing the outcome you would concentrate on fixing the problem!

Suffering from headaches, poor digestion, high blood pressure, arthritis, obesity, lack of energy or some other challenge could, in fact, be your body’s way of signalling that something about your lifestyle or diet is not right. Instead of relying on the power of medication, you should be searching for an answer elsewhere. Fueling your body with the right kind of food, getting more sleep or removing the stressors in your life can do wonders for your health.

The circuit breaker example was one of the first eye-opening stories shared by Joseph during the seminar weekend. He made us convinced that properly nourishing both your body and mind will lead to more health, happiness, energy, and vitality in your life. It all comes down to your lifestyle and the choices that you make.

5 Success factors for a vibrant life!

What are the keys for a vibrant life, then? Here are some of the key points we learned during the seminar.

1. Awaken

The first step in the pursuit of improving the quality of your life is to become aware of your current situation. You have to know where you are to determine where you are going. We all want a good, long, healthy and active life that we can be proud of and there’s nothing stopping you from achieving that. You just need to take action. All the information that you need for achieving your goals and dreams are within your reach. You just need to believe in yourself, exit your comfort zone and take a step forward.

A good way to get started is not to take everything so seriously. Life is fun! Laugh, take joy out of little things. When you do your best to enjoy each day and keep your eyes and senses open, good things will come to you. What’s also important is to become your own best friend and consistently practise what you want to achieve or who you want to become.

2. Nourish your body for more energy

Properly nourishing both your body and mind helps in overcoming challenges like aging, low level of energy, depression, high blood pressure, headache, poor digestion.. If you are doing something wrong, your body will surely protest. Think of the circuit breaker.

For example, poor digestion could be your body’s way of signalling that the food that you eat is not optimal for you. Food intolerances are becoming more and more common all the time, causing all kinds of health problems. If your stomach looks and feels like a balloon after eating a loaf of bread, ditch the bread for a few days to see if you feel any different (I bet you do). It’s important to listen to your body. Otherwise you are guaranteed to do yourself and your intestines harm.

Your cells need energy to keep you alive. This energy comes from the food that you eat. Take a wild guess whether your cells prefer food that’s fresh, healthy and nutrient-rich to a quick burger and fries with close to zero nutrients.

Optimizing your diet for instance by taking care of the acid/alkaline balance can significantly increase your energy level, health, and wellbeing. A good way to get started is by eating more vegetables. Along with alkalizing your body, they’ll give you nutrients and vitamins. Eat as much as you like and as many different kinds as you like and you can hear your cells saying “thank you”!

3. Remember to breathe

As crazy as it may sound, we often forget to breathe! In fact, studies show that the majority of people don’t even know how to breathe correctly.

If the pace of breathing is too fast and the breaths not deep enough, your brain may not be getting enough oxygen, which leaves you tired and affects your performance both mentally and physically. This becomes worse if you’re sitting down all day, hunched over your computer. This way the bottom 3rd of your lungs is collapsed and you can’t get as much energy from oxygen as you need.

Luckily, this is easy to fix. Just a bit of practise will make you a world-class breather.

Try this simple exercise once per day:

1. Stand straight.
2. Take a deep breath through your nose.
3. While inhaling, expand your diaphragm (your stomach) out, not up.
4. Exhale.
5. Repeat 5 times.

The secret is in step 3, breathing from the diaphragm. When taking a deep breath, don’t raise your shoulders. Concentrate on expanding your stomach outwards. That’s how you get the maximal benefit of breathing, i.e. energy for your brain.

Breathing is a natural detoxifier, too, so keep on breathing everyone!

4. Keep yourself hydrated

Another important element of health is water.

How many glasses of water do you drink daily? No, soft drinks, juices, coffee and tea don’t count.

Water is the number one essential factor to all the vital functions of your body. 75% of your body is water. 90% of your brain is water.

The reserves of water need constant replenishment, so you should keep a glass or a bottle or water at hand all the time! Each day you should consume 3-5 liters of water. Are you?

Dehydration can be a cause of many health issues. You’d be surprised how much water affects everything. It’s the most simple cure for tiredness and low energy. Also, the cause of a headache could be as simple as dehydration. Drinking water also improves digestion along with cleansing and detoxing your body.

So, seriously guys, drink that water! No excuses.

5. Move your body

The last, but by no means the least key point for achieving a vibrant life is exercise.

You could be eating the healthiest food on the planet, sleeping well, breathing deeply and keeping yourself hydrated, but if you’re sitting down all day at work, in your car, on the sofa at home and barely moving a muscle in between, the chances are you’re not feeling as energetic as you could be and you’re bound to see the effects of being sedentary sooner or later. Whether it’s in a form of a bulging stomach, growing butt or some sort of health problem, you will see the result of not being physically active at some point of your life.

If you’ve already participated in our 7-Day Home Workout Challenge you know that you don’t need fancy equipment or a whole lot of time to do an effective workout. Really, 15 minutes per day is enough!

Do the workouts at home or wherever as long as you do them! Moving your body is crucial for a number of different reasons. For instance, exercise and physical activity gives you more energy, more self-esteem, decreases the risk of many health issues like heart attack, osteoporosis, depression, and stress. And finally, surprise surprise, exercising helps you to stay fit!

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These are five out of the eight key factors of a healthy, happy, and vibrant life. All these key points are covered in depth in our Personal Fitness Consultation. We will go through these steps with you and find the best solution tailored just for you in order to achieve an active and energetic life and body of your dreams! Read more about the Personal Fitness Consultation here.

The post 5 Steps to More Energy, Anyone? appeared first on Home Workout Challenge.

The same pattern repeats year after year. Each January the gyms are packed with new, enthusiastic sportsmen and -women. After making a New Year’s resolution, they’re all super-excited to start their new lives with – at least – 10 portions of veggies per day and 5 sessions of spinning, aerobics, and Bodypump per week.

Come February, half the people have vanished from the gym. By March, things are back to normal, the way there were before the New Year.

Why is it like this? And more importantly, does it have to be this way?

The reason why so many people fail to sustain the new life they’ve just started is that they don’t plan ahead. They may have pictured the perfect beach body that they want to achieve, but when the reality hits and they realized it’s actually hard work to reach that goal, they quit.

Studies actually show that people are the most excited about starting a new life or changing their habits one day before they actually get started. For example, if you’ve made a decision of turning a new leaf in your life on Monday, then Sunday is the day you are the most excited and confident about your decision. You’ve decided to lose weight/build muscle/stop eating junk food/quit smoking or whatever and pictured yourself healthy, happy and with a perfect body, but still today you can eat whatever you like, continue doing like you’ve always done and don’t have to do a single push-up. It will all change tomorrow.

And then the hard work starts and the harsh truth is exposed.

It’s true that it takes lots of guts and courage to lose weight, build muscle or stay in a great shape, but for sure it can be done.

How to do it then?

Well, the key to success is in your habits. It’s way too easy to slip into your old lifestyle unless you meticulously work towards the change and build new habits to replace the old ones. This, on the other hand, should be done in two parts:

• Step 1: Become aware of the root cause that makes you slip into your old habits.
• Step 2: Define a clear goal and an action plan for achieving it.
• Step 3: Act.

So, identify the causes of trouble, then come up with better habits to replace them. If you think it’s easier said than done, you are probably right. That’s why, in order to help you get started, we’ve collected a few practical suggestions for you.

Take the First Step

Let’s start with Step 1.

In order to identify the underlying trouble-maker, you should pay attention to small details. What it means is that instead of going full speed ahead without a proper plan or a goal, it’s worth taking a moment to evaluate your current habits. If you’ve ever started “the new life”, but then gradually slipped back to your old habits, think about the underlying reasons why this happened and remember to be honest to yourself.

For instance, maybe you quit going to the gym because you’re just lazy. There’s no shame in that, most people are! I mean, who wouldn’t find their own sofa more comfortable that the leg press machine in the gym? Or maybe you’ve developed habit of rewarding yourself with pizza and ice cream after a hard day at work because it makes you feel – momentarily – better and soothes your stressed nerves. It’s cool, as long as you can identify and admit that this is the case.

One practical technique for determining and understanding the root cause is the so-called 5 Whys technique. Asking yourself 5 successive questions is said to help you understand the cause-and effect relationships related to the problem you’re facing as well as guide you in the right track for fixing it.

It could go something like this:

Example 1

Problem: I’m unhappy with my body.

1. Why? – Because I’m overweight.
2. Why? – Because I haven’t been working out.
3. Why? – Because I’m working long hours and find it impossible to go to a gym after work.
4. Why? – Because I don’t have energy to exercise in the evenings.
5. Why? – Because the days are so hectic that I don’t have time to eat properly, so in the evening I’m tired and hungry and end up eating something quick and often unhealthy.

Example 2

Problem: I’m really out of shape.

1. Why? – I don’t have time to work out.
2. Why? – I’m working long hours and don’t want to spend my limited free time in the gym.
3. Why? – I’d rather lay on the couch and watch my favorite TV shows in the evenings than spend that time working out.
4. Why? – I find watching TV more interesting than doing sports.
5. Why? – TV has a higher priority in my life right now than exercising.

So, in Example 1, in the end, the biggest problem wasn’t actually the lack of exercise or the lack of time initially suggested, but uncontrollable eating in the evenings. Although exercise plays an important role when the goal is to lose weight, in this case it would be worth first improving the eating habits, rather than trying to work out when tired and hungry.

In Example 2, it is a question of priorities. If the person was truly determined to get in shape, he/she would find a way or make time for exercise no matter what. If giving up watching TV is not an option a good way to get started would be to introduce short (10-15 min) periods of exercise to the daily routine. That would leave time for other things, too.

When you have identified the problem, whether with the help of the 5 why’s or some other tactic, it’s time to move on to step 2.

Step 2: Fixing the Problem

Based on the root cause that you have now identified, you should come up with a goal as well as an action plan for reaching it. Both of them are equally important: if you don’t have a clear goal in mind, it’s hard to keep up the motivation and, vice versa, if you have a goal, but no plan how to achieve it, you might be wasting your time doing things that don’t really matter.

Here are some tips for you on how to do this in practice.

First, set up a small goal.

Always a good way to get started is by setting up a small goal at first. Instead of deciding to turn your whole world around for good, first go for 7 days, then continue for 30 days, and so on. Setting your goal to “bite-size” pieces makes it easier to handle, as you can always see the next finish line. It’s like eating an elephant: not with one huge bite, but bit by bit, right?

In addition to being achievable, a good goal is easy to measure and includes both the outcome as well as the way to get there. For example: “I will lose 5 lbs by working out 4 times per week and replacing sugary desserts by fruits”.

Then, tackle the problem.

Step 3: Act

Moving on to Step 3. Say that your goal is to lose weight and your main problem is related food and unhealthy eating habits, your action plan could be to find healthier alternatives to put in your mouth every day or if you can trace down a specific day or time when you are most likely to consume something unhealthy, see if you could switch the temptation to something else.

For instance, if it’s always on Friday night that you feel the craving for pizza and ice cream, why don’t you try going for a walk instead or call a friend and go bowling together. If it doesn’t help, you could search for a substitute, something healthier to eat. Or if you just can’t live without the pizza, you could try baking it yourself and making it a bit healthier than usual. For example, make the crust of just eggs, no flour (separate the whites and the yolks, whisk the whites until hard, then mix in the yolks and season with basil, bake in the oven for 10 minutes. It’s good, I promise!), which adds the pizza’s protein content and makes it healthier. Instead of ice cream you could try of bowl of berries with whipped coconut milk on top and seasoned with vanilla. Yummy! …Or anything else (healthy) that makes you happy. These are just to give you ideas.

Also remember that if you manage to eat right and clean 90% of the time, treating yourself with your favorite food 10% of the time is totally ok.

If your biggest problem is uncontrollable binge eating like in Example 1 above, you could try to eat a proper meal every 3-4 hours in order to avoid the ravenous feeling. If it’s not possible to eat properly, at least always keep some snacks such as nuts, dried figs or dates with you to keep the hunger away. Furthermore, when eating, don’t gobble down the food so quickly that you can hardly even taste it. Instead, eat slowly and stop as soon as you’re 80% full. You’ll feel much better afterwards.

If your biggest problem is choosing the sofa over the gym (as in Example 2 above), you could start by doing a little something 3 or 4 time per week and find a way to include only 10-20 minutes of workout out to your daily schedule.

For example, you could join one of our Challenges! What’s best about our fitness programs is that all the workouts can be done at home, so there’s no need to get up and go anywhere. You can just check the workout of the day online and get started right where you are. Start with the free 7-Day Program and then continue to the full Home Workout Challenge fitness program. Quick and easy!

If you tend to lose interest in a workout routine over time, learn to get your kicks from the euphoric feeling that you get after a good workout. It’s much better than the short good feeling resulting from slouching on the sofa!

In all of our Challenge workout programs we stress the importance of habits and goal-setting. In fact, our new, up-and-coming Take It Easy Challenge is entirely based on the idea of gradually building a new, healthy lifestyle and making it a habit, which makes it really hard to go back to the old lifestyle. The new habit can be as simple as eating only until you’re 80% full. It may not sound mind-blowing, but it works! When a person learns to control his or her cravings, eat slowly and stop eating before their stomach is too full, some excellent results in terms of weight loss have been accomplished. You can find more information on the Take It Easy Challenge here.

And finally:

“Never, never, never, never give up.”- Winston Churchill

The post Change Your Habits – the Secret to Success appeared first on Home Workout Challenge.

How an appealing equation, isn’t it? Well, the best part is that it is true! Want to know more? Well, read on and we will tell you all about it!

If your goal is to get rid of the unwanted fat that has accumulated in your body, what do you do? Do you eat less and try to live only on salad leaves in order to get a lean body? Or do you try to sweat off the extra pounds by spending at least an hour per day on a treadmill?

Don’t do it! I’m telling you, there’s a better way!

Let’s start with the basics. Oversimplifying the process of energy production, it goes something like this: when you eat, you get energy; when you exercise, you spend it. If the intake of energy exceeds the expenditure, it’s called a positive energy balance, which eventually leads into weight gain. On the other hand, if the consumption of energy exceeds the intake, it’s called a negative energy balance, which eventually leads into weight loss.

Sound simple so far? The trick here is that from this you could easily draw a false conclusion that by eating less you lose weight, which is not the whole truth. If your goal is to lose weight and reduce your body fat percentage, you should take into consideration these three points:

- Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)
- Quality of energy intake
- Quality of exercise

Let’s look at each of these points individually and see how they relate to losing weight and how to accomplish the equation of the subject line: Eat More + Exercise Less = Lose Weight

Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)

Did you know that physical activity makes only 15-30% of your total energy expenditure? What this means is that even if you exercised each day of the week, the effect that it has on your total calorie consumption is fairly low. Instead as much as 70% of all the energy that you spend are taken by the vital bodily functions such as blood circulation and brain and would be spent even if you were lying still doing nothing. This energy consumption is called the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR).

What’s the most important thing to notice about RMR, however, is that it adjusts to the energy intake: if you eat less, it will slow down the RMR, which means that your body will require less energy to function. So, trying to lose weight by strictly controlling your portion sizes and counting calories is not the most efficient choice, because eating less results in your body spending overall less energy.

Instead, you need to nourish your body properly to keep the metabolism running on a steady rate.

Quality of Energy Intake

So, reducing the amount that you eat is no good. Instead, when your goal is to lose weight, is the quality of the food that counts. If you have a diet abundant with quick carbohydrates such as pasta or bread, you will quickly fill your body’s energy requirement without getting enough vitamins and minerals that are needed when in pursuit of your optimal weight. These “empty” calories from sugar, white flour or any processed food will only shoot up your blood sugar level for a short while before you feel hungry again. This will only lead you to eating more and more and definitely not seeing the results that you wish for.

Instead, if you include loads of protein and vegetables in your diet, you will get good nutrients to support your health along with boosting the fat loss process. A diet that consists of lean meat, fish, and chicken as well as a variety of vegetables will turn up your metabolism. You will also spend more calories as the energy needed to digest protein and veggies is higher than that of carbohydrates.

So, bearing in mind that reducing your energy intake will only reduce the RMR making weight loss even more difficult, when really paying attention to what you eat you can easily eat almost as much as you like and still lose weight! A diet of protein + veggies also keeps the hunger away much longer than a diet filled with processed or fast food, so you don’t need to starve yourself in order to shed some unwanted fat.

Quality of Exercise

The third point to notice in the quest for a lower body fat percentage is the quality of exercise that will take you towards your goal. Any form of exercise is good for your health, but when comparing the effect of a low intensity, long duration exercise vs. a high intensity, short duration one, the results and benefits seen in the latter are undeniable.

The biggest difference between the two is that whereas in a low intensity training calories are burned during the workout, in a high intensity one energy is burned both during AND after the exercise. This is because your body needs energy for recovery and repair from the hard work it has done.

The effect of high intensity interval training was also noted in a recent Canadian study, where the researchers found that short bursts of high-intensity interval training, not only improved the subjects’ overall fitness level in a much shorter period of time than while doing low intensity workouts, but the high-intensity workouts also had a positive effect on the subjects’ insulin sensitivity and blood sugar regulation leading into decreased risk of type 2 diabetes. Intense exercise also prevents muscle loss and preserves the RMR effectively.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Basically, you can eat as much as you like and exercise only about 10-30 minutes per day and get the body of your dreams. Getting in a good shape is simple as long as you know what to do!

This is also what our Home Workout Challenge fitness programs are all about. Short, high-intensity interval workouts, instructions for lean eating and the results are guaranteed!

The post Eat More + Exercise Less = Lose Weight?! appeared first on Home Workout Challenge.

Every now and then we pick one Challenge Superstar from our 30-Day Home Workout Challenge or 30-Day Advanced Challenge fitness programs. The superstars are people who have achieved amazing results in the Challenge, worked hard to achieve their goal or actively participated in the Challenge by sharing their thoughts and motivating others along the way in our Membership Area. 

The superstars are also rewarded with a full-body transformation package for one year, including workouts, nutritional advice as well as personal consultation with us! We are proud to present the very first Challenge Superstar: Segun from London!

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself

A: My name’s Segun. I’m a blogger at The White List, amongst other things and a major food fanatic (by which I don’t mean I will like to try new and nice foods, I mean I will literally eat almost anything!). Random facts about myself – I have three degrees – one in Biochemistry, Computer Science and Applied Statistics – and I attended the same University as three members of the
British Royal Family (let’s see if you can guess which Universities they are…).

Q: Why did you choose the 30-Day Home Workout Challenge over other fitness programs?

A: I had never really been crazy about exercising (on it’s own e.g. going to the gym) in the past but I have always loved the chance to workout while doing everyday things. Like getting off one stop before mine on the bus and walking home, or cycling to work instead of catching the train so for me, the 30 day Home Workout Challenge was perfect. I loved that it didn’t take too much time in the day, I could do it without having to invest in expensive equipment and I could do it from the comfort of my home. The key selling point for me was the fact that it was so easy to incorporate it into everyday life and that for me is a perfect workout plan.

Q: What results did you see?

A: The most important for me was the weight loss on the scales. It was an easily quantifiable result and I loved seeing that I had lost that much weight. It sounds silly but I had some…er… rather tight t-shirts I’d given up hope of wearing which I could fit into quite easily so that was a huge benefit both to my ego and to my wallet! In addition, I found that my stamina increased quite a lot. I remember having to walk to work and being so tired by the time I got there but I noticed that I could complete the walk so easily and not even break a sweat and going on from that, I actually started to look forward to it!

Q: What kind of change did it make in your life?

A: It has made me more outdoorsy and more ready to explore places. I love travelling and it’s nice to feel fit and energetic when exploring new places. Plus the weight loss has made me a lot more confident in my general appearance.

Q: What motivated you to do the workouts each day and stick with the nutrition plan?

A: My main motivation for the workouts was the amount of time I had to spend doing it and the convenience of doing it at home. I didn’t have to worry about getting to a gym or to any venue and despite my busy schedule, I could still do it and still have enough time to make dinner and relax in the evenings. Sticking to the nutrition plan was easy once I could start to feel some of the benefit – personally for me though, I’m a food enthusiast and so I loved trying out the nutrition plan as it wasn’t something I would have typically had as a diet prior to the challenge.

Q: What are your fitness goals?

A: To get Ryan Gosling’s abs! Haha! Just kidding – initially my main fitness goal was to lose weight. In the future, my fitness goals are to stay at my ideal weight and probably tone up a bit more. In the future, I am looking to complete a 2 week – 1 month hiking challenge in America and I’m limbering up to also to do one of the charity mountaineering challenges so I would like to be fit and ready to do this.

Q: Did the 30-Day Home Workout Challenge guide you towards your goals?

A: Yes it did! Above and beyond what I expected. I’m so pleased.

Q: What are the biggest lessons on fitness that you learned during the 30-Day Challenge?

A: My biggest lesson – you need a 360 approach to fitness and weight loss. You need to match the right diet with the right exercise regime for excellent results. It’s almost like the relationship between a car and fuel – you need both to get to your end destination, one without the other just doesn’t work!

Q: What would you like to say to our readers who are considering participating in the program?

A: Do it! Reason? – Three words – BEST DECISION EVER!

The post Interview with the Home Workout Challenge Superstar: Segun from the UK appeared first on Home Workout Challenge.

Workout: Work that body!

This is the final call for fitness. This exercise has five rounds and combines many moves of our “Top 10 Home Workout Moves” blog post.

Say “Good Morning!” to Good Mornings

Good mornings are exercises to start your day off on the right foot, although you do not necessary need to do them right when you get up. You can do them anytime and anywhere and in the comfort and privacy of your own home. They are easy to do, and you might as well do a few, since good mornings are known for helping us get strong lower backs, toned legs and bubble butts! Maybe they should rename the good morning to the good butt? It seems more fitting, doesn’t it? Regardless if you answered yes or no to that question, you may be curious now how the good morning got its name.

Here’s how to do the good morning:

In our demonstration on our “Top 10 Home Workout Moves” you can see the good morning is a very simple exercise. It’s actually the simplest one we suggest you try, so you might as well try it out if you haven’t already. From the pictures and description, it should be clear all you need to do is stand upright with your feet shoulder-wide apart with your knees slightly bent and bend forward at the waist, right? Well, in many cultures bending at the waist is a greeting since when you bend at the waist you are literally “bowing,” hence the exercise gaining the name of “good morning.” Good morning is a bow or a way to say hello. The origin of the good morning is unknown, but this popular little exercise has been around for several years.

Even late celebrity and known martial arts instructor Bruce Lee was an avid good morning exerciser. Instead of just “bowing” Lee took the good morning a step further and preformed this exercise by holding a barbell with weights across his shoulders. He bent at the waist with the weight on his shoulders while keeping his legs and back straight, and then returned to an upright standing position.

Although using weights can be a good way to increase your back muscle, failing to master the good morning first with no weights as a warm up or using too much weight can be dangerous and potentially cause injury. Lee actually injured his lower back while doing this exercise by failing to warm up and by using too much excess weight, so exercise sound judgment before deciding whether or not adding weights is the right option for your good morning workout. But just keep in mind you don’t need to use weights to do this home workout. We don’t!

So what do good mornings work out?

The target muscles of your good morning exercise (whether you use weights or not) are your hamstrings. Hamstrings are the muscles in the back of your upper legs (semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris). If you’re a woman, this is the area that generally develops cellulite and seems strenuous to define and tone. Although your hamstrings are the main focus, it is not the only part of your body that benefits from the effects of this workout. Your lower back and your hips also feel the effects as well as some synergist muscles. Synergists muscles are muscles that indirectly benefit from a workout without being directly involved. This means while you are performing your good morning, your gluteus maximus (glutes or buttocks) and adductor magnus (groin) are indirect muscles also being targeted (getting a workout). So, as you may have concluded, the good morning is an amazing exercise that strengthens several muscle groups.

If you’ve already tried our good morning and you’re looking to amplify your hamstring workout even more, try the Sitting Good Morning.

Sitting Good Morning

As the name hints, you sit while performing this modified version of the good morning. You can even perform this one while watching television. It’s that easy! Or is it? Give it a try and let us know.

1. Sit on the edge of a sturdy kitchen chair or a bench if you have one, positioning both of your feet flat on the ground with your legs hip-width apart or closer. Your legs should form a 90 degree angle and your thighs should be parallel with the floor (or very close).
2. While keeping your left foot flat on the floor with your knee bent, stretch your right leg out in front of you and lower it to the floor. Arch your toes toward the ceiling while keeping your heel on the floor. (Toes in the air, heel on the ground).
3. While keeping your back in alignment with the chair’s back (erect and straight up) bend over at the waist toward your knees. You don’t need to touch your knees, just bend forward as far as you can while keeping your back in a straight line and then return to an upright seated position. You should feel a slight pull on your right hamstring as you do these (the leg that is extended—not bent). If you feel unstable while performing this move, rest your hands on your left thigh for support (the leg that is bent) or hold gently onto the sides of your chair.
4. Perform as many as you can and then switch legs. If you want to intensify this exercise further, when you bent forward at the waist hold the position for 20 to 30 seconds before returning to an upright position and repeating.

If you haven’t already given the good morning a try yet, maybe you will after hearing about some of the benefits the good morning exercise offers:

Health Benefits of the Good Morning: Why the Good Morning is a Great Exercise

• Good mornings can strengthen and sculpt your back to actually prevent back injuries in the future (So we get an awesome toned back and avoid future heartache!)
• Good mornings can increase our level of balance (risk of falling decreases).
• Good mornings can help enlarge, tone and shape our glutes (Bye bye cellulite! Hello bubble butt!)
• Good mornings can help tone our abs (Hard abs here we come!)
• Good mornings are one of the best and most recommended exercising techniques for people who want to build hamstring muscle.

The good morning is a great exercise for persons of all ages, and the best part is it takes only seconds to do. Of course, the more you do, the quicker you will see results. This is the easiest exercise you can perform by doing our Home Workout Challenge. After reading this information and watching our demonstrations, if for any reason you are hesitating right now, doubting whether or not you can do this, trust us, you can! At the very least, give the good morning a try. Once you see just how easy it is, we know you’ll want to try the rest of our “Top 10 Home Workout Moves.” Get the results you want with a team who supports you on your fitness journey.

The post All about the Home Workout Moves: Part 10, Good Mornings appeared first on Home Workout Challenge.

Workout: Hip Flexor Mania

Get in shape with this full-body shape-up!

Become Pain Free with Hip Flexor Stretches – The Best Kept Secret

Your hip flexors are a group of muscles that flex your upper thigh bone (femur) just below your hipbones, so why are your hip flexors important to stretch? Your hip flexors are the reason you can lift your knees, bend at the waist, walk and run. If your hip flexors are tight, you are more likely to develop pain in your hips, your lower back and other regions.

If you are someone who works in any job that involves prolonged sitting or prolonged standing, your hip flexors could be in trouble. Much like someone recovering after breaking their leg, their mobility in their leg will not be the same immediately afterwards and they could need months of stretching to achieve full leg mobility again. The same thing can happen with your hip flexors when you are constantly in the same position (lack of mobility) and the outcome can be a bit scary and have long-term health effects.

According to Dr. Reed Ferber, the director of the University of Calgary’s Running Injury Clinic, if you’ve experienced pain in your knees, ankles or feet (generally with runners) and thought “I need to wear a brace” the source of your pain may be higher than you think. You can buy a knee brace or ankle brace, but what if the pain continues? In some cases the source of your pain has nothing to do with your knees or ankles at all and it’s actually your hips causing the problem, even if you have never experienced hip pain before. Your hip flexors are sneaky in that way, but don’t worry, this pain can go away.

In a study executed by Dr. Ferber, he examined 284 patients who complained of leg pain (not hip pain). 93% of these patients were found to have weak hip muscles. The group began performing various hip flexor exercises and after performing these hip flexor stretches regularly for only 6 weeks, 90% said they were pain free.

Here is how to perform the hip flexor stretch:

By performing easy hip flexor stretches at home, we can prevent back, hip, knee, ankle and foot problems by keeping our hip flexors strong. Besides fighting off pain in our body, there are several additional benefits for keeping your hip flexors in tip-top shape, and if preventing pain or future injuries isn’t enough of a reason to make you want to do these stretches, here’s a few more:

Health Benefits of Hip Flexor Stretches: Why Hip Flexor Stretches are a Great Exercise

• Hip flexor stretches and most stretches in general will help your muscles relax. If your muscles are relaxed, it can help alleviate stress (Exercise equals less stress).
• Hip flexor stretches can increase your level of flexibility.
• Hip flexor stretches can increase your range of motion in your joints, ultimately helping your balance and posture. This means you are less likely to fall, and if you are prone to falling, you can’t afford not to do this home workout.
• Hip flexor stretches can increase your circulation so in the event you are ever injured, your recovery time after the injury is likely to decrease (Recover faster!)

In our “Top 10 Home Workout Moves” we demonstrated for you how to perform an easy hip flexor stretch. If you have never stretched your hip flexors out before, please start with this exercise to build your strength. For those of you already stretching your hip flexors regularly, you may also want to try these additional hip flexor stretches:

Hip Flexor & Glute Stretch #1: Just like in our demonstration, all you need to do is get down on your knees and step forward with your left foot, bending your left knee at a 90 degree angle. With your arms at your side, reach behind yourself with your right hand and grasp your right foot. Slowly lift the foot toward your glutes as far as you can comfortably pull. While holding this stretch, be sure to keep your torso upright. You can maintain your balance by keeping your left hand on your left leg if needed. After holding your leg for about 20 seconds, change legs and repeat.

Hip Flexor & Glute Stretch #2: Lie on your back with your arms at your sides and your feet relaxed and straight in front of you. Bend your right leg at the knee and slowly lift it toward your chest until your knee is facing the ceiling. Your left leg should stay relaxed on the ground. Using both hands, reach behind your right leg and gently pull your leg toward you, holding the position. Pull as far as you can comfortably go. You should feel a stretch, not discomfort. Try to hold your leg in position for about 20 seconds before relaxing your right leg to the ground and lifting your left knee to your chest.

Hip Flexor Side Stretch: Just like in our demonstration, all you need to do is get down on your knees and step forward with one foot, bending your knee at a 90 degree angle, and gently push forward. With your arms at your side, lift your right arm overhead and stretch to your left side. Hold the stretch for about 20 seconds and then stretch your other side before switching legs.

Hip Flexor Hip Swing: Lie on your side with your legs slightly bent and support your head by propping yourself on your elbow. Lift your top leg (leg closest to the ceiling, not the ground) until it’s at hip height. With your leg air-born and your other leg remaining slightly bent on the ground, gently swing your leg in front of yourself, keeping your toes pointed. Swing forward as far as you can comfortably move without moving your hips or upper body. Hold this position for a few seconds and then slowly swing your leg behind yourself, again careful not to move your hips or upper body. Keep your glutes flexed during this exercise if you can.

If you lose your balance or feel wobbly in our basic hip flexor stretch or in any of the steps above, it could be an indication your hip flexors are weak. With these extra exercises and the knowledge of how beneficial these easy home workouts are in keeping us mobile and pain free, we hope you will add them to your daily home workout if you haven’t already. Realistically, as we age, can we really afford to skip out on these great exercises? The answer is no!

The post All about the Home Workout Moves: Part 9, Hip Flexor Stretch appeared first on Home Workout Challenge.