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Have you been putting on those extra pounds lately? Finding it difficult to release the stress you experience at work? Bored with the routine grind at the local gym? Well, here’s a novel way to tackle it all. Get groovy, dance your way to fitness, and fight all signs of stress, obesity and aging. Wanna know more? Just read on…

Dancing is a great form of exercise and can give you the benefits of a regular workout. Experts recommend dancing in order to burn calories, boost energy, improve circulation and tone muscles – which leads to increased strength, endurance and flexibility. In fact, dancing can help you to burn just as many calories as other traditional exercises like walking or downhill skiing. In addition, it helps you to relieve tension and stress, brightens your mood and serves as an outlet for your creativity. And, just in case you are looking forward to impress someone of the other sex, your might find your dancing skills come in very handy.

Any form of dancing, whether European or American, Indian or Arabian, has positive effects on your body. It works and strengthens the various muscles of your body, improving flexibility and agility. Regular dancing helps you to get rid of the extra cellulite that accumulates in regions like buttocks and thighs, helping you to achieve that perfectly toned look. Also, dancing can be great for the heart as it can boost your blood circulation and provide you valuable cardio-vascular exercise. The sweat that generates while dancing is also greatly effective in flushing out toxins from your body.

There are many dance forms that are popular with people for maintaining fitness. Of these, the most common ones are ballroom dancing, belly dancing, pole dancing, salsa and flamenco. Besides the general effects listed above, each of these dance forms have their unique advantages in boosting your health conditions. For example, ballroom dancing provides a heart pumping workout, besides improving your balance and flexibility. Being a fluid dance form, ballroom dancing also helps in enhancing your sense of grace and elegance.

Belly dancing, on the other hand, is good for balance and posture. Besides strengthening the back and the muscles of the pelvic floor, belly dancing helps in toning the hamstrings, thighs, abs and hips. The fast dance moves in belly dancing helps to give one a full body workout.

Pole dancing is perhaps the most popular of all fitness dances. Erotic and sexy, it is also a great way to work out all your body muscles and improve your agility. Pole dancing also helps in strengthening the muscles of the arms and the upper body in general.

Salsa, the popular Latin American dance, is both spicy and dynamic. With 80 to 140 beats performed in a minute, Salsa makes for some very active movements that help in burning calories, improving blood circulation and breathing. With the right partner, Salsa can actually be a source of unlimited fun!

Having said thus, it can be said that dancing helps us in keeping healthy in both mind and body. It helps us to remain positive and energetic even in the midst of a stressful life. So if you are looking for a way to unwind and relax without adding to your calories, we suggest you to enroll for a dance class. Put on you dancing shoes, and jive your way to a fit, healthy life. Staying fit was never more fun!

Everyday on television, the radio, newspapers and the internet, we are constantly bombarded with commercials telling us about this great new fitness product that gives these amazing results! Most of them are either not what they seem or they fail to live up to the claims made by the product developers.

There are no easy solutions but the problem facing us is which one is right to use to give us the results we are looking for?

So here are some tips on what to look for when buying fitness products whether you are a Fitness Professional or just someone who is looking for fitness products to work out with at home or when traveling.

There are three major rules when looking at purchasing fitness equipment:

1 – Firstly look at value for money, then portability and lastly versatility.

The fitness products should come with some added value and not be ridiculously priced. This could be an exercise DVD, comprehensive instructions with pictures and descriptions of sample exercises. Look at the warranty of the product as you don’t want the product to break after only using it a couple of times. Also check if the product is endorsed or has testimonials from credible fitness teams or individuals. That way you know the product stands up in a professional or commercial setting. Does the product have many smaller or breakable items on it that would require constant maintenance or replacement?

2 – The next thing to look at is portability. Can the product be easily stored? Can it be moved easily about the house or can you take it with you when traveling. Does it require special conditions to set it up such as a door frame, an anchor point or does it need to be placed on a particular type of surface?

3 – Lastly versatility! Can the product do more than one thing or work more than one body part? When people are training on their own, they want something that will give them a workout in the areas of strength, toning, cardio, flexibility and functional movement through various planes of movement.

There are not many products out there that do all of this so quite often you have to combine a few of them using the value for money portability and versatility. Of course there are the portable gym set ups which combine a bench, weights cables and pulleys but again there is the problem with portability.

So here are my suggestions for products that do more than one body part and are highly portable:

- Stability Balls:

Stability balls are light and compact and can be taken with you wherever you go. They can double for a bench, be used for rehabilitation and stretching as well as strength and core work.

- Resistance Tubing:

Resistance bands or tubing are great for a body weight work out. Again these can be taken with you anywhere. They have some limitations which include how far you can stretch them from the anchor point and some of them are not very strong and can break. The SPRI resistance tubing seems to be the best for quality and value for money that I have come across. However if you are doing power work or sports specific ballistic moves I would use a resistance band called the Smart Toner. It is tubing encased in a protective sleeve to stop it whipping back if it breaks. It is easily placed in your bag or luggage without weighing you down and you don’t need anchor points. Both the resistance bands and the Smart Toner train multiple body parts from legs to back, shoulders, abdominals and arms.

- BOSU Balance Trainer:

The best piece of equipment for core and back work and an essential tool for balance and rehabilitation work is the BOSU Balance Trainer. This can also be used for cardio and strength work as well as integrating core and balance into every exercise you do.

- Punch Boxing Equipment

Punch boxing equipment for focus pad and boxing work. Nice and light and portable but also good quality and everyone likes to hit stuff.

- Weights and Body Bars

When it comes to weights there are limitations with both bars and dumbbells, but we know we need these for resistance training. A good alternative for these is a product called a Body Bar. The bar has the weight evenly distributed throughout the bar and is padded which makes it more comfortable to use. They also have Mini Body Bars which are like dumbbells. For speed and agility work and cardio fitness you can’t go past Agility ladders and Agility pods. I use the Flat Rung Ladders because they are safer, and remain flat on the surface. There is less chance of tripping while performing the drills. This is very important when training seniors or kids.

All of this equipment can fit into a duffle bag and be taken with you whenever you travel. The products last for a long time and require little or no maintenance.

I know you’re a busy person with no time for a full workout. However, when stress hits, it’s when you need it most.

Let me give you a 4 yoga mini-routine moves to help you unwind and recharge – all without having to go into gym attire.

Side Plank. This targets and firms the arms, chest, back, waist, abs and legs. On your belly with forearms on the floor under shoulders, exhale as you rotate to the right, turn left arm forward, stack legs, and extend your right arm. Hold for 5 breaths, then rotate back to the plank. Repeat on your left side.

Corpse Pose. This targets the entire body. Here’s what you do. Lie face up, legs extended, arms at the sides, palms up. Breathe deeply as you focus on and relax on one body part at a time from your legs to your head. Thoughts will come and go, acknowledge them and let them drift away. Relax in this pose for at least 3 to 5 minutes.

Cobbler’s Pose. This targets the abs, lower back, legs. Go and sit with the soles of your feet together, hands on the floor behind hips. Inhale and lift your chest without the back arching. Take 10 breathes, then relax, hugging your knees to your chest. Do this 4 times.

Child’s Pose. This targets the back,shins and the top of the feet. So begin by going on all fours then sit back on you heels. Lower your forehead to the floor, bringing your hands next to your feet, palms facing the ceiling. Rest for about 10 breaths.

Make sure you inhale deeply as you breathe throughout and during all the moves. Enjoy this mid-day stress busting yoga break.

If you want to improve your health and physical fitness a boxing training program may be what you are looking for. As well as building body strength and fitness it can also go a long way to improve your personal confidence. Of course, by taking part in boxing workouts you will also improve your fighting form.

People who have tried boxing as a form of exercise find it to have very positive results, arms and legs usually gain a lot of strength and become more defined in shape. However, the benefits are not all physical. People also find that they gain a greater sense of inner strength and feel more emotionally balanced.

Boxing as a form of training and exercise became part of the large fitness training arena a few years ago. Great benefits can be found from boxing workouts on muscle toning and the cardiovascular system. It was the release of many videos featuring Tae bo and kick boxing workouts that made boxing rise in popularity.

The many innovative variations on boxing such as power punches, defence and punch and kick exercises have all the components of aerobic exercise. As you progress you will find your strength will build along with your confidence as you are taught how to execute punch and kick moves more effectively for a far more intense workout.

Kicks and punches which are performed in various combinations on blocks are done with an imaginary opponent, you have no doubt seen this many times on television etc. where the participant through punches and kicks into the air. There are also training facilities where there is the necessary equipment such as punch bags and so on. In some cases there may even be a real opponent to hit, they have very good padding on their hands of course!

Cardin kick boxing gives many more benefits other than the physical factors, it is an excellent way to burn off excess calories. In just one hour of kick boxing you can expect to use in the region of between 350 and 500 calories. It is also very good for maintaining a good heart rate of somewhere between 75% and 85%. This has been proven to be the ideal rate for anyone in training or exercising.

Boxing as exercise is beneficial for the whole body. As well as increasing arm and leg strength through the repeated sparring and jogging whilst punching at the same time,it also helps increase resistance and strength whilst greatly enhancing the reflexes and flexibility of all your muscles.

The workouts involved help to greatly enhance balance and co-ordination which in turn gives you body great form and increased stability and also allows joint movements to be more flexible giving fantastic results in physical fitness.

There are many benefits to be gained from all types of boxing training, that is on top of the physical benefits. In the training process you will learn a great deal about defence skills which, in today’s world could prove to be invaluable. A great sense of satisfaction, self confidence, motivation and relaxation can also be gained from training.

The stresses and strains of modern living can be lifted and any anger and aggregation which may be building up inside can be released and lifted giving more peace of mind and help you relax more.

A number of aerobic fitness instructors do recommend some boxing training instruction for people starting out. This allows each individual to take things at their own pace depending on how fit you are already. The other extreme is boxing classes which will push you to your limit. In this case it is important that you have a safe environment with fully trained instructors on hand and that you are already physically fit.

You will see many positive results if you take up boxing training, you will be much more fit physically and mentally. You can take things at your own pace and most of all enjoy the fun of being involved in a training program.

Yoga Moves To Create Mind Body Balance

So there I was, trying to hide in the back row – doing my yoga moves and grooves – well my version of them anyway – ever been there? Legs tangled up in knots or crossed in a position I can’t get out of. If only I had been listening to our instructor, instead of having an attack of the giggles with my sister-in-law. However, I hung in there in the hope that in time I would become more in tune, have more balance, have coordination and feel the benefits that others told me about. So what are they anyway?

Health benefits of yoga moves include increased balance and flexibility, mental clarity, improved strength, relaxation and energy. It works to integrate mind, body and spirit.

Your yoga stretches will increase the range and flexibility of your muscles and joints. Different yoga positions promote different skills and varying balance, encouraging strength with supporting your own body weight.

This type of exercise, as does Pilates, can help to improve your back alignment, strength and flexibility. Back pain is so common these days and one way to manage pain could be beginning yoga. For men, classes are welcoming and encouraging, as it is for seniors, where exercises, if necessary, can be done in a chair. You come away feeling invigorated, and relaxed with a greater sense of well being.

Learning to breath correctly can help focus the mind and breath. Most of us do not breath correctly. Deep belly breathing is encouraged. Getting more oxygen into your body, focusing on having depth and rhythm in your breathing, quietens your body. Mentally concentrating on your breathing can help calm your mind, which in turn relieves stress, and we could all do with a bit less of that couldn’t we!

Being aware of your body and in tune with how it works, can help you with the signs of breast cancer. Since I am passionate about breast health and encouraging women to become breast aware, doing their monthly breast examination, I feel yoga is another thing women can do to improve their health. Proactive women taking care of their health often do breast self exam. Being aware of how your body moves and feels, puts you in a good position if changes were to occur with your breast. The health benefits of yoga are many, so what are you waiting for, have a go, listen to your instructor and avoid the giggles in the back row!

Aerobic classes have been wildly popular since the 70′s. Exercise routines set to music led by some wild and enthusiastic (and a little on the crazy side) instructors like Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons took their regimen to a new level and recruited a massive amount of followers who “sweated to the oldies” with the greatest of ease. These types of classes are very much still practiced, but the aerobic craze of today is Zumba! This high intense work out is an hour of body conditioning, calorie burning and muscle toning all set to music. If you are looking for a workout for love handles, join in on a Zumba class and that spare tire will disappear in no time flat!

If you are first timer to a Zumba class, do yourself a favor and stand in the back, preferably behind someone who has been to these classes before. You will see all body types in these classes, from large to small and from young to old, so there is no need to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed if you do not understand the steps of the routine right away. Stick with it and it will come naturally to you in no time. Once the music starts, get ready for a solid hour of a complete and total work out that will have sweat dripping out of your pours, but you will have a whole lot of fun while you are doing it, so it makes it completely worth it! During the course of the hour, you will find yourself doing various types of dance moves from the salsa to the samba to hip hop and African tribal dancing. If you are not embarrassed by how you look and you do these moves to the fullest degree, you can burn up to 1000 calories in one class? If you let your inhibitions get the better of you however, and don’t do the routine to the fullest, you will not burn as many calories. Bring along a friend so you can laugh and joke around and it will make it more fun and less embarrassing if you have someone along for the ride with you.

Zumba is a great workout for love handles. It will also tone and firm all of the other muscles in your body from your biceps and triceps to your gluteus and calves. Make sure that you bring a towel along with you to wipe the sweat off of your face (you will need this several times during your Zumba hour) as well as an energy enhanced drink to keep you hydrated.