Different Types of Cardio

No matter what your fitness goal may be, cardio is necessary for just about every goal. Want to get lean? Cardio is your answer. What to bulk up? Cardio is a must. Cardio burns calories, which obviously helps with weight loss. And different cardio workouts can also help work different muscle groups, building up those areas and strengthening the muscles. Plus, losing the extra layer of fat from the cardio, will uncover and show off your muscles better.

You may build muscle simply with strength training workouts, but it will be harder to maintain your lean and toned figure. If you want to get and stay in shape, cardio is needed. But some people don’t enjoy cardio, and we get that. At MPowered Bootcamps, we lead workouts that are fun, challenging, and combine cardio exercises with strength training, giving you a great full body workout that is beneficial.

According to LiveStrong.com, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that people get a cardio workout at least three days a week. A highly intense workout for 20 minutes, three days a week or a less intense cardio workout for 30 minutes a day, for five days a week can keep you in good health and help you stay in shape. You can always add more time to these recommendations to get in better shape and reach your fitness goals faster.

 

You may not thinking cardio is the most entertaining or fun form of workout, but it is extremely important when trying to work toward your fitness goal. When people hear the word cardio, many think running, but cardio workouts can include a wide variety of different activities and workouts. With so many options, you should be able to find one that you enjoy, or can pretend to enjoy. This blog will go over some of the different cardio workouts, mix it up and keep it interesting!

 

Running

Although, a majority of people hate running, it is a great cardio workout that you can literally do anywhere. Running can burn about 600 calories per hour and help you improve your cardiovascular endurance. This high-intensity cardio workout can burn a large number of calories, helping you to lose weight. Running also stimulates the metabolic rate for a long period after the workout, allowing you to continue burning calories.

 

The muscles that are worked while running include:

• Hip flexors
• Hamstrings
• Quadriceps
• Gastrocnemius and soleus

 

The arm motion that occurs when running helps burn additional calories, allowing you to do more with your workout. Running may not be fun, but it can be very beneficial. Run on a treadmill or get outside and run through new places. If you have pain in your knees or hips, you may want to try a different cardio workout, due to running’s high-impact nature.

Walking

If you are new in the fitness game, you may want to start out with a less intense form of cardio workout. Walking is another great way to get a your daily dose of cardio, but it is also thought to be the less effective. But if all other cardio workouts sound too challenging, walking is always better than nothing.

 

Walking can burn around 300 to 400 calories per hour and is perfect for beginners or those suffering from an injury. But if you are not new to fitness and hope to lose weight, walking is not the best cardio option for you.

 

Your metabolism will only increase for about one to two hours after completing your workout, whereas with higher intensity cardio exercises, metabolism can be increased for over 24 hours.

 

Walking is not the best cardio workout, but it is a good option for fitness newbies, people recovering from injury, or for people who skipped their workout. Walking is better than nothing!

 

Rowing

Getting a total body workout is always a plus. Rowing on a machine gives you a high-intensity, full-body workout, that burns about 840 calories per hour. Rowing is a fantastic way to get a good cardio workout. It is lower impact than running and works many different muscle groups in the body.

This workout is beneficial because it burns more calories than other common forms of cardio, while working the whole body and being low impact. If you suffer from sore joints or have problems in your knees and hips but want a great cardio workout, give rowing a try, you will be surprised at how hard you have to work.

 

Cycling

Cycling is another great cardio workout. It uses the same muscle as running, but with less impact, making it a great exercise. When cycling, the intensity can be changed, making the workout more challenging or allowing you to take a break.

 

Like running, cycling can either be done on a stationary bike or on the road, both are equally decent workouts and can get you burning calories. Because the resistance can be change, HIIT is easy to do when cycling. The intensity of this cardio activity will help you rid yourself of body fat, at a low impact.

 

Jumping Rope

Surprisingly, jumping rope is a great cardio workout. But like running, it is high impact which makes it less ideal for those with knee or hip pains. If done correctly, jumping rope can burn about 1,000 calories per hour.

 

Jumping rope for exercise is not the same as when you were a kid. To do this, you must jump rope correctly to get the most out of a workout. To learn different jumping rope techniques, follow these workout tips from Men’s Fitness.

 

Jumping rope works your shoulders and calves and can help add definition to these areas. Although high impact, jumping rope burns a high number of calories and can help improve explosive strength, stamina, and speed. If you are looking for a quick workout that gives you great benefits, give jumping rope a chance!

 

Becuase it is a high-impact workout, it should not be used too regularly for long periods of time, it is a great workout to use to switch up your routine and work some different muscle groups. The high impact of jumping rope, however, can also help to prevent osteoporosis.

Add jumping rope to your mix of cardio workouts for a great, calorie burning, and challenging exercise. This workout could help you get in shape faster!

Swimming

Like jumping rope, swimming for an exercise is much different than swimming as a kid. If you learn how to swim in swimming lessons, you know how challenging swimming laps can be. And like rowing, swimming is a total body workout.

 

Swimming can burn about 600 calories per hour and is low impact, allowing for your body to avoid injuries. In fact, swimming is the lowest impact cardio workout.

 

Using different strokes can help work different muscle groups. Swimming works all of the major muscle groups, making a total workout that is great for avoiding injury. When you change up the type of stroke you use can also help you burn a larger amount of calories. You can also improve your overall fitness performance by swimming, and stay in shape easier.

 

Running is one of the most popular forms of cardio exercises. But is it definitely not the only one. If you are sick of running or walking, try one of these different cardio workouts. If you want to get a fun, new, and challenging workout every time, sign up for MPowered Bootcamps. We offer great workouts the combine cardio and strength training for a great overall workout. Contact us today to get started!

 

Why MPowered?

Imagine yourself. You just signed up for a new gym membership. This is the year you finally get rid of that beer belly and tone your muscles, you are determined to get into a regular workout routine and go to the gym at least five times a week.

You walk into the gym on the first day to see muscle heads lifting equally fit girls like it is nothing, the weight area is taken up by bulky arms and no brains. The cardio machines are being used by the girls who obviously got all done up before hitting the gym, like they know they won’t be sweating.

This is not the type of gym experience you wanted, and not every gym is like this, but there is something even better than a gym that can keep you excited about your workouts while soaking in some valuable vitamin D. MPowered Bootcamps is the solution to your muscle head gym problem.

At MPowered Bootcamps, we strive to make working out and fitness fun, changing routines and keeping the workouts interesting.

Besides the fact that you won’t have to fight for the weights and machines, there are several other benefits to signing up for MPowered Bootcamps.

Sign up for MPowered Bootcamps here!

Outdoors

If you love the outdoors but can’t find the time to spend your time outside, MPowered Bootcamps is for you. Our bootcamps are all outside in different locations all around the San Jose area, allowing you to soak in the beautiful sunshine and get a workout that has you feeling great afterwards. It is important to get sunlight to keep the vitamin D in your body. So spending time outside while working out is a healthy and beneficial way to get fit and stay healthy.

No Plateaus

Due to the fact that we are constantly changing our workout routines, you will never hit a plateau. We change our fitness routines up so often that you will never do the same one twice. We do this because we believe that a variety in workouts is the best way to see results and train your body.

Full Training

Our workouts aren’t featured around one area or type of training. We incorporate cardio, strength training, and high-intensity interval training into each workout, giving you great results and working your entire body. This is a great way to get in shape everywhere and not just focus on one area.

Flexible

At MPowered Bootcamps, we understand that people are busy and it is hard to find time to hit the gym or get a good workout. That is why we offer several different classes at different locations throughout the day. So if you can’t make it to the early morning class, hopefully you can make it to one of our other classes! We are trying to make fitness easier and more entertaining for people who have busy schedules.

Community

Not only do you get a great outdoor workout, you also become part of our community. We love our members, many of them become our friends. We hold events with our members—from attending a 5K and breakfast to wine nights, our members can enjoy becoming part of a new community, making new friends, and getting fit together.

At MPowered Bootcamps, we have one goal in mind. That is to help you enjoy fitness. We want to help you by offering you several locations, times, and a variety of workout types to get you the best workout every time. If this sounds better than waiting in line behind muscle heads who carry around their gallons of water and wear too tight of shirts, feel free to contact us and sign up today for our fitness bootcamps!

SMART Goals

Many of us make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, start working on our overall health, and get fit. But how often do we actually achieve those goals? How often do we obtain the fitness level we were hoping for? How are we supposed to make goals that are easier to achieve?

Making goals, especially when it comes to fitness, can be challenging. We know what we want, we know where we want to be, but we often do not think about the difficulty it will take to get there, like the time it will take or the amount of effort we must put in.

MPowered Bootcamps is a great way to achieve the goals you are hoping for, with a great community to motivate you, trainers to push you, and different workouts every time to keep you from getting bored.

We know that fitness can be a challenging thing to work into your schedule, but we also know that reaching your fitness goals is an amazing achievement. We love seeing our members inch closer to their goals. Achieving your goal is easier when you know how to make achievable goals. This list will help you make goals that you can achieve.

Everyone has heard of SMART goals, and if you haven’t then it is no wonder reaching your goals is challenging. SMART goals help you make more realistic goals, which in turn, helps you achieve those goals. SMART stands for:

Specific

Mearurable

Accountable

Realistic

Timeframe

Setting specific goals is just what it sounds like. Don’t say you just want to lose weight. Pick a certain amount of weight you want to lose, or a fitness achievement you want to achieve (ex: lifting more weight, running a mile fast, finishing a workout with no breaks).

Measurable goals mean, simply, that you can measure your results. This could be pounds you’ve lost, inches gone around your waist, or even the time it takes you to run a mile.

Keep yourself accountable, or have someone else keep you accountable. It will help you stay with your goals, and keep you working towards them.

When making goals, you want to make sure you can in fact achieve them. Don’t make a goal to lose 50 pounds in a month, that is unreasonable and potentially dangerous, depending on how you go about it. Make small goals to start, and once you achieve those, you can increase your goal.
Giving yourself a timeframe will help you stay motivated until the end; with no end in sight, you may lose motivation to stay on track. Setting a timeframe for reaching your goals will help you work to achieve your goals before you run out of time.

Don’t Cut Everything Out

Changing your diet and cutting out certain foods, while also staying on top of your fitness, will help you reach your goals quicker. Eating healthier can help you lose weight, increase your metabolism, and even give you more energy that can be used in your workouts.

With that being said, cutting out everything you love will just make you hate the whole dieting thing. Give yourself one cheat, whether it is a cookie once a week, or your super sugary latte that your can’t live without. Just remember that you will have to work harder to burn the extra sugar. So when dieting give yourself a cheat, but when you are about to devour that fluffy donut, think about how much it will take to burn it off.

Tell Others Your Goal

This kind of goes hand in hand with the A in SMART goals: Accountable. You must hold yourself accountable, but that can be difficult. But when others are keeping you accountable, you are more likely to work hard to prove yourself.

Keeping your goals to yourself makes it easy to simply quit working towards them. But when you tell your spouse that you will lose weight so you guys can go on your favorite hike again, they will keep you invested in your goal. If you tell your kids that you will work hard to increase you fitness leaves so that you can play in the yard with them, they will make you want to work harder.

At MPowered, we believe in building a community and who better to share your health and fitness goals than with your trainers or new workout buddies.

Take Small Steps

There are different ways you can stay active throughout the day, and while taking the stairs rather than the elevator doesn’t seem like a major step in your fitness goal, taking the stairs every day will add up in the end.

Biking to work, walking your dogs farther than usual, and not parking in the closest parking spot, are only a few of the things you can do throughout your day to stay active. Even if you can’t make it to the gym, these things will help you in the long run. So next time you are about to step onto the elevator, back up and take the stairs instead. Such a simple thing can make all the difference.

Write It Down

Writing down your goal, and keeping a record of your progress will help you see that you are, in fact, making progress. Seeing results will get you excited to keep working towards your goal, show you how close you are to achieving them, and if you falter, how far you have come. So write down everything, from the foods you ate that day to the type of activities you did.

Want It

Goals are great and all, but you must actually want what you are working for. If you don’t really care, you will make excuses, quit, and fail at your goals. You must want to get fit, you must want to achieve your goals. Want it more than you don’t want to get up and get started. That is the main key to achieve goals.

With these goal making tips, you should be able to make goal that you can actually achieve. Don’t expect too much from yourself, don’t make excuses for yourself, and stay working as long as you can muster, in the end you will be glad you did.

MPowered Bootcamps can help you achieve your goals with fun, different workouts that keep you working different areas of your body. Get started on your well planned fitness plans today, sign up for our bootcamps, or contact us!

Balancing Working Out with Life

Being healthy and maintaining a good fitness level can be hard to do with a busy schedule. It is difficult to juggle making healthy meals, taking care of your kids, going to work, getting enough sleep, and keeping a social life all while trying to squeeze in some gym time. Working out would be easier if you could do it at your desk, in the shower, or even while you sleep. But that may never be the case.

No one ever said that fitness had to come from the gym. You don’t need proper workout equipment to help you get into shape. You don’t even need weights! Your body weight works perfectly as a fitness tool, allowing you to get a workout in wherever and whenever you want. Going on a business trip? Do some exercises while you wait for your plane. At your kid’s soccer game? Do some push ups and crunches on the sidelines. Waiting in line at the grocery store? Do some bicep curls with milk jugs and calf raises.

As you can see, workouting does not always have to involve a gym! But it may involve confidence if you are going to do exercises in the middle of the mall. At MPowered Bootcamps, we understand the struggle maintaining a healthy fitness level and social life along with everything else. Which is why we offer so many different times and locations for our bootcamp, allowing us to work with your schedule a little more.

Click here to sign up now!

But if you are living an extremely busy life and only have a free second before jumping in the shower in the morning, you need a quick and easy routine you can do right there in the bathroom. And this blog should be able to help you out!

Exercises For The Laziest

Okay, we aren’t calling you lazy, but you can do these exercises before even getting out of bed! That’s right, you can do these workout the very first thing in the morning, before even sitting up and stretching, although stretching may be wise so you don’t pull your groggy muscles.

Side Plank With A Twist

This may be a little tricky in a wobbly bed, but planks are a great move that works your abs, obliques, and triceps. To do this move do a side plank, holding yourself up on one elbow with your other arm in the air and you hips in a straight line with your shoulders.

Dip your hips down and then return them to the starting position. Tighten your core and twist forward, bringing your raised arm around and underneath your body (like hugging yourself). Return to starting position and repeat for about 30 seconds and switch sides.

Scissor Legs

Lay on your back, place your hands under your hips, palms down, and raise your legs in the air, pointing your toes. While keeping your legs straight, lower one leg down until it is hovering right above the bed, lift it back up, and do the same with the opposite leg. Do not drop your leg, use control as you drop it down and be sure to use your core. That counts as one rep, do at least 15 reps. This bed workout works your lower abs and legs.

Dolphin Plank

This move seems easy but you will start feeling it working different areas of your body (like your forearms, abs, and obliques) after a while. To start, get in a plank position with your forearms and palms on the bed and your body straight. Keep your abs tight and your legs straight, push your hips up to the ceiling, creating a point with your body. Return to the starting position and repeat about 30 times.

These are not the only bed workouts, nor are they only to be done in bed.  We actually recommend doing this on on the floor or a mat. But we are going to move on to the exercises that you can do while cooking dinner or watching the news.

Full Body

Unless you used to skip leg day regularly, and now need to compensate with skipping out on arm workouts, you surely want a full body workout, but we will go over some legs as well, no more skipping!

Inchworm

Stand up straight to start. Bend over and touch the ground. Do not lock your knees but keep them straight and slowly walk your hands forward until you are in a pushup position, do a pushup, and slowly step your way back up to your feet and stand! That is one, do about four to six reps. If the pushup makes this exercise too hard, you may skip it, but work yourself up to this point eventually.

Burpees

The dreaded burpees, one of the most effective exercises around, but also one the most exhausting. Start in the standing position, drop down into a low squatting position with your hands on the ground (make yourself look like a frog), keep your hands on the ground, and kick your legs back so you land in a pushup position; do a pushup. While still keeping your hand on the ground, jump your feet back up to get into the froggy position, then start to stand up but instead of simply standing jump as high as you can. That is one rep. Do as many as you can, this is a great workout that will have you feeling tired in no time!

Bear Crawl

This one allows you to get from point A to B, so you can easily use this as you walk from one room to another in your house. Your kids may think you have finally lost it, but hey, you are getting a great workout.

This exercise is as simple as crawling around on your hands and the balls of your feet. Some fitness experts say you walk with the right arm and leg moving at the same time, others say you use alternating limbs, whichever seems to get you working hard is the one you should go with; don’t pick the easier one, that is no way to get fit! Crawl around until you get tired, or until your kids actually start getting concerned.

Mountain Climbers

Start in a pushup position. While keeping your hands on the floor, jump to bring one knee under your chest with your foot on the ground and the other leg still straight behind you, jump again and switch legs. Repeat this a few time and keep your core tight.

Legs

Alright, for those of you who skipped leg day, you are in for a treat.

Wall Sits

Another popular and undeniably loved exercise, the wall sit! This is pretty simple to understand, to actually do it is a different story. Lean against the wall and slowly slide into a seated position, make sure your knees are at a 90 degree angle. No cheating or straightening your legs, even just slightly. Hold this as long as you can or at least try for one minute.

Jumping Lunges

Lunge forward with one foot and drop down a little, as you come back up jump and switch legs in the air and land in a lunge on the opposite side. That is one rep. Try this about 10 times, make sure you don’t hurt yourself switching legs mid-jump!

Squat

Stand with your feet shoulders width apart, or a little further—you can point your feet pointing straight forward, or turned out at a comfortable angle. Push your hips back and pretend you are sitting, bending your knees and hip. Try to get your hips parallel to the floor and then stand back up. That is one rep. Be sure your knees do not go past your toes, facing a wall can help you with this. Do about 30 reps for a great leg and glute workout.

We told you no skipping leg day this time, so we aren’t even going to give you the option of going straight for the arm work outs. These are great workouts to do whenever and wherever you are. If you have a busier schedule than the president, these are equipment-less and quick workouts that you can do without having to worry about making time for the gym.

If you do have a little extra time on your hand, sign up for an MPowered Bootcamp! We have different locations and times to help accommodate for our busiest members! Plus you get to workout outside! Contact us to learn more about our bootcamps!

 

 

Nutrition Tips

We all have moments of weakness. We eat three cupcakes instead of one. We skip an entire week at the gym instead of just a day. We make excuses for why we are failing at keeping up with our goals. And soon enough we found ourselves further from our fitness goals then when we originally started.

Perhaps you have been making excuses for years, you don’t remember the last time you worked out and your gym clothes haven’t made it passed the couch in months. The more out of shape you get, the more difficult is it to get back in it. Remember that before your skip a week at the gym.

At MPowered Bootcamps, we understand that keeping up with your fitness goals can become challenging, especially when you aren’t seeing the results you want. But once you stop working toward your goals, it becomes that much more difficult to pick up where you left off.

If you have been slacking in the fitness world lately but know that it is time your start working toward being in shape and reaching your fitness goals again, this blog will discuss the best diet changes to make to help you get there quicker. Pair these tips with your daily workout and you should be able to reach your fitness goal quicker, although it will still be challenging.

Sign up button

The Diet

To get back in shape as quickly as possible you will have to give yourself some dietary guidelines. So these are a few tips and tricks that can help you slim down fast and start getting back on track. Just remember, exercise is another important part of this formula.

Cut Down on Sugar

Sugar is a dangerous addiction that can really affect your weight, your mood, and your overall health. There are actually a TON of benefits to cutting down on sugar. You can learn more about the benefits, according to myfitnesspal, but here is the quick list of benefits from cutting down on sugar:

1. Lowers blood pressure
2. Lowers bad cholesterol
3. Decreases risk of heart attacks
4. Keeps the mind sharp
5. Reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia
6. Reduces depression symptoms
7. Helps break the addiction to sweets
8. Helps skin look young
9. Keeps skin clear
10. Lowers risks of developing type 2 diabetes
11. Prevents fatty liver disease
12. Reduces risks of certain cancers

All these health benefits just from cutting back on sugar, who would’ve thought? Not only can cutting back help you slim down and get in shape, but you can add years to your life, feel happier, look better, and even help reduce your sugar addiction in the first place.

Change the Way You Eat

Not only should you change what you eat but also how. Eating smaller portions at a slower pace can help you dramatically slim down. You’d be amazing how much these miniscule steps can impact your weight.

You can use a smaller plate, so you don’t mindlessly start filling your large plate up until you can barely hold it with one hand. A smaller plate is an easy way to control the size of portions you are consuming.

Slowing down on eating can also help. You will feel full sooner from taking your time on your meal, which will also help you not eat as much. The only other rule is that you must stop eating once you feel full. Stop overeating, this will never help you get into shape.

Change What You Eat

Sugar is not the only dietary change you should make. Swap out your white bread, pasta, flour, and rice for wheat. This makes quite the difference. However, going gluten free is an even better way to slim down.

Add soup to your diet and cut out red meat. This may be challenging for many people, because who doesn’t like a good steak, but if you are serious about slimming down this will really help. Soup can be filling, flavorful, and a great way to cut down your weight. Try to eat soup a few times a week for the best and quickest results.

Snacks

Try to avoid snacks as well. We all need our midday snack, but some snacks are just doing us no good. Have fruit, veggies, or Cheerios as a snack, and only a few! Overdoing snacks can hurt your dreams of slimming down.

If you have a bad habit of snacking while you watching TV, you may want to try to control your habits. If you must have a snack, pour yourself a small amount and do not bring the entire bag to the couch. If you sit down with a bag of chips to watch a few episodes of your favorite TV show, pretty soon the bag will be gone and your fitness goal flew right out the window. Limit your snack eating and try to choose healthier snack when you must snack.

If you follow these diet tips and incorporate exercise at least five times a week, you will be heading toward your fitness goal faster than you think! Don’t forget the exercise is a big part of this plan as well. If you need a good workout and people to do it with, sign up for MPowered Bootcamps. We offer many courses at different times and locations. See our schedule!