Fitness Destinations

When it comes down to it, the actual physical side of losing weight is going to require you to do things other than sit in front of your computer.

You can join all the support websites that you want to, you can research weight loss programs, and you can buy all of the neat workout toys that you can squeeze into your house, but in the end, you're going to have to get out of your chair and make it happen!

Now, all of that being said, the Internet is a GREAT place to find information and support for your weight loss efforts. To that end, here is a list of 6 tips on how to use the internet to lose weight:

1) Exercise Instruction

One of the biggest reasons why people fail in their fitness efforts is because they simply don't know what they are doing. However, there are numerous free resources on the Internet that teach you more than you could possibly need to know about exercise.

You can start right here at Fitness Destinations by checking out the Exercise Database category, click on over to e-Weightloss for a huge list of exercises and pictures, and then check out Bodybuilding.com for an easily searched database that even includes instructions. 

2) Tools and Calculators

There are a ton of online tools that you can use to measure or monitor your health, fitness, and nutritional status. The biggest problem is determining which tools are the most accurate. Some of the so called "experts" on the Internet may not know as much as they should in order to be dispensing advice in these matters.

For online calculators, I always turn to Chad Tackett and the great gang over at Global Health & Fitness. I've been using them and referring people to their site for years and I've never heard a bad thing about them. They've got loads of great information at their site, and here are direct links to some of the tools and calculators that they offer:

• Free Fitness Analysis
• Carbohydrate Calculator
• Protein Calculator
• Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator

3) Message boards/Discussion forums

There are numerous weight loss message boards or discussion forums that you can read through or participate in. In fact, there are far too many to list! Once again, however, the quality of the information and interaction that you are getting is more important than the actual amount of time that you spend there.

As a general rule, only hang out at weight loss message boards or forums where the entire website is dedicated to health and fitness. In other words, don't go to places like Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, etc. Those sites are huge and widespread, but they are also full of a bunch of people who are not fitness professionals. 

In order of preference, I would recommend:

Burn the Fat Inner Circle (membership site)

Fit Sugar (free site)

4) Weight Loss Articles

There is absolutely no end to the number of articles that you can find on the Internet that deal with weight loss, exercise, and physical fitness. No, really – there is no end! You could read all day, every day, and you would just end up more confused than when you started.

Once again, go with the wisdom of people who not only know what they are talking about, but have a clue how to get that information across to you in article format. Here is a list of articles that I have personally written and posted at Ezine Articles, and here is the link to the article database over at the Burn the Fat Inner Circle website. 

5) Nutrition Information

Please note that I am going to recommend that you check out high quality resources that tell what is in the food that you eat, rather than what foods to eat. All you have to do is pick up a different monthly edition of any given magazine that talks about health to hear the "latest" scientific data about what is good for you and what isn't.

What is funny is that a lot of that information is not only open to some serious interpretation, but a lot of it gets updated to the point where what was once good for you isn't anymore, and what was once bad for you is now okay (in proper proportions).

So, rather than point you to another place to find the "latest" research, I will instead just send you to my two favorite resources for raw data about nutrition, then you can make your own choices once you have some quality information:

• Nutrition Generator 
• Nutrition Data

6) Audio and Video Content

One of the great things about the explosion of both the interest in the Internet as well as the technology that powers the Internet, is that it has enabled some very easy and convenient ways for people to share audio and video content.

Obviously YouTube is a popular video website, and despite the less than professional nature of a lot of their content, there are also some great videos about exercise if you take the time to search around for them.

Another great video source is iTunes.com. There are numerous video podcasts that are dedicated to health, fitness, and empowerment, and there are also dozens of great audio podcasts there as well.

And finally, if you want to once again be sure that you are working with pros who know what they are talking about, the Burn the Fat Inner Circle gang also has an audio content section that is packed with great information available for download.

Long story short? Use the Internet as the wonderful tool that it is in order to get information, motivation, and support. After that, it falls to YOU to get up and actually make it happen!

This is another one of those exercises that looks a lot easier than it really is! However, when done correctly, it is a great core training exercise, and you will build up the stability of your shoulder joints as well.

Looking for more workout information? Click this link to get two weeks of Free Workouts!

Forward Ball Roll

The basic idea behind this exercise is to control your decent as you push the exercise ball forward, and then also control pushing yourself back up into the starting position. Your natural inclination will be to bend over at the waist in order to accomplish the movement, but doing so will almost completely retard the effectiveness of this exercise.

During the entire exercise, your body should be in a straight line from your knees all the way up to your shoulders. It is in keeping that straight line where the benefit of this exercise becomes clear.

As you move forward and then backward on the ball, you will need to forcefully contract your abdominal muscles as well as the muscles of your lower back in order to keep your body in a straight line. Consistently practicing the proper execution of the forward ball roll will build up the strength of your core musculature, and it will also radically increase your level of neuromuscular coordination, particularly with regard to the muscles in your back and abdominal area.

Related Information:

Ask the Experts: Exercise Ball Exercises
Workout Resources: Exercise Ball Exercises

One of the biggest reasons why people don't exercise effectively is because they simply don't know how to do it properly.

Whether due to misinformation, not enough information, or too much information, people are just confused about what exactly they are supposed to be doing!

The posts in this series will each highlight a specific exercise or exercise concept, and explain it in enough detail so that you can stick to what works, and skip the stuff that doesn't!

Bent Knee Leg Raises

There is some confusion about working your "upper" abdominal muscles vs. working your "lower" abdominal muscles. The confusion exists because there aren't 2 muscles there – it's all the same muscle – the Rectus Abdominis. 

The Rectus Abdominis is actually one long and wide muscle that runs from below your rib cage down well below your waistline. To say that you are working your "upper" or "lower" abs with any given exercise is a misnomer.

However, there are certain exercises where you will feel the fatigue of the movement in one area more than the other, which is likely how the whole "upper" ab "lower" ab confusion started to begin with. 

One of the exercises where the fatigue is really felt in the lower abdominal area is called Bent Knee Leg Raises, and it is a very effective abdominal exercise.

In order to correctly perform the movement, you start out by laying on your back with your hands flat on the floor down at your sides. Your legs are fully extended, with just a slight bend in your knees, and your head is also in contact with the floor.

The objective of the exercise is to contract your abdominal muscles – and only your abdominal muscles – and raise your legs up together until they are perpendicular to the floor, forming a roughly 90-degree angle.

You raise your legs up slowly, and control the entire motion with just your abdominal muscles, and then you lower your legs back down under that same control. Be sure to lower your legs under control, rather than just letting gravity pull them towards the floor.

Do not let your heels touch the floor! When your heels are approximately one inch from the floor, immediately raise your legs back up for the next repetition. 

There are several common mistakes that people make when doing this exercise, and they include:

• Not bending the knees. The reason for bending the knees slightly is to take the pressure off of your lower back. Failing to do so could cause a painful and long-term back injury.
• Letting the feet rest on the floor in between repetitions. The idea behind almost all resistance exercises is to keep constant tension on the muscles that are being worked. If you allow your feet to touch the floor in between repetitions, you will be allowing your abdominal muscles to rest, and you will not get nearly as much out of this exercise.
• Bending the knees too much. There are other abdominal exercises that require you to significantly bend your knees, such as the Reverse Crunch, but the Bent Knee Leg Raise only requires a very slight bend in the knees. The idea is to keep the resistance – your legs in this case – as far away from the working muscle as possible, which is the Rectus Abdominis. By bending your knees too much, you will just make the exercise easier to do, and you will not see as much benefit from the movement.
• Resting too much in between exercises. Abdominal exercises should be done back to back so that your abdominal muscles do not have a chance to recover between exercises. The abdominal muscles recover from a repetition almost instantly, so whatever exercises are part of your abdominal training routine should be done one right after another without resting in between exercises. 

For more information on how to properly do abdominal exercises, check out the Abs Like Stone site which is part of the Workout Pass Network.

Also, you can  search for information that can be downloaded, or just Ask the Experts!

The squat exercise has many different variations, and not all of them are the classic image that people get of some huge guy with chalk all over his hands trying to squat down with about 800,000 pounds of metal on his shoulders!

Looking for more workout information? Click this link to get two weeks of Free Workouts!

Dumbbell Squats

When doing the dumbbell squat, you have many advantages over doing the classic barbell squat. For one, since the dumbbells are held down at your sides rather than having a barbell on your shoulders, you can focus on the exercise itself, rather than trying to balance a weighted barbell. Also, since the added resistance (the dumbbells) hangs down at your sides, it can be easier for novice exercisers to keep their head up and their back erect, both critical factors for doing a safe and effective squat of any kind.

When doing the dumbbell squat – as with all squats – be sure that when you squat down, your knees do not travel out in front of your toes. Your feet should be at least shoulder width apart and pointed straight forward, rather than angled out or in.Related Downloads:
Dumbbell Exercises
Fitness Programs
Weight Loss Keeping your head up allowing the straight, but natural curve of your back, squat down all the way until your thighs are parallel to the ground, pause for one full second, and then push up through your thighs to a full standing position before doing the next repetition.

Click here to see a massive list of websites that teach people to exercise!

Ask the Experts: Lower Body & Leg Exercises
Workout Resources: Lower Body & Leg Exercise

I have been a fan of Tom Venuto ever since he came up with the massively popular program, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. It was over 2 years ago when I first discovered that program, and to this day it is one of the most downloaded and applauded weight loss and fitness programs available on the Internet.

Just the other day I found out that Tom Venuto has teamed up with another awesome fitness guru, Kyle Battis, whose information-packed report Home Gym Secrets has empowered countless people to get in shape even when they couldn't or didn't want to workout at a gym.

When I found the site that the 2 of them had put together, I checked it out and I can only describe it as one of the most complete one-stop shop health and fitness communities on the 'net! It's called the Burn the Fat Inner Circle, and it is packed with incredible content, support, and resources.

As a general rule, I don't recommend a lot of online weight loss communities because I find them to be full of "fluff" and feel good camaraderie that is great for wasting time on the 'net, but it does very little to actually change the numbers on the scale!

In the case of the Burn the Fat Inner Circle community, however, there is so much meaty and useful content – and also a great sense of camaraderie – that not getting in shape while using those resources would boil down to nothing less than a lack of effort. The massive list of great content includes all of the following, and more:

• Exclusive Articles & Downloads
• Burn the Fat Audio Show
• Discussion Forums
• Audio Interviews
• Nutrient Database
• Burn the Fat Recipes
• Supplement Reviews
• Tools & Calculators
• Success Stories
• Training Q & A

Free Site Tour and Special Report

Tom and Kyle have put together 2 separate tours of the Burn the Fat Inner Circle website, and both do a wonderful job of showing you what is available. There is a manual site tour where you are guided through a quick but informative tour of what the site has to offer, and then there is also a video tour that is hosted by Kyle.

In addition to the 2 informative tours, Tom and Kyle have put together a short (only 17 pages) but empowering special report that is free for anyone to download. It is called The Fifth Element – The Missing Piece Of The Fat Loss Puzzle and you can download it immediately at the Fifth Element section of the site.

As I said, I don't recommend these types of sites very often, so please do yourself a favor and check out the Burn the Fat Inner Circle. It won't cost you anything but a few minutes of your time, and you can then decide for yourself if the site is as totally awesome as I say it is!