Good and Not-So-Good Exercises

When you get older - and this means over the age of 25 - it's time to change your priorities about what's important: your ego or your health.

No one in the gym really cares how much weight you can lift. I do Arm Curls with an empty bar and I haven't gotten laughed at yet, at least not about that.

That said, the opposite is useless - not lifting enough weight. I see too many women lay down with a pair of 12 pound dumbbells to Bench Press. That's almost a total waste of time.

3 popular exercises that can do damage, should you lift too much weight:

1. Incline Bench Press
2. Behind Neck Shoulder Press
3. Upright Rows

3 exercises that should be staples to any exercise program (and you can keep it light):

1. Squats (for back and hip flexibility)
2. Cross Bench Pullovers (for shoulder flexibility)
3. Downward Dog (for hamstring & IT Band flexibility)

Ignite Your Calorie-burning Furnace: Lift Weights

I see many people get caught up in how many calories they burn in a cardio session. It seems an hour’s effort hardly burns away a donut. Be discouraged, but don’t fret. I have the answer!

Muscle is always hungry, so adding lean muscle mass to your frame means calorie-munching muscle all day long. Start with a full body lifting routine of 9-12 exercises, 2-3 times per week. Stay on this routine for about 4 weeks and then switch to a split lifting routine (means alternating muscle groups each workout session) for 4-6 weeks.

Your metabolism will immediately rise and noticeable fat weight loss will occur within 2-3 weeks as long as you don’t significantly increase your caloric intake.

Cardio is an important staple to a fitness regimen, but unless you’re doing a high volume of cardiovascular training, the post-workout metabolic effect is much less than that of weight training.

Give it a try – if you have any questions, let me know! I’m happy to help.

Core Training: Know When & How to Use It

Core Training is the latest rage in the fitness world, and unlike past trends, it actually works. A typical core training workout is one in which the muscles in and around your torso and hips are strengthened so that you have a 'rock solid' foundation. You'll be less susceptible to injury when carrying out everyday tasks like lifting baby from crib or playing tennis on weekends.

At Agile, we've actually taken the methods of core training a step further by widening the 'core' areas of the body to include the deeper muscle tissues acting on the major joints: ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders. A good example of this type of core training: dumbbell exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles of the shoulders.

Core Training almost always involves an exercise tool that adds an element of instability to the exercise, bench pressing with dumbbells on a Swiss Ball is a good example . But some trainers take this concept too far: kneeling on a Swiss Ball and doing bicep curls - this is more of a circus act than the most efficient way to exercise. Don't get me wrong - you'll strengthen your core muscles doing this exercise - I just don't think it's the most effective use of your gym time.

For the best results, add core exercises to the beginning of your workout so that your muscles are awake and ready to engage in weight lifting and cardiovascular activity.