Quality Over Quantity

There are three exercises you can do, in addition to your cardio, that will work every muscle in your body; these don't require the gym or any equipment, so you can do them at home or on the road. The first is the perfect push-up, which uses all of your arm muscles, and muscles in the chest and back, and abs to a lesser extent (mostly because you're holding your stomach in!). You are in the push-up position, fully extended or on your knees, and you are going to lower yourself to the ground SLOWLY with your hands shoulder-width apart, and directly under your breast bone. If you are not strong enough to go to the floor when your arms are fully extended, start with doing them from a flat service some distance from the floor, but the lower the better. As you lower your body, imagine you are squeezing the front of your upper body to the middle, and this will ensure you are using all of your chest and upper back muscles. Keep your elbows close to your body. The reason you want to to these slowly is that your body has time to isolate the smaller muscles as well as the larger ones; this will help to lengthen the muscle and make it stronger at the same time. Touch your nose to ground (or flat surface) and come up again SLOWLY. You may only be able to do 3 at first, or 5, depending on your arm strenth, and you want to work up to 2 sets of 10 (3 for guys!), and at least twice a week. Change the position of your hands by moving them closer to the center, fingers spread out with thumbs touching, and again just below your breast bone. Make your body work for you - you will love the results!! I'll tell you the second one tomorrow! Melissa