Combining weight training with a low-calorie diet boosts weight loss while preserving lean muscle mass that can be lost during aerobic activity, researchers say.
The 18-month study enrolled 249 older adults (mean age, 67; 71% women) who were randomized to weight loss alone, weight loss plus aerobic training or weight loss plus resistance training. Among the findings:

• Total fat loss was significantly greater for the diet plus weight training group (about 17 pounds) and the diet plus walking group (about 16 pounds) compared to diet alone (about 10 pounds).
• Muscle mass loss was greatest with diet plus walking (20% of weight loss was due to muscle mass loss) compared with diet alone (16%) or diet plus weight training (10%).

Overall, loss of fat was associated with faster walking speed, while loss of muscle was associated with reduced knee strength.
COMMENT: “A lot of older adults will walk as their exercise of choice,” said lead author Kristen Beavers of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “But this research shows that if you’re worried about losing muscle, weight training can be the better option.”
SOURCE: Wake Forest University; Obesity (October 30, 2017)
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Variation is key, make sure your gym offers a good range of exercises so you can vary your workouts, not just to stop you from getting bored but also to avoid plateauing where you are no longer getting results.

You also want a gym that offers a smooth as silk action on all its exercises. This can vary hugely due to the quality of bearings, pulleys and cables used on the machine and even the makeup of the weights, avoid plastic!
Or in the case of a smith machine you want quality linear bearings that glide up and down the rails in comparison to over just bushes which can cause a grabbing/sticking motion.

Make sure you get a full stretch or extension with each exercise, you don’t want to get on and realize that your arms don’t fully extend when doing a lat pulldown or when doing a bench press the bench does not come back far enough to really stretch the chest muscles.
A good gym will have plenty of adjustments such as height adjustments in the seat and angle adjustments on the bench press bar, we are not all the same body shapes and sizes so a gym that doesn’t have adjustments is definitely not going to suit everyone.

You need to get a gym you can grow into and not out grow, no use getting a gym that you will outgrow after just 6 months of training, you really need a minimum 200lb/100kg weight stack.

Functional training machines are popular as you move within what your own body allows rather than being restricted to the machine; these are gyms which are more adjustable pulley and cable.

Cardio Exercise is extremely important to us all.
Rush, rush, rush…. It sounds like a typical day for most of us. Rush to get kids ready, rush to get ready for work, then rush home to cook dinner and make the gym. With all this rushing we may find ourselves asking how important is cardio really? Operating on tight schedules gives many of us limited gym time and many skipping out on the cardio portion due to “time constraints”. It is that little voice convincing us that we can make up the half hour tomorrow on the treadmill, knowing full well that we did not have time today so we most likely won’t tomorrow. The fact of the matter is that whether you are looking to lose weight, get fit or build muscle, cardiovascular training is an important part of your regime.

Cardio exercise or cardio for short is, in its broadest sense any training that causes your heart to beat at an elevated pace for a length of time. The more common cardio exercise machines being used in gyms today include rowing machines, exercise bikes, treadmills, cross trainers or ellipticals. The more muscle groups being engaged the harder the heart and respiratory systems work to supply vital organs with blood and oxygen. It is this conditioning that improves our fitness levels and allows for muscle development by increasing the blood flow directly to our muscles. The heart is a muscle like any other and needs to be exercised.

The most common and highly sought-after benefit of cardio exercise is weight loss and burning calories is how this is achieved.

The benefits of cardio exercise also include but are not limited to an increased metabolism which allows your body to process fuel faster helping to maintain target body weights and decreases the chance of disease. Conditioning your body and keeping excess weight off helps you in the fight against obesity, diabetes, heart attack and stroke to name a few.
With the benefits of cardio exercise being so high how can you afford to miss it?
The answer is “you can’t”.

It is important to diet and eat correctly but at the end of the day you can diet as much as you like but you will not make those weight loss gains without spending at least a half hour to an hour a day on cardiovascular exercises. With the pressures and time constraints of modern life ever present, we have seen a shift in the way people attack their cardio exercise with the most popular being a workout at home mentality.

Integrating a treadmill, elliptical, cross trainer, rowing machine, upright or recumbent bike into your home will allow you to save time at the gym and in general without having to sacrifice your precious cardiovascular training. If you have the space, try using a couple of machines for variety to avoid boredom and to keep your body guessing. Monotony is a killer of workouts so try to keep it fresh by adding an incline to your treadmill or by doing a reverse motion on your elliptical or if you want the latest and greatest innovation in cardio training try the CardioGym CG6. The Cardio Gym was developed because of a growing need by consumers to find a space saving, total body workout and one that they can importantly enjoy. A true total body workout combining a recumbent cycle and a functional cable system delivers a workout satisfying all goals, all muscle groups and all fitness levels efficiently and effectively.

The benefits of cardio are far too high to simply be shrugged off or dismissed due to time constraints. If you are serious about your training, then you cannot neglect cardiovascular training and with a great line of equipment now available for your home there are no excuses. Reach those goals and be on the road to happy, healthier you, through cardio. Do not delay start today and reap the benefits.

If you are looking to buy fitness equipment either online or in store there are a few things we think you should do prior to making your final decision.

Looking to hire fitness equipment or try before you buy?
We can understand your logic here however most hired exercise equipment is paid for many times over by the hirer and is designed with the delivery guys in mind rather than the home-user. It is designed to be easily relocated at the end of the term and is not designed to give maximum results. It is often very light so it can be moved easily from home to home and being lightly built doesn’t give the feel of a quality, solid piece of exercise equipment, therefore you won’t want to use it. To get the best value, buy fitness equipment – don’t hire.

Define your goals.
Knowing your goals will aid you in purchasing the right piece of fitness equipment. Be realistic while setting your goals. Don’t buy a piece of equipment for cardio like a treadmill, if your primary goal is to build muscle.

Space allocation
Consider the amount of room in your home that you can dedicate to your fitness needs. Fitness equipment varies greatly in size, ideally you should keep your exercise equipment inside where it is easily accessible. Training indoors protects you from the elements outside and affords you the luxury of extra safety, entertainment, and quality time with the family. If you have a spare room, consider a Home Fitness Studio where the whole family can train together to motivate one another and maximise your fitness results.
Beware of any piece of equipment that folds to fit in your cupboard or under your bed – these are designed that way for a reason… Before long, you will realise the results are limited and will need somewhere to stow it!

Budget considerations
If in the market to buy fitness equipment, think about how much you want to invest in your health and fitness. Also, think about whether you want to buy outright, or finance? You may be able to pay your equipment off over several years and upgrade after this period. You will often save money compared to gym memberships, especially if there is a few in the family using the equipment. Plus, the equipment will be yours to own in the end!

Create a realistic exercise plan
Having a realistic exercise plan ready for when you get your new exercise equipment is essential if you want to maximise your results. Know your goals and know how you are going to achieve them. Variation is key when it comes to maximizing results. Structure a plan to suit your needs and the needs of your family.

If you are looking to buy fitness equipment either online or in store there are a few things we think you should do prior to making your final decision.

Looking to hire fitness equipment or try before you buy?
We can understand your logic here however most hired exercise equipment is paid for many times over by the hirer and is designed with the delivery guys in mind rather than the home-user. It is designed to be easily relocated at the end of the term and is not designed to give maximum results. It is often very light so it can be moved easily from home to home and being lightly built doesn’t give the feel of a quality, solid piece of exercise equipment, therefore you won’t want to use it. To get the best value, buy fitness equipment – don’t hire.
Define your goals.

Knowing your goals will aid you in purchasing the right piece of fitness equipment. Be realistic while setting your goals. Don’t buy a piece of equipment for cardio like a treadmill, if your primary goal is to build muscle.

Space allocation
Consider the amount of room in your home that you can dedicate to your fitness needs. Fitness equipment varies greatly in size, ideally you should keep your exercise equipment inside where it is easily accessible. Training indoors protects you from the elements outside and affords you the luxury of extra safety, entertainment, and quality time with the family. If you have a spare room, consider a Home Fitness Studio where the whole family can train together to motivate one another and maximise your fitness results.

Beware of any piece of equipment that folds to fit in your cupboard or under your bed – these are designed that way for a reason… Before long, you will realise the results are limited and will need somewhere to stow it!

Budget considerations
If in the market to buy fitness equipment, think about how much you want to invest in your health and fitness. Also, think about whether you want to buy outright, or finance? You may be able to pay your equipment off over a number of years and upgrade after this period. You will often save money compared to gym memberships, especially if there is a few in the family using the equipment. Plus the equipment will be yours to own in the end!

Create a realistic exercise plan
Having a realistic exercise plan ready for when you get your new exercise equipment is essential if you want to maximise your results. Know your goals and know how you are going to achieve them. Variation is key when it comes to maximizing results. Structure a plan to suit your needs and the needs of your family.

Functional training is any type of exercise that has a direct relationship to the activities you perform in your daily life.
Whether you are a marathon runner, a triathlete, or simply a homemaker who wants to carry their children without injury, functional training can help. Functional training has its origins in rehabilitation. Physical therapists developed exercises that mimicked what patients did at home or work to return to their lives or jobs after an injury or surgery. Thus, if a patient’s job required repeatedly heavy lifting, rehab would be targeted towards helping them achieve that. Functional training mostly involves activities targeted at the core muscles (abdominal and lower back).
Much attention has been given to the concept of functional training over the last several years. It seems however that while many personal trainers’ market themselves as functional training experts they may often miss the point when it comes to actually applying the concepts effectively. By definition “functional training” is training with a purpose. In other words, it should have a positive effect on the activity or sport one is participating in.

Functional training takes a multi-faceted and integrated approach to improving the strength and overall conditioning of those using it.
Originally this functional approach was exclusive to the rehabilitation and sports medicine fields. Sports rehabilitation, performed by Certified Athletic Trainers and Physical Therapists, by nature had to not only return the athlete to everyday living but also had to return him or her to the rigors of competitive sports. Work Hardening is a “modern” approach to rehabilitation sometimes used by Physical Therapists. This is a type of “sport specific” conditioning for everyday life, which teaches the patient to lift boxes, turn wrenches, carry beams, push wheel barrels and anything else that is applicable to their work environment. This is true functional training.

Functional training must integrate all aspects of human movement.
Functional training is not carried out on treadmills, cross trainers, rowing machines etc. To get a better understanding of the approach needed one must first become a student of human movement. Observing children at play, adults at work, and athletes in competition is a good place to start. Since life, like sport, is basically a chaotic, unpredictable event, one’s training should reflect this reality to some extent.

Generally most functional training advocates de-emphasize weight machines and most single joint movements. The truth is, however, that almost any exercise can be functional for someone at a specific time in his or her life or training cycle. Often if one is in the early stages of rehabilitation, or a very new and perhaps a somewhat uncoordinated exerciser, then a “selectorized” machine or a simple exercise movement may be functional. The use of machines in general, goes against the functional training philosophy for many reasons.

Today the functional training movement tends to emphasize cable machines, dumbbells, medicine balls, stability balls, resistance bands and body weight exercises. The important thing is to first understand the needs and abilities of the individual client/athlete before implementing any of these techniques and strategies.

Home Workout sells “functional training equipment” as a way for strength coaches, personal trainers, and athletes to enhance performance and add variety to a training program. The use of much of this equipment, especially unstable equipment such as stability balls, cable machines, foam rollers and stability discs, has led many people to believe that the minute someone uses one of these pieces the exercise is “functional”. Remember that just because an exercise is challenging it does not mean that it is necessarily functional.

Unstable equipment is only one modality that should be used sparingly at best. Originally this type of equipment was used in the rehabilitation setting to enhance static balance, proprioception, joint stability, and core strength with much success. Some research does exist that shows increased muscular recruitment at the core for certain exercises and at the ankle joint during an ankle rehabilitation protocol.

LA Lakers star JaVale McGee at 7ft and with his massive wing span still gets an ultimate total body workout on the CG6! Nothing works the heart harder then when your legs are pushing up hill and your upper body is working weights at the same time. LA Lakers introduced the CG6 to simulate total body fatigue. When we play sports we don’t use just half the body so when we train we need to do the same.