It's the Small Things

Here's a good article that explains how small things, such as eating a bit less junk food, can add up over time to help prevent long-term weight gain!

Potato chips worst culprit for slow weight gain - Health - CBC News

Pump Up Your Push Ups!

Looking for a way to take push ups to higher level? Try placing your feet on a ball! This will increase the difficulty of the push up as your centre of gravity will now be higher than if your feet were on the ground. Also, the unstable nature of having your feet on a ball will require greater core strength & control and also help with your balance!
(Photos courtesy of http://www.hfpn.com/)

Body Mass Index

Here is a great article that explains why Body Mass Index (BMI), on its own, is not necessarily the best indicator of what a "healthy" weight is: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/ask-a-health-expert/ask-a-doctor/is-bmi-really-the-best-indicator-of-health/article1969016/

Lunges

Looking for an exercise to help build and strengthen your glutes and hamstrings? Try lunges! According to a study in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, lunging with a forward flexed trunk helps activate the glutes more than other positions during the exercise. So, for a little added oomph to the backside, try flexing forward during your lunge - you might even try reaching your opposite arm towards your opposite foot during the lunge.

How many exercises?

Many people often wonder how many different exercises they should do to adequately train a muscle group. Sometimes this can be a fine balance because if you do too few you might not be getting as much benefit from your routine, but if you do too many you can easily over-train. As a general guideline, if you're a beginner you should do 1-2 exercises per body part and 2-3 sets of each exercise. If you're at an intermediate level, you should do 2-3 exercises per body part and 3-4 sets of each exercise. If you're at an advanced level, you should do 3-4 exercises per body part and 3-5 sets of each exercise.

What is EPOC?

EPOC is excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. What is it and why should it be important to you? EPOC refers to the state in which your body's metabolism is elevated after exercise. You are probably aware that when you are doing physical activity, your body is burning calories as your muscles need energy to perform the activity. Depending on the type of activity that you do, when you are done with the physical activity your body will use increased amounts of oxygen to replace your energy stores, lower your body temperature and return you to a resting state. EPOC is a "caloric afterburner" -- your body is burning more calories after you are done your physical activity than prior to starting the activity. EPOC is important because it helps you to maximize how many calories you burn. Not all activities work equally to increase the magnitude of EPOC that you experience after your workout. Typically, to experience a greater EPOC after working out, you should train at a higher intensity -- interval training for cardio (where you cycle your heart rate through different zones corresponding to different percentages of your maximum heart rate) or circuit resistance training are especially good at producing greater levels of EPOC. As with all exercise programs, consult your doctor and personal trainer to ensure that any physical exercise you do is appropriate and safe for your level of fitness and medical condition.

Be Wary of these Exercises - 1

There are several commonly used machines or exercises that you should carefully think about before including them in your workout routine. The first one I will cover is the leg adductor machine. This machine provides resistance as you squeeze your knees together, strengthening the muscles along the inside of your thigh (adductor muscles). Many people already have excessively tight adductor muscles, which can cause the knees to be pulled in toward each other when doing a squat movement. If this is your case, it might be more beneficial to focus on strengthening the abductor muscles (those that work to pull the knees away from each other) and stretching the adductor muscles to gain more flexibility. As always, be sure to talk with your doctor and personal trainer before attempting a workout routine.