| |
An effective bench step workout requires an exercise level that raises your pulse rate to approximately 60-85% of the number of times your heart can be in one minute. This range is called your Target Heart Rate Zone. If you are new to exercise or our of shape, 60% may be adequate to to promote good cardiovascular conditioning. A well conditioned athlete may prefer to periodically work up to an 85% rates. When you exercise within your target zone heart rate your muscles effectively use the oxygen you're breathing and burn lots of calories. Aerobic exercise (never becoming breathless)allows you to exercise longer and burn more total calories than exercising until you are exhausted.
 This chart illustrates the predicted minimum and maximum target heart rates for cardiovascular fitness for the average individual in good health. To use the chart, find your age and the corresponding minimum and maximum heart rate target zones.
Using your exercise heart rate as an indicator of your fitness level provides a built-in exercise intensifier. If you're untrained, it will require less effort to reach your target heart rate zone. As your cardiovascular fitness improves and you become stronger, it will require more effort for you to reach your target heart rate zone.
To determine your heart rate, pause just long enough from your exercise to take your pulse at your wrist. Take a ten second reading and multiply it by six. Target heart rates are predictions. Regardless of your exercise heart rate, if you're breathless, you should slow down. |
 |
 
Fitness Levels
In experienced exercisers should learn the leg and arm movements first without using the bench step. When you are comfortable with the program begin at a height of 4 inches by using only the platform. As your fitness level and familiarity with the bench step improve, add the first module for a height of 6 inches. The second module increases the bench step to a height of 8 inches, and should only be added when you reach the advanced fitness level.
Setting up your bench step
Place your bench step on a level surface and test the stability before you begin each session. Clear an area around your bench so you can move easily and safely.
Stepping
Step up onto the bench heel-toe and off of the bench toe-heel. Avoid staying on the balls of your feet. Step toward the middle area of the bench, and avoid the edges. When you step off the bench, avoid stepping too far away. Staying close to your bench prevents leaning into or away from the bench. Once you're  onto the bench step, allow the leg stepping up to the bench to extend fully without locking the knee. At the highest point of each step up you should feel the gluteal (buttock) muscle contract. Step with good alignment. Your shoulders should be directly over the hips, never hunched up or forward. Keep your shoulders back and imagine being pulled up toward the ceiling every time you step up. Don't arch your back.
Be "light-footed" as you step upon the bench, using your leg muscles to avoid pounding or stomping. Keep your main focus front (forward and toward the TV) to avoid straining your neck. It's important to glance down at the bench occasionally to ensure proper footing. If you experience pain in your ankles, knees or lower back, stop and consult you physician.
|
 
Learning the leg and arm movements when you're
new to bench stepping is a challenge. We recommend concentrating
on the leg movements first, and then, when these are familiar,
adding the arms. Beginners might want to try following the
routines without the bench for a while. Inexperienced steppers
should start with a bench no higher that 6 inches. As your
fitness improves, add bench height in 1 inch increments
up to a bench height of 10 inches.
Purchasing:
Selecting a good brand with positive revues & reputation
is important.
One thing you certainly don't think of until you've actually
made the purchase, is the bottom of the step bench: if it
doesn't have a matt or rough rubberised surface, the whole
stepper will either slide around or slowly move during the
course of your workout. The ones used in this class are
Official Jane Fonda Fitness Quest Steppers and can be purchased
from ebay (Click
Here for More Info) |
 
Your body needs food - especially when you exercise regularly. It may surprise you to learn that 70-80% of calories you consume each day are used by your body's resting metabolism to sustain and regulate bodily functions such as breathing, heartbeat, food digestion and body heat. The remaining 15-30% are burned up by physical activity. If your level of exercise is insufficient, these excess calories (15-30%) are stored as fat thus causing weight (or fat) gain.
Crash dieting upsets this balance and causes your body to lower its resting metabolism and burn fewer calories. In effect, your body becomes conditioned to conserve its resources for "times of famine" by tenaciously holding on to its reserves. And those reserved are primarily stored in the form of fat - just what you're trying to lose by dieting.
The solution is sensible nutrition - reconfiguring your diet supply your body with more of what it really needs and wants and less of what it doesn't need (but you really want!). The culprit for most of us is usually fat calories. Research has shown that the optimum healthy diet should consist of approximately 60% complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, peas and beans, seeds and nuts, whole grains, cereals, whole grain pastas and breads), and no more than 25% fat. Fat has more than twice as many calories per gram as either protein or carbohydrates.
Combining sensible nutrition with regular exercise will increase the number of calories your body burns. When the exercise is sustained aerobic activity (at least 20 to 30 minutes) your body is more likely using fat from the reserve it has stored.
One book out there that will help you as it has helped us is "The Abs Diet" it might. This book contains a 6 week program designed to slim down, and is a non-fad diet designed to be used as long as you need, and promote healthy habits.
Read nutrition labels to uncover the fat calories hidden in food. Converting fat grams to "percentage of calories from fat" will give you the information you really want, and help you limit your daily calories from fat to 25%.
Listen to your body and eat when you're hungry and not because it's the right time of day. If you emphasize high carbohydrate foods and lean meets & protein, you may find you're eating more food but consuming less calories!
Substitute foods high in complex carbohydrate for foods high in fat. For example, on air popped, butterless popcorn instead of potato chips.
Make small modifications in your diet - changes that you can live with. Lots of minor changes will add up to major results. For example use 1 tablespoon less dressing (butter, margarine, mayonnaise, salad dressing) on anything and you've eliminated up to 108 calories of pure fat!
|
 
Measure your body using a cloth tape and record the results on a chart. Always take the measurements in the same places on your body, on the same side of your body (right or left) and at the same time of day. Retake your measurements once a month.
You may be surprised to discovered that your weight increases initially as your measurements decrease because you are generating new muscle tissue and reducing body fat.
1. ARM - Measure halfway between the shoulder and the elbow with the elbow extended
2.CHEST - Measure directly underneath the arm pits, going around the chest and back.
3. NAVEL (WAIST) - Measure around the waist at the naval.
4. HIP - Measure around the hip and buttocks at the widest portion.
5. THIGH - Measure the thigh halfway between the hip and the knee.
6. CALF -
Measure the calf halfway between the knee and the ankle. |
|
|
