April's Beach Volleyball Log

For your Volleyball Workouts Get Dramatic Results with Interval Training

Interval Training - Get Dramatic Results with Interval Training
By Barry Lovelace

Interval training is a great way to spice up a workout and get awesome results. Do you ever find that your cardiovascular workout routine is getting a little too repetitive, a little too boring? Boredom is a huge problem and one of the main reasons people give up on exercise, but it doesn't have to be that way. There are so many different ways to challenge your body and your mind during your workouts that you should never feel bored.

The key is to always keep learning new things and to learn variations of the exercises and routines you are currently doing. One of these variations is aerobic interval training and that is what we are going to talk about today.

So what is aerobic interval training? Basically, it means working out by alternating bursts of intense activity with intervals of light activity. This type of training can be done by anyone and with any aerobic activity. Let's use walking as an example. If you're already in pretty good shape and you've been walking for a while, you might incorporate short bursts of jogging into your regular brisk walks. If you're more of a beginner, you might just alternate faster, harder walking with leisurely walking.

For example, if you are walking outside you could pick a landmark in the distance like a tree or a stop sign and pick up the intensity until you get to it. If you're working out on a treadmill or elliptical machine, it is as easy as watching the timer on the machine and timing your light intensity and high intensity intervals.

There are many advantages to interval training. Perhaps the most popular is that interval training burns more calories without spending more time in the gym, who doesn't like the sound of that? There are other benefits as well, like improving your aerobic capacity, which is great news for your workouts but more importantly it is great news for your heart and lungs. Interval training is also nice because it doesn't require drastic changes to your routine or any kind of special equipment.

Whatever type of cardiovascular exercise you are doing now can be easily converted into interval training. This type of training will grow with you as you progress. Getting started is as easy as choosing the length and speed of your high intensity intervals. Obviously the length and speed can be altered depending of how you are feeling that day, it is all up to you.

Of course this does require you to be more disciplined during your workout. It is up to you to do your intervals at a level that will challenge you and only you can determine what that level is. Also, as with any exercise routine, it is important to warm up first. You want to make sure your body is warmed up before you go into your first interval.

If you are working out seriously to improve sports performance, this type of training is also a good choice for you. In this case, you may want to look at interval training a little more seriously. A personal trainer or other fitness expert can help you plan the intensity and duration of your intervals based on your target heart rate, aerobic capacity and other factors.

No matter what your fitness level, aerobic interval training is something you can use to boost your workout, relieve some boredom and challenge your body. Why not try it today?

Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized fitness professional specializing in the training of athletes. He is the creator of the HOT selling Volleyball Training program – Training For Volleyball

Volleyball Nutrition: Healthier Fast Food - 10 Simple Ways To Make Fast Food Healthier

By Barry Lovelace

Aah, fast food. It is so convenient, it is so economical, it is so yummy and it is so quick. Unfortunately it is also just about the worst thing you can put into your body. Still, huge numbers of people head to the nearest fast food joint several times per week.

Obviously, fast food is never the optimal choice when it comes to what to eat. Occasionally time restraints may honestly force us to 'grab something quick'. If you must eat on the go, here are some tips to make fast food healthier for you and your family members:

1. Pass on the "value-size." When you make the choice to super size, the size of your fries isn't the only thing that gets bigger.

2. Skip the sides. Eating a burger or sandwich by itself is often filling enough. Often we eat the side out of habit; they just seem to go together. If you do want a side, consider ordering a fruit cup or side salad. Most fast food restaurants now offer them.

3. Avoid double meat and bacon. A serving size of meat is 2-3 ounces - about the size of a deck of cards. You are already getting well over that with a single meat patty. Bacon is high in calories and fat with little nutrient content. Honestly, don't we all know by now that red meat and fatty meats like bacon are terrible for us?

4. Try the grilled chicken sandwich. Poultry without skin is significantly leaner than the meats most fast-food companies use in their burgers so if you must eat fast food this is a better option.

5. Say 'No cheese, please'. Seriously, you may not even miss the cheese but you will save yourself calories, fat and cholesterol by leaving it behind.

6. Eat your sandwich open-faced. By eating only half the bun, you can eliminate unnecessary calories and still be satisfied.

7. Try asking for a wheat bun. Many places now offer a wheat alternative, some don't. It never hurts to ask.

8. Skip the mayo and other cholesterol-laden dressings and sauces. Instead, choose ketchup or mustard. When it comes to salad dressings, stick with the vinaigrette types, they may still be high in fat but it will be a healthier fat and won't have cholesterol.

9. Drink water! Water intake is vital to your health. If necessary, drink diet soda or low-fat milk. Sodas, teas and sports drinks are loaded with sugars, which are empty calories.

10. When it comes to fast food, Subway really does have lots of healthier choices that still please the taste buds. You can build yourself a tasty and low fat sandwich and still totally feel like your splurging.

The bottom line is that we do live in hectic times. I honestly can't say that eating fast food is ever the best choice and I do hope that if you are doing it regularly you will cut back especially if you are raising kids. When you do feel the need to head to the nearest drive thru at least try some of these tips. These are all simple things that you can do to take a positive step towards [http://www.exerciseforeverybody.com]good health. Health is wealth and you and your family are worth it.

Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized fitness professional specializing in the training of athletes. He is the creator of the HOT selling Volleyball Training program – Training For Volleyball

Do you know the importance of being in shape on the court?

Many young volleyball athletes and coaches don’t understand the importance that weightlifting plays in beach and indoor volleyball and how effective it can be in improving your volleyball performance.

It’s not about being a hulking monster on the court but it’s about building more strength so you can hit your 27th spike attempt for the 14th point in the third set of your match just as hard and with just as much accuracy as you hit your very first spike for the first point in the first match of your game.

The idea is to have the same energy in the third or fifth set as you have when you are fresh and just warmed up in your first set. That’s what conditioning does for you. That’s why running and doing the cardio, doing the plyo drills and especially doing the right weight workout, whether with weights or just with your body weight, will work for you and help you outlast your competition.

Here is a quote from AVP pro player Sean Scott who made it to the finals in the Miami season opener with new partner Nick Lucena. On the way to the finals Sean and Nick upset not one, not two, but three higher ranked teams knocking them out of the race to reach the finals.

Pro beach volleyball veteran, winner of five AVP tournaments, newly wed to women’s pro beach volleyball player Rachel Wacholder, Sean Scott tells AVP.com:

"Nick is a fiery guy," said Scott, a 6'5 blaster from Hawaii who has won five AVP events in his career, four of them with Rogers. "He plays with emotion. And I don't think anyone worked harder than him in the offseason. He got stronger -- from 173 pounds to 184 -- and he wanted to prove that he is a damn good player."

Remember the ball is in your court. Are you ">too small to play volleyball?

April Chapple is a freelance copywriter for volleyball products and promotions, columnist for USA Volleyball and the American Volleyball Coaches Association Coaching Volleyballmagazine and author of numerous online articles on playing and coaching volleyball. Author of the upcoming ebook "How to Stop Serving Like a Wimp" April's volleyball sites are volleyballvoices.com, volleyballvoyeur.com, beijingolympicvolleyball.com, and aprilsbeachvolleyballog.com. She can be reached at april@volleyballvoices.com

I know you want to learn the secrets of how the pros play like they do. The fastest way for you to do that is to sign up for the FREE Volleyball Voices Newsletter so you can be the first person on your team to get the inside track on how to stay off the bench and gain more playing time by improving all your volleyball skills, fast! Just fill out that box in the upper right hand corner to receive today's volleyball news you can use.

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Change Your Life...Change Your Life Story

How Often Should I Workout?

By line: By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
URL: www.TurbulenceTraining.com
Word count: 437
Related keywords: weight loss, cardio, fat loss, burn fat, lose weight, burn calories, nutrition, exercise, workout, cardio

How Often Should I Workout?

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

People often email me asking how many days per week should they workout. For the average person wanting to lose weight and focus on fat loss, the answer is simple. They will get fantastic results by training hard only three days per week. Now for the average person, that should be manageable.

And yes, all three of those workouts should be done in less than an hour. Research shows that 20-30 minutes of interval training is more effective than 40 minutes of slow cardio for weight loss. Combine the intervals with 20-30 minutes of strength training. Do that 3 days per week, and pow, you'll lose fat fast. (With good nutrition too, of course!)

On off days, I encourage people to be as active as possible, but without making extra effort to go to the gym. Walking to do your errands for an hour is great, if you have the time. Just do some form of health-promoting exercise (which can mean a half hour walk, yoga, or aerobic training if you desire). The duration and intensity of these off-day workouts depends on your fitness level, your recovery capacity, and your nutrition plan.

For many people, New Year's resolutions mean a return to high-volume cardio programs. But I urge restraint, caution, and conservatism. Trying to re-do your old running programs after some time off is a recipe for disaster.

If you plan on resuming a former running program, please start conservatively, especially if you are running on hard surfaces. Start easy. Build up in volume. Monitor your energy levels, strength levels, and mood. Be conservative, train consistent, and superior results will be yours.

And what about for beginners? How often should they workout?

Well, if you are the utmost of beginners, and haven't done any formal exercise in a long, long time, then simply do 3-6 bouts of 5 minutes of walking each day. Every day. Progress with your walking by increasing the time you walk and decreasing the number of "bouts" per day. For example, in week 3 of your exercise program, do 3 bouts of 10 minutes per day. And by week 6, you should be able to walk for 30 minutes straight. That is a place to get started.

At the same time, combine your walking program with a professionally designed bodyweight 3-day strength program that you can do at home (heck, most beginner exercises are even done lying on the floor!). After 6 weeks, you can increase the intensity of your workout, as outlined by your personal trainer. Eventually, you can progress into a more intense 3-day per week program.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines and all over the Internet, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Turbulence Training:How to Cut Your Workout Time & Lose More Fat

How to Cut Your Workout Time & Lose More Fat

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

The #1 reason for not working out is a lack of time.

If you get up at 5:30am to drive an hour to work, only to get home at 6pm and then have to launch right into carting the kids around, who can blame you for not working out? Not when it takes 45 minutes to do cardio, and another 30-45 minutes for isolation bodybuilding workouts.

If that's the way you have to exercise to lose fat, then practically no normal person is going to be able to pull that off.

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But when you look at the science, you'll see that you can get more results in less time. You just have to increase the intensity of the workout, but at the same time, you can cut your workout time in half (or more!).

I am convinced that an effective fat loss workout can be done in 45 minutes or less, and that long, slow, excruciatingly boring cardio is not necessary for you to get the body you want. Please, read on...

In last week's newsletter, I spoke about the 3 biggest training mistakes as well as my top 3 training tips to help you get more results in less time. Here I go into detail on the superiority of interval training when compared to traditional aerobic exercise:

Q: What is the role of interval training vs. steady state aerobics in a fat loss program?

Answer:
Interval training is more important than cardio. First of all, it gets more results in less time. And with "lack of time" being the number one reason most people do not participate in a training program at all, clearly intervals are the winner here.

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Now let's just assume that lack of time is not a problem. Well, interval training is still more effective because it applies more "turbulence" to the muscle. Or in scientific terms, interval training results in a greater metabolic stress on the muscle.

And that causes more calories to be burned in the important 23.5 hours per day when you are not exercising.

From there, the muscle must work to recover, repair, and replenish the energy that was used in the training. It is much more metabolic work for the muscle to recover from interval training (and strength training) than it is to recover from aerobic training.

Therefore, in the post-exercise period, interval training results in more calories burned.

In fact, I just read a new study from Australia that shows interval training is superior to slow cardio for fat loss.

The researchers, Trapp & Boutcher put WOMEN through a 15 week study where one group was a control, one group did intervals (20 minutes of alternating sprints and recovery), and one group did 40 minutes of slow cardio.

The interval group lost 2.5kg of fat in 15 weeks on average (with one subject losing 7.7kg of fat), while the slow cardio group lost only 0.4kg of fat over 15 weeks on average.

The results speak for themselves.

So don't get hung up on how many calories are burned during a training session with aerobic training. That is not nearly as important as how many total calories your body burns over the course of the day - and you will burn more with interval training.

And for those that subscribe to the fat burning zone as being important, again, you aren't looking at the big picture (the 24-hour calorie burning period). Instead, those that believe in the importance of the fat-burning zone have a myopic view of how the body works.

The same message applies to those people that live and die by the cardio on an empty stomach method. You're "nickel and dime-ing" the fat loss process, when really it's a much bigger budget to balance.

Look at the big picture. Get your nutrition in order, then focus your workouts on brief, intense strength and interval training workouts that increase your metabolism for the next 24 hours.

Get your very own copy of Turbulence Training & the Nutrition Guide here: http://www.turbulencetraining.com/

Sincerely,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

P.S. More TT Success Stories...Including the "21 pounds in 21 days Fat Loss Story"!

"TT Training has revolutionized my workout routine--NO more excuses! No time for the gym...NO problem, can't go outside...No problem! The bodyweight workouts kept me strong this fall."
Mary Iverson

"Hi Craig, I am enjoying Turbulence Training. I am a personal trainer, so I've incorporated much of it into my sessions. Though I used some philosophies from TT, your program has added a world of new ideas, methods, and techniques to my client sessions. And for that, I thank you so very much. Even my wife loves it, ha! So much more to read and implement, so TT reading will keep me busy for many months to come. Make it a great day!"
Loren Salas

Get your very own copy of Turbulence Training & the Nutrition Guide here: http://www.turbulencetraining.com/

"The things I like the most in the TT program: a) Large number of different exercises allowing for ever new combinations, which prevent boredom and routine. b) Different approaches to strength training (dumbbells, own body, simple implements). c) A lot of precise information about pacing, timing and choosing effort levels. d) Sound and solid information on kinesiology and physiology of training."
Peter Tancig

"Hi Craig, I wanted to send you a note regarding TT. The workouts are great and if you incorporate the diet plan you can't help but lose FAT. I have been using the program for three weeks and have dropped twenty one pounds. I look forward to getting down to my goal weight within a year. I am very happy to have purchased this program and would recommend it to other with no hesitation. Thank you very much."
Tim Jones

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines and all over the Internet, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com