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Blast Fitness: Bridgeview, 7340 W 87th Street, Bridgeview, IL (2026)

11/07/2016

How Much Weight Can a Person Lose Riding an Exercise Bike for 30 Minutes?

If you want your bathroom scales to show a lower number the next time you step on them you will need to burn more calories than you consume. An enjoyable and effective way to do that is by riding an exercise bike for 30 minutes. Ride just five times a week and along with seeing the numbers start to drop on the scales you’ll be doing great things for your overall physical and mental well-being. With stationary bicycles, recumbent bikes and spin classes, finding a way to pedal your way to a lighter and healthier you is easier than ever before.

Scales, Weight and Math
A pound of fat is equivalent to about 3,500 calories. In order to budge a pound, we need to burn off 3,500 more calories than we take in. That can be done by diet alone. For example, by eating 500 fewer calories a day we could expect to drop one pound in a week. Another way is to burn fat through exercise. Harvard Medical School reports a 155-pound person can burn about 260 calories riding an exercise bike for just 30 minutes.

A Tenth of a Pound at a Time
While that amounts to less than one-tenth of a pound per ride, the cumulative effects of working out on an exercise bike are compelling. Both the Department of Health and Human Services and the American Heart Association recommend 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week for optimal health. Five rides on an exercise bike each week will meet those guidelines and help gradually whittle down the weight.

Both Diet and Exercise is Better
The Mayo Clinic recognizes it is easier to lose weight through dietary changes than through exercise. It is easier to pass on a bowl of ice cream than to work out. However, even if you made no changes to your usual food plan, riding an exercise bike just 30 minutes five times a week would help you drop one to two pounds a month. If you eat a healthy diet and exercise, you can expect to lose even more.

Go Faster, Go Farther
There are several variables that impact how many calories you will burn by working out on an exercise bike, like your weight, how long you work out and how hard you work out. You can increase the number of calories you torch by increasing the intensity of your workouts. Once you get used to riding an exercise bicycle, you can try working out for longer periods of time and riding faster. Always check with your health professional before beginning any new exercise program.

11/02/2016

Basketball Workout for Losing Weight

If you have ever stepped on the basketball court, you have likely felt the rush of making a big shot or being a part of a winning team. There are many positives to the game, but one of the biggest may be its ability to keep you in great shape. Playing just one hour of basketball can help you burn up to 750 calories and can tone and shape your body by working many different muscle groups.

Sprinting a Foundation for Success
During a standard basketball game, an average player runs around 105 high- intensity sprints. These sprints are responsible for the development of fast-twitch muscle fibers that build muscle and tone your body. Incorporating full-court sprints into your workout will ensure that you are toning your lower body while gaining explosiveness and agility that will come in handy for playing defense and changing direction quickly. Dribble a basketball during your sprint workout to develop your ball-handling skills.

Leaping Into Action
Squat jumps will help you develop your lower back, hamstrings and quadriceps muscles while improving your vertical leap. Pick a spot on the backboard and get down into squat position with your weight spread equally on both feet. With your arms extended upward, jump and attempt to hit the spot you've picked on the backboard. If you can't reach the backboard, select a spot on the wall. Jump as many times as you can in a set period of time, concentrating to ensure you are using correct form.

Pushing the Envelope
Pushups are one of the most simple, yet effective workouts you can do to gain upper-body strength for basketball and tone your arms, chest and core. Your triceps and chest are packed with fast-twitch muscles that will help you become more sculpted and strong enough to battle in the paint. You will gain maximum results if you do as many pushups as you can in a set time period, rest for that same amount of time and then repeat the process.

Sliding into Defensive Prowess
Incorporate a full-body workout into your basketball conditioning program by doing defensive slides. Starting on the baseline, get into proper defensive position with your butt down, chest out and arms extended to the sides. Staying in this position, slide your feet up the lane to the free-throw line, out to the baseline, back to the free-throw line and return to the baseline. Defensive slides will work wonders for your conditioning and help you lose weight quickly.

10/27/2016

Burning Calories on a Stationary Bike Vs. Walking

Knowing the rate at which different exercises burn calories is integral to losing weight or just maintaining a healthy body. Although every form of aerobic exercise leads to a series of health benefits, it can be difficult to lose weight if your aerobic workout solely consists of a slow-paced exercise. Two healthy forms of exercise are riding a stationary bike and walking. The former exercise, however, burns calories at a notably quicker rate.

Pedaling Away the Calories
The key to maximizing your workout on the stationary bike is to maintain an elevated tempo. This exercise can contribute to a rapid calorie burn, but not if you pedal slowly. HealthStatus reports a 140-pound person burns 223 calories pedaling at a moderate pace for 30 minutes and 361 calories pedaling vigorously for 30 minutes. A 180-pound person burns 286 and 464 calories, respectively, during the two workouts.

Take Steps Toward a Slimmer Body
As is the case with pedaling a stationary bike, the calories you'll burn while walking depend on the pace you sustain. A 140-pound person burns just 88 calories during a 30-minute walk at 2 mph. If this person increases her pace to 3 or 4 mph for 30 minutes, however, she burns 139 or 164 calories, respectively. During the three 30-minute walks at 2, 3 and 4 mph, a 180-pound person burns 113, 178 or 211 calories, respectively.

Make Exercise a Priority
Don't be tempted to cut short your workouts on the stationary bike because of its quick calorie burn. Creating or maintaining a healthy body isn't the result of one short workout; exercising several days per week is the key. Adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-tempo cardiovascular exercise per week for a long list of significant health benefits, notes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you want to build an even healthier body, a minimum of 300 minutes per week is ideal.

Choose What Works For You
You don't have to choose between stationary biking or walking to get your weekly amount of cardio exercise. Spending time performing each activity helps avoid the boredom that can occur when you exercise in only one way. Walking has a relatively low impact to your joints, but pedaling a bike creates virtually no impact. As such, this exercise might be more comfortable if you frequently experience lower-body joint pain. Walking, however, is more convenient than using a stationary bike, and walking is easy to perform around your neighborhood and even during your breaks at work.

10/24/2016

Dumbbell Workouts & Elbow Pain

Pain is the body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. If you are experiencing elbow pain associated with your workout, you are suffering from a minor injury or an irritation. The first thing that you will need to do is identify the source of the pain and eliminate it, if only temporarily. Normally elbow pain is associated with exercises that interfere with the natural motion of the elbow joint, such as exercises with straight bars. Switching to dumbbell exercises will liberate your elbow joints, easing the pain.

Dump the Straight Bar
One of the primary culprits of workout-induced elbow pain is the straight bar, and the exercise that it impacts the most is straight bar curls. The human body is not symmetrically in balance. The right arm does not have the exact same range of motion or mechanical flow as the left. However, using a straight bar causes both arms to flow on the same mechanical plane and the same range of motion. This can cause unnecessary stress on the elbow, creating tiny tears in tendons and ligaments. As these tendons and ligaments heal, scar tissue develops and causes chronic pain.

Go EZ from Here
Switching to dumbbells or an EZ bar will relieve a significant portion of the stress. If possible, remove the straight bar from your workout regimen permanently. If you feel you absolutely have to use a straight bar, rotate it out of your workout every four weeks for a two week period. That will give your elbows time to rest.

Limit Range of Motion
Limiting your range of motion will also relieve significant pressure from the elbow. The more you extend the elbow the more strain you put on the joint. Do alternating dumbbell curls, but don’t allow your elbow to fully extend. Allow your arm to lower to about the eight o’clock position and then contract. Alternating will ensure that each arm is performing independently of the other.

Dumbbell Chest Press
Avoid isolated triceps exercises. Triceps extensions, when executed over a prolonged period, will permanently damage your elbow joints. Instead of isolating the triceps muscle group, perform dumbbell chest presses instead. By performing compound exercises, you will not only relieve the stress on your elbows, you will also achieve significant gains in strength and size. According to Health Magazine, compound exercises -- those exercises that work multiple muscle groups over multiple joints -- produce significantly greater results than isolation exercises, such as triceps presses. Lie flat on your back on a bench. With dumbbells to your side and parallel to your chest, push up, extending the elbows without locking them.

Consult a Physician
Changing your workout routine does not eliminate the need for a professional diagnosis from your doctor. Don’t take the risk of injuring yourself further by ignoring the pain and failing to seek medical attention.

10/17/2016

Beginner Three-Day Full-Body Workout

Starting a full-body resistance-training program is a smart choice considering it helps improve lean muscle mass, reduce body fat and slow muscle loss as you age. Other benefits include lowered risk of obesity, osteoporosis, depression and improved symptoms of arthritis. As a beginner, a three-day full-body workout is an effective way to begin reaping the benefits of resistance training. In addition to strength training, it’s important to include at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise each week for your cardiovascular health.

Sets, Reps, Rest, Duration
The outline of this beginner workout includes doing three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions per exercise. Rest for at most two minutes between sets; aim for 90 seconds of rest between sets if you can. Overtraining can occur if you spend too much time training, so keep each workout to a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 45 minutes. More training doesn’t always lead to better results. Include a rest day between workout sessions. For example, exercise on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Choosing the Right Weight
As a beginner, you’ll have to use some trial and error to determine the ideal weight or resistance for each exercise. You’ll be doing 12 to 15 reps for each exercise, so the goal is to find a weight or resistance level that causes you to struggle on the final one or two reps. This means the weight is heavy enough to challenge your muscles, yet light enough to complete the proper number of reps with good form. Keep in mind you may have to lower the weight slightly on the second and third sets since the first set will fatigue your muscles. Try to increase resistance levels by 3 to 5 percent every week to keep experiencing strength gains in the long term.

Muscle Groups to Target
The major muscle groups your full-body workout will target include the chest, shoulders, back, legs, abdominals and arms. This workout will target all major muscles plus the smaller supporting muscles.. The exercises will target multiple muscle groups at once to help limit the number of exercises you do per workout. Since you’re a beginner, you’ll be hitting each muscle group once per workout, three times per week. As you become an intermediate lifter – 12 or more months down the line – you’ll want to exercise each muscle group at a heavier resistance level, lower rep count, more sets and just once per week for maximum muscle recovery.

Exercises
Each workout will contain one exercise that works out each of the major muscle groups. Exercise the chest muscles using the bench press, dumbbell flyes, incline/decline bench press, pec deck or pushups. Target the shoulder, or deltoid, muscles with military press, shoulder press, lateral dumbbell raises or pullups. Strengthen your back with deadlifts, back extensions, reverse flyes or seated cable rows. Hit your leg muscles with squats, leg presses or lunges. Calf raises or the calf machine exercise the calf muscles. Work your biceps using biceps curls, concentration curls, preacher curls, hammer curls or chinups. Exercise your triceps with triceps kickbacks, overhead triceps extensions, skull crushers, dips or close-hand pushups. Finally, exercise your abs using the bicycle maneuver, vertical leg crunches, reverse crunches, captain’s chair or exercise ball crunches.

Variety
Use variety in your workouts. Choose one exercise for each muscle group category above for each workout. Don’t do the same exercise more than once per week. For your chest exercise, for example, choose bench press for Monday’s workout, pec deck for Wednesday’s workout and pushups for Friday’s session.

Blast Fitness: Bridgeview

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