Thursday, January 10, 2008

Great Exercises To Tone & Tighten Your Butt

A question I am frequently asked by females is, "What is the best exercise I can do for my butt?" In my opinion, there is nothing better you can do for your butt than lunges. They target your glutes, hamstrings and quads, and can easily be modified for beginners to advanced exercisers.

If lunges are new for you, begin with a reverse lunge. start with your feet together. Step back with your left leg. Bend both knees. The right shin should remain a straight line with the right ankle. The left knee should go straight down and almost touch the floor. Press through the right heel as you come up and bring feet back together. now repeat with the other leg. Perform 12 repetitions per leg, and work up to 3 sets per workout. Feel free to hold on to something sturdy for support if you need to at first. Then, as you get stronger and more stable, you can do these lunges without the extra support. Try adding dumbbells at your side or a barbell across your shoulders for an increased challenge.

As you get stronger and want more of a challenge, you can progress to a walking lunge. These require more stability, strength and balance than reverse lunges. start with your feet together. Place your hands on your hips or by your sides if you are holding dumbbells. Step forward with a large step and bend both knees. Your front shin should remain a straight line with your ankle. Your back knee should almost touch the floor. As you are pushing up and at the top of your lunge, lunge forward with the other leg, repeating the same movement. Continue with this sequence, alternating from one leg to the other until you have finished 12 reps per leg.

Here is a list of exercises to tighten, tone and sculpt the butt:

http://www.shapefit.com/training.html#6

Some tips to keep in mind:

2. Keep a straight back, do not arch!

3. Keep your head and chest up.

4. Never let the knee of your front leg go past your toes.

5. Your back heel should raise off the floor as you descend, but your toe should stay on the floor.

Kris created ShapeFit.com to provide quality health and fitness information to people from all over the world. He has an extensive background in strength training, nutrition and wellness planning. ShapeFit.com currently provides over 2,000 pages of free health and fitness content to over 300,000 visitors every month. Some of the fitness tools include weight loss diets.

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Effective Golf Drills To Help Eliminate Slice

Slice is usually caused by an outside-to-in swing path. this in turn is caused by a bad grip on the gold club or an unbalanced stance. To develop a balanced stance and strength here's a simple golf drill to eliminate slice. Get into a push-up position but hold your body straight with only your feet and hands in contact with the floor. Then lift up your left leg and right hand and balance in that position for ten to fifteen seconds. Repeat with the right foot and left hand. this golf drill to eliminate slice will help improve your strength and balance so you can fix your slicing problem.

Another golf drill you can practice is to practice drives with a tee in front of the club. Just tee up a ball but set the club face at the back of it. Stick the tee about an inch from the golf club's toe. Now practice hitting drives without clipping or touching the tee in front of the ball. If you are clipping the tee, then your swing is still in an out-to-in path thus causing slice. Keep at it until you can hit drive after drives without ever clipping the tee.

A good golf swing mechanism is one of the best techniques you should practice to fix slice. Here's a golf drill to help you develop a good swing and consequently help you eliminate slice. Keep your left arm attached to your chest, the clubhead out of your hands, and the club halfway back. Your left wrist should be cupped, your right knee flexed and your right arm above your left. Keep the butt of the club into your abdomen area and grip the shaft just below the handle. Keep the shaft off the ground and at approximately the same height as your knees. Then keep in mind that your arms, torso, legs and hips work as one unit. Keep practicing to achieve a strong and confident swing.

Another golf drill to eliminate slice is simply to practice putting anytime you have the opportunity. A few practice putts everyday will train your muscles, develop your stance and balance and help you develop a smooth and fluid motion that will keep your swing path from going outside-to-in. At home or at work, try practicing a putt during breaks. this can easily add up to help you achieve a better game play and eliminate slice.

These are just three of the many golf drills you can use to help fix slice. There are many more golf drills you can try which can effectively improve your fundamental skills and strengths so you can greatly improve your game play.

For tips to fix your golf slice, visit http://www.curegolfslice.net

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Golf Stretches For Use After A Game Of Golf

Following are stretches which can be used after a game of golf to help prevent getting sore and to also improve flexibility. Remember to hold each stretch for at least 30 seconds if you want to see a fast improvement in your flexibility. And if it hurts "Stop!"

Note: Read all instructions carefully before attempting any of these exercises & breath through your nose for all of the stretches.

1. KERB STRETCH

An effective way to stretch your calf muscles is to use a piece of wood or a step. Stand with the balls of your feet on the edge of the step and let your heels drop towards the floor, feeling the stretch in the calf and breathing easily through your nose. I find it best to perform this exercise with both feet at the same time, but you can do it with one leg at a time if you prefer.

2. STANDING QUADRICEPS STRETCH

Stand behind a chair. Hold on to the back of a chair with your left hand for support and raise your lower right leg. Now reach behind yourself with your right arm and get hold of your raised right leg. Next gently ease your right foot towards your buttocks. You will feel the stretch along the front of the thigh. Repeat on the other side breathing easily through your nose.

And I must say I had difficulty at first performing this exercise and if you do to I suggest you initially begin the exercise with the knee of the supporting leg flexed slightly. Once you are stretching you can then gradually try to straighten your support leg to increase the stretch. It is important to keep good posture all throughout this stretch.

3. LYING HAMSTRING STRETCH

Lie on your back for this exercise. Now flex your knees on about a 90 angle. Get hold of your left leg behind the thigh with both hands and straighten your right leg so it is resting on the floor. Now pull your left leg towards your chest trying to get it as close as possible. You will feel the stretch along the back of the flexed thigh. Repeat with the other leg.

4. STANDING HAMSTRING STRETCH

Stand up for this exercise. Now flex your knees and bend from your hips until you can easily rest your chest on your thighs. Now reach your arms around your legs and give them a hug. From this position, try to straighten your legs as much as possible, while still keeping your chest firmly pressed against your thighs.

You will soon feel the stretch along the backs of your thighs. Let go of this stretch by slowly flexing your knees. Remember to breathe through your nose when completing this, and not only this exercise, but all the others as well.

5. STANDING HIP AND THIGH STRETCH

Stand in front of a chair or stool. Raise one of your feet up onto the chair or stool, and then ease your body towards this foot so that your chest and thigh come closer together. Keep your spine and back leg straight and try to keep your shoulders down away from your ears. Move as far forward as possible and then hold this position.

You will feel the stretch along the front of the thigh of the extended leg, and along the back of the thigh of the raised leg. Repeat on the other side and remember to breathe!

6. LYING GROIN STRETCH

Lie flat on the floor. East your legs up towards your body and place the soles of your feet together and let your knees ease out sideways. You will feel the stretch along the insides of your thighs and groin.

7. SEATED GROIN STRETCH

Sit for this exercise and ease your legs up towards your body and place the soles of your feet together. Now let your knees fall out and down towards the floor. You can place your hands on your knees to increase your stretch or you can use them to keep yourself stable while doing this exercise.

8. SIDEWAYS NECK STRETCH

You can stand or sit to do this exercise. Also ensure you keep your shoulders down away from your ears when doing this exercise. Tilt your head to one side trying to place your ear on your shoulder. Repeat on the other side. You can increase this stretch by gently using a hand to increase the weight on your neck. But be careful do not pull your head, you could cause injuries to yourself.

9. UPPER BACK STRETCH

You can choose to sit or stand for this exercise. Interlock your fingers and push your hands as far away from your chest as possible so your palms are facing away from you. Tilt your head down and look at the ground. And make sure your upper back is straight and as relaxed as possible doing this stretch. You will feel the stretch between your shoulder blades.

10. CHEST STRETCH

Once again you can do this stretch while seated or standing. Place your hands behind you and place them on your lower back. Now squeeze your elbows towards each other while keeping your spine straight. You will feel the stretch in the front of the chest.

11. FRONT SHOULDER STRETCH

As with the previous exercise you can do this one sitting or standing. I prefer to do them standing. Place your hands behind you and interlock your fingers, then straighten your arms and try to lift them upwards and backwards as far as possible. Try to keep your back straight and long, with your shoulders down away from your ears. You will feel the stretch in the front of the chest.

nick Bayley is a professional golfer who has discovered just one golf swing fault that could be stopping you from ball striking consistency and success. But luckily for you, now you can take a simple 2 minute golf swing test to see if you have this swing fault or not. So don't delay! Go here to take The Golf Swing Test now.

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Choosing a Presentation Remote Control

If you deliver electronic presentations using PowerPoint or other programs, you can manually move forward to the next slide with the keyboard or the mouse. One way, however, to deliver more effective presentations that improve your connection to your audience is to add a remote control to your presentation tools. What features should you look for when selecting a remote control?

Remote Features

Many projectors come standard with a remote but features vary and may not always be easy to use. A better choice is to buy your own personal presentation remote control. When evaluating a remote, look for these features and decide what is important to you:

  • Ergonomic and easily fits in your hand. Keep in mind that you might be using the remote for an hour or an entire day. Plus, a smaller remote will usually have fewer and more accessible buttons, fits in your pocket, and is great for travel.
  • Simple to use. In most cases, a smaller, ergonomic remote is easy to use but test it before buying. One of my friends loves her small remote which is only about the size of a matchbook. The tradeoff is she needs to press 2 buttons together to make the screen go black, a feature that does not always work. I was reminded of the importance of an easy to use remote recently when I watched an excellent presenter pull out a huge remote that looked a price scanner gun from Home Depot. As he fumbled with a large panel of buttons, the remote dropped to the floor and broke open with batteries flying across the stage.
  • Transmit distance. Remotes operate with three different technologies: RF (wireless radio frequency), IR (infrared), and bluetooth. A huge drawback with IR remotes is that you need to point the mouse directly at the receiver for it to work. bluetooth remotes use the latest technology but currently have a maximum range of about 30' while many RF remotes have a range of 50 to 100 feet. With some remotes, you can have your back to the laptop and move to the middle of an audience. What do you need for your presentations?
  • Built-in mouse. Some presenters will sacrifice a bit in size to get a built-in mouse, usually a small button like you see on some laptops. The Logitech Cordless Presenter, for example, combines a full-size mouse and remote with a 30' range and is priced under $200. Other remotes have a track ball or a touch pad. I prefer a separate wireless mouse that I use for portions of my presentations. I find a built-in mouse to be too awkward but it might be great for your purposes.
  • Visible laser pointer. If you would like a built-in laser pointer, make sure to test it for visibility and practice moving it slowly. Some of the pointers have such a small laser dot that it does not show well on screen. Would an animation be a better way to highlight parts of a slide or a process?

When evaluating features, it is still not that common to find a wide range of remotes at your local computer store or office supply outlet, and so, your best option is to find someone who has a remote and try it out. My favorite is the RemotePoint Navigator from Interlink Electronics which is easy to use, fits comfortably in my hand, and gives me up to 50' of movement from my laptop. Another top model by the same company is the RemotePoint Presenter, with up to 100' of movement, a mouse button, and 32 MB of storage for your presentation; it is priced at about $150. The Phaser Mouse from IOGear is a budget-minded model for as little as $60.

There are many other models and brands to consider. Personally, I do not like remotes loaded with tons of features that you might not need; these remotes are typically bigger or more complicated to use. Remember, you should be using a remote so that you do not call attention to the technology and your audience can focus on your content.

Practicing with a Remote control

After you buy a remote, practice with it before you use it. Do not just try it at your desk, you need to also setup your laptop and remote and actually run through your presentation. The first time I did this, the screen kept going black or I would accidentally advance to the next slide. The problem wasn't with the remote. The problem was that I was holding my presentation handout in the same hand and accidentally hitting a remote button through the handout. An easy adjustment but not obvious if my only rehearsal was in my office. I personally like to choreograph my slide actions into my presentation notes to avoiding looking back at the projection screen to check my location. Or, setup your laptop in the meeting room so you can glance at the screen and still keep the connection with your audience.

Practicing with your remote should be a built-in part of your presentation rehearsal to avoid distracting your audience and accomplishing the goal of communicating your message.

Bonus Tips: Always bring extra batteries; many speakers change out batteries for every presentation. To protect your investment, label the remote or put several business cards in the carrying case in the event that your remote is misplaced.

Dawn Bjork Buzbee

Dawn Bjork Buzbee is The Software Pro and a certified Microsoft Office Expert and Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor. Dawn shares smart and easy ways to effectively use software and technology through her work as a speaker, trainer, and consultant. Discover more tips, tricks, tools, and techniques at http://www.SoftwarePro.com

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