Will Pilates help me lose weight?  Although you don’t usually break much of a sweat during a session, Pilates can still help you with your weight loss goals.

Anyone who commits to a Pilates workout will create a trimmer appearance, and many will lose weight. Pilates creates long, lean, fit bodies. There are many ways that doing Pilates supports weight loss and a trimmer appearance.

Creating muscle mass is one of the best ways to increase your how many calories you burn. Pilates can help you accomplish this. Essentially,  Pilates is strength training. We work with resistance to increase strength and therefore, muscle mass.

So, yes, Pilates is supportive of weight loss. In the beginning, a Pilates class is enough to jump start weight loss. However, as with any exercise program, you need to increase your work out level as your body gets accustomed to the routine.

Pilates can help to build and maintain lean muscle mass while you are losing weight, help to realign posture, and promote long elegant posture while keeping you centered and energized.

Because Pilates focuses on major muscles groups and slow, intentional movements, Pilates has become widely popularized as a weight loss exercise.  However, it may be that many people are successful losing weight with Pilates because they are more aware of their bodies so they begin to treat them better and make better food choices.

Contact Answer is Fitness to find out about Pilates classes near you.

National Women’s Health Week is an effort to raise awareness about manageable steps women can take to improve their health. The focus is on improving women's health and the importance of incorporating simple preventive and positive health behaviors into everyday life.

Women are the caregivers: for spouses, children and parents, and they often forget to focus on themselves. However, research has proven that when women take care of themselves, the health of the entire family improves.

Maintaining regular health checkups is one of 5 health habits that can improve women’s health. The others are physical activity, a healthy diet, not smoking and engaging in safe behavior.

For regular health appointments, a bone density scan is very important. Having healthy bones is important at any age, but as we age our bones get thinner. Healthy eating habits, regular cardio exercise and a strength training routine are imperative to healthy bones. Osteoporosis is a concern for women, as women are four times more likely to develop this disease than men. To limit the risks of Osteoporosis, women should definitely engage in weight-bearing exercises. Eating healthy and possibly taking calcium supplements also aids in prevention.

A good beginner type of calorie burning and strength gaining exercise is that of resistance training. It is common for many individuals to direct their energies to weightlifting exercises but it is also acceptable to begin with an exercise program based on body weight. Whichever exercise program you choose, begin at a slow pace until you have learned the correct way to practice the strength training exercise designed for you.

There are many different exercises that can be included in a strength based exercise plan. It's a good idea to include exercises that use various muscles. Begin slowly and gradually increase the weight. There are several different methods you can use to vary your exercise routine. You could do a complete body workout routine one day, your legs and abs on another day, and your arms on yet another day. Always give yourself one complete 24 hour period of rest before focusing on that same muscle again. To increase circulation, make sure you warm up your muscles at the beginning of your exercise routine.

It is not necessary for a beginner workout routines to be so hard to follow. Always begin by adding calorie burning cardiovascular exercises in conjunction with helpful strength training exercises. You should see yourself losing weight by exercising at least three to four hours weekly. After you have advanced, you may want to consider a more strenuous routine based on weightlifting or body weight. Contact us today should you have any questions about starting a workout plan.

Training your abs is a easy task. However its best to know which exercise is best and that there is a distinct difference between our abs and our core. Our "abs", or what we refer to as our abs is actually one muscle- our rectus abdominus muscle. It is one small part of the whole area between our rib cage and our pelvis that we know as our "core". For now let’s talk about that six-pack, or your abs. This may be the area of the body where most people make mistakes in training. So we will go through a few basic ground rules for training our abs:

• More is not better! Your rectus abdominus is made up of fast twitch muscle fibers. That means that it responds best to low reps such as 8-10 at a time. Your best bet is to do 3 or 4 sets of 8-12 crunches for your 6 pack. That's it. You can train your deeper core muscles after these surface ones are tired but that’s a whole discussion in itself.
• Abdominal training should always come LAST. Some people think that you should train your abs first while they are "fresh" in order to get the best results. It’s o.k. if that’s the only thing you are training that day, but if you are doing another body part- do that first. Your abs provide structural support for other exercises. If you tire them out, you will not be able to perform your best and may hurt yourself in the process.
• Remember diet is the key. No matter what you are doing in the gym, the only way to really get definition in your middle is by watching what you put in your mouth. Eating smaller meals often throughout the day will help turn your keg into a 6 pack!

Keeping your mind focused and making sure you stay consistent with your workout routine is the best way to get results fast. If you feel as though its a bit harder to get motivated then check out our excellent group exercise programs. They provide a lot of support and fun activities to get you into the spirit of working out. Contact us today to find out how you can join our gym and get started on being more healthy.

Ever thought about adding a strength training routine to your normal fitness routine? Fitness experts say that full body workout is perfect for people who are new to exercising, but those who are regular should opt for split routines. Split routines allow for variation in exercises, the person does not get bored easily and every muscle groups get equal amount of attention. In addition the split routine allows the major muscle groups to recover - something which the fitness experts always recommend. However it is important to remember that there are no strict rules regarding how one should split up the workout routine. One should follow a routine which he/ she finds comfortable. Below a rough guideline regarding a strength training routine.

• The total workout can be split into upper and lower body. Then one can do different types of exercises on various days and lift weights two-four times every week.
• There are many who prefer to do push exercises one day and pull the other day. Pushing exercises generally targets areas like chest, triceps, calves, quads, shoulders etc. and includes bench press, calf raises, squats, and overhead press. Pulling exercises, on the other hand, focus on areas like biceps, abs, hamstrings etc. They usually include hamstring curls, bicep curls, and pull-downs.
• Another way to make the strength training routine fun is to opt for three days split. For example one can target chest and triceps on the first day, biceps and back on the second day and shoulders and legs on day 3.
• Many people love to target each muscle group every day. For them the strength training routine can look like this-day 1-chest, day 2-back, day 3-shoulders, day 4-arms, and day 5-legs.

There is a belief that one needs to devote large amounts of time to reap the benefits of this popular method of exercising. However this is not a right idea. Health expertsagree that 2-3 training sessions per week (each lasting for 20-30 minutes) is enough for most people. If you feel as though you don’t know how to begin this, we offer a great program called Group Power. It is a wonderful session much like our other Group Exercises, in which a group of people get together and work on the same routines with a trainer. People who are into this particular exercise will agree that it has a positive effect on the physical and emotional health. Give it a shot and it will surely make the strength and fitness routines easier and fun. Contact us today to find out how you can get involved.