Best exercise for fat loss & fitness....

Today's post: Thursday, 4-2-2009

I’ve discovered something just a few days ago I thought might interest many of you also.

We’ve covered the many benefits and health benefits of exercise many times.

But what would qualify a fitness exercise as the best?

1. Many people today can only fit in a few minutes a day of exercise. But those who know what exercise does FOR them and NOT exercising would do TO them, fit in those few minutes almost every day.

But due to time pressure, this may be all they can do or may be all they can do more often than not. So for an exercise to be the best, it has to be doable in those few minutes. And, for the same reasons plus dollar cost, it needs to be something most people can do at home.

(Gyms have great equipment AND positive and knowledgeable people. If they work for you I think they are great. But to use them you have to have about twice the time due needing the time to exercise PLUS the time to go there & back. And, you have to pay their fee each month.)

So, to be the best an exercise must be doable in just a few minutes and doable at home.

2. To be a best fitness exercise, an exercise has to produce excellent fitness.

Interval cardio will get you in shape faster and more safely than steady state cardio; it can be done for shorter periods and be effective compared with steady state, lower intensity cardio; & if you work at improving, it can also get you into better shape than steady state cardio.

But you still have to pick an exercise to use for your interval cardio.

So, to be the best one for fitness an exercise has to reliably produce great results and often to usually better results than other kinds of cardio.

3. For many reasons progressive strength training is a key to fat loss and keeping it off. So for an exercise to be the best fat loss exercise, it has to produce really superb fat loss results to be worthy of considering in addition to strength training, let alone better if you could only do it OR strength training.

I’d heard skipping rope could be a good exercise that got results for some people. (It makes sense because lifting your body against gravity quickly for dozens of repetitions for even a few minutes takes a LOT of energy.) But not many people do it.

So despite knowing in theory it might be pretty good, it seems I rather badly underestimated how good it was.

THAT changed 2 days ago.

Here’s the article that I read in my TotalHealthBreakthroughs email.:

"This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise's Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription,
visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com"

“Cutting Edge Fitness:

How to Train Like a Modern Gladiator

By Vince Palko

Rocky Marciano did it. Muhammad Ali did it. And many, many other old-time boxers (and old time wrestlers for that matter) did it too.

But maybe the most unique and unusual group to use this exercise -- that you never heard of -- were the Roman legions.

How do you train hundreds upon hundreds of men to be in tip-top physical shape to go into battle?

Good question.

History reveals these men twisted thin green grape vines together and used them as jump ropes.

Picture this... an aerial camera shot looking down on northern Rome and off in the distance are hundreds of men spinning twisted vines. The only noise you hear are twirling rope vines and thumping feet hitting the dirt.

Now why would these men use jump ropes to prepare for hand-to-hand or sword-to-sword combat?

Well, the jump rope is a fierce strength and wind-building mechanism. Back in ancient Roman times, running long distance was unheard of... and sliding metal weights on long bars for lifting didn't exist. So this unique exercise trained these fierce warriors to be in the best shape possible.

And today, many modern-day athletes have the Roman armies to thank for their little invention... because many top athletes use rope skipping to whip them into shape quickly.

Have you ever seen a boxer preparing for a fight where he might have to drop 20 lbs to reach his fighting weight? Chances are great you'll see a video clip of him spinning the rope. This will make him light on his feet, reduce his weight, and build endurance better than any treadmill or exercise bike.

Many other high-level athletes like pro football and basketball players use this exercise to get fit the quickest way possible. And be at the top of their game. The reason is that hopping is one of the best plyometric exercises you can do to build lung, leg and upper body strength and power.

How You Can Get Started

So you may be wondering, what's a good inexpensive jump rope for adults? Well, one idea is to grab the rope hanging in your mudroom or on your cellar stair case hook. You know the beaded one that has been in the family ever since you were a little kid. That's the cheapest one of all.

However, that short rope that worked when you were little might not fit your height nowadays.

If so, no problem. You can find a good quality rope at the local sporting goods store ranging from $15 to $30 depending on certain features. Some ropes are just that, ropes with handles. Others are hard plastic ropes with ball bearings in the handles, called ‘speed ropes.' Still other ropes have small metal rods (or weights) inside the handles to tone your arms and shoulders while you skip. I prefer the speed ropes because of the easy spinning action that allows you to jump as fast as you can twirl the rope.

Okay, now that we have covered what kind of rope you need to get started, let's talk about how much time is required for a good sweat-building exercise. For someone just starting out, who's not physically fit, I'd suggest just a few minutes a day before or after some brisk walking. If you walk every day, only skip rope 3 times a week (3-5 minutes per session). That's right, only 3-5 minutes! You'll discover that it only takes a few minutes to hear yourself huffing and puffing and to feel the fat burners kicking in. Gradually add more time as you experience less and less fatigue from practice.

For advanced exercise enthusiasts, consider skipping for 15-20 minutes. Add more time as the hopping and spinning becomes effortless. You can also mix circuit drills into your jump rope routine. Do this by incorporating body weight exercises in between sets of 100 skips. When you string 10 sets of 100 skips with body weight, push-ups, squats, and abdominal exercises -- you have one phenomenal fat-melting workout.

Now let's go have some fun and skip away that unwanted belly fat and cellulite.

[Ed. Note: Vince Palko is the author of Linebacker Fitness and creator of The Super Body Blitz and Triple Your Endurance. Vince has been enshrined in both his college, Bowling Green State University's and his high school's Hall of Fame for his performance on the football field. Vince has a FREE fitness newsletter you can sign up for at www.VincePalko.com .]”

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Because they followed this article with some ad copy to try his website to learn more, I went to it.

I read what skipping rope did for Vince Palko’s own fat loss. He’d somehow stopped when he retired from playing pro football in Europe. To be fair, because he was already somewhat fit and knew how to skip rope really well, he was able to ramp up the time and intensity to doing it hard for 10 minutes every day very quickly.

(For someone who is not fit yet or older, it would be more doable and much safer to start with 3 minutes 3 times a week as he suggests and build up to longer sessions or more days very gradually over a couple of months or more.)

But, that having been said, in 3 weeks he had lost more weight than most people on a restrictive diet would do in a whole year. And most of it came off his waist.

He’s not alone, some of the people he’s taught to jump rope have gotten similar results.

He features one on his website who already ate right but who still had a fat tummy as many of us do in this time of sedentary work. He wanted to lose several inches of his tummy fat. And, just like Vince himself in just a few weeks he did.

In short, by doing jumping rope or rope skipping, if you build up to doing it vigorously 10 minutes a day, it pulls off fat from your body BETTER than strength training would do.

(To help you keep off that fat and be strong and capable, I suggest doing strength training as well as doing rope skipping for cardio.)

But if like most people, you have very little time to exercise and need something you can do at home and would love to have the fat on your belly disappear quickly, rope skipping looks like your very best choice.

Separate note: What if even the small jumps in rope skipping are a bit too hard on your feet or knees? Is there something almost as good that is similar but has much less impact & related strains?

There is if you can invest a bit over $150. You can get a mini-trampoline for that from www.urbanrebounding.com . Their product is called the “Urban Rebounder.”

It consistently gets good reviews from people who use it and fitness experts who try various kinds of fitness products.

But if you can do rope skipping, it may be even more effective. And, it costs a lot less.