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Designed by the United States government,the Presidential Fitness Challenge encourages everyone, especially children to take up regular exercise routines to ward off illness, disease and obesity. Considering that 58 million Americans are overweight, and a large percentage of illnesses and diseases are caused due to lack of exercise or an unhealthy eating plan, this is a great attempt to get people moving. Those who choose to enter the challenge and demonstrate an excellence in physical activity will be rewarded with an achievement medal.

The Challenge focuses less on the type of activity you choose, and more on how well you are performing and how motivated you are becoming by the time you complete the process. According to the challenge, every individual must participate in some type of physical exercise for a definite period of time every day, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks.

The amount of exercise varies from child to adult, children should exercise for an hour, while adults, can reduce their time to 30 minutes a day, however elders are encouraged to exercise more, if at all possible. Activity levels are recorded and considered for the award after a thorough analysis and comparison with other performances.

Every fall and spring, students in grades 3-5 take part in the Presidential Fitness Challenge. For them, the challenge usually involves five rounds that test the student’s physical abilities against different benchmarks. The purpose of this process is to test their endurance and to motivate the students to improve from challenge to challenge by the time they complete the five parts.

In the five parts, those who score more than 90% improvement in each area will be awarded the Presidential Fitness Award, and students who achieve 50% or more in each of the five sections are rewarded the National Fitness Award. The five parts in the Presidential Fitness Challenge include:

Curl-ups or Crunches: Students lie flat on their backs with their feet firmly attached to the floor, and then raise their backs completely off of the ground for a short duration of time. The challenge in its whole is about how many curl-ups one can make in a minute. This exercise tests and builds abdominal strength and endurance.

Distance Running: A one mile run where the time taken by each student is noted. For 8-9 years, the distance is half a mile. The purpose of this challenge is to measure the cardiovascular endurance of each student. Students are encouraged to improve their time as each week passes by.

Sit-n-Reach: Students sit with their feet against a sit-n-reach box and stretch themselves to reach as far as possible along the measuring line. This is to test flexibility. Repeatedly doing this exercise will greatly improve flexibility.

Shuttle Run: This challenge measures the time taken by each student to run 30 feet from a starting line, pick up a bean bag from the other end and then bring it back to the starting point. This process is repeated twice. The participant’s coordination and speed is tested in this challenge.

Pull Ups: Students are required to do as many pulls ups as they can in a given time. This tests the upper body strength of every participant.

The performance of every student is recorded daily, for each challenge, and the best of the performers are rewarded at the end of the challenge.

Adults can participate in the challenge as well, however the plan undergoes some modifications. The goals are similar to that of children, and the same frequency has to be maintained, but, as mentioned earlier, only 30 minutes is allowed instead of an hour. Also, since adults are no longer in school and have no one to test them, they are expected to keep a log of their progress and monitor themselves for improvements.

Scott White is a Personal Trainer | Fitness Expert Personal Trainer Arizona, Personal Trainer Phoenix, Arizona

Other than physical appearance weight affects a person in many ways. This could be the overall quality of life, self-esteem, depression, health risks, and physical incapabilities. There are a lot of positive changes once a person experience weight loss. It is for this reason why a lot of people are searching for a weight loss technique that will surely trim down those fats and get a super slim head turner body.

The first thing that an over-weight should do is seek a doctor to recommend the best weight loss regimen. This will be done after a full physical examination, which leads to the determination of proper weight loss technique. And to lose weight fast and effectively four aspects of life should be changed: what to eat, how to eat, behavior and activity level.

Here are fast tips that can change an over-weight’s life:

First: Fast weight loss composes of a multi-faceted technique that consists mindset, exercise, and in other cases, diet supplements. Begin by learning a diet food plan that can easily be accustomed with. Incorporate an exercise plan that allows even at least fifteen minutes a day like brisk walking, running, swimming, and dancing.

Second: Set realistic approaches. The ability to focus and have proper mindset enables someone on a diet to quickly lose those extra pounds. With discipline and proper mind set, a dieter will never be discouraged and lose focus.

Third: Listen as the body speaks. Each and everyone’s body metabolism reacts differently to different fast weight loss programs and plans. Try substituting one program for another to compensate the body’s reaction. Exercise program must be suitable to one’s body, as others are not able to exercise as rigorously as others can. If walking is all that can be done, then walk for this is proven the best exercise. Muscles burn more calories than fats so it’s also best to put on a little muscle and looking good too.

Fourth: Eat more fibers for it makes a person full sooner and stays in the tummy longer, slowing down the rate of digestion. A single serving of whole grain bread moves fat through the digestive system faster. Grains turn into blood sugar that spikes the body’s insulin level. Thus, making the body more energized and ready to tell the body when it should stop burning fats or start storing.

Fifth: Keep away from fried foods especially deep-fried as this contains a great amount of fat. Although fish and chicken appear leaner than beef, this white meat can contain more fat than when a beef is fried. It is recommended for those on strict diet to opt for grilled food as this does not have or contain less amount of fat after the food is cooked.

Sixth: Takes lots of fluid. Drinking at least six to eight glasses of water a day keeps the body refreshed. Since weight loss depends on how the body eliminates body wastes, the body must stay hydrated.

All in all, discipline and consistency is still the best practice and the key to a rapid weight loss success. Light dieting, workout, and right amount of supplementation applied in a regular way everyday will result in faster weight loss than having a massive action only to be followed a return to old habits as this would only lead to gaining more weight than when the weight loss plan has started.

Philip McDonald has launched several websites in the travel, marketing and health related fields. The most recent in the weight loss field is at: http://www.Fat-BurnerInfo.com/ExtractChaser

Weight loss is a billion dollar industry that profits off of the desperation of many to be thin in our society that is obsessed with physical appearance. Of the many diet plans to lose weight the Atkins Diet is one of the more popular diets that has been around for quite some time. It certainly has its share of supporters eager to share stories of rapid weight loss and transformed lives.

However, you hear much less about the harmful side effects of the Atkins Diet. Harmful and deadly side effects such as an increased risk of coronary disease due to consuming higher amounts of animal fats found in the meats suggested as sources of proteins. These animal fats are not easily broken down in the body and cause the production of bad cholesterol, which clogs arteries and can cause heart attacks and strokes.

There are other unpleasant and potentially harmful side effects of the Atkins Diet such as muscle weakness or cramping, diarrhea, fatigue, halitosis, and skin rashes. Headaches are also commonly reported, especially when beginning the Atkins Diet as the body adjusts to the restriction of carbohydrates. Continuous diarrhea could result in a dangerous depletion of nutrients the body must have to work properly, leaving a person very sick.

Some harmful side effects of the Atkins Diet happen within the first week of following the diet. It is not uncommon to drop 5 to 10 pounds the first week of the diet and with many other diets for that matter. Dropping that many pounds so fast is certainly exhilarating for someone struggling to lose weight, but lost in the celebration over this dramatic weight loss is the consideration of the very real harm that is being done to the body. This rapid weight loss is actually a result of the body flushing out excess water, along with that water, nutrients and muscle are also flushed from the body. This has the potential of creating a host of health problems for those adhering to the Atkins Diet.

Further harmful side effects of the Atkins Diet happen when a person naturally becomes tired of having certain foods severely restricted from their diet, returns to eating them, and gains the weight back and then some as a result. Many will start the diet over again even though eventually return to the point where they want to eat those restricted foods. This can become an endless and dangerous cycle of weight loss and weight gain, the dreaded yo-yo cycle, which can cause serious damage to your heart.

There are harmful psychological side effects of the Atkins Diet. The restricting of foods containing carbohydrates deprives the body of the nutrients it needs to make the hormones that control our emotions. The lack of the hormones needed to control emotions often leads to irritability, and sadness. The brain needs hormones for such functions as making decisions and powers of recall, both of which are effected when the body has fewer of these hormones than is required. Self-esteem takes quite a beating when the weight lost begins creeping back on. The Atkins Diet and other similarly restrictive diets are hard to follow for long and because such restrictive diets are the least likely to produce real and permanent weight loss, dieters are often left feeling disappointed with themselves and hopeless of ever reaching their weight loss goals.

The dent made to the amount of money that you set aside for the purchasing of food is another harmful side effect of the Atkins Diet. It is an expensive dieting plan and can quickly become too cost inhibitive for many.

Consider all of the harmful effects of the Atkins Diet and the risks to your health before beginning this diet plan.

Scott White is a href=”http://www.personalpowertraining.net/”> Personal Trainer | Personal Training
Personal Trainer Phoenix, Tempe ArizonaPersonal Trainer Orange County

Gentle, isometric exercise, combined with a carefully focused breathing technique facilitates quick, reliable, lasting results in a dedicated fitness program.

You can lose more pounds and inches — without half-killing yourself by enduring high-impact, stressful exercise routines — simply by changing your breathing technique during a light, isometric workout. Hard to believe? Maybe so, given all the “No pain, no gain!” and “Feel the burn!” hogwash we’ve been fed for so many years - but the good news is that it’s absolutely true.

This is great news for everyone who has burned out on the “Sweat ’til you’re dehydrated” and “Burn! Burn! Burn!” approach to exercise. Pack all that foolishness up and toss it out; it’s not necessary; it never was necessary, and it never will be necessary for an effective, successful fitness program.

Most people are unaware of how they breathe … and many are likewise unaware that their usual method of taking in oxygen is shallow, short and highly inefficient. When you’re breathing correctly and more deeply, you’re taking in more oxygen, and enabling your body to use that oxygen more efficiently. This makes it possible for your muscles to function at top capacity.

How that works with isometrics is that by increasing the oxygen supply to the brain, you’re enhancing the brain’s ability to send messages to the muscles to contract. As you contract a specific group of muscles and have a targeted focus for your breathing technique, you’re actually forging new pathways of communication between the brain and the muscles you’re working.

It’s somewhat similar to Hatha yoga - which, in itself, is a kind of isometric exercise because you hold certain postures while you breathe deeply and slowly through the nose. But Hatha yoga isn’t specifically focused on physical fitness, whereas the combination of targeted isometric exercise plus a proper breathing technique is.

A training DVD combining isometric exercises and proper breathing technique can easily and quickly show you how to combine the two for reliable, lasting results, enhancing your fitness program and making it work even harder for you - while you don’t have to work any harder at all.

The combination of a proper breathing technique and targeted isometric exercises has the effect of making your body a more efficient, effective machine. One well-known isometrics instructor tells of a client who had broken her leg and couldn’t leave her couch. Within a week, she had lost two inches by utilizing this system, without changing her eating habits or anything else. Granted, the story is anecdotal … but the instructor had her client measure herself both at the beginning and end of the week of using the breathing technique along with targeted isometric exercises that could be done while sitting on the sofa, and the two-inch loss was documented.

With an isometric exercise DVD that also incorporates training in proper, targeted breathing, you can speed up your fitness program dramatically … and while you’re doing so, you won’t be over-extending yourself physically … won’t be over-working your muscles … won’t wear yourself out or feel any discomfort. It’s one exercise system that’s “no pain, all gain.”

Owner of IsoBreathing Inc. and creator of IsoBreathing(R) Ellen has been teaching life style and fitness over 20 years and is a certified fitness practitioner and personal trainer. Find out about Isometric Exercise, Weight Loss Exercise or buy her Exercise DVD - visit http://www.isobreathing.com.

Weight seems to be a big issue these days with many news articles stating that most of the people in the US are obese, or overweight. Kids these days are also more overweight than kids the same age decades ago. What’s my view on the cause of all this, bad diet and no excercise. I know I mentioned that I was able to lose weight without any special diets or extreme workouts but what I did can be just viewed as a normal diet and minimal workout routine.

First, this is how I viewed the human body and food consumption. You take in food and it becomes the nutrition and gives us the energy that we need to function day in and day out. As you go about your day, most of that energy from the food should be used up, if not, it becomes part of your body in the form of fat.

The number one reason why kids these days are overweight has to do with sodas high in sugar, which is basically carbohydrates. Sugar provide tons of energy, and like I said, if it’s not all used up, it will become part of your body and increase your weight. This was the first step I took to lose weight and keep it off, I cut down drastically on any soda with a high content of sugar and drank mostly water. If I wanted something with carbonation or flavor, I would pick up some carbonated flavored water, one of which tastes exactly like my favorite welch’s grape soda but without any sugar or other additives.

I still ate my favorite foods but just by cutting back on all the sugar in the sodas, I was able to balance the amount of energy I really needed for each day.

The other thing I did was to do just some minor workout at home. I didn’t go to the gym or felt that I needed to. I didn’t need hour long workouts or heavy lifting to lose any weight. One of the keys to losing weight and keeping it off is to increase your metabolism and doing regular exercises will do just that. The key here is to exercise regularly, not once a week or once a month because that won’t do anything at all. I’m talking about exercising maybe four to six times a week and anything from 15 minutes to 30 minutes only each session.

When you exercise, your heart rate increases and there is an optimum rate at which you should be exercising to and by doing this regularly, your metabolism will increase and you’ll be burning more fat even when you’re not working out. What I did was just jog in place at home in front of the TV. Sometimes I would jog around the rooms or even lift some weights with my dumbbells but mostly, I just jogged in place while watching TV. Now how hard is that to fit into your day?

Also, one of the pitfalls of exercising regularly and not getting results is because you are not drinking enough fluids. You lose a lot of fluids exercising and if your body gets dehydrated, you increase your chances of actually gaining weight. So, drink lots of fluids and I recommend just water and no soda, otherwise you’re defeating the purpose.

Basically, that’s all I did to lose weight and keep it off. I still drink items that taste great without all those extra additives and sugar, and I didn’t have to change my schedule for exercising time.

As an update, the above section was written over a year ago and since then, I have not exercised at all due to my busy schedule. EVen without weekly exercise, I am still able to keep off the weight by following my drinking habits.

By drinking habits, I don’t mean alcohol. I mean that I still cut out all soda and drink my favorite carbonated waters that taste just like my favorite sodas without all the extras. I still eat my favorite foods like pizza and so forth.

George Yang is a person who likes to share his personal experiences for the benefit of all. Weight Loss ‘N’ More

Fitness isn’t just about vanity - it’s a necessity for maintaining an active, independent lifestyle in one’s elder years. Isometric exercise makes it possible.

Many people think that the current “fitness craze” is all (and only) about vanity. Vanity may well be part of it - after all, we all enjoy looking our best — but it’s by far not the most important reason to get in shape and stay physically fit.

Did you know that after the age of 65, a good portion of the population can’t lift even five pounds over their heads? If you’re thinking, “So what? Who wants to life weights, anyway?” just consider this:

A five-pound bag of sugar. You have to stoop to pick it up from the lowest shelf in the supermarket … you have to put it in your shopping cart … heft it up onto the conveyor belt at the checkout counter … put it in your car … carry it into your house … and, finally, put it up on a shelf in your pantry.

That’s five times you’ll have to lift that five-pound bag of sugar in under an hour. Not to mention the stooping necessary to pick it up the first time. If you can’t manage to handle the groceries, how in the world are you going to manage maintaining an independent lifestyle as you age?

The sad fact is that if your level of physical fitness deteriorates too much, you won’t be able to. You’ll need assistance to do the kinds of things you do automatically, without thought or stress, today. But take heart. Because if you’re thinking this means you’ll have to join a gym and start torturing yourself with hideously difficult and painful exercises, the good news is that you absolutely don’t.

An isometric exercise training DVD is all you need to get on the fast track back to a level of fitness that will enable you to enjoy your independent life, no matter what your age.

With an isometric exercise DVD, you’ll be taught several simple, non-stressful exercises and breathing techniques that won’t leave you sore, sweaty and exhausted; instead, you’ll feel a renewed burst of energy and fitness, almost from the start. With a week, you’ll even begin to notice pounds melting away, and a different look and feel to your physique.

Not that any of us are going to be mistaken for Mr. or Ms. America in our elder years - but you can darn sure give them a run for their money in the vigor, energy and fitness department! If you do the simple isometric exercises found on your DVD for just ten minutes a day, that bag of sugar will never cause you any trouble whatsoever … nor will any of the other simple, daily tasks of everyday living.

Besides being simple, easy and non-stressful, with your isometrics DVD you can exercise in the privacy and comfort of your own home … any time you choose … for as long as you choose … dressed however you feel like dressing. There won’t be a bunch of 30-something gorgeous bodies parading around to discourage you … no audience … no pressure.

Stay fit with isometrics. A training DVD is all you need to get yourself back in the kind of shape you remember, and that you’ll need to maintain an active, independent lifestyle far into your senior years.

Owner of IsoBreathing Inc. and creator of IsoBreathing(R) Ellen has been teaching life style and fitness over 20 years and is a certified fitness practitioner and personal trainer. Find out about Isometric Exercise, Weight Loss Exercise or buy her Exercise DVD - visit http://www.isobreathing.com.