Your mental health is often drastically improved when you use the techniques Dr. Kuhn teaches in this article. When you are able to experience this improvement, your relationships blossom, career paths open, and people find you attractive and accessible. You deserve to have fun and joy in your life - and Cliff Kuhn, M.D. will help you do that.
In the classic Frank Capra film, It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey's mental health is overwhelmed by the difficulties of his life and he wishes he'd never been born. George's guardian angel grants his wish and takes him to a grim reality as it would've been without him. George feels nothing when he reaches into his coat pocket to retrieve the flower his daughter, Zuzu, placed there - and that's when George knows that his wish has come true...he's never been born.
Wishing she had never been born, Roberta became my patient, seeking desperately to improve her mental health. Like the fictional George Bailey character, Roberta's depression and anxiety had grown so strong as to threaten her ability to lead any semblance of a normal life. Fortunately for Roberta, she soon discovered exactly why the natural medicine of humor is one of the most powerful adjunctive treatments for improving mental health, because humor literally pours water on the fire of depression and anxiety.
Roberta is not alone. As many as 35% of all Americans suffer from depression and anxiety, the twins that make mental health elusive for millions. Your depression and anxiety is exacerbated by your seriousness - taking yourself too seriously. As we move into adulthood, we unfortunately buy into the notion that responsible and productive people must be "serious." As we make the biggest mistake of our lives and relegate our humor nature and fun to recreational activities (if we experience fun at all), we doom ourselves to all the symptoms of the corresponding seriousness that fills the void - declining health, rising stress, increased pain, lessened energy, impaired creativity, and more.
The good news for your mental health, however, is that we know how to shrink your deadly seriousness to practically nothing and reduce almost completely the sway it holds over your health, vitality, wellness, and zest. The natural medicine of humor is an incredibly powerful resource that you already possess; you've only forgotten how to use it to maximum effectiveness. You will soon discover that, while not a panacea, the natural medicine of humor is a tremendous tonic for depression or anxiety and will also supercharge other treatments because it is an amazing adjunctive medicine too!
I have distilled the natural medicine of humor, through my years of medical practice, into an amazing prescription I call The Fun Factor. Based on what I learned over twenty years ago from a terminally ill fifteen-year-old patient, I created a unique set of principles I call the Fun Commandments, then forged these Commandments into my Fun Factor prescription and have been prescribing The Fun Factor with great success for years. This report will show you how to use just three of my Fun Commandments to turn your mental health around, and gain new joy, pleasure, and appreciation from your life!
Improve Your Mental Health Using My Fun Factor Prescription
Step One: Always Go the Extra Smile
The first Fun Commandment I recommend for improved mental health is: Always Go the Extra Smile. This Commandment is doubly helpfully for depression and anxiety because not only does it provide measurable emotional and physical relief, but it also is completely under your control - regardless of your circumstances. Because smiling remains totally under your control, it can be your greatest resource for using humor's natural medicine to accelerate your mental health.
Smiling produces measurable physical benefits you can experience immediately: your stress decreases, your immunity improves, your pain and frustration tolerances increase, and your creativity soars. And guess what? You experience all these benefits even if your smile is "fake." That's right...forcing a smile onto your face perks up your immune system and lightens your mood just as readily as a genuine smile. Fake a smile and you'll soon feel well enough to wear a real one!
This is great news for your proactive stance on sustainable mental health. You have an amazing amount of pre-emptive control over your mood - you can, literally, choose more energy and happiness. The key for your use of this Fun Commandment in enhancing your mental health is to start practicing right now, so that smiling becomes an entrenched, habitual method of accessing the natural medicine of humor. If you wait to smile until your mental health has taken a turn for the worse, and depression or anxiety has taken hold of you, it will not be as effective.
Step Two: Act and Interact
Smiling leads us right into the second Fun Commandment you'll find instrumental in maintaining your mental health: Act and Interact. Humor's natural medicine works best when we are sharing ourselves and this Commandment will teach you how to capitalize on the control you've taken over your physiology and mood by smiling. Acting and interacting is now easier for you to do because you're smiling more. Not only is your mood improved, but your smile is also a pleasant invitation to other people.
My suggestion is that you solidify the power of this Commandment by setting a reasonable goal regarding the number of people you will interact with each day. These social interactions are great for your mental health, forcing you to exchange information and ideas with another person. Combined with your commitment to smiling, your interactions should be pleasant, because your heightened energy, lessened pain, and lowered stress levels are very attractive to others.
Beyond keeping you out of isolation, there is another reason why acting and interacting with the people you encounter fosters improved mental health. It allows you to avoid spiritual "flat tires." Spiritual flat tires occur when you sidestep, or avoid, an interaction that is about to happen naturally - you duck into an office to avoid encountering someone in a hallway or you don't answer the phone because you don't want to talk to the person calling. This type of avoidance drains and deletes your reservoir of powerful natural energy and siphons your mental health reserves.
Have you ever noticed that it usually takes you twice as much mental and physical energy to avoid doing a job than you would have expended just doing it? It also takes twice the energy to avoid acting and interacting with the people who cross your path because you are, in effect, saying, "I'm going to correct the mistake that nature made by putting this person in my path and I'm going to correct it by being mentally and spiritually negligent." Mental and spiritual negligence have the same effect as physical negligence (isn't it strange how you get tired if you don't exercise?). If your mental health can afford to allow this much energy to be drained, then you have a much bigger reservoir than I!
But spiritual flat tires do more than drain our energy, they are detrimental in at least two additional ways:
We miss out on an interaction with a teacher. If nature didn't have a lesson for you, that person you just avoided would not have been placed in your path. You say that the person you just avoided was a negative influence or would've wasted your time? I know we have legitimate schedules to keep, but if I am avoiding people based on my prejudgment of them, I'm cutting myself off from my greatest teachers - those very same people.
We all learn tolerance from the intolerant, patience from the impatient, temperance from the intemperate, gentleness from the ruffian, etc. I am supremely grateful for those teachers and the lessons they give me.
We all learn tolerance from the intolerant, patience from the impatient, temperance from the intemperate, gentleness from the ruffian, etc. I am supremely grateful for those teachers and the lessons they give me.
We create a small, nagging spiritual void of dishonesty, the kind of dishonesty that keeps us from laying our heads down with complete peace of mind each night. Our spiritual flat tire is caused by the pothole our avoidance created; it is a natural consequence, or symptom, of our spiritual dishonesty. These consequences clutter our lives with mental and emotional baggage that further drains us of our energy and vitality.
Step Three: Celebrate Everything
The third Fun Commandment which will help you use the natural medicine of humor to charge up your mental health is: Celebrate Everything. Celebrating everything may sound like a monumental task to someone who's mental health isn't up to par, but you will find this part of my doctor's orders much easier to fulfill once you start practicing my first two Commandments. In fact, celebrating everything is more than a maintenance step providing sustainable mental health. It will also become your lifestyle, the more you practice it, because you will enjoy the results so much.
How do you celebrate everything and how will this keep your mental health on the upswing? The epitome of this Commandment is found in the old joke about the boy who wanted a pony for his birthday. Instead, he found a room full of manure waiting for him. But he dove right into the dung, gleefully exclaiming, "With all this manure, there's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"
Laugh as we might, we're quick to remember that, as adults, we would never allow ourselves such "naive" enthusiasm. Why not? Do you realize what is behind such a "grown up," "mature" decision? Your deadly seriousness (taking yourself too seriously) encourages the attitude that a mature adult should not let herself be so optimistic and thus mental health is jeopardized.
We could do more than chuckle at this birthday boy's unabashed optimism - we should emulate it! When was the last time you encountered an unexpected pile of manure in your life? You had absolutely no control over the mess, right? But you had absolute control over your reaction to it and this is the key to using celebration to keep your mental health improved!
When you celebrate everything, the natural medicine of humor creates spiritual, emotional, and mental health like nothing you've felt before. You will find that your fears become much less controlling when you are celebrating everything because it no longer matters so much how things turn out. In fact, you are literally ready for anything because you are prepared to find the blessing in whatever happens.
My daughter-in-law, for example, broke her back last year. My son, who is often my model for the embodiment of my Fun Commandments, can tick off a laundry list of blessings his family has received as a direct result of his wife's "tragedy." Not that his mental health hasn't been challenged, but faced with the choice of depression and anxiety over an event he couldn't control versus finding the blessings waiting for him, he has chosen the latter.
The choice to celebrate everything is not a panacea; my son's choice did not change the reality of his wife's injury. What did change, however, was his ability to respond to the injury and, thus, keep his mental health on an even keel. Celebrating everything changes our lives because it allows us to positively control the only things we have control over - our actions, ideas, and attitudes.
There you have it. Start by going the extra smile, use your newfound smiling energy and vitality to act and interact with people, and celebrate everything to maintain your positive momentum. Say good-bye to imprisonment from depression and anxiety and welcome to your new world of improved mental health!
Start Using The Fun Factor to Improve Your Mental Health...Right Now
Start Using The Fun Factor to Improve Your Mental Health...Right Now
Here are some simple, easy steps you can take right now to turbo-charge your mental health.
Subscribe to my Fun Times newsletter. The Fun Times is all about using your natural power of humor to increase the quality of your life - including your mental health. The Fun Times is 100% free, and is delivered instantly, every week, to your email inbox. If you sign up now, I'll also throw in a copy of my "Stop Your Seriousness" Ecourse and my book, Ten Ways You Can Be Happier...Right Now! which will show you how you can use my Fun Factor prescription in your life to increase your mental health!
Check out The Fun Factor. This prescription has changed so many lives for the better - it would be a shame if you passed it up. Check it out here if you're sick of wishing for mental health and want to finally achieve your greatest mental health!
My patient Roberta, by the way, learned to use these three Fun Commandments - and the rest of my Fun Factor prescription. She has enjoyed the same job for three years now and was recently engaged to be married. Roberta occasionally has setbacks, as most people suffering from depression or anxiety do. But, her mental health has never been stronger as she continues to apply The Fun Factor to her life.
My patient Roberta, by the way, learned to use these three Fun Commandments - and the rest of my Fun Factor prescription. She has enjoyed the same job for three years now and was recently engaged to be married. Roberta occasionally has setbacks, as most people suffering from depression or anxiety do. But, her mental health has never been stronger as she continues to apply The Fun Factor to her life.
In It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is so shocked by the grim vision of a world without him that he decides he wants to live again and begs to return. He knows he is back when he finds Zuzu's flower petals in his coat pocket again.
Let this article be like finding Zuzu's petals. Move forward today with a new, positive outlook on your improved mental health by using my Fun Factor prescription.
Clifford Kuhn, M.D., America's Laugh Doctor, teaches people and organizations to be more healthy and successful through the use of fun and humor. A psychiatrist, and the former associate chairperson of the University of Louisville's renowned Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Kuhn now dispenses his prescription for turbo-charging your health, success,.
1. Serve sauerkraut at your next picnic. A Finnish study found that the fermentation process involved in making sauerkraut produces several other cancer-fighting compounds, including ITCs, indoles, and sulforaphane. To reduce the sodium content, rinse canned or jarred sauerkraut before eating.
2. Eat your fill of broccoli, but steam it rather than microwaving it. Broccoli is a cancer-preventing superfood, one you should eat frequently. But take note: A Spanish study found that microwaving broccoli destroys 97 percent of the vegetable’s cancer-protective flavonoids. So steam it, eat it raw as a snack, or add it to soups and salads.
3. Toast some Brazil nuts and sprinkle over your salad. They’re a rich form of selenium, a trace mineral that convinces cancer cells to commit suicide and helps cells repair their DNA. A Harvard study of more than 1,000 men with prostate cancer found those with the highest blood levels of selenium were 48 percent less likely to develop advanced disease over 13 years than men with the lowest levels. And a dramatic five-year study conducted at Cornell University and the University of Arizona showed that 200 micrograms of selenium daily — the amount in two unshelled Brazil nuts — resulted in 63 percent fewer prostate tumors, 58 percent fewer colorectal cancers, 46 percent fewer lung malignancies, and a 39 percent overall decrease in cancer deaths.
4. Pop a calcium supplement with vitamin D. A study out of Dartmouth Medical School suggests that the supplements reduce colon polyps (a risk factor for colon cancer) in people susceptible to the growths.
5. Add garlic to everything you eat. Garlic contains sulfur compounds that may stimulate the immune system’s natural defenses against cancer, and may have the potential to reduce tumor growth. Studies suggest that garlic can reduce the incidence of stomach cancer by as much as a factor of 12!
6. Sauté two cloves of crushed garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then mix in a can of low-sodium, diced tomatoes. Stir gently until heated and serve over whole wheat pasta. We already mentioned the benefits of garlic. The lycopene in the tomatoes protects against colon, prostate, and bladder cancers; the olive oil helps your body absorb the lycopene; and the fiber-filled pasta reduces your risk of colon cancer. As for the benefits of all of these ingredients together: They taste great!
7. Every week, buy a cantaloupe at the grocery store and cut it up after you put away your groceries. Store it in a container and eat several pieces every morning. Cantaloupe is a great source of carotenoids, plant chemicals shown to significantly reduce the risk of lung cancer.
The Power of Antioxidants
8. Mix half a cup of blueberries into your morning cereal. Blueberries rank number one in terms of their antioxidant power. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, which are unstable compounds that can damage cells and lead to diseases including cancer.
9. Learn to eat artichokes tonight. Artichokes are a great source of silymarin, an antioxidant that may help prevent skin cancer. To eat these delicious veggies, peel off the tough outer leaves on the bottom, slice the bottom, and cut off the spiky top. Then boil or steam until tender, about 30-45 minutes. Drain. Dip each leaf in a vinaigrette or garlic mayonnaise, then gently tear the fibrous covering off with your front teeth, working your way inward to the tender heart. Once there, gently scoop the bristles from the middle of the heart, dip in a little butter or lemon juice, and enjoy!
10. Coat barbecue food with a thick sauce. Grilling meat can create a variety of cancer-causing chemicals. But researchers from the American Institute for Cancer Research found that coating the meat with a thick marinade and thereby preventing direct contact with the charring flames reduced the amount of such chemicals created. Another tip: Precook your meat in the oven and then throw it on the grill to finish.
11. Every time you go to the bathroom, stop by the kitchen or water cooler for a glass of water. A major study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1996 found that men who drank six 8-ounce glasses of water every day slashed their risk of bladder cancer in half. Another study linked the amount of water women drank to their risk of colon cancer, with heavy water drinkers reducing their risk up to 45 percent.
12. Take up a tea habit. The healing powers of green tea have been valued in Asia for thousands of years. In the West, new research reveals that it protects against a variety of cancers as well as heart disease. Some scientists believe that a chemical in green tea called EGCG could be one of the most powerful anticancer compounds ever discovered.
13. Have a beer tonight. Beer protects against the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, known to cause ulcers and possibly linked to stomach cancer. But don’t overdo it. Drinking more than one or two alcoholic drinks a day may increase your risk of mouth, throat, esophageal, liver, and breast cancer.
14. Throw some salmon on the grill tonight. Australian researchers studying Canadians (go figure) found those who ate four or more servings of fish per week were nearly one-third less likely to develop the blood cancers leukemia, myeloma, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Other studies show a link between eating fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, halibut, sardines, and tuna, as well as shrimp and scallops) with a reduced risk of endometrial cancer in women. Ah, those amazing omega-3s at it again!
15. Take a multivitamin every morning. Many studies suggest getting the ideal levels of vitamins and minerals can improve your immune system function and help prevent a variety of cancers.
16. Get about 15 minutes of sunlight on your skin each day. You’ve heard of the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D haven’t you? Turns out we’ve been so good at heeding advice to slather on sun lotion and avoid the sun’s rays that many of us aren’t getting enough of this valuable nutrient. Researchers find that getting too little vitamin D may increase your risk of multiple cancers, including breast, colon, prostate, ovarian, and stomach, as well as osteoporosis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and high blood pressure.
The best source? Exposure to UVB rays found in natural and artificial sunlight. About 15 minutes a day ought to do it. Avoid overexposure, of course. That can increase your risk for cancers of the skin. You can also get vitamin D in your calcium supplement if you choose a supplement that contains both.
17. Carry a shot glass in your beach bag. Then fill it with sunscreen and rub it all over your body. A shot glass holds about 1.5 ounces, which is how much sunscreen dermatologists estimate you need to protect yourself from the cancer-causing UV rays of the sun. Repeat every two hours.
18. Cut a kiwifruit in half, then scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Now eat! Kiwi is a little hand grenade of cancer-fighting antioxidants, including vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, and copper. You can also rub a couple of cut kiwifruit on a low-fat cut of meat as a tenderizer.
19. Use a condom and stick to one partner. The more sexual partners a woman has, the greater her risk of contracting human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes cervical cancer. Having an unfaithful husband also increases her risk.
20. Cut out high-fat animal protein. A Yale study found that women who ate the most animal protein had a 70 percent higher risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, while those who ate diets high in saturated fat increased their risk 90 percent. So switch to low-fat or nonfat dairy, have poultry or fish instead of beef or pork, and use olive oil instead of butter.
21. Have your partner feed you grapes. They’re great sources of resveratrol, the cancer-protecting compound found in wine, but don’t have the alcohol of wine, which can increase the risk of breast cancer in women. Plus, the closeness such an activity engenders (we hope) strengthens your immune system.
22. Sprinkle scallions over your salad. A diet high in onions may reduce the risk of prostate cancer 50 percent. But the effects are strongest when they’re eaten raw or lightly cooked. So try scallions, Vidalia onions, shallots, or chives for a milder taste.
23. Make a batch of fresh lemonade or limeade. A daily dose of citrus fruits may cut the risk of mouth, throat, and stomach cancers by half, Australian researchers found.
Unnecessary Chemicals
24. Take a 30-minute walk every evening after dinner. That’s all it takes to reduce your breast cancer risk, according to a study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Turns out that moderate exercise reduces levels of estrogen, a hormone that contributes to breast cancer. When 170 overweight, couch potato women ages 50-75 did some form of moderate exercise for about three hours a week, levels of circulating estrogen dropped significantly after three months. After a year, those who lost at least 2 percent of their body fat had even greater decreases in estrogen. Another study linked four hours a week of walking or hiking with cutting the risk of pancreatic cancer in half. The benefits are probably related to improved insulin metabolism due to the exercise.
25. Buy organic foods. They’re grown without added pesticides or hormones, both of which can cause cellular damage that may eventually lead to cancer.
26. Learn to love dandelions. Using commercial pesticides on your lawn may increase your risk of cancer, since most contain pesticides such as 2,4-D (linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) and MCPP (associated with soft-tissue cancers). Plus, pesticides used solely on lawns don’t have to go through the same rigorous testing for long-term health effects as those used on food. And, as E/The Environmental Magazine noted in a 2004 article, no federal studies have assessed the safety of lawn-care chemicals in combination, the way most are sold.
27. Buy clothes that don’t need to be dry-cleaned. Many dry cleaners still use a chemical called perc (perchloroethylene), found to cause kidney and liver damage and cancer in animals repeatedly exposed through inhalation. Buying clothes that don’t require dry cleaning, or hand washing them yourself, can reduce your exposure to this chemical. If you must dry-clean your clothes, take them out of the plastic bag and air them outside or in another room before wearing.
28. Choose cucumbers over pickles, fresh salmon over lox. Studies find that smoked and pickled foods contain various carcinogens.
29. Switch from french fries and potato chips to mashed potatoes and pretzels. A potential cancer-causing compound called acrylamide forms as a result of the chemical changes that occur in foods when they’re baked, fried, or roasted. Not surprisingly, many foods with the greatest amounts of acrylamide are also some of the worst-for-you foods, such as french fries, potato chips, and baked sweets. Although the results aren’t final yet, Michael Jacobson, Ph.D., executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, estimates acrylamide causes between 1,000 and 25,000 cancers per year. His agency has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to set limits on the amount of acrylamide foods can contain. The FDA is studying the issue.
30. Go for a spray-on tan. They’re available in most tanning salons these days and, unlike tanning beds, there’s no evidence that they increase your risk of skin cancer.
31. Call up your bowling pal and hit the lanes. A study from the State University of New York at Stony Brook found that men with high levels of stress and those with less satisfying contacts with friends and family members had higher levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in their blood, a marker for the development of prostate cancer.
If you don't want to spend another cent on your weight loss, and
have decided to try and lose weight at home, you are on the right track!
Buying all that expensive gear or joining a gym that eats into your
purse is not practical when you can actually do simple exercises at home
that can help you lose weight effectively. These tips will help you to
get rid of that excess weight fast.
Aerobic training at home...
The easiest and simplest way to start this is to walk. Walking automatically increases your levels of energy and fitness and also contributes to great fat loss. Start with a 10 minute walk and increase this gradually till you reach walking at a very fast pace or jogging. Swimming and cycling are excellent exercises that help reduce weight.
Resistance training at home...
Do the following exercises to bring fatigue to muscles and create a hormonal balance in your body that helps weight loss.
The Squat: Crouch down like you are about to sit down, but do not let your body rest on the chair and then stand up. Use a low chair and ensure that your body is at the fatigue point before repeating the exercise 15 times.
The Lunge: Take a large step forward with control and balance making sure that your knee is over your foot and the back knee is an inch above the floor. Return to the start and repeat the exercise with the other leg. Repeat this exercise 15 times.
Active Stretching...
This is to develop and retain flexibility. Active stretching must be done daily to restore a good posture and stretching those tight muscles. Make sure you do these exercises till you reach the "fatigue point".
Stair climbers are a great way to stretch those muscles of the lower body just as elliptical machines work on the upper sections. You could invest on this type of fitness equipment and start your home gym exercises that will bring you results.
Dance to the music...
One of the most effective and successful aerobic exercises is dancing. Put on some music and dance non-stop till you find that all your muscles are being worked. Do not over exert yourself till you are exhausted.
Dancing does not require any special guidance or training and you can enjoy the music as well as burn a lot of calories at the same time leading to great fat loss.
Aerobic training at home...
The easiest and simplest way to start this is to walk. Walking automatically increases your levels of energy and fitness and also contributes to great fat loss. Start with a 10 minute walk and increase this gradually till you reach walking at a very fast pace or jogging. Swimming and cycling are excellent exercises that help reduce weight.
Resistance training at home...
Do the following exercises to bring fatigue to muscles and create a hormonal balance in your body that helps weight loss.
The Squat: Crouch down like you are about to sit down, but do not let your body rest on the chair and then stand up. Use a low chair and ensure that your body is at the fatigue point before repeating the exercise 15 times.
The Lunge: Take a large step forward with control and balance making sure that your knee is over your foot and the back knee is an inch above the floor. Return to the start and repeat the exercise with the other leg. Repeat this exercise 15 times.
Active Stretching...
This is to develop and retain flexibility. Active stretching must be done daily to restore a good posture and stretching those tight muscles. Make sure you do these exercises till you reach the "fatigue point".
Stair climbers are a great way to stretch those muscles of the lower body just as elliptical machines work on the upper sections. You could invest on this type of fitness equipment and start your home gym exercises that will bring you results.
Dance to the music...
One of the most effective and successful aerobic exercises is dancing. Put on some music and dance non-stop till you find that all your muscles are being worked. Do not over exert yourself till you are exhausted.
Dancing does not require any special guidance or training and you can enjoy the music as well as burn a lot of calories at the same time leading to great fat loss.
While most guys focus on building muscle and tone in their chest
and arms thinking these are they key areas that attract women's
attention many forget to do butt exercises for men and end up with
either a flabby set of buttocks or sometimes a flat bum with no
musculature at all which is not optimal to look good or feel good.
While you may hit the gym or jog or a bunch of other things this will not be enough to get an athletic butt unless you focus on the exercises that work those glute muscles. Some great exercises you do not need to go to the gym for are:
1. Squats
Squats are one of the best exercises you can do or your bum and for everything else too ... when at the gym you can load weight as well but this is not essential if you are just targeting your rear. Technique is the most vital part of doing a squat so make sure that you keep your back straight and stare straight ahead while tightening those butt muscles hard along with your core muscles as you descend and ascend. It is this tight focus as you do squats that will exercise the bum and also many other muscles releasing growth hormones while you do it which happens with an all body exercise like this.
2. Gluteus Kickback
This is pretty simple but if you are not too flexible you may not to do some stretching before hand. Get down on your hands and knees and lift your chin to look forward. Raise one leg behind you until the foot is above you head and your knee lifts to the same height as your torso so the upper leg is now horizontal. Clench the buttock of the raised leg hard as you slowly lower it back down after holding for a few moments. Repeat with other leg and do 8-12 reps are recommended.
3. Step Ups
You need a raised platform for this so you can step on to. Not just any old step by the way as this will be too low. The aim is to step onto something that is knee height and or preferably more then using just the leg that has stepped and the muscles of that buttock to launch the rest of your body up to stand next to it. This is just like climbing giant stairs but you should have good form meaning a straight back and no cheating with your hands or swinging your body around ... make your leg and bum work for that step!
While you may hit the gym or jog or a bunch of other things this will not be enough to get an athletic butt unless you focus on the exercises that work those glute muscles. Some great exercises you do not need to go to the gym for are:
1. Squats
Squats are one of the best exercises you can do or your bum and for everything else too ... when at the gym you can load weight as well but this is not essential if you are just targeting your rear. Technique is the most vital part of doing a squat so make sure that you keep your back straight and stare straight ahead while tightening those butt muscles hard along with your core muscles as you descend and ascend. It is this tight focus as you do squats that will exercise the bum and also many other muscles releasing growth hormones while you do it which happens with an all body exercise like this.
2. Gluteus Kickback
This is pretty simple but if you are not too flexible you may not to do some stretching before hand. Get down on your hands and knees and lift your chin to look forward. Raise one leg behind you until the foot is above you head and your knee lifts to the same height as your torso so the upper leg is now horizontal. Clench the buttock of the raised leg hard as you slowly lower it back down after holding for a few moments. Repeat with other leg and do 8-12 reps are recommended.
3. Step Ups
You need a raised platform for this so you can step on to. Not just any old step by the way as this will be too low. The aim is to step onto something that is knee height and or preferably more then using just the leg that has stepped and the muscles of that buttock to launch the rest of your body up to stand next to it. This is just like climbing giant stairs but you should have good form meaning a straight back and no cheating with your hands or swinging your body around ... make your leg and bum work for that step!
There are many more butt exercises for men
that can help you achieve a better looking bum and there is also
another aspect that must be looked at or you will never quite have the
shape your desire. That extra component is lowering your body fat
especially around the hips, waist and the bum where the body finds it
very easy to store fat and if you are working in an office environment
this is rampant.
Here are a few TOP LEVEL home exercises for women that get great
results and are EASY. If you need to find a way to save money, yet still
get good workouts in, this may be a good alternative to replace having a
gym membership. You save membership fees, gas money, and TIME! This
frees you up to have a higher quality of life with your family and
friends.
Easy Home Exercises for Women
1. Jumping jacks
This is an oldie, but a goodie... or is it "goody". Listen, this is very effective. You don't need an elliptical, stationary bike, treadmill, or stairstepper to get a good workout for your whole body.
Just try this. The next time tv commercials come on while you're watching tv, get up and do jumping jacks until the tv show comes back on. That'll be about 2 minutes. Now imagine if you did that 10 more times here and there at your leisure throughout the day and night. That's an easy 20 minutes of cardio done without costing you a penny and without messing up your free time with friends and family.
You're multi-tasking... watching tv and exercising.
2. Mini-trampoline jumping
This is the best at-home exercise in my opinion. It's awesome for toning and it's considered the best exercise for reducing cellulite in your legs and butt.
Again, just do the 2 minute commercial technique that was talked about above. Easy as can be.
3. Wall squats
Get your back to a wall. Make sure your back is firmly against the wall. Now begin squatting while sliding you back down the wall. This is a nice alternative to barbell squats you do in the gym. How many sets you do and how many reps depends on your fitness levels, but definitely shoot for a good 4 sets of 10 reps 2-3 days a week.
These easy home exercises for women will help free your time and money while getting you in great shape rather quickly.
Easy Home Exercises for Women
1. Jumping jacks
This is an oldie, but a goodie... or is it "goody". Listen, this is very effective. You don't need an elliptical, stationary bike, treadmill, or stairstepper to get a good workout for your whole body.
Just try this. The next time tv commercials come on while you're watching tv, get up and do jumping jacks until the tv show comes back on. That'll be about 2 minutes. Now imagine if you did that 10 more times here and there at your leisure throughout the day and night. That's an easy 20 minutes of cardio done without costing you a penny and without messing up your free time with friends and family.
You're multi-tasking... watching tv and exercising.
2. Mini-trampoline jumping
This is the best at-home exercise in my opinion. It's awesome for toning and it's considered the best exercise for reducing cellulite in your legs and butt.
Again, just do the 2 minute commercial technique that was talked about above. Easy as can be.
3. Wall squats
Get your back to a wall. Make sure your back is firmly against the wall. Now begin squatting while sliding you back down the wall. This is a nice alternative to barbell squats you do in the gym. How many sets you do and how many reps depends on your fitness levels, but definitely shoot for a good 4 sets of 10 reps 2-3 days a week.
These easy home exercises for women will help free your time and money while getting you in great shape rather quickly.
If you're SICK and TIRED of getting the same old boring weight
loss advice... you know, like "Eat more fruits and vegetables, drink 8
glasses of water, jog, and Blah Blah Blah", then...
Here are the best ways to train your back at home with dumbbells.
You can't neglect training the upper back because it is one of the hot
zones of fat burning in your body. Since there is so much muscle mass
found in your upper back, you can really burn a lot of calories by
training that area.
However, a lot of people have problems training that area at home because they don't have access to a chin-up bar or an adjustable bar where they can do inverted bodyweight rows lying on the ground.
So, this leaves us with a bench, dumbbells, and a ball. Fortunately, there are still quite a few different exercises we can do that will add variation to our workouts and help us enjoy them a lot more.
The first exercise is the Dumbbell Pullover and it is going to train your abs, chest, and your lats. This exercise is a classic Arnold Era exercise. However, it is important to be conservative when performing this one, as you can really injure yourself if you try to do too much weight.
There are a couple of different ways to do this exercise. One way is to do it lying regularly on a bench. Hold the dumbbell over your chest with a slight bend in your arms, and lowering the DB back over your head. You will begin to feel a stretch and using your lats, pull the DB back up over your chest. As the DB gets closer to your chest, then the chest muscles begin to do most of the work.
An alternative method of performing the DB Pullover is lying across a bench. In this position you will feel a greater stretch in the lats at the bottom position; however, you will want to use extra caution in the amount of weight you select. The more stretch, the more risk. So, in this position, keep your hips up, glutes contracted, abs braced and lower DB, and then pull back up.
A second exercise you can do is the Dumbbell Row. Like the DB Pullover, there are a few different ways in which this exercise can be performed.
Starting with the basic DB Row, place your left hand and knee on the bench, right leg slightly bent, butt back, abs braced, and back flat. Next, row the DB up from full extension up to your hip, keep elbow close and into your side.
To add a twist and target your lats and upper back differently, place your body in the same position, place your hand so that the palm is now facing towards your foot, with your elbow out. This is what is known as an elbow out DB Row. You will more than likely be a little bit weaker in this position.
Also, using your hand and knee for support on the bench allows you to lift more weight, but you can also remove the support system and do these exercises one arm at a time or with both arms.
Instead of using a bench, you will use less weight with this exercise, but you will recruit more effort from your abdominals as well as the muscles in your legs to support your position. You can still perform the regular DB Row or the elbow out DB Row just as you would with a bench, but now you will be standing with a slight bend in the knees, leaning over slightly with your back flat.
The last exercise works your posterior delts and is known as side lateral raises in a bent over position. So, standing with two dumbbells, bring them out to the side, squeezing your shoulder blades together, and back down. You will feel a strong contraction in the posterior delts in this exercise.
The more bent over you are, the more you move stress to the back of the shoulder, and even between the shoulder blades. The more of a standing position that you are in, the more you recruit the medial delts. And when in a standing upright position, you will be working the medial and anterior delts mostly.
So those are some of the dumbbell exercises you can do for variety in training your upper back and lats at home without the need for fancy equipment.
However, a lot of people have problems training that area at home because they don't have access to a chin-up bar or an adjustable bar where they can do inverted bodyweight rows lying on the ground.
So, this leaves us with a bench, dumbbells, and a ball. Fortunately, there are still quite a few different exercises we can do that will add variation to our workouts and help us enjoy them a lot more.
The first exercise is the Dumbbell Pullover and it is going to train your abs, chest, and your lats. This exercise is a classic Arnold Era exercise. However, it is important to be conservative when performing this one, as you can really injure yourself if you try to do too much weight.
There are a couple of different ways to do this exercise. One way is to do it lying regularly on a bench. Hold the dumbbell over your chest with a slight bend in your arms, and lowering the DB back over your head. You will begin to feel a stretch and using your lats, pull the DB back up over your chest. As the DB gets closer to your chest, then the chest muscles begin to do most of the work.
An alternative method of performing the DB Pullover is lying across a bench. In this position you will feel a greater stretch in the lats at the bottom position; however, you will want to use extra caution in the amount of weight you select. The more stretch, the more risk. So, in this position, keep your hips up, glutes contracted, abs braced and lower DB, and then pull back up.
A second exercise you can do is the Dumbbell Row. Like the DB Pullover, there are a few different ways in which this exercise can be performed.
Starting with the basic DB Row, place your left hand and knee on the bench, right leg slightly bent, butt back, abs braced, and back flat. Next, row the DB up from full extension up to your hip, keep elbow close and into your side.
To add a twist and target your lats and upper back differently, place your body in the same position, place your hand so that the palm is now facing towards your foot, with your elbow out. This is what is known as an elbow out DB Row. You will more than likely be a little bit weaker in this position.
Also, using your hand and knee for support on the bench allows you to lift more weight, but you can also remove the support system and do these exercises one arm at a time or with both arms.
Instead of using a bench, you will use less weight with this exercise, but you will recruit more effort from your abdominals as well as the muscles in your legs to support your position. You can still perform the regular DB Row or the elbow out DB Row just as you would with a bench, but now you will be standing with a slight bend in the knees, leaning over slightly with your back flat.
The last exercise works your posterior delts and is known as side lateral raises in a bent over position. So, standing with two dumbbells, bring them out to the side, squeezing your shoulder blades together, and back down. You will feel a strong contraction in the posterior delts in this exercise.
The more bent over you are, the more you move stress to the back of the shoulder, and even between the shoulder blades. The more of a standing position that you are in, the more you recruit the medial delts. And when in a standing upright position, you will be working the medial and anterior delts mostly.
So those are some of the dumbbell exercises you can do for variety in training your upper back and lats at home without the need for fancy equipment.
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