The Top Ten Dumbbell Exercises For Building Strength and Muscle

If you only have a small home workout area and want to get in the best shape of your life, you need a workout mat, a full set of dumbbells and a jump rope. Using just these tools, you can burn off your fat stores, bulk up and get cut in six to twelve weeks.

Dumbbells are a versatile muscle and fat burning equipment. You can perform quite a few dozen movements ranging from muscle building compound exercises like squats to fat burning explosive movements such as the one arm hanging snatch.

Here is a blood pumping workout for building muscle and burning fat:

Start with a warm up for five minutes. Once you are fully warmed up, choose a weight that allows you to perform three sets with twelve reps to start.

Once you perform this routine a few times, vary the workout by choosing a weight that allows you to perform only eight reps but still work for three sets. Be sure to take a full one minute rest period between sets.




For the legs:
 
1. Dumbbell Squats
2. Go on to dumbbell lunges

For chest and shoulders:
 
3. Dumbbell incline press
4. Dumbbell flies
5. Dumbbell side raises
6. Dumbbell front raises

For the arms:
 
7. Dumbbell curls
8. Dumbbell triceps extension

For the abs:
 
9. Dumbbell side bends
10. Dumbbell roll ups

These are our top ten dumbbell exercises for building strength, endurance and muscle. If you want to cool down with cardio, you can take a fifteen minute low impact cardio workout. If you prefer, you can grab your jump rope and work out for 20 minutes, varying your intensity while keeping your heart rate up. Jump rope workouts are a great fat burning routine.

I prefer to do my cardio on alternate days. Perform each exercise with proper form and be sure to start each exercise with a light warm up weight. I choose a set of 10 pound dumbbells to do my warm up set. This gets me through a set in which I focus on my form and muscle tension.

From there, I'm able to judge my ability to handle the weight and determine when to step up to the next level. Try this routine for about six to twelve weeks; three days a week on alternate days. You can perform your cardio routine on alternate days or after the dumbbell workout.

I rate this one highly for those who are just starting out or for seasoned veterans who need to break up their routine and perform a great full body workout.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Dennis_Francis/146895

Foods to Avoid High Cholesterol - List of Foods You Don't Want to Eat With High Cholesterol

High cholesterol is a serious medical problem, but there are foods to avoid high cholesterol. While some foods can help to lower your cholesterol, there are other foods out there that can make a high cholesterol problem even worse. It is time you learn the 411 on foods you should not be eating if you have high levels of cholesterol in your blood.

Foods that have trans fats and saturated fats in them can cause cholesterol to go higher. Saturated fats are usually found in foods that come from animals. Some foods even contain cholesterol and saturated fats. You should look at food labels to find out more about the content of fat and cholesterol in foods. Here is a look at foods to avoid high cholesterol to make sure you improve health and avoid any negative physical problems.

Foods You Need to Avoid

When you have high levels of cholesterol, you need to avoid eating saturated fats as well as oils. This can include coconut oil, lard, butter, palm oil, and bacon drippings. There are many processed foods that actually contain both coconut and palm oils, and they should be avoided as well. You can replace these foods with soy oil, vegetable oils, olive oil, corn oil, peanut oil, or even soft tub margarine.




Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and trans fats need to be avoided as well. This can include foods like shortenings, chips, hard margarines, cookies, and snack crackers. Fats become semi solid or solid within a process that is known as hydrogenation.

Servings of meat, fish, and poultry should be limited. Usually you should have about 3-5 ounces of these meats a day and no more. This can help you to better control your levels of cholesterol.

Foods to avoid high cholesterol include fatty meats. You need to eliminate these meats from your diet to help lower your cholesterol to a healthy level. Fatty meats you should be avoiding include bologna and other processed meats, frankfurters, ribs, corned beef, sausage, ground meat, bacon, steak, and pastrami. Instead of eating these meats that are so high in fat, start adding turkey, pork, fish, lean beef, turkey and meatless dishes to your diet.

High fat milk products should also be limited in your diet. This includes many cheeses, cream, whole milk, whipped topping, and more. Instead go for cheeses that are low fat and look for milk that has less than 1% fat in it.

Fast food should definitely be avoided. Fries, tacos, hamburgers, and fried chicken are high in saturated fat and total fat. If you do have to eat out, go with chicken sandwiches that do not have skin, choose foods that have not been fried, and try for salads with low fat dressings. Fast food can sabotage your cholesterol fast, and if you need to lower cholesterol, these are definitely foods to avoid high cholesterol.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/V_K_Rajagopalan/332376