Fitness : 15-Minute Workout: Carve Your Core

Every exercise targets certain parts of your body—but if you tweak a move just right, you can build other muscles at the same time. This workout, designed by Craig Ballantyne, C.S.C.S., does that by challenging your core, chest, back, arms, and shoulders. Perform it as a circuit with no breaks

Chinup + Knee Raise

Hang from a chinup bar using a shoulder-width, underhand grip. Pull your chest to the bar while also raising your knees to your chest. Pause, and slowly lower your body while also lowering your knees. If you can’t complete a chinup, simply raise your knees while hanging from the bar. Complete 10 reps, or as many as you can.

Chinup + Knee Raise

Standing Single-Arm Shoulder Press

Stand holding a dumbbell just outside your shoulder, with your palm facing you. Set your feet shoulder-width apart and keep your knees slightly bent. Raise the weight until your arm is completely straight, and then lower it to the starting position. Do 10 repetitions with each arm.

Standing Single-Arm Shoulder Press

Start in a pushup position as you grip a pair of hex dumbbells placed shoulder-width apart, your palms facing in. Lower your body, pause, and push yourself back up. Now pull the dumbbell in your right hand straight up to the side of your chest. Pause, and lower it. Repeat the move with your left arm. That’s 1 rep. Do 10.

Lying Triceps Extension

Lie faceup on a bench with your feet flat on the floor. Hold a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length above your head, your palms facing each other. Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows to lower the weights until your forearms are past parallel to the floor. Pause; lift back to the starting position. Do 12 reps.

Fitness : 6 Exercise Machines You Should Do Without

While machines might seem like the foolproof way to exercise, they aren’t always the safest. In fact, sometimes they actually contribute to the injuries you were trying to avoid in the first place. Here are 6 machines you should lift without.

The Seated Leg Extension

The myth: It’s the safest way to work your quadriceps, or thigh muscles.

The truth: Physiologists at the Mayo Clinic determined that leg extensions place significantly more stress on your knees than squats. Why? Because the resistance is placed near your ankles, which leads to high amounts of torque being applied to your knee joint every time you lower the weight. What’s more, Auburn University scientists found that people who squat long-term have tighter, stronger knee ligaments than those who don’t squat at all.

The alternatives: Free weight squats, split squats, and lunges—performed with perfect form—are all better choices for working your quads and protecting your knees.

The Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull-Down

The myth: The best way to perform the lat pulldown is to pull the bar behind your head, down to your upper back

The truth: Unless you have very flexible shoulders, this exercise is difficult to do correctly, and can increase your risk for shoulder impingement syndrome—a painful condition in which the muscles or tendons of your rotator cuff become entrapped in your shoulder joint.

The alternative: Simple—just pull the bar in front of your head, down to your collarbone. You’ll work your back just as hard, but with less risk for injury.

The Pec Deck

The myth: It’s a super safe and very effective way to work your chest muscles.

The truth: This apparatus, also called the chest fly machine, can overstretch the front of your shoulder and cause the muscles around the rear of your shoulder to stiffen. The result: Doing this movement frequently can lead to shoulder impingement syndrome.

The alternatives: Forget the machine, and stick with exercises such as the pushup, dumbbell bench press and dumbbell incline press; they’re easier on your shoulders and the best way to build your chest overall. In fact, Truman State University researchers found that pectoral muscles are activated for 23 percent less time during the chest fly, compared with the bench press.

The Seated Hip Abductor Machine

The myth: This machine is the best way to work your out thighs, including your glutes.

The truth: Because you’re seated, it trains a movement that has no functional use. And if done with excessive weight and jerky technique, it can put undue pressure on your spine.

The alternative: Work the same muscles, but while standing. Simply loop a resistance band around both legs, and position the band just below your knees. Now take small steps to your left for 20 feet. Then side-step back to your right for 20 feet. That’s one set. This is much harder than it sounds, but you can do it anywhere, and it’s also a great warmup for any sport

The Seated Rotation Machine

The myth: Twisting on this machine helps melt your love handles.

The truth: It works the muscles under your love handles, but will do little to reduce the fat that covers them. What’s more, because your pelvis doesn't move as you rotate your upper body, this exercise can put excessive twisting forces on the spine.

The alternative: As long as you don’t expect to shrink your love handles, you can use rotational exercises to work your obliques. But here’s the secret to safety: Before you do any rotational exercises, brace your abs forcefully—as if you’re about to be punched in the gut—and hold them that way as you do the movement. This limits your range of motion and helps to keep you from rotating excessively at your lower spine.

The Smith Machine

The myth: This machine—which looks like a squat rack with a built-in bar that runs on guides—gives you all the benefits of squats, but none of the risk that comes from holding a heavy barbell across your back. That’s because the bar can easily be secured at any point during the movement.

The truth: Because the bar runs on guides, you can only move straight up and down as you squat—instead of down and back, as you would in a free-weight squat. The result: An unnatural movement that puts extra stress on your knees and lower back. Need another reason to skip the Smith? Canadian researchers found that traditional squats produced almost 50 percent more muscle activity in the quadriceps than squats done on a Smith machine.

The alternative: If you’re not comfortable with barbell squats, simply do the exercise while holding dumbbells at arm’s length next to your sides. You won’t need a spotter, and your body will be free to move through the natural motion of the squat.

Top 10 Fitness Myths Exposed

Fitness Myth #1: No pain, no gain.
If you haven’t worked out in a while – or you’re trying a new kind of exercise – you’ll probably be sore the next day. Believe it or not, that’s a good thing.

These aches are called “delayed onset muscle soreness,” says Wendy Repovich, Ph.D., a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and Director of Exercise Science at Eastern Washington University.

It means that the workout created “good” micro-tears in the muscles, which heal on their own and make you stronger.

But how can you tell the difference between soreness and muscle damage?

“If soreness lasts more than 48 hours, you’ve overdone it,” she says. “This level of muscle damage can take six weeks to heal.”

Fitness Myth #2: You need to break a sweat for exercise to work.
Many women think, If I’m not dripping with sweat, I’m not working hard enough.

But sweat isn’t a good indicator of how hard you’re working. That’s because too many factors affect perspiration, Repovich says. “People sweat at different rates.”

Plus, weather – the temperature and humidity – makes a difference too.

A better measure of effort is your heart rate – check out Lifescript’s Target Heart Rate Tool – or the Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE), which ranks how hard you feel your body is working.

It’s based on several physical sensations, including increased heart and breathing rates and muscle fatigue. On a basic RPE scale, zero is “no effort,” such as sitting on a couch, and 10 is “exhaustion.”

The recommended RPE for most people is usually 3 (moderate) to 5 (strong), according to the American Council of Exercise, a nonprofit that promotes exercise.

Even easier? The talk test, which is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During moderate-intensity exercise, you should be able to speak but not sing.

Fitness Myth #3: Sit-ups blast belly fat.
If you do 100 crunches, you’d expect to burn major belly fat. Unfortunately, your body just doesn’t work that way.

There’s no direct metabolic connection between abdominal muscles and the fat cells surrounding them, says Sherri McMillan, personal trainer and owner of Northwest Personal Training & Northwest Women's Fitness Club.

The body pulls fat from all over. It’s sent to the liver to be converted into fatty acids, which travel back to your muscles as fuel, McMillan explains.

That means any fat your body recruits for energy when you're doing repeated sit-ups could come from the arms, thighs, butt and tummy.

So what’s the secret to shedding belly fat – or any fat? Follow a balanced program of cardio and strength training, plus eat a healthy diet.

But don’t give up the crunches. Even if you’re not losing tummy fat, abs workouts help tone and suck in that flabby belly, giving the appearance of a slimmer waist.

Plus, toning happens faster than weight loss. It’s one of the speediest ways to see changes in your body.

Fitness Myth #4: A short workout is a waste of time.
Who wants to spend hours pounding a treadmill? You don’t have to. Shorter workouts can get you in the best shape of your life and still allow time for work, raising kids and cuddle time with your honey.

Mini-workouts – 10 minutes three times a day – are just as effective as a continuous 30-minute workout, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.

But there’s a catch: You have to work harder.

“The key to spending less time in the gym is to keep the intensity high,” Calabrese says.

How? She recommends revving your heart rate with intervals, plyometrics (explosive movements, like jumping) and a variety of exercises.

Fitness Myth #5: If I work out, I can eat what I want.
True, exercise burns calories, but not enough to make up for a daily French fry habit.

Weight loss requires burning more calories than you take in. It’s just easier (not to mention smarter) to control what you take in.

For example, running a mile is hard, yet it only burns 100 calories. And a grueling 3-mile run (300 calories used) won’t make up for a large 500-calorie packet of fries.

But there’s good news: Workouts can help balance an occasional high-calorie splurge.

“Exercise allows you to eat some of the things you crave, but you still have to eat well [regularly] to balance your diet,” Repovich says.

Fitness Myth #6: Lifting weights is only for men.
Sure, a weight room can be intimidating for women, but it’s not a men-only zone. Lifting weights can help women tone up, slim down and still keep their girlish figures.

Don’t worry about getting muscle-bound: Women aren’t wired to build bulky muscles because they don’t produce enough testosterone. (Yes, women make the male hormone too.)

Weight-lifting can help women develop sleek muscle, which improves body shape and fitness, McMillan says.

Plus, resistance training increases a woman’s bone density and allows more efficient fat burning. It also improves posture, muscle tone, endurance and strength.

Fitness Myth #7: Morning is the best time to work out.
There's no single perfect time to exercise. It depends on you. If you constantly hit the snooze button to postpone a 5 a.m. workout, rethink your goals.

The best time of day to exercise is whenever you’ll actually do it. That could mean lunchtime, after work or later in the evening when the kids are in bed.

“If working out in the evening replaces sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating junk food, do it,” Calabrese says.

For many people, a morning workout is best because they’re less likely to be distracted later on.

“As the day goes on, excuses tend to pile up and eventually workouts are skipped altogether,” Calabrese says.

So pick a time when you have the most energy, need the stress release or have the best chance of making exercise a habit.

Fitness Myth #8: If the scale hasn’t budged, you’re not making progress.
Don’t be a slave to the scale. A pound is a pound, whether it’s made up of muscle, fat or feathers.

Density, not weight, is what matters.

“Picture a pound of lean ground hamburger you buy at the grocery store – that’s what a pound of muscle looks like,” Repovich says.

Double that, and you have a good idea of how big a pound of fat is.

Muscle is more compact than fat, so it takes up less space in your body. Which explains why the scale may not budge, even as your belt gets looser and clothes fit better.

Fitness Myth #9: Exercise doesn’t help shed pounds, so why bother?
Most of us want to drop a few pounds, but weight loss shouldn’t be the only reason to get moving.

In fact, if you stopped focusing on the scale and how your body looks, you might notice that exercise makes you feel better.

A regular dose of cardio, strength-training, flexibility and balance exercises fights stress and improves brain and nervous system function.

Fitness Myth #10: A sports drink is a workout must-have.
Staying hydrated during a workout is important, but unless you’ll be sweating it out for 90 minutes or more, don’t drink anything but water.

The body’s not working so hard that it’ll run out of electrolytes or glucose, so a sports drink will only add unnecessary calories to your diet.

But go for a sports drink with longer workouts: It's electrolytes help you sweat more efficiently so you retain precious water, Repovich says.