Living A Healthy Lifestyle - Basic Fitness Principles
by Tracy Anderson
www.tkalfn.homestead.com

There are four general areas of a healthy lifestyle that need to
be discussed. In this article I will give an overview, and the
following articles will elaborate on each area specifically. First
lets look at all four together. Nutrition, resistance training,
intense aerobics, and rest, all are very important to changing
your life. All four interact with each other and together can
speed up your goals or slow them down.

Nutrition, this is the biggest key, and is vitally important to
your success. All the fad diets out there just don't work, if they
did then there would be no weight problem. The simple fact is
that the foods you eat are very important, but the timing and
proportions in which you eat them are as equally important.
If you listened to the RDA, you would get fat, or if you are
already overweight, then you would not be able to lose fat.
In the next article I will begin to tackle this widely
misinformed issue and hopefully shed some light on your
diet for you.

Resistance training, also a big one, because it is the muscle
that burns calories and thus increases your metabolism and
increases your ability to burn fat. Not only does resistance
training help build muscle, but also strengthens your bones
and increases input from your nervous system. The benefits
of resistance training are so numerous that you would be a
fool not to exercise.

Aerobics, this is where your fat stores will be used as energy.
You will notice that in the beginning I said 'intense' aerobics,
because if your heart rate is not elevated high enough, you
risk burning muscle not fat.

The last piece of the puzzle is actually simple, but the fact
is that most people don't let their body get enough of it-'rest'.
Now, not just sleep, but mentally, and physically. In today's
world of 'need it now' attitudes, people just don't slow down
and relax. Daily on the news are reports of how over
stressed and worked we are, but no one can change that
but ourselves.

I hope that this introduction opened your eyes and helped
you realize that a healthy lifestyle doesn't just mean you
go to the gym two or three times a week. At Lifestyle
Fitness and Nutrition we help people everyday change
their life, for the healthier. Realize that you have the
ability to slow down the aging process and revitalize
your body into new boundaries. Even if you have
never been in shape, its not too late!