8 Ways to Lose Weight using Photography

#1. Take your heaviest camera.

Whenever you go for a walk take the biggest / heaviest camera one you own. Take your camera and go for an hour long walk at least twice per week.

If a 160 lb person walks 5 km in 60 minutes while carrying a camera they will burn approx. 300 calories.

Depending on how much you weigh and how far you walk you could burn a lot more. The same person walking 7 km in 60 minutes will burn approx. 460 calories because they were practically jogging in order to cover the extra distance in the same amount of time.

For added weight take your tripod and any other equipment you fancy with you. Even if you don't use it you are burning extra calories by carrying the extra weight with you.

#2. Take a backpack with water with you.

Three reasons. A. Because you can drink the water. B. Because the water and backpack provides extra weight for you to carry, which means you burn more calories. C. Because when bored you can take a photograph of your water bottle for fun in different locations.

Below: Still Life of Water Bottle #32 ; Still Life of Water Bottle #45.

#3. When on vacation explore as much as you can.

The more distance you travel, the more interesting photographs you get, the more calories you burn, the more fun you have. Easy!

#4. Take long walks along the beach.

The further the better. And the more distance you cover the more photographs you will get. And who would ever get bored of walking along the beach???

#5. Take photos of yourself in reflections while walking.

Sort of like before and after photos, but these will be photos along the way. If you look to photograph yourself in your reflection every time you go for a long walk - and you walk at least twice per week, then in a year you will have over 104 photos of yourself - and you will have burned approx 9 lbs of fat without even trying. It is possible you've burned way more than that due to increased physical activity and heightened metabolism. But what will be interesting is that you will have a photographic record of your gradual weight loss. And that is a happy thing by itself.

#6. Take your umbrella when it is raining.

Don't let rain stop you from taking your walks and taking photographs in the rain. Get a nice sturdy umbrella, the heavier the better because that burns more calories, and use that while doing photography in the rain. The rain will provide you with lots of things to photograph.

#7. Use other modes of transportation.

Cycling, canoeing, kayaking, snowshoeing in the winter. There are lots of other ways to exercise and take your camera with you. No shortage of stuff to do and things to photograph.

#8. Don't be afraid to experiment.

I am not talking about just exercise wise or photography wise. I mean experiment with both. Try new things. Take up new sports and take your camera with you during that new sport. (If you take up scuba diving get yourself a waterproof camera designed for shooting underwater.)

Conclusions

Going for walks and taking your digital camera with you is a very frugal way to get exercise. You can do it as an hobby, while on vacation, while with friends, while visiting relatives. No excuses not to do it.

Just take your camera and go!

DIY Fusion Workout

Lots of Toronto gyms offer fusion workouts.

But maybe you don't feel comfortable exercising in front of other people.

Maybe you have time constraints.

Maybe you just prefer to workout at home for any number of reasons.

Thus being able to create your own fusion workout at home - instead of going to a Toronto gym - means that you can control which exercises you are doing and the environment you are doing them in.

Fusion workouts are great for trying more than one style of activity at a time, but they are also used to maximize results in one of the most time efficient ways available.

Focusing on a single exercise all the time gets boring and gets very little results because there is only so much muscle tissue your body can grow in one body part during a night's rest - but a variety of exercises allows you to grow muscle tissue in multiple locations by focusing on different muscle groups.

It makes the workout much more enjoyable because you have more variety with what you are doing, it raises your endurance level, and improves the speed of your progress by using exercises which double or triple up on different muscles groups.

Examples of Fusion Style Workouts:
-Strength training and then running every five to ten minutes. for example, work out your chest and back, then run. Go back to strength training and do some squats and lunges, then run. Next, work biceps and triceps, then run again. This will allow a great weight workout, cardiovascular training for great fat burning, and it builds endurance. Do some stretches afterwards to maintain your flexibility.

-Weight Training and Yoga. It's great to stretch after every strength exercise, so use yoga poses to get stretching in, and improve your yoga practice.

-Alternate Skipping or Jumping Jacks with Pushups, Situps, Chin-ups and other body weight exercises. No equipment necessary and you get both cardio and weight training. For fun add in shadow boxing or dancing with the music on your stereo turned up really loud. :)

You can really do almost anything you want with fusion workouts because they're very flexible. Just get out all of your exercise equipment and spend 5 to 10 minutes on each exercise.

Swagger while you Walk

An 150 lb person walking on level ground, at a slow pace of less than 2 mph burns 136 calories per hour.

However if they swagger while they walk (swinging their arms a lot more, moving their sides and shoulders with their arms in a macho swagger) they will burn 150 calories per hour.

The reason is because swaggering engages the obliques side muscles as you twist your body every step you take. It is a small twist, but it shifts the weight of your upper torso on a constant basis - and thus counts in a small way as resistance training, as the obliques are effectively being used to twist the weight of the upper torso.

A person who walks with a swagger 2 hours per day will burn 10,199 extra calories per year compared to a person who doesn't who doesn't swagger.

That is a difference of roughly 2.9 lbs of fat per year.

Over a 10 year period a person who constantly walks with a "confident swagger" in theory, assuming two hours of "swaggering" per day, will be roughly 29 lbs of fat lighter than a person who doesn't swagger at all.

And they would have stronger obliques, and to a lesser extent stronger abs, shoulders and arm muscles.

The big thing really is whether a person can use those oblique muscles while they walk and get used to having a constant swagger. In the beginning it would be difficult to walk like that all the time (because your obliques would get sore), but after a week or two of walking like that regularly your oblique muscles would grow stronger and your body would become more accustomed to it. So yes, with regular practice a person could develop a constant swagger.

I will note however that deliberately swaggering while you walk at first feels a bit silly. (And you might wonder if other people are watching you and thinking if you are doing that on purpose or if you really do walk around like you own the place.)

Honestly, who cares? It is your body! If you want to lose fat, grow stronger obliques over a longer term period, then absolutely go ahead and do this as an exercise. Another side benefit to obliques is that they improve your balance and flexibility. Useful for many activities.

The end result is that you gain a lot of physical benefits from swaggering - and losing weight and becoming stronger, you will likely feel more confident and feel like swaggering anyway.

Using Playground Equipment as your Personal Gym

Tired of paying gyms to exercise there?

Playground equipment is free.

Better yet some parks now have playground equipment designed for adults who want to exercise. Use them! Or encourage your local politicians here in Toronto to support adding more adult exercise equipment.

I think someone should create a charity dedicated towards collecting money to add more adult exercise equipment to Toronto parks and recreation areas. And if successful, the charity could expand to the rest of Ontario and Canada so people can all benefit from such exercise equipment.

The photos below are just a sample of what you can do.

YMCA free one week gym and pool membership

Want to use the YMCA facilities in Toronto free for a week?

Go to http://my.ymcagta.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=487

Print the document, fill it out, take it to the membership desk of your local Toronto YMCA and get a free week.

Offer expires June 30, 2013, so if you want to take advantage of this act quickly. :)

The Exercise Regimen of a Personal Trainer in Toronto

Q

"Hello!

I am looking to make my own exercise regimen. I am curious as to what you do for your own physical regimen?

Curious,
Lisa P."

A

Hello Lisa!

Honestly, I exercise as often as I have time and energy to do so. Which is a lot since I am often exercising with clients.

However there are days when I am not meeting clients and I do have a regimen that I do at home that mixes cardio with weightlifting, stretching and yoga.

My Personal Exercise Regimen

Music - While exercising I turn my special exercising playlist so I can exercise while listening to music. My musical tastes for exercising is a mix of the 70s, 80s and 90s... and includes songs like "Eye of the Tiger" and "Gonna Fly Now", two songs from the Rocky films. I deliberately choose songs that make me feel energetic.

#1. Stretches and yoga - Varies between 1 minute to 10 minutes, depending on what I feel like doing that day. Sometimes I skip the yoga entirely.

#2. Pushups. 100 of them. Typically I divide them up into 20 pushups at a time, 5 sets of 20. If I am feeling particularly energetic I may do more than that, but always in sets of 20.

#3. Jumping Jacks. I used to do 100 jumping jacks at a time, and aimed to do 5 sets of 100. But these days I am often doing 150 to 200 jumping jacks instead - and 4 or 5 sets of them. My endurance for jumping jacks has grown over time.

#4. Headstand Pushups. I do this upside down with my feet against the wall. Typically I do 20 at a time. They're very difficult and not for beginners. Sometimes I will do 2 or 3 sets of 20.

#5. Bicep Curls - How much weight I use varies. My lightest dumbbell is 15 lbs and the heaviest is 30. If I am lifting the 15s I will sometime do 50 reps or more. If I am using the 20s / 25s then I might do 30 reps. With the 30 lb dumbbells it is 20 to 25 reps. How many sets of reps also varies, depending on how tired I am, how energetic I feel. But usually I will aim to do at least 2 reps of each different type of dumbbell.

#6. Shoulder Lifts - Using the 15 lb dumbbells I lift up my arms sideways to a 90 degree angle and hold. Then I lower my arms slowly. I do this 20 times for 5 sets.

#7. Situps - I used to do a lot of situps but these days I have grown bored of them. When I do do situps it is 100 situps at a time, usually once in the morning and once in the evening before 8 PM.

#8. Tricep Lifts - Using the heavier dumbbells I start with my arms in a raised L position and then lift both dumbbells above my head and hold for a second. Lower them down slowly back to the L position and then repeat. 30 times, both arms at once. I aim to do this for 5 sets.

#9. Behind Head Tricep Holds - Using 1 dumbbell and holding the weights at both ends I lift it over my head and then lower it behind my head. When doing this you should feel the muscles in the backs of your arms (the triceps) straining. Repeat 10 to 15 times. Do 2 to 5 sets of this, or until you feel you've strained those muscles enough.

#10. Football Twists - Holding a football between both hands I twist left and then right 100 times (50 each side), twisting as far as my obliques will let me. This is more of a cardio / stretching exercise for the obliques, but I find it also increases muscle tone.

During the Winter I often increase how often I do my exercise routine because I know I don't go outside as often in the Winter. The intensity of my workout likewise goes up in the Winter.

After I complete all of the sets and reps I usually take a multi-vitamin and chase it down with a whey protein shake.

Now I should also note that during the day I also do a lot of other random things for exercise. Some of these random things include:

• Fixing bicycles (restoring old bicycles is my hobby).
• Woodworking and Sculpture (another hobby)
• Boxing
• Cycling
• Rollerblading (in the Summer)
• Swimming and Snorkeling (in the Summer)
• Ice Skating (in the Winter)
• Archery (Spring to Autumn)
• Rock Climbing (Spring to Autumn)

I hope all of this has been helpful!

Sincerely,
Charles Moffat
Toronto Personal Trainer

Building a Stronger Grip using Grip Exercises

Building a stronger grip is really a specialized form of weightlifting / resistance training, and usually the result of someone some form of hand injury wherein their hand was in a cast for a month or more and they need to rebuild the muscles in their hand.

There are a variety of other reasons why people might want a stronger grip in their hands (eg. people who are into rock climbing), but their goals will be roughly the same - to build the muscles in their hand so they can strongly and firmly hold something in place. For bodybuilders having a good strong grip is also handy when lifting the heavier weights.

Some people also build stronger forearm muscles, which also effects grip, so absolutely that is another reason to be doing grip exercises.

There are essentially two ways to do this...

#1. Sports Hand Grips and Weightlifting Grips

You've probably seen them in stores before. Its basically just a device with a spring that you squeeze together. Its not complicated or expensive to purchase them, and they do "most" of the job they are advertised to do.

When buying grips you will want to start with a low number - like 30 lbs or 40 lbs. You can even get adjustable grips where you can change the tension in the spring.

The more heavy duty weightlifting grips start at 100 lbs and go up to 300 lbs, but that is more for serious weightlifters.

#2. Old School Frugal Grip Exercises

These are arguably the better way to attain a stronger grip. Why? It gives you more range and variety, offering you more of a challenge and will push your muscles further than any mere gadget will do. The types of grip exercises will give you different things to challenge yourself with - and the beauty of these exercises is that are not only better for you physically, but they're easy on your wallet too.

Look at the visual examples below of various grip exercises you can try. You won't need anvils or weights to do some of these exercises. When lacking in equipment try using books and heavier objects in your home or garage. Rope climbing is an excellent method too as it uses your body weight instead of the weight of the object.

Dog Jogging for Beginners

Rule #1. Don't walk your dog - JOG YOUR DOG.

Rule #2. Use a short or medium length leash - this way as your dog jogs, you have to keep up according to their speed. For best results get a leash that goes around your waist.

Rule #3. Stop to drink once in awhile - Give your dog a drink too!

Rule #4. Jog the same speed as your dog is jogging. Not too fast, not too slow.

Rule #5. When your dog is tired it is time for a break!

Rule #6. If your dog is really big or really small you will need to learn to be either faster or slower while jogging.

Rule #7. Avoid areas with high traffic. Less busy streets are best.

Rule #8. Skip your iPod for once. Listen to the sound of your heart and your feet (and your dog's feet) on the pavement.

Rule #9. Eat something after you are done jogging. A protein shake, a boiled egg, chocolate milk - something with protein in it. Feed your dog too!

Rule #10. Remember, DOG JOGGING IS FUN. And the beauty of it is because your dog wants to go jogging it forces you to stick to a schedule.

Note: There is even COMPETITIVE DOG JOGGING. Nothing like a frugal competitive sport to get you in the mood to exercise!

How to Build Your Own Rowing Machine

Guest Post by Harry.

For approx. $100 and few hours of time, you can build a wooden rowing machine to help strengthen your leg and arm muscles without significantly denting your pocketbook.

The rowing machine might not be the most popular or expensive exercise device out there - but it is effective as it exercises the upper body, the lower body, back muscles and the abdominals. Plus its pretty frugal. Building your own rowing machine will give you a chance to customize the look and feel of the equipment - and the bragging rights when people visit and say "Hey, what is that?!"

Plus rowing causes very little stress on the joints, so its safe to use even if you're elderly and have difficulty with your joints / arthritis.

You could go out and purchase a really nice rowing machine for $800, and it will come with a computer that counts reps / estimates speed / etc... but really, for the extra $$$ you can count reps in your head or just use the clock on the wall to track the time you've spent rowing.

You will need the following...

Materials:

• Two hook bolts
• Two hook screws
• Ten screw eyes
• Four spring washers M12
• Eight washers M12
• Eight hexagon nuts M12
• Threaded rod M12
• A bunch of screws
• One carabiner
• Two cable clamps
• Ten small wheels 3 cm in diameter
• Two small wheels 4 cm in diameter
• Wooden beams ( 4 cm x 4 cm ) approximately  10 meter total usage
• Wooden stick 2.5 cm in diameter and approximately 60 cm long
• Wooden board approximately 88 cm x 30 cm x 2.7 cm
• MDF boards approximately 99 cm x 33 cm x 1.1 cm
• Two long pieces of aluminum (140 cm x 4 cm x 3 mm)
• Elastic straps
• Four pulleys
• Two bearings: outer diameter 32 mm, inner diameter 12 mm
• Rope 2 meter, 10 mm in diameter

Tools:

• Wood glue
• Wood wax
• Wood paste
• Jig saw
• Screw driver
• Sand paper
• Wood clamps
• Wood file
• Drill
• Drill bit  6 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm, 32 mm

Step 1 - Building the Wooden Base

Saw six pieces of 30 cm from the wooden beam. Measure a 45° angle on each piece and saw them off.

 

Saw six pieces of 10 cm from the wooden beam,  two pieces of 18 cm, three pieces of 40 cm, two pieces of 42 cm, two pieces of 19 cm and two pieces of 73 cm. Finally saw two lengths of 170 cm.

 

Saw rectangles (4 cm x 4 cm x 2 cm) out of the ends of the 170 cm lengths and the 40 cm pieces. Glue the sawed ends of the 170 cm lengths and the 40 cm pieces together in a right-angle.  Screw two pieces of 30 cm (the ones with the 45° angle sawed off) in the right-angled corners. 

 

On the other end of the 170 cm beams you measure 3 cm from the top and drill a 15 mm hole. On top of that hole drill a 1 cm deep hole 32 mm in diameter.

 

Glue a 10 cm piece between the finished right angled pieces, starting from the corner. Than glue two pieces of 10 cm at 25 cm and glue the last one at 83 cm.  

 

Take the last 40 cm piece, measure 11 cm from the sides from these marks draw two 4 cm by 4 cm rectangles and saw them out 2 cm deep. 

 

Screw the 42 cm pieces to the 73 cm pieces and drill a 12 mm hole throughout both pieces at height 20 cm.

 

Screw the long ends (at 120 cm) “of the so far finished base” on top of the 42 cm pieces. 

 

Screw a 18 cm piece on top of the long ends - between the 73 cm pieces.

 

Screw a 18 cm piece between the tops of the 73 cm pieces.

 

Screw two 19 cm pieces vertical between the two 18 cm pieces leaving a 2 cm space between them.

 

Screw four pieces of 30 cm (the ones with the 45° angle sawed off) in the right-angled corners on the base. 

 

Fill the screw holes with wood paste and sand them smooth.

 

The base is finished.

Step 2 - The Wooden Pulley

Draw (on the MDF board) two circles 32 cm in diameter and one circle 30 cm in diameter and jig-saw them out. Glue them together leaving the smaller one of 30 cm in the middle. Drill a 12 mm  hole in the middle of the circle. Bolt the created wheel on the drilled holes on the back of the base. (Note, you can get pre cut MDF boards.)

 

Put the bearings on in the drilled 32 mm holes. Use spring washers, washers, hexagon nuts and a threaded rod to connect the wooden pulley to the base. 

Step 3 - The Wooden Rolling Seat

Saw 30 cm by 30 cm of the wooden board. 

 

Saw two 30 cm by 8 cm pieces of the wooden board.  These will be the sides. Screw them onto the 30 cm by 30 cm piece.

 

Screw two rows of tree wheels on the bottom and two wheels on each side. Spread the wheels evenly.

 

Fill the screw holes with wood paste and sand them smooth.

 

Screw two pieces of aluminum 4 cm by 140 cm on top of the base.

Step 4 - The Feet Supports

Saw two 26 cm by 12 cm pieces of the wooden board

 

Saw two 12 cm by 6 cm pieces of the wooden board

 

Screw the small boards right angled on (the end of) the bigger boards.

 

Take the two leftover 10 cm pieces from step 1. Drill a 12 mm hole throughout the top of each piece. Screw them in the center of each 26 cm by 12 cm piece.

 

Bolt the feet supports on the drilled 12 mm holes on the base. Use spring washers, washers, hexagon nuts and threaded rods to connect the feet supports to the base.   

 

Fill the screw holes with wood paste and sand them smooth.

Step 5 - The Pulling / Resistance Mechanism

Fix two hook screws underneath the base (see picture). 

 

Screw four pulleys underneath the base on to the two 10 cm pieces.

 

Saw two pieces of the wooden stick: one 14 cm long and the other 12 cm long. Drill six holes in the long one and five holes in the short one, using the 6 mm drill bit. Spread the holes evenly. On the long piece bolt four screw eyes on the inner side and two hook bolts on the outside facing the opposite direction. On the short piece bolt five screw eyes with the middle one facing the opposite direction.

 

The elastic straps I used are 85 cm long.  Attach them to the screw eyes of the 14 cm long stick. Cut the hooks on the other end of the elastic straps off and pull them through the pulleys. Now reattach the hooks and fix them to the screw eyes of the 12 cm long stick.  

 

To make the handle saw a 30 cm piece of the wooden stick. Drill a 6 mm hole in the middle and bolt a screw eye on. Attach a carabiner to the screw eye. Put a rope through the carabiner and fasten it with a cable clamp. 

 

Guide the rope over the wooden pulley and underneath the base. Attach the rope to the remaining screw eye and fasten with a cable clamp.

Step 6 - The Wheels

Saw a cube of 4 cm by 4 cm, next saw this cube diagonally. Screw these pieces on the 73 cm  beams facing the wooden wheel and 2 cm off the ground. Next screw a wheel on each block.

Step 7 - Wax!

Wax all the wood with wood wax to give it a nice smooth surface. Pay extra attention to the seat and handle - for extra comfort get bicycle handle grips and slide them onto the handle.

Step 8 - Exercise!

One of the most common mistakes is to bend the lower back when going forward and backwards. Try to keep your back straight. Follow these steps if you do the exercise:

1. Lean slightly forward with your arms straight and rounded legs
2. Start to straighten your legs, lean a little backward and pull your arms.
3. Stop when your legs are straight and your arms are bend while you hold the handle to your abdomen.
4. Stretch your arms again, bend forward and bend your knees to go back.
5. Start over!

Adjusting the Resistance

To adjust the resistance on the rowing machine, you can hook/unhook elastic straps. Many beginners make the resistance as high as possible in order to burn more calories, but then you will sooner suffer from pain in your back and aching muscles. The resistance is good if you can finish your session without feeling completely exhausted. You get a good cardio workout and develop your muscular strength and endurance.

Kung Fu Abs Workout

"Freddie" is a Kung Fu expert in Chicago, Illinois. (If you were hoping he was a personal trainer in Toronto, I am sorry to disappoint you.) The video below is a series of ab exercises that he recommends to his martial arts students.

The goal of his exercises isn't so worried about developing "six pack abs" and are more concerned about giving the abs a complete workout from different positions so that the body can be properly conditioned to perform martial arts.

It is true that many martial artists have the kind of abs that other men only dream of having, but that isn't their primary goal. It is really just a bonus side effect.

We should note however that if you are overweight that to get to that point however you first need to do lots of cardio so you can lose your extra belly fat.

Ab exercises are really more about toning the muscles. Ab exercises don't burn that many calories because people only do them for short periods of time.



Same goes with weightlifting - it doesn't burn a lot of calories because most people don't have the energy or stamina to weight lift constantly for an hour without a break. It is a myth that weightlifting burns a lot of calories because the stats on various websites giving caloric estimates that don't specify how many reps, how much weights, how much break time, how quickly/slowly is the person performing repetitions. There are too many unknown variables.

Both amateurs and professionals take breaks in-between exercises such as weightlifting. Ab exercises are, basically, a body weight exercise in the same way that chin ups and push ups are also body weight exercises. So don't expect to lose weight by doing ab exercises. Quite the opposite, you will probably gain muscle weight within the first couple of days of performing ab exercises.

If your goal is to lose weight and eventually get six pack abs then you first need to focus on some cardio activities such as running, jogging, swimming, cycling, or even just walking. As you progress you can also add activities like yoga, boxing, martial arts for fun. Then as you near your goal you can start doing more ab exercises.

Stairs and Steps - Frugal Exercising

Using your steps or stairs at home or near your workplace in Toronto can give you a fantastic cardio and/or strength workout. By adding the stairs into your daily regimen, and by performing step exercises you will strengthen your legs and butt muscles, while using core stabilizing muscles for balance - thus giving you an almost full body workout which make you buttocks and legs look fantastic if you do these exercises regularly for a year.

And the best part is it will help build endurance so you don't get tired so easily while climbing stairs in the future.

And the bonus is that its very frugal. No equipment needed. And you don't need a personal trainer to tell you what to do. I've provided everything here.

Stairs Exercises Instructions

#1. Go slowly. Rushing or running up the stairs will more likely cause you to trip and hurt yourself. Possibly even result in falling down the stairs.

#2. If you are a beginner and don't normally take the stairs start out with no weight. Intermediate to advanced can use dumbbells, soup cans, or even tote bags filled with books.

#3. Start by standing at the bottom of the staircase and placing one foot on the bottom step.

#4. Step up each leg one at a time by placing all of the weight on your heel and by keeping your hamstrings, quadriceps and glutes strong while driving up through the foot until both feet are on the same step. Perform one set of 10 to 15 reps on the first foot and then switch sides, doing the other foot first.

Ideas for More Variety

#1. Alternate feet.

#2. Side Step. Turn sideways and step up the stairs facing sideways. Try adding a lateral raise while lifting the free leg out to the side.

#3. Reverse step up. Start by standing on the bottom step. Step off the stair with one foot. This will bend the knee of the leg remaining on the step. Straighten the leg to bring the foot back up to the step.

#4. Stairs can also be used for uneven squats (one foot on, one foot off) and lunges, by placing one foot on the step. The back foot on the step will make lunges much more challenging.

#5. Do Cardio and Weight Lifting Intervals. Time yourself for 2 minutes and try cardio intervals on your stairs in between weight lifting sets. Remember to wear running shoes and don't go too fast or else you will risk falling.