Jul
28
Sweat-Free Workouts That Will Help You Loose Weight
The effectiveness of the exercise is often measured in the increase of heart rate and the amount of perspiration one undergoes, yet exercises are not all about increasing the pumping of the heart or sweating it out at the gym. With the summer heat making your skin pores already work harder, it is really unfair to indulge in high intensity exercises that make you sweat more. This is even more so for people who hate exercises especially if it induces sweating and yet need to loose weight. The right word for you would be the low intensity workouts such as Tai chi which mixes stretching and meditation with a good dose of mild exercises. But for those who don’t know Tai Chi, the following may be beneficial.
1. Walking
The simplest of all forms of exercises, you can even do this on a slow speed on your treadmill or better still take a walk with your spouse (or your dog if you have one) early in the morning or late in the evening every day for at least 45 minutes to one hour. Walking helps control your blood pressure, relaxes your body and mind and also manages your weight without so much as breaking a sweat.
2. Pilates
Pilates exercises combines the fine factors of gymnastics, yoga, dance and calisthenics and helps strengthen the core, improve overall posture and also help lengthen the body. Pilates as can be seen in the workout videos is not an aerobic workout and hence there is no sweating, it cannot be substituted for strength training exercises and it does not burn calories like cardio workouts. But it does target the abs and the back. Two of the common Pilates exercises are The Hundred and the Double Leg Stretch.
To do the basic “The Hundred” exercise, lie flat on your back, legs bent in a tabletop position (your shin and your ankles should be parallel to the floor), hands to the side of your body. Inhale. Now exhaling slowly lift your head up to your shoulder level, curling your upper spine (without lifting your shoulders off the floor), feel the pressure on your abs. Inhale and stay in this position for a few seconds. Exhale and deepen the pull on your abdominal muscles, extend your arms and legs. Inhale and exhale five short breaths (sniff in and puff out). Return to the start position. Repeat for 10 full breaths.
3. Yoga
The gentle stretches, bends and breathing of yoga can help regulate your hunger apart from various other benefits like suppleness of the body, regulation of breathing and heart beat. Even the most simple posture like the Swastikasana (sitting with cross-folded legs so that the sole of your leg is placed between the thigh and calf muscles) helps stretch and strengthen your thigh muscles without the least bit of sweating.
The best part of all the above exercises, as you can see in the exercise videos is they don’t need any special equipment, place or time and can be practically done anywhere and everywhere, the only criteria being an empty stomach.