fitness tips

Whether or not you love the treadmill incline as much as Jennifer Aniston does, increasing it is an efficient and smart way to get the most out of your run. Here are three important reasons to up the incline on your treadmill.

Calorie burn: Upping the incline, even just a little bit, will help you burn a few extra calories with just a little more effort. Going from a zero-percent incline to five-percent incline burns over 100 more calories when running for 30 minutes, no matter your pace. Check out our chart to see just how many calories running on an incline burns. You might be pleasantly motivated.

Bikini bum: Kill two birds with one stone by working your lower body while raising your heartbeat, just in time to show off all your hard work on the beach. Just like running hills or hiking, running on the treadmill is a great exercise for toning your glutes and quads.

Better runner: If you've never run outside before, hopping off the treadmill and onto the road can be a wake-up call, since running outside isn't as easy as running on a flat, consistent treadmill. But if you increase the incline whenever you run inside, you'll be amazed at how much better your endurance and stamina become.

Of course, you'll really feel it when you start upping the incline more than a few percentages (it'll affect your pace as well, so take it slower if needed), but you'll be glad you did. Ready to start? Here's an under-20-minute incline treadmill workout if you're pressed for time, or try this rolling hills treadmill workout instead.

Over the weekend, I took a class led by Cara Castronuova, the champion boxer and former Biggest Loser trainer (the workout was part of a weekend event courtesy of Puma). While she led the class, she offered us all a bit of advice: sometimes, it's good to compete with your workout buddy.

Cara knows what it's like to be competitive — after all, her job is to throw punches — but trying to one-up your workout buddy may sound counterintuitive to those of us who don't spend hours staring down an opponent in the ring. In reality, though, injecting a little bit of friendly competition into your normal workout routine can help raise the caliber of both your and your buddy's routines. Here's how to add a little competition to your workout buddy dynamic.

Sign up for a race together: Between committing to a months-long plan and showing up for practice, training for a race can be a bonding time for you and your workout buddy. Add another dimension to your training plan by racing with your buddy every few weeks. You'll be able to track your personal progress and may be able to enjoy a few bragging rights as well.

Whoever loses buys: Sometimes, that workout needs a little bit of umph. That's when you turn it into a competition. Challenge your buddy to see who can do the most box jumps at the gym or see who can go the hardest on the elliptical, and after all's done, whoever loses gets to treat her buddy to a cup of coffee or a healthy meal.

Read on for more ways to compete with your workout buddy!

Since I have trouble yanking myself out of bed for an early morning workout, and after work I'm on mom duty, the lunchtime workout has become my fitness savior. Nothing beats the midday pick-me-up from a nooner sweat session, but timing is everything. After months of careful consideration and testing, I have found the best outfits, for both the office and gym, to cut down on locker room time to ensure I am pedaling when the first tune blares in, cardio cycling, and back at my desk minutes after the class is over.

Here's my tried-and-tested strategy:

What to wear to work: For starters, keep your office outfit simple: a one-piece dress is quickly off and easily hung on a locker hook. Skip the tights if weather permits, but do wear boots that slip on and off easily, so you can wear your athletic socks to work, eliminating one more element from your wardrobe change. If you have long hair, wear it up to work alleviating the need to mess with it before your workout. Start taking off your jewelry as you walk out the office door and do fish for your ID card as you commute, so it's on hand when you walk through the gym door.

Learn what to wear to the gym after the break.

By the end of my workout, usually all I can think about is what I'll be eating as soon as I leave the gym. While I can't wait to give my body a rest, I also love adding one last push to my workouts before calling it quits. Making myself increase my intensity, when I know I'll be sitting pretty in just a few minutes, motivates me to end on a high note.

Like HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, increasing your energy output for just a few short minutes at the end is a fun, challenging way to push yourself to accomplish much more during a workout than you may have thought, all while burning major calories.

Whether or not you're doing a HIIT workout, you can still give it your all when the end is near. Go all-out for just a few minutes with these other high-intensity workout ideas after the break.

Trainers are incredibly helpful in teaching better form and correct alignment, but no matter how astute a trainer is, he or she may miss a few things. To help protect your body from injury or strain, keep these questions in mind during your training session. Even though it's a trainer's job to keep you safe, it's still important to develop a keen eye for any bad habits that could present potential problems later.

Where Should I Be Aligned?
Everyone's body has different tilts and asymmetries, and your trainer might not always be able to see the one-inch difference between your left and right shoulders, for example. If you are aware of any asymmetries in your body, verbalize them to your trainer so he or she will keep you in check. You also want to remind yourself of common alignment issues like keeping your shoulders down and back, abs engaged, hips even, and weight on the heels of the foot when doing squats or lunges.

Click here for more questions to ask.

If you work or go to school full time, getting your sweat on in the wee hours of the morn is probably the only time you can fit it in. Kudos to you for resisting the urge to hit the snooze button and skip out. Make setting your alarm and pulling yourself out of bed worth all the effort and avoid these morning exercise mistakes.

• Not eating: It's super early, but you need to eat in order to fuel your workout. Munch on something small while you're getting ready, like half a banana or half a piece of toast with a little peanut butter. You'll not only avoid the gnawing hunger pangs, but you'll also have an extra pep in your step to exercise harder or longer than you would on an empty stomach. When you get home, you can enjoy your usual breakfast, which is always something to look forward to.
• Loading up on fiber: While it's important to eat a little something, you don't want to load up on bulky fiber that can make you feel too full or upset your stomach.
• Not hydrating: Aside from food, you also need water. Definitely don't down half a gallon before you hit the gym because too much water can cause cramping, but make sure you sip a short glass of H2O while enjoying your small snack.
• Not laying your outfit out the night before: You don't have oodles of time in the morning, so don't take away from your exercise time by scrambling to find your missing sock. Plan your outfit before you go to bed so you can just slip it on and go.

Keep reading for more morning exercise mistakes to avoid.

Cardio is great for burning calories, but it can also help give you a shapely tush. Don't miss out on the potential to pull double duty in your workout.

Running: Hills are a great for building cardio endurance and toning your backside. Running on an incline targets the glutes and the hamstrings, so be sure to add hills to your outdoor runs. If you're more the treadmill type, use our rolling-hills treadmill workout.

Elliptical: If the elliptical is your cardio jam, work your glutes and hamstrings by focusing on the connection of your heel on the pedal. Pedaling backward also targets the back of your legs and butt, so remember to reverse direction often. Work the incline with this butt-toning elliptical workout.

Cardio Cycling: Sitting while biking won't do much for your booty, but once you stand to pedal, your glutes kick into action. Keep you butt over the bike seat while you lean forward to maximize the booty work.

Stairs: Think of the stair-climbing as a bunch of step-ups (a great strength-training move for toning the backside) strung together. As you climb the stairs, either on a StepMill or actual steps, your glute kicks into action. Put you mind where you want the action to be and actively engage your glutes as you straighten your leg while stepping up.

Exercising with a buddy definitely has its perks, but when it comes to most of my workouts, I prefer to exercise alone. Here are some reasons it's sometimes better to sweat it out solo.

• You can work out whenever you want and when it best fits your schedule. Plus you never have to deal with someone being late.
• You can skip the chitchat and focus on your breath and inner thoughts. It's a great time to make mental to-do lists, brainstorm for work, or daydream about weekend plans. Going solo means it's really "me" time.
• The type and intensity of the workout is up to you, whether you feel like going for a run in your neighborhood, hitting a Zumba class, or following a gentle yoga video.
• You can stuff your ears with headphones and rock out to that new cardio mix you made.
• It's OK to wear the same outfit you wore yesterday, even if you didn't wash it. There's no one to make a comment or complain about a little stink.

Keep reading for more reasons it's better to exercise alone.

FitSugar community member (and fitness instructor) livinginthin gives us a primer on Tabata training, a type of high-intensity interval workout.

You've probably heard the word Tabata by now (and if you haven't, you will!). So what exactly is this hot new fitness trend, and why you should care about it?

What is Tabata?

The term Tabata was coined after the Japanese researcher Dr. Izumi Tabata, who compared the effectiveness of short, very high-intensity training (bursts of maximal effort for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of recovery, repeated for four minutes in total) to a traditional 60-minute aerobic workout.

Who should do it?

Anyone looking to amp up their fitness level, maximize their cardio time, burn more calories, and blast off more fat in way less time. The key to a successful Tabata session is being able to hit the high levels of intensity (the participants in the Tabata study worked at 170 percent of their VO2 Max — that's killer!). If you are new to exercise, or returning after a long hiatus, you may want to progress slowly with trying a Tabata workout.

Learn more about Tabata, after the break!