Ben Greenfield

With summer rolling in, your sleeves are going to be rolling up. This means bare arms, more neck, and possibly even a little waist is going to show. So today, you'll get five steps to ensure that you look good in your t-shirt this summer!

Step 1: Bringing Sexy Back

In case you hadn't noticed, barefoot running seems to have exploded in popularity recently.

From Paleo and primal enthusiasts to the Barefoot Running Society (with nearly 2,000 members), to crazy people trying to run across the country barefoot, barefoot running has certainly become a craze...

Summer is quickly approaching, and with warmer weather comes triathlon season. Originally reserved for uber-toned fitness fanatics wearing obnoxiously-colorful spandex, triathlons are now accessible to anyone and provide good motivation to get into full body shape. Even Lance Armstrong has switched from cycling to triathlon!

Contrary to popular...

There is a principle in exercise science called "SAID," which stands for "specific adaptations to imposed demands." Basically, it means that your body will eventually adapt to the demands you place upon it. So if you exercise regularly, you must constantly alter your routine in some way in order to...

One of the top excuses for not exercising is: "I don't have enough time."

Sadly, the health club culture has led us to believe that to get the body we want, we need to dedicate 45 to 90 daily minutes to the gym, plodding on the treadmill like a...

What do Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and many seven-foot-tall professional basketball players have in common? They all do Pilates. If you have no clue what Pilates is, or need a reminder, check out my article "What Is Pilates?"

Although I'm a fan of anything that helps you live...

Imagine your spine is a credit card. In the same way that repeatedly flexing and extending a credit card will eventually lead to wearing out of the plastic, repeatedly doing crunches can put damaging strain on your back.

Here's why:

Each of your spinal discs is only able to...

Getting to the gym can be tough. But just because you're stuck at home doesn't mean you can't exercise. And you don't need to have a lot of fancy, expensive equipment to do it.

It's also not necessary to have a single room in your house that is devoted to...

If there's one part of the body that my clients most often complain about, it's the thighs. They can be too skinny, too thick, too soft, too weak or too baggy. So whether you want to improve tone, add strength or simply look great in your jeans, this...

Your body's most efficient energy source is fat.

Just one pound of stored fat can provide about 3,600 calories of energy, which is far more than most people actually burn in a single day. In comparison, a pound of storage protein or carbohydrate provides less than half that much...

I'm no yogi master, but I've done a fair share of power, hatha, Bikram, and even accidental, freestyle yoga when out on slippery winter runs. We all expect that yoga will stretch your muscles, increase your flexibility and help you to relax and de-stress. But there have been a lot...

Have you lost your abs recently? Maybe you're noticing a "muffin top" or "beer belly" that needs to disappear? Or perhaps you just need that extra bit of definition to compete with Ryan Gosling's impressive physique. Good news: You can get a flat stomach, in three steps.

Step #1: Know...

Nobody likes to be sore after a workout. Aside from the difficulties of breathing hard or your muscles burning, uncomfortable post workout soreness is one of the main reasons that people drop out of an exercise routine.

But although soreness cannot be completely eliminated, it can be controlled, and...

Water, like air, is made up of molecules floating around. But in water, these molecules are closely packed together and form a more dense environment, which makes it pretty tough to swing your arms and legs through, especially when compared to air. If you try to swing your arms and...

With so many workout choices, from Zumba to TRX to P90X to BodyPump to Spinning to Yogalate to Crossfit to Beach Body Insanity, how can you know which one will burn fat fastest?

The majority of workouts that advertise themselves as high fat-burning can be broken down into three...

Whether you stuffed yourself full of Thanksgiving turkey and are now in panic mode about how your waistline is going to handle all those holiday parties, or your weight survived Thanksgiving unharmed but threatens to explode as the holiday season progresses, in this article, you'll learn how holiday weight gain...

Wait!

Before you close out of this article because it sounds like a "meathead" topic, you should know a few important things about muscle. Growing muscle doesn't mean getting "bulky!" Instead, it simply means that you are laying down lean and dense fibers that can replace fat and boost...

If you've lost weight recently, you may have noticed that you have loose skin hanging around. Whether it's flaps under your arms, or a hanging pouch around your stomach, loose skin can be an embarrassing issue. In this article you'll learn why skin gets loose, how to tighten it after...

In can be intimidating to walk into the gym and see row upon row of shiny contraptions with belts, chains and gears. The vast array of cardio machines is dizzying. But when it comes to getting results, boosting your fitness and shrinking your waistline, the best cardio machine is the...

Wouldn't it be fabulous if there was a way to take one area of your body, like your butt, your abs, the back of your arms, or your thighs, and make all the fat in that area disappear by doing one particular, magical exercise? Unfortunately, there isn't.

(And if there...