How to avoid stretch marks because of exercising or stretching too much

I have noticed that stretching a lot before/during/after exercise or rapid weight loss is a major cause of stretch marks on the body. Stretch marks look bad and never ever go away. They just fade in time but look ungainly all the same.

One way to avoid this is to definitely moisturize your skin after exercising. Make sure you take bath after exercise and apply a good moisturizer while your skin is still moist so that your skin absorbs all the goodness of the moisturizer.

This way, you avoid getting stretch marks in the first place. And of course, take precautions like always warming up well before exercising and not stretching too much too soon. 

How to stop hair loss

You can stop hair loss by adding Kohl or Kajal to your hair oil, applying it and leaving it on overnight, and washing it off in the morning. Try to heat the oil for better results. If possible, use natural products like Reetha or Shikakai or methi powder to wash your hair rather than shampoos. This simple tip will help reduce hair fall drastically and even grow out your hair in no time!

Khan Academy - a useful study resource

http://www.khanacademy.org/ is a website which is a good learning tool for anyone wanting to brush up on the basics of Maths, Science, Economics and a host of other subjects. It has been developed by Salman Khan and is backed by Bill Gates! The site has videos of 8 - 12 minutes duration explaining various concepts on different subjects.

Sometimes Khan can be a little too detailed and is obsessed with the colours he uses while explaining his subject and can be a bit of a drag, especially if you want to view it more than once. But overall he does a good job. The site also has exercises you can do to practice the concepts you've just learnt.

Especially useful for those looking to write competitive exams like CAT, GMAT, UPSC exams, etc.

How to lengthen your eyelashes

Here's a fantastic beauty tip I bet you would never ever have come across anywhere but here! Here's how to lengthen your eyelashes:

Take a tiny drop of oil (any hair oil or coconut oil. Not cooking oil) and rub in a little bit of Kohl or Kajal into it. Apply this mixture to your eyelashes in the night and wash it off in the morning. You can cleanse it with cleansing milk, moisturizer, cream or even coconut oil if its too dark or stubborn in coming off. Wash off with soap / face wash and water.

Try this for as long as you want. I promise that within a week you will see dramatic results! The Kohl will make your eyes look brighter and more beautiful throughout the day! Just make sure you don't apply a lot of oil or it will get into your eyes and make you uncomfortable. Just the tiniest drop of oil with the tiniest amount of Kohl. But even if the oil does get in it won't harm your eyes. You can just wipe off the oil and wash your eyes in water.

This is a completely natural and organic way to increase the length of your lashes and thicken them too. No side effects! A friend of mine told me about it and I tried it and hope this helps many other women out there too!

Review: Paula Abdul - Get up and Dance workout DVD

Paula Abdul's Get up and Dance workout DVD came out in 1995 but is in no way outdated. I have been working out to her DVD since January of 2010. This DVD has been brought out by Paula Abdul, singer and former judge on American Idol.

The DVD is essentially a Dance workout DVD. So you won't really find any exercise techniques, but a lot of different dance movements which get you moving and shaking every part of your body, especially the legs, making it a very effective cardio workout. The DVD is broken down into 6 sections, an Introduction and set of Instructions, Warm up, 3 sections of 3 dance steps each, a fun YMCA section and a cool down.

I read quite a few reviews of the DVD and a frequent complaint is that the steps are too hard to learn and that this DVD is good only for people who already know how to dance. I do agree that the steps can be a little difficult to master at first, but it's really not that hard to learn. A couple of days in and you should be able to figure it out soon enough. And you can always pause and rewind and learn the steps. In fact, the most fun part is learning the steps because they are real dance moves and make you feel good about learning actual dance steps and not just some aerobic exercises masquerading as dance. I'm no great shakes at dancing myself, but I managed to learn the steps in just about a month, and I'm really having fun dancing to the DVD since then. I really think it is worth putting in a little bit of effort in learning the steps because it really pays off eventually with the weight loss and muscle toning.

I did find the routine too challenging though. Even after a year of intermittent workouts I still find myself struggling to cope with the pace of the dancers. So I just modify the steps to suit my pace. I don't jump as much as the dancers in the DVD do, which suits me just fine.

The DVD is fantastic to lose weight, learn dancing and feel great about yourself. It has some upbeat music which will make you move even in the worst of moods and is guaranteed to make you feel fantastic about yourself the entire day.

Paula Abdul is a fantastic instructor. She is sweet, energetic and encouraging and a fantastic dancer! I loved the steps and have a ball dancing to it. In the end however, there are too many sit-ups she makes us do, which kind of makes my stomach and neck. Guess you must work at your own pace there if you want to avoid injury.

Other than that, I can find absolutely no faults with the dance DVD. Paula advises you to do it at least 3-5 times a week but I think just 3 days is enough to knock you out. Paula Abdul's Get up and Dance is undoubtedly the best workout dance DVD I have come across, and is extremely effective to lose weight and shape and tone your whole body. It does its work very well and in the process turns you into a decent enough dancer too!

Review: Ministry of Sound: Pump it up! The Ultimate Dance Workout

I got the very popular 'Ministry of Sound - Pump it Up! The Ultimate Dance Workout' DVD recently. The DVD is choreographed by Deanne Berry who is also the instructor in the video. A fun fact about the DVD is that the dancers in the DVD also feature in the hit single 'Call on Me' by Eric Prydz. That would explain why the ladies in the DVD are dressed the way they are!

First off - this is the best workout music I've ever heard. Its fun, energetic and gets you in the mood to workout even on the dullest of days. All the steps have been made to co-ordinate with the music. The dancers are slim, dance well and are very inspirational. But you know they are only human because they make quite a few mistakes and check each other out often to see if they are doing it right! It can be a little annoying but I think you can just ignore that anyway. Though it makes me wonder if they hadn't rehearsed enough. Apart from the skimpy costumes and sexy pouts, this is a serious and fantastic workout.

The DVD is broken into 4 sections:

Heat - This is the 10 minute warm-up section that starts off with really simple aerobic exercises. It gets your body warmed up but I found that the squats and lunges hurt my knees. Now I just skip the squats and just do some spot-jogs instead.

Dance it out - The next section is the very fun 20 minute Dance it out section. Instructor Deanne Berry takes you through some very groovy music and moves but also manages to get you out of breath in no time. I found it particularly effective in toning the hips. She throws in some sexy salsa steps, but it slows down the pace a bit too much for my liking. The pace picks up again towards the end and leaves you panting.

Pump it up! - The third section is the challenging high energy workout for 20 minutes. This section involves a lot of jumping, leg - lifts and high impact exercises. It's no doubt very effective if you want to lose weight fast, but it's extremely strenuous. Be careful not to hurt your knees when you do this section. The music is fast-paced and gets you moving. I did find the last 10 minutes of the section a tad boring with a lot of moves from the video 'Call on me' thrown in. I feel its a bit boring to do but its a good cool down after the high impact jumping.

Bums and Tums - I know...bums and tums? Really? But don't be fooled by the silly name this section has got. It's a killer workout for your, er, bum and tums. That's of course, your belly and buttocks. This section has strength-training exercises; push-ups, sit-ups, crunches and ab-holds - all crucial to complement the cardio training you get from the first three sections of the video. I never miss this section because it's great to tone the arms, chest, stomach and buttocks.

Chill - The DVD finishes off with a 15 minute cool down that has a few yogic postures and Pilates moves that stretch your body well. I found it a bit too long. After you've finished sweating it out and you're all out of breath, 15 minutes of more stuff is a bit too much to do. But this is very important to prevent injury so I never skip it.

The whole DVD runs for an hour and 17 minutes. Its a little long, so try to set your own pace otherwise you might land up with an injury. The steps are tough for beginners so do exercise caution while trying out the steps. Deanne does not explain the steps but then, she doesn't need to as you just need to watch and follow. You may even end up adding your own style to the steps. Do modify the steps and make it a little easier on yourself. Overall, the DVD is a good buy for someone who is serious about losing weight but can't go out or to a gym.