Fitness & Wellness

The Importance Of Stretching

The Importance Of Stretching

If you don’t realize the importance of stretching and do a short session during your warm-up, you’ll probably find yourself injured or have a less productive workout. When you exercise at Body Sculptors in Louisville, KY, we include stretching in every workout. It helps improve flexibility and circulates the blood to the extremities to warm them for the upcoming workout. You can do stretching—flexibility exercises after a workout, while the muscles are warmed up and more flexible to improve your range of motion.

Stretching is the body’s natural reaction.

If you’ve ever stretched in the morning or after a tense day at the computer, you don’t think about it, you just do it. It’s a natural reaction to help loosen the muscles. When you wake up with a yawn and a stretch, it’s your body’s way of preparing for the day. Yawning increases oxygen intake. Stretching increases circulation. If you’ve ever watched a cat after a nap, you’ll notice animals automatically stretch. It’s instinctive in them, just as it is in humans.

Exercise, including stretching, can improve posture.

Bad posture can cause health issues and make you look defeated. It can cause headaches, breathing difficulties, incontinence, constipation, and heartburn. Even less known issues like TMJ can be from bad posture. Exercise is the best way to improve posture with strength-building at the lead, followed closely by stretching. It increases the range of motion, loosens muscles, and can help you return to good posture. It loosens muscles that are tight from years of bad habits and weakness.

Stretching before a workout can reduce the build-up of lactic acid.

When you increase your circulation, you’ll also be increasing the oxygen that travels through your body. If your muscles don’t get enough oxygen lactic acid can build. If you’re fit and the workout isn’t hard, it clears relatively quickly. If you’re unfit or perform a grueling workout, it can build up too quickly for the body to remove. Stretching helps shorten the process of removing lactic acid. If it remains it causes lactic acidosis. Lactic acidosis interferes with the body’s pH levels, makes each workout more difficult, and can cause pain.

  • A pulled or torn muscle can put you out of commission for weeks or months. It can happen anywhere, not just at the gym. Stretching improves your range of motion to help prevent it.
  • When you stretch, it prepares your body to become more active. It helps acclimate the heart for more effort and prevents a sudden
  • You’ll build muscle faster if you stretch before doing strength training. Stretching increases your range of motion and prepares your muscles to work muscles on all planes.
  • Stretching relaxes tight muscles and gets you in the mood for exercise by changing your focus. It can help increase oxygen in your blood to clear your brain if you stretch during mental activities.

For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training


How To Get Started With Strength Training

How To Get Started With Strength Training

All types of exercise are necessary to be your fittest, cardio, flexibility, balance, and strength training. Each type of fitness requires different training. Some are easier to start than others. If you want to build cardio strength, ride a bike, run, or walk. Those activities don’t focus on building strength or improving balance or flexibility. Other exercises provide those benefits. While running may help build lower-body muscles, it doesn’t build upper-body strength. Here are some tips to help you start on the path to improved strength.

Don’t believe the myth that you need special equipment.

People often fail to do strength training because they believe they need expensive equipment, like barbells, dumbbells, or kettlebells. The truth is you don’t need any of those things. People have been doing strength training without any of those things. They use bodyweight exercises to provide resistance. Lifting your body against the force of gravity helps build muscles. If you want equipment but are short on cash, use resistance bands. They allow you to work muscles on all planes.

The most important factor in strength training is form.

To build strength, lift something heavy, push something heavy, or pull something heavy. It’s that simple. What isn’t that simple is maintaining the proper form when you do it. If your form isn’t correct, you face the potential of an injury or not getting the full benefit of your efforts. When you first begin, either have a friend to help or do the exercise in front of a mirror to check your form. Doing it right is far more important than the number of reps or the amount of weight you lift.

Don’t train the same muscle groups two days in a row.

When you’re building muscles, you stress them and cause microtears in the muscles. It takes time for those muscles to heal. The healing process is what makes them stronger. If you do strength-building every day, it doesn’t allow muscle tissue to heal. The muscles dwindle and get weaker. Get adequate sleep, eat quality protein, and if you do strength training two days in a row, work different parts of the body.

  • Track your progress. Make your workout tough, but one you can do without compromising your form. Start with exercises like push-ups, walking lunges, and planks. As they become easier, increase your repetitions and sets.
  • Kettlebell workouts or HIIT—high intensity interval training—workouts can speed your progress, while also boosting your cardiovascular health. Circuit training can also build muscle tissue with less time exercising.
  • Besides increasing repetitions and sets, you can modify exercises. You can make them easier or more difficult. You can alter them to focus on working other muscle groups. If you place your hands wider when doing a push-up, works other muscles.
  • Having a snack of carbs and protein 30 to 60 minutes before a workout can improve your workout. Consuming a high-protein, high-carb snack afterward can help with recovery.

For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training


Why It Is Important To Have A Regular Exercising Schedule?

Why It Is Important To Have A Regular Exercising Schedule?

Do you want to be a better pianist? Practice every day. If you want to be a better writer, write every day. The same is true of exercise. It’s even easier if you do it at the same time each day to form a habit. A regular exercising schedule carves out the same time every day to increase your chance for success. Consistency is the key to success and scheduling a workout helps maintain that consistency.

If you have an appointment, you don’t take other appointments in that time slot.

When you put something in your calendar, like a doctor’s or dentist’s appointment, you don’t accept another commitment at that time since it’s already filled. The same happens when you consider your workout an appointment with the gym. People who use a personal trainer have found meeting with the trainer at a specific time is far more motivating than going to the gym and working out alone. The gym takes second place to anything that interrupts the day when you don’t schedule it.

You have to make it important to you.

You should value your time at the gym. Exercise helps keep blood pressure regulated, reduces the risk of insulin resistance, helps shed extra pounds, reduces stress, and improves your immune system. You should value the benefits it provides and appreciate the time it saves at the doctor’s office later. Creating a regular workout time increases its importance and helps you develop a habit. Habits are hard to break.

Scheduling helps put structure into your workout.

You know you’ll exercise at a specific time every day and understand it doesn’t have to be at the gym. Scheduling your workout gives you the liberty to switch things up. You can work out in the gym three days a week and use the other days for different types of exercise. You could ride a bike, walk, or do something different, such as take dance lessons. You can schedule cardio, strength-building, and flexibility training on different days or include them every day, dividing up your strength-building to different areas of the body.

  • If you schedule your workout at the same time each day, you’ll miss it when you don’t do it. It becomes a habit to devote that time to improving your fitness.
  • Going to the gym at the same time every day can increase your social circle. You start to see the same people each time and interact. That makes working out more fun and improves your chances of continuing.
  • Just considering the best time to schedule your workout can be a benefit. If you know you get busy during the day and it wrecks your schedule, the logical choice is to make your appointment the first thing in the day.
  • It takes more than exercise to be your fittest. It takes a healthy diet, too. We provide nutritional coaching that can help you create new dietary habits.

For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training


Nutrition Tips For Seniors

Nutrition Tips For Seniors

One of the leading causes of poor health is inadequate nutrition. It can occur no matter what your age, but for seniors is more prevalent. There are many reasons for that. Digestive and dental health issues are two of the problems. Physical limitations that impede cooking are another. Even if the senior has a healthy diet available, absorption of nutrients usually isn’t as efficient as it was when they were younger. Less active seniors often don’t have a good appetite, so they eat less, also limiting the nutrients ingested.

Obvious fixes include changing the things that can be changed.

If the senior has poor dental health, seeing a dentist and taking care of the problem is the fix. Addressing digestive issues is another. If the senior has a physical limitation that impedes cooking, services can deliver healthy meals. Education is the best tool for seniors to help improve their diet. Often knowing what to cook and how to balance a diet is the biggest drawback that affects overall nutrition.

Seniors can benefit from meal planning.

Meal planning can take many forms. You can plan healthy meals one day, make a grocery list the next, shop the next day, and cook a week’s worth of meals on another day. It sounds like a lot of trouble, especially creating the meal plans and shopping list. It doesn’t have to be. Our Fit Meal Formula can create a personalized plan for you to follow. It even contains a shopping list. All you have to do is buy the groceries listed and cook. Most people find they save money by meal planning. If you’re cooking for one, simply freeze the other meals and use them for another week later. It’s a lot healthier than using prepackaged foods from the grocery since it provides more nutrients and no preservatives.

Don’t forget your vitamin D.

While it’s cold in the winter and there’s not enough sun to get the vitamin D you need, during the summer months you can make sure you have an adequate supply. Do safe sunning three times a week to boost your vitamin D. Safe sunning means spending 10-15 minutes in the sun. It should be at noon. Not only is the sun at its highest point, but your body is also most efficient at making vitamin D. People with lighter skin should start with less time in the sun. The older you are, the less able your body is to convert sunlight to vitamin D, so taking supplements, eating egg yolks, salmon, or beef liver helps.

  • If dental issues or a waning appetite is a problem, make a smoothie. You can add protein supplements, fresh fruit and vegetables, and nuts. It’s easier to drink several helpings of fruits and vegetables and less filling.
  • Create a rainbow of bright colors on your dinner plate by choosing a variety of fruits and vegetables. Frozen fruits and vegetables are less expensive and keep longer but have the same nutritional value as fresh.
  • Make sure to carry water with you at all times and sip it throughout the day. Seniors dehydrate quicker than younger counterparts. and the signs of dehydration vary. Confusion that resembles dementia is one symptom, rapid heartbeat, weakness, cramps, and exhaustion are others.
  • Always discuss any changes to your diet with your healthcare professional. Some food can interfere with medication. Food sensitivity and medical issues can also be affected by certain foods.

For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training


Exercises To Improve Posture

Exercises To Improve Posture

If you have chronic back pain, headaches, and body aches, the problem can come from poor posture. Exercise can help. Bad posture can disrupt your digestion and affect your entire body. Walking tall also makes you feel more confident. You can prove it to yourself by checking your emotions first by slouching, then when you stand up straight. Slouching makes you look and feel defeated. When that happens, the rest of the world sees it too.

Practice good standing posture.

Whether you’re standing in line or walking in the mall, you can practice good posture. Don’t lean forward or backward. Your chin should be parallel to the floor and your hips, shoulders, and ankles should all line up. Maintain good posture as you walk. Don’t look at your feet but focus on a spot about twenty feet ahead. Tuck in your tummy and backside as you rotate your hips slightly forward.

Some exercises to help improve your posture include stretches.

Stretching can help relax tight muscles as they build strength. The cat-cow pose is a good one. The cow pose starts on hands and knees, then let your abdomen drop as you raise your head and look toward the ceiling. Hold the position, then lower the body back to neutral position. Lower your head as you arch your back like an angry cat. Hold. Go back to neutral and repeat. You can use the same starting position to do a high plank. Straighten one leg as you step your foot back, putting your weight on your toes. Then move the other leg backward. Hold the position. Don’t let your stomach droop.

Your sitting posture matters.

Your back should be straight, and your shoulders should be back when you sit. Your bottom should touch the back of your chair. Distribute your weight evenly on both sides of the hip. Your knees should be slightly higher than your hips and your thighs should be at a right angle, horizontal to the floor. Doing stretches and shoulder rolls are good exercises to help your sitting posture. Lift your arms straight in the air, trying to reach higher each time. Keep your hands together and even.

  • Sleeping posture affects your sleep. If you sleep on your side, put a pillow between your knees and keep them slightly bent. People who sleep on their backs should use a lumbar roll under the lower back. Avoid sleeping on your stomach.
  • A yoga pose can help your posture. The child’s pose, where you sit with your shin bone toward the floor and your bottom on your heels, bending forward as you stretch your hands in front of you.
  • Open your chest with a stretch. It improves breathing and posture. Stand with feet hip-width. Put your hands together behind you as you lace your fingers together and palms pressing. Inhale as you lift your chest upward, lowering your hands behind you. Take five breaths and relax.
  • A thoracic spine rotation can also help back pain. Lay on one side, knees together and bent. Your hands should be straight in front of you with palms touching. Keep your lower body in place as you lift one hand straight up and over to the other side so your arms form a T to your body.

For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training


The Role Of Gut Health In Weight Loss

The Role Of Gut Health In Weight Loss

If you want to lose weight, we’ll help you at Body Sculptors in Louisville, KY. We address all aspects of weight loss, including diet and exercise. A healthy diet and regular exercise both affect your entire body. The combination improves endurance, metabolism, mood, and gut health. That’s right, gut health is vitally important to your body. There’s a link between gut health and losing weight. It takes more than just cutting back on calories. It takes a healthy diet to create a more efficient digestive system to lose those extra pounds.

Your gut microbiome makes a difference.

Your body has trillions of microbes. There are more microbes than cells. Estimates say that for every cell you have, you have three microbes. These include fungi, bacteria, archaea, and viruses with an estimate of between 300 to 500 species. The beneficial microbes perform several tasks for the body, including maintaining gut health and protecting the body from harmful microbes. If the microbes are out of balance with too many harmful ones, it can create many problems, including sugar cravings.

Besides the microbes, the gut produces vital hormones.

Hormones play a role in all bodily functions. They’re messengers. They regulate metabolism, control appetite, and send a wide variety of critical information to the brain. There are approximately 20 different hormones created in the gut that vary based on diet, stress, overall health, and the substances produced by microbes. The hormones can help or hinder weight loss. If your calorie intake is too low, hormones increase appetite or reduce metabolism. An unhealthy gut causes digestive issues like gas, bloating, and constipation. It can cause unintentional weight changes, autoimmune disturbances, and mood changes.

You can improve your gut health

Studies show that a healthy diet with probiotic and prebiotic foods can help improve gut health. Prebiotic foods include food high in soluble fiber. Soluble fiber feeds the beneficial bacteria. A diet low in sugar also discourages harmful microbes, while a diet high in sugar harms beneficial ones. Getting adequate sleep also helps gut health, and so does good hydration. Studies found that starting or continuing a program of regular exercise can improve your gut health by improving the microbes in the gut.

  • You can help your digestive system and improve gut health by chewing your food longer. That allows more digestion to take place in your mouth, rather than your gut, making it more efficient.
  • Scientists have identified certain strains of microbes that are associated with obesity. They found the byproducts of certain microbes in obese people or those overweight.
  • Eating food high in fiber is good for gut health. So is consuming fermented food that is rich in probiotics. Garlic, chickpeas, onions, and bananas are excellent prebiotics that feed beneficial bacteria.
  • One study showed that after exercising for six weeks, the beneficial bacteria in the gut increased. Other studies show that chronic stress can reduce healthy bacteria.

For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training


How To Start A Low Carb Diet

How To Start A Low Carb Diet

In recent years, the low carb diet has gained popularity. Even though eating healthier is a simpler solution that doesn’t require calorie or carb counting, it’s true that carb counting does work. One of the main reasons it works is that low carb foods are often low calorie foods. Low carb foods are often whole foods that don’t contain added sugar and are part of a program focused on healthy eating.

What is a low carb diet?

Carbohydrates are macronutrients, just as protein and fat are. A low carb diet limits carbs, which are found mostly in plant-based foods. Not all carbs are bad. There are three types of carbohydrates: sugar, starch, and fiber. Those three types are all necessary for the body to be healthy. Healthier carbs like fruits, vegetables, nuts, milk, grains, and beans, should be part of your diet, but food with added sugar and highly processed foods shouldn’t. That often eliminates special diet foods that are low in fat, since sugar often replaces the fat to provide the flavor lost when the fat was removed. Pasta and bread are normally missing in a low carb diet, too.

How a low carb diet works.

The belief behind a low carb diet is that the diet will change the way the body gets its energy or calories. It will stop getting its energy from carbohydrates and get it from fat and protein. When the body gets calories from carbs, the body changes the carbs’ glucose to glycogen, then it stores the glycogen in the liver. When the liver is full, the glycogen converts to fat. When you limit carbs, the body must get its fuel somewhere else, which is body fat.

The pros and cons of a low carb diet.

Low carb diets can help reduce insulin resistance, a precursor of Type 2 diabetes. It lowers the levels of insulin released. It also aids in lowering the bad LDL cholesterol levels and increases the good HDL levels. It helps stabilize both triglyceride and blood sugar levels. Extremely restrictive low carb diets have side effects like constipation, headaches, lethargy, heart palpitations, and irritability. It can cause undue stress on the kidneys.

  • Extreme low carb diets like the keto diet can lead to nutritional deficiencies. Studies show that extreme low carb diets didn’t provide enough of 15 of the 27 vitamins and minerals the body requires for good health.
  • Often people mistakenly overeat high fat foods like bacon. While bacon will set the body into a state of ketosis, it’s not the healthiest way to do it and can add too much sodium to the diet.
  • You can get many of the same benefits of a low carb diet by simply giving up food with added sugar, highly processed food, pasta, and bread. Always talk to your health care professional first before starting any diet.
  • At Body Sculptors, we provide personalized nutritional plans. It contains menus, shopping lists, recipes and helps you track your nutritional intake, making losing weight and getting fit easier.

For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training


Healthy Habits = Healthy Life

Healthy Habits = Healthy Life

Living a healthy life in Louisville, KY, is all about having healthy habits. It isn’t about eating a salad once in a while or buying a gym membership and using it once or twice. It’s about the things you do every day that make a difference. Developing habits take a while, and many people start with one change and after a month or two, add another. The changes can be as simple as drinking tea or coffee without sugar to something more involved like a program of fitness. It doesn’t matter where you start. The important part is getting started.

A healthier diet should be a goal.

If you’re slamming down quickie burgers like there is no tomorrow, there may not be one for you. To have a healthier body, you have to have a healthy diet. A healthy diet doesn’t mean dieting but making smarter choices. Choose more greens, several selections of vegetables, and lean meat, fish, or poultry. Instead of high-sugar, high-calorie pastry, opt for fresh fruit as a dessert. If you’re overweight, changing your eating habits is necessary to lose weight. The sad truth is that obesity is on the rise in America and many of the obese are also malnourished.

Get moving.

Consider all the changes that have occurred in the last fifty or sixty years. Everyone used to be more physical. Adults would spend time playing tennis, roller skating, or bowling and kids loved playing games outside. Today, everyone is stuck in front of a screen and the only active muscles are in their hands. You’ll rust out before you wear out, so get up and move. Start a program of regular exercise. Make it a habit, so schedule it at the same time every day to ensure it becomes a habit. You don’t have to workout at the gym every time, you can take walks or do other activities.

You probably don’t get enough sleep.

Burning a candle at both ends has become a badge of honor in the US. Unfortunately, that’s bad for your heart and can even make you pack on pounds. Lack of sleep can cause a hormone imbalance between leptin—the satiety hormone—-and ghrelin—the hunger hormone. If you don’t get enough sleep, the body produces less leptin and more ghrelin, so you want to eat more and you gain weight. Lack of sleep can affect your memory, increase the risk of diabetes and negatively affect your immune system. Create a sleep schedule and stick with it until it becomes a habit.

  • If you want an easier way to ensure you eat healthier, our fitness plans are perfect. We provide a personalized menu, a grocery list and recipes. All you do is buy the food.
  • Don’t forget to drink plenty of water and hydrate often, especially in hot weather or when exercising. Even mild dehydration has side effects. For instance, it can make you feel sleepy. The next time you’re tired, drink a bottle of cold water and you’ll probably feel more awake.
  • When you make a change, focus on staying with that change for a minimum of nine weeks. Studies show the average time for forming a habit is 66 days.
  • Eating healthy includes what you drink. Soft drinks or fancy coffee drinks are high in sugar, calories, and ingredients that can be harmful to you. Don’t forget to include snacks in your meal plan.

For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training


What's The Difference Between Portion Size And Serving Size?

What’s The Difference Between Portion Size And Serving Size?

Whether you’re eating in a restaurant or at home, portion sizes will vary. However, it doesn’t matter where you eat, at home in Louisville, KY, or in a restaurant in Chicago, IL the serving size remains the same. It’s the same across the country for all food. All nutritional facts are determined by using that serving size. Potato chips are a good example. A one-ounce bag is about 15 chips. That’s the serving size, whether you’re eating from a family-size bag or not. Most people create their own portion sizes when eating snack foods like chips, which can be more or less than the serving size.

When you eat in a restaurant, the portion sizes may far exceed the serving size.

Ironically, the most expensive restaurants often have smaller serving sizes. They tend to focus on more exotic ingredients and presentation. However, mom-and-pop restaurants that compete for most of the restaurant business have to find a way to stand out from the rest. Besides great cooking, serving larger portions can make them more popular. Commercials and advertising gimmicks train us to believe more is better. Super-sizing your meal has become an all too familiar draw. In reality, the portion sizes served are often more than double the actual serving size.

Besides oversized servings in restaurants, you can overdo them at home too.

Unless you know what the serving size is for that particular food, you’ll probably eat too much. If you’re at home or in another serve-yourself situation, learning serving sizes is important. It doesn’t have to be difficult. For instance, a serving size of meat is about the same size as a cassette tape or deck of playing cards. If you stack four dice, you’d get the serving size of 1 ounce of cheese. The serving size for a cup of most food is the size of a fist.

Some easy tips to remember when eating in restaurants.

For most leafy vegetables, don’t worry about serving size, unless you’re worrying about not eating enough. For most vegetables, the serving size is often underestimated. If you’re eating chopped veggies, the serving size is a half-cup. For raw leafy greens, it’s one cup, and for vegetable juice, a half cup. The USDA recommends eating two and a half to three cups of vegetables or about five to six servings a day. Potatoes aren’t included in the vegetable group. In most cases, eating more than the recommended minimum servings is a good thing. Just be careful with sauces and dressing.

  • If you’re making a salad, include other types of lettuce besides iceberg, they’re more nutritious. Baby greens, baby kale and baby spinach are extremely nutritious.
  • If your favorite restaurant has large portion sizes, share a meal with a friend or eat half and ask for a carry-out container to take home. Some people opt for an appetizer as their main dish and add a salad and vegetables as sides.
  • Your favorite snack or meal might come in larger portions and be several serving sizes. You can help yourself and prevent overeating by repackaging the food as soon as you get home to individual serving sizes.
  • If you’re still unsure how to achieve a healthy diet that helps you reach your goals, our staff at Body Sculptors can help with a customized diet and nutrition training.

For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training